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Comment: or sqlite (Score 5, Insightful) 241

As a general rule of thumb, if you need something lightweight, SQLite is the way to go. If you need something more powerful or sophisticated than that, PostgreSQL.

MySQL and spinoffs all occupy an uncomfortable middle ground. 99% of the small web sites which are built around MySQL don't need it.

Comment: Re:I Hope Not (Score 1) 329

by mattdm (#40035091) Attached to: Comcast To Remove Data Cap, Implement Tiered Pricing

I really hope that people won't give in without at least expressing their anger to Comcast by finding another ISP if available, when they implement tiered pricing.

"If available" is the catch here. Comcast has a near-monopoly on broadband service in many parts of the country. Some places have the luxury of a second cable provider like RSN, but mostly, the other choice is more expensive and much slower DSL. Some places have Verizon FiOS, but apparently they're pulling back on that as well.

Comment: Because these fantasies are based on Britain (Score 4, Insightful) 516

by mattdm (#39527337) Attached to: Why Are Fantasy World Accents British?
Westeros is transparently (if not particularly faithfully) based on a fantastic reinterpretation of Britain, right down to the the Wall and the . And all the knights and chivalery (and non-chivalery) and so on are clearly Arthurian legend, which is unquestionably British even if it owes a big debt to France — which, speaking of, is of course right across the "narrow sea". Middle Earth is less literal with the geography, but Tolkien has said (were it not already obvious!) that the Shire is rural Britain in spirit, so of course the hobbits speak with the appropriate accent.

Comment: Armchair expert says buy "through my site" (Score 4, Interesting) 324

This is some guy with a website, with a dull and poorly produced video telling you to buy stuff. I stopped when I got to the part where it says that most people buy smaller TVs than they "need". N-E-E-D.

Now, if he said "people buy smaller TVs than would be AWESOME", okay, fine. But this is basically crass consumerism pumped up by guy who isn't an "industry expert" but rather someone who worked for a crappy rah-rah-buy-stuff computer magazine for 20 years and is trying to trade on that to get some money. That's not wrong in itself, but it sure does translate to being a slashvertisement here.

Two thumbs down.

Comment: Re:seriously — they're totally missing the p (Score 1) 353

by mattdm (#38749010) Attached to: Visual Studio Gets Achievements, Badges, Leaderboards

Oh, absolutely. I just meant that it shows engagement, so it could be construed as positive in that way. But overall it fits the negative theme.

There's a great blog entry on 40-hour work weeks for programmers from, amazingly enough all considered, someone at Microsoft: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/jmeier/archive/2010/10/21/40-hour-work-week-at-microsoft.aspx

So it's not like they dont' get this.

Comment: seriously — they're totally missing the poin (Score 4, Insightful) 353

by mattdm (#38747642) Attached to: Visual Studio Gets Achievements, Badges, Leaderboards

The idea of gamification is to give little awards for postitive behavior — or at least active engagement with the site/product/tool/whatever. A few of these fit that (the badge for working on a Saturday or Friday night), but most of them are labels of shame for doing things like writing a single line of code that is several screens too wide.

White dwarf seeks red giant for binary relationship.

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