tpatke

1. Everyone who gets sued by a patent troll is going to complain about the validity of the patent. Even when the patent is, in fact, completely valid.

2. Patent troll + Law firm is not a "dangerous new breed". This has been happening for a long while now.

3. It seems strange to complain about the being sued for patent infringement while owning '150' patents. Do you agree with patents or not? If you agree, then being sued for patent infringement is part of it. If you disagree, why invest so much? I understand the argument of patents being defensive, but, does that really help in a world of patent trolls? More likely, a company eventually goes under and the patents are acquired on the cheap - by a troll.

4. I think the "we will pay you a bounty to help make our problem go away" approach is interesting and I hope it works. ...but it's very self serving. Maybe just pay a law firm $50,000 to invalidate the patent rather than making a contest out of it.

To be fair, I really don't understand the concept of a software patent. If I can implement it then it is fair game.

I think this is the trouble with being an entrepreneur. You are crazy right up until the moment you are proved right. At which point, the idea is ‘obvious to everyone’.

Of course, most ideas fail. Most entrepreneurs are just proved crazy.

It is a lonely existence where even other entrepreneurs are unsupportive.

These guys have a nice PR piece on the BBC. That will give them a big temporary boost in traffic. Maybe not so crazy?

I realize I am biased, but I don't get it. Notepad++ and other tools are not designed around viewing log files. They are text editors. People use tools like Notepad++ to view log files because, traditionally, there hasn't been anything better.

Remote access is a good example. I am actually working right now on getting tail for remote servers working in [redacted]. FTP tailing a file is a special feature because you do not want to redownload a 1GB file every 3 seconds. The idea of a forward read-only file is a special concept. If I am using Notepad++ as a text editor, I want it to download the whole file because there may be important changes to the beginning of the document. If I am using it as a log viewer, then I need to provide a special configuration to the FTP agent. Not impossible, but the overlap in behaviour for the tool can be confusing. The additional configuration makes it harder when using it as a text editor and harder when using it as a log viewer. It starts to make the tool less useful for both tasks.

Now add additional features like grep, merging files, very large files (4 GB+), etc and it becomes clear that Notepad++ is a text editor. It is a fantastic tool, but not fit for every task.

Disclosure: I am the author of [redacted].

Not good enough.

I think Tesla have a lot to answer for here. They are pushing the limits of a technology which Google has said, "needs to be 100% autonomous". No steering wheel. Tesla knows this, but branded their car as 'auto-pilot' anyway. When it became clear from early youtube videos that people were not using the technology 'correctly' Tesla did nothing more than issuing a statement.

They should be considering a recall. It is not good enough that Tesla PR is 'sad' that someone died. What are they doing about it?

The answer is not 'no'. The answer is, 'It will take some investment'. There is a big difference between those two answers.

People who say it is impossible to move production from one country to another don't understand what the word 'impossible' means.

>NOT daily updates

This was an exaggeration that I did not think would be taken literally. We had updates as the case progressed. I would guess about once a month. These updates were on the corporate intranet home page which generally contained about 5 links to 'external news' or something.

>He WAS absolutely trying to steal code. Goldman high-frequency code isn't great...

You have written this in a weird way. I agree he was trying to steal code. The quality of what he stole is not relevant. The way you have written this, it could be read: "He tried to steal high-frequency code". This is very much debatable. I could easily argue that Log4J is part of Goldman's high-frequency code.

He did try to cover his tracks. What he did was wrong and he knew at the time it was wrong. Six years later, does the punishment fit the crime?

>He wasn't planning on selling it. He was planning on taking it to Teza

Yes. This is the interesting point. He wasn't planning on selling it because there is no market for it. By this, I mean that there is no place he could list the code for purchase because:

1. It would be illegal and other companies frown on that kind of thing (at least on paper).

2. The code would not be worth much without an understanding of what it does in the wider ecosystem.

Point two is key. Sergey understood the code. He was uploading it to help him remember the work he had done at Goldman's. There is very much a market for, "I did XYZ at Goldman's, I can do it for you too." I have no doubt that he would have been able to do it again without the source code, but he wanted his 'notes'.

GS didn't want him to apply his trade at another firm. Hence the 'vindictive employer' remark.

How long before another developer gets harassed by Goldman's because they printed off some technical documentation before leaving? What if the documentation is printed a month before leaving? ...a year? ...where is the line, exactly?

No. The most interesting part is that this is an example of a vindictive employer ruining someone's life.

I used to work at Goldman's and can tell you that they are paranoid about this kind of thing. They are trying to make an example out of Sergey. We used to get daily updates (on the corporate intranet) about the progress of the case. There is no telling how much money Goldman's has spent going after this guy. Both directly and indirectly through lobbying. You have to ask why, after a year in jail with no conviction, the government still trying to prosecute him? Could it be because Goldman has a very powerful lobbying arm which is particularly strong in New York?

If you are leaving your employer, don't upload any code. Sure. ...but that was over 6 years ago and the guy has already done time. Try getting a job with a prison record. I can tell you that in the banking industry it will not happen.

