"And while we're on the subject, and someone please hire a graphic artist at microsoft and get some decent icon's put together? Windows icons are really really poor, and make the UI look cheap. It's not going to break the bank to get an artist in for 6 months..."
Microsoft didn't develop the icons for XP, it was outsourced to Iconfactory Design, Inc.
I actually kind of like the XP icons. They give the OS a very unique look and are a change from the "photorealistic" OS X icons.
"BTW, about your laptop thing - why can't you set a larger font size in XP at the moment? I'm not sure I understand."
You can. XP is even smart enough to include higher-DPI versions of the controls and windows that scale up nicely. However, changing the DPI in Windows breaks some 3rd party apps, and a lot of things don't scale up well. It makes everything take on a "bloated" look.
With Longhorn, everything will scale nicely - a desktop set to 300dpi on a 300dpi screen will look identical to a desktop set to 150dpi on a 150dpi screen (of course, the 300dpi version will be sharper - but everything will be the same physical size).
"It's just like OSX's Aqua, rendering the GUI in the graphics card and all...?"
No. Aqua doesn't render the GUI in the graphics card at all. It does, however, use the graphics card as a high-speed composition engine.
Aqua is also bitmap based. Despite what many have said, OS X icons are just bitmaps, as are the buttons and other controls. That means that they don't scale very well - just like the widgets in Windows XP.
With Longhorn, everything is vectorized. You'll be able to adjust the DPI of your display and all of the controls will automatically update to match it. For example, you could have a 300dpi display and then adjust the widget size so you can still read the text.
People with UXGA 14" notebook displays know all about this. Many choose to run their display at a lower, non-native resolution because the text is too small otherwise. This isn't the best solution. With Longhorn, they'll be able to run at full native resolution and adjust the text size (and the size of the titlebars, icons, buttons, scrollbars, and everything else) to make everything usable. Plus, they get the benifits of high resolution: clear, crisp text and objects.
Here are my (reasonably) fool-proof security rules:
- NEVER enter personal information into anything other than a web browser. - NEVER enter personal information unless the browser URL begins with https:// and the security icon is displayed. - NEVER enter personal information unless you EXPLICITLY TRUST the website. - CHEK THE SPELLING of the website address. - NEVER enter personal information after following a link from an email or website (other than the one you're logging into). - ALWAYS type the address of your service into the address bar.
People use GB to refer to 1024^3, and nothing you could say or do is going to change that.
It's like religon. You can bitch all you want about how Christianity is full of logical holes (which, from any rational stance, it is), but that won't stop 1.2 billion people from believing it.
Or, you can argue all you want about how Metric is superior (which, from any rational stance, it is), but the US is going to continue using the imperial system for the immediate future.
"Tell me, what's the weather like in your part of the US? Managed to blow up any launch vehicles recently?:-)"
Challenger had nothing to do with metric vs. customary and everything to do with allowing managers to decide what should have been decided by engineers.
Hmmm... Apple's music strategy is about as closed as you can get.
Although the format is open (AAC), the DRM is closed (FairPlay), and the Apple Music System requires iTunes, an iPod (or now one other device), and the iTunes Music Store.
Contrast this to Microsoft's strategy. Although the format and DRM are closed (WMA), you can use any player to playback WMA-DRM files (so long as that player supports WMA-DRM, you can use your choice of music stores (Napster, Wal-Mart), and you can use your choice of players (Creative, Dell, iRiver, RCA, Rio, Samsung).
So, Microsoft is the one trying to establish a "standard", closed as it may be.
Remember, only Apple can sell you DRMd tracks that play in iTunes. And you can only access Apple's store with iTunes. And you can only transfer the tracks you purchased on Apple's store with iTunes to the iPod.
This is opening up one aspect of that. Now there are two things that play Apple DRMd tracks.
Don't you see Apple's strategy here? It's called platform lockin, and it's what Microsoft has done for years. They are leveraging their music store to sell their music player and to get people to install their player software. If you buy an iPod, you sure as hell aren't going to be buying your music from Napster or Wal-Mart.
"For many people these days, it is pictures taken with digital cameras that are irreplaceable."
Simple solution: get a 100-pack of CD-Rs (about $35 at Best Buy), and start burning your photos. If you have a 5 megapixel camera, we're talking about 3MB a picture with decent quality JPEG.
If you have, say, 3000 pictures, that's only 15 CD-Rs.
