And that's the reason why I think this is a terrible idea.
Even with xDSL and cable modem broadband, what Sun and Google proposes will hog too much bandwidth and could slow down Internet access for other purposes. I would rather have a local copy of a full office suite like OpenOffice and store all my data files locally.
what if this were piggybacked on something like their independent wifi service?
it's also interesting to consider the possibility that google, by establishing its own wireless network, will be able to deliver 'richer' web-apps for essentially free. imagine a google-centric information service segregated from the internet where one can store (and search) personal files on secure reliable servers and execute common productivity/communication apps on an OS-agnostic platform, all at LAN-like speeds (using 802.11g-like wireless technology). do you worry about the over-subscription of free wireless broadband? well, for this idea, google could prioritize traffic using existing techniques to prefer its bursty web-app transactions to traditional internet traffic (eg. 1mbps up/down vs. 300/128kbps, respectively).
naturally, this idea would be compatible with standard internet access mechanisms. using its own network just gives more flexibility to google and possibly allows it to provide an even more desktop-like experience to a (growing) subset of users without having to wait for next-generation broadband to become truly commonplace.
One thing that sets this apart from many other flash players is the line "Compatible with Napster to Go". According to http://www.playsforsure.com/, no existing portable player under $199 (Dell's Pocket DJ) supports such unlimited subscription services. If this were an advertising truth, it would seem like a huge bonus for some.
i have my doubts about some (but not all!) of the research that people undertake in the academic world of computer engineering/systems. from what i have seen, some academics will rush to publish for the sake of having a paper, even if it means cutting corners on an otherwise interesting idea or application. while i won't say that this is the norm at the very best institutions in the world, things on the whole can seem less than perfect.
i imply nothing about the individuals in the paper that Bram attacks, since i haven't interacted with them firsthand. however, it might be interesting to note that the primary author is a grad student at Georgia Tech. according to his web page, his stint at MS research was just a ~6 month period, 2/04-6/04 & 7/04-8/04:
this does not leave a huge block of time for one student to brush up on the research background, flesh up the practical aspects of the idea, implement (and validate?) a simulator, complete a preliminary set of data runs, and write a paper draft worthy of acceptance. let's not forget any downtime that might arise at the start of an internship (moving over the pond, getting acclimated, etc.).
here, i assume the not unrealistic situation where the official research scientist principally serves as a primary investigator. he brews the idea, perhaps working out some more theoretical aspects of the problem, and handles all the headaches related to funding/approval/propaganda. this entrusts a good deal of the grunt work to the student. i tend to see this sort of behavior in the ivory tower, but it is entirely likely that research in industry is much more balanced!
time should not be an excuse in any case, but it does raise an eyebrow toward the paper-happy nature of some research these days. you make the call on what you believe is reasonable concerning those flaws in methodology that Bram has so derided in his blog.
does anyone have a clue about the timing of the media's spin on things? The Register's article from the first slashdot posting is one of the first according to Google News...
Haha... I agree with that completely--paranoia... and I'm wide open to the possibility that such a chip could exist--what with the stubborn domination of Intel's x86 in the US PC market.
But for the doubtful, my o/c'd celeron can do ~1250kkey/s, and at ~$50 a pop for the cpu, it's not terribly expensive. In a "worst-case" scenario (no E2K), such a key rate could still be attained by "normal" computers at the company. (Though, I do not know how large Elbrus is.)
According to its web site, Elbrus has a few powerful US partners...interesting.
I would think that d.net would have already noticed this user's impressive performance and taken appropriate measures to verify its validity. Perhaps it would be wiser to wait a few days before issuing wild speculations about rc5 client-fraud...
Of course, I bet we could *ask* the d.net stat admins for their opinion...;)
Actually, I would have to disagree with you. As suggested in previous comments, the type of data possibly played a large role in the abuse of @Home's services.
"Warez/mp3/porn(Insert Illegal stuff here)" are inherently bandwidth intensive, and when placed on any public server, they become the target of tens of hundreds of hungry--so-called--leechers. Granted, "private" servers exist, with a supposedly limited audience; however, they still maintain the singular flaw of all servers, which, I think, @Home and most all broadband "bargain" consumer ISPs truly wish to avoid--redundancy.
It's one thing to have John Doe download a piece of data (regardless of its type or legality). However, it is an entirely different case when John Doe serves that same data to others. In the latter situation, that data may be served 10, 100, or 1000 times, ultimately leading to redundancy and inefficiency.
This is where Warez/Mp3/porn come in. Unlike the occasional hot development, like Linux, items of questionable legality (or decency, in the case of porn) seemingly effortlessly draw crowds on the internet--regardless of the quality or quantity of the data--as there is, unfortunately, a natural tendency for some people to experiment with the darker sides things. And quantity is the biggest issue of Warez/Mp3/porn. Like a pesky roach, much tends to gather around one--how many single disk (1.44MB) warez releases exist? How many Mp3 ftp servers have just one single? Or porn sites?
The mere popularity and size of Warez/Mp3/porn naturally brings about a huge amount of redundancy, and thus wasted/abused bandwidth, for any "home" oriented service. The sad fact is that few things surpass Warez/Mp3/porn in server usage and bandwidth consumption. (Exceptions do exist, of course... I know that for a fact, but for a general consumer service like @Home, I think this generalization is reasonable.)
Unfortunately for some, @Home may even have proof of questionable data being the cause of the majority of its abusers and could levy that to its advantage in any upcoming disputes...
This is, of course, my opinion based upon some personal observations, so.... don't take it too harshly--'kay? Thanks.:)
--Oh...as a passing note, I bet it has been a shocking experience for those warez/mp3 couriers/ops operating through @Home lately. Though, it's probably for the better...
