There is nothing that would prevent you from having a hard disk in the client. For many applications a local disk is not necessary.
Diskless workstations would make the most sense on a large corporate network where there many desktops to maintain. In such an organization there is little need for local storge.
Client is basically a hot-rod x-terminal with a big fast pipe. No hard disk, only 1 very large ram disk. Files would be accessed through NFS. All programs would be run off of the application server(s), or the web.
Programs could be cached on the ramdisk. The machine would never be powered off, so its cache would become rich with programs and data.
If eventually the OS crashes, you'd restart, and have a virgin machine.
Server machine
--------------
Sky's the limit
The high-speed networking of tomorrow will make a great many things possible.
While Navigator 4.7x may not be the fanciest browser out there; I wouldn't exactly call it crap.
I use Netscape 4.75 all day, every day on Linux and NT. It rarely crashes on me, and it displays most pages the same as IE.
There is just something about IE that rubs me the wrong way. I only use it when I have to (for testing purposes).
I like Mozilla a lot, and in the last few months it has seen a great deal of improvement. Just the fact that it runs on so many platforms makes it superior. IE will never run on Linux (BSD, beos, etc), so it will ultimately lose out to Mozilla. Especially since these platforms are invading the desktop market.
I realize all of that about the jvm starting up, and that the performance will level out with a bigger program. But, I simply cannot recall ever running a java program that didn't feel dog-slow. My first experience running Java was HotJava 1.0, and nothing much has really changed since then.
If a perl program can compile AND execute in a fraction of the time--why would I want to use java anywhere that I could use perl instead?
Maybe I might consider running Java if it ran on half as many platforms as Perl does!
It would not have mattered if the Microsoft emails were encrypted. If the government can demand copies of the email, they can just as easily require that the key to decrypt those messages be given to them.
You are confusing the issue here. Covert interception of messages vs. Court-ordered handing-over of emails. Encryption has nothing to do with the second case.
Slashdot Mirror
You have no chance to survive drink your coffee.
Sold! I will be migrating to FreeBSD in the morning.
Sure, I've been considering it for quite a while, but I could never justify all of the work involved in switching platforms.
It will be a joy to switch. Thanke ye linux, I loved you.
domc
Well they must use it for something...otherwise I would not need it to compile.
domc
GNU/WindowMaker/Linux anybody?
domc
Right on!
I'd love to see an 8-way Cursoe server -- in a mid-tower case. This would never be possible with a Pentium.
I think this is what Transmeta has had in mind all-along.
Dom
There is nothing that would prevent you from having a hard disk in the client. For many applications a local disk is not necessary.
Diskless workstations would make the most sense on a large corporate network where there many desktops to maintain. In such an organization there is little need for local storge.
domc
Also, think of the scalibility of this.
A small network could have one or two application servers.
A network of a million users could have a separate server(s) for each app.
domc
Installshield sucks.
domc
Consider this:
Client machines
---------------
- AMD 1.2 Gz
- super-fast graphics
- 1GB RAM
- ATM interface
- 0 disk
Client is basically a hot-rod x-terminal with a big fast pipe. No hard disk, only 1 very large ram disk. Files would be accessed through NFS. All programs would be run off of the application server(s), or the web.
Programs could be cached on the ramdisk. The machine would never be powered off, so its cache would become rich with programs and data.
If eventually the OS crashes, you'd restart, and have a virgin machine.
Server machine
--------------
Sky's the limit
The high-speed networking of tomorrow will make a great many things possible.
domc
#!/usr/bin/perl -w
print "Hello World\n";
I was a bit worried about this too. I installed 2.4 anyways, and my aliases still work.
Look here:
/usr/src/linux/Documentation/Changes
I'd love to see what your girlfriend's hoo-haa looks like. Oh, I forgot, you don't have one.
domc
Do yourself a favor, and check out Window Maker!
I think they must have been cooking the presents.
~My favorite christmas memory was when my 90-year-old grandmother gave me a meat cleaver. Gift-wrapped and everything. I was 10.
Everybody got a different kitchen utensil that year. Unfortunately, my mom wouldn't let me keep my present.
domc
I know that it would be slightly more work for the web developers, but how about something like this:
Make your content-rich web site have two modes of delivery.
1) If you subscribe to the site, and pay with micro-payments, or subscription you don't get any ads.
2) If you are browsing the site for free, you get banner ads, or whatever type of advertizing is appropriate.
This should make both types of surfers happy. Also, many web sites would discover that people are willing to pay--especially if it means no more ads.
Of course this does not really apply to geeks because we can find a way around anything. Consider it a professional courtesy.
domc
That's funny. It seems to have a place on my desktop!
Proud to be 100% Microsoft Free!!!
domc
I could have sworn that you were describing Java. Doesn't soud like the Perl I know.
domc
Try compiling Mozilla without the debug code (it is there by default). This should improve your performance greatly.
domc
mod_perl is no more of a "workaround" than Java servlets. In fact, they have share more similarities that they do differences.
I assure you that mod_perl apps will run as fast as any servlet--with much less complexity.
domc
While Navigator 4.7x may not be the fanciest browser out there; I wouldn't exactly call it crap.
I use Netscape 4.75 all day, every day on Linux and NT. It rarely crashes on me, and it displays most pages the same as IE.
There is just something about IE that rubs me the wrong way. I only use it when I have to (for testing purposes).
I like Mozilla a lot, and in the last few months it has seen a great deal of improvement. Just the fact that it runs on so many platforms makes it superior. IE will never run on Linux (BSD, beos, etc), so it will ultimately lose out to Mozilla. Especially since these platforms are invading the desktop market.
domc
I realize all of that about the jvm starting up, and that the performance will level out with a bigger program. But, I simply cannot recall ever running a java program that didn't feel dog-slow. My first experience running Java was HotJava 1.0, and nothing much has really changed since then.
If a perl program can compile AND execute in a fraction of the time--why would I want to use java anywhere that I could use perl instead?
Maybe I might consider running Java if it ran on half as many platforms as Perl does!
domc
My brother runs a fairly high-traffic web server. Last month, out of 2.5 million hits:
Internet Exploder: 80.85%
-MSIE 5.5: 18.90%
-MSIE 5.0: 49.30%
-MSIE 4.0: 10.70%
Netscape Navigator: 16.13%
-Mozilla/6.0: 0.00% (25 hits)
-Mozilla/4.7: 7.10%
-Mozilla/4.6: 1.54%
-Mozilla/4.5: 2.32%
-Mozilla/4.0: 2.50%
Sad to see these numbers. I'm hoping that Mozilla will start to gain popularity once it is released.
domc
I wrote my first "Hello World" Java application a few days ago. 10-line console application; straight out of Thinking Java.
It took about 5 seconds to compile, and 2.5 seconds to execute. It felt really slow to me (as I am used to Perl).
Config: AMD K3-2 300Mhz, Linux 2.2, Sun JDK 1.3
domc
It would not have mattered if the Microsoft emails were encrypted. If the government can demand copies of the email, they can just as easily require that the key to decrypt those messages be given to them.
You are confusing the issue here. Covert interception of messages vs. Court-ordered handing-over of emails. Encryption has nothing to do with the second case.
domc