Ummm, traction is a function of the size of the contact patch and the amount of weight (or pressure) applied to each square inch of the contact patch. Simply widening the tire isn't going to buy you much if any additional traction.
What you need to do is increase the pressure per sq/in of contact patch, using something like downforce generated by a wing or something similar.
Plus I doubt that they couldn't find anyone to ride it flat out. The lawyers probably won't let them, or the execs don't want to see the only existing copy of the bike destroyed in an accident. I am SURE chrystler/mercedes has a crazy test driver.
Actually, I would say that drastic failures _ARE_ included. True 'Big Iron' is designed so that massive failures can occur, and processing can still continue.
For example, I have heard of Mainframes that continue running after a projectile has travelled through Processing and Memory sub-units.
The CPUs in the machines sometimes compute the same data twice and compare the results. If they differ, it uses a separate CPU to perform the work.
That same thinking goes through the I/O subsystem as well. Properly configured, a mainframe should be able to survive almost any failure besides a complete loss of power to the entire system, or physical damage to very large sections of the machine (i.e. earthquake takes out datacenter).
Many of these same qualities can be found in Linux clusters, especially ones that are geographically distributed, but it is nice to get the entire package from a single vendor, supported top to bottom. Its the kind of thing that helps the CIO sleep at night, even if it does cost 10-100x more.
This is of course nonsense by any objective metric. The number of successful businesses being started today is smaller than ever and getting smaller. The best time to start a business was surely at the beginning of the industrial revolution, or any time before that. After industrialization, competence becomes a commodity.
What a horrid world-view! I guess I am an optimist after all:)
I also think that you'd better be prepared to site some specific statistics that show that fewer companies are being launched today than at any other time post industrial revolution. That is a very broad claim to make.
Also, I believe that todays capitalistic and free market systems _REWARD_ competence and even (gasp!) excellence.
I'm sorry. But I refuse to believe that the business climate is soo ruthless that it is flat out impossible to achieve greatness. I see companies every day paying serious cash for products that could be done better, and get service that could be improved on. A new idea with solid execution can still hit it huge.
I'll say it again, because it bears repeating; Maybe I'm just an optimist. I'll grant you this though, if you go around thinking what you currently do about the situation, you are never going to do anything truly great.
I don't think that you are correct about the barriers to entry being too high to start something new.
There are technologies which have radically changed almost everything about peoples lives in the last 10 years. Do you really think that every product or technology is as good as it can be.
I don't think that there has ever been a better time to start a new disruptive companies. Startup costs are at an all time low, your ability to communicate to the masses has never been higher.
Currently. That is the key word you are missing. I doubt that Apple has missed the rapidly sliding price of hardware. In 10 years, Apple might be a software/consumer device only company. Who knows?
Um, no. I am too lazy to google you up a link, but the Volkswagens of old (i.e. the "Bug") had a motor where the cylinders screwed into the crank-casing. You could remove any one of the four cyls, head and all, extremely simply.
Most modern engines do not have the same design or construction.
I would certainly hold onto that stock. With the way Apple has been performing recently, this is nothing more than a short term drop. I would label it a 'buying' opp.
If you already bought a lot of shares at a higher price, you could pick up some more at a discount. If it was a good stock in the $40 range, it is an excellent stock in the $30s.
I am of the belief that these projects will continue to evolve and grow even without these companies direct contributions.
The benefeit that these companies bring is that they give all of us a shining example that "Yes, free software is reliable and scales well."
Its just nice to be able to point to these very large, omnipresent companies and say "They are using free software, so can we."
Other companies around the world (like IBM) give back code to the group. Wasn't the point of free software to allow the masses to make use of the efforts of the few?
As long as they abide by the language in the License when they accepted it (and IANAL, so I don't really know if they have) I am fine. I don't care if they do the OMFG BeST EVAR re-write of the linux kernel and don't release it. They don't have to.
You example of buying components and assembling boxes yourself is exactly what you do _NOT_ want to do in a critical production environment.
Establish long lasting relationships with large systems integrators and builders such as HP, IBM or SUN. Work with your vendors to get a solution that matches your requirements.
Then, hold your vendor to the agreement. If your not getting what you need, call your sales rep. Call the VP of customer relations/support for the company. Talk to the money people rather than the technical people if you are not getting support. It will get fixed, and quick too.
This is true. We use an Apple Quadra 950 at my mom's company for an email server. The server was purchased in June of 1992, and I put it to work as the mail server in 1996.
The mail is stored on an external Lacie 4 gig SCSI hard drive (from the mid 90's as well). We back it up over the network using Retrospect.
