In fact, the engineers at Zeppelin company kind of didn't realize the doping material on the surface of the Hindenberg WAS essentially a major explosive. If that reflective material was non-explosive, the Hindenberg would have settled back onto the ground, and there would have been a lot less casualties because remember which way hydrogen burns: straight up.
In fact, because hydrogen burns straight up, it doesn't have the extreme danger of things like methane, ethane or propane, which has a very bad habit of burning sideways in addition of burning straight up if an explosion occurs. That's why ships and trucks carrying liquid petroleum gas or liquified natural gas has to be given very careful treatment to prevent ignition.
You're one of the few people that does have a life (grin) in knowing how to prepare food.
Personally, I hope that one of these days someone at a community college or adult school ought to teach a class on how to cook easily and a low cost, a class aimed at professional people who have an aversion to cooking food in general. I'll guarantee that if you advertise it correctly you'll have standing-room only crowds there all the time.
I'm still shaking my head at the clueless nature of today's people that don't know squat about how to use their cooking appliances.
"The programmers who make $40K+/year and deny themselves the very real sensual pleasure of real food, well-prepared, are IMNSHO leading a pitiful half-life. It is a denial of self and the nature of your body and environment and you should be ashamed."
I know many of the readers of Slashdot.org are programmers who make US$55,000 or more and/or have lots of stock options in their company. What drives me totally nuts (pun not intended) is that they are so obsessed with programming that they forget to get decent nutrition, which will hurt them in the long run.
We have the food storage technology right now to make delicious meals in bulk at home so all you need to do later is reheat the food later to eat it. It seems that much of the crowd here wants an easy way out, and not my problem if you have a nutrition imbalance, too thin (from not eating enough) or too fat (from eating too much fast food).
I make my meals in bulk one month at a time, so you only waste one day slaving over a hot stove/oven.
Anyone who likes rice MUST invest in a decent rice cooker. Alas, they're not cheap (the Asian stores in my area usually charge around US$100 for the 3 cup rice cookers from Japan made by National, Tiger and Zojirushi), but because the pot where you put in the rice is non-stick material, you can cook rice without worrying about the rice sticking to the pot like in the older-style rice cookers. The better models have "fuzzy logic" electronics so you can set up the rice cooker to cook virtually ANY type of rice from Texas long grain to California short grain perfectly.
If you buy rice in 25 and 50 pound bag quantities, it is very cheap (I can get 25 pound bags for around US$10.00).
In short, if you geeks can just get away from your all-night programming sessions for a while and LEARN how to cook meals ahead of time, you can make very nutritious food that is truly home-made. It's certainly cheaper in the long run than buying hamburgers and pizza all the time. (smile)
After reading most of the commentary here, it appears that the programmer/engineer/hacker crowd is in desperate need of learning how to cook and store food properly in BULK.
Ever heard of Tupperware or Rubbermaid containers? A good-sized freezer? Or best of all, a decent home vacuum-sealing system?
As for me, I do it this way: I make things like meat sauces, chicken a la king, or cooked frozen peas/whole kernel corn in large batches, then divy them up among a whole bunch of Tupperware containers (I put a few slices of baked ham on top of the peas/corn) and put them in the freezer. That way, I just cook up some rice with a decent rice cooker (I have a Japanese-made 3-cup Zojirushi unit), then put the container with the food in it in a microwave oven for 8-12 minutes, then serve with the rice.
You can do variants of this by using a Tilia Foodsaver vacuum sealing system, so you can freeze a whole meal into a vacuum-sealed bag and then drop it in a pot of boiling water to cook it later.
Given that the methods I mentioned can include most every type of food, you don't have to be stuck with fast food or worse just to get a decent meal. Break the hamburger and pizza habit!
Supporting the AMD Athlon is great, but alas, I haven't heard any news about any Athlon-compatible motherboard chipsets that will support the upcoming DDR SDRAM running at 266 MHz.
Once that happens, THEN we might seriously consider the AMD Athlon as a serious alternative for high-end server and workstation applications.
Anandtech, Tom's Hardware and Sharky Extreme reported that the early Athlon motherboards had compatibility problems, notably with AGP implementation and some tests failing altogether. ZD Labs reported that their 3D Winbench 2000 and other benchmark tests failed on these motherboards.
Fortunately, the arrival of the VIA Apollo KX133 chipset may alleviate this problem (motherboards based on the KX133 chipset should be available in the next 30 days).
Someone has finally figured out what I've griped about in regards to Linux: the lack of a consistent user interface and API.
