Posts by Herby 3058 publicly visible posts • joined 14 Dec 2007
won't need to buy licenses for 100% of their machines for Windows (needed or not!). When THAT happens, sell your Microsoft stock, its going downhill.
Currently the 100% price is cheaper for a hardware vendor, but as they migrate to other platforms, it won't be, so we then will have "choice" (what a concept!).
Not soon enough!
If one looks up the history of DEC and even further looks at the pdp-1, they might find that it has 18 bits. Yes, there were DEC machines that were 12 bits (pdp-5, pdp-8, pdp-12), but the first one had 18 bits. Some of the DEC machines that had 18 bits were pdp-7, pdp-9, and pdp-15 (there may have been more).
Of course, one can also look to non-S/360 machines of IBM -- 36 bit 709/7094, and of course the IBM 1130 - 16 bits.
Real people used IBM's "personal computer" of the 60's: The IBM 1620. A marvelous computer to learn on.
A talking/listening interface is SLOW. You can type, point, and click MUCH faster. This is easily demonstrated by trying to talk to someone who is in front of the computer and being TOTALLY frustrated by trying to do it.
The only thing that really is fast enough is probably a Vulcan mind meld, and we just don't know how to to that (yet!).
The controlling thing is that absorption via the optical nerve is a VERY high bandwidth device. By comparison, the ear is much slower. So, until the Vulcan mind meld happens, we will need some Borg like interface covering up one of those two high bandwidth interfaces we use everyday.
Back in the early 80's (before PC's) I installed terminals at answering services (we supplied the computer). The "after care" consisted of cleaning off the thick film of cigarette gunk that was always on the front of the terminals (the operators smoked like chimneys). When we left we we always complemented on how much better the system worked.
In other venues, I have a brother in law that did maintenance work on Airplanes. The smoking in airplanes allowed them to find the leaks quite easily. Now that they have non smoking planes it is more difficult to find the leaks. Such is life!
I joined Apple as a contractor before this was released. After I had gone through all the introductions, I was given a tour. On the way, I was introduced "to the portable we aren't working on". My project was Appletalk for A/UX (Apple's version of System 5 unix at the time). At the product intro Jean-Louis Gasse did a complete assembly of a portable while on stage. It was a wonderful demonstration. Some of the bits included tossing a power cord over his shoulder as being unnecessary, and coming out with a glass of water in a paper bag as being necessary to assemble the unit.
As for the bloke with a dead battery, the battery pack is a pretty standard one using lead-acid batteries (D size ones in a pack as I remember).
Yes, it used a 68k processor. Nice device. Much better than an 80x86 for its day. I always muse what would have happened to Intel had IBM chose a 68k as the processor for the IBM-PC. It has a MUCH better processor instruction set than the Intel ones, with LOTS more registers and a large addressing space from the very start.
Apple has changed a LOT since then (the stock is up quite a bit!) and Steve is back in the saddle. Now days cell phones have more CPU/memory than the portable did. Times have changed!
Kinda like the Mel Brooks "History of the World, Part 1", where Moses comes down from the mountain and says: "Here are the 15 [drops one tablet] ooops, 10 commandments". Changing kilogram, might happen so, if it changes, will my body mass index change as well, and the government charge me more for my medical insurance if it goes the wrong way?
As for the US being on the SI system. Yes, it has been for many years. All our units are defined in terms of metric units. Like an inch IS 2.54 cm.
As for Troy ounces, Linux's units command yields that they are 31.1... grams. So when you see the late night ads for "gold leaf coins" that have 31 milligrams of gold on them, that is 1/1000 of a troy ounce, or about $1.34 or so, or not very much!
I am reminded that there is a video that shows off KDE-4 under Linux, and the silly dweebs think that it is the NEW "Windows". All the glitzy features were really cool.
The video is out there somewhere (it was done by some Aussies as I recall).
So, if your public thinks that an alternative is just as good as your (new) product, yes, there is a problem.
When you see "Office for Linux" we will know they have thrown in the towel!
TWO separate systems. One for "voting", and one for "counting". The voting system needs to be private and have the voter verify their vote. The counting system needs to be VERY public so we can all verify the final outcome. To combine these two systems is fraud waiting to happen. It appears that we never learn this lesson, and continue to "improve" things at our peril! (*SIGH*)
All this window dressing is just security theater. No more, no less. They don't allow mere mortals past "security" so I can help my (92 year old) Mother-in-law.
