December 30th

Intel's Second Big Mistake

An article by the venerable Mike Magee at The Inquirer discusses how Intel's CEO Paul Otellini was responsible for disbanding the corporate contract with the evil Rambus Inc.  Indeed, the Rambus debacle was one of Intel's most painful moments, and many analysts blame this corporate collusion in part for AMD's dramatic gain in market share with the Athlon CPU coupled with DDR memory. This may indeed be true, Intel not only created confusion by having too many options for customers to choose from, but alienated many customers by allying themselves with a very unpopular company.

This all has me wondering how much of a mistake it was for Intel to let AMD forge the way with the first IA64/IA32 compatible processor for the consumer market.  This dual-purpose CPU core will let both consumers and corporate computer users tailor systems to their own needs, while maintaining full backward compatibility with older operating systems and applications.  Intel's 64-bit processors need to have new operating systems and applications written for them.  AMD has a further advantage in that their processor has many new features, while being far less expensive than Intel's 64-bit offerings.  So was this Intel's second biggest mistake in the last decade?  Yes.

                                      Dr. John

December 28th

GeForce FX Cards in January?

Rumor has it that GeForce FX cards will be out sometime in late January in limited quantities.  The price will probably start out at $499US.  That's a lot of money for a vid card, but I expect they will sell out quickly nonetheless.  I predict that FX cards won't be plentiful until late February or early March.  At that point, the price will start to drop as well, and the full line of cards will be available, including the less expensive models with slower clock speeds.  The big question is, will the high-end FX cards beat the Radeon 9700 Pro by 10%, 20%, or perhaps 50% as originally boasted? 

                                      Dr. John

December 24th

Happy Holidays to All!

I want to wish everyone a very happy holiday, and an even better new year to come! Drive safely, and stay home if you drink.  But above all, have a great time! 

Peace on Earth, and good will to all.

                                      Dr. John

December 23rd

DirectX 9 Full Version Download

Microsoft has released the new DirectX 9 in such a way that most users will be forced to use a download managing program which installs DX9 directly over the net.  For people with more than one machine, this can be a real pain in the butt, they would rather download a complete copy of DX9, and install it manually on their machines.  So for you folks, Microsoft has actually made a full copy available, buried deeper in their web site.  You can get the so-called "redistribution" copy of DX9 here.  It's 32MB.

Please remember, it can't be uninstalled without reinstalling Windows.

                                      Dr. John

PS, Still no 3D Mark 2003?  How the hell can we tell if DX9 is as cool as it's supposed to be?

December 20th

DirectX 9 Released, and... is Currently Useless

You can now finally get the new and much improved version of DirectX from Microsoft; DirectX 9.  In addition to many new features, it will also make writing code for special effects easier for programmers, which should really boost the eye candy in games. The only problem is that there is currently no reason to install DirectX 9 on any system, because no software can use the new features.  I expect a new version of the gaming benchmark, 3D Mark (2003?) any day now, but until then, no games or applications can recognize the new features in DirectX 9.  In fact, among all video cards, only the Radeon 9500 and 9700 have DirectX 9 support, so even if a game or benchmark came out that supported DX9, most video cards couldn't take advantage of it. The take home message is that you will not need DX9 until next Summer when new, compatible games start to come out, and you'll need a DX9 compatible video card by then too (e.g., Radeon 9500/9700 or GeForceFX).

Rumors are that there are still lots of bugs, which you should definitely keep in mind, because DX9 can't be un-installed. The good news is that all Windows operating systems are supported. Hoora!

                                       Dr. John

December 19th

Video Games Destroy Civilization

PC video games were attacked vociferously today at a news conference held by the National Institute on Media and the Family.  With the help of the likes of Senator Joe Lieberman, the group made it clear that video games are the greatest threat to civilization yet to materialize.  The problems with these games as discussed at the news conference included the fact that they exploit women, and depict extreme violence.  Of course we all know that TV shows, advertisements and movies never exploit women, and never depict scenes of violence, so it is clear why the Institute on Media and the Family is so upset about video games.  

Children in the US are normally brought up on a steady diet of peaceful, benevolent entertainment, such as football, boxing, movies like The Godfather, and complete honor and respect of women in commercials like those from Victoria’s Secret.  So the concern is obviously well placed.  After all, movies just show real people killing and abusing each other, whereas video games are far more insidious in that they depict cartoon violence.  So let’s stomp out cartoon violence, and get back to the real thing.

