Yeah, sure we should be paying that much, because the cost of new technology never goes down, right?
Using their math, cell phone service should cost about $55 a month for 30 minutes of air time.
Or maybe we should apply their math to computer hard drives? How expensive were those 10MB drives when they first came out? $3,495 in 1980 according to one source. (Ok so lets see... the cost for a 300GB drive, including inflation would be about $2,329,031.) Or maybe we should go by the cost of processors... or maybe the cost of just about anything else invented in the last 50 years that has gone DOWN as technology has made it easier to produce. Sorry MAFIAA, you're the odd one out here.
No, if they were keeping pace with the rest of technology CDs should cost about $3 now, but only when they have enough tracks to fill the whole thing.
What is the advantage here? The advantage is convenience. You can keep your butt firmly fixed on your PC chair while you download and watch the movie. You never have to leave your house (not even to check the mail for your Netflix).
Is that enough of an advantage to warrant the price? To me, no. To some people, perhaps. Who knows.
Ok, anyone who's read my opinions on Vista knows I'm no fan of the OS. But judging by every benchmark I've ever seen this conclusion is wrong.
Our 3DMark06 score at default settings was 8052, where we score 8830 in our original GeForce 8800 GTS review. That system used a Core 2 Extreme-based test system that, all other things being equal, should outperform the Athlon 64 FX-60 we're testing Vista with here. So yes, there is a performance difference, but it's not nearly the 10% it looks like: Much of that is due to the difference in CPU speed.
The long and short of it is that Vista gamers can expect to generally lose a small amount of performance until a few months have gone by and the drivers can be better optimized. I expect this to happen pretty quickly, and for Vista performance to be comparable to Windows XP performance, overall (with some games up to 5% slower, some up to 5% faster). Part of that I can accept. I'm sure it will improve in performance with better drivers in the next few months (not enough to interest me) but come on... a Core2Duo system a mere 10% faster than an aging socket 939 system? I haven't seen any benchmark anywhere in which even the slowest Core2Duo processor didn't beat out a socket 939 by significantly more than 10%. Then again, they're calling a socket 939 system an AM2. What do they know.
Anyhow, I would have to say that if their socket 939 system is running *only* 10% slower than the Core2Duo machine, Vista would actually have to be increasing performance.
You're probably right, but he's still not completely out of luck. If he can get his hands on a Windows XP disc that's the same version (ie Home/Pro, same SP number included, etc) as what was originally installed, he should be able to use the OEM key included with the machine to get Windows installed. He'll then have to call Microsoft and tell them the hard drive went bad, mainboard was replaced, etc, and he should have a fully functional standalone Windows XP installation. Actually, it's even easier than that. All he needs do is get his hands on an OEM disk for whatever version of XP he has a key for (most likely XP Home). XP install keys differentiate only between Home, Pro, or Media Center, and then between OEM or Retail. Nothing else matters. I work at a PC repair shop, and I've reinstalled WinXP on Dells, HPs, Compaqs, Emachines, and more very often. I use the same disks for all of them, unless the customer happens to have the disks (or restore partion on the hard drive) provided them by the manufacturer.
When it comes to activation, it will most likely tell you that your product key is invalid. I'm not sure exactly why (my best guess is that they use some kind of generic volume key when they install it the first time), but all you need to is click the "Telephone" button, hit the drop-down menu for your country, and then dial the toll-free number provided. (1-888-571-2048 for USA) You'll get an automated system that blathers on until it finally says "ok, let's get started." At this point, hit 0 on your phone (the system will tell you something like "I see you would like to talk to a representative blah blah blah"), then hit 1. This will connect you to a live human (in India I believe) who can talk more or less plain English, and at any rate understands the numbers you tell them a great deal better than the automated system does. They'll ask you for the first 6 numbers, tell you they need a few seconds to validate it, then they'll ask you some questions. (What software are you activating today? Is this the first time you are activating this software? On how many other computers is this software installed?) After one or two of these questions they'll ask you for the rest of the numbers (you don't need to read the first 6 again). Then they'll say they need a few seconds to validate those, and ask you a couple of the questions (which may or may not be the exact same questions they asked you 30 seconds earlier). Then they'll read off the confirmation numbers 3 at a time, which you'll type in the boxes, and that's pretty much it.
