This is just more of the same type of industry justification that's been going on in both the movie and music industries. What's really to blame is the boring music, bad plot lines, and all around crap product these folks keep trying to peddle to us. When we don't buy they blame it on piracy. This seems to be very indicative of the culture at large that seems to lack responsibility for oneself.
From all the statistics I've ever heard girls in college are some of the most likely to get raped. To protect her when she needs protection the most I suggest the following items:
* A tazer gun.
* MACE
* One of those personal alarms.
* Someone already mentioned a chastity belt.
* Her own stash of ruffies (The date rape drug.) Because there really is no reason she shouldn't be able to turn the tables on the guys.
I didn't say I believe only Americans can produce good software. I believe I stated that I believed most of the good foreign programmers have already come to the US.
I did say that I thought Americans were more ingenious. I guess I should clarify that statement. Look at most of the advances in the tech industry or even in the last century. What country did most of them emminant from? Americans quite simply are an inventive creative people. It's always been apart of our history which allows people to be creative and pursue their dreams.
I believe I also stated that all the projects I saw getting sent to India failed. I didn't say it was because I thought only good software could be produced in the US but rather just that moving projects off-shore doesn't seem to as good of an idea as it may initially seem. I've seen good work come out of places like China, Korea, Australia, and Japan for the projects I've been on. The original author of the story specifically asked about India.
And as far as the argument that there is more of an investment in the H1 people. Your probably right. My comment was more directed to the loop-hole in the law.
BTW, the H1 people that remained on the job after I was let go were NOT of a higher caliber than I was. I believe employers are trying to hold onto the H1's because they believe they won't be able to get the same number of workers back when things pick up again if all the H1's get shipped home. Meanwhile, I'm out of a job and might lose my house, and if I look at how things might be different had the law not allowed this loop hole I just shake my head.
Yes I do remember the furor over the H1 visa program. The fact of the matter is thousands of American programmers are now out of work. You wanna know something even more interesting. Alot of the workers NOT cut with the all the layoffs are H1 programmers. I find it very intersting that while an American company must consider an American for a job before bringing in an H1 person they can cut whoever they want. I say if there's less work here then all those foreign programmers can go home and stop taking jobs from Americans. If companies then want to try to ship all those development jobs overseas I say let them try and we'll see what kind of products they get. I'll take American ingenuity and know how over a foreigner's anyday.
While I understand many managers think that getting some developers in India to do the work much cheaper is the way to go I have to say I've only seen failure in this area. To be honest I think all the good programmers from India are already here. Every project I saw get moved to India came back in total ruins and complete failure. It was where projects went if managers wanted a good excuse to can them.
I had flown into San Jose that morning for an interview and had eaten a burrito and refried beans for lunch. By the time I was back at the airport waiting for my return flight home the beans had started to stir.
I really, really didn't mean to let it all out at once but I would have exploded if I didn't.
Remember the story a few months back about the kid who walked into a story and copied the MAC version of MS Office off a store display computer by hooking in his portable device. Well now they'll be no wires to give him away. Now I realize PC software isn't as easy to copy installed versions of but there is a wealth of data now available to be copied without giving yourself away with any obvious wires.
In our communities strip clubs, bars, restaurants, and generally any kind of business either normal or partaking in the sleeze has to get a zoning permit. Those businesses have to go before people in the community who decide if they are going to allow that particular establishment to reside there.
All the 2nd part of the law does is say well we don't really want you in this part of town but you'll be free to setup shop over in this other part of town. I just don't see a free speech issue here. These people will still be allowed to continue on with their message or business.
I think too many people don't understand what free speech really is. I find it surprising that those running/. don't really understand it.
"It is important to note that a data connection is in general less sensitive to signal degradation, delays, and even dropped connections than voice. In a voice connection, there is a small fixed window of time in which a particular voice packet must arrive, or it is useless. If your phone were to miss five seconds of voice, then re-request it all in one big chunk and try to play it back at twice normal speed to "catch up," your conversation would start to break down pretty quickly."
WRONG!
