What the F***!

[Iggy]

Dosn't anyone else find it funny that anytime someone comes on this forum heavily hyping or defending cusa that they have 50 or less posts?
 
Do they really think everyone is that stupid? Why don't they just send the chief technical officer on here again, so he can call people stupid, lie about people hacking his amigaworld account and his own personal email accounts, and just generally represent cusa in the worst possible manner?
 
After ALL their hype, announcments of multi-million dollar advertising budgets, bragging, threatening people, and so on... All they have managed to accomplish so far is slapping a commodore sticker on a cybernet pc.
 
Oh, they have also managed to aleienate, insult, and argue with the entire retro commodore and amiga community, insuring total failure of their projects.
 
Sending shills on to defend your company because you don't have the balls to come on here yourself and do it... Well that just speaks volumes about them.
 
The amiga curse is upon them. They will fail to do anything, and in 2 years we'll be making jokes about them, just like we do now about A-INC and Silly Billy.
 
Steven

Well Steven, I've got more than 50 posts and I've defended CUSA.
I like many of you, had a strong opinion when this company made its first announcements.
But after talking to Barry Altman, I've decided to reserve my judgment.
Barry is not Bill McEwen, and while the budget numbers mentioned do seem inflated, I don't think he's mistaken about the potential market.
Currently, the only thing Apple has to differentiate its products is its OS.

Its about time someone selling X86 machines had something else to offer. Even just the look, the branding, and the PC64 offer some appeal to many of us.

Personally, I was them well. As has been said before, at least they're doing something.

BTW - Haven't we been all over this topic before?

[Iggy]

Personally, I think you're giving too much credit to the Amiga when you claim it to be that revolutionary. Apple likes to stake this claim too. In the end both derive most of their inspiration from Xerox PARC and Xerox's over priced $14,000 GUI based systems (which preceded both).

Now all common personal computers use a mouse, have a GUI, and a multi-tasking OS. But that's not Amiga's legacy (or Apple's), that's due to Xerox.

This has to be the most rabidly contentious thread yet. AmigaOS, OSX, Windows, Linux - what's the difference?

[Iggy]

Or any "modern" system today.  This is the cloud-type world, where your tablet of choice logs in and accesses your content.  The OS becomes "meaningless" to the end user- the 3D tv you bought is the monitor, some set top box is the gateway, and your tablet the controls.  When you go somewhere, the tablet comes along and checks in on the 4g network.  But for all of us old curmudgeons who'll have to maintain the Emerald Curtain, how much power do we need to just DO WORK?

Yeah, like I want to buy into that scam. Cloud computing? Halarious! I should place everything on the internet, why? So I can continue to pay for something I could easily do at home?
Social networking, internet access, etc. - yeah that I can see paying for those. But doing word processing via an internet connection? No, that's just dumb.

How much power do I need? As much as I can get because there will always be some app to waste it on. I'll leave it to you (and others that think like you) to buy the intentionally limited hardware.

[Iggy]

Are you really trying to dismiss all standards?



You need to chill the hell out sunbeam. It was precisely because of public demand for better, more effective medicines that brought about standardisation. Just another thing the Victorians did for us.

Actually Leander,
I agree with you on most of this, but I'll nit pick one point. Standardized dosages (in medecine) aren't the greatest idea. Why would you give the same dose of medecine to an anorexic 100 pound woman that you would to a 250 lb football player?
Vetrinarians worry about appropriate dosage (based on body weight) more than most doctors do. Not all people respond to medications the same way and people vary greatly in size, but frequently doctors treat patients as if human beings have been standardized (and what works for one can invariably be applied to another).
That's why I'm very selective with the doctors I go to (a degree does not make one eqiuivent to another). Good diagnosis and careful consideration of the patient are still required for proper treatment.

[Iggy]

With respect, it doesn't work like that, and there are standards to cover differences in weight too. All part of NICE.

