I've been reading some of the replies to this idea... and I think it's quite clear what the results are of this discussion:
1. There are 2 camps when it comes to X. The first camp sees no need to replace X as it is a standard base which the Unix world has used for 2 decades. The other camp sees X as antique technology which is due to be replaced.
2. There are some who like the name 'Y', but most don't. Jokes ensue about this name.
3. There is some disagreement about putting a standard wigetset into the server itself.
My $0.02:
1. I would agree with the PDF that X, although successfull, is old and outdated technology. Thus, I support Y (and any other prodject which tries to update old code, thus competing) but I do not see it taking over any time soon. Also, one should note that there is very likely a lot of useful working code in X, which should be used or designed from. Y will not be successfull unless A) it works as well as X, B) has some backward compatibility to X, and C) has some application support.
It's like an old car vs. a new car: The old car isn't broken... it works. The new car does the same thing as the old, but it has some nicer features. Since the old car isn't broken, don't fix it. When the new car can do the same things the old one can, I'd use it. When the new car starts to do things that the old car can't do, most others will use it as well. (And since price isn't an issue with these cars...)
2. The name of 'Y' for the graphical interface is fine by me, just as 'C' is the replacement name for 'B'. The Y symbol is also quite pleasing, although I understand that it has been used elsewhere.
3. I think the author of the PDF did not intend to replace QT and GTK. Instead, he intended to simplify the most basic operations such as buttons and window sizing into the server's domain, not the window managers. Doing so would not make KDE or Gnome obsolete, but they would need to be re-tooled to use the pre-existing Y controls. Also, this allows programs which do not want to depend on QT or GTK libaries (or others) to have a uniform look and feel with the rest of the system, rather than re-inventing the wheel every time.
I hope the best for this prodject. Even if his project fails, he will have learned great things about programing and open-source politics.
Forgive me, because I seem to be an ignorant sod like the person you replied to, but...
Why doe that matter? Why can't somebody call it 'X Windows' instead of the official terms of 'X' (which is confusing to those who are not in the know) or 'The X Windows System' (Which is a mouthfull)?
Also, could you not tell that this person's post was in jest? Yes, it was a joke... so don't take it so serously!
Here are some games that effected me, but were not mentioned that much:
1. Street Fighter II. There has yet to be a fighting game to revolutionize the genre since that one. There have been a whole bunch of games that were evolutionary from SF2, but none of them Revolutoinary. Honorable mention goes to Namco's Soul Blade/Calibur series.
2. Space Wars. Countless hours of 1 on 1 combat had been spent with this game. The premis has been the cornerstone for the evolution of other games as well. Honorable Mention goes to Starcontrol 1 and 2.
3. Warcraft II. First real perfection of what kind of game is Real Time Stratagy (Sometimes better labled as a Real Time Tactical), introduced myself and many others into massive 8 player games. Honorable Mention goes to Starcraft, Warcraft III.
4. Counter-Strike. Yeah, I can see your eyes roll now. With the introduction of "One life per round" consepts, suddenly the "Meat Grinder" effect of previous FPS dissapears. It makes the list for making me value my life and role in team combat. Honorable mentions: Tom Clancy series, Tribes series.
5. Sim City Classic. Teaching me to understand the development of any originazation, (Sim City's was a City, obviously) This game and it's spawn have made understanding of 'how things work' that much easier to consive. Honorable mention goes to: The Sim games (Sim Cities, Sim Life, Sim Farm, Sim Ant, Sim Tower, The Sims, etc...) Civilazation Series, (Civ 1, Civ 2, Civ 3, Colonization, etc.) and all the failed attempts: (Outpost, Master of Orion 3, etc.)
6. The 7th Guest. Out of the horror genre, this game was the freakiest of them all. The first CD-Rom REQUIRED video game, it's spellbounding music, images, and puzzles hauntingly remain in my memory. "Old man Stauf had a house..." Honorable Mentions go to: The Afiraid of the Dark series, MYST series.
7. Space Quest. The first adventure game that was PLOT driven. Even Kings Quest I felt a bit of "fumbling in the dark," but Space Quest's story drove you from the first minute you played the game. Someday the Sierrians will return to wreak vengance against Roger Wilco, I know it. Honorable Mention goes to: Kings Quest Series (Especialy IV and V), Space Quest series (Especialy II, III, IV, and V) Hero's Quest and Quest for Glory series, Maniac Mantion I and II, the Monkey Island series, and Full Throttle.
That's all I can realy remember for now. They are not in any particular order.
Note to all: I wrote my reply without reading any other comments. I'm sure most of this has been said somewhere here before, but these are my thoughts.
I quite enjoy my Dish Network PVR Tuner. Skipping through the comercials is a pleasure, especialy since I can sit down at the end of my already long day (of which I'm already being crowded by advertisments all day) and watch my hour long shows in 45 minutes a peice. It saves me time.
Comercial Skipping is currently possible in two flavors: 30 second skip, or Fast Forward. Fast Forward will never go away, as we can do this today with a VCR recorded show. 30 skip might dissapear, especialy if the advertisers DON'T find an alternative and argue with the courts that it's killing their revenue... Stupid, but that's life in the New Millenium.
