If I'm reading the article correctly, the claim seems to be that the lighter platters will save energy?
How?
With my primitive understanding of physics, the power required to keep something at constant velocity is basically the sum of the parasitic losses (in this case, aerodynamic and frictional losses). Changing the weight of the platter does not have much impact on energy consumption *except* for periods of acceleration (e.g. - the first couple of seconds during power-on).
Has my logic failed me here? How do the lighter platters save energy in a constant velocity system?
This is exactly what they are trying to avoid: complexity.
By assembling their own distro, they gain the ability to offer a complete virtualized environment - which is where the data centers are trending. This allows them to move from supporting *whatever*, into supporting a single environment.
Go look at the VMware Appliances to get an idea of what I am talking about. The devices are complex, but the consistency is identical from VM to VM, regardless of hardware or underlying operating system.
Their support costs will plummet once they start moving their customers over to an "Oracle Appliance". Of course, this savings will be passed along to their shareholders.
There is value to a fully digital cracking technique.
It is only a matter of time before someone creates a P2P network that rips out the DRM automatically. This will actually ensure to those who download that the music is authentic (and not some advertisement or junk file).
Once this happens, Apple's iPod market will collapse.
Then prove it. Prove that Gartner's article was motivated by corruption.
I have no Apple ties - I've never owned any of their products and probably never will (I do not say this anonymously, either). I have no ties to their stock performance. I'm just a computer scientist who happens to very much disagree with the folks at Gartner.
There's no proving an opinion. They're like belly buttons - everyone has one.
Now how about a retraction of your ridiculous statement regarding Gartner?
No sir - my point was how us tech heads can get a better deal through Dell (as long as doing without OSX is acceptable) - not that Apple shouldn't be commanding a premium.
The crap coming from Gartner is such drivel that it can't be plain ignorance. I am convinced that someone is buying that sort of "insight".
In summary, I initially wanted to point out the Apple tax but failed to find a comparable Dell system, so I conceded to the Apple fanboys only to find that my comparison was flawed.
I'd like to retract my statement but it appears that it is too late. I've just contributed to the Apple machine.
I've always been a critic of the premium that one has to pay to get an Apple. So when I saw this article, I was quick to go configure a Dell and point out just how much one can save over the Apple tax.
But it was 25 percent *more* (at least compared the $1999 MacBook). And you *still* have to waste your time reinstalling Windows to get rid of all the circus-ware that comes on the Dell.
Just wondering, but what kind of answer are you expecting here?
There is no way that he can answer this question without sacrificing his reputation. Either he concedes that they have broken compatibility to maintain a monopoly (and he is unethically working for such a company) or he concedes ignorance.
Either way, he has to sacrifice his career outside of Microsoft.
As someone who has developed for multiple browsers, it really seems like there is a secret ploy at Microsoft to keep IE relatively incompatible with other browsers.
There aer many strategies - I guess that I just picked one that doesn't put a bunch of hydrogen in one spot. I was located in an area affected by the blackout of 2003 so putting all of the eggs in one basket just never seems like a good idea to me anymore.
I suppose it would be a good idea to build a power plant on an empty natural gas formation and store all of the generated hydrogen in there. It would certainly help meet the needs during the day and do so with a smaller footprint of a conventional power plant.
With all the problems that hydrogen has, a good stop gap would come with the advent of an affordable fuel cell. With a fuel cell in each house, you could essentially generate hydrogen from water and electricity at night when the power plants are idling in inefficient speeds. During the day, you could do the opposite and generate electricity from the hydrogen generated the previous night. This would work well for shaving energy consumption during peak levels. With discounts for off-peak electricity, this sort of system could pay for itself while providing backup generator services as a side effect.
Then again, so would a huge flywheel or a bunch of batteries.
Make frivolous patents illegal and punishable by a 10-year FPMITA prison sentence. Then, offer frivolous patent holders a indemnity by turning in their frivolous patents to a patent disposal system (similar to a fire arm turn in). Maybe even give them a lemon cookie for being a good citizen.
Then, allow all patent holders to submit their votes for the most frivolous patents. Prosecute the top 100 holders every month. Rinse, repeat (until their are no more frivolous patents).
The reason children don't code (if that is even true, as it's a completely unsubstantiated assertion) is because they don't want to.