First off, voice is NEVER retransmitted. Voice is a time sensative beast. If a voice frame is missed either because of corruption, poor signal quality, what have you, the last frame may be repeated. Usually I believe this practice is only done on the network side for voice coming from the mobile. More often than not silence is sent on to the other user. Also, there is no such thing as a phone missing 5 seconds of voice and coming back again. If the phone misses 2 voice frames (20 ms each) it will turn off it's transmitter. It will then start it's fade timer and when the timer expires (variably set up to 5 seconds) the mobile completely releases the call. The network will be doing the same once it doesn't receive the mobile.
Anyway, data is very sensitive. If you miss a data frame that frame needs to be retransmitted (provided the RLP layer - Radio Link Protocol) is configured to support retransmissions. The delay for the retransmission and the request for use of the data channel can take anywhere from 100-400ms. You know what happens to your effective throughput when this happens? Because of the power requirements data channels usually have the tend to have a higher frame error rate and thus incur more retransmissions. In my 4+ years of working on actual 3G CDMA gear we got better data rates when we turned retransmissions off and just let TCP handle retransmissions.
Mark my words UDP applications will RULE the wireless world!
In CDMA you essentially share a downstream channel and get assigned your own upstream channel. This is pretty much how the cable system works (actually I believe they've started using CDMA for their coding/modulation). Anyway, the limits we have are available spectrum, codes (called Walsh covers or walsh codes), and power. In 3G data applications power is the biggest limiting factor. To much power and you cause interference, to little power and the signal degrades for those farther from the cell.
Anyway, if you add up the size of a large downstream channel for data, a bunch of small downstream channels for control and a bunch of small upstream channels for control you'll get the total amount of frequency spectrum used.
One more point I'd like to make. The systems being built are not slicing up the channel into time slots and assigning those. While they may do that according to the spec it's not what they are doing. Estimations are made as to the amount of pending data on the network side. A request is made to a scheduler which looks at the QoS level of the customer, the power levels and available channel capacity of each of the sectors the call currently has legs in. Then it determines the best channel size for that mobile. The channel will then be allocated for the amount of time needed at the data rate specified by the scheduler. BTW, the latency between when the data actually arrives from the Inet up in the network to when it will actually be transmitted to the mobile sits right now at about 80-160ms. That number doesn't take into account a busy system or the possible need for retransmissions (which can double or even triple the latency as to when the data actually gets to the IP layer of the phone or the laptop).
BTW, cable operators will be able to offer larger upstreams to everyone once they push the HFC nodes farther towards the customers and they get rid of the analog channels (3Khz per analog TV channel is alot!).
There are many, many factors that go into cell site planning.
Here's a short list off the top of my head.
1.) Leasing equipment space/antenna space.
2.) Getting approval from various government agencies (city zoning boards,etc).
3.) Doing a historical statistical analysis of the neighbor sites to see if the the new site is really necessary.
4.) Doing field measurements for emitted power levels of current cells. Then the follow-up analysis to determine the best location for a new cell. Factors considered in this analysis include propogation delay, multipath, interference from other cells or externals.
5.) Having a leased line strung out to the site from the central office containing the BSC (Base Station Controller).
6.) Provisioning the database for a new site which includes updating neighbor and canidate lists for each cell as well as power level parameters.
7.) System tuning. Bringing a new site online typically means that the whole system in that area of town needs to be retuned. RF engineers determine if antennas need to be tilted this way or that or power levels adjusted. All the upfront analysis gives you is a place to start. The real numbers come from the guys playing with it in the field.
None of the things listed above is trivial. It typically takes close to a year to bring a new cellsite online. Also, remember that none of this is cheap. The things above could cost you in the neighborhood of 4-500k just to get the site up and running. That doesn't take into account equipment costs. I know that when I used to work for one of my previous employers they used to get like 300k for a full equiped site. Of course that's more than what would be needed in an environment like NYC but would be more in line with what's need in suburban CHI.
Of course, we haven't even gotten to the monthly bills. Most of the leased lines are T1s. Why? Because of the guaranteed data rates needed. Of course, the providers don't own the lines, they just lease them so even if you figure they are getting a good deal on a single T1 of about $500/month they'll need multiple T1's to support the ammount of data traffic (and the associated control traffic) we're talking about here.
