Pikmin was produced by Shigeru Miyamoto! You know, the father of the best games in console history? Just because it didn't SELL in the billions to the droves that just want to play another sequel to GTA, does not mean it is not mainstream. Are you suggesting it had low distribution or an independent publisher? Go check, its right there on the shelves with the pretty graphics everyone is buying up.
If you keep reading, you see that they mean the application must support a stateful firewall. Ports will not accept incoming messages, unless an application has opened the port with an outgoing message (putting the port "in use"). This means that server applications - which have to accept uninitiated communications - have to be put on a "whitelist" manually.
It will not protect you against trojan horse applications which can initiate communications from your machine, but it will protect you against external port attacks which have helped some of the famous worms propogate.
You have to bag on MS for this? Ok, imagine this alternate Slashdot headline:
MS sales buries secure XP Itoldyouso writes - A leaked memo indicates that the Microsoft developers created a much more secure version of their flagship operating system. However, because it would have caused problems with a small number of applications that were designed insecurely, the Sales & Marketing teams vetoed the new secure version, in an attempt to avoid a customer backlash. It is now official - Microsoft's commitment to trustworthy computing is a complete joke.
I have a feeling that post would rile a lot more people here.
That's sound more like a paraphrase, unless he was just speaking off the cuff. Dell's direct model has always been based on "give the customer what they want when they ask for it", as opposed to "spend a lot of money to build something new and then spend a lot of money trying to convince the customer they need it (at a premium price)", which is the basis of the companies which you, for some reason, prefer to do business with. Most companies would rather pay the best price for equipment that fulfills their needs. Hence, the popularity of Dell. Apparently your company would rather pay a high-magin markup for the latest and greatest toy, which has yet to be proven to fulfill a need.
The "new CEO" Kevin Rollins has been running the show for at least a year. This is simply a title change. Do not expect any noticable change in Dell operations or direction, based on this change.
It's scary that enough people consider this "Insightful". Insightful = a thought that wasn't naturally obvious, being brought up (my interpreation anyway).
So who here wasn't aware the Microsoft still exists because people buy stuff from them? Since people buy stuff from them, they can continue to exist as a corporation, and therefore have the ability to release stuff for free. Obvious.
Let's see if I get modded Insightful: Linux is not "free"! There is no such thing as "free" software! Based on the parent's premise, every single programmer that worked on supposed "free" software, has been given food & shelter by someone selling something or providing a service. Therefore, how can software claim to be free (as in beer), when it only exists because people are making money?
If that is the case (no HD in Xbox2), I bet a Windows MCE computer will be required, to act as the server for your house. You can then have various Xbox2 systems as "clients" in each room in your house. http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2004/Jan0 4/01-07eHomeCES2004PR.asp
OR
Your data is stored on MS servers. You pay a monthly fee, like Xbox Live, and can stream your data for playback when needed.
You wouldn't pay much more than $300 for a videogame system, but... how much would you pay for a box that: - plays next generation videogames - plays DVDs (HD-DVD maybe?) - acts as a PVR - plays MP3/WMA music, with a nice on-screen browser - acts as a server or client to distribute media to all the TVs/stereos in your house (they are already doing this with XBOX and Windows MCE)
This is the goal of the XBox2. It is not just another videogame system. It is Microsoft's next attempt at becoming a real player in the consumer electronics market.
I didn't read it as a jab at all. When I read it, I thought he was criticizing his own product for not delivering what the customers wanted.
Its like when you go to the movies and order a medium popcorn and they say "for 50 cents more, you can upgrade to the large". But you don't WANT the large!
The medium popcorn (or diet coke) is all the customer wants. Linux can do both roles (the medium and the large) for the same price (free) -- or at varying prices if you buy a supported version from a vendor. He is admitting that you cannot easily buy the medium popcorn version of Windows - you are forced to pay for the large (full functionality), even when you don't need it.
This is obviously a concern at Microsoft, and something they are starting to address (consider the various versions of Windows Server 2003).
Do OSS developers fix and test every permutation of a platform in a day or two? Because that's what Microsoft has to do.
Just because it wasn't released for 6 months doesn't mean it was ignored for 6 months.
The amount of testing that has to go into a change like this is immense. For example, if they release a patch for WinXP, they have to make sure it works with WinXP RTM, WinXP SP1, WinXP SP2, etc. Include testing for permutations of major server applications.
The alternative is to release a "fix" immediately, have the "community" (millions of corporate servers) implement the fix - discover a day later that the fix broke something else - get flamed on slashdot for releasing a broken fix - release another fix that day - discover the next day that the fix broke something else - etc...
