Worse, it's not animated by greed. And, let's be frank, MS guys don't think beyond money - software is their tool for making money, not a way of making a difference. That is a cultural barrier that makes it hard for them to understand those who have different motivation.
I disagree. Microsoft takes advantage of greed, but they aren't primarily driven by it. They have a vision of the world and how it should be, with them as the paternal Master of All.
It's not even about power, as such -- it's a missionary zeal. Power exists to serve the Cause, and money is just another form of power.
If it were about money, they could compromise by supporting OpenDocument. Instead it's about religion, and there's no room for them to retreat.
Microsoft's plan to meet the huge demand for VoIP embedded in documents. OpenDocument's lack of this feature is a complete deal-breaker for most users.
The TCG has resisted defining "owner" for purposes of their spec, despite several requests for clarification.
Think of it this way: most computer-related "stuff" now has a "licensed, not sold" tag attached. Ask yourself again, then, who has ultimate control unter TCG definitions.
I'm a little surprised you think there are EEs out there who belive it's all just "1s and 0s"... I don't think there's a serious professional digital electronics designer out there who is that naive..
Welcome to the real world. In a building with over a hundred engineers, there are only two who could tell you Kirchoff's Laws off the top, and maybe five others who remembered hearing of them at one time. The rest deal entirely in Verilog.
What's worse, at a nearby major university with over 60,000 students (that the Legislature somehow believes is "world class" in electrical engineering) there is nothing available, at all, regarding MOS circuitry. Zilch in signal propogation. The only active circuit devices discussed in the entire University are BJTs but that's because there are several professors who are doing research on the subject of advanced BJT processes.
I hate to break the news to you, but that background you have in "computer systems" puts you ahead of about 999 out of a thousand working electrical engineers as an analog wonk.
Schools don't teach analog electronics any more, either. Which means that old analog farts like me are finally getting ours after decades of being dissed as obsolete.
After all, there's no such thing as digital. Just as all the old analog dinosaurs were retiring the high-speed digital crowd discovered that maybe everything wasn't all ones and zeros.
Same applies to mainframes: mainframe technology has been dissed as obsolete for decades. Just as the microprocessors that (mostly) displaced them finally get to where they can use some of that "ancient" mainframe technology, the people who know how to apply it are leaving.
I'm sure a few will be willing to stay on the job if they're asked nicely enough.
Karma is a bitch -- especially the "comes around" part.
Contrary to your claim, computers and other devices with switching power supplies definitely ARE one of the major causes for the European PFC requirements.
Never said they weren't. What I said (and stand by) is that PFC not only doesn't mitigate the negative-impedance problem, its application to inductive-load devices like motors makes the problem worse.
FWIW I've worked on PFC qualification and certification -- I'm quite aware of how it works and why it's desirable.
I currently have three kids at University. I told them from the beginning to concentrate on two things:
Learn cool things, and
Have fun doing it.
So far, seems to be working. It's great to have one of your children call up too excited to speak clearly about some utterly awesome thing s/he's just learned.
Sheesh. Here I am with a background in engineering physics, a degree in CS, and I'm having a blast designing you-don't-want-to-think-about-how-fast analog transistor circuits 35 years after high school.
It continues to amuse me that the people who complain most about how few Americans are going into science and engineering are the ones who went into management, law, and politics.
If not that, they ended up running universities where their business depends on having more science students to
provide cash to keep the gravy train rolling, and
work as grad students teaching the others so that the faculty doesn't have to
Then they get stressed out that my kids look around at their father and his cow-orkers stressing over whose job is the next to vanish. They look at the management, lawyers, and politicians getting wealthier and more powerful every year, and shock! they decide not to go into tech.
Here's the paradox: they want the best and brightest to make life decisions that they themselves saw as foolish.
Which is one reason why power-factor correction is required in Europe.
PFC has nothing to do with it. In fact, since PFC requires making loads "smart" the net result is that anything that falls under PFC (e.g. your refrigerator) ends up moving another load from the "positive impedance" to the "negative impedance" side of the equation.
