$300 or $400 for a professional application of this type is quite reasonable.
If $300 to $400 is reasonable, then isn't a price over $600 overpriced? They did have a "Lite" version out a few years ago in the $300 price range. But the thing is, they also made deals with several hardware vendors, including Maxtor. You could buy a $100 Maxtor hard drive and get the very same version of Photoshop Lite that they were selling retail around $300 for free with your hard drive (I'm certain of this, I did it). Can you say charging $300 for that was not overpriced when it was also the Crackerjack prize packed with a hard drive?
And I've seen several cases of high end scanners that were packed with a fully licensed upgradeable copy of Photoshop, and the entire package cost less than just the retail Photoshop alone (and would work on other hardware, not just the hardware it came with). While I understand how one can claim that it's a professional tool and can command a high price (and it is a very very good tool), I find it hard to justify the price when you can sometimes buy it cheaper and get extra hardware too. To be fair, I haven't seen any such deals lately, but I haven't be in a position to shop for them either. Maybe someone else can tell us what the going price for Photoshop is if you can find it with some nice new toy to use it with.
Maybe if they didn't spend R&D time and money
on useless features, their products would be more affordable.
Anyone who believes this must also believe that Microsoft is trying hard to lower costs but just can't do it. Face it, this software reflects what they think the market will bear, not what it costs to develop. A few years ago when Photoshop 5.x was out, they also had a "Lite" version that cost about half as much as full Photoshop. Thing was, you could also get the exact same licensed software free with a $100 Maxtor hard drive. Anyone who paid the full price for the "Lite" version was a real chump, but I'm sure there were plenty who did, and thought they were saving money after seeing the cost of the "Full" version.
Also, several years ago I had a friend who bought a scanner that came with a bundeled and fully licensed copy of the full version of Photoshop (NOT the "Lite" version). At the time scanners were expensive, but he still paid about half of what it would have cost to buy just Photoshop for a good scanner and a Full, legal, upgradeable Photoshop. (he got the Kai with it too!)
They could spend 1/10 of what they now spend on R&D, but they are not going to drop the product price by a penny while they think they can still get current prices. On the other hand, if you shop around you can sometimes get it at a much fairer price.
What a major waste. Yes, they should have Mars time watches, but it should be done by software - even the programmable Timex watches could have done it and the watch would still keep earth time. I guess some idiot manager is now telling people how important he is because of how big a budget he has.
No, the Catholics tried to teach me Hypocrisy. They even told me how good it was when the Pope sent all those missionaries over to the new world to kill the central American Indians and loot their treasures... er, I mean save them from their heathen beliefs. But somehow the cult indoctrination didn't take, I now understand that any and all religions are the worst forms of evil.
It's good to know these things. Without being warned I might have actually done business with them and become part of the problem of them forcing their religious views on the "ignorant pegans" around the world. And, yes, I do know what I'm talking about - I was brought up in that cult as a child.
I am an American, and unlike the Anonymous Cowards I'll post under my own account that I don't for one instant think that the U.S. should be giving any money to the terrorist stare of Israel.
The.nu TLD already had probably thousands of domains per inhabitant as I'm sure other small countries do as well.
I don't know how many domain registerations it has, but I do know that the people there take that money and give themselves free luxuries like wireless Internet access with it, while expecting the New Zeland taxpayers to give them another $8 million a year. I see no reason to help them stay independent.
So we're talking about the smallest "independent" country in the world, but they are not quite so independent that they don't take aid from New Zealand. If they stay independent the article indicates the next round of aid would be $16,000 a person. They show little ability to really run as an independent state. So what's the big harm in letting them return to New Zealand rule (other than to the New Zealand taxpayer, who are likely to support them one way or another). I don't have free wireless internet access, why in the world should I pay extra to give it to a bunch of people who can't take care of themsleves just because they want it? Perhaps the reduced cost of being just a small commumity rather than an independent country is just what these people need.
I find it hard to believe that I'm even saying this; I would welcome the chance to be an even smaller country of one. But I wouldn't be holding out my hands expecting others to be taxed to pay for it, and I doubt that I would expect other slashtot readers to pitch in to make it happen either.
