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Monday, June 14, 2004
![[Item Permalink]](http://radio.weblogs.com/0112083/images/ur_bullet.gif){kind=small} A ladybug with with white dots -- Comment()
I noticed an interesting bug near the children's playground yesterday. It looks like a ladybug with with white dots:
A colleague said that this is most probably Halyzia sedecimguttata (in Finnish, tuomenpisarpirkko). Nice to know something new about bugs.
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Don't make an IT product which actully works -- Comment()
My new net column appeared yesterday (in Finnish, Toimivat tuotteet ovat riski it-alalle). I wrote about the danger of making IT products which actually work, because this would kill the market for the product. The most successful products seem to leave customers unsatisfied - the same way as diet products do.
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-- Comment()
Microsoft feels price squeeze from Linux: "Customers are starting to bring up the L-word in negotiations with Microsoft, threatening to drop Windows for Linux to get concessions from Microsoft. Is it working?" [Ars Technica]
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Fortran 2003 - an improvement or a mistake? -- Comment()
I'm currently writing a short introductory article on the new Fortran 2003 standard. Some features of the new standard are definetely an improvement, and the standard has even managed to get rid of some awkward restrictions. But the new object-oriented features make me hesitant. I do think object-orientation may be a good thing in some circumstances, but the Fortran 2003 syntax is a bit complex. Although not as complex as C++, so there is still some hope. But Fortran could well survive without object-orientation. On the other hand, Fortran 90 seemed to be a strange beast at first, until I started to like the language, enough to write a textbook on it (in Finnish).
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Less or more spam? -- Comment()
For some reason my spam levels have decreased dramatically within last two-to-three weeks. Maybe my service providers have implemented some additional screening, or then my e-mail address is not so actively used for spamming any more. Now I'm getting only about 30-40 spam message daily, down from about 100. However, some of my colleagues have reported dramatically increased spam levels (up to 400 messages per day), so this may be only a temporary calm moment in the deluge.
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Back from Tromso, Norway -- Comment()
The NOTUR 2004 conference was excellent, especially the discussions. Also, there was quite a collection of insightful lectures. Here is a photo of the Tromsø city taken at about midnight from the neighbouring Fløya mountain:
As you can tell, Tromsø is really up north, the most northern university in the world. And some may have trouble sleeping due to the light in the nights. I didn't because I stayed up late in good company, and then I was tired enough for sleeping.
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