I want a phone that's a phone - period! I don't want a phone that's also a (crappy) camera and a (crappy) browser and a (crappy) email client and a (crappy) pda and a (crappy) mp3 player and a (crappy) tv and a (crappy) phone.
This should make you feel better, then. Right up your alley. All you have to do is ignore the rest of the "features" (that's Old Programmer speak for "Yeah, it's a bug. A BIG bug. I'm too damn lazy to go back and fix it, so cope.")...
I can't wait to download the 324 widgets that will allow me to control XMMS, each just a little bit different from the last.
I'm sure. I don't have XMMS on my iBook, so I can't say that I've ever wasted my time with them. My point was simply that with a wider base, there will be people that want to have a Widget do something, but the Widget has not (yet) been written. Those people would (theoretically) write that Widget and make it available to everyone else, so that people like me can try them. (I'm not much of a programmer.)
I think this is a great idea. Right off the bat, there will be lots of Widgets available.
The Apple community will also benefit, because there are probably a lot of people in the Linux community that will write new Widgets that haven't been thought of (or thought necessary) by the Apple programming community.
What's the point in hiring someone to develop software if they are going to spend half a day messing around troubleshooting their system - that's not their job.
I know many who feel like they have to tweek their working environment (background, sounds, screensavers, etc.) almost constantly. It's a wonder they get anything done, and it's certainly a wonder they still have a job.
Policy in most companies is not decided by employees mothers.
Perhaps it should be... At least then, they might be more inclined to work instead of IMing their buddies in the next state or playing with their system settings.
People who use computers for actual work are always properly respectful of those who can chown their files away on a whim.
You apparently don'tknow the people in Dev Group where I'm working now. Several of them don't seem to understand that "dev" environments are for debugging, so that the code doesn't bring the world crashing down when it gets released. One guy manages to write code that brings high-end servers to their knees like clockwork.
I think you mis-spoke with your use of "always" there. Perhaps you meant "usually" or "almost always"?
For one of my past positions, I had to support a group of kernel developers. Their job was to work on a product that was basically a customized FreeBSD kernel with a fair amount of software that allowed the Admin to tell it how to work.
For some odd reason, many of these people had no clue how to do things in FreeBSD. I had to do it all for them, and heaven help them if they tried to change crucial system configurations....
According to the "Methods" section of the PDF that is referred to in the article (beginning on page 45 of the document):
As a general rule the findings issued by the project are based on the findings of a daily tracking survey on Americans' use of the Internet conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates. Our standard poll is in the field for a month and aims to complete about 2,200 interviews. For results based on the total sample of any given monthly sample of that size, one can say with 95% confidence that the error attributable to sampling and other random effects is plus or minus 2.2 percentage points. ...
The sample for each of our tracking surveys is a random digit sample of telephone numbers selected from telephone exchanges in the continental United States. The random digit aspect of the sample is used to avoid "listing" bias and provides representation of both listed and unlisted numbers (including not-yet-listed numbers). the design of the each [sic] sample achieves this representation by random generation of the last two digits of telephone numbers selected on the basis of their area code, telephone exchange, and bank number. ... ...At least ten atetmpts are made to complete an interview at sampled households. the calls are staggered over times of day and days of the week to maximize the chances of making contact with a potential respondent.... In each contacted household, interviewers ask to speak with the youngest male currently at home. If no male is available, interviewers ask to speak with the oldest female at home. This systematic respondent selection technique has been shown to produce samples that closely mirror the population in terms of age and sex.
It goes on, but that's the main part I found interesting, with regard to how the survey was done. What worries me is the "youngest male" bit in the last paragraph I quoted. I can think of several housholds (such as mine) where the youngest male is under five years of age, and the parents would most certainly not allow random callers to talk to them.
So what does this tell me? The expectation is that the men are younger than the women that use the Internet. I might be able to find lots of men online, but only if I am willing to rob the cradle. You guys? I hope you like older women.
