Xbox 360 - "Next gen" console without an HD-DVD/BluRay drive? It's first now, but it'll be teh sucl in a couple of years. (Unless, of course, they add an HD drive and require a hard drive for most games.) To be fair, it does play some decent games, but that's a lot less than they tout about it.
HD-DVD/BluRay - high prices, no titles, no cross-compatibility. At least a DVD player from 1996 still days plays DVDs today.
HDTV - Now that there is finally an HD media format, your $5,000 set from two years ago is useless with it because it doesn't have an HDMI input.
So then we have... Media Center PCs - flakey, hard to use, and DRM-encrusted to the point where they do little more than a TiVo and a DVD player. Maybe Viiv or something else will eventually offer some real value, but what are the folks who bought now going to do -- buy another $1,000 PC to get what they were promised last time? That gets old as fast as the new, "secure" version of Windows that's always coming next.
As a result, I have none of the above technologies, and little incentive to do so. I used to get really jazzed about new stuff, but this just makes me feel a little ill, to the point where I *want* them to fail.
>You get the stability of Windows with the value-of-money of Apple hardware. Sign me up.
Okay, I laughed at this. But seriously... You get the apps you need and the hardware you want.
Apple notebooks are gorgeous -- ever since the original PowerBook they have been setting the standard for design. Now that I will be able to run the Windows-only apps I need, I can finally justify getting one. OMFGLOLROTFLLQQKBBQ!
>Everyone knows that the DRM will be cracked and/or circumvented within a month, maybe two.
Everyone always says this, but it isn't really true. Show me a working crack for Windows Media 10. (There was one, but -- surprise! it doesn't work anymore; new content will only play with a 'fixed' version of the codec.)
Sure, DVD's CSS was cracked, but that was largely due to one software vendor who forgot to encrypt their code (Xing, notice they aren't around anymore.) Also, it's a physical medium and device, so it can't be updated with a simple codec download. That's why they want such heinous crap in HD-DVD / Blu-Ray...
>I can loan, give or resell *any* book easily. With the legal nigtmares today over DRM, copyrights and everything else, I have no ieda what I can do with ebooks, and the rules change from title to title.
The best way to think about DRMed content is that it is a rental. It *should* work for a short period of time with your current device(s), but don't count on any more than that.
There are many things in the media world that aren't worth owning and keeping forever. If the DRMed version is cheap and convenient for temporary use, fine. For stuff that matters, just don't buy it this way.
Voting with our dollars is about all we have left. Make it cheap or make it open, and we might just buy it.
>I think it would be really genius to be able to have an OS that runs on anything.
Windows NT did exactly this until v4.0 - x86, Alpha, MIPS, and PowerPC.
Turns out it wasn't such a great idea -- there was too much developer overhead to compile/test for rarely-used processor variants, so it was rare to find anything except for x86 (and occasionally Alpha.)
OTOH, source-level support for multiple architectures is a Good Thing, and is alive an well in the *NIX world as a whole...
>Everything down to the drivers comes with the pack that gets delivered.
Hey, can you send me those? I need to de-cruft a 9150 that just arrived (with no CDs of course.)
Fortunately, I have generic OEM XP install CDs here, so I can just use the key on the side of the new PC and I will have that nice, fresh and clean new-OS feeling. Highly recommended to have at least one of these around.
While I agree that whatever DRM tech they foist on us will eventually be broken or bypassed (through the a-hole or wherever), the real problem is that it will be illegal to do so.
This pushes such activities into the 'underground', so fair-use rights for millions of Joe and Jane Blows go out the window.
Working around DRM, software activation, etc., just perpetuates and worsens the problem.
Fortunately, there *has* to be a breaking point. Screwing over early-adopters who have $5,000 HDTVs without HDMI inputs was a good start on that path. Maybe plugging up our a-holes will get us that much further.
>Not really in this case. It is common practice for console vendors to sell at or below cost, for reasons I already mentioned (i.e., game sales)
This is something I've never understood. Why isn't this considered 'dumping' or 'anti-competetive'? In other markets, it's considered illegal (especially when international trade is involved.)
It effectively kills competition from small companies that can't afford to take a $4 Billion hit to come in a distant second to Sony...
>>This is such a good idea. Which means it will never happen. >
I don't understand why this is a 'new' idea. I was getting channels a la carte on C-Band (big-dish) satellite ten years ago. No FCC mandate/approval needed.
