ejames

13 ms·

61.
by ejames 16y ago
Having come from Microsoft not too long ago, I really think that "warring city-states" is a much better description of how Microsoft internal politics works than the typical Microsoft-as-monolith metaphors.
62.
by ejames 16y ago
I feel this article is worth pointing out as a reminder: Almost all concepts of school reform still takes as a given that you will have basically the same foundation of a school. Sometimes it's worth stepping back and asking, "Does it actu
63.
by ejames 16y ago
The U.S. counts unemployment as "people who are currently looking for/want a job but do not have one". So anyone who is included in this number is not self-employed or running their own business. The U.S. unemployment number does not count
64.
by ejames 16y ago
Building amazingly complex (if tedious and time-consuming) objects in Dwarf Fortress is pretty much what the game is about after you manage to get past the early learning stages. This is the kind of game I would recommend to hackers - it de
65.
by ejames 17y ago
I don't think it's very puzzling that a large, profitable institution can get dragged through the mud. There's a very simple reason: Many people don't accept that "being profitable" and "being worthy of admiration" are the same thing, or
66.
by ejames 17y ago
"Apparently, the 'Flat-Earthers' who created the site were really Trolls who planned to attract Round-earthers, and confound them with silly arguments. Instead, other Trolls showed up and began arguing for both positions." Wow... I've long
67.
by ejames 17y ago
Yes, but once you're "the guy/gal who wrote $SUCCESSFUL_GOOGLE_PRODUCT", you have a lot of credibility, experience, etc. as resources to make your own product that you do own. The point of the 20% products for Google is to give the company
68.
by ejames 17y ago
Then why not call it "meritocracy" instead? The great thing about English is there's a word or phrase for every shade of meaning - if you don't like the connotation of one usage, pick another!
69.
by ejames 17y ago
Yes. It comes from a combination of two terms: 1. Astroturf. This comes from the fake grass installed in a large covered sports stadium in Houston, Texas. The stadium was the home of a sports team called the Houston Astros, so the fake
70.
by ejames 17y ago
I suspect she'll have a Batman-style utility belt of mobile devices. Really, though, that's just as true for the other options. What does an Environmentalist Barbie look like? Does she come with a Prius covered in political bumper sticker
71.
by ejames 17y ago
Yes, exactly. "v-team" is Microsoft-speak for a virtual team, most often a subset of people in a larger team who do not all report to the same lower-level manager. If you have a team of 12 people, then select 4 of them to deal with issues
72.
by ejames 17y ago
OK, quick: Everyone who, upon installing a new piece of software, reads EVERY LAST SENTENCE of the terms of use and prints out the terms for future reference before hitting "install", raise your hand. As a separate issue from the quality (
73.
by ejames 17y ago
Because owning the patent protects you from predatory companies. Any technology you use that conceivably could be patented, but isn't yet, is a legal risk - and "conceivably" includes things that are obvious, absurd patents from a develope
74.
by ejames 17y ago
Favorite quote from the other posts on the blog: "This is what 'dying alone' looks like as a png." Lots of fun statistics, and some humor to boot.
75.
by ejames 17y ago
It's only natural that you use the software of the company for which you work. When at Microsoft, you use Microsoft products. When at Google, you use Google products. Of course, any tech person with a blog who made a switch from one suit
76.
by ejames 17y ago
Yeah, my questions don't really apply to the pair in the story; they knew from the beginning that the software was for fraudulent purposes, and simply lost their nerve after a while, then got arrested anyway on charges of conspiracy. Getti
77.
by ejames 17y ago
I find myself wondering: How exactly would you go about doing the ethical thing in a situation where you realize your work is such that you're being offered hush money to stay quiet about it? I don't mean "how" in terms of "how do I know t
78.
by ejames 17y ago
I think you overestimate Apple's competence... or, more specifically, the breadth of the fields to which applies. Apple is very competent at making things for consumers, and not particularly good at working with developers or corporate IT.
79.
by ejames 17y ago
I just listened to one of the SO podcasts that happens to have more information about this service. A few things of note (that have come up in these comments): The $99/yr is meant to be a nominal fee to keep out the riff-raff, basically (m
80.
by ejames 17y ago
I would call that the pathological case rather than the average one. Maximizing grades against learning as little as possible is the lowest hurdle you can cross while still technically being successful as a student. It's also worth remembe
81.
by ejames 17y ago
Still, there's a lot of room between "no evidence" and "double-blind clinical trials", and reason to believe that statements about software development can profitably be moved towards the latter. I would take Code Complete as a good example