OLPC has been tested and engineered to survive harsh situations, Classmate PC is just a small laptop without any moving parts, but nothing else.
But which in the long run is easier and cheaper to build and maintain?
Which is more likely to attract developers, run the most software? The mass-market laptop built with off-the-shelf parts or the customized OLPC?
"The Economist" had some tough words for OLPC and Negroponte last week:
First, the implementation...is terrible. In their zeal to rewrite the rules of computing for first-time users, OLPC shipped machines with a cumbersome operating system.... Major PC vendors spend millions in research and development to enhance a computer's usability; OLPC tried to reinvent the wheel and came up with an oval.
Second, the go-to-market execution...was imperfect. There was a lack of documentation, support and methods to integrate the PCs into school curricula, teacher training, and the like. OLPC seemed to think that just by handing out laptops, everything would sort itself out....[The] consumer is not the nine-year-old user with infinite time on her hands, but a government bureaucrat who has to evaluate the machines relative to other options.
Since the project launched in 2005, commercial rivals have emerged: Intel's "Classmate" at around $250; Acer's laptop at $350; Everex PCs with Zonbu software at around $280; Asustek Computer's Asus Eee at under $400; and an Indian competitor, Novatium Solutions, which created a basic "NetPC" for around $80. There are many more.
OLPC initially treated all these activities as threats rather than competitors.... But all computer buyers will have to compare the XP to a lot of other products in the market--something that never seemed to have struck OLPC's staffers as a possibility, but should have.
This leads to the final problem that has done the most to disappoint OLPC's fans: the hubris, arrogance and occasional self-righteousness of OLPC workers. They treated all criticism as enemy fire to be deflected and quashed rather than considered and possibly taken on board. Overcoming this will be essential if the project is to succeed past its first release.... The OLPC staff will need to learn to listen to the candid criticism of outsiders for the second-generation of the laptop--or they do not deserve to build one.
Ultimately the OLPC initiative will be remembered less for what it produced than the products it spawned. The initiative is like running the four-minute mile: no one could do it, until someone actually did it. Then many people did. One clunky laptop per child
XBox Live Arcade is a collection of cheap and nasty games like Frogger which probably took a single guy 2 hours to code including drawing the sprites.
Games like Frogger have extraordinary longevity and appeal. Talk to anyone who has sponsored a computer museum or video game expo. Its the "cheap and nasty" classics that draw the crowds.
The geek seeks mathematical perfection in politics and ignores the history and culture which shaped the existing system.
The human element, if you will.
There is no party discipline in the states - no party organization - no ideology, no ethnic, religious or class alignments - as anyone born under a parliamentary system would understand it.
The Republican who wins in New York isn't the Republican who wins in Iowa.
Labels like "Socialist," "Green" and "Libertarian" live and die with the charismatic politicians who try to give them meaning. The "Right to Life" candidate for city council discovers that his real job is to decide whether to replace the traffic light on Third and Main.
The american political party is always a coalition.
There is the illusion of continuity in the major parties because the american voter has always been centrist or center-right, by any reasonable definition.
The american political system is centrist by design.
The strong bicameral legislature is the norm in the states. Representation by population in the House. Representation by regions in the Senate.
The Executive is important. Constitutional restraints are important. The courts are important. Nothing much gets accomplished unless you can build a broad consensus for action.
The american voter, like the american sports fan, does not like split decisions, a complex ballot or instant replay. "Close only counts in horseshoes."
He may vote a stalemate between a Republican President and a Democratic Congress.
But he will turn on a politician or a party that contests the results.
OLPC's problems, which can be distilled into four main areas, risk turning a wonderful idea into a plastic paperweight.
In their zeal to rewrite the rules of computing for first-time users, OLPC shipped machines with a cumbersome operating system. For example, adding Flash to do something like watch a YouTube video requires users to go into a terminal line-code and type a long internet address to download the software: it seems impossible to cut-and-paste the address.... OLPC tried to reinvent the wheel and came up with an oval.
Second, the go-to-market execution...was imperfect. There was a lack of documentation, support and methods to integrate the PCs into school curricula, teacher training, and the like. OLPC seemed to think that just by handing out laptops, everything would sort itself out...The consumer is not the nine-year-old user with infinite time on her hands, but a government bureaucrat who has to evaluate the machines relative to other options.
