Normally I wouldn't waste my time replying to such an obvious troll, but you must be smoking some prime grade A crack. You are living in a fantasy world where the anti-trust trial never happened, and the conviction didn't read that they illegally used their monopoly to leverage the market.
Well there you go Shamus. You've done gone and figured it out all by yourself.
The monopoly is legal. Of course this is rather obvious from the fact that it still exists. Were Microsoft found to have an illegal monopoly the courts would have broken it up.
Talk about psuedo-intellectualism. Yeah, so they're giving away billions of dollars, hoohah. You are (as well as the usual MS astroturfers here) conveniently forgetting that billg and company got those billions by utilizing an illegal monopoly.
It may not end with the Web-based games, either. In the same conference call, EA president and COO John Riccitello hinted that many of the online features today's gamers enjoy for free might be something they have to pay for down the road - particularly on console online games.
On the other hand, I found the handwriting recognition horrible (it's supposed to learn your handwriting as you use it, which is why it always works so well for the demo people).
You state that it works well for the demo people becuase it learns their handwriting as they use it, but then complain the handwriting recognition is horrible after having used it for mere hours.
Don't you suppose if you bought one and used it for a week it would then recognize your handwriting just as well as it does the demo people's?
This overlooks an important fact: MS's money in the bank belongs to its shareholders. If the business model of MS, for some reasons becomes worthless, then the value of the company will be reduced to its tangible assets, which are essentially this cash and participation in other companies. Shareholders, which will have by then seen most of their investment value disappear, will have all authority to cut their losses and pocket the money, and MS will still be gone.
Another important fact that is being overlooked is that although Microsoft has had antitrust troubles since 1997, they've also remained profitable every year since 1997 - very profitable.
This EU thing isn't going to change that, the DOJ was the big threat and that's no longer an issue. Even if Microsoft has to provide some way to fully remove Windows Media Player and provide more information to others, it's not going to all of a sudden make them an unprofitable company.
MS will not be gone in your lifetime, no matter how much you wish it.
What? You mean the rain and the slugs? Or watching a sea lion eat salmon?
The rain gets old, but not during the course of an internship - usually only 3 or 4 months long and during the summer.
Seattle and the surrounding region is beautiful during the summer. Olympic mountains to the west, Cascade mountains to the east. A friendly city with a downtown actually worth visiting. Vancouver 2 hours away, beatiful rocky beaches 3 hours away, San Juan Islands 1 hour away etc. etc. etc.
Rain or no, a 20 year old could do a lot worse then spending a summer living in Seattle, especially with the benefits of an Internship at Microsoft (i.e. - mostly having some spending money).
however, you'd think m$ could be sued if they didn't, as that would be monopolistic.
Microsoft has a monopoly in the console industry? I bet that's news to Sony and Nintendo.
I might actually believe the Xbox Linux Group's claimed purpose for this letter if they didn't make so many references to Microsoft having some kind of monopoly in the console market, but since Sony's PS2 is the overwhelming leader those claims are a joke.
I wonder if the Xbox Linux Group will send a similar letter to Sony and Nintendo to get a pre-emptive agreement in place so they can port free versions of Linux to those platforms as well. After all, Sony and Nintendo have a monopoly on the PS2 and GameCube respectivly, it's hardly fair they too try and stop me from running whatever version of Linux I might care to on their platforms. Right?
My question to anyone who actually has a XBox : Does it make a lot of noise ? A friend lent me his PS2 for a week and it was the loudest piece of hardware in the appartment.. I.e. (IMNSHO) unusable as a movie player.
It's as loud as a PS2. Too loud for a DVD/CD player, unless you don't mind hearing fan noise during quiet parts. However, I figure most people using these are more worried about its low cost than its quality.
It's all relative, but as A/V equipment goes its really little more than a toy. A good solution for a kids bedroom or something.
Even if MSFT stock was destroyed and dropped to $1/share he would still have more money then he could spend in 5 lifetimes. And of course, that's just his holdings in Microsoft, he has some $15 billion dollars in outside investments.
Hell, he could just sell the Codex Leicester for half what he paid for it and still have more money, $15 million, then most of us will see in our lifetimes.
So before anyone here gets too excited about the idea of Bill Gates in the poor house, really try to undertand just how much money $1 billion is and then realize Gates has over 30 times that much.
I've got an 8MB card for my Ps2 that i can take with me to a friends house, instead of lugging a 25lb Xbox with me. And for reference, i've never run out of space, in 3 years.
Why would you "lug a 25lb Xbox" to your friend's house? Why not just buy a single 8mb memory card for the Xbox. Bring up whatever saved game you want from the hard drive, save it to the memory card and take that to your friends house. Seems like an easier way to go about it to me.
The hard drive is also nice for ripping CDs to for background music in the games, and if you've got Xbox live, it allows you to download new levels and such.
