Actually, 10 minutes was about right on top of reading about it. And I'm not dissing it, because I'm trying it out for myself. I was thinking more along the lines of how people often look for things a language doesn't do (eg scale up, offer certain enterprise features) when sometimes they aren't important.
I'm a few hours into RoR now, having been through a tutorial and got a CRUD form customized with a table and all that and whilst I don't understand a few things about it, current feeling is a big WOW!
And yes, I'm picking my way through Ruby, which I already like the feel of. I already feel that I'd never want to go near PHP again.
To be honest, I didn't know how easy SOAP was or otherwise. It was more a comment on the notion that everything has to be scalable and have all the features of the biggest languages around. Sometimes, features don't matter - speed of development and simplicity of maintenance do.
I hope you understand, it was in reply to a comment. I wasn't dissing Rails, it's just that often I've heard everything drawn in terms of massive enterprise applications, and not everything is such an application.
From what I've seen so far (trying it out), RoR has its place.
It's a little bit like using something like MS Access. If you play along with MS Access, and don't try and do things that it doesn't do particularly well, then you can actually build desktop database systems very quickly. If you try and go outside of the "Access way", it becomes a quagmire.
There are tens of thousands of sites out there that don't need to have queues, SOAP, RMI etc. They might be someone's list of restaurant reviews or something. Maybe RoR has a good place for that.
There's no such thing as a "socialist libertarian". The term used (acquired) for such people is "liberal". The term libertarian came along because the socialists took the word "liberal", as though more state control is a liberal thing.
I think the "promote IT development" is a biggy. Even if Linux costs about the same as Microsoft, it probably means you are employing more people doing installation/tuning in your country.
I know a lot of people who go holidaying in all kinds of exotic locations. What do they do there? Exactly what they'd do somewhere closer to home - sit on a beach.
I think there are plenty of people who just want it for the bragging rights.
I read some things about how much he made Spy Kids for, and it sounded like small beans.
Apparantly, he does a heck of a lot of the production work himself, and he's a proper "guerilla filmmaker". He does stuff, it seems, as cheap as he can.
My experience is that it's not even Paris, it's the most tourist infested areas of Paris. Head out a little from the sights and people are as normal and friendly as elsewhere.
It's an interesting indicator of the future. I know people are saying "I WANT MY PC" now, but for many millions of users, they just want their information.
I'm doing more and more non-software work. I'd rather keep my PC from getting cluttered and have a browser interface to a lot of applications.
The first time that someone has a file that they can't play somewhere, they will wake up.
Remember this is geek territory right now.
To give you another way of looking at it, a friend of mine is a biker and one day was telling me about how the bike clubs were protesting laws trying to protect bike companies from replica parts. Do I know about that? No, because I'm not a biker. Were I to become a biker, it would become an issue.
Right now, most people aren't using DRM and the like, or haven't been using it for a time. But, when someone finds that their download doesn't work elsewhere, or if their PC gets destroyed, that they didn't back it up or some such, it will become an issue.
It's a little bit like security. People are rarely pro-active about it. Only when they've had their machines destroyed by a virus do they start backing up.
Try and think of it in terms of things like DVD rental.
I have some DVDs that I've bought and some that I have rented, enjoyed and moved on.
Occassionally, I purge my CDs and find the ones that I listened to for a few months, got bored with and never listened to again. On the other hand, I have "keepers", CDs that I bought 10 or more years ago, that still get brought out and played.
To look at the figures another way - with Napster To Go, you can spend $15 and get to try out literally millions of tracks for a decent time. With iTunes, you have to hand over the money first. Spending $10 on iTunes may mean you get something great that stands the test of time, or $10 on some downloads that you aren't too bothered about.
The problem for Microsoft could be that Google is just THE search application now. I know no-one who uses anything else, and I'd feel pretty mad using a PC that constantly tried to badger me towards MSN Search.
I think it's going to be really hard for Microsoft to defeat online apps, if that is their aim. They are too detached from the PC. If they try and break them, they won't win.
My point was that committing the crime of shoplifting is punished hard and rightly so. If you steal a $1 item, you'll get a lot more than a $1 fine. A LOT MORE.
Most people considering shoplifting to be immoral, and the penalties are severe. Most companies when they break the law, however, get such derisory fines compared to their size that it rarely acts as a deterrent.
I know folks still writing code in COBOL 74. Still works. Their mainframe manufacturers still support the compiler. That's 30 years of support and continuing.
Who wants to lose mature and reliable code after 10 years if it still does the job?
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I'm a few hours into RoR now, having been through a tutorial and got a CRUD form customized with a table and all that and whilst I don't understand a few things about it, current feeling is a big WOW!
