The Total Recall special edition DVD has a track on it with a NASA JPL guy talking about the red planet. He concludes with a short squib on how they are planning to bring back rocks from Mars by 2014, I believe. This was the first I had heard of this.
A year or so ago, I was optimistic about Loki getting their titles out where more than just the hard-core Linux population would see them.
First, large Linux distros, like SuSE, where including good demo versions of one of Loki's titles with each release. This is how I got acquainted with Civilization: Call to Power (CTP) and Railroad Tycoon II (RT2). For one thing, having the demo game pre-installed with the OS, made getting over that hump of just getting the thing out of the box and installing it that much easier, and the game much more accessible. Based on playing around with the demo CTP and RT2, I went out and found them on the shelf at my local retailer, and purchased them. Eventually, they ended up on my teen-age daughter's machine (I put together a dual-boot system for her, which she has had a lot of fun with), since I don't seem to have the time for much of any game-playing these days.
At some point, though, these demo titles disappeared from the SuSE distros. I don't recall any explanation forthcoming from SuSE, but it probably had to do with deciding what was the best commercial titles to place on their ever-increasing media (7 CD or 1 DVD, and counting 8-), vs. whatever deal those various commercial outfits were willing to cut to let SuSE carry the title.
In any event, placing demo titles on Linux distro CD's doesn't really play to the key audience that Loki needs to break into: the impulse buyer that is roaming the aisles at CompUSA, bored with whatever current game they've been playing, and willing to grab something they've heard about or has an attractive box, to try to regain the thrill of the 'next best game'.
This is where the retail (and distribution) chains come in, and the story of shelf space.
If you look in some place like CompUSA, you will see tons of game titles dominating rows and rows of shelves. Stores don't do this out of the goodness of their heart. They devote this much shelf space to game titles because they 'move'. Any title that doesn't move (or a company that gets a reputation for stagnant sales) will lose their coveted shelf space. The truth of the matter is that about 10 times as many game titles are completed each year as there is shelf space to display them in the typical retail store. These titles simply never see the light of day.
Now, with that in mind, what chance did Loki have of getting any of that precious shelf space? Essentially next to none. However, they actually did have some space for a while, because I did march into my local CompUSA and also an Electronics Boutique (a 'mall creature') and buy several Loki titles over a period of time. I wasn't crazy about the positioning of the titles in the CompUSA store, though. They were thoroughly mixed in with the Windows versions, and for the most part, you had to pick up and inspect the bottom, side, or back of the box to see if it was the Linux version or not. At the time, I recall wishing that the store had set up an end-cap (very hallowed ground 8-) with just Linux game titles, to bring attention to the fact that there were even such items in the store.
When I went back a few months ago, to buy some new title that interested me, I was surprised to find that all the Linux games were gone. Talking to the store manager, he indicated that that local CompUSA had done OK with their Linux game sales, but that the corporate buyers had decided that they weren't doing well overall, and had pulled the whole lot, sending them back to the manufacturer. I registered my displeasure
with the store manager, who promised to discuss it with the regional rep the next time they got together to discuss such things, and went to Electronics Boutique to search out my title(s).
When I got to EB, I found a similar scene, although EB had decided to dump their titles in the bargain bin, rather then sending them back. I picked out two, and left.
The sad reality of all this, is if Loki can't command the shelf space, and if retail sales of Linux titles never pick up, they are missing a giant distribution arm that will make or break the company. I know that a lot of folks here would just as happily buy online, but I also read comments from folks here that fit the original retail shopper profile that I initially outlined. At least, for now, that retail shopper rules. And if Loki can't reach those shoppers, they are doomed.
I have two shelves full of old Linux distros, starting with the 0.99pl14 Ygdrassil release, and progressing through the Morse Telco, SLS, Slackware, and RedHat, and finally my current favorite, SuSE.
