The 32-bit Pentium seems to be at the end of its useful life and the Itanium is still years away.
Actually, Intel's Itanium processor is scheduled for mid-2000. You can snag some product information and datasheets here. I believe Intel plans on releasing and/or supporting 32-bit products into as late as 2002 if not longer, but I haven't checked their CPU roadmap in a while. However, IMHO, 64-bit is a safe investment considering it will soon be the de facto standard. This is definitely something to put into serious consideration, and you should definitely consult your coworkers and review your organization's future plans and needs.
Unfortunately, every single vendor and VAR I talk to actually laughs at me and asks me questions like "Can I ask you why you are not considering an industry standard NT/Intel-based solution?" and "Can you really count on Linux to survive the next few years? Those socialist coders are going to get bored and figure out they can make more money in the real world eventually." (actual conversations):-(
If you're looking for some places which support Linux, I've found VA Linux Systems to have excellent customer support and very reasonable pricing. I hear that Penguin Computing is excellent as well. And also from my experience, I've found Firstsource.com to be very helpful and resourceful as well. Though I haven't tapped them for any Linux solutions yet, CDW has a rock-solid reputation, and superb customer support.
In addition, Dell, IBM, Hewlett-Packard, and Compaq all offer their own solutions, but some of their flagship products contain propietary hardware which increases the price dramatically for everything. However I do not say to avoid them, as they offer excellent products and support (varies), but keep that in consideration.
And I don't know about you, but I, personally, would never purchase ANYTHING from an organization that mocks my evaluated decision. I would be appalled at said treatment.
You've made a wise decision to tap the Slashdot community for assistance. I hope I was of help, if not, I'm positive that my peers will be. --
$95 for 250M/month? Ouch. And $0.28 per additional Meg?
Lesse, I consumed ~3.6G last month doing my usual things (slashdot, game demos, software trials, updating the boxen, etc). My bill would run up to about, oh . . . $1057.19 if I have my math right.
That's just downstream. Mind you. Possibly another gigabyte worth of upstreamed data. So that's another $280.00
I have a 384k/384k DSL pipe from HarvardNet and heck, knowing this occurs, I'm glad I'm paying the rate I'm paying. We're pretty lucky to have things the way they are. Heck, unlimited* bandwidth cable modem service can be had for around $50 nowadays. Feel privileged, people.
*Some companies may suspend or terminate service for using extremely excessive bandwidth. --
"Or, will they "embrace and extend" server-side extensions so that certain rich webpages will run only on IIS? They've already been doing that for ages. It's called "Front Page Server Extensions" and all it does is allow the web admin to enhance the content of pages on that web server. "
Only on IIS? Actually, You can get the FPSE working on almost any web server that supports SSE nowadays. --
Indeed it shall be bundled. SuSE 6.3 will be bundled with the ReiserFS according to the press release. SuSE has nothing official on their site yet though.
In my opinion, Microsoft has probably launched and executed one of the most ruthless, yet also one of the most successful marketing plans of all time. After conducting interviews in shopping malls, local businesses, retailers, and corner PC shops, I bring to the Slashdot community some interesting finds.
1: The general public is unaware of alternative OSs:
This doesn't surprise me at all, but it raises some interesting questions. Few knew what an operating system actually was, nevermind give me an alternative to Windows. And those that did mostly said MacOS. A few OS/2, some Linux, one or two cited *BSD, BeOS, and a few others, but the vast majority had a scope of only Windows.
This shows how much damage Microsoft has done to the industry. Only 1:6 interviewed could name an OS other than Windows, and 9:10 times it was MacOS.
Windows is right for some, but not all. For instance, the public seems to consider crashes as a regular occurance and tolerates it. Being a psuedo-sysadmin I've learned that crashes lead to lack of job security, and if you tell the guys at eBay that crashes are alright, I guarantee you'll be chased out of there with angry techs wielding baseball bats and billyclubs.
And that's only the tip of the iceberg. Its a Windows world out there.
2: Brand name and reputation is powerful:
This I can relate to. If I need to replace a drive on my workstation I usually narrow the selection to a handful of companies (IBM, Quantum, Seagate), though I usually stick with a product or manufacturer I've been pleased with (Seagate for me). The same goes for toasters (Oster), cars (BMW), telephones and whatnot. For the average consumer PCs are no exception.
Here's an interesting scenario that occured only just recent. Our instructor decided to have us type our test rather than write them so he could get them corrected faster, so we went to one of the many computer labs. We sat down and almost instantly classmates complained they couldn't type their papers. Why not? After all, Word Perfect 8 was on every machine in the lab.