Now, other buisness models? Product placement would never work. You'd have problems with actors who wouldn't want to do a product. And there are some products that just can't be placed as much as they'd like to be: How many shows have scenes in the laundry room to push Tide Laundry deturgent? Not as many times as I see Tide comercials today, that's for sure.
The future is changing. Eventualy, Broadcast TV as we know it will die. Instead, you'll have a Video Interface where you "Pick Your Show". Let's say you want to watch Star Trek - Enterprise: $0.50. Then it's streemed to you, with a single 5-minute comercial break in the middle. Oh, you want to watch last weeks? That'll be $0.25 since it's not a premere. Oh yeah, you can "Fast Forward" through the comercials, but you can't "Skip" them. This is really the way the system is headed, or at least how it could end up.
Now, let's do some math: Dish Network (I pick on them because I use them.) has a basic package which they call the America's Top 50, which they sell after equipment and setup for a monthly fee of $22.99. Now, if I split this montly fee into the number of days in a month (Being pesimistic), 28... we're paying $0.821 for 24-hours of possible vewing time. And that's the low end. Is what you watch on TV worth about $1 a day?
But TV companies make a lot of money on Comercials. The best proof has to be the Superbowl, which proves that the comercials CAN be more entertaining that the content. So, what's a system to do?
*rant* Since systems never like to change on their own, we'll probably end up with some kind of government regulation on TV content to comercial ratios. And the TV compaines will whine. And a few will drop from the listings due to lack of funding. And then the system will be so screwed up, it'll never be the same again... */rant*
Here's what I think should be done: Give people what they want... "Pick Your Show" TV Content. Comercials? Yeah, there will be comercials: Showing what's on while you're choosing your show. While you're sitting there, show surfing in apposed to channel surfing, you'll be blasted by your comercials then. Want to pause the show? Why not hit pause, then it flash up "This Break was brought to you by Dr. Pepper..."? 3 seconds latter, a Dr. Pepper jingle comercial playes.
Oh, and one more thing: Keep a kill button, so you can kill the comercials that are bugging you. That damned Geico comercial keeps popping up, and you're tired of seeing it? Press the Kill key, and next time a comercial happens of some kind, it'll remember that you didn't like the comercial... and show something else! This Kill would be logged anonymously. Thus, the advertisers would have a way to measuring the responce to their ads, which is ALWAYS a good thing to them! Infact, they might pay MORE to do this kind of service.
But, alas, we are talking about the destruction of broadcast TV. You'll still have your PBS's, which are viewer supported. Oh well, any change requires at least 1 generation to get used too.
Well, User friendly is any thing that is easy enough to understand with only minimal use.
If something has to many options, it falls out of the realm of User Friendly. Same thing if it doesn't do what you want it to. So, the balance is between making something that does what you want it to without doing too much. Hard to do, especialy if you don't know what your customer wants to do. There's the rub.
Pathway
Re:A POV from an ex-employee (again, sorry)
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ArsDigita Shut Down
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Huh. I was there at the same time you were, but I can't remember whom you are by your post... What was your job? What was your Possition?
Wiring houses is my job. I do it for a living, and I really enjoy it. I also happen to live in an area where Fiber is avalible to the house, (Grant County, Washington for the curious. There have been Slashdot stories before about it. I'm even running a rinky-dinky website off of it.) and from the point of service the rest of the wiring is copper Cat 5.
If I were to build a house, there are a few things I would do. Many others would have diffrent ideas, but I'll just throw in my two cents here.
First off, I would find a room somewhere in the house of which I would make my wiring closet. Generaly, you want this to be somewhere in the middle of the house and undisterbed. Under stairs, a spare closet, a small room, a section of the garage, whatever.
In this room, which will be for ever more be your wiring closet, there are a few things you want to avoid: Anything that could bring in moisture. Water pipes, sprinkler systems, avoid all that. Also, avoid florecent lights if possible, as they add alot of interfirance to communication lines.
Next, get some kind of conduit to each room. The wider, the better. If you want 2 or more places in each room wired (say, 2 oppesite walls) have a spot in the room where they split off from. All your communication wiring is going to go through this conduit: Phone, Cat 5, Cable TV... But not power. Power should have it's own route.
I picked up at my local Ace Hardware store a bucket of 6500' of tested 210 lb. pull cord, and it was $35. Buy this, and with the wires you pull, keep a line of this stuff in the conduit as well. If you have to pull another wire, make sure you pull another lenght of the pull line. Do this, and you can upgrade for the future.
Fiber is wonderful stuff, but it's extremely expensive. If the future of fiber is anything like what we have here, you will get a fiber connection to a 10/100 8 port switch, and it's Cat 5 through the rest of the house. That's the most likely situation I can see for the future of Fiber to the home.
Now, lable every conduit, so you know which room each pipe leads to. If you need to get the Pull line though, but you don't know how, here's a trick: Get a fairly powerfull shop vaccum, a plastic bag, and a roll of 10 lb fishing line. Suck the bag though with the fishing line tied to it, then pull your first pull line with the fishing line. After that, just remember to always leave a pull line behind after you pull again.