I hear Blinx makes use of the hard drive too, but haven't played it yet.
I know they are desperate and only a year ago their was a total of 7 games for the xbox and that was it.
The Xbox launched with 15 games.
They are actually paying developers not to release games for the competition. Does anyone see a future monopoly here?
Why is Rockstar Games not releasing Grand Theft Auto on the Xbox? It's available on the PC, so the port to an x86 based console should be trivial. How about the Zelda games? Why aren't they appearing on the Xbox and Gamecube?
Sega is gone and nintendo might be next. Sony will take a long time to kill but its possible ms can majorily harm it.
The question you need to answer is who killed Sega? Once you answer this along with the above questions, you'll realize how silly your little rant is.
As for Ghost, well, better buy an XBox, 'cause it's not coming out on any other console if MS buys Blizzard. That, after all, is the whole point, isn't it? To kill the other platforms?
Seeing as how the PS2 outsells the Xbox something like 8 to 1 and has a ton of exlusive games, I would think the point of Microsoft trying to acquire exclusive titles for the Xbox has less to do with killing the other platforms, than it does with supporting their own platform.
As for Mac gaming, the Age of Empire series has been ported to the Mac, so I don't see Microsoft as being quite as evil towards the Mac as many would like to believe. It's all about money.
there is no ultimate point to this game. Once you've figured out how to survive you need to figure out how to make big levels. Once you've figured out that to make big levels you need great eq, the whole game becomes a mechanical combing for quality eq. There's no fun in that.
I wasted most of two summers on it
Maybe there is fun in it, but not just 3 summers worth?
The Xbox takes standard 3.5" IDE drives, and replacing the built in drive takes about a minute or so, and can be done by anyone with a Torx 20 + 15 + 10 screwdriver.
120Gb works just nicely.
So $200 for the Xbox, $100 for the mod-chip and software, and now another $120 for a hard drive.
That's $420 for a hacked up PVR with no warranty. What a bargain, and you're sticking it to Microsoft too!!
Given the actual marketshare of Apple, the current rise in high-profile Mac bashing (see Bill Gates CES keynote) make me think. What is this? Mere mockery? But why, if the Mac is defeated as so many claim. Or is it fear?
I'm willing to bet that if Apple and Mac users would turn down their Anti PC/Windows rhetoric, the PC/Windows crowd would probably react a little less to articles like these.
And you are saying a project like SETI is better? Tell me again the chances of finding alien radio waves?
The chances are slim, but most people probably consider finding extraterrestrial intelligence a somewhat more meaningful waste of resources than trying to crack the Xbox's encryption.
Ok this may be a stupid question, but doesn't this violate that DMCA thingy that everyone is all concerned about?
If they're lucky, Microsoft will provide them with an opportunity to prove it doesn't in a court of law. I'm sure they're just hoping and praying for that opportunity.
Slashdot Mirror
Well there you go Shamus. You've done gone and figured it out all by yourself.
The monopoly is legal. Of course this is rather obvious from the fact that it still exists. Were Microsoft found to have an illegal monopoly the courts would have broken it up.
Microsoft doesn't have an illegal monopoly.
Perpetuity?!? ...dream on. You'll be lucky if they're still free next year.
Pay for Web games?!
It may not end with the Web-based games, either. In the same conference call, EA president and COO John Riccitello hinted that many of the online features today's gamers enjoy for free might be something they have to pay for down the road - particularly on console online games.
You state that it works well for the demo people becuase it learns their handwriting as they use it, but then complain the handwriting recognition is horrible after having used it for mere hours.
Don't you suppose if you bought one and used it for a week it would then recognize your handwriting just as well as it does the demo people's?
Another important fact that is being overlooked is that although Microsoft has had antitrust troubles since 1997, they've also remained profitable every year since 1997 - very profitable. This EU thing isn't going to change that, the DOJ was the big threat and that's no longer an issue. Even if Microsoft has to provide some way to fully remove Windows Media Player and provide more information to others, it's not going to all of a sudden make them an unprofitable company.
MS will not be gone in your lifetime, no matter how much you wish it.
Linux is a multi millionaire. That qualifies as rich as far as I'm concerned.
Sure Bill Gates is richer, but you can rest assured that Linus could easily afford to throw one hell of a barbecue if he felt like it.
The rain gets old, but not during the course of an internship - usually only 3 or 4 months long and during the summer.
Seattle and the surrounding region is beautiful during the summer. Olympic mountains to the west, Cascade mountains to the east. A friendly city with a downtown actually worth visiting. Vancouver 2 hours away, beatiful rocky beaches 3 hours away, San Juan Islands 1 hour away etc. etc. etc.
Rain or no, a 20 year old could do a lot worse then spending a summer living in Seattle, especially with the benefits of an Internship at Microsoft (i.e. - mostly having some spending money).
