A lot of the high-tech growth in the DFW area has been fueled by cheap land and a corresponding cheap workforce. A $300,000 two-bedroom cramped house in CA gets you near mansions here. In addition there are quite a few workers here dumped by the dotcom/telecom bust that drive hiring prices down. Plenty of electrical power here. There is no personal income tax in Texas, a real selling point for a million-plus executive looking to shelter his nest egg. Finally Texas cities often give tax breaks like depressed Southern states to lure business here.
That's not to say that price is the only factor. For instance until the last fifteen years DFW didn't really have enough of the highly specialized building contractors that make computer room sites. That's something you're not going to get everywhere.
Also proximity to what counts drives many location moves. DFW probably lost getting the Boeing HQ because it was not as close to Washington DC as Chicago (since Boeing business is largely driven by what happens with the DOD and FAA), and I suspect because of the lack of world-class four-year colleges and cultural opportunities.
For folks who live for SanFran it will be irreplacable. But for bottom-line folks other locales beckon.
The situation was that the UPS was down and waiting on a part being flown in, so we were on city power. Needless to say Mother Nature decided to kick up her heels and lay on a storm that a) delayed the jet's arrival with the part, and b) knocked out our site. The vulnerability was about 10 hours, so it was a risk that we lost. But better the UPS was offline and we took this hit then have the UPS fry and send a killer spike down the line to toast our PDUs.
In our industry the cost of multiple UPS would be prohibitive. This has happened twice in 20 years at the same site- the second time was lack of communication for a planned power switchover.
Bunkie, I got some bad news- anything can cause the power to go out, and multiple UPS is not a magic cureall answer. Humans are still involved, and that extra mainframe magic mitigates even the worst decision-making going.
Several excellent points have been made about Unix and IBM being of very different environments both in terms of workloads and skill sets. However I think you need to see the Bigger Picture, which relates to this poster's point about Amdahl, and the market pressure of the Unix servers and right behind them Microsoft.
IBM is milking their big win over Amdahl and Hitachi, a 30-year-plus war that took a final round of reengineering costs associated with going 64-bit (keep this in mind- could be replayed with AMD and Intel). This is fine for the Three Initial Companies that can afford this, but the future of the mainframe is in doubt, because of
*the easier entry into Unix/WiNT servers,
*the relatively slow speed of application development with traditional mainframe tools (sometimes that's a win, you don't build the pyramids with a mobile home mindset),
*the lack of z/OS personnel being churned out due to a mindshare failure/lack of mainframes at universities/tech schools,
*and new applications not being created that will bring in the new business.
So IBM needs Linux badly to grow the new businesses into the mainframes, keep the profits up with higher production runs, get those wacky penguin kids to develop new apps that sell boxes and in general keep the gravy train running even if z/OS fails due to lack of personnel/ business/ coolness whatever.
Sun, AIX, MS and Company are already nipping at the heels of the low-end part of the MVS line, so IBM drops those prices dramatically. As Moore's Law continues it's inexorable ways, IBM will be forced to slash the low-end to medium box prices to keep the TCO in line. So many companies that might eat the conversion costs to get off the expensive hardware may stay and be inadvertent beneficiaries of the Price Wars.
The power failure aspect of mainframes is priceless. If there is a power failure in the mainframe world all you have to do is wait until the lights are on, power the mainframe and associated SAN back on, and chug along while the Unix tribe fscks the night away. I'm sure journaling helps (gosh, had versions of that on mainframe DBs since the 80s), but nothing beats true bulletproof hardware.
IBM mainframes use every single ounce of processor- we can top out at 100% and everything just runs slow instead of at risk of dying. Not sure whether 390 Linux will handle it but the underlying VM sure will.
Another factor not mentioned is that mainframe software is charged by the MIPS, not site-licensed, so each move up in processor costs you far more in software costs then merely the machine and support. The Linux 390 environment doesn't have that MIPS exponential cost curve, so that aspect looks mighty tasty to sites that want mainframe bulletproof hardware and relatively cheap Linux software implementation.
Finally, we have a person who straddles the world of UNIX and MVS (he HAS to- MVS requires Unix Services to function in a non-SNA world). Our Unix manager was a former mainframe field engineer, as was our current Network Services Director. I've had three OS environments shot out from under me, and I haven't been relegated to the scrap heap. My career goal is to be able to sysadmin in both JCL and Perl, MVS and Linux.
