Numbers: check http://www.softwaretop100.org/top-25-gaming-companies-2010 for the rankings of the top 25 by revenue. We see Nintendo, Activision Blizzard, Sony, and the rest of the top 10 make up over half of the estimated global game revenue. 10 companies out of hundreds? thousands? who knows? The iOS market will probably move more and more towards this as the big publishers like EA continue to press their marketing advantage to sell their games, but the nice thing is there is always an opportunity for the little guy with the killer game to sell just as many copies as EA.
Compared to the console and PC gaming world I would imagine the disparity there to be even greater than this. EA, Take Two Interactive, Nintendo, Capcom, Microsoft, Activision Blizzard, Sega, Sony, etc are likely the top 0.01% when it comes to developers and probably take in almost all the (it's too damned early for me to actually do the research, sorry). The important difference here is that in iOS, as of now, the top 1% is only taking in 30% and that those developers are made up of a far greater number of indie studios.
...think of the faculty at a place like the University of Phoenix
To anyone who is any anyway involved in education or has even received one (I mean an education, not just a piece of paper) the thought of all universities being run by U of Phoenix types leaves me even more frightened for the future than normal. Watch PBS's Frontline or just work with someone with a University of Phoenix degree and you'll see what I mean. I have a much better idea: how about we make all universities the opposite of the University of Phoenix. How about all schools have actually competent people get paid to actually teach people who actually give a shit about learning something instead of just adding a few extra letters to their resumes (or in the case of the U of Phoenix teachers, just getting stock options in the University and an extra paycheck)?
For many younger viewers, it's the only news program they watch.
Where exactly does the author get his "facts" on this one? Sounds like some internet echo chamber nonsense to me. Everyone knows that the 16-34 demographic all watch 60 minutes and McLehrer's News Hour religiously.
Seriously though, I always cringe when I see stuff like that printed without some sort of source to back it up.
In a crunch I'll use Wikipedia to get a general idea of some concept I'm lacking if I don't have time to do proper research. Even then I take what's there w/ a grain of salt. Never[ever] would I use it as a genuine reference tool. I appreciate the philosophy behind Wikipedia, I approach it the same way I do many political ideals, "in a perfect world..."
I have been reading The Register since just about day one. While I disagree w/ a number of their stances on issues relating to technology in society and popular culture, I fully agree with their stance on Wikipedia today. Wikipedia is (for a large part) a load of bollocks. Harmless bollocks, that was, until a number of other somewhat reputable sites like About.com started publishing the content as verbatim fact. Now, I have students in college classes defending positions based on Wikipedia citations. In such cases an argument for research laziness is due, but laziness aside, the designation by popular media of Wikipedia as an authoritative source, an encyclopedia, gives it an undeserved cache of respect.
Every time I hear some one say some grand thing about the community promise of Wikipedia I am continually reminded of something about a million monkeys at a million typewriters...
This from a man who has about as much personal experience with public education (attending or even coming within 50 yards of a school) as our beloved president (which is to say none). But, because he's managed the American dream (growing up rich and becoming even richer) we take every dumb thing that comes out of his mouth as pearls of wisdom. Maybe we should care more about what teachers think, what the principals think, or *gasp* what parents and students think, and less what the privileged elite think.
Coca-cola has been running these kinds of ads in the Athens (Greece) Metro for a long time now. They're kind of creepy, look out the window and all of the sudden you see a bunch of kids enjoying Coke products where you expect to see black nothingness.
The letter responding to Microsoft is by far one of the most informed, logical arguments for "free" software I've ever seen. Instead of taking a self-rightous (*ahem...RMS*) road, the congressman actually outlines in reasoned terms why free software can actually be *better* for the economy. People making well-reasoned arguments like this are what the free software movement needs to be able to effectively stand up to the lobbying power of Microsoft. Why can't we get legislators like this in America?
