Re:Anything by Kurt Vonnegut or Chuck Palaniuk
on
A Good Summer Read?
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· Score: 1
I've read both Fight Club and Survivor by Palahniuk. Survivor was only so-so -- many of the Fight Club themes were basically repeated, only within the framework of a different plot. The story wasn't nearly as captivating. Of the two, if you had to pick, read Fight Club.
Seriously, continous and rapid advance of processing power is the one thing that's holding back affordable universal and pervasive computing in schools. These cash strapped schools cannot afford to replace text books every two years, let alone computers that cost hundreds more.
I don't understand the implications herein. First off, if you already have computers sufficient for the tasks at hand, why should the release of more powerful computers compel anyone, including schools, to upgrade them? Moore's Law is not a legal dictum that states you must buy a better, faster computer when it becomes available.
Secondly, Moore's Law actually enables schools to upgrade their equipment at bargain basement prices if they remain comfortably behind the power curve, and purchase boxes based on older CPU's for dirt cheap.
Today, in general, I think the home computer has gotten far more powerful than most people really need. Seriously, a Pentium 4 3Ghz computer for browsing the web and sending email? I'm a software developer and a lover of technology, and like many others before me I drool over newer faster computers when they arrive. But I still haven't found a compelling reason to upgrade my 300Mhz PII for five years now. I can browse the web, compile modest java and C++ programs in reasonable time, watch MPEG video clips, edit photos with Photoshop, etc. What, exactly, will kids in a school environment need to do that exceeds the capabilities of this "ancient" PC of mine? (Which, by the way, you can buy today for roughly the cost of an American History textbook.)
Wouldn't it be pretty easy for some malcontent to kill hundreds of people by parking a car or hoisting some other heavy object onto the tracks of a 500kph train? You wouldn't even need explosives. The bodily trauma of violent deceleration in a train car careening about at 500kph is surely enough to kill anyone.
This seems like it should be a huge issue. Airplanes moving at 500kph are largely safe because (a) it does so when there's nothing to run into but air, and (b) it's extraordinarily hard (though obviously not impossible) to intervene maliciously with their normal operation.
How is this problem being addressed in Japan? Or is it? Or am I just paranoid?
While the RIAA and Verance may have opted to avoid litigation (for now), this does not change the fact that the verbiage of the DMCA allows them to pursue such litigation, with a reasonable probability of success. It is this suppressive capacity of the DMCA that Felten appears to be battling, and may we all hope that he is successful.
The fact that the RIAA has backed off from a lawsuit is immaterial. Read Felten's declaration to the court and you will see that the mere threat of litigation has already had a "chilling effect" on his rights to freely communicate his findings. The case he builds in this declaration is really very compelling.
The reason Palm is doing better than you think
on
Palm In Trouble?
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· Score: 1
Some of you folks are equating Palm's future success with feature set, processor speed, and screen resolution. This is misguided.
The war for the mainstream market is over, and Palm has won. They hit the right philosophy early on (small, stable, useful, cheap, long battery life), targeted the right initial niche, gained their foothold in the mainstream market, then delivered these devices as fast as they could make them.
When it was clear Palm was taking the lead, the secondary market -- software, hardware, books, accessories -- grew up around them. Buying a Palm now means you are buying into this massive community of ancilary products and support. This is a much stronger sales position than Microsoft can offer, and one that is remarkably difficult to unseat. (See Apple vs. WinTel for a reference point)
Microsoft is relegated to lapping up the scraps of the unserved niches on the outskirts of the mainstream. This includes people who want MP3's to drain their battery in 6 hours. And people who want the fastest processor with the highest screen resolution so they can run arcade emulators that drain their batteries in 3 hours. And people who just feel comfortable with the name Microsoft.
Meanwhile, managers who are assigned the task of outfitting the corporate sales force with contact management devices will choose Palm, because it's the least risky, best-supported choice to make. Or individuals who want to take their first timid steps into buying a PDA to help manage their busy lives will ask their friend who already owns one for a recommendation -- and 90% of those friends will say "Palm", because that's what they bought, and it's been great.
This is how a market leader stays a market leader. Palm chooses not to compete on the basis of feature set because they simply don't need to. They have all the third party support. They get free marketing every day from their legions of loyal and satisfied followers. They are competitively priced. In short, they have surprisingly little to fear from the usually daunting competitive force of Microsoft.