There are those who say "Don't put phone lines and coax cable next to Cat-5!" and "Buy the sheilded Cat-5e that's supposed to be Cat-6 rated, or you won't get a good connection!" While that's all good and dandy, don't worry about it that much. You can get fairly good connections with fairly poor wiring, and I've seen it. I even know a guy who puts his Ethernet, Phone and Appletalk all though the same unsheilded Cat-5 cable. And it works great. While phone wires aren't generaly sheilded, they are not really that bad compared to other hazards your going to have to get buy with your wiring. Coax is sheilded by nature, and Cat-5's twists are designed to prevent some of the interferance you'll get. This was all thought out long ago, so don't sweat it.
Looking into the future, yes: you may have Fiber optics. You also might be using 802.11g wirless, or even perhaps some other undrempt type of connectivity. You can't always know what's going to come... but hey, you've got the conduit to put it in, so you're set.
Run the newer VIA C3 chips. Unlike AMD or Intel, they do not require a fan. Infact, a heatsink is just fine for them... And they run at a decent 700mghz and up!
Next, get a silent PS, I know Enermax and PCPowerandCooling make ones... And there is probably one out there somewhere that doesn't even require a fan at all...
And there has to be something you can do about HD noise, but I don't know... Anybody know which brands are the quietest? How about other non-cludge ways to quiet one down?
Pathway
Re:This is p2p, but not a napster clone...
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Swarmcast GPLed
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New questions:
Why not have this as a plug-in? Keep the Java client (more compatibilty, the better... plus competing products), but have a Plug-in that integrates with the browser? This will increase the popularity of the software, as people are used to using plugins, but not used to installing seprate java clients.
What kind of requirements does the server need? Is it a simple http or ftp server? Or is there a diffrent format for the download?
Can a modem/dsl/cable handle several streams at once? How many, in your experiance?
Is there a log of where I got each segment somewhere? Is this log on my local machine, or is it logged on the web, or on the provider?
If I was a large company wanting to host a large file, how much would/could it cost? (Obviously, it could be free, but I want to know how much somebody would charge to provide such a service...)
Are there plans at OpenCola to make a Napster style distributed network using this technology? Does OpenCola know of any other software that plans to?
Re:This is p2p, but not a napster clone...
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I will repost my note to the developer maling list as you asked, but as the anonymous coward did state: This is an open forum. This is as good a place as any to answer these questions.
None the less, I'm off to send off my post.
Pathway
This is p2p, but not a napster clone...
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Swarmcast GPLed
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I beleive people are thinking this is some kind of "one way napster". I don't belive that's what they guys at OpenCola mean it to be.
I think the hackers at OpenCola want to create a product FOR large media streamers. The fact of the matter is that when something really big comes out for download, like a trailer to a new movie, a large portion of the internet endusers will want to download the same file(s). Instead of each joe or jane sitting at his/her computer, waiting for the content to download at 4kbps, the hosting company can place up 3 or 4 decent servers (peferably in diffrent areas of the nation) to be the first 3 or 4 nodes of this download.
The best part about this settup is that the servers will recive their prapotion of the download, and that's it. another really cool feature that could be implemented (And it possibly could be, I didn't read the code or faq) like automatic selection of servers with good ping/transfer-rates/hops, while dropping poor connections to make sure I'm not reciving packets from accross the contenent.
Questions I have: Can a packet be restarted if it's droped? Can a faster server take over a slower server's packet? Is it possible to have streaming media? Can there be a diffrent client software, that's not necessarialy Java? (not saying I don't like the java client, but not everybody will.)
All in all, I like the consept. Large companies would spend big bucks to have their heavaly downloaded files swarmcasted, even the content providers and hosting companies will like this... if it works, and it catches on.
Good job FreeSoda-- er, OpenCola. Now, Don't give up! Take ideas and suggestions from your peers (us) and keep polishing the code untill it shines!
Pathway
Awwwh, hell. This is nuts.
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Shared Source?
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Man, this is crazy. All of this. Every part.
Linux is an awesome operating system. It's unix background makes it extremely compatiable (across platforms) while it's easy to use interfaces (Bash, Gnome, KDE) allow anybody to use it. It's open source, so I know that people that CARE are working on it, and not some kind of software merc.
Windows is the operating system that all the games I want to play is avaliable on. Everything runs on it, and I can trust that all the companies for my hardware are going to support it to the best of their ability, otherwise the would go out of buisiness. It's closed source, bloated and the same thing from 6 years ago, but none the less, it works.
Microsoft is scared. What are they afraid of? Having to lower the cost of windows to $60. Think about it: If the full version of Windows was $60 retail, microsoft would be loosing half of it's income from OEMs. Linux isn't scaring microsoft int the least. Linux's price tag is. (okay, that's probably not all of it, but it's gotta be haunting MS.)
I like free software. I like Free software too. I also like the software I go out and buy. (Mainly Games, but some other apps as well.) I think that the basic functionality of a computer system MUST be free.
