I think you will find that only CRT monitors now contain lead. They have to have it as it is used to screen radiation generated by the CRT gun. All other types of monitor may not use lead by law in the EU (since July 2006) and soon China (March 2007). This is due new RoHS regulations that regulate the use of Lead in all consumer equipment.
This legislation means that tin/lead solder is now also illegal. Some people think that this is a good idea, but in fact it has been very misguided. The problem is that the solder has generally replaced by Copper Tin Silver (known as SAC), which has a much higher melting temperature. In fact if you heat the equivalent of a ton of this solder when compared with tin/lead, the additional energy used is equivalent to driving your family hatchback to the moon and back. - not good for the CO emissions then.
Another problem is that Silver is in fact more hazardous for the environment than lead. This is because it is dangerous to aquatic life and it leeches into water a lot more easily than the lead it is replacing. If fact the only problem with lead in this area can easily be rectified by recycling and reclaiming the material (which has to be done anyway).
Then there is the issue that tin and lead are normally found together, so only one hole has to be dug to remove them from the ground. While the amount of silver used is a lot less, it does require mining in areas where tin is not present.
And then there is the problem of reliability. Tin/lead solders are very stable and do not suffer from excessive problems with tin whisker (a fine shorting mechanism process caused by the crystal structure within tin, which the addition of lead removes) and tin pest (where tin expands due to changes in is crystal structure, again this effect is removed by adding lead). This means that your consumer device will not last as long as it did in the past, surely not a particular environmentally good thing as its production will introduce a large proportion of the CO2 that would be generated over the product's lifespan.
Don't get me wrong, leaded petrol was probably one of the biggest environment disasters ever devised by man and comes a close second to the CFC. The fact that both products were invented by the same man (Thomas Midgley, Jr) is even more ironic.
I wont be rushing to buy a computer with Vista - from what I have heard its no better than XP anyway.
I getting bored of the comparison between Windows Vista and MAC OSX. It is like comparing a Ford Focus to a BMW MINI; Yes they do the same job, but in different ways. What I do know is that I'm not going to upgrade my Windows XP laptop to Vista for fun, in fact I'm not upgrading it at all!
Wake me up when somebody actually finds a really fun use for Windows Vista that is over and above MAC OSX and Windows XP, apart from using restore discs for clay pigeon shooting!
If Steve Jobs left Apple now, it is conceivable that the first thing that would happen is that he would become CEO of Disney.
If Steve Jobs became CEO of Disney, the first thing he would do is buy Apple Inc - business as usual.
Why - quite simple. Sony makes films and also makes consumer electronics. There are considerable benefits in doing both, so by buying Apple Disney get in on the market.
It is something called Vertical Integration - an old business model that coming back into fashion.
The people concerned so think that they are intelligent as well. I remember an argument between an employee and a customer at my local Tesco superstore the other day. He was going on about part baked organic French bread. He must have been so clueless to understand that if you are after organic bread, the best way to buy it is fresh at an organic specialist (who would make it locally), not a supermarket. The probability is that the bread in the supermarket would arrive in plastic packaging, which it itself could add its own residue to the bread (I hope he panics when he realises this).
Now with this issue regarding WiFi, I would whether these clueless people will stop buying BMW X5s (hopeless pollution machines) as they have integrated bluetooth and Sat Nav systems.
I feel that Catherine Tate is already writing a sketch for he next series about this one (one of her characters portrays a posh, middle class, clueless, lets panic about everything that has a risk mum).
You can't keep children wrapped up in cotton wool all the time, they need to learn what is best for themselves.
Not surprised that mobile phones are bad in the US, especially as the pay phones are absolutely abysmal and are run by the same people (from personal experience on a recent trip to the US).
But then if you pay the car dealer he will still service the car after the warranty has expired for a fee. He won't expect you to pay $1800/£1000 for a complete new engine that isn't actually required, only to find that the engine is too big and it won't fit in the engine bay.
Also the manufacturer has a duty to provide spares for a car for at least 7 years after the last model was produced.
When you pay $80 million for a brand new Boeing 737, you expect support for slightly longer than 4 years. OK you have to pay for it, but it is support and it is expected for the life of the aircraft, which is at least 25 years.
