That's great when designing from the ground up, for the first version of a software. Any complex piece of software that is still as initially designed is not used very much.
You're correct in everything you said except for thinking that you can design software with every possible use or change in mind. It's just not possible, and to suggest that that is the 'fix' for the problem is wrong at best.
You say 'crappy product' and I say 'so complicated there's no chance of eliminating all bugs.' (A ton of people just decided that I'm a Microsoft fanboy, and they're all wrong.) It doesn't matter what operating system you use, by its very nature, it is too complicated to completely remove all bugs in any meaningful timeframe. Nobody tries to say Windows, OS X or Linux are bug-free. Instead they talk about how fast bugs are patched after they are found and reported.
Of course they're bandaids on the real problem. So are cars, if you must have another car analogy:
The problem with distance is that it takes so long to travel it. Cars are a bandaid on the distance problem. We've been fighting that problem for a lot longer than 35 years. It's time we regrouped and found a better way to attack it.
The reason antivirus/etc exists is that we have never found a better solution. It's just that simple. I'm all for thinking and planning, but it's no magic. If we all put our heads together right now and work on -nothing- else, we might never find a solution. There's no guarantee that there -is- a better solution.
At this point, I only read negative feedback on EBay. None of the positive feedback means anything other than the total number.
As for negative, I look at 2 things: Did the buyer have a point? Did the seller respond apppropriately? Even if the buyer is clueless and idiotic, if the seller responds nastily then I'll go spend my money elsewhere.
Instead of looking at negative feedback as a way for the customer to screw you, use it as a way to show customers that you can handle problems responsibly.
I've actually left ebay and bought from Amazon because I couldn't find a reasonable seller of the item I wanted.
Hm, that linked page took forever to come up... Hope we didn't slashdot them.
Thanks for posting this. I don't mind paying for what I like, but most of the time it's like he said: The real force behind the work gets screwed. I've pretty much taken to just listening to music online, since I'm almost always connected. But when I really like something, I try to buy it.
Jonathan Coulton is another artist who really gets it and has stuff I like. I bought his whole collection a while back because I liked a good portion of the songs and want him to continue. Most of the ones that I liked were available for free on his site.
What side are you arguing? Those 'tired-old bullshit arguments' DO matter for precisely the amount of time you have stated. It is -after- that time that they don't matter.
TFA said they implemented this 'feature' for those who accidentally register a domain. (I assume that's for misspellings, etc.) They didn't forsee it being used like this. They came to the conclusion that the harm caused by tasting greatly outweighs the benefits of letting someone off the hook for a mistake.
I expected to see a 'suddenoutbreakofcommonsense' tag on this one, but maybe I saw it before it had time to be tagged.
In this case, it doesn't seem to be a sudden outbreak, though... Reading the notes (yeah, I RTFA) I can see that with the possible exception of Bruce Tonkin (who dropped off the call because of possible conflict of interest, thus making him a good guy no matter his opinion on this matter) everyone agreed that any measure except removing of the Add Grace Period (AGP) would be ineffective and only cause other harm to the community.
It's also obvious from the notes that they've spent no little time thinking about this, and they had their arguments ready. And when talking was done, they were ready to do the right thing. All of them, unanimously.
It was unclear whether the 21-day period was in effect, though... They talked about having to notify the public of policy changes 21 days in advance or more. Even if it is, 3 weeks is pretty short.
I've seen nothing to say they are charging at all, let alone that they are charging per unit of software. Can you cite something for this, or are you just guessing?
If the charge is anything other than $0, it becomes impractical for third party developers to offer their apps for free. Does it? I'd gladly pay $1 to release -anything- I wrote for the iPhone. I'd pay $10 to release anything worthwhile. And I'd pay $25 to release anything awesome that I wrote.
Beyond that, if it's -really- that amazing, it's not hard to stick a PayPal "Donate" button on your site and collect funds towards release. If others thing your app is worthwhile as well, you could easily get up to $200 in donations towards its release, even if people only donated $1 each.