Have a little flexibility guys, it will stand you in good stead over the decades.
This concept reminds me of American Flagg, an early 80's comic by Howard Chaykin. That comic had huge numbers of balloons covering Chicago. They were acting as a huge antenna array for satellite TV though.
As a transplanted out-of-stater living in Texas, I can't tell you how horrified I am that Aggies are doing this. Remember, these are the folks with that gawdawful bonfire accident- do you really want them messing with genetic code???
Virtual Entertainment Nation Nothing New
on
EverQuest and the UN
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· Score: 2, Interesting
At the risk of sounding like Katz, this phenomenon is just an outgrowth of meatworld issues. For instance, one of the best tulip-bulb markets of the 90s was the mass insanity known as early edition Magic the Gathering, followed by Pokemon. A small nation's economy was generated by the sales and trading activity spawned by those games.
Witness also the huge amount of activity based on the rotisserie/player franchise sports leagues.
EQ is just the graphic MUD equivalent of all that. Keep yer pants on, this is nothing new.
I see this being used in stadium domes as a cheap way to light the dome without paying the electricity. Depending on it's insulation, location and gametime it may or may not save money on heating/cooling too over normal domed stadiums.
Superchurches (the 7000+ seating variety) could also use this, which might make for requests for stained glass varieties of Dr. Price's new material (whatever it is).
The previous comments that Sabre is not moving off the mainframe is inherently false. The relase definitely says migrate, and that's not supplement.
Perfectly understandable in a way, Sabre is some honking old code and many of the apps programmers must be reaching the retirement/consultant stage of their career.
IBM is also moving to 64-bit machines and ran off it's competitors with the horrid firmware clean-room reengineering compatibility would require. IBM is celebrating victory in the 30-Year Mainframe War by increasing costs of the high-end mainframes for deep-pocket companies. I'm guessing Sabre got the bill for the next few mainframe years and decided to get out while the getting is good.
What happens when Unbreakable Larry Elliott's Unsinkable ego runs into an iceberg called reality?
Thrill as the largest man-made ego in the world shows it too can make a mistake! Gasp as the master engineer makes a crucial error that sinks the RMS Unbreakable! Cry as the star-crossed developers try to escape the sinking PR disaster! Bemoan the lack of escape boats for the VPs who will pay for Ellison's boast!
I swear, can't tell who we need to get first, Gates or Ellison. Neither one is good for computing.
The problem is not that we are giving away money for software development that is not open sourced, it is that we are not getting a good deal out of it.
For instance, the US government first bought the Lousiana purchase, spent millions subduing the Indians, then give away vast tracts of land to the railroads who then turned around and charged everyone in sight. But we got a Pacific Coast secured from other powers and a continent-wide industrial and population base for our troubles.
I would submit therefore that any question re: Open Source should have to pass the utility test, i.e. are we getting our money's worth out of either governement funded Open Source or Proprietary software. Neither side has made a convincing case.
Imagine if your local power company was a conglomerate that could also compete with your toaster maker company.
Microsoft Power & Light decides to change the voltages to everybody's home every three years, requiring a complete change to all the appliances and home systems. This suits you fine as it drives more toaster sales, so while you question the ethical validity of these changes, the havoc it creates and the incredible costs it imposes on the community, the business model is there- you are on board.
MSP&L tries to enter into the toaster market, but they can't make a toaster as good as you. You think all you have to do is continue to make a better toaster- you poor deluded fool.
MSP&L approaches you and says hey we will force all the homeowners to have a specific plug and voltage for toasters, sign up with us and we can guarantee you your share of the toaster market and we'll get our share. You don't dare refuse because the implied threat is that the proprietary toaster plug can be used to lock you out just as easily as lock you in. The consumers go along because you set the quality standards and if you are on board it must be an okay plug standard, and besides those malfunctioning MSP&L toasters are mighty cheap. Now all of a sudden you are a 'strategic business partner', desperately hoping that MSP&L or an appliance giant will buy you out.
MSP&L has locked you into a standard under their control, but now some MS VP genius decides that toasters are strategic (it's not an appliance, it's ad-revenue!). They mess with the voltages every year so your toasters malfunction and their toasters work until you spend valuable design and retool time 'fixing' your toaster. They create SmarToaster technology that sends email recipes to their toasters to enhance the toaster experience and incidentally deliver ads, actually their real revenue stream in the toaster market. The convection/microwave people are destroying your upper-end toaster market, so you are totally squeezed. Then to finish you off, MSP&L gives toasters (which they finally have kind of working) to everyone during the next voltage change. You are done for.
