I seriously doubt that there will be another fundimental driver api shift since we just went through that with Vista and we still have plenty of milage to get out of the current generation. You seriously doubt it. Wow. Nice basis for a business decision. The credibility gap is even wider now.
if they don't improve driver quality OEMs get upset Are you talking about the same OEMs who will still be shipping XP two years from now?
if they don't improve thier drivers performance they lose on benchmarks You mean, with video cards for games? Serious gamers run XP. Everyone else does NOT read the latest benchmarks - they just buy in their price range (or with a specific list of features in mind if they're one of the very few professionals who need advanced graphics cards). Know of any performance benchmarks for.... oh, say, printer drivers? Or soundcards?
Well, mr. Anonymous Coward M$ dev, Methinks you should jump ship while you can.
What incentive would anyone have now to provide "mature" drivers for Vista? How can any manufacturer know that their stuff will even be allowed to work with Win 7, when it comes out, or that the driver API won't be as changed as to make the improvements they're currently making to their drivers obsolete?
For that matter, how are they supposed to know that Win 7 will not be another dead horse?
The ascetic virtues are all well and good. I'm glad for you, but... you're poorer than your parents, even though you think you "earn more" - you cannot afford their lifestyle. Therefore, you actually earn less than they did.
The more focused a species is towards one particular aspect of their survival, the more likely that species is destroyed due to change. Ahh... yes. Look how badly specialisation served the crocodiles - or the gingko plant or the sequoia or those damn E. Coli. Everything dies, in the end, but that end may be very very far away.
But that's beside the point. You're confusing individuals with species again. A tendency towards specialization doesn't mean that all humans will be born engineers, now does it?
"I see no evidence that would show that humans are not multi tasking creatures." How many people do you know who have mastered more than one profession? How is it that one-man-orchestras are not the de facto standard for performing music?
I know it is tempting to judge evolution by the trend of a dozen or even hundred of years, but you must look at human evolution of the course of tens of thousands of years, if not more, to distinguish trends. Nice try reversing my argument like that, but what do you mean? Homo sapiens stayed exactly the same the last couple thousand generations - seems there's little evolutionary pressure left.
You're not much of an (armchair) evolutionary biologist. You see, when talking about evolution, it's all about the species, not individuals and about hundreds of generations, not years or decades.
If multitasking really had evolutionary advantages in humans, it would have been selected for, not against.
Humans evolved from other highly-social species - a social group works most efficently when everyone in it has one or at most two narrowly specialized tasks they're good at and do all the time; worker ants don't usually fight well, fighter ants suck at carrying stuff.
Imho, the evolutionary pressure towards this kind of specialization is sure to produce individuals who are able to focus well.
Oh, if only there were solitary predators with intelligence levels comparable to those of humans, so that we might test them to see if they are good at multitasking, thus proving my theory... oh wait, there aren't any. Proof by reduction?
No it wouldn't. It would make for a secret-everything world. Open source is predicated on the existence of copyright. Without copyright, there would be no way to (legally) force people to behave and "pay it forward" like nice little Communists. A paradox, eh?
Hah. The whole idea of the corporation being a "semi-person" under law is deeply wrong and serves to cover all sorts of crap.
Corporations are, in the end just collections of people, bound by contracts (employment, incorporation, what have you) to each other.
It stands to reason that those people should be responsible, individually, for the misdeeds of the "corporation" they're in. Conspiracy charges for everyone!
It would probably take another revolution to implement this, however.
Japan is worried like heck that they're going to be nuked. China is sufficiently well-off and stable that a threat is not imminent from that side, but North Korea's a whole 'nother cup of Pu.
Entitlement culture, eh? What agreed-upon procedures are you talking of? I certainly haven't agreed to any procedures. If voting required me to be able to pole-vault more than 6 meters up, would I be right in feeling disenfranchised?
Do you (assuming you are a coder and contribute to some project) berate your users so when they ask for improvements in your code? I think not.
Why, then, react so boorishly when I say (not even asking anything of you personally) that the tools and procedures used to write, publish and debug code by most of the open-source community (especially the C++ speaking part) could stand (a lot of) improvement?
As for pulling in the entire Xorg tree and tinkering with it to my heart's content, never intending to release anything - well, that'd be mental wankery, pure and simple; plus, I'd _still_ be lacking documentation and a proper coding/debugging environment.
Also, Squeak is a (learning) toy. Is any part of X written in Smalltalk? If not, why in the name of Snoopy are you bringing it into the discussion?
