But really, its a console... a fixed platform, as long as a developer thoroughly tests their game crashes (if any) should be VERY rare
This is the point I think a lot of people are overlooking. They hear "MS Console", and start talking about Blue Screen's and such, but I doubt you'll see much of it.
Dreamcast had some version of WindowsCE running it, and by all accounts it was very stable (if you don't count the bad batch of disks that went out at launch).
It looks to me that he basically spent all his time posting trolls, flames, and whatnot on their site, and from the wording of the accusations, perhaps hacked the site as well. You know, the kind of stuff that goes on every day here;)
I'd be curious to know if any of the trolls around here ever assisted him. Apparently he was recruiting help at various times...
Because in 10 years most businesses will be running dumb terminals and applications will be actually running inside the software giants houses...
Scott McNealy, is that you?
My point, of course, is that people have been screaming that dumb terminals will replace the PC in business for many years now, yet it simply refuses to happen. All sorts of reasons why, not the least of which is that employees like having a PC on their desk. From mail-room Jimmy all the way up the CEO, people like to be able to play solitaire, or a music CD, or try out that latest voice recognition software.
It seems a lot of people are saying "Use a high-powered laptop", but the thing is, for what you'd pay for a tricked out Dell that would be capable of keeping up with a decent desktop, you could probably hire sherpa's to tote your desktop around for you.
My advice would be to stick with a desktop for gaming. Not only do they generally offer better performance overall (HD speed anyone?), but they're much easier to upgrade. A GeForce2 in a laptop might sound good now, but what about in a couple years, when Quake 4 or whatever wants a GeForce3, or you want to throw in a SBLive Titanium-Platnium-Gold-Silver-Bronze?
There's a lot of companies making specialized carrying straps for gaming rigs. Usually something like velcro straps with a handle on the top, perhaps some pockets for keyboard, mice, power cords, etc. Check out ThinkGeek, there's a couple listed there.
"CD-ROM Software QuickSync for Linux and Windows PC" - http://www.agendacomputing.com/products/system.htm l#system
"With our QuickSync Cradle and software, you can easily exchange information between your Agenda and your Windows or Linux PC." - http://www.agendacomputing.com/products/details.ht ml
Some of us in the tech support world already do Extreme User Support.
"See that switch on the back that says 115/240? That's the overdrive switch, it makes your computer faster. Of course, there's a small risk of hardware failure....."
A licensing disagreement with Microsoft forced Alaska Airlines to scrap a plan to give pilots browser access to a mainframe work-scheduling application, said CIO Robert Reeder. The initial plan was to run terminal emulation software on Windows NT, letting pilots access the app from their home PCs and airport kiosks.
When Microsoft heard about the application, it demanded that the airline pay for a full-time license for every computer that would access the app, Reeder said. "I told them that was ridiculous," he said. "I can't license every computer in the world."
This is pretty damn funny, but am I missing something here? Why should the airline be responsible for licensing remote users? Is this "mainframe work-scheduling application" a Microsoft app that has to be licensed (which I can almost understand), or are they saying that any computer simply accessing a remote NT box has to be licensed to do so?
Somehow, I can't help but think of the Star Wars quote, "The more you tighten your grip, the more systems will slip though your fingers". And yes all you quote geeks, I realize that probably isn't exact;)
I guess my expectations were perhaps skewed a little. Reading his responses, it seemed more like I was reading the canned, speech-writer answers of a candidate debate. But your right, if he hadn't given examples of his work, we'd all been crying about "put your money where your mouth is" and such.
But it seems like Representative Boucher was more interested in garnering some votes than anything. Don't get me wrong, this guy's obviously more in touch with these issues than 90% of the rest of Washington, and we need more reps like him up there, but all his answers read like so much political-speak. Almost every answer has some reference to a way he's voted on a bill, a committee he's chaired, a piece of legislation he's working on, etc. In other words, constant reminder's of the work he's doing in Washington.
Maybe this is just how representatives start talking after a while, I don't know. I do know that I would have been more impressed if he would have just answered the questions, instead of trying to show us how hard he's working at every opportunity.