Say all you want in vitriol about Microsoft, but at least you have to give them credit for maintaining a reasonably consistent user interface and API. This makes is FAR easier for programmers, and also, you instantly have a market for 85% of the world's desktop computers anyway.
If the Linux crowd can settle on a single standard for graphical interface and API (HOPEFULLY, the upcoming XFree86 4.0 will help this idea along), then we can talk about Linux becoming a large-scale desktop corporate standard.
I think you folks think that Ford will preinstall some commercial Linux distribution on the computers to be sold to their employees.
Only one problem: Linux in its current state is still too hard to use for neophyte computer users. Besides, there's a LOT more software available for Windows 98 users, so I'm not surprised that the machines made available by Ford through PeoplePC are running Windows 98 Second Edition.
My guess is that the machines have Windows 98 Second Edition and Microsoft Works 2000 installed on the hard drive.
Once Linux supports "hot docked" PnP devices and has driver installs as easy as Windows 98/2000, THEN we can seriously consider it as an alternative to Windows 98/2000. Hopefully, the Linux 2.4.x kernel, improved OpenGL support and other improvements due this summer will do just that.
Despite the increasing popularity of Linux, I think that if you want it to be popular, it needs two things:
1. A single, common graphical user interface with a common Application Programming Interface (API). This drastically reduces the cost of programming, because you only need to write to one API spec, especially when it comes to writing things like drivers.
2. Automatic system configuration, so when you change system hardware or add external peripherals, the system will automatically add the driver or prompt you to install the driver.
Yes, I know is sounds too much like Windows 95/98/2000, but let's face it: the current state of driver installation in Linux is too obtuse for most computer users. And we will need automatic system configuration sooner than you think, because Intel has already said they will kibosh serial ports, the parallel port and the PS/2 keyboard and mouse ports in future motherboard designs in favor of USB and possibly IEEE-1394 I/O connectors. Right now, only Windows 98 and Windows 2000 can support such a motherboard design fully, despite what SuSE thinks.
It should be noted that common API design and the automatic configuration will have to be written under the GNU General Public License.
Judging from some of the postings on this subject, I think you don't understand why Taiwan has become a huge manufacturer of computer parts.
Remember the old days when "Made in Taiwan" was considered cheap and poor quality? Well, because the government in Taiwan wanted to get away from that image, they heavily invested in the one industry that will bring them into the 21st Century: electronics.
The result is obvious--if you open up a desktop computer, look at how much of the computer is made in Taiwan. I'll almost say that the motherboard, the majority of the surface-mounted chips on the motherboard and peripheral cards, the memory modules, the CD-ROM/DVD-ROM drive, the CPU heatsink/fan and the system case are made in Taiwan. Only the hard disk drive and CPU are not likely to be made in Taiwan. Think about it: if your x86-based computer is using an Abit, FIC, Gigabyte, Supermicro or Tyan motherboard, they are all made in Taiwan.
This is a tribute to the of the people of Taiwan, whose hard work has turned Taiwan into the one of the most influential countries in the computer industry.
By the way, the People's Republic of China are no slouches in the computer industry, either. They have a very popular (and well-made) brand of computers named Legend that runs the Chinese versions of Windows 95/98 and Linux.
Don't forget that one of the most popular commercial distributions of Linux--TurboLinux (formerly Pacific Hi-Tech)--originated in Taiwan.
In short, stop sounding like those protesters at the WTO Summit last year. The xenophobia doesn't work in a world where trade is a fact of life.
I'm not surprised that Microsoft is considering writing a version of the Windows Media Player that works under Linux.
Remember, you can get a lot more information on the.ASF/.ASX format used by Windows Media Player than the.RM/.RAM format used by Real Networks. I won't be surprised at all if Microsoft makes both a server program and client program for Windows Media Player in Linux under GNU General Public License guidelines, a move that could be extremely bad news for Real Networks since Real doesn't seem to be very inclined to write a Linux version of their streaming media server and client software.
I think the biggest development of the 20th Century is the development of plastics by Du Pont in the 1920's and 1930's.
Think about it: the modern computer would NOT exist if it weren't for plastics (the motherboard, small capacitors, small resistors, and IC packaging are all done in plastic). Look at your car--even the most expensive models--how much of the car is using plastic parts (the interior of most cars ARE done in plastic). Plastics has made is possible to develop food packaging so good that outbreaks of food poisoning from e.coli, salmonella and botulism are very rare events, despite what the news says. And finally, without plastics, we couldn't have lightened the weight of airplanes to the point that today's Airbus A320 jetliner burns nearly 40% less fuel per passenger mile than the Boeing 727-200, which had the same seating capacity.
