its not about them becoming more efficient for their network users, its about squelching competition unfairly. Once that happens and we lose choice, us consumers normally end up getting the shaft.
You have to remember the power a virtual monopoly gives you.
As a disclaimer, i didnt approve of the original breakup, as i think the consumer lost in the long run, and that AT&T, at the time, was benevelent.
Things are far different today, and these actions worry me.
If you have enough warm spares ( and staff ), then generic servers should be ok to get by with. The fact you have no service agreements should be transparent to the users.
If you cant afford the extras, its hard to beat on-site service you can get from the big names.
Are they going to start taking ID if you go read a book while IN the library? I realize if you check it out they need to know who you are, in case you dont bring it back. But asking for ID up front is not right.( i have heard of a case where they went back and looked for fingerprints in a book that was not checked out by the person on trial, and used that as evidence of intent )
Between taking ID, datamining on purchases, and cameras everywhere you look, the honest citizen has lost most of his right to privacy.
Never said i wasnt fighting to keep what we have, it was just a comment that 'probable cause' is one of the few things we havent lost to date, as our constitution gets shredded around us.
However one can debate if its really a farce at this stage of the game, now that the patriot act pretty much did away with it in cases of 'national security'. ( whatever that means )
If they whine enough to the general public that it is evil and should be a 'crime', and wave enough cash, then eventually the law will be passed.
One side effect of converting a civil issue to a criminal issue is that the burden of enforcement shifts to the state. More cost effective then having to do it yourself, so the extra $ used to buy the law is actually saving them cash.
And dont forget that there are some laws on the books now that state if you cross a threshold of 'loss' then its automatically converted into a criminal case. So if they can 'prove' you 'stole' thousands of dollars, the case moves over to criminal court, and jailtime becomes an option.
( not that i agree with this, just that its an option for them )
You dont actually 'make' them, you 'program' them, and then you make your own boards ( with other FPGA's for support chips, such as USB controllers, RAM, sound, video, etc. ).
Its not as hard as it sounds, as a *low level* ( but useable ) computer, can often fit in one chip. Just google SoC + FPGA.
Embedding DRM at the chip level on FPGAs would be somewhat difficult due to their 'universal' nature. Not impossible, but difficult.
What they did is normal. It may not have been needed in your case ( and many others ), but its normal due to the 'potential'. I wouldnt take it personally.
I've seen it the last 2 jobs i left. ( one due to me moving on, other due to a non job related layoff ).
One, it took them 6 months to turn off my remote backdoor access for working from home. ( and no, i didnt do anything questionable with it afterwards. )
Personally a few hundred mhz effective speed is useable. Is it 'cutting edge'? No, but more then useable. ( i think they have LEON's up to 300mhz in high end FPGA's ).
Much as do you *need* a 3ghz intel machine? No, A 400mhz PII managed well will get the job done quite well.
Gate useage? Wont know the answer to that until we see the code.. But since you can get a SPARC compliant design into a reasonably sized FPGA, dont count it out, yet.
For 200 bucks you can stuck the code of a CPU ( and perhaps more, if you choose something small ) on it. ( more $ gets you more speed and useable 'space', but 200 for a starter kit is more then enough to answer your question )
And if you got the cash, ASIC is always an option too.
Slashdot Mirror
The answer is simple:
its not about them becoming more efficient for their network users, its about squelching competition unfairly. Once that happens and we lose choice, us consumers normally end up getting the shaft.
You have to remember the power a virtual monopoly gives you.
As a disclaimer, i didnt approve of the original breakup, as i think the consumer lost in the long run, and that AT&T, at the time, was benevelent.
Things are far different today, and these actions worry me.
If you have enough warm spares ( and staff ), then generic servers should be ok to get by with. The fact you have no service agreements should be transparent to the users.
If you cant afford the extras, its hard to beat on-site service you can get from the big names.
So you have an IP address, prove it was *me* that did it and not someone that had broken into my PC, or my wifi.
Just showing a location doesnt prove *who* is at fault. ( but it is a good start )
Thats why i refuse to 'buy' electronic copies of books/magazines, and suggest to all i know to do the same.
Will handfull of us stop the trend? No, but at least we did our part.
