I know of several folks who've recently replaced drives under warranty. The replacements have worked well.
Is there any chance something other than the drives is causing the failures? Bad power? Too little cooling?
I purchased two a year+ ago. Both failed a couple months ago. Unibrain did a quick job on the RMA. (The warranty was 24 months.) The specs indicate the CCD used is from Sony, and I vaguely remember a story about Sony having a problem with the epoxy used to attach the CCDs. Actually, I got lucky looking for it: http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/10/ 10/2235206
Take two transmission streams: Both have an average throughput of 10Mb/s. However, one stream is a file transfer and can handle a variance of 2 Mb/s from the average. The other is streaming media, and can not handle a variance of even 0.2 Mb/s. Does it cost the ISP more to deliver the streaming media than to deliver the file? (Faster lines, more expensive switches, maintenance, etc ?)
If it does cost more, then the ISPs do have a right to charge the customer more. The telecomms that provide lines to Google, et al would have a right to charge Google more. Does that make sense?
If the costs are the same, then the ISPs should go home and do a visual inspection of the interior of their colons.
Oil Companies produce their product, deliver it to the customer and sell it. ISPs take products from other companies and deliver it to the customer.
If I'm requesting more info from Google, Yahoo, etc, I should pay for a higher bandwidth line. If Google, Yahoo, etc are transmitting more info, they should be paying for a higher bandwidth line (which they do already).
OK, so I'm painting a big bulls-eye on my back, but I'd like to see Microsoft just write a decent app that would make 70-80% of PC users happy. Stop making Swiss Army knives with so many different tools that one needs a Hummer to carry one. Including the kitchen sink just means most of your customers are paying for a whole bunch of features (and bugs!) they don't need.
Yes, this goes against business: making a solid tool that works and makes your customers happy, instead of making gobs of money for the corporation. Come on, MS! Pride yourself on building a good app, not a good bank account. Make us happy to hand over our money to you. Stop making us feel like you are the overlord and we have no choice.
Thinking about it a little more, yes, you're right. My first analogy doesn't work. My other reply is a different analogy: didn't realize that until after I thought about it a little more. Oh well, can't learn to walk without tripping a few times. (Or maybe I should learn to leave out stupid analogies.)
Yes, but in the real world the dealer usually has several choices for tires, rims, stereos, etc from several different manufacturers. If you want high end stuff, the dealer can put it on/order it for you so its bundled when you get the car.
In the Microsoft world, there's only one stereo and it uses a proprietary codec. If everybody bought these cars (Microsoft is a monopoly after all) no one else could build a replacement stereo, because they'd be sued. Unless they paid out the nose for a license to the codec.
And so it goes with Windows: use Media Player or don't -- you have a choice.
Your wallet does not have a choice. If you decide you want to use RealPlayer instead, do you get the money back that went to designing & implementing WMP? If you want to use Netscape instead, do you get the money back that went into designing & implementing IE?
By bundling things the way they have, Microsoft has forced you to buy them even if you didn't want them. As such, people had less money to buy RP, Netscape, etc.
For those who don't want the government limiting bundling (from Tarpitcod's post:)
1) No OS should come with threads - processes are enough, and bundling in 'threads' is an attempt to stop good hard working folks from selling their thread implementation.
2) TCP/IP stack? What! With the OS? That's anti competitive! Your stopping all those other good hard-working folks from selling their own protocol stack! Your putting them out of business! You big nasty evil corporation!
I think you're going a little too far. Even though car analogies are used too often, I think the analogy might be Engines and Wires. The Engine MS supplies would only run on MS Gas. If you want to run on Exxon's Gas, you'd need to buy a different engine, and you'd get no money back for the MS engine. The Wires connecting the components just work, and there's no real need to replace them.
Yes, if MS made a car with an MS engine, they'd die a quick death. But only because there are options. If there were no other car makers out there, we'd have to buy the MS car and either buy their gas, or buy a second engine.
Being a practical, middle-aged, male geek, the content of 99.99% of the commercials do not appeal/apply to me. I'm happy with my car, which should last another 10 years, and I'd never buy an SUV. I don't drink. I certainly don't need any feminine hygiene products. I don't go to McDs, BK, Wendy's, etc. For shipping, I choose whatever is cheaper from the online retailer. Computers? I build my own. (DUH!)
About the only type of commercials that interest me are the ones of the type, "BTW, the Season Finale of Battlestar Galactica is 90 minutes long," and I missed that one becuase I skipped all the crap listed in the previous paragraph. (BitTorrent to the rescue!)
Think about it. The average hour long show really only has about 45 minutes of content. If I watch 8 hours of TV a week, I've saved myself *TWO HOURS*. How much is that family/housework/work time worth?
