Based on what I've read, it seems like WinCE will be the default of for handhelds five years hence. The interesting thing will be the battle of cell-phones (see DoCoMo) vs. PDAs. When I can get a 240x160 16-bit color display on my cell phone to play Quake 3 I'm in!
I think all of five or six people wil use it. How can they think that anyone will want to pay for the service after it has been down for so long? I don't know who developed their business model but he/she should be shot. It must be someone from the music industry who is not tech savvy (illiterati).
I use AudioGalaxy now and see no reason to switch back. My two cents.
I would beg to disagree with you. When the Mac came out, PCs were command line driven and stayed that way for years. Now for you and I, a command line is a more effective way of accomplishing tasks in our file system. However, for my mom and my sister, the GUI was a great interface and allowed them to jump into using a computer as a tool, if not necessarily understanding the machine.
The article refers to the tech illiterati "middle class" and I think that is where I disagree with Katz's premise of why AOL and Microsoft succeeded. Pricing and marketing.
The premise in the above article that people want ease-of-use above all is negated by the conventional wisdom regarding micro-computers, is incorrect. It simply does not fit the historical facts. Apple's first generation of computers [Apple II] followed by the Macintosh were easier to use than the equivalent micro computer of the time. Ease-of-use encompasses many factors such as ergonmics, reliability, performance and appeal. Ask a member of the "middle class" and he/she will tell you the Macintosh is a "better" product. It is easier to use. If anything would turn people off from using computers, it is Microsoft's Windows 95 constantly crashing when they write a letter to Grandma.
However, ease-of-use is not what the market is primarily interested in.
The reason why Apple has 4.5% of the market is similar to BMW's 4% share of their market: Their product is expensive compared to others. Granted, cars and computers function under different market forces but the fundamental principle of price still applies. [Also, they f*cked up their dealer program, pissed off their software developers and got out manuevered by Microsoft in the application and OS market.] When the typical person is buying a "computer" they are trying to get the biggest bang for the buck. Apple doesn't compare. Their computers are expensive. This maintains Apple's extremely high gross margins.
Being utilitarian and dull has little to do with success or failure in the computer industry. Pricing does. Perhaps Mr. Katz should take a refresher course in economics before he attempts to analyze an example of the free market.
I just ordered this from my local Sci-Fi bookstore, "The Stars are Destination" as they sold out of their original order. I could of ordered from Amazon, but a physical space to browse for books is a great thing and I am happy to pay extra for it.
Of course, once we have true tele-presence, my attitude may change.
During the US-USSR cold war there was a notion espoused by the US think taks called, "Domino Theory". It postulated that once a country within a geographic region changed to a communist government, it's neighbors would be more likely to do so. Hence the US policy of containment that we have seen since WWII.
Now, does this analogy apply to Free vs. Monopolistic Software ? We have recently seen the Chinese undertake a government program to promote free software over Microsoft. Now Korea. Is India next? Or Japan?
Granted, geography is not necessarily a factor in this "war" but language certainly is. When can we expect this to spread to Europe or (better yet) the US?
This doesn't suprise me one bit. At the risk of repeating the tired old mantra, concentration of big media will lead to lapses in journalistic integrity driven by the bottom line. I noticed the following recently: MSNBC did a piece last week about how well the X-box was selling (depite the fact that the PS2 out sold it 2:1 during the holiday season). Disclaimer: I have a PS2. The piece was done by a reporter who gave his two sons (14 and 17 I think) a X-box and see if they liked it. Suprise: they did. Thumbs up for the X-box. No disclaimer at the end of the story that Microsoft owns X% of MSNBC. You have to be a smart cookie today to see through the bullsh*t.
It appears that the Chinese understand the importance of a domestic software industry in the 21st century and are taking steps to improve their own. Choosing Linux immediately gives them a worldwide devloper network that rivals any private corporation, including Microsoft. If we gaze into the crystal ball to 10-15 years from now, the sheer savings in licensing alone will catapult them into the world arena. They have a captive market of 1.2 billion users that rivals North America, Western Europe and the Pac-Rim. Granted, it may take 20-30 years for the network infrastructure and standard of living to rise to a 50% market penetration of PCs but I don't see this as a good thing for M$.
Considering that the vast majority of users do not know how to setup filters and the like, spam really is a detriment to electronic messaging. My folks are not the most computer literate people on the planet and the thought of them receiving "No subject" messages with embedded porn makes me cringe. If I didn't have a full time job, I'd work on a system of intelligent agents that actually worked.
