ms already has a huge installed base in the home built on open hardware and closed software. It's taken them decades to achieve this lock-in and they know this kind of installed base doesn't come easy.
Maintaining mindshare in the developer comunity, holding share in the home peecee market, useing the hardware OEMs as distrobution channels (thus hiding the true cost of the OS to the end user) all costs money and they've already spent it.
MS missed the boat in the www and it cost them big money to catchup. MS missed the boat on handhelds, and they're still spending big to wrestle some share from the king, Palm inc. They're spreading fear uncertinty and doubt about the near future of gaming consoles by talking about a 'miricle box' that, by the time it is released will be a typical peecee.
All the developers that take this bait and start developing now will find themselves at the end of next year without an xbox from microsoft and they'll say to themselves "hell, I might as well just write it for the peecee" ..and that's where micros~1 is going with this.
Re:"An operating system expressly designed for computers with one user, who's running one application, which is only available from one vendor, and is capable of consistently crashing and losing data so as to provide the user a safe direction in which to ventilate his frustration with his miserable life."
And in a twisted, almost sadistic twist, just to tortue their customers just a little more, they remove all warrenty in the EULA so that the only place the frustrated windows user can vent his/her frustration is on/.
Re: Now, the article seems to indicate that this will be a seperate company with backing from various larger interests: Anyone know if this is true or will this end up as some kind of 'holding company'?
That last link has a lot of very good low level contrast between the 1988 version and the early 90s version.
Now all you need is someone to standup and swear they deployed Z39.50 1988 when it came out.
Re: What are you smoking? (no pun intended)
on
Focusing Audio
·
· Score: 1
Re:"It reminds of that quote - "any technology sufficiently advanced is indistinguishable from magic" - can we safely s/magic/drugs/ ?
If it has no negative long term effect on your mind body and soul?, yes. It it doesn;t distract from your energies and where you want to go in life? yes.
To the best of my experience with drugs of many kinds, no such "magic elixor" exists.
Aqumix.1017
net.micro
utcsrgv!utzoo!decvax!ittvax!qumix!msc
Fri Feb 19 12:18:04 1982
IBM PC
I am trying to connect an IBM personal computer as a terminal
to my vax. I have the asynchronous communications package from
ibm but it is not good.
It is written in basic and is so slow that the speed of writing
to the screen is about 600 baud. Also there does not appear to
be any way for the vax to erase things from the screen. A
backspace code from the vax is sent to the screen as a blotch
(actually it looks like a tiny ace of spades). Also it uses a
peculiar protocol for transferring files involving XOFF CR and
XON CR which I think is going to present difficulties.
Has anyone tackled these problems yet or am I the guinea pig?
I think I'm going to have to write a new terminal emulator
program which is not in basic. Naturally I would be ecstatic
if someone has done it already and could mail me a copy of
their program.
As to the pc itself, it is a nice little box and the
documentation is pretty reasonable. I have the color graphics
controller, the epson printer and controller, a second disk
drive, an async comms. card and full expansion of the memory on
the mother board.
A word of warning: don't buy one from computerland. Mine was
ordered on November 6 last year. In January I received a cpu
and a keyboard with the color graphics card and the async
comms. card. A b/w monitor and its controller were also
ordered but have yet to arrive. We didn't even get a PC-DOS
disk with the initial order. We had to badger our local
computerland into copying one of their disks for us. The
printer didn't arrive until a few days later and the second
disk drive only arrived two days ago. A 64k memory expansion
card has yet to arrive. Of course I really don't know if
the problems are ibm's or computerland's. You have to make
up your own mind.
In short the pc was completely unusable when first delivered
due to missing key components.
"Apparently Ms. Portman has a thing for a penis bird of some kind and, you can also read about the very begining of the operating system that now runs the world."
Teledesic keeps getting pushed back, and back and back. When it was first anounced, it was going to be 2001 andit's still "just 5 years away".
I can only imagine they're waiting for the cost per pound into orbit to fall so their constelation can be used for something other than "making really cool shooting star thingies" as they burn up in the atmospere like Iridium will do.
Launch cost (~10,000 per pound * 288) is what's keeping teledesic on the ground. I wouldn't hold your breath waiting on teledesic.
With all the posts about LEO (Low Earth Orbit) and GEO (Geosyncronous Earth Orbit) I took the liberty of diging up an old link you might find enlightning. Point your java enable web browser here and you'll see just how high up a GEO is, and thus how much latency such a system will have.