Microsoft has to be accountable for making sure any change will work on millions of server. Compare that to Johnny OSS developer who only has to make sure his fix works on his own machine.
If you care about picture/sound quality, satellite is definitely the way to go. I used DirecTV for a couple years and got used to "digital" tv (not HDTV). My local cable company offered a great promo to try out their "digital" cable. They offered the hundreds of channels that you get with satellite, and it looked like a good deal, so I gave it a try.
What they don't tell you (at least the 2 cable services I tried in Boston and Austin), is that the majority of the channels are NOT digital - just the extra channels that you can't get through regular cable. So ESPN, MTV, Comedy Central, etc (the most popular cable channels) - none of them are digital, and the picture/sound quality suffers very noticably. With satellite, EVERY channel is digital.
(Oh, and how does the cable company get away with advertising digital cable and state that satellite requires you to pay a fee per TV? It is true, but they fail to mention that you also have to pay a fee per TV for digital cable converter boxes).
That would effectively promote iTunes, by making more people download and use the service in order to hear the song. If you read the site, you will see they are not too fond of iTunes.
Maybe a better solution (though more technically/legally challenging) would be for them to buy/download the song for you, and then make it available to (only) you for download from their site.
So are you arguing with the tax law that allows charitible contributions to be deductible? Or just when it is used by Bill Gates?
This is one tax law that makes sense to me and should not be demonized.
Paying taxes is similar to giving to charity: you are contributing part of your income for the benefit of others. Donating to a charity gives you more control/choice over how those funds are used. It is not a "tax break"; the net amount given to others is still the same.
The world isn't black and white, and Bill Gates is not 100% evil. You may disagree with almost everything he does, but it is simple-minded to classify his every action as "bad".
Keep in mind, I'm not saying that a few "good" actions justify the many "bad" actions. I'm just saying that they exist.
So Microsoft looked at Java, saw the benefits it had to offer, and decided to create a similar technology that included more advancements. Now Sun sees the enhancements that.NET has over Java, so they include it in their next version of Java (its happening, do some research). This is not a bad thing. The Java guys didn't invent programming languages, believe me. They're work is based on people that came before them.
Proclaiming that one technology is similar or based on another technology does not diminish its value.
You cannot clone (very easily) great customer service (and the accompanying customer loyalty).
They can continue to be successfuly by sticking with what made them successful in the first place: a good product, great designs, and strong customer support.
They will not "differentiate" themselves by adding their "Spider-Man" or "Star Wars" products to the vast sea of other "Spider-Man" or "Star Wars" products already available.
I don't understand why a format is bashed for allowing DRM. It makes it a more flexible format. It helps open the door to content providers that would otherwise be scared off by online content.
But WMA != DRM. It simply supports it.
I have over 3GB of legal, non-DRM WMA files on my computer. The fact that WMA supports DRM does not effect my use at all.
I agree that trying to compete with Dell on high volume, low margin computers would be extremely difficult. However, the possible opportunity is hinted at in your last paragraph:
The most anyone could hope for would to eek out a marginal existance selling highly customized systems built from hand-picked components for gamers and similar enthusiasts. (Most of whom can do it themselves, or at least think they can)
Don't compete with Dell on generic boxes. Create customized, high end machines. It is possible to sell commodity items above commodity prices with a little bit of value-add and a LOT of marketing. Think Monster cables. They sell $5 A/V cables for $50.
Sell your super fancy computers for $10,000. You won't sell a lot of them, but maybe you will sell a few to the filthy rich who want to feel that they deserve better than the Dell that ANYONE can afford.
Yes, I realized the irony of me doing exactly what the article was railing against: spouting off "the solution" without actually doing anything about it. What can I say, it was a good, accurate article about the state of the online nerd culture.
Your message is accurate (a single person can react to specific customer demands better), but your supporting evidence is flawed.
1) Just because Dell doesn't sell an Opteron machine, doesn't mean they haven't realized there is *SOME* demand. There are probably more factors involved (and they probably involve deals with Intel).
2) I emphasized *SOME* because it is a pretty wild statement to claim the general population is clamoring for Opteron machines. In fact, I think if asked 20 random people if they would like an Opteron machine, at least 19 would probably ask "what the heck is an Opteron?"
It took me a couple re-reads, but now I understand what you are trying to get at. Your assumption is that all current equipment eventually gets replaced, and wouldn't it be nice if your media could survive the replacement.
