Someone. Someone with SENSE. Invade this damn country and slaughter all these idiots! They'll shut me down as "another Dave Khoresh" before I get big enough to be a threat, if I try to do it myself.
I'm a sane man in an insane world.
I'm a sane man in an insane world.
I'm a sane man in an insane world.
I'm a sane man in an insane world.
Ah screw it. Insanity's more fun anyhow (pulls out his M60 with optional bayonet-mounted chainsaw and gets bloody).
The holding company that owns FASA (and is partially owned by Weismann and his father, mostly his father), has been partially owned by Microsoft for several years. They simply took a larger, now-visible stake in the company.
Right now Decipher hasn't bought FASA yet. They HAVE issued a letter of intent to buy. But all the details have to be hammered out yet. Speaking with Jill Lucas, and Bryan Nystul (of FASA) and several people over at Decipher, the deal looks pretty much done.
Also, it looks like, after the initial 6-8 months of integration (which will probably be "turbulent"), it'll produce nothing but Good Things for all the FASA and Decipher properties. Not much OUTWARDLY is going to change. FASA's offices on 1100 Cermak will remain. FASA gets more funding and project support, as well as a better distribution channel. Decipher gets a fairly seasoned RP/Miniatures gaming division with some fairly hot properties both in the RP and computer gaming world (Shadowrun, BattleTech, MechWarrior.
And I think it would be a mistake to call FASA an industry whipping-boy. They're fairly shrewd. How many companies in their industry have been bought and denatured by others like WotC? TSR, the 800 lb gorilla of the gaming world was bought by them. Now TSR-based products have all but made themselves irrelevant. Heck, they've taken to rehashing old projects to put new material on the shelves!
FASA has neatly avoided this. They don't change, get more money, a bit more clout, and great distribution.
The only part of FASA that Gates got was the FASA Interactive division (which also holds the old Virtual World properties). Currently they hold all licenses to computer games based on the FASA properties. MechWarrior4 (based off the Virtual World engine) will come from this division. And compared to the rather anemic, and bug-ridden Zipper Interactive offering (MechWarrior3), it's going to rock.
I will agree with you on one thing. I think a buyout by Hasbro is a Very Bad Thing.
Chas - The one, the only. THANK GOD!!!
Re:We're still going to have floppies for a while
on
Is firewire dying?
·
· Score: 1
My mom's machine is connected here at home. But her one at work is only connected to the campus data LAN. It doesn't get outside to the net. The idiots at the IS dept where she works won't support the old DOS version of Word Perfect 5.1 that she is comfortable, knowledgeable, and ferociously productive with if they upgrade her current box. Never mind that her machine at home (P2 333, 128 MB RAM, Win98SE) runs it without a hitch. The network where she works craps out constantly because you can either have your system connecting to the net or the hospital LAN. Doing both simultaneously brings everything to a crashing halt. Wonderful, proprietary, 15 year old networked apps ported (BADLY) to NT 3.51 which net-loads onto P75 boxen (if you're lucky) with 16MB RAM.
I actually had one of these idiots in IS tell me a 12-port 10-base T switch that he was carrying was part of the phone system. Needless to say I do all my mother's techsup both at her home, and at work for her.
Because I prefer to build my own system, source my own parts, etc, and desire to get the most I can for my money I'm a lousy customer? WONDERFUL business ethic there.
And I don't call $2000 for $1200 in parts "a little more." Especially not a system that's hamstrung by an OS as broken as MacOS is. ESPECIALLY when real-world performance for the tasks I accomplish is better on a cheaper PC system.
There are people who buy prebuilt systems. That's what Dell, Compaq, Gateway, and HP are there for. You're paying a premium for them to assemble the system and provide software. But don't try to tell me that PPC components are SO EXPENSIVE that Apple couldn't slash prices dramatically and still turn healthy profit. Remember, these are the people who were pulling down 60-70% profit margins on their systems in the 80's. Still think Apple is all buddy-buddy? BAH!
