Programs written for servers and big iron have been multithreaded for many years. Certainly every program I've written in my professional career (20 years and counting) has been multithreaded/multiprocessing...
As an earlier poster alluded to, the incremental performance improvement of each additional processor declines, eventually reaching a place there additional processors actually end up REDUCING the capacity of the system. That's where NUMA architectures start really kicking in. Memory bandwidth is crucial, which is why the Cell processor is such an interesting/promising beast
However, I did do a tremendous amount of testing and comparison between various trackballs before selecting the ITAC Evolution trackball. I went through at least 12 different models (drove both my wife and the Ergo people at work nuts) before I found one that had the right characteristics to resolve my RSI issues.
Same with the Microsoft Natural. I imagine that is more a personal preference thing, as opposed to the extremely clear ergo benefits of the Evolution mouse, but I went through many different keyboards before stumbling on the Natural (we happened to get a shipment of them at work one year), and because it gives ME comfort that I've never experienced before, I've felt no need to look further.
Amen to the Evolution Mouse. I've been using ITAC MouseTrak trackballs since 1992, and the Evolution since 1997, on both work and home machines.
I had developed RSI problems, so did the research and switched to the ITAC products (and later the Microsoft Natural keyboard also when it came out). Make a world of difference. The RSI is gone.
Lots of wireless companies have already or are converting to GSM. Cingular, my current provider, switched to only installing GSM equipment over two years ago. I have an LG 1400 GSM phone plastered to my hip...
Well, since Microsoft used to sell WinNT for PowerPC (I used to have a few of the machines), and Win2K is just an update of WinNT, I presume it was pretty trivial for them to do this.
Hmm...even at a 40-60mS latency (VPN over the internet), VNC into a Linux server is pretty herky-jerky, with very, very slow drop down menus, while Remote Desktop is just like being there.
When I first noticed the difference, I was pretty unhappy, because I really wanted Linux to do this better than Windows.
I regularly use both Remote Desktop and VNC of various flavors.
I am a major, major fan of open source, but I have to admit that Microsoft has done a superior job with Remote Desktop. It's so much more responsive than VNC that it's not even funny.
While I hate Microsoft's business behavior, they have hit a home run with Remote Desktop.
Gonna actually make me cite chapter and verse, eh? Well, good; that's the way to keep things honest.
From the MySQL manual, section 1.4.3.1 Using the MySQL software under a Commercial License:
You need a commercial license: (other reasons removed) When you distribute a non-GPL application that only works with the MySQL software and ship it with the MySQL software. This type of solution is considered to be linking even if it's done over a network.
So, IE would be off the hook, because it is not designed to only talk to MySQL. However, if I were to write an application and designed it to store configuration information in a remote MySQL database (my installer installed the MySQL database on a remote node to ensure that no MySQL APIs were involved), I would require a commercial license for MySQL if I did not want to GPL my program, even though I'm just using telnet to access the MySQL database, according to MySQL.
That's what I think, too. However, note that the MySQL documentation explicitly states that it is their position that if your program is accessing the MySQL port, even remotely, then it is subject to GPL restrictions, unless you buy MySQL's commercial license. Now, perhaps this is just FUD to drum up buyers for their commercial license, but that's what they say...
My children (14/12/10/9) are taking me to the movie for my birthday. I've warned them it's dark, but they enjoy the Star Wars saga so much they don't care. They're just eager to see Annikin turn into Darth Vader.
I have two degrees in physics, but was always deeply involved in the computer end of physics, both in designing and building research lab computational equipment and in writing software for it.
After I earned my M.S. the department head congratulated us and told us we only had 9 more years of work until our Ph.D. I left school and went to work for a major telecommunications corporation in a software engineering role, and I've never looked back. Doesn't matter that I don't have a C.S. degree; it's what you can do rather than what piece of paper you have.
19 years later, I'm still working for the same company, and they now allow me to live out in the boonies and write the software (DSL and full-motion video conferencing really helps keep in touch).