>Well, it's not necessarily a good idea, for two reasons. > >a) It will mean higher prices. >
C-Band prices for premium movie channels were a couple of dollars less per month than cable or small-dish satellite. Multiple companies provided the subscription and billing services, so there was actually some competition involved.
More importantly, once I didn't have to buy the 'package', I could take a serious look at the entertainment value of each individual channel, and realized that most of them weren't important to me at all.
I think I ended up with 5 HBO feeds, CNN, and Comedy Central east/west for around $12/month total.
>b) It will mean fewer choices.
Perhaps, but it will also mean *better* choices. Schlop like E! will just go away when it can no longer be added to bulk up a 'premium' package. Channels will live or die on their own merits.
Better choices for less money -- sign me up!
Disclaimer: I haven't subscribed to big-dish TV for many years, so I have no idea what, if anything, is still offered. At this point I don't have any kind of TV channels at all (Cable/Satellite/OTA), and just use Netflix for movies. The outcome of this decision doesn't really affect me either way.
Niagara systems take the concept of dual core processors (with which most
of you are familiar), and goes to an absolute extreme - building 8 cores,
each capable of running 4 jobs simultaneously (4 threads), onto a single
chip. Doing the math, we'll be delivering a 32-way chip, running 9.6GHz,
which sips power (about 70 watts). JonathanSchwartz BLOG.
Since the actual clock speed is 1.2 GHz, wouldn't that be 32-way at 1.2 GHz?
You can't multiply the number of cores by the number of threads and the clock speed. It's one or the other.
>If you have seen QooxDoo then you probably thought the >same thing I did when you saw it: "Microsoft should be >freaking out about this!"
Actually, I didn't. It's a nice-looking attempt at a Windows-like interface in a browser, but I don't see much more than that.
- It only half works in Opera, which prides itself on a standards-compliant JavaScript/ECMAscript implementation. So you're still writing stuff that's platform-specific.
- No shortcut keys or right-clicks. I realize this affects most web UIs, but for heavy use it's a real issue.
- It's all example code, basically a "Hello, World!" for the platform. If someone can show me a solid real-world app, I would be more impressed.
This is the point where I'm supposed to say "I'm not trolling here."
>When they were new things, they were regularly in the $20's. Then it >was high teens. Now it is low to high teens, and sometimes below that.
What were you buying?
I started buying CDs in 1984, and I'd have to say that over $20 was pretty rare, unless you were looking at imports. The most I ever paid was $25 for a German import (The Last Unicorn soundtrack, go ahead and laught it up), and I considered that VERY high.
>Also consider inflation, and you will see the actual price of a >CD has indeed come down quite a bit over the years.
Also consider that the cost of production has plummeted during that time, yet the prices have remained the same. It made sense that CDs cost twice what cassettes did in the beginning, but once production became nearly free, it was just blatant price gouging.
Even back then, the production cost wasn't that high. Sometime in the 80s I saw a cheesy "Oktoberfest" CD of oompah-band tunes for $3.99. If they could do it then, they could surely do it now...
I still prefer CDs over downloads, in all their 'wasteful' uncompressed goodness. (my 20-year-old CDs still play just great, but will your iTunes downloads still be usable in that time, when software becomes incompatible, or you get locked out by DRM when your hard drive tanks and Apple doesn't feel like helping you out?) I generally only buy used, and only when it's not pseudo-DRM encrusted.
Once you have the file, you've already committed the crime. They search and extort^H^H^H^H^H litigate based on the online activity that was used to share the files, not by what is on your computer after the fact.
...that one corporation could be in control of our entire written history?
If Google succeeds, and libraries and printed books go the way of the dinosaur, what happens if Google decides to make some content unavailable, or charge exhorbitant fees?
They already 'own' the entire archive of Usenet. I am not aware of any other source for this information.
I would add that Linux support is a huge advantage. It's even possible (with a little fussing) to share your mail and prefs between Windows and Linux on a dual-boot machine.
One less reason to find myself in the "wrong" OS when I need to do something...
My satellite internet connection needs a Windoze PC. Instead of dealing with this on my main PC, I use a stripped-down HP Pentium-II laptop as a router and small file server.
The top half with the screen is completely *gone*, and there's no battery, no floppy or CD. It's small, low-power, quiet, and gets the job done perfectly.
