In addition to the obvious obsurdity of saying "all", the naive optimism of the broadband convergence prophets puts them into denial about the fact that many people often don't want gaming to be on-line. I've seen some of the sneaky things companies do to glean marketing data off of their paying customers, and it is rather annoying. I don't want my PC phoning home every time it boots (my ISP trys this), nor do I opt to plug a DirecTV unit into the phone jack, for example. Already, people report their life and soul to the tax agencies, their employers, etc., and, at least, people should be able to find entertainment with a respectable amount of freedom. The market will very likely show that people will choose not to have an always-networked gaming machine. Networking is certainly a good choice, but it shouldn't be the only choice in order for companies like Sony and Microsoft to capture as many customers as possible.
it ended up cheaper but not more powerful than a high-spec PC with a good video card one year later.
Cheaper is the main thing. The PS2 is a decent machine with a DVD player for under $200, now. I'd be hard pressed to get a general purpose PC with a DVD player, TV/svideo output, and a remote control for that cost. I'm missing out on Doom 3, but that certainly isn't causing me much stress.
if the pipeline gets damaged, a hydrogen pipeline would be *much* more dangerous than a damaged oil pipeline.
Why? Oil is pretty nasty stuff. Hydrogen floats away. I suppose the main danger from hydrogen is asphixiation, but they can add an odor to it to make it more noticable.
Re:Does /. want endorsements from the NY Times?
on
Buggy Voting Machines
·
· Score: 3, Funny
Bush is a lying hyprocrite who doesn't mind sending our sons, daughters, fathers and mothers to their possible deaths, when he pulled every string in the book to avoid dangerous service.
But but but Bush is such a sweet Christian man! He saves our babies from abortion and gayness and taxation, so he can then send them into a war to save us from the terrorists! I just read all about it on the internets!
It's interesting that the article you linked to mentions problems with optical scan machines. I had previously thought optical scan machines were okay, due to their simplicity and reliable paper trail. I wonder if any of those counties in Florida did recounts to double-check the discrepancies.
...our travel claim pay is three to six months behind.
Ain't technology great? Gee, if they had just spent those billions on competent secretaries for the next several decades, you'd have had your travel pay a long long time ago.
I think we are seeing a brief part of our history, where we are actually going backward before going forward again. It's like learning that a stove burner is hot the hard way. The scar is a lifetime reminder, however. Sadly, the scars of a system like NMCI will probably be cleverly washed away by accountants, so perhaps we are stuck forever.
It's more likely some high-ups in the AF are clueless about the complexity of computer systems and took the easy route. It is very ironic that the same people would not be so naive about whether the hydraulic systems on an aircraft should be redundant or wether its a good thing for AF pilots to get the required training. It's all in what you know.
More importantly, what's wrong with a mixed shop based on requirements of the tasks.
Generally, nothing at all. That's what open standards are for. Let's see, Linux, the BSDs, Sun...all in favor of open standards. Microsoft, on the other hand, is the anti-standard.
Why the Air Force is so gullible is anyone's guess.
They could use Mac OS X or a good Linux desktop for general-purpose stuff, OpenBSD for network infrastructure, Sun for server infrastructure, etc., and guess what? Everyone wins!
This one-size-fits-all Microsoft mentality is really very disturbing (and it benefits only Microsoft).
The Air Force is probably banking on the idea that Microsoft will get it's shit together and deliever a wicked fucking system.
Ah, yet another case of Microsoft not innovating. They wait for the porn industry to come up with their own automation systems and improve them just to the point they are mass-marketable, then Microsoft comes out with an inferior Microsoft-branded machine that housewives all the world over buy, because the salesman said it is quite easy to install and integrates seamlessly with Office. And look at the cute help assistant! "I see you are trying to use your system for the first time! Would you like to launch the installation wizard?"
the user interface device is a stateful device which holds configuration itself
Not to mention an unknowable number of personal files that employees put there in the course of their work, none of which are backed up, all of which may have been lost on those 60,000 PCs. Given that this new TCO component of such size it would make God hesitate is unknowable, I'm sure EDS and Microsoft will simply bury it somewhere with all the other bodies.
the competent get more and more fed up with having to deal with incompetence all day and find something better to do with their time.