That leads to the third problem. Since the project launched in 2005, commercial rivals have emerged: Intel's "Classmate" at around $250; Acer's laptop at $350...There are many more...All computer buyers will have to compare the XP to a lot of other products in the market--something that never seemed to have struck OLPC's staffers as a possibility, but should have.
This leads to the final problem that has done the most to disappoint OLPC's fans: the hubris, arrogance and occasional self-righteousness of OLPC workers. They treated all criticism as enemy fire to be deflected and quashed rather than considered and possibly taken on board. Overcoming this will be essential if the project is to succeed past its first release. Technology products improve based on user feedback. The OLPC staff will need to learn to listen to the candid criticism of outsiders for the second-generation of the laptop--or they do not deserve to build one.
Ultimately the OLPC initiative will be remembered less for what it produced than the products it spawned. The initiative is like running the four-minute mile: no one could do it, until someone actually did it. Then many people did.... Mr Negroponte's vision for a $100 laptop was not the right computer, only the right price. Like many pioneers, he laid a path for others to follow.
It's much easier to measure OS X adoption since most of it is just purchases of Mac computers. It's impossible to do the same with Linux. Who knows how many Linux users there are out there.
I think you can say with reasonable confidence that almost no one but the enthusiast builds and customizes his own system and that as a percentage of the whole he is insignificant.
The corporate desktop is configured and managed by your employer.
The typical home and SOHO user simply doesn't want to be drawn in so deep.
He may order the upgrade video card from a limited set of options, but he will let Dell worry about device drivers, re-sizing the power supply, cooling systems, etc., etc.
I'd bet anything that if we saw more linux pcs at stores like best buy and walmart, the cheaper linux PC would CLOBBER in sales, because people really do care about cost.
Then you would be wrong - and MS Office stands as proof:
Through end of November, U.S. retail PC software sales are up 10.3 percent year over year as measured in dollar volume, according to NPD. By comparison, Office sales are up 50.7 percent, by the same measure and in the same time frame.
"Here's the really interesting statistic," said...NPD's director of Software Industry Analysis. "Over two-thirds of the dollar volume growth in the U.S. retail PC software market in 2007 can be attributed to Microsoft Office. In other words, the ratio of Office dollar growth to total PC software growth is 67 percent.
The "magnitude of Office sales relative to the rest of the PC software market" is phenomenal, Swenson said. "It's the massively huge tail wagging the dog. If the senior execs at Best Buy, Office Depot, etc. don't buy Jeff Raikes [president of Microsoft's Business division] a beer the next time he's in town, something is seriously wrong."
The Dell Inspiron Desktop with 19 inch LCD monitor, Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core CPU, 2 GB RAM, 320 GB HDD, DVD burner and Vista Premium is $648.
It is safe to assume you will walk out of the store with support for both dial-up and broadband.
Which matters if you live in the outland suburbs or rural areas as many Walmart customers do.
2 GB ReadyBoost Flash on a key chain is $30.
The HP multifunction printer-scanner with drivers for Vista and the Mac starts at $50.
The el cheapo Linux PC is unlikely to sell with either a matching printer or monitor - leaving the newcomer quite literally in the dark about what to do next.
The simpler solution would be take the power and money out of the Federal government and put it back in the hands of the states. Hell, maybe even reinstate the senators being chosen by state governments again.
This is dumber than dumb.
The 19th Century had its Senators for Silver, Senators for Sugar, for Iron and Steel and Coal and Wheat. The cartels would be represented in Congress by senior executives and sometimes by the empire builders themselves.
The state legislatures were wholly owned subsidiaries.
Actually, why would anyone want a set that small even without closed captioning? Do they even sell sets that small?
You want one for portable or emergency use. Something for your boat, car, RV. The big game or the big storm. The color LCD TV can be found in sizes as small as two inches.
The type of game hasn't been decided yet. So where did you get the idea that it will be an FPS?
The short answer, I suspect, is that the FPS is the shortest path to completion and rather all too commonly the model for the tech demo disguised as a game.
"Furries in the forest" is high-concept. "The rat in the kitchen" is high-concept. "Robots" is high-concept.
