You are a very wise man.
The problem with a lot of computer products is that they still meet the needs of most users, even if they are 5 or even 10 years old.
You would not build an aircraft and then throw it away after 2 years - why should we be doing the same with computers?
All Apple need to do is release OS X for Intel PCs before Vista ships and Microsoft could be completely sunk in months. The marketing would be why upgrade to untested code, when you can use your existing operating system and a reliable tested operating system with a lower risk from virus attacks alongside each other.
Yes, there would probably be a lack of drivers for mainly advanced 3D graphics cars, but then it would be aimed at a dual booting PC, so Games players could still go back to using XP if they need to.
The funny thing would be that the cost of adding OSX to a PC, would be the same as adding Vista.
This is a compelete disaster for all PC vendors. Now that the hardware is essentially avaiable with the release of new Core Duo and Pentium D Processers, along with the 256 mB 3D Graphics cards, PC Vendors will have the new computers ready, but nobody in their right mind will want to buy one until Vista ships. With Microsoft missing the Christmas season by a couple of weeks, there are going to be some very annoyed PC vendors out there.
The problem is simple really, if you buy a PC before Vista ships, you will have to pay extra to have Vista installed when it is released, which will probably be about £100 ($160); more than the price difference of an specification equivalent Apple when compared with a PC. Therefore, the issue is going to be why consumers will be buying a computer that has an obsolete operating system and risk losing their personal data to upgrade it themselves two weeks later; amateur hour or what?
More worryingly is the fact that Microsoft want to pull the plug on XP in about 2 years time. This is in an era when car manufacturers give a 3 year warranty for their cars and have to support the cars for spare parts for at least 7 years after manufacture. This attitude is unacceptable.
Computers are very complex pieces of equipment. However, if I purchase a computer for home and business use, I would expect the computer to work correctly for a reasonable amount of time (i.e. at least 3 years). Unless Microsoft are prepared to install a free copy of Vista on all PCs sold with XP at the end of the year, I think there is going to be a backlash like Microsoft hasn't seen before.
I can see a number of problems with this lock-in that could cause more problems than they solve:-
1) Four Intel users and one AMD user are on a conference call. An Intel user joins the discussion. Does this mean that the AMD user gets booted out of the conversation?
2) Where do non-wintel platforms stand? say if I'm running a Power Mac with a G5 processor? would the same happen if I was using an Intel based MAC?
3) Surely Skype is now owned by Ebay? If this is so, don't they realise they stand to loose out when the users in the "know" stop using them as a protest to stupid software lock-ins?
4) What is to stop other features being restricted to certain platforms and operating systems in future?
Only corporate America could come up with something as stupid as this.
The problem with expecting that because your computer is old it will not get infected by a virus is a very bad assumption. While it is true that having a dial up connection may protect you due to the fact that the some of the viruses require the downloading of a potentially large file, it does not cover the fact that there may still be vunerabilities in your system.
The flip side is that if you are a Windows user using dial up, you still have to download those large windows patch files to cover up the gaping holes left by Microsoft. This means that all that happens is that you waste even more of your time. I bet that Vista will be more of the same, and will probably result in the statement that Vista will "Require the use of a broadband connection".
There are of course some areas where the new technology causes vunerabilities, like for instance the latest reported issues with WiFi in Windows XP that leave your machine potentially open to hackers, which Microsoft will not patch until mid 2007. But then there are issues like the WMF vunerabilities, which Microsoft has decided not to issue a patch for older version of windows, even though it was present in Windows 3.1 in 1992.
Using an operating system that is properly structure to prevent vunerabilities happening is the best way to protect a computer. The fact that many older operating systems such as VMS were designed around the idea of security, means that they are very much less likely to be the target of an attack by a virus hacker.
The other avantage that other operating systems are much more obscure and cannot run Windows code. Hence what you are seeing is evolution in progress, with the operating systems starting to take on the form of DNA. A serious flaw could be identified tommorrow, which could be used infect every Windows computer in the world. Linux and Mac users would then laugh their head off.
We should stop being like cloned sheep; either Microsoft provide secure product that isn't based on code written in the past, which allows us to turn off the bits that we don't need; or we should use something else.
Microsoft don't make any money on Media Player or IE, unless it has been bundled with Windows. You have to pay for Office, and if they can make good money out of the product, then they will continue to sell it. It is likely that Microsoft make more money out of Office than any other product.
