sounds cool and useful...MS may even grudgingly "approve" of such a measure. Also, CE is much more condusive to the Xbox format... very many Ipaq and other apps would fit quite nicely on an Xbox memory card...or even USB doggle! A touch more work and the xbox would make a great "home station" for net access and email for busy people who don't really want to keep or manage a PC.
That said, I suspect that Sony will be the first to actually endorse such a model with PS3...although PS2 is more than adequate right now...just share data from Clie's using mem sticks and USB...but you'd need some phone/palm softare to pull it off...on the other hand if sony could strike a deal to use PalmOS as a "stand alone" HD option on PS2 they could have it RIGHT NOW...and run palm apps to boot!
And of course we have Apple with iPodOS (???) and OSX. And Linux with Zarus. Nokia just needs to find a friend for Symian phone OS (nintendo? + panasonic? we can wish) and we might finally get true appliance-like functionality from our electronic devices!
PC manufactures have had 20 years to make it work right...time to give real appliance makers a shot at it?
foregin species are often introduced thru "good intentions" and thru "stowaways", but more often thru "good intentions". Somebody gets a cute pet from their home country imported and later thinks it would be "freedom" to turn it loose in the wild. It wreaks havoc in many contries, but particularly austraila where there are very few natural predators of any kind, let alone enough to balance out all the herbivores that most people would consider pets...without something to eat them in the wild, even the cutest bunnies become a menace quickly.
I'm sure somebody could make a DV PC drive, but it wouldn't be anywhere close to a true camera...yet there's not a market for them because you can "remote control" the camera from the PC without any extra special hardware.
If a new DVD format had PC compatible players [like DV cameras], then lack of PC support for the movie format wouldn't be an issue. The media would still be useable as a data format in PC drives, and PCs could still make content for players...just not read the movie discs...get the idea.
a home network with just a bunch of YOUR boxes that only YOU use is far different than a network where you have 65 computers and 3 shifts of PEOPLE share them through out the day! I doubt you're running payroll, HR, ERP, and accounting software for 8+ hours a day, every day...It all has to be running, all the time...that's a far cry from a home network where you can turn anything off at will. When you turn stuff off, the company looses money...it doesn't matter how "simple" it is!
But the deal is trying to get out of the huge payments that he'll be making for a brand new MS AD Server + CALS for 150 users! For a small company, he's looking at probably $10k to get everything together for the MS solution [plus the actual PCs for users!]...when it's all stuff that's "free" in a standard Debian install!
Having been in exactly this same situation, the only answer for a small busines [trying make a profit and stay OPEN!] nowdays is to look at a linux solution. But he probably needs to pull out the whole windows framework and replace it with Linux...and put the windows back as a add-on to the network.
While MS has some great solutions, their licensing policies are way out of line, especially for a small business like he's describing...you're better off buying boxed copies at compusa than dealing with MS licensing 6.0...and who knows when MS will get "tired" of that and pump you for more cash? It's not a risk that small business can afford to take anymore. Uncertianty of fees is a HUGE deal although only recently have IT managers been trying to get license fees under control before their managers fire them for being stupid for 10 years!
AS long as such a movie includes a half dozen cathaters! It's not like you'll be allowed to pause the movie...the movie will self destruct 8 hours after being inserted in the player...how would that work...13hour movie...8 hour lifespan?
I never understood why they didn't simply build decoding circiutry in to PC dvd players to start with! Then the drive could "show" the movie to the PC as a firewire video input? [obviously downsampled!] and be "remote controlled" by the PC without the actual movie data ever being "in" the PC. I never understood why consumer electronics wasn't more PC friendly in that department...if I could control my DVD player as a firewire or USB device and simply patch the video directly into my monitor most users that simply want to watch movies on a computer would be more than happy...and much of the "piracy" issues would be convienently "forgotten" about!
On another note, a similar idea is the BIOS level CD/DVD players some media PCs shiped with earlier this year...great idea to let consumers watch movies and music, but keep it "seperate" from the actual PC! And very Linux friendly for both sides!
you're dealing with corperate power here, not petty OSS junkies! Making actual sense is not allowed!
And actually, most of us think your correct, but we don't really have a say in the matter do we! My own idea would be to use firewire for everything...it's got SCSI like features,and a standard data format as well as device-to-device, device-controls-device formats...Then you could put many different types of devices out there and have them talk uniformly...but you still have to have a common media to play on your drive...or you'd have to resell a lot of different drives!