                                       Dr. John

No Windows XP Toasters

Bill Gates has been salivating for years as he attempts to push the Windows operating system into the consumer electronics arena.  As devices get more complex, contain more powerful microprocessors, and have more ability to interface with computers, they will eventually need an operating system.  $Bill has been really big on this convergence of computers and electronics devices.

But now the companies that make most electronic devices have ganged together to undermine $Bill's dream. Matsushita and Sony are now working together to produce a version of Linux that is perfectly suited for running electronic devices and interfacing them with PCs. They are collaborating with Hitachi, IBM, NEC Electronics, Philips Electronics, Samsung and Sharp to provide a software platform that will work with all the new, "brainier" devices. 

$Bill is furious. He was hoping to get Windows onto every electronics device, and collect billions in royalties in the process. But alas, it was not to be. Rumor has it that $Bill will be flying to Japan today to donate $500 billion in Windows software to all the companies involved (how many site licenses does that work out to?).  Just kidding about the bribery trip, but not about how pissed $Bill is at this latest development in the evolution of the ongoing electronics convergence.

                                       Dr. John

EE Times

December 18th

Graphics Memory Showdown

Jack Robertson over at EBN has a nice article on the memory architecture battle shaping up for next year.  ATI is banking on putting GDDR-III DRAM memory banks on it's new graphics cards for 2003, while NVidia is opting for GDDR-II memory for the GeForceFX cards coming out early next year.  NVidia doesn't want to delay the FX cards any more than necessary, so they are going with GDDR-II to avoid any extended wait for volume production of GDDR-III.  ATI has a little more breathing room before they need to get their next video card to market, so they can hold off for GDDR-III.

                                       Dr. John

EBN

December 17th

Intel Says AMD Sucks

According to UK PC distributors, Intel has been pumping out massive junk mailings in a move to denigrate their chief rival, AMD. The mailings suggest that AMD-based computers are far more problematic and likely to self-destruct than Intel hardware. The irony of the mailings becomes apparent when you read the latest reports on a new hardware bug that has been found in Intel's Big Metal, the now infamous Itanium CPU. HP has issued a warning about the unpopular platform, and has said it will replace the defective CPUs in systems it has sold, hopefully by January. 

How much more good news can Intel afford with the Itanium?  

                                       Dr. John

December 16th

Thanks to Bandlink, Your CDs Will Phone Home

Just think about it for a moment.  You get your favorite, expensive new music CD home, and pop it into your computer to play it, and automatically, the band's website comes up on your screen, with all sorts of information. But wait... there's more. Not only do you get all sorts of worthless information you didn't want, but you can bet your bippy that you'll get all sorts of popup ads too. But it doesn't stop there, more goodies are on the way. Bandlink enabled CD's will also use your internet connection to start sending personal information, including your music listening habits, to the recording company that made the CD.  How nice. If this misuse of technology weren't so irritating, it might be frightening.

                                       Dr. John

Slashdot

December 15th

DirectX 9 Still Missing, But You Can Get the Beta

Microsoft had been saying DX9 would make it out by the end of November, or early December, but that time frame has past.  So if you are just itching to get the new update (even though games and benchmarks won't be able to use the new features), you can download the public beta release candidate.  It's probably pretty close to the final version.  So for you diehards, here it is. 

                                       Dr. John

Friday the 13th

Madonion Becomes FutureMark

The guys who make the "3DMark" graphics benchmark suite have decided to change the name of the company.  Madonion was a bit of an odd corporate name, but who are we to say such things?? Now they will be known as FutureMark Corporation.  Hmmmm.  Not sure if that's much better.

The question on everyone's mind though is when is the next 3DMark benchmark going to come out? It's been 2 years since the last big change. I expect the new benchmark will debut shortly after DirectX 9 comes out, and it should be called 3D Mark 2003, if they stick to the plan.

                                       Dr. John

December 12th

No DirectX 9 Yet!

The rumors seem to be a bit off the target, since we still haven't heard a single peep from MS about the release of DX9.  But if you are dying for a download, and you have a VIA-chipset motherboard, then go for the new VIA Hyperion drivers here. 

                                       Dr. John

December 10th

DirectX 9 Tomorrow?

The rumors say that Microhard is about to release DirectX 9, possibly tomorrow. The enhancements over DX8 are quite numerous, and it will make programming new games much easier for developers.  Currently, only ATI Radeon 9500 and 9700 cards support DX9, but the upcoming NVidia GeForceFX cards will offer full DX9 support.  However, the plain fact of the matter is that no games will have DX9 effects in them until late Spring or early Summer, so having a DX9 compatible video card won't offer any real benefits until then.  

