Looks interesting but anyone with half a brain can cobble together the appropriate parts. How can you tell it is an Xbox360 motherboard and has anyone verified it?
Even if this is not a hoax a few questions need to be asked.
1) Is this going to display HD-DVD movies from a separate player? - If so why bother.
2) Will the new?? HD-DVD player be replacing the existing DVD? - anyone want a slightly used DVD player.
3) Are games going to be mastered on HD-DVD? - That is going to really piss off people who don't have the add-on.
A HD-DVD add-on (even with HDMI and it's implicit DRM) to the Xbox360 is going to be a hard sell even for the likes of the Microsoft PR department.
People can slam Sony all they want but at least they are offering Bluray with their two variants. Granted you don't get HDMI with the US$500 model but you still get the ability to display at 1080p (the highest resolution for HD-TV). HDMI will only be used for some DRM Movies but if you buy a PS3 game you will still be able to display at 1080p. Of course you do need a HD-TV capable of displaying at 1080p if you don't have a HD-TV you can still display on your old Standard Definition TV.
Note: The Australian price of the PS3 will be AU$890 (US$668) for the 20GB Model and AU$999 (US$750) for the 60GB model (with HDMI), so for you people in the US please spare a thought for us who are getting ripped off.
From the Article, it appears that Bridgestone is going to be the sole supplier of tyres. I always thought that with F1 and other motor sports that a race car is normally sponsored and in some cases fitted by sponsors product. It does not make sense for tyre companies like Yokohama, Michelin.... etc to sponsor a car if that car is not going to be using their products.
Now getting back to Microsoft (this is Slashdot), the above still applies. If I was a manufacturer of car ECU's then why would I sponsor a F1 race car?
Not sure about all the other parts (ie. engine, breaks, struts....) again if this is going to be restricted to a few companies, then we all may as well watch a slot car race.
I wonder what they mean by engineers? Now if they mean "Professional Engineer" I would be seriously worried about their credibility, however the word "engineer" could mean anything in today's language.
Design Rule 101 - document and ratify your protocols first before writing your software.
No I am not sorry they got fined for this type of incompetence.
Can't speak for the US but in Australia if you organise a few 100?? people to purchase a product then the manager would be quite happy to give you one (normally between 5% and 20%). It must be remembered that all the people you organise don't actually have to go to the store all you need is some people representing them, of course that also brings up issues of security.
The most common method of bulk buying is food where a group of people (normally 5 to 10 which is easy to organise) share the purchase.
A good example of buying cars, is Novated Leasing were the Leasing company does get at least 5% to 15% reduction (depends on the car) in overall costs and this is passed to the customer.
To sum up. If you are part of a negotiating group you can get discounts.
Well we do have deer in Australia but they are not normally in the wild (mainly in farms) but we do have kangaroo and it is not much fun when when a large roo jumps out from the the bush during the night or even the day and there is no way a human or even a computer controlled car can avoid hitting it. The strangest thing is the roo is liable to survive (well initially) the impact unless you are driving a truck.
The organisation I worked for at the time got a special deal of a US$1000 from Silicon Graphics (SGI) for a scsi CDROM drive (did not write) so we could load software from CD (cira 1990) rather than use real-to-real magnetic tape.
It appears young people today have no idea of how much IT costs have plummeted in the last few years. To me the Bluray player/recorder or even the (shock, horror) PS3 is cheap for what it can do, especially if you compare it against older technology and like it or not DVD is older technology. Like the CD the DVD is going to be around a while and even then Blueray and I think HD DVD players will still support it so you won't loose your old movie libraries. Now VHS libraries - well that is a different matter.
I actually agree will what you said so I will just add to it.
Most people failed to realise when comparing the PS3 vs Xbox360 that Sony owns the "end to end" manufacturing while Microsoft does not, so if you can take a peek at the overall costs (neglecting development for the time being) that would most likely be surprisingly low. Even if Sony and Nintendo do make a slight loss on their machines (debatable) Microsoft's losses on the Xbox are in the region of US$1B and this is documented. No idea what the Xbox360 loss is.
It would not surprise me that after a few months and especially if a HD-DVD add on comes out for the Xbox360 the price of PS3 will drop to something like the base Xbox360 with Sony crying poor and then laughing all the way to the bank.
If you look at what the following media devices will store:
CD - approx 600~800MB
excellent for Music distribution at the moment and foreseeable future.
can also be used to backup small amounts of data (upto 800MB) cheaply.
DVD - approx 4.7MB (2x double layer)
commonly used by video industry for standard to medium HD formats
can also be used to backup larger amounts of data cheaply.
Bluray - approx 25GB (2x if double layer)
HD-DVD - approx 15GB (2x if double layer)
The above are the proposed solutions for HDTV movie distribution. Not cheap but will come down (DVD players were over US$1000 once). Each player will still read DVD so you are not loosing your movie collection, unlike VHS and Betamax. Sony's Trojan horse for Bluray is the PS3 and this will also read your CD's and DVD's. When people complain about the price difference between the Xbox360 and the PS3 then they need to compare each HDTV solution and if the Xbox360 comes out with a HDTV "add-on" then how must will it cost? Now the difference becomes smaller or may even reverse. You also have the look at how the customer will view an "add-on" (Xbox360) to a solution out of the box (PS3).
