I'd love for someone to create a laptop infrastructure of plug in components. Let's face it, a well used laptop will die because it leads a much tougher life than a desktop - at least they do for me!
But it's near impossible (or financially infeasible) to replace a dead motherboard or LCD. Most of the pieces are in place. Something like a mini-itx motherboard is about the right size for the bulk of it. Use a standard voltage input. A standard LCD...er.. envelope. Change the VGA to a DVI interface so that LCD->Vid is not proprietary and voila! A mostly upgradeable laptop.
Now one of these would get my $$$. That said, I'll probably pony up for a cheap laptop or a used one w/o the aforementioned wishlist in the near future.
The scary part in all of this is that the average home user doesn't have a chance! Security is a hugely complex issue, that in a corporate environment needs an IT professional to at least provide some chance of preventing crack attempts.
What's the average home user going to do? Maybe it's time for a "Trusted Boot CD" for home users? Just take Knoppix and streamline it little more so people can at least do online banking in relative safety.
I'd also toss in the technological differences between the time CD's were launched to the time DVD's were launched. CD's were the first shiny little 5 inch disks to be produced. A whole lot of technology and factories had to be developed to bring the prices down. In contrast, DVD's piggy backed off of a lot of the previous work. It's the same physical size, and the same general stamping technology. At the player end of things, most of the mechanics and a chunk of the firmware is the same.
Another factor is the use of DVD's in PCs. This second market didn't exist when CD's were first launched. The extra volume helped the price of players come down quickly. Lastly, manufacturing itself is different today, i.e. globalized production and trade.
All of this led to cheaper players quicker. Which then leads to faster adoption.
FWIW, DVD's have tradeoffs too, a big one. They don't record! (usually) I suspect that non-recordability is a bigger deal with video than audio, at least it is to me. Oh, and somehow the porn industry is probably a factor... it usually is, when the technology involves video.
I think 64 bit will take root at the servers and quickly force 64 bit processors out to the workstations. Even now, 4 GB of RAM in a server is a constraint in many businesses, and it will be much more pronounced in only a couple years.
Given this situation, Microsoft is bound to polish and market 64 bit Windows Server (which will soon be available for x86-64) because they know that 64 bit Linux distros are out or will soon be out. MS's place in the server world is far from secure, so it's in their interest to be as competitive as possible in this regard.
So, with servers (and high-end workstations) moving to 64 bit really soon, and the fact that one of x86's strengths is in volume manufacturing, the natural step (especially for AMD) is to move all chips to 64 bit in a fairly short time frame. Besides, the incremental cost per CPU is minimal, AMD claims somewhere around 10% die space. And, it takes more money to design and manufacture separate 32bit and 64bit chips than it does to sell a single product line.
I guess I don't think that any "killer app" is really required above and beyond what is out there already. Big fat database, email, and application servers that could use more than 4 GB of memory NOW.
I doubt that it will literally become the "nationwide standard desktop software system". Rather, I suspect it will be a suggested, or even recommended system for government use. Note that even at a low cost of $50/unit, it's still $50 more than $0. There are a lot of people in China (and just about everywhere else in the world to different proportions) to whom a free distro will be the de facto choice.
So, I still think it's a big deal. But it's not earth shattering or anything.
I'd bet that an Opteron box would be in the works. Even if it's just a rebadged box desigend by someone else. I'd bet this way because they'll probably do anything to differentiate themselves from Dell - and score a few sales at the same time! Really, they don't have a whole lot to loose in the server market, what's their marketshare there? 0%?
Sun won't touch Intel for much more than old SPARC/x86 competitions. Intel has bet a lot money on trying to take over the high end CPU market with it's Itanium architechture. This includes Sun's Sparc chips. So, from Sun's point of view, an enemy of my enemy is a friend of mine. And a stronger AMD is a weaker Intel. It's not that difficult a choice, especially since the Opteron is clearly competitive with any x86 stuff from Intel.
Too bad no one else (i.e. Russia, China, or Europe(?)) has anything big enough to go and fetch the Hubble. They'd be willing to take on that task on contract if they could. What would be even more entertaining would be a "finders-keepers" mission. =)
Wouldn't that be a fun newscast... What are the ownership laws over space objects, anyway? I suppose there must be a treaty of some sort to discourage satellite hijacking. How about abandoned space junk?
