The thing with Microsoft is that people keep wondering why their products are crap.
If "people" kept wondering why they were crap, they'd stop buying them. At 90% of the OS market, I'd think that the overwhelming majority does not think the products are crap. And before you ramble on about monopolies, Joe 6 pack, etc, 90% is 90%. 90% of the population is not tied to MS legacy products, and I wouldn't call 90% of the population "Joe 6-pack." The truth is MS products do have issues, but they're good enough that people for the most part don't migrate to something else.
Look at the IE7 team's blogs. These are third-rate programmers who don't even understand why people think their product sucks, yet they're trying to fix it.
You can call MS programmers lots of things, but third-rate wouldn't be one of them. Coding an OS or a browser that will run on hundreds of millions of computers is not something I typically associate with a third rate programmer.
As for why MS chooses to continue "fixing" IE (which many, and including myself believe to be fundamentally broken) is that starting over would take too long. Lots of people like to say that IE took over because it was bundled with the OS. Well, not quite. Mozilla had decided to start from scratch, a project originally deemed to take only 6 months I believe. In the end, it took years. Netscape stagnated, while IE didn't. Eventually IE took over. Sadly MS let IE stagnate anyway, instead of starting over from scratch during the time it had no competitors. That time is over, and starting over from this point would mean death to IE, and much to everyone's dismay, MS doesn't want that.
and talentless failed geek also-rans like Gates (born rich and never HAD to work a day in his life) have never been sent packing by the shareholders.
In some ways, the older games are more entertaining because they leave more to the imagination. Our imaginations can be more entertaining than any kind of advanced graphics, despite how advanced they are; and even on a subconscious level. That's why games like Mario and similar side-scrollers will never get old, even when compared with modern games with graphical marvels.
Agreed, agreed, agreed, and did I say agreed?
Final Fantasy 1 captured my heart and mind because my (then 9 or 10 year old ) imagination was able to fill in the blank. All subsequent FF titles have captured my imagination less and less.
I'm not necessarily saying that the new, nicer graphics are bad, in fact, looking at those old sports games make me cringe (except for the tennis one, which to me looks more fun than the xbox 360 version). It would be nice though if games were made in that old fashioned style (with some graphic improvements of course) where fun is put over graphics. If the console makers released a developer kit with their consoles (or sold it for relatively cheap) and allowed you to publish games via an online store, I imagine this void would be quickly filled.
Now I just got my 360, and I haven't had time to investigate, but I do notice there is an online store. Has MS taken steps to allow "regular" folks to make their own games?
...which is why we get commercials espousing the wonders of sweat on a basketball player mesh.
As far as I can tell, the only basketball games on the 360 are made by Sega and EA. Both produce games for Sony as well, and it wouldn't be unreasonable to think that Sony will show a similar commercial...
In fact, there are lots of (most?) cross-over titles, so the argument of one machine's library being superior to another has always seemed silly to me; unless you're a big fan of a particular platform-specific series, i.e. Halo or Mario.
....So with the Playstation 3 delayed--arguably the only sure bet to crushing and stomping out the XBox for good...
What's with fan boys' obsession with crushing a competing system? Exactly what benefit do you gain? If the 360 didn't exist, you probably wouldn't see a PS3 until 2008 or 2009, and costing much more...
Any time spent removing the rootkit, your privacy, risk of viruses, accidental data loss due to having to format your PC is worth 7 and half bucks and a few shitty songs that costs them next to nothing to distribute digitally. Gotta love lobbyists.
Paper books I own hand up being read (eventually), while eBooks do not.
Almost all of the books I own are technical "how-to" books. While one might think that the eBook version of these books might be more useful (because you can quickly search for what you're looking for), I find myself cracking opening a book for no other reason than being bored. If I find something interesting, I'll read that entire section and related sections. Eventually, I usually hand up reading most of the book.
eBooks tend to be out of sight, out of mind. I don't see the book, and say to myself "I'm pretty bored, let me pick that book up and see what might look interesting," they kind of just sit their, hidden deep somewhere in my filesystem.
They really are a dumb idea, when there is *NOTHING* wrong with a book, which are just *PERFECT*.
Look, I prefer books over ebooks as well, but PERFECT? eBooks have a distinct advantage in searching for text. Where as with a text book you are limited to the index and TOC (or flipping through the pages), with an eBook its as easy as ctrl-F, and you type what you're looking for.