This is true, at least in my case. After working several years with people who never ever learn anything new even after being told repeatedly, I just couldn't keep going. Right now, I'm proud and happy to say I no longer work in IT or government contracting at all. I wouldn't touch it again for even a gigantic pay raise, because my remaining sanity is too valuable. Even now, I can visualize my former co-workers making the same mistakes, learning nothing from them, all while wondering how they can manage to make very nice SMP servers crawl under any hint of a real-world workload, and, if I were to visit them, my vision would be proven true. I firmly believe that people who stick it out in IT are either into non-sexual S&M or are just so stupid that they can't know any better. I wonder how many MCSEs also frequently buy the extended warranties at Best Buy. They certainly bought (insert software company's name) bait-and-switch schemes. What a bunch of losers.
As a blind one-armed monkey breaking from masterbating only to type this reply, I must say that using my kind as a representation of the lowest-level of competence is quite offensive.
I don't know, but I do recall an article about IBM refusing to tender for UK.gov contracts: apparently it was too costly, and too risky
So the conclusion is that EDS is a complete whore. The worst kind of contractor: the guy that says "I can do that" even before the customer finishes a sentence. He ends up working more than you, makes more money than you, is able to sweet talk himself into even more work and money, and the customer doesn't realize the con-job until it's way too late...so they bring contractor-whore man in to do just a little bit more...ugh, what an ugly cycle, not unlike a pimp and his desperate and impoverished bitches.
It's this willingness to say "Localised error. That's all. Nothing to see here" that gives IT it's bad reputation.
Excactly, and IT earned every bit of it. No one wants to pay for processes, no one wants to expend the extra effort for processes, and no one does. People in IT are more comfortable taking the intellectually lazy route and, because it works 80% of the time, they become quite comfortable doing it. For that other 20% or whatever, they figure out how to rationalize it as a "software glitch", even when it is their own fault, but the people they are explaining it to are so ignorant they will accept any explanation as the absolute truth. Management in IT must be the most ill-prepared and gullible bunch in any industry anywhere. The fact that accountants can't even match up trends in hardware and software costs with associated labor costs doesn't help (who here is still working on a 300MHz Pentium II with a buzzing hard drive and a 60Hz monitor, when the new hire in the next cube gets a 5GHz gold-plated dream machine who then wonders why you can't run their favorite dev tool of the week?).
It really wouldn't be that hard for Microsoft to release a generic codec pack for Linux.
Once their stock price has hit $1, half the executive staff has been replaced, they are arm-pit-deep in debt, and the analysts have nothing good to say about them, only then will they port stuff to Linux. They only reason Microsoft has conceded to recognizing UNIX and Apple is that they all grew up together, sort of like going to the same school in a small town, but that Microsoft was the poor geeky kid that was beat up on until he found superpowers and used them to destroy his enemies later in life.
I have a Wacom Intuos 2 tablet with a battery-less wire-less mouse. I don't like the mouse at all, because I cannot stand lifting the damn thing 1/4" inch to exit the tracking field to reposition the mouse. I quickly found that the mouse really is useful only for a 1:1 coordinate mapping between the pad and screen, where no lifting would be needed.
The battery-less wire-less pen, however, is excellent, and, after enough painful X server configuration, it even works great with the GIMP.
Paying off the hardware in a year probably isn't even on their radar. All they care about is getting enough revenue to cover their recurring rent, business loan, and payroll expenses. Plus, a business like this would work with lawyers and accountants who would be all over the IRS laws to negate tax liability, etc. The risk for them, now, is can they attract an adequate volume of customers. This risk is true of all startup businesses.
All in all, its much easier to install software in Windows, especially if you'd like to have some control over your file system.
Very clever troll. Windows gives the user practically no control at all. Just try to move something...oops, the whole registry broke. The only thing nearly as bad as the registry are all those hard-coded paths put into config files by libtool.
