UDO is about to become the next generation standard on 5.25-inch optical drive technology, replacing the existing magneto-optical (MO) base of drives and discs of the same diameter.
So this is about to become the standard? IMHO, there are still issues with normal DVD's with standards (DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD R, etc.). I think this is a step forward, but I think all the companies manufacturing the new line of blue laser DVD burners need to agree with a standard and keep with it.
The other point though... when will this "generation" be the current technology? I still think that by the time the drives and media are cost effective, you might as well buy a hard drive to store the data. Yes, I know that obsolete technology like the floppy disk is still around, but I still think that 30, or even the possible 120 gigs as seen in the article will be too small by the time the drives hit the main market at reasonable price.
The parent post brings up an interesting point, but I don't that it applies for Linux as a whole. For example, many distros do NOT change rapidly, but mainly patch and upgrade packages, fix bugs, etc. And the main underworkings of the system are made in a way to be especially compatable with older/new releases to support legacy software and hardware. Perhaps Red Hat is changing the way it works in a different full release, but I doubt you'd have problems developing software for such distros as Debian or Slackware (with the exception of the new Slackware 9 release of course).
So, in the end, I don't think that the reasoning that things update too often is a just cause for not developing new commercial software. If that was to be true, I wouldn't be able to run my apps in any distro but Debian, but I'm sure that someone using Red Hat can use the same version of Mozilla, XMMS, etc. that I use. Distro versions and updates should not matter, and I'm pretty sure that's the case for most applications out there.
As part of an 11-week module that will st art next January, third0year undergraduates at the University of Leeds will be asked to hack into software and fix any sucurity bugs they find [...]
Wow, if they are "hacking" Microsoft's software, they have a ton of work ahead of them. Imagine all those security bugs;)
I'm a bit confused about this article... it claims
It has often been said in the PC hardware industry that applications are not demanding enough to drive upgrades. The dilemma of applications makers is they need to produce software that will run on most people's computers at the time it is released. Another problem is that slower machines will still run most applications, albeit slower than optimally. Perhaps AMD and Intel should pay software companies bonuses for releasing CPU-cycle hungry games and applications that simply do not run well on anything but very recent hardware.
By that reasoning, Intel and AMD, along with other CPU manufacturers, should not have to continue any research on new chips; instead programmers should be optimizing code to run better on the same architecture. And if that was completely true, why would 32 bit be necessary, or 16 for that matter?
I think the point would not be to "pay" developers to make software for a new architecture. I think that if there were signifacant advantages to this architecture, it wouldn't be necessary to bribe developers. Also, with most companies going along with whatever viewpoint M$ has, of course there will be some resistance to the new move. Hopefully the linux projects will prove that there is an advantage to the 64 bit, and then Intel be stuck with their foot in their mouth.
You aren't insane. There is no headphone jack...
They released an adapter in Japan that connects via the the AC adapter port on the Game Boy. It's a strange way to do things, granted, and I'm not 100% if the headphone adapter is slated for US release (but I'd assume it will come out). It shouldn't be too expensive, but it's an odd feature to leave out.
Don't get me wrong, the visuals are nice and all. But the motion seemed really forced and awkward. I don't mean to put the show down, but realism is more then a pretty picture; details that are left out seem blatently obvious. Lack of skin texture gives it a nonrealistic feel, the sense that the mouths and words didn't match up well, and the way that the characters moved seemed very strange, almost like they were staggering around (especially in the concluding shot of the trailor). I think that the animation definately is good, and could be really successful in creating a good show. It's unfonate that a few things could detract from well done CGI images, but that seems to separate the average CGI animation from the extremely realistic.
Sure, these look really cool. And to be honest, I wouldn't mind having a nice clear case and all. But, is it entirely necessary? My case currently resides on the floor between my desk and my roommates desk in my dorm room. From what I've seen, most cases sit on the floor next to a desk, no? A nice looking case is good and all, but is it practical? I'd rather spend the extra money and buy extra hard drives, etc., something that serves a better function then "looking cool". I mean, it's like buying an old, beat-up car with no engine, and giving it a spoiler, racing stripes, etc. But hey, if someone gave me a check for a few hundred dollars, and I had nothing to spend it on, a clear case would be nice.
Sure, this definately looks like it could be a great setup: fast, and compatable on multiple systems. But how much will this technology cost? Standard, run of the mill IDE hard drives are about a dollar per Gig. Regular SCSI is a few times higher, especially as drives grow in size. This will be a great advantage if the price range is in the middle of the range, but I doubt that. Now, this won't matter to those with plenty of money to burn on their servers, but would that added price be worth the new types of hard drives? I still don't even see a huge advantage to going Serial ATA right now, so this seemingly good idea could just be another good idea that won't pan out for most users.