I've worked on both 3G CDMA systems and phones for the last 6 years. While the specs say one thing my experience is that things don't work as well as they are spec'd out to be.
First off, the data rates mentioned are only attainable under ideal conditions. What the article fails to mention is that CDMA is a power limited technology. No, I don't mean they fail to generate enough power. What I mean is that the total emitted power in the cell (or sector depending on configuration) is what limits you. So, if there are ANY other data users in the cell and they happen to want data at the same time you do you can kiss your impressive rates goodbye. If too much power is emitted you either get too much interference generated (causing others to raise their power levels and thus cause MORE interference) or you could possibly blow a power amplifier (and yes I've seen this happen too).
While building a 3x system (5Mhz channel as opposed to the 1x in the article) we were able to attain stationary data rates of about 360kbps which isn't bad considering we were trying to get 384kbps. The only problem was the fact that we had to remain stationary and were limited to being about 3-400ft from the tower or and we were maxing out the transmit power from the tower (thus allowing only 1 mobile to be using the data service).
I will say that when I spent time in Seoul, S. Korea (one of the first cities to roll out a 1x system) debugging the data stacks in a 1x phone the system seemed relatively stable. There were times when we were unable to get data channel assignments higher than 32kbps.
I still wouldn't personally hope for more than 156kbps as a universally available data rate from city to city. Providers will definately be unwilling to allocate the amount of power needed to support those 2Mbps users when they calculate their link budget and discover where it's all going. I don't think we'll see rates like the article talks about until providers start moving to a picocell architecture with cell sites being nothing more than a large suitcase looking thing sitting atop a telephone pole.
I mean it obviously proves that DeCSS isn't needed to copy DVDs. I'm not sure where in the case 2600 is but they should be able to use the MPAA's latest press release against them.
I see this as a classic case of misdirection. This way you go to the theater, pay your $8 or so, plug-in your laptop, and are distracted from the crap the MPAA and cronies are putting on the screen these days.
Are they thinking that this will keep people from walking out of the theater when another movie like "Dark Man" comes out?
I remember it quite vividly. It was about 6 months before the whole hacking incident at Los Alamos happened. After talking with him for about an hour I found him to be a very smart individual.
Working for a large company at the time they had all sorts of tests applicants had to go through. Apparently, he didn't score well enough on the tests for my bosses liking because despite my recommendation he didn't get the job.
Every single director or VP or head of business I've ever met knew exactly how much what they were responsible for cost. Even resources that were shared between departments got billed to that department and thus they knew the exact amount. I don't think you could adequately run a business without this vital information.
Seeing Hemo's comment that he'd need a huge spreadsheet for all this my question is why isn't there one already there? Geez, I even have a huge spreadsheet for my own home budget. How the hell do you plan for the next quarter or year? How do you know when you can afford to buy server upgrades, give raises, or just buy all your guys pizza?
It really isn't any wonder why the dotcom bubble burst when you see such poor business/accounting practices as displayed here.
BTW, I love slashdot, but hate the idea of some stupid subscription. I refuse to pay for a subscription to sites like this on the grounds that all the news is freely available elsewhere on the net and that I'd essentially be paying for other users comments that they in turn were not paid for. So, if your thinking of restricting access to information only to subscribers count me out.
I have one more slight beef. Now that we see that the motives behind this are to get into the black and thus driven by *cough* corporate profit needs. Doesn't this all just pollute the notion that this is a community? I mean before the subscription idea came out we had ads. Everyone understood that ads were necessary to sustain the community. It was the communities desire to remain a community that allowed us to see the ads as a necessary evil. But the idea of a subscription just turns us all into customers of a business now. It's become no different than the people standing in line with me at the department store up the street. I'll have no more bond with them than I do with another/.'er. That to me is very sad.
I understand the need for more ads. I guess I just believe that the/. community could have come up with better ideas to sustain the needs of the community than the subscriptions or the larger ads. I mean isn't that the whole point of "ask slashdot" is to say "hey here's my problem anyone got ideas?". From the amount and nature of responses I've seen in ask slashdot there are alot of pretty creative people in the community.
take it from me. Start looking for a job with local company. I telecommuted with two different companies for over 3 years and found that those issues coupled with the out of sight out of mind made me rather expendable (despite my outstanding performance reviews) when it came time for company downsizing.
