How can you have a competitive corporate client OS, when you have at least three different desktops, five billion browsers, twelve million text editors, and fifty thousand calculators?
Thats no way to treat desktop support people. Troubleshooting a machine will be an exercise in futility, because you will need to figure out how to use the damn machine (due to all the user's customizations), figure out any potential software conflicts (insane, because you need a 'standard' to work from), and finally figure out exactly what is going wrong. THEN how to fix it.
Every network I have any influence over starts locking down things and removing the 'soft and fuzzies', like weird screen-savers, various browsers, alternate office programs, etc. They are there to work, not to form an emotional bond with their computer.
Things get even harder with Network apps, since you need to isolate whether its on the server, its a hardware issue (bad NIC, cable, jack, etc), an application issue, or an OS issue. The more variables you throw into the equation, the longer and more difficult it is to finally isolate the cause.
It's good to see real security/crypto people working on this problem
Whats sad is that they werent consulted in the FIRST place. But thats how Government works- waste time and money getting something done poorly, then pay somebody else (hopefully the people who should have worked on it originally) to come in and fix it.
I just read this today on The Register. They didnt specify which series was being re-released, however. Im assuming its Macross; is any other info available?
Actually, we expected a lot of push-back from our suppliers, but they have migrated rather easily
Its like I said, they just had the person who deals with your company install it on his desktop; if they are a large company, I cant see them doing anything as grandious as a migration just for your sake (nor would it be required).
As for a small shop, Im sure that they have both a low enough budget and a small enough user base to have a 'migration' actually doable. After all, if you only have three computers, the thousand dollars or so you save probably means more since its unlikely they are doing millions of dollars of business, and the fact that they only have to install it on three computers makes the project easy.
The kind of places I work at really wouldnt see any kind of benefit, especially since retraining hundreds of people for new software, having to migrate all their computers, etc, would be more trouble than its worth (especially the retraining part). When they generate millions of dollars per year, its more important to just keep people working than it is to hastle about a non-issue like having the users working on open/closed source software.
I agree; when Ben died during the one battle, I remember that as one of my earliest, most powerful memories of any entertainment form. To me, as a youngster, it almost felt that one of MY friends had been killed, which I realized in terms of story made it all the more compelling.
IBM is *using* linux; they sell hardware with runs an OS they get for free, which also runs software they make (which isnt free OR open source), and they sell a company consultants to run the whole thing.
Ya, thats a much better alternative than just selling an operating system... better for the wallet!
Not entirely true. Personally, my brother just purchased a computer system (I spec'd out the stuff and assembled it for him). On the issue of a monitor, however, I told him it was his decision. In the end, he decided on a nice 19" monitor that was around $200, rather than pay ~$500 on a 17" LCD.
Basically, CRTs are still a good option; after all, its a mature technology. While his new monitor takes up considerably more desktop real estate than an LDC would, it is still not as deep as my old 17" monitor. The new generation of CRTs has much that people want- they are lower in price, have flat screens, and take up much less room than they used to.
Until LCDs can beat out CRTs in terms of price, there will still be a market for CRT displays. Thats why DVI for CRTs is pretty good news, and why that will need to happen before DVI can take off with mainstream acceptance.
Not really on topic, but of interest. A few weeks ago, I noticed you can buy the DVD box sets of all three Robotech series. At $35-45 each, they are pretty cheap too, especially compared with the Gundam Wing box set (which, if memory serves, is around $135).
You kind of answered your own question. Nixon won his election, and that was all he was after. He wasnt really concerned with the long term good of their the RNC or the country; he just wanted to be President, and didnt really care what the cost would be. He kind of set the future tone of the Republican Party with that outlook, as well.
I heard that FF Anthology (FF V [unreleased in US] and VI [US=FF3])and Chronicles (FF IV [US=FF2] and Chrono Trigger) are going to be re-released on one CD as "PSOne Classics", and sell for $20
I object to anybody who says that Dungeon Seige was "way cool". I like to play the game, rather than having it play for me.
BTW, I happen to accept the random battles: how else are you going to inflate your levels? One of the things I found annoying about NWN was that the OC wouldnt let you get to the level cap; to do that, you needed to replay the game (or at least the last chapter).
I would rather have trudged thru an area with random encounters than numbly gone thru a part of the game where I already know what is going to happen.
You probably wont see that as a common feature for quite some time. It *may* eventually happen once CRTs start using DVI
http://www.siimage.com/documents/SiI-WP-001-A.pd f
but it will probably take about two years to gain any serious market penetration. Even superior technology needs time to gain acceptance; look at the fact that SATA drives still arent prevalent as a good example, in spite of being clearly superior. In fact, it wouldnt be hard at all to make a drive that is both ATA and SATA, just like it wouldnt be hard to make a CRT that is both VGA and DVI.
I think the issue, which addresses the originally commented upon quote, was that all things being equal, making and equivalent to the P4 with the smaller die size would create the performance advantage.
The problem becomes, however, that as they can shrink the processor, they can also pack in even more features. Thus, you have processors which are faster, have hyperthreading, predictive caching, etc, but are somewhat the same size as the 486 (relatively speaking).
Which comes back to the issues posted in the parent posts, which address having denser electronics with a greater need for power. Anyway, to answer the question (but leave the actual research to somebody else), there was an article within the last two weeks regarding Intel's plans to use something other than silicon for making future processors, since as you get smaller and smaller silicon becomes less suited to preventing electrons from 'leaking' into other areas.
The great thing about the internet, and the whole reason ARPA (now DARPA) had it created in the first place, was that large chunks of it could go down, but as long as both yourself and your destination were still connected, it would re-route and get your data delivered.