MS: Write a new version of windows: Call it "Windows SS" (SC stands for "Shared Source"). It should be a desktop GUI with a start bar, no free aplications, no utilities, no media players... Nothin'. Just a GUI file loader. Make is avaliabe for download (Source and Binaries) for free to anybody who wants it. Have some kind of crazy License agreement that states that any program derived from this source is Microsoft property. Then sell the "Full" version of windows, with all the bells and whistles.. Charge what ever you want, I don't care.
Arrrrrg.....
That's it! I'm buying a Gameboy Advanced, and forgetting about all my troubles.
I have been dreaming/wishing for a company to make a small, "tuck under the desk in the back office" style server for small buisnesses. A PPC chip and linux would do perfectly.
The goal of this prodject wouldn't be the fastest desktop avaliable. Infact, I would imagine that stability would a much more useable feature.
Imagine a small linux box, sold for, say $300, and with optional subscription support... A machine that can be your companies Webserver, Firewall, Internet Gateway, Mail server, File server, Print server... And it's all useable with a simple web interface from (only) the internal network.
Obviously, this little machine couldn't take care more than a small buisness, but it would be enough to get a small buisness on it's feet on the internet, as so many are using the current "model" of having somebody do all the hosting/webserice for you. (Blech, most of those suck, BTW.)
I guess what I want to see is an inexpensive linux box, you can take out of the box, plug in to your network, plug into your internet connection (weather it be modem or ethernet), and get the basic funtionality out of the box. The instructions should have the user use a web browser to setup his initial settings (Donaim name, Services on/off, passwords, etc.) and that should be about everything.
And, now getting back to the article, the PPC chip would do this just as well, or better than an intel chipset.
I guess I'm just wishing here. I'd love to make something that's that easy to do.
I can see how this could work. If Microsoft does this right, they can allow the programing community a bit bor freedom... Here's how I hope it comes out:
The V-Chip is controled though a physical key or code key. Yes, they are breakable (in more sence than one) but most "kids" won't be able to break them. If the kid is able to break the lock, he's old enough to know right from wrong, so I guess he should be able to react alot better to the more mature content.
Alright, Game developers will want the kids to play their games as much as the adults, (More moola, the allmighty buck!) So, much like "Mortal Kombat" for the SNES, there will be sweat instead of blood. Plus, you can turn on the "Gibbed" version of your game with the proper key!
This will encurage a couple of things:
A> Game companies will have to spend time making more games appealing to more audiances, and not just us "one shot, one kill" young adults that like blood, guts, a little additude, and a lot of inside mature humor. Instead they will have to produce some of the real gems that we learned to love as youngsters: Mario, Metroid, PacMan, DigDug, SpaceInvaders, Asteriods... Those old games that make us all smile...
and B> Developers can finaly make "Mature" games without having to worry about making the press scream "This is what you're 4 year old is playing!" as they seem to like screaming nowadays.
So, How could this be bad? Bad implementation, bad desgin, bad ideas on what's "mature" or not... Not ALL of this is in the X-Box's hand, but they sure could mess this one up.
Best of luck to the X box. I won't be buying one (I'm cheap, wouldn't pay $500 for my most rescent computer!) and I bet they're going to go all the way, just like Sony did the last time around.
On a side note, I'm going to buy a Game Boy Advanced the INSTANT it comes out. No compatition, really (I've heard about something else, but do you REALLY think they'll beat Nentendo??)
What if there was a program that took your spare cpu cycles and used them for whatever was needed at the moment? That way EVERYBODY was sharing EVERYBODY ELSES spare CPU time?
There should be a way to messure an estimate the amount of time it would take to do a calculation, or the number of cycles it takes to complete. If it's say, 10 million cycles or more, send off a request for spare cycles!
Obviously there are some real problems with my dream world idea here: Network latency and bandwith problems. Imagine if everycomputer in the world was this way, and they used the internet to chatter the information... Wow, the bandwith would be sucked up pritty quickly!
Okay, enough of a weird idea. I've heard of selling cpu cycles, but I'm more intrested in a common pool.
First off, let me say congradulations on your new house. I know a gentleman who used CAT-5 all through his house, setting the middle pair to his phone line, and the last two pair (the brown pair) to his old Appletalk network for his macs. (He had to make some special connections for his macs to get that to work.) He had no problem, and if you play your cards (or is it wires?) correctly, you can do alot! Pathway
Please excuse my spelling. Considering the rescent events, such as the implamentation of T&L into mainstream graphics hardware, the now shown resorsefullness of linux in the gaming community, S3 now owning Diamond Multimedia (which gives Creative Labs a wide birth), Direct X 7 vs OpenGL debates, and the newly released Unreal Turnament Demo, I figured all this boiled down to one question:
How much wood would a wood chuck chuck, if a wood chuck would chuck wood?
The original answer of "a chord a day" is no longer valid due to the new T&L graphic cards coming out this cristmas, and the more detailed answer of "A wood chuck would chuck as much as a would chuck could chuck if a wood chuck would chuck wood," is null and void due to Direct X 7. A new answer is needed, so please, Mr. Carmack... Without an answer, thousands of Slashdot readers will loose sleep, and the open-source movement around the world will collaps. We need answers.
