The point is to make the one fits-all distribution start out with a common desktop style, a common browser and common way to install and uninstall stuff. Or perhaps two ways to install stuff, an online package manager and one for offline installers, equivalent to Microsoft's.msi packages. Then everyone who is used to that distribution can install their preferred applications and at least do basic office work from the start.
Now all of the above already exist, it is a matter of choosing default software that most people will be comfortable with and distributors will agree upon. That is the difficult problem. But if you can solve it, I think acceptance of Linux on the desktop would greatly increase.
Except for that, have as many customization options as you like. Not like Apple with its "walled garden". Even removing the desktop and replacing it with your own. Non-standard varieties of the distribution would be OK, as long as they are relegated to a "special" sections of the download options at the provider. Where the average user who is not interested in experimenting won't pick them by accident.
And just for the record, my own ideas of what I would pick and which alternatives I consider suitable as well.
-Desktop style: Similar to old style Windows, up to Windows 7.
-Package manager/ format online: RPM or dpkg, no real preference. Just the front end for the end user has to be easy to use.
-Package format offline: Flatpack or Snap, no real preference either.
-Browser: Firefox. But I guess something Chromium-based would be OK as long as we can get rid of its tendencies to be spyware.
Yesss. Speaking as a German, this is a matter where I will be happy if the USA tell the EU to fuck off. There are many things I do not like about US politics, but in terms of free speech I greatly prefer the USA over Germany.
If the provider or smartphone manufacturer has the ability to listen in on a conversation, or just listen while the user is not making a call, I'm pretty sure that would be illegal.
Under German law, devices that can be used as hidden surveillance device are illegal. The doll "My Friend Cayla" comes under that and was banned in Germany.
I wonder if Alexa is the next casualty of that... would serve Amazon right;-)
And honestly, it's not like they've improved anything useful between XP and 10... I can't find a SINGLE thing that I would say: "That's nice, I wouldn't want to go without".
64 bit support, unless you count XP 64bit. Which was technically there but somehow did not get not significant market share.
Recently, however, MS destroys more in terms of usability than they improve in the underlying kernel and services. I keep reading about how Windows 8 is somewhat better technologically, and I don't even doubt that. But the abysmal GUI turns it all to shit:-(
Support for feature updates in Win10 is only 3 years for Home/Professional now. The LTSB branch may be different, I'm not sure about the exact timeframes here.
Ubuntu LTS and Red Hat offer longer support. 5 years in case of Ubuntu, 10 for Red Hat.
Optimist. The next realistic chance is 2020, when Windows 7 goes out of support.
At that point, I hope some people like me who really hate Win10 will jump ship. I'm planning to for what it's worth. My new year's resolution for 2012:-)
The X3 Gold edition by Egosoft. Admittedly a few years ago. Two games in the series for 30 Euros instead of the typical 50 Euros for one game. And both had a few patch levels compared to the original release.
This is typical for Egosoft BTW: They tend to release their games in lousy condition, but then they keep working on them and fixing the bugs. Best bought a year or two after reklease..
I'd like to add that it is mostly the graphics that see any improvement on average with new generations of games. Perhaps you could add world size in MMOs, because newer hardware can handle more. In the late 2000s/ early 2010s I have seen a step ahead there. But story? Innovative ideas in general? Nope.
Do you have any Epyc results for comparison? Obviously Rome is not available yet, but the "old" Epyc32 core model should give at least an idea of how much Intel has improved here.
In principle, AMD does something similar with Epyc. Especially with Rome. One central I/O chiplet in 12nm(?) and several computing chiplets at 7nm around it. To me it looks like this actually spreads the heat over a larger area.
I wonder how much heat Rome gives off by the way. Cascade Lake has been announced with up to 400W TDP. If Rome takes less, it will obviously have less problems with cooling too.
I have more sympathy for them than for Intel, or maybe I should say less antipathy, mostly due to Intel's business methods. But ultimately AMD will also take the prices the market will bear.
OTOH, if they are successful with Epyc, I guess we will see price drops at Intel rather than climbing prices from AMD. Good for the customer. Just my guess of course.
Each multi-proprocessor can run 2 to 4 SIMT ops on 32 four-byte numbers at a time. These MP are slower than a typical CPU
Key phrase is "2 to 4 SIMT ops on 32 four-byte numbers at a time". That is some pretty massive parallelism. The "32 four-byte numbers at a time" would be the equivalent of a hypothetical AVX-1024.
