From the numbers, having Steam support linux games at all is pretty silly from the business perspective.
Valve's business depends on platforms controlled by Microsoft and Apple.
Microsoft and Apple have both expanded into the app distribution market, in direct competition with Steam.
Both companies have implemented code signing policies in their operating systems that could theoretically be used to lock Valve out of their platforms. In fact, these technologies have already been used to lock Valve out of iOS and WinRT.
By supporting Linux, Valve is able to (partially) mitigate the risk of being locked out by their competition. Also, by supporting Linux early, they will be a step ahead of the competition (Origin, Uplay, etc) in the unlikely event that Microsoft does lock them out. Finally, if Valve decides to start manufacturing their own hardware, then they won't have to rely on continued support from Microsoft (who sells their own Xbox console).
What part of that is silly from the business perspective?
Chortle. That's as good as Amazon stating that the Kindle is a "bestseller."
Yeah, but in Amazon's defence, every single novel written in the last eight years has been a "bestseller", according to their blurbs. By that logic, how could the Fire not be a bestseller?
The correct word is exploit. Companies have become very customer hostile, while continuing to play up marketing that tells you how fantastic they are and how wonderful your life will be if you use their services.
"Customer hostile" is not correct either. It implies that users are also customers, which we are not.
So who are the customers? The customers are the advertisers who buy aggregate customer data, or advertising space. The customers are the people who actually pay for the service.
Yes, supersampling will always look better than filtering. The biggest advantage of MLAA is with the low-end graphics hardware such as mobile phones, netbook, integrated GPUs; anything without enough grunt to perform "proper" AA. Or in situations where the processing power is better used elsewhere, MLAA might be used to free up resources for other tasks.
Obviously, the image quality is going to be worse than multisampling or supersampling, but much better than no AA at all.
The modern world requires trust. A breakdown of which will result in anarchy.
Insightful comment. Older currencies were based on precious metals, or coins, or beads... whatever; anything relatively scarce could be used as currency. Modern currencies are based on trust. Trust that a bank will not lose your money. Trust that someone will repay a debt. Trust that the central bank will not devalue the currency to the point where your money is worthless.
At the other end of the spectrum, my GF's kindle usually lasts about 2-4 weeks. But she just got 7 weeks out of it; she's been very busy at work lately and hasn't been using it much. (FWIW, that's the Kindle 3 WiFi model, not the 3G model).
Either way, it lasts long enough that you don't need to worry about the battery at all.
I think the OP's point is that, in the n900, there are actions which are consistent across applications; but with Android, actions will be different depending on the application.
I rarely use Android, and I've never used the n900, so I can't really comment on either. But as an iOS user, I can say that there are a few applications which behave differently.
For example, in iOS, most apps place a "back" button in the top left of the screen. Also, most apps will autosave a text field as soon as it is modified. So the usual workflow is: open a menu item, make modifications (which are saved automatically), tap the back button. This workflow is very common among third-party applications.
However, one app doesn't autosave; instead, it has a "save" button in the top right. It also replaces the "back" button with a "cancel" button. The result is that I often cancel changes that I wish to retain.
Most iOS apps behave consistently, but when they don't, it causes problems. And inconsistencies will cause problems within any platform, even Android.
True, but there might be disadvantages to tolerance of overexposure to sights and sounds. A jumbo jet will probably damage your hearing. A giant spotlight might not damage your sight, but the sun will, eventually. However, a million flowers won't damage your sense of smell.
I'm glad someone finally pointed this out.
"Intel Vying for Apple Foundry Business" --> "Intel to Build Next Generation Processor for iOS Devices?" --> "Intel to Build Next Generation Processor for iOS Devices"
A really slow Flash plugin, compared to what? Compared to the one on IOS it is infinitely faster.
Actually, i think you'll find that Flash is infinitely slower on Android.
Number of flash plugins on Android: 1
Number of flash plugins on iOS: 0
Therefore, Android has infinity times more Flash than iOS.
