I'm sorry, but coming from someone who has used both Linux and Windows extensively for both work and play, I believe that Linux can not, and will not beat Linux. That's it.
I'm just talking percentages here. I personally believe that Linux servers kick ass, seriously. I've had, and hated, Windows-based web servers; however, the server market is a small (though incredibly important) slice of the computer-using pie. The real meat lies in desktop solutions, and as much as it may pain you to hear this: aesthetics, simplicity, and abundance win. When average joe goes to a computer, he expects it to be Windows, if anything else, he may see a Mac, but there have only been a very small handful of occurances in my life where I sit down at a random computer in a lab somewhere and have a Linux-based system sitting right in front of me.
Windows is just better at doing the things most people need to do. I'd say, and I'm just pulling this number out of my ass, that at least 80% of people will never have a need to use any of the advanced options their system has to offer, nor even the simple customization options such as changing window themes or something. Linux systems, typically, thrive on customization and users tweaking various options - it's the only way that the "hardcore Linux users" that I know are able to tweak their system to a usable state (by their standards). As of right now, I have yet to see any mainstream computer users ever even MENTION the name "Linux." Ever.
The only real competition I see for Windows, as far as its mainstream audience goes (and, as sad as it is, the mainstream is generally the top priority for most companies) are Macs. People love pretty things, and Apple does a fantastic job of making things ridiculously pretty, whether it be their OS, their systems, or even their various peripherals. Hell, even if Windows users love Windows, they can generally still go to a Mac and easily work their way around (especially since most of the Macs I've used in recent years have an abundance of Microsoft software installed).
The other main thing that I think is killing Linux's "popularity" is the fact that there are so many goddamn distros. People like simplicity, one brand name, that's it. Most of the people I know get confused over what edition of Windows to boy (2000, XP, etc.), but at least the brand name is consistent (Windows, Windows, Windows; or even Apple, Apple, Apple for that "other" crowd). With Linux there are so many distros that occasionally it just overwhelmes someone who's interested in trying it out with no prior knowledge; even if all of the distributions have the same goal, their names may be different enough to confuse most people.
Rant over and I'm sure it's scatter-brained as all hell, while still reaching no ultimate conclusion, or even if it did, there was nothing really to back any of my statements up, other than personal opinions.
I've always been curious to know just how Derek Smart avoids all the big sites that mention just how much of a joke he is to the gaming industry.
I mean, really, if he looked outside forums once and while, he'll see that not only do gamers hate him, but the professionals in the industry use him as fodder for just about every big-ego-no-talent joke made.
I'm a writer for FileFront.com, and let me tell you, this year's E3 was great. There are a ton of great games coming out in the next year, and although you hear day-after-day about all the new MMORPGs coming out, make sure you keep an eye out on the great FPSs (Half-Life 2 and Doom 3), 3rd-person action/adventure (Fable and S.T.A.L.K.E.R.) and RTSs (Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War) coming out this year as well.
Check out all of the coverage that my coworkers and I put together at our E3 2004 Coverage Page. Lot's of great stuff there.
It seems as if the industry is in a movement to get rid of all the old-school gameplay that so many of us love. EA is definately working in the direction of replace substance with aesthetics. *sigh*
I Only Have One Question...
on
The Return of S3
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· Score: 0, Troll
Well, last time I checked, there was only one show on TV worth watching: 24. I make it a point to watch every episode of 24 that is played on Fox. Maybe if TV shows were a bit better, I'd make it a point to watch more shows.
Not that the million various reality shows out there aren't interesting. But they're not. I didn't care about the first generation ones, much less the fifteenth.
Please, do keep in mind that this IS America. You know, that place that has safety labels on laundry detergent that say "Not for oral consumption."
Of course, then again, we all know that thousands of people still die every year from a nice warm class of bleach. Don't quite see how Internet Explorer can cause people to die. Well, on second thought...
I totally agree with John in some of what he says. Games these days are too complex at times. The average MMORPG takes a few weeks, at the least, to really get the hang of. Some RPGs are even rather complex in terms of play mechanics, character advancement, UI manipulation, etc. However, while games may have a steep learning curve, they REALLY are lacking in the depth and difficulty of the games of yester-year.
I remember playing a game called Star Tropics back on my NES when I was 5-6. That game made me absolutely stretch the limits of my fresh-out-of-the-oven mind. Some of the puzzles in the game were so difficult that, at times, the game became a family affair, with both of my parents trying to help me figure out the puzzles necessary to advance in the game. Speed ahead a couple years to Land Stalker on the Genesis. A game in a very similar vein to the previously mentioned Star Tropics. Only 3 buttons were required to play, the menus were, at most, 1 level deep, and the gameplay was fueled by a sword, a jump button, and a special item. There were some puzzles in that game that, literally, took me WEEKS to figure out.
