Electric cars are built in vain, most electricity comes from coal power, require oil powered vehicles to mine the copper, lithium and other chemicals which once disposed of are more toxic to the environment than the exhaust from the latest combustion engines.
If everyone were using electric cars then you could improve the efficiency and reduce environmental impact of all cars in an area by increasing the efficiency and reducing the environmental impact of just the power plants in the area. This is much easier and faster to do than retrofitting all cars in the area with more efficient environmentally friendly engines.
With combustion powered cars you can not immediately improve all car's environmental impact at once, with electric cars we can. The initial migration to electric cars must happen in order to better manage our environmental impact.
As for your "they'll be powered by dirty coal plants anyway" argument: Green power can provide 100% of this planet's power. We are currently harnessing very little in comparison to the amount of clean power available. However, much like electric car adoption the transition to clean power will be a slow process.
As for your "lithium and other battery chemicals are bad for the environment" argument: Ultracapacitors are made of ceramic (clay) and aluminum, and are therefore recyclable. Ultra-capacitors also charge much faster than comparable electro chemical storage systems. This new tech in new and will take a while to get here. I believe a Canadian company is working on an ultracapacitor powered car. Meanwhile, we'll just have to use the tried and tested battery tech we currently have.
In short: We have to start somewhere; The electric car is not a worthless endeavor it is an important next step towards energy independence and clean power.
You can't go by what things are breakered at - that's the maximum the circuits can safely draw. The circuits aren't meant to draw more than 1/2 to 2/3 of that value.
You are so very wrong.
The circuits are designed to operate safely at 25% MORE than the amp rating of the breaker. This large safety margin is to prevent fires from happening.
The breakers typically trip when you draw more than a little bit OVER the amp rating of the breaker. Note: The total amp rating of all branch circuit breakers will exceed the main breaker's amp rating because you are not expected to be using every electric appliance at once.
Whether or not you are "meant" to draw full load on the main breaker is a matter of opinion; The "1/2 to 2/3" opinion is that of the power company, not the consumer, breaker mfg. or electrician.
I blame the common business practice of overselling a product, such as power, bandwidth, airline seats, etc.
Why increase the infrastructure's maximum capacity when, theoretically, no one is using it all up? Why not just over sell the product up to our typical maximum capacity instead? This maximizes profit and only causes a problem during usage spikes.
The problem is: Our "short usage spikes" are becoming more like "long heavy usage plateaus"; Overselling instead of investing in the infrastructure leads to inability to meet demand.
Car companies use a percent of profits to increase production capabilities and improve their cars to meet demand and compete. Electric and Telecom companies simply deal with outages and shortages instead because every dollar spent building bigger & better tubes is a dollar "lost" in the profit column of their report.
Also: Blame the stock market & share holders for artificially weighting profit against real world value.
I think that Terrorists are those that promote and follow a belief in things that cause fear; You know, like your local evening television news anchors.
The people that blow stuff up illegally usually fall into two categories: Psychopaths or Activists.
"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." - Franklin D. Roosevelt
Indeed. Who among us is afraid of a terrorist attack? To those that choose to live in terror, please consider that you should be more afraid of dying due to a car accident or heart attack than from a terrorist attack (given that the odds are much lower for the latter).
Some say that terrorists are those that use terror to oppress others. I agree, our political system is full of Terrorist; Look at all the freedoms we no longer enjoy thanks to all of the "Remember the Terrorists" acts/laws & procedures that have been imposed upon us.
The smiling politicians and faces of the media can be just as much terrorists as those planting bombs on a buss; Their effects may not be as dramatic, but are felt more broadly and for a much longer period of time.
Diluted terror is still terror. Choose not to live in fear, and don't believe everything you hear on the "news".
You accuse the software of not fixing social problems. In your own words, your friend's "husband and her kids have a habit of repeatedly infecting the thing since they are either unwilling or unable to exhibit the slightest discipline when using the Web, and will install anything that's shiny and free." This has nothing to do with Windows. Mac or Linux are just as vulnerable in this scenario.
You are a moron.
Uh, no, he's not a moron. My neighbors kept doing the same thing. I kept cleaning their PC until the day Windows 7 came out and they wanted to upgrade away from XP.
Realizing that they would likely just infect Win7 all to hell too, I installed Ubuntu for them instead. I told them to try this new OS for a while, and if they still wanted to I would install Windows 7 later.
They spent the next 3 weeks blissfully installing tons of "anything that's shiny and free" from the Ubuntu Software Center (repository). They couldn't believe that all of the software was actually free; It took some convincing to get them to realize that all the stuff isn't pirated...
