Well, AMD nearly went bankrupt in 2016 despite the XB1/PS4 (they lost half a billion dollars that year and had less than a billion in cash at one point). They're doing a bit better now, and Ryzen is going to be a big boost, but they're not completely out of the woods yet.
Microsoft/Qualcomm aren't emulating AMD64, though, they're only supporting 32-bit x86 apps. If they want to avoid any patents at all and went back 20 years, they might run into some compatibility issues, because 1997 puts them before every single marketed instruction set extension: MMX was introduced in 1997, so getting in just before that, you're basically back to the 486 or early pre-MMX Pentium 1.
The question is, how much modern Windows software is ABI compatible with the 486, and doesn't assume MMX or SSE support?
When Siri first launched, I used it regularly to start timers, and I still use it regularly to do that. However, both when it launched and today, any time I ever try to ask Siri anything else, it just does a google search without reading any information out to me.
So, basically, Siri has proven to be useless to me for anything but setting timers, because it doesn't seem capable of answering any of my questions. Oh, I guess I use it to check a sports score a few times a year.
I would love for Siri to do more, to be able to actually answer my questions by looking up information. I'd use it more often. One example, the most recent thing that I asked Siri and got a google search result was "Hey Siri, what's the minimum wage in Japan?"
Siri just does a google search and doesn't read anything. Cortana, on the other hand, gives you an actual answer. I don't know what Google Assistant would do as it's not available on iOS in Canada.
It appears that my confusion comes from 10.7, which supported running 64-bit apps on 32-bit EFI machines. It would appear that they shipped a 32-bit kernel with a 64-bit user space, but dropped the 32-bit kernel by 10.8. In any event, this does mean that there is a version of OS X that can be used on a 2007 mac mini that will allow 64-bit applications to be run.
There is also the option of using a third-party EFI bootloader to install up to El Capitan on 32-bit EFI Core 2 Duo machines.
In enterprise, for desktop computers, a 10 year old upgrade cycle is not "absurdly short", it's the opposite. Most companies have support contracts, and will replace hardware when it reaches the end of that period, typically something like 5-6 years.
The Mac Mini released in August 2007 and sold until March 2009 was a Core 2 Duo, a 64-bit processor. It was officially supported by several x86-only releases of Mac OS.
I'd think there are more serious concerns than that. Trinity Western University (British Columbia) bans gay students, and that one went all the way to the supreme court, who ruled in the university's favour.
36% from their endowment, 21% from tuition, 17% from sponsors, and 9% from gifts. That leaves 17% "other", which they don't break down (at least on that page).
This does place an upper cap on public funding, however: it must be somewhere between 0% and 17%. In other words, the vast majority of the funding is of the "private" variety.
Opera wasn't a skin (at least not for Opera Mini). The iOS requirement is misunderstood: it isn't a restriction on browsers or browser engines, it's a restriction on code execution (Javascript). Since Opera Mini ran the javascript on the server-side and not the client, it was allowed to use a custom layout engine.
Netflix intends you to share your password with your family: they support multiple profiles per account and charge more for additional simultaneous streams for a reason.
AMD is a big company, and even if there were up-front costs, that wouldn't be an obstacle. Intel explicitly said this move is intended to get TB3 in third-party chips:
In addition to Intel’s Thunderbolt silicon, next year Intel plans to make the Thunderbolt protocol specification available to the industry under a nonexclusive, royalty-free license. Releasing the Thunderbolt protocol specification in this manner is expected to greatly increase Thunderbolt adoption by encouraging third-party chip makers to build Thunderbolt-compatible chips. We expect industry chip development to accelerate a wide range of new devices and user experiences.
The NBN costs are for the physical deployment: people would still pay monthly fees for the service. There is lots of blame to go around: for example, politicians sabotaged things by deciding to save money by throwing out the all-fiber GPON plan and instead to use DSL for the last mile.
Xplornet has a quarter million subscribers in Canada alone, and they're extremely expensive and extremely slow. There's a huge potential market in rural and even sparse suburban areas.
Phased array: the receiver will look a lot like a pizza box. You'll want to put it on the roof, and people living in an urban core with good broadband options are not going to be the target customers. People living in more rural areas are, both because the customer density is going to be something the satellites can manage, and because they're likely stuck with pretty slow service to begin with.
> Re-syncing to the next sat as it comes into view is expensive. Handoff is non-trivial, and if you miss the handoff or the next sat doesn't want to talk to you because it is already saturated, bye-bye connection.
The benefit of having 4,000+ satellites is that even with LEO there are going to be a whole bunch of satellites in view at any given time, meaning you've got a ton of time to do the handoff.
He's going to care, because even if he may have a spectrum license in Canada, he may not in Australia, and even if he does, it may not be the same spectrum.
Slashdot Mirror
Ironic, but Microsoft does ship Linux. Ubuntu is in the Windows Store, and Azure has Linux distro options.
Well, AMD nearly went bankrupt in 2016 despite the XB1/PS4 (they lost half a billion dollars that year and had less than a billion in cash at one point). They're doing a bit better now, and Ryzen is going to be a big boost, but they're not completely out of the woods yet.
