<p>OT - What I didn't say about the German announcement that it needs to catch way up on internet infrastructure and speeds is that the target they chose for this was 2018. Not too far around the corner. </p> <p>I also read some tests at Tom's Hardware on Intel/Micron's new Optane memory. Interesting, that if one believes that to be a big deal in revenues, what it said was that the benefits of it were not just the obvious - it's blazing fast - but the ways in which it is expected to infiltrate and be used are not necessarily as the memory itself - it eliminates the need for some DRAM, and can speed up drives (and although it sounds screwy, especially hard drives) that are least efficient when loads aren't heavy. Beyond that, and maybe within that, my tech knowledge fails me. (Or maybe it's just memory and I did understand it this morning :-)   Might have to take the return of lt cap to be coherent on that. Regardless of how it works and what holes it fills, I have little doubt that it'll become integral to the future of computing.. </p> <p>I like the old 'Rambus' profit scheme - just invent the basics of indispensible memory, don't actually make anything yourself, and have the licenses to use the basic patent pay tribute to you in perpetuity.</p>