tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6578485144715576722024-03-14T00:41:49.643-07:00Exploring InterestingnessDiscoveries in software developmentmr mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01874627782413265853noreply@blogger.comBlogger52125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-657848514471557672.post-26141976015552227102020-04-25T14:37:00.000-07:002020-04-25T14:37:17.649-07:00Stay in your lane!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I went for a bike ride today - with a mask and distancing from other people - and had a lady yell at me to "stay in your lane!". People often yell weird stuff, and usually I just ignore it. But this one bugged me because at that particular point in time, there were no lanes.</div>
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You can see in the picture below that the lanes kind of end. I was beyond the yellow markers as seen in the photo. The path bends around under the overpass and eventually reconnects with some more bike lanes. But in between, there's just road with no painted or even implied lanes. </div>
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Thinking back on it now, maybe she was just warning me to continue staying in my lane, that's the only thing I can think of that makes sense. Or maybe she was just being a New Yorker and wanted to yell at someone. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipfcfZnbDuQR6ZDFzoZFgqCgZly4T0mRvLSAwZxNrpV_AWqscCL8HidnJjXzZh-nnLqv8MxbVPsyROboK3wpXO-hsihZ_ONOCV1iMQM6k2I-v4cNDK8JnAJVRYssqqgwzXA10YrAqJm1X2/s1600/IMG_20200425_120923.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipfcfZnbDuQR6ZDFzoZFgqCgZly4T0mRvLSAwZxNrpV_AWqscCL8HidnJjXzZh-nnLqv8MxbVPsyROboK3wpXO-hsihZ_ONOCV1iMQM6k2I-v4cNDK8JnAJVRYssqqgwzXA10YrAqJm1X2/s400/IMG_20200425_120923.jpg" width="300" /> </a></div>
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<br />mr mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01874627782413265853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-657848514471557672.post-3020128278544893822020-04-01T20:29:00.000-07:002020-04-01T20:29:00.166-07:00But I wanna see the big boat!The USNS Comfort was sent to NY to help provide extra beds for non-corona hospital patients. It's here because NYC is the epicenter for the covid-19 in the US and the city is running out of ICU beds to treat them.<br />
But being NY, people are silly. Despite all the warnings and orders for social distancing, people <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/03/31/usns-comfort-crowds-watch-hospital-ship-arrive-new-york-city/5093608002/" target="_blank">gathered in large crowds</a> to watch the ship arrive. The best way to avoid the corona virus is to stay away from other people, yet people ignore that to go see a ship that's supposed to help ease the pain of the hospitals during this time. Crazy.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT6FMixnz_KJhyphenhyphenDMqhLeFxtFQO13ETvNVrzu00lOo92ZVCFlUBKEW972IO1YFboRhEmQIFnhgiP4YNR8gg2drfRHpAwd00qbbjd7jRD56082zm5COHiz000TNNHjkrqNnaxIeFhCicl-kr/s1600/USNS+Comfort.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="889" data-original-width="919" height="617" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT6FMixnz_KJhyphenhyphenDMqhLeFxtFQO13ETvNVrzu00lOo92ZVCFlUBKEW972IO1YFboRhEmQIFnhgiP4YNR8gg2drfRHpAwd00qbbjd7jRD56082zm5COHiz000TNNHjkrqNnaxIeFhCicl-kr/s640/USNS+Comfort.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">USNS Comfort, in center, from our neighborhood across the river. (Taken while practicing social distancing.)</td></tr>
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<br />mr mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01874627782413265853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-657848514471557672.post-4076532311232805442020-02-17T13:21:00.002-08:002020-02-17T13:21:19.792-08:00Bus driver hates on police Some bus drivers are talkative, some are silent. I had one that liked to announce every stop, including instructions for getting on and off the bus and then repeated the whole spiel over again. It was rather annoying, like non-stop talking. I much prefer the quiet drivers.<br />
One morning, I had a driver that was not having a good day. He was mildly complaining about things like the road and other drivers. Then we approached a stop light and a police car cut in front of him and stopped at the red light. This set Mr. Driver off and he started a whole tirade about how the police were ruining his life. His rant went something like this:<br />
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"Man, you guys are supposed to make traffic better, but here you go cutting in front of me and make me miss the light. Now I'm stuck here for no reason because of the police. Stupid police man, what you doing to me? Why you do this stuff to me? Oh... NO! Do not turn on your lights and drive through now. Arrrrggghh! I can't believe the police would do this to me. Now I'm stuck here for no reason. And you just drive off... No wonder traffic is so bad. You're supposed to make it better and you do this kind of thing? I can't believe it ..."</blockquote>
Of course, all the passengers were silent, acting like this wasn't happening. Eventually, we made it through the light and the tunnel to the bus station. Mr. Driver only freaked out one more time when another bus cut him off near the entrance to the station. That caused a smaller rant about how people are ruining his life. I was happy to get off the bus that day.mr mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01874627782413265853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-657848514471557672.post-258916790598548472020-01-20T20:35:00.003-08:002020-01-20T20:35:37.763-08:00Hey, I'm walking here! Shortly after moving here, I was having a discussion with other new employees at my company about living in the city. One topic that came up was whether or not people would want to have kids and raise them in the city. For most of them, it was "no way, it's a crazy place." One even made the comment that they'd have to be pretty tough kids to live here. I'm more in the camp of "sure, why not?"<br />
Now that I've been here a while, I realize that I don't often see kids in the city. Rarely on the trains, never on the buses, rarely on the streets. I see high school kids on the morning train, but really not many under the age of 15 or so. Maybe the timing isn't right and they've all been taken to elementary school or something. It is a little strange now that I think about it.<br />
I did have an interesting experience this last week though. I was waiting for my wife on a street corner in midtown. Since it was really cold outside, I was strolling a little just to move and keep a little warm. I was looking all around just to people watch and pass the time. I noticed a girl - maybe 8 years hold - and her mom walking down the street in the same direction as me. The sidewalk was mostly clear and I figured they had plenty of room to pass by.<br />