I get between 20-30 messages daily, sometimes spiking up to 40+. I have had the same email address for 9 1/2 years but the problem only really began about 2 years ago. Then the network effect [URL?] must have taken effect and it skyrocketed. I subscibe to the usual privacy measures and don't give it out in newsgroups, return emails etc. but it is out there and they won't leave me alone. Waa!
yea, i see your point. But you keep referring to handguns and specifically hadngun violence when I am talking about generic gun use, the vast majority is hunting/targets. On another point, the use of guns can be hunting and target practice and the use of video games is to teach children to kill. Blah blah, it is the same old saw we have heard a hundred times before. I probably shouldn't have taken the cheap shot at the Aussies but what the hell. That what the internet is for. One big happy global village.
:)
I am curious as to why you think that owning a videogame is an issue of civil liberties and owning a [hand]gun is not. I think what you mean is thus:
1) Ownership of an object that is inherently non-lethal, not specifically designed to kill people, is an issue of civil liberties because the actions of the object do not cause direct harm to others.
2) Ownership of an object that is inherently lethal, specifically designed to kill people, is an not an issue of civil liberties (therefore exempt)because the object [sic]is design to kill people.
However, per your previous statement [The idea of civil liberties is basically that all those actions which do not cause direct harm to others should be permitted] owning a firearm does not violate this statement.
I disagree with you on this premise:
Civil liberties (specifically that the government does not have the right to intrude into the personal life of it's citizens) are predicated on the people having the freedom to exercise them.
I.e. I can own a gun or not own a gun based on my choice. If I do not have that choice, I can vote politicians into office that affirm my right. If I do not have that choice, I can petition the people, organize strikes and other forms of civil protest. If I do not have that choice, I can take up armed struggle against my government.
I also disagree with the context of your statement. [The "right to bear arms"...is NOT a basic human right.] This may be true, but this right is a precursor of other rights.
At least we have the right to freely discuss this issue on slashdot and the right to disagree....
I like to think that I know what really happens in the world. Unarmed civilians are slaughtered by others. Governments look the other way while minorities are persecurted. Serbia, Croatia, Turkey, Iraq, Columbia, Uganda, Ethiopia.
On the other hand, we have some 10,000 gun deaths a year in this country. Wonderful things such as little kids finding daddy's gun and shooting brother Jimmy, nutsos shooting up a KFC and the like.
And by the way, you can check out the below listed sites for the "evidence". Granted they are a bit one-sided but that seems to be the nature of gun issues.
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~confiles/
http://www.nrawinningteam.com/auresult.html
http://www.gunsandcrime.org/aussiegc.html
I have as much freedom as I choose to have. That is why I vote at the polls, with my pocketbook and engage in civic activities. Just because I rag on Australians for pussing out on gun rights doesn't mean I don't know what is going on in the world. Both of our countries fought off the yoke of British colonialism. How do you think that was accomplished? Diplomacy with Her Majesty?
But it is your country so do what you want with it....
Talk about a great game. I still haven't heard all of the talk show segments in the game. It is great to go on a rampage and then part the car overlooking the bay and listen to the Chatterbox FM. All we can hope for is for GTA4 to have broadband multiplay and the game would be perfect.
As for the Aussies, they are down the path of giving up personal liberties for the "greater good". Since they banned guns thei crime rate has steadily risen. Good job!
Yes, all software has bugs and holes. But Microsoft's policy of refusing to acknowledge the problem in the first place is disturbing. The security through obfuscation is not a valid policy. There is an old Russian saying that applies to nuclear arms control and here as well.
"Trust but verify."
... if you live in Australia, just order the game from someone off of eBay in another country. Do they look through every fucking box that comes into the country? Banned schmannned. They can only ban it if you let them.
Of course, the Aussies gave up their guns so I dunno.
It is obvious from your website that you believe that toys are an important motivation behind childhood and consequently adult aggression. You are attacking a symptom and not the problem. Why don't you spend your energy opposing parental divorce, childhood emotional, childhood sexual abuse or child poverty. These are root problems. Children won't need to exhibit as much aggression if they are raised in a healthy environment. Blaming toys and games is like blaming the crayon when an emotionally disturbed child draws a picture of a knife. Do us all a favor and please remove your site from the internet. It is inane.
...is up to the same old tricks. I hope the EU gets tired of putting up with their tactics and slugs them with a BIG fine. Say 300-400 million Euros. As for the situation in the US, they pretty much have a free reign to do as they wish. They might as well offer free ketchup and bottled water for students to make their own nutritious vegtable soup.
Slashdot Mirror
...it's called a BookMobile!
Based on what I've read, it seems like WinCE will be the default of for handhelds five years hence. The interesting thing will be the battle of cell-phones (see DoCoMo) vs. PDAs. When I can get a 240x160 16-bit color display on my cell phone to play Quake 3 I'm in!
