Re: OS questions draft, III

["Pete St. Onge" <pete_st_onge@iname.com>]

> Pete, remember ADSL and cable modem are asynchronous the download
> is much faster than the upload. However teleconferencing is just
> around the corner. Where was I going with web site? Basically its
> one's imagination. I guess I see the entire computing environment
> changing so fast that I feel the emphasis should shift from 'how does
> one use their computer' to 'how will one use their computer'. That
> is why I have been pushing emerging technologies. The new
> technologies I would like to try out are available for Windows today.
> Linux??? I will try to get more informayion out on this topic.

     In a very real way we have the opportunity to create the kind of
future, IT or otherwise, that we want to see. 

> On database server I was trying to bring out a distinction between a
> home or SOHO vs a mid to large business. In the large business
> environment, the employee's computers will probably be connected to
> large database servers whereas in the home or SOHO environment this
> is unlikely.
     True, but from a programming point of view the difference between a
database and database server is becomming very blurry. Right now my
tools work with am RDBMS on the same computer, but it would not be
difficult to convert that to be able to use data from another computer
on a network or even via the web (kinda inefficient though for me right
now until I can affort ISDN or cable ... if I can't go T1 or better.
*sigh* Someday!).

As the ability to connect to databases improves, more folks will start
using them in, well, unusual places. I would qualify myself as a SOHO
user (/net admin/programmer/system analyst/whatever) because in my
discipline (lake science/biology, believe it or not), the general
ability to collate data into coherent DBMS and actually use them is next
to non-existant on a general basis. The data tools simply do not exist
on a broad scale. Mind you, I'm working on that one (url below +
/PLT1.html).

-- 
Pete St. Onge - McGill U.  Limnology - Fun with Ropes & Buckets
pete_st_onge@iname.com         http://wwp.mirabilis.com/4322052
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