HVD - Holographic Versatile Disk approx 300GB initially going up to at least 1.6TB
Not really appropriate from a business perspective for movie distribution.
Potential use is to replace large to massive tape backup systems.
As far as I am concerned the article mainly consists of half truths and a healthy dose of ignorance.
I think the average person (say 99% and I am being optimistic - sigh!!) knows nothing about DRM and most likely will not care until they want to save their purchase to a different format because their original purchase is now obsolete, but by then it is far to late. Think vinyl records and pre-recorded tape (ie. cassett, cartridges and real-to-real tapes).
At least with ogg or even mp3 you have a chance of preserving your record collection. Still the best way to get around DRM is to record off free-to-air music channels and then rip this to ogg or mp3. This does take time but you can get a good selection and it is free although the Music Industry would love to stop this as well.
Now we know that as soon as the music goes to your ears then it is fair game for copying until the Music industry comes up with something that can stop this. It would be interesting or should I say horrifying to see what the "spin" from the Music Industry would be to do this and it would be sad indictment on our species if they did not rise up against any proposal to limit the listening of music to those who have paid for it. I am not condoning piracy but no one is going to stop me listening to music on a radio or TV and taping it if I choose to do so.
Re:I wonder if this will change their tune..
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Lenovo To Shun Linux
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Good info, but you are looking a two different countries and China is huge compared to Taiwan.
Basically many countries are looking at the Open Source option over the the Proprietary one and while the average consumer won't shift anytime soon due to the "it's good enough" attitude, some government organisations (that includes China as well) are starting to insist on Open Standards (not necessarily Linux) and that will force vendors to make their hardware at least Linux/BSD compatible.
On a more interesting note, It would be like the Chinese Government saying to their people that we trust only Microsoft as our software distributor.
Wow for 23 years I was not aware of a Unix war going on since Unix always had open standards and there were only a handful of Commercial Unix players to choose Unix from. There were over 100 varients but even then all Unix's interacted with each other very well. The problem came when Microsoft introduced their OS's.
As for Unix being killed, well it really is still a multi-billion dollar industry and last time I looked Windows NT can only run on Wintel platforms (I know the Xbox360 is power PC and Win NT 4 could run on Alpha although not recently) and if you buy (non Wintel) hardware from say IBM or SUN or HP I don't see Win NT running on their platforms.
From a license perspective I am confused. For many years now if you brought a Unix machine from the big three three (see above) the OS came bundled, although you were given the option of a software maintenance contact which could be expensive. Linux (provided it was supported on the hardware) is keeping the commercial Unix costs down which IMHO is a good thing. If a server has Unix costs at say $10,000 (debatable) and you have hundreds (say 100 @ US$1000/machine - using your figures) of MS Windows machines the overall costs of the MS software exceeds the costs of the Unix software on the server. Now factor in the cost of virus protection and legitimate software (ie. Office) and Microsoft solutions get very expensive.
I won't deny that many Unix's have died (recently SGI's IRIX for example), but because of Open Standards CEO's are actually starting to realise that the *nix (both commercial and free) solution makes a lot of sense which IMHO is about time.
Anyway I am tired and I have to get up out of my foxhole and visit the Unix graveyard to pay my respects before going to bed.
I agree with what you have said. I think some people want a console that is priced at the magical US$300 figure mark and that is fine if you don't want or have a HDTV. If you are looking at buying a HDTV (at least 720p) then the price difference between the Xbox360 and PS3 (approx US$200) is minimal when compared to the purchase of a HDTV and then possibly a good (think US$1500+) sound system. In reality if you want to get the best out of both machines then you really should buy a decent HDTV.
Now comes the clincher, providing Sony's PR gets it together. I think that the Bluray capability (it is not Sony proprietary there are others in the consortium) plus the 60GB hard disk is a real sales winner compared to the Xbox360 which only has a 20GB drive and a DVD. Yes there will most likely be an Xbox360 HD-DVD "add-on" but if Australian Prices are anything to go by (AU$170 or US$128 for the 20GB hard disk) then I would assume the HD-DVD will cost at least US$100 and that may land Microsoft in court for unfair advantage.
Having support for HDMI and component video plus support for most memory cards is a good selling point as well. Even the fact that the PS3 is using a Cell chip can be sold by good advertising. People do like interesting and trendy things of course there are some who don't.
The only thing I am not happy about with the PS3 is the controller. Personally I prefer the rumble capability because IMHO think that provides a more atmospheric feeling. Still by the time the machine comes out you may have a choice of both rumble and motion control, hopefully selectable.
I think that Sony is after people who can afford a PS3 and if they can then these people are most likely going to be able to afford games. Even if the Nintendo Wii is much cheaper I don't think the games are going to be cheaper in price than the PS3 and Xbox360 games, so if people can only afford a cheaper console then they will not have the money to buy the games and the sale of games make the console, not the other-way around.
