Comments for techno.blog("Dion") http://almaer.com/blog blogging about life, the universe, and everything tech Tue, 03 Jan 2012 22:08:49 -0800 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 Comment on The rise and fall of webOS is an epic tale; webOS != Web OS by Derek Gathright http://almaer.com/blog/the-rise-and-fall-of-webos-is-an-epic-tale-webos-web-os/comment-page-1#comment-48740 Derek Gathright Tue, 03 Jan 2012 22:08:49 +0000 http://almaer.com/blog/?p=3012#comment-48740 Great insight. Thanks Dion. I agree, the timing was just a bit off (easy to say in hindsight). Also, the real competitor should have been Android, but seems to me like Palm always treated iOS as the primary target. webOS needed more devices and carriers, possibly even OEM partners, but politics got in the way (as usual with US carriers). Competing with Apple on design & quality is a tough proposition. Early on, there were a number of areas where webOS was superior, but those have faded as iOS matures. Even today, webOS is still the leader (IMO) in UX multi-tasking. The "cards" metaphor is so intuitive. Hats off to everyone on the webOS team who has given their all. If webOS was less-open, less-innovative, & less-daring, I'm not even sure it, or Palm's legacy would be around today. Great insight. Thanks Dion. I agree, the timing was just a bit off (easy to say in hindsight). Also, the real competitor should have been Android, but seems to me like Palm always treated iOS as the primary target. webOS needed more devices and carriers, possibly even OEM partners, but politics got in the way (as usual with US carriers).

Competing with Apple on design & quality is a tough proposition. Early on, there were a number of areas where webOS was superior, but those have faded as iOS matures. Even today, webOS is still the leader (IMO) in UX multi-tasking. The “cards” metaphor is so intuitive.

Hats off to everyone on the webOS team who has given their all. If webOS was less-open, less-innovative, & less-daring, I’m not even sure it, or Palm’s legacy would be around today.

]]> Comment on Bad Email UI by Mark http://almaer.com/blog/bad-email-ui/comment-page-1#comment-48736 Mark Tue, 03 Jan 2012 14:15:15 +0000 http://almaer.com/blog/?p=2989#comment-48736 I agree that "click here" should not be something that the user ever sees it was much more prevalent in the early days and I'm talking some. Personally I think it should always be the true target action. In the case above as Sri says change it to "episodes, to edit your [u]Account preferences[u]." For the former, the action is "download" so hyperlink it and remove "click here" and adjust the verbage to suit - surely people have grasped the concept of clicking on hyperlinks by now! ;-) I agree that “click here” should not be something that the user ever sees it was much more prevalent in the early days and I’m talking some. Personally I think it should always be the true target action. In the case above as Sri says change it to “episodes, to edit your [u]Account preferences[u].” For the former, the action is “download” so hyperlink it and remove “click here” and adjust the verbage to suit – surely people have grasped the concept of clicking on hyperlinks by now! ;-)

]]> Comment on The rise and fall of webOS is an epic tale; webOS != Web OS by David Engström http://almaer.com/blog/the-rise-and-fall-of-webos-is-an-epic-tale-webos-web-os/comment-page-1#comment-48735 David Engström Tue, 03 Jan 2012 14:14:49 +0000 http://almaer.com/blog/?p=3012#comment-48735 Thanks !! The palm fanboy in me cried when i read "Palm Pre and being told “hey, get a Blackberry instead!” That was an immediate “uh oh” moment for me. The sales channel was poisoned. Doom." Thanks !!

The palm fanboy in me cried when i read “Palm Pre and being told “hey, get a Blackberry instead!” That was an immediate “uh oh” moment for me. The sales channel was poisoned. Doom.”

]]> Comment on The rise and fall of webOS is an epic tale; webOS != Web OS by Steven http://almaer.com/blog/the-rise-and-fall-of-webos-is-an-epic-tale-webos-web-os/comment-page-1#comment-48734 Steven Tue, 03 Jan 2012 08:11:41 +0000 http://almaer.com/blog/?p=3012#comment-48734 Thanks for the great insights into what really went down on the platform developement side of things. The way you said "in Meg's hands" does not sound as if you believe the future holds a resurrection of any sort even if the open sourcing is "done right". What ingredients would you consider necessary for a real resurrection? Thanks for the great insights into what really went down on the platform developement side of things. The way you said “in Meg’s hands” does not sound as if you believe the future holds a resurrection of any sort even if the open sourcing is “done right”. What ingredients would you consider necessary for a real resurrection?

