I have news for you, people who know how to make things work go into construction, not programming. People go into programming because they want to dick around.
Spoken by someone who's never had a builder in, I suspect...:-)
They filed for the patent in 2001. Kai Krause demonstrated something very similar to me and others in about 1997. I can't imagine Kai didn't show that demo to at least some people at Apple.
So did Apple 'copy' Kai?
(For the record, I don't care much myself - I just get tired of the relentless "Microsoft just copy but Apple innovate" stuff. It's not always true.)
Well, the idea is to improve screen clarity, so if the font is really successful, the average user probably won't notice the change consciously. If you're noticing the font (except perhaps to say, 'this font is much better') then the design goals have not been reached.
You shouldn't care about the font names. You certainly shouldn't notice the shape of the 'g's. I don't see the point in bitching about people trying to improve text clarity.
I do like the way you can't even agree with yourself though:
Times New Roman, or Arial, which, by the way, are the ONLY TWO FONTS anybody cares about.
followed by:
As a programmer I also care about which fixed width font I am using. Thankfully any decent IDE also installs three or four different fixed width fonts, and OSs typically come with at least a few, so I have a nice selection there.
Same here. Never been that impressed with WMA - and 64kbps WMA certainly sounds bad to me, and I'm no audiophile, that's for sure. I seem to remember I also preferred 128kpbs mp3 to 128bkps WMA when I did a comparison - there were just too many noticeable artifacts in the high frequency range with WMA. I mean, it's ok at 128kbps - it just didn't sound as good as mp3.
Well, I think there is a difference between a PC and a dishwasher controller, but never mind.
One of the reasons PCs took off (in my experience) was that yes, mainframes could do a lot of the stuff, but PCs gave people freedom. They didn't have to justify their stuff to the grumpy mainframe maintenance guys - they just had a computer in their office that they could do stuff with. If they wanted to try out something new, they could just buy some software, install it and try it.
I know that will shock and offend some people to their very core, but it's true. For many other people this was a breath of fresh air. If you like, you could say that these PCs were the first real 'computer for the rest of us'.
As you say, many best practices fell by the wayside (backups? ha!), but the PC has changed the way a lot of things are done, mostly for the better.
Personally, I'm reasonably glad the PC revolution happened - I don't still want to be using a mainframe and having to abase myself before the priests.
Maniac Mansion, Monkey Island 1 & 2, Total Annihilation...yeah, all he does is whine, whine, whine. The games industry would have been better off without him.
All programs that want to say they are Windows compatible must use the Windows Installer.
Again, not true. You are probably talking about this.
Firefox can be described as Windows compatible. Of course it can be - it is trivially, provably true.
Firefox cannot, of course, sport the official Microsoft 'Designed for Windows' logo if it doesn't conform to the requirements. But then, ever since Windows 95 came out, those logos haven't had much effect on people's purchasing decisions for software - at least, nowhere near as much as Microsoft want them to.
Personally, the logo does affect my hardware purchases sometimes, but only because I know so many IHVs view the driver software as some irritating inconvenience they have to throw together when they've finished the hardware design.
But this idea that Microsoft prevent you from describing your software as compatible with Windows unless you jump through a thousand hoops is laughably untrue.
Basically, nobody really cares about the logo for software. Some enterprising ISVs even made up their own logos which said 'Works with Windows' or similar - which they then awarded to their own products, of course.
The PC started it's life as a would-be controller for dishwashers back when all real data processing was done on "mainframes".
I don't want to interrupt your righteous anger, and it's hard to tell if you're serious, but the PC started out as a Personal Computer - nothing to do with being a microcontroller or anything like that.
And regarding the GUI thing, I think you may have your history a little screwed up.
Given that all Windows programs MUST use the Windows Installer for their installation programs (which means Firefox can't call itself a Windows program)
Really? I've seen lots of Windows programs that don't use the Windows Installer.
What happens if they don't use MSI? Do Microsoft come and knock on your door if you dare to claim that your application runs on Windows?
I've found that a couple of years ago or so, Norton AV (on PC) crossed the line from crap over into bearable and mostly functional. I know that's not exactly a recommendation, but it seems to run ok on my machine and they've got rid of most of the irritating questions/UI (although the UI could still be radically improved).
