DaVinci is Texas Instruments single chip solution for mobile phones and multimedia rich embedded devices. They mixed a TI DSP chip in with the ARM core( anyone remember OMAP ) for a high performance single chip solution. Prior to this, smartphones used one processor for the radio and one processor for the GUI/applications. The holy grail here is one processor for everything significantly reduces cost. Intel DSPs are not near as popular as TI's and so it's a no-brainer to use TI's stuff in this case.
If you currently just hook your computer to the DSL/Cable modem then getting this $5 router and putting it in the middle won't keep your stuff( or theirs ) private. But, if you already have a hardware router/firewall(Linksys,Dlink,etc) between your computer and DSL/Cable modem, connecting this $5 router to one of the free ethernet switch ports on your existing router/firewall will keep your computer network safe.
If you have an older router/firewall then it might not have a builtin ethernet switch and instead probably has an ethernet hub and that blasts all the data on any port to all the other ports and wouldn't keep your computer/network private from the FON one.
So, if you want to keep your personal stuff safe from the FON users, you'll need to get a $10-$20 router.
Isn't this they guy who said Linux was the resurgence of communism? As if what they SAY about "working with the GPL" has any relevance to reality. None of their past actions show this to be anything more than lip service. IMO.
It's not Steves fault Windows can't stop the competition. In all previous attacks on innovation, Microsoft was able to extend Windows in such a way as to prevent those who originated the innovation from profiting from it. It helped that they were/are able to force various products down OEMs throats and therefore, on the public but times they are a changing.
Open source and Open Standards have opened the eyes of corporate users around the world and Microsoft has never had to work like that. It leaves them no place to control the platform.
There is a place where Microsoft is heading and there are big businesses behind it too. That's with Digital Restrictions Management. Teaming up with Microsoft was probably one of the last things the RIAA, Hollywood, etc want to do but they are afraid everyone will steal there product. And it is taking them, both Microsoft and the DRMers, a long time to get to the point where the complete 'pipe' is controlled and the market is moving faster. Heck, I'm surprised they've not come up with a completely separate transport over TCP which only Windows can do and allows for DRM firewalls at every/any point in the chain.
So, it's not Steves fault that Windows is getting no respect these days. The markets are moving beyond the importance of a box on the desktop and without that, Microsoft is clueless on how to use FUD and Embrace,Extend,Extinguish marketing techniques to keep Windows on the pedestal.
if they guy really did say "the most secure OS in the industry", they he's going WAY out on limb. And that limb is already falling at terminal velocity.
Anyways, WTF do people think any Microsoft marketing drone is going to say anything resembling the truth? They've never done it in the past from what I've seen/heard. There's gotta be some serious brainwashing going on inside the building at One Microsoft Way. They stuff they try to tell the public is outrageous these days.
TFA also states Windows has 50 layers and circular dependencies. Linux has complex version and interface dependencies, too. But, evidently, the Windows dependencies are hairy enough to flummox 2000 smart people working in "concert" while Linux gets by with only a handful or people working in the same place at the same time and a much simpler process.
That is, Linux has better modularity and less process.
So, 'integration' is what's holding Microsoft developers back while 'integration' is what the Microsoft marketing drones are pushing as a reason why MS Windows is better than GNU/Linux? Interesting. This should be an indication to those in the field that there's a major problem at Microsoft and the customer is taking the brunt of the impact of such a 'design' and the marketing boys need to do a bit more explaining how this 'integration' is a good thing.
I must say that the GNU/Linux camp must watch its step though. Too much reliance on KDE and/or Gnome can result in some of the same problems. Ok so the kernel will always be seperate, but what about all the utilities like sox, libjpeg, libxml, libwww, libtiff, etc? If these slowly start moving into the GUI, a slow moving(feature/upgrade/etc) desktop or worst an unstable and insecure desktop is still going to be bad for users. For many, a crashing GNU/Linux desktop is going to feel just like a crashing Windows OS/system. The movement toward compound document frameworks( openParts/etc ) could help here but there is definately a chance of the GNU/Linux desktopPC moving toward the same problems MS developers are seeing with Windows. Atleast to some extent.
But right now, the advantage is on the GNU/Linux and OSS side.
I wonder what Balmer or Gates is going to say when they next tell the market how the 'integration' of Windows is why they'll beat GNU/Linux in the long run and someone mentions this blog in response?