Speaking as someone who's in the business... pretty much, yes. Also, IronPort is on a charm offensive because of the takeover - trying to convince everyone that they won't be less nimble now that they're chained to the big ol' dinosaur in the corner.
Ah. And here the metaphor falls down. Can I, Average Joe Blow, contribute meaningfully to a coding project? Well, no. I don't even have the necessary skills and mindset to file a proper bug (nevermind that it will remain unfixed for years even if I do, 'cause bugfixing just ain't sexy). I need to be able to jump right in and try and fix stuff when something is wrong - grab a window by its notional lapel and ask "what abomination of a function call is drawing you, that you are so horribly misshapen?" then go and take a hard look at the offending code. I'd probably achieve nothing the first ten times around - but the eleventh might be a bug so glaring and trivial that even I can spot and fix it - oh, and don't require me to learn how to use cvs to push a fix your way, mr Developer... some of us have jobs, y' know?
"Working with images can be slow"? Way to shoot yourself in the foot there, buddy; you had such a nice argument going, too. GP's experience mirrors mine, btw.
Oh feh. I've Karma to burn anyway. Here's your iPhone connection: lots of the drugs being pushed through the FDA are just like the iPhone: me-too products with tons of features no-one really needs that are put there just for marketing purposes. How many types of hypertension meds are there on the US market? How many light painkillers? All were pushed out, at enormous expense, because it's that huge of a market and one that responds to fashion just like the cellphone market.
Oh, no... you don't ever mix your rags with your linens. Simple principle of espionage, been around since the world began.
An agent, especially a covert one, needs to have a very clear sense of moral superiority over both enemies and his own sources/helpers (aka collaborators, spies, traitors, freelancers, what have you). If (s)he doesn't, (s)he might turn, be turned, or just abandon the game in disgust.
The guy making that comment has (or affects) zero notion of field work.
Relax. High oil prices and an inefficient economy will make you and your people thin, hungry and angry again, just like your forefathers who built the country were. The revolution will not be televised.
Philosophy schmilosophy. If the ragheads want to bring the world back to the 14th century where they live - well, it doesn't much matter how outdated their philosophy is, 'cause look: less freedom of speech, less unregulated Internets, less flying, less civil liberties, less tolerance... hey! it's working already and it all happened in less than a decade!
Erm. Yes, they do, in fact, feel safer. I have met (in person, that is) people from the USSR who regret the good old days when all vagabonds, gipsies, jews and troublemakers were in jail, leaving the streets safe for "serious people".
Slashdot Mirror
Well, mr. Anonymous Coward M$ dev, Methinks you should jump ship while you can.
What incentive would anyone have now to provide "mature" drivers for Vista? How can any manufacturer know that their stuff will even be allowed to work with Win 7, when it comes out, or that the driver API won't be as changed as to make the improvements they're currently making to their drivers obsolete?
For that matter, how are they supposed to know that Win 7 will not be another dead horse?
The ascetic virtues are all well and good. I'm glad for you, but... you're poorer than your parents, even though you think you "earn more" - you cannot afford their lifestyle. Therefore, you actually earn less than they did.
Ultima ratio regum, aye
But that's beside the point. You're confusing individuals with species again. A tendency towards specialization doesn't mean that all humans will be born engineers, now does it?
"I see no evidence that would show that humans are not multi tasking creatures."
I know it is tempting to judge evolution by the trend of a dozen or even hundred of years, but you must look at human evolution of the course of tens of thousands of years, if not more, to distinguish trends. Nice try reversing my argument like that, but what do you mean? Homo sapiens stayed exactly the same the last couple thousand generations - seems there's little evolutionary pressure left.How many people do you know who have mastered more than one profession? How is it that one-man-orchestras are not the de facto standard for performing music?
You're not much of an (armchair) evolutionary biologist. You see, when talking about evolution, it's all about the species, not individuals and about hundreds of generations, not years or decades.
If multitasking really had evolutionary advantages in humans, it would have been selected for, not against.
Humans evolved from other highly-social species - a social group works most efficently when everyone in it has one or at most two narrowly specialized tasks they're good at and do all the time; worker ants don't usually fight well, fighter ants suck at carrying stuff.
Imho, the evolutionary pressure towards this kind of specialization is sure to produce individuals who are able to focus well.
Oh, if only there were solitary predators with intelligence levels comparable to those of humans, so that we might test them to see if they are good at multitasking, thus proving my theory... oh wait, there aren't any. Proof by reduction?
No it wouldn't. It would make for a secret-everything world. Open source is predicated on the existence of copyright. Without copyright, there would be no way to (legally) force people to behave and "pay it forward" like nice little Communists. A paradox, eh?
