Looks like the folks at NOAA are shooting to confirm what we already know, and what Microsoft is hoping to learn if they can ever get Windows ported to a 64bit system. A 64bit capable OS (Linux) on 64bit iron (Alpha) absolutely SCREAMS next to the identically clocked, sameinallotherrespects 32bit system running the 32bit version of said OS.
Remember those vast performance diffs between the 80386SX-16 and the 80386DX-16? That's what we got here.
7lt;Note-to-Microsoft> Nanny-nanny-nah-nah, our OS runs on IA-64 and yours won't.7lt;/Note-to-Microsoft>
These last few weeks have been nothing short of amazing with all of the new releases that have come out. Mandrake, Corel, etc.. releases here, Alan Cox kernels there... It seems like I'm reading about a new update or debut nearly every day!
It's a good thing I'm not one of those ultra-geeks that has to have the absolute latest of everything or I'd never get around to anything more than the updates.
I keep thinking this rapid rollout will subside but it just keeps going!!! Keep it up!!
Yet, if you actually take the time to follow that link labeled Corel® LINUX® Beta Q & A you will see that there is no requirement for Windows of any kind. I found a lot of useful information on that FAQ page. I doubt that I'm elegible as a newbie but I know a number of people who probably would be candidates.
Among the FAQ's is:
"What are the requirements for becoming a beta tester for Corel LINUX?
We will select users based on their experience with Linux®, the diversity of hardware at their disposal and on their software testing experience. In addition, we are reserving spaces for some KDE and Debian developers."
I suspect this one falls into the old "RTFM" category.
I saw a story on a similar future product from another company (GE?) earlier this year. Theirs was supposed to work as a networked client. The assumption was that you would set it up as an access point to your household network. As I recall there were references to the thought that it would run a "highly customizable OS, such as Linux" with an interface to a household server. The server would then provide access to all other services such as
E-mail
WWW Surfing
Recipe & menu wares
Any other software you can server over a wire.
Looks like this is where household appliances are headed. Ultimately, you'll be able to have your refrigerator tell the oven how to cook the turkey and digitally page you on your family to call them to dinner.
Set up an inventory controll package and you can even have it generate your shopping list.
Build in speakers, microphone, and camera and you have a ready-made speaker-phone with video conferencing, and you can play Netradio while you work.
Microsoft will tell you themselves that they still run HotMail on non-MS products. Seems they can't get a 64bit compile of NT Server to handle the the load without crashing. Up to the last thing I heard (about 3 weeks ago) they're still running sendmail on Solaris. You can probably get the stability you need running Linux and save the bucks you would spend on Solaris (Unless Sun is still giving away copies of it) or Windows.
Why support AOL IM? It's the most widely used instant messanger system there is. MS has a history og going where the market is. Adding support for Yahoo! and Prodigy systems should be relatively simple, especially if a common protocol can be agreed upon.
Meanwhile, who really cares if MS bundles MSIM with Windows? Just so long as it's uninstallable and replaceable. There's nothing there the OS is dependent on so that should be possible.
Anyway, open protocols are good for the Internet. Efforts to promote open protocols should be supported regardless of the perceived motives of the participants.
I have to agree with ESR's point. Motives aside, we have to support MS on this argument. In this instance AOL seems to be trying to "Microsoft" the instant messaging community. It wasn't good when MS did it on other projects so it can't be good for AOL to do it now. Open protocols are central to a functioning Internet. Efforts to keep protocols open should be supported regardless of the intentions, real or perceived, of the participants.
While it is VERY good to hear that this is just a consolidation of tasks and not the elimination of the entire Alpha line, Here's where you address your concerns or praise (as it may be) to Compaq:
Be sure to make the following point to them in the process: Virtually nowhere do they advertise or promote the Alpha line. No wonder it's flagging in the market! I see ads everywhere for Compaq Intel boxes but no mention of their own Alpha processor. If they would only add Alpha systems to their current ad campaigns there would be a 100% increase in ad space for Alpha.
Residents of upscale neighborhoods on the outskirts of Tokyo (Japan) have been harried lately by large packs of electronic dogs. The dogs patrol the area at night causing a wide variety of damage ranging from spreading trash about the lawn, digging up flower beds, and destroying any metal objects they can reach (including mailboxes). Speculation by local authorities includes the possibility that these "dogs" are networked together by some sort of wireles LAN as a large "Beowulf cluster." (See related information on the Beowulf Project at CESDIS.
