What I'm saying is the computer is becoming more of an appliance to the common user. This is obviously what Microsoft is going for.
The oddity is that companies like Real want the mainstream too. Windows is their outlet to that, and Microsoft is making alot of corporations into an effective third wheel.
I see alot of people claiming that the bundling doesnt matter, because they still use better products than MS's bundled apps if one exists. I'm the same way... but we're the minority!
Computer-adept users like the majority of the slashdot crowd know that if they dont like the bundled MS DVD player, they go out and get another one. Dont like WMP7? Get another.
However, the mass market does NOT know this. I agree to an extent that MS should be able to package their product however they choose, but the Common Joe who views his computer as an appliance will not neccessarily understand that there are alternatives to what comes with Windows. I've seen this time and time again at my job, at home... everywhere.
So, yes I believe Microsoft imposes hardship on other corporations through an unfair advantage and will do so with XP. No surprises there.
It's quite sad that game developers decided to latch onto DirectX. It's certainly a good example of what can happen when the bulk of an industry adopts a proprietary API.
For sake of argument, relate this to Visual Basic. It only runs on Windows, so if you develop an application in it, its doubtful you will port it (or else you'd write it in C to begin with, like a man). VB apps are arguably easier to write than C apps, so its appealing to developers to shorten development time.
DirectX is to game development what VB is to software development. A proprietary closed development platform that puts a choke hold on cross-platform development.
To those thinking "I wish DirectX would go away", don't, because the industry needs an API like DirectX. Games need to be produced rather quickly or they are outdated before they are released, and the reason DirectX caught on is that it accomplishes this.
So if the world were correct, what open project would replace DirectX for game development? Can anyone possibly have the resources to compete?
Im the webmaster for my company. I have little to no input as to what platform or software we use internally, outside of my web domain. All I know is I have to run Outlook because our mail server is Exchange, and I have to run Excel and Word because thats what the rest of the company uses, and I need to view what coworkers send me.
My company is a Microsoft shop (other than my machines) and so, to my dismay, we use Office. I'm really curious to see if we will upgrade to Office XP, and if so, why we would upgrade. What could they possibly add to Office that would warrant paying the upgrade cost? I know our company RARELY uses any of the bells and whistles later versions have provided. I don't see anything in the feature list that would benefit anyone I know to upgrade.
Between the cost of the software, deployment time, orientation, and inevitable bugfixes, where is the gain? Don't you benefit more from productivity software by sticking with what's familiar and is already working fine? What exactly is the purpose of this corporate trend to want to run the very latest bleeding-edge productivity app?
I know exactly where youre at and how you feel because I had to make the same decision. I decided to try a normal 9-5 job with a good manager. What I found is that I have plenty of time to do what my employer wants (whether I agree with it or not!) and then go home and do what I enjoy doing. Its a healthy separation and everybody wins.
If you haven't seen it yet, check out http://www.pcxl.com. Good food for thought if youre one of those people who thinks pay-per-view websites would float...
We had a standing bet.
Tens of thousands of people emailed us after we closed PCXL. They told us that if we brought it back in any form, they'd pay for it -- pay even more for it than before.
We knew it wasn't true. So, just to prove the point, we brought it back.
Let's face it, quality of content in the gaming scene has been dwindling for some time. I worked in gaming for a while (insert exhaustive tales of woe here, blah blah blah) and saw it all first hand.
Rewind three or four years back. Most content is written by die-hard fans. People who are monogamous to a game and devoted to a community of people like them churn out good sites with strong content and relatively heavy traffic.
Unfortunately, the last few years turned into a sort of online gold rush when everybody simultaneously got the idea that they could cash in big on something fun.
But instead of hardcore gamers writing content, you often ended up with designer imposters funded by big names who know nothing about the subject matter at hand. And now these folks are running out of gas.
And the games themselves... well... theyre to blame also. Now that computers are to the point where they can make a ray-traced dinosaur holding a multi-colored chainsaw with a flame texture and a 3D drink holder, selling computer games is all about dazzle rather than gameplay. Smoke and mirrors! Most game developers are too busy making goofy effects to worry about gameplay these days.
The amazing thing is that gaming sites fail to realize this or dare criticize it, for fear of upsetting the publishers and developers they like to be in bed with to succeed. I think Black & White is a great example of this. Here's a beautiful game with some big issues (redundant gameplay, sluggish controls, etc.), and gaming sites just go off the deep end about how great the trees look. Personally, I dont respect any gaming site that ships a game to some cheap freelancer who writes little more than a beefed-up version of what I could have read on the back of the box and slaps a high score on it. Oh why not toss in some pictures of models to save face! Invent some new buzzwords, that'll work!
