skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Too true. The past 15 or so years has felt like new Office releases were dictated to by the need to sell more copies of Office to existing customers rather than any major improvements to the application. I remember one release where the biggest change was a shift from a MDI to a single window per document.

Office has probably reached a point where there's little you can do to actually make it more functional nor powerful, but it sometimes feels like a con when the revisions are essentially skin deep.

(I will accept that 2007 did cone with some major changes though, such as OOXML)
>But when you actually look at what it says, it's basically "roll over"

I don't think we read the same comment. It most certainly doesn't say roll over. It says try to find a diplomatic solution before you fire shots. An ultimatum isn't going to change anyone's mind, and will only make things difficult. Try to come to an understanding so OP can keep his job and be happy, and the new manager can keep his developers and be happy. It also says that if there's no other way out but to leave, it costs OP nothing to be cordial and professional as he's exiting the company.
>I agree that Schneier is clearly an expert; it's the way you've reached that conclusion which I disagree with, as it could easily lead you to the wrong answer in any case where celebrity and actual expertise are not so happily aligned.

I fail to see how; it's exceedingly rare to find true experts who haven't got publications of one sort or another to their name.

>Well, there was this at the bottom of the article: "Tom Nichols is a professor of national security affairs at the U.S. Naval War College and an adjunct at the Harvard Extension School." Anybody interested in evaluating or expanding upon these credentials could do so with (not to be trite) a quick Google search.

Well again, maybe he is an expert and merely a lousy writer. But none of this contradicts my point that his article's central premise (being an expert) needs to be clearly supported. That's like first-year undergraduate essay writing 101.

>Your mistake is to look for demonstrations of expertise in the form of Google rank and other manifestations of popularity. That's not what actual demonstration of expertise looks like.

Your mistake is interpreting what I wrote as conflating popularity with expertise. For the third time: I didn't choose Schneier as an example because he was popular. I stated outright my google search was cursory. You're missing the point.
I normally don't send more than 2 emails a week for the first one month and then this number decreases. I'm wondering what others do here.

FWIW, I'd have killfiled you long before you reached that one month mark if you were sending that many e-mails just because I signed up for something (other than intentionally joining a high traffic mailing list, obviously).

Given that basically everyone is going to send mail when someone first signs up and for subsequent events like charging a renewal, I think you have to be careful how many more things you send out unsolicited. Some use of lifecycle e-mails is reasonable, for example if you're offering a free trial and want to remind someone after a few days. Depending on what you're offering and who your market are, maybe the acceptable limit goes up or down quite a bit. But some of the things I've seen advocated on HN, even by otherwise reputable people, are way over the line into spamming IMHO.

I use a simple benchmark: if someone in my family signed up and got whatever mails I was thinking of sending out, would they mind? If so, I probably don't want to send it.
I've been keeping an eye on malloc's for quite a while, and they are getting ridiculously big nowadays. The malloc complexity seems to be greater than the programs themselves. With that kind of complexity it's hard to do objective comparisons, and the frameworks to do objective tests are nowhere to be found. So it is no surprise everyone claims to be best. Hint: Complex malloc for complex things.

If you like mallocs: https://github.com/emeryberger/Malloc-Implementations. Don't think they have the disruptor based one yet: https://github.com/bytemaster/disruptor/tree/master/fc2
Like when that pseudointellectual tried to explain the theory of relativity. Anyone with intuition would know it was bullshit.
I think he refers to the server VPN support from Mavericks server. It is broken for like half a year at least before Apple fixed it.
Is there ever any compelling reason to do an exit interview besides getting a severance package?
I have a brand new 15inch Retina MacBook Pro. Have never had a single one of those issues.

I agree that he should seriously consider using his warranty and getting another machine.
While it's a decent workaround, I wouldn't call it ideal, namely because it requires a second window open when you might be starved for screen real estate and also because accidentally opening your mail once in a normal window could cause damage.
In software, tiny complaints that make it up to the leaf nodes of the corporate tree are usually signals of huge iceberg problems below you. People are not saying leave your job to punish management. They are saying leave because things were previously OK, but now some things are happening down below that you will never be allowed to know about until it's too late. You have to amplify your actions and move quickly because of how little information you get.
Another (much more) common issue which seems to be related to Mavericks is the Finder problem where clicking Finder results a sudden hang of the system a the spinning colour wheel.

I'm fairly new to Apple products (~2 years ago) this is the worst problem so far but I'm surprised at such little feedback from Apple on it.
Going through the few extensions that got caught doing this, I've noticed a commonality: Ecosia. This 'charity' is paying app developers to install adware.
Does your computer get hot ?

