Posts by CD001 925 publicly visible posts • joined 23 Jun 2009
C# / Java developers are approximately 30% more expensive to employ perhaps?
When did C++ become legacy? Did I miss something? For that matter - why use Java at all? It's still an interpreted language, why not use a "proper language" like C++ or Assembly in the first place?
I "love" code snobbery - it's like willy waving for geeks.
Well it IS Dances with Smurfs. Actually, it's more Fern Gulley than Dances with Wolves - but it doesn't have Robin Williams' bat to redeem it ... though 90% of the visual effects (particularly landscapes) were directly lifted from Roger Dean's artwork without him getting a penny.
The original content of the film could probably be written on the back of a beermat - Cameron even plagiarised himself by bringing back Aliens-style loaders, with guns chucked on, and dropships (Sigourney Weaver doesn't count - the character WAS different). It's such a monumentally overrated film.
That's not to say it's a BAD film - disengage brain, drink beer, eat pizza, watch Avatar - like Starship Troopers, it's fine in that context, though Starship Troopers was a little more subversive. Avatar certainly doesn't deserve the praise it's received so please, just allow us to mock in ways that have all the originality of the film itself.
I've often thought that Democracy, being (supposedly) governance for the people, by the people, is fundamentally flawed by the fact that it's run "by the people" - have you never seen the Jeremy Kyle show?
(actually I haven't, I have a job, but from what I can gather it's like the Essex chav version of Jerry Springer).
WIMP - Window Icon Menu Pointer
According to Wikipedia (take that from that what you will) the term WIMP which refers to windows as part of the UI was coined in 1980. The first Microsoft OS to be called Windows was in 1985... 'window' was already an entirely generic term when MS trademarked Windows.
I had a feeling that there were certain provisos with the Windows trademark though, so I just looked it up... sad I know. Yes, Windows is trademarked but windows isn't and it only refers specifically to the OS.
As for Lindows - MS may well be sore because when they took Lindows to court questions were actually raised about the genericness of the term Windows. Rather than pushing through with it and potentially losing their trademark MS just used their massively superior wodge of cash to convince Lindows to sell their trademark.
My guess is that Apple are trying to discover if they can find a court stupid enough to grant them a far-reaching 'app store' trademark BEFORE they throw away shed loads of cash on branding and marketing. The law is largely based on precedent and they're trying to set one (whereas MS were trying to avoid one by settling with Lindows out of court).
So everyone's council tax in Southwark goes up a squidge to cover management incompetence at the council - marvellous.
They didn't evaluate the software to ensure that it met their needs nor supply any specification as to what their needs were (if they had IBM _could_ have said, "erm, this ain't gonna do it")... it's like they've got "Andy" from Little Britain in charge just pointing at software and going "want that one".
Doesn't bode well if they've used their own McAfee Secure product to scan their sites to look for vulnerabilities now does it?
Considering you _need_ some kind of accredited, automated penetration testing software to maintain PCI DSS compliance - and McAfee IS one of those accredited suppliers - it doesn't exactly inspire confidence in the system as a whole.
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If you don't want Google to have 85% share of the search engine market, then make something better than Google, and hey presto they won't have anymore.
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I'll build it if you fund it yeah? No, thought not.
Monopolies tend to snowball to a size where the cost of building a competing product and entering the market is, effectively, prohibitive. Even if someone DID come up with something better, Google could just buy them out and use/bury it.
Having a dominant market position though, isn't inherently wrong - if you unfairly leverage it to restrict competition in other services that's the problem. There was nothing really wrong with MS having a virtual monopoly on the OS ... until they started to leverage that position to push additional, unrelated software such as Internet Explorer or impose restrictive terms on OEMs.
Say that Google created it's own job search engine like Jobsite or Jobserve, or bought one out, they _could_ simply apply penalties to Jobsite and Jobserve so that they no longer appear in the first 10 pages of Google's results.
Even if "Google Jobs" was actually worse than both Jobsite and Jobserve it would appear right at the top of the listings on a search for "jobs" - many people would use it simply because of that.
They'd not be competing on merit - a bit like how the search for "video" on Google results in "Google video search" for the top result. The sheer weight of Google has actually affected the results of both Yahoo and Bing since both of them have Google video as the #1 result as well, despite having their own video searches.
