That's a hell of a lot of money for a computer when a new dell or emachine can be had for $300. The newest part in my computer is 4 years old (geforce 4) and I have yet to find a game that won't run acceptably.
This depends on the mission. If you want an earth observing satellite with good resolution like quickbird or Ikonos, the thing needs a certain focal length and aperature size that a microsat just can't provide. Likewise if you are beaming down TV signals, you need large power components that a milk carton can't handle.
There are however space missions that can be done with a smaller satellite.
microgravity research offensive space capabilities optical (laser) relays user your imagination.
The real problem becomes that it is only cheaper if you launch a BUNCH of them at once. Current space launch vehicles are set up to carry satellites the size of school busses.
It's really easy for technical people to write off their superiors as "stupid" but the fact is that *oftentimes* we could no more do their job than they ours. Management is not a technical field. It's a people field with people issues. Competant, motivated technical people often don't need functional management, they need personel and administrative supervision and a voice with decisionmakers.
I won't pretend that I know your boss, but I can suggest that the fact that you have to explain remedial stuff to him may mean that he simply wants to be able to explain it to his superiors that are even less technical then he is. I've done management, and I have no interest in dealing with wetware ever again.
I keep saying it, and I keep getting shot down, but if the revolution that nintendo is talking about is one of pricing, they could have something big on their hands. Imagine a $150 revolution with a huge launch library available over the net and a dozen or so high quality games. I truly hope that MS and Sony get bit in the butt for overthinking this generation of consoles.
Disagreeing with the buisness practices is fine, they won't claim to be saints. They have done some shady dealing. The sad truth is that any successful global company has, that's how you do business worldwide. You MAKE things happen.
I can't make the product better for me, and I don't have access to something I have not just a moral right to, but what should be a legal right to as well.
This is the dumbest thing I have ever heard. The free marketplace is a democracy. People have voted with their dollars. Nobody is forcing you to use MS software! What moral right do you have to the BILLIONS of R&D dollars that MS has spent? Why do you deserve access to the hard work of thousands of talented programmers? What it's akin to is you buying a VCR and complaining that it's not a Jet plane. Dumbass.
Microsoft may be displaced as the largest software company in the world, but it won't be taken down by whiners spouting off about moral rights handing out software. This is business, not a crusade. It will be taken down by failing to adapt the an ever-changing technology landscape. That's why companies do R&D. MS does a LOT of R&D, so it may take a while.
HDTV in 3D. That's volumetric pixels.
1080 x 1920 x 1080? That's 1000x as much information coming at you. 2.2 gigapixels/frame x 30fps = 66 gigapixels/sec in 24? bit color means 200 gigaBYTES/sec of bandwidth. Guess I need to start saving up for a new router...
You know, come to think about it, I have noticed a billionth of a second delay on my phone calls to china...
Is the speed of light really a limiting factor in telecom?
If you are really a nerd, consider a genetic algorithm. You could create a virtual model of the solar system (out to jupiter probably) and establish realistic gravitational physics, the thrust of a delta-VH launch vehicle, and the basic charicteristics of a launch. Then have the algorithm run through many iterations changing variables until it finds an optimal solution. More optimal settings spawn more test fires and less optimal fire fewer. After a series of runs, (a few thousand?) you will have an optimal launch solution. The math isn't easy, but it's fun!
Both methods you mentioned are bad ideas. Use them as metrics of the effectiveness of your IT, not a justification of how much to spend.
Figure out WHAT THE WORKERS NEED, and how to give it to them. Then figure out how much it costs in a variety of scenarios. Use the one that is most futureproof, and multiply the figure by 1.33 and use that as your budget request. (the 1.33 is because nothing works right the first time)
Assuming that rockets are anything like the mechanical things that I understand (cars), this just isn't how you can go about these things -- you've got to settle on a promising, well thought-out design and then dedicate your efforts towards ironing out the kinks
You are talking about engineering, while they are going back to the science phase. Our current technology has been engineered the hell out of for 50 years, and it's still horribly inefficient and expensive.
You make a very valid point, but the first car engines were coal fired and steam driven. (or horse drawn) What the X-prize was all about was going back and looking to build something like a gas engine, something different that is more efficient and less expensive.
it would appear that anyone with even a slight knowledge of computers hates Microsoft
This si more telling of slashdotters than it is of microsoft. Microsoft doesn't need love, it has happy customers that keep coming back, high-quality successful products that are better than most of their competitors, and a strong feel for where computing is headed. They have all this, and are hated for it.
