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Comment Re:Bypass the VCs and Code (Score 1) 368

No one with any sense will fund them.

Quantum computing is getting a fair bit of funding. D-Wave, as the primary example, raised $44 million from various sources. I agree with you if someone wanted to start up another AMD to build Intel clones... that's 100% crazy. But for someone with a new type of processor (like quantum ones) that have an amazing amount of (theoretical) potential, it's worth the risk given the potential upside.

Comment Re:Bypass the VCs and Code (Score 5, Insightful) 368

But there is a silver lining: capital is no longer necessary to start companies.

That's very true for software-based businesses. However, imagine someone with a great idea for a new type of processor that wants to compete with Intel. There's a LOT of capital required for manufacturing-based businesses in order to do proper R&D, establish factories, and so on... assuming the concept is so radically different that it can't be outsourced to existing fabrication plants.

Comment Re:-1 misses the point? (Score 2, Informative) 211

Um, the problem isn't a lack of repairmen Mr Malkin - it's a lack of electricity. A problem which this incubator doesn't fix. (No, the motorcycle battery isn't a fix. It's a backup. With no electricity, this incubator dies just as dead as a high tech one.)

Not a problem. A small motorcycle internal combustion engine could run continuously to provide electricity via a generator. Now all that's required are babies that breathe carbon monoxide.

Comment Re:Slashdotted? (Score 5, Informative) 133

The difference is that for a new TLD, ICANN estimates the fees involved as:

The Evaluation Fee is designed to make the new gTLD program self-funding only. This was a recommendation of the Generic names Supporting Organization (GNSO). A detailed costing methodology â" including historical program development costs, and predictable and uncertain costs associated with processing new gTLD applications through to delegation in the root zone â" estimates a per applicant fee of $US185,000. This is the estimated cost per evaluation in the first application round.

The fee also includes $US100,000 per applicant relating to both fixed and variable costs of processing each application.

So if you have $100,000 to give to ICANN plus another $85K or so for expenses, you can have your proposal for .goatse or .profit considered. For a non-profit organization, it's surprising that it costs $100K for just the application fee. Given that they're essentially opening the floodgates for new TLDs, surely their historic costs for organizational overhead with maintaining only a few TLDs will drop drastically, such that the absurd fees they're charging will no longer be warranted.

I predict the ICANN board members and key employees will be given very hefty bonuses and pay raises to offset the potential for profits.

Comment Re:Distros Cause Spartacus Syndrome (Score 0) 460

Tux: [points to someone behind Steve Jobs] You there! What is your distro?
Random guy: I am Mac OS X, sir.
Tux: [points to another one] And you, what is your distro?
Another one: OS X, sir.
[turns to a third]
Tux: And you?
Third one: Mac OS X.
Tux: [turns around to his people] Linux! WHAT IS YOUR DISTRIBUTION?
Linux: [random cries of Red Hat, Gentoo, Debian, Ubuntu, SuSE, Slackware, YellowDog, DamnSmallLinux... each person a different one]
Tux: [turning to Steve Jobs] You see, old friend? I brought more distros than you did.

Comment Re:Wow (Score 5, Informative) 779

The article you quote contradicts your statement:

"While it is true that ext3 is more resistant to file fragmentation than FAT, and NTFS filesystems, nonetheless ext3 filesystems can and do get fragmented over time.[14] Consequently the successor to the ext3 filesystem, ext4, includes a filesystem defragmentation utility and support for extents (contiguous file regions)."

14: "We found heavily fragmented free areas on an intensively used IMAP server which stores all its emails in individual files - although more than 900 GB of the total disk space of 1.4 TB were still available." http://www.heise-online.co.uk/open/Tuning-the-Linux-file-system-Ext3--/features/110398/3

Comment Re:Original Article here... (Score 0) 465

The problem with just throwing hardware at the problem is that it identifies that the application doesn't scale very well. What happens when your usage requirements double or triple? Now you have to go out and get three racks instead of just one? Wouldn't it have been better making the software itself more efficient?

The other fallacy that this exposes is that hardware maintains itself. It doesn't. Proper operation of hardware requires IT staff, which are similarly expensive. I agree with the premise that if a company is operating in bootstrap mode, just keep pushing and throw as much hardware as is required. However, once you get beyond a certain level of success it makes sense to pause for a bit and optimize what you have. That way, you can continue to grow and get more scalability out of the hardware that you already have.

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