A slow connection doesn't mean you can't have a GUI, it would just have to be one more like a browser and less like Remote Desktop. One where the set of commands available and the windows and menus for parameterizing them are driven client side, and a limited set of commands are sent over the network as you make GUI decisions. Small bandwidth doesn't have to eliminate a GUI - just look at the simplicity of early browsers working over low-baud modems, or early online games like Quake working over the same. You can get a lot done with a graphical interface, bandwidth high or low. You just have to be smart about it.
It's a technicality, but actually Microsoft has written Notepad in.Net - it comes as a free example app with the SDK. They've even shown how to do it as a tabbed interface, or how to draw it with 3D calls.
But, the basic Notepad in.Net incurs a small startup hit as the.Net library kicks off, so it doesn't start quite as fast as the existing Win32 Notepad app, which is pretty much the fastest-starting app of any use in Windows. So, you get both - a free.Net Notepad implementation to play with, and a faster-starting native one built-in. I think that's a nice way to slice it.
If Microsoft rewrites any of these apps in.Net, it won't just be in.Net - it'll be in Sparkle. Look for that as an awkward Plus pack in 2008 or 2009 that's eventually integrated into the version of Windows after Vista/Longhorn.
I lost a DVD drive to StarForce. It worked fine for a full year, until a month or 2 after installing a StarForce-protected game (a Splinter Cell series game). Then it would start doing crazy things like spinning out of control and losing its ability to read. One day it just switched on, freaked out, and never worked again. This is regardless of playing Splinter Cell or not.
StarForce (the company) wants me to fly to Russia to "prove" that this happened. Why would I want to fly to a country I don't want to visit, to a company I hate, to prove to them they screwed me? To "win" $10,000? Frankly, with the attitude that pervades all of StarForce's letters and public statements, I'm sure I've a better chance of winning the lottery than StarForce handing me that money for the damage to my machine that they've caused.
This is one of their choice comments: "The truth about StarForce drivers. It is obvious that all the rumors around StarForce hazards are spread by international piracy groups." I'm sure the people making accusatory remarks like this about the end-users they're harming are going to be quick to help me.
Ubisoft needs to stop using this awful copy protection NOW. The rudeness Ubisoft has approached me with is bested only by StarForce. I've got a new DVD drive, I've reformatted, and I am never installing another Ubisoft or other StarForce-protected game again until StarForce is done away with. No game is worth this.
It isn't easy wiring the nation - it costs millions and millions, then you need to comply with a million tricky laws which you must navigate very carefully or face fines, lawsuits, It's no wonder broadband isn't available in most rural areas - providers have absolutely no guarantee of ever making back the cost.
But it is amazing how competition will make a bully become your best friend. Here in Boston, RCN pushed us around, charging fees for more and more absurd things, to the point that you could pay $50 for calling Support about an outage they caused! Then Comcast showed up in town, and prices spiraled through the floor. Only Comcast ever got reasonable customer service put together, but RCN might figure out why they lose business some day.
Community free wireless isn't the end of the world for these companies - it's just competition. Maybe it'll break their banks, but in most areas it will just provide another option. If municipal wireless is only on half the time, broadband can sell on having more up-time - implicitly requiring that they actually provide great up-time, which SBC and BellSouth do not have now. They can sell on having responsive customer service, but of course they'll need to get their act in gear if they expect to sell on it. Municipal wireless will force broadband providers the premium service we as consumers have expected all along.
In some cases it really might wipe them out though - never able to recoup their costs of building the network. If that appens, who's right? Can we attack SBC for having no broadband in Podunk, TX, but also attack BellSouth for having the community replace them with a tax-paid free option, after responding (if poorly) to broadband demands? Maybe we are being a little unfair.
Long answer: GUI's have been overemphasized because for too long computers used CLI's and left the novice user an expert interface and nothing else. A really good GUI though will show the user keyboard shortcuts as they use the GUI more and more, especially for common functions. One way that seems to be dying off - which isn't good - is that many apps (usually Microsoft's) would have the keyboard shortcut for a command right in the menu. It did clutter the menu, but there ought to be still some way of making that association simply in software and having the software suggest it, at least for common functions. I come across so many menu commands now that absolutely require the mouse, and still others that look like they do, but really have a hidden shortcut programmed in with no way of knowing except to find it by accident. It's too bad.
