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Sony and AOL vs Microsoft
jadrien writes "As the war for the common denominator access platform continues, the only two players that scare Microsoft team up. This story on CNET news.com details some of the forthcoming collaborations, including keyboard, monitor, mouse, and mozilla." Yes thats right kids, AOL is coming to your PS/2.
The Dreamcast isn't locked to a single ISP in hardware -- it's just that in Europe Sega never gave you the software to change the dialup settings. You *can* change the settings, even on a Euro DC, using US or Jap browser disks, and those settings are kept in flash RAM, so that certain PAL games can use whatever ISP you like. Phantasy Star Online is one such game...
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My PS/2 is a Model 55/SX from about 1988 or so. It has 4 meg of memory and runs at 16 MHz. It also powers my fishcam. When I got ahold of it it had Win3.1 on it, and might have even had AOL on it already (I don't recall...). So HA! My PS/2 already has AOL!
(Oh, wait. Maybe that isn't what he meant...)
Posted from the wireless couch.
Geez, I should get a consulting fee or something at least.
Slashdot -- News for Nerds, Business Plans for Corporations.
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Recursive: Adj. See Recursive.
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Mod up a post Rob doesn't like and you'll never mod again
Additional hardware including a hard-disk drive, liquid-crystal display (LCD), keyboard and mouse will be offered to help customers access the new features.
Note that the monitor being discussed is a special LCD monitor, and not a standard VGA hookup. Why? Because the PS2 is a DVD player, and the DVD Consortium has apparently dictated that DVD players aren't allowed to output an RGB signal, because Macrovision only works along a composite signal path.
Reservoir Zig
Since the PS/2 is a loss-leader in the hardware dept (the money is made on games) - I'm all for giving it basic internet functionality. Give me a wireless keyboard and mouse, an internet enabled PS/2, and a nice 50 inch HDTV, and I'll be cooking with grease!
That's what these companies realize. HDTV has monitor-like resolutions. And hell, why should I spend 2k for a 24 inch LCD (price pulled outta my ass - with left hand) when I can spend the same amount for a nice 50 inch 16:9 HDTV that will show me DVDs *and* be my computer monitor.
Hell, I could watch the National Kickball Tournament[1] on 1/2 of the screen and surf on the second 1/2. I'd be happier than pigs in mud.
[1] When was the last time you used "Kickball" in a sentence?
HI Mom!
Linux - Because Mommy taught me to Share.
Imagine what this could do if Sony opens up it's music IP for access over the PS/2. Of course there'd be no way to save the music (short of analog-recording from yer TV), but turning your game console into an on-demand jukebox might make it look pretty sweet to the consumer.
Does the PS/2 have an ethernet port option?
But I'd like to cut short any 'omigod, it's the corporate newworldorder supermegahyperconglomerate that's evil and will probably outlaw mp3, free speech, and free beer' talk. What, is Sony going to go with my local isp? Are they going to predispose their console to play well with Prodigy? Come on -- this just makes sense. For their box to compete with XBox, they need a standard, simple, widely-accepted, powerful brand as their internet access tool. AOL has like 90 % of the universe, probably including your mom, so condescend all you want, this was a no-brainer.
So, again, don't get me wrong, every time something like this happens, it feels a little dirty, but if you believe that computers and consoles are becoming more and more alike, you believe that AOL must partner with a console manufacturer. XBox is out of the question, cause of MSN, and the gamecube is out, because Nintendo doesn't play well with 3d parties. So Sony it is. This is just another OEM deal, like Dell or Gateway or anything else. It would have been hopelessly naive to suppose that consoles would remain immune to the AOL invasion just because they sit under our tvs -- they've got hard-drives(well, ok, maybe by end of year), they'll have modems (someday), they're fair game.
god is just pretend.
This deal between AOL and Sony looks like it will help both of them expand thier markets. However, I didn't see anything that said this is an exclusive agreement. If the XBox takes off, AOL will likely want to have AOL on the XBox as well.
The worst thing would be for AOL, the largest internet provider, and Sony, the largest game console company, teaming up to keep competitors out of the market.
The PS/2 was a line of computers from IBM back in the late 80's. Its distinguishing features were the MicroChannel bus and cable-free internal components. To avoid confusion, the abbreviation for PlayStation 2 is "PS2", not "PS/2".
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Lord Nimon
And the men who hold high places must be the ones who start
To mold a new reality... closer to the heart
That's an outright lie! Mozilla is not slow at all. Why on my 1.5 GHz Cryotech Athlon with 2Gb RAM and overclocked to 1.98 Ghz I notice no difference than any other browser. If you were a techie like me, you wouldn't fall for stupid adverts from Intel that says Pentium III will make your internet faster! That's impossible. Just remember to run the nightbuilds and you'll be allright.
(Posted anonymously because I'm scared about losing my karma point.)
- Steeltoe
http://www.debunkingskeptics.com/
I haven't heard anyone complaining except the people here, and I haven't heard any complaints that have actually stated AOL/Time Warner has actually done anything.