What you really need to watch out for is their 'System Monitor' or performance improver or whatever it is. I once installed that on a PC out of interest, and after that, Windows would take ages to boot, and the screen was littered with crap gauges and dials that served no purpose other than to slow the machine to a crawl. It didn't last long. Total piece of snake-oil crap.
I've heard good things about AVG, but also experienced major performance/reliability problems when they installed it at work, such that most people disabled it so they could actually do some work. I'm not really aware of any AV software that gets any kind of uniform approval from a range of people.
Because all the other inertia controllers suck for games. It's basically like having a joystick without a spring to return it to the centre. Except in this case, the controller weighs 3kg, is in no way ergonomic, and the screen moves when you move the controller.
I tried this out for games when Microsoft brought out their Sidewinder inertia controller years ago (hey, does that mean it's a Microsoft innovation?), and it just plain sucked for everything I tried, due to lack of physical feedback.
There have been playstation controllers with this feature, too, but again, it's only ever been a novelty. There's a reason for that.
First, I agree that some of the people in the games industry need some growing up to do. I don't agree that someone who is passionate about video games is inherently suffering from arrested development, in much the same way that I don't think someone who is passionate about, say, making films or writing children's books is suffering from a similar problem.
The thing that most struck a chord with me though is the problems you had trying to convince people that you can do a particular job, even though you might not have 3+ years experience in it. I see this often, too. I believe that a good programmer, once s/he's been working for as long as you (or for that matter, I) have, can turn his/her hand to most things.
The things that make me laugh is like your example of audio programming - as if it's an unbelievably arcane and complex subject. It's really not. But as you say, a (bad) manager will think they absolutely must have an 'audio expert', as opposed to someone who has a good background in engineering/computer science, and has programmed in various environments, platforms and languages.
As I go through my career, I'm becoming less and less impressed by specific experience, and more impressed by a candidate's range of skills, approach and personality. They tell me much more than "4 years DirectX experience" does.
Speaking of which - your journal entry about the rejection letter: I have no magical answer, but it did remind me of the section in Peopleware about hiring people (the bit where they say something like "But do you think he'd find chickens with lips funny?"). Sometimes it's just about a fit of the team, and how it gels, and if someone doesn't fit, then that's the way it goes. It doesn't necessarily reflect badly on the team or the person they decided to pass on hiring. So I guess what I'm saying there is, don't worry about it so much. It feels like you're looking for someone to blame for that (and maybe you'd prefer it if you could believe that the team are a bunch of immature jerks and that's why they didn't want you), but just let it go:)
But yes, essentially, boy am I sick of "But you've never done X before, how can you do that?"
I always think, "Here's an idea, maybe I could use my innate human abilities of learning, memory and problem solving to apply my experience and education to the work? Imagine that!"
Because here's the dirty secret of the games industry - well, I say secret, it's not really, but a surprising amount of people don't seem to know it:
Publishers finance games. In general games developers have no real money - they certainly don't have enough money to finance development of a game on their own.
Sometimes you get developers that try to change the publishing/distribution model (Valve being a well known example), but most developers just can't afford to turn around to the publishers and tell them to get lost. You've got to pay the wages somehow, otherwise you can't write the game, and then you have no game to sell, so you don't make any money, and so it goes on.
I think the main point the GP was making was that Google did not 'come up with' the idea of a searchable usenet archive. As stated, Google bought it from Deja.
"Hello, son? This is the President calling from Earth."
"It's an honour to receive your call, Sir."
"You're the first man on Mars, son - can you tell us what it's like?"
"Words can barely describe it, Sir - it...it's awesome!"
"Awesome? What, you mean like a web page?"
"No, Sir..."
Amazon do this too, I believe, for UI/process improvements, and new features. For example, a while back, as well as the usual sections:
Customers who bought this book also bought
Customers interested in this title may also be interested in
Customers who viewed this book also viewed
...on one browsing session, I also got shown:
Customers who viewed this book eventually went on to buy
...which I thought was a pretty good idea, as it lets you see the insight of people who've (hopefully) researched the area, read the Amazon reviews and made a decision.
I've not seen it again, so I assume it was one of their 'random tryouts' for randomly chosen users.