I would be surprised you don't think Redmond is nervous about something.
They are nervous about a reality check. They are fat and happy off of rediculous monopolisitic profit margins, and they don't want to put off buying countries or souls or whatever Microsoft execs do. The thought of having to be merely multi-millionaires sends the shock of fear through their fatty pampered bodies.
I never open IE on purpose, but sometimes it still magically launches for the express purpose of updating me to the latest spyware.
Our ISPs can also be spyware. For some reason, everytime I boot my PC, it tries to initiate some HTTP traffic to a server within my ISPs IP address range. My firewall now blocks it all.
Given that the default install from the ISP provided no security whatsoever, I'm sure they are getting quite the marketing data booty from their customers.
Given that approximately half of voters voted for GWB, perhaps the GWB voters consider the Internet the "devil's work" with its vast pool of information about things like science and other religions. Never underestimate the stubborness of a racist ignorant uber-righteous zealot who self-selectively labels himself a "Christian".
Actually, their x86 hardware is competitive with Dell (truly configured similarly).
And third, their hardware underperforms.
Not really true, anymore. Looking at the SPEC rate benchmarks, the UltraSPARC IV scales on a per-socket basis almost as well as Opteron but also way beyond 8 CPUs. The UltraSPARC IV consumes about the same power as Opteron, so this is a fair comparison (dual core and all).
In the late 90s and through the UltraSPARC III, Sun certainly got a reputation of lagging (USII only going upto 480MHz was kinda sad, etc.), but that reputation is mostly debunked, now.
Compare that with run of the mill dual proc 3Ghz Intel boxes, which are super fast, cheaper than a used Camry, and abundant. And Linux runs great on them.
Curious that Sun has added exactly this to their product line.
Given that Solaris is 90+% platform-independent, it will support as many architectures as are commercially viable and worth the porting effort. Currently that is SPARC and x86.
Slashdot Mirror
In addition to the obvious obsurdity of saying "all", the naive optimism of the broadband convergence prophets puts them into denial about the fact that many people often don't want gaming to be on-line. I've seen some of the sneaky things companies do to glean marketing data off of their paying customers, and it is rather annoying. I don't want my PC phoning home every time it boots (my ISP trys this), nor do I opt to plug a DirecTV unit into the phone jack, for example. Already, people report their life and soul to the tax agencies, their employers, etc., and, at least, people should be able to find entertainment with a respectable amount of freedom. The market will very likely show that people will choose not to have an always-networked gaming machine. Networking is certainly a good choice, but it shouldn't be the only choice in order for companies like Sony and Microsoft to capture as many customers as possible.
it ended up cheaper but not more powerful than a high-spec PC with a good video card one year later.
Cheaper is the main thing. The PS2 is a decent machine with a DVD player for under $200, now. I'd be hard pressed to get a general purpose PC with a DVD player, TV/svideo output, and a remote control for that cost. I'm missing out on Doom 3, but that certainly isn't causing me much stress.
if the pipeline gets damaged, a hydrogen pipeline would be *much* more dangerous than a damaged oil pipeline.
Why? Oil is pretty nasty stuff. Hydrogen floats away. I suppose the main danger from hydrogen is asphixiation, but they can add an odor to it to make it more noticable.
Bush is a lying hyprocrite who doesn't mind sending our sons, daughters, fathers and mothers to their possible deaths, when he pulled every string in the book to avoid dangerous service.
But but but Bush is such a sweet Christian man! He saves our babies from abortion and gayness and taxation, so he can then send them into a war to save us from the terrorists! I just read all about it on the internets!
It's interesting that the article you linked to mentions problems with optical scan machines. I had previously thought optical scan machines were okay, due to their simplicity and reliable paper trail. I wonder if any of those counties in Florida did recounts to double-check the discrepancies.
Why not put the nuclear power plant way out in the boonies (i.e., no one's back yard) and run pipelines to where hydrogen is needed?
I have nothing against nuclear power, until efficient solar power comes along, as long as the nuclear power minefield can be navigated.