Microsoft/Qualcomm aren't emulating AMD64, though, they're only supporting 32-bit x86 apps. If they want to avoid any patents at all and went back 20 years, they might run into some compatibility issues, because 1997 puts them before every single marketed instruction set extension: MMX was introduced in 1997, so getting in just before that, you're basically back to the 486 or early pre-MMX Pentium 1.
The question is, how much modern Windows software is ABI compatible with the 486, and doesn't assume MMX or SSE support?
When Siri first launched, I used it regularly to start timers, and I still use it regularly to do that. However, both when it launched and today, any time I ever try to ask Siri anything else, it just does a google search without reading any information out to me.
So, basically, Siri has proven to be useless to me for anything but setting timers, because it doesn't seem capable of answering any of my questions. Oh, I guess I use it to check a sports score a few times a year.
I would love for Siri to do more, to be able to actually answer my questions by looking up information. I'd use it more often. One example, the most recent thing that I asked Siri and got a google search result was "Hey Siri, what's the minimum wage in Japan?"
Siri just does a google search and doesn't read anything. Cortana, on the other hand, gives you an actual answer. I don't know what Google Assistant would do as it's not available on iOS in Canada.
It appears that my confusion comes from 10.7, which supported running 64-bit apps on 32-bit EFI machines. It would appear that they shipped a 32-bit kernel with a 64-bit user space, but dropped the 32-bit kernel by 10.8. In any event, this does mean that there is a version of OS X that can be used on a 2007 mac mini that will allow 64-bit applications to be run.
There is also the option of using a third-party EFI bootloader to install up to El Capitan on 32-bit EFI Core 2 Duo machines.
> Apple switched to 64 bit in 2006 except for the mac mini, which switched in 2009.
The 2007 model had a 64-bit processor, and was supported up until El Capitan, which was years after OS X went 64-bit only.
In enterprise, for desktop computers, a 10 year old upgrade cycle is not "absurdly short", it's the opposite. Most companies have support contracts, and will replace hardware when it reaches the end of that period, typically something like 5-6 years.
Sorry, x64-only.
The Mac Mini released in August 2007 and sold until March 2009 was a Core 2 Duo, a 64-bit processor. It was officially supported by several x86-only releases of Mac OS.
I'd think there are more serious concerns than that. Trinity Western University (British Columbia) bans gay students, and that one went all the way to the supreme court, who ruled in the university's favour.
While it doesn't go into quite that detail, some basic information is available on their revenue:
http://www.harvard.edu/about-h...
36% from their endowment, 21% from tuition, 17% from sponsors, and 9% from gifts. That leaves 17% "other", which they don't break down (at least on that page).
This does place an upper cap on public funding, however: it must be somewhere between 0% and 17%. In other words, the vast majority of the funding is of the "private" variety.
Harvard is a private school, not a public school. Their call to reject students based on this sort of thing.
Opera wasn't a skin (at least not for Opera Mini). The iOS requirement is misunderstood: it isn't a restriction on browsers or browser engines, it's a restriction on code execution (Javascript). Since Opera Mini ran the javascript on the server-side and not the client, it was allowed to use a custom layout engine.
Netflix intends you to share your password with your family: they support multiple profiles per account and charge more for additional simultaneous streams for a reason.
AMD is a big company, and even if there were up-front costs, that wouldn't be an obstacle. Intel explicitly said this move is intended to get TB3 in third-party chips:
In addition to Intel’s Thunderbolt silicon, next year Intel plans to make the Thunderbolt protocol specification available to the industry under a nonexclusive, royalty-free license. Releasing the Thunderbolt protocol specification in this manner is expected to greatly increase Thunderbolt adoption by encouraging third-party chip makers to build Thunderbolt-compatible chips. We expect industry chip development to accelerate a wide range of new devices and user experiences.
https://newsroom.intel.com/editorials/envision-world-thunderbolt-3-everywhere/
With the protocol now being royalty-free, what's stopping AMD from adding it to their CPUs?
Funny thing how monopolies work.
So, basically, Clarke and Dawe's take was an accurate summary? :)
It's not like the addage needs to change: station wagons and data tapes still exist, now with capacities measured in terabytes.
The NBN costs are for the physical deployment: people would still pay monthly fees for the service. There is lots of blame to go around: for example, politicians sabotaged things by deciding to save money by throwing out the all-fiber GPON plan and instead to use DSL for the last mile.
Xplornet has a quarter million subscribers in Canada alone, and they're extremely expensive and extremely slow. There's a huge potential market in rural and even sparse suburban areas.
Phased array: the receiver will look a lot like a pizza box. You'll want to put it on the roof, and people living in an urban core with good broadband options are not going to be the target customers. People living in more rural areas are, both because the customer density is going to be something the satellites can manage, and because they're likely stuck with pretty slow service to begin with.
Seriously, I wouldn't pay more than 3 billion a month for this.
> Re-syncing to the next sat as it comes into view is expensive. Handoff is non-trivial, and if you miss the handoff or the next sat doesn't want to talk to you because it is already saturated, bye-bye connection.
The benefit of having 4,000+ satellites is that even with LEO there are going to be a whole bunch of satellites in view at any given time, meaning you've got a ton of time to do the handoff.
He's going to care, because even if he may have a spectrum license in Canada, he may not in Australia, and even if he does, it may not be the same spectrum.