I know, stating the obvious. Just trying to give a possible reason for why the media would want to stop home recording.
Pay per view? No. Well....maybe, just not in its current form. If the fee was small enough and it allowed me to watch whatever the hell I wanted whenever I wanted, then it would be worth it (to me at least but I know I'm probably the minority in this.) For me, a show looses so much when it is interrupted so often. And the idea of paying for something to watch when someone else feels like airing it doesn't appeal to me. I realized a while ago that TV is hard for me to get into because it's so passive. The only thing you control is what channel you view.
By the same token, who would be interested in DVDs that cost very little but are interrupted frequently with commercials that you can't fast forward through. Disney did something like that in the beginning of Tarzan I think it was. Something like 5 minutes of Disney commercials that you had no control over. Ick.
I didn't say PBS was commercial free. I just appreciate the fact that they don't interrupt the program they are showing. PBS programming is very station specific and while some stations may, the ones around me won't interrupt a program for the fund drives. Usually they show specialty programs like "Best of..." I have also noticed an increased tendancy to show full commercials by their sponsors (usually one after each program) as opposed to just mentioning their name. Their need for money has increased and their federal funding has been shrinking. While I may not like it, I do understand it.
Where I live, PBS is the only place I can get Britcoms.
You're correct in saying that broadcasters need more eyeballs on their programming but let's not forget why these whores want the eyeballs....ADVERTISING. How many commercials were there during the Dune miniseries? These companies don't make any money by broadcasting programs. The programs cost them money to produce or buy the rights to air. They want programs that will get more people watching so their commercials are seen by more people. Anyone else annoyed by those idiotic semi-transparent logos that presist in the bottom right hand side of the screen constantly reminding us what channel we are watching? A&E ABC and NBC I know for sure do this and others do too I'm sure. Some have gone so far as to use that space for commercials while the program/movie is running!
I suspect that the main reason that networks wouldn't want people to be able to record their content is the ability to cut out commercials. Many people do this with their Tivo or ReplayTV type devices with all their watching. I'm tired of commercials every 5-8 minutes, anyone else? It's definately made me appreciate PBS.
I always wondered what Direct X was all about. Is Microsoft the only entity allowed to create a layer that understands Direct X commands? If not, is such a layer technically possible in Linux? I guess it would have to be optional, like a small server running only if/when it's needed.
Would a DX layer mean that everything accessing a sound card, video, joystick, etc would have to be rewritten or can it exist without interfering?
I'm a hardware kind of guy and have been using Linux for a couple years now. For the past year I've been using a laptop, so high end games are not really an option. Soon I will be building a beast of a desktop. My question is this: What is it that makes Linux less desirable for games? Sure there are more "mainstream" game companies focusing only on windows but is there some technical reason for higher game performance? Is it just a matter of optimization? I know this is a newbie question but like I said, I'm a hardware guy.
Thank God someone out there with half a brain. I believe that you are absolutely correct. Rather than have a "high end" 32 bit processor infringe on server territory they intend to fill that area with the 64 bit hammer stuffs.
I'm a little disappointed with this course but I can understand where they're coming from. In early 2001 I will be building a new computer and was drooling over the idea of dual Mustang-core Athlons with 2 MB L2 caches. (The new computer is going to be an all-out beast.) I don't know if I can wait for x86-64 but it sounds so good. Anyone know what quarter they want it to ship in? Maybe I could hold out 'till Q2 2001 but beyond that it gets rather painful.
Some trouble with such large amounts of cache on-die are: larger dies, higher power requirements, and much more heat. Larger dies cut manufacturers' yeilds two ways:
1. Less cores/wafer
2. Higher failure rate.
Prices would likely be sky high for a processor with 2 MB of L2 cache on-die. I doubt many people/companies would pay the premiums with x86-64 around the corner.
The whole point of free enterprise is to allow the market to decide what products survive and what go by the wayside. Antitrust laws were designed to protect consumers from "dangerous conspiricies" of companies. Microsoft bypassed the market and got itself in hot water. Patent or no patent, Rambus deserves the same. The central issue will probably be the validity of these patents.
Anybody know of any patent judged to have been wrongly issued?