But looking around at the reality of life outside the rarified atmosphere of a major R&D lab, I'd say that your best bet is to do something that people need. If I couldn't do what I do, a really good bet would be plumbing. Just try to get a good plumber! And the hourly rates!
Huh...you must not be here in the USA, because only 30% of the population currently claim to be Christian (and I have sincere doubts about many of those). Last time I checked, even 30% does not constitute a majority...
My wife (who works part-time as a hostess at a local restaurant) works with a Russian pediatrician who moved here because she couldn't make enough money as a pediatrician in Russia to feed her family. Now, she busses tables for a living, but she's able to send her paycheck back to Russia and support her family. Of course, it's tough on her, because she hasn't seen her children in several years...
:) G.729 can carry DTMF tones (although RFC 2833 tone packets are far preferable), but it's certainly true that it's a complete show-stopper for modem/fax communication. That's why these systems typically monitor for modem/fax tones and automatically switch from G.729 to G.711 when they are encountered. The RTP packet contains the payload type, so they don't even need to renegotiate; just start sending with the new payload type.
Hmmm...I've been at my company for 17 years now, and I currently have well over 5GB of my personal email saved off.
I used to have over 8GB, but I ran into an Outlook bug that munched some of my files, and the backup tapes were corrupt, so I lost the first 12 years of my existence with the company...
So, 1GB may be enough for the casual user, but it's certainly not enough to cover the storage requirements of a corporate user.
And, yes, I DO realize that this is an April Fool's joke.:)
But, yes, I'd LOVE to have all my email Google searchable. Outlook is just too dang slow.
When I was working on my PhD at the University of Illinois, I had the privilege of taking several cellular automata courses from him and of working on a couple of cellular automata hardware design projects. The guy was brilliant. I haven't spoken with him in the last 18 years, but I suspect he's still very much the genius he was back then.
(Computer hardware design? A physicist? Perhaps that's why I eventually dropped out of the PhD program and went to work in the computer industry...:) )
I guess some people might consider a 4000sqft house on a beautiful 13 acre ridgetop in a quiet, pastoral setting a "squalid hovel", but I'm kinda fond of my residence...BTW, the favorite food in this household is filet mignon, lobster tail, and broccoli salad...
I've told my wife a hundred times not to install ANYTHING, and not to click yes on ANYTHING, and I believe she really intends to follow that rule, but stuff still ends up on her machine. I believe that the authorization popups are now so socially engineered as to fool the computer naive into accepting things they don't mean to accept...very deceptive.
Haven't seen the movie yet (waiting for my wife to get back from a trip; she's a major Matrix (and SF in general) fan); but I'm getting the impression from all the discussions that the Matrix is very reminiscent of "The Thirteenth Floor", which, despite it's miserable reviews, I really enjoyed.
I am fully in the open-source camp philosophically, but I keep my family clothed, fed, and housed by developing software for a for-profit telecommunications firm. I make quite a decent living developing proprietary software, and the reason why I get to do it is because, at least for now, we still produce better telecom software than the other guys, whether proprietary or open-source. Will it always be that way? Don't know. I half expect my livelihood as I now know it to be destroyed by open-source, which is why I live and breathe Linux in a Windows/Solaris world. I want to still keep some distance between my children's bellybuttons and backbones if/when the end comes.
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You mean for everyday PC software, right?
Programs written for servers and big iron have been multithreaded for many years. Certainly every program I've written in my professional career (20 years and counting) has been multithreaded/multiprocessing...
As an earlier poster alluded to, the incremental performance improvement of each additional processor declines, eventually reaching a place there additional processors actually end up REDUCING the capacity of the system. That's where NUMA architectures start really kicking in. Memory bandwidth is crucial, which is why the Cell processor is such an interesting/promising beast
In general, I agree with you.