Apparently no one wanted to use Word Perfect 8. They wanted MS Word. After much bickering one pointed out that Wordpad was on every machine as well. All essays were completed in Wordpad (with myself as the sole exception; mine was HTML formatted). What's the catch?
People like things they're comfortable or familiar with. Everyone was used to MS Word and Wordpad and preferred to use those applications over Corel's WP8. Why? Simply because they were comfortable with the software and partly because of the brand name. I asked one classmate and got the reply, "I've never heard of it before".
3: Looks are everything:
This is all too true. I was test driving an AlphaServer ES40 just the other day. Four 500MHz 21264 CPUs, coupla G of RAM, tons of quick storage. I was having so much fun I almost shat myself. A student walked by while I was enjoying my telnet session and inquired what I was doing. I told him I was mucking around with a ripping server worth tens of thousands of dollars. His exact reply:
"Why is it worth so much? There's no pictures or anything."
Even though I was reduced to console since it was a telnet session anyways, he does prove a good point. People like GUIs. Command lines are just too time-consuming for those who can't type well, and isn't as appealing as Windows. Even if I told him how absolutely insane that hardware was, he wouldn't give it a second though unless I went into X and had a purty WM and the Gnome or KDE desktop.
Not that Linux, BeOS, and all those wonderful other OSs don't have great GUIs, Desktops, WMs and whatnot, but people don't like dealing with console. They like simple interfaces to get things done. Course, we(geeks) all do at times, but when you need to do crazy things you hafta switch to a console or at least open an xterm.
4. The general public is lazy, and is often slow to change:
We live in a consumer economy, where manufacturers often make products for civilians to make life easier. 99% of those interviewed wouldn't buy another computer if they had to deal with a console on ocassion. And someone whose VCR still flashes "12:00" probably won't take the time to learn some of the basics and intracacies of a new operating sysem or software application. The first time was enough of a chore for them.
People are also slow to change. Once they get used to something, they are often relucatant to try something different. Switching to Linux from Windows to my mother would be like switching religions. To her Linux is weird and just plain different. My parents used to say that it was a bunch of $#!*, and that I was wasting my time. They don't say that anymore given my paychecks, but they still wouldn't use it themselves. Why? They remember the old Commie64 and how archaic it was for them, they use Windows now, and they don't want to switch to anything else unless its easier than Windows.
I mean, we're all like this in certain situations. And for the general public, operating systems is just one of those things. They're usedta Windows and for the most part, don't want anything else.
In essence, the public isn't aware of what alternatives exist, and don't care that there are. They have Windows, and they don't want anything else.
Now, am I talking about everybody? Certainly not. Some use other operating systems whether for personal or business use, and some are looking for alternatives. But the majority of people want their Windows.
Although I frown on how it was done, Microsoft has done one helluva marketing job. That cannot be denied. They dominate the PC Operating System market without question. Of course, what can we do about it?
Some of us would just love to see MS sued into the ground. Sounds nice but that would only create chaos. We however are fortunate that Judge Jackson has seriously looked into the issue and we can only hope that the government takes the appropriate action to not disturb the general public yet give Microsoft what it deserves. Yet regardless of what happens, change probably won't be rapid, and things will take time to change, if at all. Our job is to continue supporting our beliefs and to continue to educate the public about the personal computer industry, and the computer indsutry in general.
We are computer geeks and sometimes we forget that we are and expect people to know all these things. I drive a nice car, but if it breaks down in my driveway I can do a few things, but more than likely I'd be calling a tow truck. On the other hand, there are some people out there that would have it fixed up in less than an hour. Some people though would call a tow truck from the start. As much as we'd like to see fair competition, happy consumers, or our favorite such and such being used by so and so, it'll be a while before it happens, if it happens at all.
However I must admit that deep down Microsoft has a noble goal, despite the road to it being tainted and corrupt. One platform. Imagine the perfect platform in which everyone can get everything done? No more porting source code, or retooling yourself. Unfortunately it will probably never happen.
I could continue on and on but I fear I'm starting to be compared to the likeness of Jon Katz a bit, so I best step down from my soapbox while I'm still able. And I feel confident that the Slashdot community will provide some constructive criticism, discussions, and -- of course -- flamebait. =)
Either it hasn't succumbed to the Slashdot effect yet, or there are many out there that do not realize how much control MS does have over the PC industry. To me, the results are frightening. --
Some boards using the chipset from Apollo have an 8x multiplier for the 133MHz FSB. So with some very insane cooling, an engineering sample, and a board that uses the new chipset (i.e. DFI's PA-61), you could actually push the CPU to ~1066MHz.