Why are we still talking about this turkey? It will be overpriced (I've seen numbers ranging from $299 to $399) and undersupported. And on top of everything else it runs a MS OS!!! Hell, Bill Gates will likely make more on each of these sold then he looses on every Xbox sold, but he's certainly be the only one making money on it. A few hackers will snarf one up (you know who you are, you buy one of everything). But all said and done, a PC will be a better choice for hackers, and a Sony or that even that greeen thing will be better supported for most gamers. This thing will be still born and not well supported. In less than a year it will be on the discount shelves. It likely will take Apex down with it (they don't have the bankroll to feed a turkey like MS does) unless they realize the problem and pull the plug early. And I'm expecting they might even pull that plug before the ill-fated release.
Heck, this isn't even the only phantom Windows PC based game system that we're being told is on the way. The only question I have in my mind is which one will be pulled first.
OS/2 of 1993 is still more advanced than the WindowsXP of today.
Yea, you just keep telling yourself that. I figured there would be some OS2 zellot who would make such a post, even in the face of the evidence that IBM doesn't even use it on their desktops. Not that XP is any good, but there's a good reason why IBM is switching to Linux, and switching from Windows rather than switching from OS2.
It's reminiscent of the exciting days of the Miracle month November, 1947, when the transistor was first invented.
Oh yea, it's just like that, except that in this case we'll never hear about it again and in five years you'll do searches on it and not be able to find anything on it except the original articles. I could easily list 100 things this exciting or more that I've seen that just seem to vanish. Interesting news, but I think it's way over optomistic to equate it to the discovery of the transistor.
One of the ugly little side effects of dementia correcting drugs is that they eventually stop working.
But here the drug isn't being used for dementia correcting, it's being used to stop BACE1 production. As long as the drug continues to do that, it holds the promise of preventing Alzheimer's. Of course, the last line of the Slashdot story (Looks like there is hope for
those that suffer.) is off the mark - block BACE1 production and you may prevent the disease; but there's no reason to think that if you block production you somehow crue those who already have the disease and the plaques.
Sure, laugh at him and joke about his theories, but don't pretend to have a real clue. He's dead on. Here's an outside U.S.A. news site that shows nice blue Mars skies from past pictures.
http://mars-news.de/color/blue.html
But, as pointed out here, if it was red dust storms rather than NASA hanky-panky that turned these pictures red, then the sundial would not have that shadow. The bottom line is we are getting false information. Only an idiot would make fun of the person who points out with good science that the information is false and tries to offer theories about why that is happening. rather than test the thoeries or try to determine why the information is false themselves.
Why shouldn't NASA color-enhance images used for PUBLIC RELATIONS purposes?
Right on, how insightful. After all, we wouldn't have given the billions of dollars that we did for the original normal color pictures they took out in the Mojave desert, would we? And it's certainly not the job of NASA to do good science and educate the people, they should be more like George Lucas and ILM and give people the crap they expect, not what's really there. Sure, change those colors. Edit those pictures, take out anything that might be disturbing. Outright lie about the resolution of the images. Make structures go away. You're so damn insightful.
It's been reported in other places (I believe HardOCP had a link somewhere) about comcast doing this.
Yes, I've seen reports in other places. But I have no idea if this is Comcast again or some other ISP doing it. Whoever it is deserves all the bad press they can get from it. The poster should not leave us to guess.
If it's not available, it generally won't have a price now will it?
That's completely bogus. In general, and certainly for a device to be released this quarter, they should be able to give a good target price or at least a price range. Most other announcements are done this way, and (after all) this was a part of their own press release that included the term "Pricing".
The general consumer doesn't give a rat's *** about whether it can do these things. If it plays DVDs then they are ready.
No, with DVD players now an "under 50 buck" item, this is clearly aimed at the buyer who is looking for features. Some other DVD players on the market even already offer Divx playback. But this press release Specifically lists that it plays DVD and VCD, leaving a strong implcation that these are the only formats supported from the drive: Besides DVDs, the DVD Player will also play audio CDs and Video CDs.. If you are going to support Dvix playback from media, you should say it, as other manufacturers do. It was (and still is) a reasonable question.
In the press release there is a section called Pricing and Availability where they don't tell you the prive and do tell you that the thing is not available.
They say it plays DVDs and VCDs. They say it will play Divx from your PC. But will it play a Divx CD (and if not, why the hell not?)? Will it play SVCD (from the media)? The press release is damn poor, leaving such obvious points unaddressed, does not reflect well on the product.
Why even post this if you're not even willing to tell us what ISP did this?
