The first IronINTERCAL project announced will be a MMOG version of a 43-Man Squeamish league.
Fail. The game was 43-Man Squamish.
I still remember the invocation of the coin toss: "Mi Tio esta Infermo pero la Carretera esta Verde!*" (Portugese grammar corrected for me by Giglermo Regades, an Argentinian auto mechanic of my acquaintance in 1966.
But what happens when you have more than one core per thread? Do you just let the unused cores lie idle, or do you further decompose the thread and try to predictively parallelise it?
Removing context switching logic -- hmmm... that will take a while to register...
Theoretically, the energy to get to the Moon is a one-time energy expense...
Read Heinlein's "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" for some interesting insights on shipping items from the moon. Think physics for the economics -- solar to electric to mass drivers. Just don't get on the wrong side of the Loonies, they'll have the high ground.
The Asteroids are another "convenient" source in the long term, too. As Dr. Pournelle kindly pointed out some years ago, say it takes 10 years to get a shipment from the Belt to LEO - send one per year, and after 10 years you'll have one per year forever. Of course this presumes the elements will even be out there, but it could turn out to be profitable to find out.
This also presumes a long-term approach to the survival of civilisation, and an assumption that humanity as a whole would find this a good thing.
We have one, and he's pretty cluey. He's the guy who operates the company along lines the CEO directs. Think "huge signing authority" and near-total responsibility for operational profit & loss.
...by Kilgore Trout (Phil Farmer actually, not Kurt Vonnegut). The book described a "Prison Planet" that started out as a small prison. As the State continued to pass more and stricter laws, the prison had to keep expanding its walls. At one point the prison walls grew past a great circle and started to contract as the balance of the planet's population shifted toward prisoners. Eventually, there was only one small round brick enclosure remaining, in which resided the one prison guard who comprised the entire planet's population that were not prison inmates.
Or to put it another way, see the metaphor used by Princess Leia to Grand Moff Tarkin.
I think the trend to move responsibility into the hands of licensors has rational limits. I believe it is the purpose of satire to determine what those limits are.
Actually, I'm rather addicted to these sort of magazines because of the ads, rather than the rather vapid insights. If it weren't for the vendors, we wouldn't have any IT. I find it fascinating to see where people perceive the opportunities to sell are, and sometimes the technology of the adverts is interesting too -- such as the time I clicked on an ad for one product I was interested in (it was a hosting company iirc) and it started up a chat session with a real sales person. I was amused, and rather pleased. Considering a lot of my work load is finding things to drop the cost of running some IT architecture or other, this stuff can be useful - it can trigger thinking that can lead on to other things if nothing else. If we weren't a market for this stuff, we wouldn't read it and it wouldn't be there.
Good insight. But I might diffidently suggest that methodologies and heroism are no substitute for talent, creativity and individual discipline, either. The problem is that althought the better code warriors know this, the people signing off on budgets often don't. And yet they don't learn, because their entrenched way of thinking doesn't permit them to think past that.
The best, the very best managers know that the way to herd cats is to put them in the vicinity of mice and let them do what they do best.
Seriously. If you like the life of logic, but don't want to program for a living, turn around and head back to school. Get some training in law, say IP law or forensic discovery. With quals in both disciplines you will be in very high demand, you'll find yourself in some very interesting and challenging jobs and not chained to a cubicle.
Besides, PJ and NYCL could use some help and I'd appreciate knowing there was one more person out there to help in the war against the RIAA^H^H^H^H^H^H^HStupidity.
Just a little reminder, guys, from a very old programmer: Software is a machine with thousands of moving parts running on a machine with with several billion moving parts. Bugs are not put in there on purpose. The amount of work needed vs. the amount of time | money available in any development budget does not always correspond.
I'm not trying to make an argument in defense of slipshod work, but rather point out that any piece of software of any scope is hard work and in many cases the result of heroic individual efforts. Just offering a bit of perspective from a point of view people sometimes forget. Not asking for gratitude, here, just a little respect for the efforts of people often demeaned as code monkeys and asking for a bit of appreciation for those allowing the mostly free and unobstructed flow of information at a scale unprecedented in history. It doesn't matter which company is wrapping the output, this still holds true. Cool?
They do sell hardware, just nothing beyond the odd mouse or loss-leader game console, but I take your point.
Perhaps they could survive if they kept their existing OEM base as best they can and stopped trying to improve the desktop in large leaps. At this point desktop computing is a commodity. Why change the shape of a kitchen tap once you've found one you like, or change the location of the pedals in your car? The constant replacement of PC hardware should keep them ticking over.
I believe Microsoft's only market threat, really, is themselves.
API content perhaps (and I agree the old WinNT SDK was a bitch) but definitely the memory model, which had to be totally new to allow for an extended address window, and was not taken from OS/2. Many memory tuning parameters had exact name matches between the Registry and their counterpart in VMS Sysgen - exact matches. I wouldn't have noticed this except for having been a VMS internals geek at the time.
