Comment Re:Derivative work of C/C++ (Score 1) 316
If the syntax *isn't* the creative part, then what is?
If the syntax *isn't* the creative part, then what is?
Do you count PHP Worms? Linux runs many webservers that spread various kinds of php worms and spam machines.
The exploits were in poorly configured PHP instances, and poorly written PHP applications, but even if those worms didn't care what OS their server was running, the worms still technically ran on linux (at least some of the time).
Dude, the whole job of software is to "hide messy reality from the user", otherwise the user would still be doing everything by hand. We have a fantastic device that can do many millions of things faster than a human can do one. Don't get me wrong, Apple certainly errs on the side of over simplification and preventing power users from configuring what they want. But building in systems that permit users to avoid worrying about external(to them) complexities is nearly the whole point of what we do.
I also disagree with your statement that the "fallacy of equating an assumed incomprehensible complexity with uneeded complexity is what's killing growth in technology". On the other hand, I totally agree with your subsequent statements surrounding what Developers *should do*, however I see no evidence of the drain on growth in the market.
If there is a market (money) need for the power user UI, the market will eventually produce it barring severe ongoing shortage of qualified engineers. When there is a shortage of workers, they will pick to work on either the most exciting, or the most profitable targets.
Power-User UI is what you expect from internal tools. The software industry's infancy was basically *internal tools* packaged and dumped into the market. The fact that power-user UIs are disappearing (are they? -- at least in relative concentration vs simpleton UI) is a symptom of the maturation of the software industry, for maximizing breadth of reach. The unnecessary sharp edges of Power tools are what gets polished and removed as various products improve.
Physical analogy: Circular saws usually have a finger guard around the blade these days. The finger guard does sometimes get in the way of work. Is this a sign that the tool has been dumbed down? Or that the design was polished for market appeal? Internal tools get the job done at the expense of such polish. Published tools in a mature industry have exactly the sharp edges they need for the people they are selling to.
If you are looking in SF or the bay area, you'll definitely find a job. Be sure to specify what you actually want to do. Be honest about your transition, and explain your desires. That way, you shouldn't have people trying to force you into the activities you're no longer interested in.
My company is hiring: http://www.ngmoco.com/careers/positions/engineering and on my team we've recently had other engineers transition back from more marketing-focused jobs into day-to-day coding.
Contact me if you want to chat.
Why should 2 ever have been protected as a patent in the first place?
Shouldn't the patents have been:
"Drug A" --> We invented this drug. Some uses may include 1,2,3.
"Drug B" --> We invented this drug. Some uses may include "With Drug A", 2, 3
No patent for use 4 that happens to use Drug A and Drug C
???
What the hell is a "use patent"? Why can you patent the use of an already patented invention?
You have your memories slightly jumbled. It was University of Michigan's UMSolar vs Nuon Solar Car Team and in the end a Japanese team (Tokai University) won by leagues. -- Team Tokai ran a great race, it was very impressive.
I don't usually get annoyed about the rape of the language, I'm more annoyed about the willingness of people to make themselves difficult to understand. Using words like irregardless grates, because I have to parse an extra syllable, then figure out they probably meant regardless and discard the whole meaning sense that I was halfway done appending to the sentence!
Grrr.
The union in question is striking within a declining business. How will the union protect their jobs when phonelines get phased out completely? Of course most people are switching to VOIP and Wireless. Wireless plans are comparatively even less of a ripoff than phones. That's saying something. VOIP beats 90% of the usecases and features of regular phonelines at a much lower maintenance cost. What do these union people think they will get? They have to sabotage, because if they don't people might just not care that their plain-old-telephony lines aren't working...
Blackberry? You mean the fruit I put in my yogurt? Why would you put pictures in your play-book, don't you need that for notes as to which plays to make? Plus, don't you think that torching your playbook would be a bad idea? How are you going to follow along?
How many moons does it take before something becomes a planet?
[Your mom]
"Mango when it get here will bring WP7 up the the same standard as teh..."
Ow, ow, my grammar parser crashed, I'm going to hide in a dark box with no internet for a while.
FF4 is the first time I noticed sever performance improvement. Before that, I was using FF in-spite of it being slower, because of its plugins and the differing design decisions from Chrome. Since FF4 I can happily say that it isn't slowing me down anymore. I did exhibit memory leaks before 3.0 and in early 3.0 builds, but those more or less got solved for my usage. Sorry to hear that that doesn't work out for you!
"What man has done, man can aspire to do." -- Jerry Pournelle, about space flight