For a while I was buying every InfoMagic multi-CD release as well, and sampling the various systems on them. I've never bought any Windows software or operating systems, except Academic versions of Office, and Encarta for my daughter in college.
Every other piece of Microsoft software I have came with the systems I purchased, except a Visual Studio '97 I won at a Microsoft demo in a local bookstore.
Geez. I've spent more money on Linux-related T-shirts than Microsoft software, and I don't have a single piece of pirated Microsoft software. Don't need it. Eventually, my house will be entirely Microsoft-free. Good riddance.
You should correct the title and publisher of
this book. I have one on my desk, and it says.
"CVS Pocket Reference" *not* "CVS in a Nutshell",
and it is published by O'Reilly, which hopefully
would be obvious by the appearance of the ever-
present animal cover..
Um, I can record HDTV on my DirecTivo, but of
course, this is from a paid-for satellite
television service. The DirecTivo, by the
way, can not record *any* off-air signals,
because it lacks a MPEG encoder. Instead,
it records the variable-bit-rate MPEG-encoded
signals directly from the built-in DirecTV
satellite receiver. This provides a superior
recording compared to using one of the regular
Tivo recorders in fixed-bit-rate mode (the only
mode they support), at 'basic quality' rate,
so you can get a decent amount of recording
space on the internal hard drives.
Considering that DirecTV doesn't carry WB or
UPN, I now can no longer timeshift shows on
those channels, unless I use my VCR 8-(. On
the other hand, MTV seems to carry the one
or two UPN shows I care out these days (Gary
& Mike, Celebrity Deathmatch), so it's not
a complete loss.
I 'willed' my old 14-hour Tivo to my daughter
to take to college, so he can timeshift her
favorite Toonami shows.
Anyway, I find the lack of being able to
record off-air signals with the DirecTivo
a harbinger of things to come. It provides
superior picture and audio, but at a price
of freedom. I suppose that I'll just get
used to the idea of getting all my programming
off of the satellite, and I'll end up being
one of those massive hordes that have just
simply accepted that that's they way you
get your entertainment.
At least I still have my MP3 collection... 8-)
Re:The coolest things about QNX
on
The Rise Of QNX
·
· Score: 2
Now, if only that durn thing would run on something besides an X86 processor, it would be worth consideration for all those embedded appliances you talk about. There was an announcement some time ago from the QNX folks, saying that they were dropping the WatCOM folks and switching to Code Warrior for their development platform, and simultaneously (because the Code Warrior has all these backends, you see) they were going to port to multiple CPU's. Well, the Code Warrior folks backed out (they smelled more money in doing Motorola's reference Linux development implementation), and left QNX holding the bag. They had to go back to WatCOM and 'eat crow'. What a mess. This isn't the first time that MetroWerks has jerked the rug out from under somebody. Remember the promises surrounding a port of the Pro version of Code Warrior to RedHat? Where is it now? Hmmm? MetroJerks has shown that they can't be trusted to keep a promise. They just follow the money, wherever it happens to be at the moment, and to hell with all the promises they just made...
(Non-fraternal) twins have identical DNA.
An identification system based on DNA is doomed
for this and various similar reasons. Read
Garfinkel's "Database Nation" to see why.
Actually, if you want to use VMWare with such a system, the thing to do is set it up as a dual-boot by installing the Win2000, using a disk shrinking utilitiy to shrink the original Win2000 partition down to some size less than your hard disk size, then installing Linux normally as the second operating system. Then, go back into Win2000, and set up two configurations by copying the original and renaming it so that you have ones named Real and Virtual. Reboot into Linux, and run the VMWare config utility with -rawdisk as a command line switch. Voila! The VMWare config will let you access and run your Win2000 within Linux by mounting the raw partition. When booting Win2000 within VMWare, just pick the Virtual configuration and install the VMWare tools (SVGA driver, etc.) in that configuration. I've been doing this for better than a year now with NT,
and it works like a charm. There are detailed instructions on how to do this on VMWare's web site. Just look for the instructions on using the rawdisk settings in the configuration wizard.
