*cough* *cough* NSA licenses GF(p) curves from certicom.
What the fuck is that about? [hint: there are no patents on GF(p) point operations or DH/DSA].
Sometimes if you talk fast enough and have a classy enough suit you can convince people of anything. At the ceritcom ECC con- [can't say convention cuz that would be giving them too much credit] this year it was all about how "certicoms ECC technology was leading the way" etc cough cough gag!
All I have to say is this
"250,000 patents filed every year, and still no microwavable safe metals.":-)
Most patents are just nuisance pointless bragging patents. Oh we "invented" a way to do something trivially different from what you are doing. Or fuck, let's just patent something other people do but word it up all in our own lingo.
Like the MSFT patents on cron jobs...
The reason why no patent suits have been brought against Linux is because they wouldn't hold ground in court. I'm sure on paper there are patents that Linux somehow violates. I just wouldn't count on them being legitimate.
Swing and a miss. You can go ahead with your one man protest.
I for one won't stop buying products just because another company owned by the same parent did evil.
As much as you'd like to think it SonyBMG and SCEA are not like *this* [picture fingers crossed]. I'm smart enough to realize that ones companies actions are not anothers.
Who else do they invest in? Are you going to stop using those companies products?
It's quite easy to pin this on the CEO of Sony Music right here. Blame him for the stupidity.
Why penalize the thousands of other employees of the different companies under the Sony banner who are in no way shape or form in charge or able to influence what a DIFFERENT COMPANY does.
You think that some middle-level manager at Sony Electronics or SCEA can tell Sony BMG "don't use f4i!!!" ??? Really you think that?
To each their own. I just think you ought to learn more about the corporate world before you start spouting off as an intellect.
Sony Music is not Sony Computer Entertainment America. Even though they're both owned by Sony of Japan [whatever the head company is called]. Get that idea out of your fucking head. They're just not the same company.
So to say "I won't buy a PS3 because a different company did something wrong..." is just stupid.
I mean I'm all for "I won't buy a PS3 because the games suck" or "the DRM is invasive" or "it's expensive" or "I don't want it".
That's all cool. But because a different company did something? You think the CEO of SCEA was sitting there with the CEO of Sony Music saying "let's put rootkits in our products!"?
Hopefully PS3 flops because of this. Maybe then the head of PS3-division gives the head of Sony Music a call, and tells him to go fuck himself.
You're still sitting there as if MSFT has done no harm [or Nintendo for that matter].
You realize that xbox and windows are different groups inside MSFT too? And the windows guys are doing quite a bit of evil. Therefore by your logic you also hope the 360 flops?
Nintendo cracks down on hobbyist programmers who buy their consoles and then proceed to develop their own applications. Nintendo is evil. Therefore by your logic you also hope the "revolution" flops?
Because few retail boxes ship with more than 1GB of ram.
Neither of my dual-core 64-bit boxes have more than 1GB of ram.
If you're buying a 64-bit core for that reason you're clearly a bit naive. You can have upto 36-bits of addressing in 32-bit cores for quite some time [the PAE feature] which is 16GB total physical addressible.
For the average desktop user the most benefit you get out of x86_64 is the extra GPR registers. Which oddly enough don't help you on the Intel side of the camp [most ALU tasks are the same speed on the 540 and 820 cores w.r.t. cycles/operation].
If you run servers with things like SSL you want a 64-bit core even if your website is otherwise lean on the processing requirement. AMD64s can do things like RSA handshakes a lot faster than the 32-bit and Intel counterparts.
My warranty was with Best Buy [compaq presario]. The original HD died, they took 52 days to determine it "wasn't broken".
A week after I got the laptop back it wouldn't boot anymore. So I bought a new HD from the store for 90$ and replaced it myself. The replacement drives from Compaq cost 700$ [it's a 60GB 4200RPM ATA100]...
Maybe Compaq just sucks?
I'm glad Apple at least can turnaround a fix quickly. Thanks for the info.
Unless they can make dual core laptops for 1100$ in 2006 I don't see the appeal. You're investing in what amounts essentially to a throwaway laptop.
