I've noticed numerous criticisms of this article that are rather unfounded. I'll be the first to agree that the article's presentation is a tad hyperbolic, but here are a few things I've noticed that should be taken seriously:
1) Microsoft breaking compatibility at the binary level.
I'm not sure why no one thinks this would be likely. Microsoft would have little trouble writing a compatibility layer to make sure older applications continue to work, while ensuring that in order to upgrade them, you end up with new versions that only run natively on the new OS.
2) New DB file system requiring a server.
The article isn't necessarily referring to the commonly perceived notion of a server. A server in operating system terminology is NOTHING more than a program that responds to requests from client programs. When software is written this way, it makes it much easier to make that software able to run across networks, but having a network involved is NOT a requirement.
Microsoft is researching a new file system format that uses database concepts. This will allow queries, transactional access to files, rollbacks, commits, etc. This will obviate the need for database systems that run independantly of the OS. Say good-bye to Windows platform competition in that area.
And yes, the file format would be "incompatible" with others. Just like FAT-32 is incompatible with NTFS, to the point that the older Windows OSes can't read disks formatted with the newer OSes unless you purchase special software.
3) Some people seem surprised that Microsoft might make even older hardware incompatible. They don't care. If they can push the XBox into enough homes, they can start controlling the PC hardware market, too. There would no longer be a need to try to pressure the various manufacturers into complying with Microsoft's whims. They make the hardware, supply the OS and software, make you pay a regular subscription fee to access it, and control all the content.
Microsoft is getting ready to pull off something that Disney can only dream about. Unless, of course, they formed some kind of merger or other partnership... publishing, TV, movies, internet, gaming, and controlling the hardware and software involved in delivering it? It's a media mogul's wet dream, and Bill Gates is fast asleep with a big smile on his face.
I have a hunch it would be far more expensive than getting a brand-new notebook from Dell or Gateway. They buy their parts in bulk and can therefore pass the savings on to the consumer.
The article complains about software being packaged in expensive bundles.
Just looking up the prices for MS software on Outpost.com, Word costs $340 and Excel costs $320, but Office itself only costs $440. Office also includes Powerpoint (another $320 by itself) and Outlook ($100 by itself).
Even for just one component, you're far better off buying the bundle here in the US. How much is the bundle mark-up that they're complaining about?
So, you could also describe the swarm-like behavior of a large group of people clicking on the same link at the same time having the complex effect of bringing a webserver to its knees! I wonder if there's a word for that...
It seems a lot of people posting thus far are of the opinion that the only thing people ever use is Microsoft Word.
At every company I have worked for, there has been SOME proprietary piece of software in use that doesn't necessarily come right off a shelf. Sometimes this software is developed in-house, and sometimes by a team of consultants. In either case, every now and then somebody gets a bug up their ass to upgrade everything. In my current position, we are converting a Windows client/server app into a web-based app. I don't know all the reasons, but I'm getting paid for it, so that's enough for me.
In any case, I think the biggest complaint is with THOSE kinds of applications (think bank teller software!) and operating systems. I don't think most people would even notice if you upgraded Office 2K to Office XP, even under their noses. But if you upgrade(*) Win 2K to Win XP you'd better get out the flame-retardant underwear.
(*) 'upgrade' is meant in the loosest sense of the word here.
I am so reassured to know that the future advancements of our society are safely in the hands of visionaries such as Jack Valenti. I hope that he plays a major role in the formation of legistlation related to technological concepts, as he is surely one of the most forward-thinking members of this digital age.
-- Heavy Manufacturing is no longer done here. - American made cars are doing just fine.
And are made in Mexico... Same for other manufacturing, like household appliances.
-- Hi Tech Manufacturing is long gone. -Intel, AMD, IBM fab plants?
Some here, but others in foreign countries.
-- Material processing is not done here. - 3M
Don't know the specifics, but may be similar to chip fab.
-- Software design is on it's way out - Microsoft?
MS R&D is in India.
-- General Services are on their way out -I'm not 100% sure what you mean by 'General Services' but there are more services in this country than anything else
I'll buy this... This is what the entire American economy seems to be based on now: services, not products. Are we a nation of middlemen?
-- Research is parting ways with use too. - I assume all the universities in this country are closing then?
No idea about this. There is a difference, though, in traditional university programs vs. research programs. It could very well be that the research is the part that's going away.
