"....And don't even try to say you don't like arguing about these things."
That's great! ROLFL!
Some of the posts are very insightful. The others remind me of the you-tube video on replacing a garage door spring. The door guys that did this work spent all their time exclaiming "I've stood in the blood of many a DIY with these dangerous springs!" while one homeowner showed the steps that 15 minutes later you have the spring replaced safely, for a fraction of the cost.
NGOs by their nature have little room for a budget and use many volunteers to fill out needed skills. For the rest of us there is the possible insight and useful solution that we find from someone's 'hey, take a look at this link'.
It's not all roses in the MS world... just try switching people from MSOffice of 2003 or older into 2007 or 2010. No end to the complaints.
But switch them from 2003 into Open/Libre Office and all is right with the world.
On the other hand, assuming this is a 'new' 20 person office team, they are expecting new hardware and software. If it's a non-profit they are expecting usable tools but will understand some cost reduction opportunities.
So going the Linux route is quite viable. Apple will be too expensive an option.
If all the users are familiar with MSOffice 2003 or older and you throw 2007 or 2010 at them then they will be better off with Open Office / Libre Office as it will be more familiar and 'no training'.
If not worried about the training part (you've hired the best and brightest for that 20 person team, right?) then just go all the way with FOSS. Ubuntu on the desktops, Open Office / Libre Office, Firefox, etc.
Agree with the desktop scenario. Unless the workers have to be at the customer's facility doing work with the customer, then use desktops.
. The capacitor issue was a single vendor that had some manufacturing problems, that should all be resolved by now. Be cautious on singling out any one Computer manufacturer.. Dell, HP, Gateway, Apple, etc etc all use many of the same motherboard and system building sub-suppliers in Asia. A couple of years ago I had four different computer brands with the exact same motherboard, only difference was the BIOS splash screen logo.
Check the freenas forums. Seems like a few people were actually doing this a year or two back.
"Worst case" is you have rsync running between two freenas servers.
Freenas has iSCSI and rsync services built-in.
.
Note: Freenas is being rewritten, the above applies to 0.6 and 0.7 series. 0.8 beta is out and may have more features specific to fail-over etc.
You can always build a Debian bare-metal server with Webmin and a few other tricks, but you won't get the ease of starting up and running the server as you will with the FreeNAS appliance. You can also use old hardware, if you're a scrappy startup and want to conserve cash for those really important tasks. I have a few 1998-vintage desktops running as FreeNAS servers at my and other's offices, they cost all of $5 at auction (then put new drives in them with RAID) and at idle they draw only 34watts.
It's like that guy said of Marketing expenditures,
"50% of what we spend the budget on is wasted, we just don't know which half"
By the way, Germany does push the career decision point down to younger ages (possibly close to 13-14 like you estimate, but seems like I remember it was 16 or so) - to go the technical Engineering or Science route or more manual pursutes like auto mechanic.
Math is the gateway drug to Science and Engineering, Manufacturing and Business.
The rest of the world is flying past the US in these fields and benefiting.
Meanwhile, our TV programs and Movies portray Math, Engineering, and Science as 'geek' pursuits and undesireable so kids are not encouraged to take it up.
Another vote for VirtualBox. Look into the extensions (desktop extensions?) that improve video and some other functions.. like get more than 800x600 display.
Put a base of Ubuntu 64bit, and load up the RAM on the machine.
Right now I have:
-native Ubuntu desktop running (10.04 64bit)
-transferred old physical Ubuntu 8.04 32bit to VM (prior desktop), use for some old email accounts.
-WordPress weblog running on Ubuntu 10.04 server VM
-Website on Ubuntu 10.04 server VM
-ftp server VM
-Win7 running CAD program (seems to run as fast as native physical machine) on VM
-WinXP and Win7 test environments VMs
-Linux test server (test out distrowatch.com new OSs) VM
-Linux CAE package built on Ubuntu 9.04 VM to run FEA work.
So you can do a lot with it. RAM is a key though (and a big HDD).
I also have a separate hard physical server running FreeNAS to store all data - then all the VMs are set up to access it and not plug up any VM with misc data.
I could set up a lot of these services on one OS, but it is sometimes nicer to keep them on VMs and compartmentalized. It's easy to copy/paste a VM to laptop etc where a physical install you'd have to cart around the desktop to the coffee shop.
Another vote for VirtualBox. Look into the extensions (desktop extensions?) that improve video and some other functions.. like get more than 800x600 display.