Perhaps I'm just a relic because I was around for gaming's glory days.
I'd rather have my machine setup my way than use what's provided. I always play better when I'm familiar with the hardware of my own PC and used to its quirks.
This is from Google's help page:
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I've been playing Black and White a bit, which uses gesture-based control for spells and such. Perhaps it is a poor implementation, but I don't like it at all.
Gesture-based input is error-prone and can be frustrating. Try playing a multiplayer game of B&W and see how mad you get when you do a gesture incorrectly in the middle of a battle. If only I could have simply pressed a button instead!
I can see gestures being useful for web browsing (draw a 'B' to go back), but I can also see it being more of a hinderance than its worth.
The one thing that worries me is that when you end up with just a few providers, you're more likely to have one provider in your area. When that happens, service gets bad.
Compare it to cable television. The only option in my area is MediaOne. It's HORRIBLE. There are 99 channels, of which about half are mexican infomercials or japanese game shows. The only cable box they provide doesnt allow blocking channels and wont work with any of my remotes. As soon as Sopranos is done for the season I'm having it cut.
ANYWAY... the point is that competition encourages providers to provide better service. I currently have Pacific Bell DSL and I'm not really thrilled with it so far.
Another thing that will happen is installations will take forever. A friend of mine was recently told it will be three months until Pacific Bell can hook up his DSL. Just think how bad it will be with no competition.
Re:This feature list makes me very happy...
on
Samba 2.2.0 Released
·
· Score: 1
Sounds good. I'd heard this about SQL7, but was not sure if SQL2K would uphold it.
I'm developing my company's Intranet on Linux. My web server cluster is literally a solitary island in a Microsoft-centric corporation. When given the goals for our Intranet, I hit alot of roadblocks due to the need to interface my Linux servers with the Windows network, mainly due to our recent migration to Win2K.
After looking over the feature list, this release will allow me to accomplish the things my superior's desire.
Samba is obviously a critical effort in increasing corporate acceptance of *nix in traditional Windows shops. My boss is really starting to like telling everyone how much money the company has saved by implementing our web efforts in a Linux environment. We're using less hardware, have superb uptime, and saving a fortune on software licenses.
Without Samba, my next project may have been written in VBScript. Not a pleasant thought.
Now if I can find a reliable interface to MS SQL2000, I'll be all set.:)
Most overclockers know Intel frowns upon overclocking. What implications does this throttling have on overclocking the P4?
When overclocking, your biggest obstacle is typically heat. If I increase the voltage to my chip, and this temperature protection kicks in, I could be running alot slower than if I were underclocked!!
Personally, I don't know of anyone who's been able to overheat a CPU. I've always heard overheating shortens its lifespan, but I don't use a CPU more than a couple of years anyway and don't really care. I'm actually still running on an overclocked Celeron 300A at 450Mhz.
Just another side affect of the internet's free nature and the fact that most people dont know how to (directly) capitalize off of it.
What's sad is that things like radio streams are the kind of features that draw 'the average consumer' to the internet in the first place. The internet is already losing its appeal with this crowd. Some of my "non-nerd" friends actually consider the internet a fad.
This article is a rambling diversion from the facts. China doest want a simple "I'm sorry", they want a "doquian" on behalf of our entire nation, which in China is a form of apology with admitted fault. This would weaken the US diplomatically and probably discredit the new administration.
The situation as I see it is we got caught spying. Everybody does it, everybody HAS to do it. We got caught in the act, and China is taking advantage of that, but too an unwarranted extent.
Compare this to our recent uncovering of Haansen. We didn't detain Russians over this or anything so extreme. We did the opposite and answered by deporting several Russians.
The issue of blame confuses me. I believe China was at fault, but I don't see why it matters. Our plane had a choice between life and death. They chose to live, and China is punishing them for that? Should the crew have decided "well we dont have permission, lets crash into the ocean instead"?
Theyre just buying time while they strip our plane.
Its amazing how dramatic the evolution of computers in this area has been. I didn't realize Microsoft's trademark 'borrowing of ideas' went back quite that far. Windows XP is the same old game too.
That movie 'Pirates of Silicon Valley' has been on TNN recently also. Its kind of crusty, but an interesting dramatization nonetheless.
For those of us who are not Microsoft fans, exactly who is Doug Miller?
Anyway, interesting interview. He gave decent answers aside from the faint "hear no evil, see no evil" stance on a few things.
Did anyone else notice how he skirted around the question regarding hardware copy protection and the one about licensing per hardware configuration?
