Sony risks shipping hardware that is outdated at the day of launch. If it takes years for launch software to be written for a new platform then how can the hardware be bleeding edge?? The hardware spec gets finalized the day your developers start working. From that point onward you are obsolete.
What I think Sony or others should do, if they are moving in a parallel direction, is try to anticipate this gap between initial hardware finalization and the launch of the console, and have developers write to a more stripped down version of the hardware while you anticipate the final version having more cores or an additional CPU by the time you launch. That way the initial games might not take full advantage of the hardware but the second you start making consoles you'll know you are at as close to the bleeding edge as possible. When the 2nd wave of software gets finished it will be able to take advantage of the "last minute" extra hardware.
You either do that or you write the software to automatically elegantly upscale to theoretical extra parallelism.
What I find interesting about astrology is that the majority of astrological thought matured at a time when we thought the last planet was Saturn.
Today, astrology routinely incorporates Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto into the calculations almost as if they are equal in importance to the other planets. But if this is the case, then it would say that astrological readings before the discovery of these planets was a lot less accurate.
Remember when they used to wake up the Shuttle crew with corny music piped in through the radio? The Space Shuttle program has turned into a big stupid PUBLICITY TRICK.
The one thing the Shuttle could be used for that would have a great deal of value to humanity, namely, to service Hubble, isn't going to happen.
They've already settled on a retirement date for the Shuttle. They've had to admit the reality that the Shuttle needs to replaced. At the current rate of stalled launches I doubt they'd get even a dozen launches out of the Shuttle before the 2010 retirement date as it is. Money would be better spent propping up Russia's space program while we develop a new capsule-based replacement.
Amigas are very unstable. I hate so say it. Only running an Amiga with verified flawless code and a minimum of 3rd party hardware will gain you stability. The problem is by the mid 90s, a typical Amiga system had a huge amount of 3rd party stuff on it, like a ToasterFlyer system. That software suite was one of the largest for its time, and was a big tower of cards. Also, Amigas became like PCs in the sense that they started to rely on 3rd party hardare a lot. I had instability problems with ethernet and serial cards. Nothing ever seemed to work as advertised. Hardware drivers were unstable. For all I know the extra hardware tacked on was unstable too. And it's hard to track down the source of problems because the whole machine just locks up. The only way to do it is through process of elimination. if you have a loaded system, that could mean tearing it down and building it back up piece by piece.
I think the Amiga is great if you run a modest system and don't push it too far. A stock Amiga 1200 at 14mhz running on floppies is amazingly capable for what it is. The GUI is so responsive. Switching tasks is instantaneous and there is no lag like you get with the PC with its virtual memory. You just don't get that kind of snappiness on any other platform to this day.
But overall it was not as productive for me because of the random crashing. You really had to be a guru to figure out how to config your system to avoid the crashes.
It was the BLEEDING part of bleeding edge.
TV is a collaborative medium. When you tilt at windmills as an individual you usually don't get anywhere, even with a lot of fans behind you, since the insiders, the bean-counters, they decide what gets the green-light.
Richard Hatch has to put food on the table. He's done a lot of lowly things, like adult education acting workshops. He currently does these cruises which I assume are like conventions on water where the fans get to poke at you for days on end. Some years back I read an interview with him where the author said he lives in a guesthouse someplace. The guy doesn't have a lot of money.
The guy took BSG so seriously that he attempted to kind of become the spiritual father of it, above and beyond Glen Larson. He wrote BSG novels. He thought he knew better about how to take the franchise. But he didn't have the rights to the show. He couldn't claim to be the creator. So it was a loser's gamble.
You can call them bad, but MacGyver ran for a long time and was quite popular. Quantum Leap was also popular within its target demo, although I do think Bakula was miscast for Enterprise. The Quantum Leap character was always somewhat of a nerd and Bakula, despite having a decent physique, is the kind of "sensitive nerd" type.
