"The Internet (yes, the Internet) is running at the slowest speed ever, due to the clog being offered forth by the spam zombies, unpatched Windows boxes mass-scanning entire subnets due to virus and worm infection, and residential porn downloads."
When I download a large file, I almost always max out my 3mbit cable modem. Ping time is around 45ms to Google.
Maybe it's slower for you, but for me, this is the fastest the Internet has ever run.
"The RISC guys had it right. So right in fact that even current x86 chips are RISC on the inside, and then waste close to half their transistor count on circutry that does nothing besides transform the x86 instruction set into something that isn't brainfucked. That Athlon-64 would cost half as much, draw half as much power, and generate half the heat if you ripped out the x86 emulation layer."
According to AMD and Intel comments, the translation circuitry is less than 5% of the total CPU. In fact, over half of the transistor count comes from L2 cache.
SPECint is dominated by Xeon and Opteron. The fastest P4 is around 1700; the fastest non-x86 CPU is an Itanium2 at around 1400.
SPECfp is not dominated by x86. If you want fp performance, you want to look at Itanium2 or POWER5.
I never said that Xeon or Opteron scales well (Opteron scales pretty well actually), or that the fastest supercomputers in the world were x86. However, the 3.4GHz P4 and Opteron 250 are the fastest integer CPUs available today.*
*Results may vary. Integer performance is based on SPEC data and may not reflect real-world applications.
It's the "I don't want a phone that does this", or "I don't want a PDA that does this" comment.
If you don't need an MP3 player in your phone, you can still buy one with an MP3 player. Here's a tip: don't use it.
My Pocket PC Phone replaces 5 other devices: - PDA - Phone - MP3 player - USB drive key - Game Boy
It plays MP3s and WMAs, as well as movies (WMA, about 40mb for a 30min TV show with good quality). It lets me get my email on the go. I can make phone calls. I can play some games.
According to you, what I really want is a laptop. I currently have two, but they don't fit so well in my pocket. And taking a phone call on one is pretty clumsy.
You want good battery life? I charge my device nightly and it never drops below 60%, even with extensive usage and plenty of phone calls.
You want reliability? I have never installed an update on my Pocket PC. I have never reinstalled the OS. I soft-reset about once a week, which takes about 20 seconds.
My Pocket PC is zippy, it syncs with Outlook fine, it has an excellent screen, and it's never given me trouble.
I use Pocket Excel to keep track of my DVD collection. Perhaps you want me to bring my notebook to Blockbuster so I can see if I already own a particular title.
I use Photo Viewer on my Pocket PC to show people photos of my life. Perhaps you want me to bring my notebook to restaurants so I can show people photos.
I use Pocket Slides to collaborate on PowerPoint presentations at lunch. Perhaps I should bring my notebook so that I can make a few changes to the slides. Or, perhaps I should print out the slides, mark them up on paper, and type the changes back in later.
You see, my PDA already has long battery life, a stable OS that doesn't need upgrades, and solid reliability. And it's easy enough for my mother to use.
I frankly don't give a fuck what you think a PDA is for. Everything that you call "complexity", I call "utility". Perhaps you don't need your PDA to play MP3s, show photos, edit a PP presentation, or mess with an Excel sheet. I, however, utilize those features in my daily life.
Go buy a PDA that's right for you. I would recommend the Treo 180, but the screen is crap. Perhaps a Treo 270 would be right.
But don't tell me that I'm somehow wrong because I use a PDA for more than keeping my schedule. And don't tell me that I really want a laptop. My laptop, by the way, is a 3lb Compaq Armada m300. It will never, however, substitute for my PDA.
"It also doesn't affect the 50% of Windows users that will never download the update and will continue to be hammered by viruses and worms."
Oh, so now it's Microsoft's fault that their users aren't downloading the free service pack. Or ordering the free CD that's soon to come out.
"SP2 is going to teach their management a hard lesson; despite being a monopoly power in the industry they still have to improve and maintain their OS."
WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK SP2 IS? Microsoft is basically GIVING AWAY a whole new OS.