I'm not saying I'm happy about mega-conglom-super-corporations, because the potential to be anti-consumer is great, but until they actually do something bad, I don't think we can label them as evil, yet.
Of course, I'm no fan of:
- AOL services (which apparently have ripped people off and mess up people's computers, but they did that before the merger anyway).
- Warner's contribution to both the MPAA's case against DeCSS and RIAA's case against Napster.
- AOL's trickery with instant messaging (which I don't use anyway, but the thought that they won't stick to a standard bothers me).
But taken individually, it's not more than other large companies are guilty of, and I've not seen anything (yet) where the merger is actually giving them (anit-competitive) leverage where they didn't have it before.Again, I'm not saying they're angels (there's not one in the bunch, not even IBM or SGI), I'm saying I don't see how they get the "evil" label. If we label them evil, then every company must be evil.
Stupid sexy Flanders.
"One World, one Web, one Program" - Microsoft promotional ad
The Anti-Blog
I wonder if you will ever be able to get rid of AOL from the ps2 once its being installed;)
Hey, with Mozilla I think we've finally found a piece of software that can push the PSX2 to it's limits.
*ducks*
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andy j.
Stupid Cheap Guitars
I'd add IBM to the top of that list. After reading this article from Consulting Times I have a new perspective on the whole Mundie distraction.
In sum: MS doesn't care about 'Linux'. It cares about control and threats to that control.
By distracting the open source, free software, or Linux advocates it zaps strength from IBM's efforts to rally them to make stronger technology that MS doesn't control...and thus slows IBM's own efforts. MS needs some time to keep companies from moving away from Microsoft-based software, and to institute more MS-controled technologies such as .net.
Anything that can impact IBM's efforts to build open source or Linux support will also slow the efforts of HP, Compaq, Dell, and others that understand the business costs of the current Microsoft monopoly.
A firewall can not protect you from yourself. Turn off what you do not need. Do not use the firewall to do your work.
The right market would have been GameCube.
The demographics for Playstation are older males, savvy about AOL's "features", who may occasionally use Instant Messenger. The demographics for GameCube are young males (and females) are actual fanatics of the "real" AOL (subscribers) who aren't willing to investigate any of AOL's privacy/tracking "features".
I would hedge my bet, also, that the AOL package will pretty much require the hard drive (and the ethernet card/modem) which is going to make this an expensive upgrade for some. Sony is in a pickle that they couldn't get both pieces of the hardware in the basic set (as Microsoft is doing -- we'll see how well that pans out). But they will probably have to offset the purchase with rebates which will require -- you guessed it -- long-term subscriptions to AOL.
No matter what way you slice it, AOL wins in some capacity. They should have gone for GameCube though for the kill.
- I don't care if they globalize against free speech. All my best free thoughts are done in my head.
Where this is also advantagous is in creating a new route into the internet for loads of people that previously couldn't afford a full on PC.
I run a talker, uberworld.org, and I see lots of the newer people on the web on a daily basis. I reckon this will help a great deal.
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Avantslash - View Slashdot cleanly on your mobile phone.
If all this should have a reason, we would be the last to know.
So Astoroth and Baphomet have finally ganged up on Lucifer !
This will be interesting in deed! Especially the Slashdot comments. The anti evil corporation fanatics will have an interesting time figuring out who is the bad guy in this fight.
Only to idiots, are orders laws.
-- Henning von Tresckow
MS will have their own console soon
MS will be able to avoid many teething problems by watching what AOL & Sony are doing and then copying them
MS won't have the overheads of collaboration to worry about
The hype surrounding X-box will mean a good user base of gamers (&& their families) to sell into
..to see Slashdot users backing a proposal like this! AOL is a giant corporation which piggy-fucks just about any and everyone's machine it can. Sony is a consumer electronics dynsasty, who got lucky with the PSX, and is now hoping to rule with the PSX2. But, it runs Linux, so every things okay? Sweet mother mary of God what happened to sanity. Game consoles are perhaps the next generation of connected-computing. Through this new boxes, presumably half the cost of a PC, many home-users will view the world of the internet, and those the world in general. If AOL and Sony band together on this outing, you will begin to see the world's larget content whore providing systems for the world's largest profit vixen. In short, just another Microsoft with bigger balls, and squinty eyes. The fact remains it doesn't matter who has the monolopy, no one should have it. The GameCube is likely to remain a niche player, as was the N64 (Ninentdo is the Apple of game consoles), while the PSX2, despite repetitive gameplay, and various hardware issues, will likely just slightly lead in the Game Console war to be appearing at local theaters in 2002. However, with AOL now providing service to PSX2 first, and the some 4 million customers strong in adverts that can not be ignored so easily, Sony has positioned itself to push the PSX2 into the laps of consumers before the XBox hits the streets. Once you have 60% market saturation, you're as good as gold. If the XBox manages to survive it will only be because Microsoft can dump millions into the project without blinking an eye, until it survives, where other companies are forced to let go of unprofitable dogs, M$ can strive on them. So, at the end of 2002, we now have two vast monopolies controlling what about 4-10 million, see, and hear. Sweet merciful crap.