Details on how it will work here
From the page:
"The GTH system both sends requests to the Internet and receives the requested Internet content via a Ku-band satellite in geostationary orbit approximately 22,300 miles above the equator. The satellite, in turn, communicates with GTH's hub facility, which has a direct connection to the Internet. The result is two-way satellite Internet service that provides high-speed, always-on access on par with other broadband technologies, such as cable modems and DSL. Best of all, no telephone connection is needed, no terrestrial Internet account is required, and the service is available in any location that enjoys a clear view of the satellite. The GTH satellite dish is also capable of receiving EchoStar's DISH Network? 500-channel satellite television programming. By taking advantage of this capability, a single antenna can provide two-way satellite Internet service,as well as receive DISH Network satellite television programming from two EchoStar satellites. Additional information about this combined offering will be provided in the near future on this Web page.
(08/24/00, 9:47 p.m. ET)
An Intel initiative designed to double the graphics performance for next-generation PCs and workstations was detailed on Thursday at the chip maker's developer forum.
Santa Clara, Calif.-based Intel Corp. (stock: INTC) offered a glimpse of its new PORN8x road map for future graphics applications in desktops.
The PORN8x is an updated version of its previous graphics initiative, called PORN4x. Like PORN4x, the new PORN8xspecification implements a 32-bit wide bus. But the new specification doubles the graphics performance to 533 MHz and supports a data-transfer rate of 2 Gbytes.
Intel said the PORN8x specification is tuned for its upcoming Pentium 4 processor.
"The forthcoming introduction of the Intel Pentium 4 processor means that the external graphics attach point must advance to take advantage of higher processor and bus speeds and meet the need for better 3-D visualization in games and on the Internet," said Pat Gelsinger, vice president and chief technology officer of the Intel Architecture Group.
"We are focusing on a unified approach that embraces all high-end PC desktop and workstation market segments," Gelsinger said. "The next part of that road map is PORN8x, an evolutionary step from PORN4x, to be followed by a future serial graphics bus."
The PORN8x specification also received endorsements from leading graphics vendors, such as ATI Technologies Inc. (stock: ATYT), Matrox Graphics Inc., and Nvidia Corp. (stock: NVDA).
"ATI has been working closely with Intel to develop a robust PORN8x bus specification, and is pleased with the increased bandwidth enabled in this new graphics attach port. ATI will offer future members of the RADEON family that fully exploit PORN8x," said Henry Quan, vice president of corporate development at ATI.
"Collaborating with Intel on the development of the PORN8x spec is particularly exciting since the extra PORN bandwidth will benefit the many innovative technologies being developed for future Matrox products," said Jean-Jacques Ostiguy, chief architect at Matrox, Quebec.
The ping pong ball would just shoot right up...not exactly the same thing...
Interestingly, since the ping pong ball is a sphere it would have equal air pressure (assuming the ball is in the center of the air stream) as the air flows past the sides of the ball. The equal amount of force on the sides of the ball would hold it in the center of the air stream. What's more is, after the air flows past the ball, the air above the ball would have a negative pressure and, thus, would push back down on the ball. This negative air pressure is very weak, but it's strong enough to hold something as light as a ping pong ball, "levitating" it in the air stream. If the air blowing from the hair dryer is small enough, the negative presure above the ball, the small weight of the ping pong ball, and the airflowing by the sides of the ball act together to suspend the balls movement in the X, Y and Z planes.
This is more just simple physics and an exercise in aerodynamics than it is an act of 'levitation'.
Slashdot Mirror
Why build it when they've already come?
ms already has a huge installed base in the home built on open hardware and closed software. It's taken them decades to achieve this lock-in and they know this kind of installed base doesn't come easy.
Maintaining mindshare in the developer comunity, holding share in the home peecee market, useing the hardware OEMs as distrobution channels (thus hiding the true cost of the OS to the end user) all costs money and they've already spent it.
MS missed the boat in the www and it cost them big money to catchup. MS missed the boat on handhelds, and they're still spending big to wrestle some share from the king, Palm inc. They're spreading fear uncertinty and doubt about the near future of gaming consoles by talking about a 'miricle box' that, by the time it is released will be a typical peecee.
All the developers that take this bait and start developing now will find themselves at the end of next year without an xbox from microsoft and they'll say to themselves "hell, I might as well just write it for the peecee" . .and that's where micros~1 is going with this.
The X box does not yet exist.
And in a twisted, almost sadistic twist, just to tortue their customers just a little more, they remove all warrenty in the EULA so that the only place the frustrated windows user can vent his/her frustration is on /.