These games weren't difficult in the "cheap" sense that a lot of today's games are. Land Stalker and Star Tropics both presented the answer to a puzzle, but it really took some brainpower. Recent RPGs (final fantasy, Baldur's Gate, NWN, etc.) just don't give that complexity. THey give you hard enemies that take a high level to beat. Whoop-dee-fucking-doo. I don't want to spend hours leveling up in mind-numbingly simple battles! I WANT TO USE MY BRAIN!
Every now and then (maybe twice a year, if we're lucky), a game is released that really dwells in the roots of gaming. My recent favorite games that are hard in the sense that they require brainpower are Big Huge Games' Rise of Nations (which is complex in that it has a HELL of a lot of stuff to do) and the recently released Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (Bioware), both of which greatly surprised me with their depth and challenge. KOTOR really surprised me, in that it was an RPG... And it was based on the D&D ruleset... But the game was totally open-ended (left things up to the player), had some tough little puzzles, was action-packed while still staying true to RPG roots, didn't take weeks to get over the learning curve (it didn't even take a day, just a mere hour or two until you really knew what was going on) and didn't try to take up 100+ hours of the player's life.
Games designers really need to quit trying to make "sure bets", and try to innovate genres (like KOTOR and Rise of Nations)! I've had my fill of games like Unreal 2k3, Tomb Raider, Final Fantasy, and other cookie-cutter games. Let's see some INNOVATION AND CHALLENGE! Challenge and depth can, very easily in fact, be presented in a simple and easy-to-pick up manner. If an 8-bit NES game, that had a two-button controller, can make a game that stretches the minds of its players, then why can't a PC or an XBox game?!
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And, if you order now, we'll also include a free 5-warez trial of UniversalKeygen v1.0!
This offer is not available in stores! However, the first 50 callers will receive a free plastic keyboard cover, mouse cover and even a monitor cover! NO MORE CLEANING UP THAT MESS AFTER VIEWING THAT FAKE BRITNEY SPEARS HARDCORE ACTION FLICK!
I'm sure you had a *very* busy high-school schedule that kept you busy from actually learning something. And, as for me, I was rather active in high-school, in sports and such, and I was still able to "read up on computer languages".
Of course, I guess asking people to actually have the initiative to pick up stuff on their own is old-fashioned too. Why actually work to learn something, when we can have others do the work for us?
By the way, I was rather active in high school, sports, dances, clubs, etc., and I always had excess amounts of time to do other things (such as read up on computer languages). Contrary to popular belief, a high-schooler's schedule really isn't that packed with important things.
Think I'm too old to know all this? Well, I graduated from high school 2 weeks ago.
I'm still of the mindset that the best way for high school kids to learn things is on their own. No matter what, throughout high school, the most I learned was all on my own time. I didn't have ANY courses in my school about anything related to computers (except a "typing" class), so, in an effort to actually try and challenge myself, I ordered a few books off of Amazon.com, and taught myself C++. And, I think that if I had access to a class that simply taught C++ with proprietary textbooks and software, I wouldn't have appreciated the experience nearly as much.
Well, you gotta give the guy some credit. I went through Nullsoft's site the other day, and there are just a whole lot of cool little programs that Nullsoft put out. Among them all, Winamp and the Nullsoft installer system are probably my favorite.
I give it up to Justin for being a good guy, and giving a lot of cool little utilities to the programming community.
So, the new generation of gaming involves blowing on a screen while listening to grammy-award winning music?... Right. If you'll excuse me, I hear my Super Nintendo calling my name.
Of course both companies are guilty of optimizing their drivers to get better performance on the benchmark. The fact that ATI is also doing it (though, not to the extreme that nVidia did) should come as no surprise to anyone.
This is business, and nVidia and ATI are different companies, both are doing everything in their power to one-up the other, so I'm sure if anyone looked close enough at various benchmarks, some instances of "foul-play" would be present.
Personally, I don't think the optimizations made by either company is anything to be "ashamed" of, it's not like they're producing fake results, they're simply pushing their own cards to their extent for the benchmark, and that's nothing "unfair."
I don't understand why nVidia feels the need to cheat, I mean, c'mon, they have that nice GF FX Dawn demo with the special "backdoor" that's been so widely used.
Slashdot Mirror
Yep, I kick ass.
Typos own me.
I'm sorry, but coming from someone who has used both Linux and Windows extensively for both work and play, I believe that Linux can not, and will not beat Linux. That's it.
