When the X86-64 Hammer begins to roll out this fall, if the price is not
too steep, I'll be interested in getting one, placing it at a limitedly
accessible place (e.g., George's house in Kailua), so that we may be
able to develop localized expertise in Linux-based workstations
specifically designed for digital photography. (For those who want to
participate, just bring your own pluggable hard disc.)
I have noticed that in less than a year's time, the "entry-level"
digital camera resolution has moved from 2 MB to 3 MB. With continuous
breakthroughs in flash memory technology, we should see further
increases in picture resolution.
Five or ten MB may not seem much, but when you begin to add layers,
etc., a digital picture can easily baloon to "hundreds of megabytes".
(A friend of mine told me that he has begun to deal with files in the
GB range!) This is an area where the 64-bit Linux/Unix will really
dwarf Microsoft Windows.
For very obvious reasons, Hawaii may be the best place to develop a
special expertise in digital photography. (Read: we may have a very
viable market here.) Perhaps we can put together an optimized digital
photography workstation (for sale, that is).