However, I did do a tremendous amount of testing and comparison between various trackballs before selecting the ITAC Evolution trackball. I went through at least 12 different models (drove both my wife and the Ergo people at work nuts) before I found one that had the right characteristics to resolve my RSI issues.
Same with the Microsoft Natural. I imagine that is more a personal preference thing, as opposed to the extremely clear ergo benefits of the Evolution mouse, but I went through many different keyboards before stumbling on the Natural (we happened to get a shipment of them at work one year), and because it gives ME comfort that I've never experienced before, I've felt no need to look further.
Amen to the Evolution Mouse. I've been using ITAC MouseTrak trackballs since 1992, and the Evolution since 1997, on both work and home machines.
I had developed RSI problems, so did the research and switched to the ITAC products (and later the Microsoft Natural keyboard also when it came out). Make a world of difference. The RSI is gone.
Lots of wireless companies have already or are converting to GSM. Cingular, my current provider, switched to only installing GSM equipment over two years ago. I have an LG 1400 GSM phone plastered to my hip...
Well, since Microsoft used to sell WinNT for PowerPC (I used to have a few of the machines), and Win2K is just an update of WinNT, I presume it was pretty trivial for them to do this.
Hmm...even at a 40-60mS latency (VPN over the internet), VNC into a Linux server is pretty herky-jerky, with very, very slow drop down menus, while Remote Desktop is just like being there.
When I first noticed the difference, I was pretty unhappy, because I really wanted Linux to do this better than Windows.
I regularly use both Remote Desktop and VNC of various flavors.
I am a major, major fan of open source, but I have to admit that Microsoft has done a superior job with Remote Desktop. It's so much more responsive than VNC that it's not even funny.
While I hate Microsoft's business behavior, they have hit a home run with Remote Desktop.
Gonna actually make me cite chapter and verse, eh? Well, good; that's the way to keep things honest.
From the MySQL manual, section 1.4.3.1 Using the MySQL software under a Commercial License:
You need a commercial license:
(other reasons removed)
When you distribute a non-GPL application that only works with the MySQL software and ship it with the MySQL software. This type of solution is considered to be linking even if it's done over a network.
So, IE would be off the hook, because it is not designed to only talk to MySQL. However, if I were to write an application and designed it to store configuration information in a remote MySQL database (my installer installed the MySQL database on a remote node to ensure that no MySQL APIs were involved), I would require a commercial license for MySQL if I did not want to GPL my program, even though I'm just using telnet to access the MySQL database, according to MySQL.
That's what I think, too. However, note that the MySQL documentation explicitly states that it is their position that if your program is accessing the MySQL port, even remotely, then it is subject to GPL restrictions, unless you buy MySQL's commercial license. Now, perhaps this is just FUD to drum up buyers for their commercial license, but that's what they say...
My children (14/12/10/9) are taking me to the movie for my birthday. I've warned them it's dark, but they enjoy the Star Wars saga so much they don't care. They're just eager to see Annikin turn into Darth Vader.
I have two degrees in physics, but was always deeply involved in the computer end of physics, both in designing and building research lab computational equipment and in writing software for it.
After I earned my M.S. the department head congratulated us and told us we only had 9 more years of work until our Ph.D. I left school and went to work for a major telecommunications corporation in a software engineering role, and I've never looked back. Doesn't matter that I don't have a C.S. degree; it's what you can do rather than what piece of paper you have.
19 years later, I'm still working for the same company, and they now allow me to live out in the boonies and write the software (DSL and full-motion video conferencing really helps keep in touch).
But looking around at the reality of life outside the rarified atmosphere of a major R&D lab, I'd say that your best bet is to do something that people need. If I couldn't do what I do, a really good bet would be plumbing. Just try to get a good plumber! And the hourly rates!
Huh...you must not be here in the USA, because only 30% of the population currently claim to be Christian (and I have sincere doubts about many of those). Last time I checked, even 30% does not constitute a majority...
What?
Network coprocessors have been around for aeons.