Exactly.
Yesteryear, it was possible to write a simple GOTO loop in QBASIC and coax some perceived functionality out of the box. Now, computer games and software in general is so advanced that kids can't correlate a simple repeating "HELLO WORLD!" loop into anything that they might enjoy.
What we need is a simple line-oriented language with some advanced graphics capabilities. When kids can take digital pictures and easily glue them onto a spinning OpenGL cube, then we'll start seeing them get sucked into computer science again ("sucked" is a good word to describe how I ended up here - it wasn't really a choice).
Now, "fair use" is another argument altogether. I understand that, given the chance, most consumers will steal media without a second thought. I also think that the current DRM implementations are stepping on consumer rights. Is there a balance?
Yes. This discussion is left as an excercise for the reader.
That's all great but can you tell me the easiest method of getting Ubuntu up to speed with all the codecs, DVD-playback, flash, et cetera... LEGALLY?
The available scripts out there (Automatix, EasyUbuntu, etc) are not legal in the United States thanks to the patent quagmire. This preempts the use of the distribution in a large way (e.g. - most businesses simply can't afford to break the law, no matter how wrong it is).
That said, I *would* like a suggestion to this issue. I'd really like to get up and running on Linux legally. Freespire seems appealing in this respect.
Slashdot Mirror
No it isn't. Just add a script to the regular batch.
Whew... On the press release, under "New/extended platforms", it says:
"OpenBSD/armish"
I read that as OpenBSD/amish. You can imagine the visions that swirled through my head at that point.
At least the U.N. would try to keep things fair for everyone.
Yeah - until there's a "Food for Bandwidth" scandal.
Money Magazine's Best Jobs
Top o' the list?
Software Engineer
If I'm reading the article correctly, the claim seems to be that the lighter platters will save energy?
How?
With my primitive understanding of physics, the power required to keep something at constant velocity is basically the sum of the parasitic losses (in this case, aerodynamic and frictional losses). Changing the weight of the platter does not have much impact on energy consumption *except* for periods of acceleration (e.g. - the first couple of seconds during power-on).
Has my logic failed me here? How do the lighter platters save energy in a constant velocity system?
This is exactly what they are trying to avoid: complexity.
By assembling their own distro, they gain the ability to offer a complete virtualized environment - which is where the data centers are trending. This allows them to move from supporting *whatever*, into supporting a single environment.
Go look at the VMware Appliances to get an idea of what I am talking about. The devices are complex, but the consistency is identical from VM to VM, regardless of hardware or underlying operating system.
Their support costs will plummet once they start moving their customers over to an "Oracle Appliance". Of course, this savings will be passed along to their shareholders.
Don't get me wrong - people will still buy iPods. They just won't be selling DRM music anymore.
I'll probably break down and get an ipod or a zune later this year. Either way, it will never see any DRM music.
There is value to a fully digital cracking technique.
It is only a matter of time before someone creates a P2P network that rips out the DRM automatically. This will actually ensure to those who download that the music is authentic (and not some advertisement or junk file).
Once this happens, Apple's iPod market will collapse.
Then prove it. Prove that Gartner's article was motivated by corruption.
I have no Apple ties - I've never owned any of their products and probably never will (I do not say this anonymously, either). I have no ties to their stock performance. I'm just a computer scientist who happens to very much disagree with the folks at Gartner.
There's no proving an opinion. They're like belly buttons - everyone has one.
Now how about a retraction of your ridiculous statement regarding Gartner?
No sir - my point was how us tech heads can get a better deal through Dell (as long as doing without OSX is acceptable) - not that Apple shouldn't be commanding a premium.
The crap coming from Gartner is such drivel that it can't be plain ignorance. I am convinced that someone is buying that sort of "insight".
Indeed - I stand corrected.
In summary, I initially wanted to point out the Apple tax but failed to find a comparable Dell system, so I conceded to the Apple fanboys only to find that my comparison was flawed.
I'd like to retract my statement but it appears that it is too late. I've just contributed to the Apple machine.
The E1505 comes with a Core 1 Duo processor - not a Core 2 Duelling Dualist Duo.
I've always been a critic of the premium that one has to pay to get an Apple. So when I saw this article, I was quick to go configure a Dell and point out just how much one can save over the Apple tax.
