I've played the few attempts at console RTSs, and they're pretty awful for a few reasons:
After the first several times you play an RTS, you learn build hotkeys. Not enough buttons on a console to pull this off (which is the same problem as a console has with Tactical FPSs).
The cursors from a joystick are too inaccurate and too slow to be effective (which is the universal problem for most PC gamers who also console game). RTS games require speed in selection and moving about the battlefield. Both they and regular strategy games require accuracy so you don't botch unit orders.
Linux on a PS3 has a couple of drawbacks for someone who wants an office box. First and foremost, it doesn't run Office. OO may be able to do a decent job reading Word, Powerpoint, and Excel files most of the time, but (and granted, my experience is a bit out of date on this) there's always huge file mess-ups when there's any kind of screwy formatting. If you're collaberating with anyone, that's a problem. Second, I don't know how well developed the PS3 install is, but I'm hazarding a guess that unless Ubuntu or Knoppix got ahold of it, it's harder than an ordinary user wants to deal with.
First, I'd say the interface is more familiar on the PC. The interface hardware pretty much never changes, and even the typical command button mapping is pretty uniform across titles in a genre (e.g., most FPS have similar WASD setups, even to the point where common weapons like shotguns are frequently mapped to the same number across titles).
Second, it's not just a few games that play better on the PC, it's several genres. Strategy games (both RTS and non) are unplayable on consoles. FPSs I'd say the same thing about, but apparently the simpler ones have made leeway into the market. Tactical FPSs like the Rainbow Six and Ghost Recon series are heavily dumbed down when they're ported to consoles. RPGs are playable on both, but the computer generally has a very strong advantage in that most RPGs for the PC nowadays are heavily moddable. I don't think they even bother trying to port decent flight sims to consoles.
Third, they're not always cheaper. Most of us need a computer for something or another, so if your main box doubles as your gaming box, the appropriate way to look at it is how much more you spent on the gaming box than what you would have needed. If all you do is word process and surf the Internet, you can get by great with a $500 computer. If you want to game, you can put together something modest for about $200 more than that, or a very good system for $600 more (the cost of a PS3).
Not saying PCs are absolutely better or that consoles don't have their upsides as well, but it's not as clear-cut an issue for everyone.
I've gone to several Best Buys recently and played with their Vista machines (I was actually doing it to demo the 24 inch monitor they seem to only ever have connected to the Vista machine though).
I couldn't properly demo the monitor on any of them because a) they had their highest-end, only 1080p capable monitor hooked up to their showcase Vista computer but didn't have any 1080p content on the computer, b) even the lower-resolution video clips they had on there were very choppy, and c) they have the computer somewhat locked-down to prevent screwing with the graphics settings.
The salesman said it ran choppy because they were using their Vista demo unit to test out all of their anti-virus and security apps. I'd imagine that isn't the use corporate envisioned when it rolled out a high-end display computer designed to showcase Vista.
So, yeah, shenanigans like that, plus the really poorly designed demoing software may have led to 90% of the obnoxiousness you see.
I think yoiu don't understand what Just In Time inventory systems are. A JIT system involves receiving inventory only when you need it to fill orders and maintaining low-no stock levels. Dell does this by requiring suppliers to maintain stocks nearby that they can deliver multiple times PER DAY. Dell just orders when they have orders to fill.
Best Buy, Gamestop, et al. are not on a JIT system. They get shipments once a week usually. Sure, they try not to order more than what they're going to sell that week, but that's just the traditional inventory system, not JIT.
Playstation 3s sold quickly from the first shipment. These stores expected them to sell like hotcakes on subsequent orders, so they ordered a bunch. At least near me, I can go into a Best Buy and see a huge stack of them just sitting there. And Gamestop is having to resort to over-generous trade-in on PS2s to sell PS3s already.
So yeah, I'd say, especially under these circumstances, that shipped units are not a good predictor of sold units.
