Originally posted by nitro
I can't think of anything to say but:
You don't know what the hell you are talking about.
Go get a CS degree, or maybe just go and write programs for a living in something other than VB, and come back and we will talk.
nitro
Hey, you're making assumptions here, but not much of an argument. In retrospect, I should have known better than criticizing Java. This is guaranteed to turn into a religious argument (Windows bad, Java good) and I have not much taste for pissing contests
Nevertheless, as a Windows user, I see no percentage in using Java: only a loss of functionalities and the necessity to add an emulator to my Windows platform, in order to run Java. Java is great for vendors because they can supply the same software across platforms, but that's at the expense of the user. On the positive side, users get to see some bugs that until now they never knew existed
As for the part about I don't know what I'm talking about... That's where you're making unwarranted assumptions. Are you saying that because you like Java, anyone who does not agree with you is necessarily ignorant and a layman? I work in the software industry, know a good deal about user interfaces, and have been exposed to Java in and out of work (the IB trading interface is a good example), I am making a criticism that is as valid as your own opinion, which by the way is not that Java is good because of this or that, but that "I don't know what the hell I'm talking about" and I should "go get a CS degree". What kind of argument is that? Mind you, I have heard most if not all the pro arguments before, but I am a practical guy. You can tell me that a Yugo is the best thing since sliced bread because you can drive it from point A to point B and you have a degree in mechanics and I am an ignorant bum. But at the end of the day, it's still a freaking Yugo and I don't want it.
It turns out that paperwork-wise, I am as well equipped as you are I'm sure, maybe even better (but quantity does not mean quality though
). And if you're a young man I've been at it longer than you have, 'cause I'm no spring chicken any more
. In any case, I make a living in the industry and I'll stand by my opinion of Java. But it's just that: my opinion...
To keep things on the investment topic here, you could have made a few bucks these past few years bucking the trend in the market against the Java and Linux hype. When there's money on the line, that's when religious arguments get old fast. Are people putting their money down to buy the stuff, or not? Money talks... Unless you want to tell me that it's all a big Microsoft conspiracy? I've heard this one before, many times.
The argument about coding in VB (or something other than it) does not hold water. That's a religious argument. So you like coding in Java and you think it's great. Nothing wrong with that. If you can make a living coding Java, you probably have enough skills to make a living coding anything you want. But users don't really care what a program is written with. Generally, I don't either. I look at what's on my desktop. Is it buggy? Is it better than a native program for me? Do I need to add an extra layer of potentially buggy stuff (Sun Java) to interact with my native OS? That's the acid test.
Now, I didn't say that IB's trading interface is terrible or badly conceived. That's not the point. The point is that it probably would be a lot better had it been written specifically for Windows.
So, no hard feelings and how about we say that you and I disagree on Java and let it at that? It's no big deal to me and eventually the market will decide the question, not you or me
This aside and to change the subject, what do you think about IB sending monthly account activities statements via plain email? I see my full name and address, login name, and account number in there. Amazing and very scary to me. The account password is the last protection, everything else is compromised. Is there a thread on this? Someone else must have noticed.
ElvisOnMargin