I don't see this becoming a "game" so much as it'll be a technology demo.
This is why everyone quotes from The Incredibles and Rararouille and no one remembers Robots five minutes after they've left the theater. You need a director with a strong creative vision, a story worth telling, someone who knows exactly where he wants to go and how to use the tech to get there.
In animation, a studio like Pixar will spend years in developing a story. Only then will it begin assembling a production crew.
Not everyone is Pixar and can I get sources for that?
Simply unlock the commentary tracks, extras and trailers on any Disney/Pixar DVD.
You have to solve the essential problems of the story before you go into production because mistakes are too expensive to fix.
"But the real start will be the first week of February. Only then real decisions will be made on game concept, game design and other targets, although we do know it'll be derived from Project Peach, furry & crazy characters in a forest."
Let me see if I understand this correctly:
You assemble a full creative team for a game and only then decide what you want to do with it?
In animation, a studio like Pixar will spend years in developing a story. Only then will it begin assembling a production crew.
If anything the proliferation of devices is making the desktop more important - not less.
I saw this process at work Christmas morning at my sister's place. The youngest with her iPod Nano. The older with her digital camera. But the family's new Vista PC was where everything came together.
they're either gaping sinkholes of cash or so marginally profitable that they're unsustainable for anyone not sitting on $50 billion in cash.
Microsoft had a stand-out first quarter.
Each of the company's five business divisions showed double-digit revenue growth.
That was particularly important in the Client Div., the group where Microsoft counts Windows sales. There, revenue jumped 25%, to $4.1 billion, an astonishing gain for a mature marketMicrosoft Results Turn Heads
Retail sales of Office 2007 have been breathtaking, numbers so big that they are difficult to grasp:
Through end of November, U.S. retail PC software sales are up 10.3 percent year over year as measured in dollar volume...By comparison, Office sales are up 50.7 percent, by the same measure and in the same time frame.
"Here's the really interesting statistic," said...NPD's director of Software Industry Analysis. "Over two-thirds of the dollar volume growth in the U.S. retail PC software market in 2007 can be attributed to Microsoft Office. In other words, the ratio of Office dollar growth to total PC software growth is 67 percent."
The "magnitude of Office sales relative to the rest of the PC software market" is phenomenal, "It's the massively huge tail wagging the dog. If the senior execs at Best Buy, Office Depot, etc. don't buy Jeff Raikes [president of Microsoft's Business division] a beer the next time he's in town, something is seriously wrong."The Year of Office 2007
Microsoft hasn't forgotten the Mac. From the same story:
For Black Friday, Microsoft offered a surprising deal: for about 56 bucks, after rebates, Office 2004 Student and Teacher Edition and the forthcoming Office 2008 Special Media Edition. The new, top-of-the-line Mac Office version would otherwise sell for about $500.
As measured in dollars, U.S. retail Black Friday sales of Mac Office were up 215.8 percent.
Urban transportation in America, a pathetic pipe dream in most places - but it could have been realized many, many years ago.
People began abandoning the streetcar, the interurban railroad, almost from the day Henry Ford introduced the Model T. Most of these services were in financial trouble long before the Great Depression of the 1930's. Few survived long past the wartime rationing of the 1940's.
Too often the tyranny of copyright law means simply that the Geek can't safely download a screener of a movie that won't see theatrical release for six weeks.
the problem with our current laws is that they equate possesion/dissemination with creation.
Try again.
The laws defines the consumer of child pornography as being the beneficiary of a crime against a child. The rape of a child. You have purchased the evidence of a sex crime that in many cultures would warrant the death penalty.
You are not an innocent.
The biggest problem with the label 'sex offender' is that it is so broad, encompasing everything from raping and murdering an adult, to molesting (a) child(ren), to public urination.
The last time I looked at our county's sex offender registry, public urination had not put anyone on the list. They were on the list because they were repeat offenders with a profoundly disturbing history of violence.
Even though he didn't mention the 1% linux OS is much larger than 1%, anybody who decided to actualy check the link. Nov 2007 Linux OS... 3.3% I don't think Bill would have provided a link to that page for us.
Think again.
In eleven months the w3Schools stats shows Vista gaining twice the market share of Linux while Linux has seen a bare 1% growth in the past five years. At its current pace, Vista is gaining users at about 1% a month.
