Slashdot Mirror
Indrema Dead in 30 Days?
missingmatterboy writes "Red Herring has an article on the current state of John Gildred's Indrema, and it doesn't look great. Without an investment in the next month or so, only the prototype will ever get finished, much less any completed units." Lots of lofty ideas, but you can only produce vapor for so long before exposing your soft fleshy belly. It sure looked like it could have been something tho.
Its only major advantage over the competition was the linux OS.
I think that's even a stretch. Linux was never made for games, so running it wouldn't necessarily be an advantage. It can be argued that Linux is infinitely customizable and could be made to work acceptably in a console, but if you're going through all that trouble, you might as well create an optimized platform from the ground up. The advantage that MS had in designing the X-box is that DirectX has had many years to mature, so they already had a fast API, and then basically stripped everything else out of the OS that wasn't needed in console. Now if only they could do the same thing for desktops.
Why does this work for me and not for Indrema? Because I'm managing my cashflow better. I've been shoveling money into 24-bit digital mastering to go along with the Free mastering/dithering software I've written, and it is exactly the amount of money I can _afford_ to shovel if I can live on ramen and spaghettios. This means I get hit with delays because it's flat out not enough money to accomplish everything at once, but the _cashflow_ situation demands budgeting and accepting the limitations- the concept is to move step by step rather than to seek financing to move all at once.
There are some things that I hope are in my future that would require financing- but that's all the more reason to consider cashflow, and look at the breakeven point very conservatively. Dotcoms were freaks of nature... in the real world your job is not 'make lots of money by whatever means', your job is providing whatever good or service will get you paid enough to break even or better. People forget this very easily, which is why I think they get excited about financing, apparently on the assumption that if you can get someone to give you loads of money, you win, and you simply spend it on advertising and marketing to have more people give you money and so on.
If Indrema is really dead in 30 days it can only be because it tried to play this game and lost. Maybe the better course would have been for Indrema to develop just as an idea for years and skip the next couple generations of console products, developing in the form of a virtual machine on Linux boxen. I don't know- but a real Free project can't die, it can only stagnate and gather dust. If Indrema can die, it's not what I thought it was- and seems less worthy of a donation from me. I don't seem them donating anything _to_ me. And if that sounds like a wiseassed remark, note that I've now put three separate near-Nyquist dither algorithms into the GPLed sphere, which any Free gaming console could use to convert internal 24 bit or better audio to 16 bit audio output. If you tried to license POW-R it'd cost thousands- Apogee UV22 is likewise a commercial, proprietary product, and I don't see anyone _else_ doing Free high resolution audio development. I am, and because of that it's available to any Free game console project, with or without actively involving me. I'm not aware of anything Indrema's done that does _me_ any good the way this could do them good.
Maybe the next bunch will have better cash flow management. I know I can't give Indrema money- I'm scrabbling to pursue my own projects. Though they don't know it, I've given them some very high performance audio tweaks- various aspects of Mastering Tools could easily be transformed into a Free game console audio engine that's very competitive with the coming generation of consoles. But they have to keep their own boats afloat first. Really, how many of us are venture capitalists?
Breathe! Take a breath... that's good... good boy. Apart from that, how's your freshman year going? :)
Slashdot may have posted quite a few stories about Indrema, but that's because tons of people submitted those stories. As much as we all doubted that it would ever actually make it, most of us were really hoping for a miracle. I don't think Slashdot ever said anything resembling "Indeed it is. Clearly, Linux is the future of gaming consoles. The world cheers to be offered more choices." The most optimistic thing I saw from Slashdot was this, "I'm still pretty excited to see what comes of Indrema. I'm still waiting for the converged media box, and they've got as good of a shot as anyone." Most of their other comments were nowhere near as optimistic.
So, Slashdot wasn't really being harsh or hypocritical. They wanted the product to succeed as much as the rest of us, but they never really seemed to expect it to any more than the rest of us either. Various posters are a different matter, but you could accuse "posters" in general of damn near anything and be able to back it up with links. The articles themselves were posted because Slashdotters submitted them. Just as with any other article, you must judge bias and such for yourself.
It's not enough to bash in heads, you've got to bash in minds. - Captain Hammer
Or Nintendo's related stance with "all N64 games must be crap".
