2002 • September • 06

Idle horsepower leads to insanity

John Robb says:

Damn. I have 95% of my PC's processer available at any given moment. In a year that will probably be 98%, in three years it will be 99%. This model of the Internet is so messed up. The fact that over 90% of the computing horsepower on the Internet sits idle at any given moment is insane (in fact, 98% of my DSL connection is dead too). It is going to change. It has to change....

Exactly. This one of the main reasons I don't think I want to run a "LiveJournal done right, according to me" site. I'd rather help build a decentralized mutant spawn of LJ, Radio, Gnutella, JXTA, and other things I've yet to realize I should be looking at. I really need to get some time this Winter to research, think, write, and tinker.

And the thing John says about everyone converting to notebooks is dead on for me. I haven't touched my desktop in ages. My iBook is becoming more and more my primary computing device. When I first got it, I thought it would be a satellite. Instead, all my other computers have become peripherals for it - extra storage, little daemon processes, all serving me via my laptop. Now I just need an excuse to go get myself a ?TiBook :)

shortname=ooobfi

Archived Comments

Sean Conner

2002-09-06T03:17:41

Until laptop keyboards improve (and improve vastly) I won't be getting rid of my desktop unit any time soon. I have two laptops (only one of which has a halfway decent keyboard but alas, that style of keyboard is no longer being used on laptops) that I rarely use, and two desktop machines I use all the time. Guess that makes me the exception rather than the rule. -spc (I use only IBM AT or PS/2 keyboards—all others aren't worth the money)
john

2002-09-06T12:08:25

deal on for me too... my iBook is now my primary machine, and I'm not looking to buy any more desktops in the future... maybe a PowerBook or two, but no more desktops... not with wireless available so much.
Pete

2002-09-07T06:17:38

I'm another desktop user, laptops cost quite a bit more than desktops, I don't have a wireless network, or even high-speed access (at home anyway...) That aside, I did just get a used PowerBook G3, though it's quite a bit older/slower than my desktop G4, it actually will be a satellite, if I can get OS X working properly on it.