Overall I would be surprised if Cascade Lake can match a GPU for massively parallel stuff. Also, the TDP is even more obscene than in a Radeon VII. Up to 400W ( o_o)
A strict interpretation in favour of Oracle would mean that you could never use anyone's API to interface with them without violating their copyright (or paying royalties, etc)
Unless they have given you a license. Which is the case for virtually all Open Source projects, unless I'm badly misreading the legal situation. Competition wise, corporations that don't readily hand out such licenses might hurt themselves quite a bit.
This said, I'd still prefer if the Supreme Courts would throw out Oracle's argument. It would give everyone a safer legal situation.
Especially early Li-Ion batteries were known for that. Back in the 2000s, I read quite a few articles/posts on slashdot about a lifetime of 2-3 ears no matter if you use them. These days, a quick search on Google indicates that 5 years or more seem typical now.
So if batteries from 2016 are already dying those might be of substandard quality.
I guess in extreme cases (and if your telephone system supports it) you could go to a whitelist system: Anyone who wants to call you has to give you HIS number in advance and you enter that number as "may call me" in your system. Anyone else gets blocked.
For me personally, it is not that bad yet but I have on occasion wished for a service that would block calls with spoofed numbers. Not those where the caller uses his real number, but those using faked numbers.
Perhaps some of the OEMs will now add a line of computers with AMD where they had none before. It was quite some time ago, but I remember Dell had that once. Might have been the time of Athlon64 vs. Pentium4.
Slashdot Mirror
Level 4 autonomy sounds impressive
Brought to you by the guys who cheated about their diesels. Or maybe not really. Let the early adopters test it and count the crashes...
but someone from XP can quickly get up to speed in 7 for example
So you never had to bother with Windows 8 and above? Lucky you.
The point is to make the one fits-all distribution start out with a common desktop style, a common browser and common way to install and uninstall stuff. Or perhaps two ways to install stuff, an online package manager and one for offline installers, equivalent to Microsoft's .msi packages. Then everyone who is used to that distribution can install their preferred applications and at least do basic office work from the start.
Now all of the above already exist, it is a matter of choosing default software that most people will be comfortable with and distributors will agree upon. That is the difficult problem. But if you can solve it, I think acceptance of Linux on the desktop would greatly increase.
Except for that, have as many customization options as you like. Not like Apple with its "walled garden". Even removing the desktop and replacing it with your own. Non-standard varieties of the distribution would be OK, as long as they are relegated to a "special" sections of the download options at the provider. Where the average user who is not interested in experimenting won't pick them by accident.
And just for the record, my own ideas of what I would pick and which alternatives I consider suitable as well.
-Desktop style: Similar to old style Windows, up to Windows 7.
-Package manager/ format online: RPM or dpkg, no real preference. Just the front end for the end user has to be easy to use.
-Package format offline: Flatpack or Snap, no real preference either.
-Browser: Firefox. But I guess something Chromium-based would be OK as long as we can get rid of its tendencies to be spyware.
Yesss. Speaking as a German, this is a matter where I will be happy if the USA tell the EU to fuck off. There are many things I do not like about US politics, but in terms of free speech I greatly prefer the USA over Germany.
If the provider or smartphone manufacturer has the ability to listen in on a conversation, or just listen while the user is not making a call, I'm pretty sure that would be illegal.
Under German law, devices that can be used as hidden surveillance device are illegal. The doll "My Friend Cayla" comes under that and was banned in Germany.
I wonder if Alexa is the next casualty of that... would serve Amazon right ;-)
And honestly, it's not like they've improved anything useful between XP and 10... I can't find a SINGLE thing that I would say: "That's nice, I wouldn't want to go without".
64 bit support, unless you count XP 64bit. Which was technically there but somehow did not get not significant market share.
Recently, however, MS destroys more in terms of usability than they improve in the underlying kernel and services. I keep reading about how Windows 8 is somewhat better technologically, and I don't even doubt that. But the abysmal GUI turns it all to shit :-(
I suspect MS will eventually drop that under some pretext. Because supporting Win10 forever without selling licenses won't bring revenue.
Maybe some bullshit about new hardware being not compatible, they are already doing that with Windows 7.
Actually that one has reversed in favor of Linux.
Support for feature updates in Win10 is only 3 years for Home/Professional now. The LTSB branch may be different, I'm not sure about the exact timeframes here.