With all respect to you man, it DOES work just like that. And it illustrates how your Vet might be a better physician than your family doctor. All medicine dosages, if they were properly given, would be calculated on a per lb body weight basis.
As I've said, human beings are not standardized, but many physicians only give weight variance minor consideration.
Having taken both physiology and anatomy, I'd feel more comfortable with many Vets (as opposed to the average doctor).
And having grown up with a significant part of my family employed in the medical profession, I worry when I see too many people blindly following their doctors suggestions.

[Iggy]

Who is actually using it as a desktop?

PowerXCell 8i? No one is using it as the line has been discontinued. IBM has not completely written off the Cell, but the only processor currently in production is a die shrunk version of the original Cell BE.

[Iggy]

God, with attitude and views like that we would have never made it out in space.

The Canadian's have a space program? When did that occur?

[Iggy]

They actually do have. And before being destroyed with the cancellation of the Avro Arrow project, Canada had one of the strongest aeronautical industries around.

Well then the Canuck must understand how it feels to see other nations that haven't previously lead this race take the led.
Its not pleasant thinking of Chinese lunar colonies when we have no agreement about the militarization of space with the Chinese.

[Iggy]

You might want to tell NICE and the hpa that they should stop ignoring your claims. And that was just one example of a specific set of drugs.




They are.



If standards are as low as you imply, I don't blame you.



There are NICE guidelines specifically spell out dosage ranges for given patients weights on a per drug basis. They're there if you look for them. Apparently just another way our evil socialist death panel system beats the US one...

Actually, I just don't place my faith or my well being in the hands of others as casually as you (or many others) do.
I'm glad your so impressecd with NICE and the concept of dosage "ranges".
It still looks like a way of dumbing down a concept of dosage control to me.
And, no, I don't think the standards of my education were that low. Most of you wouldn't have been able to pass those courses. I had a GPA of 3.89 at the time and still felt relieved to get out of Physiology with a low B.

[Iggy]

Casually? Pfft.



As with engineering there is always a certain tolerance to work within. Why should the human body be any different?

The reason there are ranges is because people are different, what might be enough for one person might not be for another of the same body weight.

The point is it completely blows out of the water your initial claim, at least for the UK.



NICE guidelines are written by panels of experts who trawl through research papers and put together more readily accessible documentation for people on the front line, who for the most part really don't have the time to spend months at a time getting the latest research into a given medicine and weighing it up against previous research any time they want to give someone a shot.



You might want to go back and read what I actually said, I didn't aim the comment at you, in fact I'm fairly certain it was aimed at your medical profession, again, if your claims about the US system are correct. Which I'm sorry to say I really doubt, since a lot of the papers that are sourced to put together NICE guidelines come from the US.

Alan, I have no interest in disputing your apparent faith in the medical profession or its "experts". Although one of the people who I trust most in that field once defined expert to me as "anyone who makes three correct guesses in a row".
Nor do I want to compare the health care systems in our respective countries as I already know the US has the best health care no one can afford.
Our opinions, our points of view just vary.
I remember (growing up) my father coming home one day from work angrier than I'd ever seen him.
Initially he would tell me what was bothering him, although through the night I'd occasionally hear him make comments like "son of bitch should have retired long ago".
the next day I asked my mother what had happened. She told me that during surgery an elderly doctor's hand had slipped and he had punctured the patient's aorta with his thumb. "And your father is particularly upset because all he said was 'whoops'", my mother told me.

"Whoops!", your dead. Doctors are human, and this is not the only horrors story I got to find out about growing up.

So take it whatever way you want. I am very careful who I place my life in the hand off.

[Iggy]

I wouldn't really be bothered if you did tbh, but medical science and it's practical application works for the most part, it's really not up for discussion. The whole point was about a single claim you made, which it turns out is incorrect. That's all.

Well, we will just have to agree to disagree on that point. I can think of a handful of drugs that don't require dosage per body weight consideration, but most do and the way its done is more primative than the same considerations in Animal Science,.