Because the only cause of Mac's freezing are pretty serious hardware issues.
I can think of at least one product that will do, basically, what you describe. It's insanely expensive to license and setup.

It would probably be feasible to fork the RANCID network device configuration version control application to create something that could do what you're describing out of FLOSS components, too.
I think one of the largest things holding back startups in europe is the fact that there still isn´t one Europe. You still can´t offer your service to all 400.000.000 people from one office, rules are different across borders, languages, etc.

If you have a service you expect 1 in a million people to use, you can have a userbase of 300 in the US, but to get the same number of users in Europe you will need multiple translations, manuals in multiple languages, knowledge of the regulations in multiple countries, etc. Even if on paper Europe is a larger and richer market.
Bcause also americain companies think UK is Europe and install HQ in UK instead of Western Europe which is the European main homogeneous market.
>> read: Management is hidebound and petty. No possibility for compromise exists. Management placing burdensome demands on your time, therefore, is not an opportunity to negotiate but a cause to leave. Tolerance of such a situation is for low-skill employees only.

You are misconstruing what I said.

Negotiating often isn't the best option. You can cause a lot of harm attempting to negotiate. Rather than being a jerk about your opinions and trying to convert other people to them, it's better to go and find people that share them. (Additionally, I'm unsure that the OP was looking for a compromise, and disagree that compromise is possible between a rigid 8 hours a day and 6-7 hours a day. The numbers are very close; it's effectively one or the other here.)

I might be wrong to imply that tolerance is for low-skilled employees only, as there are high-skilled employees who tolerate or enjoy these circumstances, too. But somebody that can easily get another job is more likely to get another job - so there is something to this. I guess I said it more because of the OPs frame, which was cocky: "I'm a hotshot. I can go and get another job." (If you look at everything else I said however, I did say that the company can probably find somebody that is a better cultural/work-ethic fit. I think it's win-win.)
I think you are very misinformed here.
There are many commercial *BSD users that do not give back. There is one famous one that think building campuses that looks like a UFO is pretty important.
From an architecture perspective, the article is a great read. However, the systemic damage in JS applications comes from profound general delusions concerning the JS language itself.

Strong performance anti-patterns can be found in any example listed in your article.

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/12973706/javascript-colle...
> The challenge is there will always be people who are willing (either consciously or unconsciously) to throw away their family and personal relationships in order to pursue success in their career, and it is difficult, if not impossible to compete against them with the 'balanced life' bit set.The challenge is there will always be people who are willing (either consciously or unconsciously) to throw away their family and personal relationships in order to pursue success in their career, and it is difficult, if not impossible to compete against them with the 'balanced life' bit set.

This is the part that I think a lot of people don't acknowledge. I supposed that's because in a work environment -- as opposed to something more directly competitive like sports -- you're comparing your performance mostly to your would-be self rather than to others. But it's certainly worth noting that there exist people who not only want to work 80-hour weeks, but can do so consistently and thrive.
Really Humorous Sub-reddit about the ActualMoney Protocol
You're describing the difference between a "good" and "bad" programmer. That's not at issue.

Are programmers better off having a deep working knowledge of data structures, algorithms, compiler & OS design? Sure.

Do they need to, in order to be (paid, professional) programmers? No.
The difference between the two perspectives is that, in a buyer's market (e.g. SV), managers have no authority--or rather, have merely the imaginary kind of authority a grown adult perceives in their parents.
Kids will fully understand what is brainwashed (used in a positive way) into them.

If they are raised to believe that work is necessary and the spouse who is with them while the working spouse is away doesn't whine, complain or fight with them about it then they will learn that it is something necessary. And guess what? If they don't that's to bad. You do what you think is in the best interest of your children long term not short term because you won't be around. In no way are they going to understand why you can't be at the ball game or the school play but later if you are out of work and/or you can't pay for their college that they will understand and they won't say "oh that's ok at least you came and saw me make that basket".
> You notice it's rarely ... medical profs

You don't know many clinicians, do you?
Big Data Analytics: R Users – Meet Joyent Manta
As a EU founder I think the article misses the two primary reasons Europe isn't doing well with startups.

1) Target market

USA: natural target market of 320 million people with a very high level of (disposable) income. Established businesses are happy to buy products from startups. There is a positive feedback loop where businesses try to grow fast and therefore want to outsource the stuff they're not good at so they can focus on their core skills. This means startups can pop up to take care of everything else (HR/Invoicing/Data crunching/etc-as-a-service).

