No, but do you have proof that Monsanto existed before mankind was created? Or for that matter, proof that anything at all existed before man that caused mankind to be created?
What you're quibbling over is a nit. Whether it's supernatural or some alien being (that pretty much covers anything outside the realm of supernatural as far as Intelligent Design) that was created by another alien being and so on (that is, if one were to follow ID), it doesn't freaking matter.
So, they think that because they made themselves free, that has to obligate everyone to stare at their ads?
Have they ever heard of a "pay site"? The reason they make their sites and content freely available is because their competitors do it too. They make their sites free to compete with other websites, but then they automatically expect people to be obligated to stare at their ads.
Why do people measure the quality of a piece of software by how often it's patched? If a piece of software runs well and does the job, then it's a good piece of software. If a piece of software does not run well and does not succeed in doing the job, then it needs to be patched frequently. If AppleWorks worked well for folks, then why was it dead years ago because no one patched holes that weren't there? As for adding features, you only add features, hopefully, when you seriously NEED to add a feature. Otherwise, it's called BLOAT.
You kill off a piece of software when you want to sell something new and justify paying developers to rewrite the whole thing. Mostly, it's a marketing move in order to move new product by engendering "excitement" in suckers who think that their old functional tool isn't any good anymore.
I'm sorry. All I get out of this article, and Zemlin's statement, is pure sarcasm. Things Microsoft does well, including good marketing and chasing off competition? If that's a complement, that's really underhanded.
A complement would be "Microsoft did a great job signing up and restricting certain hardware companies to make drivers only for their own operating system..." wait, no, that's not a complement at all. Oh, here's one: "Microsoft did an excellent job copying core functionality of the Mac during the genesis of their own GUI..." Oh, wait, sorry, that's not a complement either.
Seriously, a complement and an embrace would be something along the lines of "Gee, we really need to respect Microsoft's dedication to creating a really great foundation of tools for third party developers, and maybe see if we can do that too."
I guess maybe because I AM a developer and not a marketer, I just don't see the respect in "they market better than us".
When you can just steal a lot of other people's ideas, break public licenses (such as the GPL), use substandard materials, and profit away!
Lets see them try to even come close to Apple's support and server side infrastructure. That's the part they always cheese out on, because it actually requires research and money.
Considering that the major blocker for the average person in regards to making the switch to Linux happens to be driver support, then yes, it could make it easier for "soccer moms and grandmothers". Of course, that should be pretty obvious from even the article summary.
Is always at fault in cases such as this. A lack of investment in quality assurance processes is virtually always to blame. The casino/slot machine owner has the right to sue the publisher.
It is NOT the programmer, unless the programmer is also the publisher. It is not the programmer's job, nor is it considered an acceptable practice, for the programmer to perform all of the quality assurance testing. If the publisher sells it, the publisher takes full responsibility for it. Period.
Throwing the users in jail because they know that software is faulty on a slot machine? How are they really supposed to prove that the users knew? Can they afford to make that same assumption that just because several players got lucky at the same time and won at another slot machine, that they were all in collusion? Can casino owners afford to scare off their customers by canning customers who get lucky? That is one of the risks you take when you get into the gambling business. If you jail your customers for winning, people will go elsewhere and you will go out of business. Only a very stupid casino owner would even dare try to do such a thing. He has legal recourse against the publisher and that is it.
First, create a code standard. This takes a whole team, and not one developer who has personal preferences they cannot back up with reasonably sound advantages.
Second, establish code reviews. If your code does not meet standard, you highlight the section, function, object, etc. and you schedule a refactoring task.
If you're not doing either, then sure, you're going to produce "cruddy" code. I'd say if you're not doing those two things, either you have a really small team that is just magically on the same page, or you're basically working without a real structure.