Maybe now I can take a cheeseburger on board since the airlines don't provide food any more. One can only hope?!
All that happens when silly presidents come to the bay area is tie up traffic (they close down BIG sections of freeways around here) and ask (beg) for money. They RARELY (if at all) ask for advise, and even rarer actually use it.
Look, if you want advise, use the modern conveniences like telephones (so last century), and possibly video conferencing. If would be so much easier. Sorry if that doesn't get you lots of glowing press reports from the lackeys in the press, but you might actually get something done and not waste time flying that nice blue plane we all pay for!
Go Home!
The problem was fixed is "warp time" compared to other operating systems. If this were any other operating system, it would have taken MONTHS to find the problem, and probably YEARS to fix it (on a Tuesday), if it is fixed at all.
Of course this is about a feature that probably isn't in the "other operating system".
Is that after the download, when you DO play the download back IS actually a performance. The rights company wants to get $$$ from the "little guy" when that eventually DOES happen. The problem is that since the "little guy" (the one with an IPOD) has no money anyway, there is little chance, thus the attempt at download time.
Yes, it is all grubbing for money, and the rights holders ASCAP, BMI, SESAC (among others) are looking for ANYWAY to get their hands on some money. Maybe we should all go back to player pianos where this all started.
Probably. Time will tell when the state has a high priority "problem" (who knows what it will be). When a blue screen of death happens at the server, and a virus attacks, all of Minnesota will be dark, and the finger pointing will begin. It will end when the finger points to Redmond.
Microsoft should be aware:
Be careful for what you ask for, you may get it!
Dolly Parton IS right. This is a unmitigated disaster. Sure every unit will have a GPS. So what! If the white space was viable, it would be used for TV signals, These little boxes will be a mess for anyone who uses wireless microphones. They already took away the 700MHz spectrum here in the USA, and the 800MHZ (we had TV channels 70-83 there!) spectrum is mostly unused by analog cell phones (nobody has them anymore!). Oh, and by the way, in several metro areas in the USA TV channels are allocated to two-way radio service. The white space junk spews out without knowing how it will be received. If the receiver happens to be in an area where the TV channel IS used, and then feels like responding, interference ensues. Not very good! Then one needs to take into account heights of the transmitter. In the SF bay area small signals on the top of hills can be heard for miles, and go into SEVERAL markets. It doesn't work, and it never will. Dolly Parton IS right!
Amazing what you can do. One "project" in a facility I worked at was to completely remote the car controls to a position "above" the car. It included a complete override of ALL controls (including telephone and emergency stop). It was fun. We were preparing for an "invasion" of neer-do-well protesters that wanted to occupy the building. We weren't about to let them have their way. I guess we were all BOFH's then (it was the early 70's). Such fun!
Another dose of Governor MoonBeam. No thanks, I lived through the first 8 years, and that was enough! He was the one who decided that freeways were a "bad idea", and we had an overpass in the air in San Jose as a monument to his administration.
Sorry, no zen for me, I've had enough of former Governor Browns for my lifetime!
Some time back there was a survey that indicated that IE6 is STILL used around the web, and some applications STILL rely on it. And so it goes. Nothing is EVER obsolete in Microsoft's world. People have things that "work" and they keep using it. Then complain that the new kit they just bought won't work correctly. When the next version of windoze erupts on to the scene, I suspect that it will still somehow support IE6, or something like that, since there are still aps out there that insist upon having that version.
As long as there is still a "C:" drive, it will still be DOS, maybe with lipstick and mascara but still DOS.
Look, he gave up cold winters for "liquid sunshine". If he stops by I'll show him the sauna in my parents house (it is in the wine country of California). My dad wanted one from the times he spent in Finland in the late 60's early 70's.
Every country has its faults, I guess the english ones have the fewest (in general). Then again, maybe Linus wants lower taxes, and became a citizen to vote about it.
It might be like viagra. Most of the time when you actually see the word spelled correctly, it ISN'T a sales offer. The sellers are so used to "disguising" the work, that the actual word now is the most accurate, and has the least offensive content.
It might even happen for the xxx domain (although I doubt it). Soon, when xxx isn't enough, they will need xxxx to make up for it and the arguments will start over again.