Regarding the issues you raised. Get used to them. The unexpected will occur. Everything from your connectivity issues to their connectivity issues to VPN issues on both sides will occur. You name it it'll probably happen. Always have work you can perform without being connected to the office. This is a MUST.
I found my boss much more at ease when he knew that I always had a pile of things I could use the day to catch up on.
I guess I just don't get it. Does the author of this bill and our buddy Jack really think that they can pull off such unprecedented legislation as this? I mean can anyone think of a SINGLE instance where a consumer device was forced to have something that restricted it's use?
The government doesn't force car manufacturers to sell cars with goveners to prevent you from speeding (and thus endangering the lives of others). They don't force makers of lawn mowers to install safety devices to stop the blade from turning if the mower deck is lifted off the ground and the spinning blade is exposed. They don't force gun makers to implement technology to make sure you only use your gun at the gun range or to shoot bad people.
So, who is the government really out to protect. It sure as hell isn't the consumer.
I'm also wondering when it was written into the constitution or Bill of Rights that the profits of the few outweigh the rights of the many.
I personally can't wait for the day where a DMCA case gets bumped to the Supreme court just to see how they think it plays with Bill of Rights and common law.
It's funny that you say that. Here's a snippet from the man page for hdparm regarding the use of the -d parameter (the man page may look different now...this version is 2 years old).
" Using DMA does not necessarily provide any improvement in throughput or system performance, but many folks swear by it. Your mileage may vary."
Personally, I just wish they'd implement ALL of the POSIX.4. Every time I seem to check back as to how far they've gotten I see they've only gotten a few of them implemented. It'd be really nice to be able to port things to/from linux and various RTOSs to make testing easier.
They are not exactly embedded. Both use a microkernel architecture allows them to run the rest of the OS in a separate process within the microkernel. But they do have a form of X windows and can be run on the desktop. Of course you can also strip them down, flash them, and run them in an embedded environment. Of course, the task switching latency is supposed to be higher than that of other truly embedded RTOSs like VxWorks and pSOS.
As someone who has worked on both cellular phone system software and cellular phone software I have to say I don't see a Microsoft product being able to compete.
The main reason I see is performance. Many of the phones or real-time critical pieces of the cellular network all run proven RTOSs. There is no way that an MS product loaded with all the crap that they tout that it has would be able to met the real-time requirements of being able to send and receive 34 data frames (17 in each direction) every 20ms (these numbers are for 3G CDMA). Processing 34 frames in 20ms and not miss the next 20ms boundry is a difficult task.
What I see this product as being is the secondary OS on the phone. Certain manufacturers are starting to realize the application layer processing requirements the phones of the future will need to have and as such have been building them with 2 microprocessors and a DSP. The addition of a 2nd microprocessor allows them to offload all the application layer processing that needs to be made yet still be able to function in the cellular environment.
It almost seems like the name of the product should be altered to reflect they are really the "smart" in "smart phone" because it's obvious to me that they can't be performing the phone half.
Slashdot Mirror
This is just more of the same type of industry justification that's been going on in both the movie and music industries. What's really to blame is the boring music, bad plot lines, and all around crap product these folks keep trying to peddle to us. When we don't buy they blame it on piracy. This seems to be very indicative of the culture at large that seems to lack responsibility for oneself.
For some very cool product info on mesh networks.
* A tazer gun.
* MACE
* One of those personal alarms.
* Someone already mentioned a chastity belt.
* Her own stash of ruffies (The date rape drug.) Because there really is no reason she shouldn't be able to turn the tables on the guys.
I did say that I thought Americans were more ingenious. I guess I should clarify that statement. Look at most of the advances in the tech industry or even in the last century. What country did most of them emminant from? Americans quite simply are an inventive creative people. It's always been apart of our history which allows people to be creative and pursue their dreams.