It's funny how news companies in the past have tended to blame UNIX and OSs modeled after it for DDoS attacks. Now we have one in the form of a windows executable. Correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't Linux have the ability to bring network connections up and down even though it is still physically attached to something (eg dsl or cable modem). I'm sure others do too I just haven't used them yet. Wouldn't that be the safest thing? If you're not using your connection why leave it active?
Very good point. I'm sorry if I came off as sounding a bit pissed. I had just finished reading a lot of "just switch to BSD whilst I look downeth my nose at thou." types of comments. I honestly didn't mean it in any sort of attacking fashion. Just sort of general steam-relief. Sorry.
Counterarguement to "hurt our innovation."
on
Microsoft Quickies
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· Score: 1
It seems that MS is always screaming that breaking up the company will hurt its innovation and that lessened innovation will hurt consumers. This poses the question:
Which is worse, hindering one company's innovation, or allowing that company to squash several innovative companies?
The whole reason for the trial is that several innovative products from other companies never made it to market because MS didn't like them. Who gave microsoft the right to decide what products we see and don't see? "Competition is the heart of free enterprise." (Thomas Jefforson I think. I can't remember right now.) If Microsoft was a branch of the US Government people would be screaming bloody murder.
Just because no bug fixes have been announced doesn't mean the bugs don't exist.
I seem to get this sort of attitude from a lot of BSD users claiming Linux is really lame every time a bugfix comes along.
I seriously wonder how many people who wrote in saying "Linux sucks, use BSD" were actually in a position that would have made them vunerable to this bug. Using Linux on my laptop makes this update about as important to me as somebody on the other side of the world smacking a mosquito. But it is nice to see another bug bite the dust.
Please don't get me wrong, I don't have anything against BSD. In fact, I intend to try it out when I get my next computer. (My laptop has some unsupported hardware.) Until then, Linux fits my needs perfectly.
They are using it in chips for cellular phones. (if I remember correctly) Why we don't see this stuff in computer processors is beyond me but I don't remember them ever mentioning plans to do so. Perhaps it is difficult to work into such a complex design or would require an entire redesign of the chip. That's just a guess though.
Only because it is such a high profile case. The only thing that worries me is the age of the justices. Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson has been hearing tech cases for some time now. How well will the justices grasp a technical debate. Microsoft has proven itself very good at winning over the ignorant with flashy titles, PR, and buzzwords.
You're absolutely right about the Supreme Court's ability to decline a case if they wish. I should have been more specific. I just meant that the judge has that option where he usually wouldn't. (would he?) I guess the only other reason for the Supreme Court to hear it is that it's antitrust law and it's weird. Nah. It requires quick action. This first trial has already taken so long that the original points are almost non-issues.
Rejecting a story is not censorship at all. It's their site and they post whatever the hell they like. They get upwards of 500 submissions a day, if something doesn't really grab their interest they don't post it. It doesn't mean their opposed to what was suggested, it just means it didn't interest them.
In all honesty, I haven't seen anything moderated down that wasn't offensive or off topic. In fact, many opposing viewpoints are moderated up as "interesting" or "informative" because a lot of readers like to see things from all possible perspectives. This is not, of course, to say abuse doesn't happen, just that I haven't seen it. Besides, moderation is put in the hands of the users not the owners. It's supposed to be a self-governing system but as with all systems like that some will abuse the power when they get it. If you see abuse, Malda wants you to tell him. The offending moderator may have his privilages removed.
Antitrust cases can be taken directly to the Supreme Court; bypassing the circuit courts and shedding years from a trial. I believe it's up to the judge. Downside is that the Supreme Court can sometimes be more politically influenced.
I'm a big IBM fan so I'm not complaining but with advances in disk technology are we putting our data at more risk? As densities get higher and higher more data is being packed into a smaller space. What happens if something physically damages the disk? Smaller damage can now cause greater loss. RAID's looking better and better. Don't get me wrong though, when 75Gig drives show up at my local computer shop you can bet I'll be in line.
IMHO The best name I ever heard was greptile. It's not my idea but I heard someone mention it at the beginning of this contest and thouhgt to myself, "well, contest over." But that's just my take on the situation.
Somebody's got to have some coffee around here somewhere. -me in the morning.