In the present market, the Vista PC is a wide screen general-purpose laptop, with a dual core CPU and 2 GB RAM, a DVD burner and the Vista Premium OS. $8
It's clear that computer enthusiasts are not going for M$'s current offerings, show them what people really like.
The thought struck me that this might actually matter if Microsoft were targeting the enthusiast market.
But Microsoft seems perfectly content serving the 90% of users who have made the Windows PC a household appliance as commonplace as the TV, the refrigerator and the DVD player.
Slashdot Mirror
But which in the long run is easier and cheaper to build and maintain?
Which is more likely to attract developers, run the most software? The mass-market laptop built with off-the-shelf parts or the customized OLPC?
"The Economist" had some tough words for OLPC and Negroponte last week:
First, the implementation...is terrible. In their zeal to rewrite the rules of computing for first-time users, OLPC shipped machines with a cumbersome operating system. ... Major PC vendors spend millions in research and development to enhance a computer's usability; OLPC tried to reinvent the wheel and came up with an oval.
Second, the go-to-market execution...was imperfect. There was a lack of documentation, support and methods to integrate the PCs into school curricula, teacher training, and the like. OLPC seemed to think that just by handing out laptops, everything would sort itself out. ...[The] consumer is not the nine-year-old user with infinite time on her hands, but a government bureaucrat who has to evaluate the machines relative to other options.
Since the project launched in 2005, commercial rivals have emerged: Intel's "Classmate" at around $250; Acer's laptop at $350; Everex PCs with Zonbu software at around $280; Asustek Computer's Asus Eee at under $400; and an Indian competitor, Novatium Solutions, which created a basic "NetPC" for around $80. There are many more.
OLPC initially treated all these activities as threats rather than competitors. ... But all computer buyers will have to compare the XP to a lot of other products in the market--something that never seemed to have struck OLPC's staffers as a possibility, but should have.
This leads to the final problem that has done the most to disappoint OLPC's fans: the hubris, arrogance and occasional self-righteousness of OLPC workers. They treated all criticism as enemy fire to be deflected and quashed rather than considered and possibly taken on board. Overcoming this will be essential if the project is to succeed past its first release. ... The OLPC staff will need to learn to listen to the candid criticism of outsiders for the second-generation of the laptop--or they do not deserve to build one.
Ultimately the OLPC initiative will be remembered less for what it produced than the products it spawned. The initiative is like running the four-minute mile: no one could do it, until someone actually did it. Then many people did. One clunky laptop per child
Games like Frogger have extraordinary longevity and appeal. Talk to anyone who has sponsored a computer museum or video game expo. Its the "cheap and nasty" classics that draw the crowds.
The human element, if you will.
There is no party discipline in the states - no party organization - no ideology, no ethnic, religious or class alignments - as anyone born under a parliamentary system would understand it.
The Republican who wins in New York isn't the Republican who wins in Iowa.
Labels like "Socialist," "Green" and "Libertarian" live and die with the charismatic politicians who try to give them meaning. The "Right to Life" candidate for city council discovers that his real job is to decide whether to replace the traffic light on Third and Main.
The american political party is always a coalition.
There is the illusion of continuity in the major parties because the american voter has always been centrist or center-right, by any reasonable definition.
The american political system is centrist by design.
The strong bicameral legislature is the norm in the states. Representation by population in the House. Representation by regions in the Senate.
The Executive is important. Constitutional restraints are important. The courts are important. Nothing much gets accomplished unless you can build a broad consensus for action.
The american voter, like the american sports fan, does not like split decisions, a complex ballot or instant replay. "Close only counts in horseshoes."
He may vote a stalemate between a Republican President and a Democratic Congress.
But he will turn on a politician or a party that contests the results.
OLPC's problems, which can be distilled into four main areas, risk turning a wonderful idea into a plastic paperweight.
In their zeal to rewrite the rules of computing for first-time users, OLPC shipped machines with a cumbersome operating system. For example, adding Flash to do something like watch a YouTube video requires users to go into a terminal line-code and type a long internet address to download the software: it seems impossible to cut-and-paste the address. ... OLPC tried to reinvent the wheel and came up with an oval.
