"The last thing Mr. G wants to happen is for your PHB to read USA Today and think, "Huh. This Linux thing is a big deal."
The last thing that Mr G should want is people even knowing about Linux. To even have an interview to discuss it with a magazine with the widest readership in the nation is the last thing he should be doing. He's helped take it out of being a geeky operating system and into a few more people's homes.
I'm just wondering how long it will be before one of my distant relatives for whom I'm "the computer expert" will ask me about what Linux is.
It's irrelevant if it's language neutral, if everyone is coding in C# anyway!
I haven't met anyone who is sticking to VB. Reason - the change from VB to VB.NET is quite painful anyway, and all the reasons for using VB over C++ (less likely to get memory leaks, faster to get off the ground) are gone. They do the same thing now, but with different syntax.
The only other language I know which is leveraging.NET is COBOL, and that can be compiled to java code anyway.
And when it 'commonly' runs on Linux, I'll consider switching my company web work from PHP.
If we are comparing operating systems, I can't think of much new functionality in Windows either, except for stuff that should have been there 10 years ago, and wasn't.
If you want to talk about Microsoft vs Open Source, as providers, ask yourself which office suite has fully documented XML documents in all versions, works cross-platform, and has features in beta to save files as PDF. Or which browser has built-in pop-up blocking and a download manager?
The number of times I've seen companies spend weeks rewriting software instead of just buying a faster PC amazes me. And the software then becomes more complex to deal with efficiency tweaks, and this can then further impact on the cost of every additional software change.
Personally, I only make software as efficient as it needs to be. I concentrate on making software easy to maintain and test instead.
"Yeah. That one is a no-brainer. When you look in the code base and you see line-by-line copy of our Unix System V code - not just the code itself, but comments to the code, titles that were in the comments and humour elements that were in the comments - you see that everything is taken straight across."
There has been no evidence provided of this copying. Those who have independently seen both copies of the code have no evidence that it was copied from System V to Linux, that the code was originally in System V and not in BSD or Linux itself.
I could say the same thing about my experience sometimes with Windows.
I have used Apache and MySQL and configuring it/dealing with errors is much simpler than under Windows. If nothing else, you can just zap the directory and start again. No registry crap to trip you up when you next do a reinstall.
I recently had to install the new version of Visual Studio.NET at work and had not uninstalled the previous version, and because of god-knows-what, it left me in a right mess. I've been eating away at the errors over time, moving files around etc, but I'm at a point of getting the network guys to format my HDD and reinstall Windows and everything else.
Is that the reason people are so wound up about support is because MS stuff seems to need so much of it.
I spent about 10 years working on ICL VME mainframe computers in large companies, and even though they had support contracts, hardly ever needed to call.
Nearly every fault that I ever came across was down to my coding or someone else's within the company.
The OS software didn't fail me, the databases didn't fail me and the compilers didn't fail me.
The software generally was very helpful with what had happened when something went wrong, the database specification was well known (and so patching a database wasn't a problem). The command set was such that you had everything you needed to deliver business functionality and no trivia.
Parade - Prince
It takes a nation of millions to hold us back - Public Enemy
Psychocandy - The Jesus and Mary Chain
Different Class - Pulp
Achtung Baby - U2
Transformer - Lou Reed
OK Computer - Radiohead
Personally, after the search engine/life savings case, I've not bought a single CD. I've checked around some 2nd hand shops, as that way, the RIAA get no money from me, and also revisited some old albums. And the 2 albums I want to buy at the moment are corrupted with copy protection, so I can't listen to those on my PC, and so I'm not buying them anyway.
They might stop people from downloading. They're also helping to not sell albums.
Also, just because a feature exists doesn't mean that you can't live without it. Is the "create a custom duplicate of a table for export" worth the additional cost. Whilst it does sound like a nice feature, there's other ways of implementing such functionality, I guess.
The examples you give are interesting because they both point to software which is plateuing on innovation. And hence OSS projects like Open Office and MySQL can catch up.
