My big complaint with the review in the post is about how it fits in your lap.
In practice, the Surface RT and Surface Pro have a bigger footprint on my lap even than my old 15-inch MacBook Pro. And if I move a little, whomp, the screen drops off the back of my knees and folds out of sight.
It isn't a laptop and you aren't going to use it as a laptop. Sure, it has a keyboard, but if you're sitting on the couch with you feet up, you'd be using it in tablet mode. But, this is also why I don't think I'll have a laptop as my main "goof off" computer. I'm not going to post to Slashdot or Facebook or Twitter with a device that only has an on-screen keyboard (my phone has a physical keyboard for "heavier" text input). So, I'll likely still have some sort of laptop / dockable tablet so that I can input text. But I'm not going to use the Surface keyboard cover as my keyboard because it doesn't provide the laptop clamshell footprint --- which works quite well.
The rest of the complaints are fairly valid. The Surface Pro is interesting hardware, but I'm not sure they're using it the way it will really be used, so I question any usability points in the review.
It's kind of like all of those people who have "great ideas" and want you to sign an NDA, have you do all of the coding, and split the profit 70-30 (in their favor).
TypeScript (http://www.typescriptlang.org/) adds some rigor on top of JavaScript that helps keep you from shooting your foot as often. It "compiles" down to JavaScript, so it shouldn't limit what you can do, but it makes it feel a little more like a real language.
But I'm fine with JavaScript. I think that it's a decent first language since the bare minimum tools you need are on all of the devices you can buy today (you just need a text editor and a browser to get started).
is working fine, and it works practically everywhere, including forests and islets.
The argument was that Finland had coverage all over the country, including rural areas. Population density doesn't matter when we're discussing 100% coverage.
If you're talking about the number of simultaneous calls a tower can handle, then population density matters -- and since the US carriers have to deal with twice as many calls, I'm sure the Finnish carriers would struggle just as much if you doubled their call volume.
To be fair, it takes far fewer towers to cover all of Finland compared to the United states.......your cell carrier would be the equivalent of one of our smaller, regional carriers.
I'm not running Android, so I can't say for sure (well, my original Kindle Fire is, but it's on an island compared to most Android installs), but you aren't going to just back-up and restore from say an HTC to a Motorola phone because you are not only changing OS versions but also changing hardware vendors. So your natural path would be to go back to the app store and click "install". If the app has been pulled, that path isn't available. You might resort to copying the APK from one to the other, but "your grandma" (in other words, some random less technical person -- your specific grandma might be an exception) won't do that.
The assumption is that in 2 years, you'll get a new phone......of the same platform (Android in this case). And the first thing you'll do is try to install all of the applications that you had on your old phone. If the app has been pulled between original install and new phone, you're out of luck -- and if that app is part of your daily flow, your flow is now disrupted until you find a suitable replacement.
Of course, I'm more interested in features, so I'd use the closed source app and then deal with the problem if/when it comes into play rather than limit my selection to FOSS apps.
I've long said the job of IT is to eliminate work.....sometimes that's to free up people to work on other things, sometimes it's to eliminate positions. Whether the application is to make an accountant's job easier or to automate the manufacturing process, it's still about doing more with less.
I've been on many projects where the savings in the first year (real savings, not the funny money cost-benefit-analysis savings) was more than double the cost of the project.
I have a wife and three daughters.......my wife won't "game" with me, but she will play some of the more girl friendly games sometimes.....in particular Rock Band or some of the Kinect games. Those are easier for the non-gamer to get into because they use more familiar controls (instruments or your body). The youngest will play some games with me (or even just watch me play RPGs), but she's the closest to a "gamer girl" in my house and I wouldn't really classify her as a gamer (yet?).
Look up the various implementations of the standards for dealing with the offline manifest file. In this particular case, Mozilla actually caches the file (which defeats the purpose of having the offline manifest triggering updates) and Chrome and IE don't. You basically have to reconfigure your server to work around Mozilla's interpretation of the standard.
It's not only the definition of the standard, but the interpretation of the standard by each browser......and then the interpretation by the developer coding to a standard.
That's fair in terms of technical hurdles, but then running it is no different than watching unscaled SD content on a 4k TV. You have a huge window but only take advantage of a small sliver of the capabilities.