I think this is talking about a third party add-on expansion system that was available on the Sinclair ZX81/Timex Sinclair TS1000. In theory it would have enabled you to expand a Z80A based computer with 1K (yes Kilo Bytes!) up to a maximium of 4 Megabytes (which was an enormous amount of memory in 1982 when Bill Gates said that 640K should be enough for anyone!). Thing is, I have recently see a similar system on the market at a local computer shop recently that uses the system for stacking external hard drives.
There was a similar horizontal expansion system for the Amstrad CPC range of computers, that offered greater amounts of memory, and various types of interfaces.
Just because something is "Old", it does mean that it isn't useful.
The average Car has a lifespan of 10 years, the average commercial jet airliner has a lifespan of 25 years and many military jets entering service now will be in service in 40 years time (although they would have some major upgrades during this life cycle).
I think that it is about time Microsft were held responsible for making computers obsolete, when the hardware has years of life left in it. If the operating system you are using is no longer supported, they must offer you a free or very low cost upgrade the software current standard, or be forced to buy back your obsolete hardware for disposal in an environmentally friendly manner - the polluter pays.
Yes, the processor might be a lot slower, but that doesn't mean that it isn't useful to someone whom is only using the computer for basic functionality such as word processing and surfing the internet.
Ironically, Toyota have recently lauched two small cars in Europe (Aygo and Yaris), both featuring a highly efficient 1 litre, 3 cylinder petrol engine, whith variable valave timing that weights only 69kg (147lbs). The thing is that the performance, while it isn't going to set the world alight, is actually quite good (especially in comparison with the Smart ForTwo).
The Aygo (which is built in partnership with PSA group) has a combined fuel efficency of over 61mpg (that is British Gallons), with reports that many drivers are getting over 75 mpg out of them.
As for Pollution, the Aygo is EURO IV group B rated (not sure about the Yaris, it may be a little greater due to the fact that it is a bigger car). The only group A rated car ever sold in the UK was the Honda Insight.
Maybe Dell are going to build the Intel-Macs for Apple, as they already have closer dealings with Intel and quite possbily could get bigger discounts for the chipsets? If this is so, then Apple in return could allow Dell to sell the Intel Macs via their website, maybe even using their own customer support network. Dell may even have helped Apple to accelerate the introduction of the new Macs as a result.
The bottom line would be a partnership between Dell and Apple, which if successful may mean that Dell could lower their support for Windows when Vista is released; which by all accounts appears to be bloatware. Might even force Microsoft to continue shipping XP for longer as a result.
Could this be the real reason why Microsoft have stopped all support for IE on the MAC?
I think we are going to have problems, as only the record executives are the only not breaking the law.
Maybe I should write a sort song, using some typical sentences from a legal document. Then I should sue everybody that publishes the lyics from my song!
This could be a completely new game; writing something that does not contain the lyrics of a copyrighted song; thus preventing any future court action by an over zealous music industry that can't understand why most of its customers are going to end up in jail.
This is highly illegal, and any company knowingly selling these products should be prosecuted.
Now start to really worry...
If counterfeit components get into the electronics supply chain the effects can be absolutely diasterous. It could affect the operation of your home computer, the operation of the lifts in your office block, or make ABS brake system failed on your car, causing you to have a serious accident.
What is now happening is that old electronic equipment is being shipped to China. Valuable components are removed from the PCBs (using hazardous methods with no regard to the health of the people carrying out the work) and then the are cleaned up, re-marked and placed back on the market.
Why should this happen with old and obsolete components? it is because they are valuable to those people operating equipment with long lifecycles; namely trains, cars and aircraft.
The problem will be for much of the IT industry is that those making the decisions would ask only one question:
Does it Run Windows?
If the answer is no that the manager will say something like:
"I don't care if the processor is the most powerful ever developed, costs next to nothing to produce and will allow us to build a powerful computer the size of of pea. If it doesn't run Windows, then I'm not interested".
And that sums up the total IT knowledge of that manager.
By forcing intrusive and dangerous DRM management, without fully consulting third party hardware and software vendors that the product is used on, Sony deserve everything thrown at them, especially from the fact that they have not only placed Microsoft in a difficult position, but also upset Philips by producing non-Red Book CDs.
Problem is will anybody want to fit a Bluray disc in their computer after this fiasco?