Be serious.
When trying to promote Open Office, we talk about it's ability to open Microsoft Word documents.
When trying to slam Microsoft, we talk about how we're forced to use Microsoft Word because their file formats aren't open.
Everybody knows this.
We're currently trying to slam Microsoft.
So get with the program!
Articles about Microsoft puts the asses in the seats...so to speak
Microsoft has a monopoly in the console industry? I bet that's news to Sony and Nintendo.
I might actually believe the Xbox Linux Group's claimed purpose for this letter if they didn't make so many references to Microsoft having some kind of monopoly in the console market, but since Sony's PS2 is the overwhelming leader those claims are a joke.
I wonder if the Xbox Linux Group will send a similar letter to Sony and Nintendo to get a pre-emptive agreement in place so they can port free versions of Linux to those platforms as well. After all, Sony and Nintendo have a monopoly on the PS2 and GameCube respectivly, it's hardly fair they too try and stop me from running whatever version of Linux I might care to on their platforms. Right?
You probably consider me a MS apologist.
I think you need to rethink the validity of your sample.
It's as loud as a PS2. Too loud for a DVD/CD player, unless you don't mind hearing fan noise during quiet parts. However, I figure most people using these are more worried about its low cost than its quality.
It's all relative, but as A/V equipment goes its really little more than a toy. A good solution for a kids bedroom or something.
Bill Gates holds 611,963,928 shares of MSFT or about 12%. At today's price that's about $29 billion.
Even if MSFT stock was destroyed and dropped to $1/share he would still have more money then he could spend in 5 lifetimes. And of course, that's just his holdings in Microsoft, he has some $15 billion dollars in outside investments.
Hell, he could just sell the Codex Leicester for half what he paid for it and still have more money, $15 million, then most of us will see in our lifetimes.
So before anyone here gets too excited about the idea of Bill Gates in the poor house, really try to undertand just how much money $1 billion is and then realize Gates has over 30 times that much.
Why would you "lug a 25lb Xbox" to your friend's house? Why not just buy a single 8mb memory card for the Xbox. Bring up whatever saved game you want from the hard drive, save it to the memory card and take that to your friends house. Seems like an easier way to go about it to me.
The hard drive is also nice for ripping CDs to for background music in the games, and if you've got Xbox live, it allows you to download new levels and such.
I hear Blinx makes use of the hard drive too, but haven't played it yet.
No talent was attached to that movie either.
The Xbox launched with 15 games.
They are actually paying developers not to release games for the competition. Does anyone see a future monopoly here?
Why is Rockstar Games not releasing Grand Theft Auto on the Xbox? It's available on the PC, so the port to an x86 based console should be trivial. How about the Zelda games? Why aren't they appearing on the Xbox and Gamecube?
Sega is gone and nintendo might be next. Sony will take a long time to kill but its possible ms can majorily harm it.
The question you need to answer is who killed Sega? Once you answer this along with the above questions, you'll realize how silly your little rant is.
Seeing as how the PS2 outsells the Xbox something like 8 to 1 and has a ton of exlusive games, I would think the point of Microsoft trying to acquire exclusive titles for the Xbox has less to do with killing the other platforms, than it does with supporting their own platform.
As for Mac gaming, the Age of Empire series has been ported to the Mac, so I don't see Microsoft as being quite as evil towards the Mac as many would like to believe. It's all about money.
there is no ultimate point to this game. Once you've figured out how to survive you need to figure out how to make big levels. Once you've figured out that to make big levels you need great eq, the whole game becomes a mechanical combing for quality eq. There's no fun in that.
I wasted most of two summers on it
Maybe there is fun in it, but not just 3 summers worth?
120Gb works just nicely.
So $200 for the Xbox, $100 for the mod-chip and software, and now another $120 for a hard drive.
That's $420 for a hacked up PVR with no warranty. What a bargain, and you're sticking it to Microsoft too!!
I'm willing to bet that if Apple and Mac users would turn down their Anti PC/Windows rhetoric, the PC/Windows crowd would probably react a little less to articles like these.
However, when I see commercials telling me my digital camera won't work with Windows and articles stating that if I had a Mac I'd be smarter and make more money, it becomes almost impossible not to at least mention comparisons like this.
Not only is Microserfs over a decade old it's a work of fiction as well.
The chances are slim, but most people probably consider finding extraterrestrial intelligence a somewhat more meaningful waste of resources than trying to crack the Xbox's encryption.
Spend your time posting worthless comments on discussions boards instead! Now that's living life to its fullest!!
And you're missing the reality that Slashdot is not the court of public opinion.
If they're lucky, Microsoft will provide them with an opportunity to prove it doesn't in a court of law. I'm sure they're just hoping and praying for that opportunity.