Wouldn't it be funny if the nations that Europe spent so much time subjugating ended up becoming the future powers that ended up controlling the world economy a couple hundred years from now?
I have a relative who works at Disney in CA. He was telling me that they have a giant "treatment" display where people display ideas for upcoming movies, etc. Most of it is just gigantic blown-up images from existing comic books. They don't even pretend to care where they came from, or try to get permission from the original authors.
Also, apparently there are a BUNCH of sequels in the works. No telling how many will actually see celluloid, but the fact that they're turning to sequels for their revenue instead of creativity is telling. The "new Disney" is now just another Hollywood whore.
I used to work in the industries of electronic transaction processing and marketing data tracking, so I am somewhat qualified to make this statement:
It's not as hard as you'd think.
The infrastructure for beginning to tie everyone into a giant database already exists. Over half of the population of the United States is in the info database at the company I used to work for.
Similarly, there are not very many card processing networks. Many electronic transactions are routed through a few central networks before arriving at their ultimate destinations. You'd only have to put "trace points" in those main networks. Tie a handful of "trace points" to the big database and you're done.
It's not beyond the realm of possibility, and is probably simple enough that you could get the bulk of the work done in maybe 4 years with a relatively small programming team.
A bazillion kajillion internet routers better understand how to parse and deal with MSOY/BO. . . overnight?
Routers don't have to... The system could still use TCP/IP for it's main communication and put an extra encrypted layer on top that only a Palladium-based system could interpret.
Just follow this little (hypothetical) chain of events:
1) BIOS on new motherboard will only go into "Palladium-mode" if you're booting a "trusted" OS. For the time being, you can still run linux, but it won't have access to any "Palladium" features.
2) If you're running a "trusted" OS (eg. MS Windows UY [Up Yours]), the OS can hit the 'Net and automatically download and apply updates to itself. At some point, it could quite easily detect the BIOS on your system and apply an update so that...
3) The BIOS will no longer boot non-trusted systems. Also...
4) The OS could download a new protocol stack that could render it inoperable with other protocols. An entire new Internet based on the MSOY/BO (Microsoft Ownz You/Bend Over) protocol could spring up almost over night. MS-only network services, online shopping, etc.
Is any of this likely to happen? I don't know. But it would be possible, and I'm not sure I trust Microsoft not to try it. Even if Open Source doesn't relegate MS to the/dev/null of the computing industry, the OS community is going to need each other to maintain a DRM-free computing zone. Open source, open protocols, open formats, open beer.
If we are able to manipulate something on one end and provoke ANY sort of reaction on the other end wouldn't that be good enough for a binary communication
The problem is that you can't determine what the outcome of what you're manipulating is going to be in the first place.
Let's say you create a pair of quantum particles, particle A and particle B. You send B zipping along to somewhere else, and you retain A for doing manipulation. When you manipulate A, you have no way of determining what the outcome is going to be. If you could force A to be "on" or "off", then communication could be achieved, but A's state is totally random and unpredictable. Thus, you cannot transmit any actual useful information, just total randomness.
Debugging is difficult primarily because debuggers do not appear to use any kind of intuition.
Let's say I have a break point on an if statement. The debugger should automatically show me the values of any variables in the condition, as well as the truth values of the individual expressions in that condition.
A debugger should have an "intelligent" step button that steps into code that has debugging symbols, but steps over system calls. It should also automatically skip to the end of loops if desired.
Debuggers should have "sanity" checks for values. Any time a pointer is null, or an long integer is set to some really wild value (like -3492883773642) that is nowhere close to the values that it originally contained, or a string doesn't have a null terminator, the debugger should alert you with a little icon, even if you aren't actively watching that variable.
One thing that sucks about debugging is when programs behave differently in the debugging environment than they do once compiled. We had several problems related to event handling in Visual Basic only occured if the program had been compiled. In debug mode, it worked fine.
Debuggers should keep a "state" history, especially for loops or recursive functions, so you can see the entire progression of a set of variables until the point of failure. This eliminates having to write in a bunch of printf statements to get a snapshot of each loop iteration or function call.
The debugger should be integrated into the IDE so you don't have to switch back and forth. Also, it would be really nice if debuggers executed under some kind of virtual machine that allowed you to more easily freeze execution, rewind it, tinker with it as it's running, etc. Visual Basic allows you to do some of this, but certain code changes require you to restart the whole program. I'd like it if you never had to restart, and the line between "debug mode" and "design mode" were almost entirely blurred.