Wow, when I look at it that way, I'm suddenly a very interesting person! Can I re-write my resume this way too?
You have my permission to do so (if that's what you're looking for), but I seriously doubt that it will be of any help- unless, of course, you say "I don't use Windows" and you are applying for a job as a unix administrator.
Sadly the networks cannot condone properly taking care of the needs of the end users. That wouldn't be fiscally responsible to their pockets.
To what end? I would think that end users would want to do things "above board", to encourage the advertisers and Discovery Channel to continue producing this show.
Want to watch the shows on your own time, without the need to deal with stupid cable companies for getting Discovery Channel? The show is available on DVD, without commercial interruptions, I'd bet.
If the end user cannot be bothered to give incentive to the people paying for the show to support the show somehow, then the show will slide in quality or go away altogether, and then we'd all lose.
Slashdot Mirror
This should make you feel better, then. Right up your alley. All you have to do is ignore the rest of the "features" (that's Old Programmer speak for "Yeah, it's a bug. A BIG bug. I'm too damn lazy to go back and fix it, so cope.")...
I'm sure. I don't have XMMS on my iBook, so I can't say that I've ever wasted my time with them. My point was simply that with a wider base, there will be people that want to have a Widget do something, but the Widget has not (yet) been written. Those people would (theoretically) write that Widget and make it available to everyone else, so that people like me can try them. (I'm not much of a programmer.)
I think this is a great idea. Right off the bat, there will be lots of Widgets available.
The Apple community will also benefit, because there are probably a lot of people in the Linux community that will write new Widgets that haven't been thought of (or thought necessary) by the Apple programming community.
I, for one, welcome our new Widget overlords.
I know many who feel like they have to tweek their working environment (background, sounds, screensavers, etc.) almost constantly. It's a wonder they get anything done, and it's certainly a wonder they still have a job.
Perhaps it should be... At least then, they might be more inclined to work instead of IMing their buddies in the next state or playing with their system settings.
You apparently don'tknow the people in Dev Group where I'm working now. Several of them don't seem to understand that "dev" environments are for debugging, so that the code doesn't bring the world crashing down when it gets released. One guy manages to write code that brings high-end servers to their knees like clockwork.
I think you mis-spoke with your use of "always" there. Perhaps you meant "usually" or "almost always"?
For one of my past positions, I had to support a group of kernel developers. Their job was to work on a product that was basically a customized FreeBSD kernel with a fair amount of software that allowed the Admin to tell it how to work.
For some odd reason, many of these people had no clue how to do things in FreeBSD. I had to do it all for them, and heaven help them if they tried to change crucial system configurations....
It goes on, but that's the main part I found interesting, with regard to how the survey was done. What worries me is the "youngest male" bit in the last paragraph I quoted. I can think of several housholds (such as mine) where the youngest male is under five years of age, and the parents would most certainly not allow random callers to talk to them.
So what does this tell me? The expectation is that the men are younger than the women that use the Internet. I might be able to find lots of men online, but only if I am willing to rob the cradle. You guys? I hope you like older women.
How long would it be before Opera's ability to work on most platforms became a thing of the past?
You have my permission to do so (if that's what you're looking for), but I seriously doubt that it will be of any help- unless, of course, you say "I don't use Windows" and you are applying for a job as a unix administrator.
To what end? I would think that end users would want to do things "above board", to encourage the advertisers and Discovery Channel to continue producing this show.
Want to watch the shows on your own time, without the need to deal with stupid cable companies for getting Discovery Channel? The show is available on DVD, without commercial interruptions, I'd bet.
If the end user cannot be bothered to give incentive to the people paying for the show to support the show somehow, then the show will slide in quality or go away altogether, and then we'd all lose.
This was a pretty even-handed description. I wish I had mod-points. :)
-Bren
When all else fails, attribute it to Oscar Wilde.
For the record, "not collecting stamps" is a hobby. It is one of several I have, actually.