From: bruce C. Beattie (bruce@eecs.berkeley.edu)
Date: Fri Aug 05 2005 - 11:26:42 PDT
Hi John,
I don't think much of Gates either, but I would like to bring out a
point. Think of computer chips
that have millions of transistors the same way you think about a piece
of heat treated metal which has been
machined precisely to do a particular job. I know this is a stretch,
but if the heat treatment isn't done
properly then the molecules that form the steel arn't lined up exactly
right, then the part will fail.
In a similar way, the chip is manufactured with millions of transistors
similar to those molecules and if
they are lined up correctly and accurately, then the chip will perform
it's job flawlessly.
It took many years to figure out how to do the heat treatment process so
that it was repeatable and
reliable. The same goes for chip manufacturing.
It also took a long time to learn how to make tubes that would perform
reliably.
My point is that all of these things have their value and play a very
important part in supporting
our weapons systems and communication. And if we can keep Gates away
from making
weapons systems, we will be much better off. It's not the chips, it's
what he does with them,
or maybe I should say what he does to them.... And that is really scarry.
Bruce MVPA 23824
J. Forster wrote:
>Ron wrote:
>
>
>
>> My nephew is a "BIG" wheel at Microsoft. Mid 30s, mega smart, hangs with
>>Mr. Bill. He was out visiting last summer with his brood, went into shock
>>anytime he was not connected for periods longer than 2 hours. Had
>>considerable trouble understanding why I spent so much time and money
>>playing with my collection, versus doing something constructive, like
>>learning machine language or typing messages in HEX decimal format since it
>>is more 'precise'. [snip]
>>
>>
>>
>
>Next time he shows up, ask him what kind of communications system he could
>construct using fewer than 15 active elements per set. The answer is likely
>none. Microsoft needs a billion or more transistors to even say 'hello'.
>Virtually any WW II radio used fewer than 15 active elements (tubes).
>
>That was GOOD engineering, not brute force.
>
>-John
>
>
>===Mil-Veh is a member-supported mailing list===
>To unsubscribe, send e-mail to: <mil-veh-off@mil-veh.org>
>To switch to the DIGEST mode, send e-mail to <mil-veh-digest@mil-veh.org>
>To reach a human, contact <ack@mil-veh.org>
>
>
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.4 : Fri Oct 28 2005 - 23:25:26 PDT