Slashdot Mirror
I've been reading some of the replies to this idea... and I think it's quite clear what the results are of this discussion:
1. There are 2 camps when it comes to X. The first camp sees no need to replace X as it is a standard base which the Unix world has used for 2 decades. The other camp sees X as antique technology which is due to be replaced.
2. There are some who like the name 'Y', but most don't. Jokes ensue about this name.
3. There is some disagreement about putting a standard wigetset into the server itself.
My $0.02:
1. I would agree with the PDF that X, although successfull, is old and outdated technology. Thus, I support Y (and any other prodject which tries to update old code, thus competing) but I do not see it taking over any time soon. Also, one should note that there is very likely a lot of useful working code in X, which should be used or designed from. Y will not be successfull unless A) it works as well as X, B) has some backward compatibility to X, and C) has some application support.
It's like an old car vs. a new car: The old car isn't broken... it works. The new car does the same thing as the old, but it has some nicer features. Since the old car isn't broken, don't fix it. When the new car can do the same things the old one can, I'd use it. When the new car starts to do things that the old car can't do, most others will use it as well. (And since price isn't an issue with these cars...)
2. The name of 'Y' for the graphical interface is fine by me, just as 'C' is the replacement name for 'B'. The Y symbol is also quite pleasing, although I understand that it has been used elsewhere.
3. I think the author of the PDF did not intend to replace QT and GTK. Instead, he intended to simplify the most basic operations such as buttons and window sizing into the server's domain, not the window managers. Doing so would not make KDE or Gnome obsolete, but they would need to be re-tooled to use the pre-existing Y controls. Also, this allows programs which do not want to depend on QT or GTK libaries (or others) to have a uniform look and feel with the rest of the system, rather than re-inventing the wheel every time.
I hope the best for this prodject. Even if his project fails, he will have learned great things about programing and open-source politics.
Pathway
Why doe that matter? Why can't somebody call it 'X Windows' instead of the official terms of 'X' (which is confusing to those who are not in the know) or 'The X Windows System' (Which is a mouthfull)?
Also, could you not tell that this person's post was in jest? Yes, it was a joke... so don't take it so serously!
Pathway
Here are some games that effected me, but were not mentioned that much:
1. Street Fighter II. There has yet to be a fighting game to revolutionize the genre since that one. There have been a whole bunch of games that were evolutionary from SF2, but none of them Revolutoinary. Honorable mention goes to Namco's Soul Blade/Calibur series.
2. Space Wars. Countless hours of 1 on 1 combat had been spent with this game. The premis has been the cornerstone for the evolution of other games as well. Honorable Mention goes to Starcontrol 1 and 2.
3. Warcraft II. First real perfection of what kind of game is Real Time Stratagy (Sometimes better labled as a Real Time Tactical), introduced myself and many others into massive 8 player games. Honorable Mention goes to Starcraft, Warcraft III.
4. Counter-Strike. Yeah, I can see your eyes roll now. With the introduction of "One life per round" consepts, suddenly the "Meat Grinder" effect of previous FPS dissapears. It makes the list for making me value my life and role in team combat. Honorable mentions: Tom Clancy series, Tribes series.
5. Sim City Classic. Teaching me to understand the development of any originazation, (Sim City's was a City, obviously) This game and it's spawn have made understanding of 'how things work' that much easier to consive. Honorable mention goes to: The Sim games (Sim Cities, Sim Life, Sim Farm, Sim Ant, Sim Tower, The Sims, etc...) Civilazation Series, (Civ 1, Civ 2, Civ 3, Colonization, etc.) and all the failed attempts: (Outpost, Master of Orion 3, etc.)
6. The 7th Guest. Out of the horror genre, this game was the freakiest of them all. The first CD-Rom REQUIRED video game, it's spellbounding music, images, and puzzles hauntingly remain in my memory. "Old man Stauf had a house..." Honorable Mentions go to: The Afiraid of the Dark series, MYST series.
7. Space Quest. The first adventure game that was PLOT driven. Even Kings Quest I felt a bit of "fumbling in the dark," but Space Quest's story drove you from the first minute you played the game. Someday the Sierrians will return to wreak vengance against Roger Wilco, I know it. Honorable Mention goes to: Kings Quest Series (Especialy IV and V), Space Quest series (Especialy II, III, IV, and V) Hero's Quest and Quest for Glory series, Maniac Mantion I and II, the Monkey Island series, and Full Throttle.
That's all I can realy remember for now. They are not in any particular order.
Pathway
Note to all: I wrote my reply without reading any other comments. I'm sure most of this has been said somewhere here before, but these are my thoughts.
I quite enjoy my Dish Network PVR Tuner. Skipping through the comercials is a pleasure, especialy since I can sit down at the end of my already long day (of which I'm already being crowded by advertisments all day) and watch my hour long shows in 45 minutes a peice. It saves me time.