I have just been watching Channel 4 news (a major news program here in the UK). There was an item about a new museum that is being opened in order to prove that intelligent design exists. Not only have they used props from the film Crocodile Dundee in their creation of the Garden of Eden, but also they have lot of models of dinosaurs. In addition, they have a fossil of a dinosaur that has been previously dated as being in the region of 100 million years old (I can't remember the exact date) that the museum was trying to state was 6,000 years old.
There was a big flaw pointed out to the museum, there are no dinosaurs mentioned in the Bible.
The problem with this proposed idea of subscription-based software could backfire in the future in a spectacular way that could cost an absolute fortune in support. The problem is this, you buy a computer and take out a support contract, you run the computer for a few years and it works fine, until the support for the software runs out as the vendor does not wish to spend more money on that particular product. Fine, you might save, upgrade to the latest version of that software. But what happens if the latest version of that software is not fit form and function compatible with your requirements, or an additional piece of hardware/software does not work on the new system.
You could be forced into upgrading hardware at your own cost, and if that cost impacts your business, well you could be forced to do the best for your company and its shareholders and sue the software company concerned, especially if the software company promised a number of years service at the beginning. But the software vendor will probably start to say that the software you hired was fit for purpose, and you are using it outside its recommended operating conditions and will refuse to continue supporting your product, even though they retain the right the to software that in some way prevents you from using it. When this happens, only lawyers will win.
What a subscription service will do is make more companies use an open source operating systems and have their software written specifically for that platform, retaining all copyrights to the code in the process. By doing this the company will gain the benefits of an open source platform that is continuously being updated, while your source code can easily be modified to suit your business/application should it become necessary. Not only would this significantly extend the lifecycle of your system, but also you would lower your liability for the recycling of obsolete equipment. Yes, the outlay may be more expensive, but you would get a system that met your needs, and not the needs of a particular software vendor. I think that this is the situation that Microsoft would not like, a real rod for their back for future business.
Just because a computer is old, it doesn't make it any less useful to the right people in the right hands. Think of it this way, a typical automotive manufacturer has to support their cars for at least 7 years after they have produced the last example of that particular model, in the aerospace industry the lifecycle can be over 25 years. Imaging going to IBM to request a replacement 8086 Microprocessor? Or requesting a new set Windows 3.1 disks from Microsoft? These companies would currently laugh at you, but they wont be laughing when they are told that they have to support these systems as they have decided to base everything on a subscription basis, and the company using the software wants that subscription honoured.
The software industry has to learn that product support lifecycles must increase before they even think about subscription software.
The question I have is that whay didn't they have Laptop microprocessors in the test? Big box systems are so last week, and they will get blown away when the next generation of gaming consoles hit the shelves. Smaller, lower powered, quieter systems are the future, why do I want to waste more money on electricity?
Would you get on a commercial aircraft where all the controls are powered by a PC installed with Microsoft Windows (or even Linux - it does matter in this case)?
Commercial Off The Shelf Components are no longer what they used to be. Since the Aerospace and Military markets went to use COTS, the market changed to supplying components that no longer require a long life (i.e. comsumer electronics). The old specifications of Military Components may appear to be onerous, but then we are talking about equipment that may have a designed live of 25 years or more, and a component that will only last three years without the extremes of vibration and temperature on a aircraft is not fit for purpose. These tests are designed to ensure each batch of components are reliable and will work for the deisgn application. Many commercial component manufactures still batch testing as you describe, even if they don't sell to the Military market, as they need to ensure that there components do not fail early in their life when they reach their intended marketplace.
Imagine replacing a £200 million aircraft every year because the electronics no longer work properly? Do we really want a repeat of the problems that were seen by the Comet in the 1950's?
The Real reason why electronic manufacturers have left the Military market is to do with market forces. If I can only make a small margin on a few components, yet I can make a huge profit on a large number of components, it is a complete no brainer - I go for the profit. Military and Aerospace account for about 0.1% of the electronics market. In times gone by, the rejected components from the Aerospace and Military market would be sold as commerical devices, but these days there is little market for these components as they are too expensive and are normally several generations of technology behind.
Anyway there are many specialist component manufacturers that can manufacture the components, at a cost.
But didn't Intel support Rambus, when everybody else went DDR?
When Sony developed the Compact Disc, they actually learnt from Betamax and co-developed the system with Philips (especially as Philips also suffered with Video 2000).
Guess what, Sony and Philips both support Blu-Ray.