When they got close, I felt this little arm on my side, pushing me to the side. At first, I thought it was someone trying to get my attention. But no, it was just the little girl, pushing me out of her way. She didn't even say anything like "excuse me." So the only person (so far) that's pushed me out of the way on the streets of NYC is this 8 year old girl. I guess they do grow up to be pretty tough.mr mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01874627782413265853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-657848514471557672.post-72946865130653784492020-01-02T20:49:00.001-08:002020-01-02T20:49:09.861-08:00Empire State Building Colors One of the nice surprises we had after moving to New York was that we have a nice view of the Empire State Building from our upstairs window. Not only that, but it was nice to discover that the colors of the lights on the building change fairly often. Most days, it is its signature white color, but for other occasions, they switch it up a bit.<br />
For example, for the New York Rangers opening game night, it was colored in Rangers colors - Red, White, and Blue. For Thanksgiving, it was fall colors. This one is my favorite so far, Christmas colors between Christmas and New Years:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfsL42BR1TJETWg8D3A6PE7jCf0i3s8Ht88NWFZdNo1oRSogOLu2_CxlDxr20TTyDwZ0c_C_TgwaJ6QF5MwNISyHdJIGzlKl0p_x-gZ0GxWYD2r_rTxZik_d4Zs77kJlBnbYdU5FW5l128/s1600/IMG_20200102_171444_Fotor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="700" data-original-width="317" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfsL42BR1TJETWg8D3A6PE7jCf0i3s8Ht88NWFZdNo1oRSogOLu2_CxlDxr20TTyDwZ0c_C_TgwaJ6QF5MwNISyHdJIGzlKl0p_x-gZ0GxWYD2r_rTxZik_d4Zs77kJlBnbYdU5FW5l128/s320/IMG_20200102_171444_Fotor.jpg" width="144" /></a></div>
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Sometimes the colors are weird. Like on Christmas Eve, it was half Christmas colors and half Hanukkah. Which means that it didn't really look good either way.<br />
<br />mr mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01874627782413265853noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-657848514471557672.post-48002013841132620182019-12-30T12:14:00.002-08:002019-12-30T12:14:51.048-08:00Upside down drawing<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Lately, I've been trying to do some things other than being on the computer all day. One thing I've been experimenting with is drawing.</div>
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I picked up <a href="https://smile.amazon.com/Drawing-Right-Side-Brain-Definitive/dp/1585429201" target="_blank">Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain</a> as one book I've been reading/working through on the topic. I like the exercises that it has you do. This one is my upside down drawing of Picasso's Igor Stravinsky. It didn't turn out exactly like the original, but I like it.</div>
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<br />mr mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01874627782413265853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-657848514471557672.post-21127918457298060212019-11-13T16:34:00.001-08:002019-11-13T16:34:39.153-08:00Subway Drummer NYC has a lot of musicians that perform in the subways. I recently learned that they need to apply and <a href="http://web.mta.info/mta/aft/muny/auditions.html" target="_blank">audition</a> in order to be able to perform there. Most of the time, I see these performers as just more noise pollution. But the one I saw today was actually fascinating.<br />
He was a drummer, but he didn't have hands. His arms looked like they were amputated just above the elbows. Somehow, he had the drumsticks attached to what remained and he sat on the floor with a drum held in his knees. Then he drummed.<br />
I don't remember it being particularly good or bad drumming. I don't remember anything at all about how it sounded other than that he did have some recorded accompaniment. But it was interesting to see this guy being able to drum.mr mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01874627782413265853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-657848514471557672.post-69181284574534957292019-10-31T16:11:00.001-07:002019-10-31T16:11:24.877-07:00Sheer Terror Since it's Halloween, I figured I could write about a moment of sheer terror that I witnessed on the subway not long ago.<br />
There was this teenage girl waiting down on the platform for the train to come by. I noticed her as I walked down the stairs, but didn't note anything unusual as I went by. A minute or so passed as we were waiting and then I noticed her starting to walk up and down the platform at a hurried pace. I got an inkling that something weird was going on, but then it was like a switch was flipped and she went into full panic mode.<br />
We're talking like breathing heavily, panting, screaming, wide eyes, tears streaming down her face, running around in circles, intermittent sobbing. Basically, out of control panic. She was the most terrified person I've ever seen. She was calling to someone - sister or mom or something - asking why they left and where they went.<br />
I looked around for a police officer - there's usually plenty of them at this station - but I didn't see one. Luckily, an older lady grabbed her and got her to stop screaming and pacing. The poor girl just kind of melted there. The lady and a group of gathering supporters calmed her down some and tried to get her story from her.<br />
Shortly thereafter, my train arrived. I was satisfied that she was in good hands, so I got on the train and left.mr mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01874627782413265853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-657848514471557672.post-11095221579129743172019-10-06T10:28:00.002-07:002019-10-06T10:28:12.001-07:00Saving is not allowed I saw an interesting exchange on the subway during my trip home the other day. There was a guy between cars jumping and swinging around while yelling. Of course, you aren't really supposed to move between cars or ride where this guy was, but people do it all the time.<br />
Well, whatever he was doing, was really moving around and screaming. I thought I was witnessing my second near-suicide since moving to New York. Apparently, another lady had similar thoughts and she jumped up to pull the emergency stop.<br />
When dude saw what she was doing, he went crazy. He started screaming at her and then chased her back to her seat. At least he was back in the car at this point. This is where the social aspect of the exchange got interesting because everyone started intently not paying attention to what was going on.<br />
For the next couple of stops, the guy stayed in the back of the car. He was telling other people, very loudly, about how stupid this lady was. Of course, he used other words for her. During this time, everyone was trying hard to avert their eyes.<br />
After a stop or two, he returned to where the lady was now seated and yelled at her nonstop for another stop or two. She was trying hard not to acknowledge him and everyone else was busily finding a way to pay attention to something else - or at least look like they were.<br />
Finally, mr psycho guy left the train again. He went between the cars and was bouncing around again. He then entered the next car and there was a visible sigh of relief from everyone in our car. Shortly thereafter, people were talking to the lady - congratulating and reassuring her and so on. She left at the next stop.<br />
