Full text: An epic Bill Gates e-mail rant • Hacker News Board

Re: Full text: An epic Bill Gates e-mail rant

#51

Post by axod » Wed, Jun 25, 2008, 7:20 AM UTC

jauco wrote: post #47

mhartl wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had the same thought when I read this. I used to turn off my computer every night, until I switched from Windows (98) to Linux. In grad school, my roommate and I had uptime contests with our Linux boxes, which he won with something like 6 months of uptime. The most common causes of lost uptime were electrical power outages and moving apartments. Now, like you, I mainly run OS X, but it's on a laptop, which wreaks h…

I'm always amazed by this. Why would you keep your computer running if you're not using it? just for comparing lengths?

If you're running a server on it, or just want it ready to use whenever you need? There's always sleep/power saving modes anyway.

Re: Full text: An epic Bill Gates e-mail rant

#52

Post by mattmaroon » Wed, Jun 25, 2008, 7:56 AM UTC

RobertL wrote: post #33

raganwald wrote: post #2

"they told me that using the download page to download something was not something they anticipated." And rightly so. Anyone who tries to use the download page to download something will give up and never try it again, so after a while everyone will ignore it!

Your logic is stunning raganwald... stunning.. I'm rolling on the floor...

How do you type while doing that?

Re: Full text: An epic Bill Gates e-mail rant

#53

Post by mattmaroon » Wed, Jun 25, 2008, 8:03 AM UTC

xlnt wrote: post #23

rms wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OK -- I spec'd a Dell XPS M150 just now to be equivalent to the $2500 Macbook Pro. I got a better than equivalent config for $1678 -- it has 4GB of RAM, would be $1578 with 2GB of RAM. It comes with a built-in 2MP webcam and bluetooth and N-wireless. It has HDMI rather than DVI out. A bluray burner is an option, as is a 1920x1080 screen. The only thing it is missing is firewire and I don't think anyone can argue that…

I guess it varies by when and what you compare. e.g. http://www.macworld.com/article/49403/2006/02/pricecompariso... has the macbook pro doing well. or this http://kb.wisc.edu/showroom/page.php?id=3045 has 150 more for macbook (not pro). they seem to have firewire and isight missing on the pc, and a modem missing on the mac. ------- i just did a comparison of imac vs dell all-in-one. imac = 1300 (add 1gig of ram) the…

The biggest problem with Apple's lineup is for people who already have a monitor they like. Your options are the mini, or a ridiculously expensive Mac Pro. There's no middle ground.

Also, I don't think the mini is really price competitive even on the low end. I can get the same hardware specs for considerably cheaper elsewhere, though, of course, not with the awesome form factor/design.

I really like the mini in terms of hardware, but it's not a bargain.

Re: Full text: An epic Bill Gates e-mail rant

#54

Post by DaniFong » Wed, Jun 25, 2008, 10:12 AM UTC

noonespecial wrote: post #37

thinkcomp wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's surprising because you might think Bill Gates would have some pull at his own company. Most of these issues he raises have been problems for years, and have gotten even worse in some cases!

What's scary about Microsoft is that a company so big can develop software at all. They're like a mountain that can walk. -Paul Graham One of my favorite PG quotes.

Now we know. The singular intensity of Billg has meant that, even now, everyone has a bit of Bill's soul in them. A cult of personality is a modest foundation for a culture of trust, which ordinarily never springs in bigco.

Re: Full text: An epic Bill Gates e-mail rant

#55

Post by pavelludiq » Wed, Jun 25, 2008, 10:13 AM UTC

jauco wrote: post #47

mhartl wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had the same thought when I read this. I used to turn off my computer every night, until I switched from Windows (98) to Linux. In grad school, my roommate and I had uptime contests with our Linux boxes, which he won with something like 6 months of uptime. The most common causes of lost uptime were electrical power outages and moving apartments. Now, like you, I mainly run OS X, but it's on a laptop, which wreaks h…

I'm always amazed by this. Why would you keep your computer running if you're not using it? just for comparing lengths?

