Incidently, anytime someone says "It's pretty well known," it's pretty well known that the following statement is going to be rife with half-truthful anecdotal misinformation.
Violent crime has steadily decreased (even in the USA) over the last several years, has it not?
Everyone has a pet cause they want the rest of us to support. You could argue that the money should have been spent curing aids, poverty, carbon-alternative based fuel systems, or many others.
I just had a though - what is scary is how much many non-profit organizations spend to solicit money from us and how much they often pay their administrative staff (while arguably exploiting volunteers). You could argue that they spend the money we donate to compete with other non-profit organizations. Yikes.
I pulled this out of my head and have no evidence to back this up. Feel free to shoot it down with some facts.:)
Hey Taco! Looks like you're using the "infinite monkeys and typewriters" scheme to generate Ask Slashdots again...
Hey, wait, are you calling OSS developers monkeys? That's not very nice...
Re:What Einstein WASN'T a genius at...
on
Einstein Unveiled
·
· Score: 2
Sure, we know he wasn't good at math, but an even more important point was that he couldn't memorize details to save his life. I remember reading a story about how he called the telephone operator from a pay phone to ask what his phone number and address were -- he couldn't remember them.
Evidence pointing to the contrary Einstein was a good student who excelled in a number of areas. He wasn't the forgetful type and is described as having an eye for detail. The story of him forgetting his phone number hardly means he was forgetful in general.
(I'm not flaming you, it's just that there are a lot of myths about him - especially the math one. Hell, he was studying Kant and advanced mathematics by age 13)
Re:If I could reach into the computer to beat you.
on
Spielberg's Taken
·
· Score: 2
[Dave is in the middle of painting a front porch and Kevin walks up. You only see his body but not who it is.] Kevin: So, you're doing a little painting.
Dave: That's right Einstein. How'd ya guess? I mean, I was trying so hard to hide it. Huh Einstein?
[Kevin's face is shown and we that he is really Einstein.]
Kevin: Listen, not everything that comes out of my mouth is the theory of relativity. So can the sarcasm.
Dave: Sorry, did I hurt your genius feelings?
[Kevin starts to leave and reassure himself.]
Kevin: Walk away, walk away... you're the genius, he's a painter... you're clearly the winner here. [etc.]
Firstly, a server license is more than $150. Second, this is a TCO study. You may not agree with it, but you clearly don't even know what TCO means if you just look at the cost to install and configure the OS on a single server.
Considering all the licenses for W2k where I work cost less than one of our tech support guys' salary (and we have several of those guys) the TCO mostly depends on incidental costs from running linux or windows (ie/ if windows requires one competent admin at $60k CAD and linux requires twice as many, which has the lower TCO? But then factor in how much time those admin's are required to patch the servers and it may change - as you can see, it's not a simple thing to calculate!)
I'm no expert on TCO (i'm a programmer/analyst, not a CTO) but you know so little you really shouldn't even be posting on this topic. Shut up and read what some real admins have to say and maybe we'll all learn something:)
You won't see an unbiased review for awhile. The problem is the novels are so pervasive and anyone into "media" was probably into them at some time, unless they hate fantasy, in which case they would be biased against the Lord of the Rings movies.
Look at the imdb - it has a 9.5 right now. I remember when the FOtR came out and it jumped to number one on the "best movies ever" list (#1 fantasy movie of all time, sure, #1 movie of all time, not quite). Eventually it settled to a more realistic spot.
If I got to see it right now, I would probably gush about it and inflate it's value too. But give me two months and I'll tell you how good it really was.:)
You are wrong: yes, at one point there will be additional content for consoles (that's what the HD is there for, right?) BUT you will never be able to create one on a console. If you've ever programmed or done 3d moddeling, you'd know that. Not until consoles change so much that they resemble pc's...at which point the point is moot.
Actually, there are console games that do allow modifications - RPGMaker for playstation and snes is an excellent example of one. Mariopaint is another. They're not very sophisticated, but it can be done. I am a programmer and I would argue that modding on a console is possible, just not very practical with the currently available tools. But given that consoles are basically closed computers, it is not outside the realm of possibility.
Despite that, I can easily foresee people designing the mods on their PC and running/testing them on their consoles. I did this when I was programming a Gameboy program a few years ago. Many people on the Internet have translated japanese video games as well, which can run on the actual consoles (though targeting emulators).
The only problem is that consoles are comparatively "closed" systems and the programmers of games would have to release their tools to the world at large. It's a stark contrast to the very open gaming world on the PC.
