Is it just me, or does the microprocessor business seem a REALLY bad one to get into right now. Maybe 30, 20 or even 10 years ago, it wouldn't have been such a bad option. But with Intel and AMD going forward in this perpetual juggernaught race, it seems like anyone getting into this business is Dead On Arrival. Transmeta Corp anyone? Dan
"Chip buisness" can mean anything. Don't automatically assume its CPUs.
People need to understand that analysts like this are paid to look at the numbers and make their best guess at what will happen. Will it be dead on? No. Will it be close? Maybe, maybe not. Estimates far enough out in time are generally understood by people who look at these things to be best guesses and little more. Too many unexpected things fly out of no where to be dead on.
That being said, it does give the industry some information so that they can lay initial plans for the next 5 to 10 years. (Yes, a number of companies do plan at least this far in advance despite the speed at which the industry changes.)
Is it at all possible to block these backslash stories when logged into my account? I get enough spam as is, I'd like to avoid seeing repeats of every 3rd/. story.
Cost is about TCO, not just initial. It depends on how far out you extend your costs whether it would be worthwhile to the power companies or not. This, I have no idea.
Several followup posts immediately assumed that the TCO of underground lines would be less than above ground. No where has anyone said that this is in fact the case.
I would imagine that it would not only be more expensive to install the initial cables but also to maintain them. Problem on the line? Go dig up the cables. Want to inspect something? Go dig up the cables.
What, exactly, is wrong with suing someone? It's a legitimate and often necessary thing to do. There is no "plague" of lawsuits, the way you are trying to present it.
Yes, there are several instances in which lawsuits are perfectly reasonable. There are also plenty of instances where they are completely frivolous. Too many people are using them as a lottery and a way to blame everyone but themselves. Tort reform is dearly needed in the US.
That said, I think we're going to see a turn around with the generation in college right now, less divorces, less stupidity
Not gonna happen. The reason is that your lament is millennia old.
That's not entirely true. Traditionally each generation has looked at the generation or two after it with concern. Today you have both the generations that preceded the baby boomers and the generations that follow the baby boomers looking at them thinking they need to grow up and develop some personal responsibility.
Maybe they'll be different, maybe they wont. Just don't be so sure you can predict what's going to happen.
They are not fools. (Mods if you don't like the truth just comment against it or get a life)
Good, sounds like someone is about to make a good point.
There can be only one logical conclusion of this effort. These guys want to establish a world wide Gestapo or SS. They intend to do so with impunity.
lol. Maybe not.
I definitely agree that we need to maintain checks on government but why do so many people fight to believe every half-baked conspiracy theory they hear?
My take on it is that GM set EV1 up for failure so that they could point at it and say "see? no one wants electric cars!".
Why is that your take on it?
Companies like GM, especially given the current state of the US auto manufacturers, can't afford to have a project flop like that. They need to build the products their customers want or they doom themselves to a slow death. They can't afford to be conspiratorial no matter how much you think they're out to get you.
Having the EV1 intentionally flop gains nothing for GM. The people who are pushing electric cars in public aren't exactly the kind of people that are going to change their mind if one product flops. If GM is smart enough to do the conspiracies you're claiming then they're smart enough to know they won't be able to change the publics view.
1) That article is based on estimates. We'll see what happens at the end of the year.
2) If I sold a $100 lead weight to everyone on the planet would it make me a technology leader? Sales is an arbitrary statistic and probably one of the worst. Why not use profit margin or return on investment?
IBM
Profitability
Profit Margin (ttm): 9.27%
Operating Margin (ttm): 13.72%
Management Effectiveness
Return on Assets (ttm): 7.35%
Return on Equity (ttm): 26.48%
HP
Profitability
Profit Margin (ttm): 4.07%
Operating Margin (ttm): 6.56%
Management Effectiveness
Return on Assets (ttm): 4.96%
Return on Equity (ttm): 9.61%
3) How about patents?
According to the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), IBM earned 2,941 patents last year (2005), more than any other company. This is 13th consecutive year IBM has led the nation's patent production.
4) How about leading-edge custom processor design. IBM owns this generation of game consoles (Wii, ps3, xbox360 processors are all being designed at IBM). Why? IBM has an entire service organization that will build you your very own custom processor and will let you be as hands-on or as hands-off as you want. And they win awards for doing it!
IEEE ACE - Design Team of the Year: IBM & Microsoft - Xbox 360
Am I the only one who expects MS to get sued for this?
I'll draw an analogy...
Car company X sells car A. A has a design error that causes a wheel to sometimes fly off the car, risking those inside.
Companies Y and Z sell new lugnuts that will fix the problem for $50.
Company X sees that Y and Z are selling lots of lugnuts and instead of placing these lugnuts on all new cars it builds decides to start selling the same lugnuts for $50 to anyone who wants to keep all four wheels on their car.
Plenty of people are already looking for any reason they can find to sue MS. This is making it too easy for them.
Kutaragi's desire to stratify the console market with Cell technology in effect wed Sony to the unpalatable prospect of charging an unprecedented price.
Great theory.
Sadly I think someone's forgetting the blueray drive.
x86-64 has bumped the number of general registers up to 16. Sure, its still less than the 32 used by PowerPC but the performance difference between the two will be negligable for most apps. In some cases more registers win. In other cases fewer registers win. (Think about saving registers on function calls, context switches, etc)
Besides, Cell in its current form wouldn't be a huge win in standard desktops. Its specialized for specific workloads and you wouldn't see the same performance gains across the board. In several areas which might be more common to a desktop PC you would probably see a drop in performance. This story doesn't really apply directly to Apple.