Are they going to start taking ID if you go read a book while IN the library? I realize if you check it out they need to know who you are, in case you dont bring it back. But asking for ID up front is not right.( i have heard of a case where they went back and looked for fingerprints in a book that was not checked out by the person on trial, and used that as evidence of intent )
Between taking ID, datamining on purchases, and cameras everywhere you look, the honest citizen has lost most of his right to privacy.
Confuse people via the media.
Given the timefram here, how do we *know* its going to be a ocean?
Oceans are pretty damned large. This thing may never surpass 'lake' stage. Or even just a big mud puddle that reverts back to 'land' when it dries up.
Never said i wasnt fighting to keep what we have, it was just a comment that 'probable cause' is one of the few things we havent lost to date, as our constitution gets shredded around us.
However one can debate if its really a farce at this stage of the game, now that the patriot act pretty much did away with it in cases of 'national security'. ( whatever that means )
I thought good coding evolved.
One of the last things keeping us from becoming a police state.
Perhaps the qualifers were generated by the media, to push an agenda, to slant opinion.
Its not like its never happened before.
No worse then eradicating an entire way of life, due to the fact they believe something other then you.
Its a common thread throughout history with so called 'religious people'.
When that is all that is offered, consumers will slowly migrate to it.
Eventually most conusmers will have the new player, due to the old ones dying.
Then, the DRM is turned on with no way to go back. ( for the average guy )
Dont laugh, that time will come. Eventually.
I guess he has never been to the local toystore, where they sell borderline worthless junk for more then that..
Ever see the fake laptops they are pushing this season?
For 200 you get a *real* laptop, and arent tied to batteries? Sign me up..
How about they just fix the damned holes instead?
This is about as bad as putting duct tape over the rusted out holes in an old car: "see, its all better now"
If they whine enough to the general public that it is evil and should be a 'crime', and wave enough cash, then eventually the law will be passed.
One side effect of converting a civil issue to a criminal issue is that the burden of enforcement shifts to the state. More cost effective then having to do it yourself, so the extra $ used to buy the law is actually saving them cash.
And dont forget that there are some laws on the books now that state if you cross a threshold of 'loss' then its automatically converted into a criminal case. So if they can 'prove' you 'stole' thousands of dollars, the case moves over to criminal court, and jailtime becomes an option.
( not that i agree with this, just that its an option for them )
Doubt it was a troll, just someone trying to be funny, and failing miserably.
You dont actually 'make' them, you 'program' them, and then you make your own boards ( with other FPGA's for support chips, such as USB controllers, RAM, sound, video, etc. ).
Its not as hard as it sounds, as a *low level* ( but useable ) computer, can often fit in one chip. Just google SoC + FPGA.
Embedding DRM at the chip level on FPGAs would be somewhat difficult due to their 'universal' nature. Not impossible, but difficult.
That part is not an issue really. Just ban non-backdoored encryption.
Then the content doesnt matter.
What they did is normal. It may not have been needed in your case ( and many others ), but its normal due to the 'potential'. I wouldnt take it personally.
I've seen it the last 2 jobs i left. ( one due to me moving on, other due to a non job related layoff ).
One, it took them 6 months to turn off my remote backdoor access for working from home. ( and no, i didnt do anything questionable with it afterwards. )
Depends on what you consider useable speed.
Personally a few hundred mhz effective speed is useable. Is it 'cutting edge'? No, but more then useable. ( i think they have LEON's up to 300mhz in high end FPGA's ).
Much as do you *need* a 3ghz intel machine? No, A 400mhz PII managed well will get the job done quite well.
Gate useage? Wont know the answer to that until we see the code.. But since you can get a SPARC compliant design into a reasonably sized FPGA, dont count it out, yet.
Just google for "FPGA development boards".
For 200 bucks you can stuck the code of a CPU ( and perhaps more, if you choose something small ) on it. ( more $ gets you more speed and useable 'space', but 200 for a starter kit is more then enough to answer your question )
And if you got the cash, ASIC is always an option too.
We just 'make' our own CPU's and run Solaris ( or NetBSD ). So long after AMD and INTEL have sold their souls, practical open computing can live on.
Not that leon ( and other 'open' cpus ) was 'bad' but, this is from the people who brought SPARC to the world..
Good thing then that all i have up front is the spare tire :)
The engine is midship, where all car engines should be.