What features have been added to Word 2003 (not pro edition): have a look at this and you'd have to conclude that it's not a lot, and for many people, not worth the upgrade.
Open Office beta supports PDF generation. Where's that in Office?
But then those jobs are in a satelite of a foreign company.
Who then profits from the company? Who owns the companies producing software, and how much impact does that have on stability of industry?
Something someone once told me - no-one ever shuts down their Head Office - it's nearly always satelite sites that go first. Do you want the people of your country to work in satelites or head offices?
This is such a crock of shit, and as someone who ran a small business does not in anyway represent the view of my business.
Personally, I believe as a businessman, technician and tax payer that open source is better.
Companies can make plenty of money from support and enhancement to the client. Government can retain the source and/or give some modifications back to the community. And govenment gets many options on suppliers.
I recently heard of a company who had just the object code, and the contractor pissed off to the other side of the world with the source code. Also, many companies have maybe 2 or 3 people who can do parts of the system - open source creates more developers with mature experience in a product.
And what if you find a bug in Microsoft software. Can you get it fixed right away? Not necessarily. You have to hope that MS take it seriously enough to do it. With OSS your chances are much higher, or you can do it yourself.
Generally you are right - although hotels and airports are also getting them - you won't be able to use wi-fi if you are on a road between two places. And I think many towns will get them.
My point is not whether 3G is better or worse, so much as whether it's worth the premium for a whole load of services, many of which I don't want. I don't want video clips on a 2" screen or videoconferencing. I do want data from a remote location, and only occassionally, and I'll travel as far as 10 miles for the privelege.
Maybe some people want those features. Unless they become very cheap, I don't.
My hardware cost for a wi-fi card is about £50 at the moment, and an hour of hotspot activity is currently abour £5, which I expect will go down. For me, this makes more sense as wi-fi gets rolled out further.
If the kid was interested in web stuff, I'd get them going on PHP and Javascript. PHP can give a kid very quick rewards, which is kinda what BASIC did.
If they wanted to know about games, I'd start them in Java.
One thing, I'd keep them off C or C++. No kid is going to start programming writing 3d quake clone games. If they want to do games, try something like Java.
The use of COBOL cripples the mind; its teaching should, therefore, be regarded as a criminal offence. (Edsger Dijkstra)
There speaks an academic who probably never had to deliver a fix to a production job 5 minutes ago. I've worked in data processing departments for 15 years. Programmed in COBOL, VB, C# and tried C++.
The best language I know for the job of data processing is COBOL. It's cross-platform, easy to follow, and well structured. It also doesn't give you much to use, commandset wise, which sounds like a bad thing, but it's good - everyone can follow what everyone else does without having to refer to numerous online journals or books.
Both are related to high speed wireless, and both CAN be used when someone is away from home.
So, for things like videoconferencing phones, I think 3G has big benefits. But take data, and the issue of someone working somewhere who needs to get a big chunk of data and they are far away from the office (something I could have done with in my past), and then competition springs in. I could use my 3G phone plugged into a PC, or I could go to a wifi hotspot and pick it up. Then, price starts to become an issue. If I can go into a cafe, pay a dollar for my download (or less) and be out of there, do I really need a 3G phone with a ton of features and a premium price plan?
Did any of the original companies not go for it - in other words is there someone still on GSM who will be on GSM later, or is HM Government withdrawing GSM in the future?
Re:3G is a pathetic disappointment...
on
Is 3G Irrelevant?
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· Score: 1
It's the gimmicky crap that gets me. "Watch premiership goals". That would be the premiership goals that if you are happy to wait until you get to a TV you can often see on BBC/ITV in full screen.
Personally, unless the price comes way down (and in which case how long is it going to take the 3G license holders to recoup the billions spent on them, let alone cover the interest), I'm not interested.
Movies? Being watched on a titchy low-res screen? Get real.
