Chrome OS

最近在網路上搜尋 Chrome OS 的相關文章。發現大致上有兩種類型的評論，一種類型是覺得很新奇，其介紹也離不開 Demo 的內容。另一種是持反對意見，認為註定會失敗，或是依然無法搶下微軟的市場。其著住點通常是 Chrome OS 只能拿來上網，一般使用者會想要有更多的功能，而且如果不能上網、或是上網速度慢的話，那這套系統不就沒有用處了嗎? 基本上問題能提得出來，就有解決的空間在。我相信 Google 也一定知道這些問題。網路速度方面，Google 的 SPDY 以及 V8、Javascript compiler 就在解決這方面的問題；網路離線處理方面，HTML5 也有針對這邊做加強，別忘了，Google 的工程師就是 Spec 的參與人之一。而遊戲方面，O3D 這套API似乎做個網路上的 3D 遊戲應該沒問題，至少 flash 的小遊戲在網路上也漸漸吃的開。 至於一般的娛樂，影片、音樂等等，因為版權的問題，我相信要在網路上能完整的全部瀏覽應該會需要一段時間。

但是如果能做到 Desktop application 只是 Web application 的一個 subset 時，屆時桌上型的功能真的就不用太強了。而這時微軟的作業系統將會面臨重大的挑戰。

我個人而言，每天晚上回家之後就是看看信、上上網，而真正會用到硬碟資料的時間大概就只有在玩魔獸，或是在做投影片、寫程式。

Google 說在明年下半年(甚至年底)才會有 Chrome OS 的產品出現。我相信在這一年內 Google 在其旁支部分(增強或是增加網路服務)一定會有顯著的發展。屆時整個 IT 產業的生態系一定會受到很大的影響。

做ＵＩ的宿命

使用者介面... 一個被鄙視的領域，縱使在外部人的觀察是覺得很炫很華麗，但在內部大家都曉得 --- 作ＵＩ的就是沒有前途，就是可以隨時被抽換，就是可以被抓去做其他事情。大家都知道，只是不說而已....

當一個做kernel的人升成Senior Engineer了，大家認為理所當然。當一個做ＵＩ的升成SE，大家會一臉狐疑、懷疑，認為內情沒有想像中的單純。

對，這就是做ＵＩ的宿命。

不過我相信最苦的還是那些被調成ＵＩ的人..............

快要三年了，老實說，對DirectShow架構不熟，對Filter不熟，對TV Spec不熟，雖然身處在TV team，但是做的只是表層，看似外表華麗的介面，內裡卻是雜亂不堪，用金玉其外，敗絮其中形容真是再好不過。

也許，你會問為什麼會內裡不堪入目呢？這個問題的答案跟開頭說的一樣 --- 大家都認為做ＵＩ得很快可以上手。所以新人加入一兩個月就可以開始改code，新人的作業根本有做跟沒做是一樣的。這方面我認為 kernel 的可能就不太一樣，在他們新人獲得足夠的 background knowledge之前，應該是不會貿然的就去改 code 。我聽太多 product team 新人就進去改 code 的例子了，太多了，我也是其中一個.....

 遙想當年，架構什麼都不懂，沒有 training，沒有人講解，就這樣一股腦的就衝進去，當然啦，Quality也不會多好。

世界一直在變，但從踏入公司以來，在ＵＩ這邊已經打轉了快三年了... 還是沒有變...

沒有變... 沒有變... 沒有變.... 真是受夠解這些浪費生命的bug.... 

我不相信我去做 kernel 沒有其他人好

我不相信我在本質上就輸人一截，有哪個人研究所就在學這個東西的？

也許這世界就是充斥的這些不公平

也就是這種不公平促使我去思考去走不同的路

但現在想起來還是些許的不甘心....

Waving

I paid no attention around, because my eyes fixed on something. Something laid on the ground in the opposite street. Cars passed by made the scene like a constantly-changed slides. I had bad eyes, but I had something better. The breeze gently flew around my body. Like a hand stroking my back, touching my head, scratching my stomach, squeezing my nose... oh, wait, not squeezing it, it is more like shaking! But shaking for what? Something smelled good in the air. My nose told me the smell came from the thing in the opposite side. This is too real, my nose shaking, sniffing, rapidly...


REAL... TOO REAL!!