In-Q-Tel sounds to have a similar function for the CIA as DARPA does for the Army - they go out and fund and buy advanced technology for use in operations, or eventual use. It sounds like the CIA is both buying units now and funding further development, typical of how DARPA tends to work.
I think the reporter was just exaggerating the numbers because exaggerating gets eyes to pop, measuring the "150kW" number - which is probably a peak production number, not sustained - as though it were sustained. That does this technology a disservice though, I think, because the blend of concerns here - portability, maintainability, renewable power - is a very smart one.
For example, running Predator drones on pure electric, powered by recharging at this kind of dropped power plant, would be quite the cheap way to monitor a very wide area for a long time. Dropping several would give you redundancy should the enemy eliminate one, and with such a modular deployment that kind of redundancy would be far more cost effective than the money spent now on getting fuel to the reconnaissance front.
The IP-indirection that NAT creates provides a limited level of anonymity that many users appreciate on an Internet that is now threatened continuously by RIAA lawsuits and the like. Although technologies like this are possible on IPv6, they would be more the exception than the rule, making the act of anonymity a suspicious one. Whereas, in IPv4, the act of using NAT and becoming a bit more anonymous is the rule, and doesn't count as suspicious activity.
It's not the only reason some prefer to stay with IPv4 as long as possible, but it gives some good reason to stick with it as long as the greedy clutches of the RIAA remain.
This is definitely the way Comcast ought to do it. If they finished the movie with a screen showing some movie trivia and the option to buy the DVD "RIGHT NOW!" I bet they'd get loads of new DVD sales. A lot of movies generate a lot of excitement with nowhere for it to go right after watching, that enthusiasm could easily go to sales if they offer the DVD at a discounted price.
If the RIAA as one body asks Apple to raise their prices, isn't that price-fixing by its very legal definition? Isn't that exactly what Anti-Competitive laws are designed to prevent? Isn't every participating member of the RIAA offering clear evidence of their otherwise circumstancial anti-competitive activity?
I'd expect lawyers to be pouncing on this opportunity... what gives?
Quartz is definitely impressive - a lot of parts of OSX are impressive - but as a Windows guy I've gotta say, getting locked into buying $3000 hardware every 2 years and being sorely limited on software options (Mac users who disagree, save it - I'm a.Net programmer, I've looked.) make Quartz much less exciting.
If Quartz comes out for Windows, you'll see me raving like a madman. A happy madman.
Bush didn't really lie about the nukes. He was limitedly skeptical of intel he found desirable. That's why he's not in impeachment trials.
Several news journals, including The New Yorker, have independently identified the "Office of Special Programs." Richard Clarke separately has discussed this Office.
The OSP was put in place when Bush took office. Its charter, publicly, was vague, but the CIA soon found they were competing with it when they were told the OSP had found evidence Iraq may be building a nuke.
The CIA delved into Iraq's programs and turned up no nuclear threat intel. Within 6 months they reported and were told to try harder, because the OSP had separately found even more convincing evidence of an Iraqi nuclear program. Some members of the CIA, fearful of losing their jobs, scraped together what little they could to support the claim.
That CIA evidence was shown. The CIA was tricked into supporting the claims of the OSP, who used nothing but some forged documents to provide their "intel."
If Bush lied about anything, it was to the CIA about the OSP's charter. But is that treason?
Of course, instead of most Americans reading good, sound investigative journalism like this, they watch Fox or NBC and bury pointers to good info like this post in a deluge of crap about the benefits of Anarchy, and why everyone but them has failed to do enough to fix America.
Agree completely with parent. I built an XPC-clone (Biostar) PC that screamed (and still does) for $900 - it'll boot from power to desktop in 20 seconds, load Photoshop in less than 5 (no plugins removed), and run any game in full EAX at 60fps.
The Apple Qube cost what, $2000? $3000 at its earliest? If it ever cost $900, it didn't so with top-performance. Apple did something before, but at their prices, it just isn't comparable to what Shuttle and the XPC clones have done.
The machine I use is a Biostar iDeq 200N, which is basically just Biostar ripping off Shuttle's nForce2 XPC and adding a SATA/RAID chip. I love the little box - it was considerably easier to build than a normal box - but you wouldn't believe how much trouble the hard drives are after a year:
On most XPCs and clones thereof:
The hard drive(s) sit underneath the 5.25" CD/DVD drive, sandwiched underneath that hot drive.
