Cheaper procesors. Everyone keeps pointing to Moore's law. They forget about the other part of the formula: The cost is supposed to half at the same time the processor speed doubles.
It's not the drives that are keeping computers
slow, it's the keyboard. Actually on several levels.
The first and obvious is that the keyboard americans
grew up on is actually designed to slow down typists.
When mechanical typewriters first came out, the keys were arrange alphabetically. Secretaries would get so fast at typing, they would jam the keys. Back to the drawing board, someone [name escapes me] layed out the keyboard to be monsterously innefficient. The vowels are scattered all over the place. It favors left-handers. The only "enhancement" to the QWERTY keyboard is the fact you can type TYPEWRITER using the top row.
On the other level is the fact that the slowest part of the computer, far from the drives, the RAM, the baud rate of the modem, is THE USER. Humans can only process information at 12 frames per second, and can only process signals less than 22Khz. We have between 5 and 9 registers for processing information (YMMV) with a latency that exceeds 1 second! Our eyes can only see to about 300DPI, and can recognize about 1 million colors.
Short of plug in the back of the head, computers are never going to get any faster for the average mammal than they are right now. Our senses can't process any of the extra speed, color, or fidelity.
In latin, Let the buyer beware. It's also a central principle in common law. Courts have recognized since the Romans that the buyer has a responsiblity to ask the right questions. The courts can only intervene where there is a blatent attempt to decieve.
This is just like automakers marketing SUV's as safer than sedans [when hitting a wall straight on]. Sure they are safer when you hit a wall straight on. Now, rolling over, tire blowouts, and repair costs, they are not included in the benchmark. Nor is fuel economy.
But as a bonus, you can get one of those funny propellers for the tow hitch, and 0% financing...
Of course, now we also have memory bus speeds to contend with as well. I remeber back when we had simple SIMM memory. Now you have to know it its RAMBUZ, SDRAM, DDRAM, 66MHz, 100Mhx, 133 Mhz, 266Mhz, Vanilla, Strawberry, or Chocolate.
Has anyone ever stopped and asked, who the hell actually sees the difference in performance?
Well, ok, who besides me who uses his computer as a DVD play with 5.1 Dolby surround to also generate computer animations, astronomical modeling, Linux software development, and the occasional game of StarCraft.
Allright, who besides everyone else on slashdot...
I have taken great pains to keep P4's out of my datacenter for the same reason.
I took a lot of Computer Archtecture for my Electical Engineering degree. I took on look at the structure of the P4 and went: Nope, done, slow spaceheater.
For the record, I too have an AMD 2200Xp at home. Man does it chew through Poser and PovRay renders. Shit, up upgraded from 98 just so I could actually use the speed. Granted, Windows XP is just another color Kool-Aid, but at least it can walk and chews gum at the same time..
Reminds me of the debate between RISC and CISC folks back when the PowerPC first came out. For all of you who don't remember, or were not there in the first place, Apple (and an unreleased platform by IBM) used a new processor technology called Reduced Instruction Set. (RISC)
MGhz for Mghz a RISC chip kicked the shit out of CISC and stole their lunch money. If I'm not mistaken, they still do. Oh course you can't make the same comparison today. The Pentium II and Pentium III series use other techniques internally to boost throughput.
In any case, there was talk back then of using processor benchmarks instead of Mhz. This is not all that new.
You web whipper snappers have it so easy. Back in my
day we had only 3 fonts:
Times
Helvetica
Courier
And we we grateful... Oh course those are
back in the days when you had to do hex math in
your head, and walk uphill to school both ways. Circa 1999.
To tell you the truth, I've never strayed away from the big 3 on any project. I tend to write
stuff that has to look good on browsers dating
back to the birth of the net. (Never know
what version of Netscape those crudgy old kiosks
are using.)
I'm far from a liberatarian, but it scares me shitless that a nitwit from Texas can steamroller over 213 years of legal tradition to combat a deliberately nebulous foe.
It's been tried before. You might remember the Red Scare. How about the Volstead act. Or the internment of the Japanese in WWII. They all seemed like good ideas at the time. They all collided with the letter and legal tradition of the Constitution. They all were viewed in later years to be absolute travesties.