HDTV was laid out almost 10 years ago...but the industry has refused to support it properly, trying at the last minute to get extra restrictions in place by holding the consumers and FCC hostage...The original plan was to have $50 HDTV boxes that anyone with an "old" tv could just plug in....but the corps want more money, pure and simple!
yes, I've noticed that 3D games seem to focus on simple models and complex textures rather than high poly counts with simple to no textures [i.e. Mario or Zelda on GC]
I'd love to see some truly colorful original!] games for the PC that are on par with some of nintendo's offerings...the dark-n-drap FPS is really getting boring
I'd agree they've made a really sloppy showing this round. Let's face it, it's just a dressed up PS2...they should have spared everyone and made it exactly that, a PS2 + the added features...anything less was a waste of time. Also, pulling features is a waste of time...we all know that they'll never really add everything they originally said...so move along...nothing to see here. But it could have been really, really cool.
Sounds like a good plan...after all, he has the DV camera for any video capture tasks...most have analoge inputs anyway...all he really needs to do is watch his stuff on a screen! we're making this way too hard! A projector would make PS2 gaming against a flat white wall sweet, as well as provide cool features for your PC to use as well.
The other alternatives would be to get one of the TV to monitor boxes [about $125]that take composite or S-video and splice them into your monitor [all he seems to want right now] or he could just plunk down for a nice 27" for less than $300 this week on after christmas sales! Just be sure to pick one with all the bells...PIP, Svideo in, etc. and you could use it with the PC for movies and such.
An upgrade to an AIW or even a TVwonder VE would be good too, depending on what vid card he has...he didn't say...but ATI's tuner works pretty well for watching video [it's got at feature to just watch tv] in on older models...
All that said, he might just have all he needs right now! Just patch the PS2 into the DVcam and use the DV bundled software to "watch" the PS2 input on the computer...it's worth a try anyway!
Certianly $10 for 1 hour is more than enough for "normal" users to chat with home, check some mail, etc./.rs are not normal users by any means. Now if you could get at least 256Mbps [prefer 400+] thru the pipe for your time I'd even consider it "fairly" priced as a/.er! You have to figure that normal people aren't likely to spend much more than 1 hour anyway...if 1 hour was $6 most people wouldn't pony up $12 for 2...they're too cheap/ don't need that much.
It would seem to be a great situation for traveling if you can get consistant high speeds...but there need to be some tools to capitalize on restricted access time a little better. IE experimented with "scheduled" page downloads, but it was always difficult to set up...Hard for something like/. because you don't want to download every article[definately not a full 1 link deep], and you had to choose your pages ahead of time, again not good for/. or any other news site. I suppose you could setup something with RSS feeds, but you'd still have to read, pick, wait, using up precious download time.
That's why software is written by "contract" workers that get paid wages by "the man"! It's the whole work for hire, freelance thing...and exactly why corps are trying to get you to sign over everything when you sell/work for them.
Basicly it's a money grab by the photographers...Although the same thing has happened in gaming recently too. Look what happened to Wizards of the Coast...they had to "buy-out" a bunch of artist contract too. Note that old cards have image copyright artist and new ones are Wizards!
Eventually this will wipe out professional photographers. Corps like National Geographic will simply start hiring staff photographers to take their pics... or putting in "work for hire" legalese just like the software industry has been for years!
Actualy many new cars are leased nowdays, so "modding" your OnStar is almost certianly against the terms of any lease you signed...unless it can be quickly undone. If you own it outright...i.e. no outside financing at all, they you're probably scott free because car electronics have long been treated "sanely!"
Remember to that MS is going after a proper business solution, not just a "hacker" solution. In a business, you have the ability to use several constraints on HOW your users use tools that you don't have on the general internet... A business doesn't want seperate IM, email, newsgroups, fax, mail, phone, web pages...given today's fast pace and busy schedules all that info needs to be in 1 location...for a business that controls It's pipe it's a no-brainer to try to consolidate/integrate all those tools into 1 easy to use system.
"windows" as commonly used to describe microsoft's OS is actually a common term...The proper name is "MicroSoft Windows" . Without the "MS" or "Microsoft" before it There's no trademark to dilute! For a matter of fact MS argued EXACTLY THE SAME THING in court when they infringed on the term "Internet Explorer"! They argued that because the terms "internet" and "explorer" were such common terms, that the combination was also common... So as a matter of Law and precedent, Lindows has a sufficently novel name for their product...While MS doesn't have a leg to stand on for simply the term "windows" They allowed the name "MS windows" to become diluted...That's why somebody will soon corect my use of rollerblades, when I get back from rollerblading! Get it! Sue it or loose it!