And yeah, why would you want a dual core laptop? If you can make a dual core process consume X Watts a single core version would consume Y X Watts. I dunno about you but I don't often sit there with long compute jobs on a laptop. I find it easier to farm them out to a desktop sitting in another room somewhere where I don't worry about my lap catching on fire.
Yes, I think efficient [re: fast] processors are a good idea for a laptop. I'm just weary that the "dual core" premise won't be as power efficient as can be and cost more because it sounds more impressive.
I'd rather invest in a 16-core desktop cpu because at least then I'd know if I spent that much money on something I could fix it the same day if it broke. Not have to wait a month to possibly get it fixed by some stupid $8/hr day labourer at a retail farm.
Laptops break, wear out, etc. Fact of life [sometimes they arrive broken!!! e.g. bad caps, LCDs, HDs].
Your LCD dies. Tell me how you fix that at home. You can't. At best you take your notebook back to the retailer and wait upto 60 days for a fix. [Though Dells warranty plans reads nice, I wonder how good it is in practice].
Maybe you can wait 60 days for something to get fixed but I'd need a new computer the same day.
For me it's cheaper and easier to maintain a desktop as my "compute box" [e.g. where I store my CVS, do long builds, etc] and use a laptop to do work remotely [or presentations]. Unless apple can guarantee my broken laptop will get fixed the same day it's basically throwaway. Or better yet, start using standard components that are user replaceable [e.g. why can't you replace the LCD? Just unscrew the display and plomp a new one on].
Which is my point, until then laptops are throwaway for business use. So why invest?
It'd be like buying trucks for your business that you can't service locally. When they break you have to wait 60 days for someone to show up and work on them. Or how about a restaurant that buys ovens that take 60 days to fix, etc...
If you're a developer like me who has to be working on things everyday you can't wait 60 days let alone a week.
If my desktop LCD blows up today, I can go to the store and pick up a new one and be up and running within an hour or two [the store is about 30 mins away]. If my laptop LCD blows up today, I'm basically screwed.
This is bullshit. Even when I was working part time on consulting projects WHILE going to college I owned a laptop and a desktop [well two]. I paid my own tuition, books, bus fare, meals, etc.
If you work full-time as a developer and can't afford a $1000 for a desktop you're either really in debt, bad with your money or just not asking for enough salary.
I make $36,000/yr USD [before taxes] and I own three desktops, a laptop, stereo, gaming consoles, nice LCD monitor, etc and I pay about a grand a month in bills/RRSP. It's about saving up, scoring a few contracts once in a while [like a one-week contract would buy a very good PC for example].
However, that all said. If you're budget limited a desktop is probably more suitable. They're easier to fix and in the long run unless you travel A LOT [something poor people don't do] you're gonna be sitting at work/office/home more often than not.
That sound neat but totally misses one other critical point. That's the cost factor. I'm sure these ibooks will cost "a bit more" than the average wintel laptop.
So again, why invest in something that is throw away?
Same? Um under which benchmark? I can assure you in the "bignum/crypto" world AMD64 is still king.
Stop refering to mindless win32 benchmarks for AMD64 performance metrics [which sadly most people do]. Also stop refering to game benchmarks. FPS in game does not equate to CPU performance. It equates to *SYSTEM* performance.
Which makes me ask the question why do retail boxes bundle winxp32 with AMD64s?
You didn't really address my point at all. You said that punishing SCEA does not make sense, because Sony Music is a different division. I beg to differ, they are both part of the same corporation.
Ok, I have friends who work at SCEA. You want to punish them? The idea to use f4i DRM wasn't theirs [fuck they don't even work for Sony Music].
So by your logic we should punish everyone by association. I can think of another group that did that. They were called Nazis:-)
[sorry Godwin...]
Point is if you think this is bad don't buy Sony Music. If you think PS3 DRM is bad don't buy Sony gaming products. But don't just punish one group because another did something else.
And really, you should actually talk with sony folk. They may be under the same parent company but when you get down to the day-to-day work SCEA and Sony Music are different groups with different products and different goals.
As for the moral superiority of MSFT that the original post was suggesting [e.g. do I get 360 or ps3] this alone shouldn't be a deciding factor.
Pick whichever has the better games [for your taste] and fits in the budget.
