You're right man. Of course, if a radio station was getting a significant number of people tuning into their streaming content, they could make an effort to sell advertising for more "national" products and services... Ads for Coke, FedEx, etc.
I wonder though, how many people who listen to streaming broadcasts are actually outside of the market area. I've listened to a few stations here in Memphis via streaming audio because I can't pick them up on the radio here in my office (too much interference from stuff nearby, heck.. there are zones in this building where you can't use cell phones). Several of the stations advertise their streaming simulcasts and encourage their listeners to "tune in" that way.
I agree with you. I'm really tired of designers who choose style over substance. I am all for making sites beautiful, but adding Java applets and Flash aimations just to "show off" rather than actually enhance the user's experience is a complete waste of time. In the right hands, information such as the bit-depth & connection speed of the end-user's computer would be very useful. Unfortunately, there are too many of the wrong hands designing web pages.
I have mixed feelings about this. I suppose it's good that interenet access is becomming more widespread among people from different social and economic circles, but the "technosnob" in me is wishing that the internet would remain somewhat of an elitist place.
Of course, over the past few years, with the proliferation of free or low-cost access, inexpensive computers, etc... the internet has changed significantly. I curse silently every tiume I get one of those "make a wish and send this message to 10 people to make it come true" or the infamous "Intel/Microsoft/Disney/mega rich corporation will send you $$$$$ for forwarding this message". It's typicaly not the "technosnobs" who send these things, it's the typical "consumer" who does.
As more and more consumers get internet access, more and more of the content will be "dumbed down" for them. Just look at the typical cable television network in any city. There are a few channels with reasonably good content, some of the time, and a whole bunch of channels with nothing of any value. The internet is moving in that direction as more and more people get online.
Now, I know that due to the nature of the internet, there will always be sites with quality content, they'll just be difficult to find.
It will be interesting to see how things evolve over the next few years. I hope that the changes are for the better.
Sure it could break the WORA promise of Java. This is the bad thing
You are right, but I believe that there is a place for Java as a general purpose programming language in addition its platform-agnostic role. It's an easy language to use and you can put together applications in a fraction of the time it would take to develop in C/C++.
To the end-user the development language is pretty much immaterial. As long as you clearly specify the system & OS requirements, there's not a problem. if you write an application in Java that will only run under OS X or OS Y, just say so.
Umm.. have you used any of the recent versions of the JDK & runtime? They are quite fast and greatly improved over the previous releases.
I have JDK 1.2.2 running on a Pentium III 450 mhz, 256 meg of RAM, and Windoze 2000. I would not call that a "wonderbox", but it's not a slow-poke either. Java applications run great on this system- and I mean applications not applets
I'm working on a rather complicated desktop mapping application, written completely in Java and using Swing. It's quite responsive and for most user operations, you would not be able to tell it was an interpreted application or one that was compiled to native code.
I'm quite happy with Java as a programming language and with it's perforance in both desktop and server-side applications.
When the users tested the app they were pleased with the performance as well. On older hardware, performance suffers, but even on a Pentium 166 with NT4 & 128 meg of ram, the application was useable.
Several months ago.. perhaps when DP3 of MacOS X was released, I remember reading a comment that one of the Apple engineers made regarding POSIX compliance. IIRC, he basically said that they were not going to try and get "official" POSIX certification, but if any of the users encountered any non-compliant features or problems.. they (Apple) would fix them.
The United Way is a charitable organization that raises money for literally thousands of organizations around the world. The money that is raised locally, though, is used locally. If you make a donation to hte United Way chapter in your area, then you will be helping someone in your own town or possibly in your own neighorhood.
That was one of the questions answerd in "the memo". If I remember correctly.. the marketing folks were a little concerend about the fact that the plane crashed.. of course it had to in order to advnace the plot. They did make sure that the crew was portrayed as heroic though- and they made sure that the crash was not caused by a crew error.
Also... since the marketing group was involved.. the benefits of having the company essentially "co-star" in a major film were incalculable. The writers initially selected FedEx because the entire operation of the company is extrememly tine-sensitive. If your priority over night package is not delivered by 10:30 am then you do not have to pay for the shippping and the company does not make any money. I think that played a huge part in the development of Hanks's character.. he's a task master that constantly watches the clock and suddenly he's alone on a deserted island where he suddenly has "inifinite" time. No deadlines... nothing.
