Many of the points that were made in the article were true. But its the kindof truth that you could use presenting Adolf Hitler as a good man, bringing Germany out of economic hardship. In reality, Gates is missing the better sides of the Open Source and Linux movements.
This blatant propaganda seems downright ridiculous, and I find it hard to believe that someone as bright as Bill (like it or not, the man has most of us whipped in the IQ dept.) would right something so easily criticized.
Especially the last line, about not leaking the memo, makes the memo look even less credible.
My general suspicion is that the document was forged by some manner of Anti-MS weenie, in an attempt to rile us up. Until I get confirmation that Billy G wrote this thing, I'm going to keep quiet.
There are some relevant points in that essay though. What does the community think about it? Specifically, how can we avoid the problem of code duplication?
I'm new to this P / NP thing, so please don't flame me too bad if I'm a complete retard.
Can you give me another example of a problem that is NP? Factoring a number is definetly a P problem. The algorithm for factoring a number into two pieces is easily done in less than N^(1/2) steps. Doesn't this make it by definition a P solution?
Can someone explain this to me on a slightly lower level?
I'm waiting to see if they can deliver on some of the promises. The ability to use it as a mp3 player is very intriguing (especially if you can put a larger hard drive in it). Also I've heard some talk about adding tivo type features, and of course the ability to play regular dvd's.
Now if they would just build in a stereo receiver and direct tv circuitry, we'd have an all in one box! At that point who cares if it plays games, it does everything
Granted this would be super sweet. However, consoles are cheap for the sole reason that companies sell them at a loss. Nintendo, Sega, Sony all lose money on each console they sell, (hopefully) making the money back on liscensing fees, where other companies pay them to develop titles for it.
Unless Indrema starts attracting some developers(and they better soon if they want to have any decent launch titles), I think they are doomed.
From the article:
Instead, they are just the remnants of patches of snow that have sat in place for years before eventually melting in the sun.
Ok. So instead of water, they are just artifacts from snow. And the snow eveporated? So that means that Mars must have some water vapor floating around?
I suppose that this "water vapor" could have drifted off into the cosmos, but wouldn't it stay in the atmosphere, like it does on earth? The water has to go somewhere, and mars should have sufficient mass to at least attract some atmosophere thanks to gravity.
Any other thoughts? Am I off base here, or is something not adding up?
I plan to do my civic duty next week, but I'm having problems deciding. I'm told that Gore is a better choice for technologists, but I really don't think I can stand for his feelings on affirmative action and other non-merit based systems. Bush appeals to me more on those lines, but his tax plan is absolute crap, and as a student, I'm not rich (yet).
Can anyone point me in the direction of some better reading?
I agree. Napster has been trading in illegal goods. We have absolutely no right to do steal artists music under the current system.
What is important to note here is that the Peer 2 Peer philosophy is out of the bag. I think it would be really funny to pay for Napster. I'm going to pay so someone else can download BMG's music off of my computer?
Its also important to note the precedence that is being set here. Napster is used for illegal stuff, true, but it does have legitimate applications.
Things like this, (and to a much greater extent, the DMCA) are encroaching on our freedoms. If we don't fight them now, it will be even harder to fight later when more serious violations of our consumer rights are proposed. This is why we are all "whining" here on slashdot.
I think Sony will make this one. They have their system out ahead of everyone else, and despite development difficulty, they have lots of titles on the way.
I think Nintendo is in trouble. They will be releasing their system around the same time as MS, but only have system specs on par with the PS2. They will sell some because of the next Mario game, but I think that ultimatly, they will lose.
Why will Nintento lose? Because, Microsoft is going to kick their ass. Microsoft has developers lined up, and has specs that should mop the floor with the PS2 and GameCube. As long as MS can keep a good flow of games (not counting PC-ports...I really hope they stay away from that as their main feature.)
As for Indrema. It sounds like they have a system that has potential. However, I don't care that they are running Linux, and do nifty reverse spectral bump enhanced specular lighting, if I can't play any games on it.
This is what its going to come down to. What can I play games on?
Captain_Frisk
P.S. -
The X-Box people must feel quite wierd, having to compete and all...