But hey our government is here for you! The DoJ comes by and says, gosh that's wrong, MSP&L cannot use their power monopoly to squash the toaster market, MSP&L play nice. MSP&L agrees, then builds the NeToaster standard that requires you to use a certified bread or pastry and you can't remove the ads. ActiveOvenLife cries out for justice because they can't impose their own toaster standard on all the households. Now the DoJ says okay MSP&L, play nicer. Don't you feel good ex-toaster guy?
Hmmmm, maybe you should have lobbied for standard electricity settings instead of letting greed get to you, treated the power company as a monopoly utility and allowed everyone to build the best appliances that compete on their merits. Open source electricity standards and government-regulated power? That's just wacky and unAmerican!
The truly frightening thing is that if Microsoft continues to get away with this, the rest of the corporate world will follow suit and we will end up with crazy costs, financial and personal, in all sorts of real life situations like the above.
The excellent railroads, electricity, roads and telecommunications infrastructure that all Americans enjoy did not happen by accident. It was a combination of visionaries, greedy people and governmental community laws that gave us industries and standards that work.
If the Microsoft culture is allowed to dominate computing, then we will experience what our forefathers avoided by stopping railroad magnates or Standard Oil from controlling the lifeblood of our nation. God help us if we have failed to learn those lessons.
Microsoft can be open and free all it likes with the APIs, because they can control the pace of changes to that standard. If RealPlayer or QuickTime was actually stupid enough to be wholly dependent on MS multimedia APIs, Microsoft could just ServicePac-them to death with changes.
Neal Stephenson did it better
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Globalization
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· Score: 1
If anyone wants an intelligent dense discussion of globalism and get the OS revolution's as a bonus, read the 1999 essay In The Beginning Was The Command Line. rather than bothering with Katz or his smarty-boy-of-the-moment.
1. The original National Command Post in Denton, TX., was sold for a measly $50K. This is not the FEMA command post but rather the 1950s version. Nothing interesting left down there, but still mad scientist quarters on the cheap.
2. This would be a very nice secure site for web services. Who cares if they know about it, try and get past the door. Plus you can laze about in the jacuzzi with your internet babes.
3. I've driven past that town and had no clue it was there.
4. What were they doing putting a silo launch center in the middle of a town? Makes you wonder how many 'secret' targets still exist in residential areas.
5. Having a launch silo center in your town truly gives you 'Neighborhood Nuclear Superiority'.
6. Finally, you have got to wonder about the fellow that bought this thing and built a party palace in it. Assuming this isn't just a lark or an investment, it takes some serious weird to actually buy and outfit the thing for residential use.
Air-Independent Propulsion (AIP) has been a hot topic in naval warfare circles for years. It's a big deal because few nations can afford to operate nuclear submarines and diesel subs are vulnerable to long-range IR detectors when they recycle the air. The solutions have been somewhat exotic- here is a good URL to check out-
Now with diesel subs it becomes an order of magnitude cheaper to build these things as you will not require the specialized hull designs or engines. Therefore we will not be able to control the proliferation of these devil beasts.
The world just got really dangerous again. Can you say Iraqi subs prowling the oceans looking for payback? Couple these things with cruise missiles and you don't need an ICBM or worry about missile defense.
Darn Japanese would come up with the tool to do themselves in. Now China can come up with 300 of these infernal things to blockade Nippon.
I was in UT Austin in the early 80s. You've heard of Berke (the magazine he talks about was called UTmost, get it?), and the two other things was this crazy kid making PCs in his dorm room named Dell, and Sam Hurt's Eyebeam. Actually I would say Eyebeam was more popular at UT then Berke- Hank the Hallucination won Student Body President.
Check it out- http://www.samhurt.com/index.html
Really, it's very simple- every point in space time has a zero dimension point in addition to all the other dimensions. Since there is no time or space coordinate to these zero points, everything in the universe exhibits a very weak force on every other object in space. In other words the entire universe is it's own ether.
Have a nice think on that.
Hmm I wonder what battles you have been in. Don't you fear the dreaded Opel/Bedford blitz?
I am a tanker, but only because that is what my skills suit me for. Infantry are THE decisive element as one cannot take towns without them.