I'm just talking percentages here. I personally believe that Linux servers kick ass, seriously. I've had, and hated, Windows-based web servers; however, the server market is a small (though incredibly important) slice of the computer-using pie. The real meat lies in desktop solutions, and as much as it may pain you to hear this: aesthetics, simplicity, and abundance win. When average joe goes to a computer, he expects it to be Windows, if anything else, he may see a Mac, but there have only been a very small handful of occurances in my life where I sit down at a random computer in a lab somewhere and have a Linux-based system sitting right in front of me.
Windows is just better at doing the things most people need to do. I'd say, and I'm just pulling this number out of my ass, that at least 80% of people will never have a need to use any of the advanced options their system has to offer, nor even the simple customization options such as changing window themes or something. Linux systems, typically, thrive on customization and users tweaking various options - it's the only way that the "hardcore Linux users" that I know are able to tweak their system to a usable state (by their standards). As of right now, I have yet to see any mainstream computer users ever even MENTION the name "Linux." Ever.
The only real competition I see for Windows, as far as its mainstream audience goes (and, as sad as it is, the mainstream is generally the top priority for most companies) are Macs. People love pretty things, and Apple does a fantastic job of making things ridiculously pretty, whether it be their OS, their systems, or even their various peripherals. Hell, even if Windows users love Windows, they can generally still go to a Mac and easily work their way around (especially since most of the Macs I've used in recent years have an abundance of Microsoft software installed).
The other main thing that I think is killing Linux's "popularity" is the fact that there are so many goddamn distros. People like simplicity, one brand name, that's it. Most of the people I know get confused over what edition of Windows to boy (2000, XP, etc.), but at least the brand name is consistent (Windows, Windows, Windows; or even Apple, Apple, Apple for that "other" crowd). With Linux there are so many distros that occasionally it just overwhelmes someone who's interested in trying it out with no prior knowledge; even if all of the distributions have the same goal, their names may be different enough to confuse most people.
Rant over and I'm sure it's scatter-brained as all hell, while still reaching no ultimate conclusion, or even if it did, there was nothing really to back any of my statements up, other than personal opinions.
I love you John Carmack.
I've always been curious to know just how Derek Smart avoids all the big sites that mention just how much of a joke he is to the gaming industry.
I mean, really, if he looked outside forums once and while, he'll see that not only do gamers hate him, but the professionals in the industry use him as fodder for just about every big-ego-no-talent joke made.
Man, I'm having such a dumb day. Heliocentric. You'd think I'd know that. I work in my uni's heliospheric space research division.
Need more caffeine or something (at 8:45pm).
Hey, the church wanted to oust Galileo for his views on the soliocentric universe. Being smart sucks.
Um, I like it? A lot?
This is a UT2k3/2k4 mod I believe; and 2k3 doesn't have voice comm.
This guy did an absolutely amazing job on this case mod job. Kudos!
You can get a third-person view; at least the videos and demo I saw allowed it.
I'm a writer for FileFront.com, and let me tell you, this year's E3 was great. There are a ton of great games coming out in the next year, and although you hear day-after-day about all the new MMORPGs coming out, make sure you keep an eye out on the great FPSs (Half-Life 2 and Doom 3), 3rd-person action/adventure (Fable and S.T.A.L.K.E.R.) and RTSs (Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War) coming out this year as well.
Check out all of the coverage that my coworkers and I put together at our E3 2004 Coverage Page. Lot's of great stuff there.
Fuck that, two new episodes of 24 and a new episode of Smallville.
No way in hell my TV is getting turned off for those.
It seems as if the industry is in a movement to get rid of all the old-school gameplay that so many of us love. EA is definately working in the direction of replace substance with aesthetics. *sigh*
WHY?!
Well, last time I checked, there was only one show on TV worth watching: 24. I make it a point to watch every episode of 24 that is played on Fox. Maybe if TV shows were a bit better, I'd make it a point to watch more shows.
Not that the million various reality shows out there aren't interesting. But they're not. I didn't care about the first generation ones, much less the fifteenth.
Please, do keep in mind that this IS America. You know, that place that has safety labels on laundry detergent that say "Not for oral consumption."
Of course, then again, we all know that thousands of people still die every year from a nice warm class of bleach. Don't quite see how Internet Explorer can cause people to die. Well, on second thought...
I totally agree with John in some of what he says. Games these days are too complex at times. The average MMORPG takes a few weeks, at the least, to really get the hang of. Some RPGs are even rather complex in terms of play mechanics, character advancement, UI manipulation, etc. However, while games may have a steep learning curve, they REALLY are lacking in the depth and difficulty of the games of yester-year.
I remember playing a game called Star Tropics back on my NES when I was 5-6. That game made me absolutely stretch the limits of my fresh-out-of-the-oven mind. Some of the puzzles in the game were so difficult that, at times, the game became a family affair, with both of my parents trying to help me figure out the puzzles necessary to advance in the game. Speed ahead a couple years to Land Stalker on the Genesis. A game in a very similar vein to the previously mentioned Star Tropics. Only 3 buttons were required to play, the menus were, at most, 1 level deep, and the gameplay was fueled by a sword, a jump button, and a special item. There were some puzzles in that game that, literally, took me WEEKS to figure out.