Second, the go-to-market execution...was imperfect. There was a lack of documentation, support and methods to integrate the PCs into school curricula, teacher training, and the like. OLPC seemed to think that just by handing out laptops, everything would sort itself out...The consumer is not the nine-year-old user with infinite time on her hands, but a government bureaucrat who has to evaluate the machines relative to other options.
That leads to the third problem. Since the project launched in 2005, commercial rivals have emerged: Intel's "Classmate" at around $250; Acer's laptop at $350...There are many more...All computer buyers will have to compare the XP to a lot of other products in the market--something that never seemed to have struck OLPC's staffers as a possibility, but should have.
This leads to the final problem that has done the most to disappoint OLPC's fans: the hubris, arrogance and occasional self-righteousness of OLPC workers. They treated all criticism as enemy fire to be deflected and quashed rather than considered and possibly taken on board. Overcoming this will be essential if the project is to succeed past its first release. Technology products improve based on user feedback. The OLPC staff will need to learn to listen to the candid criticism of outsiders for the second-generation of the laptop--or they do not deserve to build one.
Ultimately the OLPC initiative will be remembered less for what it produced than the products it spawned. The initiative is like running the four-minute mile: no one could do it, until someone actually did it. Then many people did. ... Mr Negroponte's vision for a $100 laptop was not the right computer, only the right price. Like many pioneers, he laid a path for others to follow.
One clunky laptop per child.
I think you can say with reasonable confidence that almost no one but the enthusiast builds and customizes his own system and that as a percentage of the whole he is insignificant.
The corporate desktop is configured and managed by your employer.
The typical home and SOHO user simply doesn't want to be drawn in so deep.
He may order the upgrade video card from a limited set of options, but he will let Dell worry about device drivers, re-sizing the power supply, cooling systems, etc., etc.
"Twice nothing is still nothing."
Then you would be wrong - and MS Office stands as proof:
Through end of November, U.S. retail PC software sales are up 10.3 percent year over year as measured in dollar volume, according to NPD. By comparison, Office sales are up 50.7 percent, by the same measure and in the same time frame.
"Here's the really interesting statistic," said...NPD's director of Software Industry Analysis. "Over two-thirds of the dollar volume growth in the U.S. retail PC software market in 2007 can be attributed to Microsoft Office. In other words, the ratio of Office dollar growth to total PC software growth is 67 percent.
The "magnitude of Office sales relative to the rest of the PC software market" is phenomenal, Swenson said. "It's the massively huge tail wagging the dog. If the senior execs at Best Buy, Office Depot, etc. don't buy Jeff Raikes [president of Microsoft's Business division] a beer the next time he's in town, something is seriously wrong."
Office U.S. Black Friday Sales
Unit Growth - All 65.8%
Mac Only - 215.8%
Dollar Growth - All 63.5%
Mac Only - 235.3% The Year of Office 2007
The Dell Inspiron Desktop with 19 inch LCD monitor, Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core CPU, 2 GB RAM, 320 GB HDD, DVD burner and Vista Premium is $648.
It is safe to assume you will walk out of the store with support for both dial-up and broadband. Which matters if you live in the outland suburbs or rural areas as many Walmart customers do.
2 GB ReadyBoost Flash on a key chain is $30.
The HP multifunction printer-scanner with drivers for Vista and the Mac starts at $50.
The el cheapo Linux PC is unlikely to sell with either a matching printer or monitor - leaving the newcomer quite literally in the dark about what to do next.
Hell, maybe even reinstate the senators being chosen by state governments again.
This is dumber than dumb.
The 19th Century had its Senators for Silver, Senators for Sugar, for Iron and Steel and Coal and Wheat. The cartels would be represented in Congress by senior executives and sometimes by the empire builders themselves.
The state legislatures were wholly owned subsidiaries.
Playing games that bring a little more excitement to the genre than Tuxracer.
I'll take a wild guess and say that they define a shared folder as the shared files folder used by your P2P client.
You want one for portable or emergency use. Something for your boat, car, RV. The big game or the big storm. The color LCD TV can be found in sizes as small as two inches.
The short answer, I suspect, is that the FPS is the shortest path to completion and rather all too commonly the model for the tech demo disguised as a game.
"Furries in the forest" is high-concept. "The rat in the kitchen" is high-concept. "Robots" is high-concept.
