and the many stories of how they tried to run it on Windows and it failed and eventually they went back to *nix/BSD and put a Windows based load balancer on the front end so that sites like Netcraft would list it as running on Windows.
Hotmail was possibly the one product Microsoft purchased which was originally a *nix product and were able to still provide service once it was ported to their Windows OS. The purchase of Danger comes to mind. Half a billion dollars or so and they tried to make it run on Windows on the handset and then tried to remake the service running on Windows and then just closed it down. But this wasn't the first time they took a successful product running on a competitors OS and shut it down at a massive loss. Dimension X and Coopers&Peters were a couple which pretty much got the lights turned off shortly after the ink dried. Gotta protect the Windows market.
let's see, x86 is bloated and inefficient but Intel was always the manufacturing process leader so they could always go better, faster, cheaper by going to the next smaller chip manufacturing process. But now physics is getting in the way and slowing down the big leaps in process improvements and that x86 bloat has made the chips ineffective in battery powered devices which happen to be the majority of sales for the last many years. We also have tablets and phones and even chromebooks outpacing sales of Windows, the platform requiring x86.
Tough times for Intel to try and keep riding that ship towards the bottom and time to see what they can build out of their massive brainpower and spark a new industry or two. Crazy to think that about 20 years ago they owned the dominant ARM chip manufacturer/design, StrongARM, and screwed it up with bad cache designs and then sold off the business. Intel CPUs are even poorly useful in NN and most are using NVidia GPUs to crunch NNs.
So the CEO could believe there is a future if they find and do the right things but hey, he's not a dummy and knowns it's a risk which we doesn't want to place all his wealth into that basket. Others would be smart to do the same.
He's in it to spread Microsoft Windows and Microsoft software and nothing more. He and Balmer denied their own kids anything but Microsoft products and this is what they want for everyone else's kids too. Yet over and over it's not Microsoft leading the industry with innovation, Microsoft has always been a follower so really he's in no position, but for his wealth, to dictate what'll prepare K-12 kids for the future.
Those are adding up to real numbers and Microsoft has noticed. They are pushing into Adafruit and others to get Microsoft tech on these embedded devices. Lots and lots of hackers and wana-b-hackers are getting Pi's and putting NOOB or other on them and it's a full Linux desktop so when they see and are amazed they fire up the browser and check their favorite web sites. This kicks up the numbers.
And all the rPi clones is helping too but most of those developers are probably already running Linux on desktops.
Personal computer 'consumers' have always been luddites and it got worst once Windows 95 shipped and vendors were forced to leave the desktop to Microsoft's whims. People loved the Mac UI mostly because it made sense and had consistency to it and Windows has next to no consistency and has had massive UI chances with every release. People are afraid of the Windows computer and they learn mouse click sequences instead of action methods which could be applied in a generalized way.
So, yes, consumers have become 'idiots' and have found consistency and simplicity(iOS, Android ) to be attractive and comfortable.
Aso for replacing computer hardware every 2-3 years that too is mostly a Microsoft Windows thing. The Windows registry bloat, file system fragmentation, system library migrations effecting installed applications, and lets not forget the need for virus protection looking at every bit and byte moving around inside the OS and the horrible Windows Update system. They replace the computer to start fresh.
So that is the reality today and just a few reasons why Android and iOS tablets and mobiles have become so popular. As for the "PC" market returning to growth, that is a marketing report. There's just not any data showing an increase in skill sets nor data showing an increase in the content creation population. Windows will not lead anyone anywhere and they consistently have lead most to the edge of the cliff where Apple and Google have arrived with lifeboats for many of them.
We've seen it and I'm sure he has seen it too. What I'm talking about is the one way trip to Mars taken last year by The Most Interesting Man in the World. He even took some beer.
So we have already gone to Mars and Trump is wondering why we haven't gone again and he wants to go too.
ah, that's right since they added VM hardware to the x86 CPU's about 10 or so years ago. Thanks for the clarification. I guess I've been doing too much ARM development recently.
The only ones leaving the PC market are those who didn't use it for anything but web browsing and email and even email is mostly now a browser task.
Given that, it does mean that households will no longer be an easy place for the kids to learn some of these other tools which require local CPU/RAM/storage to run but how widespread is that even. Lots of middle and high school kids have their own laptops from what I've seen.
The business sector will continue with desktops and laptops but in some cases might go with lower end models with many tasks operating from their own cloud apps. Not a complete elimination or even close IMO.
What I do see is more schools using Chromebooks and more interest and usage of Linux.
So yes, Bill Gates' idea of many Windows PCs in homes is fading quickly. And good riddance to that IMO Also, wow to how many Mac laptops I'm seeing in the geek community. Just wow.
