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Showing posts from June, 2005

Apple, IBM, Intel - Missed One!

  Like everyone else who hasn't been living under a particularly large rock for the last couple weeks, I've become aware of a couple things. Firstly, Apple has committed to moving its systems from PowerPC chips to chips from Intel over the next two years.   Secondly, the media is terribly excited about this. I have both PowerPC hardware from Apple and Intel-based hardware from another vendor. It all runs Linux or OS X. I personally don't find this transition to be anything that I have to worry about. But the announcement, and the ensuing media coverage, have left me wondering a few things. Fortunately, I had a flash of realization this morning. The media has consistently portrayed this as a move away from IBM and toward Intel by Apple. And that's not at all untrue - this does represent a win for Intel, and a vote of no confidence in the future roadmap of the G5 family. But why, I ask, would Apple announce this now, when Intel's chips don't reall

My Future in Academia: Or, Why I Won't Become a Professor

Some time ago, I mentioned to someone that at least one of the professors at the local university campus had, prior to becoming a professor and teaching people about a field in which I work, held jobs in that field quite similar to my own. She responded by enthusiastically encouraging me to become a professor too. Honestly, though, I don't see it happening, for a few reasons. Firstly, I can count all my college credits without running out of fingers. Secondly, I am not known for my rigorous pursuit of academic excellence. And finally, professors in this university system tend to be at the top of the field. A quick read of the graduate faculty shows that we are blessed with quite a few graduates of places like Berkeley, CalTech, Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Cambridge, and so on. There are only two people on the graduate faculty lacking PhD's - a librarian and a computer person. The odds of me getting a PhD  at all  are slim, and the odds of me getting one from a schoo