I have not seen the film yet, but everyone that I know who has seen it said that the company was portrayed in a "goood light". The operations in Moscow are really not htat bad though.. that was another thing they had to do in order to advnace the story though.
As far as performance goes, the production guys count every minute. The sooner you can get the sort completed, the sooner the truck or plane can leave- and the sooner your packages can be delivered. I have spent some time in the hub here in Memphis and when the sort is going on you do not have much time to think. It's extremely fascinating to watch though... several thousand men and women scrambling around moving packages and all the automated sorting equipment. If you ever get an opportunity to tour one of the hubs (try to do it if you ever make it to Memphis- that one is the largest) take it. You have to go around 1:00 in the morning though:-)
From my experience, FedEx is very "people oriented" and I believe that the upper management does care about the employees. I've been very happy wrking there for the past few years. The majority of the people I work with have been with the company for over 10 years. A few of them have "three digit" employee id's which means that they have been there since the beginning. Several members of upper management started out as handlers in a hub or one of the stations so they know what it's like to be shoving boxes around in the freezing cold or summer heat. If I remember correctly, the current CEO of FedEx Express (the airline & my employer) (Fred Smith is the CEO of FedEx Corporation- the holding company) stated out as a handler in a hub while in college. of course, there are some bad things... it is a huge corporation after all. But over all, I think it's a great place to work.
If you look at my profile you might figure out that I work for the airline prominently featured in castaway.;-)
Just before the movie was released we got this lengthy memo with detailed annswers to common questions about the movie. Apparantly FedEx did not pay to be in the film but the marketing folks did work closely wth the writers and such. They also pointed out all of the "errors" in the film (such as Tom Hanks's Character drinking wine while jumpseating- you can't get anywhere near a FedEx plane with booze). Many of the extras in the scenes filmed in Memphis were "real" FedEx employees. Fred Smith, the CEO had a brief cameo also.. I gues sit was when Hanks's character returnned home or something. They also auctioned off the clothes that Hanks wore during the FedEx shots to raise money for the United Way.
Anyway, I have not seen the movie yet. I'm just sitting here bored on a Sunday morning and felt like blabbing.
Amen, Brother. Those are the exact reasons that I like Java.
Sure, the "write once run aywhere" is a bit of an exaggeration.. but Java is still the easiest way to get an application put together that will run just about anywhere.
A few weeks ago, the hard drive in my Windoze NT machine at work went tits up and had to be replaced. When it was replaced, we installed Windoze 2000 and I opted to not install Office... choosing to go completely with StarOffice. I've been pretty happy with it- I've been using it off and on for about a year and it meets alll of my needs. In light of this article.. I'm glad that I made the choice that I did. I hate to see companies "punishing" customers for not wanting to upgrade to the latest version of their software. If something works for you.... and you have no real need for the new "features"... why change??
I kind of agree with you... I have been looking forward to a new release of Netscape and was extreamly disappointed when I installed version 6 yesterday.
The automatic proxy configration did not work at all.. I had to manualy enter all of the proxy settings (not a big deal, but kind of annoying since the "auto" option was there).
What is the problem with the startup time? Also, how much of the browser is written in Java?
One godo thing was the rendering speed, but none of the pages I visited "looked" correct. I tried adjusting the fonts and all but it did not do any good. I realize that some of the problems are the fault of the web page designers, but... oh well.
I ran into the same problem and even after I allowed all cookies, it still gave me the same message. I just clicked on the "Introducing Netscape 6" link in the headline and it took me directly to the download link.
In a way, YES. Apple has forced other companies to start thinking of commputers as appliances, comsumer devices, whatever you wan to call them. Like it or not, the industry is changing and Apple has a lot to do with it.
One of the main reasons for the "success" of the MacOS is the adherence to the Macintosh Human Interface Guidelines. If you have never taken a look at it, you really should... you can get for free from Apple's Developer Connection web site. Of course, there are numerous examples of applications that do not strictly follow the guidelines, but I'd say that 90% (or more) of the most successful MacOS applications follow them to the letter. Bryce is an exception to the rule, or course, it's popular in spite of it's freaky interface.
