A 2nd Core to Keep Windows Chugging Along?

Eh-Wire writes "Almost every hardware junkie I know would give most anything to take a spin in the new dual core hot rods from Dell or one of the custom system builders. But what if you actually needed that second core to run your anti-virus, spyware detection software and firewall just to get a little gaming or Internet surfing done on the first core. Would that really be a good reason to bring home a shiny new machine? I can think of a couple of different things I could use a second core for but running an iron lung on it just to keep the machine chugging along just isn't one of them. Curiously enough, PCMag thinks that's a perfectly good reason."

Comments

Oh it's all going to hell...

[eno2001]

...in a handbasket. Idiots abound in today's development communities. If they are given more power, they get lazier and use it all to do exactly the same thing it did before, but with a few new, shiny tailfins. I still ask the same question every time a new OS or new hardware comes out: Why can't I turn my computer on and off like a TV? We should "be there" by now! No... should have BEEN there eight years ago!! It still takes a modern Windows XP Pro box as much time as it took my floppy based Atari ST to boot of off of a single sided 3.5 inch diskette!

I want to see a system with all the functionality of a typical desktop environment (XPee, GNOME, KDE, Mac OS X) boot and run (ie. put you at a desktop with all apps running) in less than a second. The only way I've been able to approximate this is with my "terminal server" RedHat Linux box running GNOME, VNC and SSH. The terminal server never shuts down or turns off. My laptops act like thin clients. I just click an icon and BAM!!! I'm at my desktop with all apps running in less than a second. But this is NOT the awy it should be done. I shouldn't have to have a machine that is on 24x7 to do this. I should just hit the power button and just start working. I should also conversely be able to hit the power button and know that everything is off and exactly the way I left it awaiting my return for the next session. And no... turning my monitor off and leaving the computer on 24x7 is not the answer either!

The dual cores, should be used completely for tasks that the use wants to use them for. If anything, I think we'd be better of if the Windows jockeys just got add-on DSP cards that handled firewalling, anti-virus and other security hole patching that Windows requires. Fortunately I know nothing about this as I am a fiarly content Linux user. The very idea that someone would suggest using the second core for running software that is there to fix the mistakes of others is just more proof that the software industry doesn't care about quality in the least. Just profit. Only profit. If you want quality, go GNU. That's all I have to say.