I'm going to go out on an limb here and get a little crazy. Say what you want about MS, but they have competed. They may have used a little unfairness during the 4.0 Browser wars, but I'm using ie right now because its better. It crashes less, and runs faster. I develop in MS Visual Studio, because Borlands environment isn't as good. I use MS Office because its better than Corel. In each of those markets, MS has started from behind, and won out because they developed a superior product. You can argue that MS isn't a good company, and I probably will agree with you. But the boys at redmond have competed, from their initial competition with Apple to the current battle SQL Server vs. Oracle. At least give them some respect for that.
It seems like some people here are all too eager to just up and bash MS because they are such an easy target. Unfortunatly, like many things, its not black or white so much as some shade of grey. MS has its weak points, true... but they also have some strengths that don't get pointed out often here.
or DC for that matter. This event is just one example of a seemingly rising trend of revocation of consumer rights. I personally have no desire to take apart a cue cat. But I am an electrical engineer. What if I did? What if I wanted to figure out how it works, then put it to good use in some other barcode related application?
I think whats important here is what precedent gets set. If DC wins and is able to prevent us from investigating objects in our possession, it sets a legal precedent for another company to do the same thing.
Another reason why Slashdotters have latched onto this story is because it is a very good example for us. The ability to circumvent copy protection schemes to pirate movies is morally hazy. Hacking the cue:cat doesn't harm anyone, and is thus a prime example of situations where the DMCA and like legislation are a bad idea.
I'm relatively new to Slashdot, but I think I've captured the gist of it. Any veterans care to add / respond?
This is correct. What we should be looking at is worst case framerate. It doesn't matter how pretty CounterStrike looks when it runs at an average of 99fps. When it drops down to below 30 in wide open spaces with smoke grenades, then it really hurts. I want a guarantee of 72fps. As for this $600 video card nonsense, the GeForce2 MX does the job admirably, almost as well as the GeForce 2 GTS. Its only a hundred odd bucks, and makes a bigger difference than you think.
You bring up an intersting question. Why is slashdot using MySQL? I know that its free, but for amount of traffic that slashdot recieves, why not use a more robust tool?
I'm impressed that slashdot is able to operate as fast as it does given its impressive user base. Somewhere in a closet somewhere must be some pretty impressive machinery.
Besides being the ultimate hack, what would you do with the source code to Windows? Even if you were able to get the whole thing, theres no a small group of people would be able to do anything with it, and they can't admit to having it, so it can't be distributed out.
What would you do with stolen MS source code? I'm sure there are some creative Slashdotters out there.
Sounds interesting. I think I'll give it a whirl. My concern is that the pinky is useless floating on the edge. I like that I can use my index finger when play WASD style to reload, talk, etc.
However, you do make an interesting point, and I think I'll give it an honest go. Thanks.
Just look how many people say character x is the only character I play, because that character is slightly (or sometimes grossly) unbalanced. Of course these munchkins also wonder why nobody wants to play with them.
This is a good point that I didn't really think about. I guess they are "fixed" in future revisions of the game (look at the castration of Ryu and Ken in street fighter games). Alot of times however, a character may seem underpowered, but the true fact is that nobody knows how to use them properly. (Try playing against me as Adon in SFA2)
Also, you could argue that consoles get better games because more people play them. Diablo has sold amazingly well, and has grossed maybe 2 million copies. Each iteration of Final Fantasy trounces that number, and I don't even want to think about how many copies of Zelda or Metroid are out there.
Consoles have the advantage of a stable platform. You know that everyone has the same machine, with the same controllers. A game developed for the PC has to take everything into account, and not everyone even has a gamepad, let alone one with a standard configuration, and the keyboard doesn't lend itself well to certain style games.
I'm hoping the X-Box can use its hard drive to address things like play balance and things of that nature, but at the same time preventing developers for using it as an excuse to put out shoddy software, and patching it later.
There are marked advantages to console systems, like fighting / puzzle games, which have never achieved success on the PC. Just as RTS, and FPS will probably never be serious on the consoles. I have yet to see a viable version of Street Fighter, or Tekken appear on my PC. Also, console games rarely have bugs. How many Quake 3, UT, Half-Life, Diablo, Starcraft patches have you downloaded? Its nice and simple.