Since XP has shipped, we've gotten: - New firewall - New IE with whole new zones model, popup blocking, ActiveX blocking - Windows Media Player 9 - Windows Movie Maker 2 - PowerToys - New WiFi configuration - Built-in Bluetooth support - Security Center - "Compliance" API - New Windows messenger - NX support - Completely recompiled modules with buffer-overrun protection - 1000s of bugfixes and security patches
If that's not improving and maintaining the OS, what is?
Slashdot users keep bitching that Longhorn has been delayed. Do you know WHY Longhorn was delayed? Because many of the new features were moved to XP SP2.
Microsoft decided to give away a bunch of new features instead of making you pay for Longhorn to get them.
Microsoft finally releases an upgrade, for free, that signifigantly improves their OS, particularly in regards to security. Slashdot is trying it's hardest to make this look like a bad thing, but, quite frankly, we know bullshit when we smell it.
Re:'Flaws' Not that big of a deal
on
Latest SP2 News
·
· Score: 1
"That's a very interesting point. "Zones" in Windows seem to be a feature slightly too technical for your average user (the ones who might really benefit if it was implemented well) but completely useless and potentially burdensome to people with even a moderate level of computer knowledge. That makes it an almost worthless feature, in my book. The novices won't know how to use it, and the experts won't care to"
It's actually quite useful. If you download an executable and then later try to run it, it gives you a second warning that the file might be dangerous.
These two "flaws" change nothing. The second flaw really is one, and it should be fixed. The first is a design feature.
If a hacker can get a user to download a file, ignoring the first security dialog, launch a command prompt, drag the file in, and run the file, is it really Microsoft's fault that the file executes like it's supposed to?
"I hated the Real that was trying to sell me a free player but I think they have mitigated their mistakes. The free player link is right there on the front page. I don't hate Real but I am in fact starting to dislike Apple. They are monopolizing the online music sales industry. I have been buying music online for sometime and have stayed clear from iTunes because it isn't good for the consumer. If the only player that can play the music is an iPod it isn't worth my money. Same goes for Sony Connect store. It's frustrating to know that only Sony products can play those files. What the industry needs is open standard. Maybe it's time for someone to take the lead and bring to the table a variant of OGG with built in copy right protection."
Guess what the most open standard for DRM music is right now?
Microsoft WMA. You can choose your player, choose your portable device, and choose who you buy your music from.
Rhapsody. Napster. Wal-Mart. They all use WMA.
There are players from Samsung, Creative, Rio, Dell, Gateway, iRiver, and others that play WMA-DRM.
Now, don't get me wrong, WMA is proprietary as hell. But it's not as bad as Apple-AAC-DRM. Microsoft has licensed their system to different companies so you can buy music from your choice of providers and play it on your choice of devices.
You can't do that with Apple-AAC-DRM. Before the Real hack, you could only buy files for your iPod on Apple's store. And Apple's files only transferred to Apple's player. Believe it or not, not all of us want to carry around our collection as 150 redbook CDs. And not all of us want to re-encode a lossy format into another lossy format.
WMA is a proprietary standard for DRM music, but it is the de-facto standard in the non-Apple world.
Here are my easy anti-phish rules that should allow almost any user to avoid all phishing scams:
- NEVER enter personal information into anything other than your web browser - NEVER enter information unless the lock icon is displayed in the browser status bar, not just on a page - NEVER enter information without first double-clicking the lock and verifying that the address is correct and correctly spelled.
What browser manufacturers can do is this: - Make it more clear when you are on an SSL page. This needs to be non-forgable by websites. Make a big notification in the status bar, and make it impossible to turn the status bar off.
"Is a 9600 vs. a 9800 and a 2.8 vs. a 3.2 really that big a deal? Hell you could probably swap them out and it would still work fine."
Well, the 2.8 vs. 3.2 isn't a big deal at all. I don't know why the hell the grandparent wants a Prescott - they absolutely SUCK - 50% more power consumption and 5% lower performance per clock compared to Northwood.
I'm confused as to why this system doesn't use an Athlon 64, or, better yet, a Pentium-M. Both require less power and still offer great performance.
As for graphics, the 9600XT can't really stack up to the 9700Pro/9800Pro/9800XT series, let alone the 6800GT or X800XT. I don't know if a heatpipe setup would be feasable with a hotter card, but it would make a huge difference to us gamers.