...our travel claim pay is three to six months behind.
Ain't technology great? Gee, if they had just spent those billions on competent secretaries for the next several decades, you'd have had your travel pay a long long time ago.
I think we are seeing a brief part of our history, where we are actually going backward before going forward again. It's like learning that a stove burner is hot the hard way. The scar is a lifetime reminder, however. Sadly, the scars of a system like NMCI will probably be cleverly washed away by accountants, so perhaps we are stuck forever.
It's more likely some high-ups in the AF are clueless about the complexity of computer systems and took the easy route. It is very ironic that the same people would not be so naive about whether the hydraulic systems on an aircraft should be redundant or wether its a good thing for AF pilots to get the required training. It's all in what you know.
More importantly, what's wrong with a mixed shop based on requirements of the tasks.
Generally, nothing at all. That's what open standards are for. Let's see, Linux, the BSDs, Sun...all in favor of open standards. Microsoft, on the other hand, is the anti-standard.
Why the Air Force is so gullible is anyone's guess.
They could use Mac OS X or a good Linux desktop for general-purpose stuff, OpenBSD for network infrastructure, Sun for server infrastructure, etc., and guess what? Everyone wins!
This one-size-fits-all Microsoft mentality is really very disturbing (and it benefits only Microsoft).
The Air Force is probably banking on the idea that Microsoft will get it's shit together and deliever a wicked fucking system.
Ah, yet another case of Microsoft not innovating. They wait for the porn industry to come up with their own automation systems and improve them just to the point they are mass-marketable, then Microsoft comes out with an inferior Microsoft-branded machine that housewives all the world over buy, because the salesman said it is quite easy to install and integrates seamlessly with Office. And look at the cute help assistant! "I see you are trying to use your system for the first time! Would you like to launch the installation wizard?"
the user interface device is a stateful device which holds configuration itself
Not to mention an unknowable number of personal files that employees put there in the course of their work, none of which are backed up, all of which may have been lost on those 60,000 PCs. Given that this new TCO component of such size it would make God hesitate is unknowable, I'm sure EDS and Microsoft will simply bury it somewhere with all the other bodies.
the competent get more and more fed up with having to deal with incompetence all day and find something better to do with their time.
This is true, at least in my case. After working several years with people who never ever learn anything new even after being told repeatedly, I just couldn't keep going. Right now, I'm proud and happy to say I no longer work in IT or government contracting at all. I wouldn't touch it again for even a gigantic pay raise, because my remaining sanity is too valuable. Even now, I can visualize my former co-workers making the same mistakes, learning nothing from them, all while wondering how they can manage to make very nice SMP servers crawl under any hint of a real-world workload, and, if I were to visit them, my vision would be proven true. I firmly believe that people who stick it out in IT are either into non-sexual S&M or are just so stupid that they can't know any better. I wonder how many MCSEs also frequently buy the extended warranties at Best Buy. They certainly bought (insert software company's name) bait-and-switch schemes. What a bunch of losers.
As a blind one-armed monkey breaking from masterbating only to type this reply, I must say that using my kind as a representation of the lowest-level of competence is quite offensive.
I don't know, but I do recall an article about IBM refusing to tender for UK.gov contracts: apparently it was too costly, and too risky
So the conclusion is that EDS is a complete whore. The worst kind of contractor: the guy that says "I can do that" even before the customer finishes a sentence. He ends up working more than you, makes more money than you, is able to sweet talk himself into even more work and money, and the customer doesn't realize the con-job until it's way too late...so they bring contractor-whore man in to do just a little bit more...ugh, what an ugly cycle, not unlike a pimp and his desperate and impoverished bitches.
It's this willingness to say "Localised error. That's all. Nothing to see here" that gives IT it's bad reputation.