Why push it that high? Why not? We try to be the fastest at everything else, so why not CPU clock speeds? --
I remember a year ago, maybe a bit longer when these debuted at around P233MMX mobiles or so. I saw them at an expo and for the demonstration they had 10 toughbooks, a 10 foot ladder, an anvil on a slab of concrete, hot plate, icebox, and lots of drinks. For the entire duration of the show they would drop, if not throw them (open and closed) onto the anvil, while it was running mind you! In addition they would be doused with coffee, heated, chilled, and put through other torture tests.
They wouldn't replace one in a test until it broke. It took about 7 hours for the first one to go, the display was annihilated. The other failed right before the expo ended. Considering they dropped it every minute or so . . .
I just finished reading this article and as I look at my wrist to check the time, I notice something:
My watch crashed.
Resetting the time and alarm, and inputting all the phone numbers, scheduling, speed dial numbers and such is quite a nuisance, and I must live with these crashes until I get a new watch. And this brings up an interesting point.
I remember a while back with all the Java and Jini hype and how we'll have interactive toasters and lawnmowers and such, and how everything will be networked and have its own IP and do this, that, and the other thing. Well, if we're going to have all of these nifty devices, we sure better hope there aren't any bugs in the software running them.
A toaster which has a glitch which can result into it bursting into flames will not go over well with the general public, as with an automated lawnmower that can't tell your dog apart from crab grass.
Most consumers have seemed to tolerate the crashes that plague them daily. Yet if, say, a trailer hitch on a stationwagon is too low and continually grinds into parking curbs, there's free repair from your local dealer available in a few days. I don't see most software companies waving a free patch around after a week or so.
If we're going to have this happy wired world with everything from servers to wristwatches having their own IP, I think some better standards need to be established or adopted by major software firms before some terrible disaster occurs in the not so distant future.
"One add blanketing commercial TV touts new wireless phone technology that will allow people to get their e-mail, weather and sports scores instantly from anywhere. Does anybody really need to be that wired?"
Sometimes I truly think some things are created solely for the reason to be created, and the consumers purchase them merely for the reason to have them.
Funny, considering I just bought a new watch after my old faithful analog was annihilated by a racquetball. World time, countdown timer, stopwatch, calculator (with constants and memory), 150 telephone numbers/schedules with indexing and search, 3-way alarm, touch screen interface.
I bought it mostly for the telememo and calculator feature. Sure, I could've went all out and gotten a Palm V, or heck, carry a mini rolodex, calculator, and pen in my pocket like I once used to.
So, why did I get the watch? I guess I can sit down easier without a pen jabbing me in the side, but aside from that, I really don't know. Maybe it's human nature, or just some morals and ideology that I've picked up over the years.
Scary thing, is I know I'm not the only geek that goes out and occasionally purchases one of these gadgets. Sometimes it just plain worries me . . .
Well, not necessarily 'coastal' areas (I didn't realize the implication of salt water), but with some ingenuity there are some rather large rivers, estuaries, lakes, and other freshwater bodies of water in which this may be of practical use?
Well, if the armageddon truly does come on January 1st, I'm assuming that more than likely the winner nor the betting firm will be around to cash in on the prize. =)
Now, couldn't there be some positive applications for this technology? How about a device that can counter a tsunami or a potential tsunami?
Or maybe a wavemaker device to help flood coastal farming areas that require it or whatnot? We have something here that can move a lot of water, why not put it to practical use?
I agree. The following is straight from the article:
"... say they were forced to empty their piggy banks to buy endless packs of low-value cards in the hope of buying a rare one...."
Unless someone from WotC or NOA was holding a gun to their head or being generally threatening that's not that valid a statement.
In addition, I don't find marked cardbaord to be much of an investment. Notice the emphasis on "low-value cards". If you want value, go invest in a reliable mutual fund or buy some "pillow" stocks and sleep easy.
Rarity in trading cards is really not a new thing. A few examples:
WotC's Magic: the Gathering. I believe in the old 15-card boosters at one point there were 11 commons, 3 uncommons, and 1 rare per booster. Rarity is somewhat distributed equally so in a 210-card set you might have 70 rare cards. So, from just the numbers you'd hafta go through 72 packs, like 2 boxes or so, for rare card X that you oh so needed for your deck.