"As it happens, this only applies to "puts limits on outbound incomplete TCP connections" which is like preventing you from getting killed in a traffic accident by ensuring you can only drive 1 car at a time."
Actually, it's an excellent idea. Worms spread by scanning addresses, meaning that they make tons of incomplete TCP connections (if you go after random IP addresses, many are going to be invalid). By limiting the rate of outgoing incomplete TCP connections and limiting raw sockets, SP2 signifigantly decreases the efficancy of a worm.
I set up a Linux desktop for my mother (Fedora Core 1) for basic web-browsing and email. She calls me up one morning and tells me that her monitor has gone bad (it's a 21" CRT that finally bit the dust). I tell her to get a new one, she purchases a 15" LCD. I had set the resolution to 1280x1024 for the CRT. The next day, after installing a monitor, I get a call telling me that her screen was going "crazy".
I have to walk her through getting a console and using vi to edit the XF86Config.
Windows would have detected that the monitor had changed and automatically reverted to SVGA resolution.
I get around 3 kilobytes per second, maybe 4 or 5 on a good day.
24-40kbps is perfectly reasonable for GPRS. You can expect double to triple that for EDGE (AT&T Wireless) or 1xRTT (Sprint PCS, Verizon Wireless). Of course, those services are also in the $45+ a month range.
Here in the US, T-Mobile offers unlimited WAP+GPRS for $5 a month. It's not metered by bandwidth or by time, and you can recieve phone calls while you are connected.
For $20, you can get the full-featured "Internet" plan with a real IP (not NAT) and all ports opened.
Actually, the Autobahn has fixed speed limits in many areas.
The biggest limit is the speed limit for trucks. It's only 80kph (about 50mph), so often one of the (usually two or three) lanes is blocked by the slow-moving trucks. Moreover, the trucks need to pass, so traveling at 200kph isn't possible most of the time.
Out here, the speed limit is 75mph (about 120kph) on the Interstate. It's fast enough, and most people don't go more than 80mph anyway. Few people get pulled over.
Maybe it's the fact that it says "MSNBC News" at the top of the screen, or the big MSNBC logo in the corner, but it is blatantly obvious that Newsbot is an MSNBC product.
http://newsbot.msn.com
Take a look - MSNBC logos all over. Why is it news at all that it prefers MSNBC stories?
"Exactly - furthermore, you can easily do exactly the same with IE. You just create a new window, with the fullsize property set, then set the dimensions (so you then have a blank window with no chrome at all - not even a title bar) - after that it's simply a matter of adding your spoofed interface using DHTML... Game over."
This hasn't worked since Internet Explorer 6.0SP1. You can no longer resize a fullscreen window.
As of 6.0SP2 (due out soon, hopefully) you can no longer create a window without a statusbar.
Moreover, it is difficult to "fake out" the UI using DHTML. You may be able to fool inexperienced users, but it is much harder than doing the same thing using Mozilla's XUL.
Slashdot Mirror
"The Internet (yes, the Internet) is running at the slowest speed ever, due to the clog being offered forth by the spam zombies, unpatched Windows boxes mass-scanning entire subnets due to virus and worm infection, and residential porn downloads."
When I download a large file, I almost always max out my 3mbit cable modem. Ping time is around 45ms to Google.
Maybe it's slower for you, but for me, this is the fastest the Internet has ever run.
Oh, and of course, Bush doesn't live anywhere nice either.
Poor Bush with his $19 million dollars, personal 747, and White House.
Not to mention the Texas ranch which isn't exactly a dump either.
Let's face facts: Bush isn't a cowboy and he isn't a working man. Neither is Kerry. Both are (reasonably) wealthy individuals.
Oh, and we can't forget the special treatment Bush has recieved for being the son of H.W.
Unless you really think a C average is enough to get into Yale on merit alone.
"The RISC guys had it right. So right in fact that even current x86 chips are RISC on the inside, and then waste close to half their transistor count on circutry that does nothing besides transform the x86 instruction set into something that isn't brainfucked. That Athlon-64 would cost half as much, draw half as much power, and generate half the heat if you ripped out the x86 emulation layer."
