[split] C-200/A-200 Rich UI (Split-off Discussions)

[MiniMe]

(01-15-2010 08:56 PM)nuke12 Wrote:  

Quote:Steve.Young Wrote: Why do people always think that a UI Designer is the same as a firmware engineer?

C'mon guys...people have specialties...An engineer could mean so many different things....software, electrical, civil, etc. People work in teams on different aspects of a product. I'm really sick of the "OMG stop diverting resources..." comments.

LOL, be easy. Many of these people have never been around software/hardware developers and have no understanding that individuals come to the table with specialties. You normally wouldn't put a C/C++ programmer on a Java project. You want all your people to preform in their area, so you have the best heads, focused on a certain aspect of the project. The area, they are best at.

Gentlemen,

Your arguments are misplaced and incorrect. Here's why in a word: Budget.

A company has a budget. Within that budget, the company hires personnel. When the company hires a specialist in one area, that precludes that resource, money, from being applied to another area.

When Syabas deems the new product lines to require the most urgent application of resources, the first resource transferred to the new product is money, which by necessity removes that monetary resource from the old product lines because there is a finite sum available.

I'm guessing that if anyone is sick of hearing people complain, the best solution would be to approach resolving long outstanding issues in existent product lines with the same urgency observed in new product lines. Inferring that the existent customer base is ignorant and does not understand how the process works and then citing irrelevant anecdotal examples such as civil engineers and Java programmers is, you know, kind of insulting.

[daniel_owen_uk]

Don't just jump in to a conversation.

Werner and Steve were responding to a specific question

(01-15-2010 07:32 PM)texags08 Wrote:  niall0s you think they guys working on that interface are the same guys who can fix the sync bug? i would think that would be two different teams.

Simple answer, simple question.

Don't you think that the budget of Syabas is increasing?

They already have people working on bug fixes, so they get some new people in to work on a UI. They could have just given the profit to the shareholders.

[SatanX]

(01-15-2010 08:42 PM)Steve.Young Wrote:  Why do people always think that a UI Designer is the same as a firmware engineer?

I find the easiest way to tell the difference is drop a Star Trek DVD on the floor, the peeps who run for it are most likely programmers.

Drop a DVD of Japanese Hentia of some high school girl getting raped by a demon with 20 or so you know whats and hey, the peeps who run for it are most likely UI designers.

Really, there is a difference

[kryzchek]

My programming team is responsible for UI design as well, so it's hardly unheard of to have programmers that also do UI work. /offtopic

I'm looking forward to seeing more (particularly the music interface) since I never use the photo viewing features.

[MiniMe]

(01-15-2010 09:32 PM)daniel_owen_uk Wrote:  Don't just jump in to a conversation.

Werner and Steve were responding to a specific question

Simple answer, simple question.

With apologies to all, I must respond to this.

The "simple question" was actually:

(01-15-2010 07:30 PM)niall0s Wrote:  I'd prefer if you guys were focused on fixing the audio sync bug....

Which received this reply:

(01-15-2010 07:32 PM)texags08 Wrote:  niall0s you think they guys working on that interface are the same guys who can fix the sync bug? i would think that would be two different teams.

which led to more condescending replies that are perhaps intended to obfuscate the point that was, simply, a preference for fixing the old before moving on to the new.

I stand by my previous statements, despite being chided by the moderator.

I had, in fact, read the entire thread before posting. I take exception to the suggestion that I inappropriately "jumped in".

And I promise no further comment from me on the matter!

[dh2005]

(01-15-2010 09:27 PM)MiniMe Wrote:  Gentlemen,

Your arguments are misplaced and incorrect. Here's why in a word: Budget.

A company has a budget. Within that budget, the company hires personnel. When the company hires a specialist in one area, that precludes that resource, money, from being applied to another area.

When Syabas deems the new product lines to require the most urgent application of resources, the first resource transferred to the new product is money, which by necessity removes that monetary resource from the old product lines because there is a finite sum available.