The most amazing thing about this server, is that it handles the (albiet light) email load for an entire 75 person company, and has done so for the better part of a decade. To my knowledge (I don't work there, just get calls when tech stuff breaks) the machine has only been rebooted once or twice a year during that timeframe.
Not a single part in the original machine from the original 16 MB of ram (damn box has 16(!) SIMM slots) to the original monster (physical size) internal SCSI drive are worked. This machine has never once had a single repair order.
About 5 years ago I was actively planning to replace the server, as it had to fail any day now. At this point, I fully expect the Quadra to outlive me.
Also, system 7 was the _best_ pre-osx version ever released. The Quadra has been humming away with the base system 7 install since we got it.
So yes, Apple hardware can last a very, very long time. We also have some IIfx machines that still boot, and IIci which is used as the public internet terminal in the break room. They aren't rockets, but they work day in and day out and get the job done.
You do realize that those stats you linked to are the _quarterly_ reports. Note also that apple grew its cash holdings by _BILLIONS_ of dollars in the last year.
A better analogy would be the video game console market. There MS makes money on the XBox itself (supposedly) and also takes a percentage of each game sold.
I wouldn't call it a new Business Model. Nintendos been doing since the 80s and I am sure others can come up with way earlier examples.
I would imagine that that is what Apple intended you to do. Look at it from their perspective. They sold you a single piece with a high margin, instead of two seperate lower margin items.
Apple still got almost the same amount of money out of you, but spent far less to do it. Less shipping, logistics, retail space, wharehouse space, etc.
The pricing is correct. If you are a power user, Apple shuffles you off to the nice high margin iMac, if you can't afford, or don't want that level of performance, they will still take a buck or two off you while dishing out the Mac mini.
Why not turn them on their sides. They are 2" tall, so you could fit 9 of them on a 19" rackmount tray. Since they are 6.5" wide (err, tall in this case) they will fit into 4u, with a bit of spare space for the tray and airflow.
Placing them vertically gives you 9 mini's in 4U, whereas your solution only provides 6 mini's in 4.
Go with the 1.25ghz model and tell OS X to turn off the harddrive when not in use, and I bet a whole rack of these (90 minis by my reckoning) would have a very manageable heat and power load.
Now, you could also go more than one layer deep. A deep 32" x 19" tray would allow for at least 36 minis per shelf. Stack those all the way up the rack and you get 360 minis in a single rack. You would need serious AC and power to support that I would imagine. Amazing density though.
You're right about the 10/100 ethernet though. That is going to seriously degrade performance in many entperprise/clustering jobs. On the other hand, this setup would be *excellent* for a web farm.
As someone involved in large Enterprise Scale operations, I can say that Google has certainly done something that is not easily duplicated. They managed to get an application running on 10,000 servers that could easily handle a load and dataset that is massive.
Google's strength is not in their search engine, or in gmail, but their ability to execute new appications in a highly available and supportable manner. Google has developed an Operating System for the web so to speak that is head and shoulders above any other system out there currently.
If Google continues to keep delivering solid and functional applications that meet my, and other users needs, we may see a future where the only OS you need on your local computer is a web browser.
That is why this stock is going through the roof. This company has capital, resources and manpower to deliver a Microsoft Killing blow, and is aquiring the skillset and experience needed to pull it off each day they run 'the worlds biggest application.'
I literally live directly across the street from my office. I can not fathom how people like to spend 2 or more hours a day in their car, when they could be spending the time working more ($$$) or with their families.
Not only is it good for the environment, it is easy on the budget. I only drive 2 or 3 times a week, and when you tell your insurance agent that you drive less than 300 miles a month, your premium really drops.
On top of that, think of all the money I am saving by filling up my tank once a month rather than 2 times a week.
Anyways, if you can afford it, and it is possible, living close to work saves money and increases your quality of life (as long as your office isn't somewhere awful).
We have a couple of StrageTek silos as well. A total of 160 LTO 2 Drives in two silos. We are constantly having issues with the silos.
I would expect to see a tape drive fail every now and then because of the large number of them, and the amount of work that we are pushing at them, but the silos and robotic arms should be bullet proof.
I was curious about how your silos are holding out? Maybe we just got a couple of lemons. We have been through at least 20 robotic arms in one of the silos in the last 1.5 years, each time taking a 1.5.-3 hour downtime. Argh.
Hrm, my email was up there for 3 hours, and I already got 4 pieces of spam on that account, which had never been spamed before. Spammers are getting faster with each passing day.
If sales people were running the company, they would be pushing closed proprietary solutions, because you can sell them to a captive audience, and lock people in.
