rickmb

34 ms·

301.
by rickmb 15y ago
It starts by saying "no". The first few times this may be followed by an explanation. But if you don't say no, if you don't show that you are a serious professional who takes responsibility for his work, everything else will sound like whin
302.
by rickmb 15y ago
Dear programmer: If the Boss asks you something, it's okay to say "no". Since your boss is apparently unaware of the problem, who's going to solve it if you don't speak up? There are no magic hacker fairies on HN that are going to do that f
303.
by rickmb 15y ago
The most astonishing part in this whole story seems to me the fact that people apparently think that it is a good idea to hang "inspirational" slogans in uppercase on the walls of a modern tech company, in a way that is clearly not meant ir
304.
by rickmb 15y ago
Article C: Wiseasses that don't distinguish between the ethics of copying and the ethics of (enforcing) copyright. (stop repeating, please)
305.
by rickmb 15y ago
Q&A doesn't fix any problems, it merely identifies them before they go into production. If a significant amount of time is spend on fixing bugs, the problem is elsewhere in the process. Solving that problem should be the highest prior
306.
by rickmb 15y ago
But of course there is a "them" and their "evil" can be quantified by counting the numbers of dead bodies, people incarcerated for not conforming and the number of laws made to simply deny certain people the same rights as everyone else. Re
307.
by rickmb 15y ago
I can't believe how many people are defending this because "those are the rules". FYI: If a visitor from a friendly first world nation tries to enter your country carrying a valid passport, the appropriate response at the border should be:
308.
by rickmb 15y ago
You're forgetting that non of this is accidental. It is the media that has deliberately redefined the word "hacker" to equal criminal. They know what it means, and there is no clearer example than this article. Zuckerberg explains what it
309.
by rickmb 15y ago
In a democracy, free markets don't make the choices. The people do. And the means by which they do it is with their voice and their vote, not their wallets. People are more than just consumers. Consumer behavior is driven by many other fact
310.
by rickmb 15y ago
This is not about arguments. This about ideology. Just read the opening words of ACTA: "effective enforcement of intellectual property rights is critical to sustaining economic growth across all industries and globally" That is not a fact
311.
by rickmb 15y ago
It's not a craftsmen's discussion. A craftsman picks the tools they feel the most comfortable with to get the job done. Sure, craftsmen like to discuss their tools, but as an open exchange about their experiences in order to learn from it,
312.
by rickmb 15y ago
Things are starting to heat up all over Europe now, inspired by the Polish protests. The European Parliament is notoriously sensitive to grass roots movements, because they are eager to prove themselves and rarely get to deal with controver
313.
by rickmb 15y ago
I'll make it simpler for you. Even if that is correct, even if ACTA doesn't change the existing laws: we want those laws reversed . They are not our laws. They were forced upon us by a combination of US government pressure and outright bri
314.
by rickmb 15y ago
> Competition dies when rewards are removed If a monopolist offers a product for free just because they have plenty of cash to do so, all rewards to compete in that market are removed. That kills competition stone dead, and that's why
315.
by rickmb 15y ago
Educate who? BoF barely communicates externally besides preaching to the choir. Lobbying seems to be limited to relatively powerless left-wing opposition politicians. Getting broader support is exactly what they very much don't do. And so
316.
by rickmb 15y ago
Which does absolutely fuck all as soon as the magic word "piracy" appears. They're barely acknowledging this is happening. Ask yourself: what has BoF done for us lately? Or ever?
317.
by rickmb 15y ago
Yeah, figured that out by now... Still, it just reinforces the insanity of the whole experience: I now have to rely on others for this information. My ability to evaluate that information has been compromised.
318.
by rickmb 15y ago
We have something outside America called "sovereignty". This means foreign powers are not supposed to dictate what we consider a crime or not.
319.
by rickmb 15y ago
It's not just the trial. This is the accumulation of decades of US interference in Sweden's sovereignty, resulting in laws and institutions that are in no way serving the Swedish people, nor any particular political ideology. And it is the
320.
by rickmb 15y ago
Thank you for the copy-paste. The fact that I now have to rely on others to republish this information because as of today it is being censored for me makes me very, very sad. I'm 45 years old, I was born and raised in the "free world", and
321.
by rickmb 15y ago
Wow. This is has probably been one of the most corrupt legal processes Western Europe has seen since WWII. Unbelievable how a foreign industry has made a complete mockery out of the justice system of a sovereign nation. The damages alone ar
322.
by rickmb 15y ago
The latter is exactly what we regularly do. It's still a pain though, talking a client down from their original ideas (sometimes piles of paper with all kinds of ambitious features) to something that matches their needs within their budget.
323.
by rickmb 15y ago
Facebook was always in the game of collecting private data and exploiting it. It's in the nature of their product, you pretty much sign up for that up front. Google offered services that didn't explicitly require users to register personal
324.
by rickmb 15y ago
Also, raise your other hand if you later hear some competitor has actually taken the job for $10K-$20K. As a bonus, wave both hands if some time late you hear said potential client has been screwed by said competitor, either by failing to d
325.
by rickmb 15y ago
This is a general problem with custom software, not just iOS apps. Most businesses outside major corporations didn't start commissioning custom software until the rise of the commercial use of the internet in the late '90s, when all kinds o
326.
by rickmb 15y ago
"uproar in The Hague". Are you kidding me? Only the PVV made a bit of noise, but that's the same PVV that did a 180 on ACTA. As if anybody takes them seriously. PvdA have sold out our rights every time they where in power. The SP has alread
327.
by rickmb 15y ago
Very old news. Still, a very relevant object lesson in how this has come about. Not because the Netherlands is so progressive in tech legislation, but because of a few greedy mobile telecom operators were stupid and arrogant enough to offer
328.
by rickmb 15y ago
3M has no influence over my life. 3M could disappear tomorrow and I couldn't give a toss. 3M doesn't know enough about me and mine to harm me, and I don't depend on 3M in a way that would hurt me if I could no longer use their products. At
329.
by rickmb 15y ago
It's a personal story of when someone stopped believing Google, not a deep analyses of why Google is "evil". For me Google stopped being credible when it did a 180 on net neutrality. There were good reasons before that, and there were certa
330.
by rickmb 15y ago
The GPL and the concept of keeping software free permanently embodies the very definition of Free Software. What you're saying is "the absence of color doesn't fit my idea of what black should be, I see black as having a little touch of yel

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