Now for the big question: will Microhard release a Windows98SE version of DX9?  As some of you may know, Microhard is trying hard to cut out support for older operating systems, despite the fact that more people use Windows98 than WindowsXP.  How is Bill going to make money if you don't keep upgrading? Well, we will find out shortly how serious Bill is about killing Win98 sooner, rather than later.  Let's hope he opts for later.

                                       Dr. John

The Inquirer

December 9th

Microsoft Pushes Linux

By accident.  You may recall that Bill Gates went to India and donated $400,000 in software and hardware to promote Windows over Linux, after the Indian  government hinted it was toying with the idea of using open source software.  Recent reports suggest that the extravagant giveaway may have backfired, by increasing interest in Linux within India. Let's hope that Bill continues his worldly excursions, and that the results come out just about the same.  

Many "hired gun" reports have come out recently that state that Microsoft operating systems are cheaper to deploy than Linux in a business environment.  The contorted logic by which these conclusions are reached escapes me, but I'm sure the authors earned their salaries with highly creative solutions. Microsoft can afford to contract thousands of these "reports", so expect many more in the near future.

                                       Dr. John

The Inquirer

December 5th

Poindexter: "The Enemy is Us"

In case you haven't noticed, the Bush Administration has been shamelessly using the terrorist attacks on the US as an excuse for doing things that the US government would never have even considered previously.  Ranging from drastic reductions in the rights of US citizens (Patriot Act, etc), to unprecedented levels of snooping on the activities of Internet users. The later effort has been dubbed "Total Informational Awareness" (TIA), and Regan-era convicted felon Admiral Poindexter has been put in charge of setting up the Internet snooping system to spy on the online activities of everyone in the US. 

The kinds of topics being discussed for the TIA include concepts such as "electronic DNA" which would identify every Internet user to the government, and automatically track all Internet usage by each person.  Obviously, the Bush Administration doesn't trust it's own people, and assumes that the US is infested with terrorists who send email back and forth all day long.  What a bunch of hooey.

One thing is clear to me.  Terrorists don't sit at home all day using the Internet, and in fact, most potential terrorists don't live in the US.  So spending all this time and money and energy to track US citizen's surfing habits is not only a useless endeavor, it is a dangerous trend that our ultra-secretive government is shamelessly pursuing at our expense. It's beginning to look like the Bush Administration has found the enemy, and it isn't Al Qaeda, it's us! 

                                       Dr. John

NY Times

The Register

DARPA (will they track you for clicking on this one?)

December 4th

Intel Can't Compete On Merit

At least that's the conclusion you might draw when you hear that Intel has been bribing OEMs to stop using AMD processors in their computers.  Dell and Gateway are the two obvious suspects. 

As some analysts have noted recently, Intel would no doubt call this "incentive-ization" or some such corporate speak. But in essence, Intel is giving large cash rebates to OEMs who are willing to "announce publicly" that they will not use AMD chips.  This type of deal does not benefit consumers, and is far from giving the appearance of a free and open market.  But what I'm wondering is why Intel thinks it needs to use it's big market muscle to stifle AMD sales.  If they are sure they have the better product at the right price, they should just sell their CPUs without strings or limitations.  But coming from the company whose motto is "in this business, only the paranoid survive", I can't say I'm surprised they use Microsoft-like tactics.

                                       Dr. John

The Inquirer

December 3rd

Death, Taxes and Spam

The three inevitables in life. But how did spam email ever make it into such an infamous pedigree? By being one of the most unpleasant things in life.  I don't know about you all, but I am the weary recipient of approximately 60 to 80 junk emails every day, all of which need to be manually deleted. How many creeps can actually make money selling phony Viagra online? Home loans, sex organ enlargement, growth hormone, online casinos, porn, porn and more porn.  It's like being permanently stuck in the worst neighborhood in New Orleans in some kind of Twilight Zone nightmare.

More and more laws are being  written to deal with unwanted telephone solicitations, and we can only hope that similar legislation follows for spam.  But I doubt they are going to make a dent in the avalanche of crap coming from these low lives.

Two rules of thumb.  NEVER click on the "remove from mailing list" button in spam.  That just lets them know your email address is valid, and that you are naive.  Next, DON'T BUY ANYTHING advertised to you by way of spam. It just encourages the jerks who pump the crap out all day long.  Make them go out and get a real job like the rest of us. 

                                       Dr. John

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