This was like years ago with 4th edition. Before getting rare card X was a true trial and the odds were far worse. Usually I'd go out and buy the single or trade some rather than try to get lucky.
Yet even before this, sports cards were truly notorious for this. I remember some extremely rare inserts having odds as high as 1 in a several thousand packs. Oh I remember spending at one point $20 per pack of Topps Finest to pull a Ripken that at one point was worth $20,000+. I'd prolly spend at least $20,000 before I pulled the card probably. I was probably better off playing the state's daily number drawing.
So why does this surface now somewhat shocks me and somewhat doesn't. I'm surprised because the idea or inserts and rarity of certain cards has existed for 10 years and change now. Yet I'm not that dumbfounded because nowadays you can sue for anything.
Only thing that lingers is supposedly these kids spent thousands of dollars? Where'd they get this munny, and can I have some?
IBM and Cisco team up to become more competitive in the networking arena. IBM releases "Shark" to become more competitive in the enterprise storage arena. IBM releases another RS6000 to be competitive in the big honkin' server of death arena.
Notice the electronics trend the past few years? Everything's i-this, e-that, etcedera, but as wonderful as these things are, nothing is really safe anyways, so would we be seriously ready to make this everyday for some (nevermind all) people?
And I'm not necessarily meaning that someone is going to walk around with that massive IR panel hooked into a palm with an IR sniffer (idea!), but there's much larger worries lurking overhead.
No, not the little green men from Mars (that's a different story). Remember back 30 years or so when we detonated a nuke in space to see the effects? No damage, except an EMP shockwave that ruined a good deal of all electronics in the pacific (Hawaii too I believe, I can't remember much, anyone want to follow up on these old projects?).
The military, and in some rare instances, even law enforcment use EMP to nuetralize sensitive areas, in a package smaller than a Pringles tube. It shorts out most electronics and wiring without too much of a problem.
Now obviously this technology can be applied well (like EMP car horns! they'll never go that slow in the left lane again!), yet there can be mailicious uses. yet, when I think about it, there're malicious uses for cardboard so we're never really safe.
Just another thing to think about before we all even considering jumping on another bandwagon.
First Gates is like "Psh. Internet. Wotta fad.", then as soon as it really takes off he's gotta toss in his two cents worth of code and get a few greenbacks.
Then Gates goes "Psh. Java. Wotta fad", then when developers really start to toy with it heavily, he hasta get a license, make his incompatible version, and grow some lettuce from that.
Now the messenger. And as someone had mentioned earlier, ya, he'll prolly add some super spiffy features of his own for his product, yet only after standards have been somewhat defined but of course. But some questions remain...
What about NetMeeting? It already has file transferring, chat, whiteboard, voice and video and does it fairly well mind you. Are they going to drop that like a rock in an attempt to market something more familiar to a consumer, or what?
And is this "revenge" against AOL? AOL is currently squashing MSN in the consumer ISP battle, and dropped MSIE as its browser for Netscape not so long ago. Is this Microsoft's subtle (or not so subtle) way of fighting back?
On the bright side, at least Gates has never really made these killer apps right off the bat, least other companies get to live a little before MS steps in with their own concoction. Gates certainly isn't the master of the obvious.
As for Linux being mentioned, it's nearly a buzzword. I'm waiting for Al Gore to start mentioning it randomly in his speeches. ; ^)
--Me ------------------------------------------------- If porngraphy is the practice of taking photos of the nude, and a pornographer is the person that does it, does that make the photos pornographs?
I worked there last summer and yep, it's true. Actually, we're supposedta be devious about confronting shoplifters. You try to sneak something by, by say, putting it in those opaque storage bins? We just open it up and start ringing everything up. : ^)
Forget what orange is though...
Blue is bomb scare, brown is hostage situation, red is fire, Adam is missing child, green was injury, and black was severe weather. Actually, come to think of it, I don't think there was an orange.
And god forbid you tried to steal something and run. Sure we smile, wear the smiley pins, and greet ya at the door, but we'll also break your legs. =)
--Your former friendly neighborhood Wal-Mart employee, now your friendly neighborhood MIS Manager. -------------------------------------------------- ------------------------ 50 carraiges at 40 pounds each up a 5 degree grade. F sub N equals that of a compact car. Push, boy!
Slashdot Mirror
The 32-bit Pentium seems to be at the end of its useful life and the Itanium is still years away.
