Given that last time slashdot slammed on a music player, that player went on to become a huge success, it would appear that Zune is headed to be a real iPod-killer.
People who are saying it's a bubble are simply the ones who don't have the guts or the ideas to start a new company and make millions (or even billions) themselves. Stop with the sour grapes!
The OP noted that there were no soup kitchens, and he's right. That's all he's pointing out. Laid off tech workers just got other jobs or moved in with their parents. And many of them are okay now. No one jumped off buildings. No one became destitute. It just wasn't that big a deal. In fact, many of them are now back working in the tech industry or have moved on to other fields.
During the bubble, lots of people made millions, and lots of people lost millions, but for the rank and file, it wasn't as though they lost their homes and became beggars. It was a great adventure for some, and at least everyone got some good stories. NO ONE STARVED OR GOT KILLED, okay? Get some perspective, man. A consulting firm went away, who cares?
How are you supposed to read the minds of the developers to figure out if they "intended" to promote illegal use? Almost every designer of P2P software probably knew perfectly well that the service would be used to trade illegal copies, but they also believed that distribution of legal content is also something that would be promoted. Would it have to be "primary intent" to promote illegal use or just "secondary intent" is enough?
Also, in such "dual use" cases, it's strange to say that the service must be held liable only because the creator knew that illegal uses could be made of it and openly admitted it (equivalent to "promotion"). You end up cutting out all the legal uses too. This is the sort of "chilling efects" that we don't want to happen under the 1st Amendment.
hey, my personal troll moderator -- perhaps you'd like to talk to me instead of down modding every one of my posts? you are showing great maturity there.
This is not a troll or flamebait. I'm simply curious. How do the geeks who work on these projects (especially Cisco engineers who helped to build the Chinese filtering system) feel about their role?
I spoke with a program manager who worked on helping the Chinese, and his reaction was basically that he didn't agree with my outrage. He pointed out that this is no different than working here on technology to block porn sites and helping companies like Yahoo and AOL to automatically filter boards. "The technology to censor is not some monopoly by the Chinese," he said. "It isn't as if I'm working on something that only they use. All that's different is they use some different set of keywords."
Is this the same attitude shared by most geeks who work on these projects?
As a piece of art, it is without merit. Modern art has indeed been pushing envelopes in all directions, and I confess that I don't understand all of them, though some are very good. This, on the other hand, is simply a piece of garbage.
As a piece of technology, I have even fewer kind words to say.
And realistically, you don't understand how creation works. By this measure, Shakespeare should not be read, since he couldn't come up with an original plot.
There is no one who comes up with anything truly original. What is great is how the creator riffs upon existing material. That is how culture is created.
Re:Maybe if they froze Longhorn's feature set
on
Microsoft To Extend RSS
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
Parent is overrated.
This is not a "common" marketing move because it makes no sense. You cannot "lull" your competitors into slowing down -- your competitors do not react to your announcements, they react to what they perceive the market wants and what they think you are doing, not what you say you are doing. Neither does it help to suddenly pop something onto the market when you have been telling IT managers for months to prepare for a release in 2006/2007. MS makes its living by allowing IT shops to phase and plan for purchases and upgrades. Do you think anyone is going to buy Longhorn in "December," if MS magically released it, when they were planning to upgrade their infrastructure and develop and test for Longhorn in 2007? You can bet that they'll wait until 2007 to purchase Longhorn even if it were released early.
So, if this scheme were so "common," how about some examples?
"Street crime" is not dealing in pot -- way to confuse the issue there. We are talking about rape, muggings, gang warfare. If you think the police are effective at dealing with these issues, you are welcome to live in Miami.
Simple as that may sound, that's really the reason why there will always be different genres of sci fi with different levels of attention to science and why nerds will like them all.
We nerds are interested in science and technology for the sake of understanding the system -- the "how" behind it all. But we are also human, and we are interested in how science and technology affect our lives. That is what good sci fi is about: not the "how" -- we'll figure it out, that's why we are nerds -- but the "what are the implications"?
