Price. I was in the market at the time, and the C64 was several times more expensive. In France, the competition was the Oric 1 or Atmos.
The Spectrum also had a nice CPU (Z80, much more fun to do assembly in than the 6502) and a good software library, as well as tremendous peripheral suppport. And it was the logical step up from the cheap as dirt ZX81 (Timex in your parts).
It's not so much about why would people get anSpectrum instead of a C64... it's more about a Spectrum versus nothing.
I remember from having to choose back then... the C64 at launch was several times more expensive than the Spectrum. I personally didn't really have a choice.
Plus, let's face it, Microdrives were so much better than the C64's disk unit. Even only by ear you could tell they were much faster. They literally ripped along !
to answer your specfic remark about ARM not being able to do things that are not in hardware
1- probably not, I can't think of anything ARM can't inherently do 2- even if, the great thing about ARM is that chip houses CAN tack on any hardware required for stuff that's important enough.
i really don't understand what you're talking about. ARM is first and foremost an architecture+ instruction set, like x86. The architecture is Turing-complete (really !) and can do anything a modern CPU can. Assembly language looks marginally more grokable than x86, and instead of a duopoly controlling implementation, you've got several designe house licensing the IP and developping chips with it, allowing for much more flexible and varied chips and SOCs.
It's just now moving out of it's initial very-low-power niche, and currently tops out at 1Ghz, single-core. There's many-cores and higher clock speeds on the way, and design houses have already tacked on "powerful enough" video and graphics units onto it, ie it can now decode HD, and play with reasonnable FPS at lower resolutions. Again, there's better stuff on the way, and no inherent limitations.
My take is today's best ARM offerings are more powerful and capable than the Celeron 750 I was using not so long ago, and which was perfectly OK for what I was doing with it.
OTOH, x86is not a very elegant architecture to start with, and has a clunky ecosystem with Intel controlling the design and the implementation, with AMD putting in an occasional appearance, and VIA pretty much wiped out.
I'm very enthusiastic about ARM. I see the basic architecture as better, the ecosystem as more efficient, and the whole thing as a chance to break out of the WIntel duopoly which has been gouging us and stifling innovation for decades now.
we'll talk again next time you get playful with your significant other in a secluded, but public, spot. or in your living room without the drapes drawn.
where's that thing where they commit to a reasonable, and high, level of availability, safety and security for my work, my data, my life's bread crumbs ? I'm not even touching on confidentiality.
oh, there's none ?
and they've got free rein to do whatever they want with my data, my apps, my OS ?
reduced need for local storage is counterbalanced by the increased need for a permanent connection, which in the end is a lot more expensive and cumbersome than local storage.
i doubt running apps as javascript within a browser requires less power than stand-alone, compiled apps.
Thank you for your interesting reply. Indeed, you raise some good points.
- Xbox stuff must be nice for people who have xboxes, indeed.
- Same for Live. Question: what if I'm not on Live, but on Google (like most everyone is) ?
- Office must indeed come in very handy. Doesn't Android do it too ?
- I despise Fbook and Twitter, so I won't comment.
In the end, I see the value, for someone who's already fully tied into MS products and services. Not only am I not, but I'll want to avoid that, same as I refuse to be tied into Apple's walled playpen. I see Android and Google as safer bets in terms of letting me do what I want, how I want it, with the phone I buy. In particular, letting me install any software I want
I'm not into the social stuff (no twitter, no facebook, not even much IM).
I don't develop either, and wanabee developpers will have to go through an Apple-like censored/restricted App Store, so I'm not expecting a very lively Dev scene.
Animated feedback might be nice. Non-user upgradable memory cards is NOT.
Honestly, this is underwhelming. 1) all phone UIs are responsive, now that we're finally rid of pre-7.0 WinMob. 2) as you say "similar to iPhone", only better than.. WinMob before 7.0 3) software keyboards are just that: software. Many of my heavily-texting friends have bought a favorite one. 4) see 1)
I'm not interested by something that's better than WinMob 5/6, because pretty much anything was. I'm interested in something that's better than the defaults choices, which are iOS and Android. In which ways in WInMob 7 better than those ?
it seems to be "not bad" but what is GOOD about it ? ie, is there something it does other OSes don't, or something it does in a much better/easier/even just faster way ? Looking at
the product intro, my impression is: Meh: so-so hardware, closed as an iPhone, fewer apps than other OSes (which can be understood), fewer OS features... and no Unique Selling Proposition ?
is ww2 still going on ? why didn't anyone tell me ?
is wikileaks leaking the plans to make a nuke ? i call hype then, 'coz pretty much everybody knows, the diffilculty is in the actually procuring / making.
It's great to see governments devising ever better ways to kill people. Let's not forget that, of the two major wars the US is currently embroiled in, the Iraq one was started under several false pretenses (Irad had very little to do with Al Qaeda, and no WMDs), and the Afghanistan one is being waged against US-created foes, who are still in business mostly because the US drug policy gives them plenty of money-making opportunities.