At best this race is 50-50, in the end it will all come down to which has the lowest cost to own, and has the least intrusive DRM (or which one gets cracked first). It will be at least 2 years before we are even close to a winner.
I have just upgraded from a 4 year old 1GHz Athlon to a 1.5GHz Intel Centrino laptop. Yes it's not particularly powerful, but I get a good battery life and it exactly does the job I expect of it, even with Windows XP Home installed on it. It even looks pretty neat, no big beige boxes for me. This is the type of laptop I hope Apple will launch next year when they go Intel.
Let's face, a huge number of PCs are only used for Internet access and Word Processing. Microsoft need to understand that they should concentrate and making PCs easier to use, and not overloading them the a load of features that actually prevent me from working efficiently; Something Apple already do.
Having recently had first hand experience of the how installing Office 2003 (which I can't stand) on a corporate network can completely screw up everything, there is one thing I can be sure, if I want fancy 3D graphics, I'll only want it for playing games, and that means games console and not Windows PC. Looks like Vista will be a waste of money to me, not only will the computers be ever so more expensive, but they will require a lot more power to run (I bet the green lobby will not be happy with Microsoft either).
And I haven't even started on the subject of DRM; Why should I spend a whole lot of money on a complete new system, only to restricted in what I can or cannot watch or listen.
Why should I do less with more?
The problem with the consumer electronics market at the moment is that they are now targeting a mature and saturated entertainment market. In addition they are concentrating on extracting more money from "old" content, much of which has been in existence for years, if not decades. There will come a point where the consumer will demand a lot more from the products they are offering, before they upgrade their existing system.
It could be argued that DRM is actually nothing new. If you think about it, subscription based television services, in particular those like Home Box Office and Pay Per view are effectively a form of DRM, in that you have to pay a fee to the broadcaster in order to view the content. In addition much of the content on these systems has been restricted using macrovision to prevent viewers from recording the programmes on their VCR.
The problem arises in a market where companies are trying to increase their profitability margins by placing more restrictions on the product in the hope that the consumer will want to pay out more of their cash to view the same material on a new piece of equipment. The old term "money for old rope" applies here. Unfortunately, unlike in the 1980's when CDs were introduced and music lovers purchased CDs to replaced well loved but worn out vinyl, most of the current new consumer devices offer nothing new with regard to improving the entertainment experience, apart from perhaps making your music a little more portable in the case of MP3 players.
I for one used to subscribe to Satellite television (Sky Digital here in the UK), but stopped subscribing when the quality of the television content nose-dived, while the cost of subscribing went up. Instead, I decided to subscribe to broadband, which I find much more interactive and stimulating. I could go back and subscribe to Sky at some point in the future, but you know what, I think I would prefer to spend the money on going out to the cinema instead. At least if I don't like what is on offer, I don't have to go.
The rise of High Definition Television will possibly be a draw, especially as it has the potential to offer the cinema experience at home. The only problems I can see at the moment is that the equipment is an expensive luxury, is not yet available in the UK (until next year) and that I haven't got a big enough room to get the benefit.
Too be serious though, rather than produce devices that provide me with more entertainment, I would be far more interested in devices that either require less energy to operate, or save me time. How about integrating a WiFi system with the heating and home security systems? Surely then the system could be given a nice easy to use interface that could be operated from the web browser of my computer, and it could even decide how to heat the house based on the whether report for the day (downloaded from the internet). It could even ensure I've locked the house up properly in the morning when I've gone off to work.
I see no mention here of a technolgy that was delveloped about 10 or 15 years ago to produce large flatscreen television based on CRT technology.
The idea is this. Remember back in the 1980's when all you had was basically CRT screens and nothing else. Somebody then realisied that you could arrange a large number of CRTs in a grid array and produce a much bigger picture by sending a segment of the video signal to each screen.
It was then noticed that this large array of CRT had a much thinner profile than having on very large CRT. What happened was that one of the CRT manufacturers of the time decided to construct a large panel screen by using several thousand small CRTs in an array, each one emulating a function of a pixel.
Looking at the description of large plasma displays, the technology in arranging pixels very similar (the only different being the method used to generate the charge to generate the phosphor glow). It may be that using CRTs was too expensive, and plasma was cheaper to use.
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You are a very wise man. The problem with a lot of computer products is that they still meet the needs of most users, even if they are 5 or even 10 years old. You would not build an aircraft and then throw it away after 2 years - why should we be doing the same with computers?