BTW our federal government is, by the classical definition, a weak form of government. It is given a finite number of powers, spelled out by the consitition.
I guessed my civics classes where full of shit when they described our system of governance as a Republic, with a weak central government.
In the Constitution v1.0 the United States was a federation of smaller contries (States) that United (United) for, amoung other reasons, mutual defense and to promote a common good. Several states (my home state Pennsylvania for instance) is actually a Commonwealth. Our state constitution and legal traditions trump the Federal system when the two do not dovetail.
The Federal Government was constructed to be weak and fragmented so that the States could decide how best to govern their citizenry. The system has worked, IMHO, quite well for 225 years.
When we speak of a Homeland, exactly whose home are we referring to? The culture of traditions of Texas are quite different from California, which in turn is radically different that Minnesota, and a far shot from Pennsylvania.
People complain about how little gets done in congress, and how little the president is actually allowed to do. That is by design.
To combat sophisticated terrorists we are going to take all of the information required to authenticate someone out of a variety of databases scattered of agencies private and government. We are going to put them all in a single card protected with a cookie cutter encryption scheme. Then we are going to make this the preferred way to identify people!
Come on! This is a giant step backward. Much better to run a fat pipe to all of your airports and hospitals, and have them check a database. Think of it: (at least in the US) your ATM card doesn't contain all of the data need to authenticate you. It asks the bank computer to check your pin. (That delay after you type it in, and the bleep whirr modem sound starts.) When you go to the store and use plastic, what do they do? They have the machine phone in to see if your card is valid.
The model the works in industry is to simply store an ID number, and authenticate everything else through a centrally controlled database. The nice part is, this number can be looked up if the ID card is lost or stolen.
Damn, and I thought it was only the museum community. Our museum has been running on low metabolism since Sept 11. Every time Tom Ridge opens his trap we get calls from schools canceling field trips. Our operating budget is derived 90% from our admissions.
IT seems to be immune. Hard to sell tickets if the computer is down.;) Though never undersestimate the power of the lowbid contractor...
Once I was thinking of leaving, but my wife loves my fat pipe. Money doesn't matter to her. She loves the fat pipe. The fat pipe makes me happy too. We will sit up late at night, she and I, playing with the fat pipe.
Remember kids, as much fun as a fat pipe is to play with,
use protection.
I don't know how it is elsewhere, but in Philadelphia a lot of organizations are having to farm out IT because they can't pay enough to keep someone in-house.
Of course that was yesterday's news in the dot-coma era. You may do well to call your local library or museum and see if they need a seasoned tech for cheap.
By the by, Educated Researchers are every bit as clueless as any other clientelle. A few gems out there think that a doctorate in physics qualifies them to tell you how lousy they think their computer is.
I have had a rather busy life as a programmer, sysadmin, and general hacker. I started off at a univerisity, worked at a major chip manufacturer, A Dot Com, and finally a science Museum. I have been at the science museum for 4 years, which is longer than any other company so far.
You will find many of the same pressures, personalities, and conflicts in the non-profit sector. Do not kid yourself for a moment that job satisfaction is instantly had by working for the right cause.
That said, why am I working for a non-profit? Well actually all of the tech companies I have ever worked for were running at a loss, so perhaps I should say 501c3 organization..
But I digress. I work at the Museum for one simple reason: I am a shark in the guppy tank. The Alpha geek. When something needs to be done, they ask me how to do it.
In 4 years I have redesigned the network, switched the datacenter to Linux, and introduced new concepts like Workorders, and Inventory Control. I can't think of a place in the world that would let me change so much in so little time.
Alright who am I kidding. I really took the job sysadmining at the Science Museum because they have 2 T1 lines, 3 class C subnets worth of IP addresses, a toplevel domain I can spell over the phone, and a window overlooking my apartment from whence I use 802.11 wireless to suck down bandwidth like a dwarf on a firehose!!!
