Exactly. And another major advantage of SCRUM is that it enables companies to always have a product they can (theoretically) ship... that's very cool for the sales, marketing, etc people...
Linus frequently expresses himself using a type of wry humour which is quite alien to US audiences. It's not bitchy, it just doesn't translate well.
Then he needs to realize this, given the fact that he's at the head of a very important open source organisation, and should chose his words more careful... when these types of quotes get posted on sites like ZDNet, this only contributes to the fact that people think Linux is poorly maintained and has a low software quality...
make CD #1 mostly a base system with xorg and the basic x apps, similar to Slackware's #1 CD, and make a #2 CD with Gnome & KDE letting the user decide to install either Gnome and/or KDE, or users can just download the #1 CD install and get a basic OS booting, and download & install either gnome or kde via ftp after installing CD #1
You do realise we're talking about Ubuntu here, which aims to provide a very user-friendly environment ?
Yes, and due to Ireland being WEE TINY it has a very small market, and since distance isn't a factor on the Internet, the USA would've been a much easier target to reach a far bigger audience...
The difference is that with TV and cable, the content is created for you - you are the creator of your own content with a telephone call. The telecom provider is the same as your cable provider - they both charge on a monthly basis, except a telecom provider ALSO charges per minute.
And well, a TV production company charges the viewer for their costs in the form of advertising...
So I don't think we have to worry a lot about dual-priced telephone calls in the form of advertising and money...
Don't forget that if Redhat wasn't there, someone else would've done it... sure, Redhat is the one who has done it, but in my opinion, there's no doubt that if Redhat wasn't there, someone else would've stepped up and pioneered with it...
Linux users are doing just fine, and the last thing we need is for Linux to be more like Windows.
Excuse me, but that's just plain ignorance. I know of a hell lot of people who really hate windows and would love to switch over to Linux, but it's the little things like these that hold them back. They try to use all kind of thingies over MSN with me, including webcam conversations, but it simply doesn't work for them. Then they're like "oh, yeah, Linux, right?".... and it's things like that that hold them back. Sure, it's not the only thing, but it's the picture as a whole that we draw about the user experience under Linux... sure, it's nice, fonts are prettier (in the opinions of many), but that just doesn't do it...
As far as I'm concerned, there are a lot of people out there using instant messengers... my friends, my mom, my dad, people from work, people at college... it's not just teens using instant messengers, it's a huge community using them.
And yes, I personally miss features like displaying which song you're currently listening too, and heck, since the latest MSN version I can't even see their "mood" anymore...
And yer yer, I could just ask them, I know... it's just that my friends seem to have a hell lot of fun using MSN, and I'm just happy I can finally show people my MSN icon... I seem to be missing a lot of the fun:)
5. Many ads are scripted to invade your privacy without a thank-you note.
Could you please explain this ? Are you talking about plain ol' cookies here ?
In that case, it's not the advertisement being scripted to "invade" your privacy but rather the advertisement delivery system... if you don't mean cookies, I have no idea what you're talking about.
releasing an official guide on why and how should companies switch to Linux.
I find it quite remarkable how the "if" is always missing from these statements... couldn't this guide also be used as an indication whether it's even profitable for companies to switch to Linux ?
There are companies for which it's simply not financially advicable to switch to Linux, you know...
Just as a matter of interest, are you a programmer? You say you aren't a C programmer, do you program in other languages?
Yes, C++ is my language of choice, but I'm also familliar with Java and a frequent user of scripting languages (PHP, Perl, Python and Ruby).
Anyway, what the parent says squares with my experience as a programmer (in C and other languages). The problem with what you are saying is that designing everything up front doesn't always work, because some problems only become apparent once the application is built. For example, you might not be aware of where the bottlenecks will be when you are designing the application. Having built it, it may become immediately apparent. Sure with more information and more experience, design improves, but even then, you can run into unforseen problems.
From what I've experienced, is that when you design as much as possible up front, and have a team of software engineers which actually have a critizing look at what they're doing, you can avoid problems enough by far not having to do any rewrites. Sure, your design might be flawed due to some unforseen bottleneck, but you will not have to throw away code.