Of course for those people who refuse or cannot afford to get a HDTV then you are really better off sticking to an Xbox or PS2 which I think will be supported (at least the PS2 will) for a few more years. Their graphics may not be as crisp on a HDTV compared to the Next Gen machines but their game-play would be similar.
Actually you are dead right on this. I find it is better to be a generalist (you normally earn more for a start) than a specialist because you have the ability to actually think outside the square. In my job if there is a need to learn a specific language I just learn it (may take a week or two) since as far as I am concerned most Programming languages are similar.
Basically from a programming perspective I would not be as good as a specialist, however I don't normally program for a living and actually design at a much higher level so I normally tell programmers what is required.
Not sure about the Mac. I find Linux with some good stats packages work for me and If you want a serious document preparation package use LaTeX (it's free and surprisingly easy to use).
I think the best way of describing this is Management love stability, consistency and fear the unknown. So they use the old adage of "No one gets fired for buying Microsoft" (was IBM once). You also have to remember Management rarely understands IT in fact they try to treat it as a commodity and are usually surprised when they end up with people who have difficulty thinking outside the square.
Why do crackers (read crackers as in "safe crackers" not hackers) target Microsoft products? It is because they are easy to attack compared to Unix/Linux applications and *nix users are usually more aware. Not to mention that Unix/Linux System Admins are usually much better trained than their so-called MCSE counterparts.
In fact most Unix Admins (myself included) I know normally have IT and/or Engineering degrees and those that don't have at least 3 to 5 years experience under a mentor as well as doing IT courses.
Yes I remember the Morris worm (kind of done to death now - I can't remember any others). It did not affect us at all since we stopped email getting in or out until we could find out what was happening. When we found that it affected unpatched sendmail (an application not an OS) on SUN box's running SUN OS (not exactly Open Source) which we already had fixed up so we got back to business as usual. Basically the sites that were hit were sites that did not take security seriously. Not much more different than today really.
Comparing Sendmail to Outlook Express well if you like comparing apples to a soggy orange. I will leave you to guess which is the "soggy orange".
So the Morris worm is a study in monoculture? Lets see, BSD, IRIX, SUN OS, HPUX, AIX..... (Linux did not start till 1991) all proprietary yet all open with regard to system calls. Rather difficult writing a virus for because of different architectures. Also you never (repeat never even in the early 1980's) opened attachments as root or your self for that matter although most email clients would never execute an attachment anyway. In fact you never read mail as root.
Of course a worm or Trojan really exploits the lack of knowledge of the user, however we never had issues when we had Unix mail (yes there were other mailers even then) because we gave one hour seminars to our staff (both technical and non-technical) every month. It was not until PC's with MS DOS and MS software that we started to see viruses.
Yes it never ceased to amaze me that people would remember all the Unix issues but for some reason they forget the number of times they had to reboot their PC or lost their data due to general protection faults, blue screens of death and illegal operations. Calculate the lost productivity from just these and Unix productivity issues pale into insignificance.
I would advise you to read his article on Monoculture it is very good. If you liken Unix to multiple different types of potato and Microsoft as the preferred (boring and bland) potato but the most grown then a blight that affects one type of potato does not normally affect the others but when that blight (read virus) affects the one that everyone relies on then you have a major issue on your hands. That is "monoculture" in operation.
Xbox360 (US$400 - assume the top one) 34" (86cm LCD HDTV) (approx US$1500) Games (approx US$50/game) maybe 3 or 4 say US$200 Accessories ??? (approx US200).
I suppose the HDTV has HDMI but where is the HD-DVD add-on for the Xbox360?
Now the grand total is approx US$2300 - A good contractor, consultant or programmer (unless he/she has been outsourced) can earn this in a week or two.
Now my dream setup is (I am being conservative here): 1 x PS3 (US600) - assume the top one. 1 x 42/50" 1080p HDTV with HDMI LCD Samsung/LG/Sony/Panasonic... approx US$5k. 1 x 6.1 or 7.1 (has progressive scan and HDMI switching) music system (approx US$3k) Accessories (assuming monster cables - approx $1000) 1 x TV cabinet (approx US$600)
This gives us a total of approx US$10200, so why not add a sweetener of a Nintendo Wii and US$2000 of mixed games. Now that would attract some good programmers.
Why did I choose a PS3 over an Xbox360 (this is Slashdot after-all)? Well the PS3 does support HDMI and Blueray whereas the Xbox360 only has DVD although it is possible that a HD-DVD one will be available as an add-on (think US$100+ otherwise they may be accused of dumping or unfair advantage), so the difference in price between the top Xbox360 and the top PS3 becomes smaller, especially when you should have a HDTV to get the best out of both machines.
If Microsoft was going to be serious and use my suggestion (please send me a US$15k cheque) they could substitute a Xbox360 instead of a PS3. Then maybe they would make the deal more attractive.
"If you pay peanuts you get monkeys" (or is that bananas).
I have tried to read the "legalese" associated with technical patents and in most cases ended up with a headache or my eyes glazing over and I am a professional engineer and can understand the technical concepts, what I can't (or won't) understand is the Legal jargon. Now think in-terms of a person who understands the jargon but who does not understand the technical aspects of the patent and what we end up with is a lose lose scenario. This IMHO is what makes technical patents so easy to abuse.
