TheFairElf - Slashdot User

Don't Count Cobol Out 274

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Friday September 19, 2008 @06:25PM from the great-disturbance-in-the-force dept.

Hugh Pickens writes "Although Turing Award-winning computer scientist Edsger Dijkstra once said, 'the use of Cobol cripples the mind; its teaching should, therefore, be regarded as a criminal offense,' Michael Swaine has an interesting entry to Dr. Dobb's Journal asserting that Cobol is the most widely used language in the 21st century, critical to some of the hottest areas of software development today, and may be the next language you'll be learning. In 1997, the Gartner Group estimated that there were 240 billion lines of Cobol code in active apps, and billions of lines of new Cobol code are being written every year. Cobol is a key element in the realization of modern distributed business software architecture concepts — XML/metadata, Web Services, Service Oriented Architecture — and e-business."

Comment Seriously, Hotmail? (Score 0, Offtopic) 258

by TheFairElf on Saturday June 21, 2008 @04:36PM (#23888259) Attached to: Hotmail Full Version Incompatible With Firefox 3

People still use Hotmail? Compared to other services (Gmail, Yahoo) hotmail is stuck in the dark ages.

Microsoft Invents Split Screen PC 348

Posted by CmdrTaco on Sunday May 06, 2007 @12:35PM from the let-me-have-less-please dept.

An anonymous reader writes "New technology from Microsoft Research India in Bangalore could end the waiting game in offices with limited computers. Researchers are developing software that splits a computer screen in two halves, each side with its own operating system, desktop, applications, cursor and keyboard." Mom! Timmy is on my side of the screen again!

Bill Gates' Management Style 362

Posted by CmdrTaco on Sunday May 06, 2007 @11:31AM from the behold-the-glorious-borg-icon dept.

replicant108 wrote in to give us Tom Evslin's fascinating account of working for Microsoft in the early 90s. "So you're in there presenting your product plan to billg, steveb, and mikemap. Billg typically has his eyes closed and he's rocking back and forth. He could be asleep; he could be thinking about something else; he could be listening intently to everything you're saying. The trouble is all are possible and you don't know which. Obviously, you have to present as if he were listening intently even though you know he isn't looking at the PowerPoint slides you spent so much time on. At some point in your presentation billg will say "that's the dumbest fucking idea I've heard since I've been at Microsoft." He looks like he means it. However, since you knew he was going to say this, you can't really let it faze you. Moreover, you can't afford to look fazed; remember: he's a bully."

XXX Top Level Domain May Still See Use 265

Posted by Zonk on Sunday January 07, 2007 @09:05PM from the turnaround dept.

eldavojohn writes "The contract between ICANN & ICM Registry has just been revised for procedures on using the .XXX TLD. ICM is saying that the domain should be readily available for registration as early as this summer. This means that parents will most likely have an easier time protecting their children from these sites and these sites will be more tightly regulated and easier to scrutinize by authorities. ICM also mentioned the collaboration with International Foundation for Online Responsibility."

Slashdot Top Deals