Think about this, if Linux does totally marginalize Sun (like SCO is now) that means Linux has moved onto the big iron. How does MS move into a market where their OS is hardly supported on the machines required to do the job, especially when the OS is free?
Microsoft's argument has always been that "big iron" is an outdated concept, and that there's nothing a huge, expensive Sun server can do that a bunch of commodity Windows boxes cannot. By and large, that's where Linux is eating Sun's lunch, too... not on big boxes, but in server pools.
I just don't see how you can equate the right to Free Speech with the right to use a mobile phone whenever and wherever you choose. The two just aren't the same thing.
In the United States, we have the right to come and go as we please, as well. Even if you're not a U.S. citizen, you have the expectation that you can be walking down any public street in America and nobody will demand to see "your papers, please" before you can pass.
Does that mean I have the right to walk into any room of the White House any time I want? You say they're the "public airwaves." Well, after all, the White House is "public property," isn't it? Our taxes pay for it.
Does freedom to travel mean I can drive on the wrong side of the road?
Obviously, no and no, and neither of these restrictions undermines my "rights" in any way. Cellular phones are an invention of the last 20 years; telling me I can't use them at a particular place and time is hardly equivalent to sewing my mouth shut, or threatening to send my kids to prison if I make certain statements. Making that argument just sounds like typical, greedy, self-centered American materialism.
If you think your right to transmit voice communications over cellular phone frequencies takes priority over a movie theater's right to broadcast data packets, it sounds like you have a good case to petition for a license from the FCC. Once you have that, you'll be able to sue the bastards. Until then, like you keep repeating -- public airwaves. Deal with it.
Public airwaves. What part of public is so hard to understand? You have no more right to shut off someone else's phone for bothering you than you do duct tape someone who's talking too loud at the mall.
Sounds like they're not "shutting off" anything. They're broadcasting "no signal" messages. Like you say -- public airwaves. Don't like it, pick a different movie theater.
I guess you do it if you really, really want a 64-bit OS.
Also, somebody at Yellow Dog once told me that most of their sales were in the sciences/HPC arena. It may be that their custom software requires more parts of the OS or core libraries to be open/modifiable than Apple provides. Yes, you might be able to pull it off by downloading Fink, or building your own Darwin kernel or whatever -- but if you can get Linux pre-installed (something the Yellow Dog people provide), then why bother?
Note that besides "standard GNU stuff," the Developer Tools also includes all the standard system header files. Basically, if you want to build any open source projects on OS X, you'll want to download this stuff -- even if you never write a line of code yourself.
After digging around, I think you're probably right... when IBM says an IFL (Integrated Facility for Linux) is a "separate G5 processor," what they mean is a separate processor built to the S/390 G5 series architecture -- not an IBM PowerPC G5. Confusing.
As for OS, well obviously you're going to have to get a Linux distro from somebody who's compiled it for zSeries. It's not like you can pick the one "of your choice" -- except that you do have three choices: Red Hat, SuSE, and Turbolinux. No Mandrake, no Debian, no Gentoo (heh). It's true that IBM makes a point of not "selling" Linux, though... if you order a zSeries with SuSE Linux pre-installed, that OS comes "direct from the vendor," i.e. not IBM.
Note that quote references the number of mainframes IBM is selling. Most of the mainframes currently in use were sold years and years ago.
That said, I've been talking to IBM about Linux on the mainframe recently and while I don't have an actual figure handy, I wouldn't be surprised if the number your source cited were true, and in fact there may be even more movement in the Linux-on-mainframe area than that figure suggests.
IBM is marketing Linux on the mainframe primarily to existing mainframe customers who want to further leverage their investments there. Remember that mainframes tend to be very modular and upgradeable... you need not replace the thing to see performance gains or new functionality. You can just buy some new parts.
So IBM is selling a version of Linux that will run under zVM, its mainframe virtualization technology, as well as hardware modules that are basically PowerPC G5 units you can add to the base hardware for the explicit purpose of running Linux. (I don't think you necessarily need the add-on modules to run Linux, I just know that they're available.)
