Please create an account to participate in the Slashdot moderation system

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×
User Journal

Journal Journal: Annual check in 15

Journal by Some Woman

Hey, Slashdot was instrumental in finding Twue Wuv for me, so I couldn't possibly leave it forever. The 14 day comment limit, however, is unfortunate for those of us who stop by only every 6-9 months. :^)

I have read your updates and am interested in your lives and would love to leave a comment expressing as much.

Submission + - CmdrTaco: Anti-Beta Movement a "Vocal Minority" (washingtonpost.com) 30

Submitted by Antipater
Antipater writes: The furor over Slashdot Beta is loud enough that even outside media has begun to notice. The Washington Post's tech blog The Switch has written a piece on the issue, and the anti-Beta protesters aren't going to be happy about it. The Post questioned Slashdot founder Rob Malda, who believes the protests are the work of only a vocal minority or readers: "It's easy to forget that the vocal population of a community driven site like Slashdot might be the most important group, but they are typically also the smallest class of users." The current caretakers of Slashdot need to balance the needs of all users with their limited engineering resources, Malda argues — noting wryly, "It ain't easy."

Comment Re:Let's be clear (Score 5, Interesting) 278

by XopherMV (#44905527) Attached to: Ballmer Admits Microsoft Whiffed Big-Time On Smartphones

Microsoft was not looking to make a Phone a PC

I worked at Microsoft from 2004-2005. This was before the iPhone or Android phones. Most people had flip-phones. If you wanted a smart phone, you either got a Blackberry or a Windows phone. Those were the most advanced phones on the market. They were around years before Apple thought of getting into the phone business.

Keep in mind that Microsoft mainly earns its money through the sales of Windows and Office. So, every product they make is engineered to drive the sales of those two products. One of the initial groups I interviewed with at Microsoft were the guys making the Windows phones. (No, I didn't end up working with this group.)

Yes, they absolutely were attempting to bring the Windows PC experience to the phone. And yes, that was a disaster.

The problem was that tiny screens don't work well with a Windows type of interface. Users don't like the clutter. Microsoft needed to make the interface transparent and focus on what people actually wanted to do with their phones, which is use applications.

Hiding the Windows interface doesn't work when you're attempting to promote Windows. Marketing which promotes "Windows on your phone!" doesn't sell phones. I remember thinking during my interview, "what does Windows on my phone actually get me? Why would I want that?" Microsoft itself couldn't adequately answer that question until the iPhone and Android came out and focused on the apps. Even then, Microsoft still screwed up their answer to the iPhone and Android. They simply can't get away from promoting Windows and Office.

Comment Re:Awesome (Score 1) 582

I prefer a hostsfile myself.

Blocking at the router means that I don't have to tweak several hosts files, plus it covers my Android devices that don't have easily accessible hosts files, but do have pre-installed Facebook apps that call home every night with huge permissions that send who-knows-what, and can't be uninstalled. (When I finally rooted the tablet, I did some cleaning.)

Comment Re:Awesome (Score 1) 582

I blocked Facebook.com at the router. I'm sure that they have other methods, but all the pages I access that make little tracking fetches from Facebook are sucking mud. (It's the same with doubleclick: Is it the end of time yet? No? Stay blocked! I don't care who owns them now.) It does mean that I can use Facebook or see the fascinating pages of other people. Oh noes!

Even the simplest home router can do that. They usually have a parental site blocking feature.
Databases

Transgendered Folks Encountering Document/Database ID Hassles 814

Posted by Soulskill from the flipping-bits dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Most of us hear the equivalent of 'let me bring up your record' several times a week or month when dealing with businesses and government agencies; sometimes there's a problem, but clerks are accustomed to dealing with changes in street address, phone numbers, company affiliation, and even personal names (after marriage). But what about gender? Transgendered folks are encountering embarrassing moments when they have to explain that their gender has changed from 'M' to 'F' or vice versa. While there are many issues involved in discrimination against transgendered individuals, I have to confess that the first thing that came to my mind was the impact on database design and maintenance."
Facebook

Facebook and Microsoft Disclose Government Requests For User Data 140

Posted by Soulskill from the know-when-to-walk-away-know-when-to-run dept.
wiredmikey writes "Facebook and Microsoft say they received thousands of requests for information from U.S. authorities last year but are prohibited from listing a separate tally for security-related requests or secret court orders related to terror probes. The two companies have come under heightened scrutiny since reports leaked of a vast secret Internet surveillance program U.S. authorities insist targets only foreign terror suspects and is needed to prevent attacks. Facebook said Friday it had received between 9,000 and 10,000 requests for user data affecting 18,000 to 19,000 accounts during the second half of last year and Microsoft said it had received 6,000 to 7,000 requests affecting 31,000 to 32,000 accounts during the same period." Meanwhile, an article at the Guardian is suggesting the government may have better targets to pursue than Edward Snowden. "[U.S. director of national intelligence James Clapper] has come out vocally to condemn Snowden as a traitor to the public interest and the country, yet a review of Booz Allen's own history suggests that the government should be investigating his former employer, rather than the whistleblower."

Slashdot Top Deals

Machines have less problems. I'd like to be a machine. -- Andy Warhol

Close