Lighting used to be the great stabilizer, but PFC requirements are moving in there with fluorescents.
Did you know that by now 10% of current electricity usage in the US is needed for computers?
Seriously, if that's the case we're in deep shit.
The reason is that constant-power loads like PSUs and "smart" motors have a negative-resistance load curve. Negative resistance load curves have another name in electrical engineering:
Unstable.
If the electric utility gets even close to a brownout, the PSUs suck even more current. Which in turn drops the voltage to them, which in turn....
Net result: breakers tripping all over the place. Which in turn causes a ripple blackout all over the Grid, since the Grid doesn't respond remotely as fast as those PSUs do.
Who will actually have a need for this PSU, and when this amount of power is being consumed, shouldn't we be thinking about redundant power systems (or perhaps energy efficiency) instead?
No, we should concentrate on what matters: Actively-cooled Nomex loungewear with IV hydration systems to keep users from dying of heat exhaustion. (The noise-canceling headphones are already available.)
In case you wondered, it's too late: I already filed a patent application for sensing devices coupled into ACPI to throttle the system when the user overheats.
I'm sure they have some justification for the pricing, but... obviously something's amiss. I'm not advocating pirating music, but I do think until a happy "middle-ground" is found, this problem will not go away.
So quit whining and act like an adult: if you don't like the RIAA's tactics, put your money behind someone who treats you better. I'm currently having a minor love affair with MagnaTune [1] but suit yourself.
Just quit pretending that it's someone else's job and that you can have it all without any inconvenience.
[1] They don't do DRM, they sell you 100% recordable disk images, and they pass 50% of sales to the artists. Isn't that what we've been saying we want? OK, they don't have your favorite payola-pumped band. That sets a pretty good price for your stated principles. Maybe if you took your money elsewhere that would change, eh?
that I was downright delighted to see anyone so totally WinWashed that they built all of their strategy around Microsoft and ignored the rest of the world.
Well, that day is here. I not only welcome but applaud the RIAA's decision to base all of their DRM plans on MSWindows while ignoring other platforms.
Well get your government to fix the laws.
... Buy the copy, use the software. Ignore the EULA.
I'm afraid my government is headed in the exact opposite direction and using strong-arm tactics to push others (yours included, I regret to say) down the same drain.
Slashdot Mirror
In other words, the whole plan depends on defrauding the customer into buying something other than what they were told they were getting.
That's why the policy reserves PDF for read-only publication.
The only intuitive interface is the nipple. Everything else is learned.
It seemed appropriate -- this is /. and so far there hasn't been a "breasts" thread.
I disagree. Microsoft takes advantage of greed, but they aren't primarily driven by it. They have a vision of the world and how it should be, with them as the paternal Master of All.
It's not even about power, as such -- it's a missionary zeal. Power exists to serve the Cause, and money is just another form of power.
If it were about money, they could compromise by supporting OpenDocument. Instead it's about religion, and there's no room for them to retreat.
Microsoft's plan to meet the huge demand for VoIP embedded in documents. OpenDocument's lack of this feature is a complete deal-breaker for most users.
They missed at least one unrestricted-music site: MagnaTune -- nice people. Don't miss the founder's comments.
We had this one back in April.
Think of it this way: most computer-related "stuff" now has a "licensed, not sold" tag attached. Ask yourself again, then, who has ultimate control unter TCG definitions.
Please see above rant.
Actually, I'd love to go back for a PhD, but the nearest school teaching anything useful is a two-hour drive.
As the parent of three college students, one in EE and one in physics/CS, this is a touchy subject.
Welcome to the real world. In a building with over a hundred engineers, there are only two who could tell you Kirchoff's Laws off the top, and maybe five others who remembered hearing of them at one time. The rest deal entirely in Verilog.
