System X Faster, but Falls Behind
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Virginia Tech's recently rebuilt Macintosh supercomputer flies past the 12-teraflop mark, but will the performance boost be enough to keep it in the supercomputer top 10? By Leander Kahney.
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The Microsoft operating system is improved by the soon-to-arrive service pack, but Windows Vista still is missing some features we'd like to see.
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When it comes to the corporate customer, desktops are still king, particularly because they're the easiest and least expensive to upgrade with fast, power-hungry components. Yet one researcher predicts it will be five to seven years before only the "die-hard" desktop users are left. Is it time for you to make the switch?
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The popular technology promises to make computing easier, but it takes time to get up to speed.
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If you think you don't like the program you just downloaded or the new computer you just booted up, wait. A bug-fix patch, a driver update or a new third-party program might arrive to smooth out the problems. Or maybe some lurking glitch or mechanical fault will surface and give you a reason to...
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What the Tier 1s missed SC06 A couple of smaller time hardware players made a big impression on us during last week's supercomputing conference, showing their ability to extend out of just the high performance computing market. If you're in the market for speedy, compact x86 kit, then you want to check out both VXTech and Microway.â¦
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This supercomputer deal is about more than speed.
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Tycho:  I don't know whose fault it is exactly, mine or theirs, but I won't be installing Vista anytime soon.  I would like some crazy shit to happen when I minimize something don't get me wrong.  I want my windows to go Waja-wajow(!) is possible.  But if there's a great reason to "trade horses midstream" or whatever the going metaphor is I haven't discovered it.
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Chipmaker's speedy Pentium 4 gets even faster.
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Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) is starting to ramp up distribution of its massive security update for the Windows XP operating system, but analysts say they still expect the company to move at a relatively slow pace to avoid widespread glitches...
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Massively parallel processor to 'change the world', apparently
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Files copied faster in our initial tests, but other performance was slightly slower with the SP1 installed.
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I can imagine the comments we'll see on this article. What about X distribution? And so on... I'm not going to justify my reasons for choosing Debian. You can use whatever distro you want. It's just a matter of preference.
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By Cinthia Ritchie, Anchorage Daily News, Alaska  Feb. 26--The cables were the problem.   Or wait! Maybe it was the RAM. Or the processors. Or ...
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SX-8 system estimated to be almost twice as fast as IBM titleholder.
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(InfoWorld) - Forget the "7" code name, which was already out there, or the 2010 release date, which was also neither new nor -- based on Microsoft's lately abysmal record with hitting major release dates -- exactly set in stone. The most concrete news to come out of Microsoft's well-executed leak of a few sparse details about the next version of Windows is that it will continue to come in both 32- and 64-bit editions. That will cause many Windows users, primarily businesses, to sigh with relief. PC vendors and large software makers, who see more-powerful 64-bit PCs as key to driving demand for both hardware and software in an increasingly Web-centric world, are likely to have a very different reaction. Bits of the solution The number of bits determines how large the chunks of data a component of the PC can process, which determines how much data it can handle and ultimately howÂ  fast it can perform. For instance, '80s-era PCs with hybrid 8/16-bit architectures were limited to a maximum of 64KB of RAM. In contrast, a modern PC running a 32-bit version of Windows XP can utilize up to 4GB of RAM. Meanwhile, 64-bit versions of Windows XP and Vista can support up to 128GB of physical RAM and 16TB of almost-as-fast virtual memory. Combined, the two techniques can offer steep performance boosts for software ported from 32-bit to 64-bit. And they enable software such as database-driven or multimedia applicationsÂ  that were formerly infeasible on 32-bit PCs. Since 2004, 64-bit processors for desktop PCs have been available from Advanced Micro Devices and Intel. Microsoft followed, releasing 64-bit versions of XP and Windows Server 2003 in the middle of the following year. But while 64-bit server adoption roars along, the process has been much slower on the desktop side. 32-bit software and drivers can be buggy or demonstrate scant performance improvement in 64-bit environments. Those problems can arise even if users are simply moving from 32- to 64-bit editions of the same version of Windows, such as XP. When under-the-hood changes don't result in better performance, customers will be happy tweaking what they already have. For instance, during Microsoft's quarterly financial forecast last week, the company lowered its year-ahead forecast for Vista shipments vs. XP, from 85 percent/15 percent to 78 percent/22 percent. From 16 to 32, a smooth move The last time around, Microsoft was gentle in moving users from 16-bit to 32-bit, taking a decade to complete the transition. Starting with 1990's Windows 3.0 and finishing with 2000's Windows ME, Microsoft released five versions of Windows supporting both 16-bit and 32-bit. In comparison, Windows 7 will be only the third Windows version, after 64-bit XP's arrival in 2005, to sport dual 32/64-bit compatibility. Apple has a similar hybrid strategy. Its upcoming Mac OS X 10.5, a.k.a. "Leopard," is a true 64-bit environment that will ostensibly also offer full compatibility with 32-bit applications on, for instance, older PowerPC-based Mac hardware. Companies, especially those running esoteric or in-house-written applications, will be the happiest to hear that Windows 7 will still support 32-bit software, since it will allow them to avoid expensive rewrites if they decide to upgrade. It will also be welcomed by Microsoft salespeople, systems integrators, and value-added resellers, who will have more options to offer cost-conscious customers. PC makers and big independent software vendors who may have hoped that Microsoft would push customers harder to 64-bit will be the least happy. 64-bit enables developers to add features and let desktop applications run much faster. Those are much-needed differentiators, now that users are taking serious looks at software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications such as Google Office. Similarly, because SaaS applications' performance is more dependent upon the Web site's architecture and the user's broadband link, they don't require ultrapowerful PCs. That could remove the need for users to upgrade -- hurting the PC market, or so fear vendors.
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Microsoft is in a throw-it-off-the-train state of mind these days in regard to its Windows operating system features. It&#39;s announced that Longhorn will ship by 2006 -- but without its much-ballyhooed WinFS subsystem.