Here's the full spec in PDF format.
They also emit Hawking radiation which emits energy, thus, over time, black holes burn out.
Re: Now, the article seems to indicate that this will be a seperate company with backing from various larger interests: Anyone know if this is true or will this end up as some kind of 'holding company'?
Francois
Schiettecatte
FS Consulting
Internet: francois@wais.com (now here)
435 Highland Avenue
Rochester, NY 14620
Phone : (716) 256-2850
Fax : (716) 473-9695
or this:http://www .cni.org/pub/NISO/docs/Z39.50-brochure/50.brochure .part01.html
or this: http://www.i fla.org/documents/libraries/cataloging/metadata/gi ls-i.txt
That last link has a lot of very good low level contrast between the 1988 version and the early 90s version. Now all you need is someone to standup and swear they deployed Z39.50 1988 when it came out.
If it has no negative long term effect on your mind body and soul?, yes. It it doesn;t distract from your energies and where you want to go in life? yes.
To the best of my experience with drugs of many kinds, no such "magic elixor" exists.
net.sources
utcsrgv!utzoo!decvax!ucbvax!G:ARPAVAX:mark
Sun Apr 4 15:16:19 1982
pacman/makefile
CC = cc
# DFLAGS = -DUSG -DNODELAY
DFLAGS = -DNODELAY -DMINICURSES
CFLAGS = -O
LDFLAGS =
CFILES = pacman.c monster.c util.c movie.c
OFILES = pacman.o monster.o util.o movie.o
pacman: $(OFILES)
[snip]- index.html
You can find the rest of Pacman listed here:
http://comm unication.ucsd.edu/A-News/NET.sources/NET.sources
Including:
Subject: pacman/makefile
Subject: pacman/pacdefs.h
Subject: pacman/monster.c
Subject: pacman/movie.c
Subject: pacman/pacman.c
Subject: pacman/util.c
tcp-ip@brl
Postel@isif
Geoff@SRI-CSL
Amcnc.1058 net.bugs.4bsd utcsrgv!utzoo!decvax!duke!mcnc!swd Wed Feb 10 13:57:15 1982 fp bug?
On our 11/70, this program
double cos();
main() {
printf("%20.20f\n", cos(0.0));
}
prints out
1.00000000000000000000
On our VAX 11/780, it prints
1.00000000000000010000
We are not amused.
Has anyone else encountered this problem and/or fixed it?
We have compared the cos routine on the 11 and the 780 and they are identical.
Aqumix.1017 net.micro utcsrgv!utzoo!decvax!ittvax!qumix!msc Fri Feb 19 12:18:04 1982 IBM PC I am trying to connect an IBM personal computer as a terminal to my vax. I have the asynchronous communications package from ibm but it is not good.
It is written in basic and is so slow that the speed of writing to the screen is about 600 baud. Also there does not appear to be any way for the vax to erase things from the screen. A backspace code from the vax is sent to the screen as a blotch (actually it looks like a tiny ace of spades). Also it uses a peculiar protocol for transferring files involving XOFF CR and XON CR which I think is going to present difficulties.
Has anyone tackled these problems yet or am I the guinea pig? I think I'm going to have to write a new terminal emulator program which is not in basic. Naturally I would be ecstatic if someone has done it already and could mail me a copy of their program.
As to the pc itself, it is a nice little box and the documentation is pretty reasonable. I have the color graphics controller, the epson printer and controller, a second disk drive, an async comms. card and full expansion of the memory on the mother board.
A word of warning: don't buy one from computerland. Mine was ordered on November 6 last year. In January I received a cpu and a keyboard with the color graphics card and the async comms. card. A b/w monitor and its controller were also ordered but have yet to arrive. We didn't even get a PC-DOS disk with the initial order. We had to badger our local computerland into copying one of their disks for us. The printer didn't arrive until a few days later and the second disk drive only arrived two days ago. A 64k memory expansion card has yet to arrive. Of course I really don't know if the problems are ibm's or computerland's. You have to make up your own mind.
In short the pc was completely unusable when first delivered due to missing key components.
Mark Callow
"Apparently Ms. Portman has a thing for a penis bird of some kind and, you can also read about the very begining of the operating system that now runs the world."
As a proud american, I would say that bombing the Baldwins would work the american people up into a collective . . [sigh].
YOU MEAN THE SAME WAY A PING FLOOD CAN CAUSE DROPPED PACKETS DOWN HERE ON THE GROUND? How's that for all bold caps!