All Apple need to do is release OS X for Intel PCs before Vista ships and Microsoft could be completely sunk in months. The marketing would be why upgrade to untested code, when you can use your existing operating system and a reliable tested operating system with a lower risk from virus attacks alongside each other.
Yes, there would probably be a lack of drivers for mainly advanced 3D graphics cars, but then it would be aimed at a dual booting PC, so Games players could still go back to using XP if they need to.
The funny thing would be that the cost of adding OSX to a PC, would be the same as adding Vista.
This is a compelete disaster for all PC vendors. Now that the hardware is essentially avaiable with the release of new Core Duo and Pentium D Processers, along with the 256 mB 3D Graphics cards, PC Vendors will have the new computers ready, but nobody in their right mind will want to buy one until Vista ships. With Microsoft missing the Christmas season by a couple of weeks, there are going to be some very annoyed PC vendors out there.
The problem is simple really, if you buy a PC before Vista ships, you will have to pay extra to have Vista installed when it is released, which will probably be about £100 ($160); more than the price difference of an specification equivalent Apple when compared with a PC. Therefore, the issue is going to be why consumers will be buying a computer that has an obsolete operating system and risk losing their personal data to upgrade it themselves two weeks later; amateur hour or what?
More worryingly is the fact that Microsoft want to pull the plug on XP in about 2 years time. This is in an era when car manufacturers give a 3 year warranty for their cars and have to support the cars for spare parts for at least 7 years after manufacture. This attitude is unacceptable.
Computers are very complex pieces of equipment. However, if I purchase a computer for home and business use, I would expect the computer to work correctly for a reasonable amount of time (i.e. at least 3 years). Unless Microsoft are prepared to install a free copy of Vista on all PCs sold with XP at the end of the year, I think there is going to be a backlash like Microsoft hasn't seen before.
I can see a number of problems with this lock-in that could cause more problems than they solve:-
1) Four Intel users and one AMD user are on a conference call. An Intel user joins the discussion. Does this mean that the AMD user gets booted out of the conversation?
2) Where do non-wintel platforms stand? say if I'm running a Power Mac with a G5 processor? would the same happen if I was using an Intel based MAC?
3) Surely Skype is now owned by Ebay? If this is so, don't they realise they stand to loose out when the users in the "know" stop using them as a protest to stupid software lock-ins?
4) What is to stop other features being restricted to certain platforms and operating systems in future?
Only corporate America could come up with something as stupid as this.
The problem with expecting that because your computer is old it will not get infected by a virus is a very bad assumption. While it is true that having a dial up connection may protect you due to the fact that the some of the viruses require the downloading of a potentially large file, it does not cover the fact that there may still be vunerabilities in your system.
The flip side is that if you are a Windows user using dial up, you still have to download those large windows patch files to cover up the gaping holes left by Microsoft. This means that all that happens is that you waste even more of your time. I bet that Vista will be more of the same, and will probably result in the statement that Vista will "Require the use of a broadband connection".
There are of course some areas where the new technology causes vunerabilities, like for instance the latest reported issues with WiFi in Windows XP that leave your machine potentially open to hackers, which Microsoft will not patch until mid 2007. But then there are issues like the WMF vunerabilities, which Microsoft has decided not to issue a patch for older version of windows, even though it was present in Windows 3.1 in 1992.
Using an operating system that is properly structure to prevent vunerabilities happening is the best way to protect a computer. The fact that many older operating systems such as VMS were designed around the idea of security, means that they are very much less likely to be the target of an attack by a virus hacker.
The other avantage that other operating systems are much more obscure and cannot run Windows code. Hence what you are seeing is evolution in progress, with the operating systems starting to take on the form of DNA. A serious flaw could be identified tommorrow, which could be used infect every Windows computer in the world. Linux and Mac users would then laugh their head off.
We should stop being like cloned sheep; either Microsoft provide secure product that isn't based on code written in the past, which allows us to turn off the bits that we don't need; or we should use something else.
Microsoft don't make any money on Media Player or IE, unless it has been bundled with Windows. You have to pay for Office, and if they can make good money out of the product, then they will continue to sell it. It is likely that Microsoft make more money out of Office than any other product.
I think this is talking about a third party add-on expansion system that was available on the Sinclair ZX81/Timex Sinclair TS1000. In theory it would have enabled you to expand a Z80A based computer with 1K (yes Kilo Bytes!) up to a maximium of 4 Megabytes (which was an enormous amount of memory in 1982 when Bill Gates said that 640K should be enough for anyone!). Thing is, I have recently see a similar system on the market at a local computer shop recently that uses the system for stacking external hard drives.
