Yeah, you can find a bare-bones Amiga 2000 for not much money. But it's pointless- a bare-bones Amiga 2000 is essentially the same thing as an Amiga 500.
Unless you can get one that has accelerator cards and video cards and hard drives and all that stuff, it's not worth bothering with. Unfortunately, "loaded" Amiga 2000s are EXPENSIVE. All of those expansion cards are hard to come by, and sell for a ridiculous amount of money. Why? I have no idea. I assume it's because of the lunatic Amiga fans that still exist. The poor bastards.
Honestly, UAE (Ultimate Amiga Emulator) is so good, that there simply isn't a reason to own actual Amiga hardware. The emulator is faster, and more flexible, and more stable. And at this point, the only real reason to even mess around with an Amiga is to play the games.
As a general-purpose computer, it sucks. It sucks less than you might think for a nearly 30-year-old system, but it still sucks. Even the latest version of AmigaOS (which is only a couple of years old, I think) is a joke. There are some neat things that the AmigaOS can do, for sure, but most of it is irrelevant nowadays.
The thing is, if you are heavily tied to Adobe products, paying $50/month to ALWAYS have the latest version is actually a good deal, from a usability perspective. Adobe likes to change/abandon file formats with every upgrade, and that causes issues. If you always have the newest version, you don't have to worry about that.
You're right, though: Adobe has no competition. But that isn't Adobe's fault. For all the screwy-ness of Adobe's software, they are STILL better than any of the alternatives, and basically always have been. They "won" their market legitimately.
It's too little, too late. Sony has probably won this generation already. The Xbox One isn't a failure, but it is going to be relegated to second place.
If Microsoft REALLY wanted to sell some systems and possibly win the war, they would do away with "Gold" Live! subscriptions, and make the full online experience free-to-all.
Yes, but what is the *total cost of ownership* of the Versa versus the *total cost of ownership* of keeping your Altima?
Your Altima was paid for. The insurance was likely really cheap.
People like to ignore simple math when it comes to car purchases. Emotions take over. You want to "win" the car game? But a decent user car and drive it/repair it until it spends more time in the shop than on the road, and get rid of it. Then buy another decent used car.
New cars are ALWAYS a bad investment. The worst investment, actually. Don't be a sucker.
It almost seems like it's finally going to happen. Amazing.
Now we just need to standardize on a desktop environment, and Linux will actually be a nice OS for the masses./cue the "But choice is good!" crowd. Yeah, choice is good, but fragmentation is FAR worse than having no choices, when it comes to operating systems.
Having a project like HURD reflects poorly on Open Source/Free software. It's kind-of emblematic of the major problem with non-commerical software projects; namely, without a central guiding force and a *real* budget, big software projects have a very difficult time getting finished.
It's a weird phenomenon, but it seems that the Japanese don't "get" system software/operating systems AT ALL.
It almost seems to be a cultural thing. They like baroque/quirky interfaces and systems. For video games, that is often a good thing; it makes the game interesting. For applications, it sucks.
The controller is over-engineered and silly, and apparently the SteamBox consoles themselves are going to sell for $500. That's insane. This thing isn't in the same league as an Xbox One or PS4. There are barely any games for it, and barely any announced!
This is going to be another footnote in the history of consoles, unless Valve is planning a big surprise reveal of MASSIVE developer support. Which I doubt will happen.
The position requires a security clearance, for God's sake! This is an internship for the children of congressman and other highly-placed public officials (and, of course, children of big donors to the Republican and/or Democratic parties). Nothing will get accomplished, but a lot of rich kids will get to put it on their resume.
Why do you think both Sony and MS gave up on it a few years ago? It adds cost to the system, and it doesn't increase sales. A $99 add-on? Hardly anyone would buy it. Sony and MS aren't stupid- if backwards-compatibility was something that would help them sell more systems and/or games and make more money, they would include it. But it doesn't, because hardly anyone wants to play old games. And those that DO want to play the old games play them on the OLD CONSOLE!
Uh, XP Home can't join and Active Directory domain. That's why businesses bought it, dipshit. NONE of the "home" versions of Windows can join a domain.
Well, in many ways, Linux *is* inferior to Windows. Don't kid yourself. Especially for business use.
The fact is, most business software is Windows only. That's the deal-breaker for Linux, right there.
And Linux has nothing to compare to Active Directory. If you have to manage a bunch of desktops, Active Directory and Group Policy have no real equivalent on Linux. Yes, there is Puppet and stuff like that. But it's a colossal pain-in-the-ass compared to the very nice GUI tools (and Powershell, now) that Microsoft provides.
