* Posts by h4rm0ny

4560 publicly visible posts • joined 26 Jul 2008

Paul Allen: Windows 8 'promising' yet 'puzzling'

h4rm0ny

Having read comments on El Reg for the past couple of months...

...it has become increasingly apparent that I am a super-genius. I was not aware of this previously, but since the release of Windows 8 and the difficulties many El Reg posters are having with a Start Screen instead of a Start Menu, with moving the mouse cursor to the lower left when there is no longer a Start button there or how much disorientation is caused to them by having larger program icons with information in them, rather than a small menu item, it has become obvious to me that I must be an exceptionally gifted human being. Not only this, but reports are coming in that children who have been given it to play around with by their parents are able to quickly learn how to find and launch programs the programs that they want. I wonder perhaps if we are seeing a new dawn of human brilliance, some mutant gene now expressing itself.

The alternate view would be that many posters on the Reg are intellectually sub-normal in finding these changes difficult to work with or holding them up, or that they are seeking ways to criticize due to some a priori grudge against Microsoft. But as open-minded and IT literate people, I am quite utterly certain that this is not the case. So I count myself blessed that I was granted these intellectual abilities.

h4rm0ny

Re: IE Bookmarks and Desktop Links.....

As I have been using Windows 8 for sometime now, I can confirm that whatever Paul Allen says in the article, it does work the way blackjesus says.

Microsoft releases JavaScript alternative

h4rm0ny

Re: They just killed .NET for Windows 8, why this now?

.NET is still supported in Windows 8. And what's with the Linux logo when you're complaining about a (supposed) lack of .NET?

h4rm0ny

Re: They just killed .NET for Windows 8, why this now?

"says "Look we need to be more innovative. Make me something like that.""

Feature for feature, TypeScript knocks CoffeeScript all over the place. Dart I'm not very familiar with but that's a very different principle. With TypeScript you have instant compatability with any browser that does Javascript.

h4rm0ny

Re: Can't watch the video

"Possibly because, as I said, MS have made a video which I can't watch."

It's also explained in the article and on the linked site, though yes, it would be nice if they hadn't used Silverlight. (Though I'm curious what platform you're on that can't view Silverlight if you want to. It's available for Macs and Moonlight makes it available on Linux, I think).

"In this respect it is like CoffeeScript: you can't just ship it to the browser. Though I assume we can expect to release a version of IE that does support TypeScript and benefits from the kind of compiler optimisations that LLVM can't provide"

Why do you assume that? Remeber that for compatability across browsers, you will only be shipping the Javascript normally, so IE wont have access to the TypeScript source anyway. Though anything IE does in terms of optimizing, other browser makers can equally do. There's nothing to stop Opera or Chrome or Firefox from having optimizations for compiled TypeScript. Nor even writing a parser for TalkScript directly if they wanted to.

"I was suggesting the other way round: JS is being actively developed and, therefore, open to suggestions"

I think that MS do make suggestions and contributions to the JS Working group. They're an active member if I recall correctly. But adding strong typing, class inheritance and futher features onto Javascript is a lot more than a suggestion. It's requesting a re-write of the language into something else. And that would be a real pain for Browser writers everywhere. This way, you have instant compatability with all browsers and past browsers too.

"It looks like Microsoft has come up with another niche language for its developer eco-system"

If you re-evaluate this in light of what I've written above, I think you'll see that this is actually a powerful tool for producing Javascript-based web-applications. It's fully compatible with all current browsers and more far powerful that CoffeeScript, so why should it be niche?

h4rm0ny

Re: What...

"And that's the big "if"..."

I don't think it's a big 'if'. Maybe time will prove me wrong but there are two components to that 'if'. Technical ability and good will. For the technical requirements, MS already manage vastly more complicated projects fine. The TalkScript to Javascript compiler is far, far less complicated than even just a VB compiler. And you get bugs in compiled code, but it's very rare that they're due to the compiler rather than the programmer. So that leaves good will. The advantage with the latter is that this has been released free and open. MS can be kept honest by the fact that others can implement it as well. As was pointed out elsewhere, there's nothing to stop Eclipse making a TypeScript plugin for their IDE for example. So we have a solid insurance policy. If MS want this to be successful, and they surely do, then they want it to work well in all browsers otherwise it will hurt uptake.