People will really be upset at Apple for it... And it'll definitely push -me- towards Open Source phones like the Neo 1973. But most of my friends already have an iPhone and they are 'locked in'. They'll program for it.
It also managed to nearly crash Opera in Linux. A zillion 'do you want to see this popup' windows and the menus had empty contents. Not to mention my poor, poor eyes.
Well they at least knew that it was a weak point that needed protecting. Just because they wore helmets doesn't mean they -knew- the brain was the source of thinking.
There are other factors, too... Cost, for instance. Do you think a helmet or breastplate costs more to make? Which is heavier? Which is easier to store?
I'm not saying they didn't know, but your logic fails to prove it in any way.
TPB has no 'registered users'. There's no signup process and no accounts. You just use it. They have no way to track distinct users, only the number of torrent clients connected simulatenously. That 10 million is people that were all online at the same time.
So your '10 million in a month' is virtually guaranteed.
(It's possible that peers came from other websites and just used TPB's tracker, and it's possible that some peers stayed connected to a torrent for a month without going to the site. I find it unlikely that either of these could prevent the above situation, though.)
But the problem isn't 'picking up a language', it's picking up 3. If we hire a new recruit, to expect him to learn 3 new languages immediately is ridiculous. So we don't -have- a ton of different languages in use, we have a choice few that cover everything reasonably well. In fact, since I started, we have dropped 1 and almost dropped another. (They're waiting on me to have time to rewrite that last program in another language.)
In addition to not having to have new recruits learn those 2 languages, we also don't have to maintain the software needed for those 2 languages. That saves employee time and computing power both.
And in truth, I tried to suggest adding a new language a few months ago... And after discussion, we decided the benefits didn't outweigh the costs. I was the only one who already knew the language at all, and it wasn't -that- much better than what we had.
If we were a huge company with thousands of employees, it might make sense to have specialists in each of the languages and also use 'the right tool for the job'... But I somehow doubt it. I suspect it would still end up being better to use 'the right tool for the majority of the jobs'.
I always see both sides of the 'right tool for the job' problem.
Having the right tools is great for current productivity, but it's hell on expenses and new recruits. If you use a different tool for every job, you need to maintain all those tools and a task force that's able to use all of them. Sometimes the 'right tool' is one that fits the company as well as the job.
I don't give a rat's ass about the box sitting on my shelf. That's -never- been why I've bought something. Instead, I care about the work itself... Do I enjoy it? Do I think the author should be compensated? That's why I buy stuff.
In fact, there's SO much out there now that I've come to the conclusion that if it's not worth obtaining legally, it's not worth my time.
If an author (or other creator) is giving away their work, it has to be -very- good to convince me to also pay money for it. (Jonathan Coulton comes to mind... I bought his stuff.) Otherwise, I'll likely just purchase future work from them instead. (Baen.com comes to mind... They give away free ebooks and sell others... Some are sequels to the free ones.)
But if an author has made it clear that they expect payment, I honor that... By either ignoring their work or buying it, depending on how much I think I'll value it.
(Of course, there's also rentals and used items as well. The author doesn't gain additional compensation, but it -is- legal.)
Oh, and it was a lot harder to be ethical when I didn't have the money for stuff. I'm not looking down on anyone who -does- pirate... I've been there and know what it's like.
Slashdot Mirror
That's great when designing from the ground up, for the first version of a software. Any complex piece of software that is still as initially designed is not used very much.
You're correct in everything you said except for thinking that you can design software with every possible use or change in mind. It's just not possible, and to suggest that that is the 'fix' for the problem is wrong at best.
You say 'crappy product' and I say 'so complicated there's no chance of eliminating all bugs.' (A ton of people just decided that I'm a Microsoft fanboy, and they're all wrong.) It doesn't matter what operating system you use, by its very nature, it is too complicated to completely remove all bugs in any meaningful timeframe. Nobody tries to say Windows, OS X or Linux are bug-free. Instead they talk about how fast bugs are patched after they are found and reported.