I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if they keep coming after him. Poor guy.

One last point. There is no market for stolen code. If I stole Google's search algorithm, who would I sell it to? Microsoft wouldn't be interested and it is not like you can take out an ad on ebay. Who would have the brains to figure it out? If you had those brains, wouldn't it be easier to just write it yourself? What is true for Google's code is also true for any complex system such as trading software.

One of my great epiphanies as an American expat is that Americans have a tendency to be extreme. They often have one thing that they use to define themselves. They are driven to be the best at their 'one thing'.

- People who go to church on Sunday feel the need to tell you about it on Monday.

- The guy at work who runs marathons, is running all the time. He never comes to lunch because he is doing a practice run.

- People who are fat. ...well, I am sorry, but if it was genetic then there would be 500lb people in Europe too.

- People who work, work and work and work. A lot of Americans fall under this category.

I think taking pride in your work is a good thing. Knowing when you could do better is a good thing. Building your sense of self around any one aspect of your personality is a bad thing.

Aim to be more well-rounded. Try to find lots of things you like doing. Moderate your activities. Live a less extreme life.

(I have obviously made some assumptions here. This post probably applies more to me than anyone else. :)

Two thoughts:

First: I find it worrying that Google has enough power to dictate the direction of the internet is such profound ways. Remember when people would get up in arms when Microsoft created de facto standards?

Second: Doesn't this change only effect 'mobile searches' ? Reading the blog post [1] that is how I interpret it. I think the article could make this more clear.

[1] http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com.es/2015/02/findin...

My experience with TDD is that it is very helpful from a design perspective because it gets you to think about the code before you write it. How is the API going to work? What should I name this method? As an industry we use to dedicate too much time to this (RUP, etc). Now, we don't think about it enough.

As far as actually improving code quality... not so much. For the money, I would much rather see an hour of functional test development rather than an hour of unit test development (and I put TDD in the unit test category). I think functional tests provide more value and our industry has put way too much emphasis on unit tests.

100% unit test coverage says nothing about code quality. 100% functional coverage does. Functional tests also tend to be less brittle – which is a nice bonus.

So the message is, 'It helps if people can understand you'.

Um. Ok. ...and I appreciate that PG wanted to make this clear as the press loves to make a story where there isn't one. But do we really need to vote this up like crazy to guarentee it is the top story for the next 48 hours? Are there really that many people here who will benefit from this lesson?

The article rehashes some old stuff. ...but the point is that the Home Office is officially supporting the action. The key quote is near the end:

"If the police believe that an individual is in possession of highly sensitive stolen information that would help terrorism, then they should act and the law provides them with a framework to do that. Those who oppose this sort of action need to think about what they are condoning."

So, if you oppose this sort of action, you are condoning terrorism. What does that make you? Hmmm... Not sure I like where this is heading.

The key factor to the success of any currency is liquidity. You are only willing to put money in if you can take money out. If the government of Thailand says it is illegal to transfer money in or out - that will effect liquidity in Thailand. How will this be enforced? First, banks and reputable institutions doing business in Thailand will not be allowed to trade with companies involved in bitcoin exchange. Of course, this will not completely stop currency conversions, but it will act to decrease liquidity which will act to discourage people from putting money into bitcoins – further decreasing liquidity.

This is definitely bad news for bitcoins.

[Edit] Will a down-voter kindly explain to me how this is good news for bitcoins? Maybe liquidity is not important for a currency?

I realize this may not be a popular opinion, but I think Snowden should turn himself in. There is a wider America then the one we get here on HN. The wider America is the same one which voted for Bush and don't own passports. To that America it is easy to see Snowden as a traitor and running to China and Russia isn't helping.

I realize that Manning has had it pretty rough while in custody, but: 1. Snowden is a civilian. He has not submitted himself to military law. As far as I am aware, everything that has happened to Manning is (unfortunately) in line with military law. 2. Manning leaked GBs of confidential documents seemingly at random. Snowden is pointing out a particular problem which he finds morally repulsive. These are two different issues.

In short, the more Snowden acts like a criminal, the more he will be perceived to be a criminal. Monitoring citizens is one thing. The failure of the criminal justice system / law and order is another. Furthermore, it is difficult to support him when he is in hiding.

Snowden is acting like he did something wrong. He should own it.

This kind of 'pep-talk' is great - and it can be very motivating. But let's be clear. Hard work is a necessary but insufficient condition for success. Having big unrealistic dreams is great, but you should probably deliver something that works in the next three months.

I assume this is because Tim Cook is bowing to political pressure where Steve Jobs refused. Remember when Steve Jobs said, "Those jobs aren’t coming back" [1]? The question is - why now?

Hacker News discussion [2].

[1] http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/22/business/apple-america-and...

[2] http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3494389

The survey included 5 high growth industries: aerospace, defense, computing, electronics, and health care. For me, personally, the only industry I am concerned about is computing. Including datapoints from outside my industry muddies the water. ...making it difficult for me to extract anything useful out of this study.