You can, of course, cancel the account. But Internet Service Providers would love to be able to offer and advertise "unlimitted accounts" but only have light users sign up, use them minimally, and pay the steep price. Your leaving would not be a great loss to them. The bad press they get over doing this, and the number of people who go elsewhere because they don't want to deal with nonsense like this would be an issue, however. The best thing you could do is say who they are.
Then I hope you read this. RealOne was one of the most offensive pieces of software I've ever installed on my system. I eventually managed to get rid of it and put on an older player, but some Real content just doesn't play without the new player. As a result, I simply avoid content for Real Player. Haven't really missed it. I rather expect that many Slashdot readers feel as I do.
The technical answer has to do with lots of issues, like most sound cards being for AC signals and the input not so great for DC signals.
The simpler answer just asks would you do surgery with a chain saw?
What a bogus statement. Sure, I might believe that 75% of the connections on the Internet don't use a browser, but I damn well don't believe that 75% of Web connections don't use a browser. The World Wide Web and the Internet are Not the same thing.
Slashdot Mirror
If $300 to $400 is reasonable, then isn't a price over $600 overpriced? They did have a "Lite" version out a few years ago in the $300 price range. But the thing is, they also made deals with several hardware vendors, including Maxtor. You could buy a $100 Maxtor hard drive and get the very same version of Photoshop Lite that they were selling retail around $300 for free with your hard drive (I'm certain of this, I did it). Can you say charging $300 for that was not overpriced when it was also the Crackerjack prize packed with a hard drive?
And I've seen several cases of high end scanners that were packed with a fully licensed upgradeable copy of Photoshop, and the entire package cost less than just the retail Photoshop alone (and would work on other hardware, not just the hardware it came with). While I understand how one can claim that it's a professional tool and can command a high price (and it is a very very good tool), I find it hard to justify the price when you can sometimes buy it cheaper and get extra hardware too. To be fair, I haven't seen any such deals lately, but I haven't be in a position to shop for them either. Maybe someone else can tell us what the going price for Photoshop is if you can find it with some nice new toy to use it with.
Anyone who believes this must also believe that Microsoft is trying hard to lower costs but just can't do it. Face it, this software reflects what they think the market will bear, not what it costs to develop. A few years ago when Photoshop 5.x was out, they also had a "Lite" version that cost about half as much as full Photoshop. Thing was, you could also get the exact same licensed software free with a $100 Maxtor hard drive. Anyone who paid the full price for the "Lite" version was a real chump, but I'm sure there were plenty who did, and thought they were saving money after seeing the cost of the "Full" version.
Also, several years ago I had a friend who bought a scanner that came with a bundeled and fully licensed copy of the full version of Photoshop (NOT the "Lite" version). At the time scanners were expensive, but he still paid about half of what it would have cost to buy just Photoshop for a good scanner and a Full, legal, upgradeable Photoshop. (he got the Kai with it too!)
They could spend 1/10 of what they now spend on R&D, but they are not going to drop the product price by a penny while they think they can still get current prices. On the other hand, if you shop around you can sometimes get it at a much fairer price.
What a major waste. Yes, they should have Mars time watches, but it should be done by software - even the programmable Timex watches could have done it and the watch would still keep earth time. I guess some idiot manager is now telling people how important he is because of how big a budget he has.
No, the Catholics tried to teach me Hypocrisy. They even told me how good it was when the Pope sent all those missionaries over to the new world to kill the central American Indians and loot their treasures... er, I mean save them from their heathen beliefs. But somehow the cult indoctrination didn't take, I now understand that any and all religions are the worst forms of evil.
Catholic school education
It's good to know these things. Without being warned I might have actually done business with them and become part of the problem of them forcing their religious views on the "ignorant pegans" around the world. And, yes, I do know what I'm talking about - I was brought up in that cult as a child.
Prediction for when the rover finally starts to rove: The good news: It finds water. The bad news: It sinks and vanishes in the mud.
I am an American, and unlike the Anonymous Cowards I'll post under my own account that I don't for one instant think that the U.S. should be giving any money to the terrorist stare of Israel.
I don't know how many domain registerations it has, but I do know that the people there take that money and give themselves free luxuries like wireless Internet access with it, while expecting the New Zeland taxpayers to give them another $8 million a year. I see no reason to help them stay independent.