According to AMD and Intel comments, the translation circuitry is less than 5% of the total CPU. In fact, over half of the transistor count comes from L2 cache.
"best performer?
...."
POWER, IPF, CRAY, NEC,
SPECint is dominated by Xeon and Opteron. The fastest P4 is around 1700; the fastest non-x86 CPU is an Itanium2 at around 1400.
SPECfp is not dominated by x86. If you want fp performance, you want to look at Itanium2 or POWER5.
I never said that Xeon or Opteron scales well (Opteron scales pretty well actually), or that the fastest supercomputers in the world were x86. However, the 3.4GHz P4 and Opteron 250 are the fastest integer CPUs available today.*
*Results may vary. Integer performance is based on SPEC data and may not reflect real-world applications.
Man, I hate this type of comment.
It's the "I don't want a phone that does this", or "I don't want a PDA that does this" comment.
If you don't need an MP3 player in your phone, you can still buy one with an MP3 player. Here's a tip: don't use it.
My Pocket PC Phone replaces 5 other devices:
- PDA
- Phone
- MP3 player
- USB drive key
- Game Boy
It plays MP3s and WMAs, as well as movies (WMA, about 40mb for a 30min TV show with good quality). It lets me get my email on the go. I can make phone calls. I can play some games.
According to you, what I really want is a laptop. I currently have two, but they don't fit so well in my pocket. And taking a phone call on one is pretty clumsy.
You want good battery life? I charge my device nightly and it never drops below 60%, even with extensive usage and plenty of phone calls.
You want reliability? I have never installed an update on my Pocket PC. I have never reinstalled the OS. I soft-reset about once a week, which takes about 20 seconds.
My Pocket PC is zippy, it syncs with Outlook fine, it has an excellent screen, and it's never given me trouble.
I use Pocket Excel to keep track of my DVD collection. Perhaps you want me to bring my notebook to Blockbuster so I can see if I already own a particular title.
I use Photo Viewer on my Pocket PC to show people photos of my life. Perhaps you want me to bring my notebook to restaurants so I can show people photos.
I use Pocket Slides to collaborate on PowerPoint presentations at lunch. Perhaps I should bring my notebook so that I can make a few changes to the slides. Or, perhaps I should print out the slides, mark them up on paper, and type the changes back in later.
You see, my PDA already has long battery life, a stable OS that doesn't need upgrades, and solid reliability. And it's easy enough for my mother to use.
I frankly don't give a fuck what you think a PDA is for. Everything that you call "complexity", I call "utility". Perhaps you don't need your PDA to play MP3s, show photos, edit a PP presentation, or mess with an Excel sheet. I, however, utilize those features in my daily life.
Go buy a PDA that's right for you. I would recommend the Treo 180, but the screen is crap. Perhaps a Treo 270 would be right.
But don't tell me that I'm somehow wrong because I use a PDA for more than keeping my schedule. And don't tell me that I really want a laptop. My laptop, by the way, is a 3lb Compaq Armada m300. It will never, however, substitute for my PDA.
You mean like Mac OS X?
You don't actually think that Mac OS X is a true 64-bit OS, do you?
"The x86 architecture, as fundimentally flawed as it is, has driven virtually everything else out of the market."
So fundamentally flawed, in fact, that x86 CPUs are the highest-performing, most compatible CPUs in the world.
Seriously, who cares what the hell your code compiles to anymore? What's wrong with x86?
"It also doesn't affect the 50% of Windows users that will never download the update and will continue to be hammered by viruses and worms."
Oh, so now it's Microsoft's fault that their users aren't downloading the free service pack. Or ordering the free CD that's soon to come out.
"SP2 is going to teach their management a hard lesson; despite being a monopoly power in the industry they still have to improve and maintain their OS."
WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK SP2 IS? Microsoft is basically GIVING AWAY a whole new OS.
Since XP has shipped, we've gotten:
- New firewall
- New IE with whole new zones model, popup blocking, ActiveX blocking
- Windows Media Player 9
- Windows Movie Maker 2
- PowerToys
- New WiFi configuration
- Built-in Bluetooth support
- Security Center
- "Compliance" API
- New Windows messenger
- NX support
- Completely recompiled modules with buffer-overrun protection
- 1000s of bugfixes and security patches
If that's not improving and maintaining the OS, what is?