Second, consoles use your tv. Saves your computer for real work, and its usually easier to get some dudes around a TV then around your computer.
Finally, the PS2 plays DVDs. Granted I can watch DVDs on my computer, and it will probably look better, but I have a bigger TV, so when I have people over, it would be grand it we could all watch it on the TV. Given that the PS2 costs roughly as much as a decent DVD player, how can you resist?
Since I have gotten DSL, I haven't touched a floppy. I took my old computer, installed linux on it, and have it running ftp. I move files to and from home via the box. I always have backups, and everything works fine.
However, you can't expect all of the kids to have high speed permanantly connected machines at home. So instead, set it up so that they can get to their files at home via the internet, either via ftp, or if you are feeling really snazzy, through some sort of web interface.
Make this available, and cut back on the number of machines that have floppy drives. Tell the students to use this system, and implement some manner of policy that disk errors are no longer valid excuses for not hadning in an assignment.
With a policy like this in place, kids will have to come up with a better excuse. I have personally many a time pulled some manner of computer related problem over on my non-technical teachers. Floppy disks are unreliable, and so rather than just telling them (nobody ever listens) something needs to be done to force them to listen. Its not overly harsh, and it should get the job done.
Several companies have tried releasing things of this nature before. I think they end up failing because the keyboard isn't really that bad of a control system. Once you get use to WASD, it works fine, and you have 102 keys to work with.
For Counterstrike, my favorite FPS of the moment, I have buttons for Forward, Back, Left, Right, Jump, Crouch, Use, Reload, Spray Logo, Talk, Talk_Team, Check Scores, Walk, Buy, 3 for the Radio, and all the numbers required to buy items and select radio messages.
Switching over to one of these gadgets doesn't seem like it would provide enough flexibility for me to consider using. Having to jump from my keyboard to the "Claw" seems like it would be tough, especially in the middle of a fight.
For a simple game like quake, I can see that it might be useful, but I don't really have a problem with the current control scheme, so I'm not sure why I would buy this thing.
Then there is the cost. For $50 i could get very drunk, buy a new game, or countless other things than purchase a very specific gaming peripheral.
On the upside though, the customibility is sexy, and I haven't tried it. If a friend had it, I'd check it out, and if it made a big difference, I'd buy it. I'm hesitent to badmouth something that I haven't experienced firsthand, but at the same time, it seems like this is a solution to a problem that doesn't really exist.
I disagree. Microsoft has the resources to really break into the market.
I think the x-box is going to be more than just a platform for ports of PC Games. Sure, many of these will be seen, since the X-Box is running PC hardware, but as long as they have enough console style games, I think that MS will really shake things up in the industry. MS has gone out of the way to recruit top-notch developers like Bungie, to ensure that quality titles will be released.
Not to mention that the X-Box is going to have a PC-Class video accelerator. Can you imagine the graphical detail of something better than a GeForce2 rendering things at TV-resolution? Its going to be beautiful.
The biggest obstacle I see is bugs. MS has always relied on post-releast patches for bug fixes and whatnot. Console gamers have never had to deal with this in the past, and can't be expected to go look for a patch when their game crashes on level 16, because of some odd incompatibility with whatever MS OS is running on the thing.
I just hope that MS takes the time to release a quality product.
Historically, there have really only been two console systems at a time. Nintendo and Sega had it for a while, then Sony entered the market, and Sega started getting rocked. They have no new system in development, and the upcoming systems from Nintendo, MS, and Sony are going to nail the coffin in the Dreamcast, which wasn't all that popular to begin with.
When MS entered in, that made it even more unlikely that Sega was going to be able to stay floating. Nintendo pretty much got whupped by Sony in the last round because of cheaper, better games, and its looking like MS is buying enough to ensure that they aren't going to lose.
Teaming up with Sega will give both companies an edge theat they are going to need to stand against MS.
My initial reaction was the same as yours... "Experienced Users... AOL?"
But there are alot of people who do use AOL for one reason or another. Perhaps their family uses it, so they are stuck. This was a terrible move on AOLs part. Especially given that their latest browser actually recieved favorable press over at wired, as a feature-full browser.
