I think Wcattey is correct in pointing out that increasing the intelligence in SB is a desirable path forward. That is not to say it should abandon it's roots but technology and competition march on. At the end it is as much of a cost decision as a design philosophy. The current SS capability is partially based on the cost of processing power when designed. Looking at the give and take between distributed computing with PC and centralized computing this can be seen. When the computing power to do a particular application well comes down to levels allowing it to be cost effectively implemented at the point of use it is. IN cell phones you can see applications many said wold never be deployed on a phone platform but today a "smart phone" is a computer capable of handling database, graphics processing, AV processing etc.
The cost to deploy greater intelligence in the SB has decreased significantly since the original design. Memory price has tumbled even more and given the very aggressive memory roadmap will continue to do so for some time. An Ipod nano has up to 8gb of flash today. In another year it will be 16gb. Competition will inevitably push the model of independent device capability. I don't think this precludes the use of SS, syncing or the WEB interface. It merely means the device at a minimum may be able to do more independently or even implement some of the synchronization capability on the devices with one acting as a server. Some MPC players have much of the capability of the SS embedded including sorting and graphics display. This underscores the hardware capability at this price point being available. I think the challenge will be to move forward with more device level capability while not alienating the current base by obsoleting legacy devices. -- Pellicle ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Pellicle's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=9789 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=33695 _______________________________________________ discuss mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