-Microsoft is making a console, currently scheduled for release end of this year/beginning of next, depending on who you read.
-Microsoft wants to promote their upcoming console, as any manufacturer would.
-The target market for console gamers are around the 14-25 year old range for the most part, an age group that, on average, can't afford to buy ever console released.
It's in Microsoft's best interest to try and convince gamers to wait for their console. They have every right to try and promote this idea. It's Nintendo's responsibility to try and convince gamers otherwise: that the N64 is still a good purchase, or they should hold off for the Gamecube.
You seem to think that Microsoft has some sort of responsibility to not advertise this way, that they shouldn't try and get gamers to wait for the good of the industry. Baloney. It's a free-freakin-market economy: survival of the fittest. And like you say, Nintendo's not exactly a fly-by-night company here; if anything, they have an advantage over Microsoft going in thanks to their character lineup.
We all hate MS for what they did to the OS market, but I don't see the same thing happening here. Microsoft pushed Windows by tying it with another product everyone wanted: namely, computers. It's not the same in the console market. Sure, they can spend billions on hype, advertising, etc, but in the end, it comes down to what I as a gamer want: the Xbox, the Gamecube, or the PS2. My decision will be based on factors like which console has the best games, which has the best graphics, which has the coolest peripherals. In short, which is the better console.
Of course, if MS starts giving away Xboxes with minivans or something, then you can worry;)
That's all well and good, but for every child who would react similarly to how you did, there would be a child who would go back to smoking and drinking, even if they initially found it distasteful.
There's reasons besides moral ones why we don't give children ready access to smokes and booze: they're much harder on a child's growing body then they are on an adults. Pr0n's a different story, in that it's not directly harmful. The argument could be made, I suppose, that it's mentally damaging, but that's left up for the psych majors to decide.
The Edge has an advantage over Deluxe or Platinum in that it's a lot smaller (Palm 5x size), and runs on rechargable internal batteries. Other than that, not much difference, but that will be enough for a lot of people.
Perhaps one of the reasons they were rushed is that details of the new Visor was being leaked out by sites like Amazon, who had information about it up earier than Visor did.
I agree it's a little odd Handspring had to take their site down for a while to get their page updated, but I wonder if maybe their time-table wasn't upped a bit because of this.
Am I the only one that thinks it odd stories of Playstation3 are all over the place? Damn Sony, I know it didn't do as well as you'd hoped, but could you please let this console be out for one freakin year before you start banging PS3 over our heads?
I still can't buy a PS2 from any of my local retailers, but at this point, I don't even want one. I'm sure some of the games are pretty good, but lately all my console money has been going to Dreamcast, and it's a dying console. Gamecube and Xbox will be out later this year, which is just another reason to take a pass on PS2. Final Fantasy will be the only reason I might even consider it.
And now, finally, we have the RIAA's latest weapon in the fight against "music thieves". Change the media. Put out another media format, spend your millions hyping it and telling everyone how great it is, watch the CD die a slow, painful death.
I'm not saying this new thing won't be cool or useful, but don't be fooled. The one reason above all others this format is going to be pushed is so record companies can gain back some control they've lost.
I suppose your right, but still you gotta love the tone of the sentence. Playstation 2 has "dazzling graphics, with a powerful 128-bit processor", while the Gameboy is merely "32-bit", and only offers the "basics".
I guarentee someone at Nintendo is shitting bricks over that line alone.
Compared to the latest offering from rival Sony Corp., PlayStation2, which delivers dazzling three-dimensional images with a powerful 128-bit processor, the 32-bit Game Boy Advance offers just the basics.
You know what else I heard? Bicycles really can't compare to the power of a Ferrari. And the tase of apples is much better than the tast of dog crap.
Is Sony paying a bounty for every time Playstation2 is mentioned on a major media outlet? Geez, the two products aren't even in the same class.
It must be nice to have been born with the the sum knowledge of our species, past and present. I can see where never having to ask for advice or the answer to a question is a real advantage for you.