Linux has lots of advantages, but manageability isn't one of them. It lags FAR behind Windows on that front.
It's great for web servers and SMTP servers. Those are the only areas where Linux clearly beats all flavors of Windows, in my opinion. On the desktop...not so much. Works great for people that just want to use a browser and OpenOffice, though.
When the iPhone was released, RIM should've *immediately* began creating a new operating system for their phones, and *paying* developers to make apps for it.
Their problem, as the article alludes to, is that they got so used to people paying for the Blackberry *service*, that they couldn't imagine simply making money on the devices and taking a cut of the app market. I'm sure it seemed risky, and it would've been.
But they had no choice, really. And now they're fucked. They deserved it, frankly. They had ALL the cards, and they blew it entirely. It's Netscape all over again, really.
Sounds like that's what they're going for- an "open" OS that can be used for any gaming device. It's a neat idea, but...
It will fail spectacularly. There is no money to be made on console hardware. Who is going to bother building a SteamOS device besides Valve? No one, because Valve is going to be making all the money.
Valve would've been smarter to go all-out, and just build a new proprietary console, but one that is supremely developer and consume friendly. Maybe that is what they are doing, but they are doing it too slowly. If the mythical SteamBox isn't at least as powerful as an Xbox One, and released within the next year, it's doomed, too.
So it looks like they never had enough funding in the first place. This should have been obvious.
Stephenson fancies himself as being very tech-savvy, but he's no programmer. I'm sure he had this idea (that many people still have, admittedly), that making a game isn't all that hard. Making a game is *colossally* difficult. It requires all kinds of specialized skills, and the people with those skills aren't cheap, and there aren't many of them.
Yeah, you can crank out 16-bit-level games pretty quickly and cheaply these days, but for a real "A-level" title with all the pretty 3D graphics and fancy sound effects and cool soundtrack? $10 million, minimum. Plus a custom controller that needs to be developed? $20 million.
Everyone involved with this, including the people that donated, were naive in the extreme.
Ballmer is the one that put the "Every department MUST rate their employees, and MUST fire the employees that have the lowest ratings. Every year." system in place, which is...insane. And stupid. In fact, it's so insane and stupid it's almost unbelievable. This guy is the CEO of one of the richest companies in the world? And he put a system in place to ENSURE that EVERYONE spends most of their workday sabotaging the other employees in order to save their own job?
Ballmer only got/kept the job because he's buddies with Gates, and buddies with the Board. That's how it works in EVERY corporation these days, but generally the CEO is somebody that, at worst, is harmless. Ballmer was actively incompetent, and his idiocy damaged the company. He should be sued by the shareholders.
Yes, wouldn't it be great if someone made a completely developer-friendly, unlocked phone with good specs at a decent price?
Yeah, no fucking shit it would. The carriers would NEVER allow it on their networks. We won't see a phone like that until we have a worldwide standard for cell networks, so that somebody could make that phone and actually sell it in the US.
Paying more than $200 for one is nuts. They need to figure out how to make them cheaper.
These days, you can get a Windows 8 notebook for $350, sometimes less. With MUCH better specs than most ChromeBooks, and, obviously, much more software.
But Chromebooks are nice. ChromeOS is nice. Just too expensive.
We have plenty of our own problems here on Earth! Why is a government-built probe going into interstellar space? Is Obama trying to make health-care truly "universal"? I suppose if our own "illegal aliens" get free health care, why shouldn't Andromedans?
Movies aren't under NEARLY the time pressure that video games are.
A good movie is a good movie. It will ALWAYS be a good movie, and it they'll be able to sell it (on various media) for DECADES after it is released.
Video games are transient. You have about 18 months before your game is obsolete, and sales basically STOP. Hardly any games continue to sell after more than 2 years on the market.
All the problems with the game industry stem from this requirement to get shit done FAST. You can't take 2 years to make a game anymore. You can barely do 18 months.
This is just how it is. Any company that does any kind of "construction" ignore all the safety rules they can. Safety takes time, and costs money. Insurance will pay out on the off chance that someone gets hurt or killed.
The guys working these towers are almost certainly told by their bosses that they need to work faster, and if that means skipping safety measures, then they need to skip safety measures.
Slashdot Mirror
Yeah, you can find a bare-bones Amiga 2000 for not much money. But it's pointless- a bare-bones Amiga 2000 is essentially the same thing as an Amiga 500.
