Fair enough.

Still, the second prediction is worth quoting in full. The premise "Most people have nothing to say to each other..." is so near, and yet so far, from web 2.0 that it's just delicious. To be able to say something so wrong (in hindsight) is an achievement beyond most of us. It must rank with the all time great failed predictions.

The growth of the Internet will slow drastically, as the flaw in "Metcalfe's law"--which states that the number of potential connections in a network is proportional to the square of the number of participants--becomes apparent: most people have nothing to say to each other! By 2005 or so, it will become clear that the Internet's impact on the economy has been no greater than the fax machine's.

As a web developer I use VS predominately, but also Expression Web to prototype tricky HTML/CSS features, because it's WYSIWIG and HTML/CSS is so good. However, the process was always slowed by switching between the two tools, so I also see this progress, ie. incorporating ExpWeb into VS.

Your paying $50 for that, and also for the guarentee that it will work first time, on this laptop.

If I could change one thing in my personal management, over 30 years in the business, it would be to advertise and promote myself, rather than to passively expect my achievements to be noticed. The passive approach usually worked when I was working with a team of other programmers, but it was spectacularly unsuccessful when I was the only programmer, or chief programmer, in a non-software business. The passive approach was also much more successful in my younger years, than in my fourties. People outside software expect programming to be easy, and, moreover, if the delivered product is good, and produced without visible project stress, they only see that as confirmation of the fact that it was easy. If there are visible problems, which happens on 99% of projects, then they see that as evidence of the incomptance of their programmers, and think that solution is to let the current team go (by no responding to wage requests) and get a better team, at the same price.

I think that "under promise, and over deliver" has to be part of the solution, in sharp contrast to the usual gung-ho, iron-man approach of programmers to estimating and promising.

An anecdote of how non-programmers view software is a discussion I had with my mother about web development. I mentioned to her that it is usually more difficult to build a complex site, than it is to build a pretty interface, and I mentioned google an example of a complex site. Her blank expression prompted me to suggest "You don't think that google is complex, do you?", and she just said, "Well, not really". Obviously, to her, a simple text box which searches the web is not complex! :)

Agreed. Most Australians are interested in the U.S election partly for this reason, but mainly just because it is a great show. In Australia, during our Wednesday when the votes roll in the U.S Tuesday evening there is blanket media coverage of the ongoing tallies and most people, whether at work or at home follow it.

Most of us follow it mainly out of curiosity, without expecting that the result will make any difference to life in Australia. It is predictable that whichever candidate wins they will put U.S. domestic interests first on matters such as trade and protectionism, and will expect allies to toe-the-line in foreign affairs, and that our government (from whichever side of politics) will largely follow along.

Good points! You reminded me of the console YaST. I use that often to do some admin on a server through ssh, without starting the GUI. It's a brilliant tool.

I didn't know about webyast. Thanks for the tip.

Also, has the Yast GUI been fixed to make some kind of sense?

It always made sense to me. It's one of the top 3 reasons I stick with openSuse. The "pattern" concept in recent YaSTs is a little confusing at first (only because it complicates the GUI) - but once you've used it you don't want to go back.

YaST seems to combine the best of Windows style configuration GUI's, with a better view of the underlying mechanisms, and it put's everything in one place in a way that I've not encountered elsewhere in Windows or Linux.

I taught programming for a year at university after graduating, and my observation of the students was just the same as yours - they either got it, or they didn't. There were a small number who flew through the programming tasks, and did more than was expected. There was another small number who persisted and eventually completed them. Then there was the majority who spent painful hours struggling to write anything which approximated the requirements, seeking help at every step of the way from each other and the teachers, and ending up with long, long programs which barely achieved anything.

That was how I read your OP :)

It's an oxymoron to say that you should have enterprise level admin experience from a home set-up - and enterprise level is what they mostly want.

It gave me the best laugh I've had in a while! Great poll!

I've read through the thread up to here, and this is the post which really made me take notice. We all empathise less with those we feel to be inferior in some way. Most wealthy people see their wealth as a sign of personal superiority.

The Year 1000: What Life Was Like at the Turn of the First Millennium

It is most enjoyable book I've read for a long time, and it fits the bill perferctly for you. It's short (240 pages); is broken into 12 easily digestible chapters; is stimulating, but you can doze off between chapters. Then, when you've finished you'll know a lot of eye-opening stuff about something you probably know nothing about now, but have many preconceptions. If you have any interest in history, it's a must.

It will take you mind off computers, completely!

You obviously didn't read the post closely enough. Please read spam carefully before responding, and, preferably, purchase said product so as to give an informed opinion.

I agree that alcohol can loosen mental barriers and sometimes lead to breakthroughs. I've never coded while drinking, but, sometimes, after a few beers at the end of the day, a breakthrough has just come out of nowhere. It's usually not how to code something, but more a "big picture" illumination, and I see a way out of whatever pit I was digging myself into.

I read recently the J. S. Bach did much of his composing while drinking in the evenings. In the morning he would go through his ideas and keep the good ones, and chuck the reast.

Obviously, this assumes that most of one's hours are sober. There is not a linear relationship between alcohol and productivity.