:-(
Actually, Intel's Itanium processor is scheduled for mid-2000. You can snag some product information and datasheets here. I believe Intel plans on releasing and/or supporting 32-bit products into as late as 2002 if not longer, but I haven't checked their CPU roadmap in a while. However, IMHO, 64-bit is a safe investment considering it will soon be the de facto standard. This is definitely something to put into serious consideration, and you should definitely consult your coworkers and review your organization's future plans and needs.
Unfortunately, every single vendor and VAR I talk to actually laughs at me and asks me questions like "Can I ask you why you are not considering an industry standard NT/Intel-based solution?" and "Can you really count on Linux to survive the next few years? Those socialist coders are going to get bored and figure out they can make more money in the real world eventually." (actual conversations)
If you're looking for some places which support Linux, I've found VA Linux Systems to have excellent customer support and very reasonable pricing. I hear that Penguin Computing is excellent as well. And also from my experience, I've found Firstsource.com to be very helpful and resourceful as well. Though I haven't tapped them for any Linux solutions yet, CDW has a rock-solid reputation, and superb customer support.
In addition, Dell, IBM, Hewlett-Packard, and Compaq all offer their own solutions, but some of their flagship products contain propietary hardware which increases the price dramatically for everything. However I do not say to avoid them, as they offer excellent products and support (varies), but keep that in consideration.
And I don't know about you, but I, personally, would never purchase ANYTHING from an organization that mocks my evaluated decision. I would be appalled at said treatment.
You've made a wise decision to tap the Slashdot community for assistance. I hope I was of help, if not, I'm positive that my peers will be.
--
$95 for 250M/month? Ouch. And $0.28 per additional Meg?
Lesse, I consumed ~3.6G last month doing my usual things (slashdot, game demos, software trials, updating the boxen, etc). My bill would run up to about, oh . . . $1057.19 if I have my math right.
That's just downstream. Mind you. Possibly another gigabyte worth of upstreamed data. So that's another $280.00
I have a 384k/384k DSL pipe from HarvardNet and heck, knowing this occurs, I'm glad I'm paying the rate I'm paying. We're pretty lucky to have things the way they are. Heck, unlimited* bandwidth cable modem service can be had for around $50 nowadays. Feel privileged, people.
*Some companies may suspend or terminate service for using extremely excessive bandwidth.
--
"Or, will they "embrace and extend" server-side extensions so that certain rich webpages will run only on IIS? They've already been doing that for ages. It's called "Front Page Server Extensions" and all it does is allow the web admin to enhance the content of pages on that web server. "
Only on IIS? Actually, You can get the FPSE working on almost any web server that supports SSE nowadays.
--
Indeed it shall be bundled. SuSE 6.3 will be bundled with the ReiserFS according to the press release. SuSE has nothing official on their site yet though.
C'est tres chic, non?
--
Though benchmarks aren't everything, they're always nice to look at.
Here's the linkage:
http://devlinux.org/namesys/bens.html
--
In my opinion, Microsoft has probably launched and executed one of the most ruthless, yet also one of the most successful marketing plans of all time. After conducting interviews in shopping malls, local businesses, retailers, and corner PC shops, I bring to the Slashdot community some interesting finds.
-
1: The general public is unaware of alternative OSs:
This doesn't surprise me at all, but it raises some interesting questions. Few knew what an operating system actually was, nevermind give me an alternative to Windows. And those that did mostly said MacOS. A few OS/2, some Linux, one or two cited *BSD, BeOS, and a few others, but the vast majority had a scope of only Windows.
This shows how much damage Microsoft has done to the industry. Only 1:6 interviewed could name an OS other than Windows, and 9:10 times it was MacOS.
Windows is right for some, but not all. For instance, the public seems to consider crashes as a regular occurance and tolerates it. Being a psuedo-sysadmin I've learned that crashes lead to lack of job security, and if you tell the guys at eBay that crashes are alright, I guarantee you'll be chased out of there with angry techs wielding baseball bats and billyclubs.
And that's only the tip of the iceberg. Its a Windows world out there.
2: Brand name and reputation is powerful:
This I can relate to. If I need to replace a drive on my workstation I usually narrow the selection to a handful of companies (IBM, Quantum, Seagate), though I usually stick with a product or manufacturer I've been pleased with (Seagate for me). The same goes for toasters (Oster), cars (BMW), telephones and whatnot. For the average consumer PCs are no exception.
Here's an interesting scenario that occured only just recent. Our instructor decided to have us type our test rather than write them so he could get them corrected faster, so we went to one of the many computer labs. We sat down and almost instantly classmates complained they couldn't type their papers. Why not? After all, Word Perfect 8 was on every machine in the lab.