Sometimes I get a phone call asking where to find this or that (these folk will not RTFM), but none of the regular, "Help, it's crashed" calls anymore.
Look, people want to install free stuff. On Windows there is no centralized "This stuff has no viruses" repository, so people end up with viruses. (Windows will probably have an app store soon -- everyone will, repositories are awesome).
You are the moron if you think that it's impossible to allow people to install anything they want and still remain secure.
Now how much money can you make by compromising a big company's server (a market segment dominated by linux) to steal some industrial secrets and sell that to competitors?
Ask the Chinese that hacked into Google via IE vulnerabilities.
Note: Shortly after, Google stopped offering the option of using a Windows OS internally (New employees can choose Mac or Linux).
Honestly, can we just stop the "Well, Windows is full of viruses right now, and Linux and Mac aren't, but stop hating on MS, because some day Linux & Mac will get all the viruses too," bullshit arguments.
Look, it's simple. Windows is susceptible to a shit ton of malware right now. The same is not true for Linux & Mac, right now. Right Now Windows is a stupid choice if security is your primary deciding factor.
Note: We live in the present (AKA Right Now); If you live in the future then argue all you want, but I won't care because I live and work in the present.
Some people must use Windows because of their amazing Vendor Lock In strategy. I get it, it sucks, but stop with the "MS is just as secure as ___", because realistically it isn't.
Instead of stabbing people to death with pencils in the courtyard, they would just use a stick from the trees nearby or wait until they are in class and the "weapons" are provided.
Honestly, most bullies I've encountered used fists. FISTS; Not knives or pencils... I say ban the teachers and replace them with a video. Hell, most teachers just tell the kids what pages of their text book to read and answer anyway.
An open source driver would give details on hardware internals.
More so than the hardware itself? I think not. If you want me to see a movie I must be able to see the movie, ergo, it is impossible for you to keep me from recording the movie if you let me take the movie home.
If you let me take the hardware home, and the hardware is expected to function for me, then I will be able to operate and analyze the hardware and write my own damn driver which, you guessed it, will expose the same details as the Mfgr's driver would if it were open source... Hell, not giving me the driver source may cause me to discover MORE hardware details than would have been exposed otherwise.
Come on, think man... If you're selling me a machine, do you honestly expect me not to be able to tell how the machine works if I'm sufficiently curious?
It's not Closed Source Drivers or Epoxy Coated Circuit Boards that keep people from using your "innovations", it's the Patent and Copyright laws that do.
Uh, software is still written to specific hardware. You may write it in C, but C doesn't determine the register mappings and semantics. *addr=value is still just mov [addr],$value
Yes, but largely NO!
I write my software in C. The same code compiles and runs on x64 and on x86. The COMPILER translates my cross platform "*addr=value;" into the apropriate machine level instructions. My C software programs do not concern themselves with the specific register mappings and processor semantics; this has been abstracted away by the C Compiler.
I agree that driver software may be written to the specific hardware, but the purpose of a driver is to abstract said "register mappings and semantics" so that the majority of other software (All other software EXCEPT the driver), don't have to worry about the "register mappings" and/or other "semantics".
Inline Assembly code is not cross platform, and in many cases a compiler can make better improvements than the assembly code in question does.
When is the last time you used a significant program that was written entirely in assembly? Again, I must reiterate: Take a step back, look at the big picture. You're focusing on the little edge part which may get cut off without significantly changing the picture at all.
Originally computers were huge proprietary things. Now they are small and commonplace.
In the past software was written to a specific hardware, now it's not ( C is cross platform compared to assembly, folks ). Games no longer draw graphics by directly reading and writing raster data directly into hardcoded "video memory" regions.
Abstraction layers (such as a graphics API + Drivers) are a must in todays software environment. Why? To support cross platform software development. Many of todays games sit on top of another huge abstraction layer The Game Engine (such as Unreal or Source), and in doing so are more easily ported to multiple platforms.
The point is: Software development is rapidly moving from "Works on only one hardware/software platform" to "Works on many platforms, OSes, devices, etc". Eventually we will get to the point where any software can run on just about any hardware. The fast track to this destination is clearly Open Source. It's ridiculous to me to see hardware drivers lagging behind in the cross platform aspect when compared to cross platform open source projects like Firefox, Apache server, etc.
Additionally: An open source driver could have a few #ifdef blocks, etc, and compile/run on both Linux and Windows platforms (ok, more than a few, but why not release the source at least and get some free help?). The damn driver is not the product; The hardware is the product being sold. More platforms = more customers; no other argument really compares.
