I care because a running application represents "something I was working on in the past" and a non-running application is "something I might want to work on in the future".
Get it? A running application was generally started by me and is holding some kind of context that I probably want to come back to. A non-running application is likely a blank slate.
This is what multitasking/task switching is all about from a human point of view...
The only things is sometimes if you get used to highly customized desktop configurations/window managers, life is very annoying when you go to work on someone else's machine...
Based on my limited experience with OSX... I decided that the dock was a blend of the start button (in terms of holding shortcuts) and the taskbar. (In terms of letting you get back to running apps). I hate that mix, because for me going to a presently running task is a very different thing than starting a new one, and a little triangle icon doesn't make the difference obvious enough. Also, I don't like how it tends to put, say, all browser windows under one icon there....for me each browser windows is a different conceptual "task"
Random question-- I recently read this idea that the universe might be curved back on itself...that light that seems to be from a "long long long way away" might actually be from "here", but a long time ago. Is there any evidence for or against the universe being a closed system like that? Is this idea taken seriously by anyone of repute?
Don't forget, unlike with Windows OS, every new generation requires the customer buy a completely new set of hardware, Technically true, and there's a certain % of the market who will get a new OS and slap it on old hardware, but for the most part, people buy the OS w/ their machine and never upgrade. and unless they deliver backwards compatibility there's not that much reason for a customer to stick with the XBox unless the customer actually likes the product. MS won't have the lock-in they have in the OS market. There are generally only a few types of differentiators between consoles these days: 1. Console-unique Titles 2. Controllers 3. Form factor of the box itself 4. Bells and whistles like progressive scan and dolby
Fundamentally, a console is different than an OS, in that generations of OS have some consistency to them...it's easier to go from Win98 to WinXP then it is to go from WinXP to OSX, so you're right that there's stickiness there that game consoles don't have.
"I think it would be really cool to live near a nuclear power plant and I certainly would move near one given everything else is equal."
I lived in a school district not too far from Ohio's Perry Plant...and I remember how their school never had to have a fundraiser, that plant generated tons of revenue for the town.
So there are some possible benefits for the community that doesn't sweat the NIMBY.
Interesting things are happening as we've pretty much plateau'd on system requirements for web browsing and light multimedia work...consumers might get sick of those big ass towers (or even medium ass) with expandibilty they never end up using.
Interesting in the "people's affection for small electronics" debate, there are only a few entrants in the inexpensive small laptop department (Sony has a knack for the so-tiny-but-so-expensive niche.) I got a $850 Averatech that is a superb living room browsing machine. A little warm, a few questionably placed keys, but with 802-11g and a DVD/CD-burner player built in.
Now what stops me from making it my only computer? I dunno, it's probably about as powerful as my 3 yr old PC. I don't know what it would take to put on a DVD burner, but other than that, it's probably just lack of a docking station and all those cables, I want to use my big screen and fullsize keyboard and regular mouse.
I guess it will come down to cost, in the competition of mini-PCs and laptops. And just the "damn that's so cute!" factor...laptops will always be constrained by the need to include screen and keyboard, both in cost and form factor.
(Assuming you could get it to read/burn normal sized CDs, I always thought the nintendo GameCube would be a great model for a PC case...)
Could you imagine if earth became like Planet Spaceball, with our leaders denying there's a lack of Oxygen while taking big gulps of branded bottled oxygen "PerriAir"?
man, I wish that rumored "mission select" cheat would show up though I wouldn't be shocked if they remove it before release...but that's one thing this game really lacks. I love playing through all the missions, but if I want to come back to an especially fun one I have to either play thorugh everything before it or do a lot of fiddling with my save games (which is extra confusing because the game will be saved with the name of the mission I just beat, not the one I want to play...)
I remember growing up, reading sci-fi books about the massive engineering projects of terraforming Mars so that people could walk around in shortsleeves on it...lately I've been thinking we're going to need to do the same thing to our planet, in real time.
It had some of the worst dialog (or maybe it was the delivery)...I still cringe at stuff like "now he's playing space cowboy in some backroom" and the deboarding-the-helicopter "greetings, programs!"
Ugh.
Loved, loved, loved the tanks though. Those things were bad ass.
For some reason, when you click on a link someone sends you in gmail, it opens in a new window, all well and good, but it rearranges IE's toolbars. I carefully put the standard set of buttons, the "File" menu, and the Address bar on one line (to minimize use of vertical real estate) and the new window has them all on seperate lines...which is irksome if that's the last window that gets closed in IE, because that means it sets the pattern for next time you start up IE.
