* Posts by Mikel

2643 publicly visible posts • joined 19 Oct 2008

500 MEELLION PCs still run Windows XP. How did we get here?

Mikel

Re: Be careful what you wish for

@Homer 1

If you chew your leg off to get out of the XP trap and put your remaining foot into W7 or 8 you are just going to have to chew that one off too. The desktop is going away - the legacy cruft has become unsustainable and the better security model of trusted whitelisted app stores is now well proven. So good luck with that.

AT&T takes on Google fiber, fixin' to give Texans GIGABIT GUNS

Mikel

Wait for Google

They have the better reputation.

Valve aiming to take the joy(sticks) out of gaming with Steam Controller

Mikel

Half Life? What is this?

Not a gamer, but this sounds interesting. I see that Steam on Linux has the whole series, so I may give it a try. If so many people are eager for the next installment maybe the kids will like it. Maybe the Valve Complete pack would be a better deal.

This week has been awesome for Valve announcements. I can't wait to give SteamOS a try, am in the market for a Steambox when they come out, and the controllers of course. I'm hoping to get the kids into game modding and stuff while they're young enough to leverage it. Maybe I can sneak a little programming training in too, while they're impressionable enough to sway into Open. I understand the SteamOS is going to be a development kit as well as a console, and they can start with simple resource modifications. It will be a fun thing we can do together when it rains, which hereabouts is all the time almost.

Hey, out-of-work BlackBerry bods: How about a job at Motorola?

Mikel

Good guy Google

It would be a shame for all that talent to go to waste just because the executives don't know what decade they're in.

Redmond plants flag in Chinese game dev market

Mikel

China to Google: Censor or get out

Google to China: Well, bye.

Microsoft: Score!

Valve shows Linux love with SteamOS for gamers

Mikel

When the Windows App store is the only way to get your apps and your legacy games aren't supported, you will come over anyway.

Mikel

In addition to Steam it's also Linux

You know - the OS that runs all the supercomputers in the world? So of course it has 7 free Office suites, Blender, multitrack audio and video editing, bittorrent, all the popular browsers, virtual machines, fully supports more devices than any other device ever, has an app store with 30 years worth of free apps, can be used to build apps, games and new operating systems and so on.

What it doesn't have? Antivirus 2012 and 3.2 billion other forms of malware. Norton, McAfee, Kaspersky and all of the other $100B/yr parasitic "cleanup after Windows failed" industry. IE. Bing. 37 links to websites you don't want. Crud installed by the OEM for pay. The requirement to log into a Microsoft online account to even fracking install it. Patch Tuesday. Rollback Wednesday. An utter lack of backup tools. Metro. And much, much more.

Mikel

Re: orly

@Steven Raith - "If they can make my machine upstairs (Ubuntu/Steam) run HL2 on my telly downstairs through a USB-esque dongle mit BT keyboard and mouse, I'd buy that for a dollar (or thirty, you know, a reasonable price)."

They're aiming at $100 for that one. I'm in at that rate.

Mikel

I'm already in

Got my games on Steam/Linux. Trying to move the kids over to Linux (their mom is dragging her heels), so we only buy games that play on Linux to stay flexible. I'm down for a Steambox if it looks good and the acoustics are good. Otherwise I'll build my own and load their special Linux distro. If they do the "least" $99 thin client box I could use one of those for every TV, and just stream the Steam to wherever the player happens to be, because I wired the whole house for gigabit Ethernet.

We will not be buying any Windows games, nor an XBox. Ever.

/Now if only I could get my head around DOTA2. I just don't get it.

Microsoft: Surface is DEAD. Long live the Surface 2!

Mikel

What I wouldn't give

For the popcorn concession.

Open source Android fork Cyanogen becomes $7m company

Mikel

Re: I would gladly pay for a truly Secure Mobile OS

Don't be ridiculous. It is a networked device that connects directly to someone else's network. It is not going to be secure for more than a few seconds at best. Now if the only data it could pass through that channel were through a VPN to your own secure datacenter, then maybe. Probably not.

In MASSIVE surprise, world+dog discovers Nokia checked out Android

Mikel

Re: "Nice gig, that will destroy Nokia"

"Not really, Nokia dropped their mobile phone unit, collected some cash, and is now free to do new things."

Maybe they could have collected more cash back when their mobile phone unit was still worth ten times as much, if they wanted to get out of the consumer product market.

Mikel

fun to watch

the next year of watching them flail helplessly will be hilarious

What's in it for server buyers now that Intel's Xeon E5-2600 v2 is here?

Mikel

In place upgrades

A great way to get 50% bump in cpu performance. Or more if you started out with less than the top end.

Server chips are getting pretty ridiculous though.

The future of PCIe: Get small, speed up, think outside the box

Mikel

new pcie is nice

Balances all that processor, storage, RAM speedups we have been getting. But eventually the data has to leave the datacenter. We are going to need a very fat pipe.

