[rescue] [geeks] Last Call - Ultra 5/10 parts

[Mouse]

> The overall loss of computing "biodiversity" from that was huge and
> now we effectively have an Intel monoculture

Fortunately it's not _quite_ that bad; a lot of today's "mobile"
machines ("smartphones" and tablets) are ARM or MIPS or some such
rather than Intel.

> and we're one multiple-OS virus from bricking 99% of the computing
> infrastructure in the US.

I think it might end up being a good thing if that were to happen; it's
one of the few things I think might break the monoculture quickly.

I've often thought that if I were in charge of security at something
serious, one of my first dicta would be to never use anything with more
than 50% market share: CPU architecture, OS, applications, networking,
whatever.  It wouldn't be easy, especially with networking; indeed,
there'd probably end up being a carveout for our border talking to the
world....

>> [...]  But, sometimes, I feel as though I should just walk out on
>> the ice floe; the world no longer wants people like me.
> That'd be a bit rash.  Sure, we're increasingly occupying an
> environmental niche, and there are fewer of us every year, but I
> think it's important to keep the flame alive and to not blindly
> follow the lemmings.

Maybe the world needs me, but it no longer wants me, and I'm finding it
more and more depressing to try to carry on regardless.

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