Its easy to raise our noses and say, "It serves them right for being stupid enough to use AOL." But hey, AOL users have feelings too. Instead of this, we should all let AOL know how we feel. They claim that feedback is important to them, so let them know.
Too many things in this world are a good idea from a commercial persective (now AOL gets advertesing revenue every time someone fires up that browser). However, when we do things to make money, we should always think about what it does to the consumer. What AOL has done here hurts the consumer, and I seriously hope that it bites them in the ass.
Captain_Frisk
No. Purchasing a PS2 is supporting Sony, but who cares? Just because one arm of Sony is abusing us via the RIAA and MPAA doesn't mean that the PS2 console stinks and we should not purchase it.
If / when I purchase a PS2, I will do so because it is the best video gaming system out there now. I don't care who makes it, or what kind of freaking RAM runs in it. What I want is a quality gaming experience.
By posting this news story, Slashdot is catering to all of its audiences. While the RIAA may be evil, I don't want Slashdot censoring out information on Sony products, because for the most part, Sony products are damn good.
Unfortunatly, with the job market as it is, all of the companies are hungry for warm bodies.
I'll be graduating from college this year, and the interview process has begun. I would say that in ninety percent of my interviews, I am able to turn the interview around, and instead of them interviewing me about why I'm good for their company, I'm interviewing them, trying to figure out why I should work for them. I'm able to even do this with the non HR types. The end result is that I leave an interview with a sense that they don't care who they hire.
Does anyone have a company out there that isn't hurting for people?
Slashdot Mirror
Many of the points that were made in the article were true. But its the kindof truth that you could use presenting Adolf Hitler as a good man, bringing Germany out of economic hardship. In reality, Gates is missing the better sides of the Open Source and Linux movements.
This blatant propaganda seems downright ridiculous, and I find it hard to believe that someone as bright as Bill (like it or not, the man has most of us whipped in the IQ dept.) would right something so easily criticized.
Especially the last line, about not leaking the memo, makes the memo look even less credible.
My general suspicion is that the document was forged by some manner of Anti-MS weenie, in an attempt to rile us up. Until I get confirmation that Billy G wrote this thing, I'm going to keep quiet.
There are some relevant points in that essay though. What does the community think about it? Specifically, how can we avoid the problem of code duplication?
Captain_Frisk
I'm new to this P / NP thing, so please don't flame me too bad if I'm a complete retard.
Can you give me another example of a problem that is NP? Factoring a number is definetly a P problem. The algorithm for factoring a number into two pieces is easily done in less than N^(1/2) steps. Doesn't this make it by definition a P solution?
Can someone explain this to me on a slightly lower level?
Thanks,
Captain_Frisk
I'm waiting to see if they can deliver on some of the promises. The ability to use it as a mp3 player is very intriguing (especially if you can put a larger hard drive in it). Also I've heard some talk about adding tivo type features, and of course the ability to play regular dvd's.
Now if they would just build in a stereo receiver and direct tv circuitry, we'd have an all in one box! At that point who cares if it plays games, it does everything
Granted this would be super sweet. However, consoles are cheap for the sole reason that companies sell them at a loss. Nintendo, Sega, Sony all lose money on each console they sell, (hopefully) making the money back on liscensing fees, where other companies pay them to develop titles for it.
Unless Indrema starts attracting some developers(and they better soon if they want to have any decent launch titles), I think they are doomed.
Captain_Frisk
...I don't think that Guiness could really do anything about it.
However, I would be worried that God might send them cease and desist letters for attempting to reverse engineer his Universe.
From the article:
Instead, they are just the remnants of patches of snow that have sat in place for years before eventually melting in the sun.
Ok. So instead of water, they are just artifacts from snow. And the snow eveporated? So that means that Mars must have some water vapor floating around?
I suppose that this "water vapor" could have drifted off into the cosmos, but wouldn't it stay in the atmosphere, like it does on earth? The water has to go somewhere, and mars should have sufficient mass to at least attract some atmosophere thanks to gravity.
Any other thoughts? Am I off base here, or is something not adding up?