I think all of five or six people wil use it. How can they think that anyone will want to pay for the service after it has been down for so long? I don't know who developed their business model but he/she should be shot. It must be someone from the music industry who is not tech savvy (illiterati).
I use AudioGalaxy now and see no reason to switch back. My two cents.
I would beg to disagree with you. When the Mac came out, PCs were command line driven and stayed that way for years. Now for you and I, a command line is a more effective way of accomplishing tasks in our file system. However, for my mom and my sister, the GUI was a great interface and allowed them to jump into using a computer as a tool, if not necessarily understanding the machine.
The article refers to the tech illiterati "middle class" and I think that is where I disagree with Katz's premise of why AOL and Microsoft succeeded. Pricing and marketing.
The premise in the above article that people want ease-of-use above all is negated by the conventional wisdom regarding micro-computers, is incorrect. It simply does not fit the historical facts. Apple's first generation of computers [Apple II] followed by the Macintosh were easier to use than the equivalent micro computer of the time. Ease-of-use encompasses many factors such as ergonmics, reliability, performance and appeal. Ask a member of the "middle class" and he/she will tell you the Macintosh is a "better" product. It is easier to use. If anything would turn people off from using computers, it is Microsoft's Windows 95 constantly crashing when they write a letter to Grandma.
However, ease-of-use is not what the market is primarily interested in.
The reason why Apple has 4.5% of the market is similar to BMW's 4% share of their market: Their product is expensive compared to others. Granted, cars and computers function under different market forces but the fundamental principle of price still applies. [Also, they f*cked up their dealer program, pissed off their software developers and got out manuevered by Microsoft in the application and OS market.] When the typical person is buying a "computer" they are trying to get the biggest bang for the buck. Apple doesn't compare. Their computers are expensive. This maintains Apple's extremely high gross margins.
Being utilitarian and dull has little to do with success or failure in the computer industry. Pricing does. Perhaps Mr. Katz should take a refresher course in economics before he attempts to analyze an example of the free market.
Thank you for your time.
I just ordered this from my local Sci-Fi bookstore, "The Stars are Destination" as they sold out of their original order. I could of ordered from Amazon, but a physical space to browse for books is a great thing and I am happy to pay extra for it.
Of course, once we have true tele-presence, my attitude may change.
During the US-USSR cold war there was a notion espoused by the US think taks called, "Domino Theory". It postulated that once a country within a geographic region changed to a communist government, it's neighbors would be more likely to do so. Hence the US policy of containment that we have seen since WWII.
Now, does this analogy apply to Free vs. Monopolistic Software ? We have recently seen the Chinese undertake a government program to promote free software over Microsoft. Now Korea. Is India next? Or Japan?
Granted, geography is not necessarily a factor in this "war" but language certainly is. When can we expect this to spread to Europe or (better yet) the US?
The Tick suffered from the Seinfeld curse. See Cosmo, George and soon to be Elaine's show.
This doesn't suprise me one bit. At the risk of repeating the tired old mantra, concentration of big media will lead to lapses in journalistic integrity driven by the bottom line. I noticed the following recently: MSNBC did a piece last week about how well the X-box was selling (depite the fact that the PS2 out sold it 2:1 during the holiday season). Disclaimer: I have a PS2. The piece was done by a reporter who gave his two sons (14 and 17 I think) a X-box and see if they liked it. Suprise: they did. Thumbs up for the X-box. No disclaimer at the end of the story that Microsoft owns X% of MSNBC. You have to be a smart cookie today to see through the bullsh*t.
My 2 cents.
It appears that the Chinese understand the importance of a domestic software industry in the 21st century and are taking steps to improve their own. Choosing Linux immediately gives them a worldwide devloper network that rivals any private corporation, including Microsoft. If we gaze into the crystal ball to 10-15 years from now, the sheer savings in licensing alone will catapult them into the world arena. They have a captive market of 1.2 billion users that rivals North America, Western Europe and the Pac-Rim. Granted, it may take 20-30 years for the network infrastructure and standard of living to rise to a 50% market penetration of PCs but I don't see this as a good thing for M$.
Considering that the vast majority of users do not know how to setup filters and the like, spam really is a detriment to electronic messaging. My folks are not the most computer literate people on the planet and the thought of them receiving "No subject" messages with embedded porn makes me cringe. If I didn't have a full time job, I'd work on a system of intelligent agents that actually worked.
RUN "WEEKDAY"
Sleep, work, eat, game, sleep, work, eat, game......
RUN "WEEKEND"
Sleep, TV, eat, game, sleep, TV, eat, game.......