Time could prove me wrong, but there are strong arguments that we should be safe on this. IMO.

h4rm0ny

Re: What...

"Utter tosh. You can develop class based JS applications perfectly fine in JS right now, no external tools required."

No, I don't think you can. Everything in Javascript is an object, but that doesn't mean you can develop class based code in pure Javascript. Scope? Inheritance? There's no Class keyword in Javascript. Creating a function and pretending it is a class is not a substitute. You're wrong to say "utter tosh". Trying to say that Javascript supports OOAD / Class-based applications is rubbish. There are some very loose, partial work-arounds that were never intended by the designers and which omit fundamental elements of class based design.

"I definitely will not want ever to debug javascript issues emanating from auto generated code."

And yet you say that you daily develop in C++ and Python. Do you not also reject these because you don't want to have to debug the intermediary C code that both generate during compile? Same principle and assuming that TypeScript does what it says (and it's a lot simpler than a C++ or Python compiler), then the same in practice, too.

h4rm0ny

Re: Can't watch the video

"Javascript has lots of problems but why didn't MS make the suggestions to the JS working group? As it is they have suggested something that, like Dart, requires an additional runtime in the browser or, like CoffeeScript, a pre-compile to JS."

You've misunderstood how this works. This isn't like Dart, and it's not really like CoffeeScript which is "syntactic sugar". This actually compiles to Javascript. There's no reason to seek suggestions from the JS working group because this doesn't change anything in Javascript. It happens above that layer with standard Javascript coming out the other end.

h4rm0ny

Re: because JavaScript was never intended for the roles it has found itself serving today

I was hoping Python would be come the de facto standard for web programming, but all we got was coffeescript. (I haven't looked at Dart so can't comment on that.)

h4rm0ny

Re: Successful as Silverwotsit

"which is made mostly redundant by HTML5."

Well it would be if HTML5 spec actually supported DRM or streaming. There is a W3C draft for streaming, but it's a mess. MS's open standard alternative that they submitted a month or so back is better. Still the DRM issue, though.

h4rm0ny

Re: They just killed .NET for Windows 8, why this now?

"Because they just released VS2012, and it's as stupid as shit to look at as Metro was, and this toolkit only works on 2012."

You don't have to use VS2012 to write this. It's just nice to do so. You can download a commandline TypeScript compiler. It's already right there on the Download page for TypeScript. You didn't even bother to check before you posted the above misinformation. And it's open and free so there's no reason at all that an IDE based on TypeScript can't be built for Eclipse or anything else.

h4rm0ny

Re: What...

"Getting javascript code that has been written by a machine to work correctly across all major browsers is going to be a pain in the arse that repeats every time you change the original 'TypeScript' and recompile."

I disagree. If I have to pay attention to differences between browsers, I'm going to forget something or miss something. If I can let Microsoft take care or a translation system that will take care of any differences itself, and this system is in use by millions of people so that any problems or errors are found and fixed very quickly, it's going to be far less of a hassle to me as a programmer.

"Besides which, we all know javascript by now. It's not that hard to write unobtrusive, elegant JS, so why stick an obfuscation layer in between?"

If you don't see how much easier it can be to develop large web-based applications with actual classes, structures, being able to develop an IDE (as MS have) which respects variable types even though Javascript does not and other features, then you've probably never worked with more serious languages such as Java, C++, Python, etc. Bringing *some* of the power of that to Javascript, definitely makes things much easier. There's no question about that.

Windows 8 early-bird users still love Windows 7 more - poll

h4rm0ny

"It replaces a relatively compact menu arranged in hierarchical way with useful shortcuts and recently user apps list with an entire screen that arranges enormous tiles in a linear horizontal swathe which could span several yards."