There was a similar horizontal expansion system for the Amstrad CPC range of computers, that offered greater amounts of memory, and various types of interfaces.
Just because something is "Old", it does mean that it isn't useful.
The average Car has a lifespan of 10 years, the average commercial jet airliner has a lifespan of 25 years and many military jets entering service now will be in service in 40 years time (although they would have some major upgrades during this life cycle).
I think that it is about time Microsft were held responsible for making computers obsolete, when the hardware has years of life left in it. If the operating system you are using is no longer supported, they must offer you a free or very low cost upgrade the software current standard, or be forced to buy back your obsolete hardware for disposal in an environmentally friendly manner - the polluter pays.
Yes, the processor might be a lot slower, but that doesn't mean that it isn't useful to someone whom is only using the computer for basic functionality such as word processing and surfing the internet.
Ironically, Toyota have recently lauched two small cars in Europe (Aygo and Yaris), both featuring a highly efficient 1 litre, 3 cylinder petrol engine, whith variable valave timing that weights only 69kg (147lbs). The thing is that the performance, while it isn't going to set the world alight, is actually quite good (especially in comparison with the Smart ForTwo).
The Aygo (which is built in partnership with PSA group) has a combined fuel efficency of over 61mpg (that is British Gallons), with reports that many drivers are getting over 75 mpg out of them.
As for Pollution, the Aygo is EURO IV group B rated (not sure about the Yaris, it may be a little greater due to the fact that it is a bigger car). The only group A rated car ever sold in the UK was the Honda Insight.
Apple stopped supporting Windows....
Would this mean that iPod users would have to replace their PCs with Macs?
The only real winners here are Real Media - move along please, there is nothing to see here, move along.....
Maybe Dell are going to build the Intel-Macs for Apple, as they already have closer dealings with Intel and quite possbily could get bigger discounts for the chipsets? If this is so, then Apple in return could allow Dell to sell the Intel Macs via their website, maybe even using their own customer support network. Dell may even have helped Apple to accelerate the introduction of the new Macs as a result.
The bottom line would be a partnership between Dell and Apple, which if successful may mean that Dell could lower their support for Windows when Vista is released; which by all accounts appears to be bloatware. Might even force Microsoft to continue shipping XP for longer as a result.
Could this be the real reason why Microsoft have stopped all support for IE on the MAC?
I think we are going to have problems, as only the record executives are the only not breaking the law.
Maybe I should write a sort song, using some typical sentences from a legal document. Then I should sue everybody that publishes the lyics from my song!
This could be a completely new game; writing something that does not contain the lyrics of a copyrighted song; thus preventing any future court action by an over zealous music industry that can't understand why most of its customers are going to end up in jail.
These processors are counterfeit, nothing more.
This is highly illegal, and any company knowingly selling these products should be prosecuted.
Now start to really worry...
If counterfeit components get into the electronics supply chain the effects can be absolutely diasterous. It could affect the operation of your home computer, the operation of the lifts in your office block, or make ABS brake system failed on your car, causing you to have a serious accident.
What is now happening is that old electronic equipment is being shipped to China. Valuable components are removed from the PCBs (using hazardous methods with no regard to the health of the people carrying out the work) and then the are cleaned up, re-marked and placed back on the market.
Why should this happen with old and obsolete components? it is because they are valuable to those people operating equipment with long lifecycles; namely trains, cars and aircraft.
The problem will be for much of the IT industry is that those making the decisions would ask only one question:
Does it Run Windows?
If the answer is no that the manager will say something like:
"I don't care if the processor is the most powerful ever developed, costs next to nothing to produce and will allow us to build a powerful computer the size of of pea. If it doesn't run Windows, then I'm not interested".
And that sums up the total IT knowledge of that manager.
What's a Toyota Echo? They don't sell it in the UK....
They might try and use a Caterham Seven, which is a kit version of the Lotus Severn!
I can guarantee one think - having used to be a Sky Suscriber, the series will be absolutely rubbish.
By forcing intrusive and dangerous DRM management, without fully consulting third party hardware and software vendors that the product is used on, Sony deserve everything thrown at them, especially from the fact that they have not only placed Microsoft in a difficult position, but also upset Philips by producing non-Red Book CDs.