It's a valid point, but not something I am concerned about. I assume that by the time my current DVD player no longer works, and you can no longer buy "non-BluRay" DVD players, my library itself will be obsolete. All of my data backups will be outdated. And my movies, just like my VHS library, would also be outdated. I already owned "12 Monkeys" on VHS when I bought the DVD, because it offered better quality and more features. I imagine by the time my current equipment is obsolete, I will just as easily set aside my "12 Monkyes" DVD in favor of the new SuperEnhanced BluRay version.
Your mention of compatibility with the upcoming standards was a valuable addition to the conversation, I just disagree with your delivery that suggested DVD+RW owners are making a mistake.
Another reason is that Dell is part of the DVD+RW alliance...
http://www.dvdrw.com/alliance/history.htm
Dell has always promoted the DVD+RW standards. If this is really newsworthy (which is doubtful)this entire topic should have been posted much earlier when the DVD+RW Alliance was created, NOT when Dell ran a promotion on drives.
I think the real story here is that Slashdot is posting Dell advertisements thinly disguised as stories/content.
And I say "too bad" for those who will get stuck sitting on the fence waiting for the "next big thing" to come out.
Me, I'm glad I picked up that DVD+R/+RW/CD-RW drive for $100 so I can back up my hard drive and burn CD's now. As in today.
When this "one to rule them all" standard eventually comes out and makes my equipment completely obsolete (meaning I can no longer buy media at a reasonable price), I am confident that it will be far enough in the future (>1 year) that I will have gotten my money's worth.
This is a valid explanation of the "freebie" promotion, but it has nothing to do with their lack of confidence in the format. They are also offering a free IDE hard drive and free DDR memory upgrade. Doesn't mean they are going to switch to SCSI and RDRAM...
Dell has chosen to back DVD+R. They have always only (I believe) offered DVD+R.
Your post, while explaining the promotion, does nothing to refute the parent posts assertion that the winning format will probably be determined by the big OEM players (Dell being the biggest (at least, in most parts of the world)).
For example, the guys (and gal) at invisible-city.com have been making their own games for a while now, and I'm sure they'd be happy to give you some advice if you dropped them an email.
Slashdot Mirror
Pikmin was produced by Shigeru Miyamoto! You know, the father of the best games in console history? Just because it didn't SELL in the billions to the droves that just want to play another sequel to GTA, does not mean it is not mainstream. Are you suggesting it had low distribution or an independent publisher? Go check, its right there on the shelves with the pretty graphics everyone is buying up.
If you keep reading, you see that they mean the application must support a stateful firewall.
Ports will not accept incoming messages, unless an application has opened the port with an outgoing message (putting the port "in use").
This means that server applications - which have to accept uninitiated communications - have to be put on a "whitelist" manually.
It will not protect you against trojan horse applications which can initiate communications from your machine, but it will protect you against external port attacks which have helped some of the famous worms propogate.
You have to bag on MS for this?
Ok, imagine this alternate Slashdot headline:
MS sales buries secure XP
Itoldyouso writes - A leaked memo indicates that the Microsoft developers created a much more secure version of their flagship operating system. However, because it would have caused problems with a small number of applications that were designed insecurely, the Sales & Marketing teams vetoed the new secure version, in an attempt to avoid a customer backlash. It is now official - Microsoft's commitment to trustworthy computing is a complete joke.
I have a feeling that post would rile a lot more people here.
That's sound more like a paraphrase, unless he was just speaking off the cuff. Dell's direct model has always been based on "give the customer what they want when they ask for it", as opposed to "spend a lot of money to build something new and then spend a lot of money trying to convince the customer they need it (at a premium price)", which is the basis of the companies which you, for some reason, prefer to do business with.
Most companies would rather pay the best price for equipment that fulfills their needs. Hence, the popularity of Dell. Apparently your company would rather pay a high-magin markup for the latest and greatest toy, which has yet to be proven to fulfill a need.
The "new CEO" Kevin Rollins has been running the show for at least a year. This is simply a title change. Do not expect any noticable change in Dell operations or direction, based on this change.
Where is the "Out of Touch" moderation?
It's scary that enough people consider this "Insightful". Insightful = a thought that wasn't naturally obvious, being brought up (my interpreation anyway).
So who here wasn't aware the Microsoft still exists because people buy stuff from them? Since people buy stuff from them, they can continue to exist as a corporation, and therefore have the ability to release stuff for free. Obvious.
Let's see if I get modded Insightful: Linux is not "free"! There is no such thing as "free" software! Based on the parent's premise, every single programmer that worked on supposed "free" software, has been given food & shelter by someone selling something or providing a service. Therefore, how can software claim to be free (as in beer), when it only exists because people are making money?