I'm glad to see ATI has seen a bit of the big picture. Now, if only we can get NV to realize that cross platform / OSS is good for everyone (including customers -- less vendor lock in).
>>>Notice that it keeps blinking even though you are not using the Internet?
No. I have DSL and when my computer stops, so too does the modem. I mean it's still on but there's nothing being transmitted. It stop blinking.
I too have access to a DSL line/modem, and disabling my NIC via my OS control panel results in the modem's activity light continuously blinking (indicating incoming or outgoing traffic) even though I'm sure than none of my machines are "using" the Internet. 10 hours pass, and still the activity light is blinking furiously away. I have also encountered modems that do not consider inbound packets as "Activity", and therefore only blink when outgoing data is being transmitted.
My first reply included a very basic test that may not work on all hardware. (Unplugging the wire causes my modem to disconnect from the Internet completely). You can also just ensure that there are no applications "using" the Internet, and leave your devices connected.
This was a quick demonstration. To give you a better idea, you can use a packet sniffer to view the multitude of unsolicited packets. Some routers have an option to log this type of data as well.
You can also just connect a machine running an unpatched Windows XP service pack 1 directly to the modem. Wait about 1 hour (two for maximum effect), and do nothing but let the OS sit there, don't even open IE.
Now, run an up to date anti-virus on the machine (you may have to boot into a clean OS to perform the AV Scan if you've been root-kitted).
The machine will typically have 4 to 10 malicious programs installed. Strange, isn't it? Q:How can not "using" the Internet, or machine at all result in viruses? A:Internet Background Radiation -- unsolicited malicious packets.
I do this about 4 times a year to demonstrate the need for hardware firewalls and OS updates to clients and students.
This test works well with fresh (unpatched) installs of XP SP2/3, Vista & Win7 each just takes longer than the previous version to get infected (theoretically, unpatched Linux or Mac OSes also get infected this way, but I've never seen it happen because of the much longer exposure times required).
Now, perhaps you diligently turn off the modem and computer when you are not using them. However, when you do have the computer on, and are using the Internet your modem will begin receiving unsolicited packets of data that do add to your monthly bandwidth usage (even if your modem does not announce their arrival via flashing activity light) along with the data you are actually "using" and have requested.
Unsolicited packets also contribute to network congestion and thereby reduce your speed a bit too.
Nice try, but you are still subjected to IBR unless your ISP is giving you a modem behind their NAT (in which case you don't have a public IP, and will find it hard to host servers because your "usage" is very limited).
..and their tendency to abuse every software paradigm.
As I see it, app stores / software centers are meant to unify application sources and updates. This implies to me, that there should be one of it and probably the best place is on the platform level: the OS.
Agreed, there should be one place to unify application sources and updates. I think an OS level muliti-repository system is in order. So, what we really need is the ability to add custom repositories to the "app store list", much like Linux repository management...
It's up to the app developers not to flood each repo with multiple incompatible versions; Such complications will have to be ironed out, but I would really like the choice to add alternate app stores.
Note: Mozilla's app store is not integrated into the unified app distribution and update system specifically because the option to add alternate app stores isn't available to the users, yet.
Let's say that Mozilla would need to have an EXTREMELY good app store, that starts fast, have fast and good apps that works WELL everywhere.
Not half-assed polish, but really good stuff.. for this to work. That means if they were to release Angry Birds for it for example, it would work on w7, android, iOS, Symbian, Meego with no customization, and just as well as Angry Birds for iOS/Android (and the store would have to start "instant" no delay.)
And I'm not sure they can deliver that.
Done and done: I have Angry Birds running on my Linux laptop... The Android SDK includes a phone emulator.
As far as I can tell, there's no reason phone makers can't install Android on any device they want (hell, even jailbroken iphones can run Android). Android is cross platform.
Also note: Games are hard to make perform well on so many platforms because you typically want to take full advantage of the hardware available. This is why "Minimum System Requirements" exist. At some point you have to remove features on slower hardware or set a hard baseline.
IMO, all we really need now is the option to add custom app stores to the device. Adding a custom repository is a well understood practice; Make doing so simple on phones then Mozilla's store can just be another tab in the phone's app store.
Since I first discovered what an "app store" is my brain has always performed this simple perl regexp:
=~ s/ app(lication)? \W store/repository/gosix;
Ah, that's better. Yes, repositories are a good thing. Community driven repository approval processes makes sense to communities. Corporate dictatorship repository approval processes makes sense to control freaks.