Problem is will anybody want to fit a Bluray disc in their computer after this fiasco?
I have just been watching Channel 4 news (a major news program here in the UK). There was an item about a new museum that is being opened in order to prove that intelligent design exists. Not only have they used props from the film Crocodile Dundee in their creation of the Garden of Eden, but also they have lot of models of dinosaurs. In addition, they have a fossil of a dinosaur that has been previously dated as being in the region of 100 million years old (I can't remember the exact date) that the museum was trying to state was 6,000 years old.
There was a big flaw pointed out to the museum, there are no dinosaurs mentioned in the Bible.
The problem with this proposed idea of subscription-based software could backfire in the future in a spectacular way that could cost an absolute fortune in support. The problem is this, you buy a computer and take out a support contract, you run the computer for a few years and it works fine, until the support for the software runs out as the vendor does not wish to spend more money on that particular product. Fine, you might save, upgrade to the latest version of that software. But what happens if the latest version of that software is not fit form and function compatible with your requirements, or an additional piece of hardware/software does not work on the new system.
You could be forced into upgrading hardware at your own cost, and if that cost impacts your business, well you could be forced to do the best for your company and its shareholders and sue the software company concerned, especially if the software company promised a number of years service at the beginning. But the software vendor will probably start to say that the software you hired was fit for purpose, and you are using it outside its recommended operating conditions and will refuse to continue supporting your product, even though they retain the right the to software that in some way prevents you from using it. When this happens, only lawyers will win.
What a subscription service will do is make more companies use an open source operating systems and have their software written specifically for that platform, retaining all copyrights to the code in the process. By doing this the company will gain the benefits of an open source platform that is continuously being updated, while your source code can easily be modified to suit your business/application should it become necessary. Not only would this significantly extend the lifecycle of your system, but also you would lower your liability for the recycling of obsolete equipment. Yes, the outlay may be more expensive, but you would get a system that met your needs, and not the needs of a particular software vendor. I think that this is the situation that Microsoft would not like, a real rod for their back for future business.
Just because a computer is old, it doesn't make it any less useful to the right people in the right hands. Think of it this way, a typical automotive manufacturer has to support their cars for at least 7 years after they have produced the last example of that particular model, in the aerospace industry the lifecycle can be over 25 years. Imaging going to IBM to request a replacement 8086 Microprocessor? Or requesting a new set Windows 3.1 disks from Microsoft? These companies would currently laugh at you, but they wont be laughing when they are told that they have to support these systems as they have decided to base everything on a subscription basis, and the company using the software wants that subscription honoured.
The software industry has to learn that product support lifecycles must increase before they even think about subscription software.
The question I have is that whay didn't they have Laptop microprocessors in the test? Big box systems are so last week, and they will get blown away when the next generation of gaming consoles hit the shelves. Smaller, lower powered, quieter systems are the future, why do I want to waste more money on electricity?
Would you get on a commercial aircraft where all the controls are powered by a PC installed with Microsoft Windows (or even Linux - it does matter in this case)?
Commercial Off The Shelf Components are no longer what they used to be. Since the Aerospace and Military markets went to use COTS, the market changed to supplying components that no longer require a long life (i.e. comsumer electronics). The old specifications of Military Components may appear to be onerous, but then we are talking about equipment that may have a designed live of 25 years or more, and a component that will only last three years without the extremes of vibration and temperature on a aircraft is not fit for purpose. These tests are designed to ensure each batch of components are reliable and will work for the deisgn application. Many commercial component manufactures still batch testing as you describe, even if they don't sell to the Military market, as they need to ensure that there components do not fail early in their life when they reach their intended marketplace.
Imagine replacing a £200 million aircraft every year because the electronics no longer work properly? Do we really want a repeat of the problems that were seen by the Comet in the 1950's?
The Real reason why electronic manufacturers have left the Military market is to do with market forces. If I can only make a small margin on a few components, yet I can make a huge profit on a large number of components, it is a complete no brainer - I go for the profit. Military and Aerospace account for about 0.1% of the electronics market. In times gone by, the rejected components from the Aerospace and Military market would be sold as commerical devices, but these days there is little market for these components as they are too expensive and are normally several generations of technology behind.
Anyway there are many specialist component manufacturers that can manufacture the components, at a cost.
But didn't Intel support Rambus, when everybody else went DDR?
When Sony developed the Compact Disc, they actually learnt from Betamax and co-developed the system with Philips (especially as Philips also suffered with Video 2000).
