Alex63

22 ms·

181.
by Alex63 16y ago
I'm not that familiar with iPad. Is there a point in stealing one? Can't Apple detect/disable the device remotely, assuming you know the serial number?
182.
by Alex63 17y ago
I like Stephenson's distinction as well, but have often found it difficult to get other people to understand it. Regardless, thanks for posting the link. It prompted me to buy a first edition of The Diamond Age to replace my exceedingly ba
183.
by Alex63 17y ago
I wish that process consulting was making me a millionaire. That aside, I think in one of Jerry Weinberg's books he says something along the lines of "things are they way they are because they got that way." In other words, in most cases
184.
by Alex63 17y ago
True. The triangle doesn't really call out the issue of non-linear increase in cost/risk of changes as the project progresses, or other aspects of Brooks's Law.
185.
by Alex63 17y ago
The first time I heard the "triangle argument", the points were labeled "Good" (as in quality), "Fast" (in terms of time to deliver), and "Cheap" (cost of the project). Maybe that version is more specific to MIS-type projects?
186.
by Alex63 17y ago
Agreed. I would be very happy if my "salary" and my billing rate were the same. Still, based on a 2000 hour year, $500K is a billing rate of $250/hr. That's not unusual for high-end IT consultants, but at that rate the client should be ge
187.
by Alex63 17y ago
Agree (and voted up). Down voting should be about the quality of the post/argument, not whether you like the opinion. Having said that, I think you might want to revise your argument a little. Regardless of whether it is legal , is it alwa
188.
by Alex63 17y ago
I think the point of the post was that the author assumed all the adds were actually for the same position. The problem (if that was the case) being that C++ programmers/Flash programmers/HTML designers are not interchangeable.
189.
by Alex63 17y ago
I think you are drawing a false distinction between "technical decisions" and "business decisions". In the context of a business, what technical decision doesn't affect the business in some way?
190.
by Alex63 17y ago
Honestly, I do sympathize with you. There have been many times during my career when I felt there were clear benefits to using a new/less widely used technology. At one time that meant using C instead of COBOL. Unfortunately, my arguments h
191.
by Alex63 17y ago
It would be pointless to argue that personal fears/bias are not part of the decision making process. But by the same token, I think you must recognize that programmers also have biases, one of which is to try new things. There is definitel
192.
by Alex63 17y ago
I would expect that at least a few HN readers are like me: past developers, who now spend the bulk (if not all)of their time managing projects. In response to questions about the vertical axis, my answer is that from a PM perspective, it's
193.
by Alex63 17y ago
Most of my on-line gaming has been console-based, so I can't compare to current PC gaming. The issues covered in the article are very familiar to me. Leaving aside the juvenile name-calling, the younger players do seem to have a different a
194.
by Alex63 17y ago
Since the fees are advertised (though not included in the fare), I don't think you can say that the total cost isn't being disclosed. Anyone who has traveled since early 2008 is presumably factoring the baggage fees into the cost of their t
195.
by Alex63 17y ago
Keyboard shortcuts (like Google Reader) that work in Chrome, Firefox, or IE.
196.
by Alex63 17y ago
Spot on. V-team also often connotes geographic dispersal, as well as reporting to different orgs.
197.
by Alex63 17y ago
Ugh. You are right. Should have opened my copy before I shot my mouth off. But the point is that style of Spew is appropriate to that narrator in that environment.
198.
by Alex63 17y ago
But isn't that partly because Spew is written in the first person, unlike Anathem? Spew slightly predates The Diamond Age, and the style of TDA is closer to Anathem.
199.
by Alex63 17y ago
I would agree with you, but have personally found it unexpectedly difficult to get people to understand the difference between "negative" rights and "positive" rights. Maybe those words have too many other connotations?
200.
by Alex63 17y ago
We need to develop a word other than 'right' that means "not a fundamental human right, but something we collectively agree people should be able to get, if it can be made available at a reasonable cost, a reasonable price, and without forc