It was a Microsoft program called WISE and licensed to Bristol, Insignia, MainSoft and Locus( https://goo.gl/nrk4ML ). It allowed these vendors to build libraries for UNIX which let Win32 sources be built on UNIX systems. Lots of UNIX app developers porting UNIX apps to Windows since they could sell their apps for both Windows and UNIX. Only one problem, Microsoft pulled the rug out from under them all( save one ) and left all those UNIX software vendors with no path for their UNIX customers but moving to Microsoft Windows. They more than quadrupled the WISE program cost and only one of the vendors could afford to pay it. The one vendor who could still pay the licensing fee was also the one vendor Microsoft hired to port Internet Explorer to Sun Solaris.
So unless every single bit of this ChakraCore stuff is open source and under a BSD or MIT license(ie loose) then stay away, far far away. IMO
Sure seems that way doesn't it. FYI, I recently built an AlexaPi using an old rPi B+, a old logitech USB webcam for the mic and headphones. Getting started with it asking about weather, appointment/calendar events, etc. Will start building todo's and see about getting music working. The browser version is pretty cool as it lets me do the same when at the computer. And also used AlexaPi to reorder a few things. I hear the Dot and Echo have such good noise cancelling and voice pickup it can recognize commands from across the room.
Now if I can get Max Headroom into my rPi and working and sync'ed to Alexa's voice then the AlexaPi would make it to the living room.
They tried and failed badly to create a smart phone business and therefore could not stop Android from growing into a powerful platform. With Android apps being able to run on the inexpensive laptop devices known as Chromebooks... Well let's just say the phrase, "Houston, we have a problem" is an understatement for Microsoft.
With less than 10% market share I was always wondering why they even got any press time with Windows Phone and now with under 1% one has to wonder how many millions do they want to be spending to keep the brand alive.
And quite the brilliant choice to be used for ATM machines, air traffic voice control systems, train signal systems, on the same LAN as a power plant status/control system, etc. What could possibly go wrong?
it has to be connected to the Internet so Microsoft can keep track of how many users there are and what they do on their OS. Haven't you read the EULA lately?
Back in the day, 1994ish, you had to run PC games in DOS to run well. But IBM had OS/2, the source code for DOS and Windows and they were doing amazing things on the PC. Great multimedia things like sync'ed video/sound and in multiple windows. Sounds crazy now but it was a big deal on the machines back in 1994. They were ramping up OS/2 Warp for consumers and hired someone to create Doom/2 for OS/2. There were two Comdex conferences, one in Spring and one in Fall. At the Spring Comdex IBM and Id showed Doom/2 and it was all the buzz. There were copies leaked off ftp sites and it was pretty cool playing Doom on the desktop with other apps. They showcased this at Spring Comdex and by Fall Comdex Microsoft had created something for the Windows beta codename Chicago because they couldn't allow OS/2 to get mind share. Chicago was to become Windows 95 was still vaporware. It was the beginning of Microsoft's venture into the gaming industry.
I found a link referencing it here: http://www.os2ezine.com/v2n7/doom.htm
The OS/2 multimedia system was pretty good back in the day and top notch on PC hardware. That is until I saw BeOS. Boy, it so sucked that Microsoft got away for so long doing illegal crap like locking vendors into installing only their OS or having to pay them even if Windows and/or DOS were not installed. BeOS shut down because they could not get any hardware vendors to install it on computers. Palm then bought BeOS and totally wasted any opportunities to use BeOS in ways which leveraged its capabilities.
You know you can't bring back a herd of triceratops and apatosaurus's without enough greens for them to eat. It's best to green up the planet and warm it up a bit too before inseminating a few elephants to kick the process off.
That would be for progressive decay or other gradual failures and indeed tough to catch but what about vehicles stuck on tracks, wash outs or even that coyote behind the rock with an ACME magneto blasting detonator or worst. But then again they don't have automatic braking and still use humans because it's too expensive so no doubt any of what I described would be decades away from consideration.
it is the homing robot of Speed Racer which has always had me wondering why trains, espessially super fast ones, don't have a small robot to ID track failures before death and destruction occurs. That and all the Combat, westerns and Hogans Hero's shows with trains driving off blown up bridges.
so how does one go 20 or 30, or more, years with this and not know something is wrong? The testing the husband asked to have done stated that she would get wobbly at.30-.40 levels and when she was stopped and tested she blew a.40.
So it surprises me someone could go that long in life and not know or wonder or have checked what is going on. How did her husband and family not ask why she'd be "wobbly" after drinking so little or possibly not at all? I guess she/they can claim ignorance and that's enough to get you off the hook.