Their present financial woes may be the result of a great many things, but the least of them is the erosion of market share from WinCE devices. They may actually be suffering more at the hands of Handspring, whose success has greatly outpaced Palm's expectations (I guess they're wishing they charged Handspring more for the OS).
Slashdot Mirror
I've read both Fight Club and Survivor by Palahniuk. Survivor was only so-so -- many of the Fight Club themes were basically repeated, only within the framework of a different plot. The story wasn't nearly as captivating. Of the two, if you had to pick, read Fight Club.
I don't understand the implications herein. First off, if you already have computers sufficient for the tasks at hand, why should the release of more powerful computers compel anyone, including schools, to upgrade them? Moore's Law is not a legal dictum that states you must buy a better, faster computer when it becomes available.
Secondly, Moore's Law actually enables schools to upgrade their equipment at bargain basement prices if they remain comfortably behind the power curve, and purchase boxes based on older CPU's for dirt cheap.
Today, in general, I think the home computer has gotten far more powerful than most people really need. Seriously, a Pentium 4 3Ghz computer for browsing the web and sending email? I'm a software developer and a lover of technology, and like many others before me I drool over newer faster computers when they arrive. But I still haven't found a compelling reason to upgrade my 300Mhz PII for five years now. I can browse the web, compile modest java and C++ programs in reasonable time, watch MPEG video clips, edit photos with Photoshop, etc. What, exactly, will kids in a school environment need to do that exceeds the capabilities of this "ancient" PC of mine? (Which, by the way, you can buy today for roughly the cost of an American History textbook.)
Wouldn't it be pretty easy for some malcontent to kill hundreds of people by parking a car or hoisting some other heavy object onto the tracks of a 500kph train? You wouldn't even need explosives. The bodily trauma of violent deceleration in a train car careening about at 500kph is surely enough to kill anyone.
This seems like it should be a huge issue. Airplanes moving at 500kph are largely safe because (a) it does so when there's nothing to run into but air, and (b) it's extraordinarily hard (though obviously not impossible) to intervene maliciously with their normal operation.
How is this problem being addressed in Japan? Or is it? Or am I just paranoid?
The fact that the RIAA has backed off from a lawsuit is immaterial. Read Felten's declaration to the court and you will see that the mere threat of litigation has already had a "chilling effect" on his rights to freely communicate his findings. The case he builds in this declaration is really very compelling.
The war for the mainstream market is over, and Palm has won. They hit the right philosophy early on (small, stable, useful, cheap, long battery life), targeted the right initial niche, gained their foothold in the mainstream market, then delivered these devices as fast as they could make them.
When it was clear Palm was taking the lead, the secondary market -- software, hardware, books, accessories -- grew up around them. Buying a Palm now means you are buying into this massive community of ancilary products and support. This is a much stronger sales position than Microsoft can offer, and one that is remarkably difficult to unseat. (See Apple vs. WinTel for a reference point)
Microsoft is relegated to lapping up the scraps of the unserved niches on the outskirts of the mainstream. This includes people who want MP3's to drain their battery in 6 hours. And people who want the fastest processor with the highest screen resolution so they can run arcade emulators that drain their batteries in 3 hours. And people who just feel comfortable with the name Microsoft.
Meanwhile, managers who are assigned the task of outfitting the corporate sales force with contact management devices will choose Palm, because it's the least risky, best-supported choice to make. Or individuals who want to take their first timid steps into buying a PDA to help manage their busy lives will ask their friend who already owns one for a recommendation -- and 90% of those friends will say "Palm", because that's what they bought, and it's been great.
This is how a market leader stays a market leader. Palm chooses not to compete on the basis of feature set because they simply don't need to. They have all the third party support. They get free marketing every day from their legions of loyal and satisfied followers. They are competitively priced. In short, they have surprisingly little to fear from the usually daunting competitive force of Microsoft.
Their present financial woes may be the result of a great many things, but the least of them is the erosion of market share from WinCE devices. They may actually be suffering more at the hands of Handspring, whose success has greatly outpaced Palm's expectations (I guess they're wishing they charged Handspring more for the OS).