During the exchange, I was curious what people would think if the guy did fall off the train and die. The lady was the only one that tried to do something (at first). Were we all secretly hoping he would fall off? If he did die, would we all say "oh well" or would we feel bad for not interfering?mr mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01874627782413265853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-657848514471557672.post-34787631488823158472019-09-30T15:29:00.002-07:002019-09-30T15:29:20.878-07:00There are sirens all around... My wife and I spent a weekend in Boston recently. One thing we noticed was that we could sleep really well there. It was so nice. The first reason was fairly obvious. We left our kitties at home. They've lately adopted the routine of waking us up multiple times for food or attention at all hours. We love the kitties, but it would be nice if they let us sleep more often.<br />
The other reason wasn't immediately apparent. I couldn't quite put my finger on it until we saw an ambulance driving down the street. We were like - "heeeyy, there weren't any sirens last night." We haven't had a siren-less night in quite a while. The ones near our house are especially annoying in that it's like the drivers are starting and stopping them repeatedly. There's no constant rhythm to them. They also go off at all hours of the night, driving us crazy.mr mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01874627782413265853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-657848514471557672.post-45227780041427172652019-09-23T17:44:00.004-07:002019-09-23T17:44:42.663-07:00Oh! Chipmunk!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Central Park is always an interesting place for people watching. Like this guy & gal who are biking around with their dog. That's not too strange, I would put my cat in one of those carriers if I thought he'd actually behave.<div>
But the tourists in Central Park can be dangerous. I had a couple miles left to finish out my century this past weekend and so decided to take a couple laps around the park. The tourists were a big problem. Many of them are on rented bikes that look very sturdy but a little clumsy. It seems like these people haven't been on bikes for many years because they're pedaling slowly and wobbling around in their lane (if they even try to stay in the bike lane). I almost crashed into a couple of them because they were just doing dumb things.</div>
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The first one was this old guy who dropped a bag from his bike. That happens, but he looked down and back at it (while still moving forward) and then turned abruptly and slammed on his brakes. He stopped perpendicular to traffic, blocking two of the lanes. I did yell at this guy, but it was more of a "watch out" as I quickly dodged around him than anything angry.</div>
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The next guy was more fun. He and his girlfriend were pedaling up-hill. Like others, they were going slowly and wobbling quite a bit. In this scary state, the guy saw a chipmunk cross the road in front of him. He decided to point it out to his lady, but in doing so lost control of his bike. He wobbled over and collided with her front wheel, almost knocking her over. Luckily, they were going slow so no one fell and got really hurt. Many people around just laughed at them.</div>
mr mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01874627782413265853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-657848514471557672.post-59567042626760068562019-09-23T16:01:00.002-07:002019-09-23T16:02:33.648-07:00The 11th Bus<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I take the bus to work. Actually, I take the bus and then the train to work. Most days, it works out well. Other days it's not quite so nice.<br />
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On this particular day, I sat and waited at the bus stop as 10 full buses drove by. They had no room for more passengers, so they just kept going. Finally, I was picked up by the 11th bus (it might have actually been the 12th, I was pretty mad by then).<br />
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Luckily, the buses come so often during rush hour that I only waited like 10 minutes or so.mr mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01874627782413265853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-657848514471557672.post-34114308518817702132019-09-18T13:57:00.002-07:002019-09-19T06:54:41.592-07:00The Scariest Subway Exit (So Far) We took a subway ride on our way home from the American Museum of Natural History. We stopped at the Port Authority stop, where I go almost every day and have never really had a problem before. We wanted to get some dinner, so we took a different exit (8th Ave & 40th) than I have in the past. It was probably the scariest 50 feet of NYC that I've seen yet.<br />
My first thought was that the tunnel leading from the subway to the street felt weird. This is a pretty popular subway stop, but there was basically no one going this way. Soon after you start walking down the tunnel, you're greeted by this very shady looking video store. (Really? who uses video stores anymore?) Plus, most of the front windows were covered up. I didn't want to look too much more into it, so we tried to hurry past it.<br />
Right next to the video store, there's stairs leading up to the exit. Again, these were empty save for two people at the top of the stairs. They were acting kind of weird, and I was sure they were drunk or high or something, so we tried to hurry past them on the other side of the tunnel. We had barely past them when they started yelling and throwing punches at each other.<br />
My wife said one of them hit the other one and knocked him down the stairs. I didn't see that because I was focused on avoiding the homeless guy crawling around on the street in front of us while mumbling and picking up fries. (Manhattan street fries? I'm sure that's safe). We hurried past him and the other homeless hecklers and made it to the main street where there were a lot more people.<br />
Interesting adventure, at least I know to avoid that exit now.mr mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01874627782413265853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-657848514471557672.post-19640386193993393242019-09-18T13:36:00.002-07:002019-09-19T06:55:45.708-07:00A Manly Man with a Fan We took the subway to the American Natural History Museum the other weekend. Since it was a Saturday, the train was rather crowded. Luckily enough, some people got off the train after a couple of stops and we were able to grab some seats.<br />
At one of the next few stops, a tall man entered the train. It was already crowded, so he barely fit inside the door before it closed. He then leaned back against the door to rest. He was a very manly man - tall, looked like he worked out, had long hair done up in a manly way, and he had a nicely trimmed mustache. However, to our surprise, he pulled out a pink fan - one of those cheap, fold-able, paper fans - and began fanning himself on the subway.<br />
This guy was secure enough in his manliness to pull out and use a cheap pink fan on the crowded subway. I solute you Mr. Man.
