Bill Belichick Throws in the Tablet • Hacker News Board

Re: Bill Belichick Throws in the Tablet

#11

Post by danso » Wed, Oct 19, 2016, 3:49 PM UTC

xemdetia wrote: post #6

What a terrible URL: http://.../football/bill-belichick-patriots-might-be-a-mac-g... I think there is a lot to be said about the fact that any event that has as much tech as an NFL broadcast and that it is never setup permanently will always run into some issue. The base complaint seems to be just that the league gives him the stuff too late to work out any unforeseen issues, and so it just is a sprint to troubleshoo…

I think this article was submitted yesterday with the original headline. Looking at newsdiffs, looks like this is a case where a copy editor tried to be clever, and later on, people realized that the clever bit resulted in a tangible inaccuracy:

http://newsdiffs.org/article-history/www.nytimes.com/2016/10...

Re: Bill Belichick Throws in the Tablet

#12

Post by FLUX-YOU » Wed, Oct 19, 2016, 3:49 PM UTC

arcanus wrote: post #4

> Microsoft entered into a long-term sponsorship partnership with the league in 2013. At the time, the N.F.L. had a list of demands for the equipment, including ruggedness, ease of use, size, effectiveness in extreme temperature and glare resistance. > In 2014, Belichick noted that the system had crashed, but seemed mostly cool with it. “I’d say that’s all kind of part of the game,” he said. > “I just can’t take it a…

It's important to know what he was using. He's going back to pictures but I doubt the tablet crashes often just looking at pictures.

If there is some software developed specifically for his /the NFL's use, you have a code base that's giving the entire platform a bad image.

Re: Bill Belichick Throws in the Tablet

#13

Post by Twirrim » Wed, Oct 19, 2016, 3:50 PM UTC

xemdetia wrote: post #6

What a terrible URL: http://.../football/bill-belichick-patriots-might-be-a-mac-g... I think there is a lot to be said about the fact that any event that has as much tech as an NFL broadcast and that it is never setup permanently will always run into some issue. The base complaint seems to be just that the league gives him the stuff too late to work out any unforeseen issues, and so it just is a sprint to troubleshoo…

your URL got shortened in the most bizarre way (I swear I'm seeing this happen more and more often on HN)

Re: Bill Belichick Throws in the Tablet

#14

Post by freehunter » Wed, Oct 19, 2016, 3:50 PM UTC

xemdetia wrote: post #6

What a terrible URL: http://.../football/bill-belichick-patriots-might-be-a-mac-g... I think there is a lot to be said about the fact that any event that has as much tech as an NFL broadcast and that it is never setup permanently will always run into some issue. The base complaint seems to be just that the league gives him the stuff too late to work out any unforeseen issues, and so it just is a sprint to troubleshoo…

I know that the writers come up with the original title which is transferred to the URL and the editors change it to fit the style of the newspaper a little better, but the editors should have the ability/responsibility to edit the URL as well. I agree the permalink is a little ridiculous.

Re: Bill Belichick Throws in the Tablet

#15

Post by freehunter » Wed, Oct 19, 2016, 3:51 PM UTC

Twirrim wrote: post #13

xemdetia wrote: post #6

What a terrible URL: http://.../football/bill-belichick-patriots-might-be-a-mac-g... I think there is a lot to be said about the fact that any event that has as much tech as an NFL broadcast and that it is never setup permanently will always run into some issue. The base complaint seems to be just that the league gives him the stuff too late to work out any unforeseen issues, and so it just is a sprint to troubleshoo…

your URL got shortened in the most bizarre way (I swear I'm seeing this happen more and more often on HN)

He intentionally removed the domain name to highlight the rest of the permalink. It's the same URL as linked in the title, but he's highlighting the "bill-might-be-a-mac-guy" part of it.

Re: Bill Belichick Throws in the Tablet

#16

Post by freehunter » Wed, Oct 19, 2016, 3:53 PM UTC

FLUX-YOU wrote: post #12

arcanus wrote: post #4

> Microsoft entered into a long-term sponsorship partnership with the league in 2013. At the time, the N.F.L. had a list of demands for the equipment, including ruggedness, ease of use, size, effectiveness in extreme temperature and glare resistance. > In 2014, Belichick noted that the system had crashed, but seemed mostly cool with it. “I’d say that’s all kind of part of the game,” he said. > “I just can’t take it a…

It's important to know what he was using. He's going back to pictures but I doubt the tablet crashes often just looking at pictures. If there is some software developed specifically for his /the NFL's use, you have a code base that's giving the entire platform a bad image.

Also depends on the definition of "crash". Did the system crash, did the app crash, or did it just reboot itself for updates at an inopportune moment?

The idea of using a Surface for something as trivial as looking at pictures is ridiculous. The idea of Surface is it's a full computer in tablet form. It's way too much power and way too much complexity for the use case.

Re: Bill Belichick Throws in the Tablet

#17

Post by freehunter » Wed, Oct 19, 2016, 3:54 PM UTC

Balgair wrote: post #8

davesque wrote: post #3

Not sure this really says anything bad about Microsoft. Is it really hard to imagine an NFL coach losing his temper with something let alone a computer?

Have you watched a Pats game? Belichick is about as wordy as a granite counter-top in game and is like a cemetery in front of journalists. That he bothered to complain, let alone did some much to reporters, indicates that there are VERY big problems with them.

And the fact that he previously said there were issues but he was trying to work through them, then years later decided he couldn't deal with it anymore speaks volumes. He actually did give it a shot, for years, and it never got better.

Re: Bill Belichick Throws in the Tablet

#18

Post by pyrophane » Wed, Oct 19, 2016, 3:55 PM UTC

Now, I have to preface this by saying that I don't know much about football and even less about coaching it, but I wonder how much of this speaks to a lack of a real need for a technology solution for coaches. If it were providing a lot of value to them, I imagine they'd have a harder giving it up.

This NFL suggests that there is such a need: "Since Microsoft has been a partner of the N.F.L. and implemented their technology on our sidelines, the efficiency and speed of communication between coaches has greatly increased."

But of course, that is the NFL speaking about a partner's product, so I can't imagine them saying anything else.

Re: Bill Belichick Throws in the Tablet

#19

Post by SteveNuts » Wed, Oct 19, 2016, 3:56 PM UTC

treehau5 wrote: post #7

arcanus wrote: post #4

> Microsoft entered into a long-term sponsorship partnership with the league in 2013. At the time, the N.F.L. had a list of demands for the equipment, including ruggedness, ease of use, size, effectiveness in extreme temperature and glare resistance. > In 2014, Belichick noted that the system had crashed, but seemed mostly cool with it. “I’d say that’s all kind of part of the game,” he said. > “I just can’t take it a…

Robust systems are achievable already. We need managers that understand quality takes proper planning, time, and deep, concentrated, uninterrupted work.

And money. Don't forget about lots and lots of money.

I'm going through this headache right now.

Re: Bill Belichick Throws in the Tablet

#20

Post by sly010 » Wed, Oct 19, 2016, 3:57 PM UTC

liquidise wrote: post #2

This speaks to a higher level perception about software. Bugs and crashes, however inconsistent, irreparably damage the sentiment about using a technology. Younger folks grew up in an age with these inconsistencies and are less perturbed by them. To older folks though, manual systems rarely "fail" during use. The bar of acceptance is a great deal higher when your reliability and availability are compared to pencil an…

Unfortunately more often than not the person who pays for the software is rarely the one who uses it. The end result is that software is purchased based on promises in the marketing material, not based on quality.