tphb - Slashdot User

Comment Re:Lesson learned (Score 2, Insightful) 109

by tphb on Tuesday November 03, 2009 @08:24PM (#29971466) Attached to: The Story Behind a Failed HPC Startup

Lesson learned: there is no market for proprietary CPUs on MPP supercomputers. It's gone. If Cray and SGI couldn't do it, how are a couple guys from DEC and Novell going to pull it off?
It's always sad when someone's dream fails, but come'on guys. You're pursuing a 15-years-ago market, just like DEC and Novell did when they died (okay, Novell exists, but it is irrelevant).

Supercomputers are commodity processors increasingly in commodity boxes running commodity open-source software. A supercomputer running slower processors is not going to cut it.

Comment Re:Significant advantages to students: (Score 1) 312

by tphb on Wednesday May 06, 2009 @01:03PM (#27847795) Attached to: Amazon Kindle DX Details Revealed

I like to mark important stuff with a highlighter, and stick Post-it bookmarks on important pages and sections. Does the Kindle support that?

Yes, it does. Not actual highlighting and notes, of course, but you can highlight and add notes using the keyboard. And unlike your Post-It's, they are saved permanently.

Comment Computer Science has always been cool (Score 2, Insightful) 328

by tphb on Tuesday March 17, 2009 @04:24PM (#27231703) Attached to: Computer Science Major Is Cool Again

and will always be. It is not, however, always popular. To the extent CS attracts people who are not interested in Computers, or Science, but only better employment prospects, that is a shame. Why can't they study MIS or art history or something?

Submission + - Dell to let users opt out of bloatware (computerworlduk.com)

Submitted by

jimbojw

on Friday June 22, 2007 @11:54AM

jimbojw writes: "Computerworld UK is reporting that Dell now allows buyers to opt out of bloatware, stating "Dell has agreed to give buyers of certain PC models the option to avoid pre-installed software. Buyers of Dimension desktops, Inspiron notebooks and XPS PCs can now click a field in Dell's online order form that will block the installation of productivity software, ISP software, and photo and music software." For Windows users, this could represent a significant time-savings as now the infamous post-boot uninstall marathon may be obsolete. The effect this will have on trendy Mac commercials has yet to be seen."

Submission + - Fortran creator John Backus dies

Submitted by

klubar

on Tuesday March 20, 2007 @03:28PM

klubar writes: "John Backus, whose development of the Fortran programming language in the 1950s changed how people interacted with computers and paved the way for modern software, has died. He was 82.

The development of fortran launched many a computer science career. Although it has been superceeded by more modern languages, Fortan is still dear to many older CS majors. There is probably a surprising amount of Fortan 4 code still kicking around.

See more"

Submission + - Top ten Apple rumors of all time

Submitted by sosumi on Wednesday December 27, 2006 @01:05PM

sosumi writes: CNET have taken a look back at thirty years of Apple rumors. The top ten list includes the "Secret OSX Build" and the "Apple To Buy Nintendo" speculation. The list seems to have it all. Other entries are the Apple iPhone ("just an elaborate hoax dreamed up by Steve Jobs to keep journalists busy") and Mac OS for IBM PCs ("so counter-productive and financially damaging for Apple that we doubt the company has ever seriously considered it"). From the article: "What do you get when you cross a notoriously tight-lipped computer company with rabidly fanatical users? A whole lot of gossip, speculation and hearsay, that's what. Thirty years of Apple Computer has seen the company rise, fall and rise again like a kind of technological Jesus Christ — there's been plenty to talk about."

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