But it was 25 percent *more* (at least compared the $1999 MacBook). And you *still* have to waste your time reinstalling Windows to get rid of all the circus-ware that comes on the Dell.
It really is no wonder that someone is paying Gartner to try and coax Apple out of the PC business. They'd be idiots not to continue selling hardware.
Just wondering, but what kind of answer are you expecting here?
There is no way that he can answer this question without sacrificing his reputation. Either he concedes that they have broken compatibility to maintain a monopoly (and he is unethically working for such a company) or he concedes ignorance.
Either way, he has to sacrifice his career outside of Microsoft.
As someone who has developed for multiple browsers, it really seems like there is a secret ploy at Microsoft to keep IE relatively incompatible with other browsers.
Is this purposeful? If not, what is the reason?
Methink's Taco's VA Linux stock hasn't quite rebounded yet.
Does anyone know if any of the slashdot ownership was realized as cold, hard cash or did it all go down the pipes and stay there?
I'm waiting for the third bubble, myself.
Why make hydrogen at home?
There aer many strategies - I guess that I just picked one that doesn't put a bunch of hydrogen in one spot. I was located in an area affected by the blackout of 2003 so putting all of the eggs in one basket just never seems like a good idea to me anymore.
I suppose it would be a good idea to build a power plant on an empty natural gas formation and store all of the generated hydrogen in there. It would certainly help meet the needs during the day and do so with a smaller footprint of a conventional power plant.
With all the problems that hydrogen has, a good stop gap would come with the advent of an affordable fuel cell. With a fuel cell in each house, you could essentially generate hydrogen from water and electricity at night when the power plants are idling in inefficient speeds. During the day, you could do the opposite and generate electricity from the hydrogen generated the previous night. This would work well for shaving energy consumption during peak levels. With discounts for off-peak electricity, this sort of system could pay for itself while providing backup generator services as a side effect.
Then again, so would a huge flywheel or a bunch of batteries.
How about we let ISPs use empty TV spectrum for internet? Oh, wait - that would be all TV spectrum.
On a serious note, then we could use the formerly TV spectrum and newly wireless internet spectrum to deliver...
TELEVISION over IP.
But then the giant corporations would lose control of how consumers/voters think.
But a hot girl using linux on the desktop? Yeah, right!
Because they all know that it isn't ready for the desktop yet! OTOH, most of them use BSD on the server side.
Make frivolous patents illegal and punishable by a 10-year FPMITA prison sentence. Then, offer frivolous patent holders a indemnity by turning in their frivolous patents to a patent disposal system (similar to a fire arm turn in). Maybe even give them a lemon cookie for being a good citizen.
Then, allow all patent holders to submit their votes for the most frivolous patents. Prosecute the top 100 holders every month. Rinse, repeat (until their are no more frivolous patents).
Good stuff, man.
The reason children don't code (if that is even true, as it's a completely unsubstantiated assertion) is because they don't want to.
Exactly.
Yesteryear, it was possible to write a simple GOTO loop in QBASIC and coax some perceived functionality out of the box. Now, computer games and software in general is so advanced that kids can't correlate a simple repeating "HELLO WORLD!" loop into anything that they might enjoy.
What we need is a simple line-oriented language with some advanced graphics capabilities. When kids can take digital pictures and easily glue them onto a spinning OpenGL cube, then we'll start seeing them get sucked into computer science again ("sucked" is a good word to describe how I ended up here - it wasn't really a choice).
Actually, it should read:
FairUse4WM Circumvents Windows DRM
Now, "fair use" is another argument altogether. I understand that, given the chance, most consumers will steal media without a second thought. I also think that the current DRM implementations are stepping on consumer rights. Is there a balance?
Yes. This discussion is left as an excercise for the reader.
That's all great but can you tell me the easiest method of getting Ubuntu up to speed with all the codecs, DVD-playback, flash, et cetera... LEGALLY?
The available scripts out there (Automatix, EasyUbuntu, etc) are not legal in the United States thanks to the patent quagmire. This preempts the use of the distribution in a large way (e.g. - most businesses simply can't afford to break the law, no matter how wrong it is).
That said, I *would* like a suggestion to this issue. I'd really like to get up and running on Linux legally. Freespire seems appealing in this respect.