Almost every PC has a CD burner, so there is no longer any excuse not to back up your photos.
Or, alternately, if you have an iPod, use that. Or, do as I do, and back them up over the network to another computer.
"I'll use strong words to try to relate how emphatic I am about this point: FUCK THE AVERAGE USER. I'm the one that has to use my computer 12 hours a day, NOT the average user. And if a desktop environment is going to make it a pain in the ass for me to get it to work the way I want it, then I'll use something else. Simple as that."
Well, then use SOMETHING FUCKING ELSE and STOP FUCKING COMPLAINING.
GNOME is DESIGNED for the AVERAGE USER. If you aren't the average user, then USE FUCKING KDE. Or whatever else you want. That's the beauty of Linux - you can choose.
"It's sheer arrogance for someone to suggest that I don't know how best to arrange my environment.. even worse for my aesthetic tastes to be usurped in the name of an almost-mythical "average user" that the GNOME developers claim to understand intimately."
Perhaps you understand, but the average user doesn't. You've probably never worked in IT - the worst fucking feature of Windows 2000 is that users can move the fucking taskbar too easily. It's a nightmare - users complain that something is "wrong" and you have to fix it.
It's the same with KDE. You can change the desktop so radically that it becomes unusable. If that "K" button isn't in the same place, you're going to be getting a call.
GNOME removes choice for a reason - because when you offer a user a choice, they can make the wrong choice. Perhaps you want to be able to delete without using the trash can. But that option is dangerous - it fundamentally changes the behavior of the environment in such a way that could cause data loss.
IF YOU ARE NOT AN AVERAGE USER, YOU SHOULD NOT BE USING GNOME. GNOME IS INTENDED FOR A DIFFERENT TARGET AUDIENCE THAN YOU. IT IS DESIGNED FOR THE 95% OF USERS WHO ARE USING WINDOWS RIGHT NOW. IT IS DESIGNED TO PROTECT AND INSULATE USERS FROM THE UNDERLYING SYSTEM.
If you don't want that, then why the fuck are you using GNOME?
KDE is, was, and always will be the superior desktop for users like you. I am glad that the GNOME developers realized this, and that they are now working to fill a void in the Linux desktop picture.
Why would I pay $500 for a Treo when I got a Pocket PC Phone for $200 on eBay?
The HTC Wallaby has a faster processor, TRUE multitasking (your Palm OS device only pretends to multitask), a real filesystem, and 3x the screen resolution.
And it still has an SD slot, plenty of memory (32MB internal RAM, 32MB internal flash), MP3 playback (WMA too, and Vorbis/FLAC with a free application), WMV/MPEG1/DIVX playback, and a lot more.
Why would I pay two and a half times more for a device that doesn't do as much? Oh, right, the Treo has a camera. Except, of course, that my employer doesn't want me waltzing around the workplace with a camera phone (security reasons).
"why wouldn't they release some sort of XBox player software for the PC, (following the same lines as cxbx or xeon emulators) unless they were interested in pushing gaming away from the PC"
Because XBox emulators suck. There is such variation in hardware that it's near impossible to get a consistatnt experience.
Oh, and it would cost money to produce such a program. Plus, most XBOX games are designed to be played on a TV with the XBOX controller, not on a PC.
"They are not dominating the PDA market like they wanted to."
Actually, they are. Since the launch of Pocket PC, Windows CE devices have been growing in marketshare consistantly. In fact, the #1 PDA manufacturer isn't PalmOne anymore, it's HP.
"They are slowly but surely losing the server market."
They can't lose what they never had. Microsoft never owned the server market.
"Microsoft is where IBM was in 1980. They are on top, but headed for a fall. The reason? Because despite the rhetoric, Microsoft can't innovate. They can only copy."
IBM is still a $90 billion a year company. There was no IBM "fall". They are still very much alive and kicking.
"Despite reams of hype and much marketting muscle on Microsoft's part, Sony still sells ten Playstations for every Xbox."
Statistically, you're full of crap. At the beginning of this year, Microsoft had sold 13.5 million XBOX consoles. Sony has sold 50 million PS2 consoles. That's 3.7 to one, not the ten to one you quote.
And, remember, PS2 launched over a year and a half earlier than XBox.
"Because despite the rhetoric, Microsoft can't innovate. They can only copy."