Don't discount the source, either -- it was one author with an existing relationship with a mole within the company, taken over several years that was sponsored by a reputable newspaper. The book presented a lot of historical detail, naming names and specific events, with very little speculation.
One of the interesting insights was the exact process of how the code for OS/2 diverged during the Microsoft/IBM code divorce, viewed from the effect on IBM. A good Microsoft insight from a non-Microsoft source and PoV. Strongly recommend the book, not the least because it's the only written history of that transition I've seen.
Pity there isn't more written history of technology; when this "golden age" is written about some time in the future, the fascination will be the thought processes surrounding the events more than the details of the technology. It's the same reason why The Mythical Man-Month is still relevant today.
You do know that the whole "Genuine"-"Real"-"Original"-thing only exists because marketeers found...
Not true, and you're just trolling! I have a Windows XP Pro machine that give me a Genuine Advantage. I know it's true because it says so with really neat swirly lettering!
Now go away and stop bothering me, I have a blown motherboard to replace...~
Windows NT was a re-write of OS/2 when Microsoft divorced IBM
You're partly correct. Windows NT was written in response to OS/2, but was not a rewrite of it. Windows NT could be better stated as a GUI-driven rewrite of VMS. Dave Cutler was the architect of both systems, and was the result of a negotiated HR transfer (read "was poached") from Digital Equipment Corporation for that purpose.
For an exact chronology I'd suggest "Big Blues: The Unmaking of IBM" by Paul Carroll (it's listed in Amazon) which book was a compendium of Wall Street Journal articles, if I remember correctly. The details on the OS/2 contention make a fascinating read. It's interesting how IBM "then" was so much like Microsoft "now"; bloated and in control of the marketers.
It's also worth mentioning as a cautionary tale, perhaps. IBM managed to re-invent themselves, and after a rather painful process of revolution became a reasonably healthy firm again. Can Microsoft?
... so basically evolution tends to select for people who are inclined to keep oldsters around. A bit indirect, but there is an evolutionary effect past the point of breeding.
It's only evolution in action if it kills them before they breed
Not sure about that. There's a young people culling mechanism involved in having your oldsters die off -- lose the environmental control provisioning from your tribal elders ("those are raptor tracks, you young fool, not eohippus!"*), the younger folk could tend not to breed as successfully due generally to an overdose of stupid. Not to mention the eugenics practices of cultures that practice match making, which might have an impact too.
(* illustration for illustration purposes only. IANAP)
Good thing for them they did not hit the cell phone tower. I honestly thought that that's where you were going--if they took out their own only hope of rescue
That would be Wrought Irony -- kind of like regular irony, but a bit twisted.
Not to be confused with Goldy or Bronzy, of course.
Slashdot Mirror
The original Mad Magazine article that introduced the sport did specifically reference Argentinian Portugese, though. IANASOPLSP.
The first IronINTERCAL project announced will be a MMOG version of a 43-Man Squeamish league.
Fail. The game was 43-Man Squamish.
I still remember the invocation of the coin toss: "Mi Tio esta Infermo pero la Carretera esta Verde!*" (Portugese grammar corrected for me by Giglermo Regades, an Argentinian auto mechanic of my acquaintance in 1966.
(*"My uncle is sick but the highway is green.")
Removing context switching logic -- hmmm... that will take a while to register...
Theoretically, the energy to get to the Moon is a one-time energy expense...
Read Heinlein's "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" for some interesting insights on shipping items from the moon. Think physics for the economics -- solar to electric to mass drivers. Just don't get on the wrong side of the Loonies, they'll have the high ground.
The Asteroids are another "convenient" source in the long term, too. As Dr. Pournelle kindly pointed out some years ago, say it takes 10 years to get a shipment from the Belt to LEO - send one per year, and after 10 years you'll have one per year forever. Of course this presumes the elements will even be out there, but it could turn out to be profitable to find out.
This also presumes a long-term approach to the survival of civilisation, and an assumption that humanity as a whole would find this a good thing.
Backwards read people.
but I've actually never met a COO
We have one, and he's pretty cluey. He's the guy who operates the company along lines the CEO directs. Think "huge signing authority" and near-total responsibility for operational profit & loss.
... umm ... what's the term for someone who hangs out with suits?
"Corporate".
Or to put it another way, see the metaphor used by Princess Leia to Grand Moff Tarkin.
I think the trend to move responsibility into the hands of licensors has rational limits. I believe it is the purpose of satire to determine what those limits are.
Which it turned out didn't matter, as the entire population was wiped out by a virus contracted from a dirty telephone.