Mayor of London Ken Livingston introduces a GHz charge on microprocessors used in London as he gets confused by the fact that AMD are to launch 4x4, as he thinks that they take up too much space and are bad for the environment.
Just because a product is old, it does not mean that the product is obsolete. That is something that the IT industry needs to learn.
The Automotive industry is a good example. Suppose you bought a brand new car today, you would expect that you would be able to operate that vehicle for a number of years, after all it is a big investment. However, if the vendor said after 4 years that the engine could no longer be maintained and that it must be immediately replaced at your cost, you would not be very impressed. You would be tempted to perform your own DIY and install your own engine from a different vendor.
Thing is, Microsoft in recent years has tried to market a versions of Windows for embedded applications. When users of these operating systems realise that after 4 years that microsoft will expect you to upgrade a major piece of equipment as they no longer support the software it is based on, the customers are not going to be happy.
An old computer may run old software, but there is every chance that in every other respect that it may still be just as useful as a new one. The computer may have features that are no longer supported such as ISA cards or serial ports that are required to operate certain useful external equipment and embedded applications. In essence the cost of upgrading the computer operating system may be much greater than requesting that existing software is maintained. Unfortuately this is one area where Microsoft are running the risk of loosing the plot.
As for Microsoft saying that Windows ME is 6 years old and is therefore unsupportable, until 4 and a half years ago it was the latest operating system for home computers. XP isn't even 5 years old yet, but one thing is certain, if Microsoft imsists that I upgrade to Vista within the next 2 years, I will upgrade to Linux or OSX.
In many countries you might not need a licence to watch TV, but you need a subscription to watch decent TV, and this costs you more. In many cases it will still have adverts.
When IE7 is offically released, I will probably install it, but I will only use it if the website I use doesn't work in Firefox. Since I tend to boycott most (if not all sites) that don't support Firefox, my download will probably be a waste of my hard drive disc space. In fact I think that the only time I'll be using IE7 is to protect myself from web nasties while I visit the Microsoft website to find out about the latest security holes in IE7.
Corel did take over JASC and obtained Paint Shop Pro (A good basic photo editing package), although I bet Adobe Photshop Elements have encrouched on this market now.
Actually there are a lot more technical reasons why wifi would be so expensive on an aircraft, and it is not all down to having an additional transmitter on board. The problem is that modern IC dice have feature sizes so small that they are susceptible to the atmospheric radiation present at altitude. The problem is that it is not just a case of shielding the ICs concerned, as this doesn't work (we are not shielding a signal - we are talking sub-atomic particles here).
The ever advancing computer industry is demanding ever faster ICs, which basically means that the die features shrink even more. Considering that to be reliable at altitude (from the point of view of aircraft electronics), digital ICs have to be made using a.25um feature size (which was common in 1997), when the latest processors can have a 65nm (that's 0.065um), it will not be long before your average laptop will become hopelessly unreliable in the air. In this way Boeing have realised that the wifi system will have a very limited future, not only in maintaining a system that has been used by very few customers, but a system that could introduce other risks in the future should the next generation of laptops prove unreliable to the extent that their wifi card causes interference to the control system electronics.
I have heard recently that some ipods have mysterious drive errors when used on an aircraft flight, yet when off the aircraft the players work correctly.
The point is simple, you can easily control the design and performance of aircraft electronics, but you cannot say the same about the average laptop, which has been designed to give the biggest performance for the lowest cost.
When it comes to robotics, Microsoft need to understand that they are not electromechnical engineers. There have been many "False Dawns" with the idea of robitics in the home, many problems are down to the fact that the robots need to interact with the most illogical lifeform on the planet - Man! When you consider that the market leaders in robots are mainly Japanise Car Manufacturers, whom only build demonstration models to show off how good they are at building robots. I can think of only two companies that have attempted to sell robots in the domestic market, Sony and its err.. Dog, and Dyson with a robotic vacumm cleaner.
The biggest problem with robots in our homes is safety. No only does the robot have to perform complex tasks that may appear easy to humans, but it also has to ensure that humans do not come into danger as a result. With the kind of blame culture in the West, it would be crazy to think that anybody will enter this market without understanding the implications of a lawsuit. That's why robots are good in environments where human access is restricted, such as the factory or on a space mission.
