It was the best book I read last year. I absolutely loved it.
Could I say whether anyone else will enjoy it? No.
Some of my friends will enjoy it a hell of a lot, (such as _fustian who will get a hell of a lot from it) but others wouldn't.
I suspect you'll enjoy the first third a lot and find the other two thirds less riveting. However syncretin will probably enjoy all of it equally. moreil will enjoy the last two thirds more than the first third.
It's hard.
Oh, and you'll never look at the kitten the same way...
Actually I was the one arguing that rotating platters still had YEARS in them. decrypt_era was arguing for the ascendency of flash. In the end it looks like we'll both be right. Hybrid Hard Drives seem to be the future, at least for another 5 years. After that, who knows?
Actually I was the one arguing that rotating platters still had YEARS in them
Not in our 1992 discussion ;-)
I (rather foolishly) raised the point that flash memory only a life-span of a few years - you pointed out that rotating platters tended to last that long as well.
I rckn a lotta predictions go astray because of what i think of as th Drexler Effect, which is geeks believin that tech is what limits tech. They simply don't consider th human effects.
Eg: rechargable batteries: for years it seemed th physical limitations of NiCd's were insurmountable, there were always "avenues of possible research", but nothing ever came of them. Then, within two years o mobile fones gainin wide acceptance, voila, NiMH & Li-ion batteries. What was needed was an incentive, a niche to fill. With flash, it's been mp3-players & cameras. Tech is an interdependant web, like any ecosystem.
I was arguing for th inevitability of solid state in general, which'l eventually end in optics. But in th meantime, i'd say silicon-style fabrication is coming up to a crunch point, and this'l spur th full-scale onset of th parallel paradigm, which should keep moore's law pumpin for anotha decade. We'll start gettin fully into biotech fabrication in th mid 20's, which'l actually be less dense to begin with, but 3D. Biotech will blend blurrily into th n-word, which should bring optics into full flower, late 40's, early 50's perhaps?
Muahaha. I was surprised by how long tapes took to die off tho. Ah, all th wonderful messy details! Vinyl will take a lot longer, for religious reasons. In Japan, i was surprised to see lots of brand new obsolete tech about, (if you take my meaning). Eg: audio casettes, DAT's, minidiscs etc, even saw an 8-track. Apparently th avg nihonjin stops learning new tech in their 30's just like most other ppls round th world, but they expect to be able to keep buyin th same familar stuff until death, it'd seem.
I think e-books will finally take off when th nihonjin get to grips with polychromatic screens, ie: something with th sheen of paper, but with programmable "ink". Emissive screens are fine for movies and games, but for reading, they'r like staring into a lamp. I'm imaginin a very simple tablet & stylus, which you can curl up with on th couch and pull files off yr house LAN. They could even make versions with turnable pages for die hard nostalgics.
In th mean time, i do wish ppl'd stop tryin to emulate paper by making sites with black txt on white bg - ouch! Amber or green on black please! Several generations of hackers can attest.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2007-01-11 01:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-11 01:25 am (UTC)Could I say whether anyone else will enjoy it? No.
Some of my friends will enjoy it a hell of a lot, (such as
I suspect you'll enjoy the first third a lot and find the other two thirds less riveting. However
It's hard.
Oh, and you'll never look at the kitten the same way...
no subject
Date: 2007-01-11 02:14 am (UTC)I remember all too well you heralding the bright future of flash memory in, what was it, 1992?
no subject
Date: 2007-01-11 02:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-01-11 04:15 am (UTC)Not in our 1992 discussion ;-)
I (rather foolishly) raised the point that flash memory only a life-span of a few years - you pointed out that rotating platters tended to last that long as well.
no subject
Date: 2007-01-11 11:55 am (UTC)because of what i think of as th Drexler Effect,
which is geeks believin that tech is what limits tech.
They simply don't consider th human effects.
Eg: rechargable batteries:
for years it seemed th physical limitations of NiCd's were insurmountable,
there were always "avenues of possible research",
but nothing ever came of them.
Then, within two years o mobile fones gainin wide acceptance,
voila, NiMH & Li-ion batteries.
What was needed was an incentive, a niche to fill.
With flash, it's been mp3-players & cameras.
Tech is an interdependant web, like any ecosystem.
no subject
Date: 2007-01-11 12:13 pm (UTC)which'l eventually end in optics.
But in th meantime,
i'd say silicon-style fabrication is coming up to a crunch point,
and this'l spur th full-scale onset of th parallel paradigm,
which should keep moore's law pumpin for anotha decade.
We'll start gettin fully into biotech fabrication in th mid 20's,
which'l actually be less dense to begin with, but 3D.
Biotech will blend blurrily into th n-word,
which should bring optics into full flower,
late 40's, early 50's perhaps?
no subject
Date: 2007-01-11 11:40 am (UTC)I was surprised by how long tapes took to die off tho.
Ah, all th wonderful messy details!
Vinyl will take a lot longer, for religious reasons.
In Japan, i was surprised to see lots of brand new obsolete tech about,
(if you take my meaning).
Eg: audio casettes, DAT's, minidiscs etc, even saw an 8-track.
Apparently th avg nihonjin stops learning new tech in their 30's
just like most other ppls round th world,
but they expect to be able to keep buyin th same familar stuff
until death, it'd seem.
I think e-books will finally take off
when th nihonjin get to grips with polychromatic screens,
ie: something with th sheen of paper,
but with programmable "ink".
Emissive screens are fine for movies and games,
but for reading, they'r like staring into a lamp.
I'm imaginin a very simple tablet & stylus,
which you can curl up with on th couch
and pull files off yr house LAN.
They could even make versions with turnable pages
for die hard nostalgics.
In th mean time,
i do wish ppl'd stop tryin to emulate paper
by making sites with black txt on white bg - ouch!
Amber or green on black please!
Several generations of hackers can attest.