I've got a Radeon Express 200M in a laptop where an old ATI driver worked great with the 128MB of onboard RAM but later versions of the driver are crap. Newer versions of the ATI driver require setting both Video Sideport+UMA memory to 128MB each! And 3D performance was cut in half while also losing 128MB of system memory. So if this merger is true, if it does not mean better GNU/Linux drivers, I'll stick with Nvidia cards thankyou. And that might mean I go back to Intel CPUs if AMD forces the ATI video systems on equipment makers.
yup, dumbshit on my part as I misread Windows Explorer for Windows Internet Explorer. And since Windows Explorer is the file browser along with being the Windows desktop, it sounds like the only fix is to replace the desktop. That sounds easy if you've used say UNIX, GNU/Linux, or even OS/2, but Microsoft killed that market by eliminating OEM customizations of the Windows desktop when Windows 95 shipped...
So, they have a web browser which they claim they can no longer keep secure so they're going to stop supporting the operating system? Surely they could have come up with a better reason.
Maybe Microsoft felt they could do this now because the Mozilla Firefox group said they were stopping official product support on the MS Windows 9x OS(s)...
Not to mention Win98's system overhead, compared to the 'newer' MS Windows releases, are much lower and easier on the host in a virtual machine configuration.
naaa, they got VirtualPC because the process and memory virtualization in their operating system is so bad that a crashing application can take out the OS and when THAT happens, it also takes out all the other programs/processes/services running. Enter VirtualPC and now, Microsoft can still sell a bunch of copies of Windows to you but now, you run a copy of Windows in a virtual machine running just one server/service. Duplicate that for failover and repeat the process for all the other server/services you want to provide your customers/users.
Now, Windows competes with UNIX and Linux in that one boxen can run many server/services and have good uptime. You'll have to throw about 4x the hardware resources at the Microsoft solution because of the overhead Windows puts in each VM but Dell, HP, etc like selling bigger servers and Microsoft likes selling all those product licenses for the redundent VMs and licenses for Windows in ever VM.
One of the few times Microsoft actually NEEDS what they're purchasing.
True, it should be easier but the concept of privileges will be new to many many MS Windows users but they'll have to get used to it or else wait til Microsoft forces it on them in a totally inconsistant way. MSFT let them slide with running as admin for far too long and the destruction from viral infections, spyware, etc shows how flawed this is. *nix systmes have a long long lead in this regard but it should surely be easier for the user to change permissions without making it a security risk.
I'm on a KDE desktop now so I can't check to see if there's a way to put gsudo(?) in front of the call to nautilus for that drive object instead of having to edit fstab as root.
isn't the authors name Bot or something like that? Maybe he/she's been BOUGHT or they really aren't a person but instead an automated roBOT for posting such things.;-)
Sure reads like an MS Lemming wrote it that's for sure.
I can see why it's going around that there's a GOOD chance that MS Windows 2007 will come later than Jan 2007. If they are still adding software to this 'kit' and they expect to have it pre-installed on millions of victims PC's( via OEM pre-install contracts ) then they've run out of time. If this was a feature freeze beta release they'd be pushing it.
And that rating thing, don't they show you where your system is getting 'dinged'? If not, it sounds like it'll take some huge machine to get a 4 or 5 rating. A 4200, 4 gigs of ddr400, and and ati-x1300 and you still get only a 3 of 5? Maybe there is still something left of the marriage with Intel.;-)
not agreeing to the license terms on Microsofts site for this results in a web page on something called Microsofts XPS Document format which they claim is an open and cross-platform specification. We all know that MS Cross-Platform means it works across all supported versions of Microsoft Windows but this MS Open xxxxx convention is getting alot of air time these days.
It would be an interesting list to see just how often Microsoft claims one if its products are "open" or names a product/feature with the "open" name...
Microsoft Open Packaging Microsoft Office Open XML Formats Microsoft Open License Program Microsoft Open Volume Licenses Microsoft Open Academic MS Open License 6.0 Academic Edition Microsoft Open Database Connectivity ( might be ODBC related and might not count ) Microsoft Open License Value MICROSOFT OPEN SQL SERVER 2005 ENTERPRISE EDITION Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, Open Text ( included since they seem to be VERY close to MS ) Microsoft Open Source Software Lab ( explains why MS Marketing Corp is using 'open' so much )
There's probably much more but wow, I really didn't think it had gone THIS far.
There's one problem. It's called greed, and if you get governments financially tied to business you'll end up with a crooked government. Not that there are ANY examples of this happening now.;-/
Bret,
Thanks for clearing that up as I also thought it ment generated code use was restricted. This looks like a great tool and I already have a couple of small projects to try it on. And nice work leveraging JAVA for this.