Ditto on "maps" of course.
Technologically, apart from the user interface, the Wii was a legacy console when it was first released.
The problem for EA is that because of the limited hardware specs on the Wii, games can't rely on "Shiny Shiny!" to be sure-fire sellers; they actually need something like, oooh, I dunno, content and replayability. Whereas EA are basically games manufacturers; the John Smiths (beer) of the games world - perfectly drinkable but totally safe, mass-produced and generally uninspiring.
The success of EA games is largely down to their marketing budget I suspect - take Dragon Age 2 for instance. It's alright, a somewhat dumbed-down version of the original with even less character depth (especially the companions) and a shallower story (so far - I've not completed it yet but I'm most of the way through "Act 2" I would guess, level 16). It's still an enjoyable game but compared to Dragon Age: Origins it's a little bland and I thought DA:O was a little bland and dumbed-down compared to Neverwinter Nights 2.
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The rules seem to change every time I start a new game, in ways that make me suspicious that the code is being changed frequently.
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Civ 5 has been heavily patched since it was released - if you go to you Steam library and right-click on your Civ 5 game to bring up the context-sensitive menu, you'll see there's a link to 'news'. The Civ 5 news page contains all the patch notes... the last patch was quite a biggy and changed some of the social policies and techs amongst other things.
Yup - a BioWare account is required to install Dragon Age 2 even the DVD-based version. You don't need to be online or connected to the account ONCE you've installed it (just means your achievements aren't recorded on their servers basically).
However - I _think_ that if you have some additional DLC, like the DA2 signature edition content, that content is tied to your BioWare account - so if you DON'T log into your account when playing the game that extra content isn't available (which means any save games you've got with that content aren't available).
This isn't just a PC-only issue as I understand it - you have to register the PlayStation 3 version with BioWare as well (maybe only if you want to use DLC - not sure) - but it ties your PSN account to your BioWare/EA account.
This is the wonderful world of copy-protection that we live in now; no longer is a CD key required but that key is registered with an online server - at least there are benefits to using Steam, like Steam Cloud saves and being able to play your games on any PC.
The only benefit to having an EA account (BioWare accounts ARE EA accounts now) is that if their shitty disk protection system falls over on a game you can download the digital version of any game you've registered (which Steam does as well on many games if you register their CD keys with Steam).
Could it be argued that by accepting copyright infringing applications on its App Store, paying developers whose apps are approved AND profiting from the sale of those copyright infringing applications, that Apple are guilty of inducing copyright infringement?
The same thing that Napster was shut down for all those years ago.
I think it's illegal for MS to have IE so embedded into Windows that Windows cannot run without IE - BUT it's perfectly fine for IE to be so reliant on Windows 7 that it'll not run on other OSs (even older versions of Windows).
... of course, I'm not saying it's a sensible move but ... *shrugs*
I suspect the reason people are "underwhelmed" by IE9 is that, well, it's a browser, it's just a browser, it's not the messiah. After all the hype I suspect people were expecting something miraculous.
Steam has always had an offline mode (well, for as long as I can remember and I've been using it pretty much since it was launched) but quite often you need to be online *when you install the game* - it's part of the DRM mechanism.
BioWare community and EA online are basically the same thing now (since EA bought BioWare) - it's their take on Steam's online authentication and content delivery system ... only it's worse as it seems that there's no 'common currency' across the platform.
You want to buy games or DLC on Steam, you log into Steam and pay with a credit card - simple. And you can purchase content from any publisher in the same way - or lots of different publishers at the same time.
You want DLC for Dragon Age you have to log into you BioWare account, buy BioWare credits with your credit card and then use those credits to buy the DLC. As far as I'm aware, those BioWare points aren't transferable so and you can only buy them in blocks (400, 800, 1600 or something) so you may have a couple of hundred credits kicking about that you may never spend.
I suspect the EA system is like it is because it has to be 'kiddy-friendly' for the console crowd - mum and dad buy the credits so little Johnny doesn't max out their cards. Whereas people with real systems are trusted with cards (Steam isn't on consoles - although Portal 2 looks like it'll link Steam and your PSN account somehow).