And I'll imagine they'll vary still more over time, at least on this one particular issue. But it's all good and part of life's rich tapestry.

Oh this debate will rage on for some time, but things aways do seem to improve, so I'll agree it IS all good.

Whilst I fully respect the above may well have been a powerful influence on your view of the entire medical profession, I think perhaps you might want to look further afield to develop a broader view of it all. I don't do anecdotal evidence. Nor do I base my views on individual incidents, bad choices are made that way. YMMV

You are right that anecdotal evidence is a poor basis for a valid analytical decision. But when it comes to medical professionals,  we don't have much else to go one (when a Dr. only loses his/her license due to multiple grievous mistakes and the industry is so close mouthed),  Generally, I'll give someone in the profession the benefit of the doubt, but I temper that with a healthy skepticism about placing my faith in any mere mortal.


BTW - What do you think of CUSA and their website?

[Iggy]

Agreed, but I have to draw a parallel between your PC/Linux/UAE combo and paying well over a thousand dollars for buggy, out-dated, beta-level PPC hardware, even if it is new and running an OS without any hope of new software development.

Ok, ok, I'm sorry, I know.  I'll shut up now.  The PPC argument doesn't sway many around here who're determined to stick with it.  I just wish AROS would have taken off, or even been picked up as the official OS instead of the dead-end PPC 4.x...

Nothing new here, so why do I find it so impossible to shut up about?  Guess I'm still passionate about something Amiga after all, even if I am on the minority side.

Wayne

Damn, I've been as willing to give CUSA the benefit of the doubt, But I do feel PPCs are more closely related to the general concept of legacy Amiga's than any X86 design. X86 processors don't even have the same endian design. PPC, ARM? I could deal with those. Not having the right to call it an Amiga? I can deal with that (especially if an 'Amiga' is now a Wintel machine). But giving up and surrendering.
No f'ing way.

[Iggy]

I can live with that.



Fair enough.



Honestly? A bit "meh". I neither like nor dislike it, when I saw the revamp I realised that after all the nonsense that had gone on, I really didn't care about them. Their product range if it ever ships on some fronts looks mildly interesting, although I'll be blunt and say that an all in one keyboard style unit simply doesn't do it for me, it never did even when I had a wedge 1200. The case for their big box system looks the business however.

That said my next computer purchase is likely going to be something like an older shoebox pc (like a first gen AMD64) that I can use a media server/nas/mucking around. For "desktop" use I'll likely stick with my Asus F5 and replace it with another 17ins laptop when the day arrives, for portable I have my EeePC 701 which goes everywhere with me which I'll again get another netbook when it gets retired.

Well there are some more things we agree on. I think if you're going to still use a desktop, it ought to be compact (media servers really interest me).
And, with the drop in laptop prices, its hard not to just recommend them for most uses.

CUSA biggest mistake may be not having a laptop.

BTW - I too have a few A64s. Back when everyone was buying P4s I had a hard time explaining why this was a superior processor. Its interesting how that one worked out.

[Iggy]

and that can mean something entirely different in the USA...  

Yes, even my wife would agree, woodies are ALWAYS in style.

[Iggy]

I don't know why you guys keep bringing up AROS in relation to CUSA. Yes Altman has admitted exploring it and has dismissed it as not ready. Since they haven't reached a 1.0 distribution yet this isn't unfair.
But as has been mentioned before, Hyperion's settlement with AInc. gives them sole right to use 3.1 to develop 4.0, 5.0 and beyond and specifically forbids AInc from creating an OS that has any similarity to those products. This would prevent AInc from licensing such rights as well.
Whether Barry has sought the right to use the Workbench name or not is unknown (it could be considered an abandoned trademark as work has not progressed under that name in decades).
And running emulation software under the WB5 name is likely to be legal. But a new OS that even superficially resembles OS4? Not going to happen with the Amiga name attached to it. So AROS is out.
Buyers of CUSA hardware could load AROS on to their new hardware, but distribution of AROS is a potential point for litigation.