Code that someone, anyone, on the team is not going to like will occur under a lack of a proper team system. What is pretty to one developer is a kludge to another, I've found (over and over again). What is sleek and efficient to a developer with an embedded background, may be perceived as inflexible by someone with a web/server side or modular applications background. Also, just because a junior developer doesn't like some code, does not always mean he has headlights in his eyes, so to speak. If a developer wants to rewrite something because he doesn't understand it, sitting down and working out coding standards will prevent them from rewriting it some way that someone else won't like. It will help them get a better grasp of the code. But most importantly, if the code IS a kludge, then the team will have their attention brought to it.
Because Microsoft pushed its software into colleges for free. Not only that, it gave them money and told them to use their software. This is just generally widespread accepted truth, there really isn't anything new here.
Before Microsoft chose that plan of action, CompSci grads generally were proficient in DOS, Minix, Unix, Windows, Mac, etc. A wide variety of systems, which produces developers who have enough tools to work on a wide variety of platforms. Now, all platforms but Microsoft platforms are generally treated as footnotes by your run-of-the-mill state college. Windows was one of many choices...now, it's pretty much the only choice of development environment. I was in school when we went from being fairly open to being a closed MS environment. One summer, all the machines in our computer labs were "upgraded" to Windows NT 4. The cost for the upgrade came in part directly from Microsoft.
I certainly don't use a touch screen to make phone calls, though I've seen people's phones that have been used heavily for such. Nor do I use a touch screen for instant messaging. I use a stylus when I use a touch screen. It essentially eliminates grease on the screen, though it is far more annoying than being able to push some buttons.
Also, if I were blind, it would also be rather tricky to find those touchscreen buttons by feel. When you're lining up your fingers on the keypad, you'd just have to get lucky. With actual buttons, you can find them by touch. This also is applied to using the handheld in certain situations, such as driving (and yes, it's horribly wrong to use your handheld while driving, but that bit of wisdom certainly doesn't seem to stop 80% of smartphone users out there).
There's a lot more I can get into as well. There have been many times where customers of mine have literally demanded that their target users do NOT use the touch screen for many different reasons.
Just a bit from someone who has developed software and systems around handhelds for several years now and has to use them heavily on a regular basis. One other thing, the iPhone is a device that is almost entirely marketed towards a large segment of the Slashdot crowd. It does far more than the average person really cares about, isn't really focused at text messaging and email the way Treos and Blackberries are, and is a pain to deal with in regards to actually getting them and getting service for them. Just because you really love Apple's products, doesn't mean you're the most unbiased source of an opinion about smartphones.
It's really a test of ancient MacOS vs. Windows rather than a processor test. I think that's obvious, though, but the title of the article doesn't really do that braindead obvious point much justice.
The saddest thing about that joke is how many people take such an inane thing seriously. If you were given a name that sounded like Hitler, should that also prevent someone from running for president? I don't get how many sheep can actually take that seriously. I guess that's the 50% "less than 100 IQ" folks that comprise our citizenship for ya.
The thing I like about Obama is that unlike most of these other candidates (and I include Ron Paul), he doesn't have to thump his chest about technical friendliness. However, one of the first things he did was to pass legislation to fund the establishment of a website that allows taxpayers to see where all their taxpayer dollars are going. He's said that networking the middle of this country, instead of primarily the coastal regions where property values are insane, is a priority of his. His online and grassroots support base is pretty seriously potent, and most of that was built up with a strong online presence (most of these politicians think that all they have to do is put a few of their ads up on the YouTube, and presto, they'll be huge). Granted, much of that has been facilitated by having saavy people onboard, but it takes one to spot the talent.
Of course, you can get onboard with a libertarian like Ron Paul, and you can put your faith in corporations to reduce their greenhouse emissions. Generally, they're usually focused on skimping and saving cash in order to placate some shareholders, and not so focused on spending more to do something good for the rest of us, but hey, maybe we could all get REAL lucky.
