Joey deVilla

Classic case of shipping the org chart (in case anyone needs a reminder of Microsoft's org chart: https://www.globalnerdy.com/2011/07/03/org-charts-of-the-big-tech-comp…

Doesn't Microsoft own like, $13,000,000,000 of OpenAi, that owns ChatGPT? "We've got an exciting match for you tonight folks! In this corner its Microsoft, vs their arch rival ... Microsoft. Ouch, Microsoft delivers a nasty 1-2 combo to Microsoft. Got em up against the ropes Microsoft." Anyways, this is pretty classic Microsoft [1] [1] Microsoft "org chart" https://www.globalnerdy.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/micro…

That's not what i get from reading him https://www.globalnerdy.com/2007/07/06/richard-m-stallman-copyright-vs… My favorite part: >Copyright Now >Now with digital data and computer networks, it much easier for us to copy and manipulate information > Digital technology has changed the effect of copyright law > Copyright used to be a power that was: > wielded by authors > over publishers > to yield benefits to the public > Now it’s a power that is: > wielded by publishers > to punish the public > in the name of the authors > Now the public wants to copy and share — what would a democratic government do?

> It's also probably worth financially supporting Oracle if you make substantial money from Java-based software. Oracle is by and large responsible for the platform that you are using. Mmm... That's an interesting theory, but one does not really know if the money will be spent on tightening down the Java platform and legal attacks or technical improvements[1]. In practice it probably does not matter either way as that company is not cash-constrained in any shape or form. [1]: https://www.globalnerdy.com/2011/07/03/org-charts-of-the-big-tech-comp…

The specs for the laptop you’re interested in are pretty close to the ones for the Acer Nitro 5 (2020 model, Intel i5 10300H processor, NVIDIA HTX 1650 with 4 GB RAM). I wrote about it here: https://www.globalnerdy.com/2021/07/29/buying-a-used-laptop-for-softwa… I’ve had it only a few days, but I’m enjoying it. It runs circles around my previous Windows laptop (my work-issued machine is a MacBook Pro), my trusty ThinkPad T430 with 16GB RAM, especially since I used my Amazon points to bump the RAM up to the maximum 32 GB. I’ve been using it to build Android and Flutter mobile apps, learning Unity, Spring Boot/Kotlin web applications, and some Jupyter Notebook work. It also does a lovely job of playing GTA V.

All those and no mention of the classic "Forth on the Atari: Learning by Using Forth"? http://www.globalnerdy.com/2007/09/14/reimagining-programming-book-cov…

This is not a Japanese-only thing. It is a thing so common in America that there is a named test to detect it -- FizzBuzz [+] -- and this test, or one like it, actually catches many people out. [+] c.f. Any of the following and note that they're from the nation of, ahem, conventional engineering culture: http://imranontech.com/2007/01/24/using-fizzbuzz-to-find-developers-wh… http://blog.codinghorror.com/why-cant-programmers-program/ http://www.globalnerdy.com/2012/11/15/fizzbuzz-still-works/ I would note that a common theme in these posts is "I thought it was a myth but then I tried hiring and the boogeyman sprung to horrifying life."

> Also, the ZX81 had the best cover art for any programming manual EVER: Nope. http://globalnerdy.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/forth_on_t…

> Lampert took the myth that humans perform best when acting selfishly as gospel, pitting Sears company managers against each other in a kind of Lord of the Flies death match. Sounds a bit like how Microsoft was structured [1]. [1] http://www.globalnerdy.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/micros…

My favourite comment on the original post - "Old Man Yells At Cloud" http://www.globalnerdy.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/grandp…

>Apple focused on profitability. Quite the contrary. Apple focuses on experience - and knows that if you deliver a kick ass experience, profit will naturally follow. Apple also is one of the few tech companies that seems to be willing to say "no" and not be all things to all people. It's often misinterpreted as only targeting the profitable markets, as if that's a bad thing. Not pursuing unprofitable markets seems to be common sense to me - call me crazy! Microsoft of the 80's and 90's focused on profitability and chasing relentless backwards compatibility; and it worked - for a while. Until you had the Windows division actively undermining other portions of the organization it saw as competition. Memes like this are no accident: https://www.globalnerdy.com/2011/07/03/org-charts-of-the-big-tech-comp… Then the next wave of computing - mobile happened and they suddenly were on the outside looking in. Much like the likes of DEC, Prime and heck even SUN were when the PC revolution happened and dethroned mini's. As for baseband chips - radio is freakishly unforgiving. Apple did buy Intels baseband modem operation lock stock and barrel, so in three to five years - who knows? They certainly are motivated and have the resources to make a solid go of it. And they have certainly proven they can expand their expertise rather competently when they are motivated to. I don't think the Swiss are as dismissive of the Apple watch as they initially were;…