Slashdot Mirror
Particularly because Washington is a community property state. After the divorce, her half of the stock options should help console her.
The Total Recall special edition DVD has a track on it with a NASA JPL guy talking about the red planet. He concludes with a short squib on how they are planning to bring back rocks from Mars by 2014, I believe. This was the first I had heard of this.
First, large Linux distros, like SuSE, where including good demo versions of one of Loki's titles with each release. This is how I got acquainted with Civilization: Call to Power (CTP) and Railroad Tycoon II (RT2). For one thing, having the demo game pre-installed with the OS, made getting over that hump of just getting the thing out of the box and installing it that much easier, and the game much more accessible. Based on playing around with the demo CTP and RT2, I went out and found them on the shelf at my local retailer, and purchased them. Eventually, they ended up on my teen-age daughter's machine (I put together a dual-boot system for her, which she has had a lot of fun with), since I don't seem to have the time for much of any game-playing these days.
At some point, though, these demo titles disappeared from the SuSE distros. I don't recall any explanation forthcoming from SuSE, but it probably had to do with deciding what was the best commercial titles to place on their ever-increasing media (7 CD or 1 DVD, and counting 8-), vs. whatever deal those various commercial outfits were willing to cut to let SuSE carry the title.
In any event, placing demo titles on Linux distro CD's doesn't really play to the key audience that Loki needs to break into: the impulse buyer that is roaming the aisles at CompUSA, bored with whatever current game they've been playing, and willing to grab something they've heard about or has an attractive box, to try to regain the thrill of the 'next best game'.
This is where the retail (and distribution) chains come in, and the story of shelf space.
If you look in some place like CompUSA, you will see tons of game titles dominating rows and rows of shelves. Stores don't do this out of the goodness of their heart. They devote this much shelf space to game titles because they 'move'. Any title that doesn't move (or a company that gets a reputation for stagnant sales) will lose their coveted shelf space. The truth of the matter is that about 10 times as many game titles are completed each year as there is shelf space to display them in the typical retail store. These titles simply never see the light of day.
Now, with that in mind, what chance did Loki have of getting any of that precious shelf space? Essentially next to none. However, they actually did have some space for a while, because I did march into my local CompUSA and also an Electronics Boutique (a 'mall creature') and buy several Loki titles over a period of time. I wasn't crazy about the positioning of the titles in the CompUSA store, though. They were thoroughly mixed in with the Windows versions, and for the most part, you had to pick up and inspect the bottom, side, or back of the box to see if it was the Linux version or not. At the time, I recall wishing that the store had set up an end-cap (very hallowed ground 8-) with just Linux game titles, to bring attention to the fact that there were even such items in the store.
When I went back a few months ago, to buy some new title that interested me, I was surprised to find that all the Linux games were gone. Talking to the store manager, he indicated that that local CompUSA had done OK with their Linux game sales, but that the corporate buyers had decided that they weren't doing well overall, and had pulled the whole lot, sending them back to the manufacturer. I registered my displeasure with the store manager, who promised to discuss it with the regional rep the next time they got together to discuss such things, and went to Electronics Boutique to search out my title(s).
When I got to EB, I found a similar scene, although EB had decided to dump their titles in the bargain bin, rather then sending them back. I picked out two, and left.
The sad reality of all this, is if Loki can't command the shelf space, and if retail sales of Linux titles never pick up, they are missing a giant distribution arm that will make or break the company. I know that a lot of folks here would just as happily buy online, but I also read comments from folks here that fit the original retail shopper profile that I initially outlined. At least, for now, that retail shopper rules. And if Loki can't reach those shoppers, they are doomed.
I have two shelves full of old Linux distros, starting with the 0.99pl14 Ygdrassil release, and progressing through the Morse Telco, SLS, Slackware, and RedHat, and finally my current favorite, SuSE.
