My wife does knitting and sewing, and there is a bit of a decline. The number of shops selling materials and patterns has definitely dropped.
I suggest it's a combination of clothes being quite cheap (often more so than the equivalent material), and that a lot of people in schools aren't taught it anymore.
Hopefully movie-makers are just going through a 'phase' and will eventually return to making good plots and acting.
People still are. And in the past, people made crap movies (it's just that we filter stuff like most Elvis movies, Howard the Duck and The Black Hole out).
It's just that nowadays many great movies (unlike in the early 1970s) are not box office blockbusters, because hype drives sales, rather than word of mouth. Have a look at European cinema, or films like Magnolia or films by the Coen Brothers.
People don't want what they had before. The trouble is that games companies try and force feed them what they had before. How many beat-em-ups or 3d shooters do we really need?
I remember how people went wild about Lemmings where I worked, a totally original game with excellent gameplay. Given a choice of a game of that originality, but with so-so graphics, and another Sims add-on, I know which I'd choose.
If we're talking about browsers and website features, we're often talking about consumers, and often not uber-geeks upgrading every month. Plenty of folks are still running Windows 95 or Windows 98 and have the attitude of "it does what I need it to".
I buy all sorts of stuff online, like DVDs and CDs. Let's say that Amazon says "sorry you can't use our shopping cart because you don't have the new browser". I'll go to a company that does, or to a local shop.
You obviously never used more than one COBOL compiler.
Wrong. I've used 2 compilers. Took someone about 5 minutes to explain how to compile on the different environment and I was away developing. I was getting business solutions shipped quickly.
Nobody forces them to change direction at the drop of a hat. That is THEIR problem.
So, Microsoft are going to be supporting VB6 for ever? No. People are being forced to change.
As for reskilling, the languages are the same (except VB). VB underwent changes to fit nicely with the CLR (or something) but it isn't like trying to jump from Delphi to PERL. If some smacktard needs a full blown course to upgrade developing from VB6 to VB.Net, they aren't really worth keeping.
My issue is whether the time and cost required for such an upgrade is worth it to the bottom line of the business. Every new language or version brings benefits, but also pitfalls. And who looks after the old code you have, when the developer base moves on?
What happens if Microsoft ditch COM and replace it with something else?
I'm seriously sick of Microsoft. It seems that every 6 months there is something new to relearn.
I used to work on COBOL and IDMS, and worked with it for 10 years. In the place I worked were plenty of people with that level of experience in it. No-one had to really go looking up stuff, and the languages didn't change.
People are going to get really stuck - it's already happening. Some companies have loads of languages because the scale of hardware and versions of software improved.
Does anyone REALLY need.net? Sure, it makes things easier, but what about the reskilling costs. I'm not just talking about people going on courses, but getting real solid long-term experience? By the time they've reached that point, MS will move on again.
What can individuals DO about this?
on
Today's SCO News
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· Score: 1
Rather than just posting opinions on/., what can we do as developers/users?
Can we get a group together to lobby SCO to release the code, lobby the mass media, placard SCO offices?
Any ideas gratefully received.
AFAIK It's a business package, although to describe it as "a business package" doesn't really do it justice. It's really something more akin to a business platform.
It has a whole bunch of components for things that many businesses need, like purchasing, that sort of thing. It's also very programmable. My wife used to raise purchase orders on it.
Is this a good thing? You betcha. MySQL is a good database, and this should help it grow - business perception will grow that this is a serious product.
Because the concept of a car isn't completely re-invented twice a year
That's inaccurate, and irrelevant. If you can't reinvent it properly, maybe you should stick to improving it. And it doesn't get re-invented twice a year, unless you are doing it just to sell more software.
Should you be able to sue your car manufacturer if a criminal smashes the window and steals your stereo?
Was the car faulty? No. Was SQL Server faulty? Yes. It's as black and white as that. If a car has a design fault, you can sue their arses.
What joe public wants is a ready configured machine which is free from viruses and does office apps, drawing, scanning, camera capture, email and web.
If the open source community could build a machine with those features, that could prevent anything else from running on it, backup data to a central web server and even "protect the machine from the user" (so no software installs), and would preferably boot as quickly as possible and self-repair via a central update site, most of them would be very, very happy.
No consumers are buying PCs, because anything over about 600Mhz will run any 'consumer' apps.