If you want an Apple computer that's not much more expensive than the components plus labor? Buy IMac. Of course the processors won't run most next-gen software at anything resembling satisfactory speeds. But that's not iMac's purpose. It's a disposable computer. Good enough to get people's feet wet. Not much more.
20 disks for $10 with a $10 rebate. I don't use foppies all that much myself anymore (bootable CD's are nice), but I still keep a couple around for small file transfers. My mom's transcription service has run off floppy for 10 years.
Chas - The one, the only. THANK GOD!!!
We're still going to have floppies for a while
on
Is firewire dying?
·
· Score: 1
I'm sorry, but for transferring small files across non-networked machines, floppies are still the best way.
For archival purposes, CD-R is nice, but CD-RW isn't really a good (or cheap) alternative for small file transfer. But Zip and Jaz are too unreliable and non-ubiquitous. ORB isn't ubiquitous either.
Living in Chicago (a city where the deceased vote with frightening regularity), and having seen just about every current poll-taking method, I'm not sure there's a way to reasonably implement an online voting system without making so egregious or privacy-violating as to frighten away the people it was meant to reach.
At least with the current level of technology, it isn't really going to go much further than the "nice idea" stage.
Think it might have a following in the professional rendering market?
If PS2 ever arrives, it won't exactly look so great next to these systems. And, as with all things, the price will eventually drop on such cards. If the price is too steep, wait a bit, or buy a TNT2U in the interim.
Just pulled ALL my stuff off hotmail (6 accounts) and notified all hotmailers that I know of the crack. Also fired off a nastygramme to Hotmail about their aircraft-carrier-sized hole in security.
I basically mimiced the first guy who responded to this particular post. "Holy crap!"
What exactly makes you think AMD would be any less of an "Evil Empire" than Intel, given a reverse of the situation. AMD is NOT out to "help the people." They're in it for the money. Plain and simple. They're basically just a poor copy of Intel.
That being said, I do hope that AMD does well. If for no other reason than to make Intel chips cheaper.
Someone mentioned a weak feature set on Intel chips as well. How is the 'feature set" any different on the Athlon? The only difference I can see is a slightly beefier floating point unit and 3dNOW instead of SSE.
And for performance, since the K7 core has 2.3 times the transistors of a P3 core, it had damn well BETTER outperform a P3!
Don't mind me too much. I'm just going to take a wait and see attitude.
In fact, I've seen a lot of message boards ranting about how great the K7 is going to be. But when asked who's actually going to buy one right out of the gate, it gets damn quiet.
Don't force MY hand and I won't be forced to lie and cheat simply to go see a movie that, foul though it is, is little more than a political commentary.
That's really the heart of it. A bunch of politicoes are really upset with the basic message (not "swear all you want") of the movie. What's sad is that most of these hyper-reactionaries don't get that the film was aimed right, hard lock and fire, at them.
Screaming about how EVIL it is, doesn't accomplish anything.
Imposing YOUR "moral standards" on others is a useless gesture because you aren't changing the way they THINK and are merely giving them a negative bias towards your point of view.
You're showing that you have no better way to change their mind other than inhibiting them from seeing the "offending" piece. Forcing them.
Putting the control of the viewer's choices in the hands of someone who, by the metric, isn't supposed to be a viewer either is hypocritical in the extreme.
Yet another example of the people trying to raise your kids and take your responsibilities away from you (as well as your rights).
All I can say is that I'm moderately disgusted with the confrontational, overbearing louts who wish to impose THEIR beliefs on me and will use any means, not matter how illegal, intrusive to me, or personally repugnant they are. Ends NEVER justfies the means.
6: You have to remember. Overall performance equates out to 10-20% between a P3 550 and the K7 600. That's marginal.
7: Again. Supposedly you're not going to be able to change ANY of the processor settings without this proprietary and non-available connector. From AMD's site: High-performance cache architecture featuring an integrated 128KB L1 cache and a programmable, high-speed backside L2 cache interface.
