Right - sorry didn't meant to say that the OS itself is built on Java. But given that the user experiences are done in Java, that probably makes carriers more comfortable. The alternative is dangerous, crashy native code running on bloated OS's, which will cost them one way or another...
I wonder if Verizon's support for Android devices is indirectly due to Java's general acceptance as a mobile platform (J2ME), and their confidence that a whole OS based on it will be solid enough to provide predictable support for it. We're beginning to see Windows Mobile devices diverging in basic functionality as the T-Mobile Shadow, HTC Touch, and AT&T Tilt all have different interfaces. This likely makes it hell for Verizon to provide open access for WM. If Android can remain consistent in functionality, robustness, and usability, as well as maintain a relatively small footprint, I don't see why Sprint and T-Mobile wouldn't follow suit eventually. OTOH, AT&T may continue to drink Apple's koolaid and be the closed, leading edge, stylish carrier.
The real profits to be had comes from the ensuing distrust of third party batteries. Is a possible loss of laptop and data worth the $50-100 you can save?
Also, I wonder if a laptop battery faked to look like it came from IBM is of lesser quality than one from a manufacturer not willing to go that far?
There is very little binding force keeping Microsoft's monopoly together these days. The answer to the question "why M$?" is the opposite question "why NOT M$?" Ok, like 0.1% of you say "because they are evil" but everyone else wants an OS with the PC they buy that works pretty well. Even Vista fits the bill. Today, Windows dominates because it works better for consumers than other alternatives save OS X.
The problem with Apple is that people like choice, and at least with MS, you get your choice of hardware vendor. And even under these circumstances, they are gaining market share. In fact, I contend that if Apple licensed OS X like Microsoft does Windows, we'd see Windows market share drop like a rock. That wouldn't be the case if Microsoft still had any teeth at all like it once did. Dell's even trying to sell Linux now.
MS's monopoly is extremely fragile, and their days as a 95% market share owner are numbered, even if they got their teeth back.
My plan is to have a kid next year. I will then force him into the Air Force and make him be a pilot and eventually an astronaut that will go on that mission. I'll have him bring me back some Mars rocks and I will sell them on eBay.
Seriously, they should make sure that half their staff won't die of old age midway through the project.
When I was in high school, we had to write a thousand lines of code to open a window with a button. Now, with 30 lines of code, high schoolers can render an instant search on petabytes of data in 3D on a cell phone. Pretty amazing progress.
- My paperbacks don't cause radio interference with my speakers - Zoom is really intuitive - just hold the book closer and closer - My favorite popup books are 3D. The Kindle won't do 3D for another 10 years. - I actually like the color Best Buy ads when I read a newspaper since I'm a gadget freak - I can use crappy books for kindling. The Kindle just doesn't live up to its name in this regard. - While on the subject of fire, blasphemous book burnings are way cooler than blasphemous ebook deletions.
For some reason, I never got paid for it. But given that it's non-custom and super generic, and given the fact that Google hasn't paid me for it, yet, Maryland can't possibly tax me. Because I'm a winner.
Automatic GC is a lot like a pair of nunchucks. If you walk down the street with them whirling it around, it looks pretty badass and no doubt you can hurt someone as intended. After your first street thug goes down, you definitely feel like badass. Just don't confuse yourself with Bruce Lee. You'll likely wind up giving yourself a black eye with 1 bad twirl.
Deterministic GC is a lot like one of those kung fu fold-fans. Really hard to do damage, but one of those old, bearded guys will tear you a new asshole with it.
Kung Fu baby.
if you believe that C++ is not a complete disaster, then it makes me suspect that programming language design was not part of your curriculum at school.
Well, that'd be a wrong suspicion, then. It's probably much more appropriate and reasonable to believe that C++ is possibly overcomplicated, but brings some very useful facilities to the table. I'm pretty sure they wrote most manage code environments using it, so characterizing it as a "complete disaster" is just hyperbole.
Well--except that if you 'new' an int, you don't get an int, you get a pointer to int.