I struggled to open my eyes, they did, but only half-open. However, it is enough to see what had happened nearby. In the blurred image, I saw a human taking something in his hand. Something made of two circular yellow stuffs and the white in between. 


"Ka-chi ... ka... chi.."  (It sounds good)


I saw the powder floating in the air as the human crushed that stuff between his teeth. His lips moved up and down and appeared to satisfy what was inside. The scene made my mouth water.


I must wake up before the human finished that thing. I called up my strength, gathered my feet, lifted my body, marched to the target. Wait! Do I forget something? Something is really important to the human.... Yes, I remember it.

I donned my smile, watered my eyes, licked my nose, and, the most important of all, waved my tail. You had to precisely control the angle of waving. Too big meant that you were too eager to do something, and forgot the one you treated was a noble human (they liked to call themselves noble), they gave nothing to you if you didn't make them feel proud. Too small meant that you didn't care about them, you ignored them and they also ignored you. After I measured the temperature, the strength of the wind, the gravity, I carefully made up an angle which looked graceful, meaningful, and showed respect. 


Waving, waving, waving... He noticed my approaching. Good, the first step completed. I sat, looking up. Although it looked like begging, but it was not. It was the way how we lived for so many years since our ancestors met the human first time.


The smell... I could tasted some in the air... It was delicious... It should be delicious! So close... in front of my eyes...
Waving, waving, not too fast....
Waving, waving, carefully maintain the angle...
Waving, waving.... the smell is so.... uh? DISAPPEARED!!??


It can be! My nose sniffed severely, searching for the smell. But it was really gone. I noticed there was something in the human's throat, crawling down and down and down, and I expected it would be something in the toilet some day.


This time... I failed again... I had prepared all the things for that, but I missed it. Do I feel pity? Of course I do. But I know if I don't wave, I lose the last chance.


I wave, because I see the chance.

In the wind, deep in the thought.

The trees outside all bent to the same direction. People gave out their umbrella, running for some hide.  I could hear the wind passed by even though the windows were closed. The repeated reports of typhoon made me nervous.

I think it was just this moment all the thoughts hid deeply inside would flush out.

Looking back a few months ago, I got the letter in which my bonus of last year was written. It had been dramatically decreased compared to the last year. In addition, at that time, our team just got the project transferred from another team, which had worked on it for a long time. If you never saw that project, you would never know why the original team spent so much time on it in order to meet the schedule. Structureless, no logic, no "latest" spec. The consequence is:
1. Any slight modification may have more bugs produced.
2. It is hard to maintain since you don't know what the codes really mean. Actually, it means nothing sometimes.
3. The modification may change the behavior but you have no chance to learn it, since there is no latest version of spec.
4. If you are going to implement a feature, it may affect existed one, since you don't know there exists such one. The none-latest spec tells nothing about the history of this project.

I felt numbness inside. I felt anger burning the soul. I didn't know what did I fight for. Fight for money? Ridiculous! You had spent 13 hours a day in the company in the last year but you got less bonus in this year, were you willing to have another hard work year? Fight for the knowledge? Insane! The project you were watching taught nothing, just craps. I lost the direction in my life.

Last month, I accidentally visited the autobiography of Steve Paul Jobs, who is the CEO of Apple. He had been resigned by Apple in 1985. It was easy to imagine how sad he was. Being fired by the company he created. The depression lasted for a few months and finally he learned one thing --  he really loves his job, so he founded another one, NeXT Computer. Without that one, he would not have chance to go back to Apple, and iPod, iPhone, iTune may not exist today. His story really touched me. I searched in the Youtube and found a clip in which he gave the commencement speech to the students in Standford.

He said:
"Your work is going to fill a large part of of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet. Keep looking. Don't settle"

When I heard what he said, I had wet my eyes. I was impressed especially by the last few words, "If you haven't found it yet. Keep looking. Don't settle". I was pretty sure he taught me what I should do in the future.

Keep looking. Don't settle.

Steve Paul Jobs

9/28 中午:
當我看到 Steve Jobs 在Standford畢業典禮說的話,
"Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle." 


這句話當場讓我紅了眼眶... Keeping looking. Don't settle!

Well... what's the topic tonight

Another night... we always have something at night...

It rained crazy outside, but I heard nothing. My fan drowned all the sound. Looking out of the window, the rain dropped on the ground making small splashes. It was a soundless picture.

The yellow lamp, mild and dim, stood there silently. No people outside, no animals, no cars. It just like the rain stopped anything.

