Yeah, those are pretty much the "Usual Sources". You could always go crazy, and get a sheet metal break, and bend your own, OR, if you want to spend $$$ on a one off, I've found that blocks of Aluminum, milled out to fit, then having a matching Al cover, all anodized look great. One shop I used to work at did this. Your taxpayer dollars at work - Actually it was the cheapest way to get a unit that could withstand the G forces we needed.
One thing to remember, if it's a "Hand Held", you'd better think about shock load. What happens when you drop it on the floor? (You WILL - trust me). "Potting" is good for this
AC, I think you and I agree! I too wish for more cross platform stuff, and if anything good comes of the Jackson decision, this will be it.
Right now, IMHO (and this is NOT a troll) Linux comes THIS close to being REALLY really for "Prime Time". It's STILL to hard to get configured on the average desktop (It HAS gotten a lot better, but...), and the driver support etc isn't there. It's polish issues, ease of software installs etc. Most of the stuff out there assumes you understand Linux. The end users don't WANT to understand Unix (or windows for that matter) - They just want to get their job done, and in general, that job is NOT using computers.
Folks, I'd hate to break it to you, but sometimes, one OS is better for one thing than another. Sometimes it's Linux, sometimes it's Windows (gasp), and sometimes it might even be something like CICS or MVS on a mainframe.
The ONLY way you can get a REAL benchmark, that absolutely applies in the case that YOU are interested in, is to do your own. You might end up surprised.
I believe I've said this before, but about 1.5 years ago, we were making a major database/Server OS decision at work. A large enough decision that we were willing to put the time and money into some serious testing (It cost us about 500k to do the testing, partly because it took months). We expected to see one set of results, and came up with the opposite (BTW The opposite saved us money). The thing is, I have friends who have do somewhat similar tests (NOT as extensive) and they go different results than we did (They got what we expected to see). It all depends on what YOU are doing.
There are tradeoffs in every design. Heck, you know that when you build a database, an index speeds searches, but slows down inserts/updates, right? Well, the same thing goes with products. Sometimes you'll tweak one thing over another.
You can't really be an OS Bigot. I run Linux, NT2k, NT4 and Win98, and each has their place. Pick what works best for the job at hand, and work with it. When you get out into the "real world"(tm), you find one thing, you clients/bosses really only care about one thing, getting the job done, preferably for the lowest perceived cost to them. By cost I mean the REAL "total cost of ownership". The thing is, every company/person puts different values on various things, which can change the "total cost". If you client is a Linux shop, and has only Linux people on board, the cost of Linux is going to be less than say, AIX, or Windows, because they don't have to train/hire someone. If they are a windows shop, all other factors being the same, windows will be cheaper. That is why it's so hard to get a new OS/Program/whatever into a client. The biggest cost is PEOPLE.
There is an easy way to do a rule of thumb truth to any sword weight.
Steel weighs in at JUST under.28 pounds per cubic inch (the alloy doesn't matter much)
If you say a sword weighs 40 pounds, you need a sword that has 143 cubic inches of steel in it. If you were to figure a blade that AVERAGED 2" wide, and 1/4" thick (remember to remove thickness for edge grinding), the sword would be 6 feet long. If you tapered it at all (say it was 1/4" at the THICKEST, and 1" wide near the tip), that would be a REAL LONG blade, say 12 feet or so. Nope, I think not
Most swords I've seen probably have an AVERAGE thickness of about 1/8" (NOT max), have a blade width that AVERAGES about 1.25, and are maybe 3.5 feet long which gives you, oh, 6 cubic inches, and therefore about 2 lbs
This is a common problem, and part of the reason for the depressing statistic that the average programmer only programs for 5 years, before they
1)Move up to management, or 2)Quit the field!
There are some companies that do have a technical track, where project managers and technical leads are different, and there are some departments where this happens on an un-offical way. You have to look for one of these jobs. I'm in the later. My Team lead describes me to anyone as "Sr Designer and Development DBA"
I've got a similar question (that was rejected) - I'm interested in a piece of software - The original author posted the code with the note "This version is free to use, and here is the source, do what you like", but listed the software copyright his boss. The author the died (cancer). I called the company (NOT a software company), and they said (verbally only) Have fun, we have no interest in it. How do I go about getting the copyright, so I can release the code GPL'd?