Enough that if they implement this I'll be cancelling my cable service and buying seasons of stuff on DVD. One month's bill more than covers the cost of one season. Heck, once I watched it, I could sell it and get half the money back.
Good question. When a patient wins a malpractice case, who foots the bill? The doctor? Nope. The doctor just pays a smaller fine or loses his license, not the big multi-million dollar award. Probably all doctors' Malpractice Insurance fees go up tho. Can't imagine why health care costs are always going up.
Who's going to repay all the money lost by Enron employees? The upper management folks? Nope, they already spent it and won't be pulling in even a six-figure from salary behind bars. (Assuming that happens...)
What if a large company used anti-competitive practices to shut down a small company? Maybe a class action suit from somewhere. If the suit wins but the small company has failed, will the court order it rebuilt?
I'd really like to see the people who made the decisions be held accountable for the magnitude of the effect they have on the victims.
Yeah, ok, I'm ranting & probably not making too much sense. Down 1.
Yeah, we're all tired of the lawsuits. But sometimes, they are *required*. Only the court (and maybe objective folks with *all* of the facts) can tell if Intel really has been working AMD over unfairly, or if AMD is just SCO wanna-be.
*If* Intel has made anti-competitive contracts (Such as, "Only buy our chips or our prices double!"), I'd liked to see them smacked as hard as Microsoft..... err, ok... maybe this is a pointless waste of time & money.
I don't think this should be IBM's responsibility. Imagine if a District Attorney had you arrested for murder, but didn't tell you who you are suspected of axing, nor when or where the crime happened.
Please read the original story. The AT&T CEO said they would *not* degrade or limit bandwidth, and stated his opinion that any company doing so would be committing economic suicide.
In essence, we already have a tiered internet today. I have my choice of bandwidth speeds: dial-up, DSL, or cable. I could even get fiber. Providers have a similar decision to make, although their choices include things like T1, T3, OC3, etc.
As long as the bandwidth/QoS is applied equally to all traffic over the link, be it HTTP, FTP, SSH, VOIP, or Video, I won't complain.
Yeah, maybe it's a silly question. But *anything* we install on our systems could be reading this stuff. Heck, my tax software reads my SSN yearly. Excel reads my monthly income, well... monthly. But what does The Warden do with this information? Does it send it back to Blizzard? Or just report cheating violations? I'd sure as heck like cheaters kicked. It's a pain in the butt to get these characters to level 60.
(I wouldn't mind being able to create level 60s outright tho... then I could run instances with my friends more.)
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I know of several folks who've recently replaced drives under warranty. The replacements have worked well. Is there any chance something other than the drives is causing the failures? Bad power? Too little cooling?
I purchased two a year+ ago. Both failed a couple months ago. Unibrain did a quick job on the RMA. (The warranty was 24 months.) The specs indicate the CCD used is from Sony, and I vaguely remember a story about Sony having a problem with the epoxy used to attach the CCDs. Actually, I got lucky looking for it: http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/10/ 10/2235206
How long until someone kidnaps chipped people to steal the chips? Implant stolen chips for the highest bidder.
Take two transmission streams: Both have an average throughput of 10Mb/s. However, one stream is a file transfer and can handle a variance of 2 Mb/s from the average. The other is streaming media, and can not handle a variance of even 0.2 Mb/s. Does it cost the ISP more to deliver the streaming media than to deliver the file? (Faster lines, more expensive switches, maintenance, etc ?)
If it does cost more, then the ISPs do have a right to charge the customer more. The telecomms that provide lines to Google, et al would have a right to charge Google more. Does that make sense?
If the costs are the same, then the ISPs should go home and do a visual inspection of the interior of their colons.
Yet Another Bad Analogy -
Oil Companies produce their product, deliver it to the customer and sell it.
ISPs take products from other companies and deliver it to the customer.
If I'm requesting more info from Google, Yahoo, etc, I should pay for a higher bandwidth line.
If Google, Yahoo, etc are transmitting more info, they should be paying for a higher bandwidth line (which they do already).
OK, so I'm painting a big bulls-eye on my back, but I'd like to see Microsoft just write a decent app that would make 70-80% of PC users happy. Stop making Swiss Army knives with so many different tools that one needs a Hummer to carry one. Including the kitchen sink just means most of your customers are paying for a whole bunch of features (and bugs!) they don't need.
Yes, this goes against business: making a solid tool that works and makes your customers happy, instead of making gobs of money for the corporation. Come on, MS! Pride yourself on building a good app, not a good bank account. Make us happy to hand over our money to you. Stop making us feel like you are the overlord and we have no choice.
Thinking about it a little more, yes, you're right. My first analogy doesn't work. My other reply is a different analogy: didn't realize that until after I thought about it a little more. Oh well, can't learn to walk without tripping a few times. (Or maybe I should learn to leave out stupid analogies.)