What we really need here is a lawyer who has a good technical background with regard to the technical patents they deal with and I don't think there are many of them.
Note I am only discussing mechanical, electrical and software patents not biological and medical which is out of my expertise. Although methodologies IMHO should never be patented because they infringe on human innovation.
If you want HDMI surely you could afford the extra US$100 for the premium PS3 because a HDTV with HDMI is going to be much more expensive. You will also find that people who can afford a HDTV with HDMI are those who can afford games, movies and on-line games, this is the initial group Sony is targeting and that is a huge group worth billions of dollars. The casual gamer (ie. 1 game every 6 months if you are lucky or who rents) does not make Sony or game producers any money and if the developers don't make money on their games for a given console then they will not support it.
Since the PS3 has a Blueray player I could easily sell the idea to my wife to purchase a nice HDTV (ie. 1080p) and PS3 over an xbox360 which just has a DVD player. The HD-DVD add on to the Xbox360 is not available and how much do you think it will cost so that US200 price difference drops and the PS3 become more affordable. Remember Microsoft has to be reasonable on this (think approx US$100+) otherwise they will face a law suite.
I think if you are going to argue over the US$100 price differential then unless you are living in poverty I would go for the premium PS3 it has so much more. Even a US$200 difference between the Xbox360 and PS3 is not a large amount anymore. Pity us poor Australians who have to pay AU$1000 (US$764) for the PS3 (premium) with the Xbox 360 costing AU$600 (US$475), we are being screwed over big-time although I think this will change rapidly in 6 months.
Even with an Xbox360 you really should be looking a purchasing a HDTV and then the price difference between the PS3 and Xbox360 becomes small. Of course if you want an Xbox360 only, you will maybe get 3 to 4 games before you reach the price of a premium PS3 and for the serious gamer and people who do have a reasonable income (think 10 or more games a year) that is not a hugh difference especially when they have a Bluray player as well. For those people who are quibbling over the price of US$200 and not even considering a HDTV then I suggest you stick to the Game Cube, PS2 and Xbox since there are plenty of games being made for them still.
You know you can get quite good spreadsheet software for Linux/Unix however you will have to pay for it and I assume you or your work did pay for Microsoft Office. If you are just a casual user of spreadsheet software then why not try the ones in Open Office or even Star Office.
Now if you you really need statistical analysis software I guess Excell does not cut it so why don't you try R (free) or gasp! S-plus (it's got a GUI and it does produce pretty pictures, but it does cost). There are others and they are "not like Windows", however they are more functional than Excell.
For most people in the workforce a switch to Linux would not really make any difference to their work practice, in fact it would most likely improve their work practice. Why this is not done is not due to the competence of the worker but the unwillingness of the management to initiate the change because of quotes like:
"Oh it's not like Windows"
"I really need product X (from Microsoft) to do my work"
Basically they are really saying "I am to lazy to work outside of my comfort zone, so I will stick with what I know even if it costs more".
Now if management said:
"Linux is not like Windows but has similar functionality, so get over it!"
Maybe the switch to Linux at the Desktop would be quicker.
Well actually it is not "a load..." it is fact. Any network has a maximum throughput and in the case of large downloads from an ISP of multiple movies to multiple households you can reach the capacity limit of that network quite quickly. A fairly easy way to get around this problem is for users to use a provider service such as what Foxtel offers however you only have a limited amount of movies that you can watch and in some instances pay for, even then the quality is only reasonable.
Limited capacity is a common problem of any network and no matter what you do to increase network bandwidth the users will always fill it up and this equally applies to disk storage as well, so it is no wonder that providers want more money for network usage.
I personally think charging more is a cheap shot at making money out of something that cannot possibly be fully controlled, although a cost to the receiver's hip pocket is normally a good way of controlling excessive use.
The only way of reducing huge downloads is to make it cheaper to purchase the DVD, HD-DVD or BluRay movie (can't see that happening), however there are people who will gladly pay more to download, stream the latest movies (go figure). Of course pirating is always the cheapest alternative but even then if the ISP starts charging more for excessive usage then high quality pirate downloads will also be reduced.
Well actually it is not "a load..." it is fact. Any network has a maximum throughput and in the case of large downloads from an ISP to multiple households you can reach the capacity limit of that network quite quickly.
This is a common problem of any network and no matter what you do to increase network bandwidth the users will always fill it up and this equally applies to disk storage as well, so it is no wonder that providers want more money for network usage.
Although I think it is a cheap shot at making money out of something that cannot possibly be fully controlled, a cost to the receiver's hip pocket is normally a good way of controlling excessive use.
The only way of reducing huge downloads is to make it cheaper to purchase the DVD, HD-DVD or BluRay movie (can't see that happening), however there are people who will gladly pay more to download/stream the latest movies (go figure).
Slashdot Mirror
Looks interesting but anyone with half a brain can cobble together the appropriate parts. How can you tell it is an Xbox360 motherboard and has anyone verified it?