I personally think that Novell seriously blew it by only NOW announcing their campaign against Windows 2000 Server editions.
Mostly because Novell should have been doing this like early 1999 when NetWare 5.0 first came out. Instead, Novell gave time for Microsoft to rev up their Windows 2000 PR bandwagon, and NetWare 5.0 got ignored by way too many IT managers as a result.
Also, don't forget that Novell is also getting punted all over the place by the rapid rise in Linux for use in departmental servers. Mostly because Linux costs a tiny fraction of what NetWare 5.x costs to purchase, especially for medium to large workgroups. In my personal opinion, the success of Linux servers has hurt Novell far more than Microsoft, especially since Linux has Samba, which allows easy integration to workstations running Windows 95/98 and NT 4.0 Workstation from any Linux server machine.
The issue about gaming magazines geared toward male readers is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to marketing computers to women.
For example, I heard a report on the radio yesterday that the "Mattel" computers built by Patriot Computers had a big problem, namely that the "Hot Wheels" computer had more in the way of productivity tools than the "Barbie" computer. That raised the hackles of several feminist groups, who wants to make sure the next software bundle that comes with the "Barbie" computer does include more productivity tools.
What is very interesting is that if you look at the ads in Computer Shopper magazine, they're mostly geared towards male readership anyways, with heavy emphasis on specifications, the latest hardware, etc. I have this feeling that Gateway--with its more "soft sell" attitude--is selling a lot more computers to female computer users than normal.
I still contend that SCSI hard drives are useful primarily in environments where constantly heavy disk access is necessary, primarily in servers. When you have many people trying to access a database file that is several hundred megabytes in size, you want disk throughput that is very high, and this is where Wide SCSI in its various forms (40, 80 and now 160 MB/sec. transfer rates) becomes useful.
But for single-user desktop operating systems, today's ATA-66 IDE hard drives is more than enough for their needs. Remember, since Intel chipset motherboards usually sport a variant of the Intel 82371 I/O controller, this means you can write bus-mastering software drivers (regardless of operating system) that will dramatically reduce the CPU utilization during disk access, speeding up the computer.
It's only the high-end desktop computer user (e.g., people who work with big CAD/CAM or illustration files) where SCSI Ultra-Wide might become useful.
The big advantage of IDE is simple: low cost. Remember, in the old days you had to buy a separate hard disk controller, and that hogged valuable expansion slot space (not to mention the time wasted in doing a low-level format of a hard drive.)
Since IDE drives don't need a separate controller card (and don't need low-level formats), all you need to do in 1999 is connect the drive to the motherboard (heck, even the system BIOS will automatically set up the drive type), and you can right there install the operating system of your choice.
Also, in the past people have rightly criticized about IDE drive's low performance compared to SCSI drives. However, with Intel shipping the 82371 series of I/O controller chips, that allows software drivers to be written that dramatically reduce the CPU utilization to access an IDE drive. Also, the development of Programmed I/O Mode 4 in the early 1990's, ATA-33 in 1996 and ATA-66 in 1999 has dramatically increased throughput on IDE hard drives to the point that for most desktop operating systems there is almost nothing to be gained by going to SCSI hard drives.
The only place where SCSI hard drives still are useful are in environments where hard disk access is very heavy, such as in servers. This is where the RAID 5 capability of modern SCSI host adapters and the throughput of SCSI Ultra-Wide and Ultra2-Wide becomes useful.
It's small wonder why Western Digital is no longer interested in SCSI hard drives. That's because IDE hard drive technology has advanced to the point that SCSI hard drives are only useful for server environments.
Personally, I think the Transmeta CPU's are potentially the "tip of the iceberg" when it comes to CPU designs.
Remember, Transmeta has only shown x86 instruction set emulation; it could conceivably run another CPU instruction set (e.g., PowerPC G3 or G4). After all, if it takes only a little programming for the TM3210 or TM5400 to run Java almost like "native code"....
The very low power consumption of the Transmeta CPU means the elaborate and expensive CPU cooling needed for the mobile Pentium II/III CPU's are almost eliminated; this also means that battery life can be dramatically increased, which means that the "Internet appliance" shown at the demo today will become reality at a reasonable price.
By the way, the Transmeta TM3210 could form the basis of the "Internet terminal" most everyone forecasts to be popular in the next few years. Because of its lower power consumption, such terminals could be quite small, and could be fitted with USB, IEEE-1394, RJ-11 analog telephone and RJ-45 10/100Base-T Ethernet connectors. In short, it'll be just one flat panel box, with motherboard and a small HD in the box, plus external keyboard and mouse pointer.
