"MS will answer the phone at 3:00 am when you call."
So you're saying being able to get some underpaid call center script-reading non-english-speaking drone (no offense to the person who is just trying to make a living) is worth paying money for?
With several or even dozens of components and programs all popping up notices about ephemeral events, the modern desktop can be a total mess, and really distracting. Anything that would put all the various notices into a single stream would be good. In general I agree that there should be no controls on the notification buttons, in general. Maybe there should be a way to click on it and it goes away. I mean, what if the notification is an IM from your lover "hey sweetie, meet at the usual spot at 5:30" and your spouse walks in the room?
I agree. So lets stop dumping these enormous cash rewards and perqs on senior managers that run companies into the ground for short-term results, and at least give that value to people who actually do the work.
Mod Parent up. For whatever cracked reason, these guys took their guild to the beta server and spent hours and days learning the content and getting them cleared. To say they conquered all the raid content in 3 days ignores that they already knew how to do it, they just repeated it "live".
Anyway, good for them, with the completion of all the starting raid content by unrealistic obsessives, we can now start paying attention to the progression of the guilds that still live in the real world and started learning the content from live release day.
about 90% of the time I see people doing lots of branching and merging, it's a response to screwed-up organizations
I'm with you there. Now imagine the what the situation must be like where the STATED POLICY of the SCM group involves continuous branching and merging. And yes, the developers *have* noted that every time there's a merge code gets lost and screwed up -- problems with both the tool (ClearCase) and the skills of the SCM group.
There's a solution to that, if you follow a simple rule.
NEVER check in both reformatting AND any other change at the same go. ALWAYS reformat file -> checkin -m "formatting change only" -> make change, checkin -m "actual change message". Result: "diff current-2, current" has all the meaningful information you want, while "diff previous, current" will show only the formatting changes just in case you have a programming language where whitespace counts or some other pathological line-break factors can change how the code works.
And just to stay on topic: human factors researchers have found that a line length of 65-70 is best for scanning. That leaves 10 or so columns for assorted decorations and programming language requirements (FORTRAN, I'm looking at your columns 1-6).
If the IT folks are depending on locking down Windows for the bulk of, or hell, any signification fraction of, the company's IT security, they got much bigger problems than users with admin rights to their own machines.
No, the IT managers are now using the security hammer to hit everyone over the head for their own control-freak obsessions. Typically what they know about layered security, managed trust, and strong encryption isn't enough wipe their own butts much less manage a complex infrastructure.
You really can have a CSS file that validates exactly with no warnings, a HTML file that validates exactly with no warnings that renders differently in every available browser.
Pixel perfectionist website designers get no sympathy from me.
It'll make life hell for the administrative assistants and secretaries and so forth at that level, and they will be squeezed not being able to get their work done. On the down side, they can't easily tell their bosses, "I didn't get it done because the computer was down", that kind of excuse-making doesn't fly at that level. On the plus side, they didn't get the relatively cozy jobs in the big offices with with fancy furniture by accident. Those types know how to pull the political strings, and will have not trouble at all passing their pain through the back channels on to the folks who should be able to fix things.
I'd hire a couple of hot booth babes, preferably twins, print the text of each of the two licenses on a skimpy/flimsy outfit, and put the babes in them. One could be "open girl" and the other "support girl" or something like that. Make sure to use an 8pt font size so the outfits are a tiny as possible while still holding the full text.
defining a model that is detailed and correct enough to generate release code (as opposed to prototype code) is every bit as hard as writing the code itself.
Harder, because you have to waste all that time and effort getting the shelfware the boss got from Big Company to try to actually work. Am I implying that the tools are buggy? No, I'm saying that MDA tools are created to fulfill a marketing need and aren't ever intended to actually work beyond what the sales engineer shows you. The primary product development requirement is its ability to sell for $kilobucks.
My conclusion is that the author of TFA has a problem with the way the world actually is.
More than once as I was reading the article the author would firmly and confidently claim, "That's not how the real world is!", and I'd think, "You WISH!". It's incredible naivete and perhaps a dangerous identification of self-worth with game success.
One reason I'm able to play and enjoy WoW despite the twinks and farmers is that I don't let myself get worked up about players who seem to think there's an "I Win" button that must be had for fun and self-image. Yes, it's annoying to be in Warsong Gulch against a level 19 rogue who sneaks up, two-hits me, grabs the flag and then runs so fast an epic mount could barely keep up to get a capture. But after I've died and my faction loses 3-0 again, I get up from my chair, have some coffee, or pet my cats or go chat with friends at the pub. Yes, I get some entertainment by setting a goal for my game character and trying to achieve it. But I don't identify with my character's success or failures so much that I want the world to be different than it is.
So Neil Archibald, senior security researcher at software security specialists Suresec, says so, and futher said his opinion is justified because Apple does not use software auditing tools to scan enough of its software. This same Suresec, as can be seen on their web page, sells tools and consulting around source code auditing.
if you then treat wiki edits as change requests to be reviewed and prioritized (i.e. moderated), you'd have a rather useful tool for communications between business requirements, implementation, deployment, and support teams.
Slashdot Mirror
"MS will answer the phone at 3:00 am when you call." So you're saying being able to get some underpaid call center script-reading non-english-speaking drone (no offense to the person who is just trying to make a living) is worth paying money for?
Wow, what an attitude. I'll let Steve McConnell's essay, Orphans Preferred speak for me. Try it yourself, Mr. CEO. See how far it gets you.