Actually, we did have a very detailed business plan, that we thought was actually going to make money and contribute something to the open-source community. But, as with many things, and as someone said earlier, don't depend on third parties. We didn't have much choice but to rely on third parties for distribution and funding. In the end, all the funding came out of my pocket, and the distributor went under. We have a good product, we actually beat DivX to being done by about 3 months, but we got stuck there. The codec is very light and highly portable, the original version was less than 16k compiled and out-performed DivX and was patent and copyright free.
Though I guess that is something that people will want to see for themselves, and that's where we are stuck, we don't even have the funding for the legal help to get it into testers hands. After working on this as hard as I have, I would hate to see the project just die w/out it seeing the light of day. That's why I asked for possible answers from Slashdot. Maybe someone can think of something we haven't. Its happened before.
Beware of how much you insure packages for. I know that at least with Fedex Ground, they won't pay you the purchase price, or even the replacement price, only the Blue Book value (what you would get from a pawn shop if you pawned the item). I had to learn this the hard way.
I have always been a fan of Fedex Ground, until last June. In the past, they had always been faster, better, cheaper, and their customer service seemed a hell of a lot better than UPS.
In June I sold my iMac on eBay for $1100. After arranging payment, I shipped it out via Fedex ground, in its original packaging, paying the extra for $1200 in insurance.
A few days later I got a phone call from the purchaser asking about enormous cracks in the case and that the machine was non-functioning. I called Fedex, they sent someone over to the guy's house, did an inspection, and then the four months of hell began.
When I intially spoke to them, they said if it was their fault (which it obviously was, the box looked like they'd been playing football w/ it), that I should receive a check in a matter of weeks. They sent the inspector to the buyer's home and claimed that the fault was with Fedex. Thinking I would get the amount I insured it for (or at least what it costs to replace), I went ahead and purchased a new ma
chine and sent it to the eBay buyer. I started calling Fedex everyday.
At first I got the response that the package had to go to a main inspection site, an adjuster would have to call, and then the package would be sent back to me for salvage. Got the iMac back the next day. Sat in my living room for two months, box and all, while I waited on a check. I kept calling. Finally, I got tired of the box (I have a small apartment), took the iMac out, and threw the box away. In August, Fedex starting giving me the run around. Aparently, they had listed the machine as missing, they were perplexed trying to figure out why it had disappeared from one of their warehouses. I kept trying to tell them it was in my possession, they kept calling me back saying they couldn't find it. So far I had sent two computers out, one got destroyed, and only received payment for one. I was just out my extra $1200. Finally Fedex called and said they would have to do another inspection of the package. I explained to them that I had thrown out the packaging, but the machine with the 6inch cracks and broken tube was still in my possession.
The fighting began. After threatening legal action, I finally got a settlement check, four months after the incident, for $800, the blue book (pawn shop) value. My only choice was take it or leave it.
Needless to say, I've switched to the United States Postal service and have no complaints.
Btw, anyone interested in what is looking to be a Marathon 4 type scenario goto www.MarathonRubicon.com (everything from it looks incredible, in-depth non-linear storyline, new graphics,etc). These guys have been working on this for 4 years. Its going to be great.
Sony loses the suit. It is now perfectly OK to camp and sell items/characters/etc on eBay or wherever.
I camp and get a level 3000 player (never played the game), with an eBay market value of say $2000.
Sony has a server crash and my character somehow gets lost. Since this character now had a value on the open market, my most logical recourse would be to sue Sony (here in America anyway, land of litigation).
I think that we can all extrapolate where this goes. If Sony (or any of these game makers) has to be put under the additional burden of protecting a bunch damn video game character files b/c of possible lawsuits, Sony might be a little less interested in continuing Everquest, or making sequels, etc. At what point does the potential financial burden caused by additonal legal burdens convince Sony to shut EverQuest down?
It is at that point that the insistence on defending the "players rights" of a group of greedy individuals (those selling items/characters/etc) will remove all "rights" from all other players.