I also have a complete unit of the same kind, which I use with a wireless NIC. Opera and Firefox run great on it, and it's lighter, uses less power, and lasts much longer on its battery than the Toshiba Phatnote I have from work.
My house is off-grid (solar power and generator backup.) As a result, I tend to watch every KWhr more closely than the average technocrat, but the same concept applies elsewhere...
To further confuse matters, there was more than one theatrical release in 1977!
It was not expected to be a big hit, so the first round of prints were not of exceptional quality, and I think the soundtrack was even monophonic (just like the original release of Terminator I, for which the 5.1-ification came later.)
There are even a few changes between the original pan-and-scan laserdiscs and the first widescreen editions, and some minor color changes between the first widescreen and THX versions of Empire, IIRC. (I can consult my Star Wars videophile comrade if the details are needed.)
I would agree, though, that the THX non Special-Ed laserdisc releases are the best in terms of quality and faithfulness to the original theatrical releases.
As for WHY Lucas can't leave anything alone, I'd say he views his films more as a labor than an art. Like software, they are never done - there are always improvements that can be made, new technologies that can be employed, etc. This is all well and good, but it overlooks the value of the original work at its point in history.
But why no Special Ed for Howard the Duck? Or perhaps he is revising history such that his name is no longer associated with this turd...
You can see such a beast yourself this weekend, if you happen to be in San Jose...
As for the posters who have said that you can just stream some video linked to a few keypress inputs, that's only true if you've never played it before. There's a definite 'feeling' to it that most of the home ports just don't capture. (And I never saw one that was free, though there were some demos and a couple of magazine coverdisks.)
For those who know it well, you can play it just as it was in 1983 if you use the Daphne emulator.
There is also an enhanced ROM set available, which makes the moves and scene flow of the game much more logical. (The engineers apparently didn't understand quite what the animators intended, or just rushed it out half-baked. Those were crazy times!)
Personally, I played it once 'back in the day', and lost my 50 cents in about 20 seconds. Quarters weren't so easy to come by, so I didn't pile them in to learn the game. It was a fun game to watch, though - it may not have been a landmark in animation, but the visuals were truly unique for an arcade video game.
Don Bluth himself has expressed a certain irritation that this game is what he is perhaps best known for. (Coincidentally, it is 15 minutes long, so Warhol's Law applies.)
As with many things, those who like it and those who don't both think the other side just doesn't get it. They're probably both right.
Perhaps they suffered from the "while we're changing things..." mentality.
Newspapers are 24/7 operations, usually with a mishmash of various vintages of systems all intricately tied together, so it is *very* difficult to schedule and perform upgrades. It would be quite tempting while setting up new servers to update to the latest server software, which requires new desktop software, etc., etc.
The problem with doing this, of course, is that if something breaks, you have precious little idea where to look for the problem. It sounds like everything was tested, and the 'folks who know' were long gone by the time trouble began.
It's not really surprising that problems cropped up - I've been involved in newspaper software/IT before, and that's par for the course with these systems. What does surprise me, however, is their apparent inability to deal with the situation, either by rolling back to a previous system, using a series of workarounds, etc.
At the papers I've dealt with, the attitude of "the show must go on" extends well into the server room. There are thousands of critical functions that can go awry, not just with the publishing system, but with presses, satellite news feeds, etc., yet somehow the paper ALWAYS goes out. (I guess, even in this case, it did get done to some degree.) The level of determination and cleverness this elicits from people is an amazing sight.
It sounds like the Trib has lost some of that sense of "whatever it takes," which is a shame.
So I'd blame it on inadequate investment in staffing and backup/alternate systems (it was standard practice to literally have "two of everything" for exactly this sort of situation), and lack of access to knowledgable support from the vendor (it is CCI *Europe*, after all.)
I feel for those involved; I really do. It's easy to watch from a distance and say "they should have known! they should have planned ahead!" But the reality is that everyone who runs those systems has their fingers crossed every minute of every day, hoping they're ready when the shit hits the redundant cooling units for the computer room...
Slashdot Mirror
>Sucks for those early adopters though.
That seems to be par for the course these days:
Xbox 360 - "Next gen" console without an HD-DVD/BluRay drive? It's first now, but it'll be teh sucl in a couple of years. (Unless, of course, they add an HD drive and require a hard drive for most games.) To be fair, it does play some decent games, but that's a lot less than they tout about it.
HD-DVD/BluRay - high prices, no titles, no cross-compatibility. At least a DVD player from 1996 still days plays DVDs today.