Apart from people buying laptops to save space and geeks, I don't know anyone who's bought a PC recently. Most folks have a machine that does surfing/word processing/games and aren't spending the dosh.
A PC with a fingerprint ID, caller ID app, some flashing light on a monitor and a telephone.
Is this really the best shit that the giants at HP and Microsoft could think up?
This really smacks of desparation. Anyone who wants any of those things can just get the bits from their nearest PC store and plug 'em in. That's the whole point of PCs - that people can use them for what they want to use them for.
The cost is ridiculous. £1 ($1.57 at current rates) per track. Coldplay's current album has 11 tracks, and I can buy it for £8.99. That's about 80p per track online, posted, packaged etc. Downloading would cost me £11 + media and it would look rubbish on my shelf. I'd pay if it was more like 50p/track, or if there was some deal to get a reimbursement on an actual physical CD later.
Will I get anything except people like Coldplay, Madonna or The Beatles? Will I be able to download Music Madness by Mantronix which is deleted, or just major label stuff?
Will I be able to get the music and extract it to an MP3 player on a Palm device? The article says it can be burnt to CD. Does that mean in CD format, or that the DRMd files can be copied to CD
If I accidentally delete the file, can I re-obtain it as I've already paid (like I can with things like my download licenses for software).
The whole thing smacks of an industry that is desperately trying to offer an online service that suits its needs, and not those of its consumers.
I don't see people switching to it from illegal networks.
On the one hand, prosecuting crackers with malicious intent is a good thing.
On the other, people need to do a much better job of security. The number of people I know who just load up a "cool" piece of software they've been sent by a mate is shocking. Often, it's a.exe showing an animation, when it could have been put into one of a number of 'sandboxed' formats like Shockwave or Flash.
No-one out there seems to think - they just install something that could wreck their hard drive or open up ports.
Personally, I don't download anything sent as a.EXE. I want to know the address of the website I can get it from to ensure it's reasonably reputable, and then check it's been up there for long enough to be safe.
The 'clean needle' approach basically involves making life easier for the criminal group (drug addicts) so that they don't need to commit so many troublesome crimes -- thus making life easier for everyone.
Actually, no. The only thing that stops heroin addicts from committing so much crime is to either supply them with heroin or methadone, or get them off it. Needles are not really the problem crime-wise.
Reply to another comment: I don't think Quake is so exciting for Maasai who have to kill a lion with a sharp stick before being allowed to marry.
For many Quake players, fighting the lion isn't the issue, finding a mate is.
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I suggest it's a combination of clothes being quite cheap (often more so than the equivalent material), and that a lot of people in schools aren't taught it anymore.
Does it pop up and say "You seem to be doing a buttonhole".
People still are. And in the past, people made crap movies (it's just that we filter stuff like most Elvis movies, Howard the Duck and The Black Hole out).
It's just that nowadays many great movies (unlike in the early 1970s) are not box office blockbusters, because hype drives sales, rather than word of mouth. Have a look at European cinema, or films like Magnolia or films by the Coen Brothers.
I remember how people went wild about Lemmings where I worked, a totally original game with excellent gameplay. Given a choice of a game of that originality, but with so-so graphics, and another Sims add-on, I know which I'd choose.
If we're talking about browsers and website features, we're often talking about consumers, and often not uber-geeks upgrading every month. Plenty of folks are still running Windows 95 or Windows 98 and have the attitude of "it does what I need it to".
I buy all sorts of stuff online, like DVDs and CDs. Let's say that Amazon says "sorry you can't use our shopping cart because you don't have the new browser". I'll go to a company that does, or to a local shop.
Ping?
You obviously never used more than one COBOL compiler. Wrong. I've used 2 compilers. Took someone about 5 minutes to explain how to compile on the different environment and I was away developing. I was getting business solutions shipped quickly. Nobody forces them to change direction at the drop of a hat. That is THEIR problem. So, Microsoft are going to be supporting VB6 for ever? No. People are being forced to change. As for reskilling, the languages are the same (except VB). VB underwent changes to fit nicely with the CLR (or something) but it isn't like trying to jump from Delphi to PERL. If some smacktard needs a full blown course to upgrade developing from VB6 to VB.Net, they aren't really worth keeping. My issue is whether the time and cost required for such an upgrade is worth it to the bottom line of the business. Every new language or version brings benefits, but also pitfalls. And who looks after the old code you have, when the developer base moves on? What happens if Microsoft ditch COM and replace it with something else?