Put a base of Ubuntu 64bit, and load up the RAM on the machine.
Right now I have:
-native Ubuntu desktop running (10.04 64bit)
-transferred old physical Ubuntu 8.04 32bit to VM (prior desktop), use for some old email accounts.
-WordPress weblog running on Ubuntu 10.04 server VM
-Website on Ubuntu 10.04 server VM
-ftp server VM
-Win7 running CAD program (seems to run as fast as native physical machine) on VM
-WinXP and Win7 test environments VMs
-Linux test server (test out distrowatch.com new OSs) VM
-Linux CAE package built on Ubuntu 9.04 VM to run FEA work.
So you can do a lot with it. RAM is a key though (and a big HDD).
I also have a separate hard physical server running FreeNAS to store all data - then all the VMs are set up to access it and not plug up any VM with misc data.
I could set up a lot of these services on one OS, but it is sometimes nicer to keep them on VMs and compartmentalized. It's easy to copy/paste a VM to laptop etc where a physical install you'd have to cart around the desktop to the coffee shop.
Great points! Especially for taxpayers paying for Windows Licenses!
I'd add that several foreign governments are waking up and exclaiming "Hey, do we REALLY want just ONE corporation from the US to run the operating system of our WHOLE GOVERNMENT? We like those US guys and all, but isn't that a bit DANGEROUS?" And so they start putting in their own operating system built on a Linux Open Source code base they can and do go through line by line to ensure no funny code hides in there. And, by the way, that OS is FREE?
.
Skip the iAnything devices. Kids are rough and inquisitive. That's how we all learn at that age. Plan for it.
What you want to do is scour your basement/closets and ask friends/neighbors if anyone has a 5-10 year old pc they didn't know what to do with it. Or garage sale or craigslist for something under $35-$50. No computer will be durable enough for the 1.5 - 6 year olds, you want a low cost replacement program.
Either install a fresh copy of Windows (Reader Rabbit CDs are good on Windows) or get Linux (Qimo or Edubuntu are good - as they include Gcompris and tux games) and install that.
I find Linux will be easier to install than Windows, fewer special drivers to track down.
Even 'supervised play' will find you get a momentary phone call you have to take, or the UPS/Fedex guy shows up for a signature, and soon that kid is drawing with pens/markers on the computer, bashing it, popping something off it, dropping it, putting stickers on it, etc.
With Linux you will have a better time of using the latest web sites (disney, nicjr, etc) that can have some educational content. Older Windows will have older browsers that can't get all the web content ('I can't play Dora') yet be susceptible to virus problems; newer 'Windows 7' will require a machine with parts less than 2-3 years old that get expensive to acquire and replace.
Definitely worthwhile to get the kids on the computers. Yes there are games, but they begin to recognize letters and words they need to navigate around the software.
The only reason this is getting headway is the people behind this movie are family of the Avatar movie people.
The solution to the whole Pirate thing is making a lot of good content for low cost.
Movies normally have a great showing the opening weekend, that peaks, and then dwindles rapidly off. Wider distributed movies have bigger peaks (due to more screens), and better movies have longer tails.
Good movies get released on more screens and have a naturally longer tail. That's the market. The costs are what the studio can do it for. Profit is between that gap.
How many screens did Hurt Locker get put up on the release weekend? How fast did theaters curb screens afterward to make room for other competing movies?
What does the consumer demographics look like now compared to five or ten years ago? There are a lot of movie goers in the 'dating ages', and fewer for those with kids, so what does the crop of movie goer population look like now? More or Less?
But no, the problems must be those pesky Pirates.. 'cause they are more interesting to blame.
"If you buy it right, you can always sell it right"
Or spend too much making the movie then you'll never make it back.
I think they must have spent too much on the front end - and trying to find messy ways to generate revenue since. .
I have one of those hip Netbooks, and the hinges and screen are fine.
Of course, I only paid $200 for mine. And immediately installed Linux (Ubuntu NBR)
And somehow it's a lot more portable than any of those Macbooks too.
Then riddle me this.
How often do Apple products get abandoned? Will the latest Snow Leopard run on the PPC Apple laptops/desktops? Apple switched from PPC to Intel CPUs in 2006, just four years ago. and Snow Leopard won't run them.
Meanwhile, I can run the latest Ubuntu (10.04) on a 1998 Pentium-2 quite well (yes it's slow, but it works for appliance-type tasks).