Of course they're bandaids on the real problem. So are cars, if you must have another car analogy:
The problem with distance is that it takes so long to travel it. Cars are a bandaid on the distance problem. We've been fighting that problem for a lot longer than 35 years. It's time we regrouped and found a better way to attack it.
The reason antivirus/etc exists is that we have never found a better solution. It's just that simple. I'm all for thinking and planning, but it's no magic. If we all put our heads together right now and work on -nothing- else, we might never find a solution. There's no guarantee that there -is- a better solution.
Yeah, this is turning into Digg with the lists, most of which are completely nonsense, biased, or just plain boring.
(I am only a buyer.)
At this point, I only read negative feedback on EBay. None of the positive feedback means anything other than the total number.
As for negative, I look at 2 things: Did the buyer have a point? Did the seller respond apppropriately? Even if the buyer is clueless and idiotic, if the seller responds nastily then I'll go spend my money elsewhere.
Instead of looking at negative feedback as a way for the customer to screw you, use it as a way to show customers that you can handle problems responsibly.
I've actually left ebay and bought from Amazon because I couldn't find a reasonable seller of the item I wanted.
That's the most interesting thing I've read on here so far. I don't suppose you have any links to more information on it?
It's too bad I never get mod points any more, either... I'd probably have modded you up instead of posting this.
Hm, that linked page took forever to come up... Hope we didn't slashdot them.
Thanks for posting this. I don't mind paying for what I like, but most of the time it's like he said: The real force behind the work gets screwed. I've pretty much taken to just listening to music online, since I'm almost always connected. But when I really like something, I try to buy it.
Jonathan Coulton is another artist who really gets it and has stuff I like. I bought his whole collection a while back because I liked a good portion of the songs and want him to continue. Most of the ones that I liked were available for free on his site.
What side are you arguing? Those 'tired-old bullshit arguments' DO matter for precisely the amount of time you have stated. It is -after- that time that they don't matter.
I agree, it's identical. They may not even know the logo was stolen... They may have paid someone for a logo and that someone was the thief.
I wrote an email to them to inform them, in case they didn't know.
TFA said they implemented this 'feature' for those who accidentally register a domain. (I assume that's for misspellings, etc.) They didn't forsee it being used like this. They came to the conclusion that the harm caused by tasting greatly outweighs the benefits of letting someone off the hook for a mistake.
I RTFA. Their main concern was Domain Tasting, but Domain Kiting would be attacked by the same action they took, so it doesn't matter.
I expected to see a 'suddenoutbreakofcommonsense' tag on this one, but maybe I saw it before it had time to be tagged.
In this case, it doesn't seem to be a sudden outbreak, though... Reading the notes (yeah, I RTFA) I can see that with the possible exception of Bruce Tonkin (who dropped off the call because of possible conflict of interest, thus making him a good guy no matter his opinion on this matter) everyone agreed that any measure except removing of the Add Grace Period (AGP) would be ineffective and only cause other harm to the community.
It's also obvious from the notes that they've spent no little time thinking about this, and they had their arguments ready. And when talking was done, they were ready to do the right thing. All of them, unanimously.
It was unclear whether the 21-day period was in effect, though... They talked about having to notify the public of policy changes 21 days in advance or more. Even if it is, 3 weeks is pretty short.
I've seen nothing to say they are charging at all, let alone that they are charging per unit of software. Can you cite something for this, or are you just guessing?
Beyond that, if it's -really- that amazing, it's not hard to stick a PayPal "Donate" button on your site and collect funds towards release. If others thing your app is worthwhile as well, you could easily get up to $200 in donations towards its release, even if people only donated $1 each.
People will really be upset at Apple for it... And it'll definitely push -me- towards Open Source phones like the Neo 1973. But most of my friends already have an iPhone and they are 'locked in'. They'll program for it.