The problem with Tukwila is that while it does have a large amount of commercial property, almost nobody lives there. There is no one paying RESIDENTIAL property tax. Add in the fact that the police force has to deal with the whole SeaTac Airport and surrounding areas (ghetto, strip clubs, prostitutes, etc) and I can see why they have no money.
Another possible explination would be that the huge grant Foster recieved from the Bill & Mellinda Gate$ foundation. Hmmmmm.
I used to live right by foster. I might have to go down and 'donate' some of my spare unemployed ass time to them. That might lower the 'cost' of running these free macs.
Slashdot Mirror
Ummm, traction is a function of the size of the contact patch and the amount of weight (or pressure) applied to each square inch of the contact patch. Simply widening the tire isn't going to buy you much if any additional traction. What you need to do is increase the pressure per sq/in of contact patch, using something like downforce generated by a wing or something similar. Plus I doubt that they couldn't find anyone to ride it flat out. The lawyers probably won't let them, or the execs don't want to see the only existing copy of the bike destroyed in an accident. I am SURE chrystler/mercedes has a crazy test driver.
For example, I have heard of Mainframes that continue running after a projectile has travelled through Processing and Memory sub-units.
The CPUs in the machines sometimes compute the same data twice and compare the results. If they differ, it uses a separate CPU to perform the work.
That same thinking goes through the I/O subsystem as well. Properly configured, a mainframe should be able to survive almost any failure besides a complete loss of power to the entire system, or physical damage to very large sections of the machine (i.e. earthquake takes out datacenter).
Many of these same qualities can be found in Linux clusters, especially ones that are geographically distributed, but it is nice to get the entire package from a single vendor, supported top to bottom. Its the kind of thing that helps the CIO sleep at night, even if it does cost 10-100x more.
I also think that you'd better be prepared to site some specific statistics that show that fewer companies are being launched today than at any other time post industrial revolution. That is a very broad claim to make.
Also, I believe that todays capitalistic and free market systems _REWARD_ competence and even (gasp!) excellence.
I'm sorry. But I refuse to believe that the business climate is soo ruthless that it is flat out impossible to achieve greatness. I see companies every day paying serious cash for products that could be done better, and get service that could be improved on. A new idea with solid execution can still hit it huge.
I'll say it again, because it bears repeating; Maybe I'm just an optimist. I'll grant you this though, if you go around thinking what you currently do about the situation, you are never going to do anything truly great.
I don't think that you are correct about the barriers to entry being too high to start something new.
There are technologies which have radically changed almost everything about peoples lives in the last 10 years. Do you really think that every product or technology is as good as it can be.
I don't think that there has ever been a better time to start a new disruptive companies. Startup costs are at an all time low, your ability to communicate to the masses has never been higher.
Maybe I'm just an optimist.
You're joking, right? Apple throws off cash like a firehose.
Any company would want to have access to not only the revenue, but also the PROFITS.
Apple is a profit machine, and has been for a while now.
Currently. That is the key word you are missing. I doubt that Apple has missed the rapidly sliding price of hardware. In 10 years, Apple might be a software/consumer device only company. Who knows?
Um, no. I am too lazy to google you up a link, but the Volkswagens of old (i.e. the "Bug") had a motor where the cylinders screwed into the crank-casing. You could remove any one of the four cyls, head and all, extremely simply.
Most modern engines do not have the same design or construction.
I would certainly hold onto that stock. With the way Apple has been performing recently, this is nothing more than a short term drop. I would label it a 'buying' opp.
If you already bought a lot of shares at a higher price, you could pick up some more at a discount. If it was a good stock in the $40 range, it is an excellent stock in the $30s.
</TinyManCan>
I am of the belief that these projects will continue to evolve and grow even without these companies direct contributions.
The benefeit that these companies bring is that they give all of us a shining example that "Yes, free software is reliable and scales well."
Its just nice to be able to point to these very large, omnipresent companies and say "They are using free software, so can we."
Other companies around the world (like IBM) give back code to the group. Wasn't the point of free software to allow the masses to make use of the efforts of the few?
As long as they abide by the language in the License when they accepted it (and IANAL, so I don't really know if they have) I am fine. I don't care if they do the OMFG BeST EVAR re-write of the linux kernel and don't release it. They don't have to.
I _REALLY_ hope this idea falls flat on its face. These companies are the brightest hope for Free Software. Screwing them over is incredibly idiotic.
"/dev/urandom produces an infinite stream of random data"
That is until you run out of entropy.
You example of buying components and assembling boxes yourself is exactly what you do _NOT_ want to do in a critical production environment.
Establish long lasting relationships with large systems integrators and builders such as HP, IBM or SUN. Work with your vendors to get a solution that matches your requirements.
