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I’m glad Microsoft is dumping Aero. When the company released Windows Vista to consumers in January of 2007, Aero was supposed to be the new operating system’s signature feature — the “wow” in Vista’s initial slogan, “The wow starts now.” Instead, it had a pernicious effect on Windows. It was bad for Microsoft customers and bad for Microsoft, and removing it from Windows 8 feels like an exorcism as much as a design refresh. Farewell transparency. Welcome back Windows 3.1.
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The author sounds like a technologically impaired grandma, who is butthurt over how Microsoft took his favourite XP Luna theme away, and incapable of using google to find out how to make XP theme work on Vista. What puzzles me is that how this article was even allowed to be published on a technology column?
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An essential Linux, Unix, and Mac OS X administration tool had a major security problem. It’s been fixed, and now you need to patch your system ASAP. There's a nice circularity to sudo apt-get upgrading sudo.
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There is a lot of misguided chatter about how the FB IPO has gone horribly wrong. The situation is in fact the opposite: FB IPO is the most successful IPO in history. Post this to your Wall (Street) and Like it.
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Here is an interesting problem, if you want to call it that, which Microsoft had to address when building Windows 8. We all want faster boot times and Windows 8 delivers on the front. The problem is that the boot times are so quick that when you need to enter the setup menu, by pressing F2/F8 during boot, there is literally no time to do it. Ctrl+Alt+Doh!
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When queried about Windows Phone 8 upgrades for existing handsets both Microsoft and Nokia officials have deflected the question with comments about supporting existing customers and keeping their experience “fresh”. The most direct interpretation of these statements is that Windows Phone 8 is indeed coming to existing handsets, but that contradicts what people with good sources are hearing. So what is the truth? What if there are two editions of Windows Phone 8 (WP8), with two different kernels?
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Want a generic account that Facebook hasn’t verified? They run from 6 to 20 cents apiece. If you want a PVA – a phone verified account for which Facebook has sent a code via text message to a phone, requiring a human to log into Facebook and enter that code -- the prices start at $1.50 per account. And it’s not just Facebook; Twitter, G+, AOL, iTunes, Craigslist all have their own markets for faux personae. [ITworld]
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Google has cleared the final legal hurdles and now owns Motorola Mobility[^]. Interestingly, this has also seen a shift in personnel with the person who really pushed Android at Motorola "stepping down" in favour of Googler Dennis Woodside. Why do I get the feeling that Tony Soprano was involved in the "transition"?
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Good, maybe now the Droid Razr will finally get ICS if Google's in charge of it, I'd imagine they'd want to keep the latest version of Android on their own devices.
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It's cheap but degrading to reuse content and design across diverging media forms like print vs. online or desktop vs. mobile. Superior UX requires tight platform integration. When does it make sense to optimize for a mobile experience? Almost always.
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From a design and usability perspective, I fully agree. Optimizing the design for each platform is definitely the best way to go if you want the best possible outcome. However, from a cost perspective it can be prohibitive. Sometimes it is better to get something that works for all devices rather than not being on the devices natively. For instance, Google has worked on the mobile platforms before they had solid apps for each platform. The nice thing is that they were able to tailor their mobile sites first to the new platforms and then finally bring full apps to them. It was an iterative approach that got their product to the mobile consumer quickly and yet they were able to provide better content and integration as they went.
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As software developers, one of our most important responsibilities is the protection of our users' personal information. Without technical knowledge of our applications, users have no choice but to trust that we're fulfilling this responsibility. Sadly, when it comes to passwords, the software development community has a spotty track record. Help them, Obi-Wan Developer, you're their only hope.
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Very good one Terrence.
"The clue train passed his station without stopping." - John Simmons / outlaw programmer
"Real programmers just throw a bunch of 1s and 0s at the computer to see what sticks" - Pete O'Hanlon
"Not only do you continue to babble nonsense, you can't even correctly remember the nonsense you babbled just minutes ago." - Rob Graham
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Today, we want to share the final product lineup and specifications you can expect to see for the next release of Visual Studio. This also includes system requirements and platform you can develop for with Visual Studio 11. Where do you want to code today?
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So I'll be sticking with VS 2010 for a while, pro noblem.
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MS seem to be causing no end of strife with the dev tools at the moment. I see the Express 11 products will be metro apps. only. Nothing worse than removing functionality.
Kevin
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I saw that someone mentioned that, but I would be surprised if you couldn't do console apps.
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PIEBALDconsult wrote: I would be surprised if you couldn't do console apps
I wouldn't!
OTOH, there's always SharpDevelop if you can't afford VS 11 Pro. They seem to be doing a good job of keeping up to date with Microsoft, at least as far as the desktop/web side of things is concerned.
Kevin
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It is practically impossible to teach good programming style to students that have had prior exposure to BASIC; as potential programmers they are mentally mutilated beyond hope of regeneration. What computer scientists, authors and programmers think of popular programming languages.
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Basic was the both first and third language I learned (VB.Net and QBasic), and I didn't turn out that bad... 
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Basic was my first two languages. I was in a class in high school for VB (I don't remember if it was .Net) and didn't like it much, so spent most of my free time working with QuickBasic 4.5.
My third, however, was C++ and that set me straight real quick. 
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Curious that they find this [sic]:
Quote: It is practically impossible to teach good programming style to students that [sic] have had prior exposure to BASIC
But this [fine]:
Quote: C++ is an horrible language
And I think my favorite is this one:
Quote: Perl is the only language that looks the same before and after RSA encryption.
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BASIC was my first programming language too, and I'm of the opinion that it's fine as a first language. How can you teach people the "right" way (with no GOTOs) if they don't learn the "wrong" way first.
Besides, there are other languages that some may need to use that have GOTO but no "modern" looping structures; how will someone with no prior experience cope?
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Basic I would imagine would have been everybody's first programming language, it was certainly mine and not through and school either. I was in my late thirties when the TRS80 then the Comodore64 were released.
I was hooked on computers after those two and moved rapidly to business software on my new IBM. Does anybody remember writing in Clipper and compiling it to an executable? Then using dBIII+ database files to store the data. Times have changed!!!
I personally this programmers should be exposed at as many languages as possible, for appreciation of the strengths and weaknesses of them all.
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JohnPayton wrote: for appreciation of the strengths and weaknesses of them all.
Hear hear!
That's why I didn't mind the Pascal, COBOL, Fortran, and Assembly (Macro 11) in college. And Lisp, mustn't forget that. 
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