I thought unite was mostly for sharing stuff between your devices, not with other people or as a social networking... thing...
It's neither or both, depending on how you use it. Basically it's what it advertises it is. A server. You get a URL for your pc (pc-name.username.operaunite.com) and you open services like file sharing. Anyone can go to that URL and see what services you are running, So, if you want you can advertise that URL making it something like a social network, where everyone can go there and leave messages, stream music from your pc or whatever else you are running. Or you can keep that URL for yourself and password protect everything, if you just want to share stuff between your devices.
The reason that most apps run on the CPU is that it's easier to write for, not that most apps actually run better on it for some fundimental reason.
Well that's not exactly true. Of course frameworks for writing programs that utilize the gpu are still on their infancy, but that doesn't mean that all problems are suited for the gpu. Problems that are best solved by the gpu are problems that can be parallelised. I am not exactly sure what do you mean when you say most apps, but if you are talking about apps typicaly found on a desktop that simply isn't true.
The fundamental reason is that gpus are really good at doing the same thing on different sets of data. For example you can send an array of 1000 ints and tell the gpu to calculate and return their square or something similar. The reason for this is that when gpus are used for graphics they usually have to do the same operation on all the pixels on the screen, and they evolved to be good at that. I cannot see how this is useful for desktop applications, especially if you consider the massive cost of accessing data on main memory from the gpu.
Ars technica reported a similar case in the Netherlands about a week ago. A teenage "hacker" replaced the wallpaper with one showing an alert that told the user to give him 5 euros for instructions to remove the "virus". Full article
This says a lot more about Steve Balmer's competence than Bill Gate's geekness. A far as I know Steve Jobs is no geek, but apparently Apple's relevance is affected by him being there.
I find the whole OMG APPLE WILL TAKE OVER THE GAMING MARKET hype a little weird though considering Apple have never gave a crap about gamers and gaming and left their whole computer line without games
I don't think that Apple not giving a crap about gamers is the reason that there are almost no game titles for OS X. I remember a keynote a couple years back, where Apple had the CEO of EA make promises about future gaming titles released at the same for Macs as for PCs. I think the reason is the nature of the video game industry. Video games are expected to turn a profit within the first month of the release, because after that they are old news, contrary to other software that have more long term goals. This cannot be achieved with OS X's small market share, so most times it doesn't make any sense to port your game. This also explains why Blizzard always releases native Mac ports for their games, since they expect them to sell strong for years.
As for the iPhone/iPod Touch as a gaming device, I don't know if they are going to achieve the status of "über gaming machine" but they are certainly trying to. Remembere theseads?
The only movie that has come out since the buy-out was Up
I somewhat agree with your previous point, but Disney bought Pixar in 2006, and since then there have been 4 Pixar movies. Cars, Ratatouille, WALL-E and Up.
Maybe someday we can actually have a modern desktop as responsive as BeOS was...
BeOS was indeed very responsive, but it was also notoriously difficult to program for. Apple seems to have done a great job at creating a powerful framework, while keeping it easy enough to be actually used by the developers.
The summary makes it sound like in 80 years there will be no room for improvement and everyone will just have to make do with what they have.
If I understand correctly, the limit is about the performance/volume (performance density?). I imagine that in 80 years most of computational resources will be somehow networked. This means that if I required more processing power than technically possible in a normal computer I could just use someone else's idle processor.
I'm afraid they can. They can force it on every new machine, like Vista.
No they can't. Not if they want to maintain their status for a few more years. As you said they forced Vista on new machines and after 3 years it still has 19% marketshare, compared to XP which has 72%. But the biggest failure of Vista was that even regular users noticed it. It was the first time that non advanced users where really unhappy with Windows and sought alternatives, either downgrading or switching. If 7 proves to be another failure (I don't think so) people won't stick with XP for another 3 years.
Exactly. Add to this the fact that companies like Microsoft have a shitload of patents just to be covered, even if it's not in their plans to use whatever is covered in the patent. So even if Microsoft is granted the patent don't expect MS Napster soon.
You can't really say that "lite" apps are useless from a consumer's perspective, since they offer you a way to try before you buy. Sadly, at the moment, it's the only way to do so.
Apple should create a separate category for demos and the Top *** lists should not contain anything from the demos category.
Just tried "apple/mac" on Opera 10 and it ended up on "http://www.apple.com/mac/".
As for the search it normally works really good, both performance/usability-wise and content-wise. Today Apple had a media event where they refreshed their entire iPod line. Usually after these events there is huge traffic on their site, so this could be the reason you had trouble searching.
I think linux will be the most favoured OS of the dumb terminals. Since all OSs are going to do exactly the same thing (run clients for other stuff), users won't care about interface, familiarity or whatever is keeping the "linux revolution". They are going to care about the price. And linux is clearly a winner there.
Slashdot Mirror
More importantly, when do we see an iPhone 3.14?
I thought unite was mostly for sharing stuff between your devices, not with other people or as a social networking... thing...
It's neither or both, depending on how you use it. Basically it's what it advertises it is. A server. You get a URL for your pc (pc-name.username.operaunite.com) and you open services like file sharing. Anyone can go to that URL and see what services you are running, So, if you want you can advertise that URL making it something like a social network, where everyone can go there and leave messages, stream music from your pc or whatever else you are running. Or you can keep that URL for yourself and password protect everything, if you just want to share stuff between your devices.