It would be hilarious if they did try to collect that 1.65 trillion. I can just imagine it:
AllOfMp3/PirateBay/et al: "We don't charge anything near that for our service, we just make enough on ad banners to justify paying for most of our server accounts and bandwidth"
RIAA: "Then we will force you all into servitude for the rest of your lives, and your children's lives!"
AllOfMp3/PirateBay/et al: "But we're geeks! There's a very high likelihood that we won't ever have kids!"
RIAA: (thinking) "Hmm...this may be true, and if it is, we'll probably only be able to collect on several million, and that's nowhere near 1.65 trillion...guess we'll have to go back to backdooring college kids and grannies computers again, and up the ante to 150k per file"
The scariest, yet most hilarious, thing about that is that from all indications, that could actually happen. (I say hilarious, because it shows exactly how insane and out of touch with reality the RIAA really is)
Sorry to answer this for the umpteenth time, but black electric tape works too. Of course, I keep my machines out of my bedroom if at all possible, but if that's not an option, black electric tape pretty much kills just about all leds even better than sharpies. And you can peel it off if you want the light later on, too.
I mean, sorry to double post, but the larger variety of black screen fade out virtual sex options. Darn slashdot switching the preview and submit buttons order around on me.
Quit. Seriously, if they get caught, how much do you want to bet they'll try and say that it was all you just "trying to save money for his boss"? There's a real good chance that your boss won't take accountability for his actions and the organization will not either. You can bet they'll do anything they can to delete any evidence either, including confiscating your work PC before the feds have a chance to look at it.
If they won't install free software, and they demand that you do the actual legwork of the piracy, then leave and let them do it themselves. If you feel rather altruistic, you could file a complaint anonymously. Most legitimate companies pay a lot of money for software, and they aren't going to NOT hire you because you refused to install pirated material.
I have been there before, and know exactly what you're going through. If your superior demands that you install something illegal, then don't do it. If they fire you for that, then report them for it. Chances are, they'll realize that you'll do that and they'll back down, or if they do go through with it, they're idiots.
They do have the rights to call their new OS PalmOS, they bought the rights back. Access has ALP, which will probably be marketed at third party competitors. Palm has been developing their Palm/Linux OS now for at least 24 months or so. I went to the last Palmsource before everything spun every which way (when they were still trying to get people to license Cobalt), and I actually saw a preview of the next Palm/Linux OS. Strangely enough, it was demoed by a PALM employee, and not a PALMSOURCE employee (back when the company was Palm=Hardware, Palmsource=Software). Since then, I have been in touch with people, I've visited Palm's headquarters, and every time I've come away thinking "wow, these guys are really hiring a lot of engineers, I could swear they've just added 50 more cubicles to this maze". It all makes sense and there's quite a rundown on Palminfocenter.
That is precisely how I work with my Tapwave Zodiac and my bluetooth headset. The technology to do so has been around for years, it just takes someone smart enough to figure out that it's already out there and all they have to do is put it together. And all without having to touch a screwdriver!
These departments usually don't authorize upgrades because they're afraid they would have to hire someone to gut out the ActiveX garbage that they bought off on several years ago and replace it with more securely designed controls.
No, they won't give a crap. They just care if it plays well. If their mp3s suddenly stop playing due to DRM restrictions, and there's a version that works, they'll figure out that they need a player that plays the version that works. They'll go download the ones with the funny "ogg" extension, just like they did years ago when suddenly, Lycos, Yahoo, and all those other funny web browsers got so cluttered and unusable that they had to use this funny sounding web browser called Google. Besides, most music players have had ogg support for years. I play them on my old Tapwave Zodiac running PalmOS 5.4, and they're on the same SD card I used with my "ancient" Tungsten T to do the same.
Slashdot Mirror
No, but do you have proof that Monsanto existed before mankind was created? Or for that matter, proof that anything at all existed before man that caused mankind to be created? What you're quibbling over is a nit. Whether it's supernatural or some alien being (that pretty much covers anything outside the realm of supernatural as far as Intelligent Design) that was created by another alien being and so on (that is, if one were to follow ID), it doesn't freaking matter.