HDTV - Now that there is finally an HD media format, your $5,000 set from two years ago is useless with it because it doesn't have an HDMI input.
So then we have... Media Center PCs - flakey, hard to use, and DRM-encrusted to the point where they do little more than a TiVo and a DVD player. Maybe Viiv or something else will eventually offer some real value, but what are the folks who bought now going to do -- buy another $1,000 PC to get what they were promised last time? That gets old as fast as the new, "secure" version of Windows that's always coming next.
As a result, I have none of the above technologies, and little incentive to do so. I used to get really jazzed about new stuff, but this just makes me feel a little ill, to the point where I *want* them to fail.
>You get the stability of Windows with the value-of-money of Apple hardware. Sign me up.
Okay, I laughed at this. But seriously... You get the apps you need and the hardware you want.
Apple notebooks are gorgeous -- ever since the original PowerBook they have been setting the standard for design. Now that I will be able to run the Windows-only apps I need, I can finally justify getting one. OMFGLOLROTFLLQQKBBQ!
Regards,
-Bitrot.
>Everyone knows that the DRM will be cracked and/or circumvented within a month, maybe two.
Everyone always says this, but it isn't really true. Show me a working crack for Windows Media 10. (There was one, but -- surprise! it doesn't work anymore; new content will only play with a 'fixed' version of the codec.)
Sure, DVD's CSS was cracked, but that was largely due to one software vendor who forgot to encrypt their code (Xing, notice they aren't around anymore.) Also, it's a physical medium and device, so it can't be updated with a simple codec download. That's why they want such heinous crap in HD-DVD / Blu-Ray...
Regards,
-Bitrot.
>I can loan, give or resell *any* book easily. With the legal nigtmares today over DRM, copyrights and everything else, I have no ieda what I can do with ebooks, and the rules change from title to title.
The best way to think about DRMed content is that it is a rental. It *should* work for a short period of time with your current device(s), but don't count on any more than that.
There are many things in the media world that aren't worth owning and keeping forever. If the DRMed version is cheap and convenient for temporary use, fine. For stuff that matters, just don't buy it this way.
Voting with our dollars is about all we have left. Make it cheap or make it open, and we might just buy it.
-bitrot-
>I think it would be really genius to be able to have an OS that runs on anything.
Windows NT did exactly this until v4.0 - x86, Alpha, MIPS, and PowerPC.
Turns out it wasn't such a great idea -- there was too much developer overhead to compile/test for rarely-used processor variants, so it was rare to find anything except for x86 (and occasionally Alpha.)
OTOH, source-level support for multiple architectures is a Good Thing, and is alive an well in the *NIX world as a whole...
Sounds like the same reason they couldn't use Operation Iraqi Liberation...
"Only currently supported Symantec Products will be updated. Customers using unsupported versions are encouraged to upgrade to a supported version."
In the end, this could turn into a win for them. Everyone lagging behind on affected products will have to shell out for the upgrade.
I bet we won't see any of those "free after rebate" deals for a while...
-bitrot-
>Everything down to the drivers comes with the pack that gets delivered.
Hey, can you send me those? I need to de-cruft a 9150 that just arrived (with no CDs of course.)
Fortunately, I have generic OEM XP install CDs here, so I can just use the key on the side of the new PC and I will have that nice, fresh and clean new-OS feeling. Highly recommended to have at least one of these around.
While I agree that whatever DRM tech they foist on us will eventually be broken or bypassed (through the a-hole or wherever), the real problem is that it will be illegal to do so.
This pushes such activities into the 'underground', so fair-use rights for millions of Joe and Jane Blows go out the window.
Working around DRM, software activation, etc., just perpetuates and worsens the problem.
Fortunately, there *has* to be a breaking point. Screwing over early-adopters who have $5,000 HDTVs without HDMI inputs was a good start on that path. Maybe plugging up our a-holes will get us that much further.
No country, no government lasts forever...
>Not really in this case. It is common practice for console vendors to sell at or below cost, for reasons I already mentioned (i.e., game sales)
This is something I've never understood. Why isn't this considered 'dumping' or 'anti-competetive'? In other markets, it's considered illegal (especially when international trade is involved.)
It effectively kills competition from small companies that can't afford to take a $4 Billion hit to come in a distant second to Sony...
>>This is such a good idea. Which means it will never happen.