This doesn't really have any benefit at all if you're running a compute cluster or any other application where the Linux boxes are running at high utilization all the time. The main purpose for this is consolidation of lightweight servers. Let's say you have a farm of a hundred Linux Web servers that mostly sit around idle, and the heaviest lifting they need to do is to hand off transactions for processing in the database on the zSeries mainframe. IBM suggests that you instead roll all those servers into virtual machines on the mainframe itself.
Note that we're usually talking about a mainframe that's already in production use, here. You don't need to wipe your mainframe and start over with Linux. You can run Linux instances and z/OS instances at the same time. You gain the following advantages:
You can now use the same staff to maintain those Linux "boxes" that you were already using to maintain the mainframe
VM makes it pretty easy to provision new virtual servers as needed, and keep their configurations consistent
You get the benefit of increased I/O -- the Linux instances think they're communicating over TCP/IP to some remote database, but really all the I/O happens using the in-memory channels on the mainframe
Are these advantages compelling enough to make a lot of companies run out and spend the money on a mainframe? Probably not, especially with today's economy so focused on short-term gains instead of long-term ROI. But if you've already spent the money it could be pretty attractive.
From my understanding, IBM doesn't really have a whole horde of customers yet, but I bet a lot of mainframe customers are evaluating the option.
More information on this, as well as mainframe topics in general, in last week's InfoWorld: here, here, and the full PDF special report on mainframes here.
Coming up with a reliable definition for "mainframe" is difficult enough; most people resort to defining them by the OS they run or the vendor that produces them. Short answer: Not all mainframes are supercomputers. Supercomputing generally refers to high-performance computing for lots and lots of number crunching (e.g. scientific applications). A lot of mainframes just hold databases, and focus instead on reliability and availability.
Ha ha! Too funny... I live in the San Francisco Bay Area, don't subscribe to cable TV, and my rabbit ears manage to pull in only about three channels: Channel 9, channel 54, and channel 60, all of which happen to be PBS affiliates. And they do all run their pledge drives at the same time!
$2 Billion is the most that Microsoft has EVER payed out to any company. To reach a settlement like this, they may have future plans to do a lot more with Java.
Could be. At a recent software clambake at the Sun campus, I was surprised to learn that, for the first time, Sun counts consumers as part of its customer base. Expect to see the beginnings of a consumer-targeted marketing blitz around the Java platform, featuring the Java logo, particularly focusing on the area of mobile devices (cell phone handsets). Rumor has it this campaign could include TV ads during the NHL finals.
If I had to take a random guess, I'd bet Sun and Microsoft will soon announce an agreement that will see Java bundled with every Windows CE device, as well.
Any job is better than no job, so long as you're getting paid.
Spoken like somebody who's bitter and unemployed.
I've had jobs that made me completely miserable. In fact, the job that paid me the highest salary I ever made was like that.
On the other hand, I spent the last year unemployed and had a pretty great time, all told. I traveled to Italy, Spain, England, a couple of the United States... I worked the door at a bar for a while, that was fun... I sat around, I got caught up with friends I had lost touch with, I got involved with personal projects. I kept my ear to the ground about job opportunities, though there didn't seem to be many of them, and eventually I got myself another job.
And right now, unemployment is feeling like the best job I ever had.
Managing unemployment is a skill, of course. Fortunately I didn't blow all my money on 3-D video cards and stereo equipment before I was laid off, and I came up with a decent strategy for managing my finances with no sure income. Moreover, I had enough skills, both technical and communication-wise, that I was able to market myself sufficiently to get some freelance work in the interim between full-time gigs. And when a decent opportunity did show up, I was able to seize upon it and pick up more or less where I left off... not quite as senior a position, not quite as much money... but than, that really is the point at which, as you say, a job's a job.
In my experience most strippers are not hookers, but single moms who like that the hours give them time to be with their kids, not to mention the fact that they can make a decent wage vs. what they would make at unskilled retail or service-industry jobs.
And I've never heard of this "funny money" you describe -- what state/country are you in?
Yet the gemstones that DeBeer's has managed to manipulate you into buying are all mined - simply because they are about status rather than beauty.
