Comment Re: RT is what MS want Windows to (Score 1) 297
There are apps for Dropbox and Google Search on Windows Phone.
MS want a nice fat revenue stream just like Apple's. Who wouldn't?
Comment Re:Missing the Point (Score 1) 297
Yeah, the 15 rating thing is stupid but that's lawyer crap and nothing to do with the tech. Maybe it'll change in future? Who knows
Game development for RT isn't impossible though (it says here...):
http://blogs.nvidia.com/2012/08/nvidia-brings-unreal-engine-3-to-windows-8-and-windows-rt/
As for the other stuff, sandboxing comes with a price, but surely the security and stability improvement is worth it? I don't even play games let alone develop them so you'll have to explain why I would need IPC (You get basic IPC to the MS built-in apps I think) and plugins and scripting are just one means to an end aren't they? You don't need to use them?
All that said, I'd quite like one of these Surface thingies, but I'll wait for the i5 one because I want to be able to run Python on it on the train.
Comment Missing the Point (Score 2) 297
RT is what MS want Windows to become. The desktop is legacy and at some point it will be dropped (admitedly, likely to be many years in the future). Dropping legacy support is one of Apple's strengths so why shouldn't MS try the same approach? Sure, on Oct 26th the RT tablets are going to be a bit of a dissapointment, but that will change. RT is a powerful framework:
From http://www.winsupersite.com/blog/supersite-blog-39/windows8/winrt-replacing-win32-140605
"...And in the same vein of blowing past peoples' expectations, virtually no app could not be written as a WinRT app. Many are imagining very simple, HTML-like apps, and while I'm sure there will be plenty of those, you need to reset your expectations up. WinRT is amazingly full-featured and not constrained to goofy utilities and simple games. The next "Call of Duty" could be a WinRT app, complete with support for Edge UIs and Charms..."
It is the x86 tablets that are the stop-gap
Comment Re:Is the problem Chrome itself? (Score 1) 230
Really? How is this possibly useful? So I can't use this thing to work on trains or planes, just on my home wifi, on the 3G portable hotspot I would need to buy (so long as I'm in a city) or at Starbucks? I would get better value from a pen a calculator and 40 pads of quad-ruled A4...
Submission + - What's the Best Way to Protect My Software?
occasional_dabbler writes: I am a hobby coder. In my day job I've been able to convince clients to pay for some small applications related to my main work as an engineer. All written in Python with wx GUIs. Everything else I've done has been OSS so copy protection was irrelevant
For several years I've been working on a project, firstly in Excel, now in a mix of Python and Fortran, that will be the first thing that I can sell as a stand-alone product. It is very niche; I might sell anything between zero and five copies, but the nearest comparable products sell for tens of thousands of dollars.
My question is this: What is the best way to protect such a product? Key it to a specific machine? Run it on a server via ssh -X and charge for a login? Rewrite as a web app (Can I use Numpy/Scipy?) or should I use a commercial licensing product like FlexLM?
As an added complication — it could conceivably be used for military purposes and be subject to ITAR or the EU equivalent. I think I would have to show some kind of effort to prevent it being used by unfriendly countries.
What have other Slashdotters done in similar situations?
For several years I've been working on a project, firstly in Excel, now in a mix of Python and Fortran, that will be the first thing that I can sell as a stand-alone product. It is very niche; I might sell anything between zero and five copies, but the nearest comparable products sell for tens of thousands of dollars.
My question is this: What is the best way to protect such a product? Key it to a specific machine? Run it on a server via ssh -X and charge for a login? Rewrite as a web app (Can I use Numpy/Scipy?) or should I use a commercial licensing product like FlexLM?
As an added complication — it could conceivably be used for military purposes and be subject to ITAR or the EU equivalent. I think I would have to show some kind of effort to prevent it being used by unfriendly countries.
What have other Slashdotters done in similar situations?
Submission + - New Ubuntu annouced: Raring Ringtail. Focus on mobile. (markshuttleworth.com)
Volanin writes: So what will we be up to in the next six months? We have two short cycles before we’re into the LTS, and by then we want to have the phone, tablet and TV all lined up. So I think it’s time to look at the core of Ubuntu and review it through a mobile lens: let’s measure our core platform by mobile metrics, things like battery life, number of running processes, memory footprint, and polish the rough edges that we find when we do that. The tighter we can get the core, the better we will do on laptops and the cloud, too. [...] We’ll make something wonderful, and call it the Raring Ringtail.
