fiaz

I am most definitely arguing for forced obsolescence. The prime motivating factor being the fact that it is perfectly acceptable and "normal" to go through all of the hoops and ladders of inoculating your computer against viruses. And then when those programs fail, users have to go to take their computer to get their digital machine to be cleaned out as though it was a poorly built car in need of maintenance.

I'm not advocating that the API is cleaned out merely on the technical level, I'm advocating (with a lack of clarity on my behalf) that Microsoft needs to encourage an ecosystem of development creativity. Instead, we get a UI that is abstractly "optimized" for usage but is far removed from providing a pleasant experience for their users.

Re-vamping the API and removing the insistence on backwards compatibility are just the start. The bigger picture is that Microsoft needs to influence a revolution with their OS by allowing developers to bring human culture into the OS, much the same way Apple does. What I mean by "culture" is a melding of art and technology: it's cool to use a Macbook Pro (AND you can get shit done with it), but it's merely utilitarian to use any of the faceless PC laptops out there. Microsoft seems to think that they can accomplish a such change by applying different makeup to their OS, or by mimicking the Apple store. No, the real change will come when the tool makers can bridge the gap between the need to get something done and getting something done beautifully. This is a task that is beyond the larger development shops but is well within reach of the smaller developers. Perhaps Microsoft has a bias towards enabling larger developers, but this is clearly 80s/90s thinking.

At best what they've done since Windows XP is change the rat maze for their users by forcing them into a different cognitive "map" of how their PC is to function (ever try using the ironically named "ribbon" in Office?).

What the Windows ecosystem needs isn't a focus on UI, what it needs is a new set of APIs that obliterate older software and removes this insistence on backwards compatibility. I think that such a move could potentially be leveraged by Microsoft towards a massive development gold rush for new applications.

Shame on the news media for not asking meaningful questions to people who make claims on either side of the US political spectrum. I feel as though a culture of timidity to ask questions that lead to clarifying answers is turning into a culture that politicizes the truth.

The important point in posts such as these is that execution matters, not the tool you use. If the tool you decide to develop with fits, then use it. If you find out later it doesn't work, then switch. Sure, the tool you use can affect your execution, but that only means you have to understand how you want to execute before even selecting a tool.

I think it would be a big mistake to read such a post and come to the conclusion that Rails is somehow superior to node.js.

I'm surprised that you think the smelling analogy is valid. There is nothing really at stake with letting the aroma from my kitchen waft onto the street aside from maybe what's in the meal I've prepared.

Personal information is a different matter. It's perfectly reasonable to take issue with Google for taking people's data without their knowledge about it.

Even if they could do this, I find it difficult to take them seriously as a positive force for change.

Very cool video. I am clueless when it comes to music and music theory, so the interface seems a bit overwhelming to me. However, I'm sure there are people that could master this and make something worthwhile.

Btw, I've been finding a lot more music from independent artists. For example:

http://soundcloud.com/crystalfighters/champion-sound-regal-s...

http://soundcloud.com/strobehypnoticz/deadmau5-bleed-strobeh...

I hope software such as this will help flatten out the music industry some more.

Would you care to elaborate on your last statement?

EDIT: Actually never mind. This is only going to end up bad. You have your opinion and I have mine.

Sure being an "MCP" in the HN circle is absolutely meaningless and doesn't warrant the title "programming prodigy", but that's not the point of this article. The point is that this was a girl who came from a third world country where women are not treated as well as men are in the West, and made it to the Redmond campus based on her own ambition and drive to do something for herself.

Keep in mind Pakistan had a female prime minister many years ago.

I think it would be interesting if new technologies emerge from this apparently new front in the middle east conflict.

Honest question: how is this different from Google Wave?

I don't mind a ban personally, but it's just one day out of the year. I can tolerate it if we are inundated with 9/11 stories, if that is what the collective thinks is relevant.

What other non-SQL databases have you used with success?

Unlikely, but let's just play with this...

For all we know, "they" engineered smallpox and are actually immune to it. It was sent to Earth as an engineered precursor to their arrival.

Given that the US is largely considered the most entrepreneurial country in the world, I think this is relevant. A lot of people from other countries want to do business here, and this very well might be of concern to them.

This thread has sparked a large discussion and I think this is in line with the submission guidelines as being intellectually gratifying.

http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Excellent post. I'm in the process of bringing some early developers into the fold and this list gives me a great way to encourage them to discover their coding preferences on their own.

YAVB - yet another valuation bubble.

Amazingly cool! Is there anything similar for audio?

What made Portal such a great game is that it actually forces you to think. Most blockbuster games seem to follow a formula much like the formulas you might find in Hollywood blockbusters...they are still entertaining, but you really don't get that sense of "accomplishment" you get from playing something like Portal or Braid (an equally great game!!).

Very impressive, I'm always impressed by people pushing the limits of what can be done. However, I did find that the extra CPU required to make this work is a little bit of a concern. Nonetheless, very well done!

I'm still surprised that much of the talk around future "intelligence" is geared more towards creating it from scratch (difficult) rather than enhancing or augmenting what already exists (less difficult). Regardless of this, if creating intelligence out of silicon is where the research is heading, we would have to first prove that silicon is at least an equivalently suitable substrate for hosting a model of our carbon based brain as opposed to merely assuming that whatever brain model we create can exist on any substrate.

I think more progress will be made in the meantime towards enhancing existing intelligence as it will be more immediately accessible in many cases.

Talk about synchronicity...I started meditating regularly for the past four weeks at multiple intervals for about 15-20 minutes per day (average about 1 hour total per day). The results have been astounding, especially when it comes to my perception of time: all of a sudden, I have more of it. A day seems like a day instead of a few hours, and all of a sudden, a week is a long period of time.

I believe this is due to increased levels of concentration (as indicated by the article).

I can see the obscuring of http:// being useful way back in 1995, but in 2010, it seems kind of a moot point given how ubiquitous the act of web browsing is.

I would be interested in the author's opinions about the iAd platform.

I doubt they are losing that much money. I'm not at all trying to detract from the sadness of such a loss, but there are links on the top that people can use, not to mention direct links from search engines taking them directly to where they need to go.

There is also this excellent PDF from the Melbourne Scala Users Group:

http://ww2.cs.mu.oz.au/~bjpop/slides/scala_monads.pdf

Shouldn't come as a surprise really. Most Arab nations oppress expressions of sexuality, and freedom of speech as a basic right is nonexistent.

I agree with you. It is not the usual HN type article, and it is far removed from the usual articles that draw me to HN.