I believe I also stated that all the projects I saw getting sent to India failed. I didn't say it was because I thought only good software could be produced in the US but rather just that moving projects off-shore doesn't seem to as good of an idea as it may initially seem. I've seen good work come out of places like China, Korea, Australia, and Japan for the projects I've been on. The original author of the story specifically asked about India.
And as far as the argument that there is more of an investment in the H1 people. Your probably right. My comment was more directed to the loop-hole in the law.
BTW, the H1 people that remained on the job after I was let go were NOT of a higher caliber than I was. I believe employers are trying to hold onto the H1's because they believe they won't be able to get the same number of workers back when things pick up again if all the H1's get shipped home. Meanwhile, I'm out of a job and might lose my house, and if I look at how things might be different had the law not allowed this loop hole I just shake my head.
While I understand many managers think that getting some developers in India to do the work much cheaper is the way to go I have to say I've only seen failure in this area. To be honest I think all the good programmers from India are already here. Every project I saw get moved to India came back in total ruins and complete failure. It was where projects went if managers wanted a good excuse to can them.
I really, really didn't mean to let it all out at once but I would have exploded if I didn't.
I'm a firm believer in revoking i-net privledges to employees who are stupid enough to send much less open attachments of the exe or macro variety.
Remember the story a few months back about the kid who walked into a story and copied the MAC version of MS Office off a store display computer by hooking in his portable device. Well now they'll be no wires to give him away. Now I realize PC software isn't as easy to copy installed versions of but there is a wealth of data now available to be copied without giving yourself away with any obvious wires.
In our communities strip clubs, bars, restaurants, and generally any kind of business either normal or partaking in the sleeze has to get a zoning permit. Those businesses have to go before people in the community who decide if they are going to allow that particular establishment to reside there.
All the 2nd part of the law does is say well we don't really want you in this part of town but you'll be free to setup shop over in this other part of town. I just don't see a free speech issue here. These people will still be allowed to continue on with their message or business.
I think too many people don't understand what free speech really is. I find it surprising that those running /. don't really understand it.
WRONG!
First off, voice is NEVER retransmitted. Voice is a time sensative beast. If a voice frame is missed either because of corruption, poor signal quality, what have you, the last frame may be repeated. Usually I believe this practice is only done on the network side for voice coming from the mobile. More often than not silence is sent on to the other user. Also, there is no such thing as a phone missing 5 seconds of voice and coming back again. If the phone misses 2 voice frames (20 ms each) it will turn off it's transmitter. It will then start it's fade timer and when the timer expires (variably set up to 5 seconds) the mobile completely releases the call. The network will be doing the same once it doesn't receive the mobile.
Anyway, data is very sensitive. If you miss a data frame that frame needs to be retransmitted (provided the RLP layer - Radio Link Protocol) is configured to support retransmissions. The delay for the retransmission and the request for use of the data channel can take anywhere from 100-400ms. You know what happens to your effective throughput when this happens? Because of the power requirements data channels usually have the tend to have a higher frame error rate and thus incur more retransmissions. In my 4+ years of working on actual 3G CDMA gear we got better data rates when we turned retransmissions off and just let TCP handle retransmissions.
Mark my words UDP applications will RULE the wireless world!
Are you saying that was the location of the first commercially available system?
I know you don't mean it was invented there. I don't think Viterbi is from Korea.
In CDMA you essentially share a downstream channel and get assigned your own upstream channel. This is pretty much how the cable system works (actually I believe they've started using CDMA for their coding/modulation). Anyway, the limits we have are available spectrum, codes (called Walsh covers or walsh codes), and power. In 3G data applications power is the biggest limiting factor. To much power and you cause interference, to little power and the signal degrades for those farther from the cell.
Anyway, if you add up the size of a large downstream channel for data, a bunch of small downstream channels for control and a bunch of small upstream channels for control you'll get the total amount of frequency spectrum used.
One more point I'd like to make. The systems being built are not slicing up the channel into time slots and assigning those. While they may do that according to the spec it's not what they are doing. Estimations are made as to the amount of pending data on the network side. A request is made to a scheduler which looks at the QoS level of the customer, the power levels and available channel capacity of each of the sectors the call currently has legs in. Then it determines the best channel size for that mobile. The channel will then be allocated for the amount of time needed at the data rate specified by the scheduler. BTW, the latency between when the data actually arrives from the Inet up in the network to when it will actually be transmitted to the mobile sits right now at about 80-160ms. That number doesn't take into account a busy system or the possible need for retransmissions (which can double or even triple the latency as to when the data actually gets to the IP layer of the phone or the laptop).