Methinks what we need is brains and hearts, not guns.
yes there is. your post is the same assholery than people arguing that *they* can drive drunk because they know their limits so well, and handle alcohol so well. they don't, you don't, your kids are not exceptional, and your parenting skills are subpar if you think different.
little kids cannot be counted upon to be reliable safe alone for any period of time.add to that the possibility of an exogenous emergency or upset...
backups. saving batteries by not having wifi on most of the time. saving money by actually not having a data contract for my smartphone.
what's the point of having a money-sucking data contract, or battery-sucking wifi, when I should be able to grab my mail off of my desktop, the same way I grab my rss feeds, web pages, music, video, synched files... ?
they could at least use what synergies they have: i'm still amazed my MS winmob 6.5 HD2 won't synch with MS Live Mail, and there's no more free outlook express for win7. not only that, it generates an error message "can't synch mail" each time I plug my phone into my desktop !
i haven't really looked into winphone 7, because that kind of behavior towards customers turns me off big time. i don't know if it's incompetence (no one thought about checking that the latest desktop windows and the latest -at the time- phone windows could synch mail ? or at least, fail silently ?) or greed (buy Outlook for that !) but, really, if you're going to leave me with such an issue, I'm not interested in being your customer.
same with releasing Kin for only 2 weeks... what about the customers who bought it, thinking it would actually be a forward-looking, developped for, invested into platform ?
whether hell is cold or hot is not quite determined yet ?
seriously, the idea is that one single connection can take care of everything. i personally have a server at home, so i'll probably use than the xdsl bandwidth you're quoting. same thing at work.
but above all, i'll appreciate connecting all my stuff with just one cable, not having to stock/pack 5 (or is it 6 ?) different usb cables, plus another handful other cables..
A bunch of stuff: - power certainly is one, with some devices way over spec, and some computers very sensitive to usb drawing too much power (head over to the plug-computer forums for for sob stories) - i've had a usb card reader that caused my pc to fail at boot. - a usb 2 hd that wouldn't work as usb2, had to limit usb to "1" in the bios for it to work - very jerky performance (high cpu usage) when doing heavy usb2 i/o - windows reinstalling drivers when a usb dongle gets moved from one port to the next...
all in all, not a very convincing experience... actually probably the worst I've ever had with a connection, except rs-232 back in the days.
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Price. I was in the market at the time, and the C64 was several times more expensive. In France, the competition was the Oric 1 or Atmos.
The Spectrum also had a nice CPU (Z80, much more fun to do assembly in than the 6502) and a good software library, as well as tremendous peripheral suppport. And it was the logical step up from the cheap as dirt ZX81 (Timex in your parts).
It's not so much about why would people get anSpectrum instead of a C64... it's more about a Spectrum versus nothing.
I remember from having to choose back then... the C64 at launch was several times more expensive than the Spectrum. I personally didn't really have a choice.
Plus, let's face it, Microdrives were so much better than the C64's disk unit. Even only by ear you could tell they were much faster. They literally ripped along !
to answer your specfic remark about ARM not being able to do things that are not in hardware
1- probably not, I can't think of anything ARM can't inherently do
2- even if, the great thing about ARM is that chip houses CAN tack on any hardware required for stuff that's important enough.
i really don't understand what you're talking about. ARM is first and foremost an architecture+ instruction set, like x86. The architecture is Turing-complete (really !) and can do anything a modern CPU can. Assembly language looks marginally more grokable than x86, and instead of a duopoly controlling implementation, you've got several designe house licensing the IP and developping chips with it, allowing for much more flexible and varied chips and SOCs.
It's just now moving out of it's initial very-low-power niche, and currently tops out at 1Ghz, single-core. There's many-cores and higher clock speeds on the way, and design houses have already tacked on "powerful enough" video and graphics units onto it, ie it can now decode HD, and play with reasonnable FPS at lower resolutions. Again, there's better stuff on the way, and no inherent limitations.
My take is today's best ARM offerings are more powerful and capable than the Celeron 750 I was using not so long ago, and which was perfectly OK for what I was doing with it.
OTOH, x86is not a very elegant architecture to start with, and has a clunky ecosystem with Intel controlling the design and the implementation, with AMD putting in an occasional appearance, and VIA pretty much wiped out.
I'm very enthusiastic about ARM. I see the basic architecture as better, the ecosystem as more efficient, and the whole thing as a chance to break out of the WIntel duopoly which has been gouging us and stifling innovation for decades now.
we'll talk again next time you get playful with your significant other in a secluded, but public, spot. or in your living room without the drapes drawn.
A trial had to be cancelled because of leaks in the courthouse's bathrooms !
the sig... read the sig !
where's that thing where they commit to a reasonable, and high, level of availability, safety and security for my work, my data, my life's bread crumbs ? I'm not even touching on confidentiality.
oh, there's none ?
and they've got free rein to do whatever they want with my data, my apps, my OS ?
kthxbye.
reduced need for local storage is counterbalanced by the increased need for a permanent connection, which in the end is a lot more expensive and cumbersome than local storage.
i doubt running apps as javascript within a browser requires less power than stand-alone, compiled apps.
run without MS windows nor Linux
Thank you for your interesting reply. Indeed, you raise some good points.