mr mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01874627782413265853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-657848514471557672.post-45157217178287963492018-04-01T12:10:00.000-07:002019-06-26T23:38:11.150-07:00Code EntropyJust like in chemistry, code and software projects experience a gradual decline to disorder. I first came across the idea of code entropy while reading <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Pragmatic-Programmer-Journeyman-Master/dp/020161622X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1522608019&sr=8-1&keywords=the+pragmatic+programmer">The Pragmatic Programmer</a>, but I've seen the process happen in many of the projects I've joined or worked on. Normally, when entropy is brought up, it's to encourage good engineering practices. Refactoring of code and sound design and structure of the code is thought to prevent decay. I think these things help, but can't prevent the growing disorder.<br/>So what really is the problem? Why do things start to fall apart in software projects? Unmaintainable modifications - aka "hacks" - definitely add to entropy. Sometimes this is referred to as technical debt. These are modifications that make some functionality work, but make changes later on more time consuming and difficult.<br/>For a non-code example, think of hanging a picture in your house. To do that, you need to find your tools, measure things out, do the hanging work, and then put things back. What if you're lazy and decide to leave your tools scattered wherever you last used them. That would make it more difficult to do your next hanging job since you'll have to search all over to find the tools that you need. That's a lot like what technical debt is.<br/>Software engineering practices - refactoring as you go, following design patterns, separating out concerns, etc - all help to reduce technical debt and keep entropy out of your code. But there are other things that creep in and bring about disorder.<br/>For example, use of third-party libraries is a common practice that I've seen cause a lot of problems. Don't get me wrong, I like third-party libraries and encourage using them, but they bring their own baggage. Many projects I've worked on, for example, have picked a stable version of a library and built on top of it. Then they rarely upgrade that library. There's good reasons for that - the code is working, the need to upgrade isn't perceived as an issue, it takes time to ensure an upgraded version works as intended, the more libraries you use, the harder it is to keep up to date and manage inter-dependencies, etc.<br/>But there's also a lot of bad in not keeping up. The biggest one is security issues. If you aren't taking any updates, then you might be exposing yourself to vulnerabilities in the third-party libraries. Additionally, you can get stuck in a situation where you can't go back to make changes to code. I've seen it happen many times with Visual Studio where I've been unable to open an old project because it requires some old version of Visual Studio or an old plugin that isn't available anymore. So the project is literally unworkable until someone pays the large price of updating libraries and plugins.<br/>On top of those worries, code eventually dies. Say your project takes a hard dependency on another project. Like your frontend project is built on Angular 1 or your backend is build in PHP 5.6 with the Zend Framework version 2. Those are great approaches, but at some point Angular 1 won't be supported anymore and there isn't a clear migration to version. Or PHP 5.6 reaches its end of life and your code doesn't run in version 7. This kind of thing happens all the time, and it leaves your code in this end-of-the-road state.<br/>Your code may not be disorganized at this point, but it's much more likely that "hacks" are going to be put in and increase entropy since the code can't take advantage of new features and functions offered by the updated dependencies. Your developers will also likely care less about this "old, legacy code".<br/>I don't think entropy can be completely avoided in code. Sure, you can keep it at bay for a while. To me, it just signifies that software should have a lifespan. Eventually, it will hit a point where the project needs to be shut down. I don't think that's a bad thing. Take the learnings from the project and incorporate them into the next thing.mr mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01874627782413265853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-657848514471557672.post-84795414387786315332016-03-12T11:02:00.000-08:002019-06-26T23:38:10.969-07:00The MSCS who couldn'tI recently took part in some interviews for prospective interns at my company. I normally like doing interviews. I like talking to people about the projects they've worked on and what their interests are. I also like seeing different approaches to the programming problems I present.<br/>Some of the interviews went well. A couple candidates came up with approaches that I hadn't seen before. In the end, their solutions didn't work but it was interesting to see how they thought through the problems and iterated as they went.<br/>One interview did not go well and left me depressed for a few days afterward. The candidate looked good on paper - they had already completed a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science and were close to finishing their Master's. They'd also listed programming projects they had done and languages they were supposedly comfortable working in.<br/>Right before I started the technical question, the candidate mentioned "by the way, I'm not very comfortable programming." That threw me off a little bit - how could a Master's student in Computer Science not be comfortable programming. So we talked about it for a bit. I asked about what roles they had taken on the different projects and why programming languages were listed on the resume, and so forth. The more we talked, the worse it got. Not only was this student "not comfortable" with programming, they actually didn't have programming skills at all.<br/>I'm really confused how this individual got through the system. Not only that they're earning a Master's degree in Computer Science, but they got through the HR process and got invited to an interview at Microsoft. I suppose if you have the right things on your resume and your degree can be verified - it came from an actual university, one that I attended early on - then that might be good enough to get an interview for an intern position.