And as for the "no patches"...I seem to remember that a recent xbox game needed one, which got d/l-ed on the hd...:)
The XBox isn't a console. It's a crippled computer.:) Patches are far less common in a console environment though.
Heheh, for the record, this wasn't intended to be a pc vs console thread though it was inevitable given what I wrote in the top post:)
Modding is cool and all, but it's not beyond the realm of possibility in the console world and unfortunately there are a lot of mods that just suck - hardly an excuse against modding in general, but I personally have only played a handful of good mods (and despite what I have said, I play a lot of PC games - just less and less every year).
That reminds me of another nice thing about console games - NO PATCHES! Heheh, except occasionally a bug will make it into a console game, and then we're screwed.
When I can play Dark age of Camelot or Star Wars Galaxies on my couch, from a console, be able to actually *type* to communicate with people, and use a keyboard/mouse combo to move instead of some clunky D-pad or stick style controller I might consider switching my gaming platform..
Actually, you can use a keyboard (such as in Phantasy Star Online) - you have to import it though. I imagine it's a bit clunky having to switch from controller to keyboard constantly, but it's still possible.
Of course, you could always just use a headset too, though that might get a bit chaotic in a MMORPG environment.
Personally, when I do game on the PC, I always use a headset and Roger Wilco and don't mess with talking via the keyboard - it's far too distracting.
My best multiplayer PC gaming experience was coop System Shock 2 with Roger Wilco. It was just incredibly immersive.
Very good point. Additionally this means that you get more gaming for your dollars. Look at the people that bought Half Life and have played CS for the last (?) years on the same old hardware.
However, I wouldn't doubt that eventually, console gamers will be able to mod content. Of course, those consoles are going to strongly resemble PC's.... hmmm...:)
Awesome graphics, nope TV's too crap,low res, low frame rate.
I get a solid 60 fps in metroid prime and the graphics blow away anything I have seen recently on PC (Doom 3 excluded:). There's more to good graphics than hi-res. Consoles always lag a bit behind PC's, but considering most of us buy mid to low range video cards for our pc's anyway, you get more bang for your buck in the console world.
Internet multiplayer support, but no lan parties?
You've never had a Super SMash Bros. Melee tournie with your friends, have you? In any case, you can hook consoles together too (no examples off the top of my head). Console gamers have had LAN parties for years, but we just called it "come over and play some (nintendo|sega|neo geo|whatever)"
Play in your comfortable living room, and my PC is, umm, in the living-room where my hifi used to be.
You sit on your couch with a monitor on a pedestal in front of you with a keyboard and mouse balanced on your lap? I think you missed my point...
Largest selection of games? hmm.... I still play low-fi games, and have a huge selection of low-fi PC games.
I'm talking about new games, but if you want to compare back catalogues, I think the PS1 has, what, several thousand games by itself?
FPS, RTS, Turn-based strategy (e.g. - Civ), and MMORPG are best on PCs. The controls do not lend themselves to the little hand controls on consoles. These kind of games evolved on the PC.
I'm playing Metroid Prime right now. Awesome FPS. The controls are a bit hard to learn (being a mouse and keyboard guy myself) but I learned. Turn based strategy works fine on console, just no publishers (I first played civ on my snes). MMORPG - just look at Phantasy Star Online - you have to buy a keyboard, but it's lots of fun, or so I am told. There are a few RTS on consoles, but not enough.
RPGs are something of a toss up -- they're usually fun on both platforms. Ditto Flight Sims, which essentially require a separate control system on either platform. Driving games often do too, but even so the console versions are generally better.
Consoles can come with more complicated controls like that new one for XBox (the name escapes me). And you can get mice and keyboards for the ps2 (and keyboards for the gamecube).
Someone already touched on the big thing I missed though - modifiable content is just not that big on consoles. Yet.:)
I used to tweak the hell out of my hardware. It got boring after awhile - between that and just getting things working, I'm much happier just to insert a disc into my Gamecube and just play games.
Console gaming is rapidly catching up to pc gaming: Internet multiplayer support? Check (although Nintendo is dragging their feet here) Awesome graphics, surround sound? Check Play in your comfortable living room? Check System = same price as a mid range pc video card? Check 99.9% problem free? Check Largest selection of games? Check
I still play games on my PC, but I find I do it less and less over the years, and only in areas that my console lacks (ie/ Gamecube has next to no role playing games).
I think between this and the four noisy fans I have in my PC right now, my next one will not be bought with gaming in mind. Maybe a tablet PC:)
About all the PC has is a lot more choice/freedom in hardware (though not really - usually two or three companies producing the top gaming hardware). Those of us with money can get a slightly better gaming experience (well, audiovisual experience, anyway) - but even that has the price of incompatibility.
