I don't think so. 20 years is lot of years. Even the TV I bough 10 years ago doesn't work anymore (not showing tv channels at least), because digital TV got instructed.
Yeah, but you bought it right before a big shift in technology, the biggest in the history of TV. And besides, that old TV still works if you just get a converter. I used my standard def TV up until 2 months ago when I decided I wanted to have a nice HTPC and Blu ray player.
Getting back to video games, I think the video game makers that only think of their games as short term profit makers would have a hard time justifying them as art. I can go into a media store and buy music and movies and books from decades past but video games only go back 5-10 years or so before they get termed "abandonware" anymore. There are a few exceptions, like Diablo 2 still being sold and rereleases of Myst. And then there is the Wii offering older games through the Wii shopping channel. But for the most part the industry have put itself into a situation where games aren't cared for after just a few years. Which is sad because a lot of classic games are still played and still entertaining. yeah, yeah, I know, there is the technology factor, but it doesn't have to be that way. If they put more care into making games that followed coding standards and didn't do stupid stuff like contact central servers in order to play, then they could end up selling for 10 years or more like Diablo has.
Another thing to worry about is that in 10+ years we will have a whole generation of games (not just MMOs) that will no longer be able to be played on emulators, etc. because the networks they connect with will be gone.
I think people will get fed up with it and the game publishers will have to change eventually, but not before a lot of damage will be done.
And you might also be interested to know that a mountain of gold doesn't eve exist on the earth. Apparently all the gold ever refined in the world would only fill a cube 20 meters on each side.
If they are talking about companies like Lockheed Martin and Boeing, then yes I think this is a bad idea. but if they are talking about new unknown companies, then I can't blame them for being cautious. Going to space is no small endeavor, its not like just putting a sign on your car and creating a cab company.
Just yesterday, I was commenting on twitter about how the new icon sets for youtube videos are rather confusing. It took a bit of staring to figure out what these icons do. Nobody was able to guess the right answer. C_64 had the funniest answer though by saying "You can only go 8 bits forward or 8 bits to the left ?"
One thing I've noticed over the many years I've been following the computer industry is that despite what hype marketing departments, CEOs and industry analysts spin, often times new devices don't replace the older devices so much as just augment the array of where you use a computer. So time has shown that you generally don't have to worry about a mass switch to newer technologies. These dates aren't exact, but its generally when they started showing up in the public eye.
*Mainframe/Server (1940s-infinity): Untouchable by user, but keeps track of info the user can't, makes sharing easier, etc. This will probably never go away as long as there is a need for reliability and massive storage. *Workstation/Terminal (1950s-1990s): Let's you do stuff in relation to server/mainframe, but only at work. *Desktop personal computer(1977-20??): Let's you try to do stuff at home. Can usually keep up with or exceed most innovations in technology. We will probably always have some sort of stationary access point for computing. *Standardized Gaming Consoles (1977-infinity):Makes easier for most people to play games, but have never been realistic for computer-type work. Often goes back and forth between whether computers have better games. And no, this isn't the first time people have said "The end of PC/computer gaming". I think gaming consoles come and go with the cycles of the economy. *Laptop (1980s-2020): Allows you do stuff in previous, but some people still prefer a desktop for power, customization, easy of repair *PDA/iPhone/Droid (1993-24th century): More convenient than a laptop, but generally only used for organization type stuff, still need laptop or desktop for most things. Actually, if you look at Star Trek, you'll notice that they don't really have a one-device-does-it-all thing either. *Tablet PC(1995-death of HP): More convenient than a laptop, but probably not as rugged. Only useful in some situations. Annoying when the touch display stops working. Will probably never catch on. *Notebook computer (2007-?): Can put it in your purse and hold it like the bible, but good luck reading a document, doing anything useful. My wife uses hers to play Netflix movies while she uses her fullsize laptop. *Wristwatch computer: Makes it a little easier to have fast access all the time to stuff a PDA would do for you. But you still need laptop or desktop.
So here we are in 2010, and all of these computing access paradigms still exist. None of them have replaced the previous paradigm even close to as much as they claimed they would. The only think I could think might replace the desktop/laptop paradigm is if headset computing comes along and allows you to see a virtual large display and you can think what you want to do and it will happen reliably. But we still have a ways and people will need to get used to that. Some people won't want to mess up their hair and what about when you need to drive, etc.
I dealt with a bank once that expected its customers to change its passwords every 2 weeks. So obviously what happened is every time a customer needed to check their bank account, probably once a month, they were locked out. Now this isn't necessarily the problem here. The problem is that with people having to call in every time to reset their password, it becomes such a norm that it probably drastically increases the potential for social engineering.
Disney has always held tight controls over their IP,
This is a major understatement. Disney is the reason why Copyright has been extended for so long. I mean its nicknamed the Mickey Mouse Copyright act for a reason.