We could probably get it's marketshare down to about 85%! It's true, only ubergeeks and MS shareholders care what browser people use. Most people just want to read the news and check their email.
but are those employees force to use that ISP? I am guessing not. Nothing stopping them from getting "COL" or MSN or whatever. Now if they are a regulated monoploy like the rest of the people's republic of canada, that's different.:-)
Let's pretend you're a TV station. If somebody makes a documentary about how bad your TV station is, do you HAVE to air it? Of course not. Nobody is telling the website operator that they can't have the page up, but one company is choosing not to carry it. That makes them jackasses, not criminals. I don't know the ins and outs of Canadian law, but I am guessing that there is no legal recourse against them, and it will take market pressure to change fix it.
I hear you. Not one game to date (that I know of) even bothers asking the simple question "why do we have rules in this game?" Why can't I sneak up and assassinate the king? Why can't I form a revolution to topple him from power? Why can't I change the landscape by damming this river? Simple stuff like this. All it would take is a creative and fair-minded writing/programming staff that can react to player actions.
I can see planning a version 2.0, but a version 3.0? Why dont you just take what you want to put in 3.0 and put it into 2.0? It's not like they're losing sales by not upgrading!
I would suggest that the lack of compelling applications is the main impediment to PC sales. I run win2k on a 700mhz laptop with 128mb ram and I have yet to find an applicaion that won't run. (even google earth runs great) When a new capability that I want avails itself, I think about upgrading. Not till then.
This is no joke. West Africa is a dangerous place, and the customs officials and a constant streams of wannabe revolutionaries carrying AK-47s will quite simply take anything that they want. A ruggedized portable GPS unit is something they will want.
Think concealable. You may be able to get a VERY inexpensive GPS with no bells and whistles (and no map) that they would look at and not know what the hell it was. You may also find that a lot of uncharted villiages want to stay that way for (legitimate) security reasons, and you might have to take covert readings. (it's your life) To be honest though, I have something of a hard time believing that you can't find a position of a city in Geonet
I deny that education in this country "sucks." I am 26 and I feel that I was well served by the public school system in my county. As with any governmental system, there is room for improvement. 1)Incresed funding. It bothers me to no end when a city builds a new stadium for a multi-billion dollar corporation while kids go to 100-year-old schools with no Heat or AC. 2)Get the kids that don't want to be there out of the system. College isn't right for everybody, and those not interested in it need to be prepared to move into the work force. Proposals have surfaced to reduce high school graduation age by two years. At graduation, students split up to go two more years in either college prep, study abroad, vo/tech school, work study, etc.
3)De-focus on computers. A laptop in every backpack is a monumental waste of resources and a detriment to learning. (becomes a crutch) Teach kids to add, not to use a calculator.
Perhaps had they allocated a little bit of that money to good writer, they wouldn't come out with the formulaic crap they have. If it's not an oversized or mutated or genetic hybrid animal then it's a post-apocalyptic crapfest about a ragtag group of authority-hating commandos that save the future. The worst part is that the suckage has started to bleed over into shows like stargate atlantis, with their half-ass borg-zombie-vampires.
Slashdot Mirror
That's a hell of a lot of money for a computer when a new dell or emachine can be had for $300. The newest part in my computer is 4 years old (geforce 4) and I have yet to find a game that won't run acceptably.
There are however space missions that can be done with a smaller satellite.
microgravity research
offensive space capabilities
optical (laser) relays
user your imagination.
The real problem becomes that it is only cheaper if you launch a BUNCH of them at once. Current space launch vehicles are set up to carry satellites the size of school busses.
I won't pretend that I know your boss, but I can suggest that the fact that you have to explain remedial stuff to him may mean that he simply wants to be able to explain it to his superiors that are even less technical then he is. I've done management, and I have no interest in dealing with wetware ever again.
I keep saying it, and I keep getting shot down, but if the revolution that nintendo is talking about is one of pricing, they could have something big on their hands. Imagine a $150 revolution with a huge launch library available over the net and a dozen or so high quality games. I truly hope that MS and Sony get bit in the butt for overthinking this generation of consoles.
I can't make the product better for me, and I don't have access to something I have not just a moral right to, but what should be a legal right to as well.
This is the dumbest thing I have ever heard. The free marketplace is a democracy. People have voted with their dollars. Nobody is forcing you to use MS software! What moral right do you have to the BILLIONS of R&D dollars that MS has spent? Why do you deserve access to the hard work of thousands of talented programmers? What it's akin to is you buying a VCR and complaining that it's not a Jet plane. Dumbass.
Microsoft may be displaced as the largest software company in the world, but it won't be taken down by whiners spouting off about moral rights handing out software. This is business, not a crusade. It will be taken down by failing to adapt the an ever-changing technology landscape. That's why companies do R&D. MS does a LOT of R&D, so it may take a while.
HDTV in 3D. That's volumetric pixels. 1080 x 1920 x 1080? That's 1000x as much information coming at you. 2.2 gigapixels/frame x 30fps = 66 gigapixels/sec in 24? bit color means 200 gigaBYTES/sec of bandwidth. Guess I need to start saving up for a new router...
