Every country involved has been told the same thing.
I really don't think this is a matter of mistrust between the US and UK, but rather living by the maxim of James Greer: "The likelihood of a secret's being blown is proportional to the square of the number of people who're in on it."
While it makes sense to try and plan for any and all future possibilities, it may simply be trying to limit the number of people/groups who have the capability--however small--to leak the secret.
Seamless access to shared Windows folders and printers
The ability to write to Windows NTFS partitions
Seamless Microsoft Exchange connectivity
If an enterprise already has a Windows environment, why would they be interested in upsetting everything and installing new Linux workstations? I'm not saying Linux can't perform, but keep in mind that if things are running smooth already, the least of their costs are going to be Windows client licenses. They are spending money on Windows servers for file storage, mail, directory services, etc, so they may as well use Windows as the client software as well. Vista isn't going to be this enormous expenditure because most corporate computers will not upgrade to Vista until the computer hardware is replaced anyway.
This sounds like just another one of these "Linux Is Read and Poised To Overthrow Microsoft on the Desktop!" articles that Slashdot sees every couple months (especially around the end of the year, when next year just might be the Year of Linux).
So, Microsoft has finally adopted the Linux development model?
To call it "the Linux development model" is somewhat arrogant I think. It appears more that Microsoft is trying to take their time and putting in extra effort to make this release literally the best Windows release to date, because the last thing they want is another Windows ME. This process applies to any software group, be it OSS, Apple, IBM, and yes, Microsoft.
To borrow a quote from Shigeru Miyamoto, "A delayed game is eventually good, a bad game is bad forever." I think that applies to pretty much any software project, though of course "good" is relative to the user.
Yeah, now Microsoft's annual sales is only equal to the combined gross state products of Montana and North Dakota instead of that of Utah.
I took a quick look, and Microsoft is not quite there yet. Their latest 10-K filing with the SEC shows Microsoft's gross revenue for the fiscal year of 2006 was about $44B (here). The BEA's records for 2005 show Montana's GDP to be about $30B and N. Dakota is about $24B for a total of $54B (Utah is about $90B [rocket engines and blenders baby:)]).
On a side note: how much money does Microsoft have saved up?
Also in the 10-K filing, it looks like Microsoft has $36B in cash and short-term investments with $45B total in assets (that's after paying over $3.4B in dividends).
The short story is that Microsoft is sitting on a big pile of cash:)
and don't forget that with all these portable mp3/media players, you tube, etc people are starting to take for granted the ability to rip/share media files and do whatever they wish with them. if they come across a windows version which doesn't allow them to do that they WILL consider it to be a bug not a feature.
This is one of the more insightful ideas behind why DRM will fail. Consumers (eventually) will refuse to accept that the audio from a disc they just bought at the store cannot be played on their portable player. They will not accept that the video they just bought cannot be viewed on their computer. The idea behind DRM makes sense: preventing casual copying and distribution of licensed media, but the problem is how to implement that without infringing on the consumer's basic rights as a licensee.
The problem is how these companies are trying to go about it. It seems like the current idea is a complete blackout of fair use, and as media with new DRM is distributed like this switching to Linux/OSS will not be a silver bullet. Until the DRM is broken (and these companies investing millions of dollars in it need to understand that it will be broken), the media will be even less available for OSS users than Windows users. However, once the formats are cracked open, users on both operating systems will be able to benefit and reclaim their fair use rights because of the work of people who truly define the word "hacker".
To borrow a quote, the more they tighten their grip, the more consumers will slip through their fingers--until a critical mass is formed and the entire thing falls apart. Even now, Apple is constantly playing catchup with people who are breaking the FairPlay DRM. Any new method of denying consumer rights will follow a similar path.
Because it is a flatbed scanner! You don't pay $600 for a console without expecting it to perform above and beyond the call of duty (pun intended). It scans, faxes, prints, and makes delicious pancakes, and that's just for starters.
I hear you can buy an addon kit for another $300 that lets it "play games" too, but that's just a rumor I heard on the Interweb. I guess they're calling it the "Xbox 360" plugin (or you can get the "Wii" plugin for $100 less).
I know of nothing that I would consider an advantage in language design to Java over C#, and many advantages to C#.
Two things I can think of offhand that Java has an upper hand with are more powerful enums (here's an example) and a much stronger Collections library (C# is notably lacking a Set collection).
