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damon

227 karma · joined August 14, 2007

iPhone / web developer located in minneapolis
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damon··on Microsoft Joins the Open Invention Network
What's interesting to me is how serious Nadella's Microsoft is about embracing OSS. Consider his appointment as a line in the sand and look at how drastically the company has changed since that line was drawn.

I realize that doesn't make the actions done prior to 2014 right. But I do feel the company has been serious about advancing OSS since Nadella took over as CEO.

damon··on Microsoft Joins the Open Invention Network
It's hard to let past Ballmer / Gates era sins go, and I'll probably take a lot of heat here, but moves like this continue to reinforce the Nadella era is truly serious about advancing OSS both within Microsoft and within the broader community.
damon··on Dropbox Sync API
I like the iOS API's simplicity. Also the ability to attach observers to file objects. Much easier to use than iCloud (IMHO) and cross platform are huge advantages for me personally.
damon··on Dropbox Sync API
Take a look at the Core API for use from a web app: https://www.dropbox.com/developers/core/gs
damon··on Outlawed by Amazon DRM
It would be interesting to hear Amazon's side of the story. It just doesn't seem like something any digital retailer would do.

Assuming Lynn did no wrong and this is entirely a fraud algorithm problem on Amazon's side, you would think there is a higher authority within Amazon to dispute the problem. It's a shame they they didn't offer her anything in terms of dispute resolution or fraud prevention.

I'm going to email Amazon's feedback link as chanux did, I hope the larger HN community does the same.

damon··on How To Lose Your Cuil 20 Seconds After Launch
I entered "iPhone 3G sales" (no quotes) and was given a porn picture next to an Apple PR link. I do hope they succeed in challenging google, but looks like they have work to do.
damon··on A Brief History of Dangerous Ideas
I was thinking "another solid post from reg". Then boom, didn't see that coming. It's too bad it will be his last. Looking forward to seeing what's next. Keep us posted, Reg.
damon··on Did Apple set developers up for failure?
As an iPhone dev, I'm sure iPhone OS 2.0 isn't perfect. They pushed 8 beta builds into the hands of devs since march. They've been working on hugely aggressive timelines. There has to be defects. In all, however, I'm glad it's released.
damon··on IPhone App Store Has Launched
I'm releasing one at some point. If I can ever get the MLS data. Yikes what a mess. http://codemorphic.com/products
damon··on IPhone App Store Has Launched
Downloading/sync to iPhone is trivial and slick, very easy to trial/error free programs, apple did distribution right.
damon··on Best Buy Is Selling Ubuntu
Just curious... Do people really buy linux off the shelf? Why? The packaging? Docs? Box?
damon··on Microsoft Admits Windows Vista Mistakes, Criticizes Apple Ads
If it took them a year to admit it, how long will it take to fix it? Rather than a marketing push, how about an engineering push?
damon··on Ten Reasons Why Steve Ballmer Should Be Fired
There's only 10?
damon··on Congrats to PG on getting hitched
Wow, I had no idea! Best wishes to the newlyweds. Is it Jessica Graham now? JG?
damon··on iPhone 3G Launch Date Confirmed
Let's see... no vacation for at&t employees in june, iphones out of stock in apple online, multiple country deals signed in past few weeks, iphone sdk nearing beta end... You'll see the 3G iphone on the 9th. What interests me any new hardware it will have (gps, better camera, another camera (iChat?), ...)
damon··on Dynamic Languages Strike Back
"they're still afraid of anything that's different and are looking for any excuse they can to maintain the status quo."

That's exactly what I want to hear! Let them keep their 600+ page C# spec and their 10+ year java resume - leaves more opportunity for people are willing to "take the risk" and pick the best tools.

damon··on Is Flickr Worth $4 Billion?
Is it April 1st?
damon··on What makes programming so difficult - and can we make it easier?
1. State. 2. Functional languages.
damon··on Ask YC: Been going to BarCamps? (BarCampBoston3 is May 17th & 18th!)
I'll be @ minnebar May 10th also. I've heard estimates of 400 attendees planned! If you're interested in iPhone development, lets meet up. I'm doing a 5-min lightning round talk on native iPhone objc development.
damon··on Why Apple is more expensive than Amazon
Short version : "Price fixing is how."
damon··on Why doesn't Microsoft out-innovate Apple?
Innovation takes more than deep pockets...
damon··on Microsoft's Vista Problems
"Mr. Liddell dismissed claims that some customers were reluctant to buy Vista machines. “There are no Vista-related issues at all,” he declared."

puff puff give, dude...

damon··on Apple posts profit of $1.05B, ships nearly 2.3 million Macs
"Now I've seen Vista I wonder how a company of that size can get something so wrong"

Perhaps because it's a company of that size.

damon··on IBM considering switch to Macs
Apple seems too consumer focused to start putting in all sorts of crap just because someone from Walmart corporate suggested it.
damon··on IBM considering switch to Macs
In 2004 IBM was considering a switch to linux. I hope they are successful with the mac push.

"First, our chairman has challenged the IT organization, and indeed all of IBM, to move to a Linux based desktop before the end of 2005. This means replacing productivity, web access and viewing tools with open standards based equivalents."

http://www.theinquirer.net/en/inquirer/news/2004/01/07/inter...

damon··on Microsoft bids $44.6 billion for Yahoo
Microsoft is still dead.
damon··on Rails is 100% magic with 0% design
Come on, it has a pretty obvious design. So obvious in fact that Microsoft is copying it for "asp.net" v-next. There is a lot of magic to rails, but let's call it "configurable magic" since __it seems__ most of the magic can be overridden (i'm not a pro). But to say it doesn't have a design? Come on...

http://www.asp.net/downloads/3.5-extensions/

damon··on Everyone's first Vi session
Imagine what the emacs version would look like. M-q C-q M-C-q M-x quit ...
damon··on How does everybody backup?
Time Machine to a drobo.
damon··on Ask YC: Ruby and Lisp devs, please answer this (Not a flame war)
Ruby descended from lisp, according to matz. So in order to "see what you're missing" by using ruby, take a look at what he removed or changed from lisp. In particular he removed macros and created syntax. As others have commented, macros are a very powerful language feature.

http://blade.nagaokaut.ac.jp/cgi-bin/scat.rb/ruby/ruby-talk/...

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