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Comment But I have a routine . . . (Score 1) 388

Everyone gets used to doing things a certain way, and gets irritated when things are improved.

An example among data-entry types is being able to use keyboard shortcuts vs having to use a mouse, It slows them down to have to use a mouse.

Another is the Microsoft Ribbon, where people had the old menu system totally memorized, and suddenly couldn't find anything because it had been "improved" and "re-arranged for you convenience". Instead of making it an option that you could toggle, it was a mandatory upgrade.

This is totally irritating, especially when the new version has improvements that are geared to the enterprise, or software profit margins. I have talked to too many people who would routinely tell me this. This is a minor point of contention.

I still have an old computer that works just fine thank you, and run an old word-processor without a lot of this extra fluff. Heck, George R. Martin uses an old dos word processor because it is more convenient for him.

In this context, I am reminded of the old video about choices in spaghetti sauce. turns out, that in the world of spaghetti sauce, there is no one perfect spaghetti sauce, despite decades of advertising to the contrary. The truth is that there are many perfect spaghetti sauces (chunky, vegetable, extra spicy, etc) and you get more sales by catering to the individual tastes of people. Which is why we now have multiple varieties of sauces, etc on the shelves these days.

You can watch the full video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

Large companies like MIcrosoft are still in pursuit of "the perfect software" or "the perfect user interface" when they should give users options and choices when it comes to user interfaces and performance behavior. There is no one best interface, etc. just like there is not one best spaghetti sauce. While there should be an update for security reasons, etc. what does that have to do with the sort of an interface a person likes?

Similarly, there can be genuine product improvements when you do things a certain way, but also it is merely the pursuit of the cool and novel vs actual improvement. I upgrade systems because I need a certain functionality, and sometimes it is a royal pain when I cannot

I am a constant crank about software as a service. Especially if I can do what I need and keep a system running well for many many years, so that it is cheaper than paying a yearly fee.

Submission + - How the new season of "Halt and Catch Fire" recreated 1986 (fastcompany.com)

Submitted by harrymcc
harrymcc writes: The third season of AMC's "Halt and Catch Fire," a drama about the tech industry in the 1980s, debuted this week. The new episodes are set in San Francisco and Silicon Valley in 1986, and are rich with carefully-researched plot points, dialog, and sets full of vintage technology (including a startup equipped with real Commodore 64s and a recreated IBM mainframe). I visited the soundstage in Atlanta where the producers have recreated Northern California in the 80s, and spoke with the show's creators and stars about the loving attention they devote to getting things right.

Comment The mind as a multidimensional object (Score 1) 386

by Alien54 (#52043599) Attached to: Study Suggests Free Will Is An Illusion
The mind naturally has many systems and sub-components. This makes the mind is a complex multidimensional system, and it is easy to detect automatic decision making mechanisms.

The fact of automated response systems does not disprove freewill, no more than the fact of automated computer mechanisms (and bots, etc) disproves the existence of users on the internet (and elsewhere)

Of course, some day, the internet will be filled with AI Bots spamming each other for the fun and profit, and it will be bots and turtles all the way down. An actual user will become a rare thing indeed.

Submission + - Scientific Study Finds There Are Too Many Scientific Studies

Submitted by HughPickens.com
HughPickens.com writes: Chris Matyszczyk reports at Cnet that a new scientific study concludes that there are too many scientific studies and that scientists simply can't keep track of all the studies in their field. The paper, titled "Attention Decay in Science," looked at all publications (articles and reviews) written in English till the end of 2010 included in the database of the Thomson Reuters (TR) Web of Science. For each publication they extracted its year of publication, the subject category of the journal in which it is published and the corresponding citations to that publication. The 'decay' the researchers investigated is how quickly a piece of research is discarded (PDF) measured by establishing the initial publication, the peak in its popularity and, ultimately, its disappearance from citations in subsequent publications. "Nowadays papers are forgotten more quickly. Attention, measured by the number and lifetime of citations, is the main currency of the scientific community, and along with other forms of recognition forms the basis for promotions and the reputation of scientists," says the study. "Typically, the citation rate of a paper increases up to a few years after its publication, reaches a peak and then decreases rapidly. This decay can be described by an exponential or a power law behavior, as in ultradiffusive processes, with exponential fitting better than power law for the majority of cases (PDF). The decay is also becoming faster over the years, signaling that nowadays papers are forgotten more quickly."

The Bank of England's chief economist, Andy Haldane, recently spoke of the fear that the modern social media age is curtailing our attention spans, highlighting Twitter as the best example of this, but explaining it as a broader issue, not to do with just one piece of software. 'We are clearly in the midst of an information revolution, with close to 99% of the entire stock of information ever created having been generated this century," says Haldane. "Just as with Facebook, YouTube or any other means of publication, how can you make this organic process stop?" writes Matyszczyk. "If publication has become too easy, there will be more and more of it."

Submission + - Tor Project aims to eclipse U.S. government funding (dailydot.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Developed by the U.S. Navy and the recipient of millions of dollars of government grants, the Tor Project is now aiming to ween itself off dependence of U.S. government funds "including setting a goal of 50 percent non-U.S. government funding by 2016." The initiative comes after months of discussion over what some vocal critics deemed a contradiction in funding and purpose.

Submission + - Fujitsu Tech Can Track Heavily Blurred People In Security Videos (itworld.com) 1

Submitted by itwbennett
itwbennett writes: Fujitsu has developed image-processing technology that can be used to track people in security camera footage, even when the images are heavily blurred to protect their privacy. The company says that detecting the movements of people in this way could be useful for retail design, reducing pedestrian congestion in crowded urban areas or improving evacuation routes for emergencies. An indoor test of the system was able to track the paths of 80 percent of test subjects, according to the company.

Comment Let's get this in writing. (Score 1) 348

After all, this is the vendor's recommendation, which should be in writing anyhow. Have the vendor sign a waiver accepting full responsibility for any damages and liability that could be attributed to not using a firewall I am sure that the company lawyers would be very eager to have something like this in place.

Comment Not the only thing to worry about (Score 1) 155

by Alien54 (#46045363) Attached to: Studies Say Earth Won't Die As Soon As Thought
from wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T...

In 600 million years

The Sun's increasing luminosity begins to disrupt the carbonate–silicate cycle; higher luminosity increases weathering of surface rocks, which traps carbon dioxide in the ground as carbonate. As water evaporates from the Earth's surface, rocks harden, causing plate tectonics to slow and eventually stop. Without volcanoes to recycle carbon into the Earth's atmosphere, carbon dioxide levels begin to fall.[30] By this time, they will fall to the point at which C3 photosynthesis is no longer possible. All plants that utilize C3 photosynthesis (~99 percent of present-day species) will die.[31]

in 800 Million years

Carbon dioxide levels fall to the point at which C4 photosynthesis is no longer possible.[31] Multicellular life dies out.[32]

I not that this would be rather inconvenient

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C++ is the best example of second-system effect since OS/360.

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