The Microsoft requirements page listed in the Register article says (at the bottom of the page):
Windows Vista minimum supported system requirements Home Basic / Home Premium / Business / Ultimate
800 MHz processor and 512 MB of system memory
20 GB hard drive with at least 15 GB of available space
Support for Super VGA graphics
CD-ROM drive
The bottom-line is that if we take Microsoft's word as gospel, then the liability is on the Mfg. to have followed MS instructions and disabled certain OS functions by default, allowing the OS to function properly with less than 1 Gig of RAM.
Can they really sue (and win) the Mfg. for not setting the default OS options properly on a new system?
How many times are the original pages called? Is this really the resource hog?
What about compressing images, trimming them to their ultimate resolution?
How about banishing the refresh tags that cause pages to refresh while otherwise inactive? Drudgereport.com is but one example where the page refreshes unless you browse away from it...
If you really want to cut down on bandwidth usage, eliminate political commenting and there will never be aneed for Internet 2!
All told, U.S. organizations will waste $2.8 billion to power 108 million unused machines this year.
and
By turning off unused machines and practicing proper PC power management, companies stand to save more than $36 per desktop PC per year.
When I multiply $36 in savings per PC times the 108 Million PCs being described, I get a possible savings of $3.88B, or about $1B more than the original article reported. We "waste" $2.8B, but we can "save" $3.88B by turning off unused PCs and practicing power management? Are the savings or the waste over-estimated? One has to be wrong...
What the original poster said was that it woul dbe difficult to save money by building it yourself, and he's right.
An i7 920 CPU is between $250-300.
An i7 x58 MB is $200-300.
A comprable video card is $100.
Six Gigs of DDR3 RAM is $100-200.
500 Gig SATA HD plus DVD-RW is another $100
Chassis is $75+.
Power Supply is $50+
Keyboard/mouse are another $15-50.
If you want the Vista OS license, that's another $100-200, depending on version/source.
I'd put the DIY cost at $225 (CPU/cooler) + $200 (MB) + $100 (Video) + $150 (RAM) + $100 (HD/DVD) + $100 (Chassis/PS) = $875 (no included OS).
To truly build a similar machine the cost savings comes at the expense of compromises in the DIY machine or in re-using parts you already have.
The one concession you make going with the Dell XPS Studio with the i7 processor is that the on-board RAM is limited to 12 Gig, some of the third-party boards can go to 24 Gigs, but that RAM is quite expensive.
They saved millions by migrating 90,000 desktops to OpenOffice, they have migrated only 5,000 desktops to Ubuntu, they plan for 15,000 by the end of 2009, and 90,000 by 2015. (IIRC).
The title of the article, and the title of the slashdot posting is inaccurate - the savings are real, but the reason was not Ubuntu - it was OpenOffice.
We're talkiing about $2 Billion so far ($1.3 Billion for the first program, $650 Million now) - exactly how much did we get from the sale of the spectrum and didn't we already spend it elsewhere? I can't believe someone in Washington left $650 Million dollars lying on the table after they auctioned off the specturm...
He initially cooperated with border agents during the search of the laptop then later decided not to cooperate citing the Fifth Amendment. Last year a magistrate judge ruled that compelling the man to enter his password would violate his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. Now in a narrow ruling, US District Judge William K. Sessions III said the man had waived his right against self-incrimination when he initially cooperated with border agents."
That is consistent with what I've always heard, all the way back to the early days of my studying the law via TV shows;^)
The accussed can invoke their 5th ammendment rights, but it needs to be consistent - the accused can't pick and choose what they want to answer. In countless TV dramas I've seen criminals repeatedly take the fifth to even the most mundane of questions, and once they answer one question, the prosecutor can compel them to answer other questions, as they have effectively waived their right to 5th ammendment protection by answering a question.
eBay is your best recourse to putting these boxes to work.
It is very hard to justify all that wasted power by running so many inefficient boxes (how efficient are the PSs? A single, larger box would be more efficient (that's why small, under-powered servers like this are so cheap on the used equipment market)...
