Anyone remember 3-4 years ago when SGI tried the same thing? They put out really cheap Indy's - around $3500, if I remember correctly. A lot of people I knew were thinking about buying one, but no one did. Of course, this was when a new PC would run much closer to $2000, and even a DecStation was ~$10000 (again, going from memory). Did SGI sell a lot of Indy's? Was it a profitable venture?
My POV is that Sun is aiming squarely at the Linux market. Most Linux users I know tend to spend a bit more on hardware than Joe User, so $2000 is reasonable, and Solaris, while arguably bloated, is a very mature OS. Add that to the fact that Linux runs (fast) on UltraSparcs, and Sun may actually succeed in getting a significant number of individual buyers picking these things up. I don't think we'll see them in Best Buy, but I could see myself buying one. I had an Ultra 1 at my last job, and I miss it. It was the first time I really felt like I had enough computer in front of me. An Ultra 5 isn't quite the same beast, but pretty close.
Anyway, for $2000, I think it's a good value, and a hell of a desktop machine.
-Yoshi
Your opinion of collaborative writing?
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Some authors consider collaborative writing projects to be rather painful and counterproductive. The Difference Engine , however, was a wonderful piece of writing and seemed to truly be a product of both your and Gibson's styles. My questions:
Did you enjoy the challenge of working with another author, especially one with such a distinct style?
Do you think that sci-fi is, as a genre, particularly conducive to collaborative projects? If so, why, and if not, any opinion on why they are so common?
Do you have any advice for aspiring collaborative writers (other than the key "don't kill your partner")?
Two questions: 1. Assuming that you were moving straight out (that is, away from the sun), how would you decelerate, other than aerobraking or some other technique (i.e. how could you stop at an arbitrary point)?
2. In sailing, you can move into the wind by tacking - but that relies at least somewhat on the keel. How could one move in a similar fashion in space?
AFAIK, the bare minimum is $1000 to open an account with a brokerage, online or otherwise. In your situation, buying stocks isn't the greatest idea - these are volatile stocks in a volatile market, and the companies have uncertain futures at best. The intent of the minimum account investment is not to say, "We don't care about you if you don't have $XK," but rather, "Securities trading isn't a good idea if you can't front $XK."
For example, ETrade charges $15 a trade - if you were to invest $250, and buy into RH and MP3, you'd have put 12% of your investment into fees. You'd also spend that again getting out, which means that your investment of $220 would have to grow by 27% for you to break even. Even without considering risk, the economics don't make sense.
However, as an AC pointed out, the minimums are usually waved if you open an IRA (Individual Retirement Account). An IRA might seem like a bad idea, since you only have a little money to spare, and you are so far away from retirement, but it isn't necessarily. A Roth IRA, in which you invest after-tax dollars, is a great idea, and $250 would be enough to get started. It has the following advantages:
Tax-free growth (you've already paid taxes) - this means that you don't pay any more taxes, but also that you don't have to plan an investment strategy around minimizing taxes - yay for capital gains.
Wide variety of investment options - you can open an IRA and put money into any number of investment options(stocks, bonds, mutual funds), many of which you couldn't get to otherwise without a large initial investment.
You can get the money for a first-time house purchase - up to $10,000 of your total IRA, if you've held it for five years. You can also get to the money by paying certain penalties, but that isn't a good idea.
It isn't too early to start retirement planning - remember, the longer that money grows, the more it grows. I still wouldn't invest in stocks. My recommendation would be to forgoe the Dreamcaster, put the $250 in a Roth, drop it into a mutual fund, make contributions when you can, and watch it grow.
Assuming an average ROI of 13% (a reasonable average), that $250 sitting for 40 years would be worth $33K. Assuming 4% inflation (a high avg), this would be a 1900% ROI.
Also, you won't get an initial issue, so none of your money will get into RH's hands. You'll buy it from some wealthly investor who got into the IPO for a quick buck - your buck. Always invest with a plan - listen to your heart, but invest with your head.
And no, I don't do this for a living - I'm just bored at work.