Guess what this means. If you cannot get the RAM to function above it's operating specs (which is what PROGRAMMABLE implies) then all you can do is:
Burn it out running above spec while the L2 runs at it's preprogrammed speed.
Disable the L2 (which should hurt performance).
Don't get me wrong. I know if Intel were in the same position they'd be charging a testicle-tightening amount for their chips. I just don't think an overall performance bump of approximately 10% clock for clock is worth such a high markup. Which is also why you won't find me buying Xeon any time in the near future.
Motherboards aren't going to be readily available till August or September at the EARLIEST
PRE-ORDERS for the K7 still resemble:
$490: K7-500
$710: K7-550
$940: L7-600
While retail price for an IN STOCK P3 resemble:
$680: P3 550
$440: P3 500
Intel is due for another BIG price-drop this month.
K7 performs admirably when just stressing the CPU. But when Real-World performance is taken into account, you see a difference of approximately 20% between it, and a chip 10% slower than it in Mhz ratings. I don't know about you, but the extra marginal performance isn't worth the premium pricetag.They noted problems remeniscent of K6+SS7 (AGP cards).
All this overclocking that people keep talking about in conjunction with K7 isn't going to happen. No. The chip isn't hard-locked like P3 and Celeron. But it requires a proprietary programmable connector which AMD is NOT selling. If you're an overclocker, AMD is not a choice for you anymore.
Fastest? Yippie. I'll wait till the platform is proven stable.
I never said anything about pro wrestling being intelligent or redeeming. I merely stated that it was a JOB. One that put food on the table for his family. What's the problem with that? That's all, nothing more
And FYI, no I DO NOT watch it. It's gotten way too melodramatic and overblown. But if it keeps Joe-Bob and his brood out of mischief?
Okay guys, goofed earlier and posted a half-butchered version of the PS document. Didn't notice the damn thing until AFTER I'd gone back to read a couple more articles.
This version has been formatted in the attempt at readability. Any errors in readability are a combination of my fault, goofs with Ghostscript's conversion, and original grammatical mistakes in the document.
P.S.: NO. I did NOT have anything better to do tonight! I'm a geek remember?
The Sourceware Operating System Proposal Revision 1.8 Larry McVoy and a cast of thousands, see acknowledgments lm@sun.com +14153367627
Sun Microsystems Computer Corporation 1
ABSTRACT
This document describes a proposal to provide a source form, royalty free Unix as an evolution of the COSE ffort, as a means of unifying the Unix desktop market, and as an application deployment platform, with a focus on running all applications, including those from other operating systems, such as DOS and Windows 3.1. This effort is intended to provide substance to the many Unix unification and standard agreements that exist today.Significant effort has been made to address the concerns of the major Unix vendors, the Unix customer base, the DOS customer base, the Windows 3.1 customer base, the educational and research community,and the development community.
Introduction This document is an assessment of the condition of Unix, and a proposal to improve the condition of Unix on the desktop. To get a quick reading, the reader may scan for the highlighted bars; they are a summary of the key points of each section. The organization of the document is background on the state of Unix, background on the efforts to fix Unix, a digression on why bother with fixing Unix, a suggestion for how to start Unix on the path to healthiness, more details on the health plan, details on managing the resulting system, alternatives to this plan, questions and answers, and finally,acknowledgments. Neither Larry McVoy nor the views in this document are necessarily representing the views of Sun Microsystems or Sun'saffiliates. Sun's tolerance in this matter is gratefully acknowledged.
Unix in trouble Unix needs our help because Unix is dieing. Unix is no longer even close to competitive..Unix development in the industry is in bad shape. The major Unix vendors currently spend about $1,000,000,000 a year on Unix "development." A great deal of this expenditure is redundant over the set of vendors. Microsoft spends much less than this and produces a better product. The Unix solution is fragmented. The major Unix vendors each provide their own version of Unix, resulting in at least ten major Unix systems all competing for about three percent of the computer market. Microsoft has one implementation each of DOS, Windows, and Windows/NT.Windows/NT system runs on multiple platforms and compatibility is Their product is better in terms of ease of use, installation, and administration.Guaranteed by virtue of one source base.
