I stopped buying Sierra games awhile ago (except for the Caesars, they have been pretty stable)...but the biggest game heartbreak has been from Bethesda Software. Daggerfall is quite potentially IMHO one of the coolest games ever released....but it never reached a point where it was playable. I was excited about the multiplayer options in Battlespire, but it simply sucked so bad I frisbeed it. Annoyed me too, as I had responded to a Bethesda add about beta-testing it (Battlespire) and they never even bothered to e-mail me. At this point, even though bethesda has made some great games, I refuse to buy them unless I hear from multiple people that they are stable.....I'm still waiting.
Personally, I don't blame Be for not wanting to develop an OS for hardware whos owners are hostile. As I understand, the problem lies not with the G3 processor itself but rather with apples board design. There are probably other issues at work here two. While reverse engineering may technically be legal, that has never stopped a lawsuit that is simple designed to be an obstcle, not won. Such lawsuits could kill a small company like Be (a good example, though not technology related, is that of the Cult Awareness Network, which was lawsuited out of existance). I can't recall of the top of my head any product developed commercially that operates on a platform that is hostle. Given the way Apple has traditionally treated any other companys that "invades" Apples space, e.g. the brief lifespan of the clone vendors, I don't blame Be for killing the PowerPC version. Its a shame, its nice hardware, but Apple has shown that it can't stand the idea of competition in its hardware/software market.
I definetly agree...there is no need for it to be the existing way...but it is....OS's like OS/2 and Linux are extremely configurable, but unfortunetly a pain to use (largely), while Be is wonderfully simple to use...but you don't have nearly the amount of under-the-hood tweaking that you can do under linux. Lets hope an os can meet the two in the middle, but at this point I dont think there is that convergence.
Actually, I was speaking tounge in cheek, I guess I should label sarcasm.....I'm really quite fond of Be....I think the big thing with geeks (I'm not going to even touch the idiot comment) is that massive amounts of configurability is desired, which usually goes hand in hand with a "difficult" os, as any os that can allow that degree of custimization is "difficult" as it doesn't do anything for you.
Sorry about the vaporware comment, its just I've been hearing about OSX and Raphsody (yeah, spelling, sue me) for forever now and have yet to actually see anything. I sincerely hope that OSX is realeased.....its just that we have heard alot of hype about new, kickass OS's from Apple and have yet to actually see anything. Has anyone out there actually played with OSX, if so, is it even half as good as its claims.
The boxes may be functional, they just need to be spraypainted black or something....Apple really needs to provide something that isn't tacky....color is great and all, but jeez....why this bubblegum neon crap.
Sure, Linux doesn't have nearly the apps that NT does, but there are usually fully functional ones available. In particular, StarOffice5 and WP8 take care of anything I need to on the school/business front, and has Word98 compatability so I can communicate with the rest of the world. Linux also has Netscape.....I personally don't like Netpositive, and at this point there are no other alternatives at this point for Be. I like Be, hell, I even bought it...but there is a death of applications. There is much more available for Linux, such as that I can actually use it as a primary workstation where as I cannot for Be at this point. Hopefully this will change. Be really needs a decent web browser and an Office98 compatable office suite....WP or SO would be nice...and Star has been good at providing support for multiple platforms.
Used to use Be, stopped because it was entirely too easy to use to satisfy the geek in me, and there were no apps. Quick question, I don't code so I really have no idea. Be at least has some nominal similarities with the *nixs, with the BASH shell and some degree of POSIX compliance....how hard would it be to start pulling Linux stuff over to Be....I would be nice to see OSS play more of a role in the Be world.
Common people, give Katz a break....all of us had to be new to this at some point, and some of us did not even come from a *nix background.....I'm a modertly accomplished geek in Windows (if possible), OS/2....Be and the like, and still found learning Linux rough (still learning it, but I'm over the hump)....Jon is simply talking about the process...no, he hasn't gotten to Linux yet....hes just talking about the drive there. Katz is writting about technical stuff, hes providing perspective, something alot of people evidnetally need to keep in mind. Try remembering the first time you started really screwing around with a system. As for some of the other things people are pestering him about....mind you that he didn't send the system back cause he wanted to play with it ASAP.....not because he was stupid...a sentiment I can easily understand. Linux needs non-technical people using it in order for it to get enough software to be viable in the long term. Free software is great, but there is currently a huge application gap that needs to be filled. Having a user base allows for commerical development, which will fill some of this (mind you, I prefer good old fashion free OSS software, but the choice of having multiple applications to choose from cannot be a bad thing, I'm sick of having to boot into NT just to do something for which there in not a Linux equivelent)......as for the proofreading, there are as usually so many error littering this site that I am surprised that this is even an issue....its just another excuse to flame Katz. I f you dont like this, fine, dont read it....but some of us are enjoying a different perspective.
From what I remember from econ, a monopoly is not necessarily 100% of the market, but rather the ability to control the price on ones product, indicating a basic removal from the laws of supply and demand. Microsofts Windows family's price has remained stable for an extremely long time, and the variation in prices is usually no more than a dollar or two. Microsoft (at least with 95, I havent bothered looking recently) limitied the price range to within acouple dollars at all outlets through creative use of advertising promotions and subsidizations. Hence, it has effective control over the price of its products, indicating a monopoly. Granted, it is a weird monopoly. Wether you buy this definition of a monopoly is another matter, but I is one that is more accurate than pure 100% market share.