When Apple rips off features from Windows XP (fast user switching, video chat, disk encryption, save window with places on left), it's "innovating". When Microsoft invents these features, it's "copying".
"They are not the king of set top boxes."
Carriers deploying Microsoft TV based products: - Comcast Cable (largest cable operator in world) - Megacable (largest cable operator in Mexico) - Bell Canada - Swisscom (largest broadband provier in Switzerland) - Reliance Infocomm (largest broadband provider in India)
Which is more relevent? The statistics from a W3 oriented web design site, or the statistics from Google?
Sure, Mozilla is gaining, but IE still represents most of the market.
Not that IE is exactly "secure by design".
"I take it you've never been on I-25 north of Denver? "
Living in Fort Collins, CO, I drive on I-25 north of Denver quite often.
It's the pricks like you who drive 130 that make that road SO DANGEROUS. The speed limit is 75 for a reason - the traffic and road conditions (both the quality of the road - I'm sure you know this - and the snow we get in the winter) combine to make this stretch of road UNFIT for driving 130.
And most people don't go 130 on I-25. Most people go 80-85. The speed limit is 75.
"Unfortunately, it doesn't really do a lot to protect against spyware."
Are you kidding!!!!
XP SP2 ELIMINATES drive-by downloads. IE is set, by default, NOT to prompt to install ActiveX controls (e.g. Gator). Instead, it pops up a little bar at the top of the screen. It now takes three clicks and a much improved security dialog to install spyware.
"This last reminder is particularly annoying as it pops up from the system tray approximately every 10 minutes, with the default dialog option set to reboot."
Of course it is annoying! It's supposed to be annoying! The patch isn't applied until you reboot, so it is is essential that you reboot *as soon as is reasonably possible*.
"or enable the default Windows firewall - and given the Microsoft security track record, who in their right mind would rely on that?"
The Windows Firewall has proven to be as effective as any hardware firewall. It does not, however, block outgoing traffic.
Oh, and SP2 isn't just a "front end". It is a new version of IE which is immune to all of the IE holes posted on securityfocus. It is a new security-zones system which should eliminate nearly all cross-zone flaws (currently the #1 security flaw in IE). It is an IE with a popup-blocker. It is an IE that prevents drive-by downloads. It is an IE that warns users when they are about to download a dangerous file. It is an Outlook Express that prevents users from opening dangerous attachments or from being subjected to spam "bugs". It is a service pack that takes advantage of no-execute (on AMD64 CPUs) to prevent buffer-overruns from becoming security holes. It is a service pack that includes recompiled versions of system DLLs - versions compiled with a compiler that is designed to eliminate most buffer overrunns.
XP SP2 is the single largest update to (consumer) Windows since the introduction of Windows XP. It is not just a "front-end".
Each country can get a slice, so long as there are less than 4 billion countries.
Each ISP can get the next slice, so each country can have 4 billion ISPs and each ISP can have 4 billion clients.
Each client has an address space as large as the ENTIRE ADDRESS SPACE under IPv4.
Alternately...
Take 64-bits and assign them as a "user ID". Every person in the world can have a user ID, and every one of them can have more IPs than they could ever need (2^64).
There is no need for a "class A/B/C" system. There are TONS of IP addresses to go around with IPv6.
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"And while we're on the subject, and someone please hire a graphic artist at microsoft and get some decent icon's put together? Windows icons are really really poor, and make the UI look cheap. It's not going to break the bank to get an artist in for 6 months..."
Microsoft didn't develop the icons for XP, it was outsourced to Iconfactory Design, Inc.
I actually kind of like the XP icons. They give the OS a very unique look and are a change from the "photorealistic" OS X icons.
"BTW, about your laptop thing - why can't you set a larger font size in XP at the moment? I'm not sure I understand."
You can. XP is even smart enough to include higher-DPI versions of the controls and windows that scale up nicely. However, changing the DPI in Windows breaks some 3rd party apps, and a lot of things don't scale up well. It makes everything take on a "bloated" look.
With Longhorn, everything will scale nicely - a desktop set to 300dpi on a 300dpi screen will look identical to a desktop set to 150dpi on a 150dpi screen (of course, the 300dpi version will be sharper - but everything will be the same physical size).
"Sure, they are still "in progress" releases, but you can actually download them and try them out, which is way more than can be said for Longhorn."
Longhorn's Avalon is up and running in the PDC released build.
MSDN members have access right now.