How will changes in communications technology affect our relationships? Will we seek out "tribes" in other timezones who are more like us than our neighbors? (That's Cory Doctorow) Will the technology help bring us closer or keep us further apart? Will the technology make us better sons, fathers, lovers, husbands, brothers, friends? What new emotions will these technologies evoke in us?
Sci-fi is about writing technical how-to manuals, but about mapping trends and thinking out social implications. Note that this is what "mundane sci-fi" is about too. It's just that the trends being speculated upon are closer to us.
Sci-fi is no more about escapism than poetry or music. They are about our innate human need to integrate our understanding and relationship with technology into perspective with our relationship with other humans. Sci-fi simply appeals to nerds more because we also have this tendency to give technology more weight as an anchor of our perspective on humanity. Someone into romance novels just have a slightly different perspective (and yes, many nerds do like romance novels -- i don't understand why, but it would be interesting to find out)
It doesn't look particularly impressive on a resume if you can't even write your educational credentials correctly. Yes, these are small things, but we are nerds, and for nerds small things like this matter. If we weren't obsessive about details, our programs wouldn't compile, and we wouldn't be who we are.
You couldn't be more wrong. The hardest hit folks are the mid-level companies who are having trouble supporting the Mac as it is. These companies often have one engineer and that is their entire "Mac Department." They are the companies for whom it makes the most sense to just drop the Mac version and ask people to dual-boot. The little developers are not in trouble at all. They have a good loyal market (the small mac-specific apps are the reason the platform is so vibrant) and this switch will not represent a hard hit -- if anything, they will force users to buy the apps all over again. Awesome.
He also dropped acid in his younger days. That a good thing too??
Don't tell me you've also bought into the propaganda against recreational drugs. You do realize that some of our most creative people did their good work while "trippin'," right? and no, this is not a joke.
Well, unless you are not a native speaker of English, this sentence parses perfectly. As another poster has pointed out, there's nothing wrong with it grammatically, and that form of appositive usage is very common.
When Microsoft subverts open standards in an embrace and extend manner, it's evil.
When Mozilla (or anyone else does it), it's great! It's good! It's expected! It's the way innovation goes forward!
You are not arguing with any kind of logic. I still don't understand why comments like this get modded up. Sigh. So let me break this down real slow for you.
The problem with MS's Java extensions wasn't that they added extra functionality to the language or the VM. The problem was that they did so in a non-open manner so that no other implementation of the Java language or runtime could replicate the functionality exactly, causing breakage when developers end up using MS-specific features.
The way Mozilla is adding features to Javascript is open. The specs are out there and the code is out there. ANYBODY can re-implement the features for complete compatibility -- including by copying-and-pasting the code into IE. Do you understand this? The boys in Redmond are NOT locked out of being able to achieve complete compatibility the way other developers were locked out of achieving compatibility with MS's extensions to Java.
For the last time: adding features and extending platforms is NOT a bad thing. This is how innovations occur. What is evil is to do so in a non-open manner so that the extensions cannot be copied and re-implemented by others.
Hopefully we'll not have more of these "slashdot is hypocritical" arguments. It's only hypocrisy when you don't understand what was wrong with MS's behavior.
She's right, you know? The school should be hit over the head for not securing sensitive information like this properly. Once your SSN is lost to the world at large, your headaches are never over. A conspiracy of credit bureaus and craven and stupid officials will make your life hell.
This is not insightful. This is nonsense. Those animations? Half the time they are not flash at all, but self-contained executables. 99% of the software you buy at Staples and Walmart run on Windows from 98 to XP.
The real target for Linux is not the hypothetical old ladies. It's people like you and me, who don't need those kinds of silliness that Windows provides.
Slashdot Mirror
Good rant. A little short on logic, but high on the emotion meter. I applaud you.
I love this. Only on slashdot would a comment like this be modded "Informative." :)
Given that last time slashdot slammed on a music player, that player went on to become a huge success, it would appear that Zune is headed to be a real iPod-killer.
