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        riddles >> general problem-solving / chatting / whatever >> What Bill Gates is afraid of
        
(Message started by: BenVitale on Sep 1^st, 2010, 1:51pm)

Title: What Bill Gates is afraid of
Post by BenVitale on Sep 1^st, 2010, 1:51pm

I like the title. I'm considering dropping Microsoft, so I got curious about the following article:

Quote:

Imagine a world where the PC you buy today, will last 10 or 15 years.

And... It will NEVER need upgrading. Or even fixing

One specifc company is already working on this exact premise. And it's technology that could bring down Microsoft.
................

Quote:

Computing resources would then be a metered service, similar to public utilities like electricity, water or the telephone.

Read more ... (http://www.fourwinds10.com/siterun_data/science_technology/new_technologies_and_inventions/news.php?q=1262113839)

The definition of a cluster computer will depend on who you ask, but in the context of the above article, it sounds good, convenient.

What do you, guys, think?

Title: Re: What Bill Gates is afraid of
Post by towr on Sep 1^st, 2010, 2:30pm

I'd rather own my computer, rather than have to depend on the whims of others what I can and can't do with it.

[edit]Also; beware of internet pages offering stocks. Definite red flag, there.[/edit]

Title: Re: What Bill Gates is afraid of
Post by rmsgrey on Sep 3^rd, 2010, 6:40am

I came across a very similar idea maybe 5 years ago now - rather than a replacement PC, a replacement games console that streams player input to a remote cluster which then streams back video of the game in action rather than gameworld data that your local device has to interpret into (among other things) game footage.

Instead of needing expensive kit to run the game, you'd just need a good internet connection and some cheap kit.

Of course, there are drawbacks - you're looking at similar infrastructure to an MMO for even the simplest single-player games, and, while millions are willing to spend money to play WoW etc, that still leaves a lot of gamers unwilling to...

Anyway, yeah, it's an idea that's been around for a while in one form or another, and I expect it will get introduced sooner or later - there are already games and utilities like Google documents that are halfway there - an obvious step is for cutting edge online games to start reducing the min spec by letting the servers take some of the load (though the money to run the server farms would have to come from somewhere...)

Title: Re: What Bill Gates is afraid of
Post by Grimbal on Sep 3^rd, 2010, 10:10am

At the time of terminals all application worked like that. Every single keystroke was sent to a central computer and it returned any update to what is displayed on the screen. I believe some airline reservation systems still can work on that mode.

Title: Re: What Bill Gates is afraid of
Post by cartoonle on Dec 1^st, 2012, 11:32am

I don't believe that that can happen. Computer industry will always find something that will force us to buy something new on regular basis...

Title: Re: What Bill Gates is afraid of
Post by alien2 on Jan 15^th, 2013, 11:30am

Perhaps Bill is more afraid of divorcing his wife. Would he really have to give Melinda half of his assets?

Title: Re: What Bill Gates is afraid of
Post by towr on Jan 15^th, 2013, 12:02pm

They might have a prenuptial contract.

Title: Re: What Bill Gates is afraid of
Post by wakiza33 on Sep 12^th, 2014, 11:54am

One danger of this type of application lies within user control.

Facebook is a decent example. Because we've all come to rely fairly heavily on it as a social communication platform, we are essentially powerless to its small changes in privacy settings. If there is one we don't like, its 'tough luck' to a degree. Yet, Facebook still has competitors and we can log off and deactivate at any time. It's value to us limits us rationally.

However, if that rationale were to extend to our entire computing process, we'd be much more handicapped. If we dislike something like meta-data collection, we are essentially handcuffed because our livelihood and our methods of literally putting food on our tables would be within 'Microsoft's' system. If news came out that they were misusing data, ect, we would be nearly powerless. I would much rather have a psychical device I can destroy and replace, ect.

Title: Re: What Bill Gates is afraid of
Post by rmsgrey on Sep 13^th, 2014, 6:36am

Ironically, Microsoft (among others) has embraced this model for some of their software with the "thin client" option - among other things, allowing a site license to be policed more easily by restricting it to one installed copy and any number of remote clients that can connect to that copy, rather than multiple installed copies.

Microsoft also provides cloud computing services (a couple of years ago, they were second to Amazon in the field, but that may have changed since)

The model that appears to be emerging is not of a terminal with a dedicated connection to a single server farm, but of a fairly light PC connecting to a range of different servers and sites for different tasks - so if one service disappoints in some way, you can shift allegiance.