Move them apart, and a change in one is reflected intantly in the other.
However, the original change is random, so you cannot use this method to send meaningful data from one place to another. Only random gibberish can be transmitted this way.
They used their own actors, and it took them seven years? Can you see the people age visibly from one scene to the next? That can't be good for continuity. Suddenly the lead actor has gray hair and put on 20 pounds...
Of course, that kind of thing still wouldn't drop it below the quality of most new shows that issue forth from the bowels of the major networks.
All the comments I've read are making me think of a song by a French singer, Francis Cabrel, called "Photos de Voyages". I'll translate a bit of it, to the best of my ability:
Like a child of the islands, wearing nothing on his skin. He quietly watches the tourst boats cross. You get off the boat and walk up to him, money in your pocket, and take his picture.
At the end of your trip, sitting in your living room, you see his face again staring up at you from the bottom of a shoe box.
You have your money. He has the sun. He has all his time. You have your camera. You take back your pictures, your travel photos. You think you're as happy as he is.
You have your business lunches and your nights spent at work. He's sitting outside, hair down to his waist, repairing a net to catch fish at the coral reef.
In the middle of your city, you're all bundled up. Sometimes the temperature drops to 15 degrees below 0. Sitting in his little cabin in the hot sun, he's drinking coconut milk.
============
Sorry for the crappy translation, but that's the general idea. The person with the money, going on vacation, taking the pictures is really just trying to convince themselves that they're happy with all their possessions, even though they spend most of their time working to maintain them. The guy living on an island in the warm sun, drinking milk and fishing off the reef has no money, but all the time in the world.
While I don't want to really be at either extreme, I like the message the song delivers: don't get so caught up in working for stuff that you don't have time to enjoy life.
Slashdot Mirror
I've noticed numerous criticisms of this article that are rather unfounded. I'll be the first to agree that the article's presentation is a tad hyperbolic, but here are a few things I've noticed that should be taken seriously:
1) Microsoft breaking compatibility at the binary level.
I'm not sure why no one thinks this would be likely. Microsoft would have little trouble writing a compatibility layer to make sure older applications continue to work, while ensuring that in order to upgrade them, you end up with new versions that only run natively on the new OS.
2) New DB file system requiring a server.
The article isn't necessarily referring to the commonly perceived notion of a server. A server in operating system terminology is NOTHING more than a program that responds to requests from client programs. When software is written this way, it makes it much easier to make that software able to run across networks, but having a network involved is NOT a requirement.
Microsoft is researching a new file system format that uses database concepts. This will allow queries, transactional access to files, rollbacks, commits, etc. This will obviate the need for database systems that run independantly of the OS. Say good-bye to Windows platform competition in that area.
And yes, the file format would be "incompatible" with others. Just like FAT-32 is incompatible with NTFS, to the point that the older Windows OSes can't read disks formatted with the newer OSes unless you purchase special software.
3) Some people seem surprised that Microsoft might make even older hardware incompatible. They don't care. If they can push the XBox into enough homes, they can start controlling the PC hardware market, too. There would no longer be a need to try to pressure the various manufacturers into complying with Microsoft's whims. They make the hardware, supply the OS and software, make you pay a regular subscription fee to access it, and control all the content.
Microsoft is getting ready to pull off something that Disney can only dream about. Unless, of course, they formed some kind of merger or other partnership... publishing, TV, movies, internet, gaming, and controlling the hardware and software involved in delivering it? It's a media mogul's wet dream, and Bill Gates is fast asleep with a big smile on his face.
Actually, that isn't necessarily true. Observe:
10 + 10 + 10 + 10 + 1 + 1 = 42.
42 / 6 = 7
The average is 7, but only 33.33% of the original addends are below the average, while 66.67% of them are above average.
Actually, they buy them pre-assembled and slap a name badge on them, then screw you with a huge mark-up.
The article complains about software being packaged in expensive bundles.
Just looking up the prices for MS software on Outpost.com, Word costs $340 and Excel costs $320, but Office itself only costs $440. Office also includes Powerpoint (another $320 by itself) and Outlook ($100 by itself).
Even for just one component, you're far better off buying the bundle here in the US. How much is the bundle mark-up that they're complaining about?
So, you could also describe the swarm-like behavior of a large group of people clicking on the same link at the same time having the complex effect of bringing a webserver to its knees! I wonder if there's a word for that...