(*SIGH*)
Good luck if you can get 1000km in your tank in 1 minute (unless you are a NASCAR driver! They have the proper amount of fuel, but not the economy!). Most of the time 20 gal of fuel (at 31 MPG or so is 1000km) usually takes a bit more of my time (maybe 4 minutes, I may need to check). In any event, the 1km/minute electric fueling may be close to the truth. REAL SLOW. Yes, they need to improve that!
Until then, I will attempt to cruse by the Palo Alto exits on Bayshore freeway (US 101 for those of you non-local) and give the VW engineers a single finger salute (or they could give me a job, I can be bought!).
Cheers!
I've got Apple stock, and has been floundering recently (at least it is up for the year). Since I need to sell a bunch of it before taxes go up next year, I'm hoping that it really will be a nice thing that everyone wants.
Now where was that flight manifest for British Airways on Aug 31, LHR to SFO. I thought I saw something on it.....
Like Nice HOT showers for long periods of time (my wife says "save some water for the fishies"). Look it is just the way I am. I like creature comforts. I know that having a heated swimming pool is a bit much (I get used to thermal shock after a while), so I forgo that and get on with my life.
Some of the "waste heat" of incandescent light bulbs heats up my office here in the winter anyway. I do recycle Al cans (and get paid for it!) since I do consume a bit of soda, but for all the other stuff, I pitch in the nice big blue (recycle) bin the trash company picks up each week at the house. Sure glass is more costly, but as the wife likes wine, I let it go. I guess there is a limit as what can be done.
Lately there is a silly paper/plastic bag debate, and I re-use both types for various things, and they don't go immediately to the trash, so I really am a 550nM kinda of guy.
As for nuclear power being "non-renewable", and there being a "finite" amount of fuel for them, there ARE these things called "breeder reactors" that MAKE MORE fuel than they consume. The problem is that the fuel needs to be re-processed to get it back, and former president Jimmy Carter put a stop to that (because it makes nice weapons too).
Look, ALL energy is nuclear in some way. If it didn't originate from the sun (the nice hydrogen bomb in the sky), we did it here in a reactor, so quit griping and get on with it!
The drive industry NEEDS to get a good specification of all the silly features that they use in diagnostics and let everyone know what is going on.
Look, people like WD (Hitachi, Segate, etc..) need to understand they their business is to SELL DRIVES. If you need to waste time in their support it is WASTED $$$, and if they have good tools they should be nice and available on as MANY platforms as possible. Most drives (from whatever vendor) are commodity items, and users/buyers probably could care less as long as they work. So drive vendor SELL DRIVES and tell us all how to service them so that you won't have to. It will SAVE you money in the long run, and let you make more for your shareholders!!
It is just that nobody has told Microsoft. One of these days they will realize it. Who knows Ballmer might even announce it to the world.
The easiest way to understand this is to see Microsoft's stock price over the last few years. It has been essentially FLAT. Stock price is a forward predictor.
I'll leave it to others to look at other stock prices. Hint: the ticker symbol is AAPL (notwithstanding today's results).
Then sign me up. I need an HDTV.
This all begs the question: Why does an HDTV need busybox at all? I mean it is a simple display device (last I heard).
At least they aren't using windows, or we would all get Blue Screens of Death at critical points in the Bourne movie(s).
(*SIGH*)
The stock price has been FLAT for about 10 years (Steve Ballmer's reign about the same, coincidence? You be the judge!). In years before 2000, Microsoft's chart was straight up (almost), and people got used to it. Now that Microsoft changed into a silly dividend stock, investors lose interest. Apple has the upward slope now, and rags like the Wall Street Journal have taken notice.
Yes, Microsoft has the cash (and sacred) cows. Yes, they work, but have no sizzle. Places like that are boring and the business world loses interest. Soon they will lose interest about their product as well.
It will probably happen sooner when the itemized price tag on a WinTel box shows the price you pay for the nicely installed Microsoft software.
I (at one time) worked for an ICD company. We extensively tested the silly thing, and ran it through its paces. It took no less than 4 W95 machines to do the testing (I thought 4 machines was overkill). The actual devices used 6C02's (it was back in 1998), and they got "permission" from the 65C02's vendor to use it in a medical device. The code WAS in ROM (unalterable), but the code used parameters to do the setup. The units used inductive pickups to do the transmission to/from the implantable device. With the cost of the beasts, due to its development and insurance, they included a laptop for the programming (setup) of the device.
So, yes they are looked at quite extensively, but as everyone says, there is ALWAYS one more bug! So I do applaud the added scrutiny.
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