I'm guessing that if anyone is sick of hearing people complain, the best solution would be to approach resolving long outstanding issues in existent product lines with the same urgency observed in new product lines. Inferring that the existent customer base is ignorant and does not understand how the process works and then citing irrelevant anecdotal examples such as civil engineers and Java programmers is, you know, kind of insulting.

Hello Patrick,

You're clearly an intelligent person. But you yourself are guilty of overlooking certain economic realities.

What I take from your post (correct me if I'm wrong...) is that you suggest Syabas could spend more money on the 'bug-fixing team' than the 'UI team', and thus facilitate customer satisfaction more expediently. But consider for a moment what you are asking for, in actuality.

I'm certain that Syabas have structured their various development teams with foresight and clear-thinking. The reason there are 'x' people working in one team is because that's how many Syabas believe that they need. And who are any of us to argue with that? Do any of us know better...?


Now let's say Syabas do add manpower to the bug-fixing team in the short term to resolve the biggest bugs in the C-200 (which will be a matter of opinion... but that's another argument). These people will be contractors with a higher charge-out rate. Per head, they'll be much more expensive than permanent staff. This expenditure of money (which you correctly identify as a key resource) will return less value for Syabas. Which makes it a bum investment.

Furthermore, I see no insult in what Steve has said. It's a comment born of considerable, repetitive frustration; very few people are above the occasional spleen-vent under such conditions. As a student doctor, I've been known to lose my temper with people who give me attitude because I can't treat their toothache (there's a reason Dentistry's a different course, ya know...?!).


If you don't want to debate this on the thread, by all means send me a PM.

[halfelite]

(01-16-2010 12:03 AM)wingfat Wrote:  There is no way I can evaluate this preview by that video. There are way too many things to consider. I will say this however... Your compitition will be Boxee Box who has the slickest IU to date. Also, was I seeing ad's on the interface or was that just the video site displaying ad's.? I will not under any circumstance allow ad's on my C-200 for the sake of an interface.

Either way you have a long way to go.

WF

I dont think its even comparable. With boxee box not being able to play 90% of 1080p content so 90% of there dev went into making it look good lol. If i wanted a nice looking gui with web2.0 on my tv im all for boxee. If i want to watch movies im going with popcorn.

[dh2005]

(01-16-2010 02:16 AM)halfelite Wrote:  I dont think its even comparable. With boxee box not being able to play 90% of 1080p content so 90% of there dev went into making it look good lol. If i wanted a nice looking gui with web2.0 on my tv im all for boxee. If i want to watch movies im going with popcorn.

Yeah. I must say, the reported bitrate restrictions on that device are pretty shocking. And I say this as someone who positively welcomes competition in this market.

[dh2005]

Sorry, buddy. Will do.

[excal]

Don't worry It wasn't just you, and normally i don't care... i just think we have a good opportunity here and i don't wanna see it get side tracked


I may actually go through and peel out all the off topic posts into a single thread so people can continue convo's in there if they want.

[dh2005]

Yeah, I think that'd be a good idea. There's more that people want to say, I suspect.

[pmcd]

(01-16-2010 02:22 AM)dh2005 Wrote:  Yeah. I must say, the reported bitrate restrictions on that device are pretty shocking. And I say this as someone who positively welcomes competition in this market.

If your main focus is to stream material over the net then higher bitrate is not as high a priority. You aren't going to see high profile 1080p stuff being stuffed into isp's bandwidth pipes. They just wouldn't go for it at this time. So it is not unreasonable to concentrate on a nice gui and worry a bit less about power.

In any case, once the box becomes primarily commercial there will be all kinds of restrictions on it. That is something the Apple TV gets criticized about, but I really don't think the video industry wants video streaming to powerful open boxes (apart from PC's which they have probably concluded are a lost cause).

It would be interesting to see if any hardware restrictions have been forced on the PopBox in order to qualify for Netflix certification.

philip