I'm the sysadmin at the Franklin Institute. Back when we were doing research for certain MIC entities developing a VR package in Java. The original target platform was Windows NT. The problem was, VR software crashed NT so hard we had no idea what was breaking. Was it the driver, was it the API, was it our software. All we had was a BSOD. After months of getting nowhere, we ported our software to Linux.
Not only did the software run faster, it used less RAM, and when it died it did not take the OS with it. Despite the fact the we had to reimplement large chunks of the API we were building on, the project moved faster. Why? Because the underlying operating system behaved in such a consistant manner we could follow the bread crumbs to find out what died and how.
This was back in '99, before switching to Linux was cool. Hey, it got me promoted to Senior Network Engineer.
That 22K includes the hardware, the software,
and the care and feeding. Windows needs A LOT of
hand holding. Using M$'s puppy anaology, Linux is more like a kitten. Windows is like a puppy who
is either at the vet or humping your leg.
The extra 10k is engineering time spent on care and feeding.
And network administrator worth his salt will tell
you that a windows machine is like a puppy. The opening price might be cheap, but you have to paper
train it (install the OS and acclimated it to the network) send it to obediance school (download all of the upgrades and patches) and then constantly give it attention (in the form of cleaning up viruses, fixing dumb mistakes by users), not to mention all of the little presents they leave behind (oh spontaneous registry explosions, impropmtu meltdowns of office installs, etc.) Even with everything is working, the puppie grows up into a dog that eats a lot of floorspace, and needs constant walks.
Linux is more like a kitten. It comes with an instinctual litter box instinct (in usually works with the default settings), it tends to its own needs (you can automate most of the housekeeping with scripts), and it will generally feel worse about little messes than you will (with clear signs of what happened in the syslog.) Kittens can play indoors. They are also programmed to catch mice, roaches, or any other stray critters that darken your networks doorstep.
I swear, the natural state for windows machines is either in the vet clinic or humping your leg.
We both agreed that cubic was the way to go. The
trick was to pick a discreet, mortal sized rock
rather than the huge guady things that cubic
is normally packaged with.
I even took her to the jewler to pick it out, er
have it sized.;)
Of course, it doesn't hurt that she's an engineer
and so am I....
For the record, no one ever knew it was cubic.
Fawning relatives always told us how beautiful it
was. She liked it because it had perfect clarity,
which is hard to find in real diamonds.
She also informs me that diamonds are not forever.
The have an high-maintenance crystal structure
that degrades to graphite in a few million
years or so.
You get a lot better. (Speaking as a 27 year old
programmer.)
C code is C code. No new languages, techniques, or
processes will ever replace an experienced
architect. Crap passes through an IDE every bit
as well as the good stuff.
I have a volunteer who works with me. The kid is
brilliant, and has programming mojo pouring out of his eyebrows. But there are so many debugging techniques, algorythems, and habits that he doesn't have. (Yet.)
I'm not saying older in neccissarily better. Experience is the key. 20 years of experience is 20 years of experience whether you start at 7 or 27. In my case it's 7.
Slashdot Mirror
Cheaper procesors. Everyone keeps pointing to Moore's law. They forget about the other part of the formula: The cost is supposed to half at the same time the processor speed doubles.
When mechanical typewriters first came out, the keys were arrange alphabetically. Secretaries would get so fast at typing, they would jam the keys. Back to the drawing board, someone [name escapes me] layed out the keyboard to be monsterously innefficient. The vowels are scattered all over the place. It favors left-handers. The only "enhancement" to the QWERTY keyboard is the fact you can type TYPEWRITER using the top row.
Like all standards, once set in, it is not easily dislodged. Rather like a certain Office Suite and Operating System.
On the other level is the fact that the slowest part of the computer, far from the drives, the RAM, the baud rate of the modem, is THE USER. Humans can only process information at 12 frames per second, and can only process signals less than 22Khz. We have between 5 and 9 registers for processing information (YMMV) with a latency that exceeds 1 second! Our eyes can only see to about 300DPI, and can recognize about 1 million colors.
Short of plug in the back of the head, computers are never going to get any faster for the average mammal than they are right now. Our senses can't process any of the extra speed, color, or fidelity.