Hah. The whole idea of the corporation being a "semi-person" under law is deeply wrong and serves to cover all sorts of crap.
Corporations are, in the end just collections of people, bound by contracts (employment, incorporation, what have you) to each other.
It stands to reason that those people should be responsible, individually, for the misdeeds of the "corporation" they're in. Conspiracy charges for everyone!
It would probably take another revolution to implement this, however.
Japan is worried like heck that they're going to be nuked. China is sufficiently well-off and stable that a threat is not imminent from that side, but North Korea's a whole 'nother cup of Pu.
Computing in general yes, maybe. Working with X, however, involves graphical apps, by definition. Meh.
I fail to see how and I fear it's not my fault. Put up (a cogent answer) or shut up.
Entitlement culture, eh? What agreed-upon procedures are you talking of? I certainly haven't agreed to any procedures. If voting required me to be able to pole-vault more than 6 meters up, would I be right in feeling disenfranchised?
Do you (assuming you are a coder and contribute to some project) berate your users so when they ask for improvements in your code? I think not.
Why, then, react so boorishly when I say (not even asking anything of you personally) that the tools and procedures used to write, publish and debug code by most of the open-source community (especially the C++ speaking part) could stand (a lot of) improvement?
As for pulling in the entire Xorg tree and tinkering with it to my heart's content, never intending to release anything - well, that'd be mental wankery, pure and simple; plus, I'd _still_ be lacking documentation and a proper coding/debugging environment.
Also, Squeak is a (learning) toy. Is any part of X written in Smalltalk? If not, why in the name of Snoopy are you bringing it into the discussion?
Speaking as someone who's in the business... pretty much, yes. Also, IronPort is on a charm offensive because of the takeover - trying to convince everyone that they won't be less nimble now that they're chained to the big ol' dinosaur in the corner.
The worm's been around for the better part of a year now and these features are in it from the beginning.
Ah. And here the metaphor falls down. Can I, Average Joe Blow, contribute meaningfully to a coding project? Well, no. I don't even have the necessary skills and mindset to file a proper bug (nevermind that it will remain unfixed for years even if I do, 'cause bugfixing just ain't sexy).
I need to be able to jump right in and try and fix stuff when something is wrong - grab a window by its notional lapel and ask "what abomination of a function call is drawing you, that you are so horribly misshapen?" then go and take a hard look at the offending code. I'd probably achieve nothing the first ten times around - but the eleventh might be a bug so glaring and trivial that even I can spot and fix it - oh, and don't require me to learn how to use cvs to push a fix your way, mr Developer... some of us have jobs, y' know?
Sourceforge is doing something like this - it just needs to be a bit extended so people can chip in to an already existing pool of cash.
"Working with images can be slow"?
Way to shoot yourself in the foot there, buddy; you had such a nice argument going, too. GP's experience mirrors mine, btw.
Oh feh. I've Karma to burn anyway. Here's your iPhone connection: lots of the drugs being pushed through the FDA are just like the iPhone: me-too products with tons of features no-one really needs that are put there just for marketing purposes. How many types of hypertension meds are there on the US market? How many light painkillers? All were pushed out, at enormous expense, because it's that huge of a market and one that responds to fashion just like the cellphone market.
Oh, no... you don't ever mix your rags with your linens. Simple principle of espionage, been around since the world began.
An agent, especially a covert one, needs to have a very clear sense of moral superiority over both enemies and his own sources/helpers (aka collaborators, spies, traitors, freelancers, what have you). If (s)he doesn't, (s)he might turn, be turned, or just abandon the game in disgust.
The guy making that comment has (or affects) zero notion of field work.
Relax. High oil prices and an inefficient economy will make you and your people thin, hungry and angry again, just like your forefathers who built the country were. The revolution will not be televised.
Philosophy schmilosophy. If the ragheads want to bring the world back to the 14th century where they live - well, it doesn't much matter how outdated their philosophy is, 'cause look: less freedom of speech, less unregulated Internets, less flying, less civil liberties, less tolerance... hey! it's working already and it all happened in less than a decade!
Erm. Yes, they do, in fact, feel safer. I have met (in person, that is) people from the USSR who regret the good old days when all vagabonds, gipsies, jews and troublemakers were in jail, leaving the streets safe for "serious people".
Yess! An anti-Nazi German grammar Nazi! You've just made my day.
Nah. They already do raids. This is just them trying to pass the expenses to the taxpayer.
Where are my mod points when I need them? It's the first I've laughed this week. Thank you, sir.