Now they( the DMV ) should know that she needs to have her drivers license pulled until she proves she's cured because not only does she get drunk after eating but she and those around her at too clueless to even know she's impaired.
Driving Under the Influence means deciding to drive when you are impaired so why does it matter if she drank alcohol or drank some other liquid/food which turned to alcohol/etc to impair her judgement?
what it sounds like you are planning is a controlled infrastructure. Just use the existing infrastructure and put up limited availability sites. But if you want to build out your own CompuServe and/or AOL service you are going to be bashed if you do so leveraging your Facebook service to do it. Or maybe you should create your own religion like L Ron Hubbard did and control those who come to you.
But do not try to take advantage of persons in certain socio economic situations pretending to be their saviour. A Douglas Adams were alive today I'm sure he'd have a very comical yet accurate way of describing what your are attempting to do.
Did they really think this through considering an employee is expected to be at work for 8+ hours and won't need all 8 to charge the car? Two spots would be better or even 4. Provide the charger with a charge cable/plug for each spot/vehicle and a first come first serve(FIFO) mechanism of charging each vehicle.
There could also be mechanisms for sensing a vehicle in the charge spots(capacitive loops) and sensing when getting unplugged before fully charged to prevent others from unplugging someone's car to get theirs to the top of the FIFO. Something like requiring a RFID tag pairing when starting a charge and another pairing hit of the RFID tag when unplugged before fully charged.
One charge plug per parking spot was not a good plan.
With homes having high load devices with large motors(washing machines, compressors in heat pumps, etc) and the large resistive loads like electric heaters, stoves, etc DC just is not the answer. Even with DC there would be a need for DC-DC converters which work by converting to AC... So given how easy it is to move AC voltages around and up/down I would think the question would be how do we optimize the losses in conversions. Maybe we need 5KHz instead of 50/60Hz.
Slashdot Mirror
and the many stories of how they tried to run it on Windows and it failed and eventually they went back to *nix/BSD and put a Windows based load balancer on the front end so that sites like Netcraft would list it as running on Windows.
Hotmail was possibly the one product Microsoft purchased which was originally a *nix product and were able to still provide service once it was ported to their Windows OS. The purchase of Danger comes to mind. Half a billion dollars or so and they tried to make it run on Windows on the handset and then tried to remake the service running on Windows and then just closed it down. But this wasn't the first time they took a successful product running on a competitors OS and shut it down at a massive loss. Dimension X and Coopers&Peters were a couple which pretty much got the lights turned off shortly after the ink dried. Gotta protect the Windows market.
LoB
let's see, x86 is bloated and inefficient but Intel was always the manufacturing process leader so they could always go better, faster, cheaper by going to the next smaller chip manufacturing process. But now physics is getting in the way and slowing down the big leaps in process improvements and that x86 bloat has made the chips ineffective in battery powered devices which happen to be the majority of sales for the last many years. We also have tablets and phones and even chromebooks outpacing sales of Windows, the platform requiring x86.
Tough times for Intel to try and keep riding that ship towards the bottom and time to see what they can build out of their massive brainpower and spark a new industry or two. Crazy to think that about 20 years ago they owned the dominant ARM chip manufacturer/design, StrongARM, and screwed it up with bad cache designs and then sold off the business. Intel CPUs are even poorly useful in NN and most are using NVidia GPUs to crunch NNs.
So the CEO could believe there is a future if they find and do the right things but hey, he's not a dummy and knowns it's a risk which we doesn't want to place all his wealth into that basket. Others would be smart to do the same.
LoB
He's in it to spread Microsoft Windows and Microsoft software and nothing more. He and Balmer denied their own kids anything but Microsoft products and this is what they want for everyone else's kids too. Yet over and over it's not Microsoft leading the industry with innovation, Microsoft has always been a follower so really he's in no position, but for his wealth, to dictate what'll prepare K-12 kids for the future.
LoB
Those are adding up to real numbers and Microsoft has noticed. They are pushing into Adafruit and others to get Microsoft tech on these embedded devices. Lots and lots of hackers and wana-b-hackers are getting Pi's and putting NOOB or other on them and it's a full Linux desktop so when they see and are amazed they fire up the browser and check their favorite web sites. This kicks up the numbers.
And all the rPi clones is helping too but most of those developers are probably already running Linux on desktops.
LoB
Personal computer 'consumers' have always been luddites and it got worst once Windows 95 shipped and vendors were forced to leave the desktop to Microsoft's whims. People loved the Mac UI mostly because it made sense and had consistency to it and Windows has next to no consistency and has had massive UI chances with every release. People are afraid of the Windows computer and they learn mouse click sequences instead of action methods which could be applied in a generalized way.
