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GeneralPurposeComputers
MeatballWiki | RecentChanges | Random Page | Indices | CategoriesDue to trends such as HandHelds, GamingConsole?s, SmartDevice?s WebTV? and the like, which is to say the success of PervasiveComputing, the need for GeneralPurposeComputers, especially those in the multiple-gigahertz range, is lessening. In addition, the freedom of a GeneralPurposeComputer? to compute around DigitalRightsManagement? is starting to encourage the c
Four things have lead me to this decision:
- The press and buzz surrounding the MicroSoft Trustworty Computing (or whatever it's called tosay) Initiative.
- A quote from NormanNie? (author of SPSS) saying that computer replacement is trending like car replacement: people are going more years between buying new computers because there's just nothing wrong with the old one.
- The realization that WindowsXP? runs acceptably fast (at least in the demo version MicroSoft gave me when I was training on VisualStudioDotNet?)
- Being told by a linux geek at the last Installfest that the main drawback of running a source-based Linux distro such as GentooLinux? [link] is that you really need to have a gigahertz computer to make it worth your while to run it.
I'm geekier than most people, and I'm still not geeky enough to compile my distro. Most people will use an OperatingSystem that comes pre-built for them, even if they use an OpenSource or FreeSoftware operating system, because they use their computer to do their work, or their play, but using the computer is not, in and of itself, is not their work or their play. This leads to assume that people will start looking at cheaper devices to allow them to use the network, just as the PersonalComputer? was a computer that was cheap and available, even if it wasn't nearly as fast as the mainframes available at the time.
DigitalRightsManagement? is pressure from the other end. Those who would want to sell you computers want you to be able to dream up all sorts of things that you can do with computers, because that builds the appetite for computers, But those who make movies and music (or more specifically, produce and distribute movies and music) are less than thrilled about it, and they've been lobbying to limit them.