It'll be interest to see if TM3210-based machines can compete against the Sony PlayStation2....
The answer is simple: online shopping (with Amazon.com as the model) and online auctions (with eBay as a model).
I think in the end, eBay will be remembered as the best company that represents what the "New Economy" can do. After all, their highly successful marketing campaign has convinced everyone that need to sell almost anything quickly to put it up for auction on eBay. Heck, it's become more than just an auction site, it's also become a major site for a lot of mom and pop firms to do business selling collectible items, too. I mean, Ty's Beanie Babies wouldn't be THAT popular if people couldn't sell or trade them over eBay....
I read with great interest your comments on the end of the "dot com" boom.
I think what is now happening is the very fact that companies that have a "brick and mortar" presence will be the ones that will survive in the long run. Look at the fact that Wal-Mart, Toys-R-Us, Barnes & Noble, GE, Ford, FedEx, UPS, and other "Old Economy" companies have done an extremely successful job in leveraging their "brick and mortar" presence onto the Internet.
In fact, a great example of this is Boeing and Airbus--both are heavily investing in intranet and extranet sites that make it possible to order and ship spare parts for Boeing and Airbus jet airliners almost anywhere in the world.
However, some "New Economy" companies have done extremely provided the managers have a truly innovative ideas and have emphasized the need to actually make a profit. A good example of this is eBay--the company that has essentially created the world's largest classified ad and auction site. And the fact the founders of eBay have emphasized the need to make money have proved that they can withstand the failure of the "dot coms" out there. eBay has so well-implemented their business model that it's almost SOP for anyone who need to sell things in a hurry to a large audience to put it up for auction/sale on eBay first.
First, think about this: how old is the average person working on Linux? I believe that Linus Torvalds is only in his mid thirties! Gates himself has been involved with Microsoft since its inception in 1975, and given the fact it has been 25 years as (more or less) CEO of that company, I think he has realized that it is time for him to consider doing something else in life. After all, he has more than enough money to live a very comfortable life until the end of his life, and with a possible Microsoft breakup he could have over US$70 billion (yes, _billion_) in liquid assets to play with.
Look, Gates is now raising a family, and he now has other interests in his life: his considerable interest in biotechnology, plus the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation with some US$17 _billion_ in its coffers (far more than any other philantrophic organization in the world).
Take for example the the AIDS health crisis. I have read that the health industry has spent only US$300 million to develop a vaccine; that's a drop in the bucket in the world of medical research, where billions can be spent just to develop ONE perscription drug. Gates' own foundation could easily provide US$2 billion for such research, and that type of money will make a huge difference in developing a vaccine that can be ready for large-scale human testing.
Think of this: after Standard Oil was broken up, John D. Rockefeller had so much money on his hands from the sales proceeds that he set up the Rockefeller Foundation to provide funding for the humanities. Without that money from the Rockefeller Foundation, many libraries would not exist today, and PBS could never have been started.
Ever read the biography GATES by Stephen Manes and Paul Andrews?
In the bio, the authors extensively mentioned that Bill Gates had a big interest in biotechnology (and Gates has read many books on the subject) since the middle 1980's. This is something that has interested him for at least 15 years. Don't forget that Gates has invested a good sum of money in biotech stocks himself.
Stop sounding like a bunch of conspiracy theorists who've been listening to too much Art Bell. (shrug)
Consider this: how long has Bill Gates been running Microsoft as CEO? 25 years? Given the fact he's raising a family and also does have some other serious hobbies in life (e.g., his considerable interest in biotechnology), I think Mr. Gates wants a change of scenery and do something that won't be so taxing.
His place in history is already completed; he wants to do other things like life, just like when Steve Wozniak stepped down from Apple Computer.
The frightening concentration of media power
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Jon,
I'm surprised you haven't read my original comment yesterday in regards to this merger.
This is a VERY chilling merger, because the combination of AOL and Time-Warner can dictate a large fraction of what we see in the movies, what we see on TV (over-air AND cable), what we heard on records, what we read in general-interest magazines, and soon what we can see on the Internet.
I think the FTC and Department of Justice will VERY carefully look at this merger. This merger may also not bode well for the DoJ in the US v. Microsoft case, because this event will give Microsoft plentiful ammuntion to prove that their marketshare in the computer market could fall due to rapid changes in the computer industry. In short, the US v. Microsoft case has just been rendered obselete by this massive merger.
Slashdot Mirror
In fact, the engineers at Zeppelin company kind of didn't realize the doping material on the surface of the Hindenberg WAS essentially a major explosive. If that reflective material was non-explosive, the Hindenberg would have settled back onto the ground, and there would have been a lot less casualties because remember which way hydrogen burns: straight up.