As electronics get cheaper (and smaller), I wonder how much more work/money it would be to add a search feature to a paper book: essentially a cheap LED and keypad that can tell you what page your term is on.
that object oriented languages are good for beginners. In the end, hardware is procedural, not object oriented. Beginners should work the way hardware does before they learn to think in more abstract ways (OO, functional, etc). VB6 might be a good choice, as it has a friendly syntax; however, there are lots of things about it that can really mess up a beginner - type safelessness being one of them (you can turn this off, however).
C/C++ is how I learned. The nice thing about c++ is that it is procedural AND object oriented; so essentially you can learn the same language to learn both methodologies. Of course, you lose the coolness factor of having a RAD tool (unless there is one for unmanaged c++ now...I haven't been keeping track), which might drive some people away from programming. VB6, love it or hate it, captured lots of people's imaginations because you could make a professional looking app without much effort. Most people in c++ land were stuck with cli apps, which are significantly less cool for most student programmers.
I don't have figures on hand, but I'd think that the vast majority of Windows sales are from the sale of new computers (either OEM, or purchased seperately for a new computer). Especially in the age of (very) cheap computers, they probably just don't care about supporting old hardware. Sure, that 486 might technically still be useful for something; but when you get a DELL orders of magnitude faster, with Windows included, for $300, does it really matter?
Look, unlike many (most?) here, I use Windows, I::gasp:: even like Windows. Or at least I like it enough to deal with some of its antiquated architecture (which is why I believe that the platform has these security issues [though certainly there are other reasons as well]).
Cell phones are relatively new. Programmable cell phones are VERY new. There are no backward compatibility issues; on top of that, by their very nature these things contain somewhat sensitive data. Why aren't these things being designed to be more secure from the ground up?!
Apperantly, you don't come from an engineering background. People that "build" things never think the product is ready. There's always a "hmmmm but if only we add this feature..." that comes up.
This is why deadlines are given; and a deadline can certainly be (and usually is) market driven. No matter what anyone says, as long as you have the core functionality, its better to release the damn thing and add those cool new features on the revision. This is especially true for a game, where people have to pay for the new version.
If you think that you'll be using certain functions more than once, pull those functions out and put them into a seperate module. I tend to code in.NET, so if I find myself using certain pieces of code very often, I'll take that a step further and compile the module into a class library (dll). This is good in that if I want to make a change to a function in the module, I can change it once and it'll be updated in any of the apps that use that function.
I didn't start using a source control system until after I started working professionally. When I was an amateur I didn't think it was important enough. WRONG! The ability to roll back changes is VERY important.
nearly the same capacity that the ruling Dictator Bush slants too far to the right.
It seems like your post is slightly to the left. I'm not a big fan of Bush, but calling him a dictator is a bit extreme, don't you think? I might be imagining things, but I believe our country had free elections in the past six years, and voted for him twice. Just because the guy you want in power isn't there doesn't make the guy a dictator.
Unfortunately, this being slashdot, I am fully prepared to accept my flaimbait points. Sigh.
I think he meant bigot, but he has a point. I also tend to think that the slashdot crowd really thinks too highly of itself. "Average computer users" aren't that dumb. Most people aren't going to plunk down the $100+ for an operating system without asking at least a salesperson a question first. Even if they are, I'm pretty sure that Apple will put a message at load time stating that software could not find the proper Apple hardware to run, and would probably inform them that they have to buy Mac hardware. Most people would say, "Oh, I made a stupid mistake" and either buy what they need, try to bring back the software (probably not going to happen anyway), or live with their stupid mistake.
Is there a stability issue w/ Windows Forms? I've never experienced any. Thanks for the info tho, I'd love to use my.NET experience on Linux (and have a pretty GUI too...).
While I can't speak too much about OSX since I don't use it much, my experience with Quick Time has been less than optimal (on Windows). Videos play for the first few seconds, then the screen blacks out, and I get asked to upgrade every time I launch. I'll take the "Monopolistic" Windows Media Player over QT any day.
Slashdot Mirror
Indeed. There are websites devoted to the MS interview process (or at least there used to be). Anyway, good luck Ash.
