I will admit that Mac gaming, especially at that time, was in a sorry state. We just didn't have the titles our PC friends did. But when Marathon came out, it was something that the PC users didn't have. It was ours.
I remember DOOM well. I've played it both solo and network play and it just doesn't add up to Marathon. From what I remember (correct me if I'm wrong) the DOOM scenario went like this:
Level 1 - Kill a whole bunch of bad guys. Level 2 - Kill a whole bunch of bad guys. Level 10 - Kill a whole bunch of bad guys. Level 50 - Kill a whole bunch of bad guys.
That was it. The whole game. You just shot things. Your reward for clearing a whole level of bad guys was getting more bad guys to shoot. Mindless drivel.
Mac gamers knew about DOOM. We just prefered Marathon. The graphics were better. The movement and game flow was phenomenal. There was a story to solve. (What was the DOOM story anyhow?) And the network play was phenomenal. I think had Bungie released Marthon for the Mac and PC together, a lot more of you PC gamers would have raved about this game.
And in case you're wondering, I played DOOM before I played Marathon. You can accuse me of flamebait. I don't care. You say Mac gamers don't understand. You've got it half right. PC gamers didn't understand either. How could we? Our platforms were so far apart from each other that we couldn't help but flame each other.
Now things are different. Titles are being released cross-platform. Mac, PC, and Linux. And now the flames are where they belong; when we frag each other.
I spend most of my time here lurking, and I've been a member here at least 9 months or so.
Most of the time what I would contribute to a story has already been said ny the time I read it. So I see no need to add another "me too" post to Slashdot, and I don't. However, there were times that I have posted what I thought were fairly insightful, non-repetitive comments that haven't been asked yet. It's not that often, but I do comment.
After reading this article I went check my Karma and found I have a -1! I figured maybe I had a zero because I rarely post, but a negative score would indicate someone didn't like what I wrote. But I don't remember when the last time I posted was, and what it was I said.
And herein lies my problem: I don't know what I did to deserve a negative score, and I have no way to find out why.
I understand cross linking each and every comment would be a ridiculously large task, but couldn't we at least have a statement like: One negative point scored:Flamebait in article "SoAndSo" in our preferences page?
I don't care who gave me the score. At least then I can dig up the story(ies) that have done me harm and hopefully make sense of all this.
I see this story a little differently. If Linux becomes the new OS for the masses, so what if some users become disenchanted with it? Let them leave in search of higher grounds. It's a process. And that process is progress.
What Linux is proving right now is that alternative OSes are a viable option. People are beginning to see that there are more than two viable Operating Systems available to them (need I say what they are?). And if they can now consider a third OS over time, why not a fourth or a fifth? Maybe they'll see a pattern emerging?
Maybe we'll really be lucky and some of these people will see that maybe one OS isn't the answer and shouldn't be in the long run.
I have to say I was very happy with the questions the interviewer asked. This wasn't a quickie done so they can stay up with the hype that has generated over Linux. He obviously had done his research before he walked into this interview.
ESR is right in saying we have to make certain that we make make Linux much better than Windows. After all, that is our only serious obstacle to dominance on the desktop.
Slashdot Mirror
I remember DOOM well. I've played it both solo and network play and it just doesn't add up to Marathon. From what I remember (correct me if I'm wrong) the DOOM scenario went like this:
Level 1 - Kill a whole bunch of bad guys.
Level 2 - Kill a whole bunch of bad guys.
Level 10 - Kill a whole bunch of bad guys.
Level 50 - Kill a whole bunch of bad guys.
That was it. The whole game. You just shot things. Your reward for clearing a whole level of bad guys was getting more bad guys to shoot. Mindless drivel.
Mac gamers knew about DOOM. We just prefered Marathon. The graphics were better. The movement and game flow was phenomenal. There was a story to solve. (What was the DOOM story anyhow?) And the network play was phenomenal. I think had Bungie released Marthon for the Mac and PC together, a lot more of you PC gamers would have raved about this game.
And in case you're wondering, I played DOOM before I played Marathon. You can accuse me of flamebait. I don't care. You say Mac gamers don't understand. You've got it half right. PC gamers didn't understand either. How could we? Our platforms were so far apart from each other that we couldn't help but flame each other.
Now things are different. Titles are being released cross-platform. Mac, PC, and Linux. And now the flames are where they belong; when we frag each other.
EF
Most of the time what I would contribute to a story has already been said ny the time I read it. So I see no need to add another "me too" post to Slashdot, and I don't. However, there were times that I have posted what I thought were fairly insightful, non-repetitive comments that haven't been asked yet. It's not that often, but I do comment.
After reading this article I went check my Karma and found I have a -1! I figured maybe I had a zero because I rarely post, but a negative score would indicate someone didn't like what I wrote. But I don't remember when the last time I posted was, and what it was I said.
And herein lies my problem: I don't know what I did to deserve a negative score, and I have no way to find out why.
I understand cross linking each and every comment would be a ridiculously large task, but couldn't we at least have a statement like: One negative point scored:Flamebait in article "SoAndSo" in our preferences page?
I don't care who gave me the score. At least then I can dig up the story(ies) that have done me harm and hopefully make sense of all this.
What Linux is proving right now is that alternative OSes are a viable option. People are beginning to see that there are more than two viable Operating Systems available to them (need I say what they are?). And if they can now consider a third OS over time, why not a fourth or a fifth? Maybe they'll see a pattern emerging?
Maybe we'll really be lucky and some of these people will see that maybe one OS isn't the answer and shouldn't be in the long run.
I have to say I was very happy with the questions the interviewer asked. This wasn't a quickie done so they can stay up with the hype that has generated over Linux. He obviously had done his research before he walked into this interview.
ESR is right in saying we have to make certain that we make make Linux much better than Windows. After all, that is our only serious obstacle to dominance on the desktop.