Actually, I'm rather addicted to these sort of magazines because of the ads, rather than the rather vapid insights. If it weren't for the vendors, we wouldn't have any IT. I find it fascinating to see where people perceive the opportunities to sell are, and sometimes the technology of the adverts is interesting too -- such as the time I clicked on an ad for one product I was interested in (it was a hosting company iirc) and it started up a chat session with a real sales person. I was amused, and rather pleased. Considering a lot of my work load is finding things to drop the cost of running some IT architecture or other, this stuff can be useful - it can trigger thinking that can lead on to other things if nothing else. If we weren't a market for this stuff, we wouldn't read it and it wouldn't be there.
A friend of mine just left the post of CIO for a major energy distribution utility. He said the acronym stands for "Career Is Over".
The best, the very best managers know that the way to herd cats is to put them in the vicinity of mice and let them do what they do best.
Besides, PJ and NYCL could use some help and I'd appreciate knowing there was one more person out there to help in the war against the RIAA^H^H^H^H^H^H^HStupidity.
A Nigerian once spent his time
Concocting a Scam 419
A few mums and dads
Spent all that they had
Which just shows there's no end to the crime
A Nigerian once spent his time Concocting a Scam 419 A few mums and dads Spent all that they had Which just shows there's no end to the crime
I'm not trying to make an argument in defense of slipshod work, but rather point out that any piece of software of any scope is hard work and in many cases the result of heroic individual efforts. Just offering a bit of perspective from a point of view people sometimes forget. Not asking for gratitude, here, just a little respect for the efforts of people often demeaned as code monkeys and asking for a bit of appreciation for those allowing the mostly free and unobstructed flow of information at a scale unprecedented in history. It doesn't matter which company is wrapping the output, this still holds true. Cool?
Perhaps they could survive if they kept their existing OEM base as best they can and stopped trying to improve the desktop in large leaps. At this point desktop computing is a commodity. Why change the shape of a kitchen tap once you've found one you like, or change the location of the pedals in your car? The constant replacement of PC hardware should keep them ticking over.
I believe Microsoft's only market threat, really, is themselves.
The word you want is "sociopathic".
"You saw it! That orphanage attacked me first!" (http://www.lfgcomic.com/ )
Don't discount the source, either -- it was one author with an existing relationship with a mole within the company, taken over several years that was sponsored by a reputable newspaper. The book presented a lot of historical detail, naming names and specific events, with very little speculation.
One of the interesting insights was the exact process of how the code for OS/2 diverged during the Microsoft/IBM code divorce, viewed from the effect on IBM. A good Microsoft insight from a non-Microsoft source and PoV. Strongly recommend the book, not the least because it's the only written history of that transition I've seen.
Pity there isn't more written history of technology; when this "golden age" is written about some time in the future, the fascination will be the thought processes surrounding the events more than the details of the technology. It's the same reason why The Mythical Man-Month is still relevant today.
The extra 30GB is to hold the fine print on the new EULA.
You do know that the whole "Genuine"-"Real"-"Original"-thing only exists because marketeers found ...
Not true, and you're just trolling! I have a Windows XP Pro machine that give me a Genuine Advantage. I know it's true because it says so with really neat swirly lettering!
Now go away and stop bothering me, I have a blown motherboard to replace...~
Windows NT was a re-write of OS/2 when Microsoft divorced IBM
You're partly correct. Windows NT was written in response to OS/2, but was not a rewrite of it. Windows NT could be better stated as a GUI-driven rewrite of VMS. Dave Cutler was the architect of both systems, and was the result of a negotiated HR transfer (read "was poached") from Digital Equipment Corporation for that purpose.
For an exact chronology I'd suggest "Big Blues: The Unmaking of IBM" by Paul Carroll (it's listed in Amazon) which book was a compendium of Wall Street Journal articles, if I remember correctly. The details on the OS/2 contention make a fascinating read. It's interesting how IBM "then" was so much like Microsoft "now"; bloated and in control of the marketers.
It's also worth mentioning as a cautionary tale, perhaps. IBM managed to re-invent themselves, and after a rather painful process of revolution became a reasonably healthy firm again. Can Microsoft?
... so basically evolution tends to select for people who are inclined to keep oldsters around. A bit indirect, but there is an evolutionary effect past the point of breeding.
It's only evolution in action if it kills them before they breed
Not sure about that. There's a young people culling mechanism involved in having your oldsters die off -- lose the environmental control provisioning from your tribal elders ("those are raptor tracks, you young fool, not eohippus!"*), the younger folk could tend not to breed as successfully due generally to an overdose of stupid. Not to mention the eugenics practices of cultures that practice match making, which might have an impact too.
(* illustration for illustration purposes only. IANAP)
Good thing for them they did not hit the cell phone tower. I honestly thought that that's where you were going--if they took out their own only hope of rescue
That would be Wrought Irony -- kind of like regular irony, but a bit twisted.
Not to be confused with Goldy or Bronzy, of course.