How is cloud computing a completely new paradigm requiring a fundamental mind-shift (or some other BS)? Comparing it to a 'horseless carriage' doesn't really work because that tends to imply that everything we were used to is a bit like a horse-drawn carriage and cloud computing is something significantly evolved from that.
What's happened here is more like we went from server-client architecture with mainframes and thin clients, to fat clients running the applications, to server-client architecture with applications on both the server and the client.
For the horseless carriage analogy to work you have to say we went from cars, to horse-drawn carriages, back to cars again ... albeit slightly different cars with more features.
In a nutshell - cloud computing is mainframe for the 21st century. With faster Internet connections the servers can be further away, you don't even need to own them. The only real change is going from an ownership model to a rental model - not just for the hardware but the applications as well (though software makers have been trying to convince us we only rent/license the software for years anyway).
Hardly a new paradigm in computing.
Watch the news; the "war on smokers" is entering its latter phase and new targets are being sought. The number of "Smoking's bad mmmmmkay" stories have been declining in the last couple of years whilst the "obesity apocalypse" stories have been on the rise.
First they came for the smokers ... yadda yadda yadda....
How was this legal in the first place?
Surely a contract is a legally binding agreement between both parties, normally for a given amount of work or duration. How can one side legally decide to tag on an extension of that contract without getting agreement from the other?
Tagging an extra 12 months onto the contact is a significant change in the terms of that contact I'd guess and by trying to do that without explicit consent the contract itself would be invalidated, yes? no?
Hell, I've known someone who got a refund (and a free service) when getting their car serviced. The mechanic had carried out work without ringing up to confirm that it was OK to do so (and provide a quote); acquaintance got arsey and rang the head office. Got the parts and service free and an offer of the next service free as well.
iDect/Binatone - look shiny but, as I've previously found to my cost, the build quality is shite; had an iDect once that wasn't particularly cheap and looked fairly awesome (oki, for a landline phone) ... after about a month you had to dock it into the cradle _just_ right or it wouldn't charge - eventually resorting to bits of broken matchstick or folded paper to try and get the angle right before thinking "you know what, this is a joke" and forking out for a cheap, ugly Panasonic instead ... which has worked perfectly ever since.
So the rule of thumb, I guess, is - if it says Binatone avoid it like the plague.
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I haven't seen anything aimed at using it as an introduction to general programming.
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Perhaps the closest thing might be "Voodoo's Introduction to JavaScript" - which is still around on teh intawebz (Google it); was the closest thing I had to a bible when I was first learning JS. It's way out of date now really (JavaScript was "a new scripting language which is being developed by Netscape" when it was written) but it has basic concepts in it like "what is a function?" "what is an event?" and so on...
But I bet you are one of the "rare" hobbyists who then went on to do this stuff professionally? Someone who actually enjoys poking about with the software and learning how to actually get it to talk to the hardware (without an interpreter), who, had you been a wee bit older, would have copied the source code for Manic Miner for the BBC model B from a magazine and then spent hours debugging it and getting the glitches out just to see if you could!
Many "younger" programmers don't seem to _want_ to know more, aren't prepared to look "under the hood" and many (unfortunately) don't know anything outside Windows ... or worse yet, .NET - if it can't be done in .NET they're stuffed.
For them it's just a job - some of us, and I'm guessing you're one, actually love this shit :)
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One thing that rarely changes in this business though; reducing application complexity and increasing application development efficiency and maintainability is good.
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All good - but the problem is that sometimes those things come at the expense of scalability. Adding a framework (or even using a GC interpreted language) can make the application quicker to develop yes but it could come at the cost of the actual operating efficiency of the program. In 99.9% of cases that's not an issue - but if you start to get to Google or Facebook size it can bite you on the arse.
Personally I think it's generally good to start off with something that can be rapidly developed - if it takes too long to develop it's obsolete before it's complete. You just need to be aware of the potential arse-biting down the road ;)
It's just a matter of WHERE you most need the efficiency ultimately.
AJaX revolutionised exactly nothing - it was always possible to generate JavaScript from server code, just print() it out (messy but doable). All it did was copy the way that ActionScript/Flash could load in XML files and interpret them (the Asynchronous bit)... until they realised that it would be better to just have the server code generate JavaScript anyway (like we were doing before) and codified it into JSON so we're now really using AJaJ.