Teledesic keeps getting pushed back, and back and back. When it was first anounced, it was going to be 2001 andit's still "just 5 years away".
I can only imagine they're waiting for the cost per pound into orbit to fall so their constelation can be used for something other than "making really cool shooting star thingies" as they burn up in the atmospere like Iridium will do.
Launch cost (~10,000 per pound * 288) is what's keeping teledesic on the ground. I wouldn't hold your breath waiting on teledesic.
With all the posts about LEO (Low Earth Orbit) and GEO (Geosyncronous Earth Orbit) I took the liberty of diging up an old link you might find enlightning. Point your java enable web browser here and you'll see just how high up a GEO is, and thus how much latency such a system will have.
Because the signal is traveled on a transcontinental fiber-optic line pulled along the bottom of the ocean instead of by satelite.
. .Thousands of Gilat satelites conected to linux boxes, all aimed at Redmond.
[cue maniacal laughter]
[pet kitty]
[kiss pinky ring]
Details on how it will work here ,as well as receive DISH Network satellite television programming from two EchoStar satellites. Additional information about this combined offering will be provided in the near future on this Web page.
From the page: "The GTH system both sends requests to the Internet and receives the requested Internet content via a Ku-band satellite in geostationary orbit approximately 22,300 miles above the equator. The satellite, in turn, communicates with GTH's hub facility, which has a direct connection to the Internet. The result is two-way satellite Internet service that provides high-speed, always-on access on par with other broadband technologies, such as cable modems and DSL. Best of all, no telephone connection is needed, no terrestrial Internet account is required, and the service is available in any location that enjoys a clear view of the satellite. The GTH satellite dish is also capable of receiving EchoStar's DISH Network? 500-channel satellite television programming. By taking advantage of this capability, a single antenna can provide two-way satellite Internet service
. .much less a nationwide telecomunications infrastructure.
An Intel initiative designed to double the graphics performance for next-generation PCs and workstations was detailed on Thursday at the chip maker's developer forum.
Santa Clara, Calif.-based Intel Corp. (stock: INTC) offered a glimpse of its new PORN8x road map for future graphics applications in desktops.
The PORN8x is an updated version of its previous graphics initiative, called PORN4x. Like PORN4x, the new PORN8xspecification implements a 32-bit wide bus. But the new specification doubles the graphics performance to 533 MHz and supports a data-transfer rate of 2 Gbytes.
Intel said the PORN8x specification is tuned for its upcoming Pentium 4 processor.
"The forthcoming introduction of the Intel Pentium 4 processor means that the external graphics attach point must advance to take advantage of higher processor and bus speeds and meet the need for better 3-D visualization in games and on the Internet," said Pat Gelsinger, vice president and chief technology officer of the Intel Architecture Group.
"We are focusing on a unified approach that embraces all high-end PC desktop and workstation market segments," Gelsinger said. "The next part of that road map is PORN8x, an evolutionary step from PORN4x, to be followed by a future serial graphics bus."
The PORN8x specification also received endorsements from leading graphics vendors, such as ATI Technologies Inc. (stock: ATYT), Matrox Graphics Inc., and Nvidia Corp. (stock: NVDA).
"ATI has been working closely with Intel to develop a robust PORN8x bus specification, and is pleased with the increased bandwidth enabled in this new graphics attach port. ATI will offer future members of the RADEON family that fully exploit PORN8x," said Henry Quan, vice president of corporate development at ATI.
"Collaborating with Intel on the development of the PORN8x spec is particularly exciting since the extra PORN bandwidth will benefit the many innovative technologies being developed for future Matrox products," said Jean-Jacques Ostiguy, chief architect at Matrox, Quebec.
Interestingly, since the ping pong ball is a sphere it would have equal air pressure (assuming the ball is in the center of the air stream) as the air flows past the sides of the ball. The equal amount of force on the sides of the ball would hold it in the center of the air stream. What's more is, after the air flows past the ball, the air above the ball would have a negative pressure and, thus, would push back down on the ball. This negative air pressure is very weak, but it's strong enough to hold something as light as a ping pong ball, "levitating" it in the air stream. If the air blowing from the hair dryer is small enough, the negative presure above the ball, the small weight of the ping pong ball, and the airflowing by the sides of the ball act together to suspend the balls movement in the X, Y and Z planes.
This is more just simple physics and an exercise in aerodynamics than it is an act of 'levitation'.
"OOOoooo look, 0 G!"