People who are saying it's a bubble are simply the ones who don't have the guts or the ideas to start a new company and make millions (or even billions) themselves. Stop with the sour grapes!
Wow, talk about missing the point.
The OP noted that there were no soup kitchens, and he's right. That's all he's pointing out. Laid off tech workers just got other jobs or moved in with their parents. And many of them are okay now. No one jumped off buildings. No one became destitute. It just wasn't that big a deal. In fact, many of them are now back working in the tech industry or have moved on to other fields.
During the bubble, lots of people made millions, and lots of people lost millions, but for the rank and file, it wasn't as though they lost their homes and became beggars. It was a great adventure for some, and at least everyone got some good stories. NO ONE STARVED OR GOT KILLED, okay? Get some perspective, man. A consulting firm went away, who cares?
How are you supposed to read the minds of the developers to figure out if they "intended" to promote illegal use? Almost every designer of P2P software probably knew perfectly well that the service would be used to trade illegal copies, but they also believed that distribution of legal content is also something that would be promoted. Would it have to be "primary intent" to promote illegal use or just "secondary intent" is enough?
Also, in such "dual use" cases, it's strange to say that the service must be held liable only because the creator knew that illegal uses could be made of it and openly admitted it (equivalent to "promotion"). You end up cutting out all the legal uses too. This is the sort of "chilling efects" that we don't want to happen under the 1st Amendment.
hey, my personal troll moderator -- perhaps you'd like to talk to me instead of down modding every one of my posts? you are showing great maturity there.
I spoke with a program manager who worked on helping the Chinese, and his reaction was basically that he didn't agree with my outrage. He pointed out that this is no different than working here on technology to block porn sites and helping companies like Yahoo and AOL to automatically filter boards. "The technology to censor is not some monopoly by the Chinese," he said. "It isn't as if I'm working on something that only they use. All that's different is they use some different set of keywords."
Is this the same attitude shared by most geeks who work on these projects?
As a piece of art, it is without merit. Modern art has indeed been pushing envelopes in all directions, and I confess that I don't understand all of them, though some are very good. This, on the other hand, is simply a piece of garbage.
As a piece of technology, I have even fewer kind words to say.
Truly the worst non-April Fools /. story in years.
Your loss then. If you don't want to buy things on line, don't complain about them not being available.
And realistically, you don't understand how creation works. By this measure, Shakespeare should not be read, since he couldn't come up with an original plot.
There is no one who comes up with anything truly original. What is great is how the creator riffs upon existing material. That is how culture is created.
Parent is overrated.
This is not a "common" marketing move because it makes no sense. You cannot "lull" your competitors into slowing down -- your competitors do not react to your announcements, they react to what they perceive the market wants and what they think you are doing, not what you say you are doing. Neither does it help to suddenly pop something onto the market when you have been telling IT managers for months to prepare for a release in 2006/2007. MS makes its living by allowing IT shops to phase and plan for purchases and upgrades. Do you think anyone is going to buy Longhorn in "December," if MS magically released it, when they were planning to upgrade their infrastructure and develop and test for Longhorn in 2007? You can bet that they'll wait until 2007 to purchase Longhorn even if it were released early.
So, if this scheme were so "common," how about some examples?
This is not "insightful."
"Street crime" is not dealing in pot -- way to confuse the issue there. We are talking about rape, muggings, gang warfare. If you think the police are effective at dealing with these issues, you are welcome to live in Miami.
Good sci-fi is not about good science.
It's about good fiction.
Simple as that may sound, that's really the reason why there will always be different genres of sci fi with different levels of attention to science and why nerds will like them all.
We nerds are interested in science and technology for the sake of understanding the system -- the "how" behind it all. But we are also human, and we are interested in how science and technology affect our lives. That is what good sci fi is about: not the "how" -- we'll figure it out, that's why we are nerds -- but the "what are the implications"?
How will changes in communications technology affect our relationships? Will we seek out "tribes" in other timezones who are more like us than our neighbors? (That's Cory Doctorow) Will the technology help bring us closer or keep us further apart? Will the technology make us better sons, fathers, lovers, husbands, brothers, friends? What new emotions will these technologies evoke in us?
