It isn't the users' fault if a user interface isn't good. GNOME 3.0 was a big disappointment as well; it just wasn't ready yet. On the other hand, if a user interface IS really good, it will be praised by average users and power users alike. For example, pretty much everyone seems to agree that the Nokia N9 "desktop" UI is very well designed and executed - there's no need to make a distinction between power users and Average Joes.
First the press claimed that the UMD format sucks and that the PSP is too bulky to be carried around. At that time they were probably right. Now the same people are claiming that getting rid of the UMD format sucks and that the PSPgo is too small.
When Apple came up with the App Store for the iPhone and iPod Touch the press was excited and rejoicing over the new age of digital distribution. Now it's Sony's turn and suddenly it's a bad thing.
Well, boo-hoo. It's always nice to be able to complain about something even if that would mean contradicting yourself. This is madness.
I have the original PSP-1000 but that didn't stop me getting a PSPgo. I can play those UMD games on the old system if I want but since it's so big I rarely carry it around. The Go!Explore GPS package, however, is very useful in the car.
The PSPgo is finally small enough to be carried around and I'm happy to buy new content over the air. I don't need the old UMDs or chargers on it. I can use them with the old system since that's what they're for. The system is very sleek and I really enjoy it.
I also have the iPod Touch. No matter how much Apple wants you to think it's a gaming device it really isn't - at least for all types of games. I've really missed the control buttons. Thanks Sony for bringing us a real gaming system that can actually be taken with you.
As a person who has long used a PC attached to a TV as what it's now called a "Media Center", I can say the text quality on a CRT television is absolutely horrible, totally unusable for browsing or programming. Games, movies, sure. But not anything that would increase the computer literacy of the masses.
This depends completely on what you're displaying on the TV and how.
I used to be an Amiga user (first the A500, then an A1200 with a 68040 card). I've spent numerous hours programming demos and software on Amigas using a TV as the display. During the first few years the TV was an old 14" one and the signal was RF modulated. After that I used a 21" with an RGB SCART signal. On the desktop (Workbench) I used a 60Hz-PAL interlaced screenmode (640x512 with overscan, can't remember the exact size) and when programming a screenmode without interlace (640x256).
The image was clear and fully readable; the interlacing naturally does make it a bit nasty for things like text editing but works just fine for the desktop. No, I did not lose my sight either and didn't have to start using glasses.:) Instead, I learned a sh*tload about programming, both low level and high level, and hardware. This knowledge has helped me a lot in my current job as a PSP programmer. I also browsed the web and read my mail just fine, too.
With proper font, UI, hardware and screenmode choices a CRT TV is certainly a suitable display. Don't let the typical PC TV Out experience fool you. It's been done well ages ago.
(Hint: ditch the interlace when possible. Both fields do not need to be drawn - it's enough to draw only the even ones and you'll get nice true 60FPS framerate as well. Also remember that the TVs are much slower than monitors - 60Hz is enough and won't give you a headache!)
Even though Nokia is widely known as a mobile phone manufacturer they do have other products as well. Their plans to incorporate Mozilla into their DVB products (the Mediamaster product line) as the web browser component have been public for a couple of years now.
Currently I'm composing all my music on an Amiga using OctaMED SoundStudio 1.03c. There is a Windows version available but it isn't good enough. There's a good chance that the upcoming Linux version (which might or might not be out in Q3 2000) won't be good enough either... and it won't be free. That's why I've been working on a free implementation of the latest Amiga version of OMSS. The project is still in an early stage so don't expect a public release soon.. but maybe some day. I'll try to reimplement all the functionality of 1.03c first. MIDI support will be on a very high priority. Unfortunately I've been really busy lately with other things but I hope I'll get something done in the future.
(BTW, I've also been working on an UNIX port of the Amiga XPK package - an interfacing standard between application programs and packer libraries. Go ahead, port all those Amiga programs!)
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It isn't the users' fault if a user interface isn't good. GNOME 3.0 was a big disappointment as well; it just wasn't ready yet. On the other hand, if a user interface IS really good, it will be praised by average users and power users alike. For example, pretty much everyone seems to agree that the Nokia N9 "desktop" UI is very well designed and executed - there's no need to make a distinction between power users and Average Joes.
First the press claimed that the UMD format sucks and that the PSP is too bulky to be carried around. At that time they were probably right. Now the same people are claiming that getting rid of the UMD format sucks and that the PSPgo is too small.
When Apple came up with the App Store for the iPhone and iPod Touch the press was excited and rejoicing over the new age of digital distribution. Now it's Sony's turn and suddenly it's a bad thing.
Well, boo-hoo. It's always nice to be able to complain about something even if that would mean contradicting yourself. This is madness.
I have the original PSP-1000 but that didn't stop me getting a PSPgo. I can play those UMD games on the old system if I want but since it's so big I rarely carry it around. The Go!Explore GPS package, however, is very useful in the car.
The PSPgo is finally small enough to be carried around and I'm happy to buy new content over the air. I don't need the old UMDs or chargers on it. I can use them with the old system since that's what they're for. The system is very sleek and I really enjoy it.
I also have the iPod Touch. No matter how much Apple wants you to think it's a gaming device it really isn't - at least for all types of games. I've really missed the control buttons. Thanks Sony for bringing us a real gaming system that can actually be taken with you.
As a person who has long used a PC attached to a TV as what it's now called a "Media Center", I can say the text quality on a CRT television is absolutely horrible, totally unusable for browsing or programming. Games, movies, sure. But not anything that would increase the computer literacy of the masses.
This depends completely on what you're displaying on the TV and how.
I used to be an Amiga user (first the A500, then an A1200 with a 68040 card). I've spent numerous hours programming demos and software on Amigas using a TV as the display. During the first few years the TV was an old 14" one and the signal was RF modulated. After that I used a 21" with an RGB SCART signal. On the desktop (Workbench) I used a 60Hz-PAL interlaced screenmode (640x512 with overscan, can't remember the exact size) and when programming a screenmode without interlace (640x256).
The image was clear and fully readable; the interlacing naturally does make it a bit nasty for things like text editing but works just fine for the desktop. No, I did not lose my sight either and didn't have to start using glasses. :) Instead, I learned a sh*tload about programming, both low level and high level, and hardware. This knowledge has helped me a lot in my current job as a PSP programmer. I also browsed the web and read my mail just fine, too.
With proper font, UI, hardware and screenmode choices a CRT TV is certainly a suitable display. Don't let the typical PC TV Out experience fool you. It's been done well ages ago.
(Hint: ditch the interlace when possible. Both fields do not need to be drawn - it's enough to draw only the even ones and you'll get nice true 60FPS framerate as well. Also remember that the TVs are much slower than monitors - 60Hz is enough and won't give you a headache!)
Even though Nokia is widely known as a mobile phone manufacturer they do have other products as well. Their plans to incorporate Mozilla into their DVB products (the Mediamaster product line) as the web browser component have been public for a couple of years now.
(BTW, I've also been working on an UNIX port of the Amiga XPK package - an interfacing standard between application programs and packer libraries. Go ahead, port all those Amiga programs!)