Ubuntu LTS and Red Hat offer longer support. 5 years in case of Ubuntu, 10 for Red Hat.
Sure, it is a cesspool. But I remember that there used to be almost as many frothing-at-the-mouth Linux fanboys as fanatical Linux haters.
This time, the balance is strangely offset towards more anti-Linux ACs. Coincidence? The pro-Linux faction growing up? Or paid shills?
You may be right about most home users. I'm thinking about those somewhat more knowledgeable about what an end of security updates means.
If those would somehow remain available, I think using Windows 7 until the PC dies would not be a bad choice.
I haven't seen that many Anonymous Cowards on one article badmouthing Linux in a while. It really exceeds the usual level of spam.
Microsoft PR department at work?
Optimist. The next realistic chance is 2020, when Windows 7 goes out of support.
At that point, I hope some people like me who really hate Win10 will jump ship. I'm planning to for what it's worth. My new year's resolution for 2012 :-)
The X3 Gold edition by Egosoft. Admittedly a few years ago. Two games in the series for 30 Euros instead of the typical 50 Euros for one game. And both had a few patch levels compared to the original release.
This is typical for Egosoft BTW:
They tend to release their games in lousy condition, but then they keep working on them and fixing the bugs. Best bought a year or two after reklease..
Works with games on CD too. Similar price drops, and eventually there may be some re-release that has all the fixes too.
I'd like to add that it is mostly the graphics that see any improvement on average with new generations of games.
Perhaps you could add world size in MMOs, because newer hardware can handle more. In the late 2000s/ early 2010s I have seen a step ahead there.
But story? Innovative ideas in general? Nope.
This may be a troll but I'll bite:
Do you have any Epyc results for comparison?
Obviously Rome is not available yet, but the "old" Epyc32 core model should give at least an idea of how much Intel has improved here.
In principle, AMD does something similar with Epyc. Especially with Rome. One central I/O chiplet in 12nm(?) and several computing chiplets at 7nm around it. To me it looks like this actually spreads the heat over a larger area.
I wonder how much heat Rome gives off by the way. Cascade Lake has been announced with up to 400W TDP. If Rome takes less, it will obviously have less problems with cooling too.
AMD is a profit-oriented company too.
I have more sympathy for them than for Intel, or maybe I should say less antipathy, mostly due to Intel's business methods. But ultimately AMD will also take the prices the market will bear.
OTOH, if they are successful with Epyc, I guess we will see price drops at Intel rather than climbing prices from AMD. Good for the customer. Just my guess of course.
Each multi-proprocessor can run 2 to 4 SIMT ops on 32 four-byte numbers at a time. These MP are slower than a typical CPU
Key phrase is "2 to 4 SIMT ops on 32 four-byte numbers at a time". That is some pretty massive parallelism. The "32 four-byte numbers at a time" would be the equivalent of a hypothetical AVX-1024.
Overall I would be surprised if Cascade Lake can match a GPU for massively parallel stuff. Also, the TDP is even more obscene than in a Radeon VII. Up to 400W
( o_o)
Late answer, but in theory the telecom providers could provide such a service. They get the real number as well as the spoofed one.
A strict interpretation in favour of Oracle would mean that you could never use anyone's API to interface with them without violating their copyright (or paying royalties, etc)
Unless they have given you a license. Which is the case for virtually all Open Source projects, unless I'm badly misreading the legal situation. Competition wise, corporations that don't readily hand out such licenses might hurt themselves quite a bit.
This said, I'd still prefer if the Supreme Courts would throw out Oracle's argument. It would give everyone a safer legal situation.
Especially early Li-Ion batteries were known for that. Back in the 2000s, I read quite a few articles/posts on slashdot about a lifetime of 2-3 ears no matter if you use them. These days, a quick search on Google indicates that 5 years or more seem typical now.
So if batteries from 2016 are already dying those might be of substandard quality.
I guess in extreme cases (and if your telephone system supports it) you could go to a whitelist system:
Anyone who wants to call you has to give you HIS number in advance and you enter that number as "may call me" in your system. Anyone else gets blocked.
For me personally, it is not that bad yet but I have on occasion wished for a service that would block calls with spoofed numbers. Not those where the caller uses his real number, but those using faked numbers.
Perhaps some of the OEMs will now add a line of computers with AMD where they had none before. It was quite some time ago, but I remember Dell had that once. Might have been the time of Athlon64 vs. Pentium4.