In fact, because hydrogen burns straight up, it doesn't have the extreme danger of things like methane, ethane or propane, which has a very bad habit of burning sideways in addition of burning straight up if an explosion occurs. That's why ships and trucks carrying liquid petroleum gas or liquified natural gas has to be given very careful treatment to prevent ignition.
You're one of the few people that does have a life (grin) in knowing how to prepare food.
Personally, I hope that one of these days someone at a community college or adult school ought to teach a class on how to cook easily and a low cost, a class aimed at professional people who have an aversion to cooking food in general. I'll guarantee that if you advertise it correctly you'll have standing-room only crowds there all the time.
I'm still shaking my head at the clueless nature of today's people that don't know squat about how to use their cooking appliances.
blorto wrote:
"The programmers who make $40K+/year and deny themselves the very real sensual pleasure of real food, well-prepared, are IMNSHO leading a pitiful half-life. It is a denial of self and the nature of your body and environment and you should be ashamed."
I know many of the readers of Slashdot.org are programmers who make US$55,000 or more and/or have lots of stock options in their company. What drives me totally nuts (pun not intended) is that they are so obsessed with programming that they forget to get decent nutrition, which will hurt them in the long run.
We have the food storage technology right now to make delicious meals in bulk at home so all you need to do later is reheat the food later to eat it. It seems that much of the crowd here wants an easy way out, and not my problem if you have a nutrition imbalance, too thin (from not eating enough) or too fat (from eating too much fast food).
I make my meals in bulk one month at a time, so you only waste one day slaving over a hot stove/oven.
craw,
Anyone who likes rice MUST invest in a decent rice cooker. Alas, they're not cheap (the Asian stores in my area usually charge around US$100 for the 3 cup rice cookers from Japan made by National, Tiger and Zojirushi), but because the pot where you put in the rice is non-stick material, you can cook rice without worrying about the rice sticking to the pot like in the older-style rice cookers. The better models have "fuzzy logic" electronics so you can set up the rice cooker to cook virtually ANY type of rice from Texas long grain to California short grain perfectly.
If you buy rice in 25 and 50 pound bag quantities, it is very cheap (I can get 25 pound bags for around US$10.00).
In short, if you geeks can just get away from your all-night programming sessions for a while and LEARN how to cook meals ahead of time, you can make very nutritious food that is truly home-made. It's certainly cheaper in the long run than buying hamburgers and pizza all the time. (smile)
Folks,
After reading most of the commentary here, it appears that the programmer/engineer/hacker crowd is in desperate need of learning how to cook and store food properly in BULK.
Ever heard of Tupperware or Rubbermaid containers? A good-sized freezer? Or best of all, a decent home vacuum-sealing system?
As for me, I do it this way: I make things like meat sauces, chicken a la king, or cooked frozen peas/whole kernel corn in large batches, then divy them up among a whole bunch of Tupperware containers (I put a few slices of baked ham on top of the peas/corn) and put them in the freezer. That way, I just cook up some rice with a decent rice cooker (I have a Japanese-made 3-cup Zojirushi unit), then put the container with the food in it in a microwave oven for 8-12 minutes, then serve with the rice.
You can do variants of this by using a Tilia Foodsaver vacuum sealing system, so you can freeze a whole meal into a vacuum-sealed bag and then drop it in a pot of boiling water to cook it later.
Given that the methods I mentioned can include most every type of food, you don't have to be stuck with fast food or worse just to get a decent meal. Break the hamburger and pizza habit!
Getting off nutrition soapbox,
DDR-SDRAM is great, but while you can get them in quantity, FINDING a motherboard that supports it natively is quite something else. :-/
I want to know when will the VIA Apollo KX133 chipset be upgraded so it will support DDR-SDRAM.
Supporting the AMD Athlon is great, but alas, I haven't heard any news about any Athlon-compatible motherboard chipsets that will support the upcoming DDR SDRAM running at 266 MHz.
Once that happens, THEN we might seriously consider the AMD Athlon as a serious alternative for high-end server and workstation applications.
Actually, Michael Dell does have a point.
Anandtech, Tom's Hardware and Sharky Extreme reported that the early Athlon motherboards had compatibility problems, notably with AGP implementation and some tests failing altogether. ZD Labs reported that their 3D Winbench 2000 and other benchmark tests failed on these motherboards.
Fortunately, the arrival of the VIA Apollo KX133 chipset may alleviate this problem (motherboards based on the KX133 chipset should be available in the next 30 days).
Hurray!!