I know a guy who's built a few 200+ MPH RC gliders out of pure CF( fuse, wings, tail, etc ) and he definately had problems with reception. But like you said, an onboard radio could be tuned to handle the airframe design. But I wonder how good CF is as a waveguide?;-)
That's what I was thinking and when I read that they've not figured out a backup system I'm thinking, just incorporate backup control signaling over the powerlines.
And really, is this wireless control really useful given they need power everywhere? I guess they pull the engines off for repair a bunch of times so it might help with connectors wearing and install/removal times but everything else is pretty much supposed to stay together.
I'm with you, fiber handles the wire weight and wire count issues if that is really what this is all about.
In the early 90's, Microsoft was well aware that C++ and cross platform frameworks were threatening the MS-Window APIs and therefore their control of the market. Microsoft didn't pay Borland $100+ million because it was just posting job openings on Borlands front door. How they leveraged their monopoly to eliminate the cross platform frameworks vendors should have been another case for an anti-trust case IMO. Either way, it was already evident that in the early days of word processing competition, it was far easier to exchange documents between vendors and the same would have happened if Microsoft were forced to compete instead of constantly leveraging its monopoly to eliminate its competitors.
As we are seeing in the FOSS market, there are definate advantages for open standards and migration to them is almost a given in a competitive market. And are USB and PCI open standards or just publicly spec'ed standards? Intel "invented" USB to oppose Apples Firewire/1392 highspeed serial link which is NOT an open standard either. Firewire is an open spec which requires a licensing fee from Apple to implement. I think the fee is around $.25/unit since there was a big deal made when Apple originally wanted $1/unit.
IMO, anybody who thinks we would be WORST off without Microsofts dominant position is naive to how the industry has grown. Or should I say, been deprived of growth because of Microsofts anti-competitive business model.
Slashdot Mirror
DaVinci is Texas Instruments single chip solution for mobile phones and multimedia rich embedded devices. They mixed a TI DSP chip in with the ARM core( anyone remember OMAP ) for a high performance single chip solution. Prior to this, smartphones used one processor for the radio and one processor for the GUI/applications. The holy grail here is one processor for everything significantly reduces cost. Intel DSPs are not near as popular as TI's and so it's a no-brainer to use TI's stuff in this case.
1 /05/163242&from=rssp roducts.html?DCMP=DSP_DaVinciCatalog&HQS=Other+PR+ thedavincieffectpr
http://hardware.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=06/0
and
http://www.ti.com/corp/docs/landing/davinci/first
LoB
If you have an older router/firewall then it might not have a builtin ethernet switch and instead probably has an ethernet hub and that blasts all the data on any port to all the other ports and wouldn't keep your computer/network private from the FON one.
So, if you want to keep your personal stuff safe from the FON users, you'll need to get a $10-$20 router.
LoB
Isn't this they guy who said Linux was the resurgence of communism? As if what they SAY about "working with the GPL" has any relevance to reality. None of their past actions show this to be anything more than lip service. IMO.
LoB
It's not Steves fault Windows can't stop the competition. In all previous attacks on innovation, Microsoft was able to extend Windows in such a way as to prevent those who originated the innovation from profiting from it. It helped that they were/are able to force various products down OEMs throats and therefore, on the public but times they are a changing.
Open source and Open Standards have opened the eyes of corporate users around the world and Microsoft has never had to work like that. It leaves them no place to control the platform.
There is a place where Microsoft is heading and there are big businesses behind it too. That's with Digital Restrictions Management. Teaming up with Microsoft was probably one of the last things the RIAA, Hollywood, etc want to do but they are afraid everyone will steal there product. And it is taking them, both Microsoft and the DRMers, a long time to get to the point where the complete 'pipe' is controlled and the market is moving faster. Heck, I'm surprised they've not come up with a completely separate transport over TCP which only Windows can do and allows for DRM firewalls at every/any point in the chain.
So, it's not Steves fault that Windows is getting no respect these days. The markets are moving beyond the importance of a box on the desktop and without that, Microsoft is clueless on how to use FUD and Embrace,Extend,Extinguish marketing techniques to keep Windows on the pedestal.
IMO
LoB
if they guy really did say "the most secure OS in the industry", they he's going WAY out on limb. And that limb is already falling at terminal velocity.
Anyways, WTF do people think any Microsoft marketing drone is going to say anything resembling the truth? They've never done it in the past from what I've seen/heard. There's gotta be some serious brainwashing going on inside the building at One Microsoft Way. They stuff they try to tell the public is outrageous these days.