In other news, SCO joins up with Mac to sue Microsoft, Gnome, KDE, and various other window manager software companies for usage of the "trash can" icon or a similar varient. The amount will come to... 100 billion-gazillion dollars... or something like that
I go to a university which has had bandwidth problems as well. We have a nice net speed (10mps), but instead of charging for total bandwidth, students at my school have unlimited downloads but capped uploads. It seems that 99% of the time, bandwidth problems come from students leaving P2P programs (i.e. KaZaA) on 24/7, uploading gig after gig of movies, etc. With a cap of 10 gigs a week (which is very reasonable for ligit purposes) of uploads, the school has fixed the main problem in bandwidth problems (uploading off campus) without causing students to react negatively. IMHO, Cornell should reconsider the move to capping so low, because there are many legit reasons to need more then 2 gigs a month; if their lines can't handle more then that, it's time for an upgrade.
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The first time i chuckled, the second time i growned... the past three times I wonder what the ed's are doing! Come on now, enough already ;-)
The parent post brings up an interesting point, but I don't that it applies for Linux as a whole. For example, many distros do NOT change rapidly, but mainly patch and upgrade packages, fix bugs, etc. And the main underworkings of the system are made in a way to be especially compatable with older/new releases to support legacy software and hardware. Perhaps Red Hat is changing the way it works in a different full release, but I doubt you'd have problems developing software for such distros as Debian or Slackware (with the exception of the new Slackware 9 release of course). So, in the end, I don't think that the reasoning that things update too often is a just cause for not developing new commercial software. If that was to be true, I wouldn't be able to run my apps in any distro but Debian, but I'm sure that someone using Red Hat can use the same version of Mozilla, XMMS, etc. that I use. Distro versions and updates should not matter, and I'm pretty sure that's the case for most applications out there.
You aren't insane. There is no headphone jack... They released an adapter in Japan that connects via the the AC adapter port on the Game Boy. It's a strange way to do things, granted, and I'm not 100% if the headphone adapter is slated for US release (but I'd assume it will come out). It shouldn't be too expensive, but it's an odd feature to leave out.
Don't get me wrong, the visuals are nice and all. But the motion seemed really forced and awkward. I don't mean to put the show down, but realism is more then a pretty picture; details that are left out seem blatently obvious. Lack of skin texture gives it a nonrealistic feel, the sense that the mouths and words didn't match up well, and the way that the characters moved seemed very strange, almost like they were staggering around (especially in the concluding shot of the trailor). I think that the animation definately is good, and could be really successful in creating a good show. It's unfonate that a few things could detract from well done CGI images, but that seems to separate the average CGI animation from the extremely realistic.
Sure, these look really cool. And to be honest, I wouldn't mind having a nice clear case and all. But, is it entirely necessary? My case currently resides on the floor between my desk and my roommates desk in my dorm room. From what I've seen, most cases sit on the floor next to a desk, no? A nice looking case is good and all, but is it practical? I'd rather spend the extra money and buy extra hard drives, etc., something that serves a better function then "looking cool". I mean, it's like buying an old, beat-up car with no engine, and giving it a spoiler, racing stripes, etc. But hey, if someone gave me a check for a few hundred dollars, and I had nothing to spend it on, a clear case would be nice.
Sure, this definately looks like it could be a great setup: fast, and compatable on multiple systems. But how much will this technology cost? Standard, run of the mill IDE hard drives are about a dollar per Gig. Regular SCSI is a few times higher, especially as drives grow in size. This will be a great advantage if the price range is in the middle of the range, but I doubt that. Now, this won't matter to those with plenty of money to burn on their servers, but would that added price be worth the new types of hard drives? I still don't even see a huge advantage to going Serial ATA right now, so this seemingly good idea could just be another good idea that won't pan out for most users.
In other news, SCO joins up with Mac to sue Microsoft, Gnome, KDE, and various other window manager software companies for usage of the "trash can" icon or a similar varient. The amount will come to... 100 billion-gazillion dollars... or something like that
I go to a university which has had bandwidth problems as well. We have a nice net speed (10mps), but instead of charging for total bandwidth, students at my school have unlimited downloads but capped uploads. It seems that 99% of the time, bandwidth problems come from students leaving P2P programs (i.e. KaZaA) on 24/7, uploading gig after gig of movies, etc. With a cap of 10 gigs a week (which is very reasonable for ligit purposes) of uploads, the school has fixed the main problem in bandwidth problems (uploading off campus) without causing students to react negatively. IMHO, Cornell should reconsider the move to capping so low, because there are many legit reasons to need more then 2 gigs a month; if their lines can't handle more then that, it's time for an upgrade.