His answer regarding standards is a copout. I usually associate a standard as a ruleset others should consider in order to maintain interoperability (simplified for the scope of this post). Consider the Samba example used. Why would MS not publish standards for interoperability with SMB if they felt products like Samba are not a threat?
What happens if you purchase one of these disks, and then your player (whatever type it is) will not play it?
I don't know of any music stores that would let me return a CD. And, what if you buy from a store that won't give you a refund? Do I even have any rights in this case?
Slashdot Mirror
What I'm saying is the computer is becoming more of an appliance to the common user. This is obviously what Microsoft is going for. The oddity is that companies like Real want the mainstream too. Windows is their outlet to that, and Microsoft is making alot of corporations into an effective third wheel.
Computer-adept users like the majority of the slashdot crowd know that if they dont like the bundled MS DVD player, they go out and get another one. Dont like WMP7? Get another.
However, the mass market does NOT know this. I agree to an extent that MS should be able to package their product however they choose, but the Common Joe who views his computer as an appliance will not neccessarily understand that there are alternatives to what comes with Windows. I've seen this time and time again at my job, at home... everywhere.
So, yes I believe Microsoft imposes hardship on other corporations through an unfair advantage and will do so with XP. No surprises there.
Right, and don't forget that DirectX has many more components than the renderer. I believe you mean to compare OpenGL with Direct3D.
For sake of argument, relate this to Visual Basic. It only runs on Windows, so if you develop an application in it, its doubtful you will port it (or else you'd write it in C to begin with, like a man). VB apps are arguably easier to write than C apps, so its appealing to developers to shorten development time.
DirectX is to game development what VB is to software development. A proprietary closed development platform that puts a choke hold on cross-platform development.
To those thinking "I wish DirectX would go away", don't, because the industry needs an API like DirectX. Games need to be produced rather quickly or they are outdated before they are released, and the reason DirectX caught on is that it accomplishes this.
So if the world were correct, what open project would replace DirectX for game development? Can anyone possibly have the resources to compete?
Im the webmaster for my company. I have little to no input as to what platform or software we use internally, outside of my web domain. All I know is I have to run Outlook because our mail server is Exchange, and I have to run Excel and Word because thats what the rest of the company uses, and I need to view what coworkers send me.
Actually that makes the most sense of all... needing to upgrade to read the newer format that other people are using. That's a horrible shame.
My company is a Microsoft shop (other than my machines) and so, to my dismay, we use Office. I'm really curious to see if we will upgrade to Office XP, and if so, why we would upgrade. What could they possibly add to Office that would warrant paying the upgrade cost? I know our company RARELY uses any of the bells and whistles later versions have provided. I don't see anything in the feature list that would benefit anyone I know to upgrade. Between the cost of the software, deployment time, orientation, and inevitable bugfixes, where is the gain? Don't you benefit more from productivity software by sticking with what's familiar and is already working fine? What exactly is the purpose of this corporate trend to want to run the very latest bleeding-edge productivity app?
I know exactly where youre at and how you feel because I had to make the same decision. I decided to try a normal 9-5 job with a good manager. What I found is that I have plenty of time to do what my employer wants (whether I agree with it or not!) and then go home and do what I enjoy doing. Its a healthy separation and everybody wins.
Good find, I hadn't saw that one. Nice to know SOMEBODY spent enough time with the game to derive a score indicating some level of imperfection.
We had a standing bet.
Tens of thousands of people emailed us after we closed PCXL. They told us that if we brought it back in any form, they'd pay for it -- pay even more for it than before.
We knew it wasn't true. So, just to prove the point, we brought it back.
You didn't pay for it. Now cram it.
Love,
The staff of PCXL
Rewind three or four years back. Most content is written by die-hard fans. People who are monogamous to a game and devoted to a community of people like them churn out good sites with strong content and relatively heavy traffic.
Unfortunately, the last few years turned into a sort of online gold rush when everybody simultaneously got the idea that they could cash in big on something fun.
But instead of hardcore gamers writing content, you often ended up with designer imposters funded by big names who know nothing about the subject matter at hand. And now these folks are running out of gas.
And the games themselves... well... theyre to blame also. Now that computers are to the point where they can make a ray-traced dinosaur holding a multi-colored chainsaw with a flame texture and a 3D drink holder, selling computer games is all about dazzle rather than gameplay. Smoke and mirrors! Most game developers are too busy making goofy effects to worry about gameplay these days.
