Big corporations are pretty conservative when they buy their computer systems, and they're still overwhelmingly Intel based. If you're building systems for the corporate market, your first considerations are going to be stabability and reliability. Performance is way down the list.
An AMD fanboi, on the other hand, won't blink if you tell him that he'll need to reflash the BIOS and download the latest chipset drivers to make a certain board work. I know I didn't. It was all sleek and shiny and was sitting there in the store like a puppy in the window of a pet shop, saying "Buy me! Buy me!". I didn't mind that it wasn't paper-trained yet.
I'm with you, the article was worse the pointless. On the other hand, it seems to have initiated quite a few comments from/.ers that actually are useful and insightful.
Maybe we're looking at these articles the wrong way. Maybe the editors aren't saying "Hey, here's a really cool column to read.", but instead are saying "Hey, this might be an interesting topic to discuss. Here's a POS article about it for all of you to gripe about, just to get the ball rolling."
Maybe they're trying to turn it into a hotbed of Internet users. There's not much point in putting up free wi-fi access in some area that's already got a bunch of free access points.
Roads and parks aren't free.... you pay for them with sales tax and property tax and all the other taxes the city piles on you.
The thing is, roads and parks and police and fire departments benefit pretty much everyone. I'm not sure what percentage of the population benefits from wi-fi access. I don't see too many homeless people out there with laptops.
The only time I have a problem with computer crashes is when its my work system. Since I no longer work in the IT department, I don't have admin access anywhere. That means I have to call *other* people when my system goes down.
Don't get me wrong, our IT department is courteous and professional and knowledgeable. It just feels so... wrong to sit there and let someone else work on my computer.
I imagine thats how it must feel to sit there while some other guy makes out with your girlfriend.
If the "antiquated" microfiche can hold up that long why not our records stored on the digital media?
What do you really worried about the longevity of... the media, or the data on that media? Media that lasts a long time tends to be expensive and inconvenient. Media that is more convenient seems to be a lot more fragile.
Instead of worrying about the longevity of the media, take advantage of the convenience. Make multiple copies and store them off site. As better storage methods become available, move your information there and increase your redundancy.
Something engraved in a stone tablet might last for thousands of years, but it could also disappear tomorrow if disaster strikes. Multiple digital copies of something might not be as secure indvidually, but as a group they almost guarantee that you'll be able to access your information in the future.
Everyones starting to use Macs. They're the next cool thing. And they're so much easier to use! In a few years, Apple will own the personal computer market.
You can pick just about any year in the last 20 and somebody somewhere was making this observation.
Let me just jump in with a boring hardware question.
I've got 1.5 gig of RAM, and two 160 gig SATA drives set up with RAID 0. Right now all my swap files and stuff are on the RAID array, but I *could* drop a 120 gig IDE drive in there and move the temp files to it. Would that speed things up, slow things down, or should I not worry about it and get a life?
What could we possibly have that's so freaking special that these aliens would have to come here and take it from us? Resources? Plenty of asteroids and uninhabited planets out there. Food? Probably lots of planets out there teeming with life that somehow just never got the intelligence thing going.
Sure, you can make up some horror movie reason for them to invade (They need our WOMEN! To BREED!) but I think most alien races who investigate us will mark us down as just another carbon-based bipedel life form, nothing special, make a note and move on to the next system.
The article is utter crap, by the way. First, let's laugh at the idea that the aliens might read right to left, and thus will be totally incapable of deciphering our messages. And the main thrust of the article sounds like something from Master of Orion. We send the alien race a machine programmed with all of our secrets, and they "trade" by transmitting one of their secrets to us, upon which our machine releases a secret to them. The machine is, of course, totally hack-proof. And secrets are these nice little comparmentalized things, like Neutronium Armor or Black Hole Generators, which can be traded one-for-one.
Well heck, it *could* be an Oreo. Or a vulture. Or an alternator from a '58 Chevy. Or the warm fuzzy feeling you get from doing an anonymous good deed.
Just go to another company, and sign the *exact same deal* with them. Then bring them the code you wrote for your current employer and BOOM, now your new company owns it and your current employer is screwed.
The law has to work both ways, right?
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Big corporations are pretty conservative when they buy their computer systems, and they're still overwhelmingly Intel based. If you're building systems for the corporate market, your first considerations are going to be stabability and reliability. Performance is way down the list.