Some Linux hippy that got hit by a bus. Thought maybe someone maybe lost their linux loving grandpa and was just trying to help. Most likely a homeless dude that got the shirt at goodwill or something.
I just changed my sig too, so now nobody knows what this is all about.
What could make this sort of thing work would be unbelievable selection. Imagine being able to rent any movie ever made in perfect digital format. (Unlike, say, trying to rent some old movie, getting it home and having scratches on the DVD or chewed up VHS tape in the middle of it).
Once they get to that stage, bye-bye Blockbuster (unless they're the provider, of course:)
Worked great, though I loathe the (at the time) 1.00/ticket "convenience fee." Haven't used it since because of that.
They made you pay more for it?!? That pretty much kills it in my books. I use my toner/ink, my paper, and save them money (less employees), and they CHARGE me for it?
Slashdot Mirror
The shark has jumped the soviet russia jokes!
No comment.
Jesus? Is that you?
Incidently, anytime someone says "It's pretty well known," it's pretty well known that the following statement is going to be rife with half-truthful anecdotal misinformation.
Violent crime has steadily decreased (even in the USA) over the last several years, has it not?
Everyone has a pet cause they want the rest of us to support. You could argue that the money should have been spent curing aids, poverty, carbon-alternative based fuel systems, or many others.
:)
I just had a though - what is scary is how much many non-profit organizations spend to solicit money from us and how much they often pay their administrative staff (while arguably exploiting volunteers). You could argue that they spend the money we donate to compete with other non-profit organizations. Yikes.
I pulled this out of my head and have no evidence to back this up. Feel free to shoot it down with some facts.
Hey, wait, are you calling OSS developers monkeys? That's not very nice...
Evidence pointing to the contrary Einstein was a good student who excelled in a number of areas. He wasn't the forgetful type and is described as having an eye for detail. The story of him forgetting his phone number hardly means he was forgetful in general.
(I'm not flaming you, it's just that there are a lot of myths about him - especially the math one. Hell, he was studying Kant and advanced mathematics by age 13)
Are you coming on to him (or her ... or it)? :]
[/goodhearted humour]
[Dave is in the middle of painting a front porch and Kevin walks up. You only see his body but not who it is.]
Kevin: So, you're doing a little painting.
Dave: That's right Einstein. How'd ya guess? I mean, I was trying so hard to hide it. Huh Einstein?
[Kevin's face is shown and we that he is really Einstein.]
Kevin: Listen, not everything that comes out of my mouth is the theory of relativity. So can the sarcasm.
Dave: Sorry, did I hurt your genius feelings?
[Kevin starts to leave and reassure himself.]
Kevin: Walk away, walk away... you're the genius, he's a painter... you're clearly the winner here. [etc.]
Source
Firstly, a server license is more than $150. Second, this is a TCO study. You may not agree with it, but you clearly don't even know what TCO means if you just look at the cost to install and configure the OS on a single server.
:)
Considering all the licenses for W2k where I work cost less than one of our tech support guys' salary (and we have several of those guys) the TCO mostly depends on incidental costs from running linux or windows (ie/ if windows requires one competent admin at $60k CAD and linux requires twice as many, which has the lower TCO? But then factor in how much time those admin's are required to patch the servers and it may change - as you can see, it's not a simple thing to calculate!)
I'm no expert on TCO (i'm a programmer/analyst, not a CTO) but you know so little you really shouldn't even be posting on this topic. Shut up and read what some real admins have to say and maybe we'll all learn something
*its, not it's - i'm my own grammar nazi
You won't see an unbiased review for awhile. The problem is the novels are so pervasive and anyone into "media" was probably into them at some time, unless they hate fantasy, in which case they would be biased against the Lord of the Rings movies.
:)
Look at the imdb - it has a 9.5 right now. I remember when the FOtR came out and it jumped to number one on the "best movies ever" list (#1 fantasy movie of all time, sure, #1 movie of all time, not quite). Eventually it settled to a more realistic spot.
If I got to see it right now, I would probably gush about it and inflate it's value too. But give me two months and I'll tell you how good it really was.
Not in Canada? I didn't get a free ticket and it says nothing on the packaging either...
Asia Carrera?
Oh, wait.
Actually, there are console games that do allow modifications - RPGMaker for playstation and snes is an excellent example of one. Mariopaint is another. They're not very sophisticated, but it can be done. I am a programmer and I would argue that modding on a console is possible, just not very practical with the currently available tools. But given that consoles are basically closed computers, it is not outside the realm of possibility.