Apparently no one wanted to use Word Perfect 8. They wanted MS Word. After much bickering one pointed out that Wordpad was on every machine as well. All essays were completed in Wordpad (with myself as the sole exception; mine was HTML formatted). What's the catch?
People like things they're comfortable or familiar with. Everyone was used to MS Word and Wordpad and preferred to use those applications over Corel's WP8. Why? Simply because they were comfortable with the software and partly because of the brand name. I asked one classmate and got the reply, "I've never heard of it before".
3: Looks are everything:
This is all too true. I was test driving an AlphaServer ES40 just the other day. Four 500MHz 21264 CPUs, coupla G of RAM, tons of quick storage. I was having so much fun I almost shat myself. A student walked by while I was enjoying my telnet session and inquired what I was doing. I told him I was mucking around with a ripping server worth tens of thousands of dollars. His exact reply:
"Why is it worth so much? There's no pictures or anything."
Even though I was reduced to console since it was a telnet session anyways, he does prove a good point. People like GUIs. Command lines are just too time-consuming for those who can't type well, and isn't as appealing as Windows. Even if I told him how absolutely insane that hardware was, he wouldn't give it a second though unless I went into X and had a purty WM and the Gnome or KDE desktop.
Not that Linux, BeOS, and all those wonderful other OSs don't have great GUIs, Desktops, WMs and whatnot, but people don't like dealing with console. They like simple interfaces to get things done. Course, we(geeks) all do at times, but when you need to do crazy things you hafta switch to a console or at least open an xterm.
4. The general public is lazy, and is often slow to change:
We live in a consumer economy, where manufacturers often make products for civilians to make life easier. 99% of those interviewed wouldn't buy another computer if they had to deal with a console on ocassion. And someone whose VCR still flashes "12:00" probably won't take the time to learn some of the basics and intracacies of a new operating sysem or software application. The first time was enough of a chore for them.
People are also slow to change. Once they get used to something, they are often relucatant to try something different. Switching to Linux from Windows to my mother would be like switching religions. To her Linux is weird and just plain different. My parents used to say that it was a bunch of $#!*, and that I was wasting my time. They don't say that anymore given my paychecks, but they still wouldn't use it themselves. Why? They remember the old Commie64 and how archaic it was for them, they use Windows now, and they don't want to switch to anything else unless its easier than Windows.
I mean, we're all like this in certain situations. And for the general public, operating systems is just one of those things. They're usedta Windows and for the most part, don't want anything else.
-------------------------------------------------
In essence, the public isn't aware of what alternatives exist, and don't care that there are. They have Windows, and they don't want anything else.
Now, am I talking about everybody? Certainly not. Some use other operating systems whether for personal or business use, and some are looking for alternatives. But the majority of people want their Windows.
Although I frown on how it was done, Microsoft has done one helluva marketing job. That cannot be denied. They dominate the PC Operating System market without question. Of course, what can we do about it?
Some of us would just love to see MS sued into the ground. Sounds nice but that would only create chaos. We however are fortunate that Judge Jackson has seriously looked into the issue and we can only hope that the government takes the appropriate action to not disturb the general public yet give Microsoft what it deserves. Yet regardless of what happens, change probably won't be rapid, and things will take time to change, if at all. Our job is to continue supporting our beliefs and to continue to educate the public about the personal computer industry, and the computer indsutry in general.
We are computer geeks and sometimes we forget that we are and expect people to know all these things. I drive a nice car, but if it breaks down in my driveway I can do a few things, but more than likely I'd be calling a tow truck. On the other hand, there are some people out there that would have it fixed up in less than an hour. Some people though would call a tow truck from the start. As much as we'd like to see fair competition, happy consumers, or our favorite such and such being used by so and so, it'll be a while before it happens, if it happens at all.
However I must admit that deep down Microsoft has a noble goal, despite the road to it being tainted and corrupt. One platform. Imagine the perfect platform in which everyone can get everything done? No more porting source code, or retooling yourself. Unfortunately it will probably never happen.
I could continue on and on but I fear I'm starting to be compared to the likeness of Jon Katz a bit, so I best step down from my soapbox while I'm still able. And I feel confident that the Slashdot community will provide some constructive criticism, discussions, and -- of course -- flamebait. =)
--
MSNBS has a survey here:
http://www.msnbc.com/news/329416.asp#su rvey
Either it hasn't succumbed to the Slashdot effect yet, or there are many out there that do not realize how much control MS does have over the PC industry. To me, the results are frightening.