Why is redundancy a mess? A unitary design would be prone to complete failure at even minor damage, so would be selected against.
With several or even dozens of components and programs all popping up notices about ephemeral events, the modern desktop can be a total mess, and really distracting. Anything that would put all the various notices into a single stream would be good. In general I agree that there should be no controls on the notification buttons, in general. Maybe there should be a way to click on it and it goes away. I mean, what if the notification is an IM from your lover "hey sweetie, meet at the usual spot at 5:30" and your spouse walks in the room?
It's like, how much more black could this be, and the answer is none. None more black.
I agree. So lets stop dumping these enormous cash rewards and perqs on senior managers that run companies into the ground for short-term results, and at least give that value to people who actually do the work.
When I first started playing pencil & paper RPGs, we had a different name for 'theorycrafters'. We called them Munchkins.
Mod Parent up. For whatever cracked reason, these guys took their guild to the beta server and spent hours and days learning the content and getting them cleared. To say they conquered all the raid content in 3 days ignores that they already knew how to do it, they just repeated it "live". Anyway, good for them, with the completion of all the starting raid content by unrealistic obsessives, we can now start paying attention to the progression of the guilds that still live in the real world and started learning the content from live release day.
Relying on Outlook instead of Gmail's "glitchy" interface? O please, tell me another fairy tale about Outlook's superior stability.
about 90% of the time I see people doing lots of branching and merging, it's a response to screwed-up organizations
I'm with you there. Now imagine the what the situation must be like where the STATED POLICY of the SCM group involves continuous branching and merging. And yes, the developers *have* noted that every time there's a merge code gets lost and screwed up -- problems with both the tool (ClearCase) and the skills of the SCM group.
I've preferred a wonderful pointing device that works on any surface, or even no surface at all, for a long time. It's called a trackball.
There's a solution to that, if you follow a simple rule.
NEVER check in both reformatting AND any other change at the same go. ALWAYS reformat file -> checkin -m "formatting change only" -> make change, checkin -m "actual change message". Result: "diff current-2, current" has all the meaningful information you want, while "diff previous, current" will show only the formatting changes just in case you have a programming language where whitespace counts or some other pathological line-break factors can change how the code works.
And just to stay on topic: human factors researchers have found that a line length of 65-70 is best for scanning. That leaves 10 or so columns for assorted decorations and programming language requirements (FORTRAN, I'm looking at your columns 1-6).
s/infrastructure/the campaigns of winning candidates/
If the IT folks are depending on locking down Windows for the bulk of, or hell, any signification fraction of, the company's IT security, they got much bigger problems than users with admin rights to their own machines.
No, the IT managers are now using the security hammer to hit everyone over the head for their own control-freak obsessions. Typically what they know about layered security, managed trust, and strong encryption isn't enough wipe their own butts much less manage a complex infrastructure.
Pixel perfectionist website designers get no sympathy from me.
+5 Insightful.
It'll make life hell for the administrative assistants and secretaries and so forth at that level, and they will be squeezed not being able to get their work done. On the down side, they can't easily tell their bosses, "I didn't get it done because the computer was down", that kind of excuse-making doesn't fly at that level. On the plus side, they didn't get the relatively cozy jobs in the big offices with with fancy furniture by accident. Those types know how to pull the political strings, and will have not trouble at all passing their pain through the back channels on to the folks who should be able to fix things.
I'd hire a couple of hot booth babes, preferably twins, print the text of each of the two licenses on a skimpy/flimsy outfit, and put the babes in them. One could be "open girl" and the other "support girl" or something like that. Make sure to use an 8pt font size so the outfits are a tiny as possible while still holding the full text.
Harder, because you have to waste all that time and effort getting the shelfware the boss got from Big Company to try to actually work. Am I implying that the tools are buggy? No, I'm saying that MDA tools are created to fulfill a marketing need and aren't ever intended to actually work beyond what the sales engineer shows you. The primary product development requirement is its ability to sell for $kilobucks.
More than once as I was reading the article the author would firmly and confidently claim, "That's not how the real world is!", and I'd think, "You WISH!". It's incredible naivete and perhaps a dangerous identification of self-worth with game success.
One reason I'm able to play and enjoy WoW despite the twinks and farmers is that I don't let myself get worked up about players who seem to think there's an "I Win" button that must be had for fun and self-image. Yes, it's annoying to be in Warsong Gulch against a level 19 rogue who sneaks up, two-hits me, grabs the flag and then runs so fast an epic mount could barely keep up to get a capture. But after I've died and my faction loses 3-0 again, I get up from my chair, have some coffee, or pet my cats or go chat with friends at the pub. Yes, I get some entertainment by setting a goal for my game character and trying to achieve it. But I don't identify with my character's success or failures so much that I want the world to be different than it is.
Better link, from the Apollo Lunar Surface Journal.
The original legendary Omega Speedmaster -- the watch chosen to go to the moon. Big deal? Note that they strapped it on the outside of their spacesuits, exposed to the airless, dusty lunar environment, as can be seen on Pete Conrad's left wrist. A bit pricey, though.
Excuse me, but if the security system has been cracked, how hard do you think it would be to crack any trial period mechanism?
Spy-o-matic Orbitagizmo - Requires: Mithril Tube, Goblin Rocket Fuel, Green Lens, Mithril Gyro-Shot
So Neil Archibald, senior security researcher at software security specialists Suresec, says so, and futher said his opinion is justified because Apple does not use software auditing tools to scan enough of its software. This same Suresec, as can be seen on their web page, sells tools and consulting around source code auditing.