I keep trying to get my coworkers to stick to more reasonable work hours. I'm working on 20 years of burnout at this point, and barely fighting off the urge to eat a bullet. I got ahead a lot over the years, but inflation has stolen nearly all of those gains. But I'm supposed to work even more for no more money? Piss off. Too much of my life has already been stolen. Pay me enough that I can actually retire comfortably, then maybe I'll consider it. But as it is, I have almost nothing left to give, and opportunities for ANYONE are already pretty much dried up in this environment.

My understanding from my stepfather (who works in the nuclear power industry) is that the low price of natural gas, and low price of startup on the requisite power plants, is killing the nuclear power industry as well. Renewables (solar, hydro, wind) are taking over, with natural gas plants as the back up for lag times.

There are also plenty of people that I have worked with that had non-technical degrees that were OK coders but had major problems when it came to supportable code or efficient, thoughtful design. These people could churn out tons of code, but the stuff was nearly always more buggy and less well-thought-out than what has been produced by people that I've worked with that had technical degrees (either CS or engineering). These people generally love whatever flavor of the month technology might come up, but that doesn't mean that they have the careful foresight to apply it effectively.

There are a lot of extremely bright people without 4-year degrees. There are also some useless people that have them. This is what interview questions are for, to determine whether someone can apply their knowledge effectively. For all of my complaints about the BUSINESS of higher education, there is still a great deal of benefit for developers to have been instructed about the underlying fundamentals of complex logic and software design. One of the best things about my otherwise miserable university experience was that their focus was on the theory rather than specific languages, as the tools are always constantly changing, but the methodology behind their use remains the same. The developers without this "useless" education often have a harder time doing sustainable work in the long term. After over 15 years of professional experience in the industry, those with a 4-year technical degree have consistently been better developers.

That's the one.

You nailed it exactly. I've never been much of a commenter, but reading the comments from people who are generally well educated (unlike the majority of sites these days) is what has always appealed to me and kept me visiting since the 90's. Most of the articles posted here have been old news to me, but the presentation, and density of information, have been an oasis in the increasing noise.

The beta site seems to be catering hard to the kind of people that have driven me away from other sites and back to this one. It looks like a half-assed version of one of the more recent Engadget designs. I bailed on sites like that when they ditched utility and information density in favor of... I have no idea. These redesigns offer nothing of value for showing information in a coherent manner. There does not seem to be ANYTHING about the beta that is conducive to maintaining the utility of the existing site. People come to this site because of ho it is DIFFERENT from other sites. Making this site more like those other sites completely annihilates this site's value.

I get that they don't want to throw away a lot of hard work that must have been put into the beta, but I have to ask: Why? What are their goals that spawned the redesign? Do they just want to make something new, or is there an actual problem that they are trying to address? Are there frustrations with the infrastructure that they are trying to address (potentially valid, but they seem to be going about it the wrong way)? Do they simply want to expand readership? If that's the case, make a SEPARATE site. I do not think that ANY of the readers here will play well with people who find anything about the beta appealing. This site works for a specific demographic. If they want to make a new site, then make a DIFFERENT site, and leave Slashdot as it is.

I've read this site since the mid/late 90's. I think I've only logged in twice to comment since then, but I'm doing so again now.

PLEASE DO NOT DO THIS.

I come here for a quick summary of tech news. The redesign is counter-productive to that, giving more focus on useless images and white space.

Slashdot readers read technical documents. We are educated and able to understand complex concepts from text. We do not need the website equivalent of a picture book. We come here, a place that is an exception to this trend in website design, BECAUSE it is an exception that doesn't cater to the least-intelligent denominator.

Please scrap that redesign, or use it for a different site that is not so geared to the technically inclined. Please keep Slashdot text-centric as is always has been. Do not compromise what has made this site special for over 16 years.

Pretentious, sure. Crap, no.

You own whining basically pronounces the fact that you didn't understand the purpose of the series, which was to invoke discussion and thought. The "plot", such as it was, was left intentionally vague so that each individual was free to make their own interpretations. If you actually read the transcript, you would know this (they actually state that they left it intentionally vague). The point was to make you question your perspective of reality. You take away from it what you chose to. If you got nothing from it, then it's only your own fault. It's not meant to be a story: it's a conversation piece. :)

And with regards to people who feel that posts about this series are off topic because of it being anime, they are incorrect. Much of the imagery used is easier for people in the technology sector to relate to than anyone else. We tend to have a VERY different perspective on life, the universe, and everything than most people do. For example, I'm sure that you've experienced a situation where you're out with a group of friends, and start letting loose with techie talk with one of your friends, while the rest of them look at you like you've got 7 heads and a bag of marbles hanging from one of your noses. That's the same view you seem to be taking of Lain. Get the picture? :)

-Packgrog

Coffee is mother, Coffee is father