Unix is too expensive. Licensing ranges from $20 to $100 per seat, with vendor mark up for their costly "value add" resulting in customer seat costs of $600 $3000. Microsoft sells Windows/NT for about $150.
Unix has become stagnant. Unix has ceased to be the platform of choice for the development and deployment of innovative technology. A great deal of the early development of Unix was done by researchers because of Unix's ready accessibility. As time has gone on, it has become more and more difficult for research organizations to acquire source. Microsoft is planning on releasing Windows/NT to universities in an attempt to leverage from the same sources of innovation.
The Sourceware Operating System Proposal: Revision 1.8-Larry McVoy
The Sourceware Operating System Proposal Revision 1.8 Larry McVoy and a cast of thousands, see acknowledgments lm@sun.com +14153367627
Sun Microsystems Computer Corporation 1
ABSTRACT
This document describes a proposal to provide a source form, royalty free Unix as an evolution of the COSE ffort, as a means of unifying the Unix desktop market, and as an application deployment platform, with a focus on running all applications, including those from other operating systems, such as DOS and Windows 3.1. This effort is intended to provide substance to the many Unix unification and standard agreements that exist today.Significant effort has been made to address the concerns of the major Unix vendors, the Unix customer base, the DOS customer base, the Windows 3.1 customer base, the educational and research community,and the development community.
I think I was 13 or 14 at the time and my Scout troop spent a day at a small arcade supplier's warehouse. No, I didn't get through the game on one credit. Heck, I didn't get through the game on ONE HUNDRED credits, but finally, I DID get through the game! Amazing what unlimited credits will do.
Okay, you can start calling me a lamer and a munchkin. I'll acknowledge it.
He got paid. Near the end of his career he got paid a LOT.
It also gave him exposure which helped him land jobs in film (remember Predator?).
Yeah, I'll admit the job was silly, but if he made a living at it, do I really have a bitch about it? It's like garbage men. You know how much they get paid?
Chas - The one, the only. THANK GOD!!!
Faster Maybe. I don't know about cheaper.
on
Carmack on the K7
·
· Score: 1
Retail pre-orders for K7-600 are going for $950+ American right now, $720 for the K7-550, SANS motherboard. P3 550 is runs about $690 right now.
Not sure if it'd be worth the $3-600 price difference for better performance. I could get a P3 550 or 600 and plug it into my motherboard without a hitch.
Again, I'll wait to see benchmarks and get some platform stability/compatibility reports.
Slashdot Mirror
Someone. Someone with SENSE. Invade this damn country and slaughter all these idiots! They'll shut me down as "another Dave Khoresh" before I get big enough to be a threat, if I try to do it myself.
I'm a sane man in an insane world.
I'm a sane man in an insane world.
I'm a sane man in an insane world.
I'm a sane man in an insane world.
Ah screw it. Insanity's more fun anyhow (pulls out his M60 with optional bayonet-mounted chainsaw and gets bloody).
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
I'm concentrating very hard on this.
Concentrate.Concentrate.Concentrate.Concentrate.
Now I'm concentrating very hard on this other thing.
Concentrate.Concentrate.Concentrate.Concentrate.
'Scuse me. I need to concentrate on that now!
Concentrate.Concentrate.Concentrate.Concentrate.
Sir. How would you describe your day.
Very concentrated....
Note. I'm an ADD sufferer. I used to drive my teachers crazy in school (and they'd return the favor).
Please understand that the joke was directed more at myself than at your uncle.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
The holding company that owns FASA (and is partially owned by Weismann and his father, mostly his father), has been partially owned by Microsoft for several years. They simply took a larger, now-visible stake in the company.