Personally, I will not use any platform where I can't either: add my own repositories or install programs that are not in the approved repository... IMO, there is no excuse to not give customers this choice.
Mozilla already has a repository for its FF plugins, so it has some experience with repositories.
I think repositories are the best way to distribute software. Making it easier to distribute the programs I create to wider audiences is a win for everyone.
PS: I also think we need more decentralized repositories. (Central program database backed by.torrents?)
Your question makes no sense. The answer is obvious: You would handle all packets identically regardless of content.
If the "pipes" start to get full, install new faster pipes to relieve congestion. If that's not practical impose ~250GB limits + 5 cents/extra GB so people will limit themselves (in the same way they limit how much electricity or water they use).
I want you to do something for me... Let's do a demonstration, then think this through.
Disconnect any devices from your modem (both wired and wireless).
Now, look at that "Activity" light; Notice that it keeps blinking even though you are not using the Internet?
That's because of Internet Background Radiation. There are packets of unrequested data arriving at your modem many times a second. The sources are numerous, distributed, and many are malicious.
In a $x per Gig model a distributed denial of service attack directed at your IP will drive your bill to absurd rates; If you're lucky you have a hard cap on your monthly consumption, if you're unlucky you pay for the overages (as you suggested above).
The current answer to IBR is a NAT/Firewall that drops all unrequested packets, but NAT makes using your connection to run a server difficult. Now, you can come up with clever ways to "open ports" on your NAT router, but they all rely on having admin access to the router.
Even with a NAT router connected to your modem, you would still be paying for all those IBR packets with a $x per Gig model -- they would be delivered to your modem before being dropped.
So, the ISPs can put a NAT router / firewall on the other side of your modem, in their facilities where you have no admin access to the router (indeed, some already do this). Then, they can charge you only for the packets that make it through -- the ones you specifically requested. The problem is that now, you've limited the way you can use the Internet. You can't very well host a (game) server if you can't accept incoming (read: unsolicited) connections.
Protocols like STUN help bypass the "behind NAT" problem, but require a 3rd party to help coordinate the connection... (3rd party AKA MITM).
The phrase "only pay for the bits you use" depends on your definition of "use"; Treating all packets as equal doesn't really describe how most people expect they are "using" the Internet...
Sorry, I have to disagree. If something does not tell me "Not for you!" or require authentication, it is open to the public.
I agree. I also agree that women should wear burkas or else they are asking for it.
Bad analogy. A better analogy: If a sober women has consensual sex with you then, days later she decides that since you didn't marry her afterwards the previous sex was rape.
Simple. Start producing Kinects that require "validation" via plugging into the Xbox360 possibly while connected to XBL.
Sure, if the first batch doesn't have some kind of time delayed mandatory driver update then the first batch will not be able to break third party software built for it; However, the Zune has an encrypted handshake and is therefore only usable on MS approved OSes so it's not too far of a stretch to think this could happen in the future for the Kinect.
I think when robots are better at my job than I could be, I would start to question the meaning of my life.
If so, you should have questioned your life's meaning a long time ago. I think people impart far too much importance to things they can do.
Tonight, go outside and look up at the beautiful starry sky and contemplate the size of the Universe. Then, consider the fact: We are only important to ourselves; This entire planet could disappear right now and it would not matter significantly to the rest of the Universe, save one lonely Jedi on Tatooine.
Maybe you should replace the death penalty with having to watch Uwe Bolls filmography?
Nope, that's unconstitutional. There are people that deserve to die... but forced exposure to a Uwe Bolls film is a form of cruel and unusual punishment.
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Electric cars are built in vain, most electricity comes from coal power, require oil powered vehicles to mine the copper, lithium and other chemicals which once disposed of are more toxic to the environment than the exhaust from the latest combustion engines.
If everyone were using electric cars then you could improve the efficiency and reduce environmental impact of all cars in an area by increasing the efficiency and reducing the environmental impact of just the power plants in the area. This is much easier and faster to do than retrofitting all cars in the area with more efficient environmentally friendly engines.
With combustion powered cars you can not immediately improve all car's environmental impact at once, with electric cars we can. The initial migration to electric cars must happen in order to better manage our environmental impact.
As for your "they'll be powered by dirty coal plants anyway" argument: Green power can provide 100% of this planet's power. We are currently harnessing very little in comparison to the amount of clean power available. However, much like electric car adoption the transition to clean power will be a slow process.