The night, silently crawled over the world, hid behind the moisture, carefully planned everything you couldn't see and hear. It was kind of scary. The proverb said, the hidden enemy is the most dangerous. You cannot see anything, but you could feel it doing something out there.

The night, we couldn't bear it. The best way to avoid the harm and neglect its existence is to go to sleep. Close your eyes and the next time you open your eyes, it is expected to be a bright day with hope and strength.

Android application

Yes. Tonight.. (it's very late now, and I'm very tired, sleepy)

I actually start to learn how to write a android program.
For the namespace, I have thought of some names by following the format below.
..

The candidates for the unique name may like:

1. gigear: I got the idea from "Giggle", which is exactly my favorite name in the online game. With the name gear, it sounds like Giggle.
2. nomed: a reverse order of the word "Demon", which is my nickname.
3. dexon: it really like x = m.

Ok... maybe one of them will last forever.

Hope I have a good start!! Let's roll to hello android XD.

Test posting by email

Yah... If I see this message in my blog. That means I can post an article through email.

Good job.

We sleep, we eat, we write!!

People always say the idea coming at night. I just wonder why the night having such magic. It indeed makes me thinking, thinking about future, thinking about something which will not happen in the real life. You have some idea coming from your brain, and it flows in your nerve. It passes through your neck, shoulder, elbow, wrist and finally to the finger. Your fingers will obey the command and perform the typing. You will see the characters on the screen and you will satisfy with them.

The night, a moon hanging in the grey blue sky, sometimes has some noises as decorations, barking dogs, rushing cars, laughing or chatting or arguing voices from the neighbors nearby. Actually, the night is not silence, if you carefully listen to it. Why those elements combined to form a so called 'night' have such incredible seduction? I don't know.

But the writing really wants to tell you why. The thought, a word, a sentence, a paragraph or an article, tries to tell you the truth. Those words on the screen give you many hints. You write those words, to describe your feeling, and they try to tell you something out of consideration, even you forgot.

We sleep, we eat, we write.... and finally we know the truth!

The rebellion speech of ObaMau

My children, my sweet children of this kingdom. We have suffered so many pains from the human. We live under the exactly the same sky as the human lives, but we are ignored, disposed, judged by the human's law!!

We have the right to live, we have the right to eat, and we have the right to have good education!

We fight for freedom, not only for ourselves, but also for our next generation, and the generations after it.

Raise your right paw! Point it to the sun, which gives the same warmth and light to the everything in the world.

Arm your claw, bear your teeth, fight for our future!!

We do our best to find our way in our life, not a bad one, but a worthy one.

The end of world!?

Damn. Mau was really frightened when something crushed on her back. What the hell is that. She ran away with all her strength, however, something tangled around her feet. Finally, she got out of the place where she had spent a few hours sleeping. Just when she stopped panting, she found that the world was spinning. The plastic bags made "squeezing" sound all around her. The wind blew like coming from some explosion. Is it the end of the world? Noise was getting larger. No, it can't be. The plastic bags was flying here and there. I haven't eaten all the bones from all the world. All the stuffs from one bag were suddenly poured out onto her head. NO! At least let me take the last one.

BOON, the sound of closing window.

The world ceased trembling. The silence returned. All had happened lasted like an age, but it stopped just like snapping fingers. Is it magic?

"Hey, you stupid coward." Demon ruffled Mau's head.

It's over, my drowse catch me again. Mau returned to her place and hoped to make a dream in which she could really taste the bones coming from the different countries... before the end of the world.

呆蒙航海日誌

2009.05.19

天氣涼爽，一如往常的出海，沈沈浮浮的海面上只有一顆麻痺的心。

出海人的心情只有在真正踏上船上的時候才瞭解。

水手們一如往常的賣力划槳，船長一樣獨自個兒的忙著。每個水手都有自己慣用的槳，每個槳上都有著歲月痕跡。有人說，當你把槳划斷的時候，才是真正的水手。那又如何呢？到時候只是一個要再找一根槳的水手罷了。

Better, and then better

It is bad if you feel there is a stop expanding your knowledge. And it is worse if you don't know you are stop learning. However, the worst thing among them is that you satisfy with your current knowledge.

"Better" is a word of past tense.

"Stay Hungry Stay Foolish" said Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple. Kind of encouragement, doesn't it?