Second, why didn' they use the dual-core, hyper-threading Atom MB, the D945GCLF2? The latest board, the D945GCLF2 includes Gigabit Ethernet, not Fast Ethernet. Link
Finally, I've built systems with each of the "Little Falls" MBs from Intel, and all nice (considering cost) and very-capable MB/CPU combos. If the VIA CPUs are "better" that's great, but they tend to be very pricey by comparison ($85 for Intel vs. $285 for the VIA EPIA SN 1.8 GHz board referenced)
The transition likely shouldn't have been planned over a presidential election cycle, but come on - the Gov't got it's Billions selling our airwaves to the highest bidders, and in return we were offered coupons to buy discounted TV converter boxes. I got my coupons & converters back in July/Aug. THis was not a last-minute plan, it just wasn't properly promoted until the Presidential election gave the newscasters sufficient breathing room to promote the cutover.
If I read the/. post right, they could have sold 1,955,000 converters in the first 17 days of February (before the planned cutover), cutting the estimated 3.7 million still needing converters in half.
I wonder how many folks with either cable, IP, or Satellite TV ran out and needlessly got federal coupons and bought Digital Converter boxes for sets that won't be impacted.
I agree - the dual-core (four pseudo-cores if you include hyper-threading) Atom CPU is a very capable machine. I'm not a gamer, but I did get the Intel D945GCLF2 MB with the dual-core CPU, Gigabit LAN, and dual SATA ports for a test/trainer 64-bit Windows Server 2008 machine and it works great. Is it the fastest machine I own, no, but as a build-up/test/tear-down box it works very well, and if I leave it on, the power drain is minimal. I do wish it had something other than a PCI slot (PCIe or even PCI-X would be a big plus)... At under $80 for MB & CPU & cooling solution, it is a good deal.
While my specifics differ from your generalizations, you aren't too far off, IMHO.
Our district is in the throes of a rollout of "Infinite Campus", and this effort is equivalent to a "Peoplesoft" roll-out, but our staffing increased by a few hundred hours of consultant time - district IT was expected to absorb the on-going management of this new app in addition to our current 600 desktop per tech workload. It isn't going great, but it is moving along, but the community is pressing us about our "extensive use" of consultants to implement this program...
They don't understand that since they wouldn't staff to the application, we had to supplement our staff with a consultant to make this happen in any reasonable timeframe...
Too many people go to college/university with no idea what they want to do when they graduate, except for th esize paycheck they want.
Having said that, every college I know of (more than a few, far from all) offers free computer labs that students can use - you only need to spend money if you "need" to work in your dorm room, not in the computer lab. It may be harder to work in the lab, but it's been done before (like, by everyone before around 1983, when computers were "cheap enough" that schools could start to require students to buy their own)...
In addition, most districts are very restrictive about what can be loaded on district machines, so most teachers won't even try FOSS for fear of getting in trouble over IT rules. It simply isn't worth the hassle.
Taken in pieces:
most districts are very restrictive about what can be loaded on district machines - true, but if you ask district IT to set up a machine with FOSS on it, they likely will - they have a very vested interest in preventing users from installing applications on a machine, with one reason being users have sketchy understanding of software licensing, and they tend to not have extra hands to provide a level of support most users need for a new/unfamiliar platform. They are no more restrictive than a corporate IT group, in my experience (I've worked in both).
most teachers won't even try FOSS for fear of getting in trouble over IT rules - in my experience, that's total BS - they tend to not have the interest/inclination to even try. What, teachers can't get amachine at home, can't load Virtual Server, VMware Server, Virtual Box, Parallels, Fusion, etc. on their own home machine (like the rest of us here do)? Why must everything teachers do be facilitated by district IT?
In my district we have a fellow (a parent/taxpayer) that insists we could save $500K by getting of MS WinXP/Office and going to FOSS, but he aims his fusilade at district IT, not the teachers or the parents - those are the folks that set the direction for district IT. I've never worked anyplace where IT sets the platform without direction from the users.
My district is going to build a Linux image this year and make it available to teachers in the coming school year, but since we don't have the time to do any hand-holding (three techs on staff, each supporting almost 600 desktops, 2 to 1 PCs to Macs), I honestly expect minimal if any takers, especially since every FOSS desktop they request in their classroom will displace an existing MS WinXP desktop.