On my laptop, the default number of programs that fit on the initial Start Screen is twenty (I can get more in by not using double-width tiles if I choose). On my 24" Desktop monitor, the default is 50 tiles and around a third of them could be reduced to single-width version to free up more space if desired. That's a lot of programs. I counted up how many different programs I use in a month, and it came to twenty. And I'm pretty much a power user. A flat menu is therefore objectively faster for me (and anyone who uses less than me which will be most), than a hierarchical menu.

Additonally, I'm more used to just hitting the Windows key and typing the first couple of letters of the program that I want to launch in either system and Windows 8 is actually faster in this regard than the Start menu so it's a win-win.

h4rm0ny

"As for the mode of working: I like overlapping windows. Anything that insists that I should only be able to see one app at a time doesn't have a clue about the sort of work I do. I wonder what the city dealing rooms will do (four or more monitors per workstation, ALL displaying multiple windows from multipe apps)?"

With respect, you obviously haven't used Windows 8. It actually has better multi-monitor support than Windows 7 and you can have lots of overlapping windows. The Desktop is still there. Only the launching of programs is necessarily different.

h4rm0ny

Re: Fast boot isn't everything...

"That said, that Easy Install is a key plus is odd, this is a one-time action that probably 95% of users will never see... :-S"

This might be explained by the source of the survey. The site is heavily visited by people in support. They probably have to install and re-install Windows many times over what you or I do. Plus Windows 8 has a kind of built-in restore to clean install feature, like on a phone where you can just restore it to factory defaults. They might be thinking about that as it's a big time saver if you do have to re-install Windows.

h4rm0ny

Re: That's gotta hurt

Not only is it fashionable to trash the latest version, it's worth keeping a close eye on these actual statistics. According to the results in this report, only 26% of respondents replied that they had previously used Windows 8. That's a bit of a weird result and suggests that only around a quarter of respondents actually have significant experience actually using Windows 8 day to day.

Microsoft's Bing bods exploit fanbois' Apple maps misery

h4rm0ny

Re: Bing allowed on Apple Appstore?

"They're not obliged to do any such thing. They have every right to simply say 'No' to Google without any justification whatsoever, if they choose to do so. And until someone takes Apple to court, they will retain that right."

Yes, they are obliged. Having allowed MS to produce a third-party map app for iOS6, if they try to block Google from doing so there will be two very negative consequences for Apple. Firstly, there will be an immediate and very large PR blow to Apple. Secondly, after a short period of time, a lawsuit would head their way from Google and that lawsuit would be justified. Either one alone obliges them to allow a Map App from Google onto iOS6.

h4rm0ny

Re: Oh Dear - It's Crap

What is your postcode? I have never seen this when I use Bing Maps for any post code.

h4rm0ny
h4rm0ny

Re: Bing allowed on Apple Appstore?

"Your ability to read tenses seems to be.. somewhat flawed. Still, your ability to mewl pettishly while failing is second only to Orlowski's :)"

I can read the tenses fine. I pointed out two things - that what was being talked about had never happened, and therefore talk that it would happen in the future was (without evidence) supposition. I don't know why you think I can't read tenses, but perhaps you saw me saying that something had never happened and didn't understand that I was saying if it had never happened, then what was the evidence that it would happen? Indeed, as MS have been allowed to produce a mapping app for iOS6, Apple are obliged to allow Google to also do so.

h4rm0ny

Re: Bing allowed on Apple Appstore?

"No it isn't, if you haven't been living under a rock for the last month or so. All grounded quite nicely. Thank you for playing."

As far as I am aware, Google has not released a maps app for iOS6 and Apple have not blocked it. So I am correct in what I say unless I am misinformed on either of these.

h4rm0ny

Re: Wow to Mr h4rm0ny

"So what do you expect users in Hong Kong to do?"

Use something else, probably. It's not rocket surgery.

h4rm0ny

Re: Bing allowed on Apple Appstore?

Your post is pure supposition. As far as I am aware, Google has not released a substitute maps app for iOS6, yet. Nor has there been any reporting yet that they have tried. So suggesting that Apple has refused to allow it, is wrong. If they've allowed a Bing maps app, then they will almost certainly be obliged to allow a Google maps app.

h4rm0ny

Anecdote for an anecdote, I've just typed in HSBC on my own Lumia 710 here in the UK, and it immediately picked out the two nearest branches to me.