Hahaha, so they can repeat the brilliant success of the 3DO, perhaps?
Go directly to clue.com. Do not pass go.com.
In terms of technology, absolutely nothing. However, what it promised was an open development environment, which meant that Indrema certification for a game was entirely optional. Anyone could release software for it, from a small backroom business to huge multi-national corporates. The other consoles shut out the smaller developers with the high barrier to entry. Ultimately, that stifles innovation, and you get a procession of near identical games, because that's what the console maker dictates (a perfect example of this is Sony's early "all playstation games must be 3D" stance). It's a shame to see Indrema fail, but I can't say I'm surprised.
"The invisible and the non-existent look very much alike." -- Delos B. McKown
Think about it for a second, if ID Software or someone invested a minimal amount into this to get it going, they would make their money back not only on the hardware, but on the software level too.
Hmm...they could drop development for other consoles, and get this thing renamed the "ego" ;)
Then, a year down the road, they could update the system (to the latest/greatest graphics chipset, and add more memory) and re-release it as the "SuperEgo"...
Then they'd have a full triad...
How did it look like it could be something?
I followed it closely and what they were trying to do and how they were going about it showed little real knowledge of how console game systems really work. Sure they wanted to change a lot of the "normal" conventions but there was no way what they were building was capable of that. So please, and I am serious, someone with a clue explain to me it could have ever amounted to anything?
--- I do not moderate.
It may not be a PS2 or XBox on paper, but in practical terms it's still in the same ballpark.
Jon
All opinions expressed herein are my own, and not those of my employers, who are appalled.
Maybe he could hook up with Amiga.
If tits were wings it'd be flying around.
It would not solve so much for the case. The problem with Idrema is not creating new boxes. It is creating a new box.
Indrema was a nice idea, but it really didn't seem to have any presence, or a decent business plan. Where did they expect the money to come from?
Initial cost on the console has to be low if you want anyone to buy it, and games have to be somewhat closed off. If anyone can develop, then you don't even get licensing fees. No one works on trust in this industry if you can get something (legally) for free.
Maybe Indrema would've gone somewhere as a set-top box, combining DVD playback and PVR capabilities, but the games are what would've made the system, and who's going to develop for a system that barely anyone has heard of?
Granted, one good game would've dragged me in to buy this box, too... Much like Soul Calibur got me hooked on Dreamcast, and Phantasy Star Online kept me there. Or my N64 with Rogue Squadron, or the PS2 with Onimusha, and (sweet Lord in Heaven, you have truly blessed us) Metal Gear Solid 2.
Most consoles manage sales based on a single title. PSX had Final Fantasy 7, N64 had Mario, and the entire Game Boy revival owes its existence to Pokemon. Indrema had nothing at all like this. Under those conditions, if they didn't die before launch, the system would just sit on the shelves anyway.
Awaiting Karmic destruction for ragging on Linux hardware,
Raptor
Raptor
"Procrastination is great. It gives me a lot more time to do things that I'm never going to do."
Okay can someone please give me one really good reason I'd want a game console with a multi-user POSIX compliant kernel running on it? A game console needs the bare minimum of resource menagement as to use as little overhead as you possibly can. Writing for consoles is so very different than writing for PCs because you're adapting a general purpose system for use in your game as opposed to having a box meant for the task you're programming it for. From what I have seen Microsoft seems to be making the XBox merely a compact PC with powerful hardware games can use. PC architecture is shitty for the high intensity operations detailed 3D graphics need. The Indreama's licensing was novel though I doubt it would have ever made money had the project gotten off the ground. Console makers thrive from game (software) sales because publishers need their seal of approval. Charging a few scant dollars for Angus Linuxprogrammer to write his own game won't attract too many investors to your project. I think the project had some good ideas but for the most part it couldn't compete with its own business plan.
I'm a loner Dottie, a Rebel.
Here's a hint - collect a big pile of gold and jewels, and sleep on it all the time. This should armor you up just fine. I'd like to see those damn Lakemen try something now. Who's your King under the Mountain now, punk!