These games weren't difficult in the "cheap" sense that a lot of today's games are. Land Stalker and Star Tropics both presented the answer to a puzzle, but it really took some brainpower. Recent RPGs (final fantasy, Baldur's Gate, NWN, etc.) just don't give that complexity. THey give you hard enemies that take a high level to beat. Whoop-dee-fucking-doo. I don't want to spend hours leveling up in mind-numbingly simple battles! I WANT TO USE MY BRAIN!
Every now and then (maybe twice a year, if we're lucky), a game is released that really dwells in the roots of gaming. My recent favorite games that are hard in the sense that they require brainpower are Big Huge Games' Rise of Nations (which is complex in that it has a HELL of a lot of stuff to do) and the recently released Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (Bioware), both of which greatly surprised me with their depth and challenge. KOTOR really surprised me, in that it was an RPG... And it was based on the D&D ruleset... But the game was totally open-ended (left things up to the player), had some tough little puzzles, was action-packed while still staying true to RPG roots, didn't take weeks to get over the learning curve (it didn't even take a day, just a mere hour or two until you really knew what was going on) and didn't try to take up 100+ hours of the player's life.
Games designers really need to quit trying to make "sure bets", and try to innovate genres (like KOTOR and Rise of Nations)! I've had my fill of games like Unreal 2k3, Tomb Raider, Final Fantasy, and other cookie-cutter games. Let's see some INNOVATION AND CHALLENGE! Challenge and depth can, very easily in fact, be presented in a simple and easy-to-pick up manner. If an 8-bit NES game, that had a two-button controller, can make a game that stretches the minds of its players, then why can't a PC or an XBox game?!
I wish my old high school would've had something like that happen to them. I WANT TO SEE MY PSYCHOLOGICAL EVALUATION!
KaZaA: Now Distributing All the Porn and Warez the World has to Offer for Only $19.95 a month!
And, if you order now, we'll also include a free 5-warez trial of UniversalKeygen v1.0!
This offer is not available in stores! However, the first 50 callers will receive a free plastic keyboard cover, mouse cover and even a monitor cover! NO MORE CLEANING UP THAT MESS AFTER VIEWING THAT FAKE BRITNEY SPEARS HARDCORE ACTION FLICK!
Just call 888.PIE.RACY
I'm sure you had a *very* busy high-school schedule that kept you busy from actually learning something. And, as for me, I was rather active in high-school, in sports and such, and I was still able to "read up on computer languages".
Of course, I guess asking people to actually have the initiative to pick up stuff on their own is old-fashioned too. Why actually work to learn something, when we can have others do the work for us?
By the way, I was rather active in high school, sports, dances, clubs, etc., and I always had excess amounts of time to do other things (such as read up on computer languages). Contrary to popular belief, a high-schooler's schedule really isn't that packed with important things.
Think I'm too old to know all this? Well, I graduated from high school 2 weeks ago.
I'm still of the mindset that the best way for high school kids to learn things is on their own. No matter what, throughout high school, the most I learned was all on my own time. I didn't have ANY courses in my school about anything related to computers (except a "typing" class), so, in an effort to actually try and challenge myself, I ordered a few books off of Amazon.com, and taught myself C++. And, I think that if I had access to a class that simply taught C++ with proprietary textbooks and software, I wouldn't have appreciated the experience nearly as much.
Well, you gotta give the guy some credit. I went through Nullsoft's site the other day, and there are just a whole lot of cool little programs that Nullsoft put out. Among them all, Winamp and the Nullsoft installer system are probably my favorite.
I give it up to Justin for being a good guy, and giving a lot of cool little utilities to the programming community.
So, the new generation of gaming involves blowing on a screen while listening to grammy-award winning music? ... Right. If you'll excuse me, I hear my Super Nintendo calling my name.
Of course both companies are guilty of optimizing their drivers to get better performance on the benchmark. The fact that ATI is also doing it (though, not to the extreme that nVidia did) should come as no surprise to anyone.
This is business, and nVidia and ATI are different companies, both are doing everything in their power to one-up the other, so I'm sure if anyone looked close enough at various benchmarks, some instances of "foul-play" would be present.
Personally, I don't think the optimizations made by either company is anything to be "ashamed" of, it's not like they're producing fake results, they're simply pushing their own cards to their extent for the benchmark, and that's nothing "unfair."
I don't understand why nVidia feels the need to cheat, I mean, c'mon, they have that nice GF FX Dawn demo with the special "backdoor" that's been so widely used.