You are trusting that your cable IP service won't also have tiered access. Of course, both cable and telephone companies currently provide tiered services (DSL, DSL-Lite, voicemail, premium channels, VOIP, etc) why wouldn't they charge for access to third-party media providers.
It takes more than two sources of broadband to create a free market. I wish I had some mod points for you. Not only are you right, but to add to your post there's also lots of areas that have either one or zero high-speed providers. Many of these areas that now have only one will likely have only one for some time to come, and most of the areas that currently have no providers, when they do finally get one will most likely be stuck with just that one for years.
As I understand it, the main gripe of developers such as Wild Tangent and Pop Cap is that the parental controls allows you to set windows to ignore any game that does not have an ESRB rating. (By default, this setting is NOT turned on.) Since most of these types of games are small, with minimal time and money spent and developing, the cost of obtaining that ESRB rating is prohibitively expensive, coming in at about two to three thousand dollars.
So honestly, though I have little love for Vista at this point, I would have to say that most of their arguments are FUD.
I'm a gamer. In fact, the only reason I still use Windows at all is for gaming. And yes, I play all kinds of games, from little java games in a web-browser to WoW, HalfLife2, Medieval 2:TW, etc. etc.
And my reaction is that Vista is going to have to offer a whole lot more than DirectX10 to get me to switch. There's far far too many items on the minus side, and only one on the plus (for my purposes, at any rate). At this point, I've decided that unless the landscape has drastically changed by the time games start requiring DX10, I'll just be living without those games.
Debate? Argument? Where? All I see is a few very broad comments from a couple people stating the things they like about their OS of choice. Kinda like saying "I like apple pies 'cause they're sweet and they taste like apples. Oh, and they have a crust, ya know?"
I know the Summary says they're not giving us anything new (talk about an understatement), but please, could we at least have a little more depth, or a debate?
I mean really... a good 99%+ of all the people actually interested in this topic already knew all the 'facts' mentioned in the reviews.
In the case of DRM, theres one very strong way to fight it - with your wallet. Use alternatives where possible. Spread the word about products that contain oppressive DRM. Encourage others to do the same. While I agree with your sentiment, I also have to say that I don't see this hurting DRM any time soon. Most people don't know and/or don't care enough to vote with their wallets - and won't, as long as they don't *have* to (In fact, until such a time as they're left no other choice they'll believe the **AAs over you or me. "If DRM doesn't let you make a backup copy of your disk it's obviously because you're not supposed to, and you're breaking the law!!"). As long as it works *right now* they're happy to shell out the money it takes to get what they want. Only when it's so broken that it really doesn't work (ie. I just bought this new HD-DVD player and it won't work with my new "HD-compatible" TV!!) will the masses actually vote with their wallets. The masses simply don't care about principles - they only care about results. And so the few of us who do see the problems of DRM and actually care about it are left without the ability to make any real impact on it by voting with our wallets.
There's no way I'm paying for a full retail version, and no way in hell I'm going to go through this garbage every time I have to reinstall Windows. Looks like I'll be skipping Vista.
That's all true, but it's just looking at the symptom, not the cause. The cause, almost invariably, is the game designer creating an artificial shortage of that item, or making the item excessively time-consuming and/or difficult to obtain. If the gameplay required to obtain the item was itself enjoyable enough to be included in something called a game, then most people would be playing for fun, and people farming the item to sell for real money would not be an issue because there would not be enough demand to generate such a situation. Unfortunately, these are tactics nearly all MMO developers use, for the purpose of creating maximum hours required to play through minimal content provided.
It will be interesting to see where this goes. Yes it will. I would say this was the last thing Sony needed right now, on top of everything else that's gone wrong for them in the last year. Hopefully they'll find some way to recover.