<br/>It is still very disappointing. At one point, I was considering going back for a Master's in CS. I guess they don't mean that much after all.mr mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01874627782413265853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-657848514471557672.post-19043146077188618812016-02-15T09:14:00.000-08:002019-06-26T23:38:10.739-07:00Magic fields in the APIOn a recent project I was working on, I was helping to build a frontend application. All the data that we used was managed by a partner, backend team that exposed the data through some APIs. That's a fairly standard setup. The weird thing was that in most cases, the APIs provided direct access to the datastore. They didn't do much validation, they just provided a way to get and set the data. In some cases, if particular fields were set, then some magic would happen.<br/><br/>In one particular case, our frontend would allow users to update their profile information. To do that, we would ask the backend for the profile, display it to the user, let them make the changes they wanted, and then we'd send the updated information to be saved by the backend. However, one of these magic fields exists in the profile, and it caused some problems. The magic behind this field worked in such a way that if we saved the exact profile information that we retrieved, then the profile would be broken.<br/><br/>Let's look at that again. If I call the API to retrieve the profile information, then call the save API and give it the exact information I was just provided, it would break the profile. Really? Yep. The expectation was that there was a field that needed to be cleared out before sending the information back to be saved. If it wasn't cleared, then the profile would be broken. Of course, this wasn't documented anywhere, it was just expected that everyone would know this.<br/><br/>Something doesn't sit right about this design. It would make sense that if this field had to be cleared out, then it would either be cleared out by the retrieve API or the save API would give an error if it was present.mr mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01874627782413265853noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-657848514471557672.post-31934238692690876502016-02-05T20:45:00.000-08:002019-06-26T23:38:10.573-07:00Good enough for an OSTo me, OS choice is an interesting topic. Working in the tech industry, I've seen a lot of people that get almost religious about the OS that they choose to run. For me, there's not much of a choice anymore. I work at Microsoft and so I use a lot of Microsoft technologies, including Windows. It hasn't always been this way though.<br/>Growing up, my family used Macs. I remember installing System 6 and 7 and then being excited to try OS 8 when it was finally released. My first job in college had to do with caring for OS9 machines and servers. <br/>I also dabbled on the PC side. I bought my first computer in high school. It was a Pentium machine that I upgraded from Windows 3.1 to 95 (and then put Plus! on it, which was totally awesome). I also had a hacker friend that got me interested in Linux. I started on Slackware and then moved on to Mandrake Linux when that came out. I guess my point is that I tried all types of systems.<br/>During college, and the first few years of real work afterwards, I became a strong Linux user. I contributed to Ubuntu documentation and hung out on IRC in the Linux rooms, helping people get it installed and running.<br/>OS X was fascinating when it came out. I mentioned I was working with OS9 when I started college. I had this thought in the back of my head, that I wish I had blogged about (if blogs were around back then, I might have). I thought that if I were Microsoft or Apple, I would change my OS to build off of an open-source project. If I did that, the kernel would probably stay open source, but I could build some proprietary GUI and common programming infrastructure on top of that. That's basically what OS X did. They took the BSD kernel and made it into Darwin (my thoughts would have been to use the Linux kernel, but BSD makes more sense) and then built their own things on top of it using Next technologies. Great idea!<br/>Unfortunately, the first few versions of OS X were pretty terrible. They shipped with some kind of compatibility layer with OS9 which was much more compatible with existing Mac applications and hardware. I remember trying 10.1, 10.2, 10.3, and even 10.4 and not being very impressed. I finally bought my own Mac after 10.5 came out because it could run Windows if I wanted it to and I was curious what all the fuss was about.<br/>In the background, Windows kept releasing versions. 2000 came out, which was pretty awesome. Then XP, which was nice as well. Then Vista, which was just wrong and I hated it from the start.<br/><br/>That brings us to mid 2009, when something interesting happened. Microsoft released Windows 7, which fixed everything wrong with Vista. OS X 10.5 was actually pretty nice, but 10.6 came out and improved the performance and stability of 10.5. I felt 10.6 was the first one that felt great enough for me to use full time. Linux was a little bit late, I think they came up with something really good with 10.04, which came out in 2010. That was the first Linux distro I could install without fighting to configure X and worrying about finding drivers for hardware.<br/>I remember one day, when I was at work, administering an Ubuntu 10.04 server from my Mac while setting up a Windows 7 machine for a new employee, and I thought - you know, all of these are really good. Linux is great and easy to get working, OS X works just fine, and Windows 7 is the coolest thing from Microsoft in a long time. I could see myself using any of them about equally. I thought we had hit a plateau of some kind.<br/><br/>In many ways, I think we did. They've all kind of been messed up since that peak. Windows 8 and 8.1 were radically different and people hated it (I actually liked them, but that's a separate story). Ubuntu came up with Unity, which drives me crazy - as does Gnome Shell. They've really destroyed the Linux experience for me (not a fan of KDE or XFCE either). I also don't feel that the Mac has changed much since 10.6 other than supporting new hardware. A lot of the things they've added have been more annoying than helpful to me.