Musing About the Future

DonegalMan

I know this has been discussed before I think it's something we should regularly remind ourselves of...whilst we are still fighting for basic technologies like Friaco and ASDL that are already out of date, should we we pushing the Government and other relevant bodies to look a bit further into the future?

This week I got my first real taste of what is possible - I leased a dedicated server on a host with 7,000mb connectivity. Don't know exactly what speed I get on my dedicated server but I had to download a 70mb service patch onto it and it took less than 10 seconds. I was controlling the server through Terminal Services and it was mind boggling watching it!

Will we ever get speeds like this at home? I tnink we will eventually because I had another thought provoking experience this week. I bought a new lap top - 2.5G Processor, 512mb Ram, 32mb video card, 40G hard disk, built in DVD/CD Writer - not the highest spec around but a spec that we would not have dreamed possible in a desktop, never mind a laptop, just a few years ago - and it only cost me stg£999 including VAT.

The rate of technical development in computers shows no sign of slowing down so what do some of the techies around this group think we will be getting in say 5 years time - and what should we be pushing for now ?

Martin Harran

OHP

Originally posted by DonegalMan
This week I got my first real taste of what is possible - I leased a dedicated server on a host with 7,000mb connectivity. Don't know exactly what speed I get on my dedicated server but I had to download a 70mb service patch onto it and it took less than 10 seconds. I was controlling the server through Terminal Services and it was mind boggling watching it!
Martin Harran

70mb in approx 10 seconds?? Christ Martin what plaint was that on then?? Com on give us the coordinates?

DonegalMan

Originally posted by OHP
70mb in approx 10 seconds?? Christ Martin what plaint was that on then?? Com on give us the coordinates?

I know it's hard to believe, I've downloaded it 3 times again just to show people!

My son has worked out that that's a full CD of mp3'S in about 20 secs:)

Pity it's on a server in a Data Centre somewhere in Germany and not on my local machine

But don't forget - it's not that many years ago that 14 kps on a modem was a major breakthrough!

Martin

P.S Forgot to add that I now find my quickest way of browsing is to link to the server through Terminal Services and do my browsing on the server - pages on normally slow sites like MS hompage open like lightning

sceptre

Originally posted by DonegalMan
I know it's hard to believe, I've downloaded it 3 times again just to show people!

I've grabbed the odd thing at similar speeds over HEANet when the line is pretty empty (even last week during the day grabbing 6 Linux iso images took me less than 2 hours)* . Always disheartening to come home where it would take me weeks to do the same thing.


*by "linux iso" I actually mean "Linux iso" Red Hat 9 actually from a server in Norway (for some reason I couldn't grab the thing from HEANet's own servers) before someone plays the card.

CutterIE

What with so many new people connecting to the ineternet every day and so adding to the congestion the only future for the internet will be for users to have greater bandwidth, I would guess that a 10mb connection with in the next 5 years will be pretty standard in most countries.

Cheers
Will

damnyanks

Datacenter.... house..... datacenter..... house


In a few years people will use that sort of connection in some country but more then likely not Ireland for at least a decade

dahamsta

Originally posted by DonegalMan
My son has worked out that that's a full CD of mp3'S in about 20 secs

Well, about a minute and a half. A CD is 650-700MB.

I have the same on my servers in the UK and the US, in fact I often download large files to my servers because their responsiveness is a given, whereas the responsiveness of other servers is often unknown without testing. That being said, there's a big difference between connectivity to the home or a business than there is to a datacenter. Even most large businesses have absolutely no need for the kind of connectivity datacenters need, and although Moore's Law is probably going to require another adjustment in the next few years, it's not going to be a major adjustment unless quantum computing stabilises and goes mainstream. Yes, ADSL is an outdated technology, and we and our government should certainly be considering and pressuring for FTTH, but I think it will be 10 or 20 years before we come even close to needing multi-gigabit connectivity to the home or business.

adam

flav0rflav

This may turn into my mantra for the week.

This is technology we're talking about. It inherently continues to evolve. It never stands still. For the Irish economy and development of the nation we have to continue to move forward.

It is completely comparable to the PC situation. Every 6 months new processors at ever faster speeds. Monstrous progress in graphics cards. Do I need these? Only when an application arrives that takes advantage of them (okay it mainly happens to be games - but don't knock it, isn't it an industry that is as big as hollywood?) are they 'necessary'.

And, here is the point, only when the tech is there will the app follow.

People about these parts repeatedly mention download speed. But this is an 'old' application, it's like a platform game, when we're at start of the 3d shooter revolution. It is not about doing what can be done now, but faster, it's about doing what is only possible with what is to come.

[if i ever happen to say tech will solve world problems, either i'll have entered politics or the psychiatric ward]