Slashdot users keep bitching that Longhorn has been delayed. Do you know WHY Longhorn was delayed? Because many of the new features were moved to XP SP2.
Microsoft decided to give away a bunch of new features instead of making you pay for Longhorn to get them.
Microsoft finally releases an upgrade, for free, that signifigantly improves their OS, particularly in regards to security. Slashdot is trying it's hardest to make this look like a bad thing, but, quite frankly, we know bullshit when we smell it.
"That's a very interesting point. "Zones" in Windows seem to be a feature slightly too technical for your average user (the ones who might really benefit if it was implemented well) but completely useless and potentially burdensome to people with even a moderate level of computer knowledge. That makes it an almost worthless feature, in my book. The novices won't know how to use it, and the experts won't care to"
It's actually quite useful. If you download an executable and then later try to run it, it gives you a second warning that the file might be dangerous.
These two "flaws" change nothing. The second flaw really is one, and it should be fixed. The first is a design feature.
If a hacker can get a user to download a file, ignoring the first security dialog, launch a command prompt, drag the file in, and run the file, is it really Microsoft's fault that the file executes like it's supposed to?
"incl. wife"
You just made a bullshit leap.
Bullshit leap: When you assume something without providing proof.
Kerry's assets *don't* include his wife. The prenuptial agreements clearly state that John's assets are seperate from Teresa's.
Except that it's not 70% FairPlay anymore. Wal-Mart, in particular, has already gobbled up 35% of the market, and it's still growing.
The 70% figure is from an outdated Apple press release.
"I hated the Real that was trying to sell me a free player but I think they have mitigated their mistakes. The free player link is right there on the front page. I don't hate Real but I am in fact starting to dislike Apple. They are monopolizing the online music sales industry. I have been buying music online for sometime and have stayed clear from iTunes because it isn't good for the consumer. If the only player that can play the music is an iPod it isn't worth my money. Same goes for Sony Connect store. It's frustrating to know that only Sony products can play those files. What the industry needs is open standard. Maybe it's time for someone to take the lead and bring to the table a variant of OGG with built in copy right protection."
Guess what the most open standard for DRM music is right now?
Microsoft WMA. You can choose your player, choose your portable device, and choose who you buy your music from.
Rhapsody. Napster. Wal-Mart. They all use WMA.
There are players from Samsung, Creative, Rio, Dell, Gateway, iRiver, and others that play WMA-DRM.
Now, don't get me wrong, WMA is proprietary as hell. But it's not as bad as Apple-AAC-DRM. Microsoft has licensed their system to different companies so you can buy music from your choice of providers and play it on your choice of devices.
You can't do that with Apple-AAC-DRM. Before the Real hack, you could only buy files for your iPod on Apple's store. And Apple's files only transferred to Apple's player. Believe it or not, not all of us want to carry around our collection as 150 redbook CDs. And not all of us want to re-encode a lossy format into another lossy format.
WMA is a proprietary standard for DRM music, but it is the de-facto standard in the non-Apple world.
Here are my easy anti-phish rules that should allow almost any user to avoid all phishing scams:
- NEVER enter personal information into anything other than your web browser
- NEVER enter information unless the lock icon is displayed in the browser status bar, not just on a page
- NEVER enter information without first double-clicking the lock and verifying that the address is correct and correctly spelled.
What browser manufacturers can do is this:
- Make it more clear when you are on an SSL page. This needs to be non-forgable by websites. Make a big notification in the status bar, and make it impossible to turn the status bar off.
Or you can "slipstream" SP2 right into the installer so it's installed right off the bat:
s p2 _slipstream.asp
http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/windowsxp_
"Is a 9600 vs. a 9800 and a 2.8 vs. a 3.2 really that big a deal? Hell you could probably swap them out and it would still work fine."
Well, the 2.8 vs. 3.2 isn't a big deal at all. I don't know why the hell the grandparent wants a Prescott - they absolutely SUCK - 50% more power consumption and 5% lower performance per clock compared to Northwood.
I'm confused as to why this system doesn't use an Athlon 64, or, better yet, a Pentium-M. Both require less power and still offer great performance.