Yes, but in the real world the dealer usually has several choices for tires, rims, stereos, etc from several different manufacturers. If you want high end stuff, the dealer can put it on/order it for you so its bundled when you get the car.
In the Microsoft world, there's only one stereo and it uses a proprietary codec. If everybody bought these cars (Microsoft is a monopoly after all) no one else could build a replacement stereo, because they'd be sued. Unless they paid out the nose for a license to the codec.
By bundling things the way they have, Microsoft has forced you to buy them even if you didn't want them. As such, people had less money to buy RP, Netscape, etc.
The_Noid has a good point, as well. Wish I had a mod point handy... http://yro.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=183729&cid =15173732
For those who don't want the government limiting bundling (from Tarpitcod's post:)
I think you're going a little too far. Even though car analogies are used too often, I think the analogy might be Engines and Wires. The Engine MS supplies would only run on MS Gas. If you want to run on Exxon's Gas, you'd need to buy a different engine, and you'd get no money back for the MS engine. The Wires connecting the components just work, and there's no real need to replace them.Yes, if MS made a car with an MS engine, they'd die a quick death. But only because there are options. If there were no other car makers out there, we'd have to buy the MS car and either buy their gas, or buy a second engine.
Being a practical, middle-aged, male geek, the content of 99.99% of the commercials do not appeal/apply to me. I'm happy with my car, which should last another 10 years, and I'd never buy an SUV. I don't drink. I certainly don't need any feminine hygiene products. I don't go to McDs, BK, Wendy's, etc. For shipping, I choose whatever is cheaper from the online retailer. Computers? I build my own. (DUH!)
About the only type of commercials that interest me are the ones of the type, "BTW, the Season Finale of Battlestar Galactica is 90 minutes long," and I missed that one becuase I skipped all the crap listed in the previous paragraph. (BitTorrent to the rescue!)
Think about it. The average hour long show really only has about 45 minutes of content. If I watch 8 hours of TV a week, I've saved myself *TWO HOURS*. How much is that family/housework/work time worth?
Enough that if they implement this I'll be cancelling my cable service and buying seasons of stuff on DVD. One month's bill more than covers the cost of one season. Heck, once I watched it, I could sell it and get half the money back.
Good question. When a patient wins a malpractice case, who foots the bill? The doctor? Nope. The doctor just pays a smaller fine or loses his license, not the big multi-million dollar award. Probably all doctors' Malpractice Insurance fees go up tho. Can't imagine why health care costs are always going up.
Who's going to repay all the money lost by Enron employees? The upper management folks? Nope, they already spent it and won't be pulling in even a six-figure from salary behind bars. (Assuming that happens...)
What if a large company used anti-competitive practices to shut down a small company? Maybe a class action suit from somewhere. If the suit wins but the small company has failed, will the court order it rebuilt?
I'd really like to see the people who made the decisions be held accountable for the magnitude of the effect they have on the victims.
Yeah, ok, I'm ranting & probably not making too much sense. Down 1.
Yeah, we're all tired of the lawsuits. But sometimes, they are *required*. Only the court (and maybe objective folks with *all* of the facts) can tell if Intel really has been working AMD over unfairly, or if AMD is just SCO wanna-be.
.... err, ok... maybe this is a pointless waste of time & money.
*If* Intel has made anti-competitive contracts (Such as, "Only buy our chips or our prices double!"), I'd liked to see them smacked as hard as Microsoft.
I don't think this should be IBM's responsibility. Imagine if a District Attorney had you arrested for murder, but didn't tell you who you are suspected of axing, nor when or where the crime happened.
Snap E Tom is correct.
Please read the original story. The AT&T CEO said they would *not* degrade or limit bandwidth, and stated his opinion that any company doing so would be committing economic suicide.
In essence, we already have a tiered internet today. I have my choice of bandwidth speeds: dial-up, DSL, or cable. I could even get fiber. Providers have a similar decision to make, although their choices include things like T1, T3, OC3, etc.
As long as the bandwidth/QoS is applied equally to all traffic over the link, be it HTTP, FTP, SSH, VOIP, or Video, I won't complain.
Yeah, maybe it's a silly question. But *anything* we install on our systems could be reading this stuff. Heck, my tax software reads my SSN yearly. Excel reads my monthly income, well... monthly. But what does The Warden do with this information? Does it send it back to Blizzard? Or just report cheating violations? I'd sure as heck like cheaters kicked. It's a pain in the butt to get these characters to level 60. (I wouldn't mind being able to create level 60s outright tho... then I could run instances with my friends more.)
Yeah, well, if open source developers didn't need to reverse engineer the popular file formats, they could spend more time on innovation.