And yes, I'm picking my way through Ruby, which I already like the feel of. I already feel that I'd never want to go near PHP again.
To be honest, I didn't know how easy SOAP was or otherwise. It was more a comment on the notion that everything has to be scalable and have all the features of the biggest languages around. Sometimes, features don't matter - speed of development and simplicity of maintenance do.
I hope you understand, it was in reply to a comment. I wasn't dissing Rails, it's just that often I've heard everything drawn in terms of massive enterprise applications, and not everything is such an application.
It's a little bit like using something like MS Access. If you play along with MS Access, and don't try and do things that it doesn't do particularly well, then you can actually build desktop database systems very quickly. If you try and go outside of the "Access way", it becomes a quagmire.
There are tens of thousands of sites out there that don't need to have queues, SOAP, RMI etc. They might be someone's list of restaurant reviews or something. Maybe RoR has a good place for that.
There's no such thing as a "socialist libertarian". The term used (acquired) for such people is "liberal". The term libertarian came along because the socialists took the word "liberal", as though more state control is a liberal thing.
And how well does it spend the money it receives?
I think the "promote IT development" is a biggy. Even if Linux costs about the same as Microsoft, it probably means you are employing more people doing installation/tuning in your country.
Seriously, the people who might want this version are people who don't like WMP and will probably know that there are alternatives.
I think there are plenty of people who just want it for the bragging rights.
Apparantly, he does a heck of a lot of the production work himself, and he's a proper "guerilla filmmaker". He does stuff, it seems, as cheap as he can.
My experience is that it's not even Paris, it's the most tourist infested areas of Paris. Head out a little from the sights and people are as normal and friendly as elsewhere.
I'm doing more and more non-software work. I'd rather keep my PC from getting cluttered and have a browser interface to a lot of applications.
Remember this is geek territory right now.
To give you another way of looking at it, a friend of mine is a biker and one day was telling me about how the bike clubs were protesting laws trying to protect bike companies from replica parts. Do I know about that? No, because I'm not a biker. Were I to become a biker, it would become an issue.
Right now, most people aren't using DRM and the like, or haven't been using it for a time. But, when someone finds that their download doesn't work elsewhere, or if their PC gets destroyed, that they didn't back it up or some such, it will become an issue.
It's a little bit like security. People are rarely pro-active about it. Only when they've had their machines destroyed by a virus do they start backing up.
In one area, project management, people are switching to a lot of online services hosting their project plans.
I think we will see a lot of businesses start to rent services (like maybe for their accounts), with their PCs running not much else.
The early days of Channel 5 were rubbish, but to be honest, so was early Channel 4.
I have some DVDs that I've bought and some that I have rented, enjoyed and moved on.
Occassionally, I purge my CDs and find the ones that I listened to for a few months, got bored with and never listened to again. On the other hand, I have "keepers", CDs that I bought 10 or more years ago, that still get brought out and played.
To look at the figures another way - with Napster To Go, you can spend $15 and get to try out literally millions of tracks for a decent time. With iTunes, you have to hand over the money first. Spending $10 on iTunes may mean you get something great that stands the test of time, or $10 on some downloads that you aren't too bothered about.
And 128k sucks. Fine for a PC with cheap speakers, rubbish for hi-fi.
What sort of a trial is that? How many songs are you going to get for 11MB?
I caught a little of "chewin the fat" and thought it was a bit ropey, but Naked Video was pretty good. Rab C Nesbitt too.
Too many sketch shows follow the exact formula of Not the Nine O'Clock News, but Absolutely went outside that.
I think it's going to be really hard for Microsoft to defeat online apps, if that is their aim. They are too detached from the PC. If they try and break them, they won't win.
A 1GB USB stick may suit you because it's portable. It carries all your data. You can go to someone else's PC and retrieve your data.
Now, what about the programs? What about security? What about sharing of data?
Centralised systems sometimes make a lot more sense.
My point was that committing the crime of shoplifting is punished hard and rightly so. If you steal a $1 item, you'll get a lot more than a $1 fine. A LOT MORE.
Most people considering shoplifting to be immoral, and the penalties are severe. Most companies when they break the law, however, get such derisory fines compared to their size that it rarely acts as a deterrent.
I know guys doing mainframe COBOL for 20+ years.
Things should be changed to improve the users experience, not just because it's expedient for the vendor's profit margins.
Maybe businesses will learn something from this.
I know folks still writing code in COBOL 74. Still works. Their mainframe manufacturers still support the compiler. That's 30 years of support and continuing.
Who wants to lose mature and reliable code after 10 years if it still does the job?