Captain_Frisk
I plan to do my civic duty next week, but I'm having problems deciding. I'm told that Gore is a better choice for technologists, but I really don't think I can stand for his feelings on affirmative action and other non-merit based systems. Bush appeals to me more on those lines, but his tax plan is absolute crap, and as a student, I'm not rich (yet).
Can anyone point me in the direction of some better reading?
Thanks,
Captain_Frisk
I agree. Napster has been trading in illegal goods. We have absolutely no right to do steal artists music under the current system.
What is important to note here is that the Peer 2 Peer philosophy is out of the bag. I think it would be really funny to pay for Napster. I'm going to pay so someone else can download BMG's music off of my computer?
Its also important to note the precedence that is being set here. Napster is used for illegal stuff, true, but it does have legitimate applications.
Things like this, (and to a much greater extent, the DMCA) are encroaching on our freedoms. If we don't fight them now, it will be even harder to fight later when more serious violations of our consumer rights are proposed. This is why we are all "whining" here on slashdot.
Captain_Frisk
Sony, Nintendo, Microso...PFFT!, Indrema
I think Sony will make this one. They have their system out ahead of everyone else, and despite development difficulty, they have lots of titles on the way.
I think Nintendo is in trouble. They will be releasing their system around the same time as MS, but only have system specs on par with the PS2. They will sell some because of the next Mario game, but I think that ultimatly, they will lose.
Why will Nintento lose? Because, Microsoft is going to kick their ass. Microsoft has developers lined up, and has specs that should mop the floor with the PS2 and GameCube. As long as MS can keep a good flow of games (not counting PC-ports...I really hope they stay away from that as their main feature.)
As for Indrema. It sounds like they have a system that has potential. However, I don't care that they are running Linux, and do nifty reverse spectral bump enhanced specular lighting, if I can't play any games on it.
This is what its going to come down to. What can I play games on?
Captain_Frisk
P.S. - The X-Box people must feel quite wierd, having to compete and all...
I'm going to go out on an limb here and get a little crazy. Say what you want about MS, but they have competed. They may have used a little unfairness during the 4.0 Browser wars, but I'm using ie right now because its better. It crashes less, and runs faster. I develop in MS Visual Studio, because Borlands environment isn't as good. I use MS Office because its better than Corel. In each of those markets, MS has started from behind, and won out because they developed a superior product. You can argue that MS isn't a good company, and I probably will agree with you. But the boys at redmond have competed, from their initial competition with Apple to the current battle SQL Server vs. Oracle. At least give them some respect for that.
It seems like some people here are all too eager to just up and bash MS because they are such an easy target. Unfortunatly, like many things, its not black or white so much as some shade of grey. MS has its weak points, true... but they also have some strengths that don't get pointed out often here.
Flame On!
The 1997 World Record on the site is 3718'. Thats 0.7 of a mile. 1.13KM. What the hell were these guys using? A tank?
I saw this and is scared the bejesus out of me. What if there is some dude, 3000' away preparing to launch a pumpkin at me?
Seriously, I bet watching a pumpkin fly for half a mile is a beautiful site.
Captain_Frisk
or DC for that matter. This event is just one example of a seemingly rising trend of revocation of consumer rights. I personally have no desire to take apart a cue cat. But I am an electrical engineer. What if I did? What if I wanted to figure out how it works, then put it to good use in some other barcode related application?
I think whats important here is what precedent gets set. If DC wins and is able to prevent us from investigating objects in our possession, it sets a legal precedent for another company to do the same thing.
Another reason why Slashdotters have latched onto this story is because it is a very good example for us. The ability to circumvent copy protection schemes to pirate movies is morally hazy. Hacking the cue:cat doesn't harm anyone, and is thus a prime example of situations where the DMCA and like legislation are a bad idea.
I'm relatively new to Slashdot, but I think I've captured the gist of it. Any veterans care to add / respond?
Captain_Frisk
This is correct. What we should be looking at is worst case framerate. It doesn't matter how pretty CounterStrike looks when it runs at an average of 99fps. When it drops down to below 30 in wide open spaces with smoke grenades, then it really hurts. I want a guarantee of 72fps. As for this $600 video card nonsense, the GeForce2 MX does the job admirably, almost as well as the GeForce 2 GTS. Its only a hundred odd bucks, and makes a bigger difference than you think.
