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As I post this message, the current count of members online is almost 50,000 (49,669), and the Lounge loads as fast as would a cached copy on my local hard drive. When I joined the group, a load of a couple hundred would crash the site and keep Chris up all night, force feeding the hamsters NoDoz and cheap bourbon in the hope that a few might keep the phones working, and the networked Palm Pilots serving up pages of Coding GoodnessTM for the masses (us). I was a god among kine, operating from a wireless base running at 2 Mbps, while poor Nish settled for less than 1 kbps in faraway Kerala. Even so handicapped, Nish managed to out-post me at an alarming rate, until I realized that he's really a bot written by some third world outsourced AOL customer support guy who got bored by all the dumb questions he has to answer from idiot users in the US.
I sincerely hope that you 11,975,006 newbies appreciate what this site has become, all for your edification and enjoyment. My undying thanks to Chris, David, Uwe, and all the magnificently talented and dedicated people who have built upon this site an example of what the Web ought to be! Now, could you please do something about the rest of the Internet, please????
Merry Christmas, my friends, and I wish everyone here a wonderful New Year!
I say this early, because I'll be travelling throughout the holiday, and have no idea whether I'll survive it; it's always iffy entering the Peoples' Republic of California.
Will Rogers never met me.
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Roger Wright wrote: written by some third world outsourced AOL customer support guy
Really? I thought that guy was from Denmark 
Merry Christmas to you and everyone on CP! 
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I retired.
After 10 years of helping to build a primitive electric utility into the most reliable and lowest cost utility in three states, they hired a new GM. For the past year he has spent most of his free time telling me how worthless I am, that everything I've done is wrong, and that he intends to fire me. So I quit. I can't actually afford to retire, but given my probable earnings growth working here ( none) for the next ten years, I won't be in any better financial shape then, just a hell of a lot older and more tired.
I think I'll go to gunsmith school, since I have a dandy machine shop, and love machines. Oh, and I'll probably go back to dabbling in code, now that I have the free time to spend on it. I know of an electric company that needs an efficient inventory control application...
Merry Christmas, all!
Will Rogers never met me.
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Merry Christmas to you too Roger. And I commend your decision, there's little that's worth an abusive manager (or coworker, or spouse, etc.)
Marc
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Thanks, Marc.
Will Rogers never met me.
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Hey Roger! All the best for Christmas and a long and active retirement. I've never been busier than since I retired.
Cheers,
Peter
Software rusts. Simon Stephenson, ca 1994. So does this signature. me, 2012
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Sorry to hear about the terrible manager - it sounds like the choice you made to quit was a good choice.
Merry Christmas
“That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.”
― Christopher Hitchens
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Good luck Roger!
And never forget: you should consider your "emergency rates" for when it all goes agly without you! 
Have a very merry Christmas and a Happy new retirement.
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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Merry Christmas! Enjoy the free time your (ex-)manager won't be having because he's one guy short!
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Considering the fact that this is a guy who argued with me about fuses blowing downstream from a fault (they can't, but he insists that line crews search in all directions, not just in the line where actual current flows), I'm not sanguine about the odds of survival for my former coworkers. A week ago he was arguing with me about the proper way to calculate 3-phase power, and insisted that he didn't need that pesky SQRT(3) factor. It can be done that way (and I do), but you have to select the right voltage Vln not Vll. He's not sure of the difference. Maybe they should have hired someone with a degree that requires some math and actual knowledge, instead of a MBA. I think I'll be missed, but I have stuff to do and can't be bothered...
Will Rogers never met me.
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Roger Wright wrote: Maybe they should have hired someone with a degree that requires some math and actual knowledge, instead of a MBA
Nah, it seems cool to have managers that don't know anything about the people they manage or the field they're managing in.
I hear that from everybody, must be some fad that's going on
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Good luck with this, nothing worse than a boss/job which makes you miserable. Gunsmithing sounds cool - even though I wouldn't personally want to own a gun, learning how to make on would be interesting.
Merry Christmas to you too.
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Roger Wright wrote: After 10 years of ..., they hired a new GM. For the past year he has spent most of his free time telling me how worthless I am, that everything I've done is wrong, and that he intends to fire me. ...