Comercial Skipping is currently possible in two flavors: 30 second skip, or Fast Forward. Fast Forward will never go away, as we can do this today with a VCR recorded show. 30 skip might dissapear, especialy if the advertisers DON'T find an alternative and argue with the courts that it's killing their revenue... Stupid, but that's life in the New Millenium.
Now, other buisness models? Product placement would never work. You'd have problems with actors who wouldn't want to do a product. And there are some products that just can't be placed as much as they'd like to be: How many shows have scenes in the laundry room to push Tide Laundry deturgent? Not as many times as I see Tide comercials today, that's for sure.
The future is changing. Eventualy, Broadcast TV as we know it will die. Instead, you'll have a Video Interface where you "Pick Your Show". Let's say you want to watch Star Trek - Enterprise: $0.50. Then it's streemed to you, with a single 5-minute comercial break in the middle. Oh, you want to watch last weeks? That'll be $0.25 since it's not a premere. Oh yeah, you can "Fast Forward" through the comercials, but you can't "Skip" them. This is really the way the system is headed, or at least how it could end up.
Now, let's do some math: Dish Network (I pick on them because I use them.) has a basic package which they call the America's Top 50, which they sell after equipment and setup for a monthly fee of $22.99. Now, if I split this montly fee into the number of days in a month (Being pesimistic), 28... we're paying $0.821 for 24-hours of possible vewing time. And that's the low end. Is what you watch on TV worth about $1 a day?
But TV companies make a lot of money on Comercials. The best proof has to be the Superbowl, which proves that the comercials CAN be more entertaining that the content. So, what's a system to do?
*rant* Since systems never like to change on their own, we'll probably end up with some kind of government regulation on TV content to comercial ratios. And the TV compaines will whine. And a few will drop from the listings due to lack of funding. And then the system will be so screwed up, it'll never be the same again... */rant*
Here's what I think should be done: Give people what they want... "Pick Your Show" TV Content. Comercials? Yeah, there will be comercials: Showing what's on while you're choosing your show. While you're sitting there, show surfing in apposed to channel surfing, you'll be blasted by your comercials then. Want to pause the show? Why not hit pause, then it flash up "This Break was brought to you by Dr. Pepper..."? 3 seconds latter, a Dr. Pepper jingle comercial playes.
Oh, and one more thing: Keep a kill button, so you can kill the comercials that are bugging you. That damned Geico comercial keeps popping up, and you're tired of seeing it? Press the Kill key, and next time a comercial happens of some kind, it'll remember that you didn't like the comercial... and show something else! This Kill would be logged anonymously. Thus, the advertisers would have a way to measuring the responce to their ads, which is ALWAYS a good thing to them! Infact, they might pay MORE to do this kind of service.
But, alas, we are talking about the destruction of broadcast TV. You'll still have your PBS's, which are viewer supported. Oh well, any change requires at least 1 generation to get used too.
Pathway
What is "User Friendly" (besides a web comic)?
Well, User friendly is any thing that is easy enough to understand with only minimal use.
If something has to many options, it falls out of the realm of User Friendly. Same thing if it doesn't do what you want it to. So, the balance is between making something that does what you want it to without doing too much. Hard to do, especialy if you don't know what your customer wants to do. There's the rub.
Pathway
Huh. I was there at the same time you were, but I can't remember whom you are by your post... What was your job? What was your Possition?
Pathway
If I were to build a house, there are a few things I would do. Many others would have diffrent ideas, but I'll just throw in my two cents here.
First off, I would find a room somewhere in the house of which I would make my wiring closet. Generaly, you want this to be somewhere in the middle of the house and undisterbed. Under stairs, a spare closet, a small room, a section of the garage, whatever.
In this room, which will be for ever more be your wiring closet, there are a few things you want to avoid: Anything that could bring in moisture. Water pipes, sprinkler systems, avoid all that. Also, avoid florecent lights if possible, as they add alot of interfirance to communication lines.
Next, get some kind of conduit to each room. The wider, the better. If you want 2 or more places in each room wired (say, 2 oppesite walls) have a spot in the room where they split off from. All your communication wiring is going to go through this conduit: Phone, Cat 5, Cable TV... But not power. Power should have it's own route.
I picked up at my local Ace Hardware store a bucket of 6500' of tested 210 lb. pull cord, and it was $35. Buy this, and with the wires you pull, keep a line of this stuff in the conduit as well. If you have to pull another wire, make sure you pull another lenght of the pull line. Do this, and you can upgrade for the future.
Fiber is wonderful stuff, but it's extremely expensive. If the future of fiber is anything like what we have here, you will get a fiber connection to a 10/100 8 port switch, and it's Cat 5 through the rest of the house. That's the most likely situation I can see for the future of Fiber to the home.
Now, lable every conduit, so you know which room each pipe leads to. If you need to get the Pull line though, but you don't know how, here's a trick: Get a fairly powerfull shop vaccum, a plastic bag, and a roll of 10 lb fishing line. Suck the bag though with the fishing line tied to it, then pull your first pull line with the fishing line. After that, just remember to always leave a pull line behind after you pull again.
