Amen to that. I've worked on RAD projects where we've dummied up a screen to get user feedback and they say 'Looks great - about a week to finish it?' when we're probably looking at 6 months of development time.
Another issue is that in many cases, modern development is using third party components, be they UI controls, OS calls, database features etc. These are effectively blackboxes so if there's something dodgy in there, you could waste days or weeks trying to pin down a bug.
I heard of a recent case where a bank had a mainframe process, which had just gone live, kept abending. For 3 days they threw people at the problem, managers blaming the coders and testers for letting something so important fail. It turned out to be a new version of the compiler had been put on the mainframe that had a bug not in the version on the dev and test systems.
It those sort of ass-biting issues that can knock estimates right out the window.
Isn't it pathetic that researchers or businesses try to find workarounds for patents?
Ordinarily I'd say yes but the drug industry has been doing the same thing for years. It's an established business practice to produce an almost identical drug to an existing one, with the same effect and 99.9% structure then market it as new/improved with a corresponding price hike.
Basically these guys have just done cheaply for the end user what the drug co's do expensively. Hoisted by their own petard.
>Isn't the UK the nation that has video cameras monitoring the streets?
Yes but at least they don't (yet) have systems that put a name to the face automatically.
It's crazy here. I stood near a bridge in London and looked around and counted 27 cameras, 14 of which were pointing at me. Thing is, when something does happen, the police rarely catch anyone so what is the point?
>you must have something to hide
Hence the lyrics from the Pet Shop Boys song 'Integral':
If you've done nothing wrong, you've got nothing to fear
If you've something to hide you shouldn't even be here.
Wonderful song..
I tried to get Hulk via P2P to see if it was as bad as everyone said but it turned out to be a renamed porn movie file with some seriously hot action. I was happy.
DuBois added, 'This is a unique opportunity for someone to buy the company for pennies on the dollar. We welcome all vultures.'
If your lawyer does this good a job of talking up the value of your company, it's time to hire a new lawyer. That's if you ignore the generally unprofessional phrasing.
Oh people are quite entitled to get a bit miffed, angry even but 'rage'? I was objecting (clearly, ineffectively) to the over use of the word 'rage' - road rage, air rage, web rage etc. Anything that annoys or causes people to over-react suddenly becomes a syndrome of some sort with a fashionable name. All too often that is then used as an excuse by people who seem incapable of excercising self-control. Get drunk on a plan, whack the stewardess then blame it on air-rage. Oh, that's OK then, I just thought it was because you were an idiot drunk.
The bottom line is, enough of the fancy terminology for people with no self-control. Yes, losing your carefully typed in form is a bummer but hey, there are *worse* things that could happen so treat it accordingly.
>...ponders if heavily flashing websites can cause seizures.
Yes they can but epileptics are wise enough to move on if they see anything likely to cause a problem
As the old joke says:
Patient: 'Doctor, it hurts everytime I hit my head on a wall'
Doctor: 'Well stop doing it then.'
As you seem to have noted, Governments no longer run things, countries no longer have sovereignty. The big multinationals run the show now and the governments do their bidding for fear of losing the money streams they offer.
We're probably not that far from the first 'World Government' and when it happens, it will probably be called Texaco or Monsanto.
Some people have no roof over their heads
Some people can't feed their kids
Some people are looking at dead farms in the desert wondering what to do next
Some people have cancer
Some people have reasons to get angry
Looking at a badly designed website isn't one of them. If this makes you angry you really need to ask yourself WTF is wrong with yourself?
>And they still don't know what causes bad teeth
We know what causes 'bad' teeth. We're just not obsessed with having unrealistically white and straight teeth. We like the natural look, thanks.
The proper response in this situation is say "fine then, I'll shoot him myself" and then hang up.
Which may be fine in yor country but in the UK you can be jailed (and people have been) for using undue force in their own homes for attacking burglers.
Slashdot Mirror
Amen to that. I've worked on RAD projects where we've dummied up a screen to get user feedback and they say 'Looks great - about a week to finish it?' when we're probably looking at 6 months of development time.