I found it interesting that I was unable to find any cooling information on the sites talking about this new Intel chip. One of the main points of the recent 1.1GHz AMD demonstration was the fact that it needed no special cooling techniques.
One thing curiously missing from the AMD report was what it was doing. The Intel chip was only running a frequency ID utility which is great if that's what you plan on running all day. Who knows, maybe both of these processors melt the second you try to run real code on them. This report, to me at least, just seems like fluff. I would really like it if companies just talked about what they had ready for production rather than just trying to create a media stir. Because megahertz ISN'T a measure of performance when comparing two different types of chips, who really cares other than the media? I like seeing the tech specs but I wish these companies would stop tooting the MHz horn. Give me true loaded performance, not this frequency stuff.
A side note of genuine curiosity: I've heard RDRAM is slow when transfering many small files but blazing when transfering large files. That in mind, is anyone out there ready to shell out the big bucks for RDRAM?
/matt
Microsoft seems to like old rock songs. For the release of win95 they purchased the rights to the Stones song "Start Me Up." Perhaps a more fitting song for the upcoming release of win2K would be "I Fought the Law and the Law Won."
I'm sorry, my last sentence was suppoesd to go with my first. I agree with you on the fact that Pittsburgh is making good progress. There aren't too many citys that I'd feel entirely safe walking around the streets downtown, alone at 2:00 in the morning. I live there during the week as a student and come home (about an hour north via I-79) on weekends. New schools (good ones) are popping up all over the place. Mostly I was talking about areas between Pittsburgh and Erie. New Castle for one used to be an industrial wonder. The main road from Pittsburgh to Erie ran through there. Then the steel mills closed and I-79 began diverting traffic away from the area and the city has suffered. Million dollar homes now located in the projects used for mental hospitals. It's a damn shame. True again, farming is the main industry in PA. The biggest programs in our high school were AG and Shop. However, it's not the only one. Though I'm not a native of the area I live just north of New Castle and see real potential there just waiting for a green light. Steel is dead here, never to return but you don't need to dig something out of the earth for knowledge. The technological resource is smart people. If enough people were interested, enough people educated, New Castle could really build a tech industry there. The people exist and the roadways exist, they just need money and direction. Then again, it may just be a stunt to get more people buying PCs with windows to boost M$ sales, but it might have some good side effects. NT on every government PC? Not for me thanks. If I ever offend with my remarks please know that I never intend to.
I can't speak for the eastern portion of Pennsylvania, but ever since the steel industry fled western Pennsylvania the economy has been slow. Few have the extra money to "blow" on a PC. Very few in rural areas (which there are a lot of) have experience with computers making them rather intimidating. The idea of this plan isn't to give everyone a tax break on the machine of their dreams (Sparc, Alpha, etc.). The point of this is to make PC's just a little more affordable for the struggling folks. Giving young children the opportunity to become familier with and maybe develop an interest in computers they might not otherwise have. When people think of PA one of the first things that come to mind is the Amish population, who in our area don't use electricity of any sort. Gov. Ridge is trying to change the image popular image that PA is still stuck in the iron age by producing a "crop" of technically educated kids. PA has seen a large drop in population in the past few years partly because of educated people leaving due to the lack of high tech industry. Producing educated individuals is the first step to making an area appealing to an industry. Pittsburgh is trying to pick things up and are off to a slow but good start.
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Good to see someone with a brain for hardware. As far as I've heard, Tyan will be the only one with dual AMD boards for a while.
Pay per view? No. Well....maybe, just not in its current form. If the fee was small enough and it allowed me to watch whatever the hell I wanted whenever I wanted, then it would be worth it (to me at least but I know I'm probably the minority in this.) For me, a show looses so much when it is interrupted so often. And the idea of paying for something to watch when someone else feels like airing it doesn't appeal to me. I realized a while ago that TV is hard for me to get into because it's so passive. The only thing you control is what channel you view.
By the same token, who would be interested in DVDs that cost very little but are interrupted frequently with commercials that you can't fast forward through. Disney did something like that in the beginning of Tarzan I think it was. Something like 5 minutes of Disney commercials that you had no control over. Ick.
Where I live, PBS is the only place I can get Britcoms.