Captain_Frisk
You bring up an intersting question. Why is slashdot using MySQL? I know that its free, but for amount of traffic that slashdot recieves, why not use a more robust tool?
I'm impressed that slashdot is able to operate as fast as it does given its impressive user base. Somewhere in a closet somewhere must be some pretty impressive machinery.
Besides being the ultimate hack, what would you do with the source code to Windows? Even if you were able to get the whole thing, theres no a small group of people would be able to do anything with it, and they can't admit to having it, so it can't be distributed out.
What would you do with stolen MS source code? I'm sure there are some creative Slashdotters out there.
DZXC huh?
Sounds interesting. I think I'll give it a whirl. My concern is that the pinky is useless floating on the edge. I like that I can use my index finger when play WASD style to reload, talk, etc.
However, you do make an interesting point, and I think I'll give it an honest go. Thanks.
Captain_Frisk
Just look how many people say character x is the only character I play, because that character is slightly (or sometimes grossly) unbalanced. Of course these munchkins also wonder why nobody wants to play with them.
This is a good point that I didn't really think about. I guess they are "fixed" in future revisions of the game (look at the castration of Ryu and Ken in street fighter games). Alot of times however, a character may seem underpowered, but the true fact is that nobody knows how to use them properly. (Try playing against me as Adon in SFA2)
Also, you could argue that consoles get better games because more people play them. Diablo has sold amazingly well, and has grossed maybe 2 million copies. Each iteration of Final Fantasy trounces that number, and I don't even want to think about how many copies of Zelda or Metroid are out there.
Consoles have the advantage of a stable platform. You know that everyone has the same machine, with the same controllers. A game developed for the PC has to take everything into account, and not everyone even has a gamepad, let alone one with a standard configuration, and the keyboard doesn't lend itself well to certain style games.
I'm hoping the X-Box can use its hard drive to address things like play balance and things of that nature, but at the same time preventing developers for using it as an excuse to put out shoddy software, and patching it later.
Captain_Frisk
Agreed.
There are marked advantages to console systems, like fighting / puzzle games, which have never achieved success on the PC. Just as RTS, and FPS will probably never be serious on the consoles. I have yet to see a viable version of Street Fighter, or Tekken appear on my PC. Also, console games rarely have bugs. How many Quake 3, UT, Half-Life, Diablo, Starcraft patches have you downloaded? Its nice and simple.
Second, consoles use your tv. Saves your computer for real work, and its usually easier to get some dudes around a TV then around your computer.
Finally, the PS2 plays DVDs. Granted I can watch DVDs on my computer, and it will probably look better, but I have a bigger TV, so when I have people over, it would be grand it we could all watch it on the TV. Given that the PS2 costs roughly as much as a decent DVD player, how can you resist?
Captain_Frisk
Since I have gotten DSL, I haven't touched a floppy. I took my old computer, installed linux on it, and have it running ftp. I move files to and from home via the box. I always have backups, and everything works fine.
However, you can't expect all of the kids to have high speed permanantly connected machines at home. So instead, set it up so that they can get to their files at home via the internet, either via ftp, or if you are feeling really snazzy, through some sort of web interface.
Make this available, and cut back on the number of machines that have floppy drives. Tell the students to use this system, and implement some manner of policy that disk errors are no longer valid excuses for not hadning in an assignment.
With a policy like this in place, kids will have to come up with a better excuse. I have personally many a time pulled some manner of computer related problem over on my non-technical teachers. Floppy disks are unreliable, and so rather than just telling them (nobody ever listens) something needs to be done to force them to listen. Its not overly harsh, and it should get the job done.
Captain_Frisk
Several companies have tried releasing things of this nature before. I think they end up failing because the keyboard isn't really that bad of a control system. Once you get use to WASD, it works fine, and you have 102 keys to work with.
For Counterstrike, my favorite FPS of the moment, I have buttons for Forward, Back, Left, Right, Jump, Crouch, Use, Reload, Spray Logo, Talk, Talk_Team, Check Scores, Walk, Buy, 3 for the Radio, and all the numbers required to buy items and select radio messages.