My advice to Microsoft is simple, continue what you are good at - screwing all those companies (especially those with less ethical business practices) with your high priced Operating Systems and Office Solutions for use in business IT systems. Yes, those of us in the know will continually priase Linux or Apple (and save lots of money in the process by buying a more suited product) and maybe think that the XBox is possibly a good product.
However, if Microsoft think they can bring some innovative to the market, they better get in contact with the high reliability electronics market - robots are not going to be consumer devices anyday soon...
But GM are LOSING big money (at least $1500 per car in the US at the moment), mostly because they have to offer big discounts for SUV based on old technology that nobody want anymore due to the high price of fuel. The problems are compounded by old factories that GM want to close, but they are so scared of overpowerful unions and will not sit down and negotiate chaging work practices.
On the other hand, Toyota are making a profit, even though they have lost money on every Prius in the past.
In all, GM are just about backrupt, so the GM SUV in a museum is just about right for the wrong reasons, as GM will soon be extinct, yet the electric/hybrid car will not.
A major pillar of the Indian Economy it may be, but then in a previous post on this thread there is the simple matter that people in India are generally very poor. Therefore, it doesn't actually take very much business to drastically increase the GDP of a very poor Nation.
Take it this way, there was in articule in a Newspaper in the UK today that contained an articule on the factory in China that manufactures IPods. Apparently, the workforce live in the factory and get approximately £27 (about $45) per month. When you consider that that is equivalent to about 5 hours work at minimum wage in the UK, go figure out where the money being saved is actually going?
Profits for the excutives that made the decision and maybe for the sharholders. Guaranteed the consumer won't benefit from low costs will they? Especially if they lost their job as a result.
Outsourcing to developing Nations, especially Nations which have very poor human rights records is nothing more than slavery. But then isn't most of the population of the US a slave to the US economny, including the US government?
Thanks to the good old atmospheric radiation upset, caused by the small sub 0.25um geometries of modern commercial silicon. That's why aerospace electronics appear very old fashioned in comparison with the consumer world.
And before you ask, sheilding the device doesn't actually work, we are talking about radiation and not radio waves.
Currently, you can't use them on a passenger aircraft, as they are all mobile phones and have to be turned off throughout the flight, in many cases by law!
Looks like one place where an MP3 player could come in very useful to pass away the time....
- The only supersonic airliner was Concorde - No longer in service.
- Nobody has been to the moon either.
Yes we have this "cool" technology these days, but we are not putting it to good use. My manager at work placed his laptop next to his 20 year old Sinclair Spectrum, and proceed to load Manic Miner (from tape) on the Specturm while the laptop was booting-up. Guess what? he was playing manic miner before the laptop had booted up - now that is progress.
Just because something is old, it doesn't make it obsolete. The life of the average civil jet airliner is 25 years; just imagine trying to build spare electronic controllers for it. A lot of modern electroincs isn't up to the job , so you are going to have to source the same components that were commonplace 25 years ago....
Sorry this articule is "Stating the Obvious" and doesn't even analyse the market correctly - Amateur Hour!
The real reason why many Firefox users have the browser installed on their PC is because IE 6.0 isn't supported by their operating system and/or hardware, or they are fed up with the poor code and critical patches not being implemented quicky enough.
IE, and to a lesser extent Firefox, are only as good as their last critical patch. One day one of them (most likely Microsoft) will get things so wrong that a serious security breach will go unchecked until too many people either loose money or data (or in some cases both).
I've spent quite an amount of time testing professional software applications. One thing I have found out time and again is that having all of the possible features does not necessarily make better software - it is just more likely to consfuse the user.
There is an old addage:-
KISS - "Keep It Simple Stupid"
Do your market research, put the features in the customer wants. If the customer wants more features, it can be used as a good excuse for an upgraded version of the software. Above all make sure your software delivers, because a customer can forgive a delay, but they can't forgive poor quality.
Slashdot Mirror
I think you will find that only CRT monitors now contain lead. They have to have it as it is used to screen radiation generated by the CRT gun. All other types of monitor may not use lead by law in the EU (since July 2006) and soon China (March 2007). This is due new RoHS regulations that regulate the use of Lead in all consumer equipment.
