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Xbox One X is the Perfect Representation of the Tech Industry's Existential Crisis (mashable.com)
A reader shares commentary on the newly launched Xbox One X gaming console: Fundamentally, Xbox One X is the same machine that Microsoft released in 2013. It plays the same games, runs the same apps, depends on the same operating system. You can still plug your cable box into it and watch OneGuide magically sync with your local TV listings. Most of the things you can do look a little better and run a little faster/more efficiently, sure. The actual casing is smaller than the previous iterations, too. It's a gorgeous $500 machine. That's why I keep eyeballing it. My brain screams, "Why do you exist?" The Xbox One X does not answer. This is a familiar problem in 2017. Look around at all the tech in your life and do a quick, informal poll: How many of those items become outdated every year or every few years when a newer, shinier version of the same thing comes along? I'm talking about your iPhone and iPad. Your Amazon Echo and Kindle. Your Pixel and Daydream VR headset. Your Apple Watch. Your Roku, your Apple TV, your Chromecast. Incremental upgrades that push features like 4K! HDR! Wireless charging! Slimmer design! No headphone jack! (Wait, no, that last one is awful.) Breathless bullet point after breathless bullet point. Some of these additions have genuine utility and add value to the product. Many don't, or depend on you also possessing some other piece of incrementally upgraded tech (like the kinds of fancy-shmancy TVs that play the nicest with Xbox One X).
Now fuck off with your idiotic existential crisis.
... to the subscription model
I do not believe in karma. "Funny"=-6. Do good and forbid evil. Yours, Oft-Offtopic Flamebaiting Troll.
With my Mac Pro Kodi system plugged into it. I would say the Diamatron has certainly held up for for a few itterations. I am however considering upgrading soon despite the thing working perfectly.
The preceding post was not a Slashvertisement.
Get a new Mac Pro. It won't get replaced by a new Mac Pro for like half a decade.
Since the brain-eating zombies euphemistically known as so-called "smart" so-called "telephones" (presumably because "treacherous handheld spy-computer" would be too scary) have devoured the entire population, nobody buys anything else anymore.
Should we get off your lawn, too?
-SaNo
That's the oldest marketing fluff there is. Why does it surprise anyone?
Moores Law is dead. It has been dead for sometime. People are finally noticing. The tech industry knows it too, and are trying to push out useless features to cover the fact that digital computing and electronics has hit a real dead end. All those things people wish for (AI, good VR, etc) aren't going to happen. The computer you have a decade from now will be very similar to the one you have right now. Sorry about that!
It plays 4k blu rays. Standalone players are still expensive, and you might as well get a device that can do a lot more. Also, the newest iteration of the PlayStation doesn't play 4k blu rays. I'm sure some trolling assholes will ridicule having physical media or wanting the highest quality version of a movie one can obtain but they can go fuck themselves.
This is also a very whiny submission. You've discovered your life is a lie. Great, you're "woke," good for you. I don't care to be part of your existential journey.
I'm talking about your iPhone
Don't have
and iPad.
Don't have
Your Amazon Echo
Don't have
and Kindle.
Don't have
Your Pixel
Don't have
and Daydream VR headset.
Don't have
Your Apple Watch.
Don't have
Your Roku,
Don't have
your Apple TV,
Don't have
your Chromecast.
Don't have
Incremental upgrades that push features like 4K!
I'd love incremental OTA hardware upgrades
HDR!
Don't use
Wireless charging!
Don't do
Slimmer design!
Don't care
No headphone jack!
Have
I guess I'm doing *something* right \o/
Plot twist: I'm a Millenial.
Disregard below
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CLI paste? paste.pr0.tips!
You don't have to buy every new generation of every product.
For example, I've got an iPhone because I got in the walled garden before there were other good options. I don't buy a new iPhone every time a new one comes out. In fact, I usually wait 2 to 3-ish full generations to upgrade. By that time the upgrade has enough improvements for it to be worth it for me.
But Apple has no reason to follow my personal upgrade schedule and only release new versions when I am ready to upgrade. For one thing, there's probably plenty of other people who follow a similar plan but are one generation ahead or behind me. For another, there is a pool of idiots who want the latest because it is the latest.
For the XBox One X, there's going to be a lot of people who did not buy an XBox One for whatever reason, and are upgrading now. There's also a set of people who want 4k resolution. But it's not like the XBox One was suddenly rendered inadequate for the vast majority of people merely due to the existence of a more advanced version.
Don't see the point of an XBox One X? Then don't buy one. That applies to every product on the market, no matter how long the feature list is.
This is widespread in the industry.