Another issue is that in many cases, modern development is using third party components, be they UI controls, OS calls, database features etc. These are effectively blackboxes so if there's something dodgy in there, you could waste days or weeks trying to pin down a bug.
I heard of a recent case where a bank had a mainframe process, which had just gone live, kept abending. For 3 days they threw people at the problem, managers blaming the coders and testers for letting something so important fail. It turned out to be a new version of the compiler had been put on the mainframe that had a bug not in the version on the dev and test systems.
It those sort of ass-biting issues that can knock estimates right out the window.
>they will create generic tools that the computer users themselves can modify
That'll be Excel then? Job's done. Next?
Ah, good stuff. Agree with you then and I take back the whoosh thang.
>"Bound to end in tears" doesn't even start to cover it. /. Good work dude!
Both a well deserved insightful AND one of the best lines ever on
Methinks one of us just had a 'whoosh!' moment and I don't think it was me.
>PS: I love your John Foxx themed name! :-)
Thanks and good spot!
Heck, I was just impressed anyone here managed to put Tamil and Tiger in the same sentence.
Basically these guys have just done cheaply for the end user what the drug co's do expensively. Hoisted by their own petard.
Well I thought it was funny despite being the wrong Tamils.
>no one is forcing you to travel to the US
Then stop telling us how wonderful it is there - you're all just tempting us, dammit!
>Isn't the UK the nation that has video cameras monitoring the streets?
Yes but at least they don't (yet) have systems that put a name to the face automatically.
It's crazy here. I stood near a bridge in London and looked around and counted 27 cameras, 14 of which were pointing at me. Thing is, when something does happen, the police rarely catch anyone so what is the point?
>you must have something to hide
Hence the lyrics from the Pet Shop Boys song 'Integral':
If you've done nothing wrong, you've got nothing to fear
If you've something to hide you shouldn't even be here.
Wonderful song..
Oh people are quite entitled to get a bit miffed, angry even but 'rage'? I was objecting (clearly, ineffectively) to the over use of the word 'rage' - road rage, air rage, web rage etc. Anything that annoys or causes people to over-react suddenly becomes a syndrome of some sort with a fashionable name. All too often that is then used as an excuse by people who seem incapable of excercising self-control. Get drunk on a plan, whack the stewardess then blame it on air-rage. Oh, that's OK then, I just thought it was because you were an idiot drunk.
The bottom line is, enough of the fancy terminology for people with no self-control. Yes, losing your carefully typed in form is a bummer but hey, there are *worse* things that could happen so treat it accordingly.
>the Sun a humungous star?
It's made of pureed chickpeas and garlic? Wow! I knew the moon was green cheese but that is just crazy talk!
>...ponders if heavily flashing websites can cause seizures.
Yes they can but epileptics are wise enough to move on if they see anything likely to cause a problem
As the old joke says:
Patient: 'Doctor, it hurts everytime I hit my head on a wall'
Doctor: 'Well stop doing it then.'
As you seem to have noted, Governments no longer run things, countries no longer have sovereignty. The big multinationals run the show now and the governments do their bidding for fear of losing the money streams they offer.
We're probably not that far from the first 'World Government' and when it happens, it will probably be called Texaco or Monsanto.
Some people have no roof over their heads
Some people can't feed their kids
Some people are looking at dead farms in the desert wondering what to do next
Some people have cancer
Some people have reasons to get angry
Looking at a badly designed website isn't one of them. If this makes you angry you really need to ask yourself WTF is wrong with yourself?
>I'm visionally challenged!
You are George Bush and I claim my 5 pounds!
>And they still don't know what causes bad teeth
We know what causes 'bad' teeth. We're just not obsessed with having unrealistically white and straight teeth. We like the natural look, thanks.
Not sure why you got trolled - seems a useful post to me - thanks. Unlike one of the Amazon reviewers who clearly bought the wrong book - duh.