Well, that, and until very recently it's been very, very difficult to produce a man-made diamond of so-called gem grade. Most of the manufactured diamonds produced thus far have been used in industrial applications (diamond drills and so forth).
Another interesting distinction of synthetic diamonds is that they tend to fluoresce under UV light -- which sounds like an advantage to me, but it's become one of DeBeers' tests to find out whether a diamond is "counterfeit" or not.
Yeah, I saw that Nova special, too.
Answered your own question?
on
CSS for the LDP?
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· Score: 2, Insightful
There are others who think we should not get involved the presentation layer, and mainly concentrate on the content.
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My statement was that Microsoft says this. I didn't say I necessarily agreed.
I just don't see how you can equate the right to Free Speech with the right to use a mobile phone whenever and wherever you choose. The two just aren't the same thing.
In the United States, we have the right to come and go as we please, as well. Even if you're not a U.S. citizen, you have the expectation that you can be walking down any public street in America and nobody will demand to see "your papers, please" before you can pass.
Does that mean I have the right to walk into any room of the White House any time I want? You say they're the "public airwaves." Well, after all, the White House is "public property," isn't it? Our taxes pay for it.
Does freedom to travel mean I can drive on the wrong side of the road?
Obviously, no and no, and neither of these restrictions undermines my "rights" in any way. Cellular phones are an invention of the last 20 years; telling me I can't use them at a particular place and time is hardly equivalent to sewing my mouth shut, or threatening to send my kids to prison if I make certain statements. Making that argument just sounds like typical, greedy, self-centered American materialism.
If you think your right to transmit voice communications over cellular phone frequencies takes priority over a movie theater's right to broadcast data packets, it sounds like you have a good case to petition for a license from the FCC. Once you have that, you'll be able to sue the bastards. Until then, like you keep repeating -- public airwaves. Deal with it.
I guess you do it if you really, really want a 64-bit OS.
Also, somebody at Yellow Dog once told me that most of their sales were in the sciences/HPC arena. It may be that their custom software requires more parts of the OS or core libraries to be open/modifiable than Apple provides. Yes, you might be able to pull it off by downloading Fink, or building your own Darwin kernel or whatever -- but if you can get Linux pre-installed (something the Yellow Dog people provide), then why bother?
Note that besides "standard GNU stuff," the Developer Tools also includes all the standard system header files. Basically, if you want to build any open source projects on OS X, you'll want to download this stuff -- even if you never write a line of code yourself.
Point me to the last trade union that was formed in the break room of a 20-employee startup company, and I'll be the first to do what those guys did.
After digging around, I think you're probably right ... when IBM says an IFL (Integrated Facility for Linux) is a "separate G5 processor," what they mean is a separate processor built to the S/390 G5 series architecture -- not an IBM PowerPC G5. Confusing.
... if you order a zSeries with SuSE Linux pre-installed, that OS comes "direct from the vendor," i.e. not IBM.
As for OS, well obviously you're going to have to get a Linux distro from somebody who's compiled it for zSeries. It's not like you can pick the one "of your choice" -- except that you do have three choices: Red Hat, SuSE, and Turbolinux. No Mandrake, no Debian, no Gentoo (heh). It's true that IBM makes a point of not "selling" Linux, though
If the Battlestar Galactica two-parter was any indication, this will probably form the basis of the entire series.
That said, I've been talking to IBM about Linux on the mainframe recently and while I don't have an actual figure handy, I wouldn't be surprised if the number your source cited were true, and in fact there may be even more movement in the Linux-on-mainframe area than that figure suggests.
IBM is marketing Linux on the mainframe primarily to existing mainframe customers who want to further leverage their investments there. Remember that mainframes tend to be very modular and upgradeable ... you need not replace the thing to see performance gains or new functionality. You can just buy some new parts.
So IBM is selling a version of Linux that will run under zVM, its mainframe virtualization technology, as well as hardware modules that are basically PowerPC G5 units you can add to the base hardware for the explicit purpose of running Linux. (I don't think you necessarily need the add-on modules to run Linux, I just know that they're available.)