Sci-fi is about writing technical how-to manuals, but about mapping trends and thinking out social implications. Note that this is what "mundane sci-fi" is about too. It's just that the trends being speculated upon are closer to us.
Sci-fi is no more about escapism than poetry or music. They are about our innate human need to integrate our understanding and relationship with technology into perspective with our relationship with other humans. Sci-fi simply appeals to nerds more because we also have this tendency to give technology more weight as an anchor of our perspective on humanity. Someone into romance novels just have a slightly different perspective (and yes, many nerds do like romance novels -- i don't understand why, but it would be interesting to find out)
It's "Master's," not "Masters." See wikipedia entry.
It doesn't look particularly impressive on a resume if you can't even write your educational credentials correctly. Yes, these are small things, but we are nerds, and for nerds small things like this matter. If we weren't obsessive about details, our programs wouldn't compile, and we wouldn't be who we are.
You couldn't be more wrong. The hardest hit folks are the mid-level companies who are having trouble supporting the Mac as it is. These companies often have one engineer and that is their entire "Mac Department." They are the companies for whom it makes the most sense to just drop the Mac version and ask people to dual-boot. The little developers are not in trouble at all. They have a good loyal market (the small mac-specific apps are the reason the platform is so vibrant) and this switch will not represent a hard hit -- if anything, they will force users to buy the apps all over again. Awesome.
He also dropped acid in his younger days. That a good thing too??
Don't tell me you've also bought into the propaganda against recreational drugs. You do realize that some of our most creative people did their good work while "trippin'," right? and no, this is not a joke.
I'm not sure what is more disturbing -- that you made this comment as a joke, or that someone actually thought it was insightful.
Get a grip, folks. This is software, not some "war" for the defense of the holy emperor justifying the use of suicide bombers.
Well, unless you are not a native speaker of English, this sentence parses perfectly. As another poster has pointed out, there's nothing wrong with it grammatically, and that form of appositive usage is very common.
When Microsoft subverts open standards in an embrace and extend manner, it's evil.
When Mozilla (or anyone else does it), it's great! It's good! It's expected! It's the way innovation goes forward!
You are not arguing with any kind of logic. I still don't understand why comments like this get modded up. Sigh. So let me break this down real slow for you.
The problem with MS's Java extensions wasn't that they added extra functionality to the language or the VM. The problem was that they did so in a non-open manner so that no other implementation of the Java language or runtime could replicate the functionality exactly, causing breakage when developers end up using MS-specific features.
The way Mozilla is adding features to Javascript is open. The specs are out there and the code is out there. ANYBODY can re-implement the features for complete compatibility -- including by copying-and-pasting the code into IE. Do you understand this? The boys in Redmond are NOT locked out of being able to achieve complete compatibility the way other developers were locked out of achieving compatibility with MS's extensions to Java.
For the last time: adding features and extending platforms is NOT a bad thing. This is how innovations occur. What is evil is to do so in a non-open manner so that the extensions cannot be copied and re-implemented by others.
Hopefully we'll not have more of these "slashdot is hypocritical" arguments. It's only hypocrisy when you don't understand what was wrong with MS's behavior.
On the contrary, I think these extensions are fantastic. The more we can create sites that won't work in IE, the faster we can bring down MS.
Sounds like you don't know how to configure Xorg.conf properly. Don't blame the OS when the problem is, well, user error.
If you consider 6.6 inches large, ahem, my friend -- then you have indeed been living a sheltered life.
She's right, you know? The school should be hit over the head for not securing sensitive information like this properly. Once your SSN is lost to the world at large, your headaches are never over. A conspiracy of credit bureaus and craven and stupid officials will make your life hell.
This is not insightful. This is nonsense. Those animations? Half the time they are not flash at all, but self-contained executables. 99% of the software you buy at Staples and Walmart run on Windows from 98 to XP.
The real target for Linux is not the hypothetical old ladies. It's people like you and me, who don't need those kinds of silliness that Windows provides.