Does anyone know what kind of software is available for testing and modeling real life systems?
It's one thing to bring together a large number of CPUs and connect them with a well known network scheme, and it's another thing to write a bunch of software to take advantage of a supercomputer.
Although NASA may already have a lot of supercomputers and a lot of software, a new systems with so much more power is meant to run new software.
This story evokes a lot of pity, but something is missing. In so many situations where a person works and works there is no hope of any increase in power, responsibility, money, or security. Do these people just do what they're told and figure it's the best they can do to maintain their lifestyle? Or do they not give a damn whether they will lose their job based on the argument that surely the position will last forever what else could it do?
Employees of businesses, wake up and speak up! Automation is sweeping its way back and forth like a wave on the surface of a pond once a rock is dropped. Ask your management what the business is headed for. A lot of businesses are cautiously expanding but a lot of people are going to be doing what isn't done by machines and in many cases this means taking on a lot more responsibility. The trouble is, responsibility is expensive and risky. A lot of people can't handle it without proper training.
Why aren't IT people allowed to make big decisions in the boardroom? IT requires brains - IT people are smart. Indeed, if IT people had more say there would be far greater automation in every business.
Let me tell you what kind of automation should be implemented. Typewriters disappeared but people still type. Typing should be done by robots. Taken literally this is not really economical - speech recognition should be cheaper than robot typing. A robot that has a human like hand can do many tasks, including typing and many other things.
What have programmers done when businesses put their own interests ahead of computer users' ideals? The Open Source movement. It's about time programmers banded together to create an open source business governed by Internet users. We'll be driven by PROFIT! but use the most bleading edge open source technology to produce all the goods and services demanded by all customers any of whom may also be regarded as owners.
The reality is some companies have no goals apart from marginal improvement of the status quo. Right now the market does not require these companies to improve much. They have stable cash flows, customer recognition, and little room for market share expansion. Some people may understand this situation as too many frogs in the pond.
I think it's about time to replace the punched card system. My first computer was an abacus.
The abacus is about as close to looking at the Matrix through a monitor as you get in real technology. The I/O is completely left to the interpretation of the user but the interpretation is typically still plausible. I never could interpret any punched card.
I've written emulators for devices. It depends on what you want to achieve. Emulating the interface may be relatively easy. If you used an old server to provide specific data or perhaps some kind of interface to another service, well you don't need to duplicate the entire server, you just have to implement a "jumper" system to provide a different path for the information flow.
Emulating an device comprehensively just to simplify servicing it could be futile or infeasible when you need to know the fine details of the device's characteristics. The manufacturer of a device might supply an emulator but I wonder just how many PDP-11's or machines lacking backwards compatibility still provide a vital nonupgradable function.
One may point to certain programs that used to run in DOS or in my case Win95 that don't run in XP. I want to speed up these programs on new hardware without having to buy the latest version. This is the downside of using Windows - if backwards compatibility is broken, a faster processor may force an expensive upgrade. Then again, all this backwards compatibility could be slowing Windows down.
My cell phone is quite the computer. It has games, and a calculator. If it allows instructions to read/write the memory, I could simulate a Turing machine.
If you know the thing works after some brutality you can be more confident nothing will happen ordinarily. When floppy disks were so delicate I worried about touching them, getting dirt on them, etc. it really made me worry about everything in the computer.
Technology has come a long way since but think of the possibilities. Some people want to take pictures under water. Some people might take a long field trip and not be able to make a backup for weeks. It would be nice for laptops to be generally far more tolerant. People should feel more free to take their equipment with them.
I suppose real life for a space probe would involve high radiation, temperature variations, etc. Nail to a tree, folks? Well, consider pucture with a fast meteorite.
The one-nail test isn't quite enough though. It could be luck that saves a memory card from a puncture. Potentially destructive tests need to be repeated methodically.
It seems that computer failures are not very graceful. In a large business if an employee or even the chairman of the board is sick, the business still runs. However, failure of the central computer means no one knows how to make anything run.
Perhaps the efficiencies of a computerized business offset the cost of short downtimes, and the business is able to grow to the complexity that it isn't worth running without the computer. A 2 or 3 hour stoppage once in a blue moon (that was last month, and it looked big) might not be worth working around.
All the same I'm hesitant to let computer failures stand in the way of normality. Major infrastructure may be interrupted by nature but it can be scary for it to be stopped by computer problems. Who knows how long the system will be down? Who knows how much damage to information went unnoticed? Who knows what errors still exist?