When I 'new' a MyClass, I get a pointer to a MyClass. There's no except.
however, I would suggest a C++ programmer use C or even assembly code for programming at this level, though these are merely the most familiar options.
Writing a multithreaded garbage-collecting runtime environment entirely in C and/or assembly? You must be joking.
Without a garbage collector, pointers to heap objects are dangerous; but pointers to stack objects are suicidal and semantically anaemic.
Pointers to anything is dangerous - so are scissors and cars. And saying pointers to stack objects is "suicidal" sounds like more hyperbole.
Based on your comments - and I really hate to make this kind of accusation and I hope you don't take it personally - I think you have very limited experience with C++ given many things you've written that don't ring true.
That said, GC is a great facility.
I gotta nitpick a few things I think are small but important in your comments:
Sure, C++ programmers consider it rocket science and discuss ad nauseum their clever smart pointer techniques and [clip]... That's because they're now used to getting through life with no arms and artificial legs.
I think you're being unnecessarily derogative of C++. Different tools for different jobs. There are many scenarios where deterministic, manual GC has benefits over automatic GC. I wouldn't characterize having deterministic destructors in place of GC as having no arms and no legs.
Look, here's a thought experiment: if I modified C++ so that the end of life of every int and char had to be declared. Would that be reasonable? Would that be acceptable? I think not. So how can it be argued that this is reasonable or acceptable to require in a programme that simply happens not to have ints and chars as its domain of computation?
C++ is pretty consistent here. You can new up an int and char and require them to be deleted, just like I can instantiate classes/structs on the stack. Nothing in C++ says I ever have to call new/delete. And, even in java or.net, you often have to essentially manually manage freeing certain kinds of resources anyways (eg. database connections).
Garbage collection, like almost all other high level language features, is hard to get right in a hard real time environment, and (more or less) requires that the language by type safe.
Maybe I'm splitting hairs, but garbage collection is as much a part of the runtime environment as the language. The language expresses the ability to take advantage of garbage collection, but the feature doesn't really come from the language. At least, not with Java nor C#.
I was referring to routine scans for existing subscribers. I'm pretty sure Kaiser wouldn't get many new customers if they had to undergo a scan *before* enrolling.
I wonder when the cost of these scanners comes down enough that prevention-oriented HMO's can do routine scans of their patients. Their doctors do quick, cursory reviews of the most common, serious medical conditions. For example, this aneurysm sounds very serious, but easy enough to spot: http://www.or-live.com/gore/1904/
The moon isn't just a rarity in terms of formation. It's also a rarity in terms of fortune, I think. How awesome is it that there's a big ball of rock only 200,000 miles away where we can practice our space technology on till kingdom come? How awesome is it that it has enough gravity (and water!) to make a moon base possible? I think in the next 5000 years, we'll look up at the moon and see next year's resort spa trip.
Though it's a huge, lucky win, we also kind of got screwed by being so far from the next nearest star.
Sigh. Vista sales only went down because it's buggy, slow, and upstaged by Leopard. I mean, for an OS that drains battery life 50% faster, what could you possibly expect?? Stop bashing Microsoft all the time!
Really great point. Not sure about 1991 being the year of XP. Wasn't that more like 2000? Windows 98 and 2000 predated XP, and it's obvious what years they came out.
> I suspect all the bad mouthing comes from people trying to shoehorn the thing into old hardware
Microsoft selling Vista DVD's on store shelves with clear PC requirements means that *this is a use case they completely botched*.
Abandoning Vista is one of the worst things Microsoft can do right now, despite its quality and performance issues. Yes, it doesn't measure up to expectations MS set for it, and it continues to be a source of embarassment for the company in general.
However, it's much more worthwhile for Microsoft to make it performant and solid than to dump it. First, they can mend and extend their hurt relationships with PC makers. Second, it can continue executing on its WPF/WCF/.NET strategy, which is more about developer adoption than anything else. Finally, MS just can't afford to look that weak at this time with vultures like Google waiting for an opportunity, and Intel dumping them for Linux in the mobility space.
