Follow Slashdot blog updates by subscribing to our blog RSS feed

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror

Comment Make your own theater. (Score 1) 924

I find it far preferable to create a theater experience at home. We don't switch on our TV unless there is a film we want to watch.

At home I have better (and cheaper) popcorn, no disturbances, no cellphones (we can pause the movie if we need to as well). Not to mention NO ADS and cheaper tickets. We have a nice surround sound system and a projector (the only way to go).

And to those that think it's cool to suggest Faraday cages. As parents I need my cellphone for babysitter emergencies, not to mention medical and other emergency calling. Will never work, not even if we tried.

Comment Re:Well... ALMOST (Score 1) 122

Could not have said it better. In Ubuntu I start up 3 programs max. Chrome, VMWare Player and Terminal.
In VMWare Player I only start up a single _desktop_ app... ever... which is why Windows 8 is so annoying.
It is better now with Classic fallback, but even that does too much.

On Mac I start up a few more, but don't use ANY of the mac provided apps. No iPhoto, Finder, Safari, Address Book, Mail, Messages, etc. I basically only use it because of iOS development (and the pretty hardware does not hurt).

PS: Someone suggested I look at : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CrunchBang_Linux

Comment Corporate vs. Programmers. (Score 3, Interesting) 118

I would say it is because SAP's programming environment is rife with business people and very few programmers. 95% of programmers I have worked with were B.A. students who heard that programming pays more, and SAP pays a lot more. I've been doing SAP ABAP for about 10 years on and off. I've worked in both services and product development and have worked in many different capacities, companies and countries.

My background is strong C++, having also worked at high frequency traders and other tech companies writing compilers and schedulers and network messaging systems. Never have I encountered anyone in SAP that would care about security... with the exception of a few BASIS consultants. People are so focused on their small part and fear to rock the boat that is causing it to be the monolithic behemoth it has become. ABAP is an awful excuse for a language that pretends to be a cool 4GL, and the SAP system itself is layer upon layer of bugs, unused code and inefficiencies. One can see a hint of a bright SAP developer here and there, but the way it was finished off suggested they cut costs before everything was full completed (WebDynpro, OO ... I'm looking at you.).

I worked as a contractor at a bank about 10 years ago. And highlighted the fact that their vendors being able to upload file all to a common directory as the same normal user and password was a huge security issue as well as a client confidentiality problem (as various clients/vendors could read each other's files)... but if I could wager a guess they did nothing about it at least for the time I was working there.

Then there is SAP's resource site (Sap Developer Network), where they are still trying to figure out how to have host aliases and SSO even work reliably. Every time you connect you get a different load balanced host with new host name. The site is a mess and is still struggling to even resemble Web 1.0.

But all this trouble and incompetence is what makes working in SAP a challenge and earns you the big bucks. Not to mention aggressive and plain rude clients sometimes. I prefer product development instead of contracting, that way I feel I can actually do something concrete to help people.

Comment Re:Tiny Tiny RSS (tt-rss) and the Android app. (Score 1) 335

Yup, I am as well. But even if the user is not technical, I think they will prefer some of the better sharing features it has.

I've tinkered with it a little... mostly with plug-ins and re-sharing options. And it amazed me every time the amount of useful options/controls/features/plugins it has (which all work pretty flawlessly)

Yup, color me impressed.

Also, thanks for the android app link... although I do not use iOS, it would be nice to know I can get a nice dedicated app for it as well... last I checked I could not find one... which is the only fault I can find.

Comment Tiny Tiny RSS (tt-rss) and the Android app. (Score 2, Insightful) 335

I tried both Feedly and NewsBlur, and both did a lot of things I did not want or need. They were pretty, but when it came down it it I was losing control of my important feeds.

I had to upgrade my ancient Linux server (it was overdue) before I could install it (although I think they might have relaxed some of the requirements now)

I am very happy with it now. It is lean and light, clean and works flawlessly for me.
The android app is written by the developer and rivals that of Google Reader. (clean and simple) Although it is paid... but I don't mind paying for it for all I got.

I can recommend it to everyone who feels a bit of reticence and want and alternative.

Comment Choice? (Score 1) 968

There are many other "choices" (to be idiots too) that have been taken away proactively. (Like the smiley key! Surely you bemoan the loss of that one too?)

Nay, I say good riddance... people still have the choice to type in all uppercase... it's called "holding in the SHIFT key" (see what I did there?) :) -- smiley typed with ':' and ')' keys...

Comment Is this guy for real? (Score 1) 897

Or are they like 18 years old?

Work is work, .NET is just a word. It's not religion or a way of life. I hardly notice the difference between all the languages I flit between anymore.

But I guess you can choose what you want and try and find work in that. I just don't think that question is worthy of a topic here. Sounds like such a prima donna type attitude. I guess that's why I don't have trouble finding work.

I've just finished a few years of C++/C#.NET work and doing Objective C and ABAP now.

Languages are just a tool. It's like asking what genre novels to learn to write as long as you don't have to write it with a Logitech keyboard.

Comment The world is a better place. (Score 0, Offtopic) 304

Frankly I only ever *used* X11 to run terminals.

Good riddance to X and Gnome... never liked either. They are the reason most people using Linux/etc. think GUIs are crap (they've never learned to use a proper GUI).

I love the command-line, but I can really get by pretty well navigating and working on either Windows or OS X GUIs. The closest I've had to a good consistent experience on Linux was KDE.

Linux has always been a very good server environment for me, and never, ever a great client. Ubuntu has come a long way to try and change that and I applaud any (albeit questionable) changes they make.

Nothing here is fact, only my personal experience as well as my experience trying to help several non-tech savvy family use Linux, Windows and OS X. For them I recommend OS X, whereas I use OS X and Windows clients.

Slashdot Top Deals

A university faculty is 500 egotists with a common parking problem.

Working...