Unless you can get one that has accelerator cards and video cards and hard drives and all that stuff, it's not worth bothering with. Unfortunately, "loaded" Amiga 2000s are EXPENSIVE. All of those expansion cards are hard to come by, and sell for a ridiculous amount of money. Why? I have no idea. I assume it's because of the lunatic Amiga fans that still exist. The poor bastards.
Honestly, UAE (Ultimate Amiga Emulator) is so good, that there simply isn't a reason to own actual Amiga hardware. The emulator is faster, and more flexible, and more stable. And at this point, the only real reason to even mess around with an Amiga is to play the games.
As a general-purpose computer, it sucks. It sucks less than you might think for a nearly 30-year-old system, but it still sucks. Even the latest version of AmigaOS (which is only a couple of years old, I think) is a joke. There are some neat things that the AmigaOS can do, for sure, but most of it is irrelevant nowadays.
The thing is, if you are heavily tied to Adobe products, paying $50/month to ALWAYS have the latest version is actually a good deal, from a usability perspective. Adobe likes to change/abandon file formats with every upgrade, and that causes issues. If you always have the newest version, you don't have to worry about that.
You're right, though: Adobe has no competition. But that isn't Adobe's fault. For all the screwy-ness of Adobe's software, they are STILL better than any of the alternatives, and basically always have been. They "won" their market legitimately.
It's too little, too late. Sony has probably won this generation already. The Xbox One isn't a failure, but it is going to be relegated to second place.
If Microsoft REALLY wanted to sell some systems and possibly win the war, they would do away with "Gold" Live! subscriptions, and make the full online experience free-to-all.
Yes, but what is the *total cost of ownership* of the Versa versus the *total cost of ownership* of keeping your Altima?
Your Altima was paid for. The insurance was likely really cheap.
People like to ignore simple math when it comes to car purchases. Emotions take over. You want to "win" the car game? But a decent user car and drive it/repair it until it spends more time in the shop than on the road, and get rid of it. Then buy another decent used car.
New cars are ALWAYS a bad investment. The worst investment, actually. Don't be a sucker.
It almost seems like it's finally going to happen. Amazing.
Now we just need to standardize on a desktop environment, and Linux will actually be a nice OS for the masses. /cue the "But choice is good!" crowd. Yeah, choice is good, but fragmentation is FAR worse than having no choices, when it comes to operating systems.
Having a project like HURD reflects poorly on Open Source/Free software. It's kind-of emblematic of the major problem with non-commerical software projects; namely, without a central guiding force and a *real* budget, big software projects have a very difficult time getting finished.
Stallman should just kill it. It's pointless.
It's a weird phenomenon, but it seems that the Japanese don't "get" system software/operating systems AT ALL.
It almost seems to be a cultural thing. They like baroque/quirky interfaces and systems. For video games, that is often a good thing; it makes the game interesting. For applications, it sucks.
Change your e-mail address. Problem fucking solved.
Man, talk about "white people problems".
The controller is over-engineered and silly, and apparently the SteamBox consoles themselves are going to sell for $500. That's insane. This thing isn't in the same league as an Xbox One or PS4. There are barely any games for it, and barely any announced!
This is going to be another footnote in the history of consoles, unless Valve is planning a big surprise reveal of MASSIVE developer support. Which I doubt will happen.
That's exactly what this is.
The position requires a security clearance, for God's sake! This is an internship for the children of congressman and other highly-placed public officials (and, of course, children of big donors to the Republican and/or Democratic parties). Nothing will get accomplished, but a lot of rich kids will get to put it on their resume.
You seem to be implying that somehow mathematics are not sufficient for describing the "real" world, and that is simply not the case.
Mathematics are the language of the universe, as far as we can tell.
Nobody cares about backwards-compatibility.
Why do you think both Sony and MS gave up on it a few years ago? It adds cost to the system, and it doesn't increase sales. A $99 add-on? Hardly anyone would buy it. Sony and MS aren't stupid- if backwards-compatibility was something that would help them sell more systems and/or games and make more money, they would include it. But it doesn't, because hardly anyone wants to play old games. And those that DO want to play the old games play them on the OLD CONSOLE!
Uh, XP Home can't join and Active Directory domain. That's why businesses bought it, dipshit. NONE of the "home" versions of Windows can join a domain.
Well, in many ways, Linux *is* inferior to Windows. Don't kid yourself. Especially for business use.
The fact is, most business software is Windows only. That's the deal-breaker for Linux, right there.
And Linux has nothing to compare to Active Directory. If you have to manage a bunch of desktops, Active Directory and Group Policy have no real equivalent on Linux. Yes, there is Puppet and stuff like that. But it's a colossal pain-in-the-ass compared to the very nice GUI tools (and Powershell, now) that Microsoft provides.