Just like the real World War II (and some other wars since), players are learning that combined arms is what wins. If tanks attack without infantry for close-in fighting/sneaking and planes for precision attack/recon, ambushes occur and tanks burn.
At the beginning of WWII I think the ratio of armored personnel to non-armor in armor/mech units was something like 2:5. By the end it was 1:10, because tanks were just too darn vulnerable to infantry.
As a tanker I utterly fear the trucks with their infantry. They move so darn fast that I can't bring the MG to bear before they're gone. Then the infantry get into everything just like roaches, turning flags into enemy right and left. Before you know it I am a lone tank because no one can spawn in to support me, and I am not long for that game world.
Right now it's free form so people are not keen on being trucks and infantry altough the better players do not hesitate to do so. Mostly it's because it's boring to walk between towns and frustrating to be a defenseless truck. However once points are being given for missions which will generally speaking mean taking or defending towns, expect infantry to assume their rightful place.
The good folks who did Warbirds have been developing World War II Online ( http://www.wwiionline.com ).
There will be goals in the sense of successfully performing missions, being able to control campaigns by being able to post missions for others, etc. but you can pretty much wander around and drive/fly continuously from west France to Belgium- until the Me109s find you....
If you try this game please note the stringent hardware requirements and that it's a bit buggy/laggy due to the absolutely breathtaking scope of what they're doing.
Let's face it, independent of any one-worlder/monopolist/communist/trekkers' dreams, we are still goverened by a collection of nation-states that exercise authority over their land. Each one is different from the other by custom and law if not religion, language, etc. Since none of us wants to give up our unique systems willingly, it behooves the IETF, ICANN and everyone else to recognize reality and govern the internet accordingly. Therefore EVERY SITE should be under their national TLDs and thus subject to the appropriate laws under their respective nations.
Geez who cares?
on
Netscape 6.1
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· Score: 0, Redundant
This browser is so hideously laced with AOL advertising and linkages that it reminds me of, well, of, ummmmm, what's that company?
Frankly I keep a current copy of Netscape and IE around so I'm not locked out of any given site's functions, but I prefer something light like K-meleon or Opera, thankyewverymuch.
Consider the timing and the boldness of this move. Microsoft could have kept this bouncing around in the court system for years, but the problem for them is that the release of XP is coming up in October.
As Win95 was to final victory on the desktop, XP is to MS dominance of the web. They MUST have a clean slate with which to pursue their final victory, otherwise the uncertainty factor of a court decision could delay everyone's surrender to Microsoft and give other vendors a chance to regroup and stymie the XP/.NET freight train. Also, if the judgement against Microsoft goes through without intervention, there will be a validated judgement against MS and the egregious aspects of XP/NET will be lawsuited out of existence.
No, best for Microsoft to end this with one swift stroke. Considering the 5-4 balance of the Supreme Court re: pro-business interests, the odds favor MS.
Hmmm, to a certain extent I'd have to agree with the economic part. I believe a Clinton-era analysis revealed that the US would take a 4.5% GDP hit if the Kyoto Accords were implemented.
The ABM treaty however is another matter- as I have explained in a previous post ABMs ensure deterrence but not survival. In this case I believe the scrapping of the treaty is aimed at China, not Russia, but Europe will see an exponential increase in Russian efforts to create a credible threat with serious diplomatic consequences.
Of course the really interesting idea would be if the US is scrapping the ABM treaty to force Europe back into NATO due to a resurgent Russian threat. I don't think that is the case, but feel free to have a party with the idea.
Dear Lord, you haven't been paying attention during your history classes have you? The Kellogg-Briand Pact was suppossed to outlaw war after WWI, and the Washington Treaty was supposed to limit everyone's obscene battleship building, the strategic weapons of the day. What happened?
The Great Depression allowed militaristic governments to arise in Japan and Germany who then did not give a fig for those treaties. Since every other country hoped for reason to prevail and was unwilling to go through the expense of arming, they were able to do so and not be stopped from aggression until they were fatally committed.
I'd say history proves that economic desperation fosters extreme governments who will ignore treaties, and arms control treaties will encourage said governments to test for weakness.
Finally, citizens of a world government that turned tyrannical would have no recourse. There would not be a United States to land on D-day or a Red Army to bleed for the world. I'm not interested in the illusory safety of a federation until the same sorts of lessons about democracy and legal resolution permeates the world on a deep-rooted cultural level.