What's worse, at a nearby major university with over 60,000 students (that the Legislature somehow believes is "world class" in electrical engineering) there is nothing available, at all, regarding MOS circuitry. Zilch in signal propogation. The only active circuit devices discussed in the entire University are BJTs but that's because there are several professors who are doing research on the subject of advanced BJT processes.
I hate to break the news to you, but that background you have in "computer systems" puts you ahead of about 999 out of a thousand working electrical engineers as an analog wonk.
After all, there's no such thing as digital. Just as all the old analog dinosaurs were retiring the high-speed digital crowd discovered that maybe everything wasn't all ones and zeros.
Same applies to mainframes: mainframe technology has been dissed as obsolete for decades. Just as the microprocessors that (mostly) displaced them finally get to where they can use some of that "ancient" mainframe technology, the people who know how to apply it are leaving.
I'm sure a few will be willing to stay on the job if they're asked nicely enough.
Karma is a bitch -- especially the "comes around" part.
Never said they weren't. What I said (and stand by) is that PFC not only doesn't mitigate the negative-impedance problem, its application to inductive-load devices like motors makes the problem worse.
FWIW I've worked on PFC qualification and certification -- I'm quite aware of how it works and why it's desirable.
So far, seems to be working. It's great to have one of your children call up too excited to speak clearly about some utterly awesome thing s/he's just learned.
Fortunately, mine seem to have listened. Will wonders never cease?
Sheesh. Here I am with a background in engineering physics, a degree in CS, and I'm having a blast designing you-don't-want-to-think-about-how-fast analog transistor circuits 35 years after high school.
Nice of them to notice.
If not that, they ended up running universities where their business depends on having more science students to
Then they get stressed out that my kids look around at their father and his cow-orkers stressing over whose job is the next to vanish. They look at the management, lawyers, and politicians getting wealthier and more powerful every year, and shock! they decide not to go into tech.
Here's the paradox: they want the best and brightest to make life decisions that they themselves saw as foolish.
PFC has nothing to do with it. In fact, since PFC requires making loads "smart" the net result is that anything that falls under PFC (e.g. your refrigerator) ends up moving another load from the "positive impedance" to the "negative impedance" side of the equation.
Lighting used to be the great stabilizer, but PFC requirements are moving in there with fluorescents.
Seriously, if that's the case we're in deep shit.
The reason is that constant-power loads like PSUs and "smart" motors have a negative-resistance load curve. Negative resistance load curves have another name in electrical engineering:
Unstable.
If the electric utility gets even close to a brownout, the PSUs suck even more current. Which in turn drops the voltage to them, which in turn ....
Net result: breakers tripping all over the place. Which in turn causes a ripple blackout all over the Grid, since the Grid doesn't respond remotely as fast as those PSUs do.
Sleep tight. Have happy dreams.
It's not easy getting 1050 lfps over the heatsink.
No, we should concentrate on what matters: Actively-cooled Nomex loungewear with IV hydration systems to keep users from dying of heat exhaustion. (The noise-canceling headphones are already available.)
In case you wondered, it's too late: I already filed a patent application for sensing devices coupled into ACPI to throttle the system when the user overheats.
So quit whining and act like an adult: if you don't like the RIAA's tactics, put your money behind someone who treats you better. I'm currently having a minor love affair with MagnaTune [1] but suit yourself.
Just quit pretending that it's someone else's job and that you can have it all without any inconvenience. [1] They don't do DRM, they sell you 100% recordable disk images, and they pass 50% of sales to the artists. Isn't that what we've been saying we want?
OK, they don't have your favorite payola-pumped band. That sets a pretty good price for your stated principles. Maybe if you took your money elsewhere that would change, eh?
Well, that day is here. I not only welcome but applaud the RIAA's decision to base all of their DRM plans on MSWindows while ignoring other platforms.
Atos/Origin manages $EMPLOYER's network and has to be one of the most software libre-hostile service organizations around.
...
Buy the copy, use the software. Ignore the EULA.
I'm afraid my government is headed in the exact opposite direction and using strong-arm tactics to push others (yours included, I regret to say) down the same drain.