Advocating that all design happens up front is returning to the waterfall model of software development. The only problem is that it doesn't work. You might as well demand that all the specifications are accurate up front.
I'm not suggesting the waterfall model - I'm suggesting actually designing the application before writing code, instead of just writing and rewrite as your goal becomes clearer. I'm a frequent user of the V-model and RUP myself, personally I actually think the waterfall model is close to no model.
So, while I might not advocate rewriting every program, for smaller applications it can be a good idea. It is also quicker to write the second time because you are more familiar with the problem. In general I'd advocate rewriting it bit by bit rather than tearing it to the ground and rebuilding it each time.
Well, this might be good for prototyping certain functionality, but really, as soon as you're starting to write something "real" I really don't think planning to rewrite before even starting to code is a good thing.
the first time you write something, it's always hackney'd - and it gets that way till you figure out what you want to do and how to do it - afterwards, it then becomes so much clearer to see ways to clean up the code and fix issues...
Ok, I'm not a C programmer myself, but I do know one thing: if you have to find out what you're going to write after you start writing it, there's something extremely wrong in your process. I mean, whatever happened to actually designing the application ? Thinking about what you want to do makes much better code, and heck, it even saves you time; but yes, it's tempting, it's very tempting to rewrite code... why? Because programmers like clean code...
When you're writing an application over the process of say, what, 6 months, and at the 6th month you look back at the code you wrote in the 1st month, you think "Oh my god, what did I do there? Look at all the mess! This can't possibly be the best way to solve it!"... but if you designed your application well, and the function does what it does, there's no need to rewrite your application - you can possibly optimize the function, but please, don't throw away code that works - it's plain silly!
Anyway, to sum it up, the lesson I'm trying to preach: design before you code, don't throw away...
63 mln accounts or 63 mln users. Big difference. How many of those Yahoo! accounts are for spam.
I think about just as much percent as GMail has spam accounts... at least I use my GMail account for spam... heck, GMail accounts are being used for remote filesystems, too!
Unfortunatly, what the people in charge of big corporations say and do isnt scrutinised as much by the press as much as they should be considering the political power they posess
That's because the CEO's and the like aren't elected like political leaders, but are rather assigned. If you look at it objectively, a company's structure is far more similar to a dictatorship than a democracy ( which is a good thing ), which probably allows the people in charge of those companies to have more freedom in what they say and what they do without being criticized.
is the day that, simultaneously, chickens will grow teeth, pigs learn to fly for extended periods of time and grannies compete in extreme skateboarding competitions while mainlining heroin.
Microsoft gives away free Windows licenses at our University here. They say they support education, but/me thinks it's to make sure every student knows how to work with Windows software, and all Software Engineering students know how to write Windows software...
So, in the end, Microsoft does give away free licenses, but makes money off it anyways...
Amazon has the clear advantage here. They already operate distribution centers in several locations around the US, have experience in inventory management and quick shipping, and can even rent videos at a slight loss for a while, using it to drive business to the rest of their operations.
Well, it will be interresting to see how they actually think to manage all those rentals. If you see what they charge for shipping packages right now, and assume it cannot really get much lower, the actual delivery of a package costs pretty much.
I don't think it's very likely this whole idea will succeed if the shipping fees aren't close to free, so I am really interrested in the solution they will come up with to deal with those problems...
Yes! And I also think computers should be used for scientific reasons only. Quit playing games on your PC, you have a game console for that... and movies? Sheesh, you have a DVD player!
I mean, sheesh, why use the potential functionality of a certain device if you can also do it on a seperate device!
Slashdot Mirror
Oh yeah sorry, I forgot, this is slashdot, where any rediculous anti-patent rants is widely accepted...
Ignore parent, don't feed the trolls.
Exactly. And another major advantage of SCRUM is that it enables companies to always have a product they can (theoretically) ship... that's very cool for the sales, marketing, etc people...