The reason that most apps run on the CPU is that it's easier to write for, not that most apps actually run better on it for some fundimental reason.
Well that's not exactly true. Of course frameworks for writing programs that utilize the gpu are still on their infancy, but that doesn't mean that all problems are suited for the gpu. Problems that are best solved by the gpu are problems that can be parallelised. I am not exactly sure what do you mean when you say most apps, but if you are talking about apps typicaly found on a desktop that simply isn't true.
The fundamental reason is that gpus are really good at doing the same thing on different sets of data. For example you can send an array of 1000 ints and tell the gpu to calculate and return their square or something similar. The reason for this is that when gpus are used for graphics they usually have to do the same operation on all the pixels on the screen, and they evolved to be good at that. I cannot see how this is useful for desktop applications, especially if you consider the massive cost of accessing data on main memory from the gpu.
I am willing to bet good money that Microsoft formed a team responsible for finding bugs in Google frame just to discredit them.
Ars technica reported a similar case in the Netherlands about a week ago. A teenage "hacker" replaced the wallpaper with one showing an alert that told the user to give him 5 euros for instructions to remove the "virus". Full article
This says a lot more about Steve Balmer's competence than Bill Gate's geekness. A far as I know Steve Jobs is no geek, but apparently Apple's relevance is affected by him being there.
I find the whole OMG APPLE WILL TAKE OVER THE GAMING MARKET hype a little weird though considering Apple have never gave a crap about gamers and gaming and left their whole computer line without games
I don't think that Apple not giving a crap about gamers is the reason that there are almost no game titles for OS X. I remember a keynote a couple years back, where Apple had the CEO of EA make promises about future gaming titles released at the same for Macs as for PCs. I think the reason is the nature of the video game industry. Video games are expected to turn a profit within the first month of the release, because after that they are old news, contrary to other software that have more long term goals. This cannot be achieved with OS X's small market share, so most times it doesn't make any sense to port your game. This also explains why Blizzard always releases native Mac ports for their games, since they expect them to sell strong for years.
As for the iPhone/iPod Touch as a gaming device, I don't know if they are going to achieve the status of "über gaming machine" but they are certainly trying to. Remembere these ads?
Is there a version without bad puns?
The only movie that has come out since the buy-out was Up
I somewhat agree with your previous point, but Disney bought Pixar in 2006, and since then there have been 4 Pixar movies. Cars, Ratatouille, WALL-E and Up.
Maybe someday we can actually have a modern desktop as responsive as BeOS was...
BeOS was indeed very responsive, but it was also notoriously difficult to program for. Apple seems to have done a great job at creating a powerful framework, while keeping it easy enough to be actually used by the developers.
http: is clear. some_obscure_protocol: is not.
The summary makes it sound like in 80 years there will be no room for improvement and everyone will just have to make do with what they have.
If I understand correctly, the limit is about the performance/volume (performance density?). I imagine that in 80 years most of computational resources will be somehow networked. This means that if I required more processing power than technically possible in a normal computer I could just use someone else's idle processor.
if Apple lets Adobe get away with it, no small feat given how protective Apple has been about its app market.
There are already application made in Flash in the app store(list)
... They can't afford to get it wrong.
I'm afraid they can. They can force it on every new machine, like Vista.
No they can't. Not if they want to maintain their status for a few more years. As you said they forced Vista on new machines and after 3 years it still has 19% marketshare, compared to XP which has 72%. But the biggest failure of Vista was that even regular users noticed it. It was the first time that non advanced users where really unhappy with Windows and sought alternatives, either downgrading or switching. If 7 proves to be another failure (I don't think so) people won't stick with XP for another 3 years.
Next project: under-$250 LHC.
Exactly. Add to this the fact that companies like Microsoft have a shitload of patents just to be covered, even if it's not in their plans to use whatever is covered in the patent. So even if Microsoft is granted the patent don't expect MS Napster soon.
In other news, PowerBook G5 next Tuesday.
You can't really say that "lite" apps are useless from a consumer's perspective, since they offer you a way to try before you buy. Sadly, at the moment, it's the only way to do so.
Apple should create a separate category for demos and the Top *** lists should not contain anything from the demos category.
Damn, I knew I should have patented "Something that shares data with something else to do stuff".
I would be swimming in cash now.
Yep. The last Multics installation closed in 2000, but they released the source under the MIT license in 2007.
Yeah, but it looks like they have a plenty of _real_ programmers. It's quite striking that MIT didn't win the ACM competition in at least 10 years:
Well yes, but Alternative Christian Music was never strong on the US
Well, if you RTFA, it says that EA hired fake Christians to stand outside E3 and protest against the game for the publicity (not Christian = cool).
So, for once, the Christian bloggers are outraged for a good reason.
Just tried "apple/mac" on Opera 10 and it ended up on "http://www.apple.com/mac/".
As for the search it normally works really good, both performance/usability-wise and content-wise. Today Apple had a media event where they refreshed their entire iPod line. Usually after these events there is huge traffic on their site, so this could be the reason you had trouble searching.
You know... lawful evil is not all that much better than chaotic evil =)
This is chaotic good not lawfull evil. He used socially unacceptable ways for a good reason
I think linux will be the most favoured OS of the dumb terminals. Since all OSs are going to do exactly the same thing (run clients for other stuff), users won't care about interface, familiarity or whatever is keeping the "linux revolution". They are going to care about the price. And linux is clearly a winner there.