Microsoft's Quantum Mechanics 39
New submitter catchblue22 writes MIT Technology Review has an excellent article summarizing the current state of quantum computing. It focuses on the efforts of Microsoft and Alcatel-Lucent's Bell Labs to build stable qubits over the past few years. "In 2012, physicists in the Netherlands announced a discovery in particle physics that started chatter about a Nobel Prize. Inside a tiny rod of semiconductor crystal chilled cooler than outer space, they had caught the first glimpse of a strange particle called the Majorana fermion, finally confirming a prediction made in 1937. It was an advance seemingly unrelated to the challenges of selling office productivity software or competing with Amazon in cloud computing, but Craig Mundie, then heading Microsoft's technology and research strategy, was delighted. The abstruse discovery — partly underwritten by Microsoft — was crucial to a project at the company aimed at making it possible to build immensely powerful computers that crunch data using quantum physics. "It was a pivotal moment," says Mundie. "This research was guiding us toward a way of realizing one of these systems."
Quantum Computing - 5 Billion parallel BSODs (Score:1, Troll)
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That does seem to be the minimum entropy quantum state.
Re:Quantum Computing - 5 Billion parallel BSODs (Score:5, Funny)
640 qbits ought to be enough for anyone.
(sorry, sorry, I won't let it happen again.)
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Looks like you will need to update your Qubit Synchronizer Unit buddy, but it'll cost ya.
Re:Quantum Computing - 5 Billion parallel BSODs (Score:5, Funny)
Microsoft does have a lot of experience with the principles of quantum mechanics. Users of their software are constantly struggling with the uncertainty principle and can often make a system collapse merely by observing it.
Not particle physics (Score:3)
Microsoft does have a lot of experience with the principles of quantum mechanics.
Joking aside I'd estimate it as about as much experience as the GP has with particle physics i.e. close to none. Particle physics is concerned with fundamental particles not with condensed matter states that might behave consistently with a theoretical prediction of how a Majorana fermion would behave. The fact that they dress this up as particle physics is rather sad: condensed matter physics is just as interesting!
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Actually, more! Remember! Mo' matter -> mo fun!
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Systemd already has quantum core dumps and the logs are in a state of superposition. If you try to look at them they disappear!
Universal Windows (Score:2, Funny)
If through quantum computing Microsoft is able to implement Windows search indexing in all Universes simultaneously, time will slow to the point where we can go faster than light.
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It's actually quite the opposite. Microsoft has been funding basic quantum computing research via Microsoft Station Q for quite a while. These are mostly theorists, but they also fund some experimentalists, who work on the type of physics they are interested in. Google only recently purchased a box, about which D-wave claims it is a quantum computer.
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I know it is hard when you make an ass of yourself publicly with a wrong statement, but you only make it worse with idiotic comebacks like this. Simple fact, google did no research, they bought a box, a box that doesn't really even do quantum computing, Microsoft funded and did the actual research to produce it.
Re:Yep (Score:5, Insightful)
There's a big difference between buying a box and funding the research as Microsoft has done.
Pretty much flat out wrong (Score:1, Informative)
Limitations of D-Wave's Computer (Score:3)
I thought the article had a fairly succinct criticism of D-Wave's computer:
Since 2009, Google has been testing a machine marketed by the startup D-Wave Systems as the world’s first commercial quantum computer, and in 2013 it bought a version of the machine that has 512 qubits. But those qubits are hard-wired into a circuit for a particular algorithm, limiting the range of problems they can work on. If successful, this approach would create the quantum-computing equivalent of a pair of pliers—a useful tool suited to only some tasks. The conventional approach being pursued by Microsoft offers a fully programmable computer—the equivalent of a full toolbox. And besides, independent researchers have been unable to confirm that D-Wave’s machine truly functions as a quantum computer. Google recently started its own hardware lab to try to create a version of the technology that delivers.
Sounds cool (Score:2)
Microsoft is in for a hoax. The 'Majorana fermion' --let's reveal it here and now-- might as well have been called the
'Marihuana fermion '. Do I need to explain further? Looks like for the time being they'll be using Notepad for their data crunching.>/p
MS qubits (Score:5, Funny)
The chair is both thrown/not thrown at the same time, only the Balmer super computer can tell.
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its all about cracking AES (Score:1)
its all about cracking AES
Re:its all about cracking AES (Score:5, Funny)
Possible Observation of Marjorana Fermions (Score:2)
I love Microsoft (Score:1)
Every year or so you read about all of these brilliant researchers working on fascinating projects for them. The rest of the time, it's just one mediocre release of Windows and Office after another.
It's like a Michael Crichton book: Some guy brings dinosaurs back and all he can think to do with it is open an amusement park.
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The rest of the time, it's just one mediocre release of Windows and Office after another.
Yet without them, MS wouldn't have the money to do the research ;)
Microsoft also has a new quantum programming langu (Score:2)
It is called 'QBasic'.
Obligatory User Friendly (Score:2)
Riiiiiight. (Score:2)
What's a qubit?
<Bill Cosby Voice Off>