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I stopped buying Sierra games awhile ago (except for the Caesars, they have been pretty stable)...but the biggest game heartbreak has been from Bethesda Software. Daggerfall is quite potentially IMHO one of the coolest games ever released....but it never reached a point where it was playable. I was excited about the multiplayer options in Battlespire, but it simply sucked so bad I frisbeed it. Annoyed me too, as I had responded to a Bethesda add about beta-testing it (Battlespire) and they never even bothered to e-mail me. At this point, even though bethesda has made some great games, I refuse to buy them unless I hear from multiple people that they are stable.....I'm still waiting.
Personally, I don't blame Be for not wanting to develop an OS for hardware whos owners are hostile. As I understand, the problem lies not with the G3 processor itself but rather with apples board design. There are probably other issues at work here two. While reverse engineering may technically be legal, that has never stopped a lawsuit that is simple designed to be an obstcle, not won. Such lawsuits could kill a small company like Be (a good example, though not technology related, is that of the Cult Awareness Network, which was lawsuited out of existance). I can't recall of the top of my head any product developed commercially that operates on a platform that is hostle. Given the way Apple has traditionally treated any other companys that "invades" Apples space, e.g. the brief lifespan of the clone vendors, I don't blame Be for killing the PowerPC version. Its a shame, its nice hardware, but Apple has shown that it can't stand the idea of competition in its hardware/software market.
I definetly agree...there is no need for it to be the existing way...but it is....OS's like OS/2 and Linux are extremely configurable, but unfortunetly a pain to use (largely), while Be is wonderfully simple to use...but you don't have nearly the amount of under-the-hood tweaking that you can do under linux. Lets hope an os can meet the two in the middle, but at this point I dont think there is that convergence.
Actually, I was speaking tounge in cheek, I guess I should label sarcasm.....I'm really quite fond of Be....I think the big thing with geeks (I'm not going to even touch the idiot comment) is that massive amounts of configurability is desired, which usually goes hand in hand with a "difficult" os, as any os that can allow that degree of custimization is "difficult" as it doesn't do anything for you.
Sorry about the vaporware comment, its just I've been hearing about OSX and Raphsody (yeah, spelling, sue me) for forever now and have yet to actually see anything. I sincerely hope that OSX is realeased.....its just that we have heard alot of hype about new, kickass OS's from Apple and have yet to actually see anything. Has anyone out there actually played with OSX, if so, is it even half as good as its claims.
The boxes may be functional, they just need to be spraypainted black or something....Apple really needs to provide something that isn't tacky....color is great and all, but jeez....why this bubblegum neon crap.
Sure, Linux doesn't have nearly the apps that NT does, but there are usually fully functional ones available. In particular, StarOffice5 and WP8 take care of anything I need to on the school/business front, and has Word98 compatability so I can communicate with the rest of the world. Linux also has Netscape.....I personally don't like Netpositive, and at this point there are no other alternatives at this point for Be. I like Be, hell, I even bought it...but there is a death of applications. There is much more available for Linux, such as that I can actually use it as a primary workstation where as I cannot for Be at this point. Hopefully this will change. Be really needs a decent web browser and an Office98 compatable office suite....WP or SO would be nice...and Star has been good at providing support for multiple platforms.
Used to use Be, stopped because it was entirely too easy to use to satisfy the geek in me, and there were no apps. Quick question, I don't code so I really have no idea. Be at least has some nominal similarities with the *nixs, with the BASH shell and some degree of POSIX compliance....how hard would it be to start pulling Linux stuff over to Be....I would be nice to see OSS play more of a role in the Be world.
Common people, give Katz a break....all of us had to be new to this at some point, and some of us did not even come from a *nix background.....I'm a modertly accomplished geek in Windows (if possible), OS/2....Be and the like, and still found learning Linux rough (still learning it, but I'm over the hump)....Jon is simply talking about the process...no, he hasn't gotten to Linux yet....hes just talking about the drive there. Katz is writting about technical stuff, hes providing perspective, something alot of people evidnetally need to keep in mind. Try remembering the first time you started really screwing around with a system.
As for some of the other things people are pestering him about....mind you that he didn't send the system back cause he wanted to play with it ASAP.....not because he was stupid...a sentiment I can easily understand. Linux needs non-technical people using it in order for it to get enough software to be viable in the long term. Free software is great, but there is currently a huge application gap that needs to be filled. Having a user base allows for commerical development, which will fill some of this (mind you, I prefer good old fashion free OSS software, but the choice of having multiple applications to choose from cannot be a bad thing, I'm sick of having to boot into NT just to do something for which there in not a Linux equivelent)......as for the proofreading, there are as usually so many error littering this site that I am surprised that this is even an issue....its just another excuse to flame Katz. I f you dont like this, fine, dont read it....but some of us are enjoying a different perspective.
From what I remember from econ, a monopoly is not necessarily 100% of the market, but rather the ability to control the price on ones product, indicating a basic removal from the laws of supply and demand. Microsofts Windows family's price has remained stable for an extremely long time, and the variation in prices is usually no more than a dollar or two. Microsoft (at least with 95, I havent bothered looking recently) limitied the price range to within acouple dollars at all outlets through creative use of advertising promotions and subsidizations. Hence, it has effective control over the price of its products, indicating a monopoly. Granted, it is a weird monopoly. Wether you buy this definition of a monopoly is another matter, but I is one that is more accurate than pure 100% market share.