[warriorscot]

Yeah proper quantum level computing technology is still another 5 or so years from being tested on a real chip, although they may never get it to work at its maximum potential level, it was a joke by the way if you didnt quite catch it.

Quantum mechanics always made my head hurt, thats why i decided to do some more hands on science as theoetical stuff is great but its a little abstract.

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Sounds like 2200.

[Comrade General]

Sounds like 2200.

[Lady Rain]

I guess, then, the real question is...will Vista run on my quantum computer?

Thanks for the info, by the way. I have no formal education in physics, so I may be at a disadavantage, but the macro and the micro have always fascinated me. As a freshman in high school I wrote a paper which proposed that humankind was a virus that would spread through the galaxy and beyond, eventually killing its host. This was just a bit before Green Peace and tree huggers and hippies. Yeah, I'm that old. I embraced the alternative life style, but never became a tree-hugger. I love trees, but I've had a few cut down in my day to mill lumber out of. Forget the boring stuff.... I digress.

Do you realize, that since there must be other intelligent lifeforms, they just may be in the macro and micro end of things, which would explain why no one's ever gotten in touch.

Well, I loved our admin's explanation of what's up with quantum computers and teleportation, because it gave me the reality in a form I could understand. Disappointing though, since they're so far off in application that I won't likely live to see them. Things are advancing though at a tremendous pace. There have been moments (when I was in an extraordinary state of mind) that I actually felt time speeding up. Of course, time doesn't exist really, not in the way we think of it. (That's not just my personal opinion.) I think what I felt was an incredible surge of forward motion, or outward motion. Oh, heck! I can't explain it. I wish someone could, or even that someone else had noticed it, so I wouldn't feel like a lunatic.

At the turn of the last century, folks were seeing such incredible advances that some might have felt that forward rush. It would have been a great time to be alive. Just like now.

It's a beautiful Saturday morning here, pretending to be Spring, warm and sunny with such a clean sweet scent in the air. I think I'll stop the mind-spinning and go out to greet it, get myself a little more grounded. Got to replace a water pump on the car, anyway. Yuck! Have a great one, guys. Later...

[admin]

Yeah, it certainly will not likely be on a chip like a current CPU, and may happen in our lifetime. It's not all good. With that much computing power there would be no such thing as a safe encryption, we'll need to find other ways to secure our data, which ironically also involves quantum physics. That much power will allow simulations of almost anything we can imagine, from science, and nature, to quantum physics. We also haven't really begun to work on the software or computing language that would harness it's power, just a few algorithms. No more one and zeros. It will be the next technological revolution.

[Lady Rain]

Speaking of power... Won't this creation be hungrier than most, much much much hungrier? Or can quantum physics create that, too? Somehow I can't see plugging it into a wall socket. Are dilithium crystals a reality, and if so, where do we go to get them, or whatever it is that might be needed to power quantum computers?

And your mention of simulations make me think "Holodeck." But it saddens me to think that we may never go out to the starry sea in ships. David Weber's Honor ( his lady H. Hornblower) novels are so wonderful, except, of course, when a ship with a 100,000 crewmembers (or more) becomes a firey ball of light from a torpedo hit. (I've got to read those books again.) But what I was getting at before I began to wander again, was: If we can find such enormous power, then wouldn't it be easier and likely cheaper and safer to teleport your travelers, your goods, your mass to their destination? The less time traveling, the less time for things to go wrong. Then again, maybe the power for that would be unattainable. (Did Star Trek ever explain away why traveling at speeds much greater than the speed of light, nobody ever went home to earth and found their children's children's children had all pasted away from old age?)

I think I can see where protecting information might be hard to accomplish, and even when it is, there'll be some twisted genius hacker to create a quantum worm. Ever read Shockwave Rider?

Are you feeling any pain yet? From my picking your brains? Is this information found in science magazines (as well as text books?) If it is, could you give me the name of a good magazine; one that a beginner could understand? One is about all I could manage.

Well, I need to get back to work. I can't seem to get Java Script to install on my two-week-old computer. I've cleaned it as best I can with all my little fix-it softwares, Registry Fix and malware destroyers, etc, etc. I may need to look at the error again closely. Could be Norton is blocking it. I love a mystery, but sometimes it gets really annoying.

Peace,

[Nait Dawg]

Yeah, it certainly will not likely be on a chip like a current CPU, and may happen in our lifetime. It's not all good. With that much computing power there would be no such thing as a safe encryption, we'll need to find other ways to secure our data, which ironically also involves quantum physics. That much power will allow simulations of almost anything we can imagine, from science, and nature, to quantum physics. We also haven't really begun to work on the software or computing language that would harness it's power, just a few algorithms. No more one and zeros. It will be the next technological revolution.

If this were possible....Then imagine if you will....

The processor is years in the future, and if it's only five years away I'd be very surprised....VERY surprised. In any case, if you stop to consider things. If they can create a processor like that and plan on making it practical then they would also need a way to power it that is practical as well. Who knows? Kinetic energy? But whatever, I'm not holding my breath fo a computer of the science fiction type computer we're talking about here. As far as will your computer run with Vista...the answer is YES. If your computer was bought within the last four years and came with XP installed on it ahead of time, you may need more RAM but thats about it. Don't listen to the hype. You don't need a 128 meg video card. Onboard will work if your board is relatively new. I'm running it on onboard video now and it's fine, not even slow.