Your right to not believe: Americans United for Separation of Church and
This is simple, why not shoulder the burden of hardware cost on the user? I know, what the hell is he talking about, but hear me out. Idrema should change its business model. Create a hardware spec that says, in so many words, that if you have the following hardware, you can run our software. If you run our software, all you have to do is buy a CD with the game on it, mount it in your drive, and it will play with no hassles. After all, Idream was based on Intel and Linux stuff, why would this not work? Hardest thing would be to get past the different distros, but once that is done, you create a stable platform to develop games and play games. That way, Idrema can still get their money for the license, and they don't have the overhead of having to sell hardware. It could work....
Bryan R.
Bryan R.
The price of freedom is eternal vigilance, or $12.50 as seen on eBay.....
They claimed to want to embrace the garage programmer that wanted to make games. This infers that there would be no royalty charges, since he could write the game for Linux and post the game to the Internet. All free, right?
Well, all videogame consoles are sold at a loss, and the money is made up on royalties. Seeing the specs for the Indrema, if they were going to release the machine at $299, they'd be losing at least $100 per machine. Where would they make up the money? Bad Business Decision Number 1.
OK, so lets assume Royalties are in. The machine plays DVD movies, and has PVR functionality. Neither of which require the purchaser to give additional money to the Indrema folks. What's to stop people from just using the machine for those features ... even if Indrema were to collect royalties on software, they CAN'T if they aren't SELLING any software. Hell, even SONY made this mistake. The PS2's sold like mad, but are being used mostly as DVD players in Japan. Publishers are PISSED. You don't piss off your Publishers, but it looks like Indrema is making the same mistake. Bad Business Decision Number 2.
Frankly, I think it's a good thing Indrema died now, rather than after they lost their shirts trying to figure out how to sell it. And if by some miracle, they manage to get funding, they better come up with a business plan ... FAST.
Loki didn't do a Quake3 port. The Quake3 porting was performed by id software, just like all the other Linux ports of all the id games since Wolfenstein.
I have seen the future, and it is inconvenient.
"You know: rip the company off for selling loss-leading hardware, like we have in the past. "
Punishing companies for their own stupidity is an honorable endevour. Companies know that most people are idiots who can not take advantege of offers like this. They also know that a small percentage of clued in people will take advantage and will cause them to lose money. In the end because for every clued in person there are a thousand stupid idiots they will make lots of money.
The stupids pay their stupid tax, the bright people get a bargain, the company makes millions, everybody wins (except the sheep who are being fleeced of course but they don't count).
War is necrophilia.
Hmmm. I would really like to clone the loss making part of the system (the hardware) and rake 100% of the loss away from those that initially developed it.
Games for Indrema were never going to be open source. Games are where the profit is.
Indrema would have been better off working out how to get Linux working on the XBox as a game host OS, and on the GameCube and PS2.
Indrema Corporation are expected to shut their doors within the next couple of months after running out of money and failing to find new backers.
Points: 150
Microsoft shares rose 0.1c upon investors hearing the news.
Honestly, this is a shame, as the device had a lot of potential. However they should have stuck with a spec and released something. I hope they opensource the specification before they lock the door.
I agree.
Get the Indrema hardware specs, and software library and opensource them under an "OpenConsole" moniker.
There would be a minimum required power (e.g., Kyro II with 700MHz Athlon), and all consoles that are "OpenConsole" compliant would have to meet that speed, be it with an 800MHz PIII, or whatever. There would be optional parts to the spec (Firewire and Ethernet spring to mind). OpenConsole would be updated once every two years with a new minimum spec, and a backwards compatibility requirement. You do not get OpenConsole label if your console is over-specced either, as that would split the market and tempt people to write games that require too much spec for a particular OpenConsole specification.
"It sure looked like it could have been something tho."
The only reason some Linux people wanted to see Indrema survive was because Linux is still not even remotely close to being accepted as a gaming platform and Linux geeks want so badly for that to change.
Loki can't do everything, though I'm sure someone was going to reply to me screaming their name. It takes more than a Quake 3 port.
The fact is, that Linux still isn't really ready to be a major gaming platform, and even had the Indrema taken off, this still wouldn't have given proof that the Linux OS is ready for main-stream gaming, it would've just proven that a console running on Linux can be a viable gaming platform. There is a major difference between running Linux on a console for games, and using a Linux powered PC for games.