The customization of cars was revolutionized (defined) by Lee Iacoca and Ford when they introduced the Mustang in April, 1964 - it had an unheard-of number of options, unlike any car that came before it.
I forget the actual number, but at a time when a base Mustang was between $2,500 and $3,000 it wasn't unusual for shoppers to add several hundred dollars of options to their car.
The idea of the original posting that since MS "only" sold $100M of the devices last year they'll leave the market? Or is it that they'll leave the market because the successful iPod line is eating their lunch? Or is is because we all agree the Zune isn't "cool"?
MS has many lines of business that are under $100M in annual revenue, yet they continue on in those markets, despite not being #1 - I'm thinking keyboards, mice, MS Home Server, etc.
The Zune is a fine piece of hardware, despite the recent bru-ha-ha over the particular model that couldn't handle leap year, and I suspect that MS will lower their investment in Zune hardware development, focus on differentiation on the software side, and (likely) focus on the "self-ripped" MP3 market (as opposed to the $0.99 per-song download market.
A $100M revenue company selling MP3 devices that are tailored to the Windows platform should be a no-brainer, and I believe MS will turn it around. Having said that, my family has all iPods, despite most of our computers running windows...
From the post: "Can a teacher ask a student not to retain knowledge?"
No. If the answer to this is Yes, then what the hell is their job? Babysitting?
"How does IP law relate to teaching and sharing knowledge?
She (I assume) didn't invent the economic theories she espoused, so how does she have any right to ownership?
"Whose property are those notes?"
Silly question - the notes were written on paper bought by the student, using pen/pencil bought by the student, written while attending a class they paid for with the express understanding that the teacher wanted them to learn what was taught, without exclusion or exception as to the manner the student choose to accomplish this.
Maybe she should just man up and make a few different versions of her tests/examinations.
It isn't an official portrait, it's a picture of the guy who's gonna be president by his made-up official sounding transition team. The official portrait is taken of ACTUAL presidents, period.
Why do public schools use MS and Apple products, not Linux? It's simple:
It's what the teachers know and want
It's what the parents know and want for their kids
It's what the software that came with the textbook runs on
It's not that expensive - really
Teachers and Parents can raise a holy stink if they think they need something the school isn't offering.
Textbook publishers aren't supporting Linux (yet), and supporting Windows in WINE or other virtualization really means the IT group is supporting two platforms (Linux and Windows)
Our local school district pays about $64,000 to pay for annual licenses for desktops (Mac and PCs, including MS Office) and servers (incl. SQL Server) to run about 1,200 desktops (one third Mac). If you cut all those licenses, the most you could save would be $64K/year, assuming you don't need to add a headcount to implement Linux solutions to replace the lost Windows infrastructure/tools.
BZZT! R2 has not, in the past "been used for very minor updates to Microsoft products" - Windows Server 2003 R2 is a major incremental upgrade to the base product, includes many new features, and Windows Server 2003 non-R2 can not be upgraded via a trivial patch. R2 was not a minor upgrade to Windows Server 2003, as noted here and expanded on here.
The value of Wikipedia is it's independence, and I am certain a blind advertising campaign could put sufficient money in Wikipedia's coffers to keep the servers serving without jeapordizing Wikipedia's independence. Wikipedia could structure advertisements in such a way that they work through a third-party ad service and Wikipedia never deals directly with the advertisers. Subscriptions could enable donors, schools, etc. to avoid advertisements.
As for rewarding contributors to Wikipedia's document base, I'd be against that - the "we all agree this is the best information on a subject" model works very well, and to pay contributors would distract them from contributing to Wikipedia out of interest for a topic, it would, I fear, turn into a money-making scheme, akin to the gold miners in World of Warcraft.
I agree, they are evil for witholding information, they are evil for dumping too much information - either pick a side OR admit your hatred of the Bush Administration isn't based on the free-flow (or lack ther-of) of information from this white house.
In a recent article about Obama, they mentioned that George Bush decided to stop sending emails to his daughters while in office because he didn't want those private note part of a public record at some point. Link to the article. The collection of records knows no real limits (IMHO), and that will only lead to increased data retention for the national archives as time goes on.
