Posts by JDX

Re: It doesn't matter if it's chocolate or beer...

I have to say, I couldn't disagree more. That distinction is very important to me, at least!

Re: Wing mirrors

I rather read this as keeping the mirrors as is, but adding HUD to them so you look in your wing-mirror and it highlights the fact the car coming up behind you is an Audi travelling at 108mph so you can get out of the way! Combining real optics and extra information rather than just putting in a camera... so if there's a fault you can still see.

@moeity

From my experience consulting members just makes them believe they will get what they want and they'll be just as cross when they don't, maybe more so "you didn't listen to us at all".

I think "dump the new site and stick your fingers in your ears" is probably as good an approach as anything. Feedback will always be overwhelmingly negative with a large proportion clamouring "put it back how it was" so I'm not sure attempting to placate people actually achieves anything other than wear you out and risk you getting pissed off with your users.

You raise good points but being pragmatic, people are going to bitch.

Re: Educational Training - news just in...

When a web development teacher knows the first thing about designing a proper website I'll eat my hat. I've never ever seen a site, even one built by a good web designer, that ANY other web designer wouldn't say "that's a bit crap, you should re-do it".

It is massively subjective for a start, and also affected by trends and fashions just like magazines are in terms of what looks good.

Re: Oh for goodness sake

In my experience lots of people clamour "this is awful" and "I'll have to consider leaving if you don't put it back" but very few actually will leave unless the site is actually broken rather than aesthetically unpleasing to them.

And the ones who really will leave over a colour scheme, are generally not that much of a loss although they think they will be.

Sorry for being blunt in my other comments but as I said I've seen this story unfold on other techy/IT/nerdy community sites and it's almost like there's a script that gets passed round. The moment I saw the new design (I wasn't aware it was coming) I knew the kind of complaints and feedback El Reg would get. So forgive my grumpiness, people complaining about someone trying to improve a wonderful resource they get for free makes me feel old and weary the Nth time round ;)

Re: Oh for goodness sake

'Loyal' communities are the worst when it comes to changing anything because they view the site as home and think they own it or have some say over it. When management come in and run roughshod over their desires, it's a reminder that's not the case.

I think that's why things get so heated, it's like if your local pub of 30 years has a refit and you hate it, you feel like you should've been consulted.

I actively choose to just get on and acclimatise even if I don't like it much because I never saw a site flip-flop on these kind of things and the content is what's important. I've already almost stopped noticing the changes in layout/

Re: Oh for goodness sake

>>One of the most irritating posts which comes up far too frequently is the idiot who says "get over it" when people voice legitimate complaints about a change.

No, it's the idiot who thinks that because they're borderline autistic and can't cope with change, this is a legitimate complaint someone should do something about.

I'm not talking about technical glitches like alignments getting broken, but the things I mentioned. I've seen loads of community websites announce new versions and these comments come up EVERY TIME. Even when a website refreshes a 2nd time, the same comments come up again. They're not comments about usability or real problems, they're just people who cannot adjust.

Again - voice real complaints and then let go, it is the quickest route to getting on with your life and getting over the thing.

Re: Useless junk

It's called having a hobby, you boring jackass.

Re: German

How do human translators do it? If you fundamentally can't translate the sentence/clause until the last words resolve it, that's what algorithms will have to do too.

Re: Yet another tens of millions of dollars of programmer-hours ...

Really? What makes you an expert on such things? You are so sure that only "let's do what we did on paper, but on a computer" is the only approach?

Tools like Prezi have shown there's a big market for less conventional content creation/presentation approaches. I have no idea if Sway will be used, or useful (the two aren't always linked) but I have to commend MS for trying something new. As long as they don't replace Word with it!

Re: Maybe you could just...

OK you have a point there but it's not like they haven't told everyone when this was going to happen and since people buying server OS generally should know about such things, I don't think one can blame MS here.

Re: Maybe you could just...

How many other products come with a free 12 year warranty?

Re: Then it's compressed to shit for broadcast

Maybe you should watch the proper version, not a dodgy online stream? BBC/Sky F1 for instance is gorgeous after they upgraded the filming to HD.

Though some channels are far worse and I guess maybe you're watching motor racing on ITV4 or something where it LOOKS like a dodgy pirate feed even though it isn't?

"If it's a good programme, you soon forget the image quality anyway"

Is that like saying "if it's a good song, you soon forget you're listening to a 96Kbps MP3 rip of a heavily compressed version through your phone's loudspeaker"?

Re: Big Deal

Most systems? I see it rarely enough it always catches my attention when you get more than just M/F options.

I never noticed it before until a LGBT (or LGBT* as it's meant to be these days) friend mentioned it as something that is a small slap in the face to such people every time they have to join some website.

Re: We do not need interface changes, they already work and we know how to use them

We could've said the same when Win3.x was around. Or even DOS. The idea that we accidentally stumbled across GUI perfection in W7 is nonsense. Progress and change is inevitable. Sometimes we take steps back but that's probably inevitable. Lots of the stuff we love in W7 was introduced in Vista.

Re: @Mark...well , there you have it....

I'm not aware of major religions who teach life only exists on one planet. Just as the bible/torah/koran don't explain quantum mechanics or _how_ life appeared (except when read in a very literal sense which already contradicts most of what science teaches), they simply don't discuss such matters because nobody had the concept there even WERE other worlds, or really knew what a world WAS.

The bible for one, clearly says the universe is part of creation, not just earth. It says God made the universe, and then God made life on Earth.

The existence of life itself doesn't challenge anything anyway. Only the existence of sentient life - the major religions focus on humanity and count other life as less important - cats don't have to accept Jesus, etc. The big question would, I think, be how intelligent life was folded into that. Some would probably argue only humans 'count' and other species are like animals - they live, they die, that's it. Others would have to figure out how a seemingly Earth-centric religion - why did Jesus come to our planet - applies to other species. The Speaker for the Dead books by Orson Scott Card tackle this to some degree.

And of course, other sentient species may well have their own religions. The notion that only humans have religion is falling into the same trap claiming humans are 'special'. The fact Earth has many contradictory religions hasn't caused us to say "well that's clearly crap" so finding other species have their own religions wouldn't either. Some atheist ideal that finding other life will cause the whole house of cards to collapse is just fanciful naivety which shows as little understanding of people as the crazy religious folk.

Re: Actions speak loader than words

Pete, you never had to attend meetings where some parts had nothing to do with your work, and you were just waiting to get to the parts you were involved with? You never sat doodling or planning your dinner until it was your turn to present something?

Re: Yay - nothing like...

Anyone who's ever had to sit through long meetings knows full well there are parts which you are not relevant to. Conference calls especially, but IRL meetings too.