Good point.
0 4/01-07eHomeCES2004PR.asp
If that is the case (no HD in Xbox2), I bet a Windows MCE computer will be required, to act as the server for your house. You can then have various Xbox2 systems as "clients" in each room in your house. http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2004/Jan
OR
Your data is stored on MS servers. You pay a monthly fee, like Xbox Live, and can stream your data for playback when needed.
You wouldn't pay much more than $300 for a videogame system, but... how much would you pay for a box that:
- plays next generation videogames
- plays DVDs (HD-DVD maybe?)
- acts as a PVR
- plays MP3/WMA music, with a nice on-screen browser
- acts as a server or client to distribute media
to all the TVs/stereos in your house (they are already doing this with XBOX and Windows MCE)
This is the goal of the XBox2. It is not just another videogame system. It is Microsoft's next attempt at becoming a real player in the consumer electronics market.
Funny you should mention Wiki, since the its inventor Ward Cunningham now works for Microsoft.
s ft notebook26.html
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/158020_m
(Note: I'm not claiming this fact refutes your statement at all.)
Because Longhorn is a desktop OS.
Longhorn is not a server OS.
Maybe you were being funny, but I thought it would be worth pointing out so that people don't think this is a serious issue.
I didn't read it as a jab at all. When I read it, I thought he was criticizing his own product for not delivering what the customers wanted.
Its like when you go to the movies and order a medium popcorn and they say "for 50 cents more, you can upgrade to the large". But you don't WANT the large!
The medium popcorn (or diet coke) is all the customer wants. Linux can do both roles (the medium and the large) for the same price (free) -- or at varying prices if you buy a supported version from a vendor. He is admitting that you cannot easily buy the medium popcorn version of Windows - you are forced to pay for the large (full functionality), even when you don't need it.
This is obviously a concern at Microsoft, and something they are starting to address (consider the various versions of Windows Server 2003).
Do OSS developers fix and test every permutation of a platform in a day or two? Because that's what Microsoft has to do.
Just because it wasn't released for 6 months doesn't mean it was ignored for 6 months.
The amount of testing that has to go into a change like this is immense. For example, if they release a patch for WinXP, they have to make sure it works with WinXP RTM, WinXP SP1, WinXP SP2, etc. Include testing for permutations of major server applications.
The alternative is to release a "fix" immediately, have the "community" (millions of corporate servers) implement the fix - discover a day later that the fix broke something else - get flamed on slashdot for releasing a broken fix - release another fix that day - discover the next day that the fix broke something else - etc...
Microsoft has to be accountable for making sure any change will work on millions of server. Compare that to Johnny OSS developer who only has to make sure his fix works on his own machine.
If you care about picture/sound quality, satellite is definitely the way to go. I used DirecTV for a couple years and got used to "digital" tv (not HDTV). My local cable company offered a great promo to try out their "digital" cable. They offered the hundreds of channels that you get with satellite, and it looked like a good deal, so I gave it a try.
What they don't tell you (at least the 2 cable services I tried in Boston and Austin), is that the majority of the channels are NOT digital - just the extra channels that you can't get through regular cable. So ESPN, MTV, Comedy Central, etc (the most popular cable channels) - none of them are digital, and the picture/sound quality suffers very noticably.
With satellite, EVERY channel is digital.
(Oh, and how does the cable company get away with advertising digital cable and state that satellite requires you to pay a fee per TV? It is true, but they fail to mention that you also have to pay a fee per TV for digital cable converter boxes).
That would effectively promote iTunes, by making more people download and use the service in order to hear the song. If you read the site, you will see they are not too fond of iTunes.
Maybe a better solution (though more technically/legally challenging) would be for them to buy/download the song for you, and then make it available to (only) you for download from their site.
At US taxpayers expense?
So are you arguing with the tax law that allows charitible contributions to be deductible? Or just when it is used by Bill Gates?
This is one tax law that makes sense to me and should not be demonized.
Paying taxes is similar to giving to charity: you are contributing part of your income for the benefit of others. Donating to a charity gives you more control/choice over how those funds are used. It is not a "tax break"; the net amount given to others is still the same.
The world isn't black and white, and Bill Gates is not 100% evil. You may disagree with almost everything he does, but it is simple-minded to classify his every action as "bad".
Keep in mind, I'm not saying that a few "good" actions justify the many "bad" actions. I'm just saying that they exist.
So Microsoft looked at Java, saw the benefits it had to offer, and decided to create a similar technology that included more advancements. Now Sun sees the enhancements that .NET has over Java, so they include it in their next version of Java (its happening, do some research). This is not a bad thing. The Java guys didn't invent programming languages, believe me. They're work is based on people that came before them.
