Jim Lawrence
accessd at shaw.ca
Tue Jan 7 11:44:25 CST 2014
Hi Shamil and all:
You are correct...I have been up to my neck in renovations, late software and we are waiting for our first grandchild. :-)
It seems there is no longer a single OS to rule them all. Intel realizes this. That is a good thing is the diversifying going on in the mobile market and virtually all hardware; cars, refrigerators, lights and so on...the CES show will set the template for the next year and probably for years to come.
What is speeding much of this transition is Snowden's revelations:
http://betanews.com/2013/12/30/the-collapse-of-the-internet-and-other-things-to-look-forward-to-in-2014/
...and now even Britain is creating its own "Great Firewall" called the "Sky Broadband Shield":
http://torrentfreak.com/uk-porn-filter-blocks-legitimate-file-sharing-services-and-torrentfreak-140103/
Unfortunately, this new firewall is blocking access to torrent, proxy and VPN technology as well as to Linux distros, all of which can be designed to protect a client's personal data. This may have of course been an accident but I think not. It is interesting to note that this firewall is call "Sky" (Net) "Broadband Shield", which makes me think of the "Terminator" movies...is this naming also an accident?
I personally do not think, in this environment, it will bode well for Windows and other proprietary software. Businesses are getting very shy and do not really trust many of our standard software and hardware suppliers...financial institutions and large corporations are most concerned. The local banks have not moved off XP, as they still do not know where to move to but they have upped their security with an AES encrypted VPN, custom OSed router software and have built custom, very limiting front-ends, for their employees use. My bet is that they will eventually move to a custom Linux distro as they have little choice. Microsoft may be compelled to Open source their products, at least their security section, but we shall see. (It is interesting that Apple has managed to duck much of this controversy but for how long?)
Aside: It should be noted that the NSA predominately uses OS products...built for speed, reliability, flexibility and, I would suspect, for their own security.
Maybe my age is showing, but I think we should be trying to take back our internet and data. Becoming a society that just uses dumb terminals, with pretty interfaces and where everything we do or go is monetized, with floods of ads and the reselling of our personal data, is not my idea of progress. As a developer at least I have the capability to host my own Cloud, Internet, Mail, Data servers, build my own hosted websites and tailor own my security...a luxury not available to many. In the next few years there will be a flood of security products that will be easy to install and use...Linux will be front and centre in this evolution.
To that end, here is a little Startup project that is creating a open source portable search engine:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1455616350/yacypi-turnkey-raspberry-pi-based-internet-search
Whether it will be a waste of $200.00 is yet to be seem but in theory, given the distributive torrent technology, this new search engine will be as fast, if not faster, than the giants like Google and Bing...and no corporate monitoring and ads.
OTOH, this year is going to be huge watershed year with many exciting technologies.
Jim
----- Original Message -----
From: "Salakhetdinov Shamil" <mcp2004 at mail.ru>
To: "Discussion of Hardware and Software issues" <dba-tech at databaseadvisors.com>
Sent: Tuesday, January 7, 2014 4:31:13 AM
Subject: [dba-Tech] TechCrunch: Intel’s Vision: Wearables Everywhere In A Post-Windows World
Hi All --
I've been waiting for Jim to comment on the subject news but he seems to be on a short vacation :) .
So I'm taking this opportunity to post a link on a news, which ("full computer the size of an SD card") was announced even on our local FM rock-/pop-classics music radio:
"Intel’s Vision: Wearables Everywhere In A Post-Windows World"
http://techcrunch.com/2014/01/07/intels-vision-wearables-everywhere-in-a-post-windows-world/
It sounds exciting. Time to finally get LAMP stack installed and studied here heavily?
"How can you run Windows on microcomputers that retail for a fraction of the cost of Windows to an OEM building a new PC?" - this is an open question from the subject article.
And I wonder will the today's Intel announcement force MS Windows to get open sourced?
Thank you.
--
Салахетдинов Шамиль
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