They were a pain. Atom really did have what was (at the time) miraculous power consumption, but it struggled with a lot of tasks.
The novelty of an easily-portable laptop was relatively new outside of obscene price points (Intel's ULV parts cost a lot more back then), but quickly wore off once low-power parts became available, starting with Nehalem and solidifying with Sandy Bridge. Ivy Bridge made tablets viable and Haswell improved on that.
It turns out there isn't much of a market between crappy Atom tablets with docks and 1000 buck Core tablets.
AMDs efforts came somewhat late when the market was already drying out and sacrificed battery life, so they never ahd much impact.
Microsoft killed the Linux netbook market by forcing vendors to offer Windows netbooks with better hardware specs than the Linux products. Vendors were forbidden to offer Linux netbooks with the same specs, which would have allowed side by side comparison of functionality and value. This is one of Microsoft's stock anti-Linux strategies, we also saw it used effectively against Dell. The strategem was completely effective, and obviously completely illegal but when has that ever been an issue for Microsoft? The result was, a market flooded with netbooks running Windows that drove customers away from the form factor because Windows works poorly on low spec hardware.
So yes, it all stunk to high heaven, but it didn't stop Linux, it only delayed it until Google brought its own marketing power to the game.
some Chromebooks use Intel chips, so Intel is probably getting a cut of this
That helps Intel, not the Wintel duopoly. In fact it helps wean Intel away from Wintel so its all good.
Chromebooks aren't the reason why Windows is hurting
True, the point is that a significant segment of the market is willing to buy a laptop without Windows. It's a harbinger. It is now evident that running Windows applications is not a killer feature for many customers after all, running a browser is.
Now Android laptops are starting to show up. This development constitutes a far greater threat to Microsoft's income than Chromebooks do, for one simple reason: the Android app market. We are already past the tipping point where 800,000 Android applications have more impact on day to day life than the usual Windows offerings. That enables a robust market segment which will attract further development so that Microsoft's traditional spreadsheet/wordprocessor breadbasket comes under attack. Google helped this along tremendously by buying and releasing Quickoffice as freeware. Libreoffice with an Android interface is not far away. The document processing argument for sticking with Microsoft is rapidly eroding.
Note that Android on laptops does not fit Google's agenda perfectly either: Google would much prefer that the market become entirely dependent on cloud offerings, regardless of whether that is best for the customer. Among other advantages, this lets Google "fix" the little problem that Android is forkable open source. But Android on laptops is now inevitable and is far preferable for Google than Windows or Ios on laptops. Android on laptops will help keep Google out of antitrust court for one thing.
While I am rambling on here, the next domino to fall will be Microsoft's server franchise, which is sustained largely by being the backend for Microsoft's email applications and directory infrastructure. Who needs it when Gmail is so much less bother? Look around you at work: do you already see this trend under way? Yes you do.
Well, what next? Some of us were sure that Microsoft would eventually end up as a console company but several factors now cast doubt on that: Sony is thumping Microsoft in this product cycle; the gamer demographic is shifting to an older, more casual mix that is perfectly happy whiling its time away with cheesy touchscreen games instead of hardcore console blockbusters; and Stream walked. Suddenly it starts to look like Microsoft's traditional PC monopoly could be the last part of the ship to sink and its games business will turn out to be just more dead weight pulling it down faster.
About the only thing Microsoft could do to accelerate its sink rate would be to make Elop CEO. We can only hope.
The standard model does not explain why particles have the particular masses they do, so obviously a genuinely new underlying theory is waiting to be discovered even without breaking any rules or postulating new fundamental particles. Exciting enough?
Reading comprehension issues. "Not an instrument like a guitar is". Or similarly, an instrument like a rock is. You can get music from a rock if you are determined enough. And I can communicate with you if I am determined enough, though actually this is getting boring. I suggest you go away and listen to an entire album of solo scratching. Please don't tell me whether or not you liked it.
You raised the question of whether these guys are musicians or not, not me. I said "a pair of turntables is not an instrument like a guitar is", which is patently obvious. A turntable is more an instrument like a kazoo is, and as an art form, has a future roughly as bright.
if you're trying to insinuate that a DJ isn't an 'instrumental' artist, you're wrong. A pair of turntables is an instrument just as a guitar is, and a performance using one requires just as much 'musicianship' as with any other instrument.
No, sorry, a pair of turntables is not an instrument like a guitar is, it is more an instrument like a mixing board is, and a DJ is more like a sound guy or a producer than a musician. Put it another way: some DJs may be performers but not all performers are musicians. Otherwise agreed with your post.
Replace? Yes. Sound the same? Definitely not. Just consider the range of effects possible with an electric guitar. The only way to do that with a digital workstation is to use a guitar for input, then it isn't purely digital. Another example: synthesized piano is getting very good, but it still cannot be mistaken for the real thing.