Information compiled from the few eyewitness accounts available indicates that the dogs lounge in well lit areas by day, recharging energy cells via photo voltaic panels, and roam the neighborhood at night. Their "mission" appears to be the gathering of raw materials for the construction of more dogs.
I can't tell you how many times I've been forced to view page source to read something that was
Displayed with fgcolor = bgcolor.
Not displayed due to proprietary HTML extensions.
Not displayed due to required, obscure plugin. (Plugin frequently NOT avail. for my platform)
Unprintable due to choice of fgcolor or bgcolor.
And that's just what comes to mind in a few seconds!
Additionally, with the current state of technology and the growing number of handicapped persons using the web there is no reason why the ADA should not be applied to web pages.
The WAI Quick Tips Reference Card is short, clear, and allows unlimited personal expression even if followed to the most extreme levels.
One important thing to keep in mind while developing a page: Text to Voice synthesizers used by the blind find the reading of multi-column tables to be difficult at best.
Don't rely on your editing tool to provide a well formatted page. MS-Word WWW Wizards and FrontPage both produce some of the most indeciferable HTML I have ever tried to read. Netscape Composer removes hard coded CRLFs in the file so server based authenticators are munged. While a WYSYWYG editor speeds up development there is still no substitute for a final hard code look at your code with a text mode editor (VI, EMACS, DOS Edit, Windows Notepad, etc...)
LOC cannot be relied upon to predict accurately the functionality of code segment or full program.
In "Triumph of the nerds" this is commented on quite effectively by Steve Ballmer of Microsoft (Feel free to read in "The Evil Empire" for "Microsoft"). In the very early days, when MS was writing DOS (OK to say "re-writing") for IBM's new PC project they butted heads with IBM many times about how many KLOC were in the current package. MS's point was that as you find more efficient ways of doing things, and learn to reuse code, final KLOC goes down.
One additional observation... The more code you have, the more opportunities you have for bugs. More code to filter through means more work finding coding problems.
How many KLOC are there in Windows?;-)
Programming is like the standard calculus area problem. Take a big problem and divide it into as many little problems as you can. The sum of all the little solutions is the sum of the whole.
From that thought we can surmise that KLOC can be used as an indicator of the size (area) of the problem which had to be solved. Based on KLOC I can only guess that MS has a lot of problems to solve.;-)
I noticed zero mention of cost factor. The MS servers require a rather nasty licensing fee. Whereas, the Linux boxes get by with the cost of hardware and administrator time alone.
What about stability?!! There is no mention of the fact that NTS has to be brought down periodically or it brings itself down. Or the fact that MS itself acknowledges that it crashes under load. (MS Hotmail runs on Solaris due to this "feature.")
For the cost of two NTS boxes (primary and backup) You can set up several 486 linux boxes to service the same IP and run them all continuously for equal or higher throughput and infinitely more stability.
Obviously, the fact that our 'friends' at MS are making such big talk about Linux being "Not a threat" is a strong indication that people at Microsoft are scared.
If you want some really fun truth, I just read an article (I think it was on c|net) about the servers running Microsoft's HotMail. It seems the folks in Redmond have been trying for months to get HotMail to run on a WinNT server to no avail. NT just can't handle the load and has a tendency to crash when it's really put to the test. (Duh!) So, instead of serving HotMail on NT (as MS would prefer for all of the obvious reasons) it's being served on Solaris (64bit version for Sparc). Yes, Solaris, a product of Sun Microsystems. The very same Sun Microsystem who has MS in federal district court for violating agreements re: Java.
While MS tries to patch together a version of NT which can handle HotMail scale loads, Solaris just plugs along, happily doing it's job. MS is discovering that making the hop from 32 bits to 64 bits is much harder than they ever dreamt. Remember what happened to 16bit compatibility when Win95 was released? Promises that 16 bit apps would still be supported were dropped like red hot rivets. Don't expect any supportable promises of backward 32 bit compatibility when MS finally figures out how to handle 64 bits.
Meanwhile, those of us in the Unix/Solaris/Linux/... world have stable 64 bit workhorse systems up and running today.
