He follows the laying of FLAG (Fiberoptic Link Across the Globe). Awesome article on telecommunications and what goes into laying a cable under oceans.
All of this would be great if I could belive that Africa would survive the anarchy that various organisations have been predicting due to Y2K problems. I know a few cockpit crew of a few airlines in Asia are refusing to fly over Africa expecting large "radar black holes"...
Personally think the 1.2 billion investment should wait a little bit.
> I thought it was a spoof to start with but they are SERIOUS! Why would > anyone want a "Prattoid" anyway - to accumulate useless information that > you never throw away! What we need is an anti-Prattoid that deletes all > data it finds on any other Prattoid it comes across! > Keep the Universe Pratoid Free!! > cheers, > Mick
Cut costs - and you get what you pay for. I had a little bit of a think about this and was looking at some new software that came across my desk this morning. This is not Microsoft bloatware, but IBM bloatware... Just happened to start taking a look at DB/2 for NT.
Code has become bloated... I remember when I was in development, we had to fit our software on a low density floppy or two, since most of our users would not have HD floppies (Europe was a major factor in this decision) and more than two floppies would raise the Cost of Goods.
Appears to me that a lot of programmers, webmasters and networking people have forgotten how to optimise their crap.
I remember a LARGE bank in Malaysia running their servers on DOS(!) doing transactions at the rate of a couple of thousand a day. Where have we lost our ability to optimise code, data and out thoughts?
This is all very interesting to read about. One would think that the internet is generating "unheard amounts" of loads on various systems for the first time. Mainframes (IBM, Unisys, Amdahl) have taken much more than this in terms of loads or transactions / second. The problem that I see is that people tend to isolate architectures that have worked in the past for new cool things that vendors tend to shove down their throats. CICS or for that matter virtually any transaction intensive database on proper mainframe (some of my customers are doing 20-30K transactions per second and they are in no way "big" users) could handle that load. At times, the whole internet revolution reminds me of the "client server" phase that the industry went through. Ziff David was one of the proponents of this phase (well they had to sell them damn magazines didn't they?) often claiming that a Novell file server would be damaging to companies like IBM. Well perhaps it is time to step back and examine how some of the legacy systems have worked (heck... imagine your bank telling you that their systems got overloaded on pay day!?! Then let see how we can adapt them to the Internet. IBM is doing an awesome job on this and so is HP. I strongly belive that the systems we're seeing today are "prototypes" doing proof of concepts, waiting on the big iron boxes to become internet enabled. One more point. Most of the classic "brick and mortar" businesses, people who know their technology, customers, systems.. are NOT internet or e-business enabled. Lets drop a few names of the DOW Jones components.. Ford, GM, GE, DOW, Coke etc, do more business than the e-business startups and probably process more transactions per day on their mainframes. I'd be more concerned about what happens when they start up their internet "storefronts"... Ok.. just a few random thoughts before I head into work...
Looks like Jon has once again exposed his shallow abilities to research an issue. Take a look at IBM's "Deep Computing" website. Has been around for a while.
I for one tend to bug my show off ultra-techie friends by posing them a challenge from their Mathematics section.
What we really need is an independant funded body which reviews software objectively. Leave the rest to market economics. I mean how many people visit a restaurant that has been *badly* reviewed by a major publication? I surely dont.
Perhaps a start would be a website which serves as a database of bugs and documentation of crashes for all software, with moderators who are USERS, might work to provide an objective analysis of various commercial packages out there.
If you can install Linux and configure it well. Help a friend out! Even if you cannot contribute to documentation or code, contribute to the community by helping convert just one person. After all, if you liked it, you should be able to sell it to just one other person!
Reading some of the posts here and the Microsoft Article leads me to question what the goals of the community are.
Linux will not be able to dominate the world today in its current state or perhaps in any state. Let us accept that, live with it and perhaps smell a few roses while we're at it.
What are Linux's strengths. Let us use those to get at Microsoft. (This is from my perspective as a poweruser and a suit.)