However, as of late I certainly agree with you. I keep seeing "new" features in Java that it lacked until C# (especially 2.0) came out (though it's still missing some nice things like partial classes, passing-by-reference, and variable-length argument lists). Another example of why it's good to have options/competition. Personally, I find C# much more intuitive and easy to develop with than Java.
This is mostly on topic, but not about multiplayer. I've been playing Double Agent for the last few days (on the Xbox) and I must say that I'm enjoying it immensely. I'd strongly suggest to anyone that enjoyed the first few games rent it and give it a try. Even many of those who have never played the franchise will probably find it a great change in pace. The best part is that Ubisoft hasn't tried to reinvent the controls for each game. If you played any of the previous three, you can pick this up and start playing without any problems.
Having just finished the Halo 2 campaign on Heroic, it's an incredibly stark change from running and gunnning to slowly sneaking through the dark until you're close enough to break your adversary's neck. Much fun:)
Every time I see a statement like this it pisses me off. Linux is very inter operable with every mainstream OS except Windows.
I don't think he meant interoperability between operating systems, but rather applications and services. Active Directory integrates seamlessly with Exchange, Group Policy, DNS, all forms of ACLs, and allows easy authentication of Windows users and computers. Exchange connects and works great with Outlook and offers a feature set not yet matched by any open source solution. MS Office applications can simply and quickly communicate and transfer information back and forth. -- The significant thing is that it all just works together.
Also why is it I find Linux far simpler than Windows. You set it up and it works forever.
I know this is Slashdot, and the same discussions are re-hashed in every article about Linux, but this kind of broad sweeping statement needs to DIE.
Linux is not simpler than Windows. You don't simply push a button and suddenly everything works. I just installed Ubuntu on my laptop and had to fight a small war to get accelerated graphics working. I had to change the wireless network stuff so it used ndiswrapper instead of whatever it was the installer wanted to use to prevent it from constantly dropping connections.
I'm tired of giving examples just to have them shot down by people who think everybody is a hardware expert, has the contents of/etc/ memorized, and oh who cares because nobody needs accelerated graphics on Linux because there's no games to play anyway. If the average user (and my install was very average) needs to manually edit config files, then Linux is still failing at being simple to install and use. To your average user these are not small configuration issues, they are glaring *problems* with the software.
you just reboot and pray
Funny, but I find myself doing this very thing with Linux (what's broken? Is it GDM, Gnome, Nautilus? Did one of the services break? Which one? Ah, screw it, just reboot.)
except the game box, that runs 98se (with tweaks for large amounts of RAM of course).
You're kidding, right? Support for Windows 98 in almost anything is already pretty much dead and Vista's release will probably mark it's death. DirectX 10 will only run on Vista. Almost all new hardware comes with no (or crappy) Windows 98 support. Unless you're playing games like Oregon Trail and Starcraft, Windows 98 is *not* a gaming platform.
Don't see me complaining about WGA
WGA problems are overstated. I've never had any problems, and I don't know anyone personally who has (except those who got their product keys from what we might call "alternative sources". I won't say they don't exist, but for 99.99% of legitimate users it's likely not a problem.
or stupid, graphics heavy UIs
I love the dualism on Slashdot. First it's, "Windows is finally getting a fancy UI like OSX and Linux! Geez, took the copycats long enough!" The next day the same people crow, "Stupid XP and Vista GUI uses too many resources! I'm sticking with NT 4!"
I suppose if you have a Pentium II then XP's GUI might be considered "heavy", but in any case, you can turn it off.
I'm living in Utah right now going to school, and while I'm not registered to vote here, that doesn't stop me from jumping into political discussions.
The biggest problems Ashdown has are his stance on abortion (for it), the death penalty (against it), and term limits (against them). In Utah the first one is a significant deterrent, though many religious people will simply try and ignore it because they either hate Hatch or blindly vote a straight party ticket. The other two issues are not as "hot", though it does seem there are few people who want to completely eradicate the death penalty.
1. Term limits for House and Senate
I like all four of your suggestions, however term limits are something I'm not sure about. I think enacting them right now would be a great idea because if nothing else, it would start a process to remove the corrupt career politicians from Washington. In the long term however, it seems that if a person is doing a great job for their state, why shouldn't the people be able to keep him in office? It might seem idealistic that somebody can stay in Washington for more than a term or two without succumbing to the influence/desire of power/politics, but the idea still remains.
nlite integrates ALL patches, fixes, hotfixes, etc
A word of warning: nLite will SCREW UP a Windows XP installation.
