You must not rely on your computers for too much. While I agree that 5.5 years is a bit on the outside of sanity, 2 years is about right. It gives the vendor time to fix the big problems, and ensures that other apps you rely on function properly. I have a single application that uses Perl, Python, Java 1.3.1 and 1.4.1, Solaris, Oracle, Apache, IRIX, and a dozen or so desktop applications. Upgrading from v4.0 to v4.0.1 took 6 months of testing. (and it didn't work) A new desktop OS that interacts with that is a LOT more complicated, and requires a LOT of testing. Many computers running windows are mission critical people-die-if-it-fails kind of things. A whole new OS needs some serious attention if you're doing something beyond MS office and IE.
From what I know of physics, ice sticks out of the water as much as the density of the ice is less than the water around it. (10% or so) So when the ice melts, shouldn't the sea level stay the exact same?
What is the age range of the "iPod generation? I think I know more 50+ year olds than 20 year olds that have iPods, but that's beside the point. Seriously, is our generation to be defined by some stupid gadget? Has there been no social impact of the 20-40 year old? ugh this makes me sad.
That said, what the hell is the point of manned space exploration? Somebody answer me that, and I'll support it.
In the 60s it was to develop military technology and show up the Commies. What's been the point since then? The costs of sending up people are literally astronomical. If we take the money that has gone up in smoke to put people into space and put it towards REAL science, and we could lay the groundwork for real exploration. Perhaps defining our generation by it's realist tendencies is a better delineation than ownership an overpriced radio.
How about "putting links to their website in their product" is that better? Is it anticompetitive for firefox to link to firefox.org and not microsoft.com or opera?
Seriously, what business has a testing cycle for an OS that can be done in a month? I mean where I am we're JUST NOW getting ready to go XP, 5.5 years after release, and nearly half of the machines will stay on Win2000 indefinitely. A month (or even a year or two) is not foot-dragging, it's responsible business use of IT.
Can you believe an ad-supported free service would be SO BOLD as to put THEIR OWN ADS into the results? What a bunch of Nazis, I bet they vote republican and sacrifice fuzzy animals to lord satan. That's just criminal, like an organization putting their own preferred home page on a new browser installation.
"the most important aspect of owning and using a computer: your control over what it does"
Yeah, I invite my friends over to show off how much control I have over it.
this is just asinine. The most important aspect of ME owning and using a computer is that it does something useful for me. (like letting me post on slashdot or look at porn) If I was interested in control, I would use a pencil and paper.
Seriously, think about it and try to come up with an answer. What is the POINT of programming. If your answer is "to tell a computer what to do and how to do it" then perhaps you need to figure out something of value to tell it. Find an enjoyable niche, preferably one with a bright future, (maybe not emulators) and learn about that subject, then you will have a marketable skill that you enjoy. Writing useful and valuable software requires as much or more domain expertise as programming ability.
There's a couple problems even 100 years down the road that no technology on earth will solve. The first is that hardware will still need a software layer to GET to the internet, we refer to this layer as an operating system. the "Internet OS" is really an internet application suite. Semantics aside, what is the benefit to consumers? Corporations have IA concerns and they already do this in most places. (shared drives, sharepoint, etc) Trying to make a computer into a service is not only a bad idea technically, but customers think of computers as posessions, not services. Even xbox live has less than 10% paying customers, and it has solid, tangible benefits to subscribing.
I don't know if you've ever been to the American Southwest, but it's not exactly sunny every day. At times there is considerable atmospheric dust, sandstorms, rain, etc. So who exactly has the job of dusting 70,000 sq-miles of solar panels, and what do we do when it rains? I know these aren't serious plans, but solar power at BEST is a supplemental source to *reduce* conventional power. Not only that, but consider the environmental impacts. You're looking at reducing net insolation by 40% on 1.2% of the world's land, not to mention destroying the local ecosystem. All that and power demand is expected to double every 20 years or so. Every solution is just another problem.
-verb (used without object)
1. to introduce something new; make changes in anything established.