As for your "lithium and other battery chemicals are bad for the environment" argument: Ultracapacitors are made of ceramic (clay) and aluminum, and are therefore recyclable. Ultra-capacitors also charge much faster than comparable electro chemical storage systems. This new tech in new and will take a while to get here. I believe a Canadian company is working on an ultracapacitor powered car. Meanwhile, we'll just have to use the tried and tested battery tech we currently have.
In short: We have to start somewhere; The electric car is not a worthless endeavor it is an important next step towards energy independence and clean power.
You can't go by what things are breakered at - that's the maximum the circuits can safely draw. The circuits aren't meant to draw more than 1/2 to 2/3 of that value.
You are so very wrong.
The circuits are designed to operate safely at 25% MORE than the amp rating of the breaker. This large safety margin is to prevent fires from happening.
The breakers typically trip when you draw more than a little bit OVER the amp rating of the breaker. Note: The total amp rating of all branch circuit breakers will exceed the main breaker's amp rating because you are not expected to be using every electric appliance at once.
Whether or not you are "meant" to draw full load on the main breaker is a matter of opinion; The "1/2 to 2/3" opinion is that of the power company, not the consumer, breaker mfg. or electrician.
I blame the common business practice of overselling a product, such as power, bandwidth, airline seats, etc.
Why increase the infrastructure's maximum capacity when, theoretically, no one is using it all up? Why not just over sell the product up to our typical maximum capacity instead? This maximizes profit and only causes a problem during usage spikes.
The problem is: Our "short usage spikes" are becoming more like "long heavy usage plateaus"; Overselling instead of investing in the infrastructure leads to inability to meet demand.
Car companies use a percent of profits to increase production capabilities and improve their cars to meet demand and compete. Electric and Telecom companies simply deal with outages and shortages instead because every dollar spent building bigger & better tubes is a dollar "lost" in the profit column of their report.
Also: Blame the stock market & share holders for artificially weighting profit against real world value.
Terror: Something that causes intense fear.
-ism: a principle, belief or movement.
I think Terrorism is a belief in something that causes intense fear.
-ist: One who follows a principle or system of belief.
I think that Terrorists are those that promote and follow a belief in things that cause fear; You know, like your local evening television news anchors.
The people that blow stuff up illegally usually fall into two categories: Psychopaths or Activists.
"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." - Franklin D. Roosevelt
Indeed. Who among us is afraid of a terrorist attack? To those that choose to live in terror, please consider that you should be more afraid of dying due to a car accident or heart attack than from a terrorist attack (given that the odds are much lower for the latter).
Some say that terrorists are those that use terror to oppress others. I agree, our political system is full of Terrorist; Look at all the freedoms we no longer enjoy thanks to all of the "Remember the Terrorists" acts/laws & procedures that have been imposed upon us.
The smiling politicians and faces of the media can be just as much terrorists as those planting bombs on a buss; Their effects may not be as dramatic, but are felt more broadly and for a much longer period of time.
Diluted terror is still terror. Choose not to live in fear, and don't believe everything you hear on the "news".
... Do you know where the nearest convenience store is?
Me: Yes, take this street to the first light, turn right, it's 3 blocks down on the left.
(later)
Police: You are under arrest for aiding in the robbery and murder of three convenience store clerks.
In Sweden, I would be very hesitant about giving directions since merely pointing in the direction a crime may take place can land you in jail.
You accuse the software of not fixing social problems. In your own words, your friend's "husband and her kids have a habit of repeatedly infecting the thing since they are either unwilling or unable to exhibit the slightest discipline when using the Web, and will install anything that's shiny and free." This has nothing to do with Windows. Mac or Linux are just as vulnerable in this scenario.
You are a moron.
Uh, no, he's not a moron. My neighbors kept doing the same thing. I kept cleaning their PC until the day Windows 7 came out and they wanted to upgrade away from XP.
Realizing that they would likely just infect Win7 all to hell too, I installed Ubuntu for them instead. I told them to try this new OS for a while, and if they still wanted to I would install Windows 7 later.
They spent the next 3 weeks blissfully installing tons of "anything that's shiny and free" from the Ubuntu Software Center (repository). They couldn't believe that all of the software was actually free; It took some convincing to get them to realize that all the stuff isn't pirated...
Sometimes I get a phone call asking where to find this or that (these folk will not RTFM), but none of the regular, "Help, it's crashed" calls anymore.
Look, people want to install free stuff. On Windows there is no centralized "This stuff has no viruses" repository, so people end up with viruses. (Windows will probably have an app store soon -- everyone will, repositories are awesome).
You are the moron if you think that it's impossible to allow people to install anything they want and still remain secure.