For a while I was buying every InfoMagic multi-CD release as well, and sampling the various systems on them. I've never bought any Windows software or operating systems, except Academic versions of Office, and Encarta for my daughter in college.
Every other piece of Microsoft software I have came with the systems I purchased, except a Visual Studio '97 I won at a Microsoft demo in a local bookstore.
Geez. I've spent more money on Linux-related T-shirts than Microsoft software, and I don't have a single piece of pirated Microsoft software. Don't need it. Eventually, my house will be entirely Microsoft-free. Good riddance.
You should correct the title and publisher of this book. I have one on my desk, and it says. "CVS Pocket Reference" *not* "CVS in a Nutshell", and it is published by O'Reilly, which hopefully would be obvious by the appearance of the ever- present animal cover..
Um, I can record HDTV on my DirecTivo, but of course, this is from a paid-for satellite television service. The DirecTivo, by the way, can not record *any* off-air signals, because it lacks a MPEG encoder. Instead, it records the variable-bit-rate MPEG-encoded signals directly from the built-in DirecTV satellite receiver. This provides a superior recording compared to using one of the regular Tivo recorders in fixed-bit-rate mode (the only mode they support), at 'basic quality' rate, so you can get a decent amount of recording space on the internal hard drives. Considering that DirecTV doesn't carry WB or UPN, I now can no longer timeshift shows on those channels, unless I use my VCR 8-(. On the other hand, MTV seems to carry the one or two UPN shows I care out these days (Gary & Mike, Celebrity Deathmatch), so it's not a complete loss. I 'willed' my old 14-hour Tivo to my daughter to take to college, so he can timeshift her favorite Toonami shows. Anyway, I find the lack of being able to record off-air signals with the DirecTivo a harbinger of things to come. It provides superior picture and audio, but at a price of freedom. I suppose that I'll just get used to the idea of getting all my programming off of the satellite, and I'll end up being one of those massive hordes that have just simply accepted that that's they way you get your entertainment. At least I still have my MP3 collection... 8-)
Now, if only that durn thing would run on something besides an X86 processor, it would be worth consideration for all those embedded appliances you talk about. There was an announcement some time ago from the QNX folks, saying that they were dropping the WatCOM folks and switching to Code Warrior for their development platform, and simultaneously (because the Code Warrior has all these backends, you see) they were going to port to multiple CPU's. Well, the Code Warrior folks backed out (they smelled more money in doing Motorola's reference Linux development implementation), and left QNX holding the bag. They had to go back to WatCOM and 'eat crow'. What a mess. This isn't the first time that MetroWerks has jerked the rug out from under somebody. Remember the promises surrounding a port of the Pro version of Code Warrior to RedHat? Where is it now? Hmmm? MetroJerks has shown that they can't be trusted to keep a promise. They just follow the money, wherever it happens to be at the moment, and to hell with all the promises they just made...
(Non-fraternal) twins have identical DNA. An identification system based on DNA is doomed for this and various similar reasons. Read Garfinkel's "Database Nation" to see why.
Actually, if you want to use VMWare with such a system, the thing to do is set it up as a dual-boot by installing the Win2000, using a disk shrinking utilitiy to shrink the original Win2000 partition down to some size less than your hard disk size, then installing Linux normally as the second operating system. Then, go back into Win2000, and set up two configurations by copying the original and renaming it so that you have ones named Real and Virtual. Reboot into Linux, and run the VMWare config utility with -rawdisk as a command line switch. Voila! The VMWare config will let you access and run your Win2000 within Linux by mounting the raw partition. When booting Win2000 within VMWare, just pick the Virtual configuration and install the VMWare tools (SVGA driver, etc.) in that configuration. I've been doing this for better than a year now with NT, and it works like a charm. There are detailed instructions on how to do this on VMWare's web site. Just look for the instructions on using the rawdisk settings in the configuration wizard.
Good luck (you'll need it 8-)
I guess that also serves to limit criticism...