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A lot of the high-tech growth in the DFW area has been fueled by cheap land and a corresponding cheap workforce. A $300,000 two-bedroom cramped house in CA gets you near mansions here. In addition there are quite a few workers here dumped by the dotcom/telecom bust that drive hiring prices down. Plenty of electrical power here. There is no personal income tax in Texas, a real selling point for a million-plus executive looking to shelter his nest egg. Finally Texas cities often give tax breaks like depressed Southern states to lure business here.
That's not to say that price is the only factor. For instance until the last fifteen years DFW didn't really have enough of the highly specialized building contractors that make computer room sites. That's something you're not going to get everywhere.
Also proximity to what counts drives many location moves. DFW probably lost getting the Boeing HQ because it was not as close to Washington DC as Chicago (since Boeing business is largely driven by what happens with the DOD and FAA), and I suspect because of the lack of world-class four-year colleges and cultural opportunities.
For folks who live for SanFran it will be irreplacable. But for bottom-line folks other locales beckon.
The situation was that the UPS was down and waiting on a part being flown in, so we were on city power. Needless to say Mother Nature decided to kick up her heels and lay on a storm that a) delayed the jet's arrival with the part, and b) knocked out our site. The vulnerability was about 10 hours, so it was a risk that we lost. But better the UPS was offline and we took this hit then have the UPS fry and send a killer spike down the line to toast our PDUs.
In our industry the cost of multiple UPS would be prohibitive. This has happened twice in 20 years at the same site- the second time was lack of communication for a planned power switchover.
Bunkie, I got some bad news- anything can cause the power to go out, and multiple UPS is not a magic cureall answer. Humans are still involved, and that extra mainframe magic mitigates even the worst decision-making going.
Several excellent points have been made about Unix and IBM being of very different environments both in terms of workloads and skill sets. However I think you need to see the Bigger Picture, which relates to this poster's point about Amdahl, and the market pressure of the Unix servers and right behind them Microsoft.
IBM is milking their big win over Amdahl and Hitachi, a 30-year-plus war that took a final round of reengineering costs associated with going 64-bit (keep this in mind- could be replayed with AMD and Intel). This is fine for the Three Initial Companies that can afford this, but the future of the mainframe is in doubt, because of
*the easier entry into Unix/WiNT servers,
*the relatively slow speed of application development with traditional mainframe tools (sometimes that's a win, you don't build the pyramids with a mobile home mindset),
*the lack of z/OS personnel being churned out due to a mindshare failure/lack of mainframes at universities/tech schools,
*and new applications not being created that will bring in the new business.
So IBM needs Linux badly to grow the new businesses into the mainframes, keep the profits up with higher production runs, get those wacky penguin kids to develop new apps that sell boxes and in general keep the gravy train running even if z/OS fails due to lack of personnel/ business/ coolness whatever.
Sun, AIX, MS and Company are already nipping at the heels of the low-end part of the MVS line, so IBM drops those prices dramatically. As Moore's Law continues it's inexorable ways, IBM will be forced to slash the low-end to medium box prices to keep the TCO in line. So many companies that might eat the conversion costs to get off the expensive hardware may stay and be inadvertent beneficiaries of the Price Wars.
The power failure aspect of mainframes is priceless. If there is a power failure in the mainframe world all you have to do is wait until the lights are on, power the mainframe and associated SAN back on, and chug along while the Unix tribe fscks the night away. I'm sure journaling helps (gosh, had versions of that on mainframe DBs since the 80s), but nothing beats true bulletproof hardware.
IBM mainframes use every single ounce of processor- we can top out at 100% and everything just runs slow instead of at risk of dying. Not sure whether 390 Linux will handle it but the underlying VM sure will.
Another factor not mentioned is that mainframe software is charged by the MIPS, not site-licensed, so each move up in processor costs you far more in software costs then merely the machine and support. The Linux 390 environment doesn't have that MIPS exponential cost curve, so that aspect looks mighty tasty to sites that want mainframe bulletproof hardware and relatively cheap Linux software implementation.
Finally, we have a person who straddles the world of UNIX and MVS (he HAS to- MVS requires Unix Services to function in a non-SNA world). Our Unix manager was a former mainframe field engineer, as was our current Network Services Director. I've had three OS environments shot out from under me, and I haven't been relegated to the scrap heap. My career goal is to be able to sysadmin in both JCL and Perl, MVS and Linux.