Linux has lots of advantages, but manageability isn't one of them. It lags FAR behind Windows on that front.
It's great for web servers and SMTP servers. Those are the only areas where Linux clearly beats all flavors of Windows, in my opinion. On the desktop...not so much. Works great for people that just want to use a browser and OpenOffice, though.
When the iPhone was released, RIM should've *immediately* began creating a new operating system for their phones, and *paying* developers to make apps for it.
Their problem, as the article alludes to, is that they got so used to people paying for the Blackberry *service*, that they couldn't imagine simply making money on the devices and taking a cut of the app market. I'm sure it seemed risky, and it would've been.
But they had no choice, really. And now they're fucked. They deserved it, frankly. They had ALL the cards, and they blew it entirely. It's Netscape all over again, really.
Sounds like that's what they're going for- an "open" OS that can be used for any gaming device. It's a neat idea, but...
It will fail spectacularly. There is no money to be made on console hardware. Who is going to bother building a SteamOS device besides Valve? No one, because Valve is going to be making all the money.
Valve would've been smarter to go all-out, and just build a new proprietary console, but one that is supremely developer and consume friendly. Maybe that is what they are doing, but they are doing it too slowly. If the mythical SteamBox isn't at least as powerful as an Xbox One, and released within the next year, it's doomed, too.
Don't go to "Burning Man".
"Burning Man" is for pretentious douchebags.
So it looks like they never had enough funding in the first place. This should have been obvious.
Stephenson fancies himself as being very tech-savvy, but he's no programmer. I'm sure he had this idea (that many people still have, admittedly), that making a game isn't all that hard. Making a game is *colossally* difficult. It requires all kinds of specialized skills, and the people with those skills aren't cheap, and there aren't many of them.
Yeah, you can crank out 16-bit-level games pretty quickly and cheaply these days, but for a real "A-level" title with all the pretty 3D graphics and fancy sound effects and cool soundtrack? $10 million, minimum. Plus a custom controller that needs to be developed? $20 million.
Everyone involved with this, including the people that donated, were naive in the extreme.
Absolutely.
Ballmer is the one that put the "Every department MUST rate their employees, and MUST fire the employees that have the lowest ratings. Every year." system in place, which is...insane. And stupid. In fact, it's so insane and stupid it's almost unbelievable. This guy is the CEO of one of the richest companies in the world? And he put a system in place to ENSURE that EVERYONE spends most of their workday sabotaging the other employees in order to save their own job?
Ballmer only got/kept the job because he's buddies with Gates, and buddies with the Board. That's how it works in EVERY corporation these days, but generally the CEO is somebody that, at worst, is harmless. Ballmer was actively incompetent, and his idiocy damaged the company. He should be sued by the shareholders.
Yes, wouldn't it be great if someone made a completely developer-friendly, unlocked phone with good specs at a decent price?
Yeah, no fucking shit it would. The carriers would NEVER allow it on their networks. We won't see a phone like that until we have a worldwide standard for cell networks, so that somebody could make that phone and actually sell it in the US.
Paying more than $200 for one is nuts. They need to figure out how to make them cheaper.
These days, you can get a Windows 8 notebook for $350, sometimes less. With MUCH better specs than most ChromeBooks, and, obviously, much more software.
But Chromebooks are nice. ChromeOS is nice. Just too expensive.
We have plenty of our own problems here on Earth! Why is a government-built probe going into interstellar space? Is Obama trying to make health-care truly "universal"? I suppose if our own "illegal aliens" get free health care, why shouldn't Andromedans?
Keep alien overlords out of my health care!
Movies aren't under NEARLY the time pressure that video games are.
A good movie is a good movie. It will ALWAYS be a good movie, and it they'll be able to sell it (on various media) for DECADES after it is released.
Video games are transient. You have about 18 months before your game is obsolete, and sales basically STOP. Hardly any games continue to sell after more than 2 years on the market.
All the problems with the game industry stem from this requirement to get shit done FAST. You can't take 2 years to make a game anymore. You can barely do 18 months.
This is just how it is. Any company that does any kind of "construction" ignore all the safety rules they can. Safety takes time, and costs money. Insurance will pay out on the off chance that someone gets hurt or killed.
The guys working these towers are almost certainly told by their bosses that they need to work faster, and if that means skipping safety measures, then they need to skip safety measures.
Exactly.
Blackberry is dead in the United States, and it will be dead in the rest of the world within the next 5 years. Probably less. They blew it.