"It's just like OSX's Aqua, rendering the GUI in the graphics card and all...?"
No. Aqua doesn't render the GUI in the graphics card at all. It does, however, use the graphics card as a high-speed composition engine.
Aqua is also bitmap based. Despite what many have said, OS X icons are just bitmaps, as are the buttons and other controls. That means that they don't scale very well - just like the widgets in Windows XP.
With Longhorn, everything is vectorized. You'll be able to adjust the DPI of your display and all of the controls will automatically update to match it. For example, you could have a 300dpi display and then adjust the widget size so you can still read the text.
People with UXGA 14" notebook displays know all about this. Many choose to run their display at a lower, non-native resolution because the text is too small otherwise. This isn't the best solution. With Longhorn, they'll be able to run at full native resolution and adjust the text size (and the size of the titlebars, icons, buttons, scrollbars, and everything else) to make everything usable. Plus, they get the benifits of high resolution: clear, crisp text and objects.
"For example, updating the index when a file changes would be easiest if you can get notifications from the base level."
Which is why Windows has this as a documented API call.
Here are my (reasonably) fool-proof security rules:
- NEVER enter personal information into anything other than a web browser.
- NEVER enter personal information unless the browser URL begins with https:// and the security icon is displayed.
- NEVER enter personal information unless you EXPLICITLY TRUST the website.
- CHEK THE SPELLING of the website address.
- NEVER enter personal information after following a link from an email or website (other than the one you're logging into).
- ALWAYS type the address of your service into the address bar.
Your argument is well-thought out and airtight.
Unfortunately, it's clearly meaningless.
People use GB to refer to 1024^3, and nothing you could say or do is going to change that.
It's like religon. You can bitch all you want about how Christianity is full of logical holes (which, from any rational stance, it is), but that won't stop 1.2 billion people from believing it.
Or, you can argue all you want about how Metric is superior (which, from any rational stance, it is), but the US is going to continue using the imperial system for the immediate future.
"Tell me, what's the weather like in your part of the US? Managed to blow up any launch vehicles recently? :-)"
Challenger had nothing to do with metric vs. customary and everything to do with allowing managers to decide what should have been decided by engineers.
Hmmm... Apple's music strategy is about as closed as you can get.
Although the format is open (AAC), the DRM is closed (FairPlay), and the Apple Music System requires iTunes, an iPod (or now one other device), and the iTunes Music Store.
Contrast this to Microsoft's strategy. Although the format and DRM are closed (WMA), you can use any player to playback WMA-DRM files (so long as that player supports WMA-DRM, you can use your choice of music stores (Napster, Wal-Mart), and you can use your choice of players (Creative, Dell, iRiver, RCA, Rio, Samsung).
So, Microsoft is the one trying to establish a "standard", closed as it may be.
Remember, only Apple can sell you DRMd tracks that play in iTunes. And you can only access Apple's store with iTunes. And you can only transfer the tracks you purchased on Apple's store with iTunes to the iPod.
This is opening up one aspect of that. Now there are two things that play Apple DRMd tracks.
Don't you see Apple's strategy here? It's called platform lockin, and it's what Microsoft has done for years. They are leveraging their music store to sell their music player and to get people to install their player software. If you buy an iPod, you sure as hell aren't going to be buying your music from Napster or Wal-Mart.
"For many people these days, it is pictures taken with digital cameras that are irreplaceable."
Simple solution: get a 100-pack of CD-Rs (about $35 at Best Buy), and start burning your photos. If you have a 5 megapixel camera, we're talking about 3MB a picture with decent quality JPEG.
If you have, say, 3000 pictures, that's only 15 CD-Rs.
Almost every PC has a CD burner, so there is no longer any excuse not to back up your photos.
Or, alternately, if you have an iPod, use that. Or, do as I do, and back them up over the network to another computer.
Problem solved.
"I'll use strong words to try to relate how emphatic I am about this point: FUCK THE AVERAGE USER. I'm the one that has to use my computer 12 hours a day, NOT the average user. And if a desktop environment is going to make it a pain in the ass for me to get it to work the way I want it, then I'll use something else. Simple as that."
Well, then use SOMETHING FUCKING ELSE and STOP FUCKING COMPLAINING.
GNOME is DESIGNED for the AVERAGE USER. If you aren't the average user, then USE FUCKING KDE. Or whatever else you want. That's the beauty of Linux - you can choose.
