It doesn't look like they started out by documenting any new protocols (which is probably what I would have worked on first if this were my project). From the code it appears they've mostly focused on the user interface.
Flashback to my game dev days: "Never mind if it works, make it spin!"
I guess they're not locked into a death march yet, but it's not a good start. "Pre-alpha" bollocks aside, you've either got a zero defect mentality, or you don't. Since nobody forced them to release in this state, it looks clear that they don't. The problem isn't the code, it's the coders.
If hardware companies live up on the hardware side
Given the awful track record of WinME-family phones, I'd expect that the availability of Windows Phone 7 phones (doesn't that just trip off the tongue) will be largely dependent on Microsoft's willingness to "partner" with OEMs, in the same way that a scrawny fugly guy "partners" with an expensive hooker.
There were 300 of us, some of us there for years, and we spent over $100m. The problems had to run deeper than that.
I'm pretty sure that having you don't have to look deeper than having 300 people working on one game as being the root cause. Games depends on quality, not quantity. An infinite number of code monkeys just produce an infinite amount of poop.
Actually, Profit! was step 1. They've already raked in a shitload of funding from deluded dewy eyed rainbow huggers who think that all (i.e. both of) their friends will dump Facebook for Diasopra because it's all like free and stuff.
Surely we can just do what we usually do: let Microsoft figure it out, extend it, implementation a subtly non-compliant version, then we can reverse engineer that and grudgingly accept it as the de facto standard?
No, I'd be willing to ruin David Barskdale, notorious kiddy stalker, based partly on the evidence in the various articles (which I took the time to find and read) but mostly based on the freaky pictures on his Facebook profile. Best case, he's a hippy, so deserves everything he gets.
He - David Barksdale, notorious harasser of vulnerable teens, I mean - shares a name with a more famous chap, who will remain at the top of Google searches. Unless enough people start referring to David Barksdale primarily in the context of the famous freaky violator of childrens' privacy. You know, David Barksdale. The freaky creepy weird fucked up emotionally stunted probably-not-a-pederast basket case fired by Google for stalking children. That guy.
WARNING: actual numbers ahead, Zogby International employees must put on their Joo Janta 200 Super-Chromatic Fact Sensitive Sunglasses.
Why people even pretend these mouthwhores are any more than a you-pays-your-money-we-confirm-your-meme outfit is beyond me. I guess it makes for good press.
The Ubuntu folks seemed actually far more enthusiastic about drumming up COMMUNITY support
Bingo. I've been using and developing on UNIX and then Linux for close on to twenty years now, and I now choose to use Ubuntu on my home machines because of one thing and one thing only: the Ubuntu community forums. It's the first UNIX/Linux forum that I've ever used where the default answer to any question isn't "I'm far to busy to answer this. You've got the source, debug it yourself, noob". More often than not, there are actually answers to the questions!
Linux for Human Beings is exactly the right note to strike. Ubuntu 9.10 was the first distro that I've ever recommended to non-techie friends and family as a realistic substitute for Windows or MacOS. Linux has been ready for the desktop for years, but Ubuntu is the first distro that actually presents it in a way that makes it palatable.
Apology accepted. Don't feel bad about posting something so stupid, childish and short sighted: we learn through having our mistakes pointed out to us.
Counterpoint: the only evidence that Haystack worked was pure assertion.
The audience for this warning is Haystack users in Iran, not you and me. It's not a game to them. We're not discussing pwning some boxen, we're talking about bullets in the head.
Well, thanks for saving me the time of posting that.
Further, GSB isn't even a particularly interesting "News For Nerds" project: it's not open source, it's not even cross platform, it's just written by a guy who likes to blog about the process, and who is (demonstrably) good at grabbing free publicity for his commercial games.
Given the many (many) free and open source space combat games out there that Slashdot readers might be interested in reading about and playing, it's pretty sad and pathetic that the 'editors' never, ever get off their lazy backsides and go out and do, you know... journalism. Actually find stories. They just eat whatever you shovel at them, and some of the final results splatter out the other end.
Frankly, I only come here for the trolling. If I want actual news for nerds, I'll get it from Twitter, or Google. Slashdot has already been replaced by very small shell scripts.
"Cliffski, of Positech Games, made $189,423 in 2008 from direct sales."
That means he is way within the professional games league,
Pop quiz: how much did he make in 2006, 2007 and 2009?
Multi-year development cycles result in feast-and-famine: it's an endemic problem in the industry. You've looked at peak earnings and assumed it was an average. Tsk, tsk: -1, Uninsightful.
They already make ludicrous profits from installing the current POTS systems, which then sit and do nothing for 99.9% of their life. What they don't want is to have to eat the investment in coming up with a whole new system that can also sit and do nothing for 99.9% of the time.
Slashdot Mirror
Flashback to my game dev days: "Never mind if it works, make it spin!"
I guess they're not locked into a death march yet, but it's not a good start. "Pre-alpha" bollocks aside, you've either got a zero defect mentality, or you don't. Since nobody forced them to release in this state, it looks clear that they don't. The problem isn't the code, it's the coders.
