every product comes with their own little gremlin to make very odd things happen for no apparent reason.
If you stare really closely you will actually see the DJ's gremlin staring back at you from the middle of the play/pause button. Just don't stare to hard or you will scare it away.
Finally, the Linux community should hurry up. Microsoft has realized this and they are working full time for the next versions of Windows with full support for RDBMS on the filesystem level.
My sediments exactly. Longhorn seems to be going in this direction for exactly the reasons stated. It is not enough that the applications need to manipulate the file systems. The file system itself needs to be rethought of because we are using it differently.
The average user is storing more data and needs faster and better access than they have in previous years. Its one matter to have a few megs of documents and an entirely different matter to have many gigs full of pictures and video.
Our search needs have changed also. We need to able to look for certain pictures by their content and not just by the sometimes cryptic names we call them. It's one thing to grep a bunch of text files to find the one you need. It's something else to do the same thing to a bunch of photos.
Microsoft has realized this and is working heavily on the next version of Windows hoping to solve this amoung other issues. However, Linux is poised to be right there competing with them by the time they are able to reinvent the way we have done things for so many years.
Don't forget strategy games. Very popular and only playable on the PC. Starcraft for example has been very popular and has had a very long run and was not a FPS. You also mention civilization, another great strategy game. There are other great games other there that have nothing to do with FPS gameplay.
Typically they do not get as much press, or are developed for console gaming. However, if you are not looking at the places these games are advertised then you will never hear about them. If you never watch TV how would you know the different from one show to the other?
Look at all the gaming sites out there. There must be games that do not fall under the FPS category people enjoy. Otherwise nothing else would be developed, because no one would buy them.
As long as the deadline set by the FCC does not change then buy one as soon as you are ready. However, if the deadline is pushed back then we will be in a long wait for true HDTV viewing. Even then, will we be watching lower-res HDTV or true HDTV?
My hope is the FCC will stick with their deadline and everyone will be able to experience the true quality of an 1080i HDTV signal. The change from Black and White to Color may give a good comparison of a difference.
But with the possiblity of Dolby 5.1 coupled with the "looking through a window quality the discovery channel offers". Why not think of it as a change from the radio directly to color TV, even if the FCC has to force us to do it.
I completely agree. Historically there has always been a war with who technologies shall be used in implementing the standard. Look at the DVD rewritables, I don't even think they have come to a standard yet. Even with wireless a/b products still work the best when using the same vender for all your parts.
Wireless-g is a great technology and hopefully will be implemented faster than a/b was. Once they figure out how to standardize it. So for now my wireless network, once again, has to wait.
When a company as diverse as Yamaha, that sells everything from motorcycles to saxophones, is looking at profit margins. I am sure the rest of their meeting and other meetings are centered around what their core business is and trying to find products/services that both make profit and are still within what Yamaha wants to provide its customers and its shareholders.
As you say there is no money in hardware. Yamaha has so many other products that offer much better margins, I am sure they are trying to get the most money out of their current businesses as possible. Or, as we just saw they cut them in order to be safe from the looming shareholders. Either way it is truly sad especially when it is a good product but it happens.
By the way, the quality started going down after the Laserjet 4, not III.
Who really knows? With emulation and desktop PCs becoming more powerful, as with gaming consoles, is the arcade truly dead? There is a small transformation in the arcade with some that offer their own LAN party. A bunch of gaming machines where one can go and play for as long as they can afford. Barring more powerful machines and prettier games not much has changed in the basic arcade since its inception.
One thing we are not seeing as much is networked arcade machines. Sure, always in the arcade there are the racecar games with at times 3 or more linked together, or the shooter games where you are paired with a partner. But mostly it is you and the machine; there is not much interaction unless you bring your own group.
Most people would prefer a console for that type of entertainment. There is a one-time charge and you can play as much as you want. No lines, no wait and you can even sell back you games to get a bit of money for your next purchase. "Halo Fests" and other such events have become commonplace. There is more interaction between people, in general more comfortable and arguably better food.
Maybe arcades will make a comeback. However, they would have to put in something to attract back all the gamers that put their money into their consoles and games. Maybe we will see an arcade-online venture similar to the XBOX or PS2 Internet game playing. Or maybe for the same reasons arcades were there in the first place, to provide people with a better gaming experience than they could afford on their own.
Either way arcades may be doing very well in other countries, maybe that will last, maybe not. As far as the US market is concerned, most people want more for their dollar, not just during these times, but for the future as well. As for now, I think I will dig up my Genesis and enjoy the blissful sounds of collected coins.
It's a start in the right direction; however, the burden is still and at least for the foreseeable future, will lie on the end user. There is no perfect answer. Companies sending SPAM are making it hard for anyone to track them down and there are enough people clicking on the advertisements to make it worth their while.
Unfortunately, for those that can't stand SPAM the only solution is to keep an account for junk mail and change it once and while. The burden still lies on the end user but if there are enough people willing to respond to the ads they receive there will always be companies ready to answer those responses.