"It's sheer arrogance for someone to suggest that I don't know how best to arrange my environment.. even worse for my aesthetic tastes to be usurped in the name of an almost-mythical "average user" that the GNOME developers claim to understand intimately."
Perhaps you understand, but the average user doesn't. You've probably never worked in IT - the worst fucking feature of Windows 2000 is that users can move the fucking taskbar too easily. It's a nightmare - users complain that something is "wrong" and you have to fix it.
It's the same with KDE. You can change the desktop so radically that it becomes unusable. If that "K" button isn't in the same place, you're going to be getting a call.
GNOME removes choice for a reason - because when you offer a user a choice, they can make the wrong choice. Perhaps you want to be able to delete without using the trash can. But that option is dangerous - it fundamentally changes the behavior of the environment in such a way that could cause data loss.
IF YOU ARE NOT AN AVERAGE USER, YOU SHOULD NOT BE USING GNOME. GNOME IS INTENDED FOR A DIFFERENT TARGET AUDIENCE THAN YOU. IT IS DESIGNED FOR THE 95% OF USERS WHO ARE USING WINDOWS RIGHT NOW. IT IS DESIGNED TO PROTECT AND INSULATE USERS FROM THE UNDERLYING SYSTEM.
If you don't want that, then why the fuck are you using GNOME?
KDE is, was, and always will be the superior desktop for users like you. I am glad that the GNOME developers realized this, and that they are now working to fill a void in the Linux desktop picture.
Why would I pay $500 for a Treo when I got a Pocket PC Phone for $200 on eBay?
The HTC Wallaby has a faster processor, TRUE multitasking (your Palm OS device only pretends to multitask), a real filesystem, and 3x the screen resolution.
And it still has an SD slot, plenty of memory (32MB internal RAM, 32MB internal flash), MP3 playback (WMA too, and Vorbis/FLAC with a free application), WMV/MPEG1/DIVX playback, and a lot more.
Why would I pay two and a half times more for a device that doesn't do as much? Oh, right, the Treo has a camera. Except, of course, that my employer doesn't want me waltzing around the workplace with a camera phone (security reasons).
"They are?"
Yeah, it's called XBox.
"why wouldn't they release some sort of XBox player software for the PC, (following the same lines as cxbx or xeon emulators) unless they were interested in pushing gaming away from the PC"
Because XBox emulators suck. There is such variation in hardware that it's near impossible to get a consistatnt experience.
Oh, and it would cost money to produce such a program. Plus, most XBOX games are designed to be played on a TV with the XBOX controller, not on a PC.
"Is that stereo part of the car? No."
Of course the stereo is a part of the car. So is the heater/AC. So are the seats.
The stereo came with the car, and it is integrated into the car. How is it any less a part of the car than the seats?
"The car manufacturer, and Mandrake, give me the opportunity to fuss around with cables if I want."
Good luck. Most car manufacturers use proprietary connectors and form factors.
Epic Games, creator of Unreal Tournament 2004, shipped a Linux version of UT2003 and UT2004 on the same CDs (or DVDs) as the Windows version.
A mac port and XBox port (Unreal Championship) are also available for UT2003.
"They are not dominating the PDA market like they wanted to."
Actually, they are. Since the launch of Pocket PC, Windows CE devices have been growing in marketshare consistantly. In fact, the #1 PDA manufacturer isn't PalmOne anymore, it's HP.
"They are slowly but surely losing the server market."
They can't lose what they never had. Microsoft never owned the server market.
"Microsoft is where IBM was in 1980. They are on top, but headed for a fall. The reason? Because despite the rhetoric, Microsoft can't innovate. They can only copy."
IBM is still a $90 billion a year company. There was no IBM "fall". They are still very much alive and kicking.
"Despite reams of hype and much marketting muscle on Microsoft's part, Sony still sells ten Playstations for every Xbox."
Statistically, you're full of crap. At the beginning of this year, Microsoft had sold 13.5 million XBOX consoles. Sony has sold 50 million PS2 consoles. That's 3.7 to one, not the ten to one you quote.
And, remember, PS2 launched over a year and a half earlier than XBox.
"Because despite the rhetoric, Microsoft can't innovate. They can only copy."
When Apple rips off features from Windows XP (fast user switching, video chat, disk encryption, save window with places on left), it's "innovating". When Microsoft invents these features, it's "copying".