One day we'll look back and say this was the end of the software platform

Mikel

The new Xbox will run Outlook and Office

Seems they have brought their wild child back into the fold.

Microsoft announces iPad amnesty for fanbois

Mikel

Re: only going to cause more embarrassment ?

A voucher can be charged against marketing costs for all products and disappear in that ocean. A straight trade must increase the $1B inventory writedown that people are already freaking out about.

Intel touts 2-in-1s, the 'new' reincarnation of convertibles

Mikel

2 in 1

Best at none.

Corel re-animates zombie brand for patent case

Mikel

See?

This is what happens when you let Attachmate buy Novell for a measley $2 billion. There is no settling with them either. They will just drag out another folder full and go again. Forever.

Intel reveals 14nm PC, declares Moore's Law 'alive and well'

Mikel

Re: Intel reveals 14nm PC

About as big as a tin of Altoids. http://www.thinkgeek.com/product/e722/

Mikel

Re: Moore's law

After 7nm in X and Y, they start to go Z. In flatland the energy savings from diminishing node sizes has been sacrificed on the altar of clock speed. 1.2 GHz seems to be the sweet spot for low power, so massively powerful towers of 8 core 1.2GHz 7nm cpus thousands of layers thick seems to be the way forward. A datacenter - in your pocket.

Now: what to use it for.

Torvalds suggests poison and sabotage for ARM SoC designers

Mikel

Re: He's right.

When your work has become so meaningful as Linus Torvalds', your opinion about how such highly effective people should behave will be more interesting.

Intel carves up Xeon E5-2600 v2 chips for two-socket boxes

Mikel

Time to break out the thermal paste

In place upgrade time again.

Google Nexus 7 2013: Fondledroids, THE 7-inch slab has arrived

Mikel

My wife got the first Nexus 7

I wanted one but couldn't justify it at the time as I already had a Transformer. Hers is marvellous. The kids share my tablet and fortunately now they have broken it so it is this under the tree for me.

We have quite a collection of broken tablets now. Almost all charging cable yanking. I think I will go with the wireless charging for this one.

Microsoft to unveil new Surface slabs at September 23 event

Mikel

Valued OEM partners still embargoed

Weeks before the W8.1 embargo is up Microsoft is going to do a reveal of their new 8.1 hardware. Have I got that right? They're helping themselves out with a running start on the holiday season where what little profit that ever comes in consumer IT is made. And the new Surface Pro is more like a laptop than ever. A month later Microsoft reveals their first desktop PC for home and office: Xbox One. With Windows 8.1, 8 cores, 8 GB, console graphics at the lower than cost price of $499. Tablet, laptop, desktop and phone: Microsoft has got you covered. You don't even need to think about second party gear and why should you? They don't have the inside track to the developers that Microsoft does. When it comes to hardware and driver bugs of course Microsoft is going to fix their own stuff first, tell their hardware dudes what to steer away from. And of course being the big dog only Microsoft can afford to give you the pure non-MS crudware free experience. That is the power of vertical integration Microsoft keeps going on about being essential to compete in the modern world.

HP, Lenovo, Dell, Asus, Acer, Sony and the rest: why are they not in open revolt? What does it take for them to buy a clue that if they keep doing what they have always done despite changing conditions they are not long for this world? What do you have to see to know that your software partner has made you redundant?

Microsoft's VDI deals make Windows Server cheapest desktop OS

Mikel

Re: Gee, I wonder why Microsoft is so afraid of VDI

You don't need swap for a thin client OS. Or disk. You just Netboot your PC and log in to your desktop on the server. Bang, like that you've got server resources on whatever client you happen to have. Works like magic 13 years now.

Mikel

Gee, I wonder why Microsoft is so afraid of VDI

Maybe they think it is the death of Windows on the client?

People should look at LTSP. Great stuff.

Hands on: Panasonic bakes a 20-INCH tablet for big biz to swallow

Mikel

Another Windows tablet?

And only $6000 for the non-performance version.

It's like I'm living in a bizarre world they let people with Alzheimer's design things. "Here dear. I invented you a Windows tablet." "Thanks Grandma. It's lovely. I'll put it with the other six."

The REAL winner of Microsoft's Nokia buy: GOOGLE

Mikel

Re: But wait

IDC said Windows Phone would get 40M first year sales. Sight unseen, months before launch. Missed it by... that much.

Xiaomi plans global domination with fast smartphones and software

Mikel

They are doing TVs too

Definitely one to watch.

Reports: NSA has compromised most internet encryption

Mikel

On trusting trust

Don't.

Microsoft buys Nokia's mobile business

Mikel

Re: Commitment. NOT.

I'm sure that in there is that in the event that the counterparty (Nokia) fails, Microsoft gets the IP outright. Just in case. Industry standard terms and all that. They did that with Sendo. Shocker: Sendo failed, and they got the IP. So how is Microsoft going to kill Nokia and get the patents by default?