LoB
And I thought blogs were about discussing ones ideas in an open forum.
The guy is a Microserf alright...
LoB
From wanting to do 'the right thing' to wanting to serve the Windows monopoly. I guess he's tougher than I thought. ;-)
So Bill, you finally lost interest in marketing snake oil have ya? Or is keeping your kids away from iPods going to be a fulltime job?
LoB
na, it's "What the FORMAT C: /FS:NTFS"
LoB
That is, Linux has better modularity and less process.
So, 'integration' is what's holding Microsoft developers back while 'integration' is what the Microsoft marketing drones are pushing as a reason why MS Windows is better than GNU/Linux? Interesting. This should be an indication to those in the field that there's a major problem at Microsoft and the customer is taking the brunt of the impact of such a 'design' and the marketing boys need to do a bit more explaining how this 'integration' is a good thing.
I must say that the GNU/Linux camp must watch its step though. Too much reliance on KDE and/or Gnome can result in some of the same problems. Ok so the kernel will always be seperate, but what about all the utilities like sox, libjpeg, libxml, libwww, libtiff, etc? If these slowly start moving into the GUI, a slow moving(feature/upgrade/etc) desktop or worst an unstable and insecure desktop is still going to be bad for users. For many, a crashing GNU/Linux desktop is going to feel just like a crashing Windows OS/system. The movement toward compound document frameworks( openParts/etc ) could help here but there is definately a chance of the GNU/Linux desktopPC moving toward the same problems MS developers are seeing with Windows. Atleast to some extent.
But right now, the advantage is on the GNU/Linux and OSS side.
I wonder what Balmer or Gates is going to say when they next tell the market how the 'integration' of Windows is why they'll beat GNU/Linux in the long run and someone mentions this blog in response?
LoB
I've got a Radeon Express 200M in a laptop where an old ATI driver worked great with the 128MB of onboard RAM but later versions of the driver are crap. Newer versions of the ATI driver require setting both Video Sideport+UMA memory to 128MB each! And 3D performance was cut in half while also losing 128MB of system memory. So if this merger is true, if it does not mean better GNU/Linux drivers, I'll stick with Nvidia cards thankyou. And that might mean I go back to Intel CPUs if AMD forces the ATI video systems on equipment makers.
LoB
yup, dumbshit on my part as I misread Windows Explorer for Windows Internet Explorer. And since Windows Explorer is the file browser along with being the Windows desktop, it sounds like the only fix is to replace the desktop. That sounds easy if you've used say UNIX, GNU/Linux, or even OS/2, but Microsoft killed that market by eliminating OEM customizations of the Windows desktop when Windows 95 shipped...
:-/
Where's the dumbshit mod button.
LoB
So, they have a web browser which they claim they can no longer keep secure so they're going to stop supporting the operating system? Surely they could have come up with a better reason.
Maybe Microsoft felt they could do this now because the Mozilla Firefox group said they were stopping official product support on the MS Windows 9x OS(s)...
LoB
Not to mention Win98's system overhead, compared to the 'newer' MS Windows releases, are much lower and easier on the host in a virtual machine configuration.
LoB
naaa, they got VirtualPC because the process and memory virtualization in their operating system is so bad that a crashing application can take out the OS and when THAT happens, it also takes out all the other programs/processes/services running. Enter VirtualPC and now, Microsoft can still sell a bunch of copies of Windows to you but now, you run a copy of Windows in a virtual machine running just one server/service. Duplicate that for failover and repeat the process for all the other server/services you want to provide your customers/users.
Now, Windows competes with UNIX and Linux in that one boxen can run many server/services and have good uptime. You'll have to throw about 4x the hardware resources at the Microsoft solution because of the overhead Windows puts in each VM but Dell, HP, etc like selling bigger servers and Microsoft likes selling all those product licenses for the redundent VMs and licenses for Windows in ever VM.
One of the few times Microsoft actually NEEDS what they're purchasing.
LoB
True, it should be easier but the concept of privileges will be new to many many MS Windows users but they'll have to get used to it or else wait til Microsoft forces it on them in a totally inconsistant way. MSFT let them slide with running as admin for far too long and the destruction from viral infections, spyware, etc shows how flawed this is. *nix systmes have a long long lead in this regard but it should surely be easier for the user to change permissions without making it a security risk.
I'm on a KDE desktop now so I can't check to see if there's a way to put gsudo(?) in front of the call to nautilus for that drive object instead of having to edit fstab as root.
LoB
isn't the authors name Bot or something like that? Maybe he/she's been BOUGHT or they really aren't a person but instead an automated roBOT for posting such things. ;-)
Sure reads like an MS Lemming wrote it that's for sure.