Increasing computerization causes increasing paranoia. Guard yourself prophylactically? Ask hard questions before entering relationships with big business? Insist on financial compensation against computer delays?
Computer systems need to be built with more safeguards (redundancy, logging, checkpoints, backups), isolation of failure, data accessibility during failure (example: Windows safe mode) even for end users, etc.
Does management in general have so much free time these days? With so much automation and work saving devices everyone should have more time. As the population ages we'll all need jobs of doing less for equivalent pay.
I suppose a shorter work day would make more sense than letting someone sit around waiting for something to happen. No wonder waistlines are getting larger.
People at desk jobs need a balance of physical things to do.
Why not send your executive to the golf course where he can drum up some more business?
Why do we have so much debate about overseas outsourcing to massively underpaid labor? Condoning lazy ass management logically implies a weak company that cannot afford to pay for truly innovative software development that requires hands on management of local hires.
I'm a Free Cell solver. Sometimes I look ahead almost to the solution before I make the first move. That keeps the losing streak at 0. Lucky for me I can resist addiction to this game, but with a few hundred wins in a row what is there to prove?
Solitaire that always helps you win. His boss becomes addicted and believes he has the greatest luck in the world only to be completely offset by a constant losing streak in the lottery.
He can't produce his winning streak on any other computer so he asks the admin to install special software to detect what is really happening.
Many low power computers available now as handhelds. Can they be docked to a regular size keyboard and screen? It isn't all the time that one needs a CD, speakers, etc. Wireless networking will eliminate an outside port (though I don't like holding all that wireless in hand as there is speculation of a cell phone cancer link).
Slashdot Mirror
If your contract has a non-compete section you are working with the real thing.
Does anyone know what kind of software is available for testing and modeling real life systems?
It's one thing to bring together a large number of CPUs and connect them with a well known network scheme, and it's another thing to write a bunch of software to take advantage of a supercomputer.
Although NASA may already have a lot of supercomputers and a lot of software, a new systems with so much more power is meant to run new software.
I pity da fool who gets a virus using SP2
This story evokes a lot of pity, but something is missing. In so many situations where a person works and works there is no hope of any increase in power, responsibility, money, or security. Do these people just do what they're told and figure it's the best they can do to maintain their lifestyle? Or do they not give a damn whether they will lose their job based on the argument that surely the position will last forever what else could it do?
Employees of businesses, wake up and speak up! Automation is sweeping its way back and forth like a wave on the surface of a pond once a rock is dropped. Ask your management what the business is headed for. A lot of businesses are cautiously expanding but a lot of people are going to be doing what isn't done by machines and in many cases this means taking on a lot more responsibility. The trouble is, responsibility is expensive and risky. A lot of people can't handle it without proper training.
Well I'm a little pissed off.
Why aren't IT people allowed to make big decisions in the boardroom? IT requires brains - IT people are smart. Indeed, if IT people had more say there would be far greater automation in every business.
Let me tell you what kind of automation should be implemented. Typewriters disappeared but people still type. Typing should be done by robots. Taken literally this is not really economical - speech recognition should be cheaper than robot typing. A robot that has a human like hand can do many tasks, including typing and many other things.
What have programmers done when businesses put their own interests ahead of computer users' ideals? The Open Source movement. It's about time programmers banded together to create an open source business governed by Internet users. We'll be driven by PROFIT! but use the most bleading edge open source technology to produce all the goods and services demanded by all customers any of whom may also be regarded as owners.
The symbol on slashdot for IT is a stapler.
The reality is some companies have no goals apart from marginal improvement of the status quo. Right now the market does not require these companies to improve much. They have stable cash flows, customer recognition, and little room for market share expansion. Some people may understand this situation as too many frogs in the pond.
The copyright office in which jurisdiction?
The Internet is world wide. If someone takes a domain name in a different country how can anyone do anything about it?
Domain names expire though. There must be millions of people named Katie.
I think it's about time to replace the punched card system. My first computer was an abacus.
The abacus is about as close to looking at the Matrix through a monitor as you get in real technology. The I/O is completely left to the interpretation of the user but the interpretation is typically still plausible. I never could interpret any punched card.
I was hoping to upgrade to a slide rule.