As a result, Flash uses infinity times more CPU cycles on Android, and is therefore infinity times slower.
QED
Presuming that SATA devices linked through Thunderbolt don't count either.
That's a fair assumption. Thunderbolt connects straight to the PCI-e bus, so a SATA device connecting over Thunderbolt would probably need to provide its own SATA controller. Just like an external USB device.
Jobs later admitted that development started on the iPad before the iPhone.[22][23][24] Upon realizing that it would work just as well as a mobile phone, Jobs put development of the iPad on hold and decided to develop the iPhone instead.[25]
Look, for all the flack they get for the inevitable tweaks made in every X.1 version Apple is about the only tech company that doesn't make a habit of going to the market with beta products and fixing it afterwords.
3rd-party applications were not supported until 2.0.
Cut-and-paste wasn't available until 3.0.
Multitasking was not available until 4.0.
A2DP was not supported until version 3.0, but AVRCP was not properly supported until 4.1.
Apple releases incomplete products all the time. They tend to focus on what it considers most important. Or, more accurately, they focus on what they think is most important for customers. And then they regularly release updates.
they're going to have to re-think what they want to do at least somewhat or be facing a tougher problem with ARM in the market in about 5 years.
This has been said multiple times every decade since the 90s. Intel isn't going anywhere and the supposed ARMageddon(TM) that is constantly predicted (first it was ARM desktops, then ARM laptops, then ARM netbooks, now it's supposed to be ARM phones and tablets) fails to materialize every time.
Except for one thing: this time, ARM has microsoft on their side. For better or worse.
Slashdot Mirror
From the numbers, having Steam support linux games at all is pretty silly from the business perspective.
By supporting Linux, Valve is able to (partially) mitigate the risk of being locked out by their competition. Also, by supporting Linux early, they will be a step ahead of the competition (Origin, Uplay, etc) in the unlikely event that Microsoft does lock them out. Finally, if Valve decides to start manufacturing their own hardware, then they won't have to rely on continued support from Microsoft (who sells their own Xbox console).
What part of that is silly from the business perspective?
You forgot something, eventually Apple will have to do what their users in IT want
Why? They seem to be making a lot of money selling consumer-focussed devices directly to consumers.
Chortle. That's as good as Amazon stating that the Kindle is a "bestseller."
Yeah, but in Amazon's defence, every single novel written in the last eight years has been a "bestseller", according to their blurbs. By that logic, how could the Fire not be a bestseller?
The correct word is exploit. Companies have become very customer hostile, while continuing to play up marketing that tells you how fantastic they are and how wonderful your life will be if you use their services.
"Customer hostile" is not correct either. It implies that users are also customers, which we are not.
So who are the customers? The customers are the advertisers who buy aggregate customer data, or advertising space. The customers are the people who actually pay for the service.
The users are the product.
Screenshot from CS:GO -- http://i.imgur.com/PMAqD.jpg
As they saying goes, never let the truth get in the way of a lawsuit!
FIFY.
Yes, supersampling will always look better than filtering. The biggest advantage of MLAA is with the low-end graphics hardware such as mobile phones, netbook, integrated GPUs; anything without enough grunt to perform "proper" AA. Or in situations where the processing power is better used elsewhere, MLAA might be used to free up resources for other tasks.
Obviously, the image quality is going to be worse than multisampling or supersampling, but much better than no AA at all.
The modern world requires trust. A breakdown of which will result in anarchy.
Insightful comment. Older currencies were based on precious metals, or coins, or beads... whatever; anything relatively scarce could be used as currency. Modern currencies are based on trust. Trust that a bank will not lose your money. Trust that someone will repay a debt. Trust that the central bank will not devalue the currency to the point where your money is worthless.
Modern currency is trust.
In Soviet Russia, mother tongue bastardizes you!
In Soviet Russia, mother tongue bastardize you!