Would I want to run a seven year old Mac OS? What kind of security issues didn't get updated in the intervening years?
It's all fun. But the reason you don't hear more about Apple issues is the same as premium car brands appear to have a repair 'halo'.
Generally people who decide they have the cash to spend up front for 'a brand' do have the cash to support taking it to the shop and 'I'm going to get a coffee and browse a bit while you work on it" then they return to a nice working machine again and off they go, '$100' repair for a '$2000' device (5% of original expense).
Meanwhile their counterparts that shopped price can't imagine spending more on something that breaks. They tell their friends that 'I had to spend $100 to fix that $500 laptop' (or 20% of original expense). Since the repair expense was such a huge percentage of the purchase price for one and a minor percentage for the other their perspectives and the number of friends they complain to are vastly different.
Also remember that almost all the computers, and that includes Apple, are made in the same factories with the same parts and by the same workers and machines.
You have to resell quite quickly after purchase to maximize your resale value.
$2000 buy, $1000 sale one year later, "lost" a $1000 and repeat for each of four years. We're assuming a college attendee here.
Vs $500 'buy and hold' for four years and give away for $0.
The Apple-guy is down $4000 and the generic PC guy is down $500.
A coworker wanted to buy a Mac, thinking it was much higher build quality than the Windows laptop they had been using (and was falling apart). Besides all the laptops coming out of the same factory(ies) in China..., for the $2000 they could have bought five to ten Netbooks. (I got mine last holiday for $200) replacing it every six months. And then the netbooks are more portable with better battery life - the whole reason for getting a laptop. Funny thing.. the coworker installed Windows 7 on the Macbook because that is what they are used to using.
There are some people that have to have 'the brand', doesn't matter if it's jeans, shirts, cars, or cola - and no amount of logic will curb their ways.
Apple has done a great job in convincing people to by their brand of designer jeans.
If you're into that sort of thing, letting brands define who you are.
The big thing to learn about Apple is you need to keep buying their premium-priced products in the time they release them. Purchase lock-in, forced renewal. Because there will be a time, very near, that that hardware you just bought from them will be instantly obsoleted or unable to upgrade, maybe lose your files or at a minimum your software won't work. Jobs is a fickle hardware leader -- he has changed and dropped lines of products to go with something new. Next week might drop that shiny new toy you just bought. For all the problems with Windows, you can still run many old programs. Meanwhile Linux will run on very old and very new hardware, flexible with files and software.
This is really a diversion from the real application:
Chrome OS with an advanced integrated Wine implementation.
All the goodness of Linux with a measure of "backwards compatibility" - because that is what general users want.
General users like the idea of Linux, but fear they will have to learn something new (OpenOffice is _so_ much different than MSOffice of course...).
I still remember fondly the Slax "Kill Bill Edition" back from 2005 - it had some wine integration.
The new target for Linux though is OS X, especially for Ubuntu.(see purple theme 10.04).
Does anyone know if either, both, or neither Intel and AMD produce chips and mating motherboards today that protect the CPU from overheating and burning out?
I'm sure the OC's will know!
A string of chips and systems through the late 1990's and early to mid 2000's I've had more direct experience with (I do repairs and upgrades) showed that the Intels could run until overheated safety circuits would shut them down. The AMDs would keep going until they audibly 'blinked' and maybe magic smoke comes out, never to do another calculation. The Intels when cooled down would restart.
Also want to look at the natural stretch built into a system. Is the machine at it's upper end already - like getting a Pentium2@450Mhz or Pentium3@450Mhz. The Pentium 3 system could have been capable of reaching into 750Mhz range where the Pentium 2 never would. Or multiple ram banks open?
What both Intel and AMD have been lacking is an identifyable method of comparing "Speed" for any normal and performance buyer.
Look in most Sunday sales fliers and the retail outlets are forced to spend more space advertising storage size, screen inches, and wifi.
In the olden days you could easily tell that a Pentium2@450Mhz would be better than a Pentium1@100Mhz.
Now it's a tad confusing with all the sempron, celeron, i-this, and i-that. So people buy laptop screen size and hard drive space. They can have no lust for or bragging rights for "I'd spend another $100 to get 10% more Ghz!"
Slashdot Mirror
"....And don't even try to say you don't like arguing about these things."
That's great! ROLFL!
Some of the posts are very insightful. The others remind me of the you-tube video on replacing a garage door spring. The door guys that did this work spent all their time exclaiming "I've stood in the blood of many a DIY with these dangerous springs!" while one homeowner showed the steps that 15 minutes later you have the spring replaced safely, for a fraction of the cost.