EUROPE: you have to deal with dozens of languages and cultures. Although the and Germanic countries are OK with English-only products, the rest of Europe wants their products translated. Salaries are much lower here and businesses are much more conservative. Businesses that grow slowly have to care much more about operating expenses, which means they will try to do everything in-house to cut costs.

As a consequence we get the vast majority of our revenue from the US, even though people all across the world try our software.

2) Culture

A lot of people talk about starting a startup, but nobody seems to want it badly enough. Perhaps this is because there are so few success stories over here in the Netherlands. People tend to focus on the negative (what if you fail? what about work-life balance? what if you get sued?), but it's hard to say if that matters.

The US has only one Silicon Valley. There is nothing comparable on the east coast, even though the east and west coast have a lot in common. If we figure out why Silicon Valley works and other places fail to really take off we should be able to create startup hubs all across the world.
I would never describe Linux as "robust". It seems everyone I know has seen it panic more than once, and shrugged it off not by fixing anything but by power-cycling the machine and hoping it doesn't happen too often. This means on top of a database of tens of thousands of bugs, there have been countless catastrophic failures which have never even been diagnosed. We only use it because everything else is at least that embarrassingly terrible and probably even worse.

Taking software seriously involves ensuring every failure is handled. Dropping them on the floor is almost never the right thing, which makes it crazy to have that quietly happen by default. Joel points out code without exceptions becomes very verbose and littered with local handling, but overlooks that it's so painful that most developers can't be relied on to actually do it.
While I don't disagree with this by any means, you are talking an incredibly specialized asset in the LHC. The difference is that Silicon Valley was not built to play with <particular> specialized assets, so much as it was built to <develop specialized assets> to play with in general. In that regards, it was built to make toys to put in 'the sandbox'. In this view, having a sandbox to play in is quite useful. Not only is it motivating, but its "open plan" facilitates a broad imagination for useful experiments. Rather than a single-framework of experiment designed for a singular and very specialized asset.
The problem is not everyone can text you. For example, I get missed calls from school, from my dentist office or from government agency. They don't text me back when I am offline. I hate calling strangers back.

I don't like listening to my voicemail either but it is still essential in today's communication. Just as not everyone has text enabled. But when the person is not available, I at least know he or she has voicemail enabled or not. Plus, I hate typing on my phone. It takes so much effort. My big hands never play nice with screen keyboard, whereas over voice I can just spill the words in 10 seconds.

> Just to hear white noise because you didn't hang up immediately after the voicemail started.

I don't know how often this happen but I think in general people nowadays either hang up immediately or the chance of plain white noise is pretty low.

Some of my friends are SMS users, some are twitter, some are FB, some are imessage. There is a big fragmentation and this is why a lot of chat app try to integrate with your native SMS (for example, FB Messenger). Or you get notification and reply over SMS (FB, Twitter)
What are you talking about. I assure you we get a lot done at the office doing x86 coding in hex, and even more in MIPS due to the simpler instruction set.
It's important to realize that the goals of the manager and the developer are not necessarily aligned. In many cases, managers rationally prefer mediocrity.

As a manager, you can either lead great devs on a 6-person-month project, or you can remove the good devs and turn that into a 36-person-month project. In the former, you're going to be seen by your peers and upper management and somebody who had an easy task but can't control your unruly employees who keep strange hours and don't follow the dress code. In the latter, you're going to be seen as somebody who successfully managed a very complex project with a large staff, impressively inspiring the employees to mass amounts of unpaid overtime.

The path to success for management lies in controlling larger staffs and larger budgets. Good development just gets in the way.
It is here: http://imgur.com/gallery/NeSbeBM
Unrelated to this particular issue, but lately Adobe Updater has taken to running lsof in a tight loop, waiting for me to exit Acrobat so it can update. Makes for a pretty solid red bar of system CPU use.
Sorry to pile on (and I usually enjoy Sivers' writing) but...

I've met a large number of Japanese people here in San Diego (people who grew up in Japan but came here on student visas), and one thing I've learned from them is that almost all of the conventional wisdoms about Japanese culture (like those stated in this article) are mostly a combination between out-of-date and just fully romanticized notions mixed with a tiny bit of reality. Roughly the equivalent of writing a guide about fitting into American culture that is based on what someone saw in 1950s TV shows.
I want to reach Satori, but the Iversonian enlightenment may be too powerful to bear for a mere ALGOL-like accustomed mortal.