As always, hardware will bail them out in 2 years. Give it hybrid hard drives (2nd gen with gigs of flash), 4-8GB memory, and AMD's Fusion processors, and Vista will become a Why Not versus Why decision when buying a new PC.
Still, Microsoft would be wise to hurry the hell up with a real UMPC OS already. Intel dumped them, Apple's about to upstage them, and clunky Vista UMPC's with 2 hours battery life are not helping their image.
I'd like to see USB 3 improve on its power model. First, I want USB 3 to have potential of providing more juice to peripherals like 3.5" external drives, external DVD burners, desktop speakers, printers, and even (perhaps small) external displays. Currently, USB 2 can barely power a 2.5" external drive. I think of of the goals should be to reduce the number of bulky AC adapters dangerously hanging out of power strips.
On one hand, it's awesome that a huge company like Google can spend what amounts to a pittance to further space exploration. Even if the program fails to produce winners, a lot of great thinking and technology might come out of it. I'd love to see companies like Google, Microsoft, and IBM do an order of magnitude more.
On the other hand, if I were a shareholder, I'd be a bit peeved.
Slashdot Mirror
Right - sorry didn't meant to say that the OS itself is built on Java. But given that the user experiences are done in Java, that probably makes carriers more comfortable. The alternative is dangerous, crashy native code running on bloated OS's, which will cost them one way or another...
I wonder if Verizon's support for Android devices is indirectly due to Java's general acceptance as a mobile platform (J2ME), and their confidence that a whole OS based on it will be solid enough to provide predictable support for it. We're beginning to see Windows Mobile devices diverging in basic functionality as the T-Mobile Shadow, HTC Touch, and AT&T Tilt all have different interfaces. This likely makes it hell for Verizon to provide open access for WM. If Android can remain consistent in functionality, robustness, and usability, as well as maintain a relatively small footprint, I don't see why Sprint and T-Mobile wouldn't follow suit eventually. OTOH, AT&T may continue to drink Apple's koolaid and be the closed, leading edge, stylish carrier.
I'll bet those chimps were captured in Korea. I wanna see tests comparing good ol' American chimps versus our guys.
The real profits to be had comes from the ensuing distrust of third party batteries. Is a possible loss of laptop and data worth the $50-100 you can save? Also, I wonder if a laptop battery faked to look like it came from IBM is of lesser quality than one from a manufacturer not willing to go that far?
There is very little binding force keeping Microsoft's monopoly together these days. The answer to the question "why M$?" is the opposite question "why NOT M$?" Ok, like 0.1% of you say "because they are evil" but everyone else wants an OS with the PC they buy that works pretty well. Even Vista fits the bill. Today, Windows dominates because it works better for consumers than other alternatives save OS X. The problem with Apple is that people like choice, and at least with MS, you get your choice of hardware vendor. And even under these circumstances, they are gaining market share. In fact, I contend that if Apple licensed OS X like Microsoft does Windows, we'd see Windows market share drop like a rock. That wouldn't be the case if Microsoft still had any teeth at all like it once did. Dell's even trying to sell Linux now. MS's monopoly is extremely fragile, and their days as a 95% market share owner are numbered, even if they got their teeth back.
You mean a human host? And where do I find this girl-host, fellow human?
My plan is to have a kid next year. I will then force him into the Air Force and make him be a pilot and eventually an astronaut that will go on that mission. I'll have him bring me back some Mars rocks and I will sell them on eBay. Seriously, they should make sure that half their staff won't die of old age midway through the project.
I'd go ahead and integrate the code as is, then sue the original author for stealing the code from your company. A good offense is the best defense.
When I was in high school, we had to write a thousand lines of code to open a window with a button. Now, with 30 lines of code, high schoolers can render an instant search on petabytes of data in 3D on a cell phone. Pretty amazing progress.
- My paperbacks don't cause radio interference with my speakers
- Zoom is really intuitive - just hold the book closer and closer
- My favorite popup books are 3D. The Kindle won't do 3D for another 10 years.