<br/><br/>That was a long story to say - all OSs have their good and bad. I think they've all reached the point where they are perfectly viable choices. I don't really care anymore, and I'm not strongly in any camp. If you like one more than the other, good for you, use it. I'll use what works for me.mr mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01874627782413265853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-657848514471557672.post-57790993811731462082016-01-30T22:01:00.000-08:002019-06-26T23:38:10.487-07:00Windows Phone reminds me of the old AppleI recently gave up my Windows Phone (WP) and went back to Android. My main reasons are the typical ones that you hear from others that have done the same: lack of apps, no appealing phones, Microsoft developing their apps for other platforms, and so on.<br/><br/>This post isn't about all the reasons I left, it's just an observation about the state of WP. You see, I actually really liked WP. Apple phones have never been interesting to me, that's just a personal preference. I've had a couple Android phones over the years and they drove me crazy. Being back on Android after a few years away makes me remember how much I hate it. From the phone seeming to slow down more and more every week, to the battery lasting about half as long as my WP did, to the promised OS updates that never appear, not to mention the inconsistent interface between all the apps. It's a horrible experience.<br/><br/>This all reminds me of the Mac vs Windows debate 15-20 years ago. The Mac had the nicer, friendlier experience and interface but was missing out on apps (games) and market share. Windows was the market leader, even though it had a lot of quirks and wasn't as polished. Now, WP is in the same position Apple was in all those years ago. It's interesting how the better experience doesn't necessarily win.<br/><br/>I hope Windows Mobile does survive. Maybe the Universal Apps and Continuum features that Microsoft is touting will eventually make a difference. I think it's probably too late, but I really hope it does. I'd love to get free from Android again.mr mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01874627782413265853noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-657848514471557672.post-39188667237792238092016-01-23T14:58:00.000-08:002019-06-26T23:38:10.177-07:00Getting StartedThis is just the first post. I'm transitioning this site to a WordPress site. Stay tuned.mr mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01874627782413265853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-657848514471557672.post-75705716118434114582014-08-10T10:25:00.002-07:002014-08-10T10:26:04.343-07:00Students<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv5wskQIHWG1PAZtWciEncxkOjMgKHNiZkhBMFgt9YuhqM-68XXRAlWHWnQ3HBQwFhL2MW1Y8QUyrpLDNCsIHGMOwTkoJwfzUpAe_YTNRD0wXK4V74Wo96BD4hfQQPrOYQF8MVoAy-kMZz/s1600/b-.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv5wskQIHWG1PAZtWciEncxkOjMgKHNiZkhBMFgt9YuhqM-68XXRAlWHWnQ3HBQwFhL2MW1Y8QUyrpLDNCsIHGMOwTkoJwfzUpAe_YTNRD0wXK4V74Wo96BD4hfQQPrOYQF8MVoAy-kMZz/s1600/b-.PNG" /></a> I started teaching some programming courses online two semesters ago. One thing I worried about as a beginning instructor was that all of the students would do their assignments and everyone would get A's. I know some universities like to keep an average of a B- (or some other target) for the whole course. I worried about how I would be able to do that. It turns out, I didn't have to worry at all.<br />
Students do the strangest things. I had 20-30 students in my courses and it seems I'd always get a few that would sign up for the course and then not do any work. I'm not talking about doing a couple assignments here and there, they would do nothing at all. I can't understand this. They're paying to take these courses, they would reply to my emails and say they want to stay in the course and turn assignment in, but then they wouldn't do anything. Well, it made figuring out their grades pretty simple.<br />
We also have online quizzes and exams. The instructions say that they should be done closed book and closed notes. Obviously, there's no way I can enforce that in an online class. However, I've been surprised with what students have tried to get away with. In one quiz, the question asked what a certain block of code would do. One student looked up the definitions of one of the functions in that block and then put that down as his answer. Okay, his answer was partially correct and I would give partial credit for that. However, he copied the function definition directly from the book, word for word. Really?<br />
I'm often surprised about the questions that get asked in the forums as well. Every week, we have a discussion forum where we can talk about ideas from the readings. Every week, I also post notes in a special "Notes from Instructor" section where I write a little bit about the chapter and overall themes I noticed from the week before. I'm surprised at how many questions come up in the forums that have already been answered in the notes I've posted. About half the questions posted in the forums have been addressed in the notes. I just don't understand it. If I were a student, I would be paying attention to the notes, especially because the instructor would be determining my grade in the end.<br />
My favorite one came last semester. Let me give some background first. The grading for this course is a little bit different than many courses. The whole course is objective-based and the final grade is determined on your percentage of points towards each objective rather than total, overall points. You pass an objective if you get 80% or more of the points in that objective. So theoretically, you could get an A in the course and only get 80% of the possible points. The converse is also possible, where you get a high overall percentage, but fall below 80% in a few objectives and end up with a C. All of this is described from the beginning of the course, is in the syllabus, and an Excel sheet is provided to help students calculate their grades.<br />