Excactly, and IT earned every bit of it. No one wants to pay for processes, no one wants to expend the extra effort for processes, and no one does. People in IT are more comfortable taking the intellectually lazy route and, because it works 80% of the time, they become quite comfortable doing it. For that other 20% or whatever, they figure out how to rationalize it as a "software glitch", even when it is their own fault, but the people they are explaining it to are so ignorant they will accept any explanation as the absolute truth. Management in IT must be the most ill-prepared and gullible bunch in any industry anywhere. The fact that accountants can't even match up trends in hardware and software costs with associated labor costs doesn't help (who here is still working on a 300MHz Pentium II with a buzzing hard drive and a 60Hz monitor, when the new hire in the next cube gets a 5GHz gold-plated dream machine who then wonders why you can't run their favorite dev tool of the week?).
It really wouldn't be that hard for Microsoft to release a generic codec pack for Linux.
Once their stock price has hit $1, half the executive staff has been replaced, they are arm-pit-deep in debt, and the analysts have nothing good to say about them, only then will they port stuff to Linux. They only reason Microsoft has conceded to recognizing UNIX and Apple is that they all grew up together, sort of like going to the same school in a small town, but that Microsoft was the poor geeky kid that was beat up on until he found superpowers and used them to destroy his enemies later in life.
...from Wacom!
I have a Wacom Intuos 2 tablet with a battery-less wire-less mouse. I don't like the mouse at all, because I cannot stand lifting the damn thing 1/4" inch to exit the tracking field to reposition the mouse. I quickly found that the mouse really is useful only for a 1:1 coordinate mapping between the pad and screen, where no lifting would be needed.
The battery-less wire-less pen, however, is excellent, and, after enough painful X server configuration, it even works great with the GIMP.
Paying off the hardware in a year probably isn't even on their radar. All they care about is getting enough revenue to cover their recurring rent, business loan, and payroll expenses. Plus, a business like this would work with lawyers and accountants who would be all over the IRS laws to negate tax liability, etc. The risk for them, now, is can they attract an adequate volume of customers. This risk is true of all startup businesses.
All in all, its much easier to install software in Windows, especially if you'd like to have some control over your file system.
Very clever troll. Windows gives the user practically no control at all. Just try to move something...oops, the whole registry broke. The only thing nearly as bad as the registry are all those hard-coded paths put into config files by libtool.
RPM does suck (/flamebait)
It isn't flamebait, because RPM really does suck.
I would be surprised you don't think Redmond is nervous about something.
They are nervous about a reality check. They are fat and happy off of rediculous monopolisitic profit margins, and they don't want to put off buying countries or souls or whatever Microsoft execs do. The thought of having to be merely multi-millionaires sends the shock of fear through their fatty pampered bodies.
I never open IE on purpose, but sometimes it still magically launches for the express purpose of updating me to the latest spyware.
Our ISPs can also be spyware. For some reason, everytime I boot my PC, it tries to initiate some HTTP traffic to a server within my ISPs IP address range. My firewall now blocks it all.
Given that the default install from the ISP provided no security whatsoever, I'm sure they are getting quite the marketing data booty from their customers.
Given that approximately half of voters voted for GWB, perhaps the GWB voters consider the Internet the "devil's work" with its vast pool of information about things like science and other religions. Never underestimate the stubborness of a racist ignorant uber-righteous zealot who self-selectively labels himself a "Christian".
For one thing, their prices are still insane
Actually, their x86 hardware is competitive with Dell (truly configured similarly).
And third, their hardware underperforms.
Not really true, anymore. Looking at the SPEC rate benchmarks, the UltraSPARC IV scales on a per-socket basis almost as well as Opteron but also way beyond 8 CPUs. The UltraSPARC IV consumes about the same power as Opteron, so this is a fair comparison (dual core and all).
In the late 90s and through the UltraSPARC III, Sun certainly got a reputation of lagging (USII only going upto 480MHz was kinda sad, etc.), but that reputation is mostly debunked, now.
Compare that with run of the mill dual proc 3Ghz Intel boxes, which are super fast, cheaper than a used Camry, and abundant. And Linux runs great on them.
Curious that Sun has added exactly this to their product line.
How many architechures does Solaris support?
Given that Solaris is 90+% platform-independent, it will support as many architectures as are commercially viable and worth the porting effort. Currently that is SPARC and x86.