Rebirth of the Tech Madman

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In terms of the operating system, Tang Huan has indeed never stopped the pace of 64-bit technology research and development, and has already carried out practical applications on high-end database servers, graphics workstations and other platforms.

However, compared to most people at this stage who only see the performance improvement brought about by the use of larger memory space by 64-bit technology, Tang Huan is also concerned about the enhancement of computer security by 64-bit architecture.

Still taking the evaluation criteria of trusted computer systems as an example, it is not that the higher the security level of the product, the better, because there is a dialectical constraint relationship.

First of all, it is not difficult to understand that the higher the security level, the more links, the stricter the review, the more troublesome it is for users to use the system; and this is not necessary for most common application scenarios, for example, you just buy a piece of meat to make dumplings , but the butcher said, you have to go to the street to get a certificate before I can sell it to you-you can imagine how annoying this kind of experience is!

Second, the higher the security level, the greater the system performance overhead.

For example, the c2 level requires that the system should audit events such as when the system is turned on, which user logs in from where, and write them into the log—in this way, by viewing the log, you can find Intrusions represented by traces such as multiple login failures; and logging activities performed by system administrators, among other things.

Obviously, such audits consume additional processor time and disk resources.

Therefore, for a general-purpose operating system oriented to the widest range of user groups, it is sufficient to reach the c2 level of the trusted computer system evaluation criteria; otherwise, it is too much.

In the original time and space, windows_2000 and windows_xp after the combination of Microsoft's windows_nt branch and windows_9x branch belong to the c2 level, and you can easily find system logs and computer security management in the Computer Management and Disk Properties interfaces. The function does not cause any discomfort to users in terms of ease of use.

It's a pity that c2 is just a standard, and it cannot guarantee that windows, which is the target of public criticism, will not be broken in terms of security.

The later version of windows, windows_vista, introduced a new infrastructure technology called user_-user account control, or uac, to help prevent the destructive behavior of malicious software.

This mode of leaving the security responsibility to the user's decision and responsibility has brought obvious discomfort to the user.

In fact, when the user is at a loss or takes too much trouble, the mechanism is useless-the user may click the confirmation button without looking at it, and the responsibility falls on himself.

Another obvious example is installing a program on the Android system—maybe a flashlight program, which can’t reach the permission to ask for phone, address book, text message, etc., and users often don’t bother to spend time thinking about it carefully and agree to all of them. down.

Just ask, if a bad situation such as private information leakage occurs at that time, who is to blame?

Zheru's operating systems for the consumer market and the professional market respectively—and, in terms of architecture, etc., are definitely much better than windows, and Android, which has not yet popped up, but it also feels the security under public criticism. pressure.

Tang Huan hopes to adopt a more active solution than throwing the blame on the user - and the 64-bit environment can do some things that the 32-bit environment cannot do.

Of course, the enthusiasm of the richest man also has his own selfishness in it - he is a user of his own high-tech products, and sometimes the information he handles is as secret as a national event, and of course he is particularly sensitive to computer security - And it's getting more and more sensitive.

It is undeniable that at this stage, 64-bit security enhancements still mainly serve high-end fields such as workstations and servers.

As for EA's latest home TV game console - the fourth generation Xiaobawang game console,

The introduction of 64-bit technology is for the pursuit of performance.

Tang Huan was asking about IT security issues, and Trip Hawkins happily brought good news—the global sales of the third-generation Xiaobawang game consoles are not far away from the unprecedented benchmark of 100 million units.

Mr. Richest is not surprised by this good news - you must know that in the original time and space, Sony's first generation broke through 100 million units in 9 years and 6 months after its debut, and the third generation of Xiaobawang game consoles are technically not at all. It is not inferior, and it has a dominant advantage in operation. So after more than 6 years since its launch, it is so surprising that it is within reach of 100 million units, which is of great historical significance?

On the contrary, the status of the small box of the home TV game console is becoming clearer and clearer. It has become the center of home entertainment. In addition to playing games and watching movies, it can also interact online through the Internet.

It can be said that home TV game consoles can obviously influence and even drive the trend of TV, a traditional home appliance, and digital multimedia standards.

In this case, the successor of the third-generation Xiaobawang game console, the fourth-generation Xiaobawang game console, is particularly important.

First of all, its performance must be sufficient to suppress the threat of personal computers - you know, Tangit has pushed it onto the 3D runway, and the resulting cool game effects strongly attract players.

Secondly, EA's Internet online service platform, Battle.net, needs to further enhance its functions and integrate applications.

Thirdly, digital video standard dvd, wireless local area network, high-definition and other latest technologies should also be added to support, or ready to support.

The topic of Tang Huan and Trip Hawkins quickly turned to EA's first 64-bit home video game console, the fourth generation Xiaobawang game console, which will be announced soon.

Although the current video game industry has become a bit unrecognizable due to Tang IT's indiscriminate entry, but the dominance of EA has not stifled the vitality of this field. On the contrary, because the development prospects have become clearer, And thousands of rocks compete for beauty, and thousands of valleys compete for success.

For example, in addition to the newcomer Sony joining the ranks of the competition, some established manufacturers have hyped cutting-edge concepts in their new products to compete for market share, so that the gimmick of the world's first 64-bit home TV game console has begun to rot. up.