"Ratatouille" is a movie.
This works only if there is no way to suppress the adds.
The key word here is "install."
That word - particularly when spoken on Slashdot - usually translates to "technical specialist or hobbyist." The Geek or would-be Geek.
or, to be less charitable, "my sister, my brother, my mom and dad."
This is why everyone quotes from The Incredibles and Rararouille and no one remembers Robots five minutes after they've left the theater. You need a director with a strong creative vision, a story worth telling, someone who knows exactly where he wants to go and how to use the tech to get there.
Not everyone is Pixar and can I get sources for that?
Simply unlock the commentary tracks, extras and trailers on any Disney/Pixar DVD.
You have to solve the essential problems of the story before you go into production because mistakes are too expensive to fix.
Let me see if I understand this correctly:
You assemble a full creative team for a game and only then decide what you want to do with it?
In animation, a studio like Pixar will spend years in developing a story. Only then will it begin assembling a production crew.
I saw this process at work Christmas morning at my sister's place. The youngest with her iPod Nano. The older with her digital camera. But the family's new Vista PC was where everything came together.
Microsoft had a stand-out first quarter.
Each of the company's five business divisions showed double-digit revenue growth.
That was particularly important in the Client Div., the group where Microsoft counts Windows sales. There, revenue jumped 25%, to $4.1 billion, an astonishing gain for a mature market Microsoft Results Turn Heads
Retail sales of Office 2007 have been breathtaking, numbers so big that they are difficult to grasp:
Through end of November, U.S. retail PC software sales are up 10.3 percent year over year as measured in dollar volume...By comparison, Office sales are up 50.7 percent, by the same measure and in the same time frame.
"Here's the really interesting statistic," said...NPD's director of Software Industry Analysis. "Over two-thirds of the dollar volume growth in the U.S. retail PC software market in 2007 can be attributed to Microsoft Office. In other words, the ratio of Office dollar growth to total PC software growth is 67 percent."
The "magnitude of Office sales relative to the rest of the PC software market" is phenomenal, "It's the massively huge tail wagging the dog. If the senior execs at Best Buy, Office Depot, etc. don't buy Jeff Raikes [president of Microsoft's Business division] a beer the next time he's in town, something is seriously wrong." The Year of Office 2007
Microsoft hasn't forgotten the Mac. From the same story:
For Black Friday, Microsoft offered a surprising deal: for about 56 bucks, after rebates, Office 2004 Student and Teacher Edition and the forthcoming Office 2008 Special Media Edition. The new, top-of-the-line Mac Office version would otherwise sell for about $500.
As measured in dollars, U.S. retail Black Friday sales of Mac Office were up 215.8 percent.
People began abandoning the streetcar, the interurban railroad, almost from the day Henry Ford introduced the Model T. Most of these services were in financial trouble long before the Great Depression of the 1930's. Few survived long past the wartime rationing of the 1940's.
Too often the tyranny of copyright law means simply that the Geek can't safely download a screener of a movie that won't see theatrical release for six weeks.
Try again.
The laws defines the consumer of child pornography as being the beneficiary of a crime against a child. The rape of a child. You have purchased the evidence of a sex crime that in many cultures would warrant the death penalty.
You are not an innocent.
The biggest problem with the label 'sex offender' is that it is so broad, encompasing everything from raping and murdering an adult, to molesting (a) child(ren), to public urination.
The last time I looked at our county's sex offender registry, public urination had not put anyone on the list. They were on the list because they were repeat offenders with a profoundly disturbing history of violence.
Mental disturbance. Drug and alcohol abuse.
Think again.
In eleven months the w3Schools stats shows Vista gaining twice the market share of Linux while Linux has seen a bare 1% growth in the past five years. At its current pace, Vista is gaining users at about 1% a month.
In the present market, the Vista PC is a wide screen general-purpose laptop, with a dual core CPU and 2 GB RAM, a DVD burner and the Vista Premium OS. $8
The thought struck me that this might actually matter if Microsoft were targeting the enthusiast market.
But Microsoft seems perfectly content serving the 90% of users who have made the Windows PC a household appliance as commonplace as the TV, the refrigerator and the DVD player.
How clever you are to have come up with so witty and original a response.