Intel: Behold the TABLETS of our partners, proof of Win8's MIGHT

h4rm0ny

Re: But the BIG question remains...

"Now that would be funny, running full blown mac os on an MS tablet..."

Why not? People run Windows on Macs.

h4rm0ny

Re: BBC reporting that Android Apps will run on AMD Win8 devices

Oh I agree with you. But don't dismiss the significance of people being able to bring all their Android apps onto their PC or Win8 tablet. That's a bit of a blinder by AMD, imo.

h4rm0ny
Thumb Up

Re: BBC reporting that Android Apps will run on AMD Win8 devices

Wow! That's big news and a major win for AMD. Not sure MS will be very happy as it's a mixed blessing, but if this is accurate and it looks like it... Wow! Win8 comes out with a massive catalogue of Android Apps already for it. MS will be annoyed to see Win8 sullied by software that isn't really optimized for it. And Google will probably be horrified. But for existing users and developers... wow!

Also, that article's photo is fantastic! :D

h4rm0ny

Re: Battery life

"What isn't clear to me is what the plan is for x86 software that is built using their new "Windows Runtime" API - whether that must be distributed via Windows, or if that's only for the full-screen "Metro" applications, or not required at all. Anyone got a ref?"

I don't know the full answer to that, but if it is the case, then for "distributed via Windows" you can definitely read "distributed via MS, or your company or via your developer key". It doesn't change your question (and the developer scenario is irrelevant), but I think it's worth flagging up because so many here seem to take one sentence and run with it and if you write "must be distributed via Windows", some people will think enterprise users can't deploy their own in-house software without going via MS.

I too would be interested in the answer to your question.

WTF is... NFC

h4rm0ny

Re: It's not too bad

But in your example it seems that it is slower because of inexperience or immature technology, and both of these will change. The speed difference is never more clearly shown than on a bus when people just walk on and slide their card against a scanner without pausing, vs, someone stopping to pay in change and counting it out.

Personally I'm fine with NFC payments on two conditions. One - I can still use cash when I don't want to leave a data trail and two - I can use a credit card system rather than direct account deduction. I want to set limits on these things just the same way I only want to carry twenty quid around instead of two-thousand quid.

Tibetan STATUE found by 1930s NAZI expedition is of ALIEN ORIGIN

h4rm0ny

Re: The Kaaba has a big one

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought the second part of the Pandorica two-parter should take place in Mecca. It was one of the first things that I thought of.

(Note, really - it's what it reminded me of).

AI game bot HUNTS DOWN ENEMIES, passes Turing Test

h4rm0ny

Re: Is it a bad sign ...

You have no idea just how lethal a robot killing machine could be. Seriously. There's a mosquito killing device built by a private company (Intellectual Ventures, I have no affiliation) that simply targets them with a camera and zaps them dead with a laser right out of the air. And it does it fast as well. Really fast. You can just turn it on and the poor things just start falling out of the air. It can even tell the difference between types of insect. Now imagine the precision applied to a robot. It could either swap the laser for a gun (imagine something equivalent to a skilled sniper with a powerful rifle that can target and shoot in less than a second and keep doing this every second for as long as you like) or it could keep the laser and just be taught to shoot at people's eyes (contravening international agreements, but the USA and Israel are no strangers to that).

Yes - you'd better invest more in your Robot Apocalypse bunker. The technology on this sort of thing is now pretty much here. It just hasn't really been made cost-effective / reliable enough for the militaries yet. But it will be.

Google spikes old MS file formats

h4rm0ny

Re: Download =/= upload

"No it doesn't make sense. Anyone who sends their CV in anything other than doc format doesn't really want it to be read."

I send my resumé in PDF format. I usually say 'other formats available on request' in the accompanying email, but everyone seems happy with PDF so far.

Admittedly I export the PDF from a Word document normally (used to use Scribus), but that's not the point.

Windows 8 and you – So, what's next?

h4rm0ny

Re: Doomed to repeat it...