If "people" kept wondering why they were crap, they'd stop buying them. At 90% of the OS market, I'd think that the overwhelming majority does not think the products are crap. And before you ramble on about monopolies, Joe 6 pack, etc, 90% is 90%. 90% of the population is not tied to MS legacy products, and I wouldn't call 90% of the population "Joe 6-pack." The truth is MS products do have issues, but they're good enough that people for the most part don't migrate to something else.
Look at the IE7 team's blogs. These are third-rate programmers who don't even understand why people think their product sucks, yet they're trying to fix it.You can call MS programmers lots of things, but third-rate wouldn't be one of them. Coding an OS or a browser that will run on hundreds of millions of computers is not something I typically associate with a third rate programmer.
As for why MS chooses to continue "fixing" IE (which many, and including myself believe to be fundamentally broken) is that starting over would take too long. Lots of people like to say that IE took over because it was bundled with the OS. Well, not quite. Mozilla had decided to start from scratch, a project originally deemed to take only 6 months I believe. In the end, it took years. Netscape stagnated, while IE didn't. Eventually IE took over. Sadly MS let IE stagnate anyway, instead of starting over from scratch during the time it had no competitors. That time is over, and starting over from this point would mean death to IE, and much to everyone's dismay, MS doesn't want that.
and talentless failed geek also-rans like Gates (born rich and never HAD to work a day in his life) have never been sent packing by the shareholders.
Ya, that Bill Gates. What a failure...
In some ways, the older games are more entertaining because they leave more to the imagination. Our imaginations can be more entertaining than any kind of advanced graphics, despite how advanced they are; and even on a subconscious level. That's why games like Mario and similar side-scrollers will never get old, even when compared with modern games with graphical marvels. Agreed, agreed, agreed, and did I say agreed?
Final Fantasy 1 captured my heart and mind because my (then 9 or 10 year old ) imagination was able to fill in the blank. All subsequent FF titles have captured my imagination less and less.
I'm not necessarily saying that the new, nicer graphics are bad, in fact, looking at those old sports games make me cringe (except for the tennis one, which to me looks more fun than the xbox 360 version). It would be nice though if games were made in that old fashioned style (with some graphic improvements of course) where fun is put over graphics. If the console makers released a developer kit with their consoles (or sold it for relatively cheap) and allowed you to publish games via an online store, I imagine this void would be quickly filled.
Now I just got my 360, and I haven't had time to investigate, but I do notice there is an online store. Has MS taken steps to allow "regular" folks to make their own games?
Not only does the clicking bother me, but lots of times I'll be distracted by the websites some students like to visit during class....
As far as I can tell, the only basketball games on the 360 are made by Sega and EA. Both produce games for Sony as well, and it wouldn't be unreasonable to think that Sony will show a similar commercial... In fact, there are lots of (most?) cross-over titles, so the argument of one machine's library being superior to another has always seemed silly to me; unless you're a big fan of a particular platform-specific series, i.e. Halo or Mario.
What's with fan boys' obsession with crushing a competing system? Exactly what benefit do you gain? If the 360 didn't exist, you probably wouldn't see a PS3 until 2008 or 2009, and costing much more...
Any time spent removing the rootkit, your privacy, risk of viruses, accidental data loss due to having to format your PC is worth 7 and half bucks and a few shitty songs that costs them next to nothing to distribute digitally. Gotta love lobbyists.
Paper books I own hand up being read (eventually), while eBooks do not.
Almost all of the books I own are technical "how-to" books. While one might think that the eBook version of these books might be more useful (because you can quickly search for what you're looking for), I find myself cracking opening a book for no other reason than being bored. If I find something interesting, I'll read that entire section and related sections. Eventually, I usually hand up reading most of the book.
eBooks tend to be out of sight, out of mind. I don't see the book, and say to myself "I'm pretty bored, let me pick that book up and see what might look interesting," they kind of just sit their, hidden deep somewhere in my filesystem.
Look, I prefer books over ebooks as well, but PERFECT? eBooks have a distinct advantage in searching for text. Where as with a text book you are limited to the index and TOC (or flipping through the pages), with an eBook its as easy as ctrl-F, and you type what you're looking for.