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I've played the few attempts at console RTSs, and they're pretty awful for a few reasons: After the first several times you play an RTS, you learn build hotkeys. Not enough buttons on a console to pull this off (which is the same problem as a console has with Tactical FPSs). The cursors from a joystick are too inaccurate and too slow to be effective (which is the universal problem for most PC gamers who also console game). RTS games require speed in selection and moving about the battlefield. Both they and regular strategy games require accuracy so you don't botch unit orders. Linux on a PS3 has a couple of drawbacks for someone who wants an office box. First and foremost, it doesn't run Office. OO may be able to do a decent job reading Word, Powerpoint, and Excel files most of the time, but (and granted, my experience is a bit out of date on this) there's always huge file mess-ups when there's any kind of screwy formatting. If you're collaberating with anyone, that's a problem. Second, I don't know how well developed the PS3 install is, but I'm hazarding a guess that unless Ubuntu or Knoppix got ahold of it, it's harder than an ordinary user wants to deal with.
I gotta disagree with you on a couple of points.
First, I'd say the interface is more familiar on the PC. The interface hardware pretty much never changes, and even the typical command button mapping is pretty uniform across titles in a genre (e.g., most FPS have similar WASD setups, even to the point where common weapons like shotguns are frequently mapped to the same number across titles).
Second, it's not just a few games that play better on the PC, it's several genres. Strategy games (both RTS and non) are unplayable on consoles. FPSs I'd say the same thing about, but apparently the simpler ones have made leeway into the market. Tactical FPSs like the Rainbow Six and Ghost Recon series are heavily dumbed down when they're ported to consoles. RPGs are playable on both, but the computer generally has a very strong advantage in that most RPGs for the PC nowadays are heavily moddable. I don't think they even bother trying to port decent flight sims to consoles.
Third, they're not always cheaper. Most of us need a computer for something or another, so if your main box doubles as your gaming box, the appropriate way to look at it is how much more you spent on the gaming box than what you would have needed. If all you do is word process and surf the Internet, you can get by great with a $500 computer. If you want to game, you can put together something modest for about $200 more than that, or a very good system for $600 more (the cost of a PS3).
Not saying PCs are absolutely better or that consoles don't have their upsides as well, but it's not as clear-cut an issue for everyone.
Neither is 95% of the stuff you'll find in a London pub.
...except maybe Belgium.
Every country has its crappy beers.
The furry porn gets deleted first.
I had that problem years ago. I just learned to be ambidextrous while playing with my Wii and the forearms evened out.
I've gone to several Best Buys recently and played with their Vista machines (I was actually doing it to demo the 24 inch monitor they seem to only ever have connected to the Vista machine though).
I couldn't properly demo the monitor on any of them because a) they had their highest-end, only 1080p capable monitor hooked up to their showcase Vista computer but didn't have any 1080p content on the computer, b) even the lower-resolution video clips they had on there were very choppy, and c) they have the computer somewhat locked-down to prevent screwing with the graphics settings.
The salesman said it ran choppy because they were using their Vista demo unit to test out all of their anti-virus and security apps. I'd imagine that isn't the use corporate envisioned when it rolled out a high-end display computer designed to showcase Vista.
So, yeah, shenanigans like that, plus the really poorly designed demoing software may have led to 90% of the obnoxiousness you see.
I think yoiu don't understand what Just In Time inventory systems are. A JIT system involves receiving inventory only when you need it to fill orders and maintaining low-no stock levels. Dell does this by requiring suppliers to maintain stocks nearby that they can deliver multiple times PER DAY. Dell just orders when they have orders to fill.
Best Buy, Gamestop, et al. are not on a JIT system. They get shipments once a week usually. Sure, they try not to order more than what they're going to sell that week, but that's just the traditional inventory system, not JIT.
Playstation 3s sold quickly from the first shipment. These stores expected them to sell like hotcakes on subsequent orders, so they ordered a bunch. At least near me, I can go into a Best Buy and see a huge stack of them just sitting there. And Gamestop is having to resort to over-generous trade-in on PS2s to sell PS3s already.
So yeah, I'd say, especially under these circumstances, that shipped units are not a good predictor of sold units.