It's exceedingly clear that our 'friends' at Apple don't have a clue about what true open-source is.
Well, Apple, here's what you should be doing: For any/all of your products which are declared to be "Open Source"
Publish your source code in a very public, easily accessed place.
Establish your self not as owner of the code but, as coordinator.
Fully emprace and incorporate the GPL with regard to all open-source projects.
Source is not truly open if it's contributors are eventually to be denied by the coordinating entity. If Apple can understand and apply these ideas, they can be established and accepted as project coordinators in much the same way Linus Torvalds is regarding GNU/Linux.
Compaq has committed to continued development of the Alpha line and has just released the next level system. Their new 21264 based systems are the fastest thing running today.
Visit Compaq at http://www.compaq.com or at http://www.digital.com for more info on the new Alpha's.
Yes, Compaq now owns Digital and, therefor Digital Unix. Promoting GNU/Linux could be seen as cutting their own throats on that front. However, Compaq doesn't see the same kind of markup on Unix as it does on hardware, and would rather do hardware anyway.
Promoting GNU/Linux to the point that new installations go there instead of to other 'nix's helps Compaq get back to what the really want to do anyway. Ultimately, they downsize the software part of the business and keep a smaller coding force on hand to continue 'nix development for GNU/Linux solutions.
As for finding Alpha systems cheap,look at places like WebAuction (run by Micro/PC/MAC Warehouse) for deals. I picked up an Alpha box from them for $350, added 4.6GB HD, 24X CD-ROM, 128MB additional RAM, 17" Monitor, 56K/V90 external Dava/Voice/Fax modem, NT4 Workstation, MS Office Pro, and the Alpha firmware for a total cost under $2500 by shopping the web and local computer shows.
The entire idea that Red Hat could be the next MS needs some drastic rethinking. 1.) Red Hat (RH) does NOT own Linux or control it. In fact, they have little or no interest in either situation. 2.) If RH were inclined toward such a move the Linux community at large can probably put them back in their place quickly enough. Finally, 3.) For RH to become the next MS they would have to use something that is not open source to do it. Since Linux is open source, and RH has little or no control over Linux, the possibility of RH using Linux to be the next MS does not exist.
Slashdot Mirror
Remember those vast performance diffs between the 80386SX-16 and the 80386DX-16? That's what we got here.
7lt;Note-to-Microsoft> Nanny-nanny-nah-nah, our OS runs on IA-64 and yours won't.7lt;/Note-to-Microsoft>
D. Keith Higgs
CWRU. Kelvin Smith Library
It's a good thing I'm not one of those ultra-geeks that has to have the absolute latest of everything or I'd never get around to anything more than the updates.
I keep thinking this rapid rollout will subside but it just keeps going!!! Keep it up!!
D. Keith Higgs
CWRU. Kelvin Smith Library
Among the FAQ's is:
I suspect this one falls into the old "RTFM" category.
D. Keith Higgs
CWRU. Kelvin Smith Library
I'm glad we haven't had the gratuitous SPAM jokes I was anticipating.
D. Keith Higgs
CWRU. Kelvin Smith Library
- E-mail
- WWW Surfing
- Recipe & menu wares
- Any other software you can server over a wire.
Looks like this is where household appliances are headed. Ultimately, you'll be able to have your refrigerator tell the oven how to cook the turkey and digitally page you on your family to call them to dinner.Set up an inventory controll package and you can even have it generate your shopping list.
Build in speakers, microphone, and camera and you have a ready-made speaker-phone with video conferencing, and you can play Netradio while you work.
D. Keith Higgs
CWRU. Kelvin Smith Library
The changes file runs to 108 pages when I print it. Srongly recommended that you print only if absolutely necessary.
I can't wait to get this installed on my Win32 box! 1.3.6 has been completely stable for two months now on this box.
D. Keith Higgs
CWRU. Kelvin Smith Library
Microsoft will tell you themselves that they still run HotMail on non-MS products. Seems they can't get a 64bit compile of NT Server to handle the the load without crashing. Up to the last thing I heard (about 3 weeks ago) they're still running sendmail on Solaris. You can probably get the stability you need running Linux and save the bucks you would spend on Solaris (Unless Sun is still giving away copies of it) or Windows.