The amazing thing is that gaming sites fail to realize this or dare criticize it, for fear of upsetting the publishers and developers they like to be in bed with to succeed. I think Black & White is a great example of this. Here's a beautiful game with some big issues (redundant gameplay, sluggish controls, etc.), and gaming sites just go off the deep end about how great the trees look. Personally, I dont respect any gaming site that ships a game to some cheap freelancer who writes little more than a beefed-up version of what I could have read on the back of the box and slaps a high score on it. Oh why not toss in some pictures of models to save face! Invent some new buzzwords, that'll work!
Perhaps I'm just a relic because I was around for gaming's glory days.
I would definitely contact a lawyer about it at some point, simply because the laws affecting your situation could depend on what state you work in.
I'd rather have my machine setup my way than use what's provided. I always play better when I'm familiar with the hardware of my own PC and used to its quirks.
Google supports the 'X-No-archive: yes' header, and we will not archive any articles that contain this text either in the header or in the first line of the message body.
Gesture-based input is error-prone and can be frustrating. Try playing a multiplayer game of B&W and see how mad you get when you do a gesture incorrectly in the middle of a battle. If only I could have simply pressed a button instead!
I can see gestures being useful for web browsing (draw a 'B' to go back), but I can also see it being more of a hinderance than its worth.
Compare it to cable television. The only option in my area is MediaOne. It's HORRIBLE. There are 99 channels, of which about half are mexican infomercials or japanese game shows. The only cable box they provide doesnt allow blocking channels and wont work with any of my remotes. As soon as Sopranos is done for the season I'm having it cut.
ANYWAY... the point is that competition encourages providers to provide better service. I currently have Pacific Bell DSL and I'm not really thrilled with it so far.
Another thing that will happen is installations will take forever. A friend of mine was recently told it will be three months until Pacific Bell can hook up his DSL. Just think how bad it will be with no competition.
Sounds good. I'd heard this about SQL7, but was not sure if SQL2K would uphold it.
After looking over the feature list, this release will allow me to accomplish the things my superior's desire.
Samba is obviously a critical effort in increasing corporate acceptance of *nix in traditional Windows shops. My boss is really starting to like telling everyone how much money the company has saved by implementing our web efforts in a Linux environment. We're using less hardware, have superb uptime, and saving a fortune on software licenses.
Without Samba, my next project may have been written in VBScript. Not a pleasant thought.
Now if I can find a reliable interface to MS SQL2000, I'll be all set. :)
When overclocking, your biggest obstacle is typically heat. If I increase the voltage to my chip, and this temperature protection kicks in, I could be running alot slower than if I were underclocked!!
Personally, I don't know of anyone who's been able to overheat a CPU. I've always heard overheating shortens its lifespan, but I don't use a CPU more than a couple of years anyway and don't really care. I'm actually still running on an overclocked Celeron 300A at 450Mhz.
What's sad is that things like radio streams are the kind of features that draw 'the average consumer' to the internet in the first place. The internet is already losing its appeal with this crowd. Some of my "non-nerd" friends actually consider the internet a fad.
"A Chinese fighter passed as close as 3 feet to a slow-moving U.S. spy plane before the two craft collided"
This article is a rambling diversion from the facts. China doest want a simple "I'm sorry", they want a "doquian" on behalf of our entire nation, which in China is a form of apology with admitted fault. This would weaken the US diplomatically and probably discredit the new administration.
The situation as I see it is we got caught spying. Everybody does it, everybody HAS to do it. We got caught in the act, and China is taking advantage of that, but too an unwarranted extent.
Compare this to our recent uncovering of Haansen. We didn't detain Russians over this or anything so extreme. We did the opposite and answered by deporting several Russians.
The issue of blame confuses me. I believe China was at fault, but I don't see why it matters. Our plane had a choice between life and death. They chose to live, and China is punishing them for that? Should the crew have decided "well we dont have permission, lets crash into the ocean instead"?
Theyre just buying time while they strip our plane.
That movie 'Pirates of Silicon Valley' has been on TNN recently also. Its kind of crusty, but an interesting dramatization nonetheless.
For those of us who are not Microsoft fans, exactly who is Doug Miller?
Anyway, interesting interview. He gave decent answers aside from the faint "hear no evil, see no evil" stance on a few things.
Did anyone else notice how he skirted around the question regarding hardware copy protection and the one about licensing per hardware configuration?
His answer regarding standards is a copout. I usually associate a standard as a ruleset others should consider in order to maintain interoperability (simplified for the scope of this post). Consider the Samba example used. Why would MS not publish standards for interoperability with SMB if they felt products like Samba are not a threat?
What happens if you purchase one of these disks, and then your player (whatever type it is) will not play it? I don't know of any music stores that would let me return a CD. And, what if you buy from a store that won't give you a refund? Do I even have any rights in this case?