If the president actively browses the internet from the oval office, do the american people have a right to his browser history, dump of temporary internet files, etc.? I certain the answer is "Yes", but I'm not quite sure how that will help historians understand a presidential term...
Slashdot Mirror
The Microsoft requirements page listed in the Register article says (at the bottom of the page):
Windows Vista minimum supported system requirements Home Basic / Home Premium / Business / Ultimate
The bottom-line is that if we take Microsoft's word as gospel, then the liability is on the Mfg. to have followed MS instructions and disabled certain OS functions by default, allowing the OS to function properly with less than 1 Gig of RAM.
Can they really sue (and win) the Mfg. for not setting the default OS options properly on a new system?
How many times are the original pages called? Is this really the resource hog?
What about compressing images, trimming them to their ultimate resolution?
How about banishing the refresh tags that cause pages to refresh while otherwise inactive? Drudgereport.com is but one example where the page refreshes unless you browse away from it...
If you really want to cut down on bandwidth usage, eliminate political commenting and there will never be aneed for Internet 2!
The article said:
and
When I multiply $36 in savings per PC times the 108 Million PCs being described, I get a possible savings of $3.88B, or about $1B more than the original article reported. We "waste" $2.8B, but we can "save" $3.88B by turning off unused PCs and practicing power management? Are the savings or the waste over-estimated? One has to be wrong...
What the original poster said was that it woul dbe difficult to save money by building it yourself, and he's right.
An i7 920 CPU is between $250-300.
An i7 x58 MB is $200-300.
A comprable video card is $100.
Six Gigs of DDR3 RAM is $100-200.
500 Gig SATA HD plus DVD-RW is another $100
Chassis is $75+.
Power Supply is $50+
Keyboard/mouse are another $15-50.
If you want the Vista OS license, that's another $100-200, depending on version/source.
I'd put the DIY cost at $225 (CPU/cooler) + $200 (MB) + $100 (Video) + $150 (RAM) + $100 (HD/DVD) + $100 (Chassis/PS) = $875 (no included OS).
To truly build a similar machine the cost savings comes at the expense of compromises in the DIY machine or in re-using parts you already have.
The one concession you make going with the Dell XPS Studio with the i7 processor is that the on-board RAM is limited to 12 Gig, some of the third-party boards can go to 24 Gigs, but that RAM is quite expensive.
They saved millions by migrating 90,000 desktops to OpenOffice, they have migrated only 5,000 desktops to Ubuntu, they plan for 15,000 by the end of 2009, and 90,000 by 2015. (IIRC).
The title of the article, and the title of the slashdot posting is inaccurate - the savings are real, but the reason was not Ubuntu - it was OpenOffice.
We're talkiing about $2 Billion so far ($1.3 Billion for the first program, $650 Million now) - exactly how much did we get from the sale of the spectrum and didn't we already spend it elsewhere? I can't believe someone in Washington left $650 Million dollars lying on the table after they auctioned off the specturm...
That's not the Washington I knew!
That is consistent with what I've always heard, all the way back to the early days of my studying the law via TV shows ;^)
The accussed can invoke their 5th ammendment rights, but it needs to be consistent - the accused can't pick and choose what they want to answer. In countless TV dramas I've seen criminals repeatedly take the fifth to even the most mundane of questions, and once they answer one question, the prosecutor can compel them to answer other questions, as they have effectively waived their right to 5th ammendment protection by answering a question.
Now, I know, TV is not reality - yet.
as will your power bill.
eBay is your best recourse to putting these boxes to work.
It is very hard to justify all that wasted power by running so many inefficient boxes (how efficient are the PSs? A single, larger box would be more efficient (that's why small, under-powered servers like this are so cheap on the used equipment market)...
First the typo - the board is D945GCLF
Second, why didn' they use the dual-core, hyper-threading Atom MB, the D945GCLF2? The latest board, the D945GCLF2 includes Gigabit Ethernet, not Fast Ethernet. Link
Finally, I've built systems with each of the "Little Falls" MBs from Intel, and all nice (considering cost) and very-capable MB/CPU combos. If the VIA CPUs are "better" that's great, but they tend to be very pricey by comparison ($85 for Intel vs. $285 for the VIA EPIA SN 1.8 GHz board referenced)
The transition likely shouldn't have been planned over a presidential election cycle, but come on - the Gov't got it's Billions selling our airwaves to the highest bidders, and in return we were offered coupons to buy discounted TV converter boxes. I got my coupons & converters back in July/Aug. THis was not a last-minute plan, it just wasn't properly promoted until the Presidential election gave the newscasters sufficient breathing room to promote the cutover.
