Linked by Thom Holwerda on Fri 22nd Oct 2010 18:18 UTC
There's been a bunch of Windows Phone 7 reviews out there, and most of them come to the same conclusion: great piece of software for a 1.0 release, but it does miss a few vital features. The Ars Technica review, as usual very in-depth, highlights one particular aspect of the platform that speaks to me: Windows Phone 7 has a sense of humour.
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Member since:2006-06-22
The Zune software is a major plus given that itunes is the worst Windows program in the world.
Couldn't agree more with you on this one. I really think that iTunes for Windows was forced upon Apple, just because most users of iPod/iPhone own a Windows machine.
I expect quite a few business users to switch from blackberry to WP7.
I was slightly disappointed with wp7 (presented at an microsoft event) when it comes to its use in a business environment. Without speculating about the future direction that microsoft is going to be adopting, right now wp7 is aimed at general audience and not an enterprise. I think that in this area there are some hard choices for microsoft to make.
RE[2]: 18 page review??????
by Bill Shooter of Bul on Fri 22nd Oct 2010 22:00
in reply to "RE: 18 page review??????"
Member since:2006-07-14
I really think that iTunes for Windows was forced upon Apple, just because most users of iPod/iPhone own a Windows machine.
What do you mean by that? Apple *could* have made a good program for windows. iTunes for Mac isn't much better.
At the time of the original release, I believe Jobs said it was the best Windows program, although I didn't know at the time and am still not certain now if that was a self congratulations, or a diss at every other windows program.
RE[2]: 18 page review??????
by nt_jerkface on Sat 23rd Oct 2010 04:13
in reply to "RE: 18 page review??????"
Member since:2009-08-26
Member since:2005-07-06
I like the original interface, I was disappointed that Android just copied the iphone.
The Zune software is a major plus given that itunes is the worst Windows program in the world.
Nokia and RIM have really been sitting on their hands. I expect quite a few business users to switch from blackberry to WP7.
The Zune software is a major plus given that itunes is the worst Windows program in the world.
Nokia and RIM have really been sitting on their hands. I expect quite a few business users to switch from blackberry to WP7.
I second that, it is great to see some innovation out there rather than yet another clone of a clone of a clone. WP7 has its critics but I've given it a go down at the local Vodafone store and I like what I see. With that being said I'm kind of unhappy that I can't get it on the XT Network given it has better 3G coverage than Vodafone.
iTunes universally sucks; it sucks on Mac OS X just as badly as it sucks on Windows. Its an application that suffers from featuritis where iTunes seems to be the dumping ground for anything that tickles Apple's fancy. Personally I'd sooner see Apple break it up into individual parts than having the behemoth that weighs over 100MB.
I too could see many businesses move to WP7 in part due to the great integration between the development tools and WP7. Imagine being able to write an application in Silverlight 4 and then deploy the same application on desktops and phones with a single click - that is the kind of advantage that Microsoft not only has over RIM but also over iPhone and Android.
RE[2]: 18 page review??????
by Nelson on Sat 23rd Oct 2010 03:35
in reply to "RE: 18 page review??????"
Member since:2005-11-29
18? That's nothing. Try 32 pages!
by MollyC on Sat 23rd Oct 2010 05:01
in reply to "18 page review??????"
Member since:2006-07-04
Anandtech's review is 32 pages (or so).
http://www.anandtech.com/show/3982/windows-phone-7-review/1
But pretty much the same take as Arstechnica. Generally high praise (actually, effusive praise at times), while pointing out some issues that need to be tweaked and a few features that need to be implemented with updates.