They can't tell us the password. To keep from having to remember different ones, NASA used the same one for everything.
Several minutes? It only takes a few seconds to walk out the front door, since I didn't exist in 1970. ;)
Those damn army knives have a tool for everything nowadays...
Just for the record, this is because "octopus" is Greek, not Latin. The fake-plural would be "octopodes". ;)
This is probably just a sneaky way to collect more email addresses. I can see the new stuff now....
"Tired of spam! Buy SpamFilter Plus!"
It might be a welcome change of pace from the nude webcams, penis enlargers, and instant-Ph.D.s, though.
It seems a lot of people posting thus far are of the opinion that the only thing people ever use is Microsoft Word.
At every company I have worked for, there has been SOME proprietary piece of software in use that doesn't necessarily come right off a shelf. Sometimes this software is developed in-house, and sometimes by a team of consultants. In either case, every now and then somebody gets a bug up their ass to upgrade everything. In my current position, we are converting a Windows client/server app into a web-based app. I don't know all the reasons, but I'm getting paid for it, so that's enough for me.
In any case, I think the biggest complaint is with THOSE kinds of applications (think bank teller software!) and operating systems. I don't think most people would even notice if you upgraded Office 2K to Office XP, even under their noses. But if you upgrade(*) Win 2K to Win XP you'd better get out the flame-retardant underwear.
(*) 'upgrade' is meant in the loosest sense of the word here.
I am so reassured to know that the future advancements of our society are safely in the hands of visionaries such as Jack Valenti. I hope that he plays a major role in the formation of legistlation related to technological concepts, as he is surely one of the most forward-thinking members of this digital age.
-- Heavy Manufacturing is no longer done here.
- American made cars are doing just fine.
And are made in Mexico... Same for other manufacturing, like household appliances.
-- Hi Tech Manufacturing is long gone.
-Intel, AMD, IBM fab plants?
Some here, but others in foreign countries.
-- Material processing is not done here.
- 3M
Don't know the specifics, but may be similar to chip fab.
-- Software design is on it's way out
- Microsoft?
MS R&D is in India.
-- General Services are on their way out
-I'm not 100% sure what you mean by 'General Services' but there are more services in this country than anything else
I'll buy this... This is what the entire American economy seems to be based on now: services, not products. Are we a nation of middlemen?
-- Research is parting ways with use too.
- I assume all the universities in this country are closing then?
No idea about this. There is a difference, though, in traditional university programs vs. research programs. It could very well be that the research is the part that's going away.
Wouldn't it be funny if the nations that Europe spent so much time subjugating ended up becoming the future powers that ended up controlling the world economy a couple hundred years from now?
I have a relative who works at Disney in CA. He was telling me that they have a giant "treatment" display where people display ideas for upcoming movies, etc. Most of it is just gigantic blown-up images from existing comic books. They don't even pretend to care where they came from, or try to get permission from the original authors.
Also, apparently there are a BUNCH of sequels in the works. No telling how many will actually see celluloid, but the fact that they're turning to sequels for their revenue instead of creativity is telling. The "new Disney" is now just another Hollywood whore.
I used to work in the industries of electronic transaction processing and marketing data tracking, so I am somewhat qualified to make this statement:
It's not as hard as you'd think.
The infrastructure for beginning to tie everyone into a giant database already exists. Over half of the population of the United States is in the info database at the company I used to work for.
Similarly, there are not very many card processing networks. Many electronic transactions are routed through a few central networks before arriving at their ultimate destinations. You'd only have to put "trace points" in those main networks. Tie a handful of "trace points" to the big database and you're done.
It's not beyond the realm of possibility, and is probably simple enough that you could get the bulk of the work done in maybe 4 years with a relatively small programming team.
This is good news, because dese nuts are bad fo' yo' health.
Routers don't have to... The system could still use TCP/IP for it's main communication and put an extra encrypted layer on top that only a Palladium-based system could interpret.
Just follow this little (hypothetical) chain of events:
/dev/null of the computing industry, the OS community is going to need each other to maintain a DRM-free computing zone. Open source, open protocols, open formats, open beer.
1) BIOS on new motherboard will only go into "Palladium-mode" if you're booting a "trusted" OS. For the time being, you can still run linux, but it won't have access to any "Palladium" features.
2) If you're running a "trusted" OS (eg. MS Windows UY [Up Yours]), the OS can hit the 'Net and automatically download and apply updates to itself. At some point, it could quite easily detect the BIOS on your system and apply an update so that...