We used to use it to create custom automated installation CDs for the various computers in our department, until we noticed a number of inexplicable problems start showing up. Unable to find drivers, Administrator permissions required to access USB devices, etc. We were confounded at first, but soon traced it back to nLite. I spent a couple hours with an RTM XP disc and created our custom CD by hand and we've never had problems since.
Check out MSFN for guides on how to do a lot of stuff, including slipstreaming service packs, adding hotfixes to the CD (I update this every month or so, so when I install a machine it doesn't need to download *any* updates). Everything nLite does you can do manually, and with the added benefit of 1) knowing what's going on, and 2) not screwing everything up.
This sounds like RAC is facing the same problems any other middleman service does eventually. Specifically:
1) People soon start trying to remove the middleman, saving both the client and vendor time and money 2) There are always a few 'bad eggs' in the basket and there's not much you can do about it (and is one reason people start to do #1 above)
I don't think there's anything wrong with RAC establishing relations between coders and buyers, but they shouldn't complain if people stop using them because they've already found a match. I'd much rather find a trustworthy contact for whom I could do freelance development and then stick with them, instead of hunting through offers and making bids.
What? Do you even know what FUD is? Fear Uncertainty and Doubt. It's usually meant to mean the kind of news Microsoft might release saying "OMG Linux is insecure!!!~" or SCO saying "WTF Linux newbs must pay money or we'll sue!!!". Microsoft trying to show some interest in open standards certainly does not qualify as FUD, especially since this isn't the first open stuff they've done.
(no smoke without fire)
Not to be the boy who cried wolf
count the brass tacks
I think we have a finalist for the category 'Most Useless Cliches in a Slashdot Post'. Congratulations, however I've never heard of actually counting the brass tacks (though it appears I'm not alone):)
A nice cosy little world we live in. I had thought that Wikpedia was for the world's use, but i see now that I am wrong. By the flavour of the posts above, it is very much an American resource.
Oh give us a break, and get off your nationalistic high-horse.
Wikipedia and Slashdot originated in and are owned and run by people in the United States. Sure the Internet is a worldwide thing, but don't gripe if a majority of people on those sites appear to be American. If it's that big of a deal, go find different sites that better suit your needs.
and just aboiut any material that doesn't impact on our daily lives, with multiple interpretations would be fine for this
You're saying you wouldn't want something relevant to the present readily available? Why are things that could have a meaningful impact on our daily lives to be excluded? Maybe I'm just an insufferable pragmatist, but I think most people would love to have free and easy access to meaningful and useful texts--technical articles and textbooks of the 'classic' sciences such as physics and chemistry are great examples.
What exactly would you recommend (making sure of course that we don't somehow offend anyone)?
To which you should have replied "PHP and MySQL are normally a part of AJAX". And you probably would have landed the job instead of getting into a semantics discussion with someone who obviously doesn't understand the technology.
True enough, though they weren't looking to hire anyone. He was just asking what I thought of it because I'd told him that I've done webpages in the past.
My biggest problem with AJAX is the popular misconceptions that surround it. For example, I was speaking to somebody a few days ago and they asked me how I would implement some survey widget as a webpage. I thought about it for a bit and told them it would be pretty easy with some PHP and MySQL. I was informed that my idea is "old and outdated". It appears this guy had already hired somebody and he is "coding it in AJAX and Dreamweaver".
I suggested that AJAX is nice, but it's not a programming language, and more importantly it is not always the best solution for a problem. His reply? That I need to get more "2.0 centric". I was done at this point, but not before informing him that Web 2.0 is little more than pastel colors and BS.
Surprisingly, the reason he asked me in the first place is that the guy they hired has been working on the system for the last 3 months with "little visible progress". Oh well, at least he's "2.0" enough for them.
Slashdot Mirror
Every country involved has been told the same thing.
I really don't think this is a matter of mistrust between the US and UK, but rather living by the maxim of James Greer: "The likelihood of a secret's being blown is proportional to the square of the number of people who're in on it."
While it makes sense to try and plan for any and all future possibilities, it may simply be trying to limit the number of people/groups who have the capability--however small--to leak the secret.