Edited 2010-10-23 05:02 UTC
News
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/19/13 23:15 UTC
"This is my NeXTstation Turbo Color booting the Mac System 7.1 Operating System using a hardware add-on called 'Daydream'. The Daydream has a Mac ROM and a few custom ICs in it and hooked up to the NeXTs DSP port. Turns your NeXT into a full fledged 68k powered Mac." So cool.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/19/13 23:11 UTC, submitted by Drumhellar
"The NetBSD Project is pleased to announce NetBSD 6.1, the first feature update of the NetBSD 6 release branch. It represents a selected subset of fixes deemed important for security or stability reasons, as well as new features and enhancements. Please note that all fixes in the prior security/bugfix updates (NetBSD 6.0.1 and 6.0.2) are also in 6.1."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/18/13 21:06 UTC
"At the end of a week in which Electronic Arts confirmed it wasn't developing a thing for the Wii U, one of the software engineers in EA Sports' Canada studio, in a series of since-deleted tweets, disparaged the console as 'crap' and suggested Nintendo should give up on hardware altogether. 'The Wii U is crap. Less powerful than an Xbox 360. Poor online/store. Weird tablet', tweeted Bob Summerwill, listed as a senior software engineer at EA Canada, in a reply to a tweet posting a link about EA's no-Wii U news. 'Nintendo are walking dead at this point'." The Wii U is turning into the 21st century's Virtual Boy.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/18/13 7:37 UTC
"In NixOS, the entire operating system - the kernel, applications, system packages, configuration files, and so on - is built by the Nix package manager from a description in a purely functional build language. The fact that it's purely functional essentially means that building a new configuration cannot overwrite previous configurations. Most of the other features follow from this." Interesting approach. A Linux distribution, sure, but with some very refreshing ideas about system configuration.
Linked by fran on 05/18/13 1:38 UTC
Appfour added, among other features, C/C++ support to its new version of AIDE. From Android-IDE, "Now you can write parts of your app or your whole app in C/C++ on your device. AIDE supports the Standard Android NDK toolchain (GCC 4.6 + Bionic, STL, ...). No changes are necessary if you want to build an app developed on a PC with Eclipse. C/C++ development is fully integrated: Build errors appear in the error list and files can easily be navigated to with Go to file. The editor supports C/C++ syntax highlighting."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/17/13 23:35 UTC, submitted by kragil
Ars nails it: "The answer is that Google did announce what amounts to a fairly substantial Android update yesterday. They simply did it without adding to the update fragmentation problems that continue to plague the platform. By focusing on these changes and not the apparently-waiting-in-the-wings update to the core software, Google is showing us one of the ways in which it's trying to fix the update problem."
Linked by MOS6510 on 05/17/13 22:22 UTC
"It is good for programmers to understand what goes on inside a processor. The CPU is at the heart of our career. What goes on inside the CPU? How long does it take for one instruction to run? What does it mean when a new CPU has a 12-stage pipeline, or 18-stage pipeline, or even a 'deep' 31-stage pipeline? Programs generally treat the CPU as a black box. Instructions go into the box in order, instructions come out of the box in order, and some processing magic happens inside. As a programmer, it is useful to learn what happens inside the box. This is especially true if you will be working on tasks like program optimization. If you don't know what is going on inside the CPU, how can you optimize for it? This article is about what goes on inside the x86 processor's deep pipeline."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/17/13 22:15 UTC, submitted by Tom
"It was the only moment I heard regret slip into Otellini's voice during the several hours of conversations I had with him. 'The lesson I took away from that was, while we like to speak with data around here, so many times in my career I've ended up making decisions with my gut, and I should have followed my gut,' he said. 'My gut told me to say yes.'" The world would've been a much different place - Apple would have been less dependant on Samsung for its chips, which probably would've meant less money for Samsung to develop its Galaxy business.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/16/13 21:41 UTC
Glass is getting some love at Google I/O as well. New applications have been released - Facebook, Twitter, Evernote, Elle, Tumblr, and CNN. Perhaps more interesting: the newly announced Google Glass Developer Kit will allow offline applications and direct hardware access - great for hacking and expanding Glass' potential. This kit will really allow hackers to put Glass through its paces.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/16/13 17:04 UTC
"But Beck and Merrill decided that simply banning toxic players wasn't an acceptable solution for their game. Riot Games began experimenting with more constructive modes of player management through a formal player behavior initiative that actually conducts controlled experiments on its player base to see what helps reduce bad behavior. The results of that initiative have been shared at a lecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and on panels at the Penny Arcade Expo East and the Game Developers Conference." Absolutely fascinating stuff. I'm a League of Legends player, and to be honest, the community isn't nearly as bad as some make it out to be. I'm happy Riot games has the guts to employ science to address the issue.More News »
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Member since:
2009-08-26
I like the original interface, I was disappointed that Android just copied the iphone.
The Zune software is a major plus given that itunes is the worst Windows program in the world.
Nokia and RIM have really been sitting on their hands. I expect quite a few business users to switch from blackberry to WP7.