Good idea in theory, but you need to have discrete messages for tracking and verification purposes...you need to track exactly who said what. That's why a/. type system works better. You'd have all the messages in order and "connected" along with all the responces in one place.
Your Wiki-like idea would work for internal company Work instructions though...allowing processes to be kept up to date by everyone involved...you'd have to have some version tracking and a "gatekeeper" again for tracibility, but the basic Wiki machanics would work great.
I aggree with your point...that/. is almost exactly what this new MS thing looks like! Except that Taco already sold/. to VA Linux [i.e. newsforge, sourceforge, OSDN!] so he's already done that, he doesn't "own" it anymore. Sorrry.
That said,/code is GPL...you can download it from slashcode.org for free! You can even make the changes yourself and get money for it by finding people to use it and support them!!! Sounds like fun!
Slashdot Mirror
That said, I suspect that Sony will be the first to actually endorse such a model with PS3...although PS2 is more than adequate right now...just share data from Clie's using mem sticks and USB...but you'd need some phone/palm softare to pull it off...on the other hand if sony could strike a deal to use PalmOS as a "stand alone" HD option on PS2 they could have it RIGHT NOW...and run palm apps to boot!
And of course we have Apple with iPodOS (???) and OSX. And Linux with Zarus. Nokia just needs to find a friend for Symian phone OS (nintendo? + panasonic? we can wish) and we might finally get true appliance-like functionality from our electronic devices!
PC manufactures have had 20 years to make it work right...time to give real appliance makers a shot at it?
After all, Wood isn't as poluting as Coal...but wait, don't birds Live in trees?
hahaha
foregin species are often introduced thru "good intentions" and thru "stowaways", but more often thru "good intentions". Somebody gets a cute pet from their home country imported and later thinks it would be "freedom" to turn it loose in the wild. It wreaks havoc in many contries, but particularly austraila where there are very few natural predators of any kind, let alone enough to balance out all the herbivores that most people would consider pets...without something to eat them in the wild, even the cutest bunnies become a menace quickly.
I'm sure somebody could make a DV PC drive, but it wouldn't be anywhere close to a true camera...yet there's not a market for them because you can "remote control" the camera from the PC without any extra special hardware.
If a new DVD format had PC compatible players [like DV cameras], then lack of PC support for the movie format wouldn't be an issue. The media would still be useable as a data format in PC drives, and PCs could still make content for players...just not read the movie discs...get the idea.
a home network with just a bunch of YOUR boxes that only YOU use is far different than a network where you have 65 computers and 3 shifts of PEOPLE share them through out the day! I doubt you're running payroll, HR, ERP, and accounting software for 8+ hours a day, every day...It all has to be running, all the time...that's a far cry from a home network where you can turn anything off at will. When you turn stuff off, the company looses money...it doesn't matter how "simple" it is!
Having been in exactly this same situation, the only answer for a small busines [trying make a profit and stay OPEN!] nowdays is to look at a linux solution. But he probably needs to pull out the whole windows framework and replace it with Linux...and put the windows back as a add-on to the network.
While MS has some great solutions, their licensing policies are way out of line, especially for a small business like he's describing...you're better off buying boxed copies at compusa than dealing with MS licensing 6.0...and who knows when MS will get "tired" of that and pump you for more cash? It's not a risk that small business can afford to take anymore. Uncertianty of fees is a HUGE deal although only recently have IT managers been trying to get license fees under control before their managers fire them for being stupid for 10 years!
AS long as such a movie includes a half dozen cathaters! It's not like you'll be allowed to pause the movie...the movie will self destruct 8 hours after being inserted in the player...how would that work...13hour movie...8 hour lifespan?
On another note, a similar idea is the BIOS level CD/DVD players some media PCs shiped with earlier this year...great idea to let consumers watch movies and music, but keep it "seperate" from the actual PC! And very Linux friendly for both sides!
movies your little tykes HAVE TO HAVE! Who ever Disney supports first will most undoubtedly win...
And actually, most of us think your correct, but we don't really have a say in the matter do we! My own idea would be to use firewire for everything...it's got SCSI like features,and a standard data format as well as device-to-device, device-controls-device formats...Then you could put many different types of devices out there and have them talk uniformly...but you still have to have a common media to play on your drive...or you'd have to resell a lot of different drives!