The interesting thing to me was that I tried to warn students about this. It's all printed in the syllabus and I'd remind students about the objective-based approach and ask them to check their grades using the Excel sheet. The whole semester goes by and I don't hear any comments or complaints about it until the last week. Then a lot of students get upset and complain and are generally unhappy.<br />
I'm just confused since students had known the process all along. There's even a required assignment in the first week where the have to acknowledge the grading process. But then they get upset in the final week. I had a wonderful email from a student that I would love to post here, but I've gone longer than I normally do already. He described the grading process as needing "calculus and a crystal ball". Really all you need to do is plug in some number to an Excel sheet.mr mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01874627782413265853noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-657848514471557672.post-2157735966768886672014-05-16T07:32:00.000-07:002014-05-16T07:32:40.480-07:00Why all the H8<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGgW4rvqusv7WBRvTWjeQxdsUz_iKWG-TzKJTLDhNd71ucCmH9fUQq6tp2VgY08zYfHKhwejumFP1vERPlEJqw9lkc42HThvpWKzsVIfL2V9buzgf8KywPqfGuj9WNwZbS5zumBCFQLPWE/s1600/win8.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGgW4rvqusv7WBRvTWjeQxdsUz_iKWG-TzKJTLDhNd71ucCmH9fUQq6tp2VgY08zYfHKhwejumFP1vERPlEJqw9lkc42HThvpWKzsVIfL2V9buzgf8KywPqfGuj9WNwZbS5zumBCFQLPWE/s1600/win8.png" height="320" width="160" /></a>I've previously
featured Windows 7 as a software bliss example. More recently, Windows 8 and
8.1 have come out and it's been interesting to see how they've been received. There have been many good reviews, but there's been a lot more negative things said about it.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Personally, I don't
understand all the negativity. A lot of it is focused on the new Modern UI and
how it doesn't fit so well on desktops. I can see that, but if you don't like
the modern apps, then just don't use them. The regular Windows desktop is still
there and works pretty much how it always has.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
There's a lot of
things I really like about the new Windows. One of them is the new start
screen. I think it's done really well and it helps me find a lot of information
quickly. I've set up a few tiles to auto-update - stocks, weather, email,
pictures, etc - so every time I see the start screen I know what's new in all
of these. I think of it a lot like the Mac OS Dashboard, except I actually look
at and use this one. I've tried to set up and use the Dashboard many times, but
I always seem to forget it exists after a day or two. I've noticed the same
from many Mac users I know.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Another thing that's
great for me is having Hyper-V built in to the non-server editions. I don't
have to install Virtualbox anymore, and it actually works better for me.
Hyper-V will automatically pause my VMs when I reboot the machine and start
them up again after reboot. I never got that working with Virtualbox and it was
always a pain.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Anyway, there's some
good about the new Windows and there are drawbacks as well. It's just
fascinating to me because it seems customers want change but they want
everything to stay the same as well.</div>
mr mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01874627782413265853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-657848514471557672.post-77904003555868202082012-09-21T18:13:00.002-07:002012-09-21T18:13:44.829-07:00Leavenworth, WA<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhc9GtCEiGE8Dx2Wl5hJe7v1z301aqT7tkUEd1JJVR-msntIk0UJWP8TgyvAVMc-J7xmVQsYJ7pfgM0UDJUWobhhABTGSMz7PGBkAEmVPphfRCnfqeZGB8PbLb1Z0QyU6Af5Z0SjT1hrjYt/s1600/DSCN1453.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhc9GtCEiGE8Dx2Wl5hJe7v1z301aqT7tkUEd1JJVR-msntIk0UJWP8TgyvAVMc-J7xmVQsYJ7pfgM0UDJUWobhhABTGSMz7PGBkAEmVPphfRCnfqeZGB8PbLb1Z0QyU6Af5Z0SjT1hrjYt/s320/DSCN1453.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
We haven't done a lot of touristy things since we moved to Washington. We got an excuse to go out and try some things when my mom came for a visit a few weeks ago. One of these things was a trip to a local tourist town called <a href="http://www.tripadvisor.com/Tourism-g58560-Leavenworth_Washington-Vacations.html" target="_blank">Leavenworth</a>.<br />
<br />
Leavenworth is a Bavarian themed town up in the mountains, about two hours drive from where we live. The whole town is done up like to look like an authentic German village - the architecture, the food, the shops, the way people dress, etc.<br />
<br />
The interesting thing is that none of it is authentic. While they do import German items to sell in the (overpriced) shops, the town has no real link to Germany. It was originally a railroad town but business from that slowly died away until the 1960s when the town was really struggling. The town council decided they would turn the town into a tourist destination to revive business. They decided on the German theme, and it worked. The town is a well known tourist destination and is fairly prosperous.<br />
<br />
<br />mr mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01874627782413265853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-657848514471557672.post-6886741521533533262011-12-01T21:28:00.001-08:002011-12-01T22:16:20.657-08:00SSH Proxy - huh?<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMK-hTwUSrQ_nuPNFrRRlFpHGbeNFm7vnDN9DKoYx2hIbf_tboQ3KhcOLrDHVbuZoL3cNg3Q2x6YKUzxmIYNHzt232PS2okQoxGBHgJ66M3duM9g6IgldAM6bVfLgMyI67M7EsB-lBBMj6/s1600/Firewall.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMK-hTwUSrQ_nuPNFrRRlFpHGbeNFm7vnDN9DKoYx2hIbf_tboQ3KhcOLrDHVbuZoL3cNg3Q2x6YKUzxmIYNHzt232PS2okQoxGBHgJ66M3duM9g6IgldAM6bVfLgMyI67M7EsB-lBBMj6/s1600/Firewall.PNG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Burning Firewall</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
tl;dr - I was asked to change some file transfers to use the SFTP protocol
by our IT department. The IT department actively blocks SSH/SFTP
connections and gave me no way to fulfill their request. <br />
<br />
When I started working at my current company, I was assigned the task of changing some of our file transfers from regular FTP to use the secure SFTP. It's an obvious security enhancement since SFTP encrypts the data as well as the usernames and passwords during transfer.<br />