It requires those who sometimes work in the office of their New York employers to pay state taxes -- not only on the income they earn while physically in New York, but also on the income they earn at home. This often results in a double tax when the telecommuter's home state expects tax on the income the telecommuter earns at home."
That applies to a lot more than telecommuting and while its not fun it is definitely not as bad as it sounds. Despite the way this is worded the taxes you pay aren't additive.
A couple years ago I needed to file taxes in 3 states and the taxes came out effectively the same as if I paid a single state at the highest rate (which was NY).
40 hours a week... in Europe, specially in Slovenia or Germany (been there, done that...) you can only dream of those 40 hours per week.
To work ONLY 40 hours/week you have to be employed in some big company that doesn't allow you to work more.
Dvorak's predictions are often laughably off base but he definitely makes at least one good point.
8. Preoccupation with Google. Microsoft is too easily distracted by successful companies who are not competitors. There is a deep-rooted belief that if a company like Google is successful, then they are an enemy per se. So the company obsesses on what Google is doing rather than concentrating on important Microsoft projects.
I'm sure their methods were a little more rigorous than your heresay.
Becareful making making that assumption. While it may or may not apply to tfa it's becoming all too common that scientific "studies" are based little, if any, actual science.
Slashdot Mirror
Of course! You aren't supposed to be playing with a ps3 while driving! ... oh, not that kind of cell... nm
People need to understand that analysts like this are paid to look at the numbers and make their best guess at what will happen. Will it be dead on? No. Will it be close? Maybe, maybe not. Estimates far enough out in time are generally understood by people who look at these things to be best guesses and little more. Too many unexpected things fly out of no where to be dead on.
That being said, it does give the industry some information so that they can lay initial plans for the next 5 to 10 years. (Yes, a number of companies do plan at least this far in advance despite the speed at which the industry changes.)
Is it at all possible to block these backslash stories when logged into my account? /. story.
I get enough spam as is, I'd like to avoid seeing repeats of every 3rd
The parent was marked off topic?
/. receives day-to-day there had to be something better than this.
He raised a completely valid point about the question the OP asked. Just reading TFA the OP linked answers all the questions the OP asked.
Of all the submissions
I would imagine that it would not only be more expensive to install the initial cables but also to maintain them. Problem on the line? Go dig up the cables. Want to inspect something? Go dig up the cables.
That's not entirely true. Traditionally each generation has looked at the generation or two after it with concern. Today you have both the generations that preceded the baby boomers and the generations that follow the baby boomers looking at them thinking they need to grow up and develop some personal responsibility.
Maybe they'll be different, maybe they wont. Just don't be so sure you can predict what's going to happen.
lol. Maybe not.
I definitely agree that we need to maintain checks on government but why do so many people fight to believe every half-baked conspiracy theory they hear?
I haven't bought any games in a long time. The reason? There haven't been many good games released in a while. MMOs have very little to do with it.
Companies like GM, especially given the current state of the US auto manufacturers, can't afford to have a project flop like that. They need to build the products their customers want or they doom themselves to a slow death. They can't afford to be conspiratorial no matter how much you think they're out to get you.
Having the EV1 intentionally flop gains nothing for GM. The people who are pushing electric cars in public aren't exactly the kind of people that are going to change their mind if one product flops. If GM is smart enough to do the conspiracies you're claiming then they're smart enough to know they won't be able to change the publics view.
1) That article is based on estimates. We'll see what happens at the end of the year.
2) If I sold a $100 lead weight to everyone on the planet would it make me a technology leader? Sales is an arbitrary statistic and probably one of the worst. Why not use profit margin or return on investment?3) How about patents?
4) How about leading-edge custom processor design. IBM owns this generation of game consoles (Wii, ps3, xbox360 processors are all being designed at IBM). Why? IBM has an entire service organization that will build you your very own custom processor and will let you be as hands-on or as hands-off as you want. And they win awards for doing it!
/. - The breaking news from... last week.
I'll draw an analogy...
Plenty of people are already looking for any reason they can find to sue MS. This is making it too easy for them.
Sadly I think someone's forgetting the blueray drive.
x86-64 has bumped the number of general registers up to 16. Sure, its still less than the 32 used by PowerPC but the performance difference between the two will be negligable for most apps. In some cases more registers win. In other cases fewer registers win. (Think about saving registers on function calls, context switches, etc)
Besides, Cell in its current form wouldn't be a huge win in standard desktops. Its specialized for specific workloads and you wouldn't see the same performance gains across the board. In several areas which might be more common to a desktop PC you would probably see a drop in performance. This story doesn't really apply directly to Apple.
Be careful assuming a 3x cut in the number of instructions is a 3x speed increase.
There's plenty of instances where that isn't true.
That's something I'd almost believe...
A couple years ago I needed to file taxes in 3 states and the taxes came out effectively the same as if I paid a single state at the highest rate (which was NY).
What kind of genius honestly believed going to a computerized system was going to be more secure and solve everyone's problems?
Dvorak's predictions are often laughably off base but he definitely makes at least one good point. 8. Preoccupation with Google. Microsoft is too easily distracted by successful companies who are not competitors. There is a deep-rooted belief that if a company like Google is successful, then they are an enemy per se. So the company obsesses on what Google is doing rather than concentrating on important Microsoft projects.
I'm sure their methods were a little more rigorous than your heresay.
Becareful making making that assumption. While it may or may not apply to tfa it's becoming all too common that scientific "studies" are based little, if any, actual science.