This legislation means that tin/lead solder is now also illegal. Some people think that this is a good idea, but in fact it has been very misguided. The problem is that the solder has generally replaced by Copper Tin Silver (known as SAC), which has a much higher melting temperature. In fact if you heat the equivalent of a ton of this solder when compared with tin/lead, the additional energy used is equivalent to driving your family hatchback to the moon and back. - not good for the CO emissions then.
Another problem is that Silver is in fact more hazardous for the environment than lead. This is because it is dangerous to aquatic life and it leeches into water a lot more easily than the lead it is replacing. If fact the only problem with lead in this area can easily be rectified by recycling and reclaiming the material (which has to be done anyway).
Then there is the issue that tin and lead are normally found together, so only one hole has to be dug to remove them from the ground. While the amount of silver used is a lot less, it does require mining in areas where tin is not present.
And then there is the problem of reliability. Tin/lead solders are very stable and do not suffer from excessive problems with tin whisker (a fine shorting mechanism process caused by the crystal structure within tin, which the addition of lead removes) and tin pest (where tin expands due to changes in is crystal structure, again this effect is removed by adding lead). This means that your consumer device will not last as long as it did in the past, surely not a particular environmentally good thing as its production will introduce a large proportion of the CO2 that would be generated over the product's lifespan.
Don't get me wrong, leaded petrol was probably one of the biggest environment disasters ever devised by man and comes a close second to the CFC. The fact that both products were invented by the same man (Thomas Midgley, Jr) is even more ironic.
I wont be rushing to buy a computer with Vista - from what I have heard its no better than XP anyway.
I getting bored of the comparison between Windows Vista and MAC OSX. It is like comparing a Ford Focus to a BMW MINI; Yes they do the same job, but in different ways. What I do know is that I'm not going to upgrade my Windows XP laptop to Vista for fun, in fact I'm not upgrading it at all!
Wake me up when somebody actually finds a really fun use for Windows Vista that is over and above MAC OSX and Windows XP, apart from using restore discs for clay pigeon shooting!
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
If Steve Jobs left Apple now, it is conceivable that the first thing that would happen is that he would become CEO of Disney. If Steve Jobs became CEO of Disney, the first thing he would do is buy Apple Inc - business as usual. Why - quite simple. Sony makes films and also makes consumer electronics. There are considerable benefits in doing both, so by buying Apple Disney get in on the market. It is something called Vertical Integration - an old business model that coming back into fashion.
A Mainly Games Architecture (AMIGA) is required!
The people concerned so think that they are intelligent as well. I remember an argument between an employee and a customer at my local Tesco superstore the other day. He was going on about part baked organic French bread. He must have been so clueless to understand that if you are after organic bread, the best way to buy it is fresh at an organic specialist (who would make it locally), not a supermarket. The probability is that the bread in the supermarket would arrive in plastic packaging, which it itself could add its own residue to the bread (I hope he panics when he realises this).
Now with this issue regarding WiFi, I would whether these clueless people will stop buying BMW X5s (hopeless pollution machines) as they have integrated bluetooth and Sat Nav systems.
I feel that Catherine Tate is already writing a sketch for he next series about this one (one of her characters portrays a posh, middle class, clueless, lets panic about everything that has a risk mum).
You can't keep children wrapped up in cotton wool all the time, they need to learn what is best for themselves.
Not surprised that mobile phones are bad in the US, especially as the pay phones are absolutely abysmal and are run by the same people (from personal experience on a recent trip to the US).
I would like to add some accessories:-
Wooden Monitor
Wooden Keyboard
Wooden Mouse
But then I think the final computer Wooden work!
Beige? Beige! The Player of choice for somebody like Tony Blackburn...
OK Hipsters, I'll get my cool flares on and boogie on down to the disco in my Ford Capri...
Your Zune Player has decided that it has lost the will to live, the battery will now explode in five seconds.
What will launch first in Europe, PS3 or Microsoft Windows Vista?
or will Duke Nukem Forever will hit the shops (for the PS1!!) just in time for launch!
But then if you pay the car dealer he will still service the car after the warranty has expired for a fee. He won't expect you to pay $1800/£1000 for a complete new engine that isn't actually required, only to find that the engine is too big and it won't fit in the engine bay. Also the manufacturer has a duty to provide spares for a car for at least 7 years after the last model was produced.
