Not saying its trivial - just that it's not exactly ground breaking anymore.
The ATT system was 10TB of compressed data over 10 years ago. Close to 33TB when uncompressed.
Also - remember that these are not OLTP or possibly even RDBMS systems at all. They're big wharehouses used to feed batch oriented DSS, modeling and pattern recognition systems. Nice compressed flat files can store a whole lot of phone calls in 10-20 TB.
Not that big a deal. All of these companies already maintain similar databases for marketing purposes. ATT has had a database of over a decade's worth of long distance calls up and running for about 10 years. We're talking 10's of terabytes. This used to be awe-inspiring - now its just cool.
I've had one of these since just about Christmas. It's a great gadget for what it is: a wireless web browser on a Linux platform. The screen is crystal clear, the web browsing works and I've had no issue with network connectivity. To the extent there is a problem it is that Nokia seems to be marketing this as a consumer-ready device. It isn't. Mail is flaky, the PIM functions are missing, etc, etc. If it was only sold to its target audience (alpha geeks) everything would be cool.
All that said - I love it. I can pick it up and check the news, turn the internet access on or off for my kids or even VNC into a server if I really feel I must. Would I spend $350 of food money on it? No. But - if you can affort $350 for a cool toy - this is one.
Beta is better than VHS. Steam was, at one point, better than internal combustion. Notes is better than Exchange.
Better and who's going to win are two very very different questions. In a world (calendaring) where interoperability and volume will take the day - where all know whwre this one is going.
You need to consider two main things: First, is this move good for you? Does it allow you to do more interesting work or is it merely whats necessary to keep your job? Second, unless you're moving from Manhattan all the noise about rental expenses and shipping will be just noise compared to the housing price whack upside the head you're about to get. My family all lives in the bay area, I live in Boston suburbs. What $750K - $1,000K will buy here is a great - really great - place to live. What it will buy in Palo Alto or San Jose is a crapbox 2 BR condo or a really pitiable house. This is not baloney - check out realtor.com or even better www.propsmart.com (very cool Google maps hack).
I'm an IT consultant that sells to the business side of our clients. We work with the business people to articulate an issue or opportunity, to craft a solution and to put together a plan. Then they go ask IT how much it will cost and how long it will take to get it done. Their quotes are often, I shit you not, 5-10 times what we will do it for on a fixed price basis. And- these are not nickle and dime projects - usually in the $1 million and up range.
I love big slow IT departments. Love them. Love them.
I just searched around a bit and found mine in Salem, NH - there are four stores in this general area so perhaps I had a little more choice. Good luck.
Head out to CompUSA & pick one up then cancel your order. I gave up waiting this Monday and had one in my hands in about two hours.
* DO NOT * expect to have any kind of intelligent discussion about this with the CompUSA sales types. They tried (hard) to sell my a CF card for it - despite my telling them it would take a Dremel and a small hammer to get the card to fit.
The primary driver for me was boredom. I don't just like to use computers to get things done - I like to play with them, understand how they work and generally tweak and fidget. So, I got off windows and onto a series of Linux distros until I found one that was the right balance betwwen usability and tweakability.
I'd like to know how many people have been caught by what happened next. I've got servers, desktops and laptops. I got sick of the noise and clutter. Apple announces the Mac Mini and I've always loved Apple's displays. Why don't I just buy a mini and "X" into my other machines. I'll put them in another room. Hmmm, this is very cool. Silent, full access to my machines. OK, I'm bored. let's play with the Mac a little. Wow, this all works pretty nicely. Wow, this is all Unix under the covers. Cool, I can install just about whatever new software I want. Sure does work well with my camera, iPod and flash drive. Maybe I'll just swich over my mail to the Mac - seems easier. I just need to write a one page document - maybe I'll just do it here. Jump on the web? Why open X - I'lll just do it here.
Two months later the Mini has been retired to the TV room, I am the proud owner of a shiny new maxed out Powerbook with an attached 20" display and, for the most part, my Linux systems are sitting in the backroom being file and Popfile servers. I was captured by the Mac interface, lack of hassle and integration between components.
Slashdot Mirror
Not saying its trivial - just that it's not exactly ground breaking anymore. The ATT system was 10TB of compressed data over 10 years ago. Close to 33TB when uncompressed. Also - remember that these are not OLTP or possibly even RDBMS systems at all. They're big wharehouses used to feed batch oriented DSS, modeling and pattern recognition systems. Nice compressed flat files can store a whole lot of phone calls in 10-20 TB.