I get between 20-30 messages daily, sometimes spiking up to 40+. I have had the same email address for 9 1/2 years but the problem only really began about 2 years ago. Then the network effect [URL?] must have taken effect and it skyrocketed. I subscibe to the usual privacy measures and don't give it out in newsgroups, return emails etc. but it is out there and they won't leave me alone. Waa!
or three times the size of my notebook drive, I'll get one.
Your twenty favorite movies on your keychain.
Semi-autos let you kill criminals at a higher rate with shorter reloading times.
:0
yea, i see your point. But you keep referring to handguns and specifically hadngun violence when I am talking about generic gun use, the vast majority is hunting/targets. On another point, the use of guns can be hunting and target practice and the use of video games is to teach children to kill. Blah blah, it is the same old saw we have heard a hundred times before. I probably shouldn't have taken the cheap shot at the Aussies but what the hell. That what the internet is for. One big happy global village.
:)
Later.
I am curious as to why you think that owning a videogame is an issue of civil liberties and owning a [hand]gun is not. I think what you mean is thus:
1) Ownership of an object that is inherently non-lethal, not specifically designed to kill people, is an issue of civil liberties because the actions of the object do not cause direct harm to others.
2) Ownership of an object that is inherently lethal, specifically designed to kill people, is an not an issue of civil liberties (therefore exempt)because the object [sic]is design to kill people.
However, per your previous statement [The idea of civil liberties is basically that all those actions which do not cause direct harm to others should be permitted] owning a firearm does not violate this statement.
I disagree with you on this premise:
Civil liberties (specifically that the government does not have the right to intrude into the personal life of it's citizens) are predicated on the people having the freedom to exercise them.
I.e. I can own a gun or not own a gun based on my choice. If I do not have that choice, I can vote politicians into office that affirm my right. If I do not have that choice, I can petition the people, organize strikes and other forms of civil protest. If I do not have that choice, I can take up armed struggle against my government.
I also disagree with the context of your statement. [The "right to bear arms"...is NOT a basic human right.] This may be true, but this right is a precursor of other rights.
At least we have the right to freely discuss this issue on slashdot and the right to disagree....
Yikes.
Hey I like Australians, man.
I like to think that I know what really happens in the world. Unarmed civilians are slaughtered by others. Governments look the other way while minorities are persecurted. Serbia, Croatia, Turkey, Iraq, Columbia, Uganda, Ethiopia.
On the other hand, we have some 10,000 gun deaths a year in this country. Wonderful things such as little kids finding daddy's gun and shooting brother Jimmy, nutsos shooting up a KFC and the like.
And by the way, you can check out the below listed sites for the "evidence". Granted they are a bit one-sided but that seems to be the nature of gun issues.
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~confiles/
http://www.nrawinningteam.com/auresult.html
http://www.gunsandcrime.org/aussiegc.html
I have as much freedom as I choose to have. That is why I vote at the polls, with my pocketbook and engage in civic activities. Just because I rag on Australians for pussing out on gun rights doesn't mean I don't know what is going on in the world. Both of our countries fought off the yoke of British colonialism. How do you think that was accomplished? Diplomacy with Her Majesty?
But it is your country so do what you want with it....
Talk about a great game. I still haven't heard all of the talk show segments in the game. It is great to go on a rampage and then part the car overlooking the bay and listen to the Chatterbox FM. All we can hope for is for GTA4 to have broadband multiplay and the game would be perfect.
As for the Aussies, they are down the path of giving up personal liberties for the "greater good". Since they banned guns thei crime rate has steadily risen. Good job!
Your site must be running Windoze....won't download.
I completely concur. Time to cut off their money supply. Boycott.
Yes, all software has bugs and holes. But Microsoft's policy of refusing to acknowledge the problem in the first place is disturbing. The security through obfuscation is not a valid policy. There is an old Russian saying that applies to nuclear arms control and here as well.
"Trust but verify."
... if you live in Australia, just order the game from someone off of eBay in another country. Do they look through every fucking box that comes into the country? Banned schmannned. They can only ban it if you let them.
Of course, the Aussies gave up their guns so I dunno.
Hello:
It is obvious from your website that you believe that toys are an important motivation behind childhood and consequently adult aggression. You are attacking a symptom and not the problem. Why don't you spend your energy opposing parental divorce, childhood emotional, childhood sexual abuse or child poverty. These are root problems. Children won't need to exhibit as much aggression if they are raised in a healthy environment. Blaming toys and games is like blaming the crayon when an emotionally disturbed child draws a picture of a knife. Do us all a favor and please remove your site from the internet. It is inane.
...is up to the same old tricks. I hope the EU gets tired of putting up with their tactics and slugs them with a BIG fine. Say 300-400 million Euros. As for the situation in the US, they pretty much have a free reign to do as they wish. They might as well offer free ketchup and bottled water for students to make their own nutritious vegtable soup.