As electronics get cheaper (and smaller), I wonder how much more work/money it would be to add a search feature to a paper book: essentially a cheap LED and keypad that can tell you what page your term is on.
that object oriented languages are good for beginners. In the end, hardware is procedural, not object oriented. Beginners should work the way hardware does before they learn to think in more abstract ways (OO, functional, etc). VB6 might be a good choice, as it has a friendly syntax; however, there are lots of things about it that can really mess up a beginner - type safelessness being one of them (you can turn this off, however). C/C++ is how I learned. The nice thing about c++ is that it is procedural AND object oriented; so essentially you can learn the same language to learn both methodologies. Of course, you lose the coolness factor of having a RAD tool (unless there is one for unmanaged c++ now...I haven't been keeping track), which might drive some people away from programming. VB6, love it or hate it, captured lots of people's imaginations because you could make a professional looking app without much effort. Most people in c++ land were stuck with cli apps, which are significantly less cool for most student programmers.
..what kind of stupidity? Blanket statements like that don't help anyone.
I don't have figures on hand, but I'd think that the vast majority of Windows sales are from the sale of new computers (either OEM, or purchased seperately for a new computer). Especially in the age of (very) cheap computers, they probably just don't care about supporting old hardware. Sure, that 486 might technically still be useful for something; but when you get a DELL orders of magnitude faster, with Windows included, for $300, does it really matter?
Look, unlike many (most?) here, I use Windows, I ::gasp:: even like Windows. Or at least I like it enough to deal with some of its antiquated architecture (which is why I believe that the platform has these security issues [though certainly there are other reasons as well]).
Cell phones are relatively new. Programmable cell phones are VERY new. There are no backward compatibility issues; on top of that, by their very nature these things contain somewhat sensitive data. Why aren't these things being designed to be more secure from the ground up?!
Apperantly, you don't come from an engineering background. People that "build" things never think the product is ready. There's always a "hmmmm but if only we add this feature..." that comes up.
This is why deadlines are given; and a deadline can certainly be (and usually is) market driven. No matter what anyone says, as long as you have the core functionality, its better to release the damn thing and add those cool new features on the revision. This is especially true for a game, where people have to pay for the new version.
Gives a new meaning to original or crispy.
O rly? LMAO
If you think that you'll be using certain functions more than once, pull those functions out and put them into a seperate module. I tend to code in .NET, so if I find myself using certain pieces of code very often, I'll take that a step further and compile the module into a class library (dll). This is good in that if I want to make a change to a function in the module, I can change it once and it'll be updated in any of the apps that use that function.
I didn't start using a source control system until after I started working professionally. When I was an amateur I didn't think it was important enough. WRONG! The ability to roll back changes is VERY important.
How is this offtopic, its a joke based on a comment that has been modded insightful....
I'll believe the many people making this claim when some proof is presented.
nearly the same capacity that the ruling Dictator Bush slants too far to the right.
It seems like your post is slightly to the left. I'm not a big fan of Bush, but calling him a dictator is a bit extreme, don't you think? I might be imagining things, but I believe our country had free elections in the past six years, and voted for him twice. Just because the guy you want in power isn't there doesn't make the guy a dictator.
Unfortunately, this being slashdot, I am fully prepared to accept my flaimbait points. Sigh.
I think he meant bigot, but he has a point. I also tend to think that the slashdot crowd really thinks too highly of itself. "Average computer users" aren't that dumb. Most people aren't going to plunk down the $100+ for an operating system without asking at least a salesperson a question first. Even if they are, I'm pretty sure that Apple will put a message at load time stating that software could not find the proper Apple hardware to run, and would probably inform them that they have to buy Mac hardware. Most people would say, "Oh, I made a stupid mistake" and either buy what they need, try to bring back the software (probably not going to happen anyway), or live with their stupid mistake.
Have you ever purchased software that didn't have a similar statement....?
Is there a stability issue w/ Windows Forms? I've never experienced any. Thanks for the info tho, I'd love to use my .NET experience on Linux (and have a pretty GUI too...).
I've never done more with mono that the simple "Hello World" app. Does Mono have an equivilent (or near equivilent) of Windows Forms?
I'm not a big fan of Foster's myself. Out of curiousity, what is considered good beer in Australia (Australian beer or otherwise)?
While I can't speak too much about OSX since I don't use it much, my experience with Quick Time has been less than optimal (on Windows). Videos play for the first few seconds, then the screen blacks out, and I get asked to upgrade every time I launch. I'll take the "Monopolistic" Windows Media Player over QT any day.