D. Keith Higgs
CWRU. Kelvin Smith Library
Meanwhile, who really cares if MS bundles MSIM with Windows? Just so long as it's uninstallable and replaceable. There's nothing there the OS is dependent on so that should be possible.
Anyway, open protocols are good for the Internet. Efforts to promote open protocols should be supported regardless of the perceived motives of the participants.
D. Keith Higgs
CWRU. Kelvin Smith Library
I have to agree with ESR's point. Motives aside, we have to support MS on this argument. In this instance AOL seems to be trying to "Microsoft" the instant messaging community. It wasn't good when MS did it on other projects so it can't be good for AOL to do it now. Open protocols are central to a functioning Internet. Efforts to keep protocols open should be supported regardless of the intentions, real or perceived, of the participants.
D. Keith Higgs
CWRU. Kelvin Smith Library
D. Keith Higgs
CWRU. Kelvin Smith Library
Visit Compaq's web site at http://www.compaq.com/ and make use of the form on their " Contact Us" page.
Be sure to make the following point to them in the process: Virtually nowhere do they advertise or promote the Alpha line. No wonder it's flagging in the market! I see ads everywhere for Compaq Intel boxes but no mention of their own Alpha processor. If they would only add Alpha systems to their current ad campaigns there would be a 100% increase in ad space for Alpha.
D. Keith Higgs
CWRU. Kelvin Smith Library
Residents of upscale neighborhoods on the outskirts of Tokyo (Japan) have been harried lately by large packs of electronic dogs. The dogs patrol the area at night causing a wide variety of damage ranging from spreading trash about the lawn, digging up flower beds, and destroying any metal objects they can reach (including mailboxes). Speculation by local authorities includes the possibility that these "dogs" are networked together by some sort of wireles LAN as a large "Beowulf cluster." (See related information on the Beowulf Project at CESDIS.
Information compiled from the few eyewitness accounts available indicates that the dogs lounge in well lit areas by day, recharging energy cells via photo voltaic panels, and roam the neighborhood at night. Their "mission" appears to be the gathering of raw materials for the construction of more dogs.
Watch-out Tabby! Fido has an attitude!
D. Keith Higgs
CWRU. Kelvin Smith Library
At least when this one chews your slippers the clean-up will be a lot less aromatic. ;)
D. Keith Higgs
CWRU. Kelvin Smith Library
- Displayed with fgcolor = bgcolor.
- Not displayed due to proprietary HTML extensions.
- Not displayed due to required, obscure plugin. (Plugin frequently NOT avail. for my platform)
- Unprintable due to choice of fgcolor or bgcolor.
And that's just what comes to mind in a few seconds!Additionally, with the current state of technology and the growing number of handicapped persons using the web there is no reason why the ADA should not be applied to web pages.
The WAI Quick Tips Reference Card is short, clear, and allows unlimited personal expression even if followed to the most extreme levels.
One important thing to keep in mind while developing a page: Text to Voice synthesizers used by the blind find the reading of multi-column tables to be difficult at best.
Don't rely on your editing tool to provide a well formatted page. MS-Word WWW Wizards and FrontPage both produce some of the most indeciferable HTML I have ever tried to read. Netscape Composer removes hard coded CRLFs in the file so server based authenticators are munged. While a WYSYWYG editor speeds up development there is still no substitute for a final hard code look at your code with a text mode editor (VI, EMACS, DOS Edit, Windows Notepad, etc...)
D. Keith Higgs
CWRU. Kelvin Smith Library
In "Triumph of the nerds" this is commented on quite effectively by Steve Ballmer of Microsoft (Feel free to read in "The Evil Empire" for "Microsoft"). In the very early days, when MS was writing DOS (OK to say "re-writing") for IBM's new PC project they butted heads with IBM many times about how many KLOC were in the current package. MS's point was that as you find more efficient ways of doing things, and learn to reuse code, final KLOC goes down.
One additional observation... The more code you have, the more opportunities you have for bugs. More code to filter through means more work finding coding problems.
How many KLOC are there in Windows? ;-)
Programming is like the standard calculus area problem. Take a big problem and divide it into as many little problems as you can. The sum of all the little solutions is the sum of the whole.