Someone has finally figured out what I've griped about in regards to Linux: the lack of a consistent user interface and API.
Say all you want in vitriol about Microsoft, but at least you have to give them credit for maintaining a reasonably consistent user interface and API. This makes is FAR easier for programmers, and also, you instantly have a market for 85% of the world's desktop computers anyway.
If the Linux crowd can settle on a single standard for graphical interface and API (HOPEFULLY, the upcoming XFree86 4.0 will help this idea along), then we can talk about Linux becoming a large-scale desktop corporate standard.
I think you folks think that Ford will preinstall some commercial Linux distribution on the computers to be sold to their employees.
Only one problem: Linux in its current state is still too hard to use for neophyte computer users. Besides, there's a LOT more software available for Windows 98 users, so I'm not surprised that the machines made available by Ford through PeoplePC are running Windows 98 Second Edition.
My guess is that the machines have Windows 98 Second Edition and Microsoft Works 2000 installed on the hard drive.
Once Linux supports "hot docked" PnP devices and has driver installs as easy as Windows 98/2000, THEN we can seriously consider it as an alternative to Windows 98/2000. Hopefully, the Linux 2.4.x kernel, improved OpenGL support and other improvements due this summer will do just that.
Folks,
Despite the increasing popularity of Linux, I think that if you want it to be popular, it needs two things:
1. A single, common graphical user interface with a common Application Programming Interface (API). This drastically reduces the cost of programming, because you only need to write to one API spec, especially when it comes to writing things like drivers.
2. Automatic system configuration, so when you change system hardware or add external peripherals, the system will automatically add the driver or prompt you to install the driver.
Yes, I know is sounds too much like Windows 95/98/2000, but let's face it: the current state of driver installation in Linux is too obtuse for most computer users. And we will need automatic system configuration sooner than you think, because Intel has already said they will kibosh serial ports, the parallel port and the PS/2 keyboard and mouse ports in future motherboard designs in favor of USB and possibly IEEE-1394 I/O connectors. Right now, only Windows 98 and Windows 2000 can support such a motherboard design fully, despite what SuSE thinks.
It should be noted that common API design and the automatic configuration will have to be written under the GNU General Public License.
Judging from some of the postings on this subject, I think you don't understand why Taiwan has become a huge manufacturer of computer parts.
Remember the old days when "Made in Taiwan" was considered cheap and poor quality? Well, because the government in Taiwan wanted to get away from that image, they heavily invested in the one industry that will bring them into the 21st Century: electronics.
The result is obvious--if you open up a desktop computer, look at how much of the computer is made in Taiwan. I'll almost say that the motherboard, the majority of the surface-mounted chips on the motherboard and peripheral cards, the memory modules, the CD-ROM/DVD-ROM drive, the CPU heatsink/fan and the system case are made in Taiwan. Only the hard disk drive and CPU are not likely to be made in Taiwan. Think about it: if your x86-based computer is using an Abit, FIC, Gigabyte, Supermicro or Tyan motherboard, they are all made in Taiwan.
This is a tribute to the of the people of Taiwan, whose hard work has turned Taiwan into the one of the most influential countries in the computer industry.
By the way, the People's Republic of China are no slouches in the computer industry, either. They have a very popular (and well-made) brand of computers named Legend that runs the Chinese versions of Windows 95/98 and Linux.
Don't forget that one of the most popular commercial distributions of Linux--TurboLinux (formerly Pacific Hi-Tech)--originated in Taiwan.
In short, stop sounding like those protesters at the WTO Summit last year. The xenophobia doesn't work in a world where trade is a fact of life.
I'm not surprised that Microsoft is considering writing a version of the Windows Media Player that works under Linux.
.ASF/.ASX format used by Windows Media Player than the .RM/.RAM format used by Real Networks. I won't be surprised at all if Microsoft makes both a server program and client program for Windows Media Player in Linux under GNU General Public License guidelines, a move that could be extremely bad news for Real Networks since Real doesn't seem to be very inclined to write a Linux version of their streaming media server and client software.
Remember, you can get a lot more information on the
I think the biggest development of the 20th Century is the development of plastics by Du Pont in the 1920's and 1930's.
Think about it: the modern computer would NOT exist if it weren't for plastics (the motherboard, small capacitors, small resistors, and IC packaging are all done in plastic). Look at your car--even the most expensive models--how much of the car is using plastic parts (the interior of most cars ARE done in plastic). Plastics has made is possible to develop food packaging so good that outbreaks of food poisoning from e.coli, salmonella and botulism are very rare events, despite what the news says. And finally, without plastics, we couldn't have lightened the weight of airplanes to the point that today's Airbus A320 jetliner burns nearly 40% less fuel per passenger mile than the Boeing 727-200, which had the same seating capacity.