Given the awful track record of WinME-family phones, I'd expect that the availability of Windows Phone 7 phones (doesn't that just trip off the tongue) will be largely dependent on Microsoft's willingness to "partner" with OEMs, in the same way that a scrawny fugly guy "partners" with an expensive hooker.
BREW, the most successful platform you've never heard of.
Discovers that it now "accidentally" "owns" "Linux", and GRRRRRAARGH! BALLMER SMASH PUNY KERNEL!
You read it here first, although doubtless many more times below. It's coming. I can feel it coming in the air tonight (drum break).
Uh... I hope you know that all Galaxy class starships are "imaginary", right?
Look, I know this is harsh, but they're just not real. Not like the Constitution Class from the Documentary Series.
I'm pretty sure that having you don't have to look deeper than having 300 people working on one game as being the root cause. Games depends on quality, not quantity. An infinite number of code monkeys just produce an infinite amount of poop.
Your post intrigues me, but I have a followup question: was your sister hot?
Actually, Profit! was step 1. They've already raked in a shitload of funding from deluded dewy eyed rainbow huggers who think that all (i.e. both of) their friends will dump Facebook for Diasopra because it's all like free and stuff.
Surely we can just do what we usually do: let Microsoft figure it out, extend it, implementation a subtly non-compliant version, then we can reverse engineer that and grudgingly accept it as the de facto standard?
No, I'd be willing to ruin David Barskdale, notorious kiddy stalker, based partly on the evidence in the various articles (which I took the time to find and read) but mostly based on the freaky pictures on his Facebook profile. Best case, he's a hippy, so deserves everything he gets.
Well, enjoy the screaming from your fans (spinny, not swoony) every time you load MSN.com. "Efficiency" is a big place - where do you live?
Wait, it's Wil Wheaton in the PedoBear outfit?
[Gag Reel @ 2:00, but -1 to your Nerd Cred if you needed to be told that]
Google are like Chuck Norris. If you can't see them, it's because they're just about to snap your neck.
What, you mean scam a shitload of funding for a vapourware product, and then go strangely silent? Google already have a shitload of money.
He - David Barksdale, notorious harasser of vulnerable teens, I mean - shares a name with a more famous chap, who will remain at the top of Google searches. Unless enough people start referring to David Barksdale primarily in the context of the famous freaky violator of childrens' privacy. You know, David Barksdale. The freaky creepy weird fucked up emotionally stunted probably-not-a-pederast basket case fired by Google for stalking children. That guy.
WARNING: actual numbers ahead, Zogby International employees must put on their Joo Janta 200 Super-Chromatic Fact Sensitive Sunglasses.
Why people even pretend these mouthwhores are any more than a you-pays-your-money-we-confirm-your-meme outfit is beyond me. I guess it makes for good press.
Bingo. I've been using and developing on UNIX and then Linux for close on to twenty years now, and I now choose to use Ubuntu on my home machines because of one thing and one thing only: the Ubuntu community forums. It's the first UNIX/Linux forum that I've ever used where the default answer to any question isn't "I'm far to busy to answer this. You've got the source, debug it yourself, noob". More often than not, there are actually answers to the questions!
Linux for Human Beings is exactly the right note to strike. Ubuntu 9.10 was the first distro that I've ever recommended to non-techie friends and family as a realistic substitute for Windows or MacOS. Linux has been ready for the desktop for years, but Ubuntu is the first distro that actually presents it in a way that makes it palatable.
Apology accepted. Don't feel bad about posting something so stupid, childish and short sighted: we learn through having our mistakes pointed out to us.
Counterpoint: the only evidence that Haystack worked was pure assertion.
The audience for this warning is Haystack users in Iran, not you and me. It's not a game to them. We're not discussing pwning some boxen, we're talking about bullets in the head.
M'kay? Grown ups are talking. Shush now.
Further, GSB isn't even a particularly interesting "News For Nerds" project: it's not open source, it's not even cross platform, it's just written by a guy who likes to blog about the process, and who is (demonstrably) good at grabbing free publicity for his commercial games.
Given the many (many) free and open source space combat games out there that Slashdot readers might be interested in reading about and playing, it's pretty sad and pathetic that the 'editors' never, ever get off their lazy backsides and go out and do, you know... journalism. Actually find stories. They just eat whatever you shovel at them, and some of the final results splatter out the other end.
Frankly, I only come here for the trolling. If I want actual news for nerds, I'll get it from Twitter, or Google. Slashdot has already been replaced by very small shell scripts.
Pop quiz: how much did he make in 2006, 2007 and 2009?
Multi-year development cycles result in feast-and-famine: it's an endemic problem in the industry. You've looked at peak earnings and assumed it was an average. Tsk, tsk: -1, Uninsightful.
Whether it works or not has no value to the people selling it.
They already make ludicrous profits from installing the current POTS systems, which then sit and do nothing for 99.9% of their life. What they don't want is to have to eat the investment in coming up with a whole new system that can also sit and do nothing for 99.9% of the time.
Why? Isn't your urine green and sticky? You should probably see a doctor about that.