"They are not the king of set top boxes."
Carriers deploying Microsoft TV based products:
- Comcast Cable (largest cable operator in world)
- Megacable (largest cable operator in Mexico)
- Bell Canada
- Swisscom (largest broadband provier in Switzerland)
- Reliance Infocomm (largest broadband provider in India)
Replace "copyright" with "trademark" and you have the right idea.
Which is more relevent? The statistics from a W3 oriented web design site, or the statistics from Google? Sure, Mozilla is gaining, but IE still represents most of the market. Not that IE is exactly "secure by design".
"They are entirely seperate companies with Vodaphone PLC owning the majority of the company not Verizon."
Actually, Verizon owns 55% of Verizon Wireless, and Vodafone owns 45%.
Based on the fact that I understood everything that you just said perfectly, I would argue that American English is still very much English.
Other than a few style changes and some spelling simplifications, they are still the same language.
Because, as we all know, Canadians speek Canadian, and Australians speek Australian.
"I take it you've never been on I-25 north of Denver? "
Living in Fort Collins, CO, I drive on I-25 north of Denver quite often.
It's the pricks like you who drive 130 that make that road SO DANGEROUS. The speed limit is 75 for a reason - the traffic and road conditions (both the quality of the road - I'm sure you know this - and the snow we get in the winter) combine to make this stretch of road UNFIT for driving 130.
And most people don't go 130 on I-25. Most people go 80-85. The speed limit is 75.
"Unfortunately, it doesn't really do a lot to protect against spyware."
Are you kidding!!!!
XP SP2 ELIMINATES drive-by downloads. IE is set, by default, NOT to prompt to install ActiveX controls (e.g. Gator). Instead, it pops up a little bar at the top of the screen. It now takes three clicks and a much improved security dialog to install spyware.
"This last reminder is particularly annoying as it pops up from the system tray approximately every 10 minutes, with the default dialog option set to reboot."
Of course it is annoying! It's supposed to be annoying! The patch isn't applied until you reboot, so it is is essential that you reboot *as soon as is reasonably possible*.
"or enable the default Windows firewall - and given the Microsoft security track record, who in their right mind would rely on that?"
The Windows Firewall has proven to be as effective as any hardware firewall. It does not, however, block outgoing traffic.
Oh, and SP2 isn't just a "front end". It is a new version of IE which is immune to all of the IE holes posted on securityfocus. It is a new security-zones system which should eliminate nearly all cross-zone flaws (currently the #1 security flaw in IE). It is an IE with a popup-blocker. It is an IE that prevents drive-by downloads. It is an IE that warns users when they are about to download a dangerous file. It is an Outlook Express that prevents users from opening dangerous attachments or from being subjected to spam "bugs". It is a service pack that takes advantage of no-execute (on AMD64 CPUs) to prevent buffer-overruns from becoming security holes. It is a service pack that includes recompiled versions of system DLLs - versions compiled with a compiler that is designed to eliminate most buffer overrunns.
XP SP2 is the single largest update to (consumer) Windows since the introduction of Windows XP. It is not just a "front-end".
"That's a good point why is it that a DVD burner costs (in Australia) $150-$200 while a DVD recorder costs ~$1200?"
Here in the USA, an 8x multiformat DVD burner is around $80-$90 if you shop online.
A DVD recorder is around $200-$300. Prices have fallen signifigantly. Look at this. $229 for a DVD recorder. Not bad at all.
So, it looks like people in Australia are just getting ripped off. DVD recorders have been under $300 for about five months now in the US.
"Nintendo, don't see fit to even seriously bother with as an accessory."
You mean like this?
"Well, you can, but it's third party, very hardware specific"
There are 3rd party non-hardware-dependant solutions.
Try BeTwin:
thinsoftinc.com
Your concern is, well, rather unfounded.
Say we divide it into 4 32-bit slices.
Each country can get a slice, so long as there are less than 4 billion countries.
Each ISP can get the next slice, so each country can have 4 billion ISPs and each ISP can have 4 billion clients.
Each client has an address space as large as the ENTIRE ADDRESS SPACE under IPv4.
Alternately...
Take 64-bits and assign them as a "user ID". Every person in the world can have a user ID, and every one of them can have more IPs than they could ever need (2^64).
There is no need for a "class A/B/C" system. There are TONS of IP addresses to go around with IPv6.