Have a little flexibility guys, it will stand you in good stead over the decades.
This concept reminds me of American Flagg, an early 80's comic by Howard Chaykin. That comic had huge numbers of balloons covering Chicago. They were acting as a huge antenna array for satellite TV though.
As a transplanted out-of-stater living in Texas, I can't tell you how horrified I am that Aggies are doing this. Remember, these are the folks with that gawdawful bonfire accident- do you really want them messing with genetic code???
At the risk of sounding like Katz, this phenomenon is just an outgrowth of meatworld issues. For instance, one of the best tulip-bulb markets of the 90s was the mass insanity known as early edition Magic the Gathering, followed by Pokemon. A small nation's economy was generated by the sales and trading activity spawned by those games.
Witness also the huge amount of activity based on the rotisserie/player franchise sports leagues.
EQ is just the graphic MUD equivalent of all that. Keep yer pants on, this is nothing new.
I see this being used in stadium domes as a cheap way to light the dome without paying the electricity. Depending on it's insulation, location and gametime it may or may not save money on heating/cooling too over normal domed stadiums.
Superchurches (the 7000+ seating variety) could also use this, which might make for requests for stained glass varieties of Dr. Price's new material (whatever it is).
The previous comments that Sabre is not moving off the mainframe is inherently false. The relase definitely says migrate, and that's not supplement.
Perfectly understandable in a way, Sabre is some honking old code and many of the apps programmers must be reaching the retirement/consultant stage of their career.
IBM is also moving to 64-bit machines and ran off it's competitors with the horrid firmware clean-room reengineering compatibility would require. IBM is celebrating victory in the 30-Year Mainframe War by increasing costs of the high-end mainframes for deep-pocket companies. I'm guessing Sabre got the bill for the next few mainframe years and decided to get out while the getting is good.
What happens when Unbreakable Larry Elliott's Unsinkable ego runs into an iceberg called reality?
Thrill as the largest man-made ego in the world shows it too can make a mistake! Gasp as the master engineer makes a crucial error that sinks the RMS Unbreakable! Cry as the star-crossed developers try to escape the sinking PR disaster! Bemoan the lack of escape boats for the VPs who will pay for Ellison's boast!
I swear, can't tell who we need to get first, Gates or Ellison. Neither one is good for computing.
The problem is not that we are giving away money for software development that is not open sourced, it is that we are not getting a good deal out of it.
For instance, the US government first bought the Lousiana purchase, spent millions subduing the Indians, then give away vast tracts of land to the railroads who then turned around and charged everyone in sight. But we got a Pacific Coast secured from other powers and a continent-wide industrial and population base for our troubles.
I would submit therefore that any question re: Open Source should have to pass the utility test, i.e. are we getting our money's worth out of either governement funded Open Source or Proprietary software. Neither side has made a convincing case.
Imagine if your local power company was a conglomerate that could also compete with your toaster maker company.
Microsoft Power & Light decides to change the voltages to everybody's home every three years, requiring a complete change to all the appliances and home systems. This suits you fine as it drives more toaster sales, so while you question the ethical validity of these changes, the havoc it creates and the incredible costs it imposes on the community, the business model is there- you are on board.
MSP&L tries to enter into the toaster market, but they can't make a toaster as good as you. You think all you have to do is continue to make a better toaster- you poor deluded fool.
MSP&L approaches you and says hey we will force all the homeowners to have a specific plug and voltage for toasters, sign up with us and we can guarantee you your share of the toaster market and we'll get our share. You don't dare refuse because the implied threat is that the proprietary toaster plug can be used to lock you out just as easily as lock you in. The consumers go along because you set the quality standards and if you are on board it must be an okay plug standard, and besides those malfunctioning MSP&L toasters are mighty cheap. Now all of a sudden you are a 'strategic business partner', desperately hoping that MSP&L or an appliance giant will buy you out.
MSP&L has locked you into a standard under their control, but now some MS VP genius decides that toasters are strategic (it's not an appliance, it's ad-revenue!). They mess with the voltages every year so your toasters malfunction and their toasters work until you spend valuable design and retool time 'fixing' your toaster. They create SmarToaster technology that sends email recipes to their toasters to enhance the toaster experience and incidentally deliver ads, actually their real revenue stream in the toaster market. The convection/microwave people are destroying your upper-end toaster market, so you are totally squeezed. Then to finish you off, MSP&L gives toasters (which they finally have kind of working) to everyone during the next voltage change. You are done for.