Interesting as a tech demo, but not something I would want or need in the near term.
I watched the video (linked from the home page) and wondered why it was just a flat desktop in a 3D world. I would have expected being able to move windows around in 3D space or at least to be independent of the desktop "square" that was floating there.
In Texas, it's an at-will state. There was some weird thing where if he had moved to California they could have gone after him, but he kept offices in Texas to get past the loophole. His office is in Austin for GM.....probably for a similar reason.
Honestly, Randy Mott could have had a personal relationship with all of these people. His CIO stints went include Walmart, Dell, HP, and now GM. He took people with him from Walmart to Dell. He took people with him from Dell to HP. Why wouldn't he take people with him from HP to GM?
Besides, GM is actually offering really nice packages (including a free car and gas paid for) to those in Austin working for GM.
[Disclaimer: I was at Dell when Mott came from Walmart and when he left for HP. I have friends at all four companies. I no longer work for Dell.]
I like to consider myself "efficient". Neither one wants to put forth much effort, but the difference between lazy and efficient is that efficient actually accomplishes something.
Actually, treat the metro interface as your start menu and use the "desktop"......the experience isn't much different than Win7. Don't look for icons, just start typing......usually within three keystrokes, the icon you want is in the left most column and can be clicked easily.
I think the problem is that people are so resistant to change that they haven't spent enough time figuring out how to use it. Besides, what game really needs 12 shortcuts? You can organize the metro screen fairly easily to add/remove/group icons (just drag them around.....right click and bring up the "all apps" view....you can move and even name whole groups). The metro screen *IS* your start menu.....
Slashdot Mirror
My big complaint with the review in the post is about how it fits in your lap.
In practice, the Surface RT and Surface Pro have a bigger footprint on my lap even than my old 15-inch MacBook Pro. And if I move a little, whomp, the screen drops off the back of my knees and folds out of sight.
It isn't a laptop and you aren't going to use it as a laptop. Sure, it has a keyboard, but if you're sitting on the couch with you feet up, you'd be using it in tablet mode. But, this is also why I don't think I'll have a laptop as my main "goof off" computer. I'm not going to post to Slashdot or Facebook or Twitter with a device that only has an on-screen keyboard (my phone has a physical keyboard for "heavier" text input). So, I'll likely still have some sort of laptop / dockable tablet so that I can input text. But I'm not going to use the Surface keyboard cover as my keyboard because it doesn't provide the laptop clamshell footprint --- which works quite well.
The rest of the complaints are fairly valid. The Surface Pro is interesting hardware, but I'm not sure they're using it the way it will really be used, so I question any usability points in the review.
It's kind of like all of those people who have "great ideas" and want you to sign an NDA, have you do all of the coding, and split the profit 70-30 (in their favor).
blah blah blah butterflies. Yeah, we've seen XKCD.
TypeScript (http://www.typescriptlang.org/) adds some rigor on top of JavaScript that helps keep you from shooting your foot as often. It "compiles" down to JavaScript, so it shouldn't limit what you can do, but it makes it feel a little more like a real language.
But I'm fine with JavaScript. I think that it's a decent first language since the bare minimum tools you need are on all of the devices you can buy today (you just need a text editor and a browser to get started).
Who buys it when there's so much out there that's free?
is working fine, and it works practically everywhere, including forests and islets.
The argument was that Finland had coverage all over the country, including rural areas. Population density doesn't matter when we're discussing 100% coverage.
If you're talking about the number of simultaneous calls a tower can handle, then population density matters -- and since the US carriers have to deal with twice as many calls, I'm sure the Finnish carriers would struggle just as much if you doubled their call volume.
Redirect them to Apple.......if they didn't buy the phone from you, you don't have to support the use of it.
To be fair, it takes far fewer towers to cover all of Finland compared to the United states.......your cell carrier would be the equivalent of one of our smaller, regional carriers.
I'm not running Android, so I can't say for sure (well, my original Kindle Fire is, but it's on an island compared to most Android installs), but you aren't going to just back-up and restore from say an HTC to a Motorola phone because you are not only changing OS versions but also changing hardware vendors. So your natural path would be to go back to the app store and click "install". If the app has been pulled, that path isn't available. You might resort to copying the APK from one to the other, but "your grandma" (in other words, some random less technical person -- your specific grandma might be an exception) won't do that.