My point is THEY [being Apple, Dell, etc] treat laptops as throw away. Ever try to get a laptop serviced UNDER WARRANTY? I've never had a dell warranty but I can assure you my Futureshop [bestbuy affiliate] warranty is useless. Send in the laptop [e.g. to a local store] and they will return it [unfixed I may add] in 52 days.
If that's the case I'd rather buy a cheap [but decent] laptop and rely on my expensive [but easily fixable] desktops for the heavy lifting. If you do a lot of sit down in the office development on your laptop and you spent 2000$ you're not really that clever. A 1000$ desktop would be equally [if not more] fast and would be easier to fix/upgrade.
My point is unless they make laptops easier to service what's my incentive to invest a lot of money in what is essentially a THROW AWAY product? I mean I can't stop working for TWO MONTHS when my laptop breaks. If it comes down to it I'll buy a second [if I really need it, have a spare, etc] or just work on my desktops when I can.
Why would they want a dual-core laptop? I thought the idea was to not burn the juice?
I mean I do development work on my laptop but when I need the serious power I use my desktop boxes sitting in the basement. To me the value of a laptop is partly in the availability of cpu power but mostly in the fact I can take it with me.
So why would I pay the likely 2700$ or whatever for the newer Powerbooks when an 1100$ laptop would suit me just fine?
Anyone with half a brain would invest in a desktop where replacing components is cheaper. Why pay a premium for a cpu that only works in a laptop where something as simple as swapping an HD can take a few days if not weeks and possibly more money than just buying the drive...
I'm all for new PentiumM cores [e.g. yonah or whatever] but only if it's smaller, lighter, equally fast [or faster] than before while not costing significantly more.
First off, if you think other corporations are so immune to the long-term downward spiral to hell that is coporate america... you're sadly mistaken. MSFT would gladly sell your kidneys to make a buck if they could.
Second, buying CDs from RIAA labels in general [not just from Sony] is a bad idea.
As for the PS3 being "encumbered by DRM". What do I care? So are the PS2 and xbox. It's a standalone gaming platform. It could run windows [*cough* xbox *cough*] for all I care.
As Carlin would have it... the planet in no way shape or form is doomed by our actions. We however, are totally screwed.
Long after we kill off our ability to live here the planet will still exist. Organisms will adapt, and life will continue. Human life won't but life otherwise will.
Just make sure your lawn chair has a view when the world goes to hell in a hand basket.
I've been on bearshare and gnutella a few times. Each time I search for one of those fucking RIAA stuck-in-my-head-pop tunes I get 5000 hits the song I want and most of them are just dummy files, porn or virii.
I'm glad it works for you but for me it's just easier to buy the CD if I want to cure the head pain. [well that or I just avoid the radio/etc].
I can't wait to see you graduate from college...:-)
"like totally we're going p2p until we're blue in the face."
Then you'll get a job and realize you don't have the time to sort through 1000 files to find the 1 good mp3 you wanted. And that in the same time you could just buy the CD and come out ahead.
Slashdot Mirror
Fuck off bruce, Dan Kaminksy and others have already done the REAL work of analyzing servers [etc] to see the damage.
I swear to god that guy [Bruce] hasn't contributed anything meaningful to the public since 1998 and yet he's still fucking there.
At least this article wasn't full of links back to his company.
Tom
*cough* *cough* NSA licenses GF(p) curves from certicom.
:-)
What the fuck is that about? [hint: there are no patents on GF(p) point operations or DH/DSA].
Sometimes if you talk fast enough and have a classy enough suit you can convince people of anything. At the ceritcom ECC con- [can't say convention cuz that would be giving them too much credit] this year it was all about how "certicoms ECC technology was leading the way" etc cough cough gag!
All I have to say is this
"250,000 patents filed every year, and still no microwavable safe metals."
Most patents are just nuisance pointless bragging patents. Oh we "invented" a way to do something trivially different from what you are doing. Or fuck, let's just patent something other people do but word it up all in our own lingo.
Like the MSFT patents on cron jobs...
The reason why no patent suits have been brought against Linux is because they wouldn't hold ground in court. I'm sure on paper there are patents that Linux somehow violates. I just wouldn't count on them being legitimate.
Tom
Fact is wrong. SCEA and SonyBMG are different companies. They have different offices, difference CEOs, etc.