This article is a good example of the sad state of technical journalism. I won't even address the issues; I don't have that kind of free time. A few points on his *ahem* style:
while he gets kudos for giving a brief, straightforward explanation of GNU, Linux, and the GNU/Linux moniker, he then uses them interchangeably - consistency is key
his sequencing needs work - the focus of his business-use analysis is on server-side, so why does he start with looking at the desktop?
he includes many URLs, including some for distros, so why doesn't he include the main URL for RedHat?
don't even get me started about the copy editing
This rant against style and formatting might seem odd, but the net effect is significant; the very text of the story, regardless of content, causes Linux and the GNU toolset to look fragmented, and RedHat's distro, IMHO a better business distro than Debian's, isn't even validated in context. in short, I think the author's amateurish writing, and his editor's failure to bring this piece to publication-level quality, causes Linux and the free software movement to seem unsophisticated and perhaps even childish. The implication is that this is not a serious subject, and thereforce not treated as such.
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Anyone remember 3-4 years ago when SGI tried the same thing? They put out really cheap Indy's - around $3500, if I remember correctly. A lot of people I knew were thinking about buying one, but no one did. Of course, this was when a new PC would run much closer to $2000, and even a DecStation was ~$10000 (again, going from memory). Did SGI sell a lot of Indy's? Was it a profitable venture?
My POV is that Sun is aiming squarely at the Linux market. Most Linux users I know tend to spend a bit more on hardware than Joe User, so $2000 is reasonable, and Solaris, while arguably bloated, is a very mature OS. Add that to the fact that Linux runs (fast) on UltraSparcs, and Sun may actually succeed in getting a significant number of individual buyers picking these things up. I don't think we'll see them in Best Buy, but I could see myself buying one. I had an Ultra 1 at my last job, and I miss it. It was the first time I really felt like I had enough computer in front of me. An Ultra 5 isn't quite the same beast, but pretty close.
Anyway, for $2000, I think it's a good value, and a hell of a desktop machine.
-Yoshi
- Did you enjoy the challenge of working with another author, especially one with such a distinct style?
- Do you think that sci-fi is, as a genre, particularly conducive to collaborative projects? If so, why, and if not, any opinion on why they are so common?
- Do you have any advice for aspiring collaborative writers (other than the key "don't kill your partner")?
-JoshTwo questions:
1. Assuming that you were moving straight out (that is, away from the sun), how would you decelerate, other than aerobraking or some other technique (i.e. how could you stop at an arbitrary point)?
2. In sailing, you can move into the wind by tacking - but that relies at least somewhat on the keel. How could one move in a similar fashion in space?
-Josh
For example, ETrade charges $15 a trade - if you were to invest $250, and buy into RH and MP3, you'd have put 12% of your investment into fees. You'd also spend that again getting out, which means that your investment of $220 would have to grow by 27% for you to break even. Even without considering risk, the economics don't make sense.
However, as an AC pointed out, the minimums are usually waved if you open an IRA (Individual Retirement Account). An IRA might seem like a bad idea, since you only have a little money to spare, and you are so far away from retirement, but it isn't necessarily. A Roth IRA, in which you invest after-tax dollars, is a great idea, and $250 would be enough to get started. It has the following advantages:
Assuming an average ROI of 13% (a reasonable average), that $250 sitting for 40 years would be worth $33K. Assuming 4% inflation (a high avg), this would be a 1900% ROI.
Also, you won't get an initial issue, so none of your money will get into RH's hands. You'll buy it from some wealthly investor who got into the IPO for a quick buck - your buck. Always invest with a plan - listen to your heart, but invest with your head.
And no, I don't do this for a living - I'm just bored at work.
-Josh
- while he gets kudos for giving a brief, straightforward explanation of GNU, Linux, and the GNU/Linux moniker, he then uses them interchangeably - consistency is key
- his sequencing needs work - the focus of his business-use analysis is on server-side, so why does he start with looking at the desktop?
- he includes many URLs, including some for distros, so why doesn't he include the main URL for RedHat?
- don't even get me started about the copy editing
This rant against style and formatting might seem odd, but the net effect is significant; the very text of the story, regardless of content, causes Linux and the GNU toolset to look fragmented, and RedHat's distro, IMHO a better business distro than Debian's, isn't even validated in context. in short, I think the author's amateurish writing, and his editor's failure to bring this piece to publication-level quality, causes Linux and the free software movement to seem unsophisticated and perhaps even childish. The implication is that this is not a serious subject, and thereforce not treated as such.