[ Thanks to Kelly
McNeill for this link. ]
“One federal report claims that the percentage of U.S. power
consumed by PCs has risen from 1% in 1992 to 13% in 1999. During
this period, PC usage rose from approximately 25% to 50% in U.S.
homes. Also, CPU power rose significantly. The real question here
is just why did the overall power consumption rise by a factor of
13 while the usage roughly doubled. And that brings us to the crux
of the matter: there is a subtle yet pervasive belief among
programmers that memory, processor, and storage space are unlimited
resources which have zero physical cost….”
“While Microsoft’s monopoly makes this situation even worse —
as superior, efficient solutions like OS/2 Warp and Linux continue
to occupy a “marginalized” position — the situation on the server
is even more grave. Unlike home PCs and cheap office units, which
are intended for limited loads, and unlike the more-efficient
portable units, which are driven by the needs of lightness and long
battery life, it is network servers that seem most of all to have a
“blank check” to consume gargantuan amounts of electricity.
Worst of all, Microsoft’s Neanderthal networking architecture
leads to the use of “server farms,” or banks of dozens or even
hundreds of PCs that could easily be replaced by a half-dozen OS/2
or Linux boxes, or maybe just a dozen Novell units….”