Mafeking

Will Intel's New Processor Be a Game-Changer?

The performance of the i7 quad processors overlap those of the more familiar Core 2 Quad with performance only better at the high end of the Nehalem range.

The problem is the software. It is very difficult to write software that takes advantage of multiple processors on a single chip. Very little truly multi-threaded software currently exists that can benefit from the newer chips.

As it happens I am writing this on a desktop with an i7 processor - just another good performance desktop.

Will the Nehalem series have good performance: yes.

Will it be a game changer: hello no. Game changes await the smart researchers who can simplify multi-process multi-threaded software.

A Buy & Hold Forever Dividend Stock Portfolio

Why not buy a few of the dividend ETFs instead - there is no evidence that your ability to pick dividend payers is any better than the approach used by SDY and DVY

Bangalore Blasts Threaten Indian Outsourcing

I am not an Indian, but travel to Bangalore regularly. I work in the software sector. IT is certainly not the lifeblood of India, but is does have increasing importance as an important export.

Given the scale of India I doubt very much that the recent bombings will have any effect on the Indian IT industry. Of course for a few days they'll be all over 'The Times of India' and The Hindu' newspapers, but then the events will fade into the background.

The fear will be more acute in Sillicon (sillycon) Valley where everyone fears everything: the water, the air, the food, the pesticides, global warming, the US government, traffic accidents, obesity, salt, sugar, and, of course, bombs.

In India people just smile and go on with their lives free of such neuroses. The many thousands of programmers and business process outsource workers will cheerfully arrive for work the next day whatever happens. The Indian managers will reassure Western companies it will be business as usual. And they'll be right.