Say Microsoft decided to enforce their double-click patent, how would you find a way around it?
Microsoft cannot be granted a patent on such a thing. What they could patent is the implementation of how events are handled by the system. So double clicking wouldn't be patentable. Under the patent regime today, what they could patent includes the method of effecting a [desired] change after double clicking.
The open source font rendering engine now has the bytecode technology enabled by default. The relevant code existed for some time, but the project felt forced to disable it and advise everyone not to use it due to patent encumbrance.
The statement above makes me worried because it suggests that the Open Source Community could not find their way around these patents for two decades! Think about it....20 years!
That's enough time for an infant born at the time of patent filing to [legally] be a parent at its expiry...and that's a long time folks.
...How do you explain this? Sadly, these fanboys will be outside Apple stores a few years down the road to buy the 'latest' and 'greatest' Apple product of the time...even when it's riddled with obvious defects like the iPhone 4.
After all no one in the industry cares more about the customer experience better than Apple. Right?
Who else might be doing what Google has been found to be guilty of doing? You see, it does not require a lot of sophisticated equipment to pull it off.
Heck, what happens when you are stuck in snow all the while, the spinning of wheels eating away at your fuel? Scary, isn't it?
When stuck in snow, the need to keep warm and therefore keep the engine running consumes fuel. When you finally run out of gasoline, you can replenish your supply via some container. How the heck do you do that if your primary source of energy if a battery? This is the problem.
I have never owned or even driven one save for a golf cart. My experience with the golf cart leaves me doubt as to whether an electric car can deliver enough torque to climb steep inclines.
Heck, what happens when you are stuck in snow all the while, the spinning of wheels eating away at your juice? Scary, isn't it?
Does anyone have the comparison site rendering poorly? I am running Firefox 3.6.6 and I can confirm that the site looks awful. Something is surely wrong.
The graphs and the text just below them appear 'cut off' in a way. Anyone experience this as well?
I doubt you would. I have a 40 GB Fujitsu MPG3409AT-E hard disk from 2001 that is still running yet the so called best Seagate Pulsar - the "first enterprise-ready" SSD failed after less than a year of database usage.
This must be one of the most embarrassing developments under Steve Ballmer's watch. To that end I say furniture must have flown at the realization that KIN was not doing well at all after spending several hundred million dollars.
On my part, I feel sorry for Microsoft and if I were to advise, I would recommend that Microsoft returns to its MS Exchange business suite which worked so well for them earlier this decade.
The trouble on this front is that at the moment, Zimbra and Google both want a piece of the pie, though I believe Microsoft is better armed to win the battle.
Companies including RIM, Nokia, Microsoft and Apple should watch out for Android with its Linux roots. Development appears to be fast. At this speed their lunch is at risk.
What appears to be holding Adroid is "bad" publicity on battery life, the poor organization of the Android Market including poor quality apps and the [subjective] poor user experience on high end phones.
As a matter of fact, the state of the Android Market is severely anaemic because whereas apps in this market are said to number about 75,000 now, having a look over here does not show any figure near that!
To make matters worse, there is no provision for searching for an app whose name you might not remember well. What surprises me is that the market is owned by a company (Google) which boasts of the greatest and best search engine in planet earth! Think about that for a moment.
Now before I get flamed, I know there is AndroLib. What I am talking about are efforts by the search giant Google.
...in its tracks as it tries to delete the targeted applications. Here's how I would like to accomplish my feat, Android being Open Source Software: -
As Google tries to remove the application from my phone, the phone would be configured to ring n a particular way, send me an email telling me what is going on, then block Google's action.
Sad thing is that I an no coder/hacker so I have no idea where to start!
You still do not get it, I am afraid! And that's the very reason that companies like Apple and Microsoft at one point in the past made life incredibly easy for computer users. This is why they excelled, of course making users "dumb" in the process.
You can hardly expect Google to make up for your lack of search skills or memory.
This is the very mistake you make...How come Google now categorizes results of search terms at google.com? Tell me why. I just searched for "House Skills" and had categories of videos, discussions, books, news, blogs, updates returned. So according to you, categorizations work for searches at google.com but not GMail? What kind of reasoning is this?
I'm not saying you don't have other valid points, but searching for such basic terms as 'when' and 'details' instead of something that is unique to the message is bound to return tons of results.
OK..thanks...! People do crazy things with their computers and an algorithm is supposed to take care of such business.
It's not Google's fault that you have 11,317 emails with the word 'when' in it.
Who said it's Google's fault? OK...but when a successful company prides itself in being able to 'organize' the world's information, and is pretty good at it, we as users expect the best. Why not?