Slashdot Mirror
No, not all of them should say that. The dupes should say "Interesting stuff here again."
Spoken by someone who's never had a builder in, I suspect... :-)
They filed for the patent in 2001. Kai Krause demonstrated something very similar to me and others in about 1997. I can't imagine Kai didn't show that demo to at least some people at Apple.
So did Apple 'copy' Kai?
(For the record, I don't care much myself - I just get tired of the relentless "Microsoft just copy but Apple innovate" stuff. It's not always true.)
You shouldn't care about the font names. You certainly shouldn't notice the shape of the 'g's. I don't see the point in bitching about people trying to improve text clarity.
I do like the way you can't even agree with yourself though:
followed by:
"Our main weapon is fear...fear and surprise..."
Are you saying that Apple did?
Same here. Never been that impressed with WMA - and 64kbps WMA certainly sounds bad to me, and I'm no audiophile, that's for sure. I seem to remember I also preferred 128kpbs mp3 to 128bkps WMA when I did a comparison - there were just too many noticeable artifacts in the high frequency range with WMA. I mean, it's ok at 128kbps - it just didn't sound as good as mp3.
YMM, of course, V.
Well, I think there is a difference between a PC and a dishwasher controller, but never mind.
One of the reasons PCs took off (in my experience) was that yes, mainframes could do a lot of the stuff, but PCs gave people freedom. They didn't have to justify their stuff to the grumpy mainframe maintenance guys - they just had a computer in their office that they could do stuff with. If they wanted to try out something new, they could just buy some software, install it and try it.
I know that will shock and offend some people to their very core, but it's true. For many other people this was a breath of fresh air. If you like, you could say that these PCs were the first real 'computer for the rest of us'.
As you say, many best practices fell by the wayside (backups? ha!), but the PC has changed the way a lot of things are done, mostly for the better.
Personally, I'm reasonably glad the PC revolution happened - I don't still want to be using a mainframe and having to abase myself before the priests.
Oh, I don't know...maybe this?
Maniac Mansion, Monkey Island 1 & 2, Total Annihilation...yeah, all he does is whine, whine, whine. The games industry would have been better off without him.
Again, not true. You are probably talking about this.
Firefox can be described as Windows compatible. Of course it can be - it is trivially, provably true.
Firefox cannot, of course, sport the official Microsoft 'Designed for Windows' logo if it doesn't conform to the requirements. But then, ever since Windows 95 came out, those logos haven't had much effect on people's purchasing decisions for software - at least, nowhere near as much as Microsoft want them to.
Personally, the logo does affect my hardware purchases sometimes, but only because I know so many IHVs view the driver software as some irritating inconvenience they have to throw together when they've finished the hardware design.
But this idea that Microsoft prevent you from describing your software as compatible with Windows unless you jump through a thousand hoops is laughably untrue.
Basically, nobody really cares about the logo for software. Some enterprising ISVs even made up their own logos which said 'Works with Windows' or similar - which they then awarded to their own products, of course.
Third party tools?
Don't you just open the Tools/Options dialog, go to the General tab and untick the "Automatically run Messenger when I log on to Windows" checkbox?
iTunes for Windows.
It's as close to a definition as makes no odds.
I don't want to interrupt your righteous anger, and it's hard to tell if you're serious, but the PC started out as a Personal Computer - nothing to do with being a microcontroller or anything like that.
And regarding the GUI thing, I think you may have your history a little screwed up.
It's even better when you wear two at once.
(joke for UK Channel 4 viewers)
Talking of bullshit...
Really? I've seen lots of Windows programs that don't use the Windows Installer.
What happens if they don't use MSI? Do Microsoft come and knock on your door if you dare to claim that your application runs on Windows?
Good point, well made.
In that case, to clarify the point I was trying to make: can an OS as complex as Mac OS X ever be considered 'truly secure'?
I've found that a couple of years ago or so, Norton AV (on PC) crossed the line from crap over into bearable and mostly functional. I know that's not exactly a recommendation, but it seems to run ok on my machine and they've got rid of most of the irritating questions/UI (although the UI could still be radically improved).