When you pay $80 million for a brand new Boeing 737, you expect support for slightly longer than 4 years. OK you have to pay for it, but it is support and it is expected for the life of the aircraft, which is at least 25 years.
Mayor of London Ken Livingston introduces a GHz charge on microprocessors used in London as he gets confused by the fact that AMD are to launch 4x4, as he thinks that they take up too much space and are bad for the environment.
Just because a product is old, it does not mean that the product is obsolete. That is something that the IT industry needs to learn.
The Automotive industry is a good example. Suppose you bought a brand new car today, you would expect that you would be able to operate that vehicle for a number of years, after all it is a big investment. However, if the vendor said after 4 years that the engine could no longer be maintained and that it must be immediately replaced at your cost, you would not be very impressed. You would be tempted to perform your own DIY and install your own engine from a different vendor.
Thing is, Microsoft in recent years has tried to market a versions of Windows for embedded applications. When users of these operating systems realise that after 4 years that microsoft will expect you to upgrade a major piece of equipment as they no longer support the software it is based on, the customers are not going to be happy.
An old computer may run old software, but there is every chance that in every other respect that it may still be just as useful as a new one. The computer may have features that are no longer supported such as ISA cards or serial ports that are required to operate certain useful external equipment and embedded applications. In essence the cost of upgrading the computer operating system may be much greater than requesting that existing software is maintained. Unfortuately this is one area where Microsoft are running the risk of loosing the plot.
As for Microsoft saying that Windows ME is 6 years old and is therefore unsupportable, until 4 and a half years ago it was the latest operating system for home computers. XP isn't even 5 years old yet, but one thing is certain, if Microsoft imsists that I upgrade to Vista within the next 2 years, I will upgrade to Linux or OSX.
In many countries you might not need a licence to watch TV, but you need a subscription to watch decent TV, and this costs you more. In many cases it will still have adverts.
As they say go figure...
When IE7 is offically released, I will probably install it, but I will only use it if the website I use doesn't work in Firefox. Since I tend to boycott most (if not all sites) that don't support Firefox, my download will probably be a waste of my hard drive disc space. In fact I think that the only time I'll be using IE7 is to protect myself from web nasties while I visit the Microsoft website to find out about the latest security holes in IE7.
Corel did take over JASC and obtained Paint Shop Pro (A good basic photo editing package), although I bet Adobe Photshop Elements have encrouched on this market now.
Actually there are a lot more technical reasons why wifi would be so expensive on an aircraft, and it is not all down to having an additional transmitter on board. The problem is that modern IC dice have feature sizes so small that they are susceptible to the atmospheric radiation present at altitude. The problem is that it is not just a case of shielding the ICs concerned, as this doesn't work (we are not shielding a signal - we are talking sub-atomic particles here).
.25um feature size (which was common in 1997), when the latest processors can have a 65nm (that's 0.065um), it will not be long before your average laptop will become hopelessly unreliable in the air. In this way Boeing have realised that the wifi system will have a very limited future, not only in maintaining a system that has been used by very few customers, but a system that could introduce other risks in the future should the next generation of laptops prove unreliable to the extent that their wifi card causes interference to the control system electronics.
The ever advancing computer industry is demanding ever faster ICs, which basically means that the die features shrink even more. Considering that to be reliable at altitude (from the point of view of aircraft electronics), digital ICs have to be made using a
I have heard recently that some ipods have mysterious drive errors when used on an aircraft flight, yet when off the aircraft the players work correctly.
The point is simple, you can easily control the design and performance of aircraft electronics, but you cannot say the same about the average laptop, which has been designed to give the biggest performance for the lowest cost.
When it comes to robotics, Microsoft need to understand that they are not electromechnical engineers. There have been many "False Dawns" with the idea of robitics in the home, many problems are down to the fact that the robots need to interact with the most illogical lifeform on the planet - Man! When you consider that the market leaders in robots are mainly Japanise Car Manufacturers, whom only build demonstration models to show off how good they are at building robots. I can think of only two companies that have attempted to sell robots in the domestic market, Sony and its err.. Dog, and Dyson with a robotic vacumm cleaner.