I would add that the day it made sense to have a two-button mouse over a one-button mouse was the day that contextual menus were invented, because that was the first time that a consistent meaning was applied to the second button.
Excellent point. And the mouse that came with my 386, pre-Windows PC, doubley so, because there wasn't a consistent GUI, just weird graphical one-offs and character mode apps, and overall the use of the mouse was terribly incosistent. Coherent and consistent GUIs are a Good Thing...its taken the web a long time to get similar paradigms and cliches going.
I hope Apple never, ever ships a two button mouse as a default and I'll tell you why. Anyone who has ever taught a complete novice to use a computer can tell you that on button is complex enough, and two, that do different things will completely confuse someone.
I realize "market penetration" of computers isn't as complete as I'd like to think, but I think it's stupid to always gear computers towards the LCD of the utter n00b.
Now I know you are thinking that all of us power users can do things faster if we have more buttons, and hence more options. You are right. The difference is, on a OSX system, I get to assign those extra buttons to whatever I want.
I purposefully avoid getting dependent on anything too far afield from the "standard" of 2 buttons and a scrollwheel, or little cutesy UI plugins; I find a lot of time I'm having to get around someone else's machine, and if I'm too dependent on the wackiness of my setup, I can't do as much there...the benefit of setting up as a "power user" is more than outweighed by that.
Plus, all these buttons on mice...on a lot of 'em I find it too easy to press the extra buttons, just where my fingers naturally rest.
Funny, just yesterday I blogged about some similar experiences...I had an XP box that would log me out as soon as I went to log in, and because all my passwords were blank some of the linux rescue CD based fixes wouldn't work...
I decided to just grab my personal files off (one rule I have is to put all my personal stuff in c:\data\ ) To make a long story short, Bart's Preinstalled Environment (BartPE) bootable live windows CD/DVD, at the recommendation of Enkidu on alt.os.linux, turned out to be a better bet for my needs, letting me shove the files onto my laptop over the network. (I'm proficient at both Windows and Unix commandlines but not too great as an admin on either, so maybe that has something to do with my problems with, says, system-down rescue cd linux)
Mr. Game and Watch as Master Chief....
on
Halo on Gizmondo?
·
· Score: 1
I can't be the only who still thinks of Tiger as the maker of mid-90s Game-and-Watch style LCD games (including "ports" of many popular arcade and video games)... I could just see what Halo would look like as a little dinky LCD handheld, I'm almost tempted to make a mockup...
Do we suspect there are any programmers actually working on it? When does it move from vaporware to cancelled project? Does there have to be an official announcement?
I thought the emphasis on defense of "freedom" was interesting because of how narrowly focused it was. I mean, I could almost see some of the arguments subverted for "I should be free to set all the fires I want, anywhere, anytime". Now of course that's an obviously ridiculous argument, because of how clearly that "freedom" would interfere with the rights of others, but still I think it's worth thinking about what "freedom" means, and in what cases is it not a "self evident" good.
He was fairly poochie like when he was introduced in Donkey Kong Country in the 90s, but he's only played a small roll for the most part....good call though.
I just read Gleick's biography of Newton...amazing how even back then they were arguing particle vs. wave for light, based on odd discrepencies with even their fairly primitive aparatus...like how light refracts around a razor blade. Given that the answer we now seem happiest with is "both", it's not surprising Newton kind of hedged his bets.
Some of these weren't truly new, but hadn't been in gaming for a while, like "analog controller" which was on Vectrex and misc. other old systems. (interestingly the N64 controller was a modified version of something that woulda come out for the 3D0 had that stuck around)
Other things made or reintroduced by Nintendo: * shoulder buttons (SNES) * buttons arranged in cross pad config (SNES... allowed for good port of Smash TV!) * 4 controller ports on the console (no multitap) (N64)
I think game.com had touchscreen, but it wasn't very sensitive, with very big discreet "button areas". And DC had analog shoulder buttons. But still, Nintendo has done more hardware innovating than nearly anyone. And Mario 64, Mario Party, and Smash Bros all established new genres, for my money.
Slashdot Mirror
It ain't rocket science...
I care because a running application represents "something I was working on in the past" and a non-running application is "something I might want to work on in the future".
Get it? A running application was generally started by me and is holding some kind of context that I probably want to come back to. A non-running application is likely a blank slate.