BTW, cable operators will be able to offer larger upstreams to everyone once they push the HFC nodes farther towards the customers and they get rid of the analog channels (3Khz per analog TV channel is alot!).
There are many, many factors that go into cell site planning.
Here's a short list off the top of my head.
1.) Leasing equipment space/antenna space.
2.) Getting approval from various government agencies (city zoning boards,etc).
3.) Doing a historical statistical analysis of the neighbor sites to see if the the new site is really necessary.
4.) Doing field measurements for emitted power levels of current cells. Then the follow-up analysis to determine the best location for a new cell. Factors considered in this analysis include propogation delay, multipath, interference from other cells or externals.
5.) Having a leased line strung out to the site from the central office containing the BSC (Base Station Controller).
6.) Provisioning the database for a new site which includes updating neighbor and canidate lists for each cell as well as power level parameters. 7.) System tuning. Bringing a new site online typically means that the whole system in that area of town needs to be retuned. RF engineers determine if antennas need to be tilted this way or that or power levels adjusted. All the upfront analysis gives you is a place to start. The real numbers come from the guys playing with it in the field.
None of the things listed above is trivial. It typically takes close to a year to bring a new cellsite online. Also, remember that none of this is cheap. The things above could cost you in the neighborhood of 4-500k just to get the site up and running. That doesn't take into account equipment costs. I know that when I used to work for one of my previous employers they used to get like 300k for a full equiped site. Of course that's more than what would be needed in an environment like NYC but would be more in line with what's need in suburban CHI.
Of course, we haven't even gotten to the monthly bills. Most of the leased lines are T1s. Why? Because of the guaranteed data rates needed. Of course, the providers don't own the lines, they just lease them so even if you figure they are getting a good deal on a single T1 of about $500/month they'll need multiple T1's to support the ammount of data traffic (and the associated control traffic) we're talking about here.
First off, the data rates mentioned are only attainable under ideal conditions. What the article fails to mention is that CDMA is a power limited technology. No, I don't mean they fail to generate enough power. What I mean is that the total emitted power in the cell (or sector depending on configuration) is what limits you. So, if there are ANY other data users in the cell and they happen to want data at the same time you do you can kiss your impressive rates goodbye. If too much power is emitted you either get too much interference generated (causing others to raise their power levels and thus cause MORE interference) or you could possibly blow a power amplifier (and yes I've seen this happen too).
While building a 3x system (5Mhz channel as opposed to the 1x in the article) we were able to attain stationary data rates of about 360kbps which isn't bad considering we were trying to get 384kbps. The only problem was the fact that we had to remain stationary and were limited to being about 3-400ft from the tower or and we were maxing out the transmit power from the tower (thus allowing only 1 mobile to be using the data service).
I will say that when I spent time in Seoul, S. Korea (one of the first cities to roll out a 1x system) debugging the data stacks in a 1x phone the system seemed relatively stable. There were times when we were unable to get data channel assignments higher than 32kbps.
I still wouldn't personally hope for more than 156kbps as a universally available data rate from city to city. Providers will definately be unwilling to allocate the amount of power needed to support those 2Mbps users when they calculate their link budget and discover where it's all going. I don't think we'll see rates like the article talks about until providers start moving to a picocell architecture with cell sites being nothing more than a large suitcase looking thing sitting atop a telephone pole.
I mean it obviously proves that DeCSS isn't needed to copy DVDs. I'm not sure where in the case 2600 is but they should be able to use the MPAA's latest press release against them.
Are they thinking that this will keep people from walking out of the theater when another movie like "Dark Man" comes out?
Working for a large company at the time they had all sorts of tests applicants had to go through. Apparently, he didn't score well enough on the tests for my bosses liking because despite my recommendation he didn't get the job.
I guess I'm kind of glad he didn't get the job.