I suspect that the main reason that networks wouldn't want people to be able to record their content is the ability to cut out commercials. Many people do this with their Tivo or ReplayTV type devices with all their watching. I'm tired of commercials every 5-8 minutes, anyone else? It's definately made me appreciate PBS.
Would a DX layer mean that everything accessing a sound card, video, joystick, etc would have to be rewritten or can it exist without interfering?
I'm a hardware kind of guy and have been using Linux for a couple years now. For the past year I've been using a laptop, so high end games are not really an option. Soon I will be building a beast of a desktop. My question is this: What is it that makes Linux less desirable for games? Sure there are more "mainstream" game companies focusing only on windows but is there some technical reason for higher game performance? Is it just a matter of optimization? I know this is a newbie question but like I said, I'm a hardware guy.
Just think, using this to network a couple computers together.
Serial ATA Networking...SATAN.
I'm a little disappointed with this course but I can understand where they're coming from. In early 2001 I will be building a new computer and was drooling over the idea of dual Mustang-core Athlons with 2 MB L2 caches. (The new computer is going to be an all-out beast.) I don't know if I can wait for x86-64 but it sounds so good. Anyone know what quarter they want it to ship in? Maybe I could hold out 'till Q2 2001 but beyond that it gets rather painful.
Some trouble with such large amounts of cache on-die are: larger dies, higher power requirements, and much more heat. Larger dies cut manufacturers' yeilds two ways:
1. Less cores/wafer
2. Higher failure rate.
Prices would likely be sky high for a processor with 2 MB of L2 cache on-die. I doubt many people/companies would pay the premiums with x86-64 around the corner.
Last I heard it required a 4 head Matrox card. At the time I read it, which was a few months ago, this was the only card that could "feed the beast."
Anybody know of any patent judged to have been wrongly issued?
It's funny how news companies in the past have tended to blame UNIX and OSs modeled after it for DDoS attacks. Now we have one in the form of a windows executable. Correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't Linux have the ability to bring network connections up and down even though it is still physically attached to something (eg dsl or cable modem). I'm sure others do too I just haven't used them yet. Wouldn't that be the safest thing? If you're not using your connection why leave it active?
Very good point. I'm sorry if I came off as sounding a bit pissed. I had just finished reading a lot of "just switch to BSD whilst I look downeth my nose at thou." types of comments. I honestly didn't mean it in any sort of attacking fashion. Just sort of general steam-relief. Sorry.
Which is worse, hindering one company's innovation, or allowing that company to squash several innovative companies?
The whole reason for the trial is that several innovative products from other companies never made it to market because MS didn't like them. Who gave microsoft the right to decide what products we see and don't see? "Competition is the heart of free enterprise." (Thomas Jefforson I think. I can't remember right now.) If Microsoft was a branch of the US Government people would be screaming bloody murder.
Just because no bug fixes have been announced doesn't mean the bugs don't exist.
I seem to get this sort of attitude from a lot of BSD users claiming Linux is really lame every time a bugfix comes along.
I seriously wonder how many people who wrote in saying "Linux sucks, use BSD" were actually in a position that would have made them vunerable to this bug. Using Linux on my laptop makes this update about as important to me as somebody on the other side of the world smacking a mosquito. But it is nice to see another bug bite the dust.
Please don't get me wrong, I don't have anything against BSD. In fact, I intend to try it out when I get my next computer. (My laptop has some unsupported hardware.) Until then, Linux fits my needs perfectly.
But what is worse? Hindering the innovation of a single company or allowing that company to squash several innovative companies.
Sorry, it's a bit off topic but it's my main point in my ms-rant.
They are using it in chips for cellular phones. (if I remember correctly) Why we don't see this stuff in computer processors is beyond me but I don't remember them ever mentioning plans to do so. Perhaps it is difficult to work into such a complex design or would require an entire redesign of the chip. That's just a guess though.
You're absolutely right about the Supreme Court's ability to decline a case if they wish. I should have been more specific. I just meant that the judge has that option where he usually wouldn't. (would he?) I guess the only other reason for the Supreme Court to hear it is that it's antitrust law and it's weird. Nah. It requires quick action. This first trial has already taken so long that the original points are almost non-issues.
