Comments for David S. Ackerman http://www.dsackerman.com web cowboy (+ software development tales of the wild west...) Sat, 05 Mar 2011 22:36:54 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Comment on Shaw Consultation about UBB by Hannah in Surrey http://www.dsackerman.com/2011/03/shaw-consultation-about-ubb/comment-page-1/#comment-979 Hannah in Surrey Sat, 05 Mar 2011 22:36:54 +0000 http://www.dsackerman.com/?p=223#comment-979 I was going to give you some feedback but I have just got word from Shaw that I can come to the Langley session on Monday night. Just to touch base, I agree with your points as well as those from Chris. However, I am not assuming that they will see 'no caps' as a non-starter. I don't want to pre-judge what novel ideas people may come up with. You can get an inkling of what was discussed at previous sessions at: http://www.shaw.ca/Customer-Discussion-Summaries/ Since Shaw says they need UBB to handle congestion but UBB does nothing to stop congestion, I will be interested to hear how Shaw thinks this will solve this supposed problem. Unfortunately, I believe its real problem is how to make more money out of its Internet offerings. Do you think TekSavvy's recent cable internet offering in the Lower Mainland will have much impact and be a salvation for disgruntle Shaw users (300GB for $30/month)? I was going to give you some feedback but I have just got word from Shaw that I can come to the Langley session on Monday night.

Just to touch base, I agree with your points as well as those from Chris. However, I am not assuming that they will see ‘no caps’ as a non-starter. I don’t want to pre-judge what novel ideas people may come up with. You can get an inkling of what was discussed at previous sessions at:

http://www.shaw.ca/Customer-Discussion-Summaries/

Since Shaw says they need UBB to handle congestion but UBB does nothing to stop congestion, I will be interested to hear how Shaw thinks this will solve this supposed problem. Unfortunately, I believe its real problem is how to make more money out of its Internet offerings.

Do you think TekSavvy’s recent cable internet offering in the Lower Mainland will have much impact and be a salvation for disgruntle Shaw users (300GB for $30/month)?

]]> Comment on Shaw Consultation about UBB by David Ackerman http://www.dsackerman.com/2011/03/shaw-consultation-about-ubb/comment-page-1/#comment-978 David Ackerman Sat, 05 Mar 2011 02:03:22 +0000 http://www.dsackerman.com/?p=223#comment-978 Very good points, as always. I was very focused on immediate usage issues, but it would be interesting to know what they plan to do to address Nielsen's Law. My guess right now is: not much – but it would be awesome to be proven wrong on that and certainly a worthwhile point to bring up. It's troubling that the usage study they originally referred to when deciding to impose the caps wasn't very current. I agree on the speed vs. usage differentiation too... it's like we're getting penalized twice. Somehow I think we'd need much more competition, though, before they'd budge on that. Very good points, as always. I was very focused on immediate usage issues, but it would be interesting to know what they plan to do to address Nielsen’s Law. My guess right now is: not much – but it would be awesome to be proven wrong on that and certainly a worthwhile point to bring up. It’s troubling that the usage study they originally referred to when deciding to impose the caps wasn’t very current.

I agree on the speed vs. usage differentiation too… it’s like we’re getting penalized twice. Somehow I think we’d need much more competition, though, before they’d budge on that.

]]> Comment on Shaw Consultation about UBB by Chris in Edmonton http://www.dsackerman.com/2011/03/shaw-consultation-about-ubb/comment-page-1/#comment-974 Chris in Edmonton Fri, 04 Mar 2011 16:12:15 +0000 http://www.dsackerman.com/?p=223#comment-974 Michael Geist is fond of saying that soon, all users will be heavy users. My concern is that if Shaw sets usage caps even to 300 GB/month now, in early 2011, are they willing to commit to increasing these appropriately going forward? Nielsen's Law says bandwidth doubles every 21 months. Cisco says Internet traffic will increase tenfold from 2008 to 2014 (http://newsroom.cisco.com/dlls/2010/ts_101110c.html), about the same rate. Is Shaw willing to commit to doubling usage caps every 21 months? Personally, I think Shaw should differentiate their offerings by EITHER bandwith OR usage, not both. Give everyone uncapped traffic and have them choose 7.5 Mbps, 15 Mbps, 50 Mbps, etc. Or give everyone 100 Mbps and differentiate on total use. It's also worth asking why they charge so disproportionately much for their 50 Mbps and 100 Mbps offerings, but that's a whole other story. Michael Geist is fond of saying that soon, all users will be heavy users. My concern is that if Shaw sets usage caps even to 300 GB/month now, in early 2011, are they willing to commit to increasing these appropriately going forward? Nielsen’s Law says bandwidth doubles every 21 months. Cisco says Internet traffic will increase tenfold from 2008 to 2014 (http://newsroom.cisco.com/dlls/2010/ts_101110c.html), about the same rate. Is Shaw willing to commit to doubling usage caps every 21 months?