]]> Comment on The rise and fall of webOS is an epic tale; webOS != Web OS by Axel Rauschmayer http://almaer.com/blog/the-rise-and-fall-of-webos-is-an-epic-tale-webos-web-os/comment-page-1#comment-48733 Axel Rauschmayer Tue, 03 Jan 2012 07:59:56 +0000 http://almaer.com/blog/?p=3012#comment-48733 Good stuff! If find the paragraph starting with “The structure of the teams was also wrong in my opinion” a bit difficult to understand (due to its terseness). More details would be interesting. Good stuff!

If find the paragraph starting with “The structure of the teams was also wrong in my opinion” a bit difficult to understand (due to its terseness). More details would be interesting.

]]> Comment on The rise and fall of webOS is an epic tale; webOS != Web OS by Joshua Granick http://almaer.com/blog/the-rise-and-fall-of-webos-is-an-epic-tale-webos-web-os/comment-page-1#comment-48731 Joshua Granick Tue, 03 Jan 2012 06:41:11 +0000 http://almaer.com/blog/?p=3012#comment-48731 I appreciate your post. It feels like a breath of fresh air after the original article earlier today, which was not well-researched and felt too sure of its own conclusions. I agree that a focus on creating a great platform for web applications, not just Mojo applications, is vitally important. It was not until I had already been a webOS developer for a year that I realized how easy it was to create an application without using Mojo. Like you also mention, native is also important. Especially for games, the native development stack should not be overlooked. In messaging for webOS, the PDK has sometimes felt like an after-thought. It is too soon to tell the eulogy of webOS, but the next steps are important. I hope that webOS continues to grow as a web application platform, and not as an Enyo platform, and that it continues to offer strong support for native development. I appreciate your post. It feels like a breath of fresh air after the original article earlier today, which was not well-researched and felt too sure of its own conclusions.

I agree that a focus on creating a great platform for web applications, not just Mojo applications, is vitally important. It was not until I had already been a webOS developer for a year that I realized how easy it was to create an application without using Mojo.

Like you also mention, native is also important. Especially for games, the native development stack should not be overlooked. In messaging for webOS, the PDK has sometimes felt like an after-thought.

It is too soon to tell the eulogy of webOS, but the next steps are important. I hope that webOS continues to grow as a web application platform, and not as an Enyo platform, and that it continues to offer strong support for native development.

]]> Comment on Keeping SSH sessions alive with Mac OS X Terminal by Elusion http://almaer.com/blog/keeping-ssh-sessions-alive-with-mac-os-x-terminal/comment-page-1#comment-48712 Elusion Sat, 24 Dec 2011 14:10:39 +0000 http://almaer.com/blog2/keeping-ssh-sessions-alive-with-mac-os-x-terminal#comment-48712 I was super tired of my Mac OS X Lion's ssh connections dropping all the time in the middle of vi edits (recover FTW), and this really helped me. Found you on a Google search for a solution and this worked great. Thanks!! I was super tired of my Mac OS X Lion’s ssh connections dropping all the time in the middle of vi edits (recover FTW), and this really helped me.

Found you on a Google search for a solution and this worked great. Thanks!!