The biggest problem with robots in our homes is safety. No only does the robot have to perform complex tasks that may appear easy to humans, but it also has to ensure that humans do not come into danger as a result. With the kind of blame culture in the West, it would be crazy to think that anybody will enter this market without understanding the implications of a lawsuit. That's why robots are good in environments where human access is restricted, such as the factory or on a space mission.
My advice to Microsoft is simple, continue what you are good at - screwing all those companies (especially those with less ethical business practices) with your high priced Operating Systems and Office Solutions for use in business IT systems. Yes, those of us in the know will continually priase Linux or Apple (and save lots of money in the process by buying a more suited product) and maybe think that the XBox is possibly a good product.
However, if Microsoft think they can bring some innovative to the market, they better get in contact with the high reliability electronics market - robots are not going to be consumer devices anyday soon...
But GM are LOSING big money (at least $1500 per car in the US at the moment), mostly because they have to offer big discounts for SUV based on old technology that nobody want anymore due to the high price of fuel. The problems are compounded by old factories that GM want to close, but they are so scared of overpowerful unions and will not sit down and negotiate chaging work practices.
On the other hand, Toyota are making a profit, even though they have lost money on every Prius in the past.
In all, GM are just about backrupt, so the GM SUV in a museum is just about right for the wrong reasons, as GM will soon be extinct, yet the electric/hybrid car will not.
A major pillar of the Indian Economy it may be, but then in a previous post on this thread there is the simple matter that people in India are generally very poor. Therefore, it doesn't actually take very much business to drastically increase the GDP of a very poor Nation.
Take it this way, there was in articule in a Newspaper in the UK today that contained an articule on the factory in China that manufactures IPods. Apparently, the workforce live in the factory and get approximately £27 (about $45) per month. When you consider that that is equivalent to about 5 hours work at minimum wage in the UK, go figure out where the money being saved is actually going?
Profits for the excutives that made the decision and maybe for the sharholders. Guaranteed the consumer won't benefit from low costs will they? Especially if they lost their job as a result.
Outsourcing to developing Nations, especially Nations which have very poor human rights records is nothing more than slavery. But then isn't most of the population of the US a slave to the US economny, including the US government?
Thanks to the good old atmospheric radiation upset, caused by the small sub 0.25um geometries of modern commercial silicon. That's why aerospace electronics appear very old fashioned in comparison with the consumer world.
And before you ask, sheilding the device doesn't actually work, we are talking about radiation and not radio waves.
Currently, you can't use them on a passenger aircraft, as they are all mobile phones and have to be turned off throughout the flight, in many cases by law!
Looks like one place where an MP3 player could come in very useful to pass away the time....
In the last 30 years:-
- The only supersonic airliner was Concorde - No longer in service.
- Nobody has been to the moon either.
Yes we have this "cool" technology these days, but we are not putting it to good use. My manager at work placed his laptop next to his 20 year old Sinclair Spectrum, and proceed to load Manic Miner (from tape) on the Specturm while the laptop was booting-up. Guess what? he was playing manic miner before the laptop had booted up - now that is progress.
Just because something is old, it doesn't make it obsolete. The life of the average civil jet airliner is 25 years; just imagine trying to build spare electronic controllers for it. A lot of modern electroincs isn't up to the job , so you are going to have to source the same components that were commonplace 25 years ago....
Sorry this articule is "Stating the Obvious" and doesn't even analyse the market correctly - Amateur Hour! The real reason why many Firefox users have the browser installed on their PC is because IE 6.0 isn't supported by their operating system and/or hardware, or they are fed up with the poor code and critical patches not being implemented quicky enough. IE, and to a lesser extent Firefox, are only as good as their last critical patch. One day one of them (most likely Microsoft) will get things so wrong that a serious security breach will go unchecked until too many people either loose money or data (or in some cases both).
I've spent quite an amount of time testing professional software applications. One thing I have found out time and again is that having all of the possible features does not necessarily make better software - it is just more likely to consfuse the user.
There is an old addage:-
KISS - "Keep It Simple Stupid"
Do your market research, put the features in the customer wants. If the customer wants more features, it can be used as a good excuse for an upgraded version of the software. Above all make sure your software delivers, because a customer can forgive a delay, but they can't forgive poor quality.