Just at the end of the previous year, Atari, which had been stripped and lost all its early copyrights, and survived until now, passed the Atari 2600 more than ten years ago, and won the battle with the generation of Xiaobawang game consoles in the era of 8-bit home video game consoles. Atari, the game department below, released the Atari jaguar, which is known as the first 64-bit home video game console; then, at the end of last year, Sega launched its own so-called 64-bit game console not to be outdone. Home video game console - Sega Saturn.

Although Atari Jaguar and Sega Saturn were very popular, EA did not panic, and proceeded methodically according to its own roadmap.

Gein, the improvement of hardware specifications is just a temporary gimmick. Whether the product is really successful depends on whether the software is good or not. There are no games with enough weight to support the scene. No matter how powerful the hardware platform is, it is just a decoration.

Strictly speaking, the 64-bit technology of Atari Jaguar and Sega Saturn is indeed a gimmick-they are only equipped with two 32-bit CPUs, and they hype the 64-bit selling point in a big way.

It is undeniable that this dual CPU architecture can indeed improve the performance of home TV game consoles, but the premise is that the computing resources of the two CPUs can be truly dispatched at the same time.

You must know that even in the era when dual-core CPUs are popular a few years after the original time and space, the software industry has not reached the point where most applications really support it, and it is far less than directly increasing the CPU operating frequency to improve performance. Roughness is more likely to be used in key areas such as enterprise applications-at this stage, Fangyuan servers and Fangyuan workstations that use a symmetric multi-processor structure with multiple CPUs belong to this situation.

The decisive factor here is still the software-the difference in difficulty between programming on 1 CPU and programming on 2 CPUs is not a little bit, not to mention whether programmers in the video game industry have the ability to serve advanced application fields The development cycle alone is often unacceptable for skills like those of our peers.

A common feature of the video game industry is to make quick money—when the market comes, players can be obsessed with a certain game to the point of sleepless nights, which can be called time is money, and it is impossible to make meticulous work like the enterprise application field , so it is very sensitive to the efficiency of the game development platform.

EA, who understands this well, follows its own rhythm and resolutely takes the real 64-bit road, that is, the home TV game console only uses a 64-bit CPU, and the matching software platform will not test game development programmers The skills of wasting brain cells for how to schedule the resources of multiple microprocessors.

Trip Hawkins mentioned an industry dynamic, Nintendo, like us, is developing a next-generation home video game console that uses a 64-bit risc microprocessor - as far as I know, the cpu it uses is specially designed mips_r4300; the image processing part is provided by the famous graphics workstation manufacturer Silicon Valley Graphics, and the progress is very fast, and the product-related details will be announced almost at the same time as us.”

At this year's Comdex Las Vegas Autumn Show, which seemed a bit late this year, EA removed all confidentiality measures and officially announced the existence of the fourth generation of Xiaobawang game consoles, so that partners in the ecosystem can have an understanding And the buffer to adapt to the new platform, and the official shipment will have to wait until next year.

Tang Huan couldn't help laughing after hearing this: This seems to be the first time Nintendo has dared to be the first in terms of hardware specifications.

Trip Hawkins laughed knowingly, However, I guess even though CD-ROMs are quite popular now, Nintendo is still reluctant to replace the traditional game storage media like cassettes.

Tang Huan shook his head, Sometimes, the stubbornness shown by a manufacturer is really incomprehensible.

The most direct advantage of the cassette is the smooth game loading speed brought by the semiconductor chip, while the CD-rom sometimes lags.

At the same time, the cassette can also provide additional functions such as extended functions, additional handle interfaces, and storage of game progress by carrying components such as coprocessors and batteries.

Of course, the real reason why Nintendo is clinging to the cassette is its unique advantage in game copyright protection.

However, compared to cassettes, CD-ROMs have more advantages to attract manufacturers such as EA to empathize with each other.

The most obvious advantage is that the CD-ROM has a large capacity and can store more content-the excellent animations of best-selling works such as FIFA and Need for Speed, which have always been talked about by players.

The advantage for manufacturers is that CD-ROM discs are easy to produce and the cost is low. Even if they unfortunately encounter a slow-selling market, they will not lose their pants. Think about the background of the Great Depression of the North American video game industry in 1983. It is not difficult to imagine the horror of the cost risk in the tragic scene of Dali truck pulling the unsalable cassette to the garbage dump.

Compared with Nintendo's unannounced preference for the exclusive protection of game copyrights by cassette tapes, Mr. Richest is more concerned about the impact of CD-ROMs on digital video standards - the sales of the third generation of Xiaobawang game consoles will exceed 1 In other words, this means that there are 100 million terminals that can read VCDs, and the layouts of Tang IT and Tang Daheng are brought together in one place!

There is no need for Tang Huan to talk too much with Trip Hawkins, the CEO who has served for many years, for routine operations such as recruiting and controlling high-quality game content to ensure the successful release of the fourth generation of Xiaobawang game consoles next year. He emphasized the construction of Battle.net, In addition to social functions, it won't take long for Battle.net to support the release of game content and even related electronic payments.

Trip Hawkins joked: If 100 million users connect to EA Battle.net to download content at the same time, I am afraid that the scene will be so spectacular that the network will be blocked and the server will go down.

You are brought into the alley of thinking inertia by the centralized network structure of server/client. Tang Huan explained seriously: Zheru will soon be in this year's Comdex Las Vegas Autumn At the exhibition, we released the p2p technology and products that advocate the decentralization of the network—this is also the most ideal model of the Internet. At that time, no matter whether it is data download or electronic payment, there will be unexpected innovations.”