So, yes, consumers have become 'idiots' and have found consistency and simplicity(iOS, Android ) to be attractive and comfortable.
Aso for replacing computer hardware every 2-3 years that too is mostly a Microsoft Windows thing. The Windows registry bloat, file system fragmentation, system library migrations effecting installed applications, and lets not forget the need for virus protection looking at every bit and byte moving around inside the OS and the horrible Windows Update system. They replace the computer to start fresh.
So that is the reality today and just a few reasons why Android and iOS tablets and mobiles have become so popular. As for the "PC" market returning to growth, that is a marketing report. There's just not any data showing an increase in skill sets nor data showing an increase in the content creation population. Windows will not lead anyone anywhere and they consistently have lead most to the edge of the cliff where Apple and Google have arrived with lifeboats for many of them.
LoB
We've seen it and I'm sure he has seen it too. What I'm talking about is the one way trip to Mars taken last year by The Most Interesting Man in the World. He even took some beer.
So we have already gone to Mars and Trump is wondering why we haven't gone again and he wants to go too.
I say, let's send him too.
LoB
Not any more, Trump's in charge! We'll get to make things up as we go just like he's doing right?
LoB
thanks, I'd forgot about the virtualization mechanisms added to the x86 CPUs over the past few years.
LoB
ah, that's right since they added VM hardware to the x86 CPU's about 10 or so years ago. Thanks for the clarification. I guess I've been doing too much ARM development recently.
Are not Cloud VM's isolating and emulating hardware so to what end is running Intel's hardware tuned Linux on MS Azure of any benefit?
Directly on the iron might seem interesting but then I wonder what's the difference compared to say Gentoo.
Microsoft and Intel have lots of money so we get a press release I guess.
LoB
The only ones leaving the PC market are those who didn't use it for anything but web browsing and email and even email is mostly now a browser task.
Given that, it does mean that households will no longer be an easy place for the kids to learn some of these other tools which require local CPU/RAM/storage to run but how widespread is that even. Lots of middle and high school kids have their own laptops from what I've seen.
The business sector will continue with desktops and laptops but in some cases might go with lower end models with many tasks operating from their own cloud apps. Not a complete elimination or even close IMO.
What I do see is more schools using Chromebooks and more interest and usage of Linux.
So yes, Bill Gates' idea of many Windows PCs in homes is fading quickly. And good riddance to that IMO
Also, wow to how many Mac laptops I'm seeing in the geek community. Just wow.
It was a Microsoft program called WISE and licensed to Bristol, Insignia, MainSoft and Locus( https://goo.gl/nrk4ML ). It allowed these vendors to build libraries for UNIX which let Win32 sources be built on UNIX systems. Lots of UNIX app developers porting UNIX apps to Windows since they could sell their apps for both Windows and UNIX. Only one problem, Microsoft pulled the rug out from under them all( save one ) and left all those UNIX software vendors with no path for their UNIX customers but moving to Microsoft Windows. They more than quadrupled the WISE program cost and only one of the vendors could afford to pay it. The one vendor who could still pay the licensing fee was also the one vendor Microsoft hired to port Internet Explorer to Sun Solaris.
So unless every single bit of this ChakraCore stuff is open source and under a BSD or MIT license(ie loose) then stay away, far far away. IMO
LoB
Sure seems that way doesn't it. FYI, I recently built an AlexaPi using an old rPi B+, a old logitech USB webcam for the mic and headphones. Getting started with it asking about weather, appointment/calendar events, etc. Will start building todo's and see about getting music working. The browser version is pretty cool as it lets me do the same when at the computer. And also used AlexaPi to reorder a few things. I hear the Dot and Echo have such good noise cancelling and voice pickup it can recognize commands from across the room.
Now if I can get Max Headroom into my rPi and working and sync'ed to Alexa's voice then the AlexaPi would make it to the living room.
LoB
They tried and failed badly to create a smart phone business and therefore could not stop Android from growing into a powerful platform. With Android apps being able to run on the inexpensive laptop devices known as Chromebooks... Well let's just say the phrase, "Houston, we have a problem" is an understatement for Microsoft.
With less than 10% market share I was always wondering why they even got any press time with Windows Phone and now with under 1% one has to wonder how many millions do they want to be spending to keep the brand alive.
LoB
It's the most secure OS........ they've shipped.
And quite the brilliant choice to be used for ATM machines, air traffic voice control systems, train signal systems, on the same LAN as a power plant status/control system, etc. What could possibly go wrong?