How successful do you think a similar Style Guide would be for Gnode/KDE/CDE/ etc? Right now, it seems that the biggest driving force behind the development of a standard GUI for Linux is to "look like Windows" or "look like the Macintosh".
I have to agree with this poster... Raymond and Hertzfeld are pretty much wrong about Apple's influence on the computing industry, from the very beginning. Apple is (and pretty much always has) shaped and influenced the computing industry. Look at how they changed the "face" of things in the past few years. Pretty much ALL major PC companies are trying to mimic Apple's style and design in one way or another. Look at how the market for USB devices "exploded" after the introduction of the iMac.
Sure Linux is great and it is providing an alternative server platform (and a desktop platoform for many users), but I do not see how it is influencing the computing industry in the way that Apple has for the past 25 years. It's still got a long way to go before it is as viable a desktop platform as the MacOS. Apple has always been focused on creating a plaftorm that anyone can use- regardless of technical abilities- and they have succeeded.
As far as I can tell, the most profound influence Linux has had is the acceptance of Open Source Applications as viable alternatives to shrink-wrapped applications. This is great for the industry but I don't believe that it is greater than the influence that Apple has had.
They could have been doing it to boost the sales of the newer PowerBooks as well as to get the 5300s out of the public eye. Some of the other posts have mentioned that the machines had a 7 yr warranty.
The first PowerBook I ever bought was a refurbished 5300cs. It worked great and I never had any problems with it. One cool thing was that it's expansion bay was the same as the 3400 and the first generation G3 so the periphreals would work with all of the machines. I replaced the 5300 with a 3400 a while later- sold the 5300 to a guy for about what I paid originally for it. I don't know if he is still using it or not.
pismo == the 2000 series PowerBook G3 . Pismo was the development code name for the machine... the bas model is a 400 Mhz G3, 6gig HD, 64 Meg RAM with DVD & 14.1" TFT display. I've got one sitting right here. It's a nice machine.
I tend to think of programming languages as a sort of "universal language"... it really does not matter which language you choose (Java, Perl, C, FORTRAN, whatever)... you can pretty much follow the logic and ultimately "understand the message". Obviously, this does not make an effective means of communication for many situations, but it can be effective for communicating scientific or mathematical information.
I've worked with programs written by non-english speakers and with a bit of effort have been able to understand them. The variable names were words from the native language of the author, but since the keywords were, of course, English, I could figure out what the application was doing.
To provide an answer to your question, if Rome had not fallen, we'd probably be programming in languages that use Latin keywords rather than English. I think that programming languages are a reflection of the language that is, for lack of a better adjective, the most prominent. For better or for worse, English is probably the closest thing the world has to a universal spoken language. For example, I've worked with several people from India- who all spoke different languages, when they were together they would communicate in English- because they did not understand each other's native language. I think that programming language keywords are a reflection of this.
This is and will always be a problem. If you keep waiting for the next big thing to come along, you will never buy a computer;-)
My advice to you is to take a look at your needs right now and decide if it is worth the purchase price to go ahead and buy a PowerBook or iBook or wait another 6 or 7 months and re-evaluate your situation.
You said that the lack of expandability of the iBook is keeping you from purchasing one of the current models? What expandability options are you looking for that you could not get as an external USB device?
I recently bought one of the 400 Mhz model PowerBooks. It's a great computer, will run OSX and will last me for quite a while. I would not consider it to be "on the way out" technology-wise, but I fully expect that Apple will replace it with a newer and cooler model at some point.
I guess that you just have to consider your current needs and base your decision on the present situation. If your current hardware is adequate then by all means, wait until the next announcement, but if your current hardware is inadequate and you have the money, then go ahead and purchase something.
Slashdot Mirror
You're right man. Of course, if a radio station was getting a significant number of people tuning into their streaming content, they could make an effort to sell advertising for more "national" products and services... Ads for Coke, FedEx, etc.