* Linux is a kick butt entry level and departmental server right out of the box. It provides VERY decent connectivity to Windows '95 and NT boxes out of the box with Samba. There are FAR more business using low end NT and Novell servers than there are companies using Quad Xeons. This is also where Microsoft makes its real money.. selling low end NT servers to departmental and workgroup users. Heck, my office in Hong Kong still has a 166Mhz Pentium as its main file server for 20 users running NT. We do not see any need for a P2, let alone an SMP box.
* Linux is a VERY good platform for providing Internet services to the same businesses. Again, with a little bit of tweaking, the same Linux box can turn into a mail, web and news server. Try getting the same server described above to run exchange and IIS. Not possible. (Ironically our Exchange 5.5 server runs on a P2-450 with 256MB RAM).
Performance is not everything. The type of box MS has constructed is used perhaps only in the largest of the large enterprises. Would any of the target audience seriously consider running NT on a $100K box? No, chances are they would opt for a SUN or an RS/6000/HP type solution, which ran their application/solution well.
Let us look at Microsoft's Annual Reports and see where they make money. Is it by selling NT on a Quad Xeon? Or is it by selling Workgroup / Departmental Servers with '95 clients and Office bundles?
My suggestion.. fight the FUD, but do not get consumed by it. The market is a LOT more than what MS has made it out to be. And look on the bright side of things... Linux is not featured on MS's pages. Departmental Managers, Small VARs looking at that page would go.. "hey.. do I need 400Mbps performance? Do I need a Quad Xeon?" If their answer is NO.. then perhaps with some positive press that Linux has received they should be asking themselves the question, "Why should I pay a couple of thousand to MS for NT when I can get Linux and support for a couple of hundred dollars?"
Ok.. time to go to bed.. excuse the rambling:)
Phasing out System 390s??? Doubt it!
on
Practical Beowulf
·
· Score: 1
Hardly think that is in the offing. Take a look at the new G6 specs and more importantly, IBM's financial expectations based on this system.
*Bravo* Well put. The problem that I see here is that everyone is putting a label on themselves and others. The excessive use of the term "jock", "geek", "nerd" over the last couple of days in the media and here on slashdot, has just convinced me that our society is in desperate need to label everything around it. Put a label on it, and remove the humanity beyond the situation.
Most situations arise when people do not stop to think that the next person is just like them. Take the persecuted at any time, and you will find someone who has also looked down upon someone else... heck, just check out the Windows bigotry on some of the other threads from the folks here who claim to be linux jocks.
It is now in their interest to get an independant and unbiased study of NT and Linux done.
*sarcasm* After all, how can a company go public when its primary source of income has been proven to be so inferior to Microsoft's flag bearing OS. */sarcasm*
This would be a good test of Linux's hype and commercial viability. For a long time Linux supporters have been claiming (rightly I think!) that the open source licensing model would prevent fragmentation.
RedHat does a fairly good job as an advocate of the operating system to the 'phb's. Having a publically listed company supporting an operating system would surely put rest to the 'Who can we sue' FUD.
It's more of a brag factor among geeks than anything elese ("Hey I just got the newest released movie on my computer. Beat that!"). All in all I don't think that the movie industry has anything to really wory about.
The movie industry does have to worry about it. The distribution channel here in Hong Kong is seriously affected when people can buy the bootlegs for a couple of US$s and avoid the theaters completely. Bootlegs of movies like Titanic etc, have shown up on DVD!
The problem isnt a lot with "geeks with computers", but it is the organised crime factor. The local gangs have awesome production facilities and can dupe the software CD-ROMS, VCDs and DVDs to look exactly the same as the original packaging. These then get smuggled into various "western" markets, where they can sell them as originals..
Been seeing them in the market here in Hong Kong since around '94 and '95. Their recent popularity has been due to the proliferation of cheap hardware decoders and encoders. Companies like C- CUBE and a couple of others have targetted chinese manufacturers to sell their chipsets to. You can buy a VCD player in HK for less than US$50 (good quality!). Infact in Shenzhen (across the border from Hong Kong), you can buy a no-brand player and the shopkeeper will be more than willing to stick the decal of any brand name you want on it!