"All I want is an XP GUI, an OS that isn't so blindingly stupid that it can't remember where program windows were when they were last closed, and as for bells and whistles, how about having every old version of Windows emulated, so I can play "Day of the Viper" by Accolade, and my old Origin titles again."

Then grab GNU/Linux with a KDE desktop and install Wine.

h4rm0ny

Re: Appeal to teenagers, dual screen, low spec machines

"However, due to it's single-task non-windowed model, it's completely useless at more complex work such as writing an email whilst browsing whilst quoting from a document whilst running a web app whilst checking on other emails, etc. You know, the normal day-to-day business things that people juggle around. Compare that with OSX/Windows where multi-tasking is standard"

You can easily have two ModernUI apps running side by side and you can switch between all your running apps very easily and they just appear. Whilst there's a use case for wanting to reference more than one window at a time (typing a document whilst reading from a web-page and another document simultaneously), that's certainly a much less common need and even on a regular laptop monitor, three adjacent windows is becoming pretty awkward and you'd probably end up tabbing between them just like with WinRT anyway.

"The key challenge is that running "Windows" on a tablet, a-la those keyboard/mouseless devices from years ago was an utterly horrible user experience, not least because all the benefits of a iPod-style tablet is missing (zero on time, finger-optimised UI, long battery life, ultra light weight, etc.)."

Win8 has a lot of new features for touch-interfaces. It's very different from the old XP tablets.

h4rm0ny

Re: Appeal to teenagers, dual screen, low spec machines

"She didn't buy it though, did she? Teenagers aren't a great market for hugely expensive gadgets."

Teenagers are a great market for expensive gadgets. Note the "hugely" was dropped because many of the Win8 devices will not be that expensive. Especially the WinRT ones which, whilst more constrained, will meet a lot of people's needs.

Apple MacBook Air 13in review

h4rm0ny

Re: Foul! @Martin

"Obviously, you DO give a flying fuck about it. Or you wouldn't have bothered to say so."

Alternately, what bothers him is not that you dislike what he likes, but that you think that he cares. The two are not the same thing and the latter can indeed be more irritating than the actual opinion.

Brave copper single-handedly chases 'suspicious' Moon

h4rm0ny

Re: @Stevie (was: Bah!)

I'm curious who downvotes a post like this. They tell a basic, personal story that makes sense and isn't really off-topic, and a couple of people downvote. What are they actually objecting to? Do they dislike people from Palo Alto? Are they offended by the highlighting of the fallibility of the human brain? Did the reference to trees and hedges being cut down touch a nerve in their envrio-consciousness? Why?

iPhone 5 sales curbed by lack of smashable screens – report

h4rm0ny

Re: They hate it so much...

Downvote for using the patronising phrase "seriously, love" because the person you're talking to is female. You want to win people to an argument, don't alienate half your potential readers by sounding like a sexist tosser.

h4rm0ny

Do we really have to look for reasons in the phone itself?

There's a recession on and nearly everyone who wants a smartphone already has one.

Eric Schmidt: Ha ha, NO Google maps app for iPhone 5

h4rm0ny

Re: Just Pissed

"Open to suggestions to bring home the message to Apple."

Can't comment on WP8 properly yet as it's not out, but I have the Lumia 710 with WP7.5 and it's extremely good and usable. And with specific regard to the maps, they are very good and can also be downloaded for use offline which can be a big help. The Nokia Drive tool which plots routes and gives vocal directions works really well, ime. Highly recommended.

h4rm0ny

"True that you only hear from people complaining but it does seem to be a lot of people"

Operative word on "seem". They've sold millions of these phones already. It only takes a handful to make a storm on the Internet. For example, many of the posters on this thread alone are overtly Android phone owners and presumably haven't any direct personal experience of the Apple maps. And yet they confidently comment about their quality. For example, have you used the Apple maps, yet?

h4rm0ny

Re: Bing?