Seamless access to shared Windows folders and printers
The ability to write to Windows NTFS partitions
Seamless Microsoft Exchange connectivity
If an enterprise already has a Windows environment, why would they be interested in upsetting everything and installing new Linux workstations? I'm not saying Linux can't perform, but keep in mind that if things are running smooth already, the least of their costs are going to be Windows client licenses. They are spending money on Windows servers for file storage, mail, directory services, etc, so they may as well use Windows as the client software as well. Vista isn't going to be this enormous expenditure because most corporate computers will not upgrade to Vista until the computer hardware is replaced anyway.
This sounds like just another one of these "Linux Is Read and Poised To Overthrow Microsoft on the Desktop!" articles that Slashdot sees every couple months (especially around the end of the year, when next year just might be the Year of Linux).
So, Microsoft has finally adopted the Linux development model?
To call it "the Linux development model" is somewhat arrogant I think. It appears more that Microsoft is trying to take their time and putting in extra effort to make this release literally the best Windows release to date, because the last thing they want is another Windows ME. This process applies to any software group, be it OSS, Apple, IBM, and yes, Microsoft.
To borrow a quote from Shigeru Miyamoto, "A delayed game is eventually good, a bad game is bad forever." I think that applies to pretty much any software project, though of course "good" is relative to the user.
Yeah, now Microsoft's annual sales is only equal to the combined gross state products of Montana and North Dakota instead of that of Utah.
:)]).
:)
I took a quick look, and Microsoft is not quite there yet. Their latest 10-K filing with the SEC shows Microsoft's gross revenue for the fiscal year of 2006 was about $44B (here). The BEA's records for 2005 show Montana's GDP to be about $30B and N. Dakota is about $24B for a total of $54B (Utah is about $90B [rocket engines and blenders baby
On a side note: how much money does Microsoft have saved up?
Also in the 10-K filing, it looks like Microsoft has $36B in cash and short-term investments with $45B total in assets (that's after paying over $3.4B in dividends).
The short story is that Microsoft is sitting on a big pile of cash
Not exactly new....
and don't forget that with all these portable mp3/media players, you tube, etc people are starting to take for granted the ability to rip/share media files and do whatever they wish with them. if they come across a windows version which doesn't allow them to do that they WILL consider it to be a bug not a feature.
This is one of the more insightful ideas behind why DRM will fail. Consumers (eventually) will refuse to accept that the audio from a disc they just bought at the store cannot be played on their portable player. They will not accept that the video they just bought cannot be viewed on their computer. The idea behind DRM makes sense: preventing casual copying and distribution of licensed media, but the problem is how to implement that without infringing on the consumer's basic rights as a licensee.
The problem is how these companies are trying to go about it. It seems like the current idea is a complete blackout of fair use, and as media with new DRM is distributed like this switching to Linux/OSS will not be a silver bullet. Until the DRM is broken (and these companies investing millions of dollars in it need to understand that it will be broken), the media will be even less available for OSS users than Windows users. However, once the formats are cracked open, users on both operating systems will be able to benefit and reclaim their fair use rights because of the work of people who truly define the word "hacker".
To borrow a quote, the more they tighten their grip, the more consumers will slip through their fingers--until a critical mass is formed and the entire thing falls apart. Even now, Apple is constantly playing catchup with people who are breaking the FairPlay DRM. Any new method of denying consumer rights will follow a similar path.
So if the server starts getting flooded, I can make it play the Star Wars Darth Vader theme? :P
I don't know if it will sound quite like that, but somebody has setup their firewall to play sound as incoming packets hit it.
That thing looks like a flatbed scanner!
Because it is a flatbed scanner! You don't pay $600 for a console without expecting it to perform above and beyond the call of duty (pun intended). It scans, faxes, prints, and makes delicious pancakes, and that's just for starters.
I hear you can buy an addon kit for another $300 that lets it "play games" too, but that's just a rumor I heard on the Interweb. I guess they're calling it the "Xbox 360" plugin (or you can get the "Wii" plugin for $100 less).
I know of nothing that I would consider an advantage in language design to Java over C#, and many advantages to C#.
Two things I can think of offhand that Java has an upper hand with are more powerful enums (here's an example) and a much stronger Collections library (C# is notably lacking a Set collection).
However, as of late I certainly agree with you. I keep seeing "new" features in Java that it lacked until C# (especially 2.0) came out (though it's still missing some nice things like partial classes, passing-by-reference, and variable-length argument lists). Another example of why it's good to have options/competition. Personally, I find C# much more intuitive and easy to develop with than Java.