- I actually like the color Best Buy ads when I read a newspaper since I'm a gadget freak
- I can use crappy books for kindling. The Kindle just doesn't live up to its name in this regard.
- While on the subject of fire, blasphemous book burnings are way cooler than blasphemous ebook deletions.
Automatic GC is a lot like a pair of nunchucks. If you walk down the street with them whirling it around, it looks pretty badass and no doubt you can hurt someone as intended. After your first street thug goes down, you definitely feel like badass. Just don't confuse yourself with Bruce Lee. You'll likely wind up giving yourself a black eye with 1 bad twirl. Deterministic GC is a lot like one of those kung fu fold-fans. Really hard to do damage, but one of those old, bearded guys will tear you a new asshole with it. Kung Fu baby.
I was referring to routine scans for existing subscribers. I'm pretty sure Kaiser wouldn't get many new customers if they had to undergo a scan *before* enrolling.
I wonder when the cost of these scanners comes down enough that prevention-oriented HMO's can do routine scans of their patients. Their doctors do quick, cursory reviews of the most common, serious medical conditions. For example, this aneurysm sounds very serious, but easy enough to spot: http://www.or-live.com/gore/1904/
The moon isn't just a rarity in terms of formation. It's also a rarity in terms of fortune, I think. How awesome is it that there's a big ball of rock only 200,000 miles away where we can practice our space technology on till kingdom come? How awesome is it that it has enough gravity (and water!) to make a moon base possible? I think in the next 5000 years, we'll look up at the moon and see next year's resort spa trip. Though it's a huge, lucky win, we also kind of got screwed by being so far from the next nearest star.
Sigh. Vista sales only went down because it's buggy, slow, and upstaged by Leopard. I mean, for an OS that drains battery life 50% faster, what could you possibly expect?? Stop bashing Microsoft all the time!
Unfortunately, I love those 45-minute Yanni jam sessions, so it'll be more like 5000 songs for me.
I saw a similar article titled "The Hottest Human Rights You Can't Get In Darfur"
:-)
Apparently, they only make those here
Really great point. Not sure about 1991 being the year of XP. Wasn't that more like 2000? Windows 98 and 2000 predated XP, and it's obvious what years they came out.
> I suspect all the bad mouthing comes from people trying to shoehorn the thing into old hardware Microsoft selling Vista DVD's on store shelves with clear PC requirements means that *this is a use case they completely botched*.
Abandoning Vista is one of the worst things Microsoft can do right now, despite its quality and performance issues. Yes, it doesn't measure up to expectations MS set for it, and it continues to be a source of embarassment for the company in general. However, it's much more worthwhile for Microsoft to make it performant and solid than to dump it. First, they can mend and extend their hurt relationships with PC makers. Second, it can continue executing on its WPF/WCF/.NET strategy, which is more about developer adoption than anything else. Finally, MS just can't afford to look that weak at this time with vultures like Google waiting for an opportunity, and Intel dumping them for Linux in the mobility space. As always, hardware will bail them out in 2 years. Give it hybrid hard drives (2nd gen with gigs of flash), 4-8GB memory, and AMD's Fusion processors, and Vista will become a Why Not versus Why decision when buying a new PC. Still, Microsoft would be wise to hurry the hell up with a real UMPC OS already. Intel dumped them, Apple's about to upstage them, and clunky Vista UMPC's with 2 hours battery life are not helping their image.
I'd like to see USB 3 improve on its power model. First, I want USB 3 to have potential of providing more juice to peripherals like 3.5" external drives, external DVD burners, desktop speakers, printers, and even (perhaps small) external displays. Currently, USB 2 can barely power a 2.5" external drive. I think of of the goals should be to reduce the number of bulky AC adapters dangerously hanging out of power strips.
On one hand, it's awesome that a huge company like Google can spend what amounts to a pittance to further space exploration. Even if the program fails to produce winners, a lot of great thinking and technology might come out of it. I'd love to see companies like Google, Microsoft, and IBM do an order of magnitude more. On the other hand, if I were a shareholder, I'd be a bit peeved.