The greedy douchebags and morons who run tech companies somehow think they're going to grow 10% a year forever (utterly impossible), that every year we're going to replace all of our devices (not gonna happen), that a tiny incremental improvement is supposed to be momentous and compelling (not true), and (in this case) re-releasing the same product in a new package absolves them from creating new products.
The problem is, all of the above is false. I still use my circa 2013 Android Nexus tablet, my XBox 360 works just fine and doesn't require an internet connection and doesn't require that I buy all new games, and I'm afraid to admit just how old my personal cell phone is. My latest tech purchases are a 27" monitor for my home office and a USB charging tower to keep all of my stuff charged (and I got that at TJ Maxx).
I'm not buying a new home theater because companies want to sell me 4K gear that I don't care about. I'm not buying the latest and greatest phone when the one I have suits my purposes, and I have no interest whatsoever in being on a constant upgrade treadmill to keep up corporate profits.
My tech budget is more likely to go on replacing my older iPod, updating my desktop computer (yes, some of us still use those), buying another machine as a Linux box, or getting my PC to display on my big screen from 40 feet away. You know, tweak what I have, but not buy new shiny things because companies want me to.
They had some good years, but most people I know are reaching "peak tech" ... we have enough to meet our needs, other things to spend our money on, and simply don't find yet another iteration of the same thing a compelling reason to spend the money.
Companies are in for a serious pinch if people start realizing they have most of what they need and see little benefit in buying new stuff. Because these days, the business model is based on the impossible notion they'll keep growing forever, and consumers will buy one of everything every year.
No sane person should be surprised that consumers no longer see the need to buy this stuff.
Nearly no other household item I have goes obsolete before it wears out. I'm not going to get significantly faster to work with a new car. Even my TV is 6+ years old and I'd only get +5" and incremental picture improvements for buying a new one at roughly the same price. This is the normal state of mature technology.
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
My XBox 360 still works. The kids still have fun with it. News to me that it is obsolete. I generally consider something obsolete when it doesn't work any more.
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
Those who want an Xbox that looks like a PlayStation 2.
you're probably bang-on with your target audience of Millennial Ameritards.
Stop being a Boomer twat. (Normally I wouldn't be so blunt, but if you're going to start with generational ageism then I'm sure you can cope.)
Conspicuous consumption has a long history and is not limited to the Millennial generation. There are entire classes of vehicles that exist primarily to serve as status symbols, and those cost considerably more to produce or purchase. Arguably, the same is true of houses... and let's not forget the yachts.
So before you blame this waste on the new generation, maybe look to see if their parent generation did the same thing. Of course they did.
So, by all means, stop pointing to a young generation as the harbinger of civilization's end when their behavior is nothing more than a new tune on an old harp.
---
According to the latest ruleset, this post should be modded as Vorpal Flamebait +5.
So this new Xbox has updated graphics, updates on RAM, processor, GPU. But it also will play all XBox One games (aka "full backwards compatability"). If Microsoft hadn't done this, people would have been whining about the XBox being "out of date" and "old" and "not powerful enough". So they update it, don't dick over people who bought XBox one games, and it's an "existential crisis"? I have an Xbox One, it's a fine machine. Whenever my 360 dies (which is mostly a video streaming machine at this point), I'll replace it with whatever's on the market.
Technology is destroying us as a race? This opinion piece just reminds of the ridiculousness of it all from the "what exactly do you do here"? question asked of your life.
Argument Fail.
The things you mentioned are not replaced every year, but cherished, maintained, and often, passed down.
and then...
I notice that no mention is made of Sony and the Playstation 4 Plus Pro Ultimate (or whatever they call it). Isn't it exactly the same story as the Xbox One X? So why would he exclude this best comparison?
Kaz Hirai, is that you?
You are welcome on my lawn.
If you already have a current generation console, there is no reason for you to upgrade. At some point someone will buy a new console. This extra polish will convince them to choose Xbox over Playstation/Nintendo/PC/waiting some more time.
Also, you don't have to buy it.
Yes, I am getting a new iPhone, however my old iPhone is a few major numbers behind, the battery is dying and the cost and hassle of replacing it, vs getting a new shiny phone now with a few generations of new features makes it worth it. However I will not be getting the iPhone 11, 11s, and probably not the 12 or 12s or what ever names the decide to call it. Because while my personal buy strategy it to get the newest and best, I tend to keep it for a long time, so the next time i get the newest and best, I am once again treated to the luxury of having all the cool new features.
Also by that time, I can decide if Apple is worth it, or not. The iPhone X just barely won out from the Note 8, just because I already had an iPhone... In 3 or 4 years I may switch to an other brand, as Apple may not spark my interest any more.