]]> Comment on Public Schools vs. Charter Schools: Facts not Myths by Christy http://almaer.com/blog/public-schools-vs-charter-schools-facts-not-myths/comment-page-2#comment-48682 Christy Wed, 14 Dec 2011 06:17:32 +0000 http://almaer.com/blog2/public-schools-vs-charter-schools-facts-not-myths#comment-48682 As I sit here and read the above post I want to cry. Listening to most of you and what you think of public schools breaks my heart. All I hear is how horrible they are and how we do not care about those children who are slow to learn or need a bit of extra help. I work in a public school as a Para professional/Aid to children with autism. I also help other kids in the reg. ed. class room that are not up to speed academically. All the teacher I work with try so hard to help every child that comes through their doors. And I have noticed that it is not the teachers fault or the "governments" fault for the lack of education our children are receiving. It is the Parents fault for not being involved with their children's home work, their school programs or being willing to help out in the class room. On average when we send out 24 cry's for help to our parents we only get one or two responses. And it is always the same parents coming to help. The children who have poor behavior in our reg ed class's will very rarely have a parent who is involved. O but how we hear about the horrible job we are doing as teachers when their kids end up in trouble. I would like to know how any of you who bad mouth our public school system help out and try to make it better. If you do not help to change it by lending a hand please shut your mouth and move on to something else. Every child deserve the right to a good education but if you as a parent cant step up to the plate and help out it is no ones fault but your own if you child suffers. I would love to see each and every one of you to try to teach a class room of 24 or more children with at least half of them from broken families and some of them who are being abused in many different ways. I can go on all night but why.. you will not listen anyway.... O ya and part of my pay check is spent every week on buying food for kids who's parents are to lazy to pack a lunch for them or to proud to apply for reduced or free lunch for their kids.. As I sit here and read the above post I want to cry. Listening to most of you and what you think of public schools breaks my heart. All I hear is how horrible they are and how we do not care about those children who are slow to learn or need a bit of extra help. I work in a public school as a Para professional/Aid to children with autism. I also help other kids in the reg. ed. class room that are not up to speed academically. All the teacher I work with try so hard to help every child that comes through their doors. And I have noticed that it is not the teachers fault or the “governments” fault for the lack of education our children are receiving. It is the Parents fault for not being involved with their children’s home work, their school programs or being willing to help out in the class room. On average when we send out 24 cry’s for help to our parents we only get one or two responses. And it is always the same parents coming to help. The children who have poor behavior in our reg ed class’s will very rarely have a parent who is involved. O but how we hear about the horrible job we are doing as teachers when their kids end up in trouble. I would like to know how any of you who bad mouth our public school system help out and try to make it better. If you do not help to change it by lending a hand please shut your mouth and move on to something else. Every child deserve the right to a good education but if you as a parent cant step up to the plate and help out it is no ones fault but your own if you child suffers. I would love to see each and every one of you to try to teach a class room of 24 or more children with at least half of them from broken families and some of them who are being abused in many different ways. I can go on all night but why.. you will not listen anyway…. O ya and part of my pay check is spent every week on buying food for kids who’s parents are to lazy to pack a lunch for them or to proud to apply for reduced or free lunch for their kids..

]]> Comment on Creating custom scrollbars with CSS; How CSS isn’t great for every task by Web Design Watford http://almaer.com/blog/creating-custom-scrollbars-with-css-how-css-isnt-great-for-every-task/comment-page-1#comment-48681 Web Design Watford Tue, 13 Dec 2011 18:20:58 +0000 http://almaer.com/blog/?p=2359#comment-48681 Glad I stumbled across this site, been looking for a way to modify the standard CSS overflow scrollbar and will be trying this out on our newest build - will let you know how we get on! Glad I stumbled across this site, been looking for a way to modify the standard CSS overflow scrollbar and will be trying this out on our newest build – will let you know how we get on!

]]> Comment on Public Schools vs. Charter Schools: Facts not Myths by Charter? http://almaer.com/blog/public-schools-vs-charter-schools-facts-not-myths/comment-page-2#comment-48647 Charter? Wed, 07 Dec 2011 04:37:50 +0000 http://almaer.com/blog2/public-schools-vs-charter-schools-facts-not-myths#comment-48647 It's pretty simple to say that charter schools are better than public schools if they are "gifted and talented". Heck, if I took all the best students from neighboring districts and put them together in one school I would be scoring off the charts as a school. DUH!!!! The problem here is that public schools do the same or better than most charter schools. If you compare a charter school that has a variety of levels of students then public educations beats them hands down. So, do we really have to spend millions or billions of dollars on creating charter schools? I don't think so. What we need is to re-evaluate what our goals are and how we educate the students in our classrooms. Anyone can teach gifted and talented students. The trick is to teaching less advantaged children and showing the importance of education to them. Do charter schools do better than public schools? Who knows...charter schools can throw out students to cause trouble or underperform. Where do those students end up? Back in public schools....how about this. We make a rule...if a charter school accepts a student then they MUST keep them in their system until they go to college. How do you think they will do? One more thing...require all charter/parochial/public schools to follow the same rules required by the state. As of now public schools have a slew of rules to follow but not charter or parochial schools....... It’s pretty simple to say that charter schools are better than public schools if they are “gifted and talented”. Heck, if I took all the best students from neighboring districts and put them together in one school I would be scoring off the charts as a school. DUH!!!! The problem here is that public schools do the same or better than most charter schools. If you compare a charter school that has a variety of levels of students then public educations beats them hands down. So, do we really have to spend millions or billions of dollars on creating charter schools? I don’t think so. What we need is to re-evaluate what our goals are and how we educate the students in our classrooms. Anyone can teach gifted and talented students. The trick is to teaching less advantaged children and showing the importance of education to them. Do charter schools do better than public schools? Who knows…charter schools can throw out students to cause trouble or underperform. Where do those students end up? Back in public schools….how about this. We make a rule…if a charter school accepts a student then they MUST keep them in their system until they go to college. How do you think they will do?
One more thing…require all charter/parochial/public schools to follow the same rules required by the state. As of now public schools have a slew of rules to follow but not charter or parochial schools…….

]]>