-- Aside from that, I have a feeling this idea that the "cylons look like us" may be indirectly inspired by everything going on in our world since 9/11. There is now a common paranoia in this country that an enemy lies within that looks just like everyone else, but can attack at any time. In turn, BSG is playing on this new paranoia, which is made effective by hitting the ball a little too close to home. --
No, it's an idea that's been done to death. The closest near relative would be the War of the Worlds TV series, which did it for the same cost-cutting reason.
BTW, I'm not sure how "paranoid" it is. You can argue statistical probability all you want, but look at the London bombings. The bombers were UK nationals.
I'm sure the world would be a lot better if we just stopped worrying about this and did nothing, right?
I thought they shot a lot of new footage with the same model, though. I don't think it's all reused footage. A lot of it is motion control which didn't exist back then.
The breadbasket of the US would not be able to feed us if not for the oil flowing in to create fertilizer. It's really just a glorified desert because after harvesting no nitrogen is returned to the soil.
Nobody forced Sony to sell the PSP at a loss. There is no law that says if you buy a PSP you have to buy even a single game, only an expectation on their part that they will make the money back in software sales.
Everything is relative. Batman has a relatively conservative costume. Look at someone like The Flash. You either accept the style of superhero costumes or you don't. Turning all costumes into black latex/leather for the movies is a real copout.
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Sony risks shipping hardware that is outdated at the day of launch. If it takes years for launch software to be written for a new platform then how can the hardware be bleeding edge?? The hardware spec gets finalized the day your developers start working. From that point onward you are obsolete.
What I think Sony or others should do, if they are moving in a parallel direction, is try to anticipate this gap between initial hardware finalization and the launch of the console, and have developers write to a more stripped down version of the hardware while you anticipate the final version having more cores or an additional CPU by the time you launch. That way the initial games might not take full advantage of the hardware but the second you start making consoles you'll know you are at as close to the bleeding edge as possible. When the 2nd wave of software gets finished it will be able to take advantage of the "last minute" extra hardware.
You either do that or you write the software to automatically elegantly upscale to theoretical extra parallelism.
You must have done something wrong then. The audio qualit of Skype is a lot better than Yahoo in my experience.
What I find interesting about astrology is that the majority of astrological thought matured at a time when we thought the last planet was Saturn.
Today, astrology routinely incorporates Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto into the calculations almost as if they are equal in importance to the other planets. But if this is the case, then it would say that astrological readings before the discovery of these planets was a lot less accurate.
That's what Atari's Flashback 2 is for. http://gear.ign.com/articles/632/632883p1.html
Remember when they used to wake up the Shuttle crew with corny music piped in through the radio? The Space Shuttle program has turned into a big stupid PUBLICITY TRICK.
The one thing the Shuttle could be used for that would have a great deal of value to humanity, namely, to service Hubble, isn't going to happen.
They've already settled on a retirement date for the Shuttle. They've had to admit the reality that the Shuttle needs to replaced. At the current rate of stalled launches I doubt they'd get even a dozen launches out of the Shuttle before the 2010 retirement date as it is. Money would be better spent propping up Russia's space program while we develop a new capsule-based replacement.
Amigas are very unstable. I hate so say it. Only running an Amiga with verified flawless code and a minimum of 3rd party hardware will gain you stability. The problem is by the mid 90s, a typical Amiga system had a huge amount of 3rd party stuff on it, like a ToasterFlyer system. That software suite was one of the largest for its time, and was a big tower of cards. Also, Amigas became like PCs in the sense that they started to rely on 3rd party hardare a lot. I had instability problems with ethernet and serial cards. Nothing ever seemed to work as advertised. Hardware drivers were unstable. For all I know the extra hardware tacked on was unstable too. And it's hard to track down the source of problems because the whole machine just locks up. The only way to do it is through process of elimination. if you have a loaded system, that could mean tearing it down and building it back up piece by piece. I think the Amiga is great if you run a modest system and don't push it too far. A stock Amiga 1200 at 14mhz running on floppies is amazingly capable for what it is. The GUI is so responsive. Switching tasks is instantaneous and there is no lag like you get with the PC with its virtual memory. You just don't get that kind of snappiness on any other platform to this day. But overall it was not as productive for me because of the random crashing. You really had to be a guru to figure out how to config your system to avoid the crashes. It was the BLEEDING part of bleeding edge.