In latin, Let the buyer beware. It's also a central principle in common law. Courts have recognized since the Romans that the buyer has a responsiblity to ask the right questions. The courts can only intervene where there is a blatent attempt to decieve.
This is just like automakers marketing SUV's as safer than sedans [when hitting a wall straight on]. Sure they are safer when you hit a wall straight on. Now, rolling over, tire blowouts, and repair costs, they are not included in the benchmark. Nor is fuel economy.
But as a bonus, you can get one of those funny propellers for the tow hitch, and 0% financing...
Run hampster! Run!
Has anyone ever stopped and asked, who the hell actually sees the difference in performance?
Well, ok, who besides me who uses his computer as a DVD play with 5.1 Dolby surround to also generate computer animations, astronomical modeling, Linux software development, and the occasional game of StarCraft.
Allright, who besides everyone else on slashdot...
I took a lot of Computer Archtecture for my Electical Engineering degree. I took on look at the structure of the P4 and went: Nope, done, slow spaceheater.
For the record, I too have an AMD 2200Xp at home. Man does it chew through Poser and PovRay renders. Shit, up upgraded from 98 just so I could actually use the speed. Granted, Windows XP is just another color Kool-Aid, but at least it can walk and chews gum at the same time..
MGhz for Mghz a RISC chip kicked the shit out of CISC and stole their lunch money. If I'm not mistaken, they still do. Oh course you can't make the same comparison today. The Pentium II and Pentium III series use other techniques internally to boost throughput.
In any case, there was talk back then of using processor benchmarks instead of Mhz. This is not all that new.
- Times
- Helvetica
- Courier
And we we grateful... Oh course those are back in the days when you had to do hex math in your head, and walk uphill to school both ways. Circa 1999.To tell you the truth, I've never strayed away from the big 3 on any project. I tend to write stuff that has to look good on browsers dating back to the birth of the net. (Never know what version of Netscape those crudgy old kiosks are using.)
My stuff is ugly by design damnit.
I'm far from a liberatarian, but it scares me shitless that a nitwit from Texas can steamroller over 213 years of legal tradition to combat a deliberately nebulous foe.
It's been tried before. You might remember the Red Scare. How about the Volstead act. Or the internment of the Japanese in WWII. They all seemed like good ideas at the time. They all collided with the letter and legal tradition of the Constitution. They all were viewed in later years to be absolute travesties.
BTW our federal government is, by the classical definition, a weak form of government. It is given a finite number of powers, spelled out by the consitition.
We do it every 4 years. It's called and election.
At least in 1984 they made no bones about doing it for the good of the citizenry.
In the Constitution v1.0 the United States was a federation of smaller contries (States) that United (United) for, amoung other reasons, mutual defense and to promote a common good. Several states (my home state Pennsylvania for instance) is actually a Commonwealth. Our state constitution and legal traditions trump the Federal system when the two do not dovetail.
The Federal Government was constructed to be weak and fragmented so that the States could decide how best to govern their citizenry. The system has worked, IMHO, quite well for 225 years.
When we speak of a Homeland, exactly whose home are we referring to? The culture of traditions of Texas are quite different from California, which in turn is radically different that Minnesota, and a far shot from Pennsylvania.
People complain about how little gets done in congress, and how little the president is actually allowed to do. That is by design.
Come on! This is a giant step backward. Much better to run a fat pipe to all of your airports and hospitals, and have them check a database. Think of it: (at least in the US) your ATM card doesn't contain all of the data need to authenticate you. It asks the bank computer to check your pin. (That delay after you type it in, and the bleep whirr modem sound starts.) When you go to the store and use plastic, what do they do? They have the machine phone in to see if your card is valid.
The model the works in industry is to simply store an ID number, and authenticate everything else through a centrally controlled database. The nice part is, this number can be looked up if the ID card is lost or stolen.
Was replying to the verizon thread and it ended up in here.
IT seems to be immune. Hard to sell tickets if the computer is down. ;) Though never undersestimate the power of the lowbid contractor...