NGOs by their nature have little room for a budget and use many volunteers to fill out needed skills. For the rest of us there is the possible insight and useful solution that we find from someone's 'hey, take a look at this link'.
It's not all roses in the MS world ... just try switching people from MSOffice of 2003 or older into 2007 or 2010. No end to the complaints.
But switch them from 2003 into Open/Libre Office and all is right with the world.
On the other hand, assuming this is a 'new' 20 person office team, they are expecting new hardware and software. If it's a non-profit they are expecting usable tools but will understand some cost reduction opportunities.
So going the Linux route is quite viable. Apple will be too expensive an option.
Depends on what they 'give you'.
If all the users are familiar with MSOffice 2003 or older and you throw 2007 or 2010 at them then they will be better off with Open Office / Libre Office as it will be more familiar and 'no training'.
If not worried about the training part (you've hired the best and brightest for that 20 person team, right?) then just go all the way with FOSS. Ubuntu on the desktops, Open Office / Libre Office, Firefox, etc.
.
Agree with the desktop scenario. Unless the workers have to be at the customer's facility doing work with the customer, then use desktops.
.. Dell, HP, Gateway, Apple, etc etc all use many of the same motherboard and system building sub-suppliers in Asia. A couple of years ago I had four different computer brands with the exact same motherboard, only difference was the BIOS splash screen logo.
. The capacitor issue was a single vendor that had some manufacturing problems, that should all be resolved by now. Be cautious on singling out any one Computer manufacturer
Check the freenas forums. Seems like a few people were actually doing this a year or two back.
"Worst case" is you have rsync running between two freenas servers.
Freenas has iSCSI and rsync services built-in.
. Note: Freenas is being rewritten, the above applies to 0.6 and 0.7 series. 0.8 beta is out and may have more features specific to fail-over etc.
You can always build a Debian bare-metal server with Webmin and a few other tricks, but you won't get the ease of starting up and running the server as you will with the FreeNAS appliance. You can also use old hardware, if you're a scrappy startup and want to conserve cash for those really important tasks. I have a few 1998-vintage desktops running as FreeNAS servers at my and other's offices, they cost all of $5 at auction (then put new drives in them with RAID) and at idle they draw only 34watts.
.
It's like that guy said of Marketing expenditures,
"50% of what we spend the budget on is wasted, we just don't know which half"
By the way, Germany does push the career decision point down to younger ages (possibly close to 13-14 like you estimate, but seems like I remember it was 16 or so) - to go the technical Engineering or Science route or more manual pursutes like auto mechanic.
Math is the gateway drug to Science and Engineering, Manufacturing and Business.
The rest of the world is flying past the US in these fields and benefiting.
Meanwhile, our TV programs and Movies portray Math, Engineering, and Science as 'geek' pursuits and undesireable so kids are not encouraged to take it up.
.
Another vote for VirtualBox. Look into the extensions (desktop extensions?) that improve video and some other functions .. like get more than 800x600 display.
Put a base of Ubuntu 64bit, and load up the RAM on the machine.
Right now I have:
-native Ubuntu desktop running (10.04 64bit)
-transferred old physical Ubuntu 8.04 32bit to VM (prior desktop), use for some old email accounts.
-WordPress weblog running on Ubuntu 10.04 server VM
-Website on Ubuntu 10.04 server VM
-ftp server VM
-Win7 running CAD program (seems to run as fast as native physical machine) on VM
-WinXP and Win7 test environments VMs
-Linux test server (test out distrowatch.com new OSs) VM
-Linux CAE package built on Ubuntu 9.04 VM to run FEA work.
So you can do a lot with it. RAM is a key though (and a big HDD).
I also have a separate hard physical server running FreeNAS to store all data - then all the VMs are set up to access it and not plug up any VM with misc data.
I could set up a lot of these services on one OS, but it is sometimes nicer to keep them on VMs and compartmentalized. It's easy to copy/paste a VM to laptop etc where a physical install you'd have to cart around the desktop to the coffee shop.
Another vote for VirtualBox. Look into the extensions (desktop extensions?) that improve video and some other functions .. like get more than 800x600 display.
Put a base of Ubuntu 64bit, and load up the RAM on the machine.
Right now I have:
-native Ubuntu desktop running (10.04 64bit)
-transferred old physical Ubuntu 8.04 32bit to VM (prior desktop), use for some old email accounts.