I wonder though, how many people who listen to streaming broadcasts are actually outside of the market area. I've listened to a few stations here in Memphis via streaming audio because I can't pick them up on the radio here in my office (too much interference from stuff nearby, heck.. there are zones in this building where you can't use cell phones). Several of the stations advertise their streaming simulcasts and encourage their listeners to "tune in" that way.
I agree with you. I'm really tired of designers who choose style over substance. I am all for making sites beautiful, but adding Java applets and Flash aimations just to "show off" rather than actually enhance the user's experience is a complete waste of time. In the right hands, information such as the bit-depth & connection speed of the end-user's computer would be very useful. Unfortunately, there are too many of the wrong hands designing web pages.
I have mixed feelings about this. I suppose it's good that interenet access is becomming more widespread among people from different social and economic circles, but the "technosnob" in me is wishing that the internet would remain somewhat of an elitist place.
Of course, over the past few years, with the proliferation of free or low-cost access, inexpensive computers, etc... the internet has changed significantly. I curse silently every tiume I get one of those "make a wish and send this message to 10 people to make it come true" or the infamous "Intel/Microsoft/Disney/mega rich corporation will send you $$$$$ for forwarding this message". It's typicaly not the "technosnobs" who send these things, it's the typical "consumer" who does.
As more and more consumers get internet access, more and more of the content will be "dumbed down" for them. Just look at the typical cable television network in any city. There are a few channels with reasonably good content, some of the time, and a whole bunch of channels with nothing of any value. The internet is moving in that direction as more and more people get online.
Now, I know that due to the nature of the internet, there will always be sites with quality content, they'll just be difficult to find.
It will be interesting to see how things evolve over the next few years. I hope that the changes are for the better.
Finkployd
When inlaws are outlawed, only outlaws will have inlaws...
goosh.. i hope not. inlaws are a pain in the neck.
Sure it could break the WORA promise of Java. This is the bad thing
You are right, but I believe that there is a place for Java as a general purpose programming language in addition its platform-agnostic role. It's an easy language to use and you can put together applications in a fraction of the time it would take to develop in C/C++.
To the end-user the development language is pretty much immaterial. As long as you clearly specify the system & OS requirements, there's not a problem. if you write an application in Java that will only run under OS X or OS Y, just say so.
Umm.. have you used any of the recent versions of the JDK & runtime? They are quite fast and greatly improved over the previous releases.
I have JDK 1.2.2 running on a Pentium III 450 mhz, 256 meg of RAM, and Windoze 2000. I would not call that a "wonderbox", but it's not a slow-poke either. Java applications run great on this system- and I mean applications not applets
I'm working on a rather complicated desktop mapping application, written completely in Java and using Swing. It's quite responsive and for most user operations, you would not be able to tell it was an interpreted application or one that was compiled to native code.
I'm quite happy with Java as a programming language and with it's perforance in both desktop and server-side applications.
When the users tested the app they were pleased with the performance as well. On older hardware, performance suffers, but even on a Pentium 166 with NT4 & 128 meg of ram, the application was useable.
Several months ago.. perhaps when DP3 of MacOS X was released, I remember reading a comment that one of the Apple engineers made regarding POSIX compliance. IIRC, he basically said that they were not going to try and get "official" POSIX certification, but if any of the users encountered any non-compliant features or problems.. they (Apple) would fix them.
The United Way is a charitable organization that raises money for literally thousands of organizations around the world. The money that is raised locally, though, is used locally. If you make a donation to hte United Way chapter in your area, then you will be helping someone in your own town or possibly in your own neighorhood.
LOL! One of the directors I work wth said the same thing.
That was one of the questions answerd in "the memo". If I remember correctly.. the marketing folks were a little concerend about the fact that the plane crashed.. of course it had to in order to advnace the plot. They did make sure that the crew was portrayed as heroic though- and they made sure that the crash was not caused by a crew error.
:-)
Also... since the marketing group was involved.. the benefits of having the company essentially "co-star" in a major film were incalculable. The writers initially selected FedEx because the entire operation of the company is extrememly tine-sensitive. If your priority over night package is not delivered by 10:30 am then you do not have to pay for the shippping and the company does not make any money. I think that played a huge part in the development of Hanks's character.. he's a task master that constantly watches the clock and suddenly he's alone on a deserted island where he suddenly has "inifinite" time. No deadlines... nothing.