However in a world of incremental upgrades, you just need to stop your instinct on getting the newest and best every time it goes out, because you are just getting a feature you can get by with means, you are perfectly fine with skipping a generation. But these incremental upgrades vs. Major releases also have the advantage for the non-fans who keep track of the market, means they can get new device now, and not panic that next year it would be unusable, because of lack of support.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
I have the original Apple Watch. I didn't upgrade to version 2, and probably will not for 3...
My wife still uses daily an iPad2, which works fine and has no issues - along with my 17" MacBook Pro, which she inherited after three years of use when I moved to a newer MacBook Pro in 2013, which I also have no plans to upgrade soon...
You don't have to upgrade anything, only upgrade when something is compelling. I used to not upgrade phones every year either but have been lately because I find camera and speed improvements compelling enough to do so, otherwise I wouldn't have upgraded that either.
This philosophy extends outside of electronics - I've had my fridge and washer/dryer forever. I've also had my car for over six years now. Just think carefully about when upgrades will really be useful for you and not just a complication.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
What was the story of PacMan, one of the most,if not the most, popular games in history?
Highest grossing games
The point of the X1X is 4K and HDR. While to some people that is not a big deal (especially if you do not have a 4K/HDR TV), it is nevertheless a technological jump from 1080p, just like the jump from 480i 4:3 to 720p 16:9 when the 360 came out.
But why does the X1X seem like less of a deal then the 360 was? Because lots of stuff are NOT changing. It's the same cpu (but faster). It's the same UI interface. It runs the same games, has mostly the same features (the One S can play 4k BluRay too). Know what? That's GOOD. Because last time we had a technological jump (720p 16:9), the 360 was all new, and that meant everything from the original Xbox was completely obsolete. No game compatibility, accessories, controllers, keypads, headsets, etc. Nada. Same issue with 360 to Xbox One (until some amount of backwards compatibility came along, but no hardware compatibility).
So for me, this is a big deal for consoles: adopting newer technology (4K/HDR) without making every previous console purchase (controllers, steering wheels, HDDs, cables, and most notably, GAMES) completely obsolete. I think the "dump everything you had and start over" paradigm for consoles is finally dead, and I for one welcome that shift to a "better experience" with the newer hardware, but able to keep older stuff. (And dropping older platforms only when they get 2-3 updates behind, so people have to upgrade maybe once every ten years, not every 3). And for those who do not want to upgrade, they can still play newer games but with "less fluff/detail", and not be forced into upgrading to be able to play at all.
It's $500 - just buy the damn thing and enjoy it.
Well you are being too rational. Look at the other side (I mean the rest of normal people - not techies like you).
Don't you see it? If you want to understand the customers and why people are buying things that should not exist (thus justifying their production) you need to loose at least half of your brain - that half that asks questions.
Well, I've got to get back to work. When I stop rowing, the slave ship just goes in circles.
I've had my Roku for 5 or 6 years, and hadn't thought anything about upgrading until a couple of weeks ago, when my phone company gave me a free option to stream HBO through their streaming app, which supposedly will work with Roku, but not one that old. I haven't decided yet if I'll actually bother.
My model reboots itself mid-use maybe once a week or so, but it's been doing that since we got it, and it otherwise works solidly.
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Can it run Linux or SteamOS ..
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The author is just now noticing that the industrialized world has a problem with corporate exploitation of mass production for their own selfish benefit? It not only funnels undeserved profit into their pockets, it also costs society hundreds of billions of dollars in wasted productivity that should have been used for something constructive. We don't need our vehicles to be redesigned every year, yet they are. We don't need new varieties of underarm deodorant every six months, yet we have them. We don't need "new" but-no-better-than-last-year toothbrushes, yet indeed we still have them. Want to buy another of the same toothbrush that worked perfectly well? Sorry, buddy, we "retired" that one for a new design that cuts a few corners and gives us better profit margin. The list goes on, and permeates EVERY corner of our lives. What could have been accomplished for society if all that human effort had been focused on something truly beneficial for society? The promise of mass production was the ability to cheaply replicate items, but when those items are replaced so quickly with new ones the savings to society are lost, and worse yet the profits from this wasteful process keep flowing into the pockets of those abusing it.
This author saw one tree and failed to notice the forest. This problem is much MUCH more pervasive than he comprehends. The problem isn't just with abuse of technology: the problem is abuse of mass production of every sort.
Tech keeps advancing, and tech companies keep putting out new and (sometimes) improved products.