But hey our government is here for you! The DoJ comes by and says, gosh that's wrong, MSP&L cannot use their power monopoly to squash the toaster market, MSP&L play nice. MSP&L agrees, then builds the NeToaster standard that requires you to use a certified bread or pastry and you can't remove the ads. ActiveOvenLife cries out for justice because they can't impose their own toaster standard on all the households. Now the DoJ says okay MSP&L, play nicer. Don't you feel good ex-toaster guy?
Hmmmm, maybe you should have lobbied for standard electricity settings instead of letting greed get to you, treated the power company as a monopoly utility and allowed everyone to build the best appliances that compete on their merits. Open source electricity standards and government-regulated power? That's just wacky and unAmerican!
The truly frightening thing is that if Microsoft continues to get away with this, the rest of the corporate world will follow suit and we will end up with crazy costs, financial and personal, in all sorts of real life situations like the above.
The excellent railroads, electricity, roads and telecommunications infrastructure that all Americans enjoy did not happen by accident. It was a combination of visionaries, greedy people and governmental community laws that gave us industries and standards that work.
If the Microsoft culture is allowed to dominate computing, then we will experience what our forefathers avoided by stopping railroad magnates or Standard Oil from controlling the lifeblood of our nation. God help us if we have failed to learn those lessons.
Microsoft can be open and free all it likes with the APIs, because they can control the pace of changes to that standard. If RealPlayer or QuickTime was actually stupid enough to be wholly dependent on MS multimedia APIs, Microsoft could just ServicePac-them to death with changes.
If anyone wants an intelligent dense discussion of globalism and get the OS revolution's as a bonus, read the 1999 essay In The Beginning Was The Command Line. rather than bothering with Katz or his smarty-boy-of-the-moment.
Several thoughts came to mind here.....
1. The original National Command Post in Denton, TX., was sold for a measly $50K. This is not the FEMA command post but rather the 1950s version. Nothing interesting left down there, but still mad scientist quarters on the cheap.
2. This would be a very nice secure site for web services. Who cares if they know about it, try and get past the door. Plus you can laze about in the jacuzzi with your internet babes.
3. I've driven past that town and had no clue it was there.
4. What were they doing putting a silo launch center in the middle of a town? Makes you wonder how many 'secret' targets still exist in residential areas.
5. Having a launch silo center in your town truly gives you 'Neighborhood Nuclear Superiority'.
6. Finally, you have got to wonder about the fellow that bought this thing and built a party palace in it. Assuming this isn't just a lark or an investment, it takes some serious weird to actually buy and outfit the thing for residential use.
Air-Independent Propulsion (AIP) has been a hot topic in naval warfare circles for years. It's a big deal because few nations can afford to operate nuclear submarines and diesel subs are vulnerable to long-range IR detectors when they recycle the air. The solutions have been somewhat exotic- here is a good URL to check out-
a rt _AIP.htm
http://members.nbci.com/sabbi/pakarmy/articles/
Now with diesel subs it becomes an order of magnitude cheaper to build these things as you will not require the specialized hull designs or engines. Therefore we will not be able to control the proliferation of these devil beasts.
The world just got really dangerous again. Can you say Iraqi subs prowling the oceans looking for payback? Couple these things with cruise missiles and you don't need an ICBM or worry about missile defense.
Darn Japanese would come up with the tool to do themselves in. Now China can come up with 300 of these infernal things to blockade Nippon.
I was in UT Austin in the early 80s. You've heard of Berke (the magazine he talks about was called UTmost, get it?), and the two other things was this crazy kid making PCs in his dorm room named Dell, and Sam Hurt's Eyebeam. Actually I would say Eyebeam was more popular at UT then Berke- Hank the Hallucination won Student Body President. Check it out- http://www.samhurt.com/index.html
Really, it's very simple- every point in space time has a zero dimension point in addition to all the other dimensions. Since there is no time or space coordinate to these zero points, everything in the universe exhibits a very weak force on every other object in space. In other words the entire universe is it's own ether. Have a nice think on that.