Not that big a deal. All of these companies already maintain similar databases for marketing purposes. ATT has had a database of over a decade's worth of long distance calls up and running for about 10 years. We're talking 10's of terabytes. This used to be awe-inspiring - now its just cool.
Ahhh, fond memories: http://redmondmag.com/news/article.asp?EditorialsI D=5285
An article about working at Microsoft, referenced on pro-Linux Slashdot, running on an Apache server, dead in the water.
I've had one of these since just about Christmas. It's a great gadget for what it is: a wireless web browser on a Linux platform. The screen is crystal clear, the web browsing works and I've had no issue with network connectivity. To the extent there is a problem it is that Nokia seems to be marketing this as a consumer-ready device. It isn't. Mail is flaky, the PIM functions are missing, etc, etc. If it was only sold to its target audience (alpha geeks) everything would be cool.
All that said - I love it. I can pick it up and check the news, turn the internet access on or off for my kids or even VNC into a server if I really feel I must. Would I spend $350 of food money on it? No. But - if you can affort $350 for a cool toy - this is one.
Beta is better than VHS. Steam was, at one point, better than internal combustion. Notes is better than Exchange. Better and who's going to win are two very very different questions. In a world (calendaring) where interoperability and volume will take the day - where all know whwre this one is going.
I'm really really looking forward to next week's review of USB cables and screen cleaners.
You need to consider two main things: First, is this move good for you? Does it allow you to do more interesting work or is it merely whats necessary to keep your job? Second, unless you're moving from Manhattan all the noise about rental expenses and shipping will be just noise compared to the housing price whack upside the head you're about to get. My family all lives in the bay area, I live in Boston suburbs. What $750K - $1,000K will buy here is a great - really great - place to live. What it will buy in Palo Alto or San Jose is a crapbox 2 BR condo or a really pitiable house. This is not baloney - check out realtor.com or even better www.propsmart.com (very cool Google maps hack).
Medline? Not even Google knows about it. Who knows - it may be so rare that there isn't even a domain with that name (but I'm too lazy to check).
I'm an IT consultant that sells to the business side of our clients. We work with the business people to articulate an issue or opportunity, to craft a solution and to put together a plan. Then they go ask IT how much it will cost and how long it will take to get it done. Their quotes are often, I shit you not, 5-10 times what we will do it for on a fixed price basis. And- these are not nickle and dime projects - usually in the $1 million and up range.
I love big slow IT departments. Love them. Love them.
Please send a name.
I just searched around a bit and found mine in Salem, NH - there are four stores in this general area so perhaps I had a little more choice. Good luck.
Head out to CompUSA & pick one up then cancel your order. I gave up waiting this Monday and had one in my hands in about two hours. * DO NOT * expect to have any kind of intelligent discussion about this with the CompUSA sales types. They tried (hard) to sell my a CF card for it - despite my telling them it would take a Dremel and a small hammer to get the card to fit.
The primary driver for me was boredom. I don't just like to use computers to get things done - I like to play with them, understand how they work and generally tweak and fidget. So, I got off windows and onto a series of Linux distros until I found one that was the right balance betwwen usability and tweakability.
I'd like to know how many people have been caught by what happened next. I've got servers, desktops and laptops. I got sick of the noise and clutter. Apple announces the Mac Mini and I've always loved Apple's displays. Why don't I just buy a mini and "X" into my other machines. I'll put them in another room. Hmmm, this is very cool. Silent, full access to my machines. OK, I'm bored. let's play with the Mac a little. Wow, this all works pretty nicely. Wow, this is all Unix under the covers. Cool, I can install just about whatever new software I want. Sure does work well with my camera, iPod and flash drive. Maybe I'll just swich over my mail to the Mac - seems easier. I just need to write a one page document - maybe I'll just do it here. Jump on the web? Why open X - I'lll just do it here.
Two months later the Mini has been retired to the TV room, I am the proud owner of a shiny new maxed out Powerbook with an attached 20" display and, for the most part, my Linux systems are sitting in the backroom being file and Popfile servers. I was captured by the Mac interface, lack of hassle and integration between components.
Any other switch (then switch) types out there?