This does NOT mean, as people seem to think (like the guy making the headline post) that this guarentees 100% uptime.
If things could be 100% relied upon, there would be no need for rerouting or redundancy. Since TCP/IP was made for the real world, where connections go down occasionally (power outage, hardware failure, nuclear missle, whatever), the ability to change was planned for.
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Thats no way to treat desktop support people. Troubleshooting a machine will be an exercise in futility, because you will need to figure out how to use the damn machine (due to all the user's customizations), figure out any potential software conflicts (insane, because you need a 'standard' to work from), and finally figure out exactly what is going wrong. THEN how to fix it.
Every network I have any influence over starts locking down things and removing the 'soft and fuzzies', like weird screen-savers, various browsers, alternate office programs, etc. They are there to work, not to form an emotional bond with their computer.
Things get even harder with Network apps, since you need to isolate whether its on the server, its a hardware issue (bad NIC, cable, jack, etc), an application issue, or an OS issue. The more variables you throw into the equation, the longer and more difficult it is to finally isolate the cause.
As I always said, the competition is good; it will just improve MS's product.
Whats sad is that they werent consulted in the FIRST place. But thats how Government works- waste time and money getting something done poorly, then pay somebody else (hopefully the people who should have worked on it originally) to come in and fix it.
Because it would be nice to see them get them jobs back in the good ol' US of A, even if it was them who dun moved um.
I just read this today on The Register. They didnt specify which series was being re-released, however. Im assuming its Macross; is any other info available?
Its like I said, they just had the person who deals with your company install it on his desktop; if they are a large company, I cant see them doing anything as grandious as a migration just for your sake (nor would it be required).
As for a small shop, Im sure that they have both a low enough budget and a small enough user base to have a 'migration' actually doable. After all, if you only have three computers, the thousand dollars or so you save probably means more since its unlikely they are doing millions of dollars of business, and the fact that they only have to install it on three computers makes the project easy.
The kind of places I work at really wouldnt see any kind of benefit, especially since retraining hundreds of people for new software, having to migrate all their computers, etc, would be more trouble than its worth (especially the retraining part). When they generate millions of dollars per year, its more important to just keep people working than it is to hastle about a non-issue like having the users working on open/closed source software.
And I compared it to GI Joe as well ;-)
Ya, thats a much better alternative than just selling an operating system... better for the wallet!
Basically, CRTs are still a good option; after all, its a mature technology. While his new monitor takes up considerably more desktop real estate than an LDC would, it is still not as deep as my old 17" monitor. The new generation of CRTs has much that people want- they are lower in price, have flat screens, and take up much less room than they used to.
Until LCDs can beat out CRTs in terms of price, there will still be a market for CRT displays. Thats why DVI for CRTs is pretty good news, and why that will need to happen before DVI can take off with mainstream acceptance.
Not really on topic, but of interest. A few weeks ago, I noticed you can buy the DVD box sets of all three Robotech series. At $35-45 each, they are pretty cheap too, especially compared with the Gundam Wing box set (which, if memory serves, is around $135).
You kind of answered your own question. Nixon won his election, and that was all he was after. He wasnt really concerned with the long term good of their the RNC or the country; he just wanted to be President, and didnt really care what the cost would be. He kind of set the future tone of the Republican Party with that outlook, as well.
I heard that FF Anthology (FF V [unreleased in US] and VI [US=FF3])and Chronicles (FF IV [US=FF2] and Chrono Trigger) are going to be re-released on one CD as "PSOne Classics", and sell for $20
Does anyone else find it funny that 69% of teenagers are doing something?
Oh well, just a Beavis and Butthead moment over here. I'll move on to fart jokes in my next post.
BTW, I happen to accept the random battles: how else are you going to inflate your levels? One of the things I found annoying about NWN was that the OC wouldnt let you get to the level cap; to do that, you needed to replay the game (or at least the last chapter).
I would rather have trudged thru an area with random encounters than numbly gone thru a part of the game where I already know what is going to happen.
http://www.siimage.com/documents/SiI-WP-001-A.pd f
but it will probably take about two years to gain any serious market penetration. Even superior technology needs time to gain acceptance; look at the fact that SATA drives still arent prevalent as a good example, in spite of being clearly superior. In fact, it wouldnt be hard at all to make a drive that is both ATA and SATA, just like it wouldnt be hard to make a CRT that is both VGA and DVI.
I generally dislike commenting on sigs, but didnt Mark Twain say that? or is that just a popular misconception?
*Now* we know you made that part up!
All the new drives sold to LA County will now be labeled as "Cable Select"
Thats right, MS is hijacking a standard, just like they did with XML, huh?
Changing the world, one computer at one supplier at a time, huh?
wow, people in Isreal chosing something free. Thats a surprise.
The problem becomes, however, that as they can shrink the processor, they can also pack in even more features. Thus, you have processors which are faster, have hyperthreading, predictive caching, etc, but are somewhat the same size as the 486 (relatively speaking).
Which comes back to the issues posted in the parent posts, which address having denser electronics with a greater need for power. Anyway, to answer the question (but leave the actual research to somebody else), there was an article within the last two weeks regarding Intel's plans to use something other than silicon for making future processors, since as you get smaller and smaller silicon becomes less suited to preventing electrons from 'leaking' into other areas.
This does NOT mean, as people seem to think (like the guy making the headline post) that this guarentees 100% uptime.
If things could be 100% relied upon, there would be no need for rerouting or redundancy. Since TCP/IP was made for the real world, where connections go down occasionally (power outage, hardware failure, nuclear missle, whatever), the ability to change was planned for.
Somebody needs to ask, and it may as well be me. I leave the obligatory Wolfpack question for others (Im not greedy, after all).