akeefer

14 ms·

91.
by akeefer 16y ago
My understanding is that there are a few reasons why it can be a bad idea. First of all, prior art seems to be taken more seriously during the re-examinations that happen during lawsuits. If the prior art is presented beforehand and the p
92.
by akeefer 16y ago
Much of it is owned by groups like the Peninsula Open Space Trust or is otherwise an official county or state park. The open spaces along 280 might seem under-utilized, but they're also one of the critical things that keeps the Bay Area fr
93.
by akeefer 16y ago
That was true when it first came out; the version shipped with Ubuntu was the 1.6.0_0 version of Iced Tea, which had all sorts of problems. The latest version is fine. For anyone who's curious, OpenJDK was (if I recall correctly) originall
94.
by akeefer 16y ago
The idea that there won't be any money left is a common misperception, but it's pretty inaccurate. Since it's a pay-as-you-go system, it can't run out of money like a bank account. Instead, it will simply be taking in less than it should
95.
by akeefer 16y ago
It's a little different than DLL hell: most applications provide their own libraries precisely to avoid DLL hell. Rather than relying on (or trying to install) some globally-shared DLL, they include their own versions of libraries, and it
96.
by akeefer 16y ago
Patents only cover certain types of creative behavior for which patent protection makes sense as a way to encourage innovation. For example, it's never been possible to patent the plot of a novel, and up until recently it wasn't possible t
97.
by akeefer 16y ago
The point was less the absolute number and more the historical comparison; taxes on upper income brackets are nearer the lower end of post WW2 historical norms than the higher end, but from hearing people complain about it you'd think that
98.
by akeefer 16y ago
I think the article's original point (and mine as well) was that considering the size of the code (i.e. the DNA) as a measure of the complexity of the task is totally disingenuous when you don't have (to use your analogy) the web server, th
99.
by akeefer 16y ago
The argument Myers is making is that while the DNA might be the input to the system, the total amount of data in the system is that input plus the rules around how that input is interpreted/works. Those rules (for example around protein
100.
by akeefer 16y ago
Keep in mind that taxes and such scale non-linearly with income: if you make $100k a year, you'll take home less than 2x what you'd take home making $50k a year. It doesn't invalidate your argument by any means, but it's something worth m
101.
by akeefer 16y ago
Very interesting study, if small. My two questions about it. 1) What's the plateau state and the initial fitness level/muscle density? Many weight-lifters have experienced that after a certain point, they start to plateau and don't gain f
102.
by akeefer 16y ago
Which part don't you buy? Do you think they're lying about their motivations, or do you not agree with their justifications?
103.
by akeefer 16y ago
They weren't promoting a tiered internet by advocating it as a good thing; they were against regulating things just yet. Those are two very, very different things.
104.
by akeefer 16y ago
You might disagree with it, but it's not illogical. There's a big, big difference between saying "I don't agree with Google" and "there's no possible logical reason for their position, therefore it must be evil." What you're expressin
105.
by akeefer 16y ago
This is a pretty terrible article: the author basically mis-represents what actually happened, and then dismisses any possible legitimate motive for Google doing what it did with no argument, merely by asserting that such a motive can't po
106.
by akeefer 16y ago
Like most things in life, it depends. Just because it didn't work in your case doesn't mean it never works, that it's never a good idea, and that it's always a waste of time. For us, it's turned out to work really well, and we feel like t
107.
by akeefer 16y ago
I don't think it's as simple as saying, essentially, "people who forbid telecommuting are idiots" or "there's no legitimate reason why telecommuting should be difficult." There are legitimate reasons to co-locate a team. We allow working
108.
by akeefer 16y ago
I don't think we should change how we write code, either: I think we should change the patent system so this stuff doesn't happen. I get tired of hearing the "it's just big companies suing other big companies" argument about why patents a
109.
by akeefer 16y ago
Just wait a few years. As you say, it's a waste of money to sue someone who's not a threat. Once one of those companies becomes a threat to someone with deep pockets (and some of them will), there's a fairly high likelihood that someone w
110.
by akeefer 16y ago
I agree, but what's the chance that we'll ever get a non-broken implementation? If someone really tries to fix it, that would be great, but what are the odds it'll really be fixed instead of just being broken in different ways? From my pe
111.
by akeefer 16y ago
For what it's worth, it's happened to my company (a smaller company sued by a larger competitor), and the litigation has dragged on for almost three years now without going to trial. I've heard of other similar incidents as well. They're f
112.
by akeefer 16y ago
One other thing to keep in mind in this debate is that it's expensive to defend yourself from a patent lawsuit. For example, this blog ( http://rpxcorp.com/blog/?p=129 ), whose accuracy I have no idea of, claims that the average total cost
113.
by akeefer 16y ago
Software patents affect small companies when they get sued by big companies or patent trolls. It happens all the time, and when it does there's basically no defense unless you have a huge patent portfolio and can countersue . . . which, if
114.
by akeefer 16y ago
Yeah, I agree that it's a nightmare in production, but it's absolutely indispensable in development situations where you can tolerate the occasional weirdness or failure. If you're developing a server app (or a thick-client app), avoiding
115.
by akeefer 16y ago
I tried at the conference to get people to agree that hotswap (i.e. reloading classes in a running system) was something that the JVM needed to add, so that the 99.9% of JVM users programming in Java can have a more dynamic programming expe
116.
The Importance of Hotswapping For Java(guidewiredevelopment.wordpress.com)
3 points by akeefer 16y ago|0 comments
117.
by akeefer 16y ago
One thing I think that this analysis misses is the fact that, for most people, you're not going to enjoy the flight no matter what. At that point most people shift from "maximize enjoyment" mode, where paying more for something better is m
118.
by akeefer 16y ago
A website is effectively private property. Suppose my house had a nice lawn, and I said to the neighborhood kids, "You're welcome to play on my lawn, just clean up after yourselves and don't hurt the flowers." Is that reasonable? How abo
119.
by akeefer 16y ago
I don't think your argument holds up. Any service is offered under some terms; it's irrational and unreasonable to assume that when you use someone's website or service that there are no terms whatsoever attached to that service. So wher
120.
by akeefer 16y ago
I did my undergraduate work in philosophy, and I honestly have found it really useful in CS. The ability to break down a complicated argument into small steps that are independently verifiable is very close to the ability required to break

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