Sound different but just as good? Maybe, sometimes. There is no question that digital has already invaded the territory of traditional instruments. In applications where top quality is not a requirement a digital clarinet or trumpet can work out just fine cost a lot less than the real thing, perhaps unfortunately.
A lot of Apple's product stasis comes down to the idiotic decision (from Jobs?) to go with fixed pixel resolution which really limits their room to manoeuver on screen resolution and aspect. While Android scales everything on the fly, Apple apps have to be recompiled, probably the source code has to change too. To dig out of that mess Apple needs to bite the bullet and go to variable resolution just like Android. But the logistics of doing that are apparently just too scary for pencil pusher Tim Cook.
Look, even Steve Wozniak says this is stupid. I say, totally typical Apple. When Jobs died Apple lost the mojo but kept the hubris.
Tim Cook: wears the turtleneck, but doesn't fill the shoes.
Apple remains obsessed with thermonuclear war instead of introducing products that people want. Meanwhile its market share keeps slip, slip, slipping away.
So many improvements! Which proves that right now Linux must really suck. It's a good thing then, that Windows, FreeBSD, AIX, Solaris, etc etc can be counted on to suck far worse.
The only people who blamed Microsoft for the LSE problems were technologically inept journalists and Linux zealots
Facts get in the way of your rabid spin. LSE blamed Microsoft for the TradElect problems, which is readily apparent because LSE got rid of TradElect (and Microsoft, and the CEO who recommended Microsoft). In spite of your indignant denial, most other observers blame Microsoft as well.
Typical Microsoft astroturd strategy - run out of credibility, then bring in the spinmods.
The only people who blamed Microsoft for the LSE problems were technologically inept journalists and Linux zealots
Facts get in the way of your rabid spin. LSE blamed Microsoft for the TradElect problems, which is readily apparent because LSE got rid of TradElect (and Microsoft, and the CEO who recommended Microsoft). In spite of your indignant denial, most other observers blame Microsoft as well.
Slashdot Mirror
They were a pain. Atom really did have what was (at the time) miraculous power consumption, but it struggled with a lot of tasks.
The novelty of an easily-portable laptop was relatively new outside of obscene price points (Intel's ULV parts cost a lot more back then), but quickly wore off once low-power parts became available, starting with Nehalem and solidifying with Sandy Bridge. Ivy Bridge made tablets viable and Haswell improved on that.
It turns out there isn't much of a market between crappy Atom tablets with docks and 1000 buck Core tablets.
AMDs efforts came somewhat late when the market was already drying out and sacrificed battery life, so they never ahd much impact.
Microsoft killed the Linux netbook market by forcing vendors to offer Windows netbooks with better hardware specs than the Linux products. Vendors were forbidden to offer Linux netbooks with the same specs, which would have allowed side by side comparison of functionality and value. This is one of Microsoft's stock anti-Linux strategies, we also saw it used effectively against Dell. The strategem was completely effective, and obviously completely illegal but when has that ever been an issue for Microsoft? The result was, a market flooded with netbooks running Windows that drove customers away from the form factor because Windows works poorly on low spec hardware.
So yes, it all stunk to high heaven, but it didn't stop Linux, it only delayed it until Google brought its own marketing power to the game.
some Chromebooks use Intel chips, so Intel is probably getting a cut of this
That helps Intel, not the Wintel duopoly. In fact it helps wean Intel away from Wintel so its all good.
Chromebooks aren't the reason why Windows is hurting
True, the point is that a significant segment of the market is willing to buy a laptop without Windows. It's a harbinger. It is now evident that running Windows applications is not a killer feature for many customers after all, running a browser is.
Now Android laptops are starting to show up. This development constitutes a far greater threat to Microsoft's income than Chromebooks do, for one simple reason: the Android app market. We are already past the tipping point where 800,000 Android applications have more impact on day to day life than the usual Windows offerings. That enables a robust market segment which will attract further development so that Microsoft's traditional spreadsheet/wordprocessor breadbasket comes under attack. Google helped this along tremendously by buying and releasing Quickoffice as freeware. Libreoffice with an Android interface is not far away. The document processing argument for sticking with Microsoft is rapidly eroding.
Note that Android on laptops does not fit Google's agenda perfectly either: Google would much prefer that the market become entirely dependent on cloud offerings, regardless of whether that is best for the customer. Among other advantages, this lets Google "fix" the little problem that Android is forkable open source. But Android on laptops is now inevitable and is far preferable for Google than Windows or Ios on laptops. Android on laptops will help keep Google out of antitrust court for one thing.
While I am rambling on here, the next domino to fall will be Microsoft's server franchise, which is sustained largely by being the backend for Microsoft's email applications and directory infrastructure. Who needs it when Gmail is so much less bother? Look around you at work: do you already see this trend under way? Yes you do.