The way PGP gets around this is the your PRIVATE key is actually encrypted, with the password that you supply. Your Private Key is decripted, used to sign your message, and then the decrypted key is purged from memory. You see, the average password that people try does NOT have anywhere near 4096 (or even 1024) bits of entropy
So, even if they GET your private key, they still have to crack THAT - now if you picked a GOOD password, that'll be HARD
I don't know how much "After Power Failure" up time you need, but one thing a lot of people forget is this - If you have a server farm that NEED the room cooled to keep the servers running reliably, you BETTER have a way to run your Air Conditioning unit. The servers will still be getting HOT running on the UPS. If you need real long term up time, you may need to power your own cooling
Biggest backup system I ever saw was back in the early 80s for a mainframe system. These guys were backup CRAZY (something to do with stock trading )
For their UPS system (besides the obligatory 2 independent power feeds from the grid), they had a UPS that could:
1)Run the Computers (2 identical boxes, one a hot backup for the other) for 2 hours while 2)Cranking the generators for those 2 hours (But the generator was supposed to start in less than 5 minutes) 3)AND running the Air conditioning (Remember folks, it's going to get HOT in that server room)
The generators had fuel for a week
The paranoid part? When you realize that they had 8 other IDENTICAL facilities spread around the world, (some in the middle of no where), "Just incase the major cities get nuked" (I wish I was kidding)
Re:Shockwave rider A Clasic book that needs attent
on
Orbitsville
·
· Score: 1
The taxing of imports is why specifically I said that: 1)The holding company would be in the "Special Economic Zone" islands - there are a bunch of Caribbean islands that get "No Tax" on imports by treaty
2)The fulfillment company be in Canada, which has NAFTA protection
But the collusion would be taking place in the islands, outside the US border, at the holding company level - aka the holding company gives the data to both sides, as the "development" companies don't even own the info, and are, in fact, under NDA not to talk to anyone! It's the holding company, which isn't in the US that talks.
Guys, They don't REALLY have to move, and the can screw over the DOJ. Microsoft Says "OK, We'll Split, into a BUNCH of companies" Here's one breakdown:
1)Microsoft Holdings, somewhere down in the Islands). This company does 2 or 3 things a)Owns the other companies, b)Owns all the copyrights to existing software. Also one HECK of a tax haven, and when your worth more (a LOT more) than the government, you can write your own rules
2)Microsoft Development, Redmond WA Develops software on a "For Hire" basis - Takes some outside work to make things interesting. All the developers work for them (we don't need to move people)
3)Microsoft Sales and Marketing (wherever in the USA). Sales and promotion of Microsoft Products
4)Microsoft Fulfillment, BC - Produces and ships the products - With NAFTA or the various Island "Special Development Zone" rules, getting free "unhindered" access to the US market is part of international treaty
5)Microsoft Consulting (Say, NYC with offices nationwide) - Does what Microsoft Consulting does today
6...x All the little companies - Publishing etc
OK, Lets say that the US government says "You have to break development in two" Fine, do it, The Holding company (which is NEW, say we form it tomorrow) owns both, and the development companies don't own any copyrights, the holding company owns it.
The really valuable parts of Microsoft are it's IP, and it's developers. We move the IP off shore, and hire the developers via holding companies. IP is easy to move
BTW What does this do to the economy of the US?... All those profits go off shore, to a tax haven
I looked into doing this with my one man band consulting company I had - It's do-able
And if you think about it, this is How Levi's came to be. Levi Straus figured out that the way to make real money wasn't to pan for gold, but to sell goods to the guys panning for gold
As a 37 YO Programmer, I agree totally. I see way to much "Hack it together" code.
But I also agree that our earning power seems to max out in you low 30s, unless you are willing to move to "Management". Thing is, I don't mind right now. I spend a lot of time keeping current, and therefore employable. I mentor, which keeps my reputation up, and teaches me as much as the person I'm teaching. My hours are a bit shorter, but heck, I'm happy. I may not be working for one of the "Hot" companies, but I'm sure working on some "Hot" projects (Streaming Video on Demand, Full text and image searching, LARGE databases etc)
Bryce, The good news is that I've BEEN to a lawyer over this, and most contracts that are written as broadly as yours are NOT valid, unless you are SENIOR management of the company (Like President or CEO). The contract, in effect, can NOT stop you from making a living in your field, in your area of living.