What you really need to watch out for is their 'System Monitor' or performance improver or whatever it is. I once installed that on a PC out of interest, and after that, Windows would take ages to boot, and the screen was littered with crap gauges and dials that served no purpose other than to slow the machine to a crawl. It didn't last long. Total piece of snake-oil crap.
I've heard good things about AVG, but also experienced major performance/reliability problems when they installed it at work, such that most people disabled it so they could actually do some work. I'm not really aware of any AV software that gets any kind of uniform approval from a range of people.
You're missing the crucial point that most Mac users won't have any data that anybody would care about anyway.
Ha ha, ha ha...ow! Stop hitting me!
Oxymoron, surely?
Because all the other inertia controllers suck for games. It's basically like having a joystick without a spring to return it to the centre. Except in this case, the controller weighs 3kg, is in no way ergonomic, and the screen moves when you move the controller.
I tried this out for games when Microsoft brought out their Sidewinder inertia controller years ago (hey, does that mean it's a Microsoft innovation?), and it just plain sucked for everything I tried, due to lack of physical feedback.
There have been playstation controllers with this feature, too, but again, it's only ever been a novelty. There's a reason for that.
A couple of points:
First, I agree that some of the people in the games industry need some growing up to do. I don't agree that someone who is passionate about video games is inherently suffering from arrested development, in much the same way that I don't think someone who is passionate about, say, making films or writing children's books is suffering from a similar problem.
The thing that most struck a chord with me though is the problems you had trying to convince people that you can do a particular job, even though you might not have 3+ years experience in it. I see this often, too. I believe that a good programmer, once s/he's been working for as long as you (or for that matter, I) have, can turn his/her hand to most things.
The things that make me laugh is like your example of audio programming - as if it's an unbelievably arcane and complex subject. It's really not. But as you say, a (bad) manager will think they absolutely must have an 'audio expert', as opposed to someone who has a good background in engineering/computer science, and has programmed in various environments, platforms and languages.
As I go through my career, I'm becoming less and less impressed by specific experience, and more impressed by a candidate's range of skills, approach and personality. They tell me much more than "4 years DirectX experience" does.
Speaking of which - your journal entry about the rejection letter: I have no magical answer, but it did remind me of the section in Peopleware about hiring people (the bit where they say something like "But do you think he'd find chickens with lips funny?"). Sometimes it's just about a fit of the team, and how it gels, and if someone doesn't fit, then that's the way it goes. It doesn't necessarily reflect badly on the team or the person they decided to pass on hiring. So I guess what I'm saying there is, don't worry about it so much. It feels like you're looking for someone to blame for that (and maybe you'd prefer it if you could believe that the team are a bunch of immature jerks and that's why they didn't want you), but just let it go :)
But yes, essentially, boy am I sick of "But you've never done X before, how can you do that?"
I always think, "Here's an idea, maybe I could use my innate human abilities of learning, memory and problem solving to apply my experience and education to the work? Imagine that!"
Because here's the dirty secret of the games industry - well, I say secret, it's not really, but a surprising amount of people don't seem to know it:
Publishers finance games. In general games developers have no real money - they certainly don't have enough money to finance development of a game on their own.
Sometimes you get developers that try to change the publishing/distribution model (Valve being a well known example), but most developers just can't afford to turn around to the publishers and tell them to get lost. You've got to pay the wages somehow, otherwise you can't write the game, and then you have no game to sell, so you don't make any money, and so it goes on.
I think the main point the GP was making was that Google did not 'come up with' the idea of a searchable usenet archive. As stated, Google bought it from Deja.
Your analogies are like buying a car, but then...oh, never mind.
"Hello, son? This is the President calling from Earth."
"It's an honour to receive your call, Sir."
"You're the first man on Mars, son - can you tell us what it's like?"
"Words can barely describe it, Sir - it...it's awesome!"
"Awesome? What, you mean like a web page?"
"No, Sir..."
(With apologies to Eddie Izzard)
Amazon do this too, I believe, for UI/process improvements, and new features. For example, a while back, as well as the usual sections:
...on one browsing session, I also got shown:
...which I thought was a pretty good idea, as it lets you see the insight of people who've (hopefully) researched the area, read the Amazon reviews and made a decision.
I've not seen it again, so I assume it was one of their 'random tryouts' for randomly chosen users.