Proclaiming that one technology is similar or based on another technology does not diminish its value.
You cannot clone a highly recognized brand name.
You cannot clone (very easily) great customer service (and the accompanying customer loyalty).
They can continue to be successfuly by sticking with what made them successful in the first place: a good product, great designs, and strong customer support.
They will not "differentiate" themselves by adding their "Spider-Man" or "Star Wars" products to the vast sea of other "Spider-Man" or "Star Wars" products already available.
I don't understand why a format is bashed for allowing DRM. It makes it a more flexible format. It helps open the door to content providers that would otherwise be scared off by online content.
But WMA != DRM. It simply supports it.
I have over 3GB of legal, non-DRM WMA files on my computer. The fact that WMA supports DRM does not effect my use at all.
I agree that trying to compete with Dell on high volume, low margin computers would be extremely difficult. However, the possible opportunity is hinted at in your last paragraph:
The most anyone could hope for would to eek out a marginal existance selling highly customized systems built from hand-picked components for gamers and similar enthusiasts. (Most of whom can do it themselves, or at least think they can)
Don't compete with Dell on generic boxes. Create customized, high end machines. It is possible to sell commodity items above commodity prices with a little bit of value-add and a LOT of marketing. Think Monster cables. They sell $5 A/V cables for $50.
Sell your super fancy computers for $10,000. You won't sell a lot of them, but maybe you will sell a few to the filthy rich who want to feel that they deserve better than the Dell that ANYONE can afford.
Yes, I realized the irony of me doing exactly what the article was railing against: spouting off "the solution" without actually doing anything about it. What can I say, it was a good, accurate article about the state of the online nerd culture.
Your message is accurate (a single person can react to specific customer demands better), but your supporting evidence is flawed.
1) Just because Dell doesn't sell an Opteron machine, doesn't mean they haven't realized there is *SOME* demand. There are probably more factors involved (and they probably involve deals with Intel).
2) I emphasized *SOME* because it is a pretty wild statement to claim the general population is clamoring for Opteron machines. In fact, I think if asked 20 random people if they would like an Opteron machine, at least 19 would probably ask "what the heck is an Opteron?"
It took me a couple re-reads, but now I understand what you are trying to get at. Your assumption is that all current equipment eventually gets replaced, and wouldn't it be nice if your media could survive the replacement.
It's a valid point, but not something I am concerned about. I assume that by the time my current DVD player no longer works, and you can no longer buy "non-BluRay" DVD players, my library itself will be obsolete. All of my data backups will be outdated. And my movies, just like my VHS library, would also be outdated. I already owned "12 Monkeys" on VHS when I bought the DVD, because it offered better quality and more features. I imagine by the time my current equipment is obsolete, I will just as easily set aside my "12 Monkyes" DVD in favor of the new SuperEnhanced BluRay version.
Your mention of compatibility with the upcoming standards was a valuable addition to the conversation, I just disagree with your delivery that suggested DVD+RW owners are making a mistake.
Another reason is that Dell is part of the DVD+RW alliance...
http://www.dvdrw.com/alliance/history.htm
Dell has always promoted the DVD+RW standards.
If this is really newsworthy (which is doubtful)this entire topic should have been posted much earlier when the DVD+RW Alliance was created, NOT when Dell ran a promotion on drives.
I think the real story here is that Slashdot is posting Dell advertisements thinly disguised as stories/content.
And I say "too bad" for those who will get stuck sitting on the fence waiting for the "next big thing" to come out.
Me, I'm glad I picked up that DVD+R/+RW/CD-RW drive for $100 so I can back up my hard drive and burn CD's now. As in today.
When this "one to rule them all" standard eventually comes out and makes my equipment completely obsolete (meaning I can no longer buy media at a reasonable price), I am confident that it will be far enough in the future (>1 year) that I will have gotten my money's worth.
This is a valid explanation of the "freebie" promotion, but it has nothing to do with their lack of confidence in the format. They are also offering a free IDE hard drive and free DDR memory upgrade. Doesn't mean they are going to switch to SCSI and RDRAM...
Dell has chosen to back DVD+R. They have always only (I believe) offered DVD+R.
Your post, while explaining the promotion, does nothing to refute the parent posts assertion that the winning format will probably be determined by the big OEM players (Dell being the biggest (at least, in most parts of the world)).
For example, the guys (and gal) at invisible-city.com have been making their own games for a while now, and I'm sure they'd be happy to give you some advice if you dropped them an email.