As for graphics, the 9600XT can't really stack up to the 9700Pro/9800Pro/9800XT series, let alone the 6800GT or X800XT. I don't know if a heatpipe setup would be feasable with a hotter card, but it would make a huge difference to us gamers.
No recent NVIDIA WHQL drivers?
l
_ No tes.html
http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_2k_61.76.htm
Released July 20, 2004. Not the very latest driver, but it is definately "recent". Hell, it's less then 30 days old.
Or how about ATI?
http://www2.ati.com/drivers/Catalyst_46_Release
Released June 9, 2004. Also not the latest (the latest is 4.7) but not exactly old.
So, there are indeed recent WHQL 3D drivers for both ATI and NVIDIA cards. Moreover, their new drivers are usually as good as the WHQL drivers.
"As it happens, this only applies to "puts limits on outbound incomplete TCP connections" which is like preventing you from getting killed in a traffic accident by ensuring you can only drive 1 car at a time."
Actually, it's an excellent idea. Worms spread by scanning addresses, meaning that they make tons of incomplete TCP connections (if you go after random IP addresses, many are going to be invalid). By limiting the rate of outgoing incomplete TCP connections and limiting raw sockets, SP2 signifigantly decreases the efficancy of a worm.
Windows XP SP2 (beta)
Uptime: 33 days, 22 hours, 12 minutes
Perhaps Linux is good enough to run your home PC.
Let me tell you of a situation:
I set up a Linux desktop for my mother (Fedora Core 1) for basic web-browsing and email. She calls me up one morning and tells me that her monitor has gone bad (it's a 21" CRT that finally bit the dust). I tell her to get a new one, she purchases a 15" LCD. I had set the resolution to 1280x1024 for the CRT. The next day, after installing a monitor, I get a call telling me that her screen was going "crazy".
I have to walk her through getting a console and using vi to edit the XF86Config.
Windows would have detected that the monitor had changed and automatically reverted to SVGA resolution.
Hey, genius, Windows 2000 already has this built in:
shutdown -i
Displays a nice GUI which allows you to add computers, choose the action (shutdown, reboot), warn the users, and place a note in the event log.
You can also use shutdown in a purely command-line mode.
6.0 SP2 is included with Windows XP SP2.
I get around 3 kilobytes per second, maybe 4 or 5 on a good day.
24-40kbps is perfectly reasonable for GPRS. You can expect double to triple that for EDGE (AT&T Wireless) or 1xRTT (Sprint PCS, Verizon Wireless). Of course, those services are also in the $45+ a month range.
Wow, GPRS must be expensive outside the US.
Here in the US, T-Mobile offers unlimited WAP+GPRS for $5 a month. It's not metered by bandwidth or by time, and you can recieve phone calls while you are connected.
For $20, you can get the full-featured "Internet" plan with a real IP (not NAT) and all ports opened.
Actually, the Autobahn has fixed speed limits in many areas.
The biggest limit is the speed limit for trucks. It's only 80kph (about 50mph), so often one of the (usually two or three) lanes is blocked by the slow-moving trucks. Moreover, the trucks need to pass, so traveling at 200kph isn't possible most of the time.
Out here, the speed limit is 75mph (about 120kph) on the Interstate. It's fast enough, and most people don't go more than 80mph anyway. Few people get pulled over.
Wow, that's surprising.
Maybe it's the fact that it says "MSNBC News" at the top of the screen, or the big MSNBC logo in the corner, but it is blatantly obvious that Newsbot is an MSNBC product.
http://newsbot.msn.com
Take a look - MSNBC logos all over. Why is it news at all that it prefers MSNBC stories?
"Exactly - furthermore, you can easily do exactly the same with IE. You just create a new window, with the fullsize property set, then set the dimensions (so you then have a blank window with no chrome at all - not even a title bar) - after that it's simply a matter of adding your spoofed interface using DHTML... Game over."
This hasn't worked since Internet Explorer 6.0SP1. You can no longer resize a fullscreen window.
As of 6.0SP2 (due out soon, hopefully) you can no longer create a window without a statusbar.
Moreover, it is difficult to "fake out" the UI using DHTML. You may be able to fool inexperienced users, but it is much harder than doing the same thing using Mozilla's XUL.