This doesn't really have any benefit at all if you're running a compute cluster or any other application where the Linux boxes are running at high utilization all the time. The main purpose for this is consolidation of lightweight servers. Let's say you have a farm of a hundred Linux Web servers that mostly sit around idle, and the heaviest lifting they need to do is to hand off transactions for processing in the database on the zSeries mainframe. IBM suggests that you instead roll all those servers into virtual machines on the mainframe itself.
Note that we're usually talking about a mainframe that's already in production use, here. You don't need to wipe your mainframe and start over with Linux. You can run Linux instances and z/OS instances at the same time. You gain the following advantages:
- You can now use the same staff to maintain those Linux "boxes" that you were already using to maintain the mainframe
- VM makes it pretty easy to provision new virtual servers as needed, and keep their configurations consistent
- You get the benefit of increased I/O -- the Linux instances think they're communicating over TCP/IP to some remote database, but really all the I/O happens using the in-memory channels on the mainframe
Are these advantages compelling enough to make a lot of companies run out and spend the money on a mainframe? Probably not, especially with today's economy so focused on short-term gains instead of long-term ROI. But if you've already spent the money it could be pretty attractive.From my understanding, IBM doesn't really have a whole horde of customers yet, but I bet a lot of mainframe customers are evaluating the option.
More information on this, as well as mainframe topics in general, in last week's InfoWorld: here, here, and the full PDF special report on mainframes here.
It's easy to have a 6-year uptime when the only applications it's running are tic tac toe, chess, and Global Thermonuclear War.
Coming up with a reliable definition for "mainframe" is difficult enough; most people resort to defining them by the OS they run or the vendor that produces them. Short answer: Not all mainframes are supercomputers. Supercomputing generally refers to high-performance computing for lots and lots of number crunching (e.g. scientific applications). A lot of mainframes just hold databases, and focus instead on reliability and availability.
Ha ha! Too funny ... I live in the San Francisco Bay Area, don't subscribe to cable TV, and my rabbit ears manage to pull in only about three channels: Channel 9, channel 54, and channel 60, all of which happen to be PBS affiliates. And they do all run their pledge drives at the same time!
If I had to take a random guess, I'd bet Sun and Microsoft will soon announce an agreement that will see Java bundled with every Windows CE device, as well.
Lotta typing involved there. Most people can't type. Wouldn't a FAQ be simpler?
Nice try.
I've had jobs that made me completely miserable. In fact, the job that paid me the highest salary I ever made was like that.
On the other hand, I spent the last year unemployed and had a pretty great time, all told. I traveled to Italy, Spain, England, a couple of the United States ... I worked the door at a bar for a while, that was fun ... I sat around, I got caught up with friends I had lost touch with, I got involved with personal projects. I kept my ear to the ground about job opportunities, though there didn't seem to be many of them, and eventually I got myself another job.
And right now, unemployment is feeling like the best job I ever had.
Managing unemployment is a skill, of course. Fortunately I didn't blow all my money on 3-D video cards and stereo equipment before I was laid off, and I came up with a decent strategy for managing my finances with no sure income. Moreover, I had enough skills, both technical and communication-wise, that I was able to market myself sufficiently to get some freelance work in the interim between full-time gigs. And when a decent opportunity did show up, I was able to seize upon it and pick up more or less where I left off ... not quite as senior a position, not quite as much money ... but than, that really is the point at which, as you say, a job's a job.
In my experience most strippers are not hookers, but single moms who like that the hours give them time to be with their kids, not to mention the fact that they can make a decent wage vs. what they would make at unskilled retail or service-industry jobs.
And I've never heard of this "funny money" you describe -- what state/country are you in?
Another interesting distinction of synthetic diamonds is that they tend to fluoresce under UV light -- which sounds like an advantage to me, but it's become one of DeBeers' tests to find out whether a diamond is "counterfeit" or not.
Yeah, I saw that Nova special, too.
Seriously, what could the cons possibly be?
...the phrase "jumped the shark" has officially jumped the shark once it appears on Slashdot?
Dammit, you guys, methane is odorless.