The assumption is that in 2 years, you'll get a new phone......of the same platform (Android in this case). And the first thing you'll do is try to install all of the applications that you had on your old phone. If the app has been pulled between original install and new phone, you're out of luck -- and if that app is part of your daily flow, your flow is now disrupted until you find a suitable replacement.
Of course, I'm more interested in features, so I'd use the closed source app and then deal with the problem if/when it comes into play rather than limit my selection to FOSS apps.
Except some banks are also charging you to use a debit card (trying to push you to push credit at the register). http://www.dailyfinance.com/2011/08/16/wells-fargo-3-debit-card-charge-a-sign-of-more-bank-fees-to-co/
So, now, you're screwed no matter what.
I've long said the job of IT is to eliminate work.....sometimes that's to free up people to work on other things, sometimes it's to eliminate positions. Whether the application is to make an accountant's job easier or to automate the manufacturing process, it's still about doing more with less.
I've been on many projects where the savings in the first year (real savings, not the funny money cost-benefit-analysis savings) was more than double the cost of the project.
I have a wife and three daughters.......my wife won't "game" with me, but she will play some of the more girl friendly games sometimes.....in particular Rock Band or some of the Kinect games. Those are easier for the non-gamer to get into because they use more familiar controls (instruments or your body). The youngest will play some games with me (or even just watch me play RPGs), but she's the closest to a "gamer girl" in my house and I wouldn't really classify her as a gamer (yet?).
Look up the various implementations of the standards for dealing with the offline manifest file. In this particular case, Mozilla actually caches the file (which defeats the purpose of having the offline manifest triggering updates) and Chrome and IE don't. You basically have to reconfigure your server to work around Mozilla's interpretation of the standard.
It's not only the definition of the standard, but the interpretation of the standard by each browser......and then the interpretation by the developer coding to a standard.
That's fair in terms of technical hurdles, but then running it is no different than watching unscaled SD content on a 4k TV. You have a huge window but only take advantage of a small sliver of the capabilities.
Interesting as a tech demo, but not something I would want or need in the near term.
I watched the video (linked from the home page) and wondered why it was just a flat desktop in a 3D world. I would have expected being able to move windows around in 3D space or at least to be independent of the desktop "square" that was floating there.
Who said you had to check the box to give it as a gift. ;)
On the plus side, you can buy CDs as presents and get the MP3 to keep for yourself.......so Amazon might still have a slight problem to fix.
People still confuse Java and JavaScript because they both have Java in the name......why are you amazed?
In Texas, it's an at-will state. There was some weird thing where if he had moved to California they could have gone after him, but he kept offices in Texas to get past the loophole. His office is in Austin for GM.....probably for a similar reason.
Honestly, Randy Mott could have had a personal relationship with all of these people. His CIO stints went include Walmart, Dell, HP, and now GM. He took people with him from Walmart to Dell. He took people with him from Dell to HP. Why wouldn't he take people with him from HP to GM?
Besides, GM is actually offering really nice packages (including a free car and gas paid for) to those in Austin working for GM.
[Disclaimer: I was at Dell when Mott came from Walmart and when he left for HP. I have friends at all four companies. I no longer work for Dell.]
I like to consider myself "efficient". Neither one wants to put forth much effort, but the difference between lazy and efficient is that efficient actually accomplishes something.
Ctrl-B, Ctrl-I
If you need the menu for this, you're doing too much work.
Don't forget that paste has about 10 different modes......all hidden behind that dropdown under the paste button.
Actually, treat the metro interface as your start menu and use the "desktop"......the experience isn't much different than Win7. Don't look for icons, just start typing......usually within three keystrokes, the icon you want is in the left most column and can be clicked easily.
I think the problem is that people are so resistant to change that they haven't spent enough time figuring out how to use it. Besides, what game really needs 12 shortcuts? You can organize the metro screen fairly easily to add/remove/group icons (just drag them around.....right click and bring up the "all apps" view....you can move and even name whole groups). The metro screen *IS* your start menu.....