I find it hard to believe that I'm even saying this; I would welcome the chance to be an even smaller country of one. But I wouldn't be holding out my hands expecting others to be taxed to pay for it, and I doubt that I would expect other slashtot readers to pitch in to make it happen either.
Heck, this isn't even the only phantom Windows PC based game system that we're being told is on the way. The only question I have in my mind is which one will be pulled first.
Yea, you just keep telling yourself that. I figured there would be some OS2 zellot who would make such a post, even in the face of the evidence that IBM doesn't even use it on their desktops. Not that XP is any good, but there's a good reason why IBM is switching to Linux, and switching from Windows rather than switching from OS2.
Oh yea, it's just like that, except that in this case we'll never hear about it again and in five years you'll do searches on it and not be able to find anything on it except the original articles. I could easily list 100 things this exciting or more that I've seen that just seem to vanish. Interesting news, but I think it's way over optomistic to equate it to the discovery of the transistor.
But here the drug isn't being used for dementia correcting, it's being used to stop BACE1 production. As long as the drug continues to do that, it holds the promise of preventing Alzheimer's. Of course, the last line of the Slashdot story (Looks like there is hope for those that suffer.) is off the mark - block BACE1 production and you may prevent the disease; but there's no reason to think that if you block production you somehow crue those who already have the disease and the plaques.
http://mars-news.de/color/blue.html
But, as pointed out here, if it was red dust storms rather than NASA hanky-panky that turned these pictures red, then the sundial would not have that shadow. The bottom line is we are getting false information. Only an idiot would make fun of the person who points out with good science that the information is false and tries to offer theories about why that is happening. rather than test the thoeries or try to determine why the information is false themselves.
Right on, how insightful. After all, we wouldn't have given the billions of dollars that we did for the original normal color pictures they took out in the Mojave desert, would we? And it's certainly not the job of NASA to do good science and educate the people, they should be more like George Lucas and ILM and give people the crap they expect, not what's really there. Sure, change those colors. Edit those pictures, take out anything that might be disturbing. Outright lie about the resolution of the images. Make structures go away. You're so damn insightful.
Oh, where are my points to mod this up when I need them?
Yes, I've seen reports in other places. But I have no idea if this is Comcast again or some other ISP doing it. Whoever it is deserves all the bad press they can get from it. The poster should not leave us to guess.
That's completely bogus. In general, and certainly for a device to be released this quarter, they should be able to give a good target price or at least a price range. Most other announcements are done this way, and (after all) this was a part of their own press release that included the term "Pricing".
The general consumer doesn't give a rat's *** about whether it can do these things. If it plays DVDs then they are ready.
No, with DVD players now an "under 50 buck" item, this is clearly aimed at the buyer who is looking for features. Some other DVD players on the market even already offer Divx playback. But this press release Specifically lists that it plays DVD and VCD, leaving a strong implcation that these are the only formats supported from the drive: Besides DVDs, the DVD Player will also play audio CDs and Video CDs. . If you are going to support Dvix playback from media, you should say it, as other manufacturers do. It was (and still is) a reasonable question.
They say it plays DVDs and VCDs. They say it will play Divx from your PC. But will it play a Divx CD (and if not, why the hell not?)? Will it play SVCD (from the media)? The press release is damn poor, leaving such obvious points unaddressed, does not reflect well on the product.
Why even post this if you're not even willing to tell us what ISP did this?
You can, of course, cancel the account. But Internet Service Providers would love to be able to offer and advertise "unlimitted accounts" but only have light users sign up, use them minimally, and pay the steep price. Your leaving would not be a great loss to them. The bad press they get over doing this, and the number of people who go elsewhere because they don't want to deal with nonsense like this would be an issue, however. The best thing you could do is say who they are.
Then I hope you read this. RealOne was one of the most offensive pieces of software I've ever installed on my system. I eventually managed to get rid of it and put on an older player, but some Real content just doesn't play without the new player. As a result, I simply avoid content for Real Player. Haven't really missed it. I rather expect that many Slashdot readers feel as I do.
The technical answer has to do with lots of issues, like most sound cards being for AC signals and the input not so great for DC signals. The simpler answer just asks would you do surgery with a chain saw?
Well, I still have this covered, but not many of my friends do.
What a bogus statement. Sure, I might believe that 75% of the connections on the Internet don't use a browser, but I damn well don't believe that 75% of Web connections don't use a browser. The World Wide Web and the Internet are Not the same thing.