That said, I'm REALLY happy with were I work now in this regard. It's the first BIG company that doesn't claim ANYTHING of your IP developed after hours. I guess the reason is that they deal with TV script wrtiers, directors etc, and THEY would never stand for it
Ah, Some of the guys didn't buy the Sybase product because when it came time to look at a new database, they got a copy of each (plus consulting time from the vendors), and spent 4 months benchmarking the databases with THEIR data, an bought the product that won.
We did this a year or so ago. Oracle (on Sun and NT), Sybase (Sun and NT), IBM DB2 (on NT), and SQL server were invited to compete. We expected to see (in speed order) Oracle UNIX, Oracle NT, Sybase UNIX, Sybase NT then SQL server (and had no ideas about DB2), and then the question would be, was Oracle or Sybase enough faster to pay the extra cost
What we found (remember this is ONLY for our Data, used the way WE use it - Your mileage may vary) was that MS Sqlserver beat all the other products! Not by a LOT, but it won. Made that decision easy
Or, he happens to have a bunch of friends who are smart enough not to open the bloody thing. I know I'm on a lot of address books at work, and I didn't get a single copy at home or at work. Everyone who deals directly with the end users go swamped.
The biggest reason you see such an investment in roads vs Public transport is that for MOST of the country (geographically) Public transport just doesn't pay.
If you look at the Coasts, it usually CAN pay, and in the cities, you CAN get a mass transit infrastructure. (New York being the extreme in the US). The west coast has NOT done as well this way (exception - San Francisco)
Suburbia is a marginal case, in that population densities just about pay for bus transit loads. These work best if there is one main hub where everyone is going. For Intrasuburb use, it doesn't pay. The general problem is that it takes something like 5-6 people (Minimum) on a bus going from point X to point Y for it to pay. Now, you try to get around this with Hub and spoke, but this has problems. A person, like it or not, is NOT going to walk much more than 1/4 mile or so, and many people can't walk that far. That means you have to have a bus route every 1/2, at worst (In bad weather/colder parts of the country, it has to be closer). Also, the ridership has to be high enough, to have a bus reach each place on the route no more than about once every 20 minutes (You'll find, looking at studies, once the average wait time gets above 10 minutes or so, your ridership drops)
So this means that you have to have 15 people per hour or more going down that route, the entire length (average), and the service HAS to run well into the night for people who get stuck at work. This requires a fairly high population density, and most suburbs don't have it.
The other problem with hub and spoke is this. Let's say we run a bus on each spoke every 20 minutes, and I want to go from spoke A to spoke B, 2 spokes over. I live 5 miles from the hub. I walk say, 5 minutes to the bus, wait 10 for the bus (remember, average wait is 1/2 the frequency - buses NEVER run on time),travel 7 minutes or so (probably longer, the bus has to make stops) to get to the hub, wait 10 minutes, travel 7 minutes to get to stop, and walk 5 minutes to the destination. That 2 mile trip took 45 minutes!
Interesting, Around here, were dying for MS programmers (Visual Basic, Visual C++, ASP, MTS and SQL server) Mostly, I hate to say it, VB and SQL server. We've had at least 3 positions open for over 2 years, and the headhunters idea of "experienced applicant" seems to be "Has opened the box, and installed it"
OK, I pointed this out the other day, but can you name the 2 current commercial uses of Nanotechnology?
Cosmetics and Industrial cutting tools. Both are using fine grained "Nano powders" to get some interesting physical properties (One for UV blocking, one for increased wear properties when sintered into a block)
First we'll see increased use of nanopowders etc for better material science (the forgotten science) to make stronger, better materials. THIS has some near term prospects
As for the stuff you see in SciFi, that's a LONG way off, if ever. The problem with mechanical "things" that are less than 100 uM in at least one axis is:
Energy density - How do you get POWER into it, or store power in it? Add in friction forces (remember, it doesn't scale proportionately), and we're talking centuries
Slashdot Mirror
Yeah,
those are pretty much the "Usual Sources". You could always go crazy, and get a sheet metal break, and bend your own, OR, if you want to spend $$$ on a one off, I've found that blocks of Aluminum, milled out to fit, then having a matching Al cover, all anodized look great. One shop I used to work at did this. Your taxpayer dollars at work - Actually it was the cheapest way to get a unit that could withstand the G forces we needed.