Slashdot Mirror
what if this were piggybacked on something like their independent wifi service?
it's also interesting to consider the possibility that google, by establishing its own wireless network, will be able to deliver 'richer' web-apps for essentially free. imagine a google-centric information service segregated from the internet where one can store (and search) personal files on secure reliable servers and execute common productivity/communication apps on an OS-agnostic platform, all at LAN-like speeds (using 802.11g-like wireless technology). do you worry about the over-subscription of free wireless broadband? well, for this idea, google could prioritize traffic using existing techniques to prefer its bursty web-app transactions to traditional internet traffic (eg. 1mbps up/down vs. 300/128kbps, respectively).
naturally, this idea would be compatible with standard internet access mechanisms. using its own network just gives more flexibility to google and possibly allows it to provide an even more desktop-like experience to a (growing) subset of users without having to wait for next-generation broadband to become truly commonplace.
One thing that sets this apart from many other flash players is the line "Compatible with Napster to Go". According to http://www.playsforsure.com/, no existing portable player under $199 (Dell's Pocket DJ) supports such unlimited subscription services.
If this were an advertising truth, it would seem like a huge bonus for some.
i have my doubts about some (but not all!) of the research that people undertake in the academic world of computer engineering/systems. from what i have seen, some academics will rush to publish for the sake of having a paper, even if it means cutting corners on an otherwise interesting idea or application. while i won't say that this is the norm at the very best institutions in the world, things on the whole can seem less than perfect.
h tm
i imply nothing about the individuals in the paper that Bram attacks, since i haven't interacted with them firsthand. however, it might be interesting to note that the primary author is a grad student at Georgia Tech. according to his web page, his stint at MS research was just a ~6 month period, 2/04-6/04 & 7/04-8/04:
http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~gantsich/biography.htm
the call for papers for this 2005 conference set a deadline of 7/7/2004:
http://www.ieee-infocom.org/2005/call_for_papers.
this does not leave a huge block of time for one student to brush up on the research background, flesh up the practical aspects of the idea, implement (and validate?) a simulator, complete a preliminary set of data runs, and write a paper draft worthy of acceptance. let's not forget any downtime that might arise at the start of an internship (moving over the pond, getting acclimated, etc.).
here, i assume the not unrealistic situation where the official research scientist principally serves as a primary investigator. he brews the idea, perhaps working out some more theoretical aspects of the problem, and handles all the headaches related to funding/approval/propaganda. this entrusts a good deal of the grunt work to the student. i tend to see this sort of behavior in the ivory tower, but it is entirely likely that research in industry is much more balanced!
time should not be an excuse in any case, but it does raise an eyebrow toward the paper-happy nature of some research these days. you make the call on what you believe is reasonable concerning those flaws in methodology that Bram has so derided in his blog.
does anyone have a clue about the timing of the media's spin on things? The Register's article from the first slashdot posting is one of the first according to Google News...
Haha... I agree with that completely--paranoia...
and I'm wide open to the possibility that such a chip could exist--what with the stubborn domination of Intel's x86 in the US PC market.
But for the doubtful, my o/c'd celeron can do ~1250kkey/s, and at ~$50 a pop for the cpu, it's not terribly expensive. In a "worst-case" scenario (no E2K), such a key rate could still be attained by "normal" computers at the company. (Though, I do not know how large Elbrus is.)
According to its web site, Elbrus has a few powerful US partners...interesting.
I would think that d.net would have already noticed this user's impressive performance and taken appropriate measures to verify its validity.
;)
Perhaps it would be wiser to wait a few days before issuing wild speculations about rc5 client-fraud...
Of course, I bet we could *ask* the d.net stat admins for their opinion...
Actually, I would have to disagree with you. As suggested in previous comments, the type of data possibly played a large role in the abuse of @Home's services.
:)
"Warez/mp3/porn(Insert Illegal stuff here)" are inherently bandwidth intensive, and when placed on any public server, they become the target of tens of hundreds of hungry--so-called--leechers. Granted, "private" servers exist, with a supposedly limited audience; however, they still maintain the singular flaw of all servers, which, I think, @Home and most all broadband "bargain" consumer ISPs truly wish to avoid--redundancy.
It's one thing to have John Doe download a piece of data (regardless of its type or legality). However, it is an entirely different case when John Doe serves that same data to others. In the latter situation, that data may be served 10, 100, or 1000 times, ultimately leading to redundancy and inefficiency.
This is where Warez/Mp3/porn come in. Unlike the occasional hot development, like Linux, items of questionable legality (or decency, in the case of porn) seemingly effortlessly draw crowds on the internet--regardless of the quality or quantity of the data--as there is, unfortunately, a natural tendency for some people to experiment with the darker sides things. And quantity is the biggest issue of Warez/Mp3/porn. Like a pesky roach, much tends to gather around one--how many single disk (1.44MB) warez releases exist? How many Mp3 ftp servers have just one single? Or porn sites?
The mere popularity and size of Warez/Mp3/porn naturally brings about a huge amount of redundancy, and thus wasted/abused bandwidth, for any "home" oriented service. The sad fact is that few things surpass Warez/Mp3/porn in server usage and bandwidth consumption. (Exceptions do exist, of course... I know that for a fact, but for a general consumer service like @Home, I think this generalization is reasonable.)
Unfortunately for some, @Home may even have proof of questionable data being the cause of the majority of its abusers and could levy that to its advantage in any upcoming disputes...
This is, of course, my opinion based upon some personal observations, so.... don't take it too harshly--'kay? Thanks.
--Oh...as a passing note, I bet it has been a shocking experience for those warez/mp3 couriers/ops operating through @Home lately. Though, it's probably for the better...