Switching over to one of these gadgets doesn't seem like it would provide enough flexibility for me to consider using. Having to jump from my keyboard to the "Claw" seems like it would be tough, especially in the middle of a fight.
For a simple game like quake, I can see that it might be useful, but I don't really have a problem with the current control scheme, so I'm not sure why I would buy this thing.
Then there is the cost. For $50 i could get very drunk, buy a new game, or countless other things than purchase a very specific gaming peripheral.
On the upside though, the customibility is sexy, and I haven't tried it. If a friend had it, I'd check it out, and if it made a big difference, I'd buy it. I'm hesitent to badmouth something that I haven't experienced firsthand, but at the same time, it seems like this is a solution to a problem that doesn't really exist.
Captain_Frisk
I disagree. Microsoft has the resources to really break into the market.
I think the x-box is going to be more than just a platform for ports of PC Games. Sure, many of these will be seen, since the X-Box is running PC hardware, but as long as they have enough console style games, I think that MS will really shake things up in the industry. MS has gone out of the way to recruit top-notch developers like Bungie, to ensure that quality titles will be released.
Not to mention that the X-Box is going to have a PC-Class video accelerator. Can you imagine the graphical detail of something better than a GeForce2 rendering things at TV-resolution? Its going to be beautiful.
The biggest obstacle I see is bugs. MS has always relied on post-releast patches for bug fixes and whatnot. Console gamers have never had to deal with this in the past, and can't be expected to go look for a patch when their game crashes on level 16, because of some odd incompatibility with whatever MS OS is running on the thing.
I just hope that MS takes the time to release a quality product.
Historically, there have really only been two console systems at a time. Nintendo and Sega had it for a while, then Sony entered the market, and Sega started getting rocked. They have no new system in development, and the upcoming systems from Nintendo, MS, and Sony are going to nail the coffin in the Dreamcast, which wasn't all that popular to begin with.
When MS entered in, that made it even more unlikely that Sega was going to be able to stay floating. Nintendo pretty much got whupped by Sony in the last round because of cheaper, better games, and its looking like MS is buying enough to ensure that they aren't going to lose.
Teaming up with Sega will give both companies an edge theat they are going to need to stand against MS.
My initial reaction was the same as yours... "Experienced Users... AOL?"
But there are alot of people who do use AOL for one reason or another. Perhaps their family uses it, so they are stuck. This was a terrible move on AOLs part. Especially given that their latest browser actually recieved favorable press over at wired, as a feature-full browser.
Its easy to raise our noses and say, "It serves them right for being stupid enough to use AOL." But hey, AOL users have feelings too. Instead of this, we should all let AOL know how we feel. They claim that feedback is important to them, so let them know.
Too many things in this world are a good idea from a commercial persective (now AOL gets advertesing revenue every time someone fires up that browser). However, when we do things to make money, we should always think about what it does to the consumer. What AOL has done here hurts the consumer, and I seriously hope that it bites them in the ass. Captain_Frisk
No. Purchasing a PS2 is supporting Sony, but who cares? Just because one arm of Sony is abusing us via the RIAA and MPAA doesn't mean that the PS2 console stinks and we should not purchase it.
If / when I purchase a PS2, I will do so because it is the best video gaming system out there now. I don't care who makes it, or what kind of freaking RAM runs in it. What I want is a quality gaming experience.
By posting this news story, Slashdot is catering to all of its audiences. While the RIAA may be evil, I don't want Slashdot censoring out information on Sony products, because for the most part, Sony products are damn good.
Deal with everything in its place.
Unfortunatly, with the job market as it is, all of the companies are hungry for warm bodies.
I'll be graduating from college this year, and the interview process has begun. I would say that in ninety percent of my interviews, I am able to turn the interview around, and instead of them interviewing me about why I'm good for their company, I'm interviewing them, trying to figure out why I should work for them. I'm able to even do this with the non HR types. The end result is that I leave an interview with a sense that they don't care who they hire.
Does anyone have a company out there that isn't hurting for people?