"Everything you know is wrong. (And stupid.)"
"Everything you know is wrong. (And stupid.)"
Moderation Totals: Wrong=2, Stupid=3, Total=5.
Yeah, selling a box for Linux geeks to hack is going to make a ton of money. Especially when it will be sold at a loss for the first year, possibly two years, just to get a little market share. They definately wanted to sell it to guys like you, who would hack the box and not even buy games because you were using it for other stuff. Sounds like the perfect business model to me.
Emachines makes boxes for guys like you. Console companies make games for people who buy loads of licensed software and peripherals.
If you really wanted to degrade him, you should have pointed out that he could do all of that with an iMac!
But that is a risk that we should take into ourselves. If we want to create an independent, autonomous and self-sufficient industry, capable to support and protect our values, we should start to risk money.
I am all for supporting ventures that may be risky if they support Open Source ideals or are pro-consumer (I'd support any hard drive manufacturer who wa sleft if CPRM became a standard) but the Indrema situation was just a losing proposition.
Indrema planned to enter a market where companies routinely spend billions of dollars and still operate at a loss for years or sometimes never make a profit. For instance SEGA created the Dreamcast with games like Shenmue and Soul Calibur but yet they still couldn't hack it, also it has been projected that Microsoft will need at least $5 billion and 5 years before it begins to see any profits from the X-box, if all things remain equal.
All Indrema had going for them was that they planned to run linux on the OS, which doesn't mean diddly when it comes to pushing out a games console. Heck, Linux isn't even a games friendly OS yet. We are not obligated to support every brain dead business idea simply because it uses Linux or has Open Source in it's description.
*sigh* Back to Dreamcast for me.
The only "intuitive" interface is the nipple. After that, it's all learned.
"The question of whether a computer can think is no more interesting than that of whether a submarine can swim" -EWD
By which I suppose you mean "A big fat embarassing something for Linux". Come on. This outfit has been stringing the Linux community along for the longest time and it's about time someone told them to put up or shut up. The only reason the community hasn't tossed them out on their asses is that you kept falling into the "but what if it succeeds and Linux wins and Billy Gates gets his ass kicked and goes home and I get to go out with a hot blonde chick that digs my cool Linux console" dream.
Stop it. Really. Just stop it.
Anyone with a lick of sense should have smelled that this thing was rotten a long time ago.
And people wonder why Loki never signed on as a developer. Sheesh. Loki may have problems, but at least they knew not to get into this sham.
One important question is how Red Hat got scammed into announcing a partnership with these guys.
Curmudgeon Gamer: Not happy
One word: OpenDirectX.
/Brian
Same reason people ported Linux to the Dreamcast or the iPaq -- because they can. Ain't nothing wrong with that, and it's a good education in embedded systems design.
/Brian
Good call.. I even think that there are quite a few number of people saying that "..they always thought that Linux and Open source would never actually work; it's all about money and advertisement you little boys, go home and play!". :(
Once they finish the working prototype, selling instructions on building the hardware will allow people to construct a linux gaming system the way they'd construct a PC, but still make their own games, retaining the company's innovative vision. It would also represent a new influx of cash.
Get an X-box. Install Linux on it. Same deal, more or less.
What, again, was so revolutionary about this console? It might have been fun to hack, but I don't see why it seemed so promising that Indrema was going to build a console based around a platform that was clearly immature as far as multimedia and gaming is concerned.
I was hoping some of their multimedia/gaming developements might migrate their way into desktop linux distributions. Maybe they still will, but more than likely their R&D (whatever was accomplished) will fade into oblivion.
Maybe we can start a support fund? We can all send in $1? Or we can pool our dollars and buy the company and publish his specs as an open-source-hardware game console.
Milo
Bob writes: Hey the Indrema is looking very good.. Indeed it is. Clearly, Linux is the future of gaming consoles. The world cheers to be offered more choices.
Billy writes: Hey, Indrema isn't looking too good right now.. Yeah, it was always just a bunch of damned vaporware anyway.
For some of you that have obviously missed it. The plan never was to compete head to head with the larger console makers in the beginning. Taking a page from the Open Source playbook, the idea was to *stay afloat* for a few months or years whilst continually improving the product. Sure, the idea is to make a lot of money, but *NOT* to make a lot of money and sell a lot of units immediately.