From that thought we can surmise that KLOC can be used as an indicator of the size (area) of the problem which had to be solved. Based on KLOC I can only guess that MS has a lot of problems to solve. ;-)
D. Keith Higgs
CWRU. Kelvin Smith Library
What about stability?!! There is no mention of the fact that NTS has to be brought down periodically or it brings itself down. Or the fact that MS itself acknowledges that it crashes under load. (MS Hotmail runs on Solaris due to this "feature.")
For the cost of two NTS boxes (primary and backup) You can set up several 486 linux boxes to service the same IP and run them all continuously for equal or higher throughput and infinitely more stability.
D. Keith Higgs
CWRU. Kelvin Smith Library
If I'm wrong, I hope for the best (speedy acquittal) for those in jail. Hopefully the bikers and the NRA will come through with some support.
Assuming this is the delightful hoax I hope it is, my hat (the red one) is off to you.
D. Keith Higgs
CWRU. Kelvin Smith Library
Based on what this guy is apparently able to code he's not your run-of-the-mill hacker. So why does he insist in working in that unstable platform?
D. Keith Higgs
CWRU. Kelvin Smith Library
If you want some really fun truth, I just read an article (I think it was on c|net) about the servers running Microsoft's HotMail. It seems the folks in Redmond have been trying for months to get HotMail to run on a WinNT server to no avail. NT just can't handle the load and has a tendency to crash when it's really put to the test. (Duh!) So, instead of serving HotMail on NT (as MS would prefer for all of the obvious reasons) it's being served on Solaris (64bit version for Sparc). Yes, Solaris, a product of Sun Microsystems. The very same Sun Microsystem who has MS in federal district court for violating agreements re: Java.
While MS tries to patch together a version of NT which can handle HotMail scale loads, Solaris just plugs along, happily doing it's job. MS is discovering that making the hop from 32 bits to 64 bits is much harder than they ever dreamt. Remember what happened to 16bit compatibility when Win95 was released? Promises that 16 bit apps would still be supported were dropped like red hot rivets. Don't expect any supportable promises of backward 32 bit compatibility when MS finally figures out how to handle 64 bits.
Meanwhile, those of us in the Unix/Solaris/Linux/... world have stable 64 bit workhorse systems up and running today.
D. Keith Higgs
CWRU. Kelvin Smith Library
Well, Apple, here's what you should be doing: For any/all of your products which are declared to be "Open Source"
- Publish your source code in a very public, easily accessed place.
- Establish your self not as owner of the code but, as coordinator.
- Fully emprace and incorporate the GPL with regard to all open-source projects.
Source is not truly open if it's contributors are eventually to be denied by the coordinating entity. If Apple can understand and apply these ideas, they can be established and accepted as project coordinators in much the same way Linus Torvalds is regarding GNU/Linux.D. Keith Higgs
CWRU. Kelvin Smith Library
Compaq has committed to continued development of the Alpha line and has just released the next level system. Their new 21264 based systems are the fastest thing running today.
Visit Compaq at http://www.compaq.com or at http://www.digital.com for more info on the new Alpha's.
D. Keith Higgs
CWRU. Kelvin Smith Library
Promoting GNU/Linux to the point that new installations go there instead of to other 'nix's helps Compaq get back to what the really want to do anyway. Ultimately, they downsize the software part of the business and keep a smaller coding force on hand to continue 'nix development for GNU/Linux solutions.
As for finding Alpha systems cheap,look at places like WebAuction (run by Micro/PC/MAC Warehouse) for deals. I picked up an Alpha box from them for $350, added 4.6GB HD, 24X CD-ROM, 128MB additional RAM, 17" Monitor, 56K/V90 external Dava/Voice/Fax modem, NT4 Workstation, MS Office Pro, and the Alpha firmware for a total cost under $2500 by shopping the web and local computer shows.
D. Keith Higgs
CWRU. Kelvin Smith Library
The entire idea that Red Hat could be the next MS needs some drastic rethinking. 1.) Red Hat (RH) does NOT own Linux or control it. In fact, they have little or no interest in either situation. 2.) If RH were inclined toward such a move the Linux community at large can probably put them back in their place quickly enough. Finally, 3.) For RH to become the next MS they would have to use something that is not open source to do it. Since Linux is open source, and RH has little or no control over Linux, the possibility of RH using Linux to be the next MS does not exist.
D. Keith Higgs
CWRU. Kelvin Smith Library