You know, come to think about it, I have noticed a billionth of a second delay on my phone calls to china... Is the speed of light really a limiting factor in telecom?
If you are really a nerd, consider a genetic algorithm. You could create a virtual model of the solar system (out to jupiter probably) and establish realistic gravitational physics, the thrust of a delta-VH launch vehicle, and the basic charicteristics of a launch. Then have the algorithm run through many iterations changing variables until it finds an optimal solution. More optimal settings spawn more test fires and less optimal fire fewer. After a series of runs, (a few thousand?) you will have an optimal launch solution. The math isn't easy, but it's fun!
I wonder if they'd get suspicious if I brought in my laptop while playing?
Figure out WHAT THE WORKERS NEED, and how to give it to them. Then figure out how much it costs in a variety of scenarios. Use the one that is most futureproof, and multiply the figure by 1.33 and use that as your budget request. (the 1.33 is because nothing works right the first time)
You are talking about engineering, while they are going back to the science phase. Our current technology has been engineered the hell out of for 50 years, and it's still horribly inefficient and expensive.
You make a very valid point, but the first car engines were coal fired and steam driven. (or horse drawn) What the X-prize was all about was going back and looking to build something like a gas engine, something different that is more efficient and less expensive.
Oh wait...Forget that
This si more telling of slashdotters than it is of microsoft. Microsoft doesn't need love, it has happy customers that keep coming back, high-quality successful products that are better than most of their competitors, and a strong feel for where computing is headed. They have all this, and are hated for it.
We could probably get it's marketshare down to about 85%! It's true, only ubergeeks and MS shareholders care what browser people use. Most people just want to read the news and check their email.
At least we now know that after the intel switch your mac Mini will still be worth something as a construction material...
At least he wasn't predicting Duke Nuken 4ever...
but are those employees force to use that ISP? I am guessing not. Nothing stopping them from getting "COL" or MSN or whatever. Now if they are a regulated monoploy like the rest of the people's republic of canada, that's different. :-)
Let's pretend you're a TV station. If somebody makes a documentary about how bad your TV station is, do you HAVE to air it? Of course not. Nobody is telling the website operator that they can't have the page up, but one company is choosing not to carry it. That makes them jackasses, not criminals. I don't know the ins and outs of Canadian law, but I am guessing that there is no legal recourse against them, and it will take market pressure to change fix it.
I hear you. Not one game to date (that I know of) even bothers asking the simple question "why do we have rules in this game?" Why can't I sneak up and assassinate the king? Why can't I form a revolution to topple him from power? Why can't I change the landscape by damming this river? Simple stuff like this. All it would take is a creative and fair-minded writing/programming staff that can react to player actions.
I can see planning a version 2.0, but a version 3.0? Why dont you just take what you want to put in 3.0 and put it into 2.0? It's not like they're losing sales by not upgrading!
I would suggest that the lack of compelling applications is the main impediment to PC sales. I run win2k on a 700mhz laptop with 128mb ram and I have yet to find an applicaion that won't run. (even google earth runs great) When a new capability that I want avails itself, I think about upgrading. Not till then.
Think concealable. You may be able to get a VERY inexpensive GPS with no bells and whistles (and no map) that they would look at and not know what the hell it was. You may also find that a lot of uncharted villiages want to stay that way for (legitimate) security reasons, and you might have to take covert readings. (it's your life) To be honest though, I have something of a hard time believing that you can't find a position of a city in Geonet
I deny that education in this country "sucks." I am 26 and I feel that I was well served by the public school system in my county. As with any governmental system, there is room for improvement.
1)Incresed funding. It bothers me to no end when a city builds a new stadium for a multi-billion dollar corporation while kids go to 100-year-old schools with no Heat or AC.
2)Get the kids that don't want to be there out of the system. College isn't right for everybody, and those not interested in it need to be prepared to move into the work force. Proposals have surfaced to reduce high school graduation age by two years. At graduation, students split up to go two more years in either college prep, study abroad, vo/tech school, work study, etc.
3)De-focus on computers. A laptop in every backpack is a monumental waste of resources and a detriment to learning. (becomes a crutch) Teach kids to add, not to use a calculator.
Perhaps had they allocated a little bit of that money to good writer, they wouldn't come out with the formulaic crap they have. If it's not an oversized or mutated or genetic hybrid animal then it's a post-apocalyptic crapfest about a ragtag group of authority-hating commandos that save the future. The worst part is that the suckage has started to bleed over into shows like stargate atlantis, with their half-ass borg-zombie-vampires.
have you taxpayer dollars go to develop software for a dozen other platforms than get a windows emulator?