An AMD fanboi, on the other hand, won't blink if you tell him that he'll need to reflash the BIOS and download the latest chipset drivers to make a certain board work. I know I didn't. It was all sleek and shiny and was sitting there in the store like a puppy in the window of a pet shop, saying "Buy me! Buy me!". I didn't mind that it wasn't paper-trained yet.
I'm with you, the article was worse the pointless. On the other hand, it seems to have initiated quite a few comments from /.ers that actually are useful and insightful.
Maybe we're looking at these articles the wrong way. Maybe the editors aren't saying "Hey, here's a really cool column to read.", but instead are saying "Hey, this might be an interesting topic to discuss. Here's a POS article about it for all of you to gripe about, just to get the ball rolling."
Maybe they're trying to turn it into a hotbed of Internet users. There's not much point in putting up free wi-fi access in some area that's already got a bunch of free access points.
Roads and parks aren't free.... you pay for them with sales tax and property tax and all the other taxes the city piles on you.
The thing is, roads and parks and police and fire departments benefit pretty much everyone. I'm not sure what percentage of the population benefits from wi-fi access. I don't see too many homeless people out there with laptops.
...burning bright
In the forests of the night:
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
The only time I have a problem with computer crashes is when its my work system. Since I no longer work in the IT department, I don't have admin access anywhere. That means I have to call *other* people when my system goes down.
Don't get me wrong, our IT department is courteous and professional and knowledgeable. It just feels so... wrong to sit there and let someone else work on my computer. I imagine thats how it must feel to sit there while some other guy makes out with your girlfriend.
I think I know where you were going with that. Try my solution... name your computer after your significant other.
If the "antiquated" microfiche can hold up that long why not our records stored on the digital media?
What do you really worried about the longevity of... the media, or the data on that media? Media that lasts a long time tends to be expensive and inconvenient. Media that is more convenient seems to be a lot more fragile.
Instead of worrying about the longevity of the media, take advantage of the convenience. Make multiple copies and store them off site. As better storage methods become available, move your information there and increase your redundancy. Something engraved in a stone tablet might last for thousands of years, but it could also disappear tomorrow if disaster strikes. Multiple digital copies of something might not be as secure indvidually, but as a group they almost guarantee that you'll be able to access your information in the future.
Everyones starting to use Macs. They're the next cool thing. And they're so much easier to use! In a few years, Apple will own the personal computer market.
You can pick just about any year in the last 20 and somebody somewhere was making this observation.
Just because people are laughing at you, that doesn't make you a comedian.
Let me just jump in with a boring hardware question.
I've got 1.5 gig of RAM, and two 160 gig SATA drives set up with RAID 0. Right now all my swap files and stuff are on the RAID array, but I *could* drop a 120 gig IDE drive in there and move the temp files to it. Would that speed things up, slow things down, or should I not worry about it and get a life?
You could admire the rings or the moon without having to obliterate the human race.
Art? I *suppose* there could a be huge, galaxy-wide demand for clown paintings, or something.
What could we possibly have that's so freaking special that these aliens would have to come here and take it from us? Resources? Plenty of asteroids and uninhabited planets out there. Food? Probably lots of planets out there teeming with life that somehow just never got the intelligence thing going.
Sure, you can make up some horror movie reason for them to invade (They need our WOMEN! To BREED!) but I think most alien races who investigate us will mark us down as just another carbon-based bipedel life form, nothing special, make a note and move on to the next system.
The article is utter crap, by the way. First, let's laugh at the idea that the aliens might read right to left, and thus will be totally incapable of deciphering our messages. And the main thrust of the article sounds like something from Master of Orion. We send the alien race a machine programmed with all of our secrets, and they "trade" by transmitting one of their secrets to us, upon which our machine releases a secret to them. The machine is, of course, totally hack-proof. And secrets are these nice little comparmentalized things, like Neutronium Armor or Black Hole Generators, which can be traded one-for-one.
Well heck, it *could* be an Oreo. Or a vulture. Or an alternator from a '58 Chevy. Or the warm fuzzy feeling you get from doing an anonymous good deed.
Just go to another company, and sign the *exact same deal* with them. Then bring them the code you wrote for your current employer and BOOM, now your new company owns it and your current employer is screwed. The law has to work both ways, right?