After a while, when a product is available that is better than anything on the market, has more content than the larger console can ever hope to provide, and costs a fraction of the cost of comparable consoles/services, *THEN* Indrema would take off and beat the major consoles into submission.
Also, if Indrema is ever successful then it will provide exactly what I think Linux now lacks before large game developers will write games for Linux: A single, standard platform to write for. If they are sold, it will cost approximately $500 to buld an Indrema console. If you want to support Linux, do what I plan on doing if given a chance: But an Indrema console at any price.
http://james.nontrivial.org
Part of the hype surrounding the Xbox is the fact that Microsoft will allow game developers to develop on PC's capable of using DirectX. Compare this to Nintendo, who require developers to purchase an expensive SGI system to develop for n64.
What this means is that most games for XBox will require few or no changes to work on a proper PC.
This is the way that Indrema *should* work if it ever gets the money, a proposition which I doubt considering how hard it is for Linux companies to turn a profit now. Like the XBox, games written for GTK or whatever on the Indrema would work with very little modification on other Linux workstations.
Because people won't be developing games on Linux for Indrema, however, means that people won't be developing those games for Linux. It's a sad loss, but one that's hardly surprising.
ALL YOUR SEGA ARE BELONG TO XBOX!
The next Slashdot story will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush and slashdot the links early!
Anyways, I think the guys over Indrema have a good idea but are possibly going about fundingvia the wrong methods.
One of the things I think their team should do is, create the working prototype, and instead of approaching a VC, they should bring it to the attention of a gaming company.
Think about it for a second, if ID Software or someone invested a minimal amount into this to get it going, they would make their money back not only on the hardware, but on the software level too. I wouldn't count this company out just yet, I would hope the staff would take other jobs to pay their bills, and continue on with the project, things take time, and with NASDAQ at its worst, money is out of the question for EVERYBODY, not just the little guy.
news you can lose
360 degrees of Karma
But VCs want it all: a company worth hundreds of millions of dollars within a few years. It should have been clear from the start that that was very unlikely to work for Indrema. Not impossible, but very unlikely.
A startup is not the only way to build a successful company. Most companies, and most of the biggest companies, have grown gradually over many years. It gives them time to build good products and a good reputation, where startups rely on buzz and marketing blitzes.
Think about that before you take the VC money. If you really care about your product and want it to come to market, a startup may not be the way to go. Of course, if you want a lottery ticket with better chances than the state lottery, the startup is still a good choice.
As for Indrema, let's hope that any efforts they have made on the software side will benefit Linux gaming in the long run.
Can Indrema Beat Microsoft To the Punch?
Posted by timothy on Sunday March 19, @06:59PM from the please-don't-be-vapor dept. taggedfordeletion was one of the many, many readers to beseige us with news of the announcement from a company called Indrema of their Indrema L600E set-top box, a Linux-based gaming machine. Actually, it promises a lot more than gaming -- the company touts it as a "Web console" that will also serve as a Web browsing platform and (wonder of wonders) MP3 jukebox. As taggedfordeletion points out, "The Internet capabilities of the box are especially promising, including support for DSL and cable modems." Console gaming is a harshly competitive field, though, with Sony, Nintendo, and Sega (soon to be joined by Microsoft) clawing for reputation, marketshare and all-important game sales. Don't forget that three major players (Sega, Nintendo, Sony) can make a claim that neither Microsoft or Indrema can: their consoles exist, sell, and make people happy. A Playstation in the hand offers utility that "upcoming" devices can't match.
Still, it looks like the so-called X-Box from Microsoft is the machine Indrema's box would be running against, assuming that both of them actually reach the market. Similar specs and expansion capabilities mean that either could be enough computer for people interested primarily in games and getting online, who are looking for no more than a single no-hassle combination of these. That's why the Indrema machine isn't being sold as a gaming device, but rather as a Web Console, with copious references to "the future of TV."