This is what multitasking/task switching is all about from a human point of view...
The only things is sometimes if you get used to highly customized desktop configurations/window managers, life is very annoying when you go to work on someone else's machine...
Based on my limited experience with OSX...
I decided that the dock was a blend of the start button (in terms of holding shortcuts) and the taskbar. (In terms of letting you get back to running apps). I hate that mix, because for me going to a presently running task is a very different thing than starting a new one, and a little triangle icon doesn't make the difference obvious enough. Also, I don't like how it tends to put, say, all browser windows under one icon there....for me each browser windows is a different conceptual "task"
Huh, interesting.
I find the idea aesthetically appealing, though obviously that doesn't mean it's right.
It reminds me a little bit of that old question, why isn't the night sky bright if there are suns in every direction...
Random question--
I recently read this idea that the universe might be curved back on itself...that light that seems to be from a "long long long way away" might actually be from "here", but a long time ago. Is there any evidence for or against the universe being a closed system like that? Is this idea taken seriously by anyone of repute?
Don't forget, unlike with Windows OS, every new generation requires the customer buy a completely new set of hardware,
Technically true, and there's a certain % of the market who will get a new OS and slap it on old hardware, but for the most part, people buy the OS w/ their machine and never upgrade.
and unless they deliver backwards compatibility there's not that much reason for a customer to stick with the XBox unless the customer actually likes the product. MS won't have the lock-in they have in the OS market.
There are generally only a few types of differentiators between consoles these days:
1. Console-unique Titles
2. Controllers
3. Form factor of the box itself
4. Bells and whistles like progressive scan and dolby
Fundamentally, a console is different than an OS, in that generations of OS have some consistency to them...it's easier to go from Win98 to WinXP then it is to go from WinXP to OSX, so you're right that there's stickiness there that game consoles don't have.
"I think it would be really cool to live near a nuclear power plant and I certainly would move near one given everything else is equal."
I lived in a school district not too far from Ohio's Perry Plant...and I remember how their school never had to have a fundraiser, that plant generated tons of revenue for the town.
So there are some possible benefits for the community that doesn't sweat the NIMBY.
Interesting things are happening as we've pretty much plateau'd on system requirements for web browsing and light multimedia work...consumers might get sick of those big ass towers (or even medium ass) with expandibilty they never end up using.
Interesting in the "people's affection for small electronics" debate, there are only a few entrants in the inexpensive small laptop department (Sony has a knack for the so-tiny-but-so-expensive niche.) I got a $850 Averatech that is a superb living room browsing machine. A little warm, a few questionably placed keys, but with 802-11g and a DVD/CD-burner player built in.
Now what stops me from making it my only computer? I dunno, it's probably about as powerful as my 3 yr old PC. I don't know what it would take to put on a DVD burner, but other than that, it's probably just lack of a docking station and all those cables, I want to use my big screen and fullsize keyboard and regular mouse.
I guess it will come down to cost, in the competition of mini-PCs and laptops. And just the "damn that's so cute!" factor...laptops will always be constrained by the need to include screen and keyboard, both in cost and form factor.
(Assuming you could get it to read/burn normal sized CDs, I always thought the nintendo GameCube would be a great model for a PC case...)
Could you imagine if earth became like Planet Spaceball, with our leaders denying there's a lack of Oxygen while taking big gulps of branded bottled oxygen "PerriAir"?
man, I wish that rumored "mission select" cheat would show up though I wouldn't be shocked if they remove it before release...but that's one thing this game really lacks. I love playing through all the missions, but if I want to come back to an especially fun one I have to either play thorugh everything before it or do a lot of fiddling with my save games (which is extra confusing because the game will be saved with the name of the mission I just beat, not the one I want to play...)
I remember growing up, reading sci-fi books about the massive engineering projects of terraforming Mars so that people could walk around in shortsleeves on it...lately I've been thinking we're going to need to do the same thing to our planet, in real time.
My guess is that you should not expect the finished product to rival the LoTR trilogy :-)
Yeah...I mean "Meet the Feebles" set such a good precendent...
It had some of the worst dialog (or maybe it was the delivery)...I still cringe at stuff like "now he's playing space cowboy in some backroom" and the deboarding-the-helicopter "greetings, programs!"
Ugh.
Loved, loved, loved the tanks though. Those things were bad ass.