There are some people -- call them aficionados, technophiles, early adopters, hardcore gamers, audio nerds, fanboys, [fill in the blank] -- who will always buy the latest and greatest offering in a given market segment. And there will also be people (generally, a much larger proportion compared to the gotta-have-the-latest types) who wait for the second or third generation when many of the early kinks have been worked out and the price has dropped. And then they hold onto the thing for several years/product cycles before upgrading.
With respect to the new Xbox, the more incremental update is just a sign that gaming consoles are getting to be more mature tech . Nothing really new in that regard. That's how technology products often progress. As for tech in general, we perhaps have more things or at least more choices now, so maybe it feels like there is more to keep up with. But there is really no obligation to have one of everything, nevermind having the latest of everything.
I jumped off that band wagon a while ago, and the amount of money I've saved has been miraculous. Not that I was ever obsessed with the latest shiny as some people are, mind you, but it's amazing how transitioning through later stages of your life really puts things in perspective.
Now, when a new technology comes out I take a good hard look at it and ask, "How does this new thing help me that my previous stuff couldn't?" and "Does do those improvements justifying spending the X amount of dollars on it, that could otherwise be spent on other things, like a mortgage payment, etc?"
It's shocking how much those two questions have curbed my spending. It also opened my eyes to... well... just how *shit* the technology industry has become. It's all so much crap. Frivolous nonsense that provide nothing of genuine value compared to what existed before.
That goes not just for consumer goods, but for pretty much *everything*, including servers, operating systems, programming languages, frameworks, etc.
And then the sadness kicks in because I realize the overwhleming majority of other people *don't* see these things, so the slow moving trainwreck of technology happily marches on. New javascript frameworks coming out on a weekly basis, IOT crap that somehow manage to leak more information than they collect, Google and their push to allow websites to access bluetooth devices directly, Apple with the steady march to making computers into very expensive disposable appliances, Microsoft and their... well... nothing especially new there I guess.
But it's basically universal. There is virtually nothing revolutionary happening today. The best we've got is people making better use of technology that has already existed for decades (ie: AI) because the processing power has reached the right level to do so. Everything else is either trivial incremental nonsense, or a complete reinventing of the wheel that ultimately gives you nothing new than you didn't have before... just a shiny new packaging.
But enough people buy into it to keep the train chugging.
In 5-10 years Microsoft is going to be who people think of when they want or need Linux. We are already at the point where new systems can be built that are agnostic of the of the underlying OS using Microsoft frameworks and runtimes.
I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock
who's job is to make you want to buy their mostly unnecessary stuff?
The jump from Atari -> Colecovision was pretty big.
The jump from Atari/Colecovision -> NES was bigger.
The Jump from NES -> Genesis/SNES was bigger still.
And from Genesis/SNES -> Playstation? Enormous.
I remember the first time I saw a Dreamcast and though, "Wow, I can't believe we can do graphics like that now". I did not get the same feeling with the PS2, the PS3 or the PS4 let alone the Xbox One X.
It's not just that we're good enough either. The tools we have are limiting what artists can do. 8 cores don't matter much if it's a nightmare to make those cores do enough work to matter. On paper the Sega Saturn blew the PSX out of the water but I can count on half a hand the number of times that happened (Virtual Fighter, Dead or Alive, _maybe_ Grandia and two of those didn't make it out of Japan).
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I love all these new "upgrades" that are available. I adopt late. I only purchased a PS4 last year for HZD when everyone was looking at the PS4 Pro. I purchased the Xbox One when the "S" slim model came out. Both of these purchases saved $100s, and I can still play the latest games, just not with 4K or the fastest processor.
Same with cell phones. I buy the Google-branded phone when the new one comes out. Not a huge amount of savings there vs. if I bought it right away, but timing-wise it wasn't right for me to upgrade when my existing phone worked. I don't need a $1K phone, $300 is just fine. I extended both my wife and my Nexus 5 lives by replacing the non-replacable batteries (and the USB connection board as mine was worn out). Our entire family is totally happy on Nexus 5X, and we'll do the same battery replacement trick when the charges don't seem to last.
TVs? Yeah, I don't need 3D or curved or 4K. We bought our first flatscreen (65") about 3 years ago for just under $1K with a sale at Costco. In-laws who bought a 60" a year before for considerably more were a bit jealous. Frankly, we just weren't in a hurry, had been saving our pennies and researching what were the features we needed, and waited for a good deal. All we really wanted/needed was 1 HDMI port since all of our gadgets just go through a nice $20 HDMI switch, and only connected the ethernet for a short time but found the built-in stuff to be clunky compared to what our BluRay or game consoles could do.