GE for instance owns a lot of companies. Most of them you probably don't even realize.
Just because Sony owns companies doesn't mean the child companies are linked in all product decisions. You're saying we should punish them all.
That's like spanking your daughter because your son broke the cookie jar.
I don't know what you have it in for Sony. I mean I'm all for a good hate-fest. Just don't be a stupid ass about it. Know your shit first, then hate.
I hate SCEA because they're slow paced and won't make a Mario clone.
I hate BMG because they're lame and label the dumbest pop shit ever.
I hate you and I don't even know you!
Tom
Swing and a miss. You can go ahead with your one man protest.
I for one won't stop buying products just because another company owned by the same parent did evil.
As much as you'd like to think it SonyBMG and SCEA are not like *this* [picture fingers crossed]. I'm smart enough to realize that ones companies actions are not anothers.
Tom
Yeah and I'm saying this won't work.
Who invests in Sony? Are they responsible?
Who else do they invest in? Are you going to stop using those companies products?
It's quite easy to pin this on the CEO of Sony Music right here. Blame him for the stupidity.
Why penalize the thousands of other employees of the different companies under the Sony banner who are in no way shape or form in charge or able to influence what a DIFFERENT COMPANY does.
You think that some middle-level manager at Sony Electronics or SCEA can tell Sony BMG "don't use f4i!!!" ??? Really you think that?
Tom
Tom
To each their own. I just think you ought to learn more about the corporate world before you start spouting off as an intellect.
Sony Music is not Sony Computer Entertainment America. Even though they're both owned by Sony of Japan [whatever the head company is called]. Get that idea out of your fucking head. They're just not the same company.
So to say "I won't buy a PS3 because a different company did something wrong..." is just stupid.
I mean I'm all for "I won't buy a PS3 because the games suck" or "the DRM is invasive" or "it's expensive" or "I don't want it".
That's all cool. But because a different company did something? You think the CEO of SCEA was sitting there with the CEO of Sony Music saying "let's put rootkits in our products!"?
Hopefully PS3 flops because of this. Maybe then the head of PS3-division gives the head of Sony Music a call, and tells him to go fuck himself.
You're still sitting there as if MSFT has done no harm [or Nintendo for that matter].
You realize that xbox and windows are different groups inside MSFT too? And the windows guys are doing quite a bit of evil. Therefore by your logic you also hope the 360 flops?
Nintendo cracks down on hobbyist programmers who buy their consoles and then proceed to develop their own applications. Nintendo is evil. Therefore by your logic you also hope the "revolution" flops?
What console are you cheering for?
Tom
Because few retail boxes ship with more than 1GB of ram.
Neither of my dual-core 64-bit boxes have more than 1GB of ram.
If you're buying a 64-bit core for that reason you're clearly a bit naive. You can have upto 36-bits of addressing in 32-bit cores for quite some time [the PAE feature] which is 16GB total physical addressible.
For the average desktop user the most benefit you get out of x86_64 is the extra GPR registers. Which oddly enough don't help you on the Intel side of the camp [most ALU tasks are the same speed on the 540 and 820 cores w.r.t. cycles/operation].
If you run servers with things like SSL you want a 64-bit core even if your website is otherwise lean on the processing requirement. AMD64s can do things like RSA handshakes a lot faster than the 32-bit and Intel counterparts.
Tom
Well I'm amazed.
...
My warranty was with Best Buy [compaq presario]. The original HD died, they took 52 days to determine it "wasn't broken".
A week after I got the laptop back it wouldn't boot anymore. So I bought a new HD from the store for 90$ and replaced it myself. The replacement drives from Compaq cost 700$ [it's a 60GB 4200RPM ATA100]
Maybe Compaq just sucks?
I'm glad Apple at least can turnaround a fix quickly. Thanks for the info.
Tom
You missed my point too. Holy crap.
I'm talking about DUAL CORES in LAPTOPS.
Unless they can make dual core laptops for 1100$ in 2006 I don't see the appeal. You're investing in what amounts essentially to a throwaway laptop.
And yeah, why would you want a dual core laptop? If you can make a dual core process consume X Watts a single core version would consume Y X Watts. I dunno about you but I don't often sit there with long compute jobs on a laptop. I find it easier to farm them out to a desktop sitting in another room somewhere where I don't worry about my lap catching on fire.