So, they think that because they made themselves free, that has to obligate everyone to stare at their ads?
Have they ever heard of a "pay site"? The reason they make their sites and content freely available is because their competitors do it too. They make their sites free to compete with other websites, but then they automatically expect people to be obligated to stare at their ads.
That's rich.
Why do people measure the quality of a piece of software by how often it's patched? If a piece of software runs well and does the job, then it's a good piece of software. If a piece of software does not run well and does not succeed in doing the job, then it needs to be patched frequently. If AppleWorks worked well for folks, then why was it dead years ago because no one patched holes that weren't there? As for adding features, you only add features, hopefully, when you seriously NEED to add a feature. Otherwise, it's called BLOAT.
You kill off a piece of software when you want to sell something new and justify paying developers to rewrite the whole thing. Mostly, it's a marketing move in order to move new product by engendering "excitement" in suckers who think that their old functional tool isn't any good anymore.
I'm sorry. All I get out of this article, and Zemlin's statement, is pure sarcasm. Things Microsoft does well, including good marketing and chasing off competition? If that's a complement, that's really underhanded.
A complement would be "Microsoft did a great job signing up and restricting certain hardware companies to make drivers only for their own operating system..." wait, no, that's not a complement at all. Oh, here's one: "Microsoft did an excellent job copying core functionality of the Mac during the genesis of their own GUI..." Oh, wait, sorry, that's not a complement either.
Seriously, a complement and an embrace would be something along the lines of "Gee, we really need to respect Microsoft's dedication to creating a really great foundation of tools for third party developers, and maybe see if we can do that too."
I guess maybe because I AM a developer and not a marketer, I just don't see the respect in "they market better than us".
When you can just steal a lot of other people's ideas, break public licenses (such as the GPL), use substandard materials, and profit away! Lets see them try to even come close to Apple's support and server side infrastructure. That's the part they always cheese out on, because it actually requires research and money.
Considering that the major blocker for the average person in regards to making the switch to Linux happens to be driver support, then yes, it could make it easier for "soccer moms and grandmothers". Of course, that should be pretty obvious from even the article summary.
Is always at fault in cases such as this. A lack of investment in quality assurance processes is virtually always to blame. The casino/slot machine owner has the right to sue the publisher.
It is NOT the programmer, unless the programmer is also the publisher. It is not the programmer's job, nor is it considered an acceptable practice, for the programmer to perform all of the quality assurance testing. If the publisher sells it, the publisher takes full responsibility for it. Period.
Throwing the users in jail because they know that software is faulty on a slot machine? How are they really supposed to prove that the users knew? Can they afford to make that same assumption that just because several players got lucky at the same time and won at another slot machine, that they were all in collusion? Can casino owners afford to scare off their customers by canning customers who get lucky? That is one of the risks you take when you get into the gambling business. If you jail your customers for winning, people will go elsewhere and you will go out of business. Only a very stupid casino owner would even dare try to do such a thing. He has legal recourse against the publisher and that is it.
First, create a code standard. This takes a whole team, and not one developer who has personal preferences they cannot back up with reasonably sound advantages.
Second, establish code reviews. If your code does not meet standard, you highlight the section, function, object, etc. and you schedule a refactoring task.
If you're not doing either, then sure, you're going to produce "cruddy" code. I'd say if you're not doing those two things, either you have a really small team that is just magically on the same page, or you're basically working without a real structure.
Code that someone, anyone, on the team is not going to like will occur under a lack of a proper team system. What is pretty to one developer is a kludge to another, I've found (over and over again). What is sleek and efficient to a developer with an embedded background, may be perceived as inflexible by someone with a web/server side or modular applications background. Also, just because a junior developer doesn't like some code, does not always mean he has headlights in his eyes, so to speak. If a developer wants to rewrite something because he doesn't understand it, sitting down and working out coding standards will prevent them from rewriting it some way that someone else won't like. It will help them get a better grasp of the code. But most importantly, if the code IS a kludge, then the team will have their attention brought to it.