I have not seen the film yet, but everyone that I know who has seen it said that the company was portrayed in a "goood light". The operations in Moscow are really not htat bad though.. that was another thing they had to do in order to advnace the story though.
As far as performance goes, the production guys count every minute. The sooner you can get the sort completed, the sooner the truck or plane can leave- and the sooner your packages can be delivered. I have spent some time in the hub here in Memphis and when the sort is going on you do not have much time to think. It's extremely fascinating to watch though... several thousand men and women scrambling around moving packages and all the automated sorting equipment. If you ever get an opportunity to tour one of the hubs (try to do it if you ever make it to Memphis- that one is the largest) take it. You have to go around 1:00 in the morning though
From my experience, FedEx is very "people oriented" and I believe that the upper management does care about the employees. I've been very happy wrking there for the past few years. The majority of the people I work with have been with the company for over 10 years. A few of them have "three digit" employee id's which means that they have been there since the beginning. Several members of upper management started out as handlers in a hub or one of the stations so they know what it's like to be shoving boxes around in the freezing cold or summer heat. If I remember correctly, the current CEO of FedEx Express (the airline & my employer) (Fred Smith is the CEO of FedEx Corporation- the holding company) stated out as a handler in a hub while in college. of course, there are some bad things... it is a huge corporation after all. But over all, I think it's a great place to work.
If you look at my profile you might figure out that I work for the airline prominently featured in castaway. ;-)
Just before the movie was released we got this lengthy memo with detailed annswers to common questions about the movie. Apparantly FedEx did not pay to be in the film but the marketing folks did work closely wth the writers and such. They also pointed out all of the "errors" in the film (such as Tom Hanks's Character drinking wine while jumpseating- you can't get anywhere near a FedEx plane with booze). Many of the extras in the scenes filmed in Memphis were "real" FedEx employees. Fred Smith, the CEO had a brief cameo also.. I gues sit was when Hanks's character returnned home or something. They also auctioned off the clothes that Hanks wore during the FedEx shots to raise money for the United Way.
Anyway, I have not seen the movie yet. I'm just sitting here bored on a Sunday morning and felt like blabbing.
Happy New Year
"It's the end of the world as we know it"
;-)
Amen, Brother. Those are the exact reasons that I like Java.
Sure, the "write once run aywhere" is a bit of an exaggeration.. but Java is still the easiest way to get an application put together that will run just about anywhere.
A few weeks ago, the hard drive in my Windoze NT machine at work went tits up and had to be replaced. When it was replaced, we installed Windoze 2000 and I opted to not install Office... choosing to go completely with StarOffice. I've been pretty happy with it- I've been using it off and on for about a year and it meets alll of my needs. In light of this article.. I'm glad that I made the choice that I did. I hate to see companies "punishing" customers for not wanting to upgrade to the latest version of their software. If something works for you.... and you have no real need for the new "features"... why change??
I kind of agree with you... I have been looking forward to a new release of Netscape and was extreamly disappointed when I installed version 6 yesterday.
The automatic proxy configration did not work at all.. I had to manualy enter all of the proxy settings (not a big deal, but kind of annoying since the "auto" option was there).
What is the problem with the startup time? Also, how much of the browser is written in Java?
One godo thing was the rendering speed, but none of the pages I visited "looked" correct. I tried adjusting the fonts and all but it did not do any good. I realize that some of the problems are the fault of the web page designers, but... oh well.
I uninstalled 6.0 and went back to 4.76.
I ran into the same problem and even after I allowed all cookies, it still gave me the same message. I just clicked on the "Introducing Netscape 6" link in the headline and it took me directly to the download link.
I have DP4 on my PowerBook (the 2000 series PowerBook) with a second monitor attached to the VGA Out port. It works fine for me.
In a way, YES. Apple has forced other companies to start thinking of commputers as appliances, comsumer devices, whatever you wan to call them. Like it or not, the industry is changing and Apple has a lot to do with it.