Yes, I think efficient [re: fast] processors are a good idea for a laptop. I'm just weary that the "dual core" premise won't be as power efficient as can be and cost more because it sounds more impressive.
I'd rather invest in a 16-core desktop cpu because at least then I'd know if I spent that much money on something I could fix it the same day if it broke. Not have to wait a month to possibly get it fixed by some stupid $8/hr day labourer at a retail farm.
Tom
You're totally missing my point.
Laptops break, wear out, etc. Fact of life [sometimes they arrive broken!!! e.g. bad caps, LCDs, HDs].
Your LCD dies. Tell me how you fix that at home. You can't. At best you take your notebook back to the retailer and wait upto 60 days for a fix. [Though Dells warranty plans reads nice, I wonder how good it is in practice].
Maybe you can wait 60 days for something to get fixed but I'd need a new computer the same day.
For me it's cheaper and easier to maintain a desktop as my "compute box" [e.g. where I store my CVS, do long builds, etc] and use a laptop to do work remotely [or presentations]. Unless apple can guarantee my broken laptop will get fixed the same day it's basically throwaway. Or better yet, start using standard components that are user replaceable [e.g. why can't you replace the LCD? Just unscrew the display and plomp a new one on].
Which is my point, until then laptops are throwaway for business use. So why invest?
It'd be like buying trucks for your business that you can't service locally. When they break you have to wait 60 days for someone to show up and work on them. Or how about a restaurant that buys ovens that take 60 days to fix, etc...
If you're a developer like me who has to be working on things everyday you can't wait 60 days let alone a week.
If my desktop LCD blows up today, I can go to the store and pick up a new one and be up and running within an hour or two [the store is about 30 mins away]. If my laptop LCD blows up today, I'm basically screwed.
Tom
This is bullshit. Even when I was working part time on consulting projects WHILE going to college I owned a laptop and a desktop [well two]. I paid my own tuition, books, bus fare, meals, etc.
If you work full-time as a developer and can't afford a $1000 for a desktop you're either really in debt, bad with your money or just not asking for enough salary.
I make $36,000/yr USD [before taxes] and I own three desktops, a laptop, stereo, gaming consoles, nice LCD monitor, etc and I pay about a grand a month in bills/RRSP. It's about saving up, scoring a few contracts once in a while [like a one-week contract would buy a very good PC for example].
However, that all said. If you're budget limited a desktop is probably more suitable. They're easier to fix and in the long run unless you travel A LOT [something poor people don't do] you're gonna be sitting at work/office/home more often than not.
Tom
"not having to remember to put all the documents I'm reading onto the right system, is a real bonus."
;-)
This is where a vpn comes in handy. Just log into your share remotely
Or do what I do and as I "pack" for trips I make sure my laptop has the latest checkout of the CVS.
Tom
That sound neat but totally misses one other critical point. That's the cost factor. I'm sure these ibooks will cost "a bit more" than the average wintel laptop.
So again, why invest in something that is throw away?
Tom
Same? Um under which benchmark? I can assure you in the "bignum/crypto" world AMD64 is still king.
Stop refering to mindless win32 benchmarks for AMD64 performance metrics [which sadly most people do]. Also stop refering to game benchmarks. FPS in game does not equate to CPU performance. It equates to *SYSTEM* performance.
Which makes me ask the question why do retail boxes bundle winxp32 with AMD64s?
Tom
You didn't really address my point at all. You said that punishing SCEA does not make sense, because Sony Music is a different division. I beg to differ, they are both part of the same corporation.
:-)
Ok, I have friends who work at SCEA. You want to punish them? The idea to use f4i DRM wasn't theirs [fuck they don't even work for Sony Music].
So by your logic we should punish everyone by association. I can think of another group that did that. They were called Nazis
[sorry Godwin...]
Point is if you think this is bad don't buy Sony Music. If you think PS3 DRM is bad don't buy Sony gaming products. But don't just punish one group because another did something else.
And really, you should actually talk with sony folk. They may be under the same parent company but when you get down to the day-to-day work SCEA and Sony Music are different groups with different products and different goals.