Anyway, its only a game, how can anyone take it this seriously...[mumbling "must play more Quake"]
I have to agree. I've been a Mac user since '84 (I use Windoze 2000 boxes and PPCLinux as well).
I do a lot of education of adult first-time computer users (including a doctor who didn't even know what a mouse was). I usually set them up with Macs. It has been my experience that the MacOS interface is definetly the best for first-time users to grasp, the computers are easy to setup, and troubleshooting over the phone is a breeze.
I initially made the mistake of replacing the single button mice with nice three-button scroll wheel mice from Logitech. I sat in horror after showing the people what the buttons do, the increase in productivity, etc, and then turn around and watch them try to open files by clicking on the scroll wheel. As far as they were concerned all the buttons should do exactly what they needed that button to do at the time. Switched them all back to single button mice, no complaint since. On top of that, the new Apple optical is a beautiful piece of technology.
In my experience, most first-time adult computer users usually barely grasp how to turn the damn things on, much less the difference between two mouse buttons. So Apple's sticking to one-button mice, especially considering the amount of first time users they are targetting with the iMac, is perfectly understandable.
Now if they'd just make a nice three-button for those sweet new G4's...
This will no doubt make me bitch more about the good ol' days, Tradewars, Barren Realms Elite, and when no one even knew what the Internet was. I ran a 2-line BBS (saved my allowance every month to pay for those damn lines) on Wildcat.
Then I discoved a local VAX system with Lynx and forgot about it all.
I've still got my email from Mark Andreesen thanking me for a bug report on Netscape, even though I never could figure out why anyone would ever want to stop using a shell account and Lynx and start using some RAM hogging *graphical* web browser.
Maybe its Murphy's Law, but as of last night (12/3/00), our DNS no longer resolves due to a server failure with our ISP. They are working currently to resolve the issue, and unfortunately, won't have it resolved for at least another 24 hours.
I am the operator of OpenCodex. We are alive and kicking. Things have slowed down dramatically since we started up. We currently have 4 different teams working on the contest, and believe that we have something we'll be able to announce with in the coming weeks.
The lack of site updates can be contributed to us moving servers in the last 60 days. I still have some bugs to work out with our update engine on our new server, and since we really haven't had anything to announce (aside from still existing) we haven't put anything up.
Expect updates soon, and expect some major announcements about our next contests. We plan to go further with an audio and a still-image codec contest in the coming weeks.
thank you,
Eric Smith
OpenCodex.com
Slashdot Mirror
Numbers: check http://www.softwaretop100.org/top-25-gaming-companies-2010 for the rankings of the top 25 by revenue. We see Nintendo, Activision Blizzard, Sony, and the rest of the top 10 make up over half of the estimated global game revenue. 10 companies out of hundreds? thousands? who knows? The iOS market will probably move more and more towards this as the big publishers like EA continue to press their marketing advantage to sell their games, but the nice thing is there is always an opportunity for the little guy with the killer game to sell just as many copies as EA.
Compared to the console and PC gaming world I would imagine the disparity there to be even greater than this. EA, Take Two Interactive, Nintendo, Capcom, Microsoft, Activision Blizzard, Sega, Sony, etc are likely the top 0.01% when it comes to developers and probably take in almost all the (it's too damned early for me to actually do the research, sorry). The important difference here is that in iOS, as of now, the top 1% is only taking in 30% and that those developers are made up of a far greater number of indie studios.
To anyone who is any anyway involved in education or has even received one (I mean an education, not just a piece of paper) the thought of all universities being run by U of Phoenix types leaves me even more frightened for the future than normal. Watch PBS's Frontline or just work with someone with a University of Phoenix degree and you'll see what I mean. I have a much better idea: how about we make all universities the opposite of the University of Phoenix. How about all schools have actually competent people get paid to actually teach people who actually give a shit about learning something instead of just adding a few extra letters to their resumes (or in the case of the U of Phoenix teachers, just getting stock options in the University and an extra paycheck)?