Right now Decipher hasn't bought FASA yet. They HAVE issued a letter of intent to buy. But all the details have to be hammered out yet. Speaking with Jill Lucas, and Bryan Nystul (of FASA) and several people over at Decipher, the deal looks pretty much done.
Also, it looks like, after the initial 6-8 months of integration (which will probably be "turbulent"), it'll produce nothing but Good Things for all the FASA and Decipher properties. Not much OUTWARDLY is going to change. FASA's offices on 1100 Cermak will remain. FASA gets more funding and project support, as well as a better distribution channel. Decipher gets a fairly seasoned RP/Miniatures gaming division with some fairly hot properties both in the RP and computer gaming world (Shadowrun, BattleTech, MechWarrior.
And I think it would be a mistake to call FASA an industry whipping-boy. They're fairly shrewd. How many companies in their industry have been bought and denatured by others like WotC? TSR, the 800 lb gorilla of the gaming world was bought by them. Now TSR-based products have all but made themselves irrelevant. Heck, they've taken to rehashing old projects to put new material on the shelves!
FASA has neatly avoided this. They don't change, get more money, a bit more clout, and great distribution.
The only part of FASA that Gates got was the FASA Interactive division (which also holds the old Virtual World properties). Currently they hold all licenses to computer games based on the FASA properties. MechWarrior4 (based off the Virtual World engine) will come from this division. And compared to the rather anemic, and bug-ridden Zipper Interactive offering (MechWarrior3), it's going to rock.
I will agree with you on one thing. I think a buyout by Hasbro is a Very Bad Thing.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
I actually had one of these idiots in IS tell me a 12-port 10-base T switch that he was carrying was part of the phone system. Needless to say I do all my mother's techsup both at her home, and at work for her.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Because I prefer to build my own system, source my own parts, etc, and desire to get the most I can for my money I'm a lousy customer? WONDERFUL business ethic there.
And I don't call $2000 for $1200 in parts "a little more." Especially not a system that's hamstrung by an OS as broken as MacOS is. ESPECIALLY when real-world performance for the tasks I accomplish is better on a cheaper PC system.
There are people who buy prebuilt systems. That's what Dell, Compaq, Gateway, and HP are there for. You're paying a premium for them to assemble the system and provide software. But don't try to tell me that PPC components are SO EXPENSIVE that Apple couldn't slash prices dramatically and still turn healthy profit. Remember, these are the people who were pulling down 60-70% profit margins on their systems in the 80's. Still think Apple is all buddy-buddy? BAH!
If you want an Apple computer that's not much more expensive than the components plus labor? Buy IMac. Of course the processors won't run most next-gen software at anything resembling satisfactory speeds. But that's not iMac's purpose. It's a disposable computer. Good enough to get people's feet wet. Not much more.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
20 disks for $10 with a $10 rebate. I don't use foppies all that much myself anymore (bootable CD's are nice), but I still keep a couple around for small file transfers. My mom's transcription service has run off floppy for 10 years.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
I'm sorry, but for transferring small files across non-networked machines, floppies are still the best way.
For archival purposes, CD-R is nice, but CD-RW isn't really a good (or cheap) alternative for small file transfer. But Zip and Jaz are too unreliable and non-ubiquitous. ORB isn't ubiquitous either.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Living in Chicago (a city where the deceased vote with frightening regularity), and having seen just about every current poll-taking method, I'm not sure there's a way to reasonably implement an online voting system without making so egregious or privacy-violating as to frighten away the people it was meant to reach.
At least with the current level of technology, it isn't really going to go much further than the "nice idea" stage.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Look at the specs next to an Oxygen card.
GVX1:
GeForce:
Think it might have a following in the professional rendering market?
If PS2 ever arrives, it won't exactly look so great next to these systems. And, as with all things, the price will eventually drop on such cards. If the price is too steep, wait a bit, or buy a TNT2U in the interim.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Just pulled ALL my stuff off hotmail (6 accounts) and notified all hotmailers that I know of the crack. Also fired off a nastygramme to Hotmail about their aircraft-carrier-sized hole in security.