As for the moral superiority of MSFT that the original post was suggesting [e.g. do I get 360 or ps3] this alone shouldn't be a deciding factor.
Pick whichever has the better games [for your taste] and fits in the budget.
Tom
My point is THEY [being Apple, Dell, etc] treat laptops as throw away. Ever try to get a laptop serviced UNDER WARRANTY? I've never had a dell warranty but I can assure you my Futureshop [bestbuy affiliate] warranty is useless. Send in the laptop [e.g. to a local store] and they will return it [unfixed I may add] in 52 days.
If that's the case I'd rather buy a cheap [but decent] laptop and rely on my expensive [but easily fixable] desktops for the heavy lifting. If you do a lot of sit down in the office development on your laptop and you spent 2000$ you're not really that clever. A 1000$ desktop would be equally [if not more] fast and would be easier to fix/upgrade.
My point is unless they make laptops easier to service what's my incentive to invest a lot of money in what is essentially a THROW AWAY product? I mean I can't stop working for TWO MONTHS when my laptop breaks. If it comes down to it I'll buy a second [if I really need it, have a spare, etc] or just work on my desktops when I can.
Tom
Why would they want a dual-core laptop? I thought the idea was to not burn the juice?
I mean I do development work on my laptop but when I need the serious power I use my desktop boxes sitting in the basement. To me the value of a laptop is partly in the availability of cpu power but mostly in the fact I can take it with me.
So why would I pay the likely 2700$ or whatever for the newer Powerbooks when an 1100$ laptop would suit me just fine?
Anyone with half a brain would invest in a desktop where replacing components is cheaper. Why pay a premium for a cpu that only works in a laptop where something as simple as swapping an HD can take a few days if not weeks and possibly more money than just buying the drive...
I'm all for new PentiumM cores [e.g. yonah or whatever] but only if it's smaller, lighter, equally fast [or faster] than before while not costing significantly more.
Tom
First off, if you think other corporations are so immune to the long-term downward spiral to hell that is coporate america ... you're sadly mistaken. MSFT would gladly sell your kidneys to make a buck if they could.
Second, buying CDs from RIAA labels in general [not just from Sony] is a bad idea.
As for the PS3 being "encumbered by DRM". What do I care? So are the PS2 and xbox. It's a standalone gaming platform. It could run windows [*cough* xbox *cough*] for all I care.
Gaming console != PC
Tom
Sony Music != SCEA.
:-)
They're different companies owned by Sony of Japan.
And for the record, MS is just as "evil" as Sony. So the news about this particular stupidity is nothing beyond what MSFT is capable of.
I'll buy the PS3 and the 360 because I have a "job" and can afford to do things like that.
Tom
In a world where 8-bit processors are still more dominant than 32-bit ones ...
how the fuck did the parent GET A +5 SCORE!!!
We'll still be using 32-bit cores well into the next decade, well into the one after that.
Tom
As Carlin would have it ... the planet in no way shape or form is doomed by our actions. We however, are totally screwed.
Long after we kill off our ability to live here the planet will still exist. Organisms will adapt, and life will continue. Human life won't but life otherwise will.
Just make sure your lawn chair has a view when the world goes to hell in a hand basket.
Tom
I was talking about 5 years ago. Though I wouldn't trust SHA-2 today anyways. The design is just not sound.
It's practically secure [SHA-2] as to be useful today but I wouldn't be happy about it.
Tom
It's important news but not really that shocking. MD5 was not something professionals would recommend for a few years already.
Any half-way intelligent cryptographer would have suggested SHA-1, TIGER or perhaps HAVAL since quite some time already.
Tom
I've been on bearshare and gnutella a few times. Each time I search for one of those fucking RIAA stuck-in-my-head-pop tunes I get 5000 hits the song I want and most of them are just dummy files, porn or virii.
I'm glad it works for you but for me it's just easier to buy the CD if I want to cure the head pain. [well that or I just avoid the radio/etc].
Tom
I can't wait to see you graduate from college ... :-)
"like totally we're going p2p until we're blue in the face."
Then you'll get a job and realize you don't have the time to sort through 1000 files to find the 1 good mp3 you wanted. And that in the same time you could just buy the CD and come out ahead.
Tom