--
I agree, either the Slashdot effect is starting to take hold, or Microsoft really ought consider this input.
Actually, when you think about it, how much of that 8% do you think are from MS Employees (and how much of that 92% ?).
--
Actually, there is a bit more headroom available.
Some boards using the chipset from Apollo have an 8x multiplier for the 133MHz FSB. So with some very insane cooling, an engineering sample, and a board that uses the new chipset (i.e. DFI's PA-61), you could actually push the CPU to ~1066MHz.
Why push it that high? Why not? We try to be the fastest at everything else, so why not CPU clock speeds?
--
Hey Rob, considering what he's done to your Aibo, if I were you I wouldn't let Hemos around small children. =)
I remember a year ago, maybe a bit longer when these debuted at around P233MMX mobiles or so. I saw them at an expo and for the demonstration they had 10 toughbooks, a 10 foot ladder, an anvil on a slab of concrete, hot plate, icebox, and lots of drinks. For the entire duration of the show they would drop, if not throw them (open and closed) onto the anvil, while it was running mind you! In addition they would be doused with coffee, heated, chilled, and put through other torture tests.
They wouldn't replace one in a test until it broke. It took about 7 hours for the first one to go, the display was annihilated. The other failed right before the expo ended. Considering they dropped it every minute or so . . .
Meets my standards for "tough", that's for sure!
MP3 server laptop? Geez, at the rate we're going we'll be doing this with like the Palm XVII or whatnot in a few years.
Aww yeeaa.
I just finished reading this article and as I look at my wrist to check the time, I notice something:
My watch crashed.
Resetting the time and alarm, and inputting all the phone numbers, scheduling, speed dial numbers and such is quite a nuisance, and I must live with these crashes until I get a new watch. And this brings up an interesting point.
I remember a while back with all the Java and Jini hype and how we'll have interactive toasters and lawnmowers and such, and how everything will be networked and have its own IP and do this, that, and the other thing. Well, if we're going to have all of these nifty devices, we sure better hope there aren't any bugs in the software running them.
A toaster which has a glitch which can result into it bursting into flames will not go over well with the general public, as with an automated lawnmower that can't tell your dog apart from crab grass.
Most consumers have seemed to tolerate the crashes that plague them daily. Yet if, say, a trailer hitch on a stationwagon is too low and continually grinds into parking curbs, there's free repair from your local dealer available in a few days. I don't see most software companies waving a free patch around after a week or so.
If we're going to have this happy wired world with everything from servers to wristwatches having their own IP, I think some better standards need to be established or adopted by major software firms before some terrible disaster occurs in the not so distant future.
"...the concerns of 'normal' people can be shallow and don't advance civilization..."
Amen to that.
"One add blanketing commercial TV touts new wireless phone technology that will allow people to get their e-mail, weather and sports scores instantly from anywhere. Does anybody really need to be that wired?"
Sometimes I truly think some things are created solely for the reason to be created, and the consumers purchase them merely for the reason to have them.
Funny, considering I just bought a new watch after my old faithful analog was annihilated by a racquetball. World time, countdown timer, stopwatch, calculator (with constants and memory), 150 telephone numbers/schedules with indexing and search, 3-way alarm, touch screen interface.
I bought it mostly for the telememo and calculator feature. Sure, I could've went all out and gotten a Palm V, or heck, carry a mini rolodex, calculator, and pen in my pocket like I once used to.
So, why did I get the watch? I guess I can sit down easier without a pen jabbing me in the side, but aside from that, I really don't know. Maybe it's human nature, or just some morals and ideology that I've picked up over the years.
Scary thing, is I know I'm not the only geek that goes out and occasionally purchases one of these gadgets. Sometimes it just plain worries me . . .
Well, not necessarily 'coastal' areas (I didn't realize the implication of salt water), but with some ingenuity there are some rather large rivers, estuaries, lakes, and other freshwater bodies of water in which this may be of practical use?
Well, if the armageddon truly does come on January 1st, I'm assuming that more than likely the winner nor the betting firm will be around to cash in on the prize. =)
Now, couldn't there be some positive applications for this technology? How about a device that can counter a tsunami or a potential tsunami?
Or maybe a wavemaker device to help flood coastal farming areas that require it or whatnot? We have something here that can move a lot of water, why not put it to practical use?
I agree. The following is straight from the article:
..."
"... say they were forced to empty their piggy banks to buy endless packs of low-value cards in the hope of buying a rare one.
Unless someone from WotC or NOA was holding a gun to their head or being generally threatening that's not that valid a statement.