Personally, I think Shaw should differentiate their offerings by EITHER bandwith OR usage, not both. Give everyone uncapped traffic and have them choose 7.5 Mbps, 15 Mbps, 50 Mbps, etc. Or give everyone 100 Mbps and differentiate on total use.

It’s also worth asking why they charge so disproportionately much for their 50 Mbps and 100 Mbps offerings, but that’s a whole other story.

]]> Comment on Why frameworks are not a silver bullet for rapid development… by Jonathan Younger http://www.dsackerman.com/2010/10/why-frameworks-are-not-a-silver-bullet-for-rapid-development/comment-page-1/#comment-686 Jonathan Younger Wed, 29 Dec 2010 19:32:50 +0000 http://www.dsackerman.com/?p=203#comment-686 Thanks for this! I've been banging my head on this for about an hour before I found your solution. Thanks for this! I’ve been banging my head on this for about an hour before I found your solution.

]]> Comment on iPad: First Impressions by iPad: First Impressions « David S. Ackerman http://www.dsackerman.com/2010/05/ipad-first-impressions/comment-page-1/#comment-139 iPad: First Impressions « David S. Ackerman Tue, 01 Jun 2010 05:02:55 +0000 http://www.dsackerman.com/?p=123#comment-139 [...] reading here: iPad: First Impressions « David S. Ackerman Tagged with: actually-expect • document-might • ipad • Media • plain-text [...] [...] reading here: iPad: First Impressions « David S. Ackerman Tagged with: actually-expect • document-might • ipad • Media • plain-text [...]

]]> Comment on On copyright by Curtis http://www.dsackerman.com/2010/05/on-copyright/comment-page-1/#comment-126 Curtis Sun, 30 May 2010 22:33:28 +0000 http://www.dsackerman.com/?p=119#comment-126 awesome video - awesome followup - awesome analog. awesome video – awesome followup – awesome analog.

]]> Comment on Coffee, Diaspora, and Indulging in the Test-first Kool Aid by David Ackerman http://www.dsackerman.com/2010/05/coffee-diaspora-and-indulging-in-the-test-first-kool-aid/comment-page-1/#comment-13 David Ackerman Fri, 14 May 2010 19:25:53 +0000 http://www.dsackerman.com/?p=74#comment-13 Haha. Awesome. I'll be looking forward to checking out the OSX build of that. Then I will have no excuses ;-) Haha. Awesome. I’ll be looking forward to checking out the OSX build of that. Then I will have no excuses ;-)

]]> Comment on Coffee, Diaspora, and Indulging in the Test-first Kool Aid by Alex Dunn http://www.dsackerman.com/2010/05/coffee-diaspora-and-indulging-in-the-test-first-kool-aid/comment-page-1/#comment-12 Alex Dunn Fri, 14 May 2010 12:50:52 +0000 http://www.dsackerman.com/?p=74#comment-12 Interesting solution to the remote jam fest latency problem: http://ninjam.com/ Interesting solution to the remote jam fest latency problem: http://ninjam.com/

]]> Comment on Week 2: Who tests the tests? by Curtis Schofield http://www.dsackerman.com/2010/05/week-2-who-tests-the-tests/comment-page-1/#comment-10 Curtis Schofield Wed, 12 May 2010 22:12:47 +0000 http://www.dsackerman.com/?p=56#comment-10 Tests arn't features - but without tests - your next features arn't going to come so easy - and changing the code for the next feature isn't going to work so well. autospec is worth using Tests arn’t features – but without tests – your next features arn’t going to come so easy – and changing the code for the next feature isn’t going to work so well.

autospec is worth using

]]> Comment on Week 2: Who tests the tests? by David Ackerman http://www.dsackerman.com/2010/05/week-2-who-tests-the-tests/comment-page-1/#comment-9 David Ackerman Tue, 11 May 2010 16:30:56 +0000 http://www.dsackerman.com/?p=56#comment-9 That sounds pretty cool. I'll have to look into it. The problem in this case was all the tests breaking at once. And like I said, for whatever reason, the vast majority of "broken tests" do not actually represent broken features, but rather a broken test framework. One of the confounding factors here is simply the fact that Ruby on Rails and the various plugins and gems around it change so quickly. And we use quite a few of those ;-) That sounds pretty cool. I’ll have to look into it. The problem in this case was all the tests breaking at once. And like I said, for whatever reason, the vast majority of “broken tests” do not actually represent broken features, but rather a broken test framework. One of the confounding factors here is simply the fact that Ruby on Rails and the various plugins and gems around it change so quickly. And we use quite a few of those ;-)

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