Does no ECC automatically mean there's no parity checking? If there are parity checks, then if no errors are detected, then chances are pretty good that there is no need to rerun computations.
Then again, I'm by no means an expert, heck, I don't even know if common memory still has parity bits. Does it?
It would be nice if they could sell licenses to the games for say, $5-10 each. I bet a few folks wouldn't mind buying legal, playable, versions of a few games from years gone by - but subscribing for a monthly fee? I suppose there might be a different market for this, perhaps this is a prelude to some cellphone or handheld game service?
Haven't people done this for years? Just put a bunch of letters into an envelope. Seal (optionally leave with lawyer or in a safe deposit box). And put appropriate instructions in a will.
EVEN WITH this post email service, the person handling your estate has to contact mylastemail.com with a death certificate or letter or something. Besides, email addresses change. Spam drowns out all. And hand written notes are so much more tangible...
I tried to think of a good reason to even attempt this... databases can be slow enough with local drives if you care to punish them hard enough...
Then I thought about transaction logs. Those would be pretty good candidates to store remotely, just in case someone steals a server, or one otherwise goes done during the day.
I don't know if they are currently limited to local drives or not. Anyone enlighten me on this?
charge a deposit. Say, $30. That would more or less make them break even on every hacked camera. Not the perfect solution, but not the end of the world.
No kidding. How many thousands of people would be involved in the hoax? How many people with access to high powered telescopes are there? Wouldn't everyone on earth take a crack at looking at the landing site, if they the equipment around?
Ah well. Out of 6 billion people in the world, it would be equally improbable to invent some story that no-one on the planet believed...
Let's face it, this is a chance for Bombardier to get some good, positive PR. Maybe it's about time the "concept" er... concept moved beyond automobiles. At least it's something new to talk about, instead of the latest craziest reality show...
In that case, why should we think of Pixar as getting "shorted"? Clearly Pixar knew it had an audience after the immense success of Toy Story. For whatever reason, marketing ability, scripts, history, money, whatever it signed a long term deal with Disney rather than go it alone or go with WB or some other movie house. It sounds like a fair deal to me.
Re:No! Now everyone will move to DHTML popups.
on
IE To Block Pop-Ups
·
· Score: 1
OK, I blew the link.Tek-tips. I'll preview this time, I promise...
No! Now everyone will move to DHTML popups.
on
IE To Block Pop-Ups
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
This isn't going to solve anything, it'll just force pop-up vendors to move to DHTML for their popups. If you've never seen one in action, the once at tek-tips.com comes to mind. It's a pretty reasonable "please sign up" type popup that occurs once per visit, until you register and let the cookie do it's thing. Mozilla doesn't block this, and it might be a long time before it ever does. I doubt that it's as easy to recognize these as advertising algorithmically as it is with JavaScript popups.
The Game Cube did very well at preventing mod chips and pirated games. I suspect Microsoft will try to do something similar by integrating more of the security wise critical components into one chip - without a bus to be tapped. MS most likely looses money on each console sold, so they, of the 3, are most in need of preventing mod chips from being used. (I suspect Sony breaks even on PS2's, after all, they sell somewhere in the realm of 10x more units than MS or Nintendo)
I think the Nokia's except any of the global emergency numbers. I've dialed 08 (apparently Mexico's number) at least once - I had a personally embarassing call back from the 911 call centre... OK it wasn't that bad, but I hated the idea of tying up their phone line. The big problem to me, is it accepts the number even if the keyboard lock is on. That's ok for 911, but as you say, some of the other magic numbers are easy to trigger by accident.
I think the quote to use is: "An enemy of an enemy is my friend."
If we assume that Sun realized that they couldn't produce cost competitive low-end boxes, AMD is the obvious choice for a chip supplier. Intel is trying to take over Sun's high-end with it's Itanium architecture. IBM on the other hand competes with Sun in the consulting, service, and support arena - so their Power chips are out too. AMD, however, is in the position of being big enough to be reliable, small enough to not be a threat to the "big picture".
Apple doesn't need iTunes to make any money. They've got a big wad of cash in the bank, and the iPod to boot. What will happen over time though, is that as iTunes grows, Apple gains more and more power vs. RIAA. Who knows, if 5 years down the line, RIAA doesn't renegotiate a better deal, Apple may be in a position to cut them out of the picture altogether.