Now how much money can you make by compromising a big company's server (a market segment dominated by linux) to steal some industrial secrets and sell that to competitors?
Ask the Chinese that hacked into Google via IE vulnerabilities.
Note: Shortly after, Google stopped offering the option of using a Windows OS internally (New employees can choose Mac or Linux).
Honestly, can we just stop the "Well, Windows is full of viruses right now, and Linux and Mac aren't, but stop hating on MS, because some day Linux & Mac will get all the viruses too," bullshit arguments.
Look, it's simple. Windows is susceptible to a shit ton of malware right now. The same is not true for Linux & Mac, right now. Right Now Windows is a stupid choice if security is your primary deciding factor.
Note: We live in the present (AKA Right Now); If you live in the future then argue all you want, but I won't care because I live and work in the present.
Some people must use Windows because of their amazing Vendor Lock In strategy. I get it, it sucks, but stop with the "MS is just as secure as ___", because realistically it isn't.
... and I thought the headline was, "1 Apple Computer Sells For $210700"; Which, honestly, did not sound like news to me.
Instead of stabbing people to death with pencils in the courtyard, they would just use a stick from the trees nearby or wait until they are in class and the "weapons" are provided.
Honestly, most bullies I've encountered used fists. FISTS; Not knives or pencils... I say ban the teachers and replace them with a video. Hell, most teachers just tell the kids what pages of their text book to read and answer anyway.
Installing small daily updates is a breeze; I don't even think of it anymore because of automatic download and install options.
Upgrading to a new Version of the OS via many hundred megabyte download/CD/DVD is a pain in the ass.
Considering that it is possible to push out small incremental updates via the daily update system this seems like a good idea to me.
Also, you can already choose not to apply any of the daily software updates (esp. ones that might not be compatible with your hardware).
I look forward to the days where I'll never have to install an upgrade again...
Yes, it was his Laptop Bag... as in the security theater song and dance: "Take Your Laptops out of your Bags," and all that jazz.
An open source driver would give details on hardware internals.
More so than the hardware itself? I think not. If you want me to see a movie I must be able to see the movie, ergo, it is impossible for you to keep me from recording the movie if you let me take the movie home.
If you let me take the hardware home, and the hardware is expected to function for me, then I will be able to operate and analyze the hardware and write my own damn driver which, you guessed it, will expose the same details as the Mfgr's driver would if it were open source... Hell, not giving me the driver source may cause me to discover MORE hardware details than would have been exposed otherwise.
Come on, think man... If you're selling me a machine, do you honestly expect me not to be able to tell how the machine works if I'm sufficiently curious?
It's not Closed Source Drivers or Epoxy Coated Circuit Boards that keep people from using your "innovations", it's the Patent and Copyright laws that do.
Uh, software is still written to specific hardware. You may write it in C, but C doesn't determine the register mappings and semantics. *addr=value is still just mov [addr],$value
Yes, but largely NO!
I write my software in C. The same code compiles and runs on x64 and on x86. The COMPILER translates my cross platform "*addr=value;" into the apropriate machine level instructions. My C software programs do not concern themselves with the specific register mappings and processor semantics; this has been abstracted away by the C Compiler.
I agree that driver software may be written to the specific hardware, but the purpose of a driver is to abstract said "register mappings and semantics" so that the majority of other software (All other software EXCEPT the driver), don't have to worry about the "register mappings" and/or other "semantics".
Inline Assembly code is not cross platform, and in many cases a compiler can make better improvements than the assembly code in question does.
When is the last time you used a significant program that was written entirely in assembly?
Again, I must reiterate: Take a step back, look at the big picture.
You're focusing on the little edge part which may get cut off without significantly changing the picture at all.
Originally computers were huge proprietary things.
Now they are small and commonplace.
In the past software was written to a specific hardware, now it's not ( C is cross platform compared to assembly, folks ).
Games no longer draw graphics by directly reading and writing raster data directly into hardcoded "video memory" regions.
Abstraction layers (such as a graphics API + Drivers) are a must in todays software environment. Why? To support cross platform software development. Many of todays games sit on top of another huge abstraction layer The Game Engine (such as Unreal or Source), and in doing so are more easily ported to multiple platforms.
The point is: Software development is rapidly moving from "Works on only one hardware/software platform" to "Works on many platforms, OSes, devices, etc". Eventually we will get to the point where any software can run on just about any hardware. The fast track to this destination is clearly Open Source. It's ridiculous to me to see hardware drivers lagging behind in the cross platform aspect when compared to cross platform open source projects like Firefox, Apache server, etc.