This is not news at all. It is VERY common for movies to be released here in Hong Kong on illegal VCDs for around 2 or 3 (US) dollars for a set of two VCDs. There have been several seizures latelty with over a million copies being confiscated by customs this year.
There have been reports in various (non Hong Kong offcourse) media reports that the Chinese govt or a corrupt faction of it, is behind the illegal activity.
The piracy does not stop at what is referred to as "head shots" (movies made by hand held cameras), but there are a substantial number of illegal DVDs (duped from LD's) for about 4 to 5$, Audio CDs etc. Makes life bad for me as a collector since I do not know what I am buying, if I buy it in Hong Kong. I tend to order online.
*grin* Don't even attempt to e-mail me asking if I can send you a few samples! ;)
Will future generations of computer literate people figure this joke out??:-)
This is an actual alert to IBM Field Engineers that went out to all IBM Branch Offices. The person who wrote it was very serious. The rest of us may find it rather funny... Abstract: Mouse Balls Available as FRU (Field Replacement Unit)
Mouse balls are now availabe as FRU. Therefore, if a mouse fails to operate or should it perform erratically, it may need a ball replacement. Because of the delicate nature of this procedure, replacement of mouse balls should only be attempted by properly trained personnel.
Before proceeding, determine the type of mouse balls by examining the underside of the mouse. Domestic balls will be larger and harder than foreign balls. Ball removal procedures differ depending upon the manufacturer of the mouse. Foreign balls can be replaced using the pop-off method. Domestic balls are replaced using the twist-off method. Mouse balls are not usually static sensitive. However, excessive handling can result in sudden discharge. Upon completion of ball replacement, the mouse may be used immediately.
It is recommended that each replacer have a pair of spare balls for maintaining optimum customer satisfaction, and that any customer missing his balls should suspect local personnel of removing these necessary items.
I think some of the others have given a good explanation of what I mean. There are a lot of esoteric items that the government gets into which one may not be interested in.
It would also seem that the cost of converting your websites, supporting the disabled users who buy these products etc, might just mean that you figure that you may not wish to support them.
*Shrug* I am all for an individual making a choice to offer or use a service.
This has a couple of good points, but a few scary points too.
Standards are good. However, following standards does not mean that one will produce good code or content.
I am not too sure if I like the comment about folks who use 'page builders' to build their sites is very valid. I am sure there are some very good writers, artists, musicians who would not be on the web if they didn't have a GUI environment.
This move also takes away some freedom of choice by the webmasters. While I can understand that government sites are required to follow certain guidelines why would I as a possible supplier have to follow them? Suppose I made some product which would be of no interest to any persons with any sort of disability?
How does this affect companies like Real? Macromedia? Adobe? The companies that have invested a fair amount in producing good tools for graphics savvy sites?
Lastly, if one extends this back to publishing on dead trees, will the govt insist that all its publications be made available in braile? Will all govt phone lines have teletype available for the deaf? Hmmm.. the Clinton hearings would sure have had some interesting moments if they had showed some of the testimony in sign language;-)
I have read a hundred odd comments and find it very interesting, that they did not get experts involved.
If I were to do a benchmark, I would publish the specifications of the system.. i.e. Quad Xeon, 1GB RAM, RAID 5 etc, specify this to the hardware adapters to make sure there is no hardware based tuning that was done. Then I would approach the hardware manufacturers who would LOVE to jump at a case like this.
Microsoft could designate one, and RedHat could designate another. After all, when one wants to go to a large server based installation, a corporate MIS person, would spend some time researching the hardware vendors, and select one that had a good understanding of the Operating System selected and could support them.