I personally think that Novell seriously blew it by only NOW announcing their campaign against Windows 2000 Server editions.
Mostly because Novell should have been doing this like early 1999 when NetWare 5.0 first came out. Instead, Novell gave time for Microsoft to rev up their Windows 2000 PR bandwagon, and NetWare 5.0 got ignored by way too many IT managers as a result.
Also, don't forget that Novell is also getting punted all over the place by the rapid rise in Linux for use in departmental servers. Mostly because Linux costs a tiny fraction of what NetWare 5.x costs to purchase, especially for medium to large workgroups. In my personal opinion, the success of Linux servers has hurt Novell far more than Microsoft, especially since Linux has Samba, which allows easy integration to workstations running Windows 95/98 and NT 4.0 Workstation from any Linux server machine.
The issue about gaming magazines geared toward male readers is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to marketing computers to women.
For example, I heard a report on the radio yesterday that the "Mattel" computers built by Patriot Computers had a big problem, namely that the "Hot Wheels" computer had more in the way of productivity tools than the "Barbie" computer. That raised the hackles of several feminist groups, who wants to make sure the next software bundle that comes with the "Barbie" computer does include more productivity tools.
What is very interesting is that if you look at the ads in Computer Shopper magazine, they're mostly geared towards male readership anyways, with heavy emphasis on specifications, the latest hardware, etc. I have this feeling that Gateway--with its more "soft sell" attitude--is selling a lot more computers to female computer users than normal.
I still contend that SCSI hard drives are useful primarily in environments where constantly heavy disk access is necessary, primarily in servers. When you have many people trying to access a database file that is several hundred megabytes in size, you want disk throughput that is very high, and this is where Wide SCSI in its various forms (40, 80 and now 160 MB/sec. transfer rates) becomes useful.
But for single-user desktop operating systems, today's ATA-66 IDE hard drives is more than enough for their needs. Remember, since Intel chipset motherboards usually sport a variant of the Intel 82371 I/O controller, this means you can write bus-mastering software drivers (regardless of operating system) that will dramatically reduce the CPU utilization during disk access, speeding up the computer.
It's only the high-end desktop computer user (e.g., people who work with big CAD/CAM or illustration files) where SCSI Ultra-Wide might become useful.
Folks,
I think many of you are missing the point.
The big advantage of IDE is simple: low cost. Remember, in the old days you had to buy a separate hard disk controller, and that hogged valuable expansion slot space (not to mention the time wasted in doing a low-level format of a hard drive.)
Since IDE drives don't need a separate controller card (and don't need low-level formats), all you need to do in 1999 is connect the drive to the motherboard (heck, even the system BIOS will automatically set up the drive type), and you can right there install the operating system of your choice.
Also, in the past people have rightly criticized about IDE drive's low performance compared to SCSI drives. However, with Intel shipping the 82371 series of I/O controller chips, that allows software drivers to be written that dramatically reduce the CPU utilization to access an IDE drive. Also, the development of Programmed I/O Mode 4 in the early 1990's, ATA-33 in 1996 and ATA-66 in 1999 has dramatically increased throughput on IDE hard drives to the point that for most desktop operating systems there is almost nothing to be gained by going to SCSI hard drives.
The only place where SCSI hard drives still are useful are in environments where hard disk access is very heavy, such as in servers. This is where the RAID 5 capability of modern SCSI host adapters and the throughput of SCSI Ultra-Wide and Ultra2-Wide becomes useful.
It's small wonder why Western Digital is no longer interested in SCSI hard drives. That's because IDE hard drive technology has advanced to the point that SCSI hard drives are only useful for server environments.
Personally, I think the Transmeta CPU's are potentially the "tip of the iceberg" when it comes to CPU designs.
Remember, Transmeta has only shown x86 instruction set emulation; it could conceivably run another CPU instruction set (e.g., PowerPC G3 or G4). After all, if it takes only a little programming for the TM3210 or TM5400 to run Java almost like "native code"....
The very low power consumption of the Transmeta CPU means the elaborate and expensive CPU cooling needed for the mobile Pentium II/III CPU's are almost eliminated; this also means that battery life can be dramatically increased, which means that the "Internet appliance" shown at the demo today will become reality at a reasonable price.
By the way, the Transmeta TM3210 could form the basis of the "Internet terminal" most everyone forecasts to be popular in the next few years. Because of its lower power consumption, such terminals could be quite small, and could be fitted with USB, IEEE-1394, RJ-11 analog telephone and RJ-45 10/100Base-T Ethernet connectors. In short, it'll be just one flat panel box, with motherboard and a small HD in the box, plus external keyboard and mouse pointer.