For example, starting an aerospace or defence business might be easy if you have the right contacts - just win a government contract. ...something which is probably more likely to happen for older married men.

We care about his opinion because he is a really smart guy who has been living at the forefront of technology for longer then most of us have been alive. You don't have to agree with his opinion, but ignoring it would be pretty foolish...

How does this article have 41 points in 25 minutes? Is someone gaming the system, or am I missing something?

That's an amazing story. This insect was pretty lucky to live on the coolest rock climbing crag I have ever seen...which requires a special permit to climb [1]. I think I would have quite happily joined that "research" team.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balls_Pyramid

tl;dr - I shop a lot on Amazon. Therefore we no longer need shops. We have the internet. Therefore we no longer need universities.

The nice thing about "in the future" kind of statements is that they are impossible to disprove - especially when it is not specified how far in the future we are talking about. However, I think we are a long way from having gasoline delivered to your door and I always need to pop out for eggs, bread and milk. I also might need a hair cut in the future. Clothes are unlikely to be optional. My wife and I like to go to the movies. The kids like all kinds of shops...

Sure, the internet is affecting retail sales and education. To what extent is very difficult to predict but it is unlikely to be as drastic as the OP suggests.

I think about Spolsky's post on programmer productivity quite often [1]. I think the most interesting part of the post is when he says, "The mediocre talent just never hits the high notes that the top talent hits all the time." Obviously, I wonder if I am a programmer who can hit the high notes and, if not, what it will take to get there.

When I read a post like this, I try to apply it to making myself a better programmer in the "high note" sense. Trouble is - it just doesn't apply (and I am a huge fan of Dweck's work). This article is one for the masses - not people who are trying to create the next Google. Motivation, hard work and an ability to learn from mistakes are all necessary, but ultimately not sufficient for our craft.

If I had to guess what the missing ingredient is, I would say creativity.

Heck - we are programmers. We get immediate feedback on our mistakes all day long and anyone reading this post has most likely gotten really really good and learning from those mistakes. ...but, how many of us are hitting those high notes?

[1] http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/HighNotes.html

There is another aspect to this which the OP fails to mention - moving the needle. If you think about how much money you need to retire (f u money if you are under 30) then figure out how much money you need to save in order to achieve that...well, chances are you are not going to retire anytime soon. Now, say you were given a 20% raise. How would that affect our retirement prospects? Well, chances are you are not going to retire anytime soon. Even a large raise on an “employees” salary will not make a big difference on a, say, $2m retirement target.

If you are working a 9-5 you are fighting for a 5% raise that just will not have any effect on your life. The "lottery jobs" offer a way out. Of course, it is not a perfect system so if you have any better ideas...

I used to work at Goldman's and I can tell you that they will be absolutely furious about this. I have never worked at a company so paranoid about having work stolen. Once - a friend of mine sent me an email with a tag-line with a bit of code in it. When I replied the email filters picked it up and I had to explain to my boss why I was trying to "export" Goldman's code. They are nuts about it.

Goldman put a lot of time and energy into making an example out of this guy. He blatantly "did it" - they had recorded phone conversations of him talking to his new boss and uploading code immediately after. I know the details because we received almost weekly reports on the case via the corporate intranet (in the "news" section). Goldman wants their people scared so nobody else tries this.

I always found it a bit odd because the court sentenced this guy to 8 years. Ummm... ok. But why is Fabrice Tourre still walking around? Justice indeed.

People said the same thing after WWI. ...and they were right. WWII was fought differently from WWI.

You got me there. That does seem reasonable. I guess I need to do a bit more investigation. :-)

Before I strap electrodes to my skull, I am going to need more convincing than "An article online said...". I am surprised at how many smart people are willing to try this despite the lack of evidence / research.

If I wanted to increase my productivity, I would start by not surfing hackernews. Eventually, I might move on to "home made electric chair I bought off ebay", but I think I will exhaust other possibilities first.

But, hey, that's me. :-)

I think it is possible that one day robots will do all the work and it seems logical that as we progress toward that point programming will be a pretty safe and in demand job.

However - I think it is important to consider the political implications of such a future. It is unlikely that 50% unemployment is politically acceptable. If we were to move to a more communist / socialist society would robots still be doing the work?

It is unlikely that we all end up programming.

When I think of IBM, I still think of consultants and guys in blue suits. ...but more than anyone else out there, these guys are building the future.

See also:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watson_(computer)

http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/30/embargo-ibm-develops-inst...

http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/14/ibm-stores-bits-on-arrays...

I hate to think what their patent portfolio looks like.

Sounds like a minor usability problem has cost you a potential customer. The question is how many other customers have had the same problem but not bothered to write blog posts.

Relying on tooltips is probably a bad idea. Maybe change the button text to 'X seats at this price'. Don't make me think. :-)

On the bright side, be thankful for the good user feedback. I wish everyone who stopped using my product wrote a blog post.