Software - PC Benchmark and Test Software. PassMark Software - CPU Benchmark Charts. WORD 2010 VS 2007 thread125886. VB versus Java. John asks a question that gets me thinking about it. John Pusatera wrote to me with this question, "I am not a professional programmer, but I always wondered how the professional community viewed Visual Basic compared to Java. " A “professional developer” has one rule that overrides all the others: “Do what the boss wants done.” If the boss needs Java development, that’s what you do. If the boss needs VB, do that instead. The most significant project I ever managed used a technology that I knew, in advance, was going nowhere.
Update!! But getting back to my original blog ..... If you’re talking about just having fun, it’s VB all the way for me. The comparison of .NET to Java, however, is more one of guessing about what the future may bring. So why use .NET? I like to think in terms of analogies. To me, Java is like the cheap, but affordable property and .NET is like the … ahem … “Gated” community. And (Mono nothwithstanding) .NET is tied into Windows and Java isn’t. What's your opinion? Linux in Hollywood. The First Linux Movies Conference SidebarsA Sampler of Linux MoviesSome Motion Picture Studios Using PrimarilyLinux A Brief History of Open Source and the Movies For Star Wars: Episode II, Linux made Yoda a lightsaber-wielding action figure. In Lord of the Rings 2, waves ofOrcs attacking the colossal fortress at Helm's Deep are not thousandsof human extras, but digital actors created using Linux. In short, the big news in Hollywood about Linux is it is no longerbig news.
At the software level, studios are using Linux versions of some ofthe leading commercial applications for 3D animation, compositing,special effects, and rendering — Alias Maya, Apple Shake, andPixar RenderMan. Linux began in 1991 as grad student Linus Torvalds' personal hobby.How did it become a professional graphics powerhouse in the mostdemanding of CG industries? Linux got its big Hollywood break in 1997 when Digital Domain (D2)used Linux to render the special effects for Titanic. The chief obstacle: graphics drivers. Paul Thurrott's SuperSite for Windows: Extender for Windows Medi. The Death of the Extender for Windows Media Center | We Got Serv. As you may have seen on Gizmodo this week, both Linksys and HP have confirmed that they’ve dropped their Extender for Windows Media Center products, and other than a prototype device from Toshiba announced at CES this year, it looks like the category is pretty much dead in the water at this point.
Regular readers may remember that my crystal ball pretty much predicted this when I wandered around the show floors at Las Vegas this year. Networked TVs and DLNA support from the CE guys as well as Microsoft in Windows 7 ultimately will provide most of the functionality you need to enjoy music, videos and photos on your TV from your PC or home server without the need for an additional (and historically underpowered) extender device. For the likes of Linksys and especially HP, Extenders were a niche product within a niche category and I guess the volume just wasn’t there (or likely to develop) to make money. For more perspectives, check out GeekTonic and Ian Dixon.