My God, are you really so offended by this article? If so, might I suggest not reading Slashdot for the next week: you need some freaking perspective.
It just went out of business. Apparently the older hardware it offered couldn't compete with the cablemodem and DSL connections rolling out here in Springfield.
Well, I think you just hit the nail on the head. You can get decent hardware pretty cheap now-a-days: a sub $1000 computer capable of playing modern games is totally possible, either building or buying retail. That, plus $40/month cable modem service means I can game for pretty cheap, at least compared to what it would have cost a few years ago. And it's yours: you can play whenever you want, and your not on the clock.
The kind of person who would be interested in this sort of thing is also the kind of person likely to already have good hardware, for gaming reasons as well as other reasons. In short, geeks. Gamers who don't have that kind of hardware have probably gravitated over to console gaming.
That's not to say there isn't a marketplace for this kind of thing. Obviously, it would be very attractive to a certain percentage of games to have access to a room with high-speed access and 8-10 cutting edge computers. Think gaming clans or tournaments. To recoup the costs, however, those machines would either have to have paying customers on them non-stop, or have customers willing to pay a premium price for the access. The startup costs are formidable, plus the internet access and hardware upgrades means the costs are on-going as well.
I've often thought a dedicated gaming place like that would be a great business if I ever won the lottery or something. But to be feasible for the common man to venture into, we're going to have to see a big increase in the popularity of on-line gaming.
Slashdot Mirror
The trailer for *what*?
Is the thing in the second frame the name of the movie?
AI, the movie. You know, like it says in the title? The movie the Aint it Cool link talks about?
Christ. If this is journalism, then I'll just read M-x psychoanalyze-pinhead for news.
Nobody ever said this was journalism. Damn, lighten up.
But really, its a console... a fixed platform, as long as a developer thoroughly tests their game crashes (if any) should be VERY rare
This is the point I think a lot of people are overlooking. They hear "MS Console", and start talking about Blue Screen's and such, but I doubt you'll see much of it.
Dreamcast had some version of WindowsCE running it, and by all accounts it was very stable (if you don't count the bad batch of disks that went out at launch).
Damn people, he quoted the Simpsons at the end of that post, and he still got some of you to bite.
It looks to me that he basically spent all his time posting trolls, flames, and whatnot on their site, and from the wording of the accusations, perhaps hacked the site as well. You know, the kind of stuff that goes on every day here ;)
I'd be curious to know if any of the trolls around here ever assisted him. Apparently he was recruiting help at various times...
Because in 10 years most businesses will be running dumb terminals and applications will be actually running inside the software giants houses...
Scott McNealy, is that you?
My point, of course, is that people have been screaming that dumb terminals will replace the PC in business for many years now, yet it simply refuses to happen. All sorts of reasons why, not the least of which is that employees like having a PC on their desk. From mail-room Jimmy all the way up the CEO, people like to be able to play solitaire, or a music CD, or try out that latest voice recognition software.
Is it gaming day here at Slashdot or something? What is that, the 4th gaming related article, and it's barely midday?
It seems a lot of people are saying "Use a high-powered laptop", but the thing is, for what you'd pay for a tricked out Dell that would be capable of keeping up with a decent desktop, you could probably hire sherpa's to tote your desktop around for you.
My advice would be to stick with a desktop for gaming. Not only do they generally offer better performance overall (HD speed anyone?), but they're much easier to upgrade. A GeForce2 in a laptop might sound good now, but what about in a couple years, when Quake 4 or whatever wants a GeForce3, or you want to throw in a SBLive Titanium-Platnium-Gold-Silver-Bronze?
There's a lot of companies making specialized carrying straps for gaming rigs. Usually something like velcro straps with a handle on the top, perhaps some pockets for keyboard, mice, power cords, etc. Check out ThinkGeek, there's a couple listed there.
From various Agenda info pages:
m l#system
t ml
"CD-ROM Software QuickSync for Linux and Windows PC" - http://www.agendacomputing.com/products/system.ht
"With our QuickSync Cradle and software, you can easily exchange information between your Agenda and your Windows or Linux PC." - http://www.agendacomputing.com/products/details.h
Too lazy to link...
