Talcyon - Slashdot User

Comment Some predictions... (Score 1) 663

by Talcyon on Monday November 19, 2012 @05:11PM (#42031607) Attached to: Windows 8 Sales Below Projections

Some predictions:

1. I give Microsoft 6 months, maybe less, before they give the desktop PC users what they want... The ability to ditch the Modern UI in favour of the desktop.
2. To make Windows 8 RT relevant, at the same time they'll remove the restriction on creating desktop apps (Although they'll still have to go through the store)
3. ARM will be welcomed into the corporate workplace by sorting out RT's failure with joining corporate domains (Although, ironically, it doesn't have a problem authenticating with servers directly)
4. They'll fix the discrepancies between the desktop and the Modern UI (Yes, I'm looking at you "Mr split-personality control panel", amongst everything else)
5. Release a user manual, or at least a training video on YouTube on how to use the darn thing.

Submission + - Too old to retrain? 1

Submitted by Talcyon on Friday October 05, 2012 @07:56AM

Talcyon writes: I'm a 40 year old dev, and it's become apparent that my .NET skillset is woefully out of date after 5 years of doing various bits of support. I tried the "Management" thing last year but that was a failure as I'm just not a people person, and a full-on development project this year has turned into a disaster area. I'm mainly a VB.NET person with skills from the .NET 2.0 era. Is that it? Do I give up a career in technology now? Or turn around and bury myself in a support role, sorting out issues with other peoples/companies software?
I've been lurking around Slashdot for many years now, and this question occasionally comes up, but it pays to get the opinions of others...
Do I retrain and get back up to speed or am I too old?

Comment Re:From the Titan Network (Score 1) 109

by Talcyon on Saturday September 01, 2012 @10:32AM (#41199313) Attached to: NCSoft Closes "City of Heroes" Publisher Paragon Studios

Hi Tony,

Can I ask one thing? I understand Paragon owns the rights to the Hero System Role-playing Game. What is the upshot of the NCSoft decision for the pen-and-paper RPG?

Mart

Paragon don't own "Hero system" you're thinking of Champions Online where Mr Emmert jumped ship from NCSoft bought the rights to "Hero System" and used it to make Champions.

Submission + - Google Tries to Standardize Android UI (theinquirer.net)

Submitted by SharkLaser on Wednesday January 04, 2012 @08:31AM

SharkLaser writes: Google has added new requirements to manufacturers who wish to use Android in their devices. To combat fragmentation of Android UI, it is now mandatory that all Android manufacturers include the default Holo themes in their devices. These themes were introduced in Android 3.0 Honeycomb but will now be standard feature of any device running Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. Google said this will also make it easier and faster for manufacturers to upgrade their devices. In related news, Samsung has announced that it will not upgrade Galaxy S to the latest Android Ice Cream Sandwich.

Submission + - The history and future of cross platform developme (dodgycoder.net)

Submitted by AlexDomo on Wednesday January 04, 2012 @08:14AM

AlexDomo writes: Why isn't there a modern technology available for using the same codebase to produce native apps on all of the currently popular platforms — I'm talking iOS (iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch), Android, Windows, Mac and Linux?

That was my original question before I started looking, and since then I've discovered there actually are plenty of new options out there for cross platform development catering for all of the above platforms.

This article discusses the history, present and future for cross platform development toolkits.

Comment Re:Built by Fujitsu (Score 1) 179

by Talcyon on Monday June 20, 2011 @10:57AM (#36500488) Attached to: Japan's 8-petaflop K Computer Is Fastest On Earth

Apologies. I'm on a lot of drugs right now for an infection. I meant the slashdot entry doesn't mention Fujitsu, not the linked article.

Submission + - Leaving iTunes

Submitted by Talcyon on Friday June 17, 2011 @06:38AM

Talcyon writes: A question for the Slashdot community... A good friend of mine has finally realised the horror of Apples iTunes and wants to leave, but she's seeking recommendations on a good (Legal) replacement. I've recommended downloading MP3's from Amazon for transportability, but she's looking for an iTunes-like service and a good player to play her music on. Any suggestions?

Comment Start with the new, Be picky about the old (Score 1) 655

by Talcyon on Thursday March 24, 2011 @05:50PM (#35605036) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: How/Where To Start Watching Dr. Who?

Yep, everyone is saying "Start with the 9th Doctor"

Be picky about the "Classic" series. But if there's a classic to watch, it HAS to be "Genesis of the Daleks" It's long, but there's a reason it was voted the best DW story of all time.

The BBC have also been doing some interesting things recently. The "Mara tales" box set, Kinda and Snakedance, have had the some of the old effects replaced with new CGI ones. If they'd had the CGI Mara snake in the original back in the eighties, kids would have run screaming from the room instead of peeking out from under the dining room table, or from behind the safety of a sofa cushion!

Some good classics to mix in when you're ready:

1. Genesis of the Daleks
2. Planet of the Spiders
3. Horror of Fang Rock (Personal favourite, not everyone's)
4. The Key to Time series (The pirate captain is just awesomely over the top)

EVE Online Battle Breaks Records (And Servers) 308

Posted by Soulskill on Tuesday January 05, 2010 @02:09AM from the blame-it-on-the-torrents dept.

captainktainer writes "In one of the largest tests of EVE Online's new player sovereignty system in the Dominion expansion pack, a fleet of ships attempting to retake a lost star system was effectively annihilated amidst controversy. Defenders IT Alliance, a coalition succeeding the infamous Band of Brothers alliance (whose disbanding was covered in a previous story), effectively annihilated the enemy fleet, destroying thousands of dollars' worth of in-game assets. A representative of the alliance claimed to have destroyed a minimum of four, possibly five or more of the game's most expensive and powerful ship class, known as Titans. Both official and unofficial forums are filled with debate about whether the one-sided battle was due to difference in player skill or the well-known network failures after the release of the expansion. One of the attackers, a member of the GoonSwarm alliance, claims that because of bad coding, 'Only 5% of [the attackers] loaded,' meaning that lag prevented the attackers from using their ships, even as the defenders were able to destroy those ships unopposed. Even members of the victorious IT Alliance expressed disappointment at the outcome of the battle. CCP, EVE Online's publisher, has recently acknowledged poor network performance, especially in the advertised 'large fleet battles' that Dominion was supposed to encourage, and has asked players to help them stress test their code on Tuesday. Despite the admitted network failure, leaders of the attacking force do not expect CCP to replace lost ships, claiming that it was their own fault for not accounting for server failures. The incident raises questions about CCP's ability to cope with the increased network use associated with their rapid growth in subscriptions."

Slashdot Top Deals