⍝
I've considered it, but you'd have to manually update your domains list and you're limited to only 500 total.
I suspect the clunky interfaces are to blame: if the paywall was only 1 click ('confirm $0.1 purchase') instead of a long long form to fill most people would just click.
I think the only other options with a trackpoint are the HP EliteBook 850 G1, Toshiba Tecra Z50, and Dell M4800/M6800.
I've often wondered about this, whether it's possible to still be a big career success and compete against those who are willing to give up their whole personal life for it. I'm not entirely certain I've got an answer, but the solution that comes to me is to make use of certain competitive advantages you have that they don't:

1.) When you're heads-down on a goal, you often miss other things that are going on in the world, like technology shifts or social changes that may affect your business. Someone who makes time for a social life will be much better informed about these, because they have more information coming in from friends and acquaintances.

2.) People who work all their time often get very good at repressing their emotions, because emotionally, it really sucks to work all the time. That blinds them to an important source of information, which makes them make poor global optimizations about their time usage because the rational brain isn't as effective as the emotional brain at processing large amounts of not-directly-comparable information.

3.) People who get used to working all the time often get very impatient and feel they must be doing something productive with every moment. This makes them unsuitable for jobs which require that you sit back and wait.

The biggest example I can think of of people using these against their competitors is Warren Buffett, who's famously built a massive investment firm by being "patient capital", that's willing to wait out the periodic panics and take advantage of them. While the rest of the financial industry runs around like chickens with their heads off, he sits back in Omaha, with a normal middle-class lifestyle, and waits for their emotions to get the best of them and make them do something. And then he swoops in at reduced prices, buys, and waits for the price to come around again.
Cindy Rubio-Gonzalez has some fascinating empirical analyses of error handling in the Linux kernel: http://www.eecs.berkeley.edu/~rubio/

The tl;dr is that errors get dropped a lot with return codes. It's so easy to do, even in battle-tested, critical code like the Linux kernel.
If I understand this correctly, that would be after the client has sent umpteen MB or GB of cookie data to you, and you've hopefully detected what's going on and are just routing the request to /dev/null by this time. If, after that, the sending of the request hasn't caused a timeout, sure, we can send some JS to delete cookies.
Keyhotee - Take back control of your digital life
There is no template towards negative feedback, the fact it is feedback is in itself useful. It is when they offer no feedback and just complain with no content or salient points.

But using the reductio ad absurdum defence, whilst can be fun is not productive and akin to cutting of the corners of a square block so it will fit thru the round hole. With that there will always be a difference of opinion in many areas of life, but pursuing a path of time utilisation with somebody who is not going to add anything to the matter at hand is never a good use of time. More so when you learn more from just walking away, their loss.
Given the sort of stuff that usually makes it HN's front page, it may be worth noting here that this is a downloadable desktop application (as opposed to a web or mobile app).
That's really exciting. Looks like someone is actually going to nail VR this time around.
That could be because Apple's forums are not the venue for support. For developer support, there's rdar. For customer support, there's AppleCare. They state this pretty clearly, and there are perennial reminders when the iOS betas come out and the forums get flooded with non-devs who brick their iPhones.

Apple gets my repeat business (read: magic) by solving my hardware and software problems reliably and quick when I present them through the appropriate channels, go well over a decade now. For one particular repair, I was given a loaner machine, and another resulted in being updated to newer hardware - common stories amongst people who use their AppleCare.
homakov, you have a fun job.
Ask HN: Anyone other Linode customers experiencing issues?
We were a happy Linode customer for several years, but starting in December, we've had 7 incidents of Linode backup failures, 9 incidents of "emergency maintenance" (server down), and 1 incident of a network misconfiguration (server unreachable). This is across a small fleet of 20-30 servers across multiple data centers.

Several requests to Linode for more information about what's going on have just come back with a generic "it's a coincidence" message. Any other Linode customers coincidentally experiencing issues lately?
I quit my job. I did that because I thought it would be valuable to focus just on the startup rather than have my focus split. It's possible that decision may not have been the best one. I had a job with lots of personal development opportunities and they were willing to let me work part-time on my startup, part-time on that job. In hindsight, that would've been ideal. It might have just been my circumstances, but I think that the two complement each other extremely well. I would have been better at my job as a result of the startup, and vice-versa.

Just do whatever seems to fit your circumstances best. Forget about the startup groupthink on what's better or worse.
Worst cables ever... so far for the 'superior' hardware.

Prices are at their fairest the moment they release new hardware. The later you buy their hardware the bigger the difference with their competitors (They only lower the price of older hardware when releasing a new model and not that much either).

But superior hardware, no, that is a bridge too far. Decent hardware, yes, but not all hardware from Apple is equal.