Even if this is not a hoax a few questions need to be asked.
1) Is this going to display HD-DVD movies from a separate player?
- If so why bother.
2) Will the new?? HD-DVD player be replacing the existing DVD?
- anyone want a slightly used DVD player.
3) Are games going to be mastered on HD-DVD?
- That is going to really piss off people who don't have the add-on.
A HD-DVD add-on (even with HDMI and it's implicit DRM) to the Xbox360 is going to be a hard sell even for the likes of the Microsoft PR department.
People can slam Sony all they want but at least they are offering Bluray with their two variants. Granted you don't get HDMI with the US$500 model but you still get the ability to display at 1080p (the highest resolution for HD-TV). HDMI will only be used for some DRM Movies but if you buy a PS3 game you will still be able to display at 1080p. Of course you do need a HD-TV capable of displaying at 1080p if you don't have a HD-TV you can still display on your old Standard Definition TV.
Note: The Australian price of the PS3 will be AU$890 (US$668) for the 20GB Model and AU$999 (US$750) for the 60GB model (with HDMI), so for you people in the US please spare a thought for us who are getting ripped off.
From the Article, it appears that Bridgestone is going to be the sole supplier of tyres. I always thought that with F1 and other motor sports that a race car is normally sponsored and in some cases fitted by sponsors product. It does not make sense for tyre companies like Yokohama, Michelin .... etc to sponsor a car if that car is not going to be using their products.
....) again if this is going to be restricted to a few companies, then we all may as well watch a slot car race.
Now getting back to Microsoft (this is Slashdot), the above still applies. If I was a manufacturer of car ECU's then why would I sponsor a F1 race car?
Not sure about all the other parts (ie. engine, breaks, struts
I wonder what they mean by engineers? Now if they mean "Professional Engineer" I would be seriously worried about their credibility, however the word "engineer" could mean anything in today's language.
Design Rule 101 - document and ratify your protocols first before writing your software.
No I am not sorry they got fined for this type of incompetence.
Can't speak for the US but in Australia if you organise a few 100?? people to purchase a product then the manager would be quite happy to give you one (normally between 5% and 20%). It must be remembered that all the people you organise don't actually have to go to the store all you need is some people representing them, of course that also brings up issues of security.
The most common method of bulk buying is food where a group of people (normally 5 to 10 which is easy to organise) share the purchase.
A good example of buying cars, is Novated Leasing were the Leasing company does get at least 5% to 15% reduction (depends on the car) in overall costs and this is passed to the customer.
To sum up. If you are part of a negotiating group you can get discounts.
Well we do have deer in Australia but they are not normally in the wild (mainly in farms) but we do have kangaroo and it is not much fun when when a large roo jumps out from the the bush during the night or even the day and there is no way a human or even a computer controlled car can avoid hitting it. The strangest thing is the roo is liable to survive (well initially) the impact unless you are driving a truck.
The organisation I worked for at the time got a special deal of a US$1000 from Silicon Graphics (SGI) for a scsi CDROM drive (did not write) so we could load software from CD (cira 1990) rather than use real-to-real magnetic tape.
It appears young people today have no idea of how much IT costs have plummeted in the last few years. To me the Bluray player/recorder or even the (shock, horror) PS3 is cheap for what it can do, especially if you compare it against older technology and like it or not DVD is older technology. Like the CD the DVD is going to be around a while and even then Blueray and I think HD DVD players will still support it so you won't loose your old movie libraries. Now VHS libraries - well that is a different matter.
Never seen DVD for that price although I have seen 50 DVD-R for approx US$12 but I suppose if it fell of the back of a truck?
I actually agree will what you said so I will just add to it.
Most people failed to realise when comparing the PS3 vs Xbox360 that Sony owns the "end to end" manufacturing while Microsoft does not, so if you can take a peek at the overall costs (neglecting development for the time being) that would most likely be surprisingly low. Even if Sony and Nintendo do make a slight loss on their machines (debatable) Microsoft's losses on the Xbox are in the region of US$1B and this is documented. No idea what the Xbox360 loss is.
It would not surprise me that after a few months and especially if a HD-DVD add on comes out for the Xbox360 the price of PS3 will drop to something like the base Xbox360 with Sony crying poor and then laughing all the way to the bank.
If you look at what the following media devices will store:
CD - approx 600~800MB
excellent for Music distribution at the moment and foreseeable future.
can also be used to backup small amounts of data (upto 800MB) cheaply.
DVD - approx 4.7MB (2x double layer)
commonly used by video industry for standard to medium HD formats
can also be used to backup larger amounts of data cheaply.
Bluray - approx 25GB (2x if double layer)
HD-DVD - approx 15GB (2x if double layer)
The above are the proposed solutions for HDTV movie distribution. Not cheap but will come down (DVD players were over US$1000 once). Each player will still read DVD so you are not loosing your movie collection, unlike VHS and Betamax. Sony's Trojan horse for Bluray is the PS3 and this will also read your CD's and DVD's. When people complain about the price difference between the Xbox360 and the PS3 then they need to compare each HDTV solution and if the Xbox360 comes out with a HDTV "add-on" then how must will it cost? Now the difference becomes smaller or may even reverse. You also have the look at how the customer will view an "add-on" (Xbox360) to a solution out of the box (PS3).