Well, what next? Some of us were sure that Microsoft would eventually end up as a console company but several factors now cast doubt on that: Sony is thumping Microsoft in this product cycle; the gamer demographic is shifting to an older, more casual mix that is perfectly happy whiling its time away with cheesy touchscreen games instead of hardcore console blockbusters; and Stream walked. Suddenly it starts to look like Microsoft's traditional PC monopoly could be the last part of the ship to sink and its games business will turn out to be just more dead weight pulling it down faster.
About the only thing Microsoft could do to accelerate its sink rate would be to make Elop CEO. We can only hope.
The standard model does not explain why particles have the particular masses they do, so obviously a genuinely new underlying theory is waiting to be discovered even without breaking any rules or postulating new fundamental particles. Exciting enough?
Reading comprehension issues. "Not an instrument like a guitar is". Or similarly, an instrument like a rock is. You can get music from a rock if you are determined enough. And I can communicate with you if I am determined enough, though actually this is getting boring. I suggest you go away and listen to an entire album of solo scratching. Please don't tell me whether or not you liked it.
You raised the question of whether these guys are musicians or not, not me. I said "a pair of turntables is not an instrument like a guitar is", which is patently obvious. A turntable is more an instrument like a kazoo is, and as an art form, has a future roughly as bright.
if you're trying to insinuate that a DJ isn't an 'instrumental' artist, you're wrong. A pair of turntables is an instrument just as a guitar is, and a performance using one requires just as much 'musicianship' as with any other instrument.
No, sorry, a pair of turntables is not an instrument like a guitar is, it is more an instrument like a mixing board is, and a DJ is more like a sound guy or a producer than a musician. Put it another way: some DJs may be performers but not all performers are musicians. Otherwise agreed with your post.
Replace? Yes. Sound the same? Definitely not. Just consider the range of effects possible with an electric guitar. The only way to do that with a digital workstation is to use a guitar for input, then it isn't purely digital. Another example: synthesized piano is getting very good, but it still cannot be mistaken for the real thing.
Sound different but just as good? Maybe, sometimes. There is no question that digital has already invaded the territory of traditional instruments. In applications where top quality is not a requirement a digital clarinet or trumpet can work out just fine cost a lot less than the real thing, perhaps unfortunately.
How can we still have such a place on this earth.
It is just one of a depressingly large number of such places.
The Romans called it damnatio memoriae.
What makes you think VP9 is a second rate codec, can you quantify that?
If not, guess what that makes you.
Perhaps Youtube is something you want to watch. But riddle me this: what is it about open source video codecs that brings out the trolls?
Microsoft, EMC, Oracle and Netapp
Pestilence, War, Famine, and Death
Somehow seemed to fit.
A lot of Apple's product stasis comes down to the idiotic decision (from Jobs?) to go with fixed pixel resolution which really limits their room to manoeuver on screen resolution and aspect. While Android scales everything on the fly, Apple apps have to be recompiled, probably the source code has to change too. To dig out of that mess Apple needs to bite the bullet and go to variable resolution just like Android. But the logistics of doing that are apparently just too scary for pencil pusher Tim Cook.
Look, even Steve Wozniak says this is stupid. I say, totally typical Apple. When Jobs died Apple lost the mojo but kept the hubris.
Tim Cook: wears the turtleneck, but doesn't fill the shoes.
But its profits stay sky high.
You know Roadrunner vs the Coyote? You know how Coyote dangles in the air for a while before cratering? It's like that.
Apple remains obsessed with thermonuclear war instead of introducing products that people want. Meanwhile its market share keeps slip, slip, slipping away.
In my book, if you can breed with it, it's human. Maybe anthropologists are special.
Surely Microsoft at least experimented with inflatable dolls.
they are not "nimble" and hevent been for at least 20 years
Was Microsoft ever nimble?
How am I going to connect the battery cables to it?
Liquid metal.
So many improvements! Which proves that right now Linux must really suck. It's a good thing then, that Windows, FreeBSD, AIX, Solaris, etc etc can be counted on to suck far worse.
That's 236 characters (ignoring whitespace) to write a 13 character equation...
Compared to 2539 bytes for the gif currently used on Wikipedia. That's a 90% improvement.
Oh wow, look, the trainwreck is right on time
The only people who blamed Microsoft for the LSE problems were technologically inept journalists and Linux zealots
Facts get in the way of your rabid spin. LSE blamed Microsoft for the TradElect problems, which is readily apparent because LSE got rid of TradElect (and Microsoft, and the CEO who recommended Microsoft). In spite of your indignant denial, most other observers blame Microsoft as well.
Typical Microsoft astroturd strategy - run out of credibility, then bring in the spinmods.
Timeline of the fiasco
The LSE correctly realized that mess ups of epic proportion are far more likely if Microsoft is involved.
The only people who blamed Microsoft for the LSE problems were technologically inept journalists and Linux zealots
Facts get in the way of your rabid spin. LSE blamed Microsoft for the TradElect problems, which is readily apparent because LSE got rid of TradElect (and Microsoft, and the CEO who recommended Microsoft). In spite of your indignant denial, most other observers blame Microsoft as well.