My point is that you're not inflicting any damages on them by doing this. Do what you will but believing that buy purchasing the machine, you're hurting the company - you are incorrect.
Yes, you're right - if 1,000,001 did purchase the machine with the intent of never buying any software for it, the company would overextend and go into a much larger hole. Of course, that's not going to happen. We're talking about the role of one person (and the number of people who are going to agree to buy the machine and not the software isn't significant enough so that you can argue all those single people across the country will add up).
As for your points 1. That's what I was saying. It's a silly idea to believe that your purchase or non-purchase makes a different.
I hate it when people begin their sentences with "Umm." It's rather low-class.
Anyway, companies (not people as you put it) are stuck with extra inventory all the time. You are correct that they are only stuck with warehouses full when there is a huge error but the fact remains that when we are dealing with whether one person is going to buy the console, if that one unit is not purchased, it is not guaranteed to sell. In fact, they may estimate that they will sell 100,000 units. By not purchasing that one unit, they sell 99,999 - and are stuck with an extra unit. It happens quite often. You're talking about companies getting stuck with thousands. You think about the reality of that. And spending $500 doesn't make a statement - it merely gives the company $500.
And if you want to see a company stuck with excess inventory - go into EB and ask for a Dreamcast. There are plenty lying around.
Listen, this type of approach always gets brought up whenever someone is discussing consoles. Sure, you can buy the console for $500 (no idea what it will cost) and they might lose $200 because it cost them $700 to make. But if they don't sell the console to you, then they lose $700 because it is just sitting in a warehouse, unsold. Honestly, I see this type of threat made all the time. Think about the economics of it just a little bit.
"I've got a working cartridge image that plays filtered bass notes from keyboard keys (keys match up with the C64 piano keyboard overlay: Q,2,W,3,E,R..etc) Currently it's monophonic and only plays one bass sound, but it does sound pretty nice. It runs on the CCS64 emulator. In the emulator press ALT-C to select a cartridge image.
I've also got it working as a cartridge on a real C64. I removed the chips from a Magic Desk I cartridge (thanks to Nicholas Coplin's hardware projects page) and installed a socket for an EPROM. See pictures below."
I think the NFL will be really pleased with this announcement. One of the problems I've heard cited by marketers with marketing the NFL is that the players wear such an amount of gear and there are so many players on the field at once that it's difficult for some people to become personally involved in the game. What I mean by this is that bringing new fans to the game, specifically ones that didn't grow up watching football, isn't easy because they don't get to know the players.
What this game does is give people a way to really get to know the players. The NBA has always excelled at marketing their players because you see the guys and they're up close and personal on the television. The NFL doesn't have this benefit but this game will help to bridge that gap - especially if it is anywhere near as well done as NBA Street Volume 2.
Another poster mentioned the NFL Blitz series - good games - but they don't offer this marketing benefit to the NFL that this new game by EA will.
Your girlfriend's daughter? I will assume that you are not the father of this child and I will also assume that your girlfriend is not married to the father of this child. My question to you is why would you date a woman so irresponsible as to spread her legs and get pregnant with someone who isn't going to even take care of the creation. Your girlfriend is an irresponsible slut and I hope you see the huge error you are making soon.
Horseshit! I submitted a great article about the developments on the PS3 front and this nigger simonjewbag rejects it in favor of this horseshit? What a jew
You might use it appropriately and not be doing anything illegal whatsoever, but the mere use of things like PGP can get you on a list of people to watch. Unfortunately in today's social climate, people are willing to sacrifice civil rights for security and government agencies are taking as much rope as you want to hand them. So by not using PGP, you don't end up unfairly held without trial. I don't think anyone would suggest that just because you use PGP, you're transmitting nuclear secrets, but the possibility exists.
For instance, the RIAA views anyone who uses Kazaa as a criminal who is breaking the law - regardless of whether they are or aren't. Without the legal backing, people are forced to take punishment from the RIAA (example: the kid at RPI that made the search engine). It's not easy being a civil rights leader and standing up for your rights. So I guess, long story short - those people currently logged into Kazaa downloading public domain works like how_to_uncap_your_cable_modem.txt are akin to Rosa Parks and other freedom riders of the past generation.
The reason companies have standardized platforms is so that when Cube Dweller #04561 calls up the company's IT department complaining that he can't send e-mail, the IT department can walk that user through how to fix the problem more easily. It just makes support simpler if everyone is using the same programs and tech support knows what programs are being used. So, yeah - people don't want to be forced to use a particular client but if they want to be "supported", that's the way it's going to be.
The article states that the XBox division is struggling with sales because of piracy and low demand. The statement that you're citing isn't saying that this move is a solution to the piracy problem but is rather saying that the XBox has not met sales figures (for reason 1 and 2) and so Microsoft is making moves to make it more competitive.
This isn't like the RIAA going gestapo-style on people. Piracy in Asia of all sorts of copyrighted works runs rampant. It's a problem and I don't think citing it is Microsoft's attempt to scare consumers, as it appears you are suggesting.
So, in a nutshell - the text you referenced wasn't making a link between software piracy and disappointing hardware sales. It was merely summing up the problems Microsoft has faced in the Asian market.
Unfortunately, in today's society these ratings aren't used nearly as often as they should be. The idea of a ratings system which quickly lets parents know that something is not appropriate for their child is a great one. As far as the implementation goes, and this is more so with movies, the raters can be a little quirky. But anyway, the real problem lies in parents who take little to no interest in what their children are doing. The ratings should be used in conjunction with just checking a game out yourself to determine if the game is acceptable. Many parents do neither. I don't mean to bemoan the downfall of Western Civilization but it's troubling to see how many parents deal with their children in public and also how often I see kids out on school nights in public places misbehaving and getting into trouble. I'm sure that over half of most parents do a good job but I honestly am concerned for the future. Parents just aren't parenting anymore. The ratings system is a good tool for parents but I think the sad fact is that it's not used by many.
As far as dealers and endusers go, I don't think ratings come into play heavily. There's no video game rating similar to NC-17, which is the kiss of death and most dealers wouldn't show at their cineplex so it's not so much an issue. And as a buyer of video games, I don't consider the ratings (I'm well above age to buy anything) but instead read reviews and take a look at how enjoyable the game is.
This type of behavior is illegal - if and only if - the right for the company to control the software on the phone is expressly taken in the contract. When one gets a cell phone, the customer signs a contract. Within this contract there is, with almost certain probability, that the company reserves the right to discontinue services and/or update and change the functionality of the phone. Lawyers are very good at writing contracts that cover all possible contingency plans and, even if Danger never mentioned the possibility of having to remove the games, a clause would be included in the contract that would give the company a leg to stand on in court. So, long story short - I don't think it's going to allow people to sue nor do I think it should be illegal to have this type of contract.
There are certain laws that supercede any contract. For instance, you can't enter into a contract with me to murder me and avoid criminal prosecution for the crime. But in this case, are you suggesting a law that states that in a contract, a company may not reserve the right to modify the software on the client's end without their express consent? That might be feasible but in 9 out of 10 cases, what is going to happen because of that is end users of software are going to have unpatched and insecure software which leads to Internet worms that affect everyone's use. With a lot of software, automatic updating is a very good thing. It's a complicated issue and I worry about just slapping a law into the books as you suggest. Please expound on what you think needs to be illegal about this situation.
Let's look at the summary: The Submitter: At roughly $950 per computer this clearly involves more than just the OS, although the article unfortunately