Surely any programmer ought to know the underlying principles that make databases work (ie ACID etc) even if they never intend to go anywhere near multi threading. Even in single threaded programs knowing what and how ACID works can help. Have you never done a write() and wondered where the data you sent to disk went?

Perhaps the relational calculus might not be strictly necessary, however if knowing the theory behind relations helps engineers from naively treating databases as data garbage dumps, it'd be worth it.

It's strange. Before I switched to OSX, I used it all the time in FVWM and found it so useful I even bought a proper 3 button mouse (ie three parallel buttons, none of this scroll-wheel malarky). I wonder if the environments are just too different. That the resulting workflow changed so much that middle-click-paste would've been unnatural.

On the other hand, maybe t's been so long that I've accepted the fact, so I no longer think "that operation would've been so much easier in X)

That explains the "make megabucks working from home" ads that I see. I assumed it was the usual money laundering "work". I'm not sure wether clicking on ads for things you have no intention of buying is morally better or worse than using your bank account to help launder money...

In marketing, you're apparently supposed to determine how much of a market exists for your product (ie will anyone buy it) before you start designing and building. Something I wish I'd learnt before I built my app, but there's always next time.

In the case of this app, the point might be market research instead of raising capital. And now it's on slashdot, it looks like they're getting a two-fer.

Truth Quark was just examining one of the arguments between inaction and action in a logical way. Put explicitly, climate change is a sufficient condition for reducing emissions, but not a necessary one. If an Oracle appeared and told you climate change was definitely not happening, would you stop trying to reduce pollution?

Slashdot likes car analogies, so here's one: When your mechanic says he can't find a problem, it doesn't necessarily mean your car is fine.

Determine if there's sufficient demand for your preferred environment to grow and be maintained, sufficient to pay the salaries for a small dedicated team. If you can't code, perhaps you can manage the project or handle the marketing. If the demand isn't there, you may have to deal with the situation as is, or transition to another platform.

I've seen a few apps which have both desktop and mobile versions. I can't name them offhand because I didn't expect this question. I think they were primarily "productivity apps" like spreadsheets, where you can expect to spend a bit of time in. I think the reason it's not more common is iCloud integration. It's not difficult to implement, but does require additional effort in the form of design and most especially testing. I suspect that most developers don't think the effort is worth it. I considered adding it to my app, but when I looked at all the apps I use regularly, none of them include iCloud integration.

I haven't ported my app to OS X, but the base would be easy enough. I'd have to be sure of demand before spending the time and money. I'm sure that's true of any IOS developer of apps that don't require specific hardware.

> Should the crowd here really be supporting marketers? I think we are enlightened enough to see how much they cost our society with a very poor cost to benefit ratio compared to other economic endeavors

I used to hold that view, but it occurred to me that might be slightly irrational. If you have a product or idea you need to A) know if anyone will buy it B) let people know it exists. Kickstarter is obviously a marketing endeavour, and it seems to be of benefit.

On the other hand, "The Greatest Movie Ever Sold" talks about a South American town which banned advertising. The store owners relied on word of mouth for their business. I'm not sure that would work for a business with only an online presence. Few things go viral, and nobody's entirely sure why one thing goes viral and the other not. Waiting for people to patronise your business is about as effective is waiting for the phone to call in starting a relationship.

And to return to the subject, it reminds me I need to make a backup of my hosted site Real Soon Now.

Slashdot has done without an editing feature for so long, I think it will never be implemented for fear of ruining it's "retro" feel. Ah well, our redundancy will have to remain on record.

An embryo is a small collection of cells, which are most definitely living. The act of freezing halts cell division and replication. It's not as if the mother's soul reanimates a dead embryo when it's implanted in the womb.

It might be nice to have a mature "wine like" option for OS X. Eventually, your perfectly functioning, useful computer is going to be "too old" to install the latest OS. Sometimes that just feels like forced obsolescence so having an alternative option in this case is useful. Also, if this was available around the time Apple abandoned the XServe customers, it might have eased their transition a little.

Witness all the grumbling about Apple in the "Larry says Apple is doomed" thread. If Apple goes off the rails, having the option of switching to Linux whilst still accessing your programs and data would be handy.

It was (is?) a common setting in older Linux window managers so a person with a two button mouse could paste into a window by 'chording' the left and right mouse button, as if they had a three button mouse. Chording may have worked for Englebart, whose mouse was a sturdy mechanical thing. With a plastic mouse it works about as well as you think.

As above, you can't just remove the top layer plus a little more and be safe. By the time you've spotted the mold, the toxin (Botulinum) has already spread throughout the sauce. And then there's the spores, which you can't see and which can travel a considerable distance from the initial colony.

So after an almost exhaustive list (which I mostly agree with btw) you left out the "improvement" to Faramir's character and the hobbits little side trip to Osgiliath?

Annoyingly, it's even lampshaded: "We shouldn't even be here!". Indeed.

John Katz is back! And who says /. ain't what it it used to be?