My thoughts exactly. I'm in Philly, and this is the first i've heard of it. Ever done a search for LAN parties or any cool tech-related stuff around here? There isn't any. So when stuff like this comes around, and I miss it, it really pisses me off.
I think you can compare this to non-interactive media, like TV and movies. Movies are expensive and time consuming to produce, but are long, in depth, and have generally have a polished look, while TV shows cost less time and money to produce, lack the polish of movies, and aren't as in depth.
Compare this to video games. Half-Life 2 or Doom 3 (will) have considerable polish, cost millions (i think), and are longer and in depth. Tetris is cheap to produce, lacks polish, but is short and fun anyway.
The point is, if TV and movies are any indication, complex and simple games will both become popular, just filling different niches.
I managed to get my hands on an older Libretto ff 1100. Absolutely awesome. It's a little old, so it runs a P266 w/ 128 ram, and boots win98 by default. The thing also has a USB port, SmartCard slot, and PCMCIA slot. It has a decent usable keyboard. Screen res is 800x480, which is, for me, fine to read on. I actually had to decrease the font size though to fit configuration windows on the screen (sometimes its just too short, and nobody designs programs for 640x480 screens anymore). Unfortunately, it was never sold in the US (except by Dynamism.com). Bablefished page is here (original).
Scroll down for pics. The little orange thing on the right side of the screen is the mouse. The two buttons are on the back of the screen. Very usable, and original. Too bad you can't get these anywhere anymore. I run Linux on mine, with no problems.
Unfortunately, if some companies did this, and some didn't (e.g. Microsoft), then you are left with the problem that the companies that did will experience a drop in sales. "The honest solution..." never really works unless it's the law, and even then it (usually|sometimes) gets manipulated. Which is why this law suit is such a good thing.
It's always been a catch-22 that you can't return opened software, but you have to open the box to read the licence agreement. This isn't new, and i'm surprised no one has really complained about it before. As it stands now, you have to agree to something you haven't read to buy proprietary software. I've never seen a single store that lets you return opened software, and i've never seen a single program that didn't put the EULA in the box. This is certainly true anywhere, not just California.
Wow, that was some seriously lucky timing for me. I had been saving up for a few months to buy a nice new VisionTek card, and at the last minute I decided to go with a ChainTech card, because it was the same price, and included an S-Video In/Out port, and a gold plated fan and heat sink (dont ask what the point of this is, it just looked cool and was the same price).
Preformance has been execellent, and the card never overheated (which is amazing, since the room it's in is usually 90-95 degrees in the summer. Anti-Aliasing preformance was great at 4x, 1024x768. Of course, I upgraded from a TNT2, so what would I know?
How can that be possible? You mean PocketPC OS will actually become powerful enough for that? You wouldn't be able to boot it up until AFTER you hacked it to run *nix.
On the other hand, that would make a nifty graphing calculator. Wish i has a cluster of... ok i'll shut up.
As some other people said, selling Lindows can be damaging to the public image of Linux. Maybe it won't be that damaging, or maybe many people won't buy it, but it will be a little damaging. I think they would do a much better job using a easy-to-use distro, like Mandrake or Lycoris, simplify it so they don't confuse users (remove GNOME or KDE, etc), and bundle it with CrossOver Office. That way, they could market the fact that it runs Word, Excel, and Powerpoint (crossover doesn't run Outlook and Access very well), and also market the fact that its Linux.
Slashdot Mirror
It clearly states on the website that Mac support isn't ready yet. It was a accident that the broken mac build was released at all.
My thoughts exactly. I'm in Philly, and this is the first i've heard of it. Ever done a search for LAN parties or any cool tech-related stuff around here? There isn't any. So when stuff like this comes around, and I miss it, it really pisses me off.
I think you can compare this to non-interactive media, like TV and movies. Movies are expensive and time consuming to produce, but are long, in depth, and have generally have a polished look, while TV shows cost less time and money to produce, lack the polish of movies, and aren't as in depth.
Compare this to video games. Half-Life 2 or Doom 3 (will) have considerable polish, cost millions (i think), and are longer and in depth. Tetris is cheap to produce, lacks polish, but is short and fun anyway.
The point is, if TV and movies are any indication, complex and simple games will both become popular, just filling different niches.
I managed to get my hands on an older Libretto ff 1100. Absolutely awesome. It's a little old, so it runs a P266 w/ 128 ram, and boots win98 by default. The thing also has a USB port, SmartCard slot, and PCMCIA slot. It has a decent usable keyboard. Screen res is 800x480, which is, for me, fine to read on. I actually had to decrease the font size though to fit configuration windows on the screen (sometimes its just too short, and nobody designs programs for 640x480 screens anymore). Unfortunately, it was never sold in the US (except by Dynamism.com). Bablefished page is here (original). Scroll down for pics. The little orange thing on the right side of the screen is the mouse. The two buttons are on the back of the screen. Very usable, and original. Too bad you can't get these anywhere anymore. I run Linux on mine, with no problems.
(I'll bet my ass that Doom 3 has _very_ few similarities with the original 2 dooms)
Of course, seeing as Doom 3 is a remake of the original Doom, it may not be a good idea to bet your ass.
Unfortunately, if some companies did this, and some didn't (e.g. Microsoft), then you are left with the problem that the companies that did will experience a drop in sales. "The honest solution..." never really works unless it's the law, and even then it (usually|sometimes) gets manipulated. Which is why this law suit is such a good thing.
It's always been a catch-22 that you can't return opened software, but you have to open the box to read the licence agreement. This isn't new, and i'm surprised no one has really complained about it before. As it stands now, you have to agree to something you haven't read to buy proprietary software. I've never seen a single store that lets you return opened software, and i've never seen a single program that didn't put the EULA in the box. This is certainly true anywhere, not just California.
Wow, that was some seriously lucky timing for me. I had been saving up for a few months to buy a nice new VisionTek card, and at the last minute I decided to go with a ChainTech card, because it was the same price, and included an S-Video In/Out port, and a gold plated fan and heat sink (dont ask what the point of this is, it just looked cool and was the same price).
Preformance has been execellent, and the card never overheated (which is amazing, since the room it's in is usually 90-95 degrees in the summer. Anti-Aliasing preformance was great at 4x, 1024x768. Of course, I upgraded from a TNT2, so what would I know?
from the preview-of-2026-ipaq dept.
How can that be possible? You mean PocketPC OS will actually become powerful enough for that? You wouldn't be able to boot it up until AFTER you hacked it to run *nix.
On the other hand, that would make a nifty graphing calculator. Wish i has a cluster of... ok i'll shut up.
As some other people said, selling Lindows can be damaging to the public image of Linux. Maybe it won't be that damaging, or maybe many people won't buy it, but it will be a little damaging. I think they would do a much better job using a easy-to-use distro, like Mandrake or Lycoris, simplify it so they don't confuse users (remove GNOME or KDE, etc), and bundle it with CrossOver Office. That way, they could market the fact that it runs Word, Excel, and Powerpoint (crossover doesn't run Outlook and Access very well), and also market the fact that its Linux.