The game-box as everything-box market has been promised for years, and keeps turning out to be either unsatisfying and limited (WebTV), or Yet Another Gaming Machine, despite promises to the contrary. Remember the ColecoVision ADAM? The real question seems to be whether a Linux-based console from an unknown company can survive in the gaming marketplace; after that we can worry about whether it will replace recipe books in the kitchen and the cable box in the living room. After all, that "everthing console" isn't technically impossible; it's just always fizzled as PCs have surpassed the jack-of-all-trades game machines in usefulness, if not in sizzle.
Now, for a minute, forget technical brilliance, forget flexibility, forget how cool it would be to run Linux on your bedside table. Think money, instead.
Microsoft's R&D budget is bigger than the GNP of many nations in the world. The Men In Redmond have enough marketing money to buy Superbowl advertising without batting an eye. You can bet when the X-Box launches, it will have been preceded by a canny stream of attention-building hype, that it will look sexy, and that it will sell at a carefully chosen price aimed at moving it as fast as they can be cranked out and still maximize profits. Likewise, Sega, Sony and Nintendo all have plenty of market savvy and established infrastructure, right down to magazines, distribution networks and strategically-released hints and easter eggs. Not only that, but they each have a hefty stable of games, including Hollywood-names and weird-but-true fandom games like Pokemon, as well legions of rabid fans to play them and design houses to keep 'em coming. It would take a hefty treasure chest (or a lot of faith) for a newcomer in the game market to get the kind of pop-culture deal that sells games based on Star Wars, The X-Files or even Barbie.
Now think money again, but in a different way. An open-source OS may save Indrema a few dollars per box in making the console, but since the guts of the machine they describe include 100Mb ethernet and loads of other ports, a 600MHz processor, and an optional hard drive, its price will probably be in line with that of the X-Box. That is to say, probably overlapping the price range and capabilities of low-end PCs, and without the same economies of scale that Microsoft will likely generate. Even so, since gaming consoles have traditionally been loss-leaders to sell high-margin games, will an open-OS machine be used to play primarily commercial, proprietary games?
If that's the case, then Indrema will have to scramble to provide enough hot-selling games to subsidize console sales. The Sony Playstation 2, already out in Japan and due in the US next fall, boasts more than 160 registered developers worldwide. And since it plays the first generation Playstation games as well, players can choose from more than 3,000 games. By contrast, the leap from NES to Nintendo 64 may have been too great for generational compatibility to have played much of a role, something that Sony has obviously learned from. Microsoft, meanwhile, may not have as large a signed-on group, but carries enough clout (and waves enough cash) in the PC gaming industry to ensure at least a handful of blockbuster games early on. Against that kind of competition, any new entrant is playing catch-up ball.
In fact, there's little indication of what games the Indrema system would play. The box is listed as including Quake 3 Arena / Unreal Tournament, but the Indrema site lists no other game possibilities. And since it touts a "special 'DV Linux' distribution," it's unclear which games will run out-of-box. The X-box is planned to run only games written specifically for it; avoiding that fate seems tricky, since games on every platform except those written for a particular console have a way of sneakily requiring more or different resources than you've got in the box. And if the Indrema machine should have complex enough of an interface to allow users to easily modify directories, install packages and otherwise tweak the contents of that optional hard drive, would it be able to retain the ease of use the console market thrives on?
On the other hand, perhaps packaged games aren't the point at all. Every major player in the console industry is selling their systems' networkability, whether by dialup modem or broadband. Microsoft's interest in WebTV -- and the pay-per-month online games now available -- may be a taste of where the console makers would really like their revenue to come from: a captive audience willing to pay not only for games or other applications, but for access to them. Repeat business and low margins have sold billions of hamburgers, after all. It's plausible that Indrema will offer servers featuring games exclusive to monthly subscribers, or on a per-game basis.
Indrema's nearly breathless Web site hints at a Winter 2000 release: "expected to ship in time for Christmas." That's well before the X-Box is slated to ship, according to this ActiveNetwork comparison of the Sony Playstation 2 and the X-box. I hope they're right, because it seems like a head start might be the only hope for survival against the big-name establishment.
Can Indrema Beat Microsoft To the Punch?
I think we all know the answer to this one.
What I see here is probably some point of what may be wrong with our community.
Most of us are here and expect. Expect that programs are made, expect that bugs are fixed, expect that tools come out to the market.
This is wrong.