-WordPress weblog running on Ubuntu 10.04 server VM
-Website on Ubuntu 10.04 server VM
-ftp server VM
-Win7 running CAD program (seems to run as fast as native physical machine) on VM
-WinXP and Win7 test environments VMs
-Linux test server (test out distrowatch.com new OSs) VM
-Linux CAE package built on Ubuntu 9.04 VM to run FEA work.
So you can do a lot with it. RAM is a key though (and a big HDD).
I also have a separate hard physical server running FreeNAS to store all data - then all the VMs are set up to access it and not plug up any VM with misc data.
I could set up a lot of these services on one OS, but it is sometimes nicer to keep them on VMs and compartmentalized. It's easy to copy/paste a VM to laptop etc where a physical install you'd have to cart around the desktop to the coffee shop.
Great points! Especially for taxpayers paying for Windows Licenses! I'd add that several foreign governments are waking up and exclaiming "Hey, do we REALLY want just ONE corporation from the US to run the operating system of our WHOLE GOVERNMENT? We like those US guys and all, but isn't that a bit DANGEROUS?" And so they start putting in their own operating system built on a Linux Open Source code base they can and do go through line by line to ensure no funny code hides in there. And, by the way, that OS is FREE? .
Skip the iAnything devices. Kids are rough and inquisitive. That's how we all learn at that age. Plan for it.
What you want to do is scour your basement/closets and ask friends/neighbors if anyone has a 5-10 year old pc they didn't know what to do with it. Or garage sale or craigslist for something under $35-$50. No computer will be durable enough for the 1.5 - 6 year olds, you want a low cost replacement program.
Either install a fresh copy of Windows (Reader Rabbit CDs are good on Windows) or get Linux (Qimo or Edubuntu are good - as they include Gcompris and tux games) and install that. I find Linux will be easier to install than Windows, fewer special drivers to track down.
Even 'supervised play' will find you get a momentary phone call you have to take, or the UPS/Fedex guy shows up for a signature, and soon that kid is drawing with pens/markers on the computer, bashing it, popping something off it, dropping it, putting stickers on it, etc.
With Linux you will have a better time of using the latest web sites (disney, nicjr, etc) that can have some educational content. Older Windows will have older browsers that can't get all the web content ('I can't play Dora') yet be susceptible to virus problems; newer 'Windows 7' will require a machine with parts less than 2-3 years old that get expensive to acquire and replace.
Definitely worthwhile to get the kids on the computers. Yes there are games, but they begin to recognize letters and words they need to navigate around the software.
The only reason this is getting headway is the people behind this movie are family of the Avatar movie people.
The solution to the whole Pirate thing is making a lot of good content for low cost.
Movies normally have a great showing the opening weekend, that peaks, and then dwindles rapidly off. Wider distributed movies have bigger peaks (due to more screens), and better movies have longer tails.
Good movies get released on more screens and have a naturally longer tail. That's the market. The costs are what the studio can do it for. Profit is between that gap.
How many screens did Hurt Locker get put up on the release weekend? How fast did theaters curb screens afterward to make room for other competing movies?
What does the consumer demographics look like now compared to five or ten years ago? There are a lot of movie goers in the 'dating ages', and fewer for those with kids, so what does the crop of movie goer population look like now? More or Less?
But no, the problems must be those pesky Pirates
.
"If you buy it right, you can always sell it right"
Or spend too much making the movie then you'll never make it back.
I think they must have spent too much on the front end - and trying to find messy ways to generate revenue since.
.
Or when the car will break down....
"Does the spare tire have air in it?"
What tire?....
.
I have one of those hip Netbooks, and the hinges and screen are fine.
Of course, I only paid $200 for mine. And immediately installed Linux (Ubuntu NBR)
And somehow it's a lot more portable than any of those Macbooks too.
.
Then riddle me this.
How often do Apple products get abandoned?
Will the latest Snow Leopard run on the PPC Apple laptops/desktops? Apple switched from PPC to Intel CPUs in 2006, just four years ago. and Snow Leopard won't run them.
Meanwhile, I can run the latest Ubuntu (10.04) on a 1998 Pentium-2 quite well (yes it's slow, but it works for appliance-type tasks).
Would I want to run a seven year old Mac OS? What kind of security issues didn't get updated in the intervening years?
.
It's all fun. But the reason you don't hear more about Apple issues is the same as premium car brands appear to have a repair 'halo'.