There are those who say "Don't put phone lines and coax cable next to Cat-5!" and "Buy the sheilded Cat-5e that's supposed to be Cat-6 rated, or you won't get a good connection!" While that's all good and dandy, don't worry about it that much. You can get fairly good connections with fairly poor wiring, and I've seen it. I even know a guy who puts his Ethernet, Phone and Appletalk all though the same unsheilded Cat-5 cable. And it works great. While phone wires aren't generaly sheilded, they are not really that bad compared to other hazards your going to have to get buy with your wiring. Coax is sheilded by nature, and Cat-5's twists are designed to prevent some of the interferance you'll get. This was all thought out long ago, so don't sweat it.
Looking into the future, yes: you may have Fiber optics. You also might be using 802.11g wirless, or even perhaps some other undrempt type of connectivity. You can't always know what's going to come... but hey, you've got the conduit to put it in, so you're set.
Pathway
If you want SILENT, this is the way to go:
Run the newer VIA C3 chips. Unlike AMD or Intel, they do not require a fan. Infact, a heatsink is just fine for them... And they run at a decent 700mghz and up!
Next, get a silent PS, I know Enermax and PCPowerandCooling make ones... And there is probably one out there somewhere that doesn't even require a fan at all...
And there has to be something you can do about HD noise, but I don't know... Anybody know which brands are the quietest? How about other non-cludge ways to quiet one down?
Pathway
New questions:
Why not have this as a plug-in? Keep the Java client (more compatibilty, the better... plus competing products), but have a Plug-in that integrates with the browser? This will increase the popularity of the software, as people are used to using plugins, but not used to installing seprate java clients.
What kind of requirements does the server need? Is it a simple http or ftp server? Or is there a diffrent format for the download?
Can a modem/dsl/cable handle several streams at once? How many, in your experiance?
Is there a log of where I got each segment somewhere? Is this log on my local machine, or is it logged on the web, or on the provider?
If I was a large company wanting to host a large file, how much would/could it cost? (Obviously, it could be free, but I want to know how much somebody would charge to provide such a service...)
Are there plans at OpenCola to make a Napster style distributed network using this technology? Does OpenCola know of any other software that plans to?
Okay, that enough new questions for now...
Pathway
Who's Justin? My name's Matt...
Ooops. Sm:)e.
I will repost my note to the developer maling list as you asked, but as the anonymous coward did state: This is an open forum. This is as good a place as any to answer these questions.
None the less, I'm off to send off my post.
Pathway
I beleive people are thinking this is some kind of "one way napster". I don't belive that's what they guys at OpenCola mean it to be.
I think the hackers at OpenCola want to create a product FOR large media streamers. The fact of the matter is that when something really big comes out for download, like a trailer to a new movie, a large portion of the internet endusers will want to download the same file(s). Instead of each joe or jane sitting at his/her computer, waiting for the content to download at 4kbps, the hosting company can place up 3 or 4 decent servers (peferably in diffrent areas of the nation) to be the first 3 or 4 nodes of this download.
The best part about this settup is that the servers will recive their prapotion of the download, and that's it. another really cool feature that could be implemented (And it possibly could be, I didn't read the code or faq) like automatic selection of servers with good ping/transfer-rates/hops, while dropping poor connections to make sure I'm not reciving packets from accross the contenent.
Questions I have: Can a packet be restarted if it's droped? Can a faster server take over a slower server's packet? Is it possible to have streaming media? Can there be a diffrent client software, that's not necessarialy Java? (not saying I don't like the java client, but not everybody will.)
All in all, I like the consept. Large companies would spend big bucks to have their heavaly downloaded files swarmcasted, even the content providers and hosting companies will like this... if it works, and it catches on.
Good job FreeSoda-- er, OpenCola. Now, Don't give up! Take ideas and suggestions from your peers (us) and keep polishing the code untill it shines!
Pathway
Man, this is crazy. All of this. Every part.
Linux is an awesome operating system. It's unix background makes it extremely compatiable (across platforms) while it's easy to use interfaces (Bash, Gnome, KDE) allow anybody to use it. It's open source, so I know that people that CARE are working on it, and not some kind of software merc.
Windows is the operating system that all the games I want to play is avaliable on. Everything runs on it, and I can trust that all the companies for my hardware are going to support it to the best of their ability, otherwise the would go out of buisiness. It's closed source, bloated and the same thing from 6 years ago, but none the less, it works.
Microsoft is scared. What are they afraid of? Having to lower the cost of windows to $60. Think about it: If the full version of Windows was $60 retail, microsoft would be loosing half of it's income from OEMs. Linux isn't scaring microsoft int the least. Linux's price tag is. (okay, that's probably not all of it, but it's gotta be haunting MS.)
I like free software. I like Free software too. I also like the software I go out and buy. (Mainly Games, but some other apps as well.) I think that the basic functionality of a computer system MUST be free.
MS: Write a new version of windows: Call it "Windows SS" (SC stands for "Shared Source"). It should be a desktop GUI with a start bar, no free aplications, no utilities, no media players... Nothin'. Just a GUI file loader. Make is avaliabe for download (Source and Binaries) for free to anybody who wants it. Have some kind of crazy License agreement that states that any program derived from this source is Microsoft property. Then sell the "Full" version of windows, with all the bells and whistles.. Charge what ever you want, I don't care.