One thing to remember, if it's a "Hand Held", you'd better think about shock load. What happens when you drop it on the floor? (You WILL - trust me). "Potting" is good for this
Charlie
AC,
I think you and I agree! I too wish for more cross platform stuff, and if anything good comes of the Jackson decision, this will be it.
Right now, IMHO (and this is NOT a troll) Linux comes THIS close to being REALLY really for "Prime Time". It's STILL to hard to get configured on the average desktop (It HAS gotten a lot better, but...), and the driver support etc isn't there. It's polish issues, ease of software installs etc. Most of the stuff out there assumes you understand Linux. The end users don't WANT to understand Unix (or windows for that matter) - They just want to get their job done, and in general, that job is NOT using computers.
Folks,
I'd hate to break it to you, but sometimes, one OS is better for one thing than another. Sometimes it's Linux, sometimes it's Windows (gasp), and sometimes it might even be something like CICS or MVS on a mainframe.
The ONLY way you can get a REAL benchmark, that absolutely applies in the case that YOU are interested in, is to do your own.
You might end up surprised.
I believe I've said this before, but about 1.5 years ago, we were making a major database/Server OS decision at work. A large enough decision that we were willing to put the time and money into some serious testing (It cost us about 500k to do the testing, partly because it took months). We expected to see one set of results, and came up with the opposite (BTW The opposite saved us money). The thing is, I have friends who have do somewhat similar tests (NOT as extensive) and they go different results than we did (They got what we expected to see). It all depends on what YOU are doing.
There are tradeoffs in every design. Heck, you know that when you build a database, an index speeds searches, but slows down inserts/updates, right? Well, the same thing goes with products. Sometimes you'll tweak one thing over another.
You can't really be an OS Bigot. I run Linux, NT2k, NT4 and Win98, and each has their place. Pick what works best for the job at hand, and work with it. When you get out into the "real world"(tm), you find one thing, you clients/bosses really only care about one thing, getting the job done, preferably for the lowest perceived cost to them. By cost I mean the REAL "total cost of ownership". The thing is, every company/person puts different values on various things, which can change the "total cost". If you client is a Linux shop, and has only Linux people on board, the cost of Linux is going to be less than say, AIX, or Windows, because they don't have to train/hire someone. If they are a windows shop, all other factors being the same, windows will be cheaper. That is why it's so hard to get a new OS/Program/whatever into a client. The biggest cost is PEOPLE.
What kind of Metalworking? Bladesmithing? (Making forged knives/swords), Knife Making (stock removal)? General Metalworking (Lathe/mill work)
There are good places for each of these, with SOME overlap between the "Knife Making" crafts and the general metalworking.
Drop me an e-mail at
Charlie@TheGallos.com, and I'll help out
There is an easy way to do a rule of thumb truth to any sword weight.
.28 pounds per cubic inch (the alloy doesn't matter much)
Steel weighs in at JUST under
If you say a sword weighs 40 pounds, you need a sword that has 143 cubic inches of steel in it. If you were to figure a blade that AVERAGED 2" wide, and 1/4" thick (remember to remove thickness for edge grinding), the sword would be 6 feet long. If you tapered it at all (say it was 1/4" at the THICKEST, and 1" wide near the tip), that would be a REAL LONG blade, say 12 feet or so. Nope, I think not
Most swords I've seen probably have an AVERAGE thickness of about 1/8" (NOT max), have a blade width that AVERAGES about 1.25, and are maybe 3.5 feet long which gives you, oh, 6 cubic inches, and therefore about 2 lbs
Folks,
Did you know that New York State allows you to register your car online now?
http://www.nydmv.state.ny.us/
so some states are starting to get it. BTW NYC Parking Violations lets you pay online
This is a common problem, and part of the reason for the depressing statistic that the average programmer only programs for 5 years, before they
1)Move up to management, or
2)Quit the field!
There are some companies that do have a technical track, where project managers and technical leads are different, and there are some departments where this happens on an un-offical way. You have to look for one of these jobs. I'm in the later. My Team lead describes me to anyone as "Sr Designer and Development DBA"
I've got a similar question (that was rejected) - I'm interested in a piece of software - The original author posted the code with the note "This version is free to use, and here is the source, do what you like", but listed the software copyright his boss. The author the died (cancer). I called the company (NOT a software company), and they said (verbally only) Have fun, we have no interest in it. How do I go about getting the copyright, so I can release the code GPL'd?