-verb (used with object)
2. to introduce (something new) for or as if for the first time: to innovate a computer operating system.
3. Archaic. to alter.
I'm sure that I'll be labeled a troll, but wikipedia cares exactly as much about fact as it's authors do, which is to say much less than they should. I'm not suggesting that it is filled with out-and-out lies (although I'm sure there are some of those too) but it's chock full of spin.
Controlled nuclear fusion has a precursor of fire, that doesn't make the process any less innovative. There is a world of difference between somebody coming up with an idea and somebody making it work. Proper engineering is innovative too. DirectX is a high-level wrapper for graphics, sound, input, communication, etc and not just a 3D API. As pointed out, OS/2 had something like this before windows, but it was developed by Microsoft. Xbox live is not even close to anything that came before it because consoles are fundamentally different than PCs. (gamespy is a possible exception) The optical mouse thing I concede, but powerpoint is not now even remotely close to what it was when they bought it.
Innovate isn't a synonym for "invent" it means doing something new and powerful.
I wasnt aware of prior optical mice, sorry, but DirectX is/was MASSIVELY revolutionary. Before DirectX, every sound, graphic, and input device had to be individually coded against by each application. OpenGL was around, but you obviously forget the days of VESA drivers, sound-card configuration, and joystick incompatibility. DirectX is WAY beyond Direct3D, and it single handedly made the home computer a reasonable platform for multimedia.
When microsoft develops something new, it's called "ignoring the standard" or "anticompetitive behavior." When they adopt the standard, it's called "muscling out the competition."
The fact is that microsoft does a lot of cool, innovative things.
DirectX
Xbox Live
ASP
Powerpoint
Optical mice
How about the most innovative thing of all, getting people onto commodity hardware and out of the clutches of the clutches of the tyrannical interated systems of the 1980s.
You're right in that this is both irrelevant and misleading to consumers due to limited data, but a financial analyst looks at numbers like these and starts selling stock. Prices drop, investors lose confidence, development houses no longer create exclusives, and consumers won't want to drop $800 (system, tax, controller, games, cables, etc) for it.
You can't get around the cold hard financial reality of what they are doing. Xbox was the first system to take a significant loss on consoles, ($35 dollar loss, 7 new games per unit to break even) and it took them 5 years to break even. Sony isn't Microsoft and they can't afford to wait that long. Probably less than 5% of all PS3 console purchasers will buy more than 30 new games over the life of the system.($1800 +tax)
The point is, if they can't make money soon or look to be in a long-term financially untenable situation, there is a good chance that Sony will be divided up and sold off.
Toyota doesn't like to talk about it, but the Scion line is very popular amongst retirees. They are economical, comfortable, and low maintainence. They pitch the things to the youth crowd who supposedly "pimps their rides" (although I've never seen a custom scion on the road) This is much like Apple's overstated claims that basic things "just work." This appeals much more to easily frustrated practical seniors than tech-savvy kids.
It's just a matter of time before the "beige box" or "Black box" or whatever becomes the "no box." Wireless USB, 802.11x, wireless monitors (like mira) and other simple things will allow you to stick the box (if you even need one) in the closet, cupboard, or somewhere else. At that point, fashion will be more relevant to the monitor than the box.
The problem is not a choice between more capable and less capable or more choices and less choices, it's one of making common things more easy to find and do than less common things. Microsoft makes formatting tools appear right on the office toolbar, but atypical functions like "mail merge" buried in a menu.
Technically, they're right. Dictionary.com defines morality as "conformity to the rules of right conduct" For the atheist, the concepts of "right" and "wrong" can't exist as they are defined circularly. Thus, morality can only exist when compared against an assumed "truth" as provided by God/Allah/Budda/Vishnu/the great spaghetti monster. So atheists might not be "moral" but the ones I know are sure more ethical than many of the religious types I know.
It'll be three years before a single agency goes vista. The testing and approval process is long and painful. DOD is just starting now to roll out XP five years after launch. There aren't compelling reasons to upgrade yet, and the third party support isn't there. Most importantly, the crappy administrators they get from learncomputersfast.com don't know how to work it yet.