It turns out the triumph of the value of money over human life in the United States is now complete.
Where exactly does the author get his "facts" on this one? Sounds like some internet echo chamber nonsense to me. Everyone knows that the 16-34 demographic all watch 60 minutes and McLehrer's News Hour religiously.
Seriously though, I always cringe when I see stuff like that printed without some sort of source to back it up.
In a crunch I'll use Wikipedia to get a general idea of some concept I'm lacking if I don't have time to do proper research. Even then I take what's there w/ a grain of salt. Never[ever] would I use it as a genuine reference tool.
I appreciate the philosophy behind Wikipedia, I approach it the same way I do many political ideals, "in a perfect world..."
I have been reading The Register since just about day one. While I disagree w/ a number of their stances on issues relating to technology in society and popular culture, I fully agree with their stance on Wikipedia today. Wikipedia is (for a large part) a load of bollocks. Harmless bollocks, that was, until a number of other somewhat reputable sites like About.com started publishing the content as verbatim fact. Now, I have students in college classes defending positions based on Wikipedia citations. In such cases an argument for research laziness is due, but laziness aside, the designation by popular media of Wikipedia as an authoritative source, an encyclopedia, gives it an undeserved cache of respect.
Every time I hear some one say some grand thing about the community promise of Wikipedia I am continually reminded of something about a million monkeys at a million typewriters...
I resent being called a droid!
This from a man who has about as much personal experience with public education (attending or even coming within 50 yards of a school) as our beloved president (which is to say none). But, because he's managed the American dream (growing up rich and becoming even richer) we take every dumb thing that comes out of his mouth as pearls of wisdom. Maybe we should care more about what teachers think, what the principals think, or *gasp* what parents and students think, and less what the privileged elite think.
Pearls from swine.
Linux Terminal Server Project. Specifically the K12LTSP variety
http://www.k12ltsp.org/.
Scrounge up the dough for some decent servers and you've got a lab that easy to administer and un pieza de pan to maintain.
Coca-cola has been running these kinds of ads in the Athens (Greece) Metro for a long time now. They're kind of creepy, look out the window and all of the sudden you see a bunch of kids enjoying Coke products where you expect to see black nothingness.
The letter responding to Microsoft is by far one of the most informed, logical arguments for "free" software I've ever seen. Instead of taking a self-rightous (*ahem...RMS*) road, the congressman actually outlines in reasoned terms why free software can actually be *better* for the economy.
People making well-reasoned arguments like this are what the free software movement needs to be able to effectively stand up to the lobbying power of Microsoft. Why can't we get legislators like this in America?
Though I guess that is something that people will want to see for themselves, and that's where we are stuck, we don't even have the funding for the legal help to get it into testers hands. After working on this as hard as I have, I would hate to see the project just die w/out it seeing the light of day. That's why I asked for possible answers from Slashdot. Maybe someone can think of something we haven't. Its happened before.
I have always been a fan of Fedex Ground, until last June. In the past, they had always been faster, better, cheaper, and their customer service seemed a hell of a lot better than UPS.
In June I sold my iMac on eBay for $1100. After arranging payment, I shipped it out via Fedex ground, in its original packaging, paying the extra for $1200 in insurance.
A few days later I got a phone call from the purchaser asking about enormous cracks in the case and that the machine was non-functioning. I called Fedex, they sent someone over to the guy's house, did an inspection, and then the four months of hell began.
When I intially spoke to them, they said if it was their fault (which it obviously was, the box looked like they'd been playing football w/ it), that I should receive a check in a matter of weeks. They sent the inspector to the buyer's home and claimed that the fault was with Fedex. Thinking I would get the amount I insured it for (or at least what it costs to replace), I went ahead and purchased a new ma
chine and sent it to the eBay buyer. I started calling Fedex everyday.