The Northbridge heatsink and RAM heatspreaders sit directly under the hard drive(s), cooking them.
The air is completely stagnant at the front of the case.
The inevitable result is a hard drive oven. Even with heatsinks applied, I had a WD Raptor cook within a year of use - the one sitting over the RAM was the first to go.
So you end up adding active cooling and replacing the drives - a herculean task, as here are the steps just to replace the middle hard drive:
Remove the right side of the case
Unplug the bottom drive's SATA and power cable
Unscrew the bottom drive cage and slide it out
Remove the top side of the case, which requires removing the left side
Unscrew the top drive cage
Tilt the top cage then slide it upwards; this would be impossible without removing the bottom cage first
Teeter the top cage on the case and unplug the CD ATA/power cables, and SATA/power HD cables - this may require prior experience as a juggler/circus acrobat
Unscrew the middle drive and remove it
Reverse the entire process with the new drive.
This new clipped approach certainly makes the replacement process a snap... literally. If it also keeps them cool, which I'm very skeptical of given their location at the top of the case, then this might be the next case I build with (AMD64 only please).
I have to agree the DVD will be replaced by something - because there is a technology that effectively replaces cheap media: other cheap media, that does more.
It's unlikely any DVRW/CDRW technology will ever be truly rewritable. But as USB thumb drives increase in size and Hard Drive sizes shrink to meet MP3 player and cell phone demand, they'll be fully rewritable, smaller media than DVDs or CDs - why use anything else?
In a few years the one advantage DVDs will have over hard drives and flash memory will be the complication of copying them, which is ideal for companies trying to sell their content. This advantage will be made obsolete by 2 things:
Larger optical media, which has been mentioned here several times already.
A more effective copy protection system that works over the Internet; this same copy protection system could be used just as well for the content on any physical media, leaving the physical complications of copying it negligible.
You just have to love how easy it is to install this Mozilla patch. What IE fix works this simply? Open page. Click link. If this were IE, there would be one, minor, takes-forever step now: Restart computer.
The suggestion that someone at Slate would get fired for this ignores Slate's history. They have a long-standing pattern of writing plenty of articles that go against Microsoft's best interest - and those authors remain. I'd bet someone $50 this author doesn't get fired.
If you really think this would end in firing, search back for Slate.com anti-trust articles. There are plenty that could hurt MS publicity much worse, and those authors remain.
Yep - the right build of Linux will do it, but as noted in a sibling post Windows 9x won't. The age of this laptop makes it very unlikely win2000 would be appropriate and Xp would prolly be a disaster;o) Forget NT4..
Win98 and a plugin might work tho.
Part of the reason I explained this as I did is because so many laptops during that period required Win9x to work right - the drivers and weird partitioning demand it. That often rules Linux or WinNT (2000, XP) out. Its a lot less trouble to just use the OS provided, and that os is going to behave as I described.
Of course the very power conscious could turn the PC off..;o)
Unless a piece of software reads from the CD 90-100% of the time, the type of game or other software will use the same amount of power as any other piece of software. In fact as long as the screen is on the laptop uses the same amount of power whether you're running 5 games or none.
The reason is because when your Cpu isn't doing anything it's actually burning up a simple "do nothing" command in Windows, not pausing and saving energy like you might think.
Before a troll points out newer CPUs that slow down to save power: this laptop is 4yrs old.
I'm on a Windows work machine that's very, very tightly locked down, and I was able to install Mozilla on it. I did get one error message during install, but it didn't affect the functionality of the browser - everything works perfectly.
Well, we're both right - what I was trying to say is a failed branch prediction means a big request to the cache; a small cache will indeed result in a lot of cache misses and so slower calls to memory.
So - a longer pipeline means you need a larger cache if you want the cache to perform comparably (have as many successful cache hits) to a CPU with a shorter pipe.
Thus: Long pipe yields larger cache. There are neutered P4s with smaller caches that very clearly demonstrate the disaster created by a small cache combined with a long pipe.
Annoyingly "Kickassthegreat" was right that prices will fall but they're way off on the reason.
First, providing high-bandwidth internet is expensive, period. Maintaining the cables and handling all that bandwidth comes at a big cost.