We should not expect. We should also participate. Ok, not everyone, nearly anyone has experience with programming or administration or whatever. But sincerly it is better to give a lamer's report of something wrong rather than expecting that the author will guess that something is wrong. I found a few cases when some general error was not reported because everyone expected omeone else to report it... So let's be a little more active ok?
On what concerns such ventures as the one we see here. They need money. Isn't anyone ready to help them? If there will be a mechanism to support these guys I will give my money. Even if I am in Russia. Little but more than nothing. I would help these guys develope this card and even sell it to me. There were such cases in the wild past. One such case happened almost at the same time when Linux was created. Some engineer colected money and technical recomendations to design a sound card. Ok one may ask why I should pay for it if i already invested on it. But there are the production costs and marketing and everything else. You may not pay for the whole price but still help these guys making a great product.
People, let's not expect that corps or investors will care for such ventures. They won't. 90% of them are worried more about finances, money and profit, rather then on the creation of a new technical wonder. It is correct that this wonder should also prove it's worth to market. But that is a risk that we should take into ourselves. If we want to create an independent, autonomous and self-sufficient industry, capable to support and protect our values, we should start to risk money. I believe that this is a risky but honourable venture. And I believe that those who are in the critical sectors of our industry should start thinking about this. This will be something like those merchants who gathered together to build ships and secure their cargos. Note that these ventures, these "corporations" were the basis from which a certain United States of America was created... I am not American and I do see in a very critical view the USA. But still it was a great venture and a great step for Mankind what was done.
It was only a bunch of merchants who started such thing. We are just a bunch of users.
As an aside, what's with all these windows lovers complaining about biases on /.? Yeah, we're fucking biased as hell, and always have been, so why go here when there are plenty of other sites that don't have our editorial slant?
The only "intuitive" interface is the nipple. After that, it's all learned.
"The question of whether a computer can think is no more interesting than that of whether a submarine can swim" -EWD
Dreamcast died and it was an excellent machine.
Indrema was a brand new company trying to break into the industry. Its only major advantage over the competition was the linux OS. And (this isn't a flame, but I'm sure it'll be taken as one) having a linux OS doesn't make the console more desirable than the others. Its the developers, the games, and the popularity. The console world is a lot different than the PC world.
Good quote, too many chars. Seriously, the slashdot 120 char limit sucks!
Other things that've been responsible for spoiling the variety and quality of games:
There's always something out there for the less talented, formulaic game designers to latch on to and copy. If it wasn't cloning 3D first-person shooters, it would be cloning 2D side-scrolling platform games or 2D real-time strategy games or...
But from the start I did not think that Indrema had a good chance. Being "linux-based" isn't a magic pill to get things popular. Sure it has a lot of cool features, but a large part of what they were relying on was the hype surrounding linux. On a game console, this doesn't buy them all that much functionality wise. It may be different if there was a large number of linux based video games, but there aren't. They were trying to enter a market deeply entrenched by the likes of Sony and Nintendo. A very necessary resource to have a chance of breaking into that market would involve really deep pockets, like Microsoft has. Indrema couldn't afford to lose as much money as they would need on the console itself yet, no way they could afford a good marketing campaign. Now they are down to the hope of last minute investors in a economy that is going downhill. Maybe they could have done something much earlier, if they timed it just right, when the media was super-hyping linux, economy was booming, and there were many investors ready to throw money at all things computer based, but even then I would think they would have a snowball's chance in hell of success. Too bad, it would've been nice to have been proved wrong. They did seem to be getting a quality product developed that would've been techincally superior to most other things out there, but as we have seen many times before, quality isn't the only factor...
XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
"It sure looked like it could have been something tho."
A console by a company with no reputation, no serious financial backers, no experience, and no large parent firm, and you thought it could have been something? Why? Because it ran Linux? Linux was the only thing Indrema ever had going for them, because it was a great buzzword.
If anything, the Linux community should be glad to see Indrema go. People who use Linux to fund their cash-burning startups and never produce anything do little to advance the cause.
Bravo for the idea, and I would've LOVED to see the indrema happen, but the chips were stacked against them from the beginning.
"...but you can only produce vapor for so long before exposing your soft fleshy belly."
Maybe they should have used this on the marketing brochures.
--
324006