In addition, I don't find marked cardbaord to be much of an investment. Notice the emphasis on "low-value cards". If you want value, go invest in a reliable mutual fund or buy some "pillow" stocks and sleep easy.
Rarity in trading cards is really not a new thing. A few examples:
WotC's Magic: the Gathering. I believe in the old 15-card boosters at one point there were 11 commons, 3 uncommons, and 1 rare per booster. Rarity is somewhat distributed equally so in a 210-card set you might have 70 rare cards. So, from just the numbers you'd hafta go through 72 packs, like 2 boxes or so, for rare card X that you oh so needed for your deck.
This was like years ago with 4th edition. Before getting rare card X was a true trial and the odds were far worse. Usually I'd go out and buy the single or trade some rather than try to get lucky.
Yet even before this, sports cards were truly notorious for this. I remember some extremely rare inserts having odds as high as 1 in a several thousand packs. Oh I remember spending at one point $20 per pack of Topps Finest to pull a Ripken that at one point was worth $20,000+. I'd prolly spend at least $20,000 before I pulled the card probably. I was probably better off playing the state's daily number drawing.
So why does this surface now somewhat shocks me and somewhat doesn't. I'm surprised because the idea or inserts and rarity of certain cards has existed for 10 years and change now. Yet I'm not that dumbfounded because nowadays you can sue for anything.
Only thing that lingers is supposedly these kids spent thousands of dollars? Where'd they get this munny, and can I have some?
IBM and Cisco team up to become more competitive in the networking arena.
IBM releases "Shark" to become more competitive in the enterprise storage arena.
IBM releases another RS6000 to be competitive in the big honkin' server of death arena.
Do I sense a trend here with big blue?
Hey, if they bundled Quake III with the LAN packages? Instant Quake? Nice thought.
Rob
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2 / 0 = E? Bloody calculator has bugs in it!
Notice the electronics trend the past few years? Everything's i-this, e-that, etcedera, but as wonderful as these things are, nothing is really safe anyways, so would we be seriously ready to make this everyday for some (nevermind all) people?
And I'm not necessarily meaning that someone is going to walk around with that massive IR panel hooked into a palm with an IR sniffer (idea!), but there's much larger worries lurking overhead.
No, not the little green men from Mars (that's a different story). Remember back 30 years or so when we detonated a nuke in space to see the effects? No damage, except an EMP shockwave that ruined a good deal of all electronics in the pacific (Hawaii too I believe, I can't remember much, anyone want to follow up on these old projects?).
The military, and in some rare instances, even law enforcment use EMP to nuetralize sensitive areas, in a package smaller than a Pringles tube. It shorts out most electronics and wiring without too much of a problem.
Now obviously this technology can be applied well (like EMP car horns! they'll never go that slow in the left lane again!), yet there can be mailicious uses. yet, when I think about it, there're malicious uses for cardboard so we're never really safe.
Just another thing to think about before we all even considering jumping on another bandwagon.
--me
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Anyone else remember VisiOn?
First Gates is like "Psh. Internet. Wotta fad.", then as soon as it really takes off he's gotta toss in his two cents worth of code and get a few greenbacks.
Then Gates goes "Psh. Java. Wotta fad", then when developers really start to toy with it heavily, he hasta get a license, make his incompatible version, and grow some lettuce from that.
Now the messenger. And as someone had mentioned earlier, ya, he'll prolly add some super spiffy features of his own for his product, yet only after standards have been somewhat defined but of course. But some questions remain...
What about NetMeeting? It already has file transferring, chat, whiteboard, voice and video and does it fairly well mind you. Are they going to drop that like a rock in an attempt to market something more familiar to a consumer, or what?
And is this "revenge" against AOL? AOL is currently squashing MSN in the consumer ISP battle, and dropped MSIE as its browser for Netscape not so long ago. Is this Microsoft's subtle (or not so subtle) way of fighting back?
On the bright side, at least Gates has never really made these killer apps right off the bat, least other companies get to live a little before MS steps in with their own concoction. Gates certainly isn't the master of the obvious.
As for Linux being mentioned, it's nearly a buzzword. I'm waiting for Al Gore to start mentioning it randomly in his speeches. ; ^)
--Me
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If porngraphy is the practice of taking photos of the nude, and a pornographer is the person that does it, does that make the photos pornographs?
--Your former friendly neighborhood Wal-Mart employee, now your friendly neighborhood MIS Manager.
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50 carraiges at 40 pounds each up a 5 degree grade. F sub N equals that of a compact car. Push, boy!