Second, Comcast recently increased their prices! This is with the fall of dialup - the reason being that a large fallout in cheap DSL providers had lead to the inevitable result - low competition means rising consumer costs with no additional benefit. My Comcast bill went from $30/mo to $60/mo Jan 1 2004 - my bandwidth was also doubled, but I rarely can take advantage of the additional bandwidth, so the benefit is primarily theoretical, while my wallet is very tangibly more empty.
However, competition is really picking up - just within my neighborhood in Boston, there are already 4 fiercely competing broadband providers: Comcast (best quality), RCN, Verizon, and BELD.net (BELD is a non-profit that doesn't advertise and has low visibility). It's causing price drops, finally - RCN recently cut their subpar cable modem service in half. The cheap offering will inevitably cut into Comcast's margins - I'm going to seriously consider RCN's low prices (and poor service) in September, though I'll more likely end up with BELD. That sort of price war will coast prices down, thankfully.
Outside the city I'm sure competition is much more sparse, and so, in the 'burbs, I doubt any price fall is going to occur - if anything, the cost of dialup will rise to near the levels of broadband to price gouge locked-in residents into the higher-costing broadband services, as the move away from dialup causes dialup companies to fail, competition to decrease and end with one provider: the broadband one. Enjoy bending over, suburbia.
The missing piece to this "Uncanny Valley" and games is the fact that game graphics are art, even if they often are not treated as such.
You make a good point - if the human face is not perfectly real but has an appealling artistic style to it, the emotional response is still strong. The example game in the Slate article is Alias; a look at the screens shows us a fairly boring series of images - the character mimics Jennifer Garner's well-known face but doesn't do it perfectly, nor does it do so stylistically. There's nothing dramatic or impressive about her 3D model or her environment.
A perfect contrast is the Splinter Cell series. Sam Fisher does not look like a real human, though he's very close. He should be at the drowning point of the Uncanny Valley. Yet Splinter Cell elicits some very strong responses from players - why? Because the game is rife with style.
I think Half Life 2 is about to prove this article wrong as well;o)
Slashdot Mirror
A slow connection doesn't mean you can't have a GUI, it would just have to be one more like a browser and less like Remote Desktop. One where the set of commands available and the windows and menus for parameterizing them are driven client side, and a limited set of commands are sent over the network as you make GUI decisions. Small bandwidth doesn't have to eliminate a GUI - just look at the simplicity of early browsers working over low-baud modems, or early online games like Quake working over the same. You can get a lot done with a graphical interface, bandwidth high or low. You just have to be smart about it.
It's a technicality, but actually Microsoft has written Notepad in .Net - it comes as a free example app with the SDK. They've even shown how to do it as a tabbed interface, or how to draw it with 3D calls.
.Net incurs a small startup hit as the .Net library kicks off, so it doesn't start quite as fast as the existing Win32 Notepad app, which is pretty much the fastest-starting app of any use in Windows. So, you get both - a free .Net Notepad implementation to play with, and a faster-starting native one built-in. I think that's a nice way to slice it.
.Net, it won't just be in .Net - it'll be in Sparkle. Look for that as an awkward Plus pack in 2008 or 2009 that's eventually integrated into the version of Windows after Vista/Longhorn.
But, the basic Notepad in
If Microsoft rewrites any of these apps in
I lost a DVD drive to StarForce. It worked fine for a full year, until a month or 2 after installing a StarForce-protected game (a Splinter Cell series game). Then it would start doing crazy things like spinning out of control and losing its ability to read. One day it just switched on, freaked out, and never worked again. This is regardless of playing Splinter Cell or not.
StarForce (the company) wants me to fly to Russia to "prove" that this happened. Why would I want to fly to a country I don't want to visit, to a company I hate, to prove to them they screwed me? To "win" $10,000? Frankly, with the attitude that pervades all of StarForce's letters and public statements, I'm sure I've a better chance of winning the lottery than StarForce handing me that money for the damage to my machine that they've caused.
This is one of their choice comments: "The truth about StarForce drivers. It is obvious that all the rumors around StarForce hazards are spread by international piracy groups." I'm sure the people making accusatory remarks like this about the end-users they're harming are going to be quick to help me.