It still is. People expected the Internet to be free forever, yet there are still many sites that cost money. Free is generally regarded as inferior compared to a similar product that costs money. As long as there are enough things that cost money or enough companies that agree something should cost money there will always be a segment of the population that sees a perceived value and will shell out the bucks.
Just think you can download Linux for free, yet people still pay for the CD. Why? There is an additional value perceived or real that comes with the product. If enough people are willing to pay then companies may continue to charge for their product.
Many of the small devices that have any type of computing power run on Linux or proprietary software. Seeing as how open source software is already out there and developed to the point of using without as much modification, it is much cheaper that development from scratch. Since they do have such a high piracy rate they don't have to worry as much about licensing and other legal complications.
As far as the government computers all they have to worry about is the software that runs on top of the OS, in fact most of the applications they would need access to are already available in one form or another. They can also get around any trouble from Microsoft. Even though they are probably not loosing any sleep over it now.
Slashdot Mirror
every product comes with their own little gremlin to make very odd things happen for no apparent reason.
If you stare really closely you will actually see the DJ's gremlin staring back at you from the middle of the play/pause button. Just don't stare to hard or you will scare it away.My sediments exactly. Longhorn seems to be going in this direction for exactly the reasons stated. It is not enough that the applications need to manipulate the file systems. The file system itself needs to be rethought of because we are using it differently.
The average user is storing more data and needs faster and better access than they have in previous years. Its one matter to have a few megs of documents and an entirely different matter to have many gigs full of pictures and video.
Our search needs have changed also. We need to able to look for certain pictures by their content and not just by the sometimes cryptic names we call them. It's one thing to grep a bunch of text files to find the one you need. It's something else to do the same thing to a bunch of photos.
Microsoft has realized this and is working heavily on the next version of Windows hoping to solve this amoung other issues. However, Linux is poised to be right there competing with them by the time they are able to reinvent the way we have done things for so many years.
Typically they do not get as much press, or are developed for console gaming. However, if you are not looking at the places these games are advertised then you will never hear about them. If you never watch TV how would you know the different from one show to the other?
Look at all the gaming sites out there. There must be games that do not fall under the FPS category people enjoy. Otherwise nothing else would be developed, because no one would buy them.
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=01/10/25/208237 &
My hope is the FCC will stick with their deadline and everyone will be able to experience the true quality of an 1080i HDTV signal. The change from Black and White to Color may give a good comparison of a difference.
But with the possiblity of Dolby 5.1 coupled with the "looking through a window quality the discovery channel offers". Why not think of it as a change from the radio directly to color TV, even if the FCC has to force us to do it.
Wireless-g is a great technology and hopefully will be implemented faster than a/b was. Once they figure out how to standardize it. So for now my wireless network, once again, has to wait.
As you say there is no money in hardware. Yamaha has so many other products that offer much better margins, I am sure they are trying to get the most money out of their current businesses as possible. Or, as we just saw they cut them in order to be safe from the looming shareholders. Either way it is truly sad especially when it is a good product but it happens.
By the way, the quality started going down after the Laserjet 4, not III.
One thing we are not seeing as much is networked arcade machines. Sure, always in the arcade there are the racecar games with at times 3 or more linked together, or the shooter games where you are paired with a partner. But mostly it is you and the machine; there is not much interaction unless you bring your own group.
Most people would prefer a console for that type of entertainment. There is a one-time charge and you can play as much as you want. No lines, no wait and you can even sell back you games to get a bit of money for your next purchase. "Halo Fests" and other such events have become commonplace. There is more interaction between people, in general more comfortable and arguably better food.
Maybe arcades will make a comeback. However, they would have to put in something to attract back all the gamers that put their money into their consoles and games. Maybe we will see an arcade-online venture similar to the XBOX or PS2 Internet game playing. Or maybe for the same reasons arcades were there in the first place, to provide people with a better gaming experience than they could afford on their own.
Either way arcades may be doing very well in other countries, maybe that will last, maybe not. As far as the US market is concerned, most people want more for their dollar, not just during these times, but for the future as well. As for now, I think I will dig up my Genesis and enjoy the blissful sounds of collected coins.
There go my bragging rights...
Unfortunately, for those that can't stand SPAM the only solution is to keep an account for junk mail and change it once and while. The burden still lies on the end user but if there are enough people willing to respond to the ads they receive there will always be companies ready to answer those responses.
Just think you can download Linux for free, yet people still pay for the CD. Why? There is an additional value perceived or real that comes with the product. If enough people are willing to pay then companies may continue to charge for their product.
As far as the government computers all they have to worry about is the software that runs on top of the OS, in fact most of the applications they would need access to are already available in one form or another. They can also get around any trouble from Microsoft. Even though they are probably not loosing any sleep over it now.
Ahh the memories of playing Doom on my TI-86... Screen refresh every move and plenty of time to think of where to go next.
For those who care about noise in their PC: http://www.quietpc.com . It really is possible to make the PS2 sound loud by comparison.