And exactly why is that?
Because Microsoft pushed its software into colleges for free. Not only that, it gave them money and told them to use their software. This is just generally widespread accepted truth, there really isn't anything new here.
Before Microsoft chose that plan of action, CompSci grads generally were proficient in DOS, Minix, Unix, Windows, Mac, etc. A wide variety of systems, which produces developers who have enough tools to work on a wide variety of platforms. Now, all platforms but Microsoft platforms are generally treated as footnotes by your run-of-the-mill state college. Windows was one of many choices...now, it's pretty much the only choice of development environment. I was in school when we went from being fairly open to being a closed MS environment. One summer, all the machines in our computer labs were "upgraded" to Windows NT 4. The cost for the upgrade came in part directly from Microsoft.
Are you going to out-vote Exxon with your wallet?
No, unless Exxon IS the ISP! And it's not, if you RTFA.
I certainly don't use a touch screen to make phone calls, though I've seen people's phones that have been used heavily for such. Nor do I use a touch screen for instant messaging. I use a stylus when I use a touch screen. It essentially eliminates grease on the screen, though it is far more annoying than being able to push some buttons.
Also, if I were blind, it would also be rather tricky to find those touchscreen buttons by feel. When you're lining up your fingers on the keypad, you'd just have to get lucky. With actual buttons, you can find them by touch. This also is applied to using the handheld in certain situations, such as driving (and yes, it's horribly wrong to use your handheld while driving, but that bit of wisdom certainly doesn't seem to stop 80% of smartphone users out there).
There's a lot more I can get into as well. There have been many times where customers of mine have literally demanded that their target users do NOT use the touch screen for many different reasons.
Just a bit from someone who has developed software and systems around handhelds for several years now and has to use them heavily on a regular basis. One other thing, the iPhone is a device that is almost entirely marketed towards a large segment of the Slashdot crowd. It does far more than the average person really cares about, isn't really focused at text messaging and email the way Treos and Blackberries are, and is a pain to deal with in regards to actually getting them and getting service for them. Just because you really love Apple's products, doesn't mean you're the most unbiased source of an opinion about smartphones.
But you rarely ever see a heroin addict say "man, I'm just tired of the smack."
It's really a test of ancient MacOS vs. Windows rather than a processor test. I think that's obvious, though, but the title of the article doesn't really do that braindead obvious point much justice.
The saddest thing about that joke is how many people take such an inane thing seriously. If you were given a name that sounded like Hitler, should that also prevent someone from running for president? I don't get how many sheep can actually take that seriously. I guess that's the 50% "less than 100 IQ" folks that comprise our citizenship for ya.
The thing I like about Obama is that unlike most of these other candidates (and I include Ron Paul), he doesn't have to thump his chest about technical friendliness. However, one of the first things he did was to pass legislation to fund the establishment of a website that allows taxpayers to see where all their taxpayer dollars are going. He's said that networking the middle of this country, instead of primarily the coastal regions where property values are insane, is a priority of his. His online and grassroots support base is pretty seriously potent, and most of that was built up with a strong online presence (most of these politicians think that all they have to do is put a few of their ads up on the YouTube, and presto, they'll be huge). Granted, much of that has been facilitated by having saavy people onboard, but it takes one to spot the talent.
Of course, you can get onboard with a libertarian like Ron Paul, and you can put your faith in corporations to reduce their greenhouse emissions. Generally, they're usually focused on skimping and saving cash in order to placate some shareholders, and not so focused on spending more to do something good for the rest of us, but hey, maybe we could all get REAL lucky.
It's a shame the moderators didn't get this reference. Repo Man, people.