It also managed to nearly crash Opera in Linux. A zillion 'do you want to see this popup' windows and the menus had empty contents. Not to mention my poor, poor eyes.
Well they at least knew that it was a weak point that needed protecting. Just because they wore helmets doesn't mean they -knew- the brain was the source of thinking.
There are other factors, too... Cost, for instance. Do you think a helmet or breastplate costs more to make? Which is heavier? Which is easier to store?
I'm not saying they didn't know, but your logic fails to prove it in any way.
Wow, there is. Okay, but there's not '10 mil' registered... There's only 2.5mil.
TPB has no 'registered users'. There's no signup process and no accounts. You just use it. They have no way to track distinct users, only the number of torrent clients connected simulatenously. That 10 million is people that were all online at the same time.
So your '10 million in a month' is virtually guaranteed.
(It's possible that peers came from other websites and just used TPB's tracker, and it's possible that some peers stayed connected to a torrent for a month without going to the site. I find it unlikely that either of these could prevent the above situation, though.)
So, HD DVD lost 13,000 sales and Bluray only gained half that? I think maybe there's something else going on as well other than just the Warner deal.
I agree, and I do pick up languages like nothing.
... But I somehow doubt it. I suspect it would still end up being better to use 'the right tool for the majority of the jobs'.
But the problem isn't 'picking up a language', it's picking up 3. If we hire a new recruit, to expect him to learn 3 new languages immediately is ridiculous. So we don't -have- a ton of different languages in use, we have a choice few that cover everything reasonably well. In fact, since I started, we have dropped 1 and almost dropped another. (They're waiting on me to have time to rewrite that last program in another language.)
In addition to not having to have new recruits learn those 2 languages, we also don't have to maintain the software needed for those 2 languages. That saves employee time and computing power both.
And in truth, I tried to suggest adding a new language a few months ago... And after discussion, we decided the benefits didn't outweigh the costs. I was the only one who already knew the language at all, and it wasn't -that- much better than what we had.
If we were a huge company with thousands of employees, it might make sense to have specialists in each of the languages and also use 'the right tool for the job'
BTW, the XBox portion of MS (the games division) -has- stopped hemorraging cash.
http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/10/26/2052251
http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/847/847658p1.html
Yes, 2 quarters in a row now, it has turned a profit.
I always see both sides of the 'right tool for the job' problem.
Having the right tools is great for current productivity, but it's hell on expenses and new recruits. If you use a different tool for every job, you need to maintain all those tools and a task force that's able to use all of them. Sometimes the 'right tool' is one that fits the company as well as the job.
I don't give a rat's ass about the box sitting on my shelf. That's -never- been why I've bought something. Instead, I care about the work itself... Do I enjoy it? Do I think the author should be compensated? That's why I buy stuff.
In fact, there's SO much out there now that I've come to the conclusion that if it's not worth obtaining legally, it's not worth my time.
If an author (or other creator) is giving away their work, it has to be -very- good to convince me to also pay money for it. (Jonathan Coulton comes to mind... I bought his stuff.) Otherwise, I'll likely just purchase future work from them instead. (Baen.com comes to mind... They give away free ebooks and sell others... Some are sequels to the free ones.)
But if an author has made it clear that they expect payment, I honor that... By either ignoring their work or buying it, depending on how much I think I'll value it.
(Of course, there's also rentals and used items as well. The author doesn't gain additional compensation, but it -is- legal.)
Oh, and it was a lot harder to be ethical when I didn't have the money for stuff. I'm not looking down on anyone who -does- pirate... I've been there and know what it's like.
Did you seriously just managed to misspell both words in 'News Bulletin'?
Of course, there are those who also say 'I made a xerox of it' and 'Where's that xerox paper?' making it also a noun and adjective.
If you think IBM has been in business this long without figuring out what they're doing, you're very sadly mistaken.