I would then publish the benchmark to the two hardware vendors and suggest to them that the pre-installed operating system on their hardware should meet certain security and auditing requirements. This would eliminate any perverse software fine tuning and would simulate what a corporate requirement would be. If the goal is to simply judge an operating system by its benchmarked performance and not by its true value, so be it, let the respective vendors who know the hardware and software crank away at the settings, as long as they do not violate the base requirements set out by the benchmarking company.
While IBM is making very aggressive moves to fix this gap, Linux currently lacks the software which would connect it to big blue enterprise systems. A large Bank for example might need to make a query using LU 6.2 (SNA) into its mainframe. Many Airlines run their CRS (Customer Reservation systems) on Unisys mainframes which uses some more obscure protocols (even if theey are IP based) to connect into its boxes.
The second problem is that a lot of the IVR systems are custom built by system integrators, who are usually more familiar with NT or OS/2 (large in the IVR market) than with NT.
Are there any moves been made by an existing IVR vendor to port their systems over to linux?
Internic leads back to a law firm called Sidley and Austin, based out of Chicago. Well.. atleast one of the contacts in Gore's site has an e-mail address at Sidley. Funny thing is that this firm coins itself as a a whole section on Cyberlaw.
Slashdot Mirror
NUA has a good section for information on the proliferation of the internet on the African Subcontinent.
He follows the laying of FLAG (Fiberoptic Link Across the Globe). Awesome article on telecommunications and what goes into laying a cable under oceans.
Personally think the 1.2 billion investment should wait a little bit.
A reply I got from a friend.
> I thought it was a spoof to start with but they are SERIOUS! Why would
> anyone want a "Prattoid" anyway - to accumulate useless information that
> you never throw away! What we need is an anti-Prattoid that deletes all
> data it finds on any other Prattoid it comes across!
> Keep the Universe Pratoid Free!!
> cheers,
> Mick
Code has become bloated... I remember when I was in development, we had to fit our software on a low density floppy or two, since most of our users would not have HD floppies (Europe was a major factor in this decision) and more than two floppies would raise the Cost of Goods.
Appears to me that a lot of programmers, webmasters and networking people have forgotten how to optimise their crap.
I remember a LARGE bank in Malaysia running their servers on DOS(!) doing transactions at the rate of a couple of thousand a day. Where have we lost our ability to optimise code, data and out thoughts?
This is all very interesting to read about. One would think that the internet is generating "unheard amounts" of loads on various systems for the first time. Mainframes (IBM, Unisys, Amdahl) have taken much more than this in terms of loads or transactions / second. The problem that I see is that people tend to isolate architectures that have worked in the past for new cool things that vendors tend to shove down their throats. CICS or for that matter virtually any transaction intensive database on proper mainframe (some of my customers are doing 20-30K transactions per second and they are in no way "big" users) could handle that load. At times, the whole internet revolution reminds me of the "client server" phase that the industry went through. Ziff David was one of the proponents of this phase (well they had to sell them damn magazines didn't they?) often claiming that a Novell file server would be damaging to companies like IBM. Well perhaps it is time to step back and examine how some of the legacy systems have worked (heck... imagine your bank telling you that their systems got overloaded on pay day!?! Then let see how we can adapt them to the Internet. IBM is doing an awesome job on this and so is HP. I strongly belive that the systems we're seeing today are "prototypes" doing proof of concepts, waiting on the big iron boxes to become internet enabled. One more point. Most of the classic "brick and mortar" businesses, people who know their technology, customers, systems.. are NOT internet or e-business enabled. Lets drop a few names of the DOW Jones components.. Ford, GM, GE, DOW, Coke etc, do more business than the e-business startups and probably process more transactions per day on their mainframes. I'd be more concerned about what happens when they start up their internet "storefronts"... Ok.. just a few random thoughts before I head into work...
I for one tend to bug my show off ultra-techie friends by posing them a challenge from their Mathematics section.
Perhaps a start would be a website which serves as a database of bugs and documentation of crashes for all software, with moderators who are USERS, might work to provide an objective analysis of various commercial packages out there.
