http://www.infoworld.com/columnists/tom_curve.html Lead With Knowledge, from InfoWorld.com en-us Copyright (C) 2007 InfoWorld Media Group, Inc. Wed, 10 Oct 2007 04:01:05 PDT http://backend.userland.com/rss Kathy_Badertscher@InfoWorld.com webmaster@InfoWorld.com 40 http://images.infoworld.com/img/img_hdshot_82x74_Tom.gif http://www.infoworld.com/columnists/tom_curve.html http://www.infoworld.com/cgi-bin/redirect?source=rss&url=http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/03/28/14OPcurve_1.html I’m increasingly aghast at the erosion of the traditional freedom we’ve enjoyed to do whatever we please with our personal computers -- but intrigued by the science behind it. Wed, 28 Mar 2007 03:00:00 PST tom_yager@infoworld.com,letters@infoworld.com (Tom Yager)http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/03/28/14OPcurve_1.html http://www.infoworld.com/cgi-bin/redirect?source=rss&url=http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/03/21/13OPcurve_1.html Your desktop computer is fast. It’s faster than you can type, faster than you can browse, and unlike you, it can do many things at once. Sure, you multitask. You can be on a conference call with your boss while you’re buffing your nails, but when you’re asked a hard question, what happens? You stop buffing your nails until you come up with the answer. Humans are not wired for parallel execution. Wed, 21 Mar 2007 03:00:00 PST tom_yager@infoworld.com,letters@infoworld.com (Tom Yager)http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/03/21/13OPcurve_1.html http://www.infoworld.com/cgi-bin/redirect?source=rss&url=http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/03/14/12OPcurve_1.html A couple of columns ago, I introduced you to a friend and lifelong professional Windows user who agreed to let me observe and document her trial run at switching to the Mac. I set her up with a can’t-lose bargain: She would swap her desktop Windows PC for a Core 2 Duo MacBook running OS X Tiger but retain her PC as a Parallels Desktop virtual machine. To switch or not to switch is entirely her decision to make; I’m just watching. Wed, 14 Mar 2007 03:00:00 PST tom_yager@infoworld.com,letters@infoworld.com (Tom Yager)http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/03/14/12OPcurve_1.html http://www.infoworld.com/cgi-bin/redirect?source=rss&url=http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/03/07/11OPcurve_1.html Pleas to improve datacenter power-efficiency tend to be vague: Consolidate to fewer and more efficient systems; use virtualization to allocate resources based on need; and choose microprocessors, infrastructure components, and system architectures that are built with power conservation as a key objective. Wed, 07 Mar 2007 03:00:00 PST tom_yager@infoworld.com,letters@infoworld.com (Tom Yager)http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/03/07/11OPcurve_1.html http://www.infoworld.com/cgi-bin/redirect?source=rss&url=http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/02/28/10OPcurve_1.html By my calculations, based on Steve Jobs’ claim that half of all Macs are sold to first-time buyers, roughly 9,000 people switch to the Mac every day. They’re buying new iMacs, MacBooks, MacBook Pros and Mac Pros, most of which come in at sticker prices of $1,200 and up, plus add-ons. With OS X Leopard and iPhone hitting in June, I expect all hell and hallelujah to knock over those fence-sitting switchers. I’m looking forward to that. Wed, 28 Feb 2007 03:00:00 PST tom_yager@infoworld.com,letters@infoworld.com (Tom Yager)http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/02/28/10OPcurve_1.html http://www.infoworld.com/cgi-bin/redirect?source=rss&url=http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/02/21/09OPcurve_1.html AMD’s Barcelona CPU is loaded with “invented here” innovation. It is also inspired by IBM’s Power architecture. IBM’s newest Power CPU, Power6, is due mid-year, along with quad-core processors from Intel and AMD. And while x86 will get more headlines in IT publications, Power6 is arguably more deserving. Wed, 21 Feb 2007 03:00:00 PST tom_yager@infoworld.com,letters@infoworld.com (Tom Yager)http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/02/21/09OPcurve_1.html http://www.infoworld.com/cgi-bin/redirect?source=rss&url=http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/02/14/08OPcurve_1.html I wrote a column in 2005 called “How will Dell Offset the Loss of Intel’s Generosity?”. In it, I asserted that Dell needed to overhaul its strategy and focus to make up for the coming loss of Intel’s ... oh, call it what you like: price supports, subsidies, loyalty bonuses, or what the business calls MDF (market development funds). Wed, 14 Feb 2007 03:00:00 PST tom_yager@infoworld.com,letters@infoworld.com (Tom Yager)http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/02/14/08OPcurve_1.html http://www.infoworld.com/cgi-bin/redirect?source=rss&url=http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/02/07/07OPcurve_1.html AMD’s next-generation processor line, code-named Torrenza, has gone from a block diagram to living, breathing silicon. The first incarnation of AMD’s redesigned x86 CPU is Barcelona, that which your non-co-readers will call quad-core Opteron. Barcelona is genius, a genuinely new CPU that frees itself entirely of the millstone of the Pentium legacy. It’ll do the same for you. Wed, 07 Feb 2007 03:00:00 PST tom_yager@infoworld.com,letters@infoworld.com (Tom Yager)http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/02/07/07OPcurve_1.html http://www.infoworld.com/cgi-bin/redirect?source=rss&url=http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/01/31/06OPcurve_1.html With all the vigor and exactness of stock market analysts explaining a one-point shift in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, pundits are penning obits for AMD in the aftermath of Sun Microsystems’ recent decision to buy chips from Intel. Poor AMD: first Core microarchitecture, the looming doom of quad-core Core, and now the defection of its sole first-tier monogamous mate. Talk about your slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. Wed, 31 Jan 2007 03:00:00 PST tom_yager@infoworld.com,letters@infoworld.com (Tom Yager)http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/01/31/06OPcurve_1.html http://www.infoworld.com/cgi-bin/redirect?source=rss&url=http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/01/24/05OPcurve_1.html Early advocates of a pervasive online culture cast the stereotype of mainstream media outlets as closed-minded, slow, dictatorial, William Randolph Hearst-style machines bent on shutting out differing viewpoints and smaller voices. More sober minds saw traditional media less as an enemy of free expression than a horse and buggy. However, advancing technology is only an enabler of societal evolution. By itself, technology does not spawn evolution on a societal level. That requires need and availability. Wed, 24 Jan 2007 03:00:00 PST tom_yager@infoworld.com,letters@infoworld.com (Tom Yager)http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/01/24/05OPcurve_1.html