I'm an embedded software engineer, and I don't work in IT. In my company, all of us software developers have our own department, but our computers are owned and serviced by the IT department. The products our company makes have embedded CPUs and lots of software; IT is there to provide us with the tools to do our jobs.
There are two kinds of companies in regards to this question of what IT should be, one kind is the kind you work for. A company that makes some kind of computer based tech product or service. The other kind is a company that doesn't make computer based tech product or service. I've worked for both kinds of companies and believe me when I say that each kind of company has their own special needs for IT type services(and not all of them do it right). There are also special types of companies like mega conglomerates and companies that do their business primarily through the internet but are actually in a different industry (like Amazon, E-trade, etc.). I have no idea how IT works or should work in places like that. Its probably fairly strange.
I don't really consider what you are doing to be IT, its product engineering and the person you are supporting is the customer, not coworkers. I've met only a couple of embedded software engineers in my life, but they seemed pretty competent. But I think even management would agree that you fall into the engineering department and the places these people I knew worked had them placed there. But being in a special department like engineering shouldn't really entitle you to any more special privileges in regards to computer access. Because its not about how smart you are, its about controlling access to network resources and so on. Some IT managers also place emphasis on being consistent across the network for easier management with less staff. Maybe some places this is necessary. At this point in time, I kinda don't blame them for wanting to be a little slow because everyone always wants the latest stuff and if they fill one request then they have to fill a thousand.
I don't know if you've ever worked in the IT department as helpdesk or sys/network admin or programmer, but if you did, I think you'd see the difference. In a big company especially.
Last time I checked, programmers are in IT. At least where I work. Don't even get me started on developers (and I was one professionally for a year). Most of them couldn't tie their own shoes without forgetting to let go after they are done.
Well, sometimes you need to use the nocd cracks in order to just get it working, but that's not always the case. There are symlinks called things like d:: in the dosdevices directory that are meant to deal with directly accessing the CD, and on most games that works.
Speaking of kids games, I just installed Dora saves the Crystal Kingdom last night in Linux and it works fine. My daughter was happy.
I'm not thinking of someone who wants to "cheat" and get a bunch of in game currency, I'm more thinking of what will happen when a bunch of people start making their own games to print their own virtual currency. I suppose its just like penny stocks. I'm mostly just thinking aloud.
Yes, this is the way it should work, but what happens if the market isn't saturated with traders? There may end up being a delay between the supply and the exchange price. If market data isn't published by game companies or whatever and there is nothing controlling the game company from making more money in game (a gold standard or serious regulation). I guess currencies are exchanged like stocks are though, where the price is controlled by the buyers willingness to buy it or not. So I guess if they saw a flood of virtual currency then it would automatically adjust the price.
But currencies can be exchanged off the trading floor, yes?
There are a variety of regional currencies in the U.S. that are usually part of local economic interests. I think there is some clause that allows them. There is an article for it on wikipedia somewhere.
I wonder if this will make the value of the South Korean Won drop. Because it would almost make it possible to print money. Of course I guess you'd just need to value different game's currencies differently and then have published exchange rates. Its interesting.
It's 2010. Wine still crashes trying to run fairly low requirement (in terms of system calls) applications written for Windows '98. That's why including Wine doesn't give you decent windows emulation/simulation/replacement.
Um, have you tried using Wine lately? I first used wine back in 2000 and it would only show a splash screen for most programs. Now, I'm playing full games at better framerates and with more flexibility than I can get in windows. Sure, not everything is 100%. But I've gone through all my recent games (about 20) and about 75% of them work. Several of them install seamlessly as if they were native Linux programs. And they were all made within the last 5 years. Heck, Dragon Age just came out in November and already works on Wine, as does The Sims 3. Brand new games working at Gold or Platinum status? That's a major milestone. I think game makers might be finally catching on that wine is mature enough that if they do a little testing with it and make their games more compatible, they don't have to make a Linux version. I'm fine with that.
So It is nothing short of amazing what the wine team has done so don't try to belittle it. Whenever I think that something is impossible, I remember wine and then I'm fine.
Oh Man Oh Man Oh Man, You're still using the command line? You gotta, I say you just gotta teach me that Arcane forgotten art!
Who needs a GUI when you've got the command line!
This is just like how someone was telling me it was 2009 and wondering why I was still using vim. And he was telling me this on an IRC channel. Pot, meet kettle.
Slashdot Mirror
I don't think so. 20 years is lot of years. Even the TV I bough 10 years ago doesn't work anymore (not showing tv channels at least), because digital TV got instructed.
Yeah, but you bought it right before a big shift in technology, the biggest in the history of TV. And besides, that old TV still works if you just get a converter. I used my standard def TV up until 2 months ago when I decided I wanted to have a nice HTPC and Blu ray player.