If I read the /. post right, they could have sold 1,955,000 converters in the first 17 days of February (before the planned cutover), cutting the estimated 3.7 million still needing converters in half.
I wonder how many folks with either cable, IP, or Satellite TV ran out and needlessly got federal coupons and bought Digital Converter boxes for sets that won't be impacted.
I agree - the dual-core (four pseudo-cores if you include hyper-threading) Atom CPU is a very capable machine. I'm not a gamer, but I did get the Intel D945GCLF2 MB with the dual-core CPU, Gigabit LAN, and dual SATA ports for a test/trainer 64-bit Windows Server 2008 machine and it works great. Is it the fastest machine I own, no, but as a build-up/test/tear-down box it works very well, and if I leave it on, the power drain is minimal. I do wish it had something other than a PCI slot (PCIe or even PCI-X would be a big plus)... At under $80 for MB & CPU & cooling solution, it is a good deal.
From the Slashdot article:
I can think of at least two folks in Minnesota that would have a problem with that many votes lost...
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2008/11/franken-coleman.html
"Windows ain't done 'till Lotus won't run!"
Link: http://www.proudlyserving.com/archives/2005/08/dos_aint_done_t.html
While my specifics differ from your generalizations, you aren't too far off, IMHO.
Our district is in the throes of a rollout of "Infinite Campus", and this effort is equivalent to a "Peoplesoft" roll-out, but our staffing increased by a few hundred hours of consultant time - district IT was expected to absorb the on-going management of this new app in addition to our current 600 desktop per tech workload. It isn't going great, but it is moving along, but the community is pressing us about our "extensive use" of consultants to implement this program...
They don't understand that since they wouldn't staff to the application, we had to supplement our staff with a consultant to make this happen in any reasonable timeframe...
Too many people go to college/university with no idea what they want to do when they graduate, except for th esize paycheck they want.
Having said that, every college I know of (more than a few, far from all) offers free computer labs that students can use - you only need to spend money if you "need" to work in your dorm room, not in the computer lab. It may be harder to work in the lab, but it's been done before (like, by everyone before around 1983, when computers were "cheap enough" that schools could start to require students to buy their own)...
Taken in pieces:
most districts are very restrictive about what can be loaded on district machines - true, but if you ask district IT to set up a machine with FOSS on it, they likely will - they have a very vested interest in preventing users from installing applications on a machine, with one reason being users have sketchy understanding of software licensing, and they tend to not have extra hands to provide a level of support most users need for a new/unfamiliar platform. They are no more restrictive than a corporate IT group, in my experience (I've worked in both).
most teachers won't even try FOSS for fear of getting in trouble over IT rules - in my experience, that's total BS - they tend to not have the interest/inclination to even try. What, teachers can't get amachine at home, can't load Virtual Server, VMware Server, Virtual Box, Parallels, Fusion, etc. on their own home machine (like the rest of us here do)? Why must everything teachers do be facilitated by district IT?
In my district we have a fellow (a parent/taxpayer) that insists we could save $500K by getting of MS WinXP/Office and going to FOSS, but he aims his fusilade at district IT, not the teachers or the parents - those are the folks that set the direction for district IT. I've never worked anyplace where IT sets the platform without direction from the users.
My district is going to build a Linux image this year and make it available to teachers in the coming school year, but since we don't have the time to do any hand-holding (three techs on staff, each supporting almost 600 desktops, 2 to 1 PCs to Macs), I honestly expect minimal if any takers, especially since every FOSS desktop they request in their classroom will displace an existing MS WinXP desktop.
The customization of cars was revolutionized (defined) by Lee Iacoca and Ford when they introduced the Mustang in April, 1964 - it had an unheard-of number of options, unlike any car that came before it.