Slashdot Mirror
This is a good way to get a lot of the dirty work done. Documentation for newbies, anyone?
Good Idea. Good PR too for Novell...
I'd love for someone to create a laptop infrastructure of plug in components. Let's face it, a well used laptop will die because it leads a much tougher life than a desktop - at least they do for me!
...er.. envelope. Change the VGA to a DVI interface so that LCD->Vid is not proprietary and voila! A mostly upgradeable laptop.
But it's near impossible (or financially infeasible) to replace a dead motherboard or LCD. Most of the pieces are in place. Something like a mini-itx motherboard is about the right size for the bulk of it. Use a standard voltage input. A standard LCD
Now one of these would get my $$$. That said, I'll probably pony up for a cheap laptop or a used one w/o the aforementioned wishlist in the near future.
The scary part in all of this is that the average home user doesn't have a chance! Security is a hugely complex issue, that in a corporate environment needs an IT professional to at least provide some chance of preventing crack attempts.
What's the average home user going to do? Maybe it's time for a "Trusted Boot CD" for home users? Just take Knoppix and streamline it little more so people can at least do online banking in relative safety.
I'd also toss in the technological differences between the time CD's were launched to the time DVD's were launched. CD's were the first shiny little 5 inch disks to be produced. A whole lot of technology and factories had to be developed to bring the prices down. In contrast, DVD's piggy backed off of a lot of the previous work. It's the same physical size, and the same general stamping technology. At the player end of things, most of the mechanics and a chunk of the firmware is the same.
Another factor is the use of DVD's in PCs. This second market didn't exist when CD's were first launched. The extra volume helped the price of players come down quickly. Lastly, manufacturing itself is different today, i.e. globalized production and trade.
All of this led to cheaper players quicker. Which then leads to faster adoption.
FWIW, DVD's have tradeoffs too, a big one. They don't record! (usually) I suspect that non-recordability is a bigger deal with video than audio, at least it is to me. Oh, and somehow the porn industry is probably a factor... it usually is, when the technology involves video.
I think 64 bit will take root at the servers and quickly force 64 bit processors out to the workstations. Even now, 4 GB of RAM in a server is a constraint in many businesses, and it will be much more pronounced in only a couple years.
Given this situation, Microsoft is bound to polish and market 64 bit Windows Server (which will soon be available for x86-64) because they know that 64 bit Linux distros are out or will soon be out. MS's place in the server world is far from secure, so it's in their interest to be as competitive as possible in this regard.
So, with servers (and high-end workstations) moving to 64 bit really soon, and the fact that one of x86's strengths is in volume manufacturing, the natural step (especially for AMD) is to move all chips to 64 bit in a fairly short time frame. Besides, the incremental cost per CPU is minimal, AMD claims somewhere around 10% die space. And, it takes more money to design and manufacture separate 32bit and 64bit chips than it does to sell a single product line.
I guess I don't think that any "killer app" is really required above and beyond what is out there already. Big fat database, email, and application servers that could use more than 4 GB of memory NOW.
I doubt that it will literally become the "nationwide standard desktop software system". Rather, I suspect it will be a suggested, or even recommended system for government use. Note that even at a low cost of $50/unit, it's still $50 more than $0. There are a lot of people in China (and just about everywhere else in the world to different proportions) to whom a free distro will be the de facto choice.
So, I still think it's a big deal. But it's not earth shattering or anything.
Really? Rather strange law... I guess I'll just have to create a 1000 page document and use a fax modem instead. =)
I'd bet that an Opteron box would be in the works. Even if it's just a rebadged box desigend by someone else. I'd bet this way because they'll probably do anything to differentiate themselves from Dell - and score a few sales at the same time! Really, they don't have a whole lot to loose in the server market, what's their marketshare there? 0%?
Sun won't touch Intel for much more than old SPARC/x86 competitions. Intel has bet a lot money on trying to take over the high end CPU market with it's Itanium architechture. This includes Sun's Sparc chips. So, from Sun's point of view, an enemy of my enemy is a friend of mine. And a stronger AMD is a weaker Intel. It's not that difficult a choice, especially since the Opteron is clearly competitive with any x86 stuff from Intel.
Too bad no one else (i.e. Russia, China, or Europe(?)) has anything big enough to go and fetch the Hubble. They'd be willing to take on that task on contract if they could. What would be even more entertaining would be a "finders-keepers" mission. =)
Wouldn't that be a fun newscast... What are the ownership laws over space objects, anyway? I suppose there must be a treaty of some sort to discourage satellite hijacking. How about abandoned space junk?