Linus frequently expresses himself using a type of wry humour which is quite alien to US audiences. It's not bitchy, it just doesn't translate well.
Then he needs to realize this, given the fact that he's at the head of a very important open source organisation, and should chose his words more careful... when these types of quotes get posted on sites like ZDNet, this only contributes to the fact that people think Linux is poorly maintained and has a low software quality...
make CD #1 mostly a base system with xorg and the basic x apps, similar to Slackware's #1 CD, and make a #2 CD with Gnome & KDE letting the user decide to install either Gnome and/or KDE, or users can just download the #1 CD install and get a basic OS booting, and download & install either gnome or kde via ftp after installing CD #1
You do realise we're talking about Ubuntu here, which aims to provide a very user-friendly environment ?
Yes, and due to Ireland being WEE TINY it has a very small market, and since distance isn't a factor on the Internet, the USA would've been a much easier target to reach a far bigger audience...
Don't forget about all the fraudulent clicks ey... It seems like they're having a lot of problems with those...
The difference is that with TV and cable, the content is created for you - you are the creator of your own content with a telephone call. The telecom provider is the same as your cable provider - they both charge on a monthly basis, except a telecom provider ALSO charges per minute.
And well, a TV production company charges the viewer for their costs in the form of advertising...
So I don't think we have to worry a lot about dual-priced telephone calls in the form of advertising and money...
Don't forget that if Redhat wasn't there, someone else would've done it... sure, Redhat is the one who has done it, but in my opinion, there's no doubt that if Redhat wasn't there, someone else would've stepped up and pioneered with it...
Linux users are doing just fine, and the last thing we need is for Linux to be more like Windows.
Excuse me, but that's just plain ignorance. I know of a hell lot of people who really hate windows and would love to switch over to Linux, but it's the little things like these that hold them back. They try to use all kind of thingies over MSN with me, including webcam conversations, but it simply doesn't work for them. Then they're like "oh, yeah, Linux, right?".... and it's things like that that hold them back. Sure, it's not the only thing, but it's the picture as a whole that we draw about the user experience under Linux... sure, it's nice, fonts are prettier (in the opinions of many), but that just doesn't do it...
Younger people ?
As far as I'm concerned, there are a lot of people out there using instant messengers... my friends, my mom, my dad, people from work, people at college... it's not just teens using instant messengers, it's a huge community using them.
And yes, I personally miss features like displaying which song you're currently listening too, and heck, since the latest MSN version I can't even see their "mood" anymore...
And yer yer, I could just ask them, I know... it's just that my friends seem to have a hell lot of fun using MSN, and I'm just happy I can finally show people my MSN icon... I seem to be missing a lot of the fun :)
5. Many ads are scripted to invade your privacy without a thank-you note.
Could you please explain this ? Are you talking about plain ol' cookies here ?
In that case, it's not the advertisement being scripted to "invade" your privacy but rather the advertisement delivery system... if you don't mean cookies, I have no idea what you're talking about.
releasing an official guide on why and how should companies switch to Linux.
I find it quite remarkable how the "if" is always missing from these statements... couldn't this guide also be used as an indication whether it's even profitable for companies to switch to Linux ?
There are companies for which it's simply not financially advicable to switch to Linux, you know...
Just as a matter of interest, are you a programmer? You say you aren't a C programmer, do you program in other languages?
Yes, C++ is my language of choice, but I'm also familliar with Java and a frequent user of scripting languages (PHP, Perl, Python and Ruby).
Anyway, what the parent says squares with my experience as a programmer (in C and other languages). The problem with what you are saying is that designing everything up front doesn't always work, because some problems only become apparent once the application is built. For example, you might not be aware of where the bottlenecks will be when you are designing the application. Having built it, it may become immediately apparent. Sure with more information and more experience, design improves, but even then, you can run into unforseen problems.
From what I've experienced, is that when you design as much as possible up front, and have a team of software engineers which actually have a critizing look at what they're doing, you can avoid problems enough by far not having to do any rewrites. Sure, your design might be flawed due to some unforseen bottleneck, but you will not have to throw away code.