Getting back to video games, I think the video game makers that only think of their games as short term profit makers would have a hard time justifying them as art. I can go into a media store and buy music and movies and books from decades past but video games only go back 5-10 years or so before they get termed "abandonware" anymore. There are a few exceptions, like Diablo 2 still being sold and rereleases of Myst. And then there is the Wii offering older games through the Wii shopping channel. But for the most part the industry have put itself into a situation where games aren't cared for after just a few years. Which is sad because a lot of classic games are still played and still entertaining. yeah, yeah, I know, there is the technology factor, but it doesn't have to be that way. If they put more care into making games that followed coding standards and didn't do stupid stuff like contact central servers in order to play, then they could end up selling for 10 years or more like Diablo has.
Another thing to worry about is that in 10+ years we will have a whole generation of games (not just MMOs) that will no longer be able to be played on emulators, etc. because the networks they connect with will be gone.
I think people will get fed up with it and the game publishers will have to change eventually, but not before a lot of damage will be done.
And you might also be interested to know that a mountain of gold doesn't eve exist on the earth. Apparently all the gold ever refined in the world would only fill a cube 20 meters on each side.
That's great, but how long will it hold the data?
Ok, but they still had those little pda devices, which was my point.
A spammer's entire business plan can be summed up a "material falsification", can't it?
Like I always say, marketing is the art of making something seem better than it really is.
If they are talking about companies like Lockheed Martin and Boeing, then yes I think this is a bad idea. but if they are talking about new unknown companies, then I can't blame them for being cautious. Going to space is no small endeavor, its not like just putting a sign on your car and creating a cab company.
Just yesterday, I was commenting on twitter about how the new icon sets for youtube videos are rather confusing. It took a bit of staring to figure out what these icons do. Nobody was able to guess the right answer. C_64 had the funniest answer though by saying "You can only go 8 bits forward or 8 bits to the left ?"
One thing I've noticed over the many years I've been following the computer industry is that despite what hype marketing departments, CEOs and industry analysts spin, often times new devices don't replace the older devices so much as just augment the array of where you use a computer. So time has shown that you generally don't have to worry about a mass switch to newer technologies. These dates aren't exact, but its generally when they started showing up in the public eye.
*Mainframe/Server (1940s-infinity): Untouchable by user, but keeps track of info the user can't, makes sharing easier, etc. This will probably never go away as long as there is a need for reliability and massive storage.
*Workstation/Terminal (1950s-1990s): Let's you do stuff in relation to server/mainframe, but only at work.
*Desktop personal computer(1977-20??): Let's you try to do stuff at home. Can usually keep up with or exceed most innovations in technology. We will probably always have some sort of stationary access point for computing.
*Standardized Gaming Consoles (1977-infinity):Makes easier for most people to play games, but have never been realistic for computer-type work. Often goes back and forth between whether computers have better games. And no, this isn't the first time people have said "The end of PC/computer gaming". I think gaming consoles come and go with the cycles of the economy.
*Laptop (1980s-2020): Allows you do stuff in previous, but some people still prefer a desktop for power, customization, easy of repair
*PDA/iPhone/Droid (1993-24th century): More convenient than a laptop, but generally only used for organization type stuff, still need laptop or desktop for most things. Actually, if you look at Star Trek, you'll notice that they don't really have a one-device-does-it-all thing either.
*Tablet PC(1995-death of HP): More convenient than a laptop, but probably not as rugged. Only useful in some situations. Annoying when the touch display stops working. Will probably never catch on.
*Notebook computer (2007-?): Can put it in your purse and hold it like the bible, but good luck reading a document, doing anything useful. My wife uses hers to play Netflix movies while she uses her fullsize laptop.
*Wristwatch computer: Makes it a little easier to have fast access all the time to stuff a PDA would do for you. But you still need laptop or desktop.
So here we are in 2010, and all of these computing access paradigms still exist. None of them have replaced the previous paradigm even close to as much as they claimed they would. The only think I could think might replace the desktop/laptop paradigm is if headset computing comes along and allows you to see a virtual large display and you can think what you want to do and it will happen reliably. But we still have a ways and people will need to get used to that. Some people won't want to mess up their hair and what about when you need to drive, etc.
I dealt with a bank once that expected its customers to change its passwords every 2 weeks. So obviously what happened is every time a customer needed to check their bank account, probably once a month, they were locked out. Now this isn't necessarily the problem here. The problem is that with people having to call in every time to reset their password, it becomes such a norm that it probably drastically increases the potential for social engineering.
Disney has always held tight controls over their IP,
This is a major understatement. Disney is the reason why Copyright has been extended for so long. I mean its nicknamed the Mickey Mouse Copyright act for a reason.