LoB
I can see why it's going around that there's a GOOD chance that MS Windows 2007 will come later than Jan 2007. If they are still adding software to this 'kit' and they expect to have it pre-installed on millions of victims PC's( via OEM pre-install contracts ) then they've run out of time. If this was a feature freeze beta release they'd be pushing it.
;-)
And that rating thing, don't they show you where your system is getting 'dinged'? If not, it sounds like it'll take some huge machine to get a 4 or 5 rating. A 4200, 4 gigs of ddr400, and and ati-x1300 and you still get only a 3 of 5? Maybe there is still something left of the marriage with Intel.
LoB
not agreeing to the license terms on Microsofts site for this results in a web page on something called Microsofts XPS Document format which they claim is an open and cross-platform specification. We all know that MS Cross-Platform means it works across all supported versions of Microsoft Windows but this MS Open xxxxx convention is getting alot of air time these days.
It would be an interesting list to see just how often Microsoft claims one if its products are "open" or names a product/feature with the "open" name...
Microsoft Open Packaging
Microsoft Office Open XML Formats
Microsoft Open License Program
Microsoft Open Volume Licenses
Microsoft Open Academic MS Open License 6.0 Academic Edition
Microsoft Open Database Connectivity ( might be ODBC related and might not count )
Microsoft Open License Value
MICROSOFT OPEN SQL SERVER 2005 ENTERPRISE EDITION
Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, Open Text ( included since they seem to be VERY close to MS )
Microsoft Open Source Software Lab ( explains why MS Marketing Corp is using 'open' so much )
There's probably much more but wow, I really didn't think it had gone THIS far.
LoB
There's one problem. It's called greed, and if you get governments financially tied to business you'll end up with a crooked government. Not that there are ANY examples of this happening now. ;-/
LoB
But you expect the Bush administration to act like THAT? mod this guy up as funny.
IMO, the US government has no right to patent anything unless that property is placed into the public domain. We, the people, paid for this right.
LoB
Bret,
Thanks for clearing that up as I also thought it ment generated code use was restricted. This looks like a great tool and I already have a couple of small projects to try it on. And nice work leveraging JAVA for this.
LoB
I know a guy who's built a few 200+ MPH RC gliders out of pure CF( fuse, wings, tail, etc ) and he definately had problems with reception. But like you said, an onboard radio could be tuned to handle the airframe design. But I wonder how good CF is as a waveguide? ;-)
LoB
That's what I was thinking and when I read that they've not figured out a backup system I'm thinking, just incorporate backup control signaling over the powerlines.
And really, is this wireless control really useful given they need power everywhere? I guess they pull the engines off for repair a bunch of times so it might help with connectors wearing and install/removal times but everything else is pretty much supposed to stay together.
I'm with you, fiber handles the wire weight and wire count issues if that is really what this is all about.
LoB
He Decided that gas saving hybrids were a threat to oil industry profits and so he eliminated the Clinton era hybrid project.
5 8
and
He Decided to keep Microsoft intact and eliminate any efforts to bring operating system competition back to the market.
He is "The Decider". He says so himself( http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/04/18.html#a79
and a more comical/musical link http://decider.cf.huffingtonpost.com/ )
Brilliant or Idiot? History will play this one out while the Republican party tries to rewrite this history for decades to come.
LoB
In the early 90's, Microsoft was well aware that C++ and cross platform frameworks were threatening the MS-Window APIs and therefore their control of the market. Microsoft didn't pay Borland $100+ million because it was just posting job openings on Borlands front door. How they leveraged their monopoly to eliminate the cross platform frameworks vendors should have been another case for an anti-trust case IMO. Either way, it was already evident that in the early days of word processing competition, it was far easier to exchange documents between vendors and the same would have happened if Microsoft were forced to compete instead of constantly leveraging its monopoly to eliminate its competitors.
As we are seeing in the FOSS market, there are definate advantages for open standards and migration to them is almost a given in a competitive market. And are USB and PCI open standards or just publicly spec'ed standards? Intel "invented" USB to oppose Apples Firewire/1392 highspeed serial link which is NOT an open standard either. Firewire is an open spec which requires a licensing fee from Apple to implement. I think the fee is around $.25/unit since there was a big deal made when Apple originally wanted $1/unit.
IMO, anybody who thinks we would be WORST off without Microsofts dominant position is naive to how the industry has grown. Or should I say, been deprived of growth because of Microsofts anti-competitive business model.
LoB