At the other end of the spectrum, my GF's kindle usually lasts about 2-4 weeks. But she just got 7 weeks out of it; she's been very busy at work lately and hasn't been using it much. (FWIW, that's the Kindle 3 WiFi model, not the 3G model).
Either way, it lasts long enough that you don't need to worry about the battery at all.
I think the OP's point is that, in the n900, there are actions which are consistent across applications; but with Android, actions will be different depending on the application.
I rarely use Android, and I've never used the n900, so I can't really comment on either. But as an iOS user, I can say that there are a few applications which behave differently.
For example, in iOS, most apps place a "back" button in the top left of the screen. Also, most apps will autosave a text field as soon as it is modified. So the usual workflow is: open a menu item, make modifications (which are saved automatically), tap the back button. This workflow is very common among third-party applications.
However, one app doesn't autosave; instead, it has a "save" button in the top right. It also replaces the "back" button with a "cancel" button. The result is that I often cancel changes that I wish to retain.
Most iOS apps behave consistently, but when they don't, it causes problems. And inconsistencies will cause problems within any platform, even Android.
Works well in Stanza for iPhone. Thanks!
Sound breaks? Bash, Wireless fucks up? Bash. Video problems? Bash. Hell the answer to EVERY question in Linux is bash.
Life getting you down? Bash.
Boss riding your ass? Bash.
Spouse getting on your nerves? Bash.
Co-worker won't shut up about pet llama? Bash.
Hell. The answer to EVERYTHING is Bash!
True, but there might be disadvantages to tolerance of overexposure to sights and sounds. A jumbo jet will probably damage your hearing. A giant spotlight might not damage your sight, but the sun will, eventually. However, a million flowers won't damage your sense of smell.
The T7400 was a 65 chip. The Core2s improved further after moving to 45nm.
I'm glad someone finally pointed this out. "Intel Vying for Apple Foundry Business" --> "Intel to Build Next Generation Processor for iOS Devices?" --> "Intel to Build Next Generation Processor for iOS Devices"
A really slow Flash plugin, compared to what? Compared to the one on IOS it is infinitely faster.
Actually, i think you'll find that Flash is infinitely slower on Android.
Number of flash plugins on Android: 1
Number of flash plugins on iOS: 0
Therefore, Android has infinity times more Flash than iOS.
As a result, Flash uses infinity times more CPU cycles on Android, and is therefore infinity times slower.
QED
Other useful statistics:
Actually, I think it's illegal to sell. IANAL.
Presuming that SATA devices linked through Thunderbolt don't count either.
That's a fair assumption. Thunderbolt connects straight to the PCI-e bus, so a SATA device connecting over Thunderbolt would probably need to provide its own SATA controller. Just like an external USB device.
Are you saying that Apple developed the iPad first but held it back while they tested the market with the iPhone?
That's exactly what he's saying.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPad#History
Jobs later admitted that development started on the iPad before the iPhone.[22][23][24] Upon realizing that it would work just as well as a mobile phone, Jobs put development of the iPad on hold and decided to develop the iPhone instead.[25]
Look, for all the flack they get for the inevitable tweaks made in every X.1 version Apple is about the only tech company that doesn't make a habit of going to the market with beta products and fixing it afterwords.
Apple releases incomplete products all the time. They tend to focus on what it considers most important. Or, more accurately, they focus on what they think is most important for customers. And then they regularly release updates.
Because apart from some rumours, nobody knows what will be in the iPad2.
they're going to have to re-think what they want to do at least somewhat or be facing a tougher problem with ARM in the market in about 5 years.
This has been said multiple times every decade since the 90s. Intel isn't going anywhere and the supposed ARMageddon(TM) that is constantly predicted (first it was ARM desktops, then ARM laptops, then ARM netbooks, now it's supposed to be ARM phones and tablets) fails to materialize every time.
Except for one thing: this time, ARM has microsoft on their side. For better or worse.
It worked with the PS1... ...didn't it?