Arrrrrg.....
That's it! I'm buying a Gameboy Advanced, and forgetting about all my troubles.
</rant>
The goal of this prodject wouldn't be the fastest desktop avaliable. Infact, I would imagine that stability would a much more useable feature.
Imagine a small linux box, sold for, say $300, and with optional subscription support... A machine that can be your companies Webserver, Firewall, Internet Gateway, Mail server, File server, Print server... And it's all useable with a simple web interface from (only) the internal network.
Obviously, this little machine couldn't take care more than a small buisness, but it would be enough to get a small buisness on it's feet on the internet, as so many are using the current "model" of having somebody do all the hosting/webserice for you. (Blech, most of those suck, BTW.)
I guess what I want to see is an inexpensive linux box, you can take out of the box, plug in to your network, plug into your internet connection (weather it be modem or ethernet), and get the basic funtionality out of the box. The instructions should have the user use a web browser to setup his initial settings (Donaim name, Services on/off, passwords, etc.) and that should be about everything.
And, now getting back to the article, the PPC chip would do this just as well, or better than an intel chipset.
I guess I'm just wishing here. I'd love to make something that's that easy to do.
Pathway
Forgive my spelling.
I can see how this could work. If Microsoft does this right, they can allow the programing community a bit bor freedom... Here's how I hope it comes out:
The V-Chip is controled though a physical key or code key. Yes, they are breakable (in more sence than one) but most "kids" won't be able to break them. If the kid is able to break the lock, he's old enough to know right from wrong, so I guess he should be able to react alot better to the more mature content.
Alright, Game developers will want the kids to play their games as much as the adults, (More moola, the allmighty buck!) So, much like "Mortal Kombat" for the SNES, there will be sweat instead of blood. Plus, you can turn on the "Gibbed" version of your game with the proper key!
This will encurage a couple of things:
A> Game companies will have to spend time making more games appealing to more audiances, and not just us "one shot, one kill" young adults that like blood, guts, a little additude, and a lot of inside mature humor. Instead they will have to produce some of the real gems that we learned to love as youngsters: Mario, Metroid, PacMan, DigDug, SpaceInvaders, Asteriods... Those old games that make us all smile...
and B> Developers can finaly make "Mature" games without having to worry about making the press scream "This is what you're 4 year old is playing!" as they seem to like screaming nowadays.
So, How could this be bad? Bad implementation, bad desgin, bad ideas on what's "mature" or not... Not ALL of this is in the X-Box's hand, but they sure could mess this one up.
Best of luck to the X box. I won't be buying one (I'm cheap, wouldn't pay $500 for my most rescent computer!) and I bet they're going to go all the way, just like Sony did the last time around.
On a side note, I'm going to buy a Game Boy Advanced the INSTANT it comes out. No compatition, really (I've heard about something else, but do you REALLY think they'll beat Nentendo??)
Pathway
What if there was a program that took your spare cpu cycles and used them for whatever was needed at the moment? That way EVERYBODY was sharing EVERYBODY ELSES spare CPU time?
There should be a way to messure an estimate the amount of time it would take to do a calculation, or the number of cycles it takes to complete. If it's say, 10 million cycles or more, send off a request for spare cycles!
Obviously there are some real problems with my dream world idea here: Network latency and bandwith problems. Imagine if everycomputer in the world was this way, and they used the internet to chatter the information... Wow, the bandwith would be sucked up pritty quickly!
Okay, enough of a weird idea. I've heard of selling cpu cycles, but I'm more intrested in a common pool.
First off, let me say congradulations on your new house. I know a gentleman who used CAT-5 all through his house, setting the middle pair to his phone line, and the last two pair (the brown pair) to his old Appletalk network for his macs. (He had to make some special connections for his macs to get that to work.) He had no problem, and if you play your cards (or is it wires?) correctly, you can do alot! Pathway
Read your post again. Then read your punchline.
StarWars is just as old, and I know many people that would say the same thing about it.
Sorry, I just found that funny.
Dear Mr. Carmack,
Please excuse my spelling. Considering the rescent events, such as the implamentation of T&L into mainstream graphics hardware, the now shown resorsefullness of linux in the gaming community, S3 now owning Diamond Multimedia (which gives Creative Labs a wide birth), Direct X 7 vs OpenGL debates, and the newly released Unreal Turnament Demo, I figured all this boiled down to one question:
How much wood would a wood chuck chuck, if a wood chuck would chuck wood?
The original answer of "a chord a day" is no longer valid due to the new T&L graphic cards coming out this cristmas, and the more detailed answer of "A wood chuck would chuck as much as a would chuck could chuck if a wood chuck would chuck wood," is null and void due to Direct X 7. A new answer is needed, so please, Mr. Carmack... Without an answer, thousands of Slashdot readers will loose sleep, and the open-source movement around the world will collaps. We need answers.
Thank you for your time.
Pathway