1) A and B go to court.
2) ???
3) Lawyers L profit!
Not else everyone did so well...
This is mostly on topic, but not about multiplayer. I've been playing Double Agent for the last few days (on the Xbox) and I must say that I'm enjoying it immensely. I'd strongly suggest to anyone that enjoyed the first few games rent it and give it a try. Even many of those who have never played the franchise will probably find it a great change in pace. The best part is that Ubisoft hasn't tried to reinvent the controls for each game. If you played any of the previous three, you can pick this up and start playing without any problems.
:)
Having just finished the Halo 2 campaign on Heroic, it's an incredibly stark change from running and gunnning to slowly sneaking through the dark until you're close enough to break your adversary's neck. Much fun
Every time I see a statement like this it pisses me off. Linux is very inter operable with every mainstream OS except Windows.
/etc/ memorized, and oh who cares because nobody needs accelerated graphics on Linux because there's no games to play anyway. If the average user (and my install was very average) needs to manually edit config files, then Linux is still failing at being simple to install and use. To your average user these are not small configuration issues, they are glaring *problems* with the software.
I don't think he meant interoperability between operating systems, but rather applications and services. Active Directory integrates seamlessly with Exchange, Group Policy, DNS, all forms of ACLs, and allows easy authentication of Windows users and computers. Exchange connects and works great with Outlook and offers a feature set not yet matched by any open source solution. MS Office applications can simply and quickly communicate and transfer information back and forth. -- The significant thing is that it all just works together.
Also why is it I find Linux far simpler than Windows. You set it up and it works forever.
I know this is Slashdot, and the same discussions are re-hashed in every article about Linux, but this kind of broad sweeping statement needs to DIE.
Linux is not simpler than Windows. You don't simply push a button and suddenly everything works. I just installed Ubuntu on my laptop and had to fight a small war to get accelerated graphics working. I had to change the wireless network stuff so it used ndiswrapper instead of whatever it was the installer wanted to use to prevent it from constantly dropping connections.
I'm tired of giving examples just to have them shot down by people who think everybody is a hardware expert, has the contents of
you just reboot and pray
Funny, but I find myself doing this very thing with Linux (what's broken? Is it GDM, Gnome, Nautilus? Did one of the services break? Which one? Ah, screw it, just reboot.)
Working...
Working....
Working.....
Working......
Process is terminated due to StackOverflowException.
Wow, this might just be a record. Maybe not all exactly the same thing, but still the same idea :)
4 32473 37259/ 01/1592417 452484 77
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/11/19/1
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/08/10/2
http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/11
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/11/19/0
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/12/30/12432
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/10/16/07621
Congratulations Slashdot, on having sextuplets (though maybe there are other, lost stories)!
except the game box, that runs 98se (with tweaks for large amounts of RAM of course).
You're kidding, right? Support for Windows 98 in almost anything is already pretty much dead and Vista's release will probably mark it's death. DirectX 10 will only run on Vista. Almost all new hardware comes with no (or crappy) Windows 98 support. Unless you're playing games like Oregon Trail and Starcraft, Windows 98 is *not* a gaming platform.
Don't see me complaining about WGA
WGA problems are overstated. I've never had any problems, and I don't know anyone personally who has (except those who got their product keys from what we might call "alternative sources". I won't say they don't exist, but for 99.99% of legitimate users it's likely not a problem.
or stupid, graphics heavy UIs
I love the dualism on Slashdot. First it's, "Windows is finally getting a fancy UI like OSX and Linux! Geez, took the copycats long enough!" The next day the same people crow, "Stupid XP and Vista GUI uses too many resources! I'm sticking with NT 4!"
I suppose if you have a Pentium II then XP's GUI might be considered "heavy", but in any case, you can turn it off.
I'm living in Utah right now going to school, and while I'm not registered to vote here, that doesn't stop me from jumping into political discussions.
The biggest problems Ashdown has are his stance on abortion (for it), the death penalty (against it), and term limits (against them). In Utah the first one is a significant deterrent, though many religious people will simply try and ignore it because they either hate Hatch or blindly vote a straight party ticket. The other two issues are not as "hot", though it does seem there are few people who want to completely eradicate the death penalty.