Just look at the products from http://www.ramix.com, and I'm not even saying they were anywhere near the first.
I've got a stack of old network coprocessors sitting here in the closet next to me, that predate any of the dates mentioned in this article.
My wife (who works part-time as a hostess at a local restaurant) works with a Russian pediatrician who moved here because she couldn't make enough money as a pediatrician in Russia to feed her family. Now, she busses tables for a living, but she's able to send her paycheck back to Russia and support her family. Of course, it's tough on her, because she hasn't seen her children in several years...
:) G.729 can carry DTMF tones (although RFC 2833 tone packets are far preferable), but it's certainly true that it's a complete show-stopper for modem/fax communication. That's why these systems typically monitor for modem/fax tones and automatically switch from G.729 to G.711 when they are encountered. The RTP packet contains the payload type, so they don't even need to renegotiate; just start sending with the new payload type.
G.729 only consumes 8Kbps for actual data, with UDP header requirements taking it to about 16Kbps. This is far, far less than 90Kbps.
You'll only consume 90Kbps if you are using G.711 encoding with a 20mS packet size.
G.723 consumes even less bandwidth than G.729, but the quality is rather poor (low MOS scores).
I'm running the ATI 3.9.0 drivers with SuSE 9.1 on a Radeon 9200SE in an Athlon XP box...
If I disable DRI support, the Xv works fine. If I enable DRI, then Xv can't get enough resources to run.
While I don't play games, Quake III Arena demo works quite well.
Hmmm...I've been at my company for 17 years now, and I currently have well over 5GB of my personal email saved off.
:)
I used to have over 8GB, but I ran into an Outlook bug that munched some of my files, and the backup tapes were corrupt, so I lost the first 12 years of my existence with the company...
So, 1GB may be enough for the casual user, but it's certainly not enough to cover the storage requirements of a corporate user.
And, yes, I DO realize that this is an April Fool's joke.
But, yes, I'd LOVE to have all my email Google searchable. Outlook is just too dang slow.
When I was working on my PhD at the University of Illinois, I had the privilege of taking several cellular automata courses from him and of working on a couple of cellular automata hardware design projects. The guy was brilliant. I haven't spoken with him in the last 18 years, but I suspect he's still very much the genius he was back then.
:) )
(Computer hardware design? A physicist? Perhaps that's why I eventually dropped out of the PhD program and went to work in the computer industry...
I guess some people might consider a 4000sqft house on a beautiful 13 acre ridgetop in a quiet, pastoral setting a "squalid hovel", but I'm kinda fond of my residence...BTW, the favorite food in this household is filet mignon, lobster tail, and broccoli salad...
I've told my wife a hundred times not to install ANYTHING, and not to click yes on ANYTHING, and I believe she really intends to follow that rule, but stuff still ends up on her machine. I believe that the authorization popups are now so socially engineered as to fool the computer naive into accepting things they don't mean to accept...very deceptive.
Haven't seen the movie yet (waiting for my wife to get back from a trip; she's a major Matrix (and SF in general) fan); but I'm getting the impression from all the discussions that the Matrix is very reminiscent of "The Thirteenth Floor", which, despite it's miserable reviews, I really enjoyed.
AMEN!
I am fully in the open-source camp philosophically, but I keep my family clothed, fed, and housed by developing software for a for-profit telecommunications firm. I make quite a decent living developing proprietary software, and the reason why I get to do it is because, at least for now, we still produce better telecom software than the other guys, whether proprietary or open-source. Will it always be that way? Don't know. I half expect my livelihood as I now know it to be destroyed by open-source, which is why I live and breathe Linux in a Windows/Solaris world. I want to still keep some distance between my children's bellybuttons and backbones if/when the end comes.
Where did you get the George Bush quote?
Your brush is so enormously broad that I can't see any kind of sensible picture on the canvas.
Real Christians and real Muslims don't commit acts of terrorism. Phonies and followers of perversions do.