The only use I can think of for myself is roaming high-speed. When I worked as a consultant, I travelled the country, and being able to get high data rate downloads would have been nice.
But then, the wi-fi hotspots that are rapidly appearing across the country at airports, hotels and cafes, will do that for me, and presumably run at a fraction of the 3g infrastructure costs.
What I don't understand is why many international retailers are backing this.
Surely, it's not in their interest, as it raises prices, particularly on things like sub-£18 DVD purchases which avoid customs duties.
And presumably, the customs and excise men can't prosecute a US company.
Is it just a way to slip some price increases in for EU customers or do these companies want the extra short cashflow benefit that VAT gives them - collect the VAT, put it in an account, pay it up to 3 months later?
Or, is it companies with UK and US operations who would rather their UK customers paid higher prices from their UK sites than buy from their US sites (currently, even with the shipping it can be cheaper).
Slashdot Mirror
Anyone?
The last thing that Mr G should want is people even knowing about Linux. To even have an interview to discuss it with a magazine with the widest readership in the nation is the last thing he should be doing. He's helped take it out of being a geeky operating system and into a few more people's homes.
I'm just wondering how long it will be before one of my distant relatives for whom I'm "the computer expert" will ask me about what Linux is.
I haven't met anyone who is sticking to VB. Reason - the change from VB to VB.NET is quite painful anyway, and all the reasons for using VB over C++ (less likely to get memory leaks, faster to get off the ground) are gone. They do the same thing now, but with different syntax.
The only other language I know which is leveraging .NET is COBOL, and that can be compiled to java code anyway.
And when it 'commonly' runs on Linux, I'll consider switching my company web work from PHP.
Like lotus 1-2-3?
If we are comparing operating systems, I can't think of much new functionality in Windows either, except for stuff that should have been there 10 years ago, and wasn't.
If you want to talk about Microsoft vs Open Source, as providers, ask yourself which office suite has fully documented XML documents in all versions, works cross-platform, and has features in beta to save files as PDF. Or which browser has built-in pop-up blocking and a download manager?
Personally, I only make software as efficient as it needs to be. I concentrate on making software easy to maintain and test instead.
There has been no evidence provided of this copying. Those who have independently seen both copies of the code have no evidence that it was copied from System V to Linux, that the code was originally in System V and not in BSD or Linux itself.
I have used Apache and MySQL and configuring it/dealing with errors is much simpler than under Windows. If nothing else, you can just zap the directory and start again. No registry crap to trip you up when you next do a reinstall.
I recently had to install the new version of Visual Studio.NET at work and had not uninstalled the previous version, and because of god-knows-what, it left me in a right mess. I've been eating away at the errors over time, moving files around etc, but I'm at a point of getting the network guys to format my HDD and reinstall Windows and everything else.
I spent about 10 years working on ICL VME mainframe computers in large companies, and even though they had support contracts, hardly ever needed to call.
Nearly every fault that I ever came across was down to my coding or someone else's within the company.
The OS software didn't fail me, the databases didn't fail me and the compilers didn't fail me.
The software generally was very helpful with what had happened when something went wrong, the database specification was well known (and so patching a database wasn't a problem). The command set was such that you had everything you needed to deliver business functionality and no trivia.
I'd also consider the 2nd Mantronix album (Music Madness) as a personal fave, 3 Feet High and Rising and Raising Hell.
Parade - Prince It takes a nation of millions to hold us back - Public Enemy Psychocandy - The Jesus and Mary Chain Different Class - Pulp Achtung Baby - U2 Transformer - Lou Reed OK Computer - Radiohead
They might stop people from downloading. They're also helping to not sell albums.
Also, just because a feature exists doesn't mean that you can't live without it. Is the "create a custom duplicate of a table for export" worth the additional cost. Whilst it does sound like a nice feature, there's other ways of implementing such functionality, I guess.
What features have been added to Word 2003 (not pro edition): have a look at this and you'd have to conclude that it's not a lot, and for many people, not worth the upgrade.