It seems odd to me that the PS3 would work perfectly fine with other HDTVs, and then be at fault for not working with one particular brand. If you read the comments on all three articles, you'll see that it's not just happening with Westinghouse TVs. Even more interesting, it's also not just happening with PS3s - it happens with Sony's standalone Blu-Ray players as well.
Your investigation is quite on target. However, this isn't just happening on the PS3, it's also doing it on the Blu Ray BDP-S1 stand alone player that Sony released recently that's available at Best Buy. We do the same thing to get it to work and this is with a Sharp Aquos 52" LC-52D62U LCD 1080P. It does it about everyday at random. We either unplug the cable or turn off and on the Blu Ray player to make it go away. I also have the newest HD DVD player HD-A2 released by Toshiba with HDMI and it doesn't suffer from this problem. I'm pretty sure it's a Sony issue.
Are you sure they were really false positives? Absolutely, unless Dell, HP, Compaq, Emachines, etc. are using illegal copies of windows these days. All of these false positives were on OEM machines from large manufacturers with the original install of windows still on them.
What's the false positive rate? I don't know any exact figures. But I do work in a PC repair shop, and here's what I've seen personally. Out of dozens of PC's we've worked on that came up as not having "genuine" Windows XP, we've had about one or two that actually had illegal copies installed. The rest were all false positives. Even worse, I've personally tested an illegal copy and it passed the WGA with flying colors. Didn't even have to pull any special tricks or use hacks.
So personally, I would have to say any figures Microsoft gives on this aren't even close to accurate.
Based on 2005, 2003, 2002, 2001 (couldn't find 2004) I'd disagree. It's all sequels and big name tiles - The Sims, Warcraft, Age of *. Looking at those lists, I guess I'd say our difference is our definition of "big name and buzz". What I assumed you meant by those terms was games published by large publishers, and with plenty of advertising before the game was published. I see games on every one of those lists that do not meet those criteria.
I have to disagree. Big name and buzz can help, but it's certainly not required. There's been a decent number of "small" games from indie developers that were so good they made the top 10.
So yes I still stand by my previous post. There really were very few games worth playing released last year (that is, of the games released early enough to have any real impact on sales for last year), and the few that were are all on the top 10 list.
exactly, this time the burnig crusade will be at the top! +1 Funny. Lol, all too true.:P
However, you are right, there are a number of very good games with tentative release dates for this year. The problem is ofcourse that release dates are there to be missed. /sigh... sadly, that's also all too true. Hopefully we're wrong and someone actually manages to keep a release date for once.
No doubt. But I think part of the reason for this to 10 list was a dearth of good games released last year. One of the very few new games truly worth buying (Oblivion) did make that list. I think things will look a bit different on the list of top 10 games for 2007.
I want to thank you for the free entertainment. It's really been quite amusing. And I'd love to give you more material so you could keep showing how full you are of yourself and how much of an asshole you are, but sadly I have work to do, so here the fun must end.
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I wish I had some mod points for you.
Using their math, cell phone service should cost about $55 a month for 30 minutes of air time. Or maybe we should apply their math to computer hard drives? How expensive were those 10MB drives when they first came out? $3,495 in 1980 according to one source. (Ok so lets see... the cost for a 300GB drive, including inflation would be about $2,329,031.) Or maybe we should go by the cost of processors... or maybe the cost of just about anything else invented in the last 50 years that has gone DOWN as technology has made it easier to produce. Sorry MAFIAA, you're the odd one out here.
No, if they were keeping pace with the rest of technology CDs should cost about $3 now, but only when they have enough tracks to fill the whole thing.
Is that enough of an advantage to warrant the price? To me, no. To some people, perhaps. Who knows.
Anyhow, I would have to say that if their socket 939 system is running *only* 10% slower than the Core2Duo machine, Vista would actually have to be increasing performance.
That's my take on it anyway.
Anyone else have any thoughts on this?