First: My suggestion is that Google should put its efforts in making Google Docs at least as usable as Zoho Office first.
How can a small company like Zoho beat Google on usability?
Second: GMail still sucks [at search experience], big time in my opinion. Here's why: I had this happen to me recently...
I knew an email existed but could not remember much about it at all! Yes sometimes, you need a memory trigger for lack of a better word.
My search term was "details" and Gmail returned 311 messages. I also knew that the attachment this message had was in 'tiff' format. This search had GMail return all those messages that met my search criterion but it would have been more useful if Google Mail had gone ahead to "auto-magically" categorize emails with attachments, and further by attachment type and so many other useful categorizations.
This way, a message with a 'tiff' format attachment (which I could not remember) would have been displayed...already sorted for me to see, may be with some kind of highlight. If I had a huge in-box like our folks in sales, results would not be that useful. By the way, I searched for the string "when" in an in-box that had 142,211 emails and I received 11,317 emails back! No categorization at all! Needless to say, these results were not useful.
The current approach is still wanting, inadequate and can be made better. Yahoo does this, so Google can surely do better.
Well, let knowledgeable slashdotters point us novices to a set of a "standard" HTML5 test site to which we can run and establish the fact.
Ohh wait, I forgot that there is yet to be any agreement on the HTML5 standard itself! This is why I think Apple is just bluffing with their campaign against Flash. It also demonstrates the weaknesses we all have to work around.
Slashdot Mirror
Say Microsoft decided to enforce their double-click patent, how would you find a way around it?
Microsoft cannot be granted a patent on such a thing. What they could patent is the implementation of how events are handled by the system. So double clicking wouldn't be patentable. Under the patent regime today, what they could patent includes the method of effecting a [desired] change after double clicking.
Please correct me if I am wrong.
The open source font rendering engine now has the bytecode technology enabled by default. The relevant code existed for some time, but the project felt forced to disable it and advise everyone not to use it due to patent encumbrance.
The statement above makes me worried because it suggests that the Open Source Community could not find their way around these patents for two decades! Think about it....20 years!
That's enough time for an infant born at the time of patent filing to [legally] be a parent at its expiry...and that's a long time folks.
I am waiting for hackers to identify the offending chip(s) then have them incapacitated. Afterwards, we can mod the beast.
Or is it that I just do not understand the issues here? Does my suggestion even make sense?
...How do you explain this? Sadly, these fanboys will be outside Apple stores a few years down the road to buy the 'latest' and 'greatest' Apple product of the time...even when it's riddled with obvious defects like the iPhone 4.
After all no one in the industry cares more about the customer experience better than Apple. Right?
Here's the question:
Who else might be doing what Google has been found to be guilty of doing? You see, it does not require a lot of sophisticated equipment to pull it off.
Heck, what happens when you are stuck in snow all the while, the spinning of wheels eating away at your fuel? Scary, isn't it?
When stuck in snow, the need to keep warm and therefore keep the engine running consumes fuel. When you finally run out of gasoline, you can replenish your supply via some container. How the heck do you do that if your primary source of energy if a battery? This is the problem.
I have never owned or even driven one save for a golf cart. My experience with the golf cart leaves me doubt as to whether an electric car can deliver enough torque to climb steep inclines.
Heck, what happens when you are stuck in snow all the while, the spinning of wheels eating away at your juice? Scary, isn't it?
Heck, the spill has been going on for over seventy days! What is wrong with the 'mighty' USA?
Does anyone have the comparison site rendering poorly? I am running Firefox 3.6.6 and I can confirm that the site looks awful. Something is surely wrong.
The graphs and the text just below them appear 'cut off' in a way. Anyone experience this as well?
I doubt you would. I have a 40 GB Fujitsu MPG3409AT-E hard disk from 2001 that is still running yet the so called best Seagate Pulsar - the "first enterprise-ready" SSD failed after less than a year of database usage.
Bottom line: Do not trust SSDs.
This must be one of the most embarrassing developments under Steve Ballmer's watch. To that end I say furniture must have flown at the realization that KIN was not doing well at all after spending several hundred million dollars.
On my part, I feel sorry for Microsoft and if I were to advise, I would recommend that Microsoft returns to its MS Exchange business suite which worked so well for them earlier this decade.
The trouble on this front is that at the moment, Zimbra and Google both want a piece of the pie, though I believe Microsoft is better armed to win the battle.
...and here's why: -
When it come to the iPhone, folks at Apple haven't told us how not to hold it wrong...so let's wait for Steve's instructions.