For some reason, when you click on a link someone sends you in gmail, it opens in a new window, all well and good, but it rearranges IE's toolbars. I carefully put the standard set of buttons, the "File" menu, and the Address bar on one line (to minimize use of vertical real estate) and the new window has them all on seperate lines...which is irksome if that's the last window that gets closed in IE, because that means it sets the pattern for next time you start up IE.
Guess I've put too much faith in my Linksys router's firewall potential, then.
I would add that the day it made sense to have a two-button mouse over a one-button mouse was the day that contextual menus were invented, because that was the first time that a consistent meaning was applied to the second button.
Excellent point.
And the mouse that came with my 386, pre-Windows PC, doubley so, because there wasn't a consistent GUI, just weird graphical one-offs and character mode apps, and overall the use of the mouse was terribly incosistent. Coherent and consistent GUIs are a Good Thing...its taken the web a long time to get similar paradigms and cliches going.
I hope Apple never, ever ships a two button mouse as a default and I'll tell you why. Anyone who has ever taught a complete novice to use a computer can tell you that on button is complex enough, and two, that do different things will completely confuse someone.
I realize "market penetration" of computers isn't as complete as I'd like to think, but I think it's stupid to always gear computers towards the LCD of the utter n00b.
Now I know you are thinking that all of us power users can do things faster if we have more buttons, and hence more options. You are right. The difference is, on a OSX system, I get to assign those extra buttons to whatever I want.
I purposefully avoid getting dependent on anything too far afield from the "standard" of 2 buttons and a scrollwheel, or little cutesy UI plugins; I find a lot of time I'm having to get around someone else's machine, and if I'm too dependent on the wackiness of my setup, I can't do as much there...the benefit of setting up as a "power user" is more than outweighed by that.
Plus, all these buttons on mice...on a lot of 'em I find it too easy to press the extra buttons, just where my fingers naturally rest.
Funny, just yesterday I blogged about some similar experiences...I had an XP box that would log me out as soon as I went to log in, and because all my passwords were blank some of the linux rescue CD based fixes wouldn't work...
I decided to just grab my personal files off (one rule I have is to put all my personal stuff in c:\data\ ) To make a long story short, Bart's Preinstalled Environment (BartPE) bootable live windows CD/DVD, at the recommendation of Enkidu on alt.os.linux, turned out to be a better bet for my needs, letting me shove the files onto my laptop over the network. (I'm proficient at both Windows and Unix commandlines but not too great as an admin on either, so maybe that has something to do with my problems with, says, system-down rescue cd linux)
I can't be the only who still thinks of Tiger as the maker of mid-90s Game-and-Watch style LCD games (including "ports" of many popular arcade and video games)... I could just see what Halo would look like as a little dinky LCD handheld, I'm almost tempted to make a mockup...
Do we suspect there are any programmers actually working on it? When does it move from vaporware to cancelled project? Does there have to be an official announcement?
I thought the emphasis on defense of "freedom" was interesting because of how narrowly focused it was. I mean, I could almost see some of the arguments subverted for "I should be free to set all the fires I want, anywhere, anytime". Now of course that's an obviously ridiculous argument, because of how clearly that "freedom" would interfere with the rights of others, but still I think it's worth thinking about what "freedom" means, and in what cases is it not a "self evident" good.
He was fairly poochie like when he was introduced in Donkey Kong Country in the 90s, but he's only played a small roll for the most part....good call though.
Even worse...a picture a "naked fat man" in zero-G...
I just read Gleick's biography of Newton...amazing how even back then they were arguing particle vs. wave for light, based on odd discrepencies with even their fairly primitive aparatus...like how light refracts around a razor blade. Given that the answer we now seem happiest with is "both", it's not surprising Newton kind of hedged his bets.
Some of these weren't truly new, but hadn't been in gaming for a while, like "analog controller" which was on Vectrex and misc. other old systems. (interestingly the N64 controller was a modified version of something that woulda come out for the 3D0 had that stuck around)
Other things made or reintroduced by Nintendo:
* shoulder buttons (SNES)
* buttons arranged in cross pad config (SNES... allowed for good port of Smash TV!)
* 4 controller ports on the console (no multitap) (N64)
I think game.com had touchscreen, but it wasn't very sensitive, with very big discreet "button areas". And DC had analog shoulder buttons. But still, Nintendo has done more hardware innovating than nearly anyone. And Mario 64, Mario Party, and Smash Bros all established new genres, for my money.