[warriorscot]

Well moores law still holds true to this day and since it is an exponential thing the rate of the growth in computer power increases rapidly, 5 years for prototypes, it can take anywhere from 2 years to 20 to get from prototype to product, and the 5 years was an optiistic estimate fom one of the research team from one of the people on the project it could be longer, power will be either huge or tiny, at that level the way we think of energy is findamentally different in every aspect, the level we are talking about arent much bigger than the transmitance particles of energy. Its all very strange it may not even be possible its called quantum theory for a reason.

But there is alot of things like photonic computers and holographic data storage on the way in the next year or two that should be quite cool and offer some excellent performance boost, holographic memory is capable of much higher levels of data storage than magnetic mediums and can be read at a faster rate, its a good example of how long it takes to develop technology holographic memory was started in development in the sixties and we are only just seeing it as a practical technology.

Mind you if its one thing people are good at its harnessing energy, we have a number of revolutionary energy technologies down the line ( my uni is one of the foremost establishment of the development of new and alternative energy) lots of cool toys on the way from making our own suns to effectivley harnessing the power of the sea offshore.

see i get started and i cant stop ... i love technology.

[Lady Rain]

Wow, I love technology, too, when you let us know that things like these are on the way. Is any of it going to be at a price, low wage geeks can afford? Not that I'm complaining, because the good stuff seems to be available at prices I can afford within a year.

[Nait Dawg]

I'm leaning more towards not possible, but I've proved myself wrong before. After all, I have an active imagination, and these days, if you can think it, and can come up with a scientific explanation for it that doesn't violate a natural law.....then chances are they're gonna make it. Even if it isn't practical...or have a purpose.

Edited by Nait Dawg, 31 January 2006 - 06:17 PM.

[Lady Rain]

...if you can think it, and can come up with a scientific explanation for it that doesn't violate a natural law.....then chances are they're gonna make it. Even if it isn't practical...or have a purpose.

I got a great belly laugh out of your last line. But do you honestly think that natural laws are sacrosanct? I believe with all my heart that if you can imagine it, you can create it. Not me personally, of course. And I'm one of those crack pots that believe the world was actually flat until enough folks agreed it was round.

Oh and someone in a post in this thread earlier mentioned that Vista would run on any computer supporting XP, or something in that vein. For some reason I can't find that post, so maybe I imagined it. But I was told for certain that you have to have a 64 bit system to run Vista and any of the software built to install on it.

So where are we? I know what I wanted to ask: Is there anyone out there reading this thread actually doing a Vista Beta test? It would be cool to talk to someone who is working on it right now. Bet they'd know just what was needed to run the OS. And if it isn't verboten, maybe they could tell us a bit about how it looks. That would be way cool. I wish I could get on the list to be a beta tester. I've got a 64 bit system. I wonder how you get on the short list for beta testing with Microsoft. Anyone know? Or care to comment?

[Nait Dawg]

Actually....yes....I know that you cannot violate natural law....what I mean is the laws of physics. What goes up must eventually come down...gravity....all of that. i agree with what you are saying...if we can dream it we can build it, but thats the thing...in dreams we have to concoct a specific design that will work within the confines of reality.

AS to your second question. Yeah is was in this thread. And I was the one that posted the idea of a system equipped with XP running Vista. But...I remember also adding something in there to the affect of the system being built within the last three or four years. (I can't remember if I said three or four so lets just say three to be safe) The 64 bit thing isn't necessarily true...it's one of those...."To run Vista Optimally" things...but not necessary. Just like systems that came with Windows 98 and 128 megs of RAM with 600 processors will still run XP....I don't know how...but they do. Same idea.

And...yeah...I am running the Beta test on a computer in my office right now. I found out from my boss that we aren't official beta testers anymore, but we have special privilages as a School/Microsoft certified technical education center and a certified partner. So....we get the beta. With bugs and all...just to get ahead. I'm running it right now on a computer and it seems to be running quite nicely. What questions did you have about it?

[warriorscot]

Well the laws of physics are funny things there isnt really one that works in all situations, debatedly the speed of light is one but thats a weird one at that, the smaller you get you move away from the newtonian laws that bind us(rg not everytthing that goes up comes down sometimes it will just stop it will keep going it will go a bit left a bit right disapear into another dimension), im sure there is soem definitve laws but we have yet to find them, reality is a funny thing and much of it is perception many things seem impossible until its done, many things seem impossible even after they are done for that fact, quantum mechanics makes my head hurt, then i go do some good old newtonian mechanics and the calculus gets you, you can never win, technology is great until you have to learn how it works and how to make it.

Vista is a primarily 64 bit OS but it will operate in 32bit versions as well and as with most windows it will be back compatible with software designed for XP, hopefully better than they did with XP and 2000. You can apply to join the MSDN but it is generally for IT professionals but its not to hard to get on it, apparently MS do give away copies for some people to try not on the MSDN but thats just a rumour.

[admin]

Vista will come in both 32 and 64 bit flavors. The 64 bit intended for more mission critical applications. One example is all drivers for Vista x64 will have to be digitally signed.

Here's the new beta site for MS, but it's too late to get in the beta program for Vista now. There will be a Consumer Technology Preview available to millions of consumers as Vista gets closer to release, probably this summer.

[venom?]

yea it will run on my pc but no idea how much its going to cost me