I forget the actual number, but at a time when a base Mustang was between $2,500 and $3,000 it wasn't unusual for shoppers to add several hundred dollars of options to their car.
Haven't I seen this before - yes, over on Fedora, they have a "spins" functionality, making this an evolutionary, not revolutionary improvement.
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/CustomSpins
The idea of the original posting that since MS "only" sold $100M of the devices last year they'll leave the market? Or is it that they'll leave the market because the successful iPod line is eating their lunch? Or is is because we all agree the Zune isn't "cool"?
MS has many lines of business that are under $100M in annual revenue, yet they continue on in those markets, despite not being #1 - I'm thinking keyboards, mice, MS Home Server, etc.
The Zune is a fine piece of hardware, despite the recent bru-ha-ha over the particular model that couldn't handle leap year, and I suspect that MS will lower their investment in Zune hardware development, focus on differentiation on the software side, and (likely) focus on the "self-ripped" MP3 market (as opposed to the $0.99 per-song download market.
A $100M revenue company selling MP3 devices that are tailored to the Windows platform should be a no-brainer, and I believe MS will turn it around. Having said that, my family has all iPods, despite most of our computers running windows...
From the post:
"Can a teacher ask a student not to retain knowledge?"
No. If the answer to this is Yes, then what the hell is their job? Babysitting?
"How does IP law relate to teaching and sharing knowledge?
She (I assume) didn't invent the economic theories she espoused, so how does she have any right to ownership?
"Whose property are those notes?"
Silly question - the notes were written on paper bought by the student, using pen/pencil bought by the student, written while attending a class they paid for with the express understanding that the teacher wanted them to learn what was taught, without exclusion or exception as to the manner the student choose to accomplish this.
Maybe she should just man up and make a few different versions of her tests/examinations.
The Office of the President Elect
And what, the heck, is that?
It isn't an official portrait, it's a picture of the guy who's gonna be president by his made-up official sounding transition team. The official portrait is taken of ACTUAL presidents, period.
Why do public schools use MS and Apple products, not Linux? It's simple:
Teachers and Parents can raise a holy stink if they think they need something the school isn't offering.
Textbook publishers aren't supporting Linux (yet), and supporting Windows in WINE or other virtualization really means the IT group is supporting two platforms (Linux and Windows)
Our local school district pays about $64,000 to pay for annual licenses for desktops (Mac and PCs, including MS Office) and servers (incl. SQL Server) to run about 1,200 desktops (one third Mac). If you cut all those licenses, the most you could save would be $64K/year, assuming you don't need to add a headcount to implement Linux solutions to replace the lost Windows infrastructure/tools.
BZZT! R2 has not, in the past "been used for very minor updates to Microsoft products" - Windows Server 2003 R2 is a major incremental upgrade to the base product, includes many new features, and Windows Server 2003 non-R2 can not be upgraded via a trivial patch. R2 was not a minor upgrade to Windows Server 2003, as noted here and expanded on here.
The value of Wikipedia is it's independence, and I am certain a blind advertising campaign could put sufficient money in Wikipedia's coffers to keep the servers serving without jeapordizing Wikipedia's independence. Wikipedia could structure advertisements in such a way that they work through a third-party ad service and Wikipedia never deals directly with the advertisers. Subscriptions could enable donors, schools, etc. to avoid advertisements.
As for rewarding contributors to Wikipedia's document base, I'd be against that - the "we all agree this is the best information on a subject" model works very well, and to pay contributors would distract them from contributing to Wikipedia out of interest for a topic, it would, I fear, turn into a money-making scheme, akin to the gold miners in World of Warcraft.
I agree, they are evil for witholding information, they are evil for dumping too much information - either pick a side OR admit your hatred of the Bush Administration isn't based on the free-flow (or lack ther-of) of information from this white house.
In a recent article about Obama, they mentioned that George Bush decided to stop sending emails to his daughters while in office because he didn't want those private note part of a public record at some point. Link to the article. The collection of records knows no real limits (IMHO), and that will only lead to increased data retention for the national archives as time goes on.
If the president actively browses the internet from the oval office, do the american people have a right to his browser history, dump of temporary internet files, etc.? I certain the answer is "Yes", but I'm not quite sure how that will help historians understand a presidential term...