Additionally: An open source driver could have a few #ifdef blocks, etc, and compile/run on both Linux and Windows platforms (ok, more than a few, but why not release the source at least and get some free help?). The damn driver is not the product; The hardware is the product being sold. More platforms = more customers; no other argument really compares.
I'm glad to see ATI has seen a bit of the big picture. Now, if only we can get NV to realize that cross platform / OSS is good for everyone (including customers -- less vendor lock in).
You never see a seeing eye cat.
Right, this is because the feline breed ironically known as "seeing eye" has invisibility powers akin to that of a Ninja.
To lull us into a false sense of safety.
Exactly!
Please, for Humanities sake, read this guide that details How to Tell if Your Cat is Planning to Kill You.
He cited China's ability, the world's first, to build high-speed tail in high mountain area...
Wham, Bam, Thank You Tram.
>>>Notice that it keeps blinking even though you are not using the Internet?
No. I have DSL and when my computer stops, so too does the modem. I mean it's still on but there's nothing being transmitted. It stop blinking.
I too have access to a DSL line/modem, and disabling my NIC via my OS control panel results in the modem's activity light continuously blinking (indicating incoming or outgoing traffic) even though I'm sure than none of my machines are "using" the Internet. 10 hours pass, and still the activity light is blinking furiously away. I have also encountered modems that do not consider inbound packets as "Activity", and therefore only blink when outgoing data is being transmitted.
My first reply included a very basic test that may not work on all hardware. (Unplugging the wire causes my modem to disconnect from the Internet completely). You can also just ensure that there are no applications "using" the Internet, and leave your devices connected.
This was a quick demonstration. To give you a better idea, you can use a packet sniffer to view the multitude of unsolicited packets. Some routers have an option to log this type of data as well.
You can also just connect a machine running an unpatched Windows XP service pack 1 directly to the modem. Wait about 1 hour (two for maximum effect), and do nothing but let the OS sit there, don't even open IE.
Now, run an up to date anti-virus on the machine (you may have to boot into a clean OS to perform the AV Scan if you've been root-kitted).
The machine will typically have 4 to 10 malicious programs installed. Strange, isn't it? Q:How can not "using" the Internet, or machine at all result in viruses? A:Internet Background Radiation -- unsolicited malicious packets.
I do this about 4 times a year to demonstrate the need for hardware firewalls and OS updates to clients and students.
This test works well with fresh (unpatched) installs of XP SP2/3, Vista & Win7 each just takes longer than the previous version to get infected (theoretically, unpatched Linux or Mac OSes also get infected this way, but I've never seen it happen because of the much longer exposure times required).
Now, perhaps you diligently turn off the modem and computer when you are not using them. However, when you do have the computer on, and are using the Internet your modem will begin receiving unsolicited packets of data that do add to your monthly bandwidth usage (even if your modem does not announce their arrival via flashing activity light) along with the data you are actually "using" and have requested.
Unsolicited packets also contribute to network congestion and thereby reduce your speed a bit too.
Nice try, but you are still subjected to IBR unless your ISP is giving you a modem behind their NAT (in which case you don't have a public IP, and will find it hard to host servers because your "usage" is very limited).
..and their tendency to abuse every software paradigm.
As I see it, app stores / software centers are meant to unify application sources and updates. This implies to me, that there should be one of it and probably the best place is on the platform level: the OS.
Agreed, there should be one place to unify application sources and updates. I think an OS level muliti-repository system is in order. So, what we really need is the ability to add custom repositories to the "app store list", much like Linux repository management...
It's up to the app developers not to flood each repo with multiple incompatible versions; Such complications will have to be ironed out, but I would really like the choice to add alternate app stores.
Note: Mozilla's app store is not integrated into the unified app distribution and update system specifically because the option to add alternate app stores isn't available to the users, yet.
Let's say that Mozilla would need to have an EXTREMELY good app store, that starts fast, have fast and good apps that works WELL everywhere.
Not half-assed polish, but really good stuff.. for this to work. That means if they were to release Angry Birds for it for example, it would work on w7, android, iOS, Symbian, Meego with no customization, and just as well as Angry Birds for iOS/Android (and the store would have to start "instant" no delay.)
And I'm not sure they can deliver that.
Done and done: I have Angry Birds running on my Linux laptop... The Android SDK includes a phone emulator.
As far as I can tell, there's no reason phone makers can't install Android on any device they want (hell, even jailbroken iphones can run Android). Android is cross platform.