Some of us in the tech support world already do Extreme User Support.
"See that switch on the back that says 115/240? That's the overdrive switch, it makes your computer faster. Of course, there's a small risk of hardware failure....."
The BOFH lives!
He said Netscape, not Mozilla. There's a difference, at least as far as Joe Internetuser is concerned.
Mozilla could be walking on water right now, but it doesn't change the fact that Netscape6 still sucks balls.
Do aliens have civil rights? Star Wars most violent movie ever? Slashdot during a war? What isn't on the Internet?
Is it just April Fools stuff, or are the questions getting weirder and more far-out?
A licensing disagreement with Microsoft forced Alaska Airlines to scrap a plan to give pilots browser access to a mainframe work-scheduling application, said CIO Robert Reeder. The initial plan was to run terminal emulation software on Windows NT, letting pilots access the app from their home PCs and airport kiosks.
;)
When Microsoft heard about the application, it demanded that the airline pay for a full-time license for every computer that would access the app, Reeder said. "I told them that was ridiculous," he said. "I can't license every computer in the world."
This is pretty damn funny, but am I missing something here? Why should the airline be responsible for licensing remote users? Is this "mainframe work-scheduling application" a Microsoft app that has to be licensed (which I can almost understand), or are they saying that any computer simply accessing a remote NT box has to be licensed to do so?
Somehow, I can't help but think of the Star Wars quote, "The more you tighten your grip, the more systems will slip though your fingers". And yes all you quote geeks, I realize that probably isn't exact
I guess my expectations were perhaps skewed a little. Reading his responses, it seemed more like I was reading the canned, speech-writer answers of a candidate debate. But your right, if he hadn't given examples of his work, we'd all been crying about "put your money where your mouth is" and such.
But it seems like Representative Boucher was more interested in garnering some votes than anything. Don't get me wrong, this guy's obviously more in touch with these issues than 90% of the rest of Washington, and we need more reps like him up there, but all his answers read like so much political-speak. Almost every answer has some reference to a way he's voted on a bill, a committee he's chaired, a piece of legislation he's working on, etc. In other words, constant reminder's of the work he's doing in Washington.
Maybe this is just how representatives start talking after a while, I don't know. I do know that I would have been more impressed if he would have just answered the questions, instead of trying to show us how hard he's working at every opportunity.
OK, let's get some perspective, shall we?
;)
-Microsoft is making a console, currently scheduled for release end of this year/beginning of next, depending on who you read.
-Microsoft wants to promote their upcoming console, as any manufacturer would.
-The target market for console gamers are around the 14-25 year old range for the most part, an age group that, on average, can't afford to buy ever console released.
It's in Microsoft's best interest to try and convince gamers to wait for their console. They have every right to try and promote this idea. It's Nintendo's responsibility to try and convince gamers otherwise: that the N64 is still a good purchase, or they should hold off for the Gamecube.
You seem to think that Microsoft has some sort of responsibility to not advertise this way, that they shouldn't try and get gamers to wait for the good of the industry. Baloney. It's a free-freakin-market economy: survival of the fittest. And like you say, Nintendo's not exactly a fly-by-night company here; if anything, they have an advantage over Microsoft going in thanks to their character lineup.
We all hate MS for what they did to the OS market, but I don't see the same thing happening here. Microsoft pushed Windows by tying it with another product everyone wanted: namely, computers. It's not the same in the console market. Sure, they can spend billions on hype, advertising, etc, but in the end, it comes down to what I as a gamer want: the Xbox, the Gamecube, or the PS2. My decision will be based on factors like which console has the best games, which has the best graphics, which has the coolest peripherals. In short, which is the better console.
Of course, if MS starts giving away Xboxes with minivans or something, then you can worry
That's all well and good, but for every child who would react similarly to how you did, there would be a child who would go back to smoking and drinking, even if they initially found it distasteful.
