Tim,
HDDs are growing in size, that's right, but keep mimimum price. Say, $70 or
$80, something like this.
I believe Linux has great future on variety of <$300 devices. Normal PC with
HDD can't be assembled for less then $350 (may be, $310-320, don't know exact
component prices)
There is no way HDDs will drop in price. I beleive Transmeta will have very
price-competetive processor. If not - Stron Arm or SuperH can be a choice.
Memory is reasonable in price. M/B-Video-Modem-Ethernet are integrating now
on one chip, so price for them will go down as well. Key 2 components keeping
price high: HDD and MS Windows. So, we know how to eliminate Windows :-), but
don't know how to eliminate HDD :-)
Cable modems/xDSL is still very expensive, and it's not possible to store
data on server or download from server whole system every time.
Possible solution for storage, to my mind, is Compact Flash or SmartMedia.
Taking into consideration number of digital cameras and MP3 players shipped
with these modules, price for them will go down dramatically.
About modem download - you are also right. My modem (US Robotics 56K
faxmodem) downloads from us at avg. 3.5K/sec. Or about 10MB per hour... So,
it will take me 100 hours (3 days) to download completed Mandrake install...
That's also the point.
Best wishes,
Vadim
On Fri, 01 Sep 2000, Tim McKenzie wrote:
| | Call me crazy, but with the way hard drives are growing in size and
| decreasing in size, I really don't see the point in arguing over a few
| megabytes. True, for a download size will have a big consideration for
| users with modems. However, if this discussion is about a CD release I
| really don't see the concern. For those people wanting to install for just
| a server, I firmly believe you should have the know-how to do that without
| needing a special button to click on. This isn't meant to be a flame of
| anyone, it's just my oppinion after working with linux for a while now.