I was in France recently and saw an add for 28mpbs ADSL2, HDTV w/tivo, and telephone service with free calls in France and to 28 countries, $37 USD/mo. Awesome.
I like the price, but then realized that if I have HDTV and Tivo, what do I do with 28mbps internet? What do i do with the 768k that I have now? (note: I have DSL ONLY because it is literally cheaper than dial-up) I read Slashdot, Play Kingdom Of Loathing, and do research (reading) for work. (12mbps for 5,000 people in the office)
What the hell do I do with the other 27.99999mbps? I'm certainly not going to stream in more TV if I already get HDTV and Tivo with this package.
Slashdot Mirror
You must not rely on your computers for too much. While I agree that 5.5 years is a bit on the outside of sanity, 2 years is about right. It gives the vendor time to fix the big problems, and ensures that other apps you rely on function properly. I have a single application that uses Perl, Python, Java 1.3.1 and 1.4.1, Solaris, Oracle, Apache, IRIX, and a dozen or so desktop applications. Upgrading from v4.0 to v4.0.1 took 6 months of testing. (and it didn't work) A new desktop OS that interacts with that is a LOT more complicated, and requires a LOT of testing. Many computers running windows are mission critical people-die-if-it-fails kind of things. A whole new OS needs some serious attention if you're doing something beyond MS office and IE.
From what I know of physics, ice sticks out of the water as much as the density of the ice is less than the water around it. (10% or so) So when the ice melts, shouldn't the sea level stay the exact same?
That said, what the hell is the point of manned space exploration? Somebody answer me that, and I'll support it.
In the 60s it was to develop military technology and show up the Commies.
What's been the point since then? The costs of sending up people are literally astronomical. If we take the money that has gone up in smoke to put people into space and put it towards REAL science, and we could lay the groundwork for real exploration. Perhaps defining our generation by it's realist tendencies is a better delineation than ownership an overpriced radio.
How about "putting links to their website in their product" is that better? Is it anticompetitive for firefox to link to firefox.org and not microsoft.com or opera?
Seriously, what business has a testing cycle for an OS that can be done in a month? I mean where I am we're JUST NOW getting ready to go XP, 5.5 years after release, and nearly half of the machines will stay on Win2000 indefinitely. A month (or even a year or two) is not foot-dragging, it's responsible business use of IT.
Can you believe an ad-supported free service would be SO BOLD as to put THEIR OWN ADS into the results? What a bunch of Nazis, I bet they vote republican and sacrifice fuzzy animals to lord satan. That's just criminal, like an organization putting their own preferred home page on a new browser installation.
Yeah, I invite my friends over to show off how much control I have over it.
this is just asinine. The most important aspect of ME owning and using a computer is that it does something useful for me. (like letting me post on slashdot or look at porn) If I was interested in control, I would use a pencil and paper.
Seriously, think about it and try to come up with an answer. What is the POINT of programming. If your answer is "to tell a computer what to do and how to do it" then perhaps you need to figure out something of value to tell it. Find an enjoyable niche, preferably one with a bright future, (maybe not emulators) and learn about that subject, then you will have a marketable skill that you enjoy. Writing useful and valuable software requires as much or more domain expertise as programming ability.
There's a couple problems even 100 years down the road that no technology on earth will solve. The first is that hardware will still need a software layer to GET to the internet, we refer to this layer as an operating system. the "Internet OS" is really an internet application suite. Semantics aside, what is the benefit to consumers? Corporations have IA concerns and they already do this in most places. (shared drives, sharepoint, etc) Trying to make a computer into a service is not only a bad idea technically, but customers think of computers as posessions, not services. Even xbox live has less than 10% paying customers, and it has solid, tangible benefits to subscribing.