Open Office beta supports PDF generation. Where's that in Office?
Who then profits from the company? Who owns the companies producing software, and how much impact does that have on stability of industry?
Something someone once told me - no-one ever shuts down their Head Office - it's nearly always satelite sites that go first. Do you want the people of your country to work in satelites or head offices?
For whom, exactly?
Personally, I believe as a businessman, technician and tax payer that open source is better.
Companies can make plenty of money from support and enhancement to the client. Government can retain the source and/or give some modifications back to the community. And govenment gets many options on suppliers.
I recently heard of a company who had just the object code, and the contractor pissed off to the other side of the world with the source code. Also, many companies have maybe 2 or 3 people who can do parts of the system - open source creates more developers with mature experience in a product.
And what if you find a bug in Microsoft software. Can you get it fixed right away? Not necessarily. You have to hope that MS take it seriously enough to do it. With OSS your chances are much higher, or you can do it yourself.
Or was that just a marketing ploy?
My point is not whether 3G is better or worse, so much as whether it's worth the premium for a whole load of services, many of which I don't want. I don't want video clips on a 2" screen or videoconferencing. I do want data from a remote location, and only occassionally, and I'll travel as far as 10 miles for the privelege.
Maybe some people want those features. Unless they become very cheap, I don't.
My hardware cost for a wi-fi card is about £50 at the moment, and an hour of hotspot activity is currently abour £5, which I expect will go down. For me, this makes more sense as wi-fi gets rolled out further.
If they wanted to know about games, I'd start them in Java.
One thing, I'd keep them off C or C++. No kid is going to start programming writing 3d quake clone games. If they want to do games, try something like Java.
There speaks an academic who probably never had to deliver a fix to a production job 5 minutes ago. I've worked in data processing departments for 15 years. Programmed in COBOL, VB, C# and tried C++.
The best language I know for the job of data processing is COBOL. It's cross-platform, easy to follow, and well structured. It also doesn't give you much to use, commandset wise, which sounds like a bad thing, but it's good - everyone can follow what everyone else does without having to refer to numerous online journals or books.
Both are related to high speed wireless, and both CAN be used when someone is away from home.
So, for things like videoconferencing phones, I think 3G has big benefits. But take data, and the issue of someone working somewhere who needs to get a big chunk of data and they are far away from the office (something I could have done with in my past), and then competition springs in. I could use my 3G phone plugged into a PC, or I could go to a wifi hotspot and pick it up. Then, price starts to become an issue. If I can go into a cafe, pay a dollar for my download (or less) and be out of there, do I really need a 3G phone with a ton of features and a premium price plan?
Did any of the original companies not go for it - in other words is there someone still on GSM who will be on GSM later, or is HM Government withdrawing GSM in the future?
Personally, unless the price comes way down (and in which case how long is it going to take the 3G license holders to recoup the billions spent on them, let alone cover the interest), I'm not interested.
Movies? Being watched on a titchy low-res screen? Get real.
The only use I can think of for myself is roaming high-speed. When I worked as a consultant, I travelled the country, and being able to get high data rate downloads would have been nice.
But then, the wi-fi hotspots that are rapidly appearing across the country at airports, hotels and cafes, will do that for me, and presumably run at a fraction of the 3g infrastructure costs.
Did this relate to the thing of Freeserve crying foul? I think they were complaining about something to do with AOL. Was that related to VAT?
Surely, it's not in their interest, as it raises prices, particularly on things like sub-£18 DVD purchases which avoid customs duties.
And presumably, the customs and excise men can't prosecute a US company.
Is it just a way to slip some price increases in for EU customers or do these companies want the extra short cashflow benefit that VAT gives them - collect the VAT, put it in an account, pay it up to 3 months later?
Or, is it companies with UK and US operations who would rather their UK customers paid higher prices from their UK sites than buy from their US sites (currently, even with the shipping it can be cheaper).