Seeing Hemo's comment that he'd need a huge spreadsheet for all this my question is why isn't there one already there? Geez, I even have a huge spreadsheet for my own home budget. How the hell do you plan for the next quarter or year? How do you know when you can afford to buy server upgrades, give raises, or just buy all your guys pizza?
It really isn't any wonder why the dotcom bubble burst when you see such poor business/accounting practices as displayed here.
BTW, I love slashdot, but hate the idea of some stupid subscription. I refuse to pay for a subscription to sites like this on the grounds that all the news is freely available elsewhere on the net and that I'd essentially be paying for other users comments that they in turn were not paid for. So, if your thinking of restricting access to information only to subscribers count me out.
I have one more slight beef. Now that we see that the motives behind this are to get into the black and thus driven by *cough* corporate profit needs. Doesn't this all just pollute the notion that this is a community? I mean before the subscription idea came out we had ads. Everyone understood that ads were necessary to sustain the community. It was the communities desire to remain a community that allowed us to see the ads as a necessary evil. But the idea of a subscription just turns us all into customers of a business now. It's become no different than the people standing in line with me at the department store up the street. I'll have no more bond with them than I do with another /.'er. That to me is very sad.
I understand the need for more ads. I guess I just believe that the /. community could have come up with better ideas to sustain the needs of the community than the subscriptions or the larger ads. I mean isn't that the whole point of "ask slashdot" is to say "hey here's my problem anyone got ideas?". From the amount and nature of responses I've seen in ask slashdot there are alot of pretty creative people in the community.
If someone's insane do they KNOW they are insane?
Do they wake up and go...God I'm F*'n NUTS!
Regarding the issues you raised. Get used to them. The unexpected will occur. Everything from your connectivity issues to their connectivity issues to VPN issues on both sides will occur. You name it it'll probably happen. Always have work you can perform without being connected to the office. This is a MUST.
I found my boss much more at ease when he knew that I always had a pile of things I could use the day to catch up on.
The government doesn't force car manufacturers to sell cars with goveners to prevent you from speeding (and thus endangering the lives of others). They don't force makers of lawn mowers to install safety devices to stop the blade from turning if the mower deck is lifted off the ground and the spinning blade is exposed. They don't force gun makers to implement technology to make sure you only use your gun at the gun range or to shoot bad people.
So, who is the government really out to protect. It sure as hell isn't the consumer.
I'm also wondering when it was written into the constitution or Bill of Rights that the profits of the few outweigh the rights of the many.
I personally can't wait for the day where a DMCA case gets bumped to the Supreme court just to see how they think it plays with Bill of Rights and common law.
" Using DMA does not necessarily provide any improvement in throughput or system performance, but many folks swear by it. Your mileage may vary."
Personally, I just wish they'd implement ALL of the POSIX.4. Every time I seem to check back as to how far they've gotten I see they've only gotten a few of them implemented. It'd be really nice to be able to port things to/from linux and various RTOSs to make testing easier.
They are not exactly embedded. Both use a microkernel architecture allows them to run the rest of the OS in a separate process within the microkernel. But they do have a form of X windows and can be run on the desktop. Of course you can also strip them down, flash them, and run them in an embedded environment. Of course, the task switching latency is supposed to be higher than that of other truly embedded RTOSs like VxWorks and pSOS.
The main reason I see is performance. Many of the phones or real-time critical pieces of the cellular network all run proven RTOSs. There is no way that an MS product loaded with all the crap that they tout that it has would be able to met the real-time requirements of being able to send and receive 34 data frames (17 in each direction) every 20ms (these numbers are for 3G CDMA). Processing 34 frames in 20ms and not miss the next 20ms boundry is a difficult task.
What I see this product as being is the secondary OS on the phone. Certain manufacturers are starting to realize the application layer processing requirements the phones of the future will need to have and as such have been building them with 2 microprocessors and a DSP. The addition of a 2nd microprocessor allows them to offload all the application layer processing that needs to be made yet still be able to function in the cellular environment.
It almost seems like the name of the product should be altered to reflect they are really the "smart" in "smart phone" because it's obvious to me that they can't be performing the phone half.