Despite that, I can easily foresee people designing the mods on their PC and running/testing them on their consoles. I did this when I was programming a Gameboy program a few years ago. Many people on the Internet have translated japanese video games as well, which can run on the actual consoles (though targeting emulators).
The only problem is that consoles are comparatively "closed" systems and the programmers of games would have to release their tools to the world at large. It's a stark contrast to the very open gaming world on the PC.
The XBox isn't a console. It's a crippled computer.
Heheh, for the record, this wasn't intended to be a pc vs console thread though it was inevitable given what I wrote in the top post :)
Modding is cool and all, but it's not beyond the realm of possibility in the console world and unfortunately there are a lot of mods that just suck - hardly an excuse against modding in general, but I personally have only played a handful of good mods (and despite what I have said, I play a lot of PC games - just less and less every year).
That reminds me of another nice thing about console games - NO PATCHES! Heheh, except occasionally a bug will make it into a console game, and then we're screwed.
Actually, you can use a keyboard (such as in Phantasy Star Online) - you have to import it though. I imagine it's a bit clunky having to switch from controller to keyboard constantly, but it's still possible.
Of course, you could always just use a headset too, though that might get a bit chaotic in a MMORPG environment.
Personally, when I do game on the PC, I always use a headset and Roger Wilco and don't mess with talking via the keyboard - it's far too distracting.
My best multiplayer PC gaming experience was coop System Shock 2 with Roger Wilco. It was just incredibly immersive.
Very good point. Additionally this means that you get more gaming for your dollars. Look at the people that bought Half Life and have played CS for the last (?) years on the same old hardware.
:)
However, I wouldn't doubt that eventually, console gamers will be able to mod content. Of course, those consoles are going to strongly resemble PC's.... hmmm...
You've never had a Super SMash Bros. Melee tournie with your friends, have you? In any case, you can hook consoles together too (no examples off the top of my head). Console gamers have had LAN parties for years, but we just called it "come over and play some (nintendo|sega|neo geo|whatever)"
You sit on your couch with a monitor on a pedestal in front of you with a keyboard and mouse balanced on your lap? I think you missed my point...
I'm talking about new games, but if you want to compare back catalogues, I think the PS1 has, what, several thousand games by itself?
I'm playing Metroid Prime right now. Awesome FPS. The controls are a bit hard to learn (being a mouse and keyboard guy myself) but I learned. Turn based strategy works fine on console, just no publishers (I first played civ on my snes). MMORPG - just look at Phantasy Star Online - you have to buy a keyboard, but it's lots of fun, or so I am told. There are a few RTS on consoles, but not enough.
Consoles can come with more complicated controls like that new one for XBox (the name escapes me). And you can get mice and keyboards for the ps2 (and keyboards for the gamecube).
Someone already touched on the big thing I missed though - modifiable content is just not that big on consoles. Yet.
I used to tweak the hell out of my hardware. It got boring after awhile - between that and just getting things working, I'm much happier just to insert a disc into my Gamecube and just play games.
:)
Console gaming is rapidly catching up to pc gaming:
Internet multiplayer support? Check (although Nintendo is dragging their feet here)
Awesome graphics, surround sound? Check
Play in your comfortable living room? Check
System = same price as a mid range pc video card? Check
99.9% problem free? Check
Largest selection of games? Check
I still play games on my PC, but I find I do it less and less over the years, and only in areas that my console lacks (ie/ Gamecube has next to no role playing games).
I think between this and the four noisy fans I have in my PC right now, my next one will not be bought with gaming in mind. Maybe a tablet PC
About all the PC has is a lot more choice/freedom in hardware (though not really - usually two or three companies producing the top gaming hardware). Those of us with money can get a slightly better gaming experience (well, audiovisual experience, anyway) - but even that has the price of incompatibility.
Some Linux hippy that got hit by a bus. Thought maybe someone maybe lost their linux loving grandpa and was just trying to help. Most likely a homeless dude that got the shirt at goodwill or something.
I just changed my sig too, so now nobody knows what this is all about.
Artists (Scroll to third section)
What could make this sort of thing work would be unbelievable selection. Imagine being able to rent any movie ever made in perfect digital format. (Unlike, say, trying to rent some old movie, getting it home and having scratches on the DVD or chewed up VHS tape in the middle of it).
:)
Once they get to that stage, bye-bye Blockbuster (unless they're the provider, of course
They made you pay more for it?!? That pretty much kills it in my books. I use my toner/ink, my paper, and save them money (less employees), and they CHARGE me for it?
As we say in Canada, "Fuck that noise!"