Also note: Games are hard to make perform well on so many platforms because you typically want to take full advantage of the hardware available. This is why "Minimum System Requirements" exist. At some point you have to remove features on slower hardware or set a hard baseline.
IMO, all we really need now is the option to add custom app stores to the device. Adding a custom repository is a well understood practice; Make doing so simple on phones then Mozilla's store can just be another tab in the phone's app store.
Since I first discovered what an "app store" is my brain has always performed this simple perl regexp:
=~ s/ app(lication)? \W store /repository/gosix;
Ah, that's better. Yes, repositories are a good thing. Community driven repository approval processes makes sense to communities. Corporate dictatorship repository approval processes makes sense to control freaks.
Personally, I will not use any platform where I can't either: add my own repositories or install programs that are not in the approved repository... IMO, there is no excuse to not give customers this choice.
Mozilla already has a repository for its FF plugins, so it has some experience with repositories.
I think repositories are the best way to distribute software. Making it easier to distribute the programs I create to wider audiences is a win for everyone.
PS: I also think we need more decentralized repositories. (Central program database backed by .torrents?)
Your question makes no sense. The answer is obvious: You would handle all packets identically regardless of content.
If the "pipes" start to get full, install new faster pipes to relieve congestion. If that's not practical impose ~250GB limits + 5 cents/extra GB so people will limit themselves (in the same way they limit how much electricity or water they use).
I want you to do something for me... Let's do a demonstration, then think this through.
Disconnect any devices from your modem (both wired and wireless).
Now, look at that "Activity" light; Notice that it keeps blinking even though you are not using the Internet?
That's because of Internet Background Radiation. There are packets of unrequested data arriving at your modem many times a second. The sources are numerous, distributed, and many are malicious.
In a $x per Gig model a distributed denial of service attack directed at your IP will drive your bill to absurd rates; If you're lucky you have a hard cap on your monthly consumption, if you're unlucky you pay for the overages (as you suggested above).
The current answer to IBR is a NAT/Firewall that drops all unrequested packets, but NAT makes using your connection to run a server difficult. Now, you can come up with clever ways to "open ports" on your NAT router, but they all rely on having admin access to the router.
Even with a NAT router connected to your modem, you would still be paying for all those IBR packets with a $x per Gig model -- they would be delivered to your modem before being dropped.
So, the ISPs can put a NAT router / firewall on the other side of your modem, in their facilities where you have no admin access to the router (indeed, some already do this). Then, they can charge you only for the packets that make it through -- the ones you specifically requested. The problem is that now, you've limited the way you can use the Internet. You can't very well host a (game) server if you can't accept incoming (read: unsolicited) connections.
Protocols like STUN help bypass the "behind NAT" problem, but require a 3rd party to help coordinate the connection... (3rd party AKA MITM).
The phrase "only pay for the bits you use" depends on your definition of "use"; Treating all packets as equal doesn't really describe how most people expect they are "using" the Internet...
This is a very complicated thing indeed.
Sorry, I have to disagree. If something does not tell me "Not for you!" or require authentication, it is open to the public.
I agree. I also agree that women should wear burkas or else they are asking for it.
Bad analogy. A better analogy: If a sober women has consensual sex with you then, days later she decides that since you didn't marry her afterwards the previous sex was rape.
But hey, this case is in Sweden, and women CAN just change their minds days later and call consensual sex rape in Sweden (see: http://yro.slashdot.org/story/10/11/18/1318246/Swedish-Court-Order-Detention-of-Wikileaks-Founder-Assange).
Simple. Start producing Kinects that require "validation" via plugging into the Xbox360 possibly while connected to XBL.
Sure, if the first batch doesn't have some kind of time delayed mandatory driver update then the first batch will not be able to break third party software built for it; However, the Zune has an encrypted handshake and is therefore only usable on MS approved OSes so it's not too far of a stretch to think this could happen in the future for the Kinect.
I think when robots are better at my job than I could be, I would start to question the meaning of my life.
If so, you should have questioned your life's meaning a long time ago. I think people impart far too much importance to things they can do.
Tonight, go outside and look up at the beautiful starry sky and contemplate the size of the Universe. Then, consider the fact: We are only important to ourselves; This entire planet could disappear right now and it would not matter significantly to the rest of the Universe, save one lonely Jedi on Tatooine.
Maybe you should replace the death penalty with having to watch Uwe Bolls filmography?
Nope, that's unconstitutional. There are people that deserve to die... but forced exposure to a Uwe Bolls film is a form of cruel and unusual punishment.