The Lounge - CodeProject

A major difference between the two examples is that you are comparing a number to an array.

A string variable is an array of char, a null array is different then a number without an assigned memory space.

The Daring Three-Year Expedition to Reveal the Creatures of the Deep [^]

Ocean Picture(s) of the Day.

"If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur." Red Adair.
Those who seek perfection will only find imperfection
nils illegitimus carborundum

me, me, me
me, in pictures

Now, before start off, here are few things to make note of:

1. You cannot call it bad just because of content. If that was the case, you should dislike CP as well considering amounts of rants about Q & A here.
2. If you have had a bad experience with random friend request, it is not FB's fault.
3. If you are annoyed with game requests, you should consider choosing FB friends carefully rather than blaming FB.
4. If you think content there is just idiotic, remember it is not just for people like you. Kids to old people use it. There will be everything there. Again you need to choose what you want to see.
5. If you do not like their UI, for few things I am with you.

My CP workspace: Incredibly trivial and probably useless code samples[^]

I don't know about anyone else, but for me... As with so many "Web apps" (including this one), it just keeps changing for the sake of change -- you never know what the UI will be from one visit to another.

You'll never get very far if all you do is follow instructions.

modified 19-May-14 14:45pm.

So just hate changes?

My CP workspace: Incredibly trivial and probably useless code samples[^]

I prefer to pick and choose which changes I get (and when) rather than have them shoved down my throat against my will.

You'll never get very far if all you do is follow instructions.

for software I pay for I agree with you. This is software that is paid for by the advertisers. I think we forget that the users are NOT the customers for Facebook. They are pandering to exactly who they should be pandering too.

I don't like FB that much either. But I am on it. Mainly because my kids are on it and I need to keep a close eye on them.

To err is human to really mess up you need a computer

I'm not a hater of anything, but I generally dislike online services, be it FB or anything else, because:

a) They appear and disappear at random. You never know when something you like is suddenly gone.
b) When they disappear, you typically get a very short window to grab your data, if you want it and it's your only copy.
c) Privacy policies change at will.
d) UIs change at will.

It is easy to say that if you're not paying, then you're not the target, just the product. But this implies that if you were paying, then your voice should be important.

That leads to two questions:
1) Are paid services really any better, or do they just do the same stuff anyway?
2) If there is no option to pay, then how do you get a service that is what you want, where you are the target and not the product?

I don't want to be a product, I want a service that is useful to me. I don't find it useful to me for random changes in UI or anything else. I don't need and don't want services I can't rely on. As a result, I use very few online services. Most of the stuff that crops up, I just don't care, any more than I care about the lastest javascript framework of the hour.

For some services, like email, I want services that are like a wrench - it was a 15mm silver wrench 5 years ago, and it's a 15mm silver wrench today. Same colour, sits in the same box, does the same thing. Why on earth do I need new shiny features in my email? It's such a basic thing, it should rarely change.

Sometimes things are done just right. A great example of doing it right is online banking. You pay for your online banking thru fees, you are the target, your feedback actually goes into the next version. They do a big change maybe once every 3-5 years, and otherwise stay the same, it's more like a desktop boxed product. And that upgrade is actually better by any reasonable definition, not just shiny and cool and glittery. This is exactly what I want - I'm just paying bills and tracking my expenses, the same stuff I was doing 5 years go with online banking. And I don't get damned ads pestering me every frigging visit.

For free services, I like CP for the same reasons. I just use it to follow articles on the news section about quasi-programming related stuff. Works pretty much the same as it did when I started, get a list of articles, pick a few, read them.

Why is it so hard to find more services like this? Why do they all have to obsess over glittery coolness and one-upping each other like schoolyard children? I don't give a s**t about the latest animation techniques when using a service. I want substance over form any day.

Is it just me, or do others here feel the same way?

Hear, hear!

bantling: i just want to applaud your insightful and well organized thoughts about the economic tradeoffs between free and paid services.

What is wrong with that? It is evolution...
Why did Google search change,
Why did CodeProject change,
Why did Jaffa cakes cakes change....it wasn't for the better as I preferred them when they were slightly firmer. Smile | :)

Without change there isn't the chance that you might find something better. Anyway, you can never please everyone, someone will always hate it, even if it is to try and sound cool or to troll.

DaveAuld wrote:
Why did Jaffa cakes cakes change....it wasn't for the better as I preferred them when they were slightly firmer.

Try these ones.[^]
They are firmer than the original McVities ones, with better chocolate and a much more orangey "orangey bit".
I've stopped buying McVities biscuits - I think the accountants have taken over as they all seem to have lost flavour and quality (some of them barely class as biscuits any more, they are more sprayed together lumps of dry crud)

Those who fail to learn history are doomed to repeat it. --- George Santayana (December 16, 1863 – September 26, 1952)
Those who fail to clear history are doomed to explain it. --- OriginalGriff (February 24, 1959 – ∞)

Things never improve or grow without change.

Jeremy Falcon

Jeremy Falcon wrote:
Things never improve

Exactly my point. Big Grin | :-D