DevTopics is a high-level and sometimes satirical look at software development and computer technology. DevTopics is written by Tim Toady, the founder of Browserling Inc, a cross-browser testing company. When we occasionally dive into the details, it's usually about C# and .NET programming. (More)
People often say that one’s design should be modular. Sadly, many people take this as meaning “use modules.” Having modules in a program does not mean that the program is modular. This is generally the point where I whip out the strong coupling and zero-dependency diagrams and beat your brain into submission, but my law school exams have been going pretty well, so I’ll try a nicer approach today.
You know what’s modular in the real world? Condoms. They can be used as a contraceptive, to prevent STDs, as a barrel plug on paintball guns, to protect a live gun barrel from moisture when wading through rivers, to smuggle liquids or powders in the human body, and so on. But what makes condoms so modular in the first place?
Regifting Robin is a cool mind trick that can guess any two-digit number you imagine.
Go to Regiftable.com to play the game, then come back here for an explanation on how it’s done. Though if you are a programmer, you should be able to easily figure it out for yourself.
Keyboards are a terrific example of how bad design can get stuck in a rut and unable to overcome inertia. Everyone says dvorak keyboards are far superior to qwerty, yet even after 25 years of dvorak, qwery is still king because its use is so ingrained.
But another aspect of keyboard design that has me really grumpy is the numeric keypad appendage on desktop keyboards. It is a holdover from the days when users were “data entry clerks.” But we are stuck with this design, and it has started to annoy me lately because I’ve been switching between a laptop during the day and a desktop at night.
Working with a desktop keyboard after using my laptop is strange and difficult. After some reflection, I realized the problem. My right-hand is used to shifting all the time between jkl; and the mouse. On the laptop, this is a subtle and effortless gesture. On the desktop, it’s like playing table tennis.
There’s an old saying that, “In tough financial times, buy Procter & Gamble stock,” because people will always need toilet paper and laundry detergent. In recent years this adage seemed to be true with tech companies, because in our new technology-dependent economy, companies will always need computer hardware and software.
But although the global recession took a while to reach Silicon Valley, it’s clear that tough times are in store for the tech industry as well. This shouldn’t be a surprise, however. Companies are shedding millions of jobs across the country. New jobless claims hit 589,000 on January 17, matching a 26-year high reached four weeks ago. As companies in other industries lose jobs, they find themselves with a glut of extra computers, so hardware spending slows to a crawl. And as money becomes tight, companies will surely delay upgrades to Windows Vista even longer, many skipping Vista altogether while they wait for Windows 7.
Software giant Microsoft announced Thursday it will cut 5,000 jobs over the next year and a half. Microsoft will eliminate 1,400 positions immediately, with the rest cut by June 2010. The company said it will save $1.5 billion in operating expenses and another $700 million in capital expenses.
Microsoft also posted lower fiscal second-quarter net income of $4.17 billion, down 11% from last year. The company reported earnings of 47 cents per share, missing analyst estimates of 49 cents.
Microsoft said the job cuts and soft income is the result of “deterioration of global economic conditions.”
We are constantly bombarded with news of stupid software patents, so it’s nice to see the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) actually reject a stupid patent once in a while.
The USPTO rejected all 20 patent claims for Internet subdomains held by the Hoshiko company. The USPTO ruled that the idea of subdomains — domains hosted within larger domains, such as mail.google.com — is too obvious to patent. Hoshiko was using the patents to litigate against large web companies like Google and LiveJournal, which hosts more than 3 million personalized subdomains for its users.
The story started in 1999 when the IdeaFlood company applied for a patent on Internet subdomains. As usual, the USPTO blindly approved the patents in 2004. IdeaFlood immediately went to court, filing suit against Google and About.com. The Google case was dismissed, and About.com settled out of court. IdeaFlood then transferred the patents to Hoshiko.
Since neither Google nor About.com strongly challenged the patent, the nonprofit Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) took up the fight and requested that the patent be re-examined. The EFF was able to prove that the idea of virtual subdomains was developed long before the patent was filed in 1999.
We all know that today’s software license agreement is a joke. It’s usually a dozen pages of legaleze that nobody reads and everyone just clicks “Accept” in order to run the software. The company could be demanding our first born, but we’d be none the wiser.
Turns out that End User License Agreements have been around for a long time. Here is a “License Agreement” drafted by Thomas Edison for his National Phonograph Company. Not only does it restrict the product’s use and resale, it also establishes a floor for the market price. Edison was truly a man before his time.
Regifting Robin is a cool mind trick that can guess any two-digit number you imagine.