- Xbox stuff must be nice for people who have xboxes, indeed.
- Same for Live. Question: what if I'm not on Live, but on Google (like most everyone is) ?
- Office must indeed come in very handy. Doesn't Android do it too ?
- I despise Fbook and Twitter, so I won't comment.
In the end, I see the value, for someone who's already fully tied into MS products and services. Not only am I not, but I'll want to avoid that, same as I refuse to be tied into Apple's walled playpen. I see Android and Google as safer bets in terms of letting me do what I want, how I want it, with the phone I buy. In particular, letting me install any software I want
I'm not into the social stuff (no twitter, no facebook, not even much IM).
I don't develop either, and wanabee developpers will have to go through an Apple-like censored/restricted App Store, so I'm not expecting a very lively Dev scene.
Animated feedback might be nice. Non-user upgradable memory cards is NOT.
Honestly, this is underwhelming.
1) all phone UIs are responsive, now that we're finally rid of pre-7.0 WinMob.
2) as you say "similar to iPhone", only better than.. WinMob before 7.0
3) software keyboards are just that: software. Many of my heavily-texting friends have bought a favorite one.
4) see 1)
I'm not interested by something that's better than WinMob 5/6, because pretty much anything was. I'm interested in something that's better than the defaults choices, which are iOS and Android. In which ways in WInMob 7 better than those ?
it seems to be "not bad" but what is GOOD about it ? ie, is there something it does other OSes don't, or something it does in a much better/easier/even just faster way ? Looking at
the product intro, my impression is: Meh: so-so hardware, closed as an iPhone, fewer apps than other OSes (which can be understood), fewer OS features... and no Unique Selling Proposition ?
you're assuming depth perception is the sole parameter in parallel-parking skill.
is ww2 still going on ? why didn't anyone tell me ?
is wikileaks leaking the plans to make a nuke ? i call hype then, 'coz pretty much everybody knows, the diffilculty is in the actually procuring / making.
It's great to see governments devising ever better ways to kill people. Let's not forget that, of the two major wars the US is currently embroiled in, the Iraq one was started under several false pretenses (Irad had very little to do with Al Qaeda, and no WMDs), and the Afghanistan one is being waged against US-created foes, who are still in business mostly because the US drug policy gives them plenty of money-making opportunities.
Methinks what we need is brains and hearts, not guns.
yes there is. your post is the same assholery than people arguing that *they* can drive drunk because they know their limits so well, and handle alcohol so well. they don't, you don't, your kids are not exceptional, and your parenting skills are subpar if you think different.
little kids cannot be counted upon to be reliable safe alone for any period of time.add to that the possibility of an exogenous emergency or upset...
nice rant... 'xcept I think the joke was about leaving the kid alone while going shopping ?
or at least, I shouldn't see a f**ing ERROR MESSAGE each time !
backups.
saving batteries by not having wifi on most of the time.
saving money by actually not having a data contract for my smartphone.
what's the point of having a money-sucking data contract, or battery-sucking wifi, when I should be able to grab my mail off of my desktop, the same way I grab my rss feeds, web pages, music, video, synched files... ?
they could at least use what synergies they have: i'm still amazed my MS winmob 6.5 HD2 won't synch with MS Live Mail, and there's no more free outlook express for win7. not only that, it generates an error message "can't synch mail" each time I plug my phone into my desktop !
i haven't really looked into winphone 7, because that kind of behavior towards customers turns me off big time. i don't know if it's incompetence (no one thought about checking that the latest desktop windows and the latest -at the time- phone windows could synch mail ? or at least, fail silently ?) or greed (buy Outlook for that !) but, really, if you're going to leave me with such an issue, I'm not interested in being your customer.
same with releasing Kin for only 2 weeks... what about the customers who bought it, thinking it would actually be a forward-looking, developped for, invested into platform ?
whether hell is cold or hot is not quite determined yet ?
seriously, the idea is that one single connection can take care of everything. i personally have a server at home, so i'll probably use than the xdsl bandwidth you're quoting. same thing at work.
but above all, i'll appreciate connecting all my stuff with just one cable, not having to stock/pack 5 (or is it 6 ?) different usb cables, plus another handful other cables..
A bunch of stuff: ...
- power certainly is one, with some devices way over spec, and some computers very sensitive to usb drawing too much power (head over to the plug-computer forums for for sob stories)
- i've had a usb card reader that caused my pc to fail at boot.
- a usb 2 hd that wouldn't work as usb2, had to limit usb to "1" in the bios for it to work
- very jerky performance (high cpu usage) when doing heavy usb2 i/o
- windows reinstalling drivers when a usb dongle gets moved from one port to the next
all in all, not a very convincing experience... actually probably the worst I've ever had with a connection, except rs-232 back in the days.
(usb 1 and 2, no 3 yet) stupid numlock.