Posts by Richard Plinston

Re: A common API is definitely a must.

> Windows has always had a common API. It is called Win32.

You are obviously new to this thing called computers. Win32 did not exist on several versions of Windows. It started as Win32s, a limited version, as an add on to Win3.1. It developed in Win95, 98 and ME. A _different_, but almost compatible Win32 was written for NT but it wasn't until XP that the incompatibilities were mostly resolved.

Windows RT does not have the full Win32 API, it does have a limited subset and probably many incompatibilities.

> you can run a Win32 app written 10 years ago in any machine without any issues.

Simply not true for _any_ program. That is why Win7 has 'XP compatibility mode'. Basically an emulation of the WinXP Win32 API because there are differences.

Re: Not sure about this

> If you have four enormous engines running, in flight,

They save half the fuel by only having two engines !!

> I don't understand how batteries can help you save fuel during flight,

It doesn't. Actually, while the engines are more fuel efficient than previous jets, the 20% claimed fuel saving is not in total fuel used per flight but is fuel saving per seat-mile. By having less structure weight by using composites instead of metal and saving weight on batteries and stuff they can put in more seats and more passengers.

> No. Jus like in any other industry where you have a dominant player, they need to not use their dominant position in one area to unfairly compete in another.

You mean like MS gives Nokia $1 billion a year from Office revenues to subsidize Windows Phone so they can sell 520s cheaper than Androids (and it still makes a loss.)

Like the division that sells XBox has accumulated approx $4 billion losses paid for from Office revenues.

> Microsoft had to unbundle IE,

IE was another example where it was 'for free' to kill off Netscape and this came from Windows and Office revenue. It also killed off Spyglass (who had written IE).

And, no, it wasn't 'unbundled'. MS was told to put up a screen offering other browsers, but this was 'forgotten' after a short while.

> I don't know if anyone here has used RT ... I daresay all that's missing is the server apps like DNS, DHCP,

You seem to have no idea what a server may be used for. It's not just for storing a few files.

Where are ARM versions of: IIS, MSSQLServer, Sharepoint, Backup manager, Terminal Services and hundreds of other _server_ applications ? Does RT even have SMB server capability ?

Re: New Dell motto

> "Pink slip"

And there was I thinking that Dell was going to give them cars.

> If it is an SD card it will require a host and that makes very little sense for the interwebs of things.

It makes a great deal of sense for development. Put the card in a reader on a PC and load up your programs to it, copy off the debug logs from a previous run, and such. Put it back in the device to run those programs.

It is also the reason that it doesn't have a 'hump' over the aerial - there is no need for the aerial when it is in a standard SD reader.

How hard is that ?

The production devices will use the soldered (non-SD) cards.

Re: Don't think so.

> The "Microsoft killed them" argument is just a case of "A Big Boy did it an ran away"

Yes they did. They used 'loyalty discounts', and revived XP to force their OEMs to offer XP netbooks _only_. If the OEMs could have offered XP _or_ Linux then the outcome may have been different. As it was XP required larger disks, so HDs were installed, more CPU, more RAM, and this priced them the same as small laptops.

Netbooks were intended to be cheap with DVD player screens, SD 'disks'.

> 2014 will not be "The Year of Linux on the Desktop"

2014 won't be _anyone's_ year on the desktop. It will be Linux's 'Year on the Personal Compters', again, where these are the more personal smartphones and tablets. Not just with Android, but with FirefoxOS, Tizen, Sailfish, Ubuntu and others.

> Until Linux gives the punters the applications they know and are used to

What most users are 'used to' is Firefox, Chrome, and Android apps (and iOS apps). You may want to only use Windows, Office, Photoshop and Visual Studio and no one will stop you doing that.

Re: Credibility = none

> Sherlock with his shiny new iPhone 5 [...] Mycroft [...] Nokia Lumia 920.

And the message was: Sherlock is cool, Mycroft is associated with the 'evil empire'.

> I think they wanted a Red phone

That does explain the sales of the 520: "I want the pink one. What's an OS? Anyway, it is cheap.".

Re: Yawn

> 6) Number of people who own an Android device, compared to number who actually use them for much beyond a phone and contacts (maybe facebook/email) is pretty disparate.

Many people buy a phone because they want ... a phone.

They choose between a dumbphone and a low end Android at around the same price level. They don't want to do anything else with it.