Seriously, there is nothing special about the web, it's basically old-skool mainframe problems being rediscovered by the Microsoft generation. We've "had the technology" for probably 40 years.
JScript and JavaScript are both implementations of ECMAScript so - whilst JScript !== JavaScript, it's near as damnit. I always hated ASP though, nothing to do with ASP per se but the way Microsoft "sold it" - it's got what a dozen actual commands of its own so, in reality, it's just another CGI and yet MS always punted it otherwise ... you'd be just as well off using Perl or PHP through CGI on Apache IMO.
I've been hacking about in "Curly Brace" languages (C++, Perl, Java, PHP and JavaScript) for (far too many) years ... is it wrong to have gained a sort of grudging respect, even fondness for JavaScript? I actually quite like it as a fast (to deploy) semi-OOP type language; want to add a new functionality to an array? Array.prototype.newFunction = function() { } and so on...
If you're used to say Java or C++, JavaScript feels like a KFC Wicked Zinger meal - it's so very, very wrong and yet somehow actually rather nice ;)
Technically, in legal wiggle-out-of-it kind of terms, even when traffic is managed it's still "unlimited" - they don't impose a limit on the amount you can download just the speed at which you can download it once you hit the cap.
I suspect putting forward the argument that the amount of data you can download is a function of download speed and time and that, therefore, by limiting the download speed for a given time they are effectively limiting the amount you can download in that time, wouldn't hold water because that would mean that, for any given period of time, the service is limited (i.e. the amount of data you can download is only unlimited if you have an infinite amount of time).
Still, it's better than some other providers and at least they let you know what the "acceptable usage" policy actually is on their website - when I was on BT years ago about all you could find out about their policy was that they'd limit your access and levy a charge for exceeding an unspecified amount of data in a given month... and you only found that out when you got a stroppy phone call from them.
Have Virgin been smoking the same stuff as BT? OooOoooOoh - they've got a "home hub" we need a SUPERHUB! Next will be BT with an UberHub or something *sighs*
Just give me a bloody cable modem and let ME sort out the router (thankfully, when I set up my home network Virgin didn't officially support home networking or routers) ... I'm still on the 20meg connection with my own router and Virgin's modem. Kind of glad now that I'd totally forgotten about this "upgrade" being available - I think I'll give it a miss for the time being thanks.
Strangely my router is a Netgear as well and once I'd sorted the configuration out to use OpenDNS rather than Virgin's own highly unreliable (at the time) DNS servers and sorted the "quirks" that the router had with dynamic IP address allocation*, it's been rock solid.
* it used to occasionally reassign the IP address on my desktop to my partner's laptop when she switched it on - dropping me from the network (never did it with any other device). Sorted that by giving my machine a static IP address and only allowing the router to assign IP addresses after that one.
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But I think greater availability on the internet is worrying, the way porn is seeping into the mainstream.
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Fuck the web - Playboy is a brand now - ok, it's not hard-core intawebz pron downloaded from the States, Japan or wherever but you can buy Playboy just-about-anything now.
You're worried about porn "seeping into the mainstream"? Look at the pre-pubescent girls wearing Playboy t-shirts or documentaries on "Girls of the Playboy Mansion" or whatever - one porn brand at least is already about as mainstream as you can get.
Mind, not that I expect better from the heinous, Stalin-worshipping little cave-troll.
Not entirely innovative - NIN did much the same with Ghosts I-IV (an instrumental album in 4 parts). When Reznor got pissed at his record label and decided to "go it alone" (with the NIN brand behind him it wasn't much of a risk). You could:
Download part 1 (in MP3 format) for free
Download all 4 parts in lossless (FLAC/AAC) for about a tenner
Buy all 4 parts on CD for about £15 (though you can now get it for a tenner)
Or buy one of the expensive collectors edition items with all 4 parts and many added goodies (IIRC there was a superfan type edition with a shed-load of extras, posters and god-knows what else in, that there was only a very limited run of, selling for hundreds of dollars, that sold out in a few hours!)