Does no ECC automatically mean there's no parity checking? If there are parity checks, then if no errors are detected, then chances are pretty good that there is no need to rerun computations.
Then again, I'm by no means an expert, heck, I don't even know if common memory still has parity bits. Does it?
It would be nice if they could sell licenses to the games for say, $5-10 each. I bet a few folks wouldn't mind buying legal, playable, versions of a few games from years gone by - but subscribing for a monthly fee? I suppose there might be a different market for this, perhaps this is a prelude to some cellphone or handheld game service?
Haven't people done this for years? Just put a bunch of letters into an envelope. Seal (optionally leave with lawyer or in a safe deposit box). And put appropriate instructions in a will.
EVEN WITH this post email service, the person handling your estate has to contact mylastemail.com with a death certificate or letter or something. Besides, email addresses change. Spam drowns out all. And hand written notes are so much more tangible...
I tried to think of a good reason to even attempt this... databases can be slow enough with local drives if you care to punish them hard enough...
Then I thought about transaction logs. Those would be pretty good candidates to store remotely, just in case someone steals a server, or one otherwise goes done during the day.
I don't know if they are currently limited to local drives or not. Anyone enlighten me on this?
charge a deposit. Say, $30. That would more or less make them break even on every hacked camera. Not the perfect solution, but not the end of the world.
go out with a bang!
No kidding. How many thousands of people would be involved in the hoax? How many people with access to high powered telescopes are there? Wouldn't everyone on earth take a crack at looking at the landing site, if they the equipment around?
Ah well. Out of 6 billion people in the world, it would be equally improbable to invent some story that no-one on the planet believed...
Let's face it, this is a chance for Bombardier to get some good, positive PR. Maybe it's about time the "concept" er... concept moved beyond automobiles. At least it's something new to talk about, instead of the latest craziest reality show...
In that case, why should we think of Pixar as getting "shorted"? Clearly Pixar knew it had an audience after the immense success of Toy Story. For whatever reason, marketing ability, scripts, history, money, whatever it signed a long term deal with Disney rather than go it alone or go with WB or some other movie house. It sounds like a fair deal to me.
OK, I blew the link.Tek-tips. I'll preview this time, I promise...
This isn't going to solve anything, it'll just force pop-up vendors to move to DHTML for their popups. If you've never seen one in action, the once at tek-tips.com comes to mind. It's a pretty reasonable "please sign up" type popup that occurs once per visit, until you register and let the cookie do it's thing. Mozilla doesn't block this, and it might be a long time before it ever does. I doubt that it's as easy to recognize these as advertising algorithmically as it is with JavaScript popups.
The Game Cube did very well at preventing mod chips and pirated games. I suspect Microsoft will try to do something similar by integrating more of the security wise critical components into one chip - without a bus to be tapped. MS most likely looses money on each console sold, so they, of the 3, are most in need of preventing mod chips from being used. (I suspect Sony breaks even on PS2's, after all, they sell somewhere in the realm of 10x more units than MS or Nintendo)
I think the Nokia's except any of the global emergency numbers. I've dialed 08 (apparently Mexico's number) at least once - I had a personally embarassing call back from the 911 call centre... OK it wasn't that bad, but I hated the idea of tying up their phone line. The big problem to me, is it accepts the number even if the keyboard lock is on. That's ok for 911, but as you say, some of the other magic numbers are easy to trigger by accident.
I think the quote to use is: "An enemy of an enemy is my friend."
If we assume that Sun realized that they couldn't produce cost competitive low-end boxes, AMD is the obvious choice for a chip supplier. Intel is trying to take over Sun's high-end with it's Itanium architecture. IBM on the other hand competes with Sun in the consulting, service, and support arena - so their Power chips are out too. AMD, however, is in the position of being big enough to be reliable, small enough to not be a threat to the "big picture".
Apple doesn't need iTunes to make any money. They've got a big wad of cash in the bank, and the iPod to boot. What will happen over time though, is that as iTunes grows, Apple gains more and more power vs. RIAA. Who knows, if 5 years down the line, RIAA doesn't renegotiate a better deal, Apple may be in a position to cut them out of the picture altogether.