Ubisoft needs to stop using this awful copy protection NOW. The rudeness Ubisoft has approached me with is bested only by StarForce. I've got a new DVD drive, I've reformatted, and I am never installing another Ubisoft or other StarForce-protected game again until StarForce is done away with. No game is worth this.
It isn't easy wiring the nation - it costs millions and millions, then you need to comply with a million tricky laws which you must navigate very carefully or face fines, lawsuits, It's no wonder broadband isn't available in most rural areas - providers have absolutely no guarantee of ever making back the cost.
But it is amazing how competition will make a bully become your best friend. Here in Boston, RCN pushed us around, charging fees for more and more absurd things, to the point that you could pay $50 for calling Support about an outage they caused! Then Comcast showed up in town, and prices spiraled through the floor. Only Comcast ever got reasonable customer service put together, but RCN might figure out why they lose business some day.
Community free wireless isn't the end of the world for these companies - it's just competition. Maybe it'll break their banks, but in most areas it will just provide another option. If municipal wireless is only on half the time, broadband can sell on having more up-time - implicitly requiring that they actually provide great up-time, which SBC and BellSouth do not have now. They can sell on having responsive customer service, but of course they'll need to get their act in gear if they expect to sell on it. Municipal wireless will force broadband providers the premium service we as consumers have expected all along.
In some cases it really might wipe them out though - never able to recoup their costs of building the network. If that appens, who's right? Can we attack SBC for having no broadband in Podunk, TX, but also attack BellSouth for having the community replace them with a tax-paid free option, after responding (if poorly) to broadband demands? Maybe we are being a little unfair.
Long answer: GUI's have been overemphasized because for too long computers used CLI's and left the novice user an expert interface and nothing else. A really good GUI though will show the user keyboard shortcuts as they use the GUI more and more, especially for common functions. One way that seems to be dying off - which isn't good - is that many apps (usually Microsoft's) would have the keyboard shortcut for a command right in the menu. It did clutter the menu, but there ought to be still some way of making that association simply in software and having the software suggest it, at least for common functions. I come across so many menu commands now that absolutely require the mouse, and still others that look like they do, but really have a hidden shortcut programmed in with no way of knowing except to find it by accident. It's too bad.
In-Q-Tel sounds to have a similar function for the CIA as DARPA does for the Army - they go out and fund and buy advanced technology for use in operations, or eventual use. It sounds like the CIA is both buying units now and funding further development, typical of how DARPA tends to work.
I think the reporter was just exaggerating the numbers because exaggerating gets eyes to pop, measuring the "150kW" number - which is probably a peak production number, not sustained - as though it were sustained. That does this technology a disservice though, I think, because the blend of concerns here - portability, maintainability, renewable power - is a very smart one.
For example, running Predator drones on pure electric, powered by recharging at this kind of dropped power plant, would be quite the cheap way to monitor a very wide area for a long time. Dropping several would give you redundancy should the enemy eliminate one, and with such a modular deployment that kind of redundancy would be far more cost effective than the money spent now on getting fuel to the reconnaissance front.
The IP-indirection that NAT creates provides a limited level of anonymity that many users appreciate on an Internet that is now threatened continuously by RIAA lawsuits and the like. Although technologies like this are possible on IPv6, they would be more the exception than the rule, making the act of anonymity a suspicious one. Whereas, in IPv4, the act of using NAT and becoming a bit more anonymous is the rule, and doesn't count as suspicious activity.
It's not the only reason some prefer to stay with IPv4 as long as possible, but it gives some good reason to stick with it as long as the greedy clutches of the RIAA remain.
This is definitely the way Comcast ought to do it. If they finished the movie with a screen showing some movie trivia and the option to buy the DVD "RIGHT NOW!" I bet they'd get loads of new DVD sales. A lot of movies generate a lot of excitement with nowhere for it to go right after watching, that enthusiasm could easily go to sales if they offer the DVD at a discounted price.
That would be a very, very smart move.
Buy before is pretty stupid though IMO.
If the RIAA as one body asks Apple to raise their prices, isn't that price-fixing by its very legal definition? Isn't that exactly what Anti-Competitive laws are designed to prevent? Isn't every participating member of the RIAA offering clear evidence of their otherwise circumstancial anti-competitive activity?
I'd expect lawyers to be pouncing on this opportunity... what gives?