Re: The paradigm may be already lost

> But just as the PC was never capable of running mainframe software,

That is not true. The IBM PC lineup included the IBM PC XT/370 which ran mainframe software as well as PC-DOS. There was also the IBM 3270 PC but that was just a mainframe terminal that was also a PC-DOS PC. see Byte Fall 1984.

Also:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PC-based_IBM-compatible_mainframes

Re: put an Aakash in the hands of every school kid in the country in 5-7 years

> No Andoid device older than maybe 2 years will run a recent browser,

Gingerbread (2.3.x) is 3 years old. It has a pretty good browser and runs Firefox (as you say on ARMv7 or above). In fact Firefox will run on Froyo 2.2 which is 3.5 years old.

> Other apps follow a similar pattern.

Yes they do. Most apps are still built for Gingerbread or above.

> So based on track record of Android progression and compatibility, the chances of the majority of mainstream apps made in the next 5-7 years being able to run on _any_ Android device sold today don't look that great.

Android has made great progression and has maintained backwards compatibility via the SDK. Developers can choose the level of support right back to version 1. As there are large numbers of version 2.3 still being made (now up to 2.3.9) and about 40% of Android devices in use run this then they are likely to use this when the app will fit.

> The apps' backward compatibility with older versions of Android has never been all that great.

That is not true.

> Not too many thumb drives have WiFi.

'Thumb drives' are not the only 'external storage', but if you really want that then you can have it without cables: http://www.hypershop.com/

> It seems a bit daft to argue that having a USB port somehow makes a tablet less portable;

No, it is all the hundreds of devices that you seem to want to connect that does that, and all the USB cables.

> do mini-HDMI / DP ports have the same effect?

There are other ways of connecting devices than a USB port that you seem fixated on. Many of those don't require a nest of USB cables (granted HDMI does require a cable).

> Here's one use for the USB on the move: copying files from the camera SDHC card while on holiday.

My camera (Panasonic) has WiFi (host or client) and can send photos to my tablet or phone (or other) while I take photos, and can also be remotely controlled from the phone - without a USB cable - use Lumix Link.

Re: Doomed PC? Hardly

> Ok, PC market vs PC. I suppose that's a valid point, but the difference is splitting hairs.

No, it isn't 'splitting hairs'. You thought that it meant PCs were about to be taken away from users, who would then have to do their work on tablets and phones.

> It's just one of many articles I've read recently sounding like a prophet of doom about the PC. All are ridiculous.

They only seem to be "ridiculous" if you completely misunderstand what they say. They are not about ripping your PC away from you, they are saying that you, and others, will keep your existing PC longer, for various reasons*, and therefore the number _sold_ will be less (thus the PC _market_ is doomed) while the number _used_ will probably still increase**.

* Offloading tasks to tablets and phones, such as email, web, games; budget constraints; existing PC is 'good enough'; wanting to avoid Windows 8; ...

** because the numbers being discarded are less than the numbers sold.

> HP expert Eden, who conducted the study on behalf of Microsoft, comes to the conclusion: ". Quoted 11 million euros in savings from Linux to a Microsoft solution can be as simple not vote and are not even plausible"

The Microsoft funded 'report' has been discredited. It makes assumptions about costs that were never incurred. For example it includes the cost of new replacement machines when existing NT machines were reused. It does not include many licence costs which would have been incurred if Windows was retained. It does not include the re-training costs of moving from NT -> XP -> Vista -> Win7 -> Win8 not costs of Office 1997 -> 2000 -> 2007 -> 2010 -> ...

In this way it has inflated the 'estimated' costs of moving to Linux/OO.org well beyond what Munich actually spent while 'estimating' a much lower figure than is possible for what would have been spent to keep with Windows/Office. It also made up an entirely fictitious amount alleged to have been spent by IBM.

Re: Nokia

> but doesn't tell so much about the OS war.

It is only Microsoft, and their supporters, that think that it is a 'war'. The others are just supplying the best products and letting the users choose.

Re: BALLMER: 'WE MADE MORE MONEY THAN ALMOST ANYBODY ON THE PLANET'

> No, it's more like saying a microcomputer is a mainframe because they are similar in functionality.

What's your point?

'Mainframes' and even SperComputers are now being built using 'microcomputer' CPUs.

> I owned a Newton, it was all geared around personal data management, it was not geared around being a general purpose computing device.

In what way is an iPad _not_ "geared around personal data management"?

The Newton had various 'general purpose' applications. You wouldn't run a web server* on it, but then you probably wouldn't on a iPad or Surface.