Not only do they make the upgrade process more tedious, at the same stroke they make it much easier to abuse.
When it comes to activation, it will most likely tell you that your product key is invalid. I'm not sure exactly why (my best guess is that they use some kind of generic volume key when they install it the first time), but all you need to is click the "Telephone" button, hit the drop-down menu for your country, and then dial the toll-free number provided. (1-888-571-2048 for USA) You'll get an automated system that blathers on until it finally says "ok, let's get started." At this point, hit 0 on your phone (the system will tell you something like "I see you would like to talk to a representative blah blah blah"), then hit 1. This will connect you to a live human (in India I believe) who can talk more or less plain English, and at any rate understands the numbers you tell them a great deal better than the automated system does. They'll ask you for the first 6 numbers, tell you they need a few seconds to validate it, then they'll ask you some questions. (What software are you activating today? Is this the first time you are activating this software? On how many other computers is this software installed?) After one or two of these questions they'll ask you for the rest of the numbers (you don't need to read the first 6 again). Then they'll say they need a few seconds to validate those, and ask you a couple of the questions (which may or may not be the exact same questions they asked you 30 seconds earlier). Then they'll read off the confirmation numbers 3 at a time, which you'll type in the boxes, and that's pretty much it.
So honestly, though I have little love for Vista at this point, I would have to say that most of their arguments are FUD.
And my reaction is that Vista is going to have to offer a whole lot more than DirectX10 to get me to switch. There's far far too many items on the minus side, and only one on the plus (for my purposes, at any rate). At this point, I've decided that unless the landscape has drastically changed by the time games start requiring DX10, I'll just be living without those games.
I know the Summary says they're not giving us anything new (talk about an understatement), but please, could we at least have a little more depth, or a debate?
I mean really... a good 99%+ of all the people actually interested in this topic already knew all the 'facts' mentioned in the reviews.
There's no way I'm paying for a full retail version, and no way in hell I'm going to go through this garbage every time I have to reinstall Windows. Looks like I'll be skipping Vista.
That's all true, but it's just looking at the symptom, not the cause. The cause, almost invariably, is the game designer creating an artificial shortage of that item, or making the item excessively time-consuming and/or difficult to obtain. If the gameplay required to obtain the item was itself enjoyable enough to be included in something called a game, then most people would be playing for fun, and people farming the item to sell for real money would not be an issue because there would not be enough demand to generate such a situation. Unfortunately, these are tactics nearly all MMO developers use, for the purpose of creating maximum hours required to play through minimal content provided.
Here's a couple of the comments.
This is not JUST Westinghouse televisions happens on others as well check out this http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=7----------------
Your investigation is quite on target. However, this isn't just happening on the PS3, it's also doing it on the Blu Ray BDP-S1 stand alone player that Sony released recently that's available at Best Buy. We do the same thing to get it to work and this is with a Sharp Aquos 52" LC-52D62U LCD 1080P. It does it about everyday at random. We either unplug the cable or turn off and on the Blu Ray player to make it go away. I also have the newest HD DVD player HD-A2 released by Toshiba with HDMI and it doesn't suffer from this problem. I'm pretty sure it's a Sony issue.So personally, I would have to say any figures Microsoft gives on this aren't even close to accurate.
So, who's up for some SoS?
Maybe you should read the blog actually, before jumping to conclusions? The AC in this case is 100% on-target, and your post is completely useless.
So yes I still stand by my previous post. There really were very few games worth playing released last year (that is, of the games released early enough to have any real impact on sales for last year), and the few that were are all on the top 10 list.
No doubt. But I think part of the reason for this to 10 list was a dearth of good games released last year. One of the very few new games truly worth buying (Oblivion) did make that list. I think things will look a bit different on the list of top 10 games for 2007.
One more EA game I just can't wait to not play!
I want to thank you for the free entertainment. It's really been quite amusing. And I'd love to give you more material so you could keep showing how full you are of yourself and how much of an asshole you are, but sadly I have work to do, so here the fun must end.