3) The BIOS will no longer boot non-trusted systems. Also...
4) The OS could download a new protocol stack that could render it inoperable with other protocols. An entire new Internet based on the MSOY/BO (Microsoft Ownz You/Bend Over) protocol could spring up almost over night. MS-only network services, online shopping, etc.
Is any of this likely to happen? I don't know. But it would be possible, and I'm not sure I trust Microsoft not to try it. Even if Open Source doesn't relegate MS to the
The problem is that you can't determine what the outcome of what you're manipulating is going to be in the first place.
Let's say you create a pair of quantum particles, particle A and particle B. You send B zipping along to somewhere else, and you retain A for doing manipulation. When you manipulate A, you have no way of determining what the outcome is going to be. If you could force A to be "on" or "off", then communication could be achieved, but A's state is totally random and unpredictable. Thus, you cannot transmit any actual useful information, just total randomness.
Debugging is difficult primarily because debuggers do not appear to use any kind of intuition.
Let's say I have a break point on an if statement. The debugger should automatically show me the values of any variables in the condition, as well as the truth values of the individual expressions in that condition.
A debugger should have an "intelligent" step button that steps into code that has debugging symbols, but steps over system calls. It should also automatically skip to the end of loops if desired.
Debuggers should have "sanity" checks for values. Any time a pointer is null, or an long integer is set to some really wild value (like -3492883773642) that is nowhere close to the values that it originally contained, or a string doesn't have a null terminator, the debugger should alert you with a little icon, even if you aren't actively watching that variable.
One thing that sucks about debugging is when programs behave differently in the debugging environment than they do once compiled. We had several problems related to event handling in Visual Basic only occured if the program had been compiled. In debug mode, it worked fine.
Debuggers should keep a "state" history, especially for loops or recursive functions, so you can see the entire progression of a set of variables until the point of failure. This eliminates having to write in a bunch of printf statements to get a snapshot of each loop iteration or function call.
The debugger should be integrated into the IDE so you don't have to switch back and forth. Also, it would be really nice if debuggers executed under some kind of virtual machine that allowed you to more easily freeze execution, rewind it, tinker with it as it's running, etc. Visual Basic allows you to do some of this, but certain code changes require you to restart the whole program. I'd like it if you never had to restart, and the line between "debug mode" and "design mode" were almost entirely blurred.
Just my $0.02.
Move them apart, and a change in one is reflected intantly in the other.
However, the original change is random, so you cannot use this method to send meaningful data from one place to another. Only random gibberish can be transmitted this way.
At first I thought this said something about "Linus Exposed"... Thank God I mis-read that...
;)
Then why in the world did you click on the article if that's what you thought it said? Perv...
Yes, but he didn't get elected.
They used their own actors, and it took them seven years? Can you see the people age visibly from one scene to the next? That can't be good for continuity. Suddenly the lead actor has gray hair and put on 20 pounds...
Of course, that kind of thing still wouldn't drop it below the quality of most new shows that issue forth from the bowels of the major networks.
All the comments I've read are making me think of a song by a French singer, Francis Cabrel, called "Photos de Voyages". I'll translate a bit of it, to the best of my ability:
Like a child of the islands,
wearing nothing on his skin.
He quietly watches the tourst boats cross.
You get off the boat and walk up to him,
money in your pocket, and take his picture.
At the end of your trip, sitting
in your living room, you see his
face again staring up at you from
the bottom of a shoe box.
You have your money.
He has the sun.
He has all his time.
You have your camera.
You take back your pictures, your travel photos. You think you're as happy as he is.
You have your business lunches
and your nights spent at work.
He's sitting outside, hair down
to his waist, repairing a net
to catch fish at the coral reef.
In the middle of your city,
you're all bundled up.
Sometimes the temperature drops
to 15 degrees below 0.
Sitting in his little cabin in
the hot sun, he's drinking
coconut milk.
============
Sorry for the crappy translation, but that's the general idea. The person with the money, going on vacation, taking the pictures is really just trying to convince themselves that they're happy with all their possessions, even though they spend most of their time working to maintain them. The guy living on an island in the warm sun, drinking milk and fishing off the reef has no money, but all the time in the world.
While I don't want to really be at either extreme, I like the message the song delivers: don't get so caught up in working for stuff that you don't have time to enjoy life.