One of the team members developing Linux code for the prototype web-pads (as we called them) was...Linus!
Talk about a home-field advantage.:)
Linux and scientific computing
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IBM Wants Linux
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· Score: 2, Interesting
GNU/Linux's appearance in enterprise IT and scientific computing was a fluke...
I would argue that its appearance in the scientific-computing community wasn't a fluke; in fact, I'll assert that scientific computing was one of Linux's earliest natural "markets."
Scientific organizations typically have
- lots of raw intellectual and technical talent,
- meager funding and tight budgets,
- a "doing it right often means doing it yourself" mind-set, and
- lots of in-house curiosity.
Can you think of a more natural environment for a home-brew OS's ferment?
(I started using and supporting Linux for serious scientific computing in 1993.)
the station is an experiment in international cooperation that has never been tried before on such an astronomical scale (no pun intended).
Call me silly, but I think the World War II alliances, both Axis and Allied, were a bit more far-reaching in scale, as far as experiments in international cooperation go.
Before coming to Transmeta, I worked for NRAO for five years (1993-1998). Some of that time was spent working on part of a software project (AIPS++) related to this telescope.
Most people probably don't realize the immensity of the software challenge that handling the amount of data this telescope will produce is. It's not just a monster piece of hardware--it's going to produce simply tremendous amounts of data; the software aspects of this unique telescope will be as interesting as its hardware aspects.
After hearing media reports that varied from referring to Linus as a "key executive" within Transmeta (he's not a corporate executive, which should be obvious to anyone who's viewed the web site or bothered to read the press package distributed at the launch), to describing Crusoe as "Internet-powered" and then asserting it draws its electrical power from the Internet itself, it's nice to see that someone with a clue actually sat down, read, analyzed, and reported on the technology that we introduced yesterday.
I can confirm this: in order to demonstrate x86 compatibility, we demonstrated several operating systems at the launch. BeOS was indeed one of them. Others were various flavors of Linux, Win98, Win2k, and Solaris x86.
Every now and then someone pops out of a hole claiming to have a grand unified theory of some sort. The claims get some attention in the scientifically-clueless mass media, and occasionally even make the "lighter" science-related mainstream magazines. And then they're never heard from again....
We already have shareware, freeware, etc., all in common usage.
Libreware carries the connotation of "free" without its unfortunate ambiguity. No compromising of principles (as in "Open Source") and no room for misinterpretation (as in "Free Software").
It even strikes me as being palatable to the "right" (i.e. the corporate world) in a way that "liberated" could never hope to be.
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We were doing this at Transmeta five years ago!
:)
One of the team members developing Linux code for the prototype web-pads (as we called them) was...Linus!
Talk about a home-field advantage.
I would argue that its appearance in the scientific-computing community wasn't a fluke; in fact, I'll assert that scientific computing was one of Linux's earliest natural "markets."
Scientific organizations typically have
- lots of raw intellectual and technical talent,
- meager funding and tight budgets,
- a "doing it right often means doing it yourself" mind-set, and
- lots of in-house curiosity.
Can you think of a more natural environment for a home-brew OS's ferment?
(I started using and supporting Linux for serious scientific computing in 1993.)
Call me silly, but I think the World War II alliances, both Axis and Allied, were a bit more far-reaching in scale, as far as experiments in international cooperation go.
Before coming to Transmeta, I worked for NRAO for five years (1993-1998). Some of that time was spent working on part of a software project (AIPS++) related to this telescope.
Most people probably don't realize the immensity of the software challenge that handling the amount of data this telescope will produce is. It's not just a monster piece of hardware--it's going to produce simply tremendous amounts of data; the software aspects of this unique telescope will be as interesting as its hardware aspects.
That is indeed a functioning prototype.
After hearing media reports that varied from referring to Linus as a "key executive" within Transmeta (he's not a corporate executive, which should be obvious to anyone who's viewed the web site or bothered to read the press package distributed at the launch), to describing Crusoe as "Internet-powered" and then asserting it draws its electrical power from the Internet itself, it's nice to see that someone with a clue actually sat down, read, analyzed, and reported on the technology that we introduced yesterday.
Making sci-fi a reality is about as enjoyable a job as can be found.
I can confirm this: in order to demonstrate x86 compatibility, we demonstrated several operating systems at the launch. BeOS was indeed one of them. Others were various flavors of Linux, Win98, Win2k, and Solaris x86.
Every now and then someone pops out of a hole claiming to have a grand unified theory of some sort. The claims get some attention in the scientifically-clueless mass media, and occasionally even make the "lighter" science-related mainstream magazines. And then they're never heard from again....
These alien corpses take *way* longer to microwave than anyone expected....
*sigh*
I'll go reboot the web server.
Damn...and only 500 days uptime....
We already have shareware, freeware, etc., all in common usage.
Libreware carries the connotation of "free" without its unfortunate ambiguity. No compromising of principles (as in "Open Source") and no room for misinterpretation (as in "Free Software").
It even strikes me as being palatable to the "right" (i.e. the corporate world) in a way that "liberated" could never hope to be.
Rob was eaten by a bear.
Not selling it--I ride it to work. It's sitting out front of Transmeta right now. *grin*