[Arm-netbook] EOMA server standard

[luke.leighton]

On Fri, Oct 26, 2012 at 5:21 PM, Gordan Bobic <gordan at bobich.net> wrote:

> Standard doesn't mean there are no optional features.

 it depends how those optional features are provided.  if it's by
auto-negotiation (over the exact same wires or more), in my view it's
a great standard.

> Backward/forward
> compatibility is far more valuable than all the features being the same.

 *that's* a good standard.  yes.  take the 8 USB wires.  you can
auto-negotiate all the way from USB1.1 right the way up to USB3.
that's _great_.  likewise with 10/100/1000 ethernet.  8 wires,
auto-negotiation.  likewise with SATA: exact same wires, you can
auto-negotiate all the way from 150kbit/sec right up to 6gbits/sec.

 that's a _great_ standard.  if however there are two ports, one is
optional and can be entirely NOT PRESENT, that's a *shit* standard,
which will cause absolute chaos, confusion, division and unnecessary
costs for the market, all of which drive everyone *away* from the
standard.

>>   turns out you bought a card that only has *one* SATA and *one*
>> ethernet: it won't boot, and not only that, but when you swap the
>> drives over in the chassis to find this out, fuck me if it doesn't
>> route the damn traffic because there's no 2nd ethernet on the card.
>
> You'd be in the same boat if you were swapping ATX motherboards. If you
> aren't paying attention to what you are buying you deserve everything
> you're going to get. The case you are describing isn't really
> reasonable, and is a bit like buying an AMD CPU motherboard and then
> moaning that your Intel CPU doesn't fit into the socket.

 well... i'd rather it didn't happen.  if the standard can be defined
so that the chances of pissing people off is minimised, then that in
my book means that the standard meets "success" criteria.

 the last thing i want is people going "christ on a bike who the
bloody hell designed this stupid standard anyway??" and they find out
it's me and want to wring my neck as this is all public?

 i'd rather that didn't happen :)

l.