LoB
it has to be connected to the Internet so Microsoft can keep track of how many users there are and what they do on their OS. Haven't you read the EULA lately?
LoB
Back in the day, 1994ish, you had to run PC games in DOS to run well. But IBM had OS/2, the source code for DOS and Windows and they were doing amazing things on the PC. Great multimedia things like sync'ed video/sound and in multiple windows. Sounds crazy now but it was a big deal on the machines back in 1994. They were ramping up OS/2 Warp for consumers and hired someone to create Doom/2 for OS/2. There were two Comdex conferences, one in Spring and one in Fall. At the Spring Comdex IBM and Id showed Doom/2 and it was all the buzz. There were copies leaked off ftp sites and it was pretty cool playing Doom on the desktop with other apps. They showcased this at Spring Comdex and by Fall Comdex Microsoft had created something for the Windows beta codename Chicago because they couldn't allow OS/2 to get mind share. Chicago was to become Windows 95 was still vaporware. It was the beginning of Microsoft's venture into the gaming industry.
I found a link referencing it here: http://www.os2ezine.com/v2n7/doom.htm
The OS/2 multimedia system was pretty good back in the day and top notch on PC hardware. That is until I saw BeOS. Boy, it so sucked that Microsoft got away for so long doing illegal crap like locking vendors into installing only their OS or having to pay them even if Windows and/or DOS were not installed. BeOS shut down because they could not get any hardware vendors to install it on computers. Palm then bought BeOS and totally wasted any opportunities to use BeOS in ways which leveraged its capabilities.
LoB
You know you can't bring back a herd of triceratops and apatosaurus's without enough greens for them to eat. It's best to green up the planet and warm it up a bit too before inseminating a few elephants to kick the process off.
Does Obama have a Mini-Me?
LoB
That would be for progressive decay or other gradual failures and indeed tough to catch but what about vehicles stuck on tracks, wash outs or even that coyote behind the rock with an ACME magneto blasting detonator or worst. But then again they don't have automatic braking and still use humans because it's too expensive so no doubt any of what I described would be decades away from consideration.
LoB
it is the homing robot of Speed Racer which has always had me wondering why trains, espessially super fast ones, don't have a small robot to ID track failures before death and destruction occurs. That and all the Combat, westerns and Hogans Hero's shows with trains driving off blown up bridges.
so how does one go 20 or 30, or more, years with this and not know something is wrong? The testing the husband asked to have done stated that she would get wobbly at .30-.40 levels and when she was stopped and tested she blew a .40.
So it surprises me someone could go that long in life and not know or wonder or have checked what is going on. How did her husband and family not ask why she'd be "wobbly" after drinking so little or possibly not at all? I guess she/they can claim ignorance and that's enough to get you off the hook.
Now they( the DMV ) should know that she needs to have her drivers license pulled until she proves she's cured because not only does she get drunk after eating but she and those around her at too clueless to even know she's impaired.
Driving Under the Influence means deciding to drive when you are impaired so why does it matter if she drank alcohol or drank some other liquid/food which turned to alcohol/etc to impair her judgement?
what it sounds like you are planning is a controlled infrastructure. Just use the existing infrastructure and put up limited availability sites. But if you want to build out your own CompuServe and/or AOL service you are going to be bashed if you do so leveraging your Facebook service to do it. Or maybe you should create your own religion like L Ron Hubbard did and control those who come to you.
But do not try to take advantage of persons in certain socio economic situations pretending to be their saviour. A Douglas Adams were alive today I'm sure he'd have a very comical yet accurate way of describing what your are attempting to do.
LoB
Did they really think this through considering an employee is expected to be at work for 8+ hours and won't need all 8 to charge the car? Two spots would be better or even 4. Provide the charger with a charge cable/plug for each spot/vehicle and a first come first serve(FIFO) mechanism of charging each vehicle.
There could also be mechanisms for sensing a vehicle in the charge spots(capacitive loops) and sensing when getting unplugged before fully charged to prevent others from unplugging someone's car to get theirs to the top of the FIFO. Something like requiring a RFID tag pairing when starting a charge and another pairing hit of the RFID tag when unplugged before fully charged.
One charge plug per parking spot was not a good plan.
LoB
With homes having high load devices with large motors(washing machines, compressors in heat pumps, etc) and the large resistive loads like electric heaters, stoves, etc DC just is not the answer. Even with DC there would be a need for DC-DC converters which work by converting to AC... So given how easy it is to move AC voltages around and up/down I would think the question would be how do we optimize the losses in conversions. Maybe we need 5KHz instead of 50/60Hz.