Advocating that all design happens up front is returning to the waterfall model of software development. The only problem is that it doesn't work. You might as well demand that all the specifications are accurate up front.
I'm not suggesting the waterfall model - I'm suggesting actually designing the application before writing code, instead of just writing and rewrite as your goal becomes clearer. I'm a frequent user of the V-model and RUP myself, personally I actually think the waterfall model is close to no model.
So, while I might not advocate rewriting every program, for smaller applications it can be a good idea. It is also quicker to write the second time because you are more familiar with the problem. In general I'd advocate rewriting it bit by bit rather than tearing it to the ground and rebuilding it each time.
Well, this might be good for prototyping certain functionality, but really, as soon as you're starting to write something "real" I really don't think planning to rewrite before even starting to code is a good thing.
the first time you write something, it's always hackney'd - and it gets that way till you figure out what you want to do and how to do it - afterwards, it then becomes so much clearer to see ways to clean up the code and fix issues...
Ok, I'm not a C programmer myself, but I do know one thing: if you have to find out what you're going to write after you start writing it, there's something extremely wrong in your process. I mean, whatever happened to actually designing the application ? Thinking about what you want to do makes much better code, and heck, it even saves you time; but yes, it's tempting, it's very tempting to rewrite code... why? Because programmers like clean code...
When you're writing an application over the process of say, what, 6 months, and at the 6th month you look back at the code you wrote in the 1st month, you think "Oh my god, what did I do there? Look at all the mess! This can't possibly be the best way to solve it!"... but if you designed your application well, and the function does what it does, there's no need to rewrite your application - you can possibly optimize the function, but please, don't throw away code that works - it's plain silly!
Anyway, to sum it up, the lesson I'm trying to preach: design before you code, don't throw away...
When you're quoting Linux Torvalds, at least give him the credits he deserves...
63 mln accounts or 63 mln users. Big difference. How many of those Yahoo! accounts are for spam.
I think about just as much percent as GMail has spam accounts... at least I use my GMail account for spam... heck, GMail accounts are being used for remote filesystems, too!
Unfortunatly, what the people in charge of big corporations say and do isnt scrutinised as much by the press as much as they should be considering the political power they posess
That's because the CEO's and the like aren't elected like political leaders, but are rather assigned. If you look at it objectively, a company's structure is far more similar to a dictatorship than a democracy ( which is a good thing ), which probably allows the people in charge of those companies to have more freedom in what they say and what they do without being criticized.
Just my $0.02...
But then the video card manufacturers will not be happy. Remember Doom 3 ?
There's no way to prove anything at all, I do know the video card industry has "pretty graphics" very high on their wish-list.
is the day that, simultaneously, chickens will grow teeth, pigs learn to fly for extended periods of time and grannies compete in extreme skateboarding competitions while mainlining heroin.
Microsoft gives away free Windows licenses at our University here. They say they support education, but /me thinks it's to make sure every student knows how to work with Windows software, and all Software Engineering students know how to write Windows software...
So, in the end, Microsoft does give away free licenses, but makes money off it anyways...
Someone can only improve when he understands his own mistakes...
Would someone with mod points please mod parent funny?
I, for one, would not have thought of that... :-)
Yes, just use mod_gzip with apache.
Amazon has the clear advantage here. They already operate distribution centers in several locations around the US, have experience in inventory management and quick shipping, and can even rent videos at a slight loss for a while, using it to drive business to the rest of their operations.
Well, it will be interresting to see how they actually think to manage all those rentals. If you see what they charge for shipping packages right now, and assume it cannot really get much lower, the actual delivery of a package costs pretty much.
I don't think it's very likely this whole idea will succeed if the shipping fees aren't close to free, so I am really interrested in the solution they will come up with to deal with those problems...
Yes! And I also think computers should be used for scientific reasons only. Quit playing games on your PC, you have a game console for that... and movies? Sheesh, you have a DVD player!
I mean, sheesh, why use the potential functionality of a certain device if you can also do it on a seperate device!
:-)