If you can install Linux and configure it well. Help a friend out! Even if you cannot contribute to documentation or code, contribute to the community by helping convert just one person. After all, if you liked it, you should be able to sell it to just one other person!
Reading some of the posts here and the Microsoft Article leads me to question what the goals of the community are.
.. "hey.. do I need 400Mbps performance? Do I need a Quad Xeon?" If their answer is NO.. then perhaps with some positive press that Linux has received they should be asking themselves the question, "Why should I pay a couple of thousand to MS for NT when I can get Linux and support for a couple of hundred dollars?"
.. time to go to bed.. excuse the rambling :)
Linux will not be able to dominate the world today in its current state or perhaps in any state. Let us accept that, live with it and perhaps smell a few roses while we're at it.
What are Linux's strengths. Let us use those to get at Microsoft. (This is from my perspective as a poweruser and a suit.)
* Linux is a kick butt entry level and departmental server right out of the box. It provides VERY decent connectivity to Windows '95 and NT boxes out of the box with Samba. There are FAR more business using low end NT and Novell servers than there are companies using Quad Xeons. This is also where Microsoft makes its real money.. selling low end NT servers to departmental and workgroup users. Heck, my office in Hong Kong still has a 166Mhz Pentium as its main file server for 20 users running NT. We do not see any need for a P2, let alone an SMP box.
* Linux is a VERY good platform for providing Internet services to the same businesses. Again, with a little bit of tweaking, the same Linux box can turn into a mail, web and news server. Try getting the same server described above to run exchange and IIS. Not possible. (Ironically our Exchange 5.5 server runs on a P2-450 with 256MB RAM).
Performance is not everything. The type of box MS has constructed is used perhaps only in the largest of the large enterprises. Would any of the target audience seriously consider running NT on a $100K box? No, chances are they would opt for a SUN or an RS/6000/HP type solution, which ran their application/solution well.
Let us look at Microsoft's Annual Reports and see where they make money. Is it by selling NT on a Quad Xeon? Or is it by selling Workgroup / Departmental Servers with '95 clients and Office bundles?
My suggestion.. fight the FUD, but do not get consumed by it. The market is a LOT more than what MS has made it out to be. And look on the bright side of things... Linux is not featured on MS's pages. Departmental Managers, Small VARs looking at that page would go
Ok
Hardly think that is in the offing. Take a look at the new G6 specs and more importantly, IBM's financial expectations based on this system.
Most situations arise when people do not stop to think that the next person is just like them. Take the persecuted at any time, and you will find someone who has also looked down upon someone else... heck, just check out the Windows bigotry on some of the other threads from the folks here who claim to be linux jocks.
Bleah...
*sarcasm* After all, how can a company go public when its primary source of income has been proven to be so inferior to Microsoft's flag bearing OS. */sarcasm*
RedHat does a fairly good job as an advocate of the operating system to the 'phb's. Having a publically listed company supporting an operating system would surely put rest to the 'Who can we sue' FUD.
The movie industry does have to worry about it. The distribution channel here in Hong Kong is seriously affected when people can buy the bootlegs for a couple of US$s and avoid the theaters completely. Bootlegs of movies like Titanic etc, have shown up on DVD!
The problem isnt a lot with "geeks with computers", but it is the organised crime factor. The local gangs have awesome production facilities and can dupe the software CD-ROMS, VCDs and DVDs to look exactly the same as the original packaging. These then get smuggled into various "western" markets, where they can sell them as originals..
Been seeing them in the market here in Hong Kong since around '94 and '95. Their recent popularity has been due to the proliferation of cheap hardware decoders and encoders. Companies like C- CUBE and a couple of others have targetted chinese manufacturers to sell their chipsets to. You can buy a VCD player in HK for less than US$50 (good quality!). Infact in Shenzhen (across the border from Hong Kong), you can buy a no-brand player and the shopkeeper will be more than willing to stick the decal of any brand name you want on it!
There have been reports in various (non Hong Kong offcourse) media reports that the Chinese govt or a corrupt faction of it, is behind the illegal activity.