Once I was thinking of leaving, but my wife loves my fat pipe. Money doesn't matter to her. She loves the fat pipe. The fat pipe makes me happy too. We will sit up late at night, she and I, playing with the fat pipe.
Remember kids, as much fun as a fat pipe is to play with, use protection.
Of course that was yesterday's news in the dot-coma era. You may do well to call your local library or museum and see if they need a seasoned tech for cheap.
By the by, Educated Researchers are every bit as clueless as any other clientelle. A few gems out there think that a doctorate in physics qualifies them to tell you how lousy they think their computer is.
You will find many of the same pressures, personalities, and conflicts in the non-profit sector. Do not kid yourself for a moment that job satisfaction is instantly had by working for the right cause.
That said, why am I working for a non-profit? Well actually all of the tech companies I have ever worked for were running at a loss, so perhaps I should say 501c3 organization..
But I digress. I work at the Museum for one simple reason: I am a shark in the guppy tank. The Alpha geek. When something needs to be done, they ask me how to do it.
In 4 years I have redesigned the network, switched the datacenter to Linux, and introduced new concepts like Workorders, and Inventory Control. I can't think of a place in the world that would let me change so much in so little time.
Alright who am I kidding. I really took the job sysadmining at the Science Museum because they have 2 T1 lines, 3 class C subnets worth of IP addresses, a toplevel domain I can spell over the phone, and a window overlooking my apartment from whence I use 802.11 wireless to suck down bandwidth like a dwarf on a firehose!!!
Not only did the software run faster, it used less RAM, and when it died it did not take the OS with it. Despite the fact the we had to reimplement large chunks of the API we were building on, the project moved faster. Why? Because the underlying operating system behaved in such a consistant manner we could follow the bread crumbs to find out what died and how.
This was back in '99, before switching to Linux was cool. Hey, it got me promoted to Senior Network Engineer.
That 22K includes the hardware, the software, and the care and feeding. Windows needs A LOT of hand holding. Using M$'s puppy anaology, Linux is more like a kitten. Windows is like a puppy who is either at the vet or humping your leg.
And network administrator worth his salt will tell you that a windows machine is like a puppy. The opening price might be cheap, but you have to paper train it (install the OS and acclimated it to the network) send it to obediance school (download all of the upgrades and patches) and then constantly give it attention (in the form of cleaning up viruses, fixing dumb mistakes by users), not to mention all of the little presents they leave behind (oh spontaneous registry explosions, impropmtu meltdowns of office installs, etc.) Even with everything is working, the puppie grows up into a dog that eats a lot of floorspace, and needs constant walks.
Linux is more like a kitten. It comes with an instinctual litter box instinct (in usually works with the default settings), it tends to its own needs (you can automate most of the housekeeping with scripts), and it will generally feel worse about little messes than you will (with clear signs of what happened in the syslog.) Kittens can play indoors. They are also programmed to catch mice, roaches, or any other stray critters that darken your networks doorstep.
I swear, the natural state for windows machines is either in the vet clinic or humping your leg.
Shit, we are starting next year.
We both agreed that cubic was the way to go. The trick was to pick a discreet, mortal sized rock rather than the huge guady things that cubic is normally packaged with.
I even took her to the jewler to pick it out, er have it sized. ;)
Of course, it doesn't hurt that she's an engineer and so am I....
For the record, no one ever knew it was cubic. Fawning relatives always told us how beautiful it was. She liked it because it had perfect clarity, which is hard to find in real diamonds.
She also informs me that diamonds are not forever. The have an high-maintenance crystal structure that degrades to graphite in a few million years or so.
As a metter of fect I do oftan.
C code is C code. No new languages, techniques, or processes will ever replace an experienced architect. Crap passes through an IDE every bit as well as the good stuff.
I have a volunteer who works with me. The kid is brilliant, and has programming mojo pouring out of his eyebrows. But there are so many debugging techniques, algorythems, and habits that he doesn't have. (Yet.)
I'm not saying older in neccissarily better. Experience is the key. 20 years of experience is 20 years of experience whether you start at 7 or 27. In my case it's 7.