This reminds me of a story that I heard last summer, http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4603414 later confirmed here on HN by the hiring supervisor who observed the problem, http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4919749 that many CS grads, even CS grads with master's degrees, can't get through a hiring screen that includes the question, "Write a loop that displays the numbers 1 to 100." Yes, something that simple is something too hard for many computer science graduates who are seeking jobs after graduation. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why you can't suppose that a computer science degree indicates ANYTHING about a job applicant's suitability to work for you. If you want to hire a programmer who will program well for you, test the job applicant's programming skill during the hiring process by having the applicant do a sample of the work you expect the programmer to do after the programmer is hired. In general, for hiring for any job, don't worry about degrees, but be sure to ask for a work-sample test. References for why it's a good idea to hire on the basis of work-sample testing rather than on the basis of college degrees can be found in my extensive FAQ on the subject, written for Hacker News threads about hiring. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4613543 LAST EDIT: As I expected, people still don't believe this story. I thought it was rather amazing when I heard it. But, with further thought, I've decided that this really is an empirical issue. It may be…

But of course, one prerequisite is absolutely necessary: the ability to approach problems logically. That is what one should look for on top of the domain knowledge. This is something that many people in the enterprise and in mainstream programming are incredibly in denial about. I would guess that fully half of enterprise software decisions are made on an irrational basis, or at best on stuff that amounts to no more than hearsay. http://www.globalnerdy.com/2008/01/28/zed-shaws-writeup-of-cusec-2008/ Actually, most people are partially in denial, in that they are unconsciously trained to operate on groupthink. Most companies are not startups, so they have some proven formula for making money. The best strategy in this case is to let that work and to not rock the boat. In this case, being an obedient corporate drone is desirable. In the startup case, one is actively in search of a new formula, so it is most certainly not!

Leaving AI completely aside, it still amazes me that people finds "novel" the idea of removing highly-paid white collar intellectual workers (software developers or otherwise) completely out of the loop. No-code platforms date back to the 80's. Getting rid of engineers in general is even older [*]. Even relational databases and SQL were initially promoted as "ways to get rid of those expensive programmers to access your data" because they resembled some form of English. The funny thing about the ad below is that stuff like "stop hiring / get rid of humans" would have been seen as highly insensitive in 1950's America, so they touted that as "put them to do something more important". [*] https://www.globalnerdy.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/150_e…

In a weird reversal to Conway's law, the organizational structure of the US government has started to resemble the software it uses [0]. [0]: https://www.globalnerdy.com/2011/07/03/org-charts-of-the-big-tech-comp…

Obligatory comic: https://www.globalnerdy.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/org-c… But they are still a tech company. So it is likely that this will also affect tech workers.

almost reminds me of this old meme https://www.globalnerdy.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/licen…

The Oracle Org Chart by Manu Cornet springs to mind reading this: https://www.globalnerdy.com/2011/07/03/org-charts-of-the-big-tech-comp…

Sadly, no "Hyper" key from yesteryear yet. https://www.globalnerdy.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/lisp-…

Just Microsoft being Microsoft. Being useful doesn't matter, just being good at the Microsoft game. https://www.globalnerdy.com/2011/07/03/org-charts-of-the-big-tech-comp…

Oracle is a lawyer company[0]. Trademarks and patents are lawyers' weapons. You don't donate nuclear warheads to your enemies. [0] https://www.globalnerdy.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/oracle-org-char… (can't find original XKCD, sorry)

AIUI it's some weird legal sleight of hand where they don't (and can't) actually own the Tetris gameplay mechanics, but they have successfully argued in court that the appearance of the game constitutes their trade dress, and in practice you can't really implement the Tetris mechanics without the result looking like Tetris. TTC is the gaming version of Oracle in that one meme[1], 90% of their raison d'etre is just to scare people away from making Tetris clones or variants without their permission so they can keep collecting rent on it forever. [1] https://www.globalnerdy.com/2011/07/03/org-charts-of-the-big-tech-comp…

How about emoji? https://www.globalnerdy.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/poopy-swift-cod…

I don't think Vallejo's art was necessarily limited to the demoscene; in the late 70s/80s that style was very common on video game cover art. Related amusing article: https://www.globalnerdy.com/2007/09/14/reimagining-programming-book-co…

> Google (www.google.com) is a pure search engine — no weather, no news feed, no links to sponsors, no ads, no distractions, no portal litter. Nothing but a fast-loading search site. Reward them with a visit. ~ 1999 https://www.globalnerdy.com/2014/01/29/google-as-described-in-a-turn-o…

Sundar needs to go, period. All these articles undersell how bad the morale is at Google right now. It has been unpopular change after unpopular change, and Googlers have zero trust in the leadership. There's zero psychological safety anymore, and the environment is basically like this[1], but actually worse because even the "sister" teams in the same org are being very territorial. I don't think the next person is going to be better (because they'll be appointed by the very same board), but Google needs a change at the top. [1] https://www.globalnerdy.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/micro…

This meme org chart never gets less accurate throughout the years https://www.globalnerdy.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/micro…

2011-era satirical org charts, https://www.globalnerdy.com/2011/07/03/org-charts-of-the-big-tech-comp…

Very cool, one of our community members does something similar with local technology events: https://www.globalnerdy.com/the-tampa-bay-tech-events-mailing-list/