In all honesty, I haven't seen anything moderated down that wasn't offensive or off topic. In fact, many opposing viewpoints are moderated up as "interesting" or "informative" because a lot of readers like to see things from all possible perspectives. This is not, of course, to say abuse doesn't happen, just that I haven't seen it. Besides, moderation is put in the hands of the users not the owners. It's supposed to be a self-governing system but as with all systems like that some will abuse the power when they get it. If you see abuse, Malda wants you to tell him. The offending moderator may have his privilages removed.
Antitrust cases can be taken directly to the Supreme Court; bypassing the circuit courts and shedding years from a trial. I believe it's up to the judge. Downside is that the Supreme Court can sometimes be more politically influenced.
I'm a big IBM fan so I'm not complaining but with advances in disk technology are we putting our data at more risk? As densities get higher and higher more data is being packed into a smaller space. What happens if something physically damages the disk? Smaller damage can now cause greater loss. RAID's looking better and better. Don't get me wrong though, when 75Gig drives show up at my local computer shop you can bet I'll be in line.
Somebody's got to have some coffee around here somewhere. -me in the morning.
this is my third day off the juice (quad espresso) why is the world suddenly going so fast?
One thing curiously missing from the AMD report was what it was doing. The Intel chip was only running a frequency ID utility which is great if that's what you plan on running all day. Who knows, maybe both of these processors melt the second you try to run real code on them. This report, to me at least, just seems like fluff. I would really like it if companies just talked about what they had ready for production rather than just trying to create a media stir. Because megahertz ISN'T a measure of performance when comparing two different types of chips, who really cares other than the media? I like seeing the tech specs but I wish these companies would stop tooting the MHz horn. Give me true loaded performance, not this frequency stuff.
A side note of genuine curiosity: I've heard RDRAM is slow when transfering many small files but blazing when transfering large files. That in mind, is anyone out there ready to shell out the big bucks for RDRAM?
Microsoft seems to like old rock songs. For the release of win95 they purchased the rights to the Stones song "Start Me Up." Perhaps a more fitting song for the upcoming release of win2K would be "I Fought the Law and the Law Won."
I'm sorry, my last sentence was suppoesd to go with my first. I agree with you on the fact that Pittsburgh is making good progress. There aren't too many citys that I'd feel entirely safe walking around the streets downtown, alone at 2:00 in the morning. I live there during the week as a student and come home (about an hour north via I-79) on weekends. New schools (good ones) are popping up all over the place. Mostly I was talking about areas between Pittsburgh and Erie. New Castle for one used to be an industrial wonder. The main road from Pittsburgh to Erie ran through there. Then the steel mills closed and I-79 began diverting traffic away from the area and the city has suffered. Million dollar homes now located in the projects used for mental hospitals. It's a damn shame. True again, farming is the main industry in PA. The biggest programs in our high school were AG and Shop. However, it's not the only one. Though I'm not a native of the area I live just north of New Castle and see real potential there just waiting for a green light. Steel is dead here, never to return but you don't need to dig something out of the earth for knowledge. The technological resource is smart people. If enough people were interested, enough people educated, New Castle could really build a tech industry there. The people exist and the roadways exist, they just need money and direction. Then again, it may just be a stunt to get more people buying PCs with windows to boost M$ sales, but it might have some good side effects. NT on every government PC? Not for me thanks. If I ever offend with my remarks please know that I never intend to.
I can't speak for the eastern portion of Pennsylvania, but ever since the steel industry fled western Pennsylvania the economy has been slow. Few have the extra money to "blow" on a PC. Very few in rural areas (which there are a lot of) have experience with computers making them rather intimidating. The idea of this plan isn't to give everyone a tax break on the machine of their dreams (Sparc, Alpha, etc.). The point of this is to make PC's just a little more affordable for the struggling folks. Giving young children the opportunity to become familier with and maybe develop an interest in computers they might not otherwise have. When people think of PA one of the first things that come to mind is the Amish population, who in our area don't use electricity of any sort. Gov. Ridge is trying to change the image popular image that PA is still stuck in the iron age by producing a "crop" of technically educated kids. PA has seen a large drop in population in the past few years partly because of educated people leaving due to the lack of high tech industry. Producing educated individuals is the first step to making an area appealing to an industry. Pittsburgh is trying to pick things up and are off to a slow but good start.