Oki - I goto Qualys's BrowserCheck site and just get a message that says:
"Javascript Not Enabled
Please enable javascript in your browser and refresh your page "
- so you want me to enable a potential security vulnerability to see if I have any potential security vulnerabilities?
:)
Yes, yes, I know this is a facetious post :P
You've bought the PS3, you CAN do whatever you like with it - unless you're in a country with a law akin to the DMCA of course. Sony aren't going to stop you painting it orange, smashing it with a sledgehammer or turning it into a novelty toilet roll holder (with the paper being dispensed through the disk slot) - they might try to prosecute you if you break some bizarre draconian copyright law though and mod the machine to _enable_ it to circumvent anti-piracy measures.
However, Sony own the PSN and by your own argument, they can do whatever they hell they like with that surely? Including banning people who're using modified PS3s?
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The PS3 is sold at a loss because Sony expect to earn it back by seling games.
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I don't think that's true any more - it certainly was when the hardware came out BUT the tech is a few years old now and I'm sure I read somewhere that Sony actually makes a modest profit on every PS3 sold now.
Manipulating save files and the like might unlock achievements or items BUT it's not quite wall-hacking, aimbotting, god-mode or whatever - really Sony only have 2 options when it comes to preventing this kind of behaviour when gaming on the PSN.
1: Block anyone who's "modded" their console (despite the fact that it was initially sold with that feature).
2: Develop something like Valve's VAC - it's not perfect but it's a damned good compromise.
Sony seems to have picked the lazy option and killed "bedroom development" on the PS3 - I'm sure they had a dev box (Yr Rose?) sort-of available for the PS1 - the next "Super Meatboy" ain't gonna be developed for the PS3 I'd guess.
> the first part could be true, the second is pure hogwash.
The ability to run "home-grown" apps on the PS3 could potentially lead to joyous things like wall-hacks, aimbots and all the other "fun" things you occasionally encounter online gaming on the PC.
Valve didn't develop VAC without reason.
Sony are playing the part of the heavy-handed playground bully and they could certainly deal with the matter differently BUT if you spend any time gaming online you'll see there is a need to "ban the cheaters".
Give up now....
Right <strong> is SEMANTICALLY different to <b>
<strong> means "add strong emphasis" to this text.
<b> simply means highlight this text (normally bold) and applies little/no semantic weight to the terms contained therein (highlighting searched for words for instance).
On screen there may be no difference BUT a screen reader (or search engine robot) _should_ add emphasis to one but NOT the other.
Though with HTML 5 <b> becomes almost utterly redundant since there will be the <mark> tag to fulfil much the same purpose.
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But her sister is a teacher and wants to get out because she says the Gov't -required paperwork has taken over her life and sapped her love of teaching.
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Bingo! My parents were both teachers, one in secondary and the other in FE - both retired several years ago and they both complained about the amount of paperwork, the government changing the curriculum every couple of years, OFSTED inspections and all the other periphery shite that got in the way of actually teaching. OK, everyone complains about the periphery work they have to deal with (like generating reports for managers) but it just seems that in teaching it's far more excessive than most other jobs.
Not to mention the fact, of course, that with the media-fuelled, Paedo-hunter General mentality in the populace at large, any man wanting to work with children these days needs his head checking (almost literally). Mind, I tend to think that anyone who wants to work with the vile little scrotes should probably seek psychiatric help.
Yes - I did both Maths and Physics at A-Level - no I didn't do them beyond that level because they were so staggeringly dull in the second year ... 2nd year of Maths was almost entirely statistics which completely killed the subject for me.
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If a common, agreed web video format were magically agreed on today, would anyone (apart from advertisers) give a toss about Flash tomorrow?
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Do a search on "Flash Games" and I think you'll see that yes, many people would miss Flash - it isn't just about video you know. Contrary to popular belief, the web isn't just used for lolcats and pr0n.
You really don't have to apologise for the PS1 you know - Sony weren't as blatantly evil back then and the PS1 totally redefined the console market. Before the PS1 consoles were for (predominantly) for kids - the top frigging franchises were probably Mario and Sonic FFS.
Along came the PS1 with Gran Turismo and Grand Theft Auto and it changed everything.
Despite being evil, Sony do make pretty decent clobber and just think, if Sony employed a truly great PR department, you'd never hear about how evil they really are ...
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