HDTV was laid out almost 10 years ago...but the industry has refused to support it properly, trying at the last minute to get extra restrictions in place by holding the consumers and FCC hostage...The original plan was to have $50 HDTV boxes that anyone with an "old" tv could just plug in ....but the corps want more money, pure and simple!
and I liked both episodes immensely because of it...but the engine has much more potential for interesting games!
I'd love to see some truly colorful original!] games for the PC that are on par with some of nintendo's offerings...the dark-n-drap FPS is really getting boring
I'd agree they've made a really sloppy showing this round. Let's face it, it's just a dressed up PS2...they should have spared everyone and made it exactly that, a PS2 + the added features...anything less was a waste of time. Also, pulling features is a waste of time...we all know that they'll never really add everything they originally said...so move along...nothing to see here. But it could have been really, really cool.
The other alternatives would be to get one of the TV to monitor boxes [about $125]that take composite or S-video and splice them into your monitor [all he seems to want right now] or he could just plunk down for a nice 27" for less than $300 this week on after christmas sales! Just be sure to pick one with all the bells...PIP, Svideo in, etc. and you could use it with the PC for movies and such.
An upgrade to an AIW or even a TVwonder VE would be good too, depending on what vid card he has...he didn't say...but ATI's tuner works pretty well for watching video [it's got at feature to just watch tv] in on older models...
All that said, he might just have all he needs right now! Just patch the PS2 into the DVcam and use the DV bundled software to "watch" the PS2 input on the computer...it's worth a try anyway!
It would seem to be a great situation for traveling if you can get consistant high speeds...but there need to be some tools to capitalize on restricted access time a little better. IE experimented with "scheduled" page downloads, but it was always difficult to set up...Hard for something like /. because you don't want to download every article[definately not a full 1 link deep], and you had to choose your pages ahead of time, again not good for /. or any other news site. I suppose you could setup something with RSS feeds, but you'd still have to read, pick, wait, using up precious download time.
Just comparing them to other "dying" technologies.
Basicly it's a money grab by the photographers...Although the same thing has happened in gaming recently too. Look what happened to Wizards of the Coast...they had to "buy-out" a bunch of artist contract too. Note that old cards have image copyright artist and new ones are Wizards!
Eventually this will wipe out professional photographers. Corps like National Geographic will simply start hiring staff photographers to take their pics... or putting in "work for hire" legalese just like the software industry has been for years!
But can it post without RTFM??? well can it? At least /. will be safe.
Actualy many new cars are leased nowdays, so "modding" your OnStar is almost certianly against the terms of any lease you signed...unless it can be quickly undone. If you own it outright...i.e. no outside financing at all, they you're probably scott free because car electronics have long been treated "sanely!"
Remember to that MS is going after a proper business solution, not just a "hacker" solution. In a business, you have the ability to use several constraints on HOW your users use tools that you don't have on the general internet... A business doesn't want seperate IM, email, newsgroups, fax, mail, phone, web pages...given today's fast pace and busy schedules all that info needs to be in 1 location...for a business that controls It's pipe it's a no-brainer to try to consolidate/integrate all those tools into 1 easy to use system.
Thanks...the site is sweet! It looks like they're selling iPods...with all sorts of "inside jokes" most /.rs should get....
"windows" as commonly used to describe microsoft's OS is actually a common term...The proper name is "MicroSoft Windows" . Without the "MS" or "Microsoft" before it There's no trademark to dilute! For a matter of fact MS argued EXACTLY THE SAME THING in court when they infringed on the term "Internet Explorer"! They argued that because the terms "internet" and "explorer" were such common terms, that the combination was also common... So as a matter of Law and precedent, Lindows has a sufficently novel name for their product...While MS doesn't have a leg to stand on for simply the term "windows" They allowed the name "MS windows" to become diluted...That's why somebody will soon corect my use of rollerblades, when I get back from rollerblading! Get it! Sue it or loose it!
Your Wiki-like idea would work for internal company Work instructions though...allowing processes to be kept up to date by everyone involved...you'd have to have some version tracking and a "gatekeeper" again for tracibility, but the basic Wiki machanics would work great.
That said, /code is GPL...you can download it from slashcode.org for free! You can even make the changes yourself and get money for it by finding people to use it and support them!!! Sounds like fun!