I thought this would be a simple task, but it turned out to be a continuing nightmare. You see, our IT department had requested the change, but they gave us no way to actually do it. I found that the company firewall blocks the TCP port that SFTP uses. That was my first clue that something wasn't right. I've never worked at a company that blocks outgoing SSH/SFTP.<br />
I think it makes some sense to block the port because one can tunnel almost any traffic through SSH. Since it's encrypted, the company can't monitor the traffic through the tunnel. But it makes no sense when you consider that the IT department was the one asking us to change to SFTP when they gave us no way to actually use it.<br />
Moving on, I found that the company provides an "SSH Proxy" to allow you to SSH anywhere. According to the documentation, they also provided temporary storage on the proxy so that you could transfer files using one of the secure SCP or SFTP protocols. After talking with many IT folks, this proxy was the only supported method I found for accomplishing my task. So I decided to give it a go.<br />
The proxy was implemented horribly. It would periodically delete all of your files, including any keys. It didn't have a lot of temporary storage space, and it didn't let you run any of your own programs.<br />
This meant that I had to connect to the proxy, upload all of my keys, upload my temporary file, and then issue the commands to connect to my final destination and then upload the file from the proxy to the final destination. Remember, it wouldn't let me run my own programs, so I couldn't copy a script to this proxy to do this. <br />
After figuring out how to get this all working, I was told we were going to be transferring a ton of files and that the temporary storage wasn't going to be enough. So I submitted a request to IT to extend the storage space. The request was denied and I was told that the server was not meant to be used for file transfers, even though the documentation explicitly stated it could be used for that purpose.<br />
There are two interesting things that I see here. One is the prevention of information services by our own IT department. They asked us to change to the SFTP protocol, but gave us no way to do that. Not only that, but they said their own servers weren't to be used for their documented purposes. Isn't the purpose of the IT department to enable other departments to conduct business? They failed miserably.<br />
The second thing is the use of the term "proxy." A proxy server is one that will perform an action on your behalf. For example, you ask a web proxy to retrieve a web page for you. It will look at its rules and decide if it should and then retrieve the page for you if you're allowed. This "proxy" was not a proxy. I couldn't tell it to transfer a file to a certain server for me. It wouldn't retrieve a file for me either. It is not a proxy, it's much more like a gateway. IT people should know the difference, but obviously our department isn't the brightest bunch.mr mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01874627782413265853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-657848514471557672.post-21683648091355172332011-10-27T22:20:00.000-07:002011-10-27T22:21:10.876-07:00Windows 7 (Software Bliss)<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNJ7lwsIoSDn8ycPDYvnS0lH4aszUVHuydDsqToAFZNU_zK6sPRp_lNZW1d0pTmjPXnotyKKimncdJHq8EjjIAV9hnpw3uWQBzwjPvWJkeAht2Eq8m-80McO-ZI3gSfF8HTfaX00A0oiLt/s1600/beta.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNJ7lwsIoSDn8ycPDYvnS0lH4aszUVHuydDsqToAFZNU_zK6sPRp_lNZW1d0pTmjPXnotyKKimncdJHq8EjjIAV9hnpw3uWQBzwjPvWJkeAht2Eq8m-80McO-ZI3gSfF8HTfaX00A0oiLt/s1600/beta.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Windows 7 Beta fish</td></tr>
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Windows 7 is probably the strangest piece of blissful software that I use. I say strange because it is difficult for me to say that about a piece of Microsoft software. I think it's actually good enough to warrant the title of blissful software.<div>
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I think Microsoft had a hard time for a while. Internet Explorer 6 held on for a lot longer than it should have. Windows XP was great after it was released, but it started feeling old after three years or so. (XP just celebrated its 10th birthday). Vista was horrible. After all of that, Microsoft released something great with Windows 7.</div>
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It's difficult for me to complement and like a Windows OS. For the past few years, I've been mostly a Mac and Linux user. I've been in the Anti-Microsoft camp for some time. But I do still use Windows at work and every once in a while at home and feel I need to give credit when a company releases a good product.</div>
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So what's nice about it? Well, it actually works. When I was in college, I re-installed XP about once a semester because it would get so full of junk and start slowing down. 7 hasn't junkified itself over time in the same way, I haven't ever needed to do a re-install of it.</div>
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It is also a whole lot more secure than XP. You don't run as an administrator by default and if you're running the 64-bit version there's more protection against unsigned drivers and rootkits.</div>
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For me, the interface is a whole lot nicer to use. The search in the control panel and start menu make it easy to find things. The nice window adjustments that let you maximize a window or put it to half of the screen are helpful. It even comes with some interesting and non-traditional desktop backgrounds.</div>
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It's not perfect, by any means, but it is actually a very good product. Microsoft has scored pretty well for me lately. I've written about IE 9 and Windows 7 is another really good piece of software. I hope Microsoft can continue the trend.</div>
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<br /></div>mr mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01874627782413265853noreply@blogger.com0