Hmm I wonder what battles you have been in. Don't you fear the dreaded Opel/Bedford blitz? I am a tanker, but only because that is what my skills suit me for. Infantry are THE decisive element as one cannot take towns without them. Just like the real World War II (and some other wars since), players are learning that combined arms is what wins. If tanks attack without infantry for close-in fighting/sneaking and planes for precision attack/recon, ambushes occur and tanks burn. At the beginning of WWII I think the ratio of armored personnel to non-armor in armor/mech units was something like 2:5. By the end it was 1:10, because tanks were just too darn vulnerable to infantry. As a tanker I utterly fear the trucks with their infantry. They move so darn fast that I can't bring the MG to bear before they're gone. Then the infantry get into everything just like roaches, turning flags into enemy right and left. Before you know it I am a lone tank because no one can spawn in to support me, and I am not long for that game world. Right now it's free form so people are not keen on being trucks and infantry altough the better players do not hesitate to do so. Mostly it's because it's boring to walk between towns and frustrating to be a defenseless truck. However once points are being given for missions which will generally speaking mean taking or defending towns, expect infantry to assume their rightful place.
The good folks who did Warbirds have been developing World War II Online ( http://www.wwiionline.com ).
There will be goals in the sense of successfully performing missions, being able to control campaigns by being able to post missions for others, etc. but you can pretty much wander around and drive/fly continuously from west France to Belgium- until the Me109s find you....
If you try this game please note the stringent hardware requirements and that it's a bit buggy/laggy due to the absolutely breathtaking scope of what they're doing.
Let's face it, independent of any one-worlder/monopolist/communist/trekkers' dreams, we are still goverened by a collection of nation-states that exercise authority over their land. Each one is different from the other by custom and law if not religion, language, etc. Since none of us wants to give up our unique systems willingly, it behooves the IETF, ICANN and everyone else to recognize reality and govern the internet accordingly. Therefore EVERY SITE should be under their national TLDs and thus subject to the appropriate laws under their respective nations.
This browser is so hideously laced with AOL advertising and linkages that it reminds me of, well, of, ummmmm, what's that company?
Frankly I keep a current copy of Netscape and IE around so I'm not locked out of any given site's functions, but I prefer something light like K-meleon or Opera, thankyewverymuch.
Consider the timing and the boldness of this move. Microsoft could have kept this bouncing around in the court system for years, but the problem for them is that the release of XP is coming up in October.
As Win95 was to final victory on the desktop, XP is to MS dominance of the web. They MUST have a clean slate with which to pursue their final victory, otherwise the uncertainty factor of a court decision could delay everyone's surrender to Microsoft and give other vendors a chance to regroup and stymie the XP/.NET freight train. Also, if the judgement against Microsoft goes through without intervention, there will be a validated judgement against MS and the egregious aspects of XP/NET will be lawsuited out of existence.
No, best for Microsoft to end this with one swift stroke. Considering the 5-4 balance of the Supreme Court re: pro-business interests, the odds favor MS.
Hmmm, to a certain extent I'd have to agree with the economic part. I believe a Clinton-era analysis revealed that the US would take a 4.5% GDP hit if the Kyoto Accords were implemented.
The ABM treaty however is another matter- as I have explained in a previous post ABMs ensure deterrence but not survival. In this case I believe the scrapping of the treaty is aimed at China, not Russia, but Europe will see an exponential increase in Russian efforts to create a credible threat with serious diplomatic consequences.
Of course the really interesting idea would be if the US is scrapping the ABM treaty to force Europe back into NATO due to a resurgent Russian threat. I don't think that is the case, but feel free to have a party with the idea.
Dear Lord, you haven't been paying attention during your history classes have you? The Kellogg-Briand Pact was suppossed to outlaw war after WWI, and the Washington Treaty was supposed to limit everyone's obscene battleship building, the strategic weapons of the day. What happened?
The Great Depression allowed militaristic governments to arise in Japan and Germany who then did not give a fig for those treaties. Since every other country hoped for reason to prevail and was unwilling to go through the expense of arming, they were able to do so and not be stopped from aggression until they were fatally committed.
I'd say history proves that economic desperation fosters extreme governments who will ignore treaties, and arms control treaties will encourage said governments to test for weakness.
Finally, citizens of a world government that turned tyrannical would have no recourse. There would not be a United States to land on D-day or a Red Army to bleed for the world. I'm not interested in the illusory safety of a federation until the same sorts of lessons about democracy and legal resolution permeates the world on a deep-rooted cultural level.
Please kindly wake from your dream.
Ya know, it's really a three-way battle- AOL/TW vs. MS vs. ATT/@HOME. Portal War III is underway, and there can only be one....