I'm an embedded software engineer, and I don't work in IT. In my company, all of us software developers have our own department, but our computers are owned and serviced by the IT department. The products our company makes have embedded CPUs and lots of software; IT is there to provide us with the tools to do our jobs.
There are two kinds of companies in regards to this question of what IT should be, one kind is the kind you work for. A company that makes some kind of computer based tech product or service. The other kind is a company that doesn't make computer based tech product or service. I've worked for both kinds of companies and believe me when I say that each kind of company has their own special needs for IT type services(and not all of them do it right). There are also special types of companies like mega conglomerates and companies that do their business primarily through the internet but are actually in a different industry (like Amazon, E-trade, etc.). I have no idea how IT works or should work in places like that. Its probably fairly strange.
I don't really consider what you are doing to be IT, its product engineering and the person you are supporting is the customer, not coworkers. I've met only a couple of embedded software engineers in my life, but they seemed pretty competent. But I think even management would agree that you fall into the engineering department and the places these people I knew worked had them placed there. But being in a special department like engineering shouldn't really entitle you to any more special privileges in regards to computer access. Because its not about how smart you are, its about controlling access to network resources and so on. Some IT managers also place emphasis on being consistent across the network for easier management with less staff. Maybe some places this is necessary. At this point in time, I kinda don't blame them for wanting to be a little slow because everyone always wants the latest stuff and if they fill one request then they have to fill a thousand.
I don't know if you've ever worked in the IT department as helpdesk or sys/network admin or programmer, but if you did, I think you'd see the difference. In a big company especially.
Last time I checked, programmers are in IT. At least where I work. Don't even get me started on developers (and I was one professionally for a year). Most of them couldn't tie their own shoes without forgetting to let go after they are done.
Well, sometimes you need to use the nocd cracks in order to just get it working, but that's not always the case. There are symlinks called things like d:: in the dosdevices directory that are meant to deal with directly accessing the CD, and on most games that works.
Speaking of kids games, I just installed Dora saves the Crystal Kingdom last night in Linux and it works fine. My daughter was happy.
I'm not thinking of someone who wants to "cheat" and get a bunch of in game currency, I'm more thinking of what will happen when a bunch of people start making their own games to print their own virtual currency. I suppose its just like penny stocks. I'm mostly just thinking aloud.
Yes, this is the way it should work, but what happens if the market isn't saturated with traders? There may end up being a delay between the supply and the exchange price. If market data isn't published by game companies or whatever and there is nothing controlling the game company from making more money in game (a gold standard or serious regulation). I guess currencies are exchanged like stocks are though, where the price is controlled by the buyers willingness to buy it or not. So I guess if they saw a flood of virtual currency then it would automatically adjust the price.
But currencies can be exchanged off the trading floor, yes?
There are a variety of regional currencies in the U.S. that are usually part of local economic interests. I think there is some clause that allows them. There is an article for it on wikipedia somewhere.
I wonder if this will make the value of the South Korean Won drop. Because it would almost make it possible to print money. Of course I guess you'd just need to value different game's currencies differently and then have published exchange rates. Its interesting.
Spock: Gas! Gas Captain.
It's 2010. Wine still crashes trying to run fairly low requirement (in terms of system calls) applications written for Windows '98. That's why including Wine doesn't give you decent windows emulation/simulation/replacement.
Um, have you tried using Wine lately? I first used wine back in 2000 and it would only show a splash screen for most programs. Now, I'm playing full games at better framerates and with more flexibility than I can get in windows. Sure, not everything is 100%. But I've gone through all my recent games (about 20) and about 75% of them work. Several of them install seamlessly as if they were native Linux programs. And they were all made within the last 5 years. Heck, Dragon Age just came out in November and already works on Wine, as does The Sims 3. Brand new games working at Gold or Platinum status? That's a major milestone. I think game makers might be finally catching on that wine is mature enough that if they do a little testing with it and make their games more compatible, they don't have to make a Linux version. I'm fine with that.
So It is nothing short of amazing what the wine team has done so don't try to belittle it. Whenever I think that something is impossible, I remember wine and then I'm fine.
I doubt if anything outweighs my desire for free stuff.
I concur. I doubt anything outweighs AC's desire for free stuff.
Porn of antique desks? Whatever floats your boat I guess.
Oh Man Oh Man Oh Man, You're still using the command line? You gotta, I say you just gotta teach me that Arcane forgotten art!
Who needs a GUI when you've got the command line!
This is just like how someone was telling me it was 2009 and wondering why I was still using vim. And he was telling me this on an IRC channel. Pot, meet kettle.
Someone mode parent up simply for mentioning Elite.
How would they reboot it? I mean the first movie kinda takes care of the back story.