Also, where's even a niche market for this product???
If I had an old computer with Microsoft Windows and I was fed up with it (security problems, spyware, constant need for updates, etc.), I could have about four options:
Get new Windows. "Advertisement says I get rid of all the problems by upgrading". Need probably new expensive hardware too and I might have doubts if upgrading will help that much.
Get Apple. Needs new expensive hardware, but otherwise might be a good solution.
Get some Linux. It can work or it may not, depending what distro you choose, how you set it up and are you ready to learn. It probably needs work for choosing distro, finding out about desktop environments, etc. And with a new distro (which may even cost money), there is possibility applications won't run that smoothly on older computer...
Get Zeta. If it runs stable and smooth on my old computer with web browser, email client, word processing and all the basic stuff, it would be a great option. The price isn't so bad if it's easy to use.
So I see there is a good market for easy to maintain, inexpensive (using old hardware) OS for basic computer users who don't need more than the basic apps.
The price is maybe bit too much though. At lower price they could reach the volumes...
Programming should be fun! From those visual programming languages I have seen, only LabView is easy enough to use, so that one can enjoy using it. And even it isn't what visual programming environment should look like.
With text interface there isn't much choice, so it quite trivial to make programming language interface: type text like you are using text editor.
With visual interface there is much more you must take into account: visual appeal, drawing components, how relations are presented, creating functions, entering values etc.
Most of the work for developing programming languages (even visual ones) is already done. The main thing is to make it easy and fun to use. Have a look how computer games work. Visual programming should be like that. Components shouldn't be all grey boxes, use colors and shapes. Drawing components and relations should be fun, no ugly black lines, but 3d tubes or something. Heck, you should probably forget computers and think gaming consoles.:-)
I have friends who are interest in programming, but don't have the attention span to write programs (I guess 95% of school children are like that, the rest 5% being nerds). Visual programming would be a wonderful tool for them for understanding the concept of program flow (they don't see it when they see the code, like you probably do). LabView isn't very suitable for these people. But if you develope a nice computer game like programming interface, you could have lots of users too.
And yes, you think it's too eyecandy for serious programmer. I don't think so. It's VISUAL. If it's gray boxes with ugly lines, it's not.
Slashdot Mirror
large keyboard like this: http://world.std.com/~jdostale/kbd/KanjiTablet.htm l
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,16981962-137
More information about that?
Also there is an interesting and detailed site about using boron as an energy carrier (quite like TFA?)
http://www.eagle.ca/~gcowan/boron_blast.html
- Get new Windows. "Advertisement says I get rid of all the problems by upgrading". Need probably new expensive hardware too and I might have doubts if upgrading will help that much.
- Get Apple. Needs new expensive hardware, but otherwise might be a good solution.
- Get some Linux. It can work or it may not, depending what distro you choose, how you set it up and are you ready to learn. It probably needs work for choosing distro, finding out about desktop environments, etc. And with a new distro (which may even cost money), there is possibility applications won't run that smoothly on older computer...
- Get Zeta. If it runs stable and smooth on my old computer with web browser, email client, word processing and all the basic stuff, it would be a great option. The price isn't so bad if it's easy to use.
So I see there is a good market for easy to maintain, inexpensive (using old hardware) OS for basic computer users who don't need more than the basic apps.The price is maybe bit too much though. At lower price they could reach the volumes...
Programming should be fun! From those visual programming languages I have seen, only LabView is easy enough to use, so that one can enjoy using it. And even it isn't what visual programming environment should look like.
:-)
With text interface there isn't much choice, so it quite trivial to make programming language interface: type text like you are using text editor.
With visual interface there is much more you must take into account: visual appeal, drawing components, how relations are presented, creating functions, entering values etc.
Most of the work for developing programming languages (even visual ones) is already done. The main thing is to make it easy and fun to use. Have a look how computer games work. Visual programming should be like that. Components shouldn't be all grey boxes, use colors and shapes. Drawing components and relations should be fun, no ugly black lines, but 3d tubes or something. Heck, you should probably forget computers and think gaming consoles.
I have friends who are interest in programming, but don't have the attention span to write programs (I guess 95% of school children are like that, the rest 5% being nerds). Visual programming would be a wonderful tool for them for understanding the concept of program flow (they don't see it when they see the code, like you probably do). LabView isn't very suitable for these people. But if you develope a nice computer game like programming interface, you could have lots of users too.
And yes, you think it's too eyecandy for serious programmer. I don't think so. It's VISUAL. If it's gray boxes with ugly lines, it's not.