1. Term limits for House and Senate
I like all four of your suggestions, however term limits are something I'm not sure about. I think enacting them right now would be a great idea because if nothing else, it would start a process to remove the corrupt career politicians from Washington. In the long term however, it seems that if a person is doing a great job for their state, why shouldn't the people be able to keep him in office? It might seem idealistic that somebody can stay in Washington for more than a term or two without succumbing to the influence/desire of power/politics, but the idea still remains.
nlite integrates ALL patches, fixes, hotfixes, etc
A word of warning: nLite will SCREW UP a Windows XP installation.
We used to use it to create custom automated installation CDs for the various computers in our department, until we noticed a number of inexplicable problems start showing up. Unable to find drivers, Administrator permissions required to access USB devices, etc. We were confounded at first, but soon traced it back to nLite. I spent a couple hours with an RTM XP disc and created our custom CD by hand and we've never had problems since.
Check out MSFN for guides on how to do a lot of stuff, including slipstreaming service packs, adding hotfixes to the CD (I update this every month or so, so when I install a machine it doesn't need to download *any* updates). Everything nLite does you can do manually, and with the added benefit of 1) knowing what's going on, and 2) not screwing everything up.
This sounds like RAC is facing the same problems any other middleman service does eventually. Specifically:
1) People soon start trying to remove the middleman, saving both the client and vendor time and money
2) There are always a few 'bad eggs' in the basket and there's not much you can do about it (and is one reason people start to do #1 above)
I don't think there's anything wrong with RAC establishing relations between coders and buyers, but they shouldn't complain if people stop using them because they've already found a match. I'd much rather find a trustworthy contact for whom I could do freelance development and then stick with them, instead of hunting through offers and making bids.
What? Do you even know what FUD is? Fear Uncertainty and Doubt. It's usually meant to mean the kind of news Microsoft might release saying "OMG Linux is insecure!!!~" or SCO saying "WTF Linux newbs must pay money or we'll sue!!!". Microsoft trying to show some interest in open standards certainly does not qualify as FUD, especially since this isn't the first open stuff they've done.
I think we have a finalist for the category 'Most Useless Cliches in a Slashdot Post'. Congratulations, however I've never heard of actually counting the brass tacks (though it appears I'm not alone)
A nice cosy little world we live in. I had thought that Wikpedia was for the world's use, but i see now that I am wrong. By the flavour of the posts above, it is very much an American resource.
Oh give us a break, and get off your nationalistic high-horse.
Wikipedia and Slashdot originated in and are owned and run by people in the United States. Sure the Internet is a worldwide thing, but don't gripe if a majority of people on those sites appear to be American. If it's that big of a deal, go find different sites that better suit your needs.
and just aboiut any material that doesn't impact on our daily lives, with multiple interpretations would be fine for this
You're saying you wouldn't want something relevant to the present readily available? Why are things that could have a meaningful impact on our daily lives to be excluded? Maybe I'm just an insufferable pragmatist, but I think most people would love to have free and easy access to meaningful and useful texts--technical articles and textbooks of the 'classic' sciences such as physics and chemistry are great examples.
What exactly would you recommend (making sure of course that we don't somehow offend anyone)?
Google is all over the news these days. They should go on vacation.
:)
s/News/Slashdot is a little more accurate
Maybe Google bought OSTG when nobody was looking. Might help explain why Taco's omelet is a little heavy on the Google sauce lately.
And tiny illegible fonts. Don't forget the tiny illegible fonts.
:)
Ha ha! True enough.
Of course there's always the exception to the rule
To which you should have replied "PHP and MySQL are normally a part of AJAX". And you probably would have landed the job instead of getting into a semantics discussion with someone who obviously doesn't understand the technology.
True enough, though they weren't looking to hire anyone. He was just asking what I thought of it because I'd told him that I've done webpages in the past.
My biggest problem with AJAX is the popular misconceptions that surround it. For example, I was speaking to somebody a few days ago and they asked me how I would implement some survey widget as a webpage. I thought about it for a bit and told them it would be pretty easy with some PHP and MySQL. I was informed that my idea is "old and outdated". It appears this guy had already hired somebody and he is "coding it in AJAX and Dreamweaver".
I suggested that AJAX is nice, but it's not a programming language, and more importantly it is not always the best solution for a problem. His reply? That I need to get more "2.0 centric". I was done at this point, but not before informing him that Web 2.0 is little more than pastel colors and BS.
Surprisingly, the reason he asked me in the first place is that the guy they hired has been working on the system for the last 3 months with "little visible progress". Oh well, at least he's "2.0" enough for them.