Quartz is definitely impressive - a lot of parts of OSX are impressive - but as a Windows guy I've gotta say, getting locked into buying $3000 hardware every 2 years and being sorely limited on software options (Mac users who disagree, save it - I'm a .Net programmer, I've looked.) make Quartz much less exciting.
If Quartz comes out for Windows, you'll see me raving like a madman. A happy madman.
Bush didn't really lie about the nukes. He was limitedly skeptical of intel he found desirable. That's why he's not in impeachment trials.
Several news journals, including The New Yorker, have independently identified the "Office of Special Programs." Richard Clarke separately has discussed this Office.
The OSP was put in place when Bush took office. Its charter, publicly, was vague, but the CIA soon found they were competing with it when they were told the OSP had found evidence Iraq may be building a nuke.
The CIA delved into Iraq's programs and turned up no nuclear threat intel. Within 6 months they reported and were told to try harder, because the OSP had separately found even more convincing evidence of an Iraqi nuclear program. Some members of the CIA, fearful of losing their jobs, scraped together what little they could to support the claim.
That CIA evidence was shown. The CIA was tricked into supporting the claims of the OSP, who used nothing but some forged documents to provide their "intel."
If Bush lied about anything, it was to the CIA about the OSP's charter. But is that treason?
Of course, instead of most Americans reading good, sound investigative journalism like this, they watch Fox or NBC and bury pointers to good info like this post in a deluge of crap about the benefits of Anarchy, and why everyone but them has failed to do enough to fix America.
Agree completely with parent. I built an XPC-clone (Biostar) PC that screamed (and still does) for $900 - it'll boot from power to desktop in 20 seconds, load Photoshop in less than 5 (no plugins removed), and run any game in full EAX at 60fps.
The Apple Qube cost what, $2000? $3000 at its earliest? If it ever cost $900, it didn't so with top-performance. Apple did something before, but at their prices, it just isn't comparable to what Shuttle and the XPC clones have done.
- The hard drive(s) sit underneath the 5.25" CD/DVD drive, sandwiched underneath that hot drive.
- The Northbridge heatsink and RAM heatspreaders sit directly under the hard drive(s), cooking them.
- The air is completely stagnant at the front of the case.
The inevitable result is a hard drive oven. Even with heatsinks applied, I had a WD Raptor cook within a year of use - the one sitting over the RAM was the first to go. So you end up adding active cooling and replacing the drives - a herculean task, as here are the steps just to replace the middle hard drive:- Remove the right side of the case
- Unplug the bottom drive's SATA and power cable
- Unscrew the bottom drive cage and slide it out
- Remove the top side of the case, which requires removing the left side
- Unscrew the top drive cage
- Tilt the top cage then slide it upwards; this would be impossible without removing the bottom cage first
- Teeter the top cage on the case and unplug the CD ATA/power cables, and SATA/power HD cables - this may require prior experience as a juggler/circus acrobat
- Unscrew the middle drive and remove it
Reverse the entire process with the new drive.This new clipped approach certainly makes the replacement process a snap... literally. If it also keeps them cool, which I'm very skeptical of given their location at the top of the case, then this might be the next case I build with (AMD64 only please).
I have to agree the DVD will be replaced by something - because there is a technology that effectively replaces cheap media: other cheap media, that does more.
It's unlikely any DVRW/CDRW technology will ever be truly rewritable. But as USB thumb drives increase in size and Hard Drive sizes shrink to meet MP3 player and cell phone demand, they'll be fully rewritable, smaller media than DVDs or CDs - why use anything else?
In a few years the one advantage DVDs will have over hard drives and flash memory will be the complication of copying them, which is ideal for companies trying to sell their content. This advantage will be made obsolete by 2 things:
Larger optical media, which has been mentioned here several times already.
A more effective copy protection system that works over the Internet; this same copy protection system could be used just as well for the content on any physical media, leaving the physical complications of copying it negligible.
You just have to love how easy it is to install this Mozilla patch. What IE fix works this simply? Open page. Click link. If this were IE, there would be one, minor, takes-forever step now: Restart computer.
If you really think this would end in firing, search back for Slate.com anti-trust articles. There are plenty that could hurt MS publicity much worse, and those authors remain.
Yep - the right build of Linux will do it, but as noted in a sibling post Windows 9x won't. The age of this laptop makes it very unlikely win2000 would be appropriate and Xp would prolly be a disaster ;o) Forget NT4..