Comment Re:A lower price would make people assume it was c (Score 1) 417
Something else that I never see on Slashdot is an understanding of the concept of fashion. Every slashdotter knows exactly why and when they would want to use a Mac or a PC running Linux, Windows, BSD whatever. He (/she) would pick the right tool for the job based on a technical understanding of what he needed to accomplish. But we are in a minority, dear friends!
My job involves a lot of air travel. In the airport lounge all I see these days are shiny corporate types, or tastefully scruffy creative types with MacBooks and iPads. Not a single one of them has a clue why this is a good idea (other than a hazy concept of 'fewer viruses'), they just want them because they look cool and expensive. The point about fashion is that it inevitably changes; as soon as a few of these Surfaces show up, the suits and artists will think they are cooler than iPads and will buy them in droves.
Microsoft have understood that there are a great many people who just want to have the 'best' thing. Apple's computers are far more beautiful than any PC out there and the iPad likewise amongst tablets. What Microsoft have done is to create a beautiful piece of hardware that stands comparison with the iPad and that is all they needed to do.
Submission + - Is Microsoft Going Gangsta?
theodp writes: When it was time to unveil Surface in LA last June, Steve Ballmer counted on Microsoft exec Mike Angiulo to put on a good show. Now, a week before Surface's bet-the-company launch, Angiulo has turned in another notable performance, teaming with rapper Too Short on the NSFW 2 Bitches (lyrics). According to TMZ, Angiulo’s wife paid Too Short $25K to perform at her husband's 40th b-day party. Just two weeks ago, rapper Machine Gun Kelly livened up a Microsoft Store with his NSFW Hold On (Shut Up) (video/lyrics). And last week, Microsoft enlisted world's-fasted-rapper NoClue — whose discography includes Feelin Me (lyrics) — to rap the praises of Windows Azure. So, is Microsoft going Gangsta?
Submission + - Surface Sold Out (webpronews.com) 1
occasional_dabbler writes: Microsoft's Surface RT tablets went on pre-sale recently. The cheapest version on the US store ($499) is already sold out and is on back order
http://surface.microsoftstore.com/store/msstore/Content/pbpage.Surface?ESICaching=off
The pricier versions are still available for the early delivery and all of them are still available in UK.
http://surface.microsoftstore.com/store/msstore/Content/pbpage.Surface?ESICaching=off
The pricier versions are still available for the early delivery and all of them are still available in UK.
Comment +1 for Python (Score 5, Interesting) 246
Yep, get him into Python, he should be able to pick that up quickly enough to keep him interested but it will also offer him challenges for years if he wants it. Or... at the risk of being downmodded (again) for not being a MS/Nokia hater, you could get him a cheap WP7 phone (plenty around right now with WP8 coming) and take a look at the amazing TouchDevelop scripting environment that lets you write anything from one-liners to quite complex apps right on the school bus, mostly without having to actually write anything - you connect up various blocks and pipes to get results. https://www.touchdevelop.com/
Comment Re:Hydrogen would have gotten him a lot higher (Score 1) 109
Oops. My bad...
Comment Re:Hydrogen would have gotten him a lot higher (Score 1) 109
...molecular weight is only 1/4 of Helium...
There, fixed that for you.
And before we all reach for our tinfoil hats, here's why he didn't use hydrogen: http://www.airships.net/hindenburg/disaster/myths
Comment Another typo (Score 3, Informative) 109
Just to show I do occasionally RTFA...
"...the speed of sound — approximately 690 meters per second..."
Not unless the air up there is 911 deg C it aint.
Comment Re:How many more? (Score 0) 409
I have a Lumia 800. All of the people who have seen it have said the same two things: "Wow!" and "I never even knew there was a Windows phone"
The quality of the product, both hard and software is there and will only improve with the new WP8 models. Take a look at the 920 specs.
Everyone will know about Windows 8 in the next few weeks and WP8 will hitch a marketing ride on its coat tails.
I don't understand "Ex-Nokia exec Tommi Ahonen's" problem with wanting to destroy his former employer. Maybe it's just to drive traffic to his blog?
Submission + - Microsoft Surface Tablets to be Given Away (almost) (theregister.co.uk)
occasional_dabbler writes: "Big gamble by Microsoft. Will selling the ARM tablet at such a low price be enough to establish the Windows 8 platform? Hardware like a 10 inch iPad for the same price as a seven inch Android and it comes with Office? Is the MS cash mountain big enough?"