It'll be interest to see if TM3210-based machines can compete against the Sony PlayStation2....
The answer is simple: online shopping (with Amazon.com as the model) and online auctions (with eBay as a model).
I think in the end, eBay will be remembered as the best company that represents what the "New Economy" can do. After all, their highly successful marketing campaign has convinced everyone that need to sell almost anything quickly to put it up for auction on eBay. Heck, it's become more than just an auction site, it's also become a major site for a lot of mom and pop firms to do business selling collectible items, too. I mean, Ty's Beanie Babies wouldn't be THAT popular if people couldn't sell or trade them over eBay....
Jon,
I read with great interest your comments on the end of the "dot com" boom.
I think what is now happening is the very fact that companies that have a "brick and mortar" presence will be the ones that will survive in the long run. Look at the fact that Wal-Mart, Toys-R-Us, Barnes & Noble, GE, Ford, FedEx, UPS, and other "Old Economy" companies have done an extremely successful job in leveraging their "brick and mortar" presence onto the Internet.
In fact, a great example of this is Boeing and Airbus--both are heavily investing in intranet and extranet sites that make it possible to order and ship spare parts for Boeing and Airbus jet airliners almost anywhere in the world.
However, some "New Economy" companies have done extremely provided the managers have a truly innovative ideas and have emphasized the need to actually make a profit. A good example of this is eBay--the company that has essentially created the world's largest classified ad and auction site. And the fact the founders of eBay have emphasized the need to make money have proved that they can withstand the failure of the "dot coms" out there. eBay has so well-implemented their business model that it's almost SOP for anyone who need to sell things in a hurry to a large audience to put it up for auction/sale on eBay first.
First, think about this: how old is the average person working on Linux? I believe that Linus Torvalds is only in his mid thirties! Gates himself has been involved with Microsoft since its inception in 1975, and given the fact it has been 25 years as (more or less) CEO of that company, I think he has realized that it is time for him to consider doing something else in life. After all, he has more than enough money to live a very comfortable life until the end of his life, and with a possible Microsoft breakup he could have over US$70 billion (yes, _billion_) in liquid assets to play with.
Look, Gates is now raising a family, and he now has other interests in his life: his considerable interest in biotechnology, plus the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation with some US$17 _billion_ in its coffers (far more than any other philantrophic organization in the world).
Take for example the the AIDS health crisis. I have read that the health industry has spent only US$300 million to develop a vaccine; that's a drop in the bucket in the world of medical research, where billions can be spent just to develop ONE perscription drug. Gates' own foundation could easily provide US$2 billion for such research, and that type of money will make a huge difference in developing a vaccine that can be ready for large-scale human testing.
Think of this: after Standard Oil was broken up, John D. Rockefeller had so much money on his hands from the sales proceeds that he set up the Rockefeller Foundation to provide funding for the humanities. Without that money from the Rockefeller Foundation, many libraries would not exist today, and PBS could never have been started.
jafac,
Ever read the biography GATES by Stephen Manes and Paul Andrews?
In the bio, the authors extensively mentioned that Bill Gates had a big interest in biotechnology (and Gates has read many books on the subject) since the middle 1980's. This is something that has interested him for at least 15 years. Don't forget that Gates has invested a good sum of money in biotech stocks himself.
Folks,
Stop sounding like a bunch of conspiracy theorists who've been listening to too much Art Bell. (shrug)
Consider this: how long has Bill Gates been running Microsoft as CEO? 25 years? Given the fact he's raising a family and also does have some other serious hobbies in life (e.g., his considerable interest in biotechnology), I think Mr. Gates wants a change of scenery and do something that won't be so taxing.
His place in history is already completed; he wants to do other things like life, just like when Steve Wozniak stepped down from Apple Computer.
Jon,
I'm surprised you haven't read my original comment yesterday in regards to this merger.
This is a VERY chilling merger, because the combination of AOL and Time-Warner can dictate a large fraction of what we see in the movies, what we see on TV (over-air AND cable), what we heard on records, what we read in general-interest magazines, and soon what we can see on the Internet.
I think the FTC and Department of Justice will VERY carefully look at this merger. This merger may also not bode well for the DoJ in the US v. Microsoft case, because this event will give Microsoft plentiful ammuntion to prove that their marketshare in the computer market could fall due to rapid changes in the computer industry. In short, the US v. Microsoft case has just been rendered obselete by this massive merger.