Guess what, Sony and Philips both support Blu-Ray.
At best this race is 50-50, in the end it will all come down to which has the lowest cost to own, and has the least intrusive DRM (or which one gets cracked first). It will be at least 2 years before we are even close to a winner.
I have just upgraded from a 4 year old 1GHz Athlon to a 1.5GHz Intel Centrino laptop. Yes it's not particularly powerful, but I get a good battery life and it exactly does the job I expect of it, even with Windows XP Home installed on it. It even looks pretty neat, no big beige boxes for me. This is the type of laptop I hope Apple will launch next year when they go Intel. Let's face, a huge number of PCs are only used for Internet access and Word Processing. Microsoft need to understand that they should concentrate and making PCs easier to use, and not overloading them the a load of features that actually prevent me from working efficiently; Something Apple already do. Having recently had first hand experience of the how installing Office 2003 (which I can't stand) on a corporate network can completely screw up everything, there is one thing I can be sure, if I want fancy 3D graphics, I'll only want it for playing games, and that means games console and not Windows PC. Looks like Vista will be a waste of money to me, not only will the computers be ever so more expensive, but they will require a lot more power to run (I bet the green lobby will not be happy with Microsoft either). And I haven't even started on the subject of DRM; Why should I spend a whole lot of money on a complete new system, only to restricted in what I can or cannot watch or listen. Why should I do less with more?
The problem with the consumer electronics market at the moment is that they are now targeting a mature and saturated entertainment market. In addition they are concentrating on extracting more money from "old" content, much of which has been in existence for years, if not decades. There will come a point where the consumer will demand a lot more from the products they are offering, before they upgrade their existing system.
It could be argued that DRM is actually nothing new. If you think about it, subscription based television services, in particular those like Home Box Office and Pay Per view are effectively a form of DRM, in that you have to pay a fee to the broadcaster in order to view the content. In addition much of the content on these systems has been restricted using macrovision to prevent viewers from recording the programmes on their VCR.
The problem arises in a market where companies are trying to increase their profitability margins by placing more restrictions on the product in the hope that the consumer will want to pay out more of their cash to view the same material on a new piece of equipment. The old term "money for old rope" applies here. Unfortunately, unlike in the 1980's when CDs were introduced and music lovers purchased CDs to replaced well loved but worn out vinyl, most of the current new consumer devices offer nothing new with regard to improving the entertainment experience, apart from perhaps making your music a little more portable in the case of MP3 players.
I for one used to subscribe to Satellite television (Sky Digital here in the UK), but stopped subscribing when the quality of the television content nose-dived, while the cost of subscribing went up. Instead, I decided to subscribe to broadband, which I find much more interactive and stimulating. I could go back and subscribe to Sky at some point in the future, but you know what, I think I would prefer to spend the money on going out to the cinema instead. At least if I don't like what is on offer, I don't have to go.
The rise of High Definition Television will possibly be a draw, especially as it has the potential to offer the cinema experience at home. The only problems I can see at the moment is that the equipment is an expensive luxury, is not yet available in the UK (until next year) and that I haven't got a big enough room to get the benefit.
Too be serious though, rather than produce devices that provide me with more entertainment, I would be far more interested in devices that either require less energy to operate, or save me time. How about integrating a WiFi system with the heating and home security systems? Surely then the system could be given a nice easy to use interface that could be operated from the web browser of my computer, and it could even decide how to heat the house based on the whether report for the day (downloaded from the internet). It could even ensure I've locked the house up properly in the morning when I've gone off to work.
Please please please please you are very welcome to Mr Blair.
I see no mention here of a technolgy that was delveloped about 10 or 15 years ago to produce large flatscreen television based on CRT technology.
The idea is this. Remember back in the 1980's when all you had was basically CRT screens and nothing else. Somebody then realisied that you could arrange a large number of CRTs in a grid array and produce a much bigger picture by sending a segment of the video signal to each screen.
It was then noticed that this large array of CRT had a much thinner profile than having on very large CRT. What happened was that one of the CRT manufacturers of the time decided to construct a large panel screen by using several thousand small CRTs in an array, each one emulating a function of a pixel.
Looking at the description of large plasma displays, the technology in arranging pixels very similar (the only different being the method used to generate the charge to generate the phosphor glow). It may be that using CRTs was too expensive, and plasma was cheaper to use.
Any body else know about this technology?