It would be hilarious if they did try to collect that 1.65 trillion. I can just imagine it:
AllOfMp3/PirateBay/et al: "We don't charge anything near that for our service, we just make enough on ad banners to justify paying for most of our server accounts and bandwidth"
RIAA: "Then we will force you all into servitude for the rest of your lives, and your children's lives!"
AllOfMp3/PirateBay/et al: "But we're geeks! There's a very high likelihood that we won't ever have kids!"
RIAA: (thinking) "Hmm...this may be true, and if it is, we'll probably only be able to collect on several million, and that's nowhere near 1.65 trillion...guess we'll have to go back to backdooring college kids and grannies computers again, and up the ante to 150k per file"
The scariest, yet most hilarious, thing about that is that from all indications, that could actually happen. (I say hilarious, because it shows exactly how insane and out of touch with reality the RIAA really is)
Sorry to answer this for the umpteenth time, but black electric tape works too. Of course, I keep my machines out of my bedroom if at all possible, but if that's not an option, black electric tape pretty much kills just about all leds even better than sharpies. And you can peel it off if you want the light later on, too.
I mean, sorry to double post, but the larger variety of black screen fade out virtual sex options. Darn slashdot switching the preview and submit buttons order around on me.
I'd say the original, but if I'm stranded on a desert island, the larger number of fake "black screen fade out" sex will keep me sane longer.
Quit. Seriously, if they get caught, how much do you want to bet they'll try and say that it was all you just "trying to save money for his boss"? There's a real good chance that your boss won't take accountability for his actions and the organization will not either. You can bet they'll do anything they can to delete any evidence either, including confiscating your work PC before the feds have a chance to look at it.
If they won't install free software, and they demand that you do the actual legwork of the piracy, then leave and let them do it themselves. If you feel rather altruistic, you could file a complaint anonymously. Most legitimate companies pay a lot of money for software, and they aren't going to NOT hire you because you refused to install pirated material.
I have been there before, and know exactly what you're going through. If your superior demands that you install something illegal, then don't do it. If they fire you for that, then report them for it. Chances are, they'll realize that you'll do that and they'll back down, or if they do go through with it, they're idiots.
They do have the rights to call their new OS PalmOS, they bought the rights back. Access has ALP, which will probably be marketed at third party competitors. Palm has been developing their Palm/Linux OS now for at least 24 months or so. I went to the last Palmsource before everything spun every which way (when they were still trying to get people to license Cobalt), and I actually saw a preview of the next Palm/Linux OS. Strangely enough, it was demoed by a PALM employee, and not a PALMSOURCE employee (back when the company was Palm=Hardware, Palmsource=Software). Since then, I have been in touch with people, I've visited Palm's headquarters, and every time I've come away thinking "wow, these guys are really hiring a lot of engineers, I could swear they've just added 50 more cubicles to this maze". It all makes sense and there's quite a rundown on Palminfocenter.
That is precisely how I work with my Tapwave Zodiac and my bluetooth headset. The technology to do so has been around for years, it just takes someone smart enough to figure out that it's already out there and all they have to do is put it together. And all without having to touch a screwdriver!
These departments usually don't authorize upgrades because they're afraid they would have to hire someone to gut out the ActiveX garbage that they bought off on several years ago and replace it with more securely designed controls.
No, they won't give a crap. They just care if it plays well. If their mp3s suddenly stop playing due to DRM restrictions, and there's a version that works, they'll figure out that they need a player that plays the version that works. They'll go download the ones with the funny "ogg" extension, just like they did years ago when suddenly, Lycos, Yahoo, and all those other funny web browsers got so cluttered and unusable that they had to use this funny sounding web browser called Google. Besides, most music players have had ogg support for years. I play them on my old Tapwave Zodiac running PalmOS 5.4, and they're on the same SD card I used with my "ancient" Tungsten T to do the same.
Okay, then disregard what I just posted. Didn't refresh in time see this reply before actually posting the darn thing. :)