The piracy does not stop at what is referred to as "head shots" (movies made by hand held cameras), but there are a substantial number of illegal DVDs (duped from LD's) for about 4 to 5$, Audio CDs etc. Makes life bad for me as a collector since I do not know what I am buying, if I buy it in Hong Kong. I tend to order online.
*grin* Don't even attempt to e-mail me asking if I can send you a few samples! ;)
This is an actual alert to IBM Field Engineers that went out to all IBM Branch Offices. The person who wrote it was very serious. The rest of us may find it rather funny... Abstract: Mouse Balls Available as FRU (Field Replacement Unit)
Mouse balls are now availabe as FRU. Therefore, if a mouse fails to operate or should it perform erratically, it may need a ball replacement. Because of the delicate nature of this procedure, replacement of mouse balls should only be attempted by properly trained personnel.
Before proceeding, determine the type of mouse balls by examining the underside of the mouse. Domestic balls will be larger and harder than foreign balls. Ball removal procedures differ depending upon the manufacturer of the mouse. Foreign balls can be replaced using the pop-off method. Domestic balls are replaced using the twist-off method. Mouse balls are not usually static sensitive. However, excessive handling can result in sudden discharge. Upon completion of ball replacement, the mouse may be used immediately.
It is recommended that each replacer have a pair of spare balls for maintaining optimum customer satisfaction, and that any customer missing his balls should suspect local personnel of removing these necessary items.
It would also seem that the cost of converting your websites, supporting the disabled users who buy these products etc, might just mean that you figure that you may not wish to support them.
*Shrug* I am all for an individual making a choice to offer or use a service.
Just checked him out on Dejanews... pretty interesting stuff :-)
Standards are good. However, following standards does not mean that one will produce good code or content.
I am not too sure if I like the comment about folks who use 'page builders' to build their sites is very valid. I am sure there are some very good writers, artists, musicians who would not be on the web if they didn't have a GUI environment.
This move also takes away some freedom of choice by the webmasters. While I can understand that government sites are required to follow certain guidelines why would I as a possible supplier have to follow them? Suppose I made some product which would be of no interest to any persons with any sort of disability?
How does this affect companies like Real? Macromedia? Adobe? The companies that have invested a fair amount in producing good tools for graphics savvy sites?
Lastly, if one extends this back to publishing on dead trees, will the govt insist that all its publications be made available in braile? Will all govt phone lines have teletype available for the deaf? Hmmm .. the Clinton hearings would sure have had some interesting moments if they had showed some of the testimony in sign language ;-)
Shri
If I were to do a benchmark, I would publish the specifications of the system.. i.e. Quad Xeon, 1GB RAM, RAID 5 etc, specify this to the hardware adapters to make sure there is no hardware based tuning that was done. Then I would approach the hardware manufacturers who would LOVE to jump at a case like this.
Microsoft could designate one, and RedHat could designate another. After all, when one wants to go to a large server based installation, a corporate MIS person, would spend some time researching the hardware vendors, and select one that had a good understanding of the Operating System selected and could support them.
I would then publish the benchmark to the two hardware vendors and suggest to them that the pre-installed operating system on their hardware should meet certain security and auditing requirements. This would eliminate any perverse software fine tuning and would simulate what a corporate requirement would be. If the goal is to simply judge an operating system by its benchmarked performance and not by its true value, so be it, let the respective vendors who know the hardware and software crank away at the settings, as long as they do not violate the base requirements set out by the benchmarking company.
This is the type of benchmark I would trust.
The second problem is that a lot of the IVR systems are custom built by system integrators, who are usually more familiar with NT or OS/2 (large in the IVR market) than with NT.
Are there any moves been made by an existing IVR vendor to port their systems over to linux?
Umm... I still tend to use Windows for my games.
Internic leads back to a law firm called Sidley and Austin, based out of Chicago. Well.. atleast one of the contacts in Gore's site has an e-mail address at Sidley. Funny thing is that this firm coins itself as a a whole section on Cyberlaw.