I think I'll go to gunsmith school, since I have a dandy machine shop,
I hope that these 2 items are not related. I don't want to see your name on the news.
I'm retired. There's a nap for that...
- Harvey
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Happy Retirement and Merry Christmas!
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What do you see happening in the Desktop PC market in the year 2016 ?
How about further out from next year ?
Think: Mac and PC, and anything else I left out.
Some corporations are trying to merge the Notebook and the Desktop. Where will that go ?
What are your observations regarding smart phones and the Desktop PC ?
Is the combination of the internet and Desktop PCs a fad like CB radios in the 1970s, (anybody remember stacked MoonRakers ?) or are we going to see an increase in usage and interaction ?
Or, have we stabilized at a point which will continue at the current levels ?
Is the "Internet Of Things" (code word: IoT) a true market, or just the latest iteration of The Emperor's New Buzzwords ? If it's real, how will it affect the Desktop PC market ? (Or, will it affect it at all ?)
Who will use Desktop PCs in the coming year ? What about 5 years from now ?
Who will make the purchases ?
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What they flipped you to market research!
My crystal ball has a bloody big crack in it and still it can't predict that market.
I want a holographic monitor or telepathic software or an Aug that interfaces directly to the brain.
I see a lot more laptops than desktops in the office at a guess 80%. Support now assumes you have a laptop 
Never underestimate the power of human stupidity
RAH
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We who need desktop PCs will continue to build our own. And to heck with everyone else.
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Hear, hear.
Laptops are awful to type on and it's not easy to add extra gubbins to them.
Tablets are toys. Nothing more to say.
"Smart" phones are for people who don't want to see the world around them but would rather play games or text someone miles away rather than talk to the person next to them. Antisocial nonsense! Join the luddites.
I may not last forever but the mess I leave behind certainly will.
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As the pundits have been saying, and to which I actually agree, desktop PC's will be replaced by something no bigger than your phone. But it won't happen in 2016. Probably more like by 2026.
Yes, the IoT is a true market, but unfortunately it's arriving at the wrong time -- too much chaos in the open source arena, too many stupid methodologies, so IoT will be severely hampered by a myriad of open source yet incompatible communication protocols all of which are designed and implemented by people who's skills would, if this was a century earlier, be employed, at best, at shoveling out horse sh*t.
One only needs to look at the number of SBC's out there, and my personal experience with trying to get anything real working on one of them (the Beaglebone Black.) Nonetheless, the concept of small, autonomous yet connected devices is definitely here to stay.
The whole issue of cloud computing is interesting as well. I imagine there will be a divergence between "dumb phones" that basically run everything on the cloud and "power phones" where you can have SQL Server, Visual Studio, Office, etc., all loaded on the phone with power to spare.
So, three prongs are replacing the desktop PC: cloud, phone-like device, and SBC. But the box we now call the desktop PC will be gone, replaced with a more appropriate-for-the-requirement device. Give it another 10-20 years for enough dried out horse sh*t dust in the air to settle though.
Marc
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The reason I use a desktop is I/O - I need a "full size" keyboard to type fast (lappie ones are too cramped) and I need two 24" monitors to see everything I want. Anything less and I'm a whole load less efficient. (Have you tried coding on a phone or even a touchscreen tablet?  )
So, for me are least, a desktop is a necessity- I could use a lappie and plug these things in, but then I've got a thin desktop I can't put anything on top of! 
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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OriginalGriff wrote: I need a "full size" keyboard to type fast
If you really want to improve typing speed, go back to the 101-Key Keyboards, designed in, what ? 1987 ?
I write these words with personal experience.
Noisy as a woodpecker, but significantly enhanced speed.
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I really miss that old IBM AT keyboard. As you said; noisier than a woodpecker, but you just knew when a keystroke was entered!
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I use a very old Compaq PS2 keyboard simply because I can't find a modern one that gives proper tactile feedback.
They are like trying to type on marshmallow.
I may not last forever but the mess I leave behind certainly will.
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ClockMeister wrote: I really miss that old IBM AT keyboard.
Herbie Mountjoy wrote: I can't find a modern one that gives proper tactile feedback.
I think mine cost $90. You can still get them here: Unicomp, Inc.[^]
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