"""Works word processor and the Newton Internet Enabler, as well as the inclusion of bundled 3rd party applications, such as the QuickFigure Works spreadsheet (a "lite" version of Pelicanware's QuickFigure Pro), Pocket Quicken, the NetHopper web browser, and the EnRoute email client."""

* My Nokia N800 does run a web server.

Re: Except Apple aren't giving it away for free.

> but then you'd need to pay MS an annual subscription to keep the system up to date.

But then you'd need to pay MS an annual subscription to keep the system up to date use the system at all.

> In a world where people are moaning that their Android phone is stuck on a 2 or 3 release old version ... it seems strange that people are reluctant to upgrade to newer versions of Windows

They are not the same people.

Those with XP are probably quite happy to keep their Android 2.3.7 phones.

Re: Public? Gimme! Gimme!

> Big tech companies borrowing public bus stops isn't going to work either.

And I thought that 'public' meant that it could be used by the 'public' (ie everyone) as a place to stop buses. Do you think that they should be made 'private' ?

Re: @Richard Plinston

> substituting them for real people that are no Gods doesn't seem to answer anything.

Yes it does. You appear to think that the term 'God' means, and must irretrievably mean: 'an actual supernatural omnipotent extraterrestrial being'. And thus Hirohito, when he was called a Shinto God, was being said to be an actual supernatural ... being, that returned to being only a human when the allies told him to.

Some refer to the Christian God (whatever they mean by that as 'Lord'. In London there is a House full of Lords - are they 'actual supernatural ...' too?

If, however, we were to use the term God as 'a leader or hero elevated to that of a deity with [non-existing] supernatural powers', then that substitution does answer [almost] everything.

> But worship them as all powerful deities? I'm not sure what logic there is in that.

I see no logic in that either, but apparently that doesn't deter others. Rastafarians hold that Haile Selassie (who was born Ras Tafari*) is their God, Shintos worshiped Hirohito, I am sure there are many other examples that are current.

> He might have been the son of God,

He might have been claiming that he was descended from the pre-Roman line of Kings, especially David. However, the term 'father' is also used for a priest or a teacher. Saying 'the Lord is my father' does not necessarily mean paternity, it may mean 'he was my teacher'.

* Did I mention that my Grandfather was presented a Lion skin cape by Ras Tafari in Aden in 1922?

Re: @Tom 35

> "Windows Phone outsells iOS in Latin America"

And there is more to it:

"Windows Phone shipments in Latin America have surpassed those of the Apple iPhone family"

The drop in Apple shipments is likely due to delaying until the new models were available.

"""According to Kantar, a large chunk of Windows Phone sales come from lower-end devices. That suggests that in Europe as in Latin America, people looking for a cheap smartphone may be finding the Windows Phone an attractive alternative to Android."""

Apple sell at the high end so these are not directly competing anyway.

Re: Alternate

> No it wouldn't - the ongoing TCO of a current Microsoft OS and toolset are generally lower than alternatives

You only say that because you have a brain implant with a direct feed from Redmond marketing department.

> their Windows Mobile prediction was completely wrong, because it's now Windows Phone...

Which is a large part of why they didn't sell as many as the prediction. Microsoft dumped WM6.x and replaced it with a completely incompatible WP7 (but still CE based and thus rather limited). This then was dumped and replaced by a mostly incompatible WP8.

With the RT/WP 'convergence' scheduled for 2015 this may result in yet another incompatible system.

This dump and replace 'strategy' disrupts the developers and enterprise users who build their own in-house apps, which then cascades down to general users.

Re: re:MS / Nokia are selling a lot of units because they are very heavily subsidized

> How much does ...

That is not particularly relevant. Microsoft gave Nokia at least $1billion a year and yet Nokia still showed a loss. It only showed a profit in one quarter when it sold its headquarters and took that in as revenue.

It was selling many of its phones at below cost. An analysis claimed that the price of many devices needed to be raised by 15% for the company to break even.

Re: Hmmmm

> the data must not be stored anywhere in US juristriction.

How can possibly work, the Americans think US jurisdiction applies to the whole world.

Re: The VERY definition of Android Landfill @ Nick

> However, for the several million folks who DO buy one, how many are going to have a set of Torx lying around ...

> None

Irrelevant - the service agent/ battery seller will have Torx screw drivers. Anyway, for those determined to open the back, Torx screws can be easily unscrewed by the point of an appropriate knife blade.

> and (even if you are correct about the soldered sheet metal)

I am right, you are wrong. It is obvious from the photos that there is no box of any sort over the battery, nor any mention in the article of one in connection with the battery.