HVD - Holographic Versatile Disk approx 300GB initially going up to at least 1.6TB
Not really appropriate from a business perspective for movie distribution.
Potential use is to replace large to massive tape backup systems.
As far as I am concerned the article mainly consists of half truths and a healthy dose of ignorance.
It is different but it's not that bad either. At least they use the "W3C" standard.
I think the average person (say 99% and I am being optimistic - sigh!!) knows nothing about DRM and most likely will not care until they want to save their purchase to a different format because their original purchase is now obsolete, but by then it is far to late. Think vinyl records and pre-recorded tape (ie. cassett, cartridges and real-to-real tapes).
At least with ogg or even mp3 you have a chance of preserving your record collection. Still the best way to get around DRM is to record off free-to-air music channels and then rip this to ogg or mp3. This does take time but you can get a good selection and it is free although the Music Industry would love to stop this as well.
Now we know that as soon as the music goes to your ears then it is fair game for copying until the Music industry comes up with something that can stop this. It would be interesting or should I say horrifying to see what the "spin" from the Music Industry would be to do this and it would be sad indictment on our species if they did not rise up against any proposal to limit the listening of music to those who have paid for it. I am not condoning piracy but no one is going to stop me listening to music on a radio or TV and taping it if I choose to do so.
Good info, but you are looking a two different countries and China is huge compared to Taiwan.
Basically many countries are looking at the Open Source option over the the Proprietary one and while the average consumer won't shift anytime soon due to the "it's good enough" attitude, some government organisations (that includes China as well) are starting to insist on Open Standards (not necessarily Linux) and that will force vendors to make their hardware at least Linux/BSD compatible.
On a more interesting note, It would be like the Chinese Government saying to their people that we trust only Microsoft as our software distributor.
Unix wars and Unix killed!!
Wow for 23 years I was not aware of a Unix war going on since Unix always had open standards and there were only a handful of Commercial Unix players to choose Unix from. There were over 100 varients but even then all Unix's interacted with each other very well. The problem came when Microsoft introduced their OS's.
As for Unix being killed, well it really is still a multi-billion dollar industry and last time I looked Windows NT can only run on Wintel platforms (I know the Xbox360 is power PC and Win NT 4 could run on Alpha although not recently) and if you buy (non Wintel) hardware from say IBM or SUN or HP I don't see Win NT running on their platforms.
From a license perspective I am confused. For many years now if you brought a Unix machine from the big three three (see above) the OS came bundled, although you were given the option of a software maintenance contact which could be expensive. Linux (provided it was supported on the hardware) is keeping the commercial Unix costs down which IMHO is a good thing. If a server has Unix costs at say $10,000 (debatable) and you have hundreds (say 100 @ US$1000/machine - using your figures) of MS Windows machines the overall costs of the MS software exceeds the costs of the Unix software on the server. Now factor in the cost of virus protection and legitimate software (ie. Office) and Microsoft solutions get very expensive.
I won't deny that many Unix's have died (recently SGI's IRIX for example), but because of Open Standards CEO's are actually starting to realise that the *nix (both commercial and free) solution makes a lot of sense which IMHO is about time.
Anyway I am tired and I have to get up out of my foxhole and visit the Unix graveyard to pay my respects before going to bed.
I agree with what you have said. I think some people want a console that is priced at the magical US$300 figure mark and that is fine if you don't want or have a HDTV. If you are looking at buying a HDTV (at least 720p) then the price difference between the Xbox360 and PS3 (approx US$200) is minimal when compared to the purchase of a HDTV and then possibly a good (think US$1500+) sound system. In reality if you want to get the best out of both machines then you really should buy a decent HDTV.
Now comes the clincher, providing Sony's PR gets it together. I think that the Bluray capability (it is not Sony proprietary there are others in the consortium) plus the 60GB hard disk is a real sales winner compared to the Xbox360 which only has a 20GB drive and a DVD. Yes there will most likely be an Xbox360 HD-DVD "add-on" but if Australian Prices are anything to go by (AU$170 or US$128 for the 20GB hard disk) then I would assume the HD-DVD will cost at least US$100 and that may land Microsoft in court for unfair advantage.
Having support for HDMI and component video plus support for most memory cards is a good selling point as well. Even the fact that the PS3 is using a Cell chip can be sold by good advertising. People do like interesting and trendy things of course there are some who don't.
The only thing I am not happy about with the PS3 is the controller. Personally I prefer the rumble capability because IMHO think that provides a more atmospheric feeling. Still by the time the machine comes out you may have a choice of both rumble and motion control, hopefully selectable.
I think that Sony is after people who can afford a PS3 and if they can then these people are most likely going to be able to afford games. Even if the Nintendo Wii is much cheaper I don't think the games are going to be cheaper in price than the PS3 and Xbox360 games, so if people can only afford a cheaper console then they will not have the money to buy the games and the sale of games make the console, not the other-way around.