I generate a lot of torrent traffic on my machine. Im seeding something like 50-60 torrents.

Re: Full text: An epic Bill Gates e-mail rant

#56

Post by DaniFong » Wed, Jun 25, 2008, 10:14 AM UTC

jey wrote: post #40

neilc wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Steve Jobs said Microsoft has no taste, not Bill Gates. I think that if you're a good software developer (and BillG certainly qualifies), you need to at least have some degree of taste.

It's pretty clear that BillG has business, management, and technical acumen, but I'm not so sure that he has taste in the aesthetic sense. If he does have good aesthetic taste, he hasn't done a very good job of implementing it.

Actually I consider some of the new Microsoft designs to be pretty nice:

XBox 360, Silverlight, Live Maps, even Vista, are at least comparably pretty to the competition, and some would vie, even prettier.

Re: Full text: An epic Bill Gates e-mail rant

#57

Post by simplegeek » Wed, Jun 25, 2008, 10:37 AM UTC

staunch wrote: post #5

And that's how a guy with "no taste" critiques. Imagine Steve Jobs' emails!

Well, I think Bill Gates is just using common sense here. These are product management issues and he's rightly pointing them out. Any great programmer (like him) is expected to do that. But, IMHO, when Steve Jobs talks about taste his mind operates on a whole different level.

Re: Full text: An epic Bill Gates e-mail rant

#58

Post by michaelneale » Wed, Jun 25, 2008, 11:15 AM UTC

silencio wrote: post #45

michaelneale wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

yes - but many of those MS products are just configurations of the one thing, not a separate product.

This is not necessarily a good thing for end users when there's a handful of different versions of Vista. Assume the average consumer in the US...that's Vista Home Basic and Home Premium and possibly Ultimate to choose from. At first glance do you know what the differences are? Or whether or not you need an upgrade or full version? (Let's not even get into the other versions of Vista, System Builder/OEM, EU versions,…

Its a terrible thing for consumers.

Re: Full text: An epic Bill Gates e-mail rant

#59

Post by raganwald » Wed, Jun 25, 2008, 11:16 AM UTC

DaniFong wrote: post #56

jey wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's pretty clear that BillG has business, management, and technical acumen, but I'm not so sure that he has taste in the aesthetic sense. If he does have good aesthetic taste, he hasn't done a very good job of implementing it.

Actually I consider some of the new Microsoft designs to be pretty nice: XBox 360, Silverlight, Live Maps, even Vista, are at least comparably pretty to the competition, and some would vie, even prettier.

With respect, I do hope you realize that "taste" and "design" are about an awful lot more than "pretty."

I would say that MSFT products being "pretty" demonstrates how little they get it. They think that making something "designed" means smearing pretty on it after you're done, as if you can design a web application by building something randomly then hiring a graphic designer to make the page slook nice just before you go live.

Re: Full text: An epic Bill Gates e-mail rant

#60

Post by DaniFong » Wed, Jun 25, 2008, 11:34 AM UTC

raganwald wrote: post #59

DaniFong wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually I consider some of the new Microsoft designs to be pretty nice: XBox 360, Silverlight, Live Maps, even Vista, are at least comparably pretty to the competition, and some would vie, even prettier.

With respect, I do hope you realize that "taste" and "design" are about an awful lot more than "pretty." I would say that MSFT products being "pretty" demonstrates how little they get it. They think that making something "designed" means smearing pretty on it after you're done, as if you can design a web application by building something randomly then hiring a graphic designer to make the page slook nice just before…

Okay. But throwing out Vista and Silverlight, I contend that the XBox 360, Live Maps are both highly usable, well designed products that people want. This may be true of Silverlight too, if they ever wake up and realize that good webapp, flash and UI designers/developers tend away from Windows.