There's reasons besides moral ones why we don't give children ready access to smokes and booze: they're much harder on a child's growing body then they are on an adults. Pr0n's a different story, in that it's not directly harmful. The argument could be made, I suppose, that it's mentally damaging, but that's left up for the psych majors to decide.
The Edge has an advantage over Deluxe or Platinum in that it's a lot smaller (Palm 5x size), and runs on rechargable internal batteries. Other than that, not much difference, but that will be enough for a lot of people.
Perhaps one of the reasons they were rushed is that details of the new Visor was being leaked out by sites like Amazon, who had information about it up earier than Visor did.
I agree it's a little odd Handspring had to take their site down for a while to get their page updated, but I wonder if maybe their time-table wasn't upped a bit because of this.
Am I the only one that thinks it odd stories of Playstation3 are all over the place? Damn Sony, I know it didn't do as well as you'd hoped, but could you please let this console be out for one freakin year before you start banging PS3 over our heads?
I still can't buy a PS2 from any of my local retailers, but at this point, I don't even want one. I'm sure some of the games are pretty good, but lately all my console money has been going to Dreamcast, and it's a dying console. Gamecube and Xbox will be out later this year, which is just another reason to take a pass on PS2. Final Fantasy will be the only reason I might even consider it.
And now, finally, we have the RIAA's latest weapon in the fight against "music thieves". Change the media. Put out another media format, spend your millions hyping it and telling everyone how great it is, watch the CD die a slow, painful death.
I'm not saying this new thing won't be cool or useful, but don't be fooled. The one reason above all others this format is going to be pushed is so record companies can gain back some control they've lost.
I suppose your right, but still you gotta love the tone of the sentence. Playstation 2 has "dazzling graphics, with a powerful 128-bit processor", while the Gameboy is merely "32-bit", and only offers the "basics".
I guarentee someone at Nintendo is shitting bricks over that line alone.
Compared to the latest offering from rival Sony Corp., PlayStation2, which delivers dazzling three-dimensional images with a powerful 128-bit processor, the 32-bit Game Boy Advance offers just the basics.
You know what else I heard? Bicycles really can't compare to the power of a Ferrari. And the tase of apples is much better than the tast of dog crap.
Is Sony paying a bounty for every time Playstation2 is mentioned on a major media outlet? Geez, the two products aren't even in the same class.
It must be nice to have been born with the the sum knowledge of our species, past and present. I can see where never having to ask for advice or the answer to a question is a real advantage for you.
My God, are you really so offended by this article? If so, might I suggest not reading Slashdot for the next week: you need some freaking perspective.
It just went out of business. Apparently the older hardware it offered couldn't compete with the cablemodem and DSL connections rolling out here in Springfield.
Well, I think you just hit the nail on the head. You can get decent hardware pretty cheap now-a-days: a sub $1000 computer capable of playing modern games is totally possible, either building or buying retail. That, plus $40/month cable modem service means I can game for pretty cheap, at least compared to what it would have cost a few years ago. And it's yours: you can play whenever you want, and your not on the clock.
The kind of person who would be interested in this sort of thing is also the kind of person likely to already have good hardware, for gaming reasons as well as other reasons. In short, geeks. Gamers who don't have that kind of hardware have probably gravitated over to console gaming.
That's not to say there isn't a marketplace for this kind of thing. Obviously, it would be very attractive to a certain percentage of games to have access to a room with high-speed access and 8-10 cutting edge computers. Think gaming clans or tournaments. To recoup the costs, however, those machines would either have to have paying customers on them non-stop, or have customers willing to pay a premium price for the access. The startup costs are formidable, plus the internet access and hardware upgrades means the costs are on-going as well.
I've often thought a dedicated gaming place like that would be a great business if I ever won the lottery or something. But to be feasible for the common man to venture into, we're going to have to see a big increase in the popularity of on-line gaming.
"Turning humans into robots or zombies (for the sake of a family version) is a pain in the ass," says Cliff Bleszinski, lead designer for Epic,
So is turning a glorified level maker into a company spokesperson because he looks good in DKNY shirts.