Wireless World: Approaching the Wireline Barrier

The biggest problem with wireless networks has been the fact that we are dealing with a limited bandwidth broadcast medium (that and security, which is a completely different story, though not completely unrelated). The best technology widely available at this time is IEEE 802.11a & g (Wi-Fi) which both work at a maximum rate of 54Mbps (though perceived data rate is much lower and also the data rate available per user when there are a number of users sharing the channel as is typically the case in any network). Therefore they are nowhere close to current Ethernet (100Mbps/1Gps). Moreover, the current brand of Ethernet is not exactly a broadcast technology but a switched technology, therefore not all users share the 100 Mbps or 1 Gbps (the sharing is quite complicated and depends essentially on the switch - I'll discuss this in a future post).

The solution seems to be the upcoming IEEE 802.11n standard which makes use of MIMO technology to achieve much higher bandwidths (claims are being made for upto >500 Mbps, but that for me literally means that we can expect decent 100/200 Mbps performance). That is going to be an interesting step towards reducing wires.

In related news, one of the things that limits any Wireless technology is power, and with Laptops etc we eventually have a situation where we need wires for power. However a group at MIT seems to be coming up with a solution to that problem. If this comes through then this really is the step towards a wireless world. Read about it here.

Incredible Journey of 800 ps

The Programming Logic Designline features a wonderful article called the incredible journey of an 800 picosecond period. Now thats 800 picoseconds = 0.8 nanoseconds = 0.0008 microseconds = 0.0000008 milliseconds = 0.0000000008 seconds, which truly boggles the mind when you consider all that is happening during this time.

Read the article here it's more than a useful read, in fact it is fairly informative and even entertaining.

Microsoft's New Surface Computer

A lot of people in the computing community tend to undermine Microsoft, often saying that Microsoft has done nothing of note and exists mostly by copying or living off of other people's ideas. Although they have a point, in that MS is famous for taking other people's ideas; they also miss the point that MS is great at marketing products (even if it is through aggressive brand placement and tie-ups - everybody major business does it, including Mr. Steve "Fashionable" "Apple" Jobs) and also developing them further. From time to time, Microsoft has also come up with good ideas (which in time others have followed). It can be argued that those ideas were in fact taken from other smaller companies etc which they bought out, but that would also be true of Apple or any other competitor.

The latest offering from Microsoft is the amazing new surface computer. Here is a youtube video showinf what it's capable of (in typical MS fashion there is at least the one blemish :) ) -




Here are some links to find out more about it:
http://www.microsoft.com/surface/
http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/05/29/microsoft-announces-surface-computer/

Certainly looks like the future of computing, especially for Artists, Designers, Engineers and the like. The Tablet PC (another concept popularized by MS) helps to some extent and this is the logical next step. We are probably a few years away from a feasible and affordable variant though. But this is promising. After a long time, something in the Computer world that excites me.

Sidenote: A lot of people exist in that Mac vs. Windows debate - but it is really a useless debate - because after all the fight over who came up with what is pretty pointless since most personal computer (and I include Macs in that category) ideas originated at that fantastic R&D center known as Xerox PARC. Of course, people outside of the Computing industry are unaware of this and that's ok, but what surprises me is how easily they are willing to fight for their respective loyalties and also how a lot of people who are from a Computing background are unaware of this.

The real debate is Windows vs. Linux or to be exact proprietary vs. free, but that debate is out of the scope of this post. Suffice to say, that in the honest opinion of anyone who deals with computers and loves them the answer is simple: It's all good.

Whether Microsoft or Apple should be stopped from doing the things they do is part of bigger question, that of Capitalism and what is acceptable there. The rich always persecute the poor, and that is unacceptable.

But consider this: that the Gates foundation is the largest Independent Charity Organization in the World. Where would that be without Microsoft?