The way PGP gets around this is the your PRIVATE key is actually encrypted, with the password that you supply. Your Private Key is decripted, used to sign your message, and then the decrypted key is purged from memory. You see, the average password that people try does NOT have anywhere near 4096 (or even 1024) bits of entropy
So, even if they GET your private key, they still have to crack THAT - now if you picked a GOOD password, that'll be HARD
a REAL good password might be something like
ad;i^#klh354oh534)(*&^vefg!@!168TR$%
but that's kinda hard to remember
a BAD password would be "Clinton"
and OK Password might be
This,## Is a\\ someWhat678OK,.Passwrd
I don't know how much "After Power Failure" up time you need, but one thing a lot of people forget is this - If you have a server farm that NEED the room cooled to keep the servers running reliably, you BETTER have a way to run your Air Conditioning unit. The servers will still be getting HOT running on the UPS. If you need real long term up time, you may need to power your own cooling
Biggest backup system I ever saw was back in the early 80s for a mainframe system. These guys were backup CRAZY (something to do with stock trading )
For their UPS system (besides the obligatory 2 independent power feeds from the grid), they had a UPS that could:
1)Run the Computers (2 identical boxes, one a hot backup for the other) for 2 hours while
2)Cranking the generators for those 2 hours (But the generator was supposed to start in less than 5 minutes)
3)AND running the Air conditioning (Remember folks, it's going to get HOT in that server room)
The generators had fuel for a week
The paranoid part? When you realize that they had 8 other IDENTICAL facilities spread around the world, (some in the middle of no where), "Just incase the major cities get nuked" (I wish I was kidding)
Wise Man! I agree
(Karma troll? You bet)
The taxing of imports is why specifically I said that:
1)The holding company would be in the "Special Economic Zone" islands - there are a bunch of Caribbean islands that get "No Tax" on imports by treaty
2)The fulfillment company be in Canada, which has NAFTA protection
But the collusion would be taking place in the islands, outside the US border, at the holding company level - aka the holding company gives the data to both sides, as the "development" companies don't even own the info, and are, in fact, under NDA not to talk to anyone! It's the holding company, which isn't in the US that talks.
Guys,
They don't REALLY have to move, and the can screw over the DOJ. Microsoft Says "OK, We'll Split, into a BUNCH of companies" Here's one breakdown:
1)Microsoft Holdings, somewhere down in the Islands). This company does 2 or 3 things a)Owns the other companies, b)Owns all the copyrights to existing software. Also one HECK of a tax haven, and when your worth more (a LOT more) than the government, you can write your own rules
2)Microsoft Development, Redmond WA
Develops software on a "For Hire" basis - Takes some outside work to make things interesting. All the developers work for them (we don't need to move people)
3)Microsoft Sales and Marketing (wherever in the USA). Sales and promotion of Microsoft Products
4)Microsoft Fulfillment, BC - Produces and ships the products - With NAFTA or the various Island "Special Development Zone" rules, getting free "unhindered" access to the US market is part of international treaty
5)Microsoft Consulting (Say, NYC with offices nationwide) - Does what Microsoft Consulting does today
6...x All the little companies - Publishing etc
OK, Lets say that the US government says "You have to break development in two" Fine, do it, The Holding company (which is NEW, say we form it tomorrow) owns both, and the development companies don't own any copyrights, the holding company owns it.
The really valuable parts of Microsoft are it's IP, and it's developers. We move the IP off shore, and hire the developers via holding companies. IP is easy to move
BTW What does this do to the economy of the US?... All those profits go off shore, to a tax haven
I looked into doing this with my one man band consulting company I had - It's do-able
And if you think about it, this is How Levi's came to be. Levi Straus figured out that the way to make real money wasn't to pan for gold, but to sell goods to the guys panning for gold
As a 37 YO Programmer, I agree totally. I see way to much "Hack it together" code.
But I also agree that our earning power seems to max out in you low 30s, unless you are willing to move to "Management". Thing is, I don't mind right now. I spend a lot of time keeping current, and therefore employable. I mentor, which keeps my reputation up, and teaches me as much as the person I'm teaching. My hours are a bit shorter, but heck, I'm happy. I may not be working for one of the "Hot" companies, but I'm sure working on some "Hot" projects (Streaming Video on Demand, Full text and image searching, LARGE databases etc)
Bryce,
The good news is that I've BEEN to a lawyer over this, and most contracts that are written as broadly as yours are NOT valid, unless you are SENIOR management of the company (Like President or CEO). The contract, in effect, can NOT stop you from making a living in your field, in your area of living.