I don't know if you've ever been to the American Southwest, but it's not exactly sunny every day. At times there is considerable atmospheric dust, sandstorms, rain, etc. So who exactly has the job of dusting 70,000 sq-miles of solar panels, and what do we do when it rains? I know these aren't serious plans, but solar power at BEST is a supplemental source to *reduce* conventional power. Not only that, but consider the environmental impacts. You're looking at reducing net insolation by 40% on 1.2% of the world's land, not to mention destroying the local ecosystem. All that and power demand is expected to double every 20 years or so. Every solution is just another problem.
Yes, I do consider it innovation
I'm sure that I'll be labeled a troll, but wikipedia cares exactly as much about fact as it's authors do, which is to say much less than they should. I'm not suggesting that it is filled with out-and-out lies (although I'm sure there are some of those too) but it's chock full of spin.
Innovate isn't a synonym for "invent" it means doing something new and powerful.
I wasnt aware of prior optical mice, sorry, but DirectX is/was MASSIVELY revolutionary. Before DirectX, every sound, graphic, and input device had to be individually coded against by each application. OpenGL was around, but you obviously forget the days of VESA drivers, sound-card configuration, and joystick incompatibility. DirectX is WAY beyond Direct3D, and it single handedly made the home computer a reasonable platform for multimedia.
The fact is that microsoft does a lot of cool, innovative things.
How about the most innovative thing of all, getting people onto commodity hardware and out of the clutches of the clutches of the tyrannical interated systems of the 1980s.
You can't get around the cold hard financial reality of what they are doing. Xbox was the first system to take a significant loss on consoles, ($35 dollar loss, 7 new games per unit to break even) and it took them 5 years to break even. Sony isn't Microsoft and they can't afford to wait that long. Probably less than 5% of all PS3 console purchasers will buy more than 30 new games over the life of the system.($1800 +tax)
The point is, if they can't make money soon or look to be in a long-term financially untenable situation, there is a good chance that Sony will be divided up and sold off.
Toyota doesn't like to talk about it, but the Scion line is very popular amongst retirees. They are economical, comfortable, and low maintainence. They pitch the things to the youth crowd who supposedly "pimps their rides" (although I've never seen a custom scion on the road) This is much like Apple's overstated claims that basic things "just work." This appeals much more to easily frustrated practical seniors than tech-savvy kids.
There is much more arm and body motion than fingers. Also, check out the prescription drugs, they made a WORLD of difference for my mom.
You've never been to Japan have you?
I used to think it was a bit weird until I saw this
It's just a matter of time before the "beige box" or "Black box" or whatever becomes the "no box." Wireless USB, 802.11x, wireless monitors (like mira) and other simple things will allow you to stick the box (if you even need one) in the closet, cupboard, or somewhere else. At that point, fashion will be more relevant to the monitor than the box.
The problem is not a choice between more capable and less capable or more choices and less choices, it's one of making common things more easy to find and do than less common things. Microsoft makes formatting tools appear right on the office toolbar, but atypical functions like "mail merge" buried in a menu.
Technically, they're right. Dictionary.com defines morality as "conformity to the rules of right conduct" For the atheist, the concepts of "right" and "wrong" can't exist as they are defined circularly. Thus, morality can only exist when compared against an assumed "truth" as provided by God/Allah/Budda/Vishnu/the great spaghetti monster. So atheists might not be "moral" but the ones I know are sure more ethical than many of the religious types I know.
Wow, that was hard
It'll be three years before a single agency goes vista. The testing and approval process is long and painful. DOD is just starting now to roll out XP five years after launch. There aren't compelling reasons to upgrade yet, and the third party support isn't there. Most importantly, the crappy administrators they get from learncomputersfast.com don't know how to work it yet.
I like the price, but then realized that if I have HDTV and Tivo, what do I do with 28mbps internet? What do i do with the 768k that I have now? (note: I have DSL ONLY because it is literally cheaper than dial-up) I read Slashdot, Play Kingdom Of Loathing, and do research (reading) for work. (12mbps for 5,000 people in the office)
What the hell do I do with the other 27.99999mbps? I'm certainly not going to stream in more TV if I already get HDTV and Tivo with this package.