I basically mimiced the first guy who responded to this particular post. "Holy crap!"
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
That being said, I do hope that AMD does well. If for no other reason than to make Intel chips cheaper.
Someone mentioned a weak feature set on Intel chips as well. How is the 'feature set" any different on the Athlon? The only difference I can see is a slightly beefier floating point unit and 3dNOW instead of SSE.
And for performance, since the K7 core has 2.3 times the transistors of a P3 core, it had damn well BETTER outperform a P3!
Don't mind me too much. I'm just going to take a wait and see attitude.
In fact, I've seen a lot of message boards ranting about how great the K7 is going to be. But when asked who's actually going to buy one right out of the gate, it gets damn quiet.
And I repeat. Wait and see.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Lord help us all if aliens decide to "black hole" earth!
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
How do you solve rampant stupidity, bigotry, and a massive case of hyper-authoritarianism?
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
School is about exercising your brain muscle, not subjecting your self to mindless recitation
You didn't go to public school did you?
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Don't force MY hand and I won't be forced to lie and cheat simply to go see a movie that, foul though it is, is little more than a political commentary.
That's really the heart of it. A bunch of politicoes are really upset with the basic message (not "swear all you want") of the movie. What's sad is that most of these hyper-reactionaries don't get that the film was aimed right, hard lock and fire, at them.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
All I can say is that I'm moderately disgusted with the confrontational, overbearing louts who wish to impose THEIR beliefs on me and will use any means, not matter how illegal, intrusive to me, or personally repugnant they are. Ends NEVER justfies the means.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
6: You have to remember. Overall performance equates out to 10-20% between a P3 550 and the K7 600. That's marginal.
7: Again. Supposedly you're not going to be able to change ANY of the processor settings without this proprietary and non-available connector. From AMD's site:
High-performance cache architecture featuring an integrated 128KB L1 cache and a programmable, high-speed backside L2 cache interface.
Guess what this means. If you cannot get the RAM to function above it's operating specs (which is what PROGRAMMABLE implies) then all you can do is:
Don't get me wrong. I know if Intel were in the same position they'd be charging a testicle-tightening amount for their chips. I just don't think an overall performance bump of approximately 10% clock for clock is worth such a high markup. Which is also why you won't find me buying Xeon any time in the near future.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Fastest? Yippie. I'll wait till the platform is proven stable.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
I never said anything about pro wrestling being intelligent or redeeming. I merely stated that it was a JOB. One that put food on the table for his family. What's the problem with that? That's all, nothing more
And FYI, no I DO NOT watch it. It's gotten way too melodramatic and overblown. But if it keeps Joe-Bob and his brood out of mischief?
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Okay guys, goofed earlier and posted a half-butchered version of the PS document. Didn't notice the damn thing until AFTER I'd gone back to read a couple more articles.
This version has been formatted in the attempt at readability. Any errors in readability are a combination of my fault, goofs with Ghostscript's conversion, and original grammatical mistakes in the document.
P.S.: NO. I did NOT have anything better to do tonight! I'm a geek remember?
The Sourceware Operating System Proposal
Revision 1.8
Larry McVoy
and a cast of thousands, see acknowledgments
lm@sun.com
+14153367627
Sun Microsystems Computer Corporation 1
ABSTRACT
This document describes a proposal to provide a source form, royalty free Unix as an evolution of the COSE ffort, as a means of unifying the Unix desktop market, and as an application deployment platform, with a focus on running all applications, including those from other operating systems, such as DOS and Windows 3.1. This effort is intended to provide substance to the many Unix unification and standard agreements that exist today.Significant effort has been made to address the concerns of the major Unix vendors, the Unix customer base, the DOS customer base, the Windows 3.1 customer base, the educational and research community,and the development community.