Of course for those people who refuse or cannot afford to get a HDTV then you are really better off sticking to an Xbox or PS2 which I think will be supported (at least the PS2 will) for a few more years. Their graphics may not be as crisp on a HDTV compared to the Next Gen machines but their game-play would be similar.
Actually you are dead right on this. I find it is better to be a generalist (you normally earn more for a start) than a specialist because you have the ability to actually think outside the square. In my job if there is a need to learn a specific language I just learn it (may take a week or two) since as far as I am concerned most Programming languages are similar.
Basically from a programming perspective I would not be as good as a specialist, however I don't normally program for a living and actually design at a much higher level so I normally tell programmers what is required.
Not sure about the Mac. I find Linux with some good stats packages work for me and If you want a serious document preparation package use LaTeX (it's free and surprisingly easy to use).
I think the best way of describing this is Management love stability, consistency and fear the unknown. So they use the old adage of "No one gets fired for buying Microsoft" (was IBM once). You also have to remember Management rarely understands IT in fact they try to treat it as a commodity and are usually surprised when they end up with people who have difficulty thinking outside the square.
Why do crackers (read crackers as in "safe crackers" not hackers) target Microsoft products? It is because they are easy to attack compared to Unix/Linux applications and *nix users are usually more aware. Not to mention that Unix/Linux System Admins are usually much better trained than their so-called MCSE counterparts.
In fact most Unix Admins (myself included) I know normally have IT and/or Engineering degrees and those that don't have at least 3 to 5 years experience under a mentor as well as doing IT courses.
No problems! Don't use MS Windows and everything just works.
Yes I remember the Morris worm (kind of done to death now - I can't remember any others). It did not affect us at all since we stopped email getting in or out until we could find out what was happening. When we found that it affected unpatched sendmail (an application not an OS) on SUN box's running SUN OS (not exactly Open Source) which we already had fixed up so we got back to business as usual. Basically the sites that were hit were sites that did not take security seriously. Not much more different than today really.
..... (Linux did not start till 1991) all proprietary yet all open with regard to system calls. Rather difficult writing a virus for because of different architectures. Also you never (repeat never even in the early 1980's) opened attachments as root or your self for that matter although most email clients would never execute an attachment anyway. In fact you never read mail as root.
Comparing Sendmail to Outlook Express well if you like comparing apples to a soggy orange. I will leave you to guess which is the "soggy orange".
So the Morris worm is a study in monoculture? Lets see, BSD, IRIX, SUN OS, HPUX, AIX
Of course a worm or Trojan really exploits the lack of knowledge of the user, however we never had issues when we had Unix mail (yes there were other mailers even then) because we gave one hour seminars to our staff (both technical and non-technical) every month. It was not until PC's with MS DOS and MS software that we started to see viruses.
Yes it never ceased to amaze me that people would remember all the Unix issues but for some reason they forget the number of times they had to reboot their PC or lost their data due to general protection faults, blue screens of death and illegal operations. Calculate the lost productivity from just these and Unix productivity issues pale into insignificance.
I would advise you to read his article on Monoculture it is very good. If you liken Unix to multiple different types of potato and Microsoft as the preferred (boring and bland) potato but the most grown then a blight that affects one type of potato does not normally affect the others but when that blight (read virus) affects the one that everyone relies on then you have a major issue on your hands. That is "monoculture" in operation.
Xbox360 (US$400 - assume the top one)
... approx US$5k.
34" (86cm LCD HDTV) (approx US$1500)
Games (approx US$50/game) maybe 3 or 4 say US$200
Accessories ??? (approx US200).
I suppose the HDTV has HDMI but where is the HD-DVD add-on for the Xbox360?
Now the grand total is approx US$2300 - A good contractor, consultant or programmer (unless he/she has been outsourced) can earn this in a week or two.
Now my dream setup is (I am being conservative here):
1 x PS3 (US600) - assume the top one.
1 x 42/50" 1080p HDTV with HDMI LCD Samsung/LG/Sony/Panasonic
1 x 6.1 or 7.1 (has progressive scan and HDMI switching) music system (approx US$3k)
Accessories (assuming monster cables - approx $1000)
1 x TV cabinet (approx US$600)
This gives us a total of approx US$10200, so why not add a sweetener of a Nintendo Wii and US$2000 of mixed games. Now that would attract some good programmers.
Why did I choose a PS3 over an Xbox360 (this is Slashdot after-all)? Well the PS3 does support HDMI and Blueray whereas the Xbox360 only has DVD although it is possible that a HD-DVD one will be available as an add-on (think US$100+ otherwise they may be accused of dumping or unfair advantage), so the difference in price between the top Xbox360 and the top PS3 becomes smaller, especially when you should have a HDTV to get the best out of both machines.
If Microsoft was going to be serious and use my suggestion (please send me a US$15k cheque) they could substitute a Xbox360 instead of a PS3. Then maybe they would make the deal more attractive.
"If you pay peanuts you get monkeys" (or is that bananas).