;o)
Win98 and a plugin might work tho.
Part of the reason I explained this as I did is because so many laptops during that period required Win9x to work right - the drivers and weird partitioning demand it. That often rules Linux or WinNT (2000, XP) out. Its a lot less trouble to just use the OS provided, and that os is going to behave as I described.
Of course the very power conscious could turn the PC off..
No - I knew this would get trolled. This is a common misconception.
The "do nothing" command I'm talking about doesn't suspend, and is the instruction the "System Idle Process" accounts for.
The Suspend instruction occurs when the system has idled to some timeout, at which point several things cut out to save power, especially the screen.
If you have the urge to reply, BEFORE you do so, read up on this subject online. If you reply anyway, link to what you read.
Unless a piece of software reads from the CD 90-100% of the time, the type of game or other software will use the same amount of power as any other piece of software. In fact as long as the screen is on the laptop uses the same amount of power whether you're running 5 games or none.
The reason is because when your Cpu isn't doing anything it's actually burning up a simple "do nothing" command in Windows, not pausing and saving energy like you might think.
Before a troll points out newer CPUs that slow down to save power: this laptop is 4yrs old.
This isn't meant as the typical "haha MS" post.
I'm on a Windows work machine that's very, very tightly locked down, and I was able to install Mozilla on it. I did get one error message during install, but it didn't affect the functionality of the browser - everything works perfectly.
No SSL hack interrupting me... .
EPOC.Cabir is a proof-of-concept worm that replicates on Nokia Series 60 phones.
Uh, talk about coding your way to job security?Well, we're both right - what I was trying to say is a failed branch prediction means a big request to the cache; a small cache will indeed result in a lot of cache misses and so slower calls to memory.
So - a longer pipeline means you need a larger cache if you want the cache to perform comparably (have as many successful cache hits) to a CPU with a shorter pipe.
Thus: Long pipe yields larger cache. There are neutered P4s with smaller caches that very clearly demonstrate the disaster created by a small cache combined with a long pipe.
Annoyingly "Kickassthegreat" was right that prices will fall but they're way off on the reason.
First, providing high-bandwidth internet is expensive, period. Maintaining the cables and handling all that bandwidth comes at a big cost.
Second, Comcast recently increased their prices! This is with the fall of dialup - the reason being that a large fallout in cheap DSL providers had lead to the inevitable result - low competition means rising consumer costs with no additional benefit. My Comcast bill went from $30/mo to $60/mo Jan 1 2004 - my bandwidth was also doubled, but I rarely can take advantage of the additional bandwidth, so the benefit is primarily theoretical, while my wallet is very tangibly more empty.
However, competition is really picking up - just within my neighborhood in Boston, there are already 4 fiercely competing broadband providers: Comcast (best quality), RCN, Verizon, and BELD.net (BELD is a non-profit that doesn't advertise and has low visibility). It's causing price drops, finally - RCN recently cut their subpar cable modem service in half. The cheap offering will inevitably cut into Comcast's margins - I'm going to seriously consider RCN's low prices (and poor service) in September, though I'll more likely end up with BELD. That sort of price war will coast prices down, thankfully.
Outside the city I'm sure competition is much more sparse, and so, in the 'burbs, I doubt any price fall is going to occur - if anything, the cost of dialup will rise to near the levels of broadband to price gouge locked-in residents into the higher-costing broadband services, as the move away from dialup causes dialup companies to fail, competition to decrease and end with one provider: the broadband one. Enjoy bending over, suburbia.
You make a good point - if the human face is not perfectly real but has an appealling artistic style to it, the emotional response is still strong. The example game in the Slate article is Alias; a look at the screens shows us a fairly boring series of images - the character mimics Jennifer Garner's well-known face but doesn't do it perfectly, nor does it do so stylistically. There's nothing dramatic or impressive about her 3D model or her environment.
A perfect contrast is the Splinter Cell series. Sam Fisher does not look like a real human, though he's very close. He should be at the drowning point of the Uncanny Valley. Yet Splinter Cell elicits some very strong responses from players - why? Because the game is rife with style.
I think Half Life 2 is about to prove this article wrong as well ;o)
Just worth mentioning - the G5 CPUs in Apple's newer G5 desktops are POWER chips; the G4s were as well.