TV is a collaborative medium. When you tilt at windmills as an individual you usually don't get anywhere, even with a lot of fans behind you, since the insiders, the bean-counters, they decide what gets the green-light.
Richard Hatch has to put food on the table. He's done a lot of lowly things, like adult education acting workshops. He currently does these cruises which I assume are like conventions on water where the fans get to poke at you for days on end. Some years back I read an interview with him where the author said he lives in a guesthouse someplace. The guy doesn't have a lot of money.
The guy took BSG so seriously that he attempted to kind of become the spiritual father of it, above and beyond Glen Larson. He wrote BSG novels. He thought he knew better about how to take the franchise. But he didn't have the rights to the show. He couldn't claim to be the creator. So it was a loser's gamble.
You can call them bad, but MacGyver ran for a long time and was quite popular. Quantum Leap was also popular within its target demo, although I do think Bakula was miscast for Enterprise. The Quantum Leap character was always somewhat of a nerd and Bakula, despite having a decent physique, is the kind of "sensitive nerd" type.
--
Aside from that, I have a feeling this idea that the "cylons look like us" may be indirectly inspired by everything going on in our world since 9/11. There is now a common paranoia in this country that an enemy lies within that looks just like everyone else, but can attack at any time. In turn, BSG is playing on this new paranoia, which is made effective by hitting the ball a little too close to home.
--
No, it's an idea that's been done to death. The closest near relative would be the War of the Worlds TV series, which did it for the same cost-cutting reason.
BTW, I'm not sure how "paranoid" it is. You can argue statistical probability all you want, but look at the London bombings. The bombers were UK nationals.
I'm sure the world would be a lot better if we just stopped worrying about this and did nothing, right?
I thought they shot a lot of new footage with the same model, though. I don't think it's all reused footage. A lot of it is motion control which didn't exist back then.
The breadbasket of the US would not be able to feed us if not for the oil flowing in to create fertilizer. It's really just a glorified desert because after harvesting no nitrogen is returned to the soil.
Musharaff has been almost assassinated a few times for his "minimum compliance". I think he's come around.
Prequal and sequal instead of prequel and sequel.
Sometimes I seven see prequil.
That's the biggest!!!
Sterilization is the answer.
How much capacity do you _need_ in order to satisfy the Mac market, even an Intel Mac market???
So in the meantime, you have PPC Macs that are slower than x86s. Then they will transition to Intel PCs that are slower than AMD PCs. Wonderful.
Justice Thomas is a great thinker.
Does he also write about pubic hairs on soda cans or does he just talk about that in the office?
Thanks to Rush Limbaugh.
Nobody forced Sony to sell the PSP at a loss. There is no law that says if you buy a PSP you have to buy even a single game, only an expectation on their part that they will make the money back in software sales.
Everything is relative. Batman has a relatively conservative costume. Look at someone like The Flash. You either accept the style of superhero costumes or you don't. Turning all costumes into black latex/leather for the movies is a real copout.
But how much do US corporations know about the background of the individual outsourced programmers taking these jobs? Very little.
To me, Skype audio quality is a lot better than Yahoo.
It also works better through firewalls which I think is it's true claim to fame.
Yes there is. It's called a library.
Look at what Abraham Lincoln did.
Don't you think there is a reason Apple sends out a $179 OSX update every single year?
It's practically a subscription service, a tax, of the Apple userbase. Look how infrequently Microsoft releases paid OS updates.