This part is easy: Microsoft secretly owns Nokia. Nokia's chairman would have never hired Elop at all - he wanted an internal Finn, but he was told by the US shareholders he would be fired and his pick replaced if he did not comply. These controlling investors padded his pocket for a little while longer. In this game even the once-mighty $100B Nokia is a little fish.

After the deal is closed the remaining NSN Nokia will just find that their opportunities are closed. Forever. For no reason whatsoever. And they will fail and the patents will revert to Microsoft in the bankruptcy. And that unforseeable outcome will just be a complete coincidence. The owners who signed the devil's deal will of course long since divested, and maybe recoup with some short options.

Mikel

Re: It is a beautiful thing

El Reg, as generous as they are, don't give enough space in these comments to convey the fullness of the beauty of this evolution. To appreciate it requires a tranquil heart, full awareness of what has gone before, the ability to translate that past and these actions as inevitably into a conclusion as the night follows the day.

I'll not post more spoilers here. If you know me I've ruined the show already.

Mikel

It is a beautiful thing

It is like watching a flower unfold, revealing a butterfly made of diamonds and precious gems. Onward! Into the future!

Mikel

Re: Insider trading

That would be the retirement funds of the entire nation of Finland, including its government employees.

Redmond's certification chief explains death of MCM and MCA

Mikel

Re: MS is Cutting costs

This is the remarkable part, yes. An admission their pockets are not bottomless.

Oh noes! New 'CRISIS DISASTER' at Fukushima! Oh wait, it's nothing. Again

Mikel
Unhappy

Re: Beta? followup

Today it is reported that 100 millisieverts measured was the limit of this measurement device. Retaking the measurement with a more capable device finds 18 times as much radiation. Maybe now we should start to be a little curious about the progress here. Maybe the author could do an update about how 1800 millisieverts per hour in 300 tons of missing water is no cause for alarm.

Microsoft cedes board seat to activist investor

Mikel
Meh

Re: The camel's ass

No, I don't think that is what they are about. I think they see some things they can rehab to get the company back on track. Take a good bump and move on. I seriously doubt they are interested in trying to do a breakup. Just getting rid of Ballmer's "kill Google" fetish might do it. He has been burning a lot of money on that fire.

Mikel

The camel's nose

The saying goes that if you let the camel's nose into your tent, the rest of the camel will follow soon after.

ValueAct takes an interest, demands short-term changes that gives them a bump, and gets out. They are not the Warren Buffet style buy-and-hold investor.

Microsoft Xbox One to be powered by ginormous system-on-chip

Mikel

Re: Shared memory

I'm sure it isn't the size of a suitcase because they thought that was sexy look for under your flatscreen.

Mikel

Unsat

I wonder how much Microsoft paid for this.

Silicon daddy: Moore's Law about to be repealed, but don't blame physics

Mikel

Re: Dimension Z is hard

Fine. Let Samsung run away with it, I don't care. I will still get the amazing new stuff.

Mikel
Coat

Re: So what happens

At the current level we are down to counting individual atoms. Obviously any sort of optical circuit requires a physical conduit made of matter for the photons to channel through, which will be made of atoms. So not relevant to Moore's law, which is about transistor density. Going optical can increase operational frequency to terahertz and petahertz, where transistors can't go, but that is a different topic. The upper limit of a photon switch is high enough to buy us a fourth dimension to this problem if they figure it out. It Is also either impossible or at least very hard as they have been working on it since the 1960's and haven't had a big product win yet.

Mikel

Dimension Z

Since I first wrote about Dimension Z in these forums Samsung has proved 24 layer integrated circuits and say the concept should scale to thousands of layers. That takes us to 2035 at least from what we already know, and more will certainly be discovered by then.

I promised you more Moore. There it is.

NSA: NOBODY could stop Snowden – he was A SYSADMIN

Mikel

An unvetted temporary contractor sysadmin?

This is how they do security? And Sharepoint.... what would the point of a content management system named Sharepoint be?

Look out ARM, Intel, here comes MIPS – again

Mikel

New lamps for old

It seems all the oppressed architectures of the byegone era are showing shoots of green these days. Almost as if there were a change in the climate, the end of an ice age.

Server sales continue decline – time to bargain hard with your supplier

Mikel

Discounts?

Your server vendor is spending all his margins on floating his consumer boat and buying startups to offer "converged architectures" that include the whole server/storage/network integrated with their premium management software. They don't have much margin to give up for discounting.

Why Teflon Ballmer had to go: He couldn't shift crud from Windows 8, Surface

Mikel

+1 presentation

The red Youtube button in the top video stands in for a clown nose nicely.

Microsoft: YES Windows 8.1 is finished, but NO you can't have it

Mikel
Pint

Re: Msdn devalued

Be glad they still let you make apps at all. Whose OS do you think it is anyway?

Mikel

Ship then patch

It is definitely not done. But they dare not slip the launch to after Christmas. So they will ship now and issue a launch day patch for remaining issues. If they can. In the meantime they must not let developers leak the broken version.

This is going to be beautiful. Every needs to watch this train wreck as an example of what not to do..