I think I have had enough of Apple at this point. I can guarantee that I will jump ship to HTC's EVO phone by December this year.
Now let's wait for the Apple fanboys who will see no wrong on Apple's part.
Nuff said!
Companies including RIM, Nokia, Microsoft and Apple should watch out for Android with its Linux roots. Development appears to be fast. At this speed their lunch is at risk.
What appears to be holding Adroid is "bad" publicity on battery life, the poor organization of the Android Market including poor quality apps and the [subjective] poor user experience on high end phones.
As a matter of fact, the state of the Android Market is severely anaemic because whereas apps in this market are said to number about 75,000 now, having a look over here does not show any figure near that!
To make matters worse, there is no provision for searching for an app whose name you might not remember well. What surprises me is that the market is owned by a company (Google) which boasts of the greatest and best search engine in planet earth! Think about that for a moment.
Now before I get flamed, I know there is AndroLib. What I am talking about are efforts by the search giant Google.
With all these lobbyists in Washington, I have always wondered who takes care of the ordinary citizen's interests in that city.
I guess the better question would be:
Who is lobbying on behalf of Joe Six Pack and family in Washington? Is there any?
...in its tracks as it tries to delete the targeted applications. Here's how I would like to accomplish my feat, Android being Open Source Software: -
As Google tries to remove the application from my phone, the phone would be configured to ring n a particular way, send me an email telling me what is going on, then block Google's action.
Sad thing is that I an no coder/hacker so I have no idea where to start!
...Or has he balanced it already? Looks to me like he has his priorities misplaced. Am I wrong?
...so you're expecting the computer to be able to read your mind?
No sir! I expect the computer to categorize, and I know it is possible because I have seen it elsewhere...even in applications by the same vendor.
I see your point. This is another thing Yahoo Mail does well.
You still do not get it, I am afraid! And that's the very reason that companies like Apple and Microsoft at one point in the past made life incredibly easy for computer users. This is why they excelled, of course making users "dumb" in the process.
You can hardly expect Google to make up for your lack of search skills or memory.
This is the very mistake you make...How come Google now categorizes results of search terms at google.com? Tell me why. I just searched for "House Skills" and had categories of videos, discussions, books, news, blogs, updates returned. So according to you, categorizations work for searches at google.com but not GMail? What kind of reasoning is this?
I'm not saying you don't have other valid points, but searching for such basic terms as 'when' and 'details' instead of something that is unique to the message is bound to return tons of results.
OK..thanks...! People do crazy things with their computers and an algorithm is supposed to take care of such business.
It's not Google's fault that you have 11,317 emails with the word 'when' in it.
Who said it's Google's fault? OK...but when a successful company prides itself in being able to 'organize' the world's information, and is pretty good at it, we as users expect the best. Why not?
First: My suggestion is that Google should put its efforts in making Google Docs at least as usable as Zoho Office first.
How can a small company like Zoho beat Google on usability?
Second: GMail still sucks [at search experience], big time in my opinion. Here's why: I had this happen to me recently...
I knew an email existed but could not remember much about it at all! Yes sometimes, you need a memory trigger for lack of a better word.
My search term was "details" and Gmail returned 311 messages. I also knew that the attachment this message had was in 'tiff' format. This search had GMail return all those messages that met my search criterion but it would have been more useful if Google Mail had gone ahead to "auto-magically" categorize emails with attachments, and further by attachment type and so many other useful categorizations.
This way, a message with a 'tiff' format attachment (which I could not remember) would have been displayed...already sorted for me to see, may be with some kind of highlight. If I had a huge in-box like our folks in sales, results would not be that useful. By the way, I searched for the string "when" in an in-box that had 142,211 emails and I received 11,317 emails back! No categorization at all! Needless to say, these results were not useful.
The current approach is still wanting, inadequate and can be made better. Yahoo does this, so Google can surely do better.
'I want to pay once for data, I want that data to be unlimited, and I want to be able to use it in any fashion I choose.'
Here's what such a plan would feature: A monthly cost of $240. How about that?
Well, let knowledgeable slashdotters point us novices to a set of a "standard" HTML5 test site to which we can run and establish the fact.
Ohh wait, I forgot that there is yet to be any agreement on the HTML5 standard itself! This is why I think Apple is just bluffing with their campaign against Flash. It also demonstrates the weaknesses we all have to work around.
"...First we have to get a standard that everybody embraces..."
Good luck with that...if the battle with HTML 5 is any indication. Heck, what about document formats? Good luck with that too!