I use maps on my WP7 device (Lumia 710) and they've worked excellently for navigation whilst driving. The voice is always pretty prompt and clear about what turnings are coming up and it's very quick to locate where I am and calculate or update a route. If Apple don't like Google, then they could possibly have licenced maps from MS as these work well. They might not want to work with MS, either. But at least MS would probably agree to sell them the full technology. Apple were basically forced into this by Google which refused to allow them to use the same features that Google themselves were allowed to on Android devices. Basically, Google wanted Apple to pay for a more limited version of what Google has. The Apple maps is a big fuss right now, but two years from now they might have something feature equivalent to Google's maps, but if they didn't do this, then two years from now, they would still be hamstrung by Google deciding what they could and couldn't have on their own phones.

h4rm0ny

Re: iTards can all get lost

Hey. That's the first comment from Bob that I've found funny. Let him have his moment of glory. :)

Most biofuels fail green test: study

h4rm0ny

Re: To say nothing of the fact ...

Brazil also has the infrastructure for small, localized production of biofuels from sugarcane. It's kind of surprising that this is a factor, but in the USA, driving all the biomass to the centers where it can be turned into fuel (to power the vehicles that ship the biomass) actually is a significant barrier to the cost-effectiveness of US biofuels.

There has been recent progress on using lignin for biofuels (inedible stalk parts of plants) which could revolutionise biofuels. In fact, this seems likely. There may come a time in the near future where biofuels are both cheaper and don't compete nearly as much with food supplies. But we're not there yet. Soon, perhaps.

Myspace mutates Windows 8 with new look

h4rm0ny

Still alive?

Wow. If Myspace make a come back, it will be like a fight scene from a James Bond movie - completely knocked about all over the place and then inexplicably get back up and win the day.

Facebook isn't what it was from my under twenty-five friends. Seems to be no longer particularly cool in any way, just a functional thing for organizing parties and letting people know when you're in town. I don't know how you displace that, but I don't think there's any great loyalty to Facebook. If Myspace offer something that is more convenient with less ads and hassle... Still seems unlikely, but maybe. If they offer good tools, perhaps.

Apple Maps to the rescue in China/Japan conflict

h4rm0ny
Headmaster

The their there, should have been a they're. They're easily mistyped.

(Pointing out my own mistake before the legions do).

h4rm0ny

"The thickest amongst them still won't mind being ridiculed each time they pull out an iPhone,"

I think less of people who ridicule another for their choice of phone than I do of the phone's owner. iPhone's might be a bit overpriced and the maps thing is apparently a major fuck up (from what I've read), but their still decent phones. It's a bit silly to start ranting about how they signify "the lowest IQ".

Hitachi claims glass data storage will last millions of years

h4rm0ny

Re: I remember when...

"I remember when... you had to use a chisel on a rock."

Ahh yes, debugging Fortran was always fun.

Smartphones may soon listen in on you while they sleep

h4rm0ny

I turned my phone off...

...a few days ago for the first time in over a year (had had a row and didn't want any calls back). It was amazing how relaxing it was not to be distracted with my phone beeping at me whenever a txt came in or even just to wonder if someone was going to call or try to get hold of me during work or at night. It's back on again now, but I hadn't realized how that constant feeling of being about to be disturbed at any moment had crept into my emotional state.

Short version: I'm not buying any phone I can't turn off.

Facebook shares drop 10%, trip NASDAQ 'circuit breaker'

h4rm0ny

Re: Correction...

If you follow the share price, your accusation of deliberate manipulation can work. Each disastrous slide in Facebook shares is precipitated by a short-term building up. It has all the hallmarks of big players trying to do a controlled exit from stock ownership. Build it up artificially and thus stimulate enough interest that people will buy your shares and try to slightly offset your losses with shortselling. Don't mistake what I'm saying as being some great conspiracy from start to finish - Facebook has been a disaster for many big investors. But I think there's manipulation going on as those big investors attempt to do damage control as they extricate themselves from the mess.

Facebook still has a P/E ratio of over 70 which is ridiculously high. If something is that high (that's the Price to Earnings ration), then it's either an inflated bubble or it's the next greatest thing and people know that there are massive profits just around the corner. The latter is not the case with Facebook, which leaves the former.