This document is an assessment of the condition of Unix, and a proposal to improve the condition of Unix on the desktop. To get a quick reading, the reader may scan for the highlighted bars; they are a summary of the key points of each section.
The organization of the document is background on the state of Unix, background on the efforts to fix Unix, a digression on why bother with fixing Unix, a suggestion for how to start Unix on the path to healthiness, more details on the health plan, details on managing the resulting system, alternatives to this plan, questions and answers, and finally,acknowledgments.
Neither Larry McVoy nor the views in this document are necessarily representing the views of Sun Microsystems or Sun'saffiliates. Sun's tolerance in this matter is gratefully acknowledged.
©1993 Larry McVoy 9 November 1993
Unix needs our help because Unix is dieing. Unix is no longer even close to competitive.
Licensing ranges from $20 to $100 per seat, with vendor mark up for their costly "value add" resulting in customer seat costs of $600 $3000. Microsoft sells Windows/NT for about $150.
Unix has ceased to be the platform of choice for the development and deployment of innovative technology. A great deal of the early development of Unix was done by researchers because of Unix's ready accessibility. As time has gone on, it has become more and more difficult for research organizations to acquire source. Microsoft is planning on releasing Windows/NT to universities in an attempt to leverage from the same sources of innovation.
The Sourceware Operating System Proposal
Revision 1.8
Larry McVoy
and a cast of thousands, see acknowledgments
lm@sun.com
+14153367627
Sun Microsystems Computer Corporation 1
ABSTRACT
This document describes a proposal to provide a source form, royalty free Unix as an evolution of the COSE ffort, as a means of unifying the Unix desktop market, and as an application deployment platform, with a focus on running all applications, including those from other operating systems, such as DOS and Windows 3.1. This effort is intended to provide substance to the many Unix unification and standard agreements that exist today.Significant effort has been made to address the concerns of the major Unix vendors, the Unix customer base, the DOS customer base, the Windows 3.1 customer base, the educational and research community,and the development community.
This document is an assessment of the condition of Unix, and a proposal to improve the condition of Unix on the desktop. To get a quick reading, the reader may scan for the highlighted bars; they are a summary of the key points of each section.
The organization of the document is background on the state of Unix, background on the efforts to fix Unix, a digression on why bother with fixing Unix, a suggestion for how to start Unix on the path to healthiness, more details on the health plan, details on managing the resulting system, alternatives to this plan, questions and answers, and finally,acknowledgments.
Neither Larry McVoy nor the views in this document are necessarily representing the views of Sun Microsystems or Sun'saffiliates. Sun's tolerance in this matter is gratefully acknowledged.
Unix in trouble
Unix needs our help because Unix is dieing. Unix is no longer even close to competitive.
©1993 Larry McVoy 9 November 1993
I think I was 13 or 14 at the time and my Scout troop spent a day at a small arcade supplier's warehouse. No, I didn't get through the game on one credit. Heck, I didn't get through the game on ONE HUNDRED credits, but finally, I DID get through the game! Amazing what unlimited credits will do.
Okay, you can start calling me a lamer and a munchkin. I'll acknowledge it.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Stupid? How is it stupid?
He got paid. Near the end of his career he got paid a LOT.
It also gave him exposure which helped him land jobs in film (remember Predator?).
Yeah, I'll admit the job was silly, but if he made a living at it, do I really have a bitch about it? It's like garbage men. You know how much they get paid?
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Retail pre-orders for K7-600 are going for $950+ American right now, $720 for the K7-550, SANS motherboard. P3 550 is runs about $690 right now.
Not sure if it'd be worth the $3-600 price difference for better performance. I could get a P3 550 or 600 and plug it into my motherboard without a hitch.
Again, I'll wait to see benchmarks and get some platform stability/compatibility reports.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Or is he basing his opinion on a souped-up preproduction chip? Yeah, everyone'd like to have a K7-600 with a full meg of core-speed L2 cache.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!