If something breaks or if the capacity is reached, what then? Are parts available? Can an upgrade be done economically?
An upgrade path could be way overdue
I've written emulators for devices. It depends on what you want to achieve. Emulating the interface may be relatively easy. If you used an old server to provide specific data or perhaps some kind of interface to another service, well you don't need to duplicate the entire server, you just have to implement a "jumper" system to provide a different path for the information flow.
Emulating an device comprehensively just to simplify servicing it could be futile or infeasible when you need to know the fine details of the device's characteristics. The manufacturer of a device might supply an emulator but I wonder just how many PDP-11's or machines lacking backwards compatibility still provide a vital nonupgradable function.
One may point to certain programs that used to run in DOS or in my case Win95 that don't run in XP. I want to speed up these programs on new hardware without having to buy the latest version. This is the downside of using Windows - if backwards compatibility is broken, a faster processor may force an expensive upgrade. Then again, all this backwards compatibility could be slowing Windows down.
The first laptop I had was a pdp-11
My cell phone is quite the computer. It has games, and a calculator. If it allows instructions to read/write the memory, I could simulate a Turing machine.
I don't really understand. If you take enough pictures to burn out the bulb don't you just put in a new bulb and keep going??
Place two cards under the rear wheels of a front wheel drive car. Set the parking brake. Drive.
If you know the thing works after some brutality you can be more confident nothing will happen ordinarily. When floppy disks were so delicate I worried about touching them, getting dirt on them, etc. it really made me worry about everything in the computer.
Technology has come a long way since but think of the possibilities. Some people want to take pictures under water. Some people might take a long field trip and not be able to make a backup for weeks. It would be nice for laptops to be generally far more tolerant. People should feel more free to take their equipment with them.
The 36 year old who couldn't even scratch the surface
I suppose real life for a space probe would involve high radiation, temperature variations, etc. Nail to a tree, folks? Well, consider pucture with a fast meteorite.
The one-nail test isn't quite enough though. It could be luck that saves a memory card from a puncture. Potentially destructive tests need to be repeated methodically.
It seems that computer failures are not very graceful. In a large business if an employee or even the chairman of the board is sick, the business still runs. However, failure of the central computer means no one knows how to make anything run.
Perhaps the efficiencies of a computerized business offset the cost of short downtimes, and the business is able to grow to the complexity that it isn't worth running without the computer. A 2 or 3 hour stoppage once in a blue moon (that was last month, and it looked big) might not be worth working around.
All the same I'm hesitant to let computer failures stand in the way of normality. Major infrastructure may be interrupted by nature but it can be scary for it to be stopped by computer problems. Who knows how long the system will be down? Who knows how much damage to information went unnoticed? Who knows what errors still exist?
Increasing computerization causes increasing paranoia. Guard yourself prophylactically? Ask hard questions before entering relationships with big business? Insist on financial compensation against computer delays?
Computer systems need to be built with more safeguards (redundancy, logging, checkpoints, backups), isolation of failure, data accessibility during failure (example: Windows safe mode) even for end users, etc.
Does management in general have so much free time these days? With so much automation and work saving devices everyone should have more time. As the population ages we'll all need jobs of doing less for equivalent pay.
I suppose a shorter work day would make more sense than letting someone sit around waiting for something to happen. No wonder waistlines are getting larger.
People at desk jobs need a balance of physical things to do.
Why not send your executive to the golf course where he can drum up some more business?
Why do we have so much debate about overseas outsourcing to massively underpaid labor? Condoning lazy ass management logically implies a weak company that cannot afford to pay for truly innovative software development that requires hands on management of local hires.
I'm a Free Cell solver. Sometimes I look ahead almost to the solution before I make the first move. That keeps the losing streak at 0. Lucky for me I can resist addiction to this game, but with a few hundred wins in a row what is there to prove?
Solitaire that always helps you win. His boss becomes addicted and believes he has the greatest luck in the world only to be completely offset by a constant losing streak in the lottery.
He can't produce his winning streak on any other computer so he asks the admin to install special software to detect what is really happening.
That's definitely not enough. I would need at least a 1000 GHz machine to simulate sex with my girl while I work.
Many low power computers available now as handhelds. Can they be docked to a regular size keyboard and screen? It isn't all the time that one needs a CD, speakers, etc. Wireless networking will eliminate an outside port (though I don't like holding all that wireless in hand as there is speculation of a cell phone cancer link).