I have tried to read the "legalese" associated with technical patents and in most cases ended up with a headache or my eyes glazing over and I am a professional engineer and can understand the technical concepts, what I can't (or won't) understand is the Legal jargon. Now think in-terms of a person who understands the jargon but who does not understand the technical aspects of the patent and what we end up with is a lose lose scenario. This IMHO is what makes technical patents so easy to abuse.
What we really need here is a lawyer who has a good technical background with regard to the technical patents they deal with and I don't think there are many of them.
Note I am only discussing mechanical, electrical and software patents not biological and medical which is out of my expertise. Although methodologies IMHO should never be patented because they infringe on human innovation.
We should have a funny and insightful category.
If you want HDMI surely you could afford the extra US$100 for the premium PS3 because a HDTV with HDMI is going to be much more expensive. You will also find that people who can afford a HDTV with HDMI are those who can afford games, movies and on-line games, this is the initial group Sony is targeting and that is a huge group worth billions of dollars. The casual gamer (ie. 1 game every 6 months if you are lucky or who rents) does not make Sony or game producers any money and if the developers don't make money on their games for a given console then they will not support it.
Since the PS3 has a Blueray player I could easily sell the idea to my wife to purchase a nice HDTV (ie. 1080p) and PS3 over an xbox360 which just has a DVD player. The HD-DVD add on to the Xbox360 is not available and how much do you think it will cost so that US200 price difference drops and the PS3 become more affordable. Remember Microsoft has to be reasonable on this (think approx US$100+) otherwise they will face a law suite.
I think if you are going to argue over the US$100 price differential then unless you are living in poverty I would go for the premium PS3 it has so much more. Even a US$200 difference between the Xbox360 and PS3 is not a large amount anymore. Pity us poor Australians who have to pay AU$1000 (US$764) for the PS3 (premium) with the Xbox 360 costing AU$600 (US$475), we are being screwed over big-time although I think this will change rapidly in 6 months.
Even with an Xbox360 you really should be looking a purchasing a HDTV and then the price difference between the PS3 and Xbox360 becomes small. Of course if you want an Xbox360 only, you will maybe get 3 to 4 games before you reach the price of a premium PS3 and for the serious gamer and people who do have a reasonable income (think 10 or more games a year) that is not a hugh difference especially when they have a Bluray player as well. For those people who are quibbling over the price of US$200 and not even considering a HDTV then I suggest you stick to the Game Cube, PS2 and Xbox since there are plenty of games being made for them still.
Well there is a good reason not to use Linux.
You know you can get quite good spreadsheet software for Linux/Unix however you will have to pay for it and I assume you or your work did pay for Microsoft Office. If you are just a casual user of spreadsheet software then why not try the ones in Open Office or even Star Office.
Now if you you really need statistical analysis software I guess Excell does not cut it so why don't you try R (free) or gasp! S-plus (it's got a GUI and it does produce pretty pictures, but it does cost). There are others and they are "not like Windows", however they are more functional than Excell.
For most people in the workforce a switch to Linux would not really make any difference to their work practice, in fact it would most likely improve their work practice. Why this is not done is not due to the competence of the worker but the unwillingness of the management to initiate the change because of quotes like:
"Oh it's not like Windows"
"I really need product X (from Microsoft) to do my work"
Basically they are really saying "I am to lazy to work outside of my comfort zone, so I will stick with what I know even if it costs more".
Now if management said:
"Linux is not like Windows but has similar functionality, so get over it!"
Maybe the switch to Linux at the Desktop would be quicker.
Well actually it is not "a load ..." it is fact. Any network has a maximum throughput and in the case of large downloads from an ISP of multiple movies to multiple households you can reach the capacity limit of that network quite quickly. A fairly easy way to get around this problem is for users to use a provider service such as what Foxtel offers however you only have a limited amount of movies that you can watch and in some instances pay for, even then the quality is only reasonable.
Limited capacity is a common problem of any network and no matter what you do to increase network bandwidth the users will always fill it up and this equally applies to disk storage as well, so it is no wonder that providers want more money for network usage.
I personally think charging more is a cheap shot at making money out of something that cannot possibly be fully controlled, although a cost to the receiver's hip pocket is normally a good way of controlling excessive use.
The only way of reducing huge downloads is to make it cheaper to purchase the DVD, HD-DVD or BluRay movie (can't see that happening), however there are people who will gladly pay more to download, stream the latest movies (go figure). Of course pirating is always the cheapest alternative but even then if the ISP starts charging more for excessive usage then high quality pirate downloads will also be reduced.
Well actually it is not "a load ..." it is fact. Any network has a maximum throughput and in the case of large downloads from an ISP to multiple households you can reach the capacity limit of that network quite quickly.
This is a common problem of any network and no matter what you do to increase network bandwidth the users will always fill it up and this equally applies to disk storage as well, so it is no wonder that providers want more money for network usage.
Although I think it is a cheap shot at making money out of something that cannot possibly be fully controlled, a cost to the receiver's hip pocket is normally a good way of controlling excessive use.
The only way of reducing huge downloads is to make it cheaper to purchase the DVD, HD-DVD or BluRay movie (can't see that happening), however there are people who will gladly pay more to download/stream the latest movies (go figure).