That said, I'm REALLY happy with were I work now in this regard. It's the first BIG company that doesn't claim ANYTHING of your IP developed after hours. I guess the reason is that they deal with TV script wrtiers, directors etc, and THEY would never stand for it
Of course - and they got it RIGHT, century roll over doesn't occur till the end of the year
Ah,
Some of the guys didn't buy the Sybase product because when it came time to look at a new database, they got a copy of each (plus consulting time from the vendors), and spent 4 months benchmarking the databases with THEIR data, an bought the product that won.
We did this a year or so ago. Oracle (on Sun and NT), Sybase (Sun and NT), IBM DB2 (on NT), and SQL server were invited to compete. We expected to see (in speed order) Oracle UNIX, Oracle NT, Sybase UNIX, Sybase NT then SQL server (and had no ideas about DB2), and then the question would be, was Oracle or Sybase enough faster to pay the extra cost
What we found (remember this is ONLY for our Data, used the way WE use it - Your mileage may vary) was that MS Sqlserver beat all the other products! Not by a LOT, but it won. Made that decision easy
Or, he happens to have a bunch of friends who are smart enough not to open the bloody thing. I know I'm on a lot of address books at work, and I didn't get a single copy at home or at work. Everyone who deals directly with the end users go swamped.
Guess what? Microsoft (I know - don't bug me) already does it! The New Word 2K format is XML based
The biggest reason you see such an investment in roads vs Public transport is that for MOST of the country (geographically) Public transport just doesn't pay.
If you look at the Coasts, it usually CAN pay, and in the cities, you CAN get a mass transit infrastructure. (New York being the extreme in the US). The west coast has NOT done as well this way (exception - San Francisco)
Suburbia is a marginal case, in that population densities just about pay for bus transit loads. These work best if there is one main hub where everyone is going. For Intrasuburb use, it doesn't pay. The general problem is that it takes something like 5-6 people (Minimum) on a bus going from point X to point Y for it to pay. Now, you try to get around this with Hub and spoke, but this has problems. A person, like it or not, is NOT going to walk much more than 1/4 mile or so, and many people can't walk that far. That means you have to have a bus route every 1/2, at worst (In bad weather/colder parts of the country, it has to be closer). Also, the ridership has to be high enough, to have a bus reach each place on the route no more than about once every 20 minutes (You'll find, looking at studies, once the average wait time gets above 10 minutes or so, your ridership drops)
So this means that you have to have 15 people per hour or more going down that route, the entire length (average), and the service HAS to run well into the night for people who get stuck at work. This requires a fairly high population density, and most suburbs don't have it.
The other problem with hub and spoke is this. Let's say we run a bus on each spoke every 20 minutes, and I want to go from spoke A to spoke B, 2 spokes over. I live 5 miles from the hub. I walk say, 5 minutes to the bus, wait 10 for the bus (remember, average wait is 1/2 the frequency - buses NEVER run on time),travel 7 minutes or so (probably longer, the bus has to make stops) to get to the hub, wait 10 minutes, travel 7 minutes to get to stop, and walk 5 minutes to the destination. That 2 mile trip took 45 minutes!
Rural is worse
Interesting,
Around here, were dying for MS programmers (Visual Basic, Visual C++, ASP, MTS and SQL server) Mostly, I hate to say it, VB and SQL server. We've had at least 3 positions open for over 2 years, and the headhunters idea of "experienced applicant" seems to be "Has opened the box, and installed it"
OK, I pointed this out the other day, but can you name the 2 current commercial uses of Nanotechnology?
Cosmetics and Industrial cutting tools. Both are using fine grained "Nano powders" to get some interesting physical properties (One for UV blocking, one for increased wear properties when sintered into a block)
First we'll see increased use of nanopowders etc for better material science (the forgotten science) to make stronger, better materials. THIS has some near term prospects
As for the stuff you see in SciFi, that's a LONG way off, if ever. The problem with mechanical "things" that are less than 100 uM in at least one axis is:
Energy density - How do you get POWER into it, or store power in it? Add in friction forces (remember, it doesn't scale proportionately), and we're talking centuries