Then, hold your vendor to the agreement. If your not getting what you need, call your sales rep. Call the VP of customer relations/support for the company. Talk to the money people rather than the technical people if you are not getting support. It will get fixed, and quick too.
This is true. We use an Apple Quadra 950 at my mom's company for an email server. The server was purchased in June of 1992, and I put it to work as the mail server in 1996.
The mail is stored on an external Lacie 4 gig SCSI hard drive (from the mid 90's as well). We back it up over the network using Retrospect.
The most amazing thing about this server, is that it handles the (albiet light) email load for an entire 75 person company, and has done so for the better part of a decade. To my knowledge (I don't work there, just get calls when tech stuff breaks) the machine has only been rebooted once or twice a year during that timeframe.
Not a single part in the original machine from the original 16 MB of ram (damn box has 16(!) SIMM slots) to the original monster (physical size) internal SCSI drive are worked. This machine has never once had a single repair order.
About 5 years ago I was actively planning to replace the server, as it had to fail any day now. At this point, I fully expect the Quadra to outlive me.
Also, system 7 was the _best_ pre-osx version ever released. The Quadra has been humming away with the base system 7 install since we got it.
So yes, Apple hardware can last a very, very long time. We also have some IIfx machines that still boot, and IIci which is used as the public internet terminal in the break room. They aren't rockets, but they work day in and day out and get the job done.
You do realize that those stats you linked to are the _quarterly_ reports. Note also that apple grew its cash holdings by _BILLIONS_ of dollars in the last year.
Not profit per se, but still.
A better analogy would be the video game console market. There MS makes money on the XBox itself (supposedly) and also takes a percentage of each game sold. I wouldn't call it a new Business Model. Nintendos been doing since the 80s and I am sure others can come up with way earlier examples.
Apple still got almost the same amount of money out of you, but spent far less to do it. Less shipping, logistics, retail space, wharehouse space, etc.
The pricing is correct. If you are a power user, Apple shuffles you off to the nice high margin iMac, if you can't afford, or don't want that level of performance, they will still take a buck or two off you while dishing out the Mac mini.
Placing them vertically gives you 9 mini's in 4U, whereas your solution only provides 6 mini's in 4.
Go with the 1.25ghz model and tell OS X to turn off the harddrive when not in use, and I bet a whole rack of these (90 minis by my reckoning) would have a very manageable heat and power load.
Now, you could also go more than one layer deep. A deep 32" x 19" tray would allow for at least 36 minis per shelf. Stack those all the way up the rack and you get 360 minis in a single rack. You would need serious AC and power to support that I would imagine. Amazing density though.
You're right about the 10/100 ethernet though. That is going to seriously degrade performance in many entperprise/clustering jobs. On the other hand, this setup would be *excellent* for a web farm.
Google's strength is not in their search engine, or in gmail, but their ability to execute new appications in a highly available and supportable manner. Google has developed an Operating System for the web so to speak that is head and shoulders above any other system out there currently.
If Google continues to keep delivering solid and functional applications that meet my, and other users needs, we may see a future where the only OS you need on your local computer is a web browser.
That is why this stock is going through the roof. This company has capital, resources and manpower to deliver a Microsoft Killing blow, and is aquiring the skillset and experience needed to pull it off each day they run 'the worlds biggest application.'
Not only is it good for the environment, it is easy on the budget. I only drive 2 or 3 times a week, and when you tell your insurance agent that you drive less than 300 miles a month, your premium really drops.
On top of that, think of all the money I am saving by filling up my tank once a month rather than 2 times a week.
Anyways, if you can afford it, and it is possible, living close to work saves money and increases your quality of life (as long as your office isn't somewhere awful).
I would expect to see a tape drive fail every now and then because of the large number of them, and the amount of work that we are pushing at them, but the silos and robotic arms should be bullet proof.
I was curious about how your silos are holding out? Maybe we just got a couple of lemons. We have been through at least 20 robotic arms in one of the silos in the last 1.5 years, each time taking a 1.5.-3 hour downtime. Argh.
Thanks for the invite though!
I would *love* a gmail invite. tinymancan_at_comcast_dot>net Gotta keep the spam away (yeah right, that's going to happen). Thanks!
LTO 2 drives are the current trend in large enterprise storage. LTO is the new hotness, DLT is old and busted.
If sales people were running the company, they would be pushing closed proprietary solutions, because you can sell them to a captive audience, and lock people in.
Another possible explination would be that the huge grant Foster recieved from the Bill & Mellinda Gate$ foundation. Hmmmmm.
I used to live right by foster. I might have to go down and 'donate' some of my spare unemployed ass time to them. That might lower the 'cost' of running these free macs.