I'm seriously sick of Microsoft. It seems that every 6 months there is something new to relearn.
I used to work on COBOL and IDMS, and worked with it for 10 years. In the place I worked were plenty of people with that level of experience in it. No-one had to really go looking up stuff, and the languages didn't change.
People are going to get really stuck - it's already happening. Some companies have loads of languages because the scale of hardware and versions of software improved.
Does anyone REALLY need .net? Sure, it makes things easier, but what about the reskilling costs. I'm not just talking about people going on courses, but getting real solid long-term experience? By the time they've reached that point, MS will move on again.
Rather than just posting opinions on /., what can we do as developers/users?
Can we get a group together to lobby SCO to release the code, lobby the mass media, placard SCO offices?
Any ideas gratefully received.
Perhaps they are getting something from SCO?
AFAIK It's a business package, although to describe it as "a business package" doesn't really do it justice. It's really something more akin to a business platform. It has a whole bunch of components for things that many businesses need, like purchasing, that sort of thing. It's also very programmable. My wife used to raise purchase orders on it. Is this a good thing? You betcha. MySQL is a good database, and this should help it grow - business perception will grow that this is a serious product.
And liberate their IP?
Do Microsoft have the business interaction to be a "services" company?
I recall being taken out by mainframe reps who were on-site on a regular basis. If we found a fault, we got a patch pretty quickly.
At the moment, MS seem to sell their products on a "what you see is what you get" basis. You can't really work like that in the services sector.
Most physical things cannot because they are mechanical/electromechanical, and so are prone to defects due to decay.
Because the concept of a car isn't completely re-invented twice a year That's inaccurate, and irrelevant. If you can't reinvent it properly, maybe you should stick to improving it. And it doesn't get re-invented twice a year, unless you are doing it just to sell more software. Should you be able to sue your car manufacturer if a criminal smashes the window and steals your stereo? Was the car faulty? No. Was SQL Server faulty? Yes. It's as black and white as that. If a car has a design fault, you can sue their arses.
Courts can, and have ruled that manufacturers have a duty of care when they make their products.
But why should a consumer have to put up with buggy software, when any manufacturer who delivers a crap car or pharmacutical gets their arses sued?
If the open source community could build a machine with those features, that could prevent anything else from running on it, backup data to a central web server and even "protect the machine from the user" (so no software installs), and would preferably boot as quickly as possible and self-repair via a central update site, most of them would be very, very happy.
Apart from people buying laptops to save space and geeks, I don't know anyone who's bought a PC recently. Most folks have a machine that does surfing/word processing/games and aren't spending the dosh.
Is this really the best shit that the giants at HP and Microsoft could think up?
This really smacks of desparation. Anyone who wants any of those things can just get the bits from their nearest PC store and plug 'em in. That's the whole point of PCs - that people can use them for what they want to use them for.
Will I get anything except people like Coldplay, Madonna or The Beatles? Will I be able to download Music Madness by Mantronix which is deleted, or just major label stuff?
Will I be able to get the music and extract it to an MP3 player on a Palm device? The article says it can be burnt to CD. Does that mean in CD format, or that the DRMd files can be copied to CD
If I accidentally delete the file, can I re-obtain it as I've already paid (like I can with things like my download licenses for software).
The whole thing smacks of an industry that is desperately trying to offer an online service that suits its needs, and not those of its consumers.
I don't see people switching to it from illegal networks.
On the other, people need to do a much better job of security. The number of people I know who just load up a "cool" piece of software they've been sent by a mate is shocking. Often, it's a .exe showing an animation, when it could have been put into one of a number of 'sandboxed' formats like Shockwave or Flash.
No-one out there seems to think - they just install something that could wreck their hard drive or open up ports.
Personally, I don't download anything sent as a .EXE. I want to know the address of the website I can get it from to ensure it's reasonably reputable, and then check it's been up there for long enough to be safe.
Actually, no. The only thing that stops heroin addicts from committing so much crime is to either supply them with heroin or methadone, or get them off it. Needles are not really the problem crime-wise.
Reply to another comment: I don't think Quake is so exciting for Maasai who have to kill a lion with a sharp stick before being allowed to marry. For many Quake players, fighting the lion isn't the issue, finding a mate is.
Could we bump into ourselves at parties? And would we be wearing the same thing? Think how embarrassing it could be.