But we also drive 15-20 year old cars and buy them once-owned in good condition for cash. We spend less money than most and have more funds available to do more things.
So, churn, churn, churn, and out with the "old" and in with the new, and I'll buy the "old" if and when I need to replace sometime at a great deal - sometimes waiting months for the best sales (Black Friday, woohoo!), but only for things I really "want". I'll read the reviews and avoid the Edsels and lemons.
If the summary read a little odd to anyone else, this is what it's supposed to say (missing sentence in bold).
It was not eyeballed for being a gorgeous $500 machine, but for being an unnecessary redundant object, which matches the tone of the rest of the summary. The real mystery is why I clicked through to TFA just to figure out why this section of the summary was so awkward to read.
I don't have any of those things, because I'm not a tool. I don't waste money on upgrading things that don't need upgrading. Don't blame tech companies for your own weakness, take some damn responsibility.
Help every possible piece of tech in my life gets better every year but not in a way that good enough to me! I'm entitled, listen to me whine.
Somebody as toxic as you.. You're not an American. You don't deserve the title. Let people enjoy things.
Let me guess, the "reader" who posted this just turned 15?
Just admit it ... "a reader" is the return of Jon Katz!
How much does that status symbol car decrease in value as soon as you drive it out of the lot? How much extra in fuel do you pay compared to a more economical car? How much does it cost to maintain every year? How long does it last before it's no longer economical to maintain? How much waste and environmental damage does it cause? How many years of 2-yearly smartphone upgrades does that equate to?
I think a never ending supply of incremental upgrades in a bunch of different areas is the exact opposite of an existential crisis for the tech industry. It is what keeps people buying new things. Donâ(TM)t have a reason to buy the Xbox X or PS4 Pro? MS/Sony donâ(TM)t care, they just want there to be enough people that do have a reason. Apple donâ(TM)t expect you to buy every new iPhone. They are happy for you to cough up a butt load of cash every 2, 3 or 4 versions (while telling yourself you are good because you have skipped a few)
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This is true, I have to admit. The operating system you use to get your work done is becoming more and more irrelevant because really less and less work is being done by the operating system, not just because of portable frameworks. But you're right; both of those facts are going to mean Linux is just going to be... there. Windows isn't going away anytime soon but Windows 10 really is probably the end of the road for major product releases of the platform.
Hell, I have a couple of VM's on my homelab that are running open source Windows apps on Ubuntu thanks to Mono... frameworks are more important than operating systems these days.
A drug addict who keeps on taking pills and is being chased by the ghosts of his friends who died of an overdose by drugs he sold to them? What about it?
#DeleteFacebook
I'm skipping these. Developers aren't bothering to enhance enough games. When the PS4 Pro came out, gamers expected every new game coming out to support enhanced graphics and features, but the truth is only certain major games are bothering to use the additional horsepower, because it puts an additional burden on the developer and publisher.
They see that 90% of people own the base consoles and optimize for that, guaranteeing a good experience. Then if there's budget/time left over, they consider enhancements for the PS4 Pro and Xbox One X. But the base console (PS4 and Xbox One) experience will always be good. The developer wants to please the biggest user base.
I'll wait to upgrade when the next generation of systems come and there is a new base target spec that developers will use.
Twinstiq, game news
The One X is a step up from the One S, just like the One S is a step up from the One.
Microsoft doesn't arbitrarily limit the One's output resolution. If somebody wants to write "Pong4k" (and manages to not get sued by the trademark's current owners) and sell it to people with a first-gen Xbox One, it'll run just fine at 2160p30. I fully expect a slew of retro games that emulate the look of a color vector CRT, or use the higher resolution to emulate CRT color masks, misconvergence, and NTSC color artifacts.
The main thing the S and X add is the horsepower to do FPS-type games with better T&L and/or higher glitch-free framerates (and enable FPS-type games at 4k resolution & some reasonable framerate without excessive Z-clipping or low-quality T&L to exist AT ALL).
Going forward, we'll see more and more games that can technically limp along at 720p30 on a first-gen XB1, but NEED a S or X to do 1080p60 at maximum quality (even IF you don't care about "4k".
The thing to remember is that modern hardware has few "hard" constraints compared to the "vga era"... it's more like you have a finite bucket of resources to spread around however you see fit. You can stream h.264-encoded video (or Asteroids, or Tempest) at 2160p60, you can do realtime raytracing at 480p60, or you can do any sensible permutation that involves triangles, filtered textures, and lighting in between.
If it's essentially the same, why do you keep buying it?
Buy it when something requires it or your old one breaks. It's not rocket science.
- Don't do what I do, it's probably not healthy nor safe. -