At first I got the response that the package had to go to a main inspection site, an adjuster would have to call, and then the package would be sent back to me for salvage. Got the iMac back the next day. Sat in my living room for two months, box and all, while I waited on a check. I kept calling. Finally, I got tired of the box (I have a small apartment), took the iMac out, and threw the box away. In August, Fedex starting giving me the run around. Aparently, they had listed the machine as missing, they were perplexed trying to figure out why it had disappeared from one of their warehouses. I kept trying to tell them it was in my possession, they kept calling me back saying they couldn't find it. So far I had sent two computers out, one got destroyed, and only received payment for one. I was just out my extra $1200. Finally Fedex called and said they would have to do another inspection of the package. I explained to them that I had thrown out the packaging, but the machine with the 6inch cracks and broken tube was still in my possession.
The fighting began. After threatening legal action, I finally got a settlement check, four months after the incident, for $800, the blue book (pawn shop) value. My only choice was take it or leave it.
Needless to say, I've switched to the United States Postal service and have no complaints.
Finally, a place where my much ignored Apple Lisa can be cared for and loved.
2001:3:16:16:24 thats my guess thanks to the lameness filter for forcing me to type more than i had to.
Btw, anyone interested in what is looking to be a Marathon 4 type scenario goto www.MarathonRubicon.com (everything from it looks incredible, in-depth non-linear storyline, new graphics,etc). These guys have been working on this for 4 years. Its going to be great.
Sony loses the suit. It is now perfectly OK to camp and sell items/characters/etc on eBay or wherever.
I camp and get a level 3000 player (never played the game), with an eBay market value of say $2000.
Sony has a server crash and my character somehow gets lost. Since this character now had a value on the open market, my most logical recourse would be to sue Sony (here in America anyway, land of litigation).
I think that we can all extrapolate where this goes. If Sony (or any of these game makers) has to be put under the additional burden of protecting a bunch damn video game character files b/c of possible lawsuits, Sony might be a little less interested in continuing Everquest, or making sequels, etc. At what point does the potential financial burden caused by additonal legal burdens convince Sony to shut EverQuest down?
It is at that point that the insistence on defending the "players rights" of a group of greedy individuals (those selling items/characters/etc) will remove all "rights" from all other players.
Anyway, its only a game, how can anyone take it this seriously...[mumbling "must play more Quake"]
I do a lot of education of adult first-time computer users (including a doctor who didn't even know what a mouse was). I usually set them up with Macs. It has been my experience that the MacOS interface is definetly the best for first-time users to grasp, the computers are easy to setup, and troubleshooting over the phone is a breeze.
I initially made the mistake of replacing the single button mice with nice three-button scroll wheel mice from Logitech. I sat in horror after showing the people what the buttons do, the increase in productivity, etc, and then turn around and watch them try to open files by clicking on the scroll wheel. As far as they were concerned all the buttons should do exactly what they needed that button to do at the time. Switched them all back to single button mice, no complaint since. On top of that, the new Apple optical is a beautiful piece of technology.
In my experience, most first-time adult computer users usually barely grasp how to turn the damn things on, much less the difference between two mouse buttons. So Apple's sticking to one-button mice, especially considering the amount of first time users they are targetting with the iMac, is perfectly understandable.
Now if they'd just make a nice three-button for those sweet new G4's...
Then I discoved a local VAX system with Lynx and forgot about it all.
I've still got my email from Mark Andreesen thanking me for a bug report on Netscape, even though I never could figure out why anyone would ever want to stop using a shell account and Lynx and start using some RAM hogging *graphical* web browser.
Hindsight and nostalgia *sniff*
Thanks for your patience. eric smith
The lack of site updates can be contributed to us moving servers in the last 60 days. I still have some bugs to work out with our update engine on our new server, and since we really haven't had anything to announce (aside from still existing) we haven't put anything up.
Expect updates soon, and expect some major announcements about our next contests. We plan to go further with an audio and a still-image codec contest in the coming weeks. thank you, Eric Smith OpenCodex.com