One of the main reasons for the "success" of the MacOS is the adherence to the Macintosh Human Interface Guidelines. If you have never taken a look at it, you really should... you can get for free from Apple's Developer Connection web site. Of course, there are numerous examples of applications that do not strictly follow the guidelines, but I'd say that 90% (or more) of the most successful MacOS applications follow them to the letter. Bryce is an exception to the rule, or course, it's popular in spite of it's freaky interface.
How successful do you think a similar Style Guide would be for Gnode/KDE/CDE/ etc? Right now, it seems that the biggest driving force behind the development of a standard GUI for Linux is to "look like Windows" or "look like the Macintosh".
I have to agree with this poster... Raymond and Hertzfeld are pretty much wrong about Apple's influence on the computing industry, from the very beginning. Apple is (and pretty much always has) shaped and influenced the computing industry. Look at how they changed the "face" of things in the past few years. Pretty much ALL major PC companies are trying to mimic Apple's style and design in one way or another. Look at how the market for USB devices "exploded" after the introduction of the iMac.
Sure Linux is great and it is providing an alternative server platform (and a desktop platoform for many users), but I do not see how it is influencing the computing industry in the way that Apple has for the past 25 years. It's still got a long way to go before it is as viable a desktop platform as the MacOS. Apple has always been focused on creating a plaftorm that anyone can use- regardless of technical abilities- and they have succeeded.
As far as I can tell, the most profound influence Linux has had is the acceptance of Open Source Applications as viable alternatives to shrink-wrapped applications. This is great for the industry but I don't believe that it is greater than the influence that Apple has had.
They could have been doing it to boost the sales of the newer PowerBooks as well as to get the 5300s out of the public eye. Some of the other posts have mentioned that the machines had a 7 yr warranty.
The first PowerBook I ever bought was a refurbished 5300cs. It worked great and I never had any problems with it. One cool thing was that it's expansion bay was the same as the 3400 and the first generation G3 so the periphreals would work with all of the machines. I replaced the 5300 with a 3400 a while later- sold the 5300 to a guy for about what I paid originally for it. I don't know if he is still using it or not.
pismo == the 2000 series PowerBook G3 . Pismo was the development code name for the machine... the bas model is a 400 Mhz G3, 6gig HD, 64 Meg RAM with DVD & 14.1" TFT display. I've got one sitting right here. It's a nice machine.
I tend to think of programming languages as a sort of "universal language"... it really does not matter which language you choose (Java, Perl, C, FORTRAN, whatever)... you can pretty much follow the logic and ultimately "understand the message". Obviously, this does not make an effective means of communication for many situations, but it can be effective for communicating scientific or mathematical information.
I've worked with programs written by non-english speakers and with a bit of effort have been able to understand them. The variable names were words from the native language of the author, but since the keywords were, of course, English, I could figure out what the application was doing.
To provide an answer to your question, if Rome had not fallen, we'd probably be programming in languages that use Latin keywords rather than English. I think that programming languages are a reflection of the language that is, for lack of a better adjective, the most prominent. For better or for worse, English is probably the closest thing the world has to a universal spoken language. For example, I've worked with several people from India- who all spoke different languages, when they were together they would communicate in English- because they did not understand each other's native language. I think that programming language keywords are a reflection of this.
I'm running DP4 on it right now. It's quite useable. ;-)
This is and will always be a problem. If you keep waiting for the next big thing to come along, you will never buy a computer ;-)
My advice to you is to take a look at your needs right now and decide if it is worth the purchase price to go ahead and buy a PowerBook or iBook or wait another 6 or 7 months and re-evaluate your situation.
You said that the lack of expandability of the iBook is keeping you from purchasing one of the current models? What expandability options are you looking for that you could not get as an external USB device?
I recently bought one of the 400 Mhz model PowerBooks. It's a great computer, will run OSX and will last me for quite a while. I would not consider it to be "on the way out" technology-wise, but I fully expect that Apple will replace it with a newer and cooler model at some point.
I guess that you just have to consider your current needs and base your decision on the present situation. If your current hardware is adequate then by all means, wait until the next announcement, but if your current hardware is inadequate and you have the money, then go ahead and purchase something.