Generally people who decide they have the cash to spend up front for 'a brand' do have the cash to support taking it to the shop and 'I'm going to get a coffee and browse a bit while you work on it" then they return to a nice working machine again and off they go, '$100' repair for a '$2000' device (5% of original expense).
Meanwhile their counterparts that shopped price can't imagine spending more on something that breaks. They tell their friends that 'I had to spend $100 to fix that $500 laptop' (or 20% of original expense). Since the repair expense was such a huge percentage of the purchase price for one and a minor percentage for the other their perspectives and the number of friends they complain to are vastly different.
Also remember that almost all the computers, and that includes Apple, are made in the same factories with the same parts and by the same workers and machines.
You have to resell quite quickly after purchase to maximize your resale value.
$2000 buy, $1000 sale one year later, "lost" a $1000 and repeat for each of four years. We're assuming a college attendee here.
Vs $500 'buy and hold' for four years and give away for $0.
The Apple-guy is down $4000 and the generic PC guy is down $500.
Can't argue with residual value.
.
A coworker wanted to buy a Mac, thinking it was much higher build quality than the Windows laptop they had been using (and was falling apart). Besides all the laptops coming out of the same factory(ies) in China..., for the $2000 they could have bought five to ten Netbooks. (I got mine last holiday for $200) replacing it every six months. And then the netbooks are more portable with better battery life - the whole reason for getting a laptop. Funny thing .. the coworker installed Windows 7 on the Macbook because that is what they are used to using.
There are some people that have to have 'the brand', doesn't matter if it's jeans, shirts, cars, or cola - and no amount of logic will curb their ways.
Aren't they buying a shiny etch-a-sketch already?
Apple has done a great job in convincing people to by their brand of designer jeans.
If you're into that sort of thing, letting brands define who you are.
The big thing to learn about Apple is you need to keep buying their premium-priced products in the time they release them. Purchase lock-in, forced renewal. Because there will be a time, very near, that that hardware you just bought from them will be instantly obsoleted or unable to upgrade, maybe lose your files or at a minimum your software won't work. Jobs is a fickle hardware leader -- he has changed and dropped lines of products to go with something new. Next week might drop that shiny new toy you just bought. For all the problems with Windows, you can still run many old programs. Meanwhile Linux will run on very old and very new hardware, flexible with files and software.
"technophobic grandfather-in-law" ... he won't have much use for or patience with the iPad either.
This is really a diversion from the real application: Chrome OS with an advanced integrated Wine implementation.
All the goodness of Linux with a measure of "backwards compatibility" - because that is what general users want.
General users like the idea of Linux, but fear they will have to learn something new (OpenOffice is _so_ much different than MSOffice of course...).
I still remember fondly the Slax "Kill Bill Edition" back from 2005 - it had some wine integration.
The new target for Linux though is OS X, especially for Ubuntu.(see purple theme 10.04).
So what does it take to have a Mac-Wine equivalent? To run all those Mac and Hackintoshed programs?
quick search turned up these possibilitites: (http://www.puredarwin.org/, http://mac-on-linux.sourceforge.net/, http://sheepshaver.cebix.net/)
Does anyone know if either, both, or neither Intel and AMD produce chips and mating motherboards today that protect the CPU from overheating and burning out?
I'm sure the OC's will know!
A string of chips and systems through the late 1990's and early to mid 2000's I've had more direct experience with (I do repairs and upgrades) showed that the Intels could run until overheated safety circuits would shut them down. The AMDs would keep going until they audibly 'blinked' and maybe magic smoke comes out, never to do another calculation. The Intels when cooled down would restart.
o
Also want to look at the natural stretch built into a system. Is the machine at it's upper end already - like getting a Pentium2@450Mhz or Pentium3@450Mhz. The Pentium 3 system could have been capable of reaching into 750Mhz range where the Pentium 2 never would. Or multiple ram banks open?
What both Intel and AMD have been lacking is an identifyable method of comparing "Speed" for any normal and performance buyer.
Look in most Sunday sales fliers and the retail outlets are forced to spend more space advertising storage size, screen inches, and wifi.
In the olden days you could easily tell that a Pentium2@450Mhz would be better than a Pentium1@100Mhz.
Now it's a tad confusing with all the sempron, celeron, i-this, and i-that. So people buy laptop screen size and hard drive space. They can have no lust for or bragging rights for "I'd spend another $100 to get 10% more Ghz!"
Sad days.