Engineers and PCs
Article Abstract:
A survey of readers by IEEE Spectrum magazine found that almost 96.5 percent of those that responded use personal computers. About 45 percent of those responding were found to be in management positions, while approximately 20 percent were involved in research and development. Most users had systems both at home and at work, and used them mostly for business than for engineering work. Two out of three of those work-based systems are connected to a network, with 90 percent of those networks containing file servers. Modems also featured heavily in the survey, with about 66 percent of the home systems having one, and half of the work-based systems having a modem attached. The vendor whose systems were used most at work is IBM, with 20.5 percent, followed by Apple Computer, with 17.6 percent. Detailed is an overview of the survey results.
Publication Name: IEEE Spectrum
Subject: Engineering and manufacturing industries
ISSN: 0018-9235
Year: 1993
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The path to open-source systems
Article Abstract:
Workstations and servers have been thought to be moving toward the Windows NT operating system. However, the robustness and new, open-source versions of UNIX are making some wonder whether UNIX, which is picking up momentum again, may prevail. The problem for Microsoft is something called open source, a new model for software development and distribution. The terminology refers to behavior of software providers who let an interested person look at a program in the programming language it was written in, its source code. Some think that sharing source code will lead to better and more reliable software. According to Brian Valentine, Microsoft vice president for Windows 2000, Microsoft may publish source code for Windows NT. Graph shows ratings of operating systems. The history of operating systems, including Linux, is reviewed.
Publication Name: IEEE Spectrum
Subject: Engineering and manufacturing industries
ISSN: 0018-9235
Year: 1999
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Memory catches up: while main memory systems - the domain of the dynamic RAM - grew in size and density, processor speeds raced ahead
Article Abstract:
Increased microprocessor speed and the growing density and size of memory chips forces a fundamental change in memory architecture to prevent memory from being a drag on computer systems. The problem is the gap between processor and memory rates. The central processor, graphics and communications capabilities and non-computer applications are all exacting huge demands on today's DRAM chips. Three architectures for boosting speed include cache DRAM, extended DRAM and synchronous DRAM. While the first two are available from their respective originators, synchronous DRAM is different in that it has an open architecture. A forth DRAM type, the Rambus DRAM from Rambus Inc, is accompanied by design specifications for, and sample implementations of, memory modules and memory bus, controller interface cells and protocols.
Publication Name: IEEE Spectrum
Subject: Engineering and manufacturing industries
ISSN: 0018-9235
Year: 1992
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