>
I don't understand why this is a 'new' idea. I was getting channels a la carte on C-Band (big-dish) satellite ten years ago. No FCC mandate/approval needed.
>Well, it's not necessarily a good idea, for two reasons.
>
>a) It will mean higher prices.
>
C-Band prices for premium movie channels were a couple of dollars less per month than cable or small-dish satellite. Multiple companies provided the subscription and billing services, so there was actually some competition involved.
More importantly, once I didn't have to buy the 'package', I could take a serious look at the entertainment value of each individual channel, and realized that most of them weren't important to me at all.
I think I ended up with 5 HBO feeds, CNN, and Comedy Central east/west for around $12/month total.
>b) It will mean fewer choices.
Perhaps, but it will also mean *better* choices. Schlop like E! will just go away when it can no longer be added to bulk up a 'premium' package. Channels will live or die on their own merits.
Better choices for less money -- sign me up!
Disclaimer: I haven't subscribed to big-dish TV for many years, so I have no idea what, if anything, is still offered. At this point I don't have any kind of TV channels at all (Cable/Satellite/OTA), and just use Netflix for movies. The outcome of this decision doesn't really affect me either way.
Regards,
-bitrot.
Since the actual clock speed is 1.2 GHz, wouldn't that be 32-way at 1.2 GHz?
You can't multiply the number of cores by the number of threads and the clock speed. It's one or the other.
Regards,
-Bitrot.
>If you have seen QooxDoo then you probably thought the
>same thing I did when you saw it: "Microsoft should be
>freaking out about this!"
Actually, I didn't. It's a nice-looking attempt at a Windows-like interface in a browser, but I don't see much more than that.
- It only half works in Opera, which prides itself on a standards-compliant JavaScript/ECMAscript implementation. So you're still writing stuff that's platform-specific.
- No shortcut keys or right-clicks. I realize this affects most web UIs, but for heavy use it's a real issue.
- It's all example code, basically a "Hello, World!" for the platform. If someone can show me a solid real-world app, I would be more impressed.
This is the point where I'm supposed to say "I'm not trolling here."
Regards,
-Bitrot.
>When they were new things, they were regularly in the $20's. Then it
>was high teens. Now it is low to high teens, and sometimes below that.
What were you buying?
I started buying CDs in 1984, and I'd have to say that over $20 was pretty rare, unless you were looking at imports. The most I ever paid was $25 for a German import (The Last Unicorn soundtrack, go ahead and laught it up), and I considered that VERY high.
>Also consider inflation, and you will see the actual price of a
>CD has indeed come down quite a bit over the years.
Also consider that the cost of production has plummeted during that time, yet the prices have remained the same. It made sense that CDs cost twice what cassettes did in the beginning, but once production became nearly free, it was just blatant price gouging.
Even back then, the production cost wasn't that high. Sometime in the 80s I saw a cheesy "Oktoberfest" CD of oompah-band tunes for $3.99. If they could do it then, they could surely do it now...
I still prefer CDs over downloads, in all their 'wasteful' uncompressed goodness. (my 20-year-old CDs still play just great, but will your iTunes downloads still be usable in that time, when software becomes incompatible, or you get locked out by DRM when your hard drive tanks and Apple doesn't feel like helping you out?) I generally only buy used, and only when it's not pseudo-DRM encrusted.
So it goes...
-bitrot.
Isn't this just removing the evidence?
Once you have the file, you've already committed the crime. They search and extort^H^H^H^H^H litigate based on the online activity that was used to share the files, not by what is on your computer after the fact.
...that one corporation could be in control of our entire written history?
If Google succeeds, and libraries and printed books go the way of the dinosaur, what happens if Google decides to make some content unavailable, or charge exhorbitant fees?
They already 'own' the entire archive of Usenet. I am not aware of any other source for this information.
Free today, gone tomorrow...
Personally, I prefer organic vehicles over the Genetically Modified variety...
Vista would be "Bringing clarity to your world"...
I would add that Linux support is a huge advantage. It's even possible (with a little fussing) to share your mail and prefs between Windows and Linux on a dual-boot machine.
One less reason to find myself in the "wrong" OS when I need to do something...
My satellite internet connection needs a Windoze PC. Instead of dealing with this on my main PC, I use a stripped-down HP Pentium-II laptop as a router and small file server.
The top half with the screen is completely *gone*, and there's no battery, no floppy or CD. It's small, low-power, quiet, and gets the job done perfectly.
I also have a complete unit of the same kind, which I use with a wireless NIC. Opera and Firefox run great on it, and it's lighter, uses less power, and lasts much longer on its battery than the Toshiba Phatnote I have from work.
My house is off-grid (solar power and generator backup.) As a result, I tend to watch every KWhr more closely than the average technocrat, but the same concept applies elsewhere...
Wow, a place for me to call home! This is just like my perception of time, which consists of:
Today
Yesterday
A while ago
It was not expected to be a big hit, so the first round of prints were not of exceptional quality, and I think the soundtrack was even monophonic (just like the original release of Terminator I, for which the 5.1-ification came later.)
There are even a few changes between the original pan-and-scan laserdiscs and the first widescreen editions, and some minor color changes between the first widescreen and THX versions of Empire, IIRC. (I can consult my Star Wars videophile comrade if the details are needed.)
I would agree, though, that the THX non Special-Ed laserdisc releases are the best in terms of quality and faithfulness to the original theatrical releases.
As for WHY Lucas can't leave anything alone, I'd say he views his films more as a labor than an art. Like software, they are never done - there are always improvements that can be made, new technologies that can be employed, etc. This is all well and good, but it overlooks the value of the original work at its point in history.
But why no Special Ed for Howard the Duck? Or perhaps he is revising history such that his name is no longer associated with this turd...
As for the posters who have said that you can just stream some video linked to a few keypress inputs, that's only true if you've never played it before. There's a definite 'feeling' to it that most of the home ports just don't capture. (And I never saw one that was free, though there were some demos and a couple of magazine coverdisks.)
For those who know it well, you can play it just as it was in 1983 if you use the Daphne emulator.
There is also an enhanced ROM set available, which makes the moves and scene flow of the game much more logical. (The engineers apparently didn't understand quite what the animators intended, or just rushed it out half-baked. Those were crazy times!)
Personally, I played it once 'back in the day', and lost my 50 cents in about 20 seconds. Quarters weren't so easy to come by, so I didn't pile them in to learn the game. It was a fun game to watch, though - it may not have been a landmark in animation, but the visuals were truly unique for an arcade video game.
Don Bluth himself has expressed a certain irritation that this game is what he is perhaps best known for. (Coincidentally, it is 15 minutes long, so Warhol's Law applies.)
As with many things, those who like it and those who don't both think the other side just doesn't get it. They're probably both right.
Regards,
-bitrot.
Perhaps they suffered from the "while we're changing things..." mentality.
Newspapers are 24/7 operations, usually with a mishmash of various vintages of systems all intricately tied together, so it is *very* difficult to schedule and perform upgrades. It would be quite tempting while setting up new servers to update to the latest server software, which requires new desktop software, etc., etc.
The problem with doing this, of course, is that if something breaks, you have precious little idea where to look for the problem. It sounds like everything was tested, and the 'folks who know' were long gone by the time trouble began.
It's not really surprising that problems cropped up - I've been involved in newspaper software/IT before, and that's par for the course with these systems. What does surprise me, however, is their apparent inability to deal with the situation, either by rolling back to a previous system, using a series of workarounds, etc.
At the papers I've dealt with, the attitude of "the show must go on" extends well into the server room. There are thousands of critical functions that can go awry, not just with the publishing system, but with presses, satellite news feeds, etc., yet somehow the paper ALWAYS goes out. (I guess, even in this case, it did get done to some degree.) The level of determination and cleverness this elicits from people is an amazing sight.
It sounds like the Trib has lost some of that sense of "whatever it takes," which is a shame.
So I'd blame it on inadequate investment in staffing and backup/alternate systems (it was standard practice to literally have "two of everything" for exactly this sort of situation), and lack of access to knowledgable support from the vendor (it is CCI *Europe*, after all.)
I feel for those involved; I really do. It's easy to watch from a distance and say "they should have known! they should have planned ahead!" But the reality is that everyone who runs those systems has their fingers crossed every minute of every day, hoping they're ready when the shit hits the redundant cooling units for the computer room...
Tuesday, 9:00 am:
Updated, optimized apps! (Profit!!!)
If the custom builds manage to save just a few seconds, it's seconds of MY time, not idle time. Big difference.
Gentoo makes compiling your apps easy and fun!
Besides, there's a warm fuzzy feeling to be gained from actually using the source code for all those open-source applications.