The only mistake of this man is that he didn't account for the reality distortion field.

Honestly I'm amazed by how unanimously friendly Hacker News (and Reddit) are to Wave.

It was the anti-suckless - overengineered, XML and web-based, anti-privacy, pampering users instead of educating them (e.g. in a corporate environment, using a VCS together with IRC is a much better way to exchange information). I would've expected at least one contrary voice somewhere :)

I say good riddance.

The reason why we should use HTTP authentication is similar to why we can have custom stylesheets, or why everyone should just use nntp instead of web forums, or a MUA instead of web mail.

"Content" shouldn't provide its own "style" - the user should be free to choose whatever matter of presentation they desire.

Furthermore, using HTTP authentication everywhere (at least as an omnipresent alternative) would make sites much more programmable, and thus accessible.

The written method is old, but good. It makes VIM a usable Lisp environment, and it's good for any interpreter with a REPL. Recommended.

The major advantage of "Desktop Linux" (that I've been using happily for quite a few years now) is that it's utterly unlike Mac OS X or Windows. We use Linux not because it's free, but because it's more comfortable, the UI is better and friendlier, and developing programs for it is a whole hell of a lot easier.

Everything Gnome, Ubuntu and this sort of people do work against these advantages. We use Linux because of its differences - these differences to other systems need to be accentuated (zsh, the suckless project, etc), not fought against (Ubuntu, network-manager, HAL, etc).

By every step these people take, Linux gets more difficult to develop for and less comfortable to use. This needs to stop.

> We use Linux because of its differences

I don't know who you speak for, but it's not about me ... I use Linux because it's cheap and I'm in control.

Other than that I love having aptitude and a good repository, but every once in a while I really wish there was a click-to-install standard and I also really wish I wouldn't burn my weekend over wireless issues.

> developing programs for it is a whole hell of a lot easier

You're not speaking about desktop applications / games. That's hell-like compared to the alternatives, being partly the reason why companies like Adobe aren't investing in it ... I've worked there and I know the arguments that are flying back and forth.

> By every step these people take, Linux gets more difficult to develop for and less comfortable to use. This needs to stop.

People should and will work on whatever they want, and all "wasted effort" arguments are bullshit. If you think there are better paradigms that should be explored, then jump in and show the world how right you are. Talk is cheap.

> You're not speaking about desktop applications / games

Those apps aren't hard to develop because libraries or the environment or whatever; they're hard to develop because their developers want them to be closed, so recompilation and putting them into the real package management system is impossible. Starting with such a handicap makes things complicated :)

> If you think there are better paradigms that should be explored, then jump in and show the world how right you are

The better paradigms have been known and used for 20 years (such as the Unix paradigm of connecting multiple programs, the CLI, and so on). That it doesn't appeal to some end users is not our problem.

(also username post combo, but just kidding :)

> Those apps aren't hard to develop because libraries or the environment or whatever

They are hard to develop because it's difficult choosing libraries, the environment, whatever, and your choice for today may be deprecated in 6 months. Of course, with the proper abstractions you can painlessly rewrite your app to target the newest toys.

But there are always costs involved ... sure you could rewrite it in a couple of weeks, but quality assurance (if you're a professional that doesn't releases pieces of shit) takes as long as it did for the original target.

> they're hard to develop because their developers want them to be closed

Yeah well, it's their choice, and accommodating applications that aren't open-source should be a requirement of any OS because, you know, the majority of desktop apps in production are closed and that ain't changing because it's a valid business model.

> Starting with such a handicap makes things complicated :)

It's only a handicap on Linux. The other platforms, including Solaris, have been doing just fine. Which makes me wonder about which part is handicapped.

And getting new versions of your software out by trying to get X distributors to include your newest version in their repositories (which are completely outside of your control and each with it's own set of rules) is less complicated than just putting new stuff up on your own website? I don't think so. There is one advantage for users certainly - it's easier to find versions of software which are officially sanctioned by their distributor, although it might be outdated by months. Which does often not matter much for server-software, but for desktop software it's something which users don't really accept.

I think we can discuss if this central-control-by-distros model of software distribution has more advantages or disadvantages, but it's not all shiny throughout. As example when stuff go really wrong with that model - maybe you heard of the troubles with Debian, J.Schilling and the cdrtools. I didn't until I noticed I could no longer burn CD's(!) with k3b and had to spend a few hours on figuring out how to fix this (you have to get the Schilling versions of the tools - the official Debian-version simply does not work in some cases and that is known now for a long long time). So there is a well-working combination of k3b+cdrtools which fails to pass the distributor rules (which is certainly fine) and now the authors can't really get the working combination (of 2 open source packages!) in an easy way out to the users.

Their absolutely are reasons why GNU/Linux development is harder/more restrained than Windows at times. On Windows I can go with DirectX or OpenGL depending on my needs, with GNU/Linux I only have OpenGL. Say what you want about DirectX, it is ahead of OpenGL in some respects.

Not me. I use Linux (among other OSes) because it's Open and Free, and I think that it's important to have an alternative to proprietary systems.

I don't consider it to have a better UI or to be easier to develop for and I feel more comfortable with Windows.

Then you need to try the following things: - vim or emacs - tmux or screen - tiling window managers - zsh

Each of these things result in a massive usability increase.

Lowercase f free.

He's saying most people use Linux not because it's $0.00, which includes your reason, that it's liberated.

It's funny you're saying that after all the years of work that went into making traditional window managers more Windows/MacOSX like.

Aha, so this is what an iPad developer does.

"In order to answer the questions: Is the font big enough? Does it render well? Is the Schriftbild (text impression) inviting or rejecting? How does it feel to read? ...we had no other choice than printing out your screens on a 1:1 scale. We had to print out hundreds of pixel designs to get a feeling for the new canvas and the high resolution... After two months of printing, we did get the type choices and sizes quite right..."

I have no words.

What’s wrong with that? I would guess that’s not the only thing they did.

iPad designer, you mean.

ANECDOTE coming up:

I recently bought a Nexus One, and it's the BEST friggin phone I've ever owned. I am one very happy camper now

Responsiveness, Maps, speed of Maps, the browser (holy shit the browser), the screen... are all awesome.

Wrt. marketing: other than Internet mutterings, I first heard about it from a friend who is a Google employee - so I guess you can say it wasn't particularly well advertised.. NB, I'm a Linux-oriented software developer, so I might be counted in the presumable target audience.

Still, best phone ever.

Hows the video recording quality? Is it jumpyish? I really want one (and was going to place the order today), but wanted an opinion about the video recording.. I'm in Australia though, so I'd be ordering it from overseas (any tips of when it will come here though from your google friend?)

I'm hoping to get into android development and code a flight computer, because there don't seem to be any for android available, and pilots are being charged $150 for a glorified calculator.. The Android SDK is great in that regards from experience (I can code without a phone). And can barely afford a Nexus one, hence if its coming to Australia, hoping I could cut $100 off the cost :P

I have to agree to k-zed, it's the best phone i ever had. But if you count on a really good video recording performance, i wonder if there is any phone with proper video and cam out there. The Nexus One's videos are atleast ok, but not good. So was every video i've seen from mobiles (particularly the sony cybershot phones, where you'd expect best quality, but also other HTC, Samsung and more).

I'd rate photo quality as good, a bit better than iPhone but still not even near the quality of a middle priced digital cam. Video recording is about the same..

All in all it's still the same as years ago, i wouldn't use the camera for holiday pictures or anything other than a quick snapshot for a facebook upload.

Thanks,

I might wait a bit then, because I'm trying to find a mobile which I always have, which has good video quality (because I never know when I need one)..

As a recipient of the holiday bonus, my opinion is that it will amaze anyone who has never had a smart phone before. But the iphone still has better responsiveness. Further, in urban areas, the iphone has had better reception and download speed.

Sorry, Joel Spolsky has been fantastically, offensively wrong often. Significantly often. Attracting negative attention should be considered normal.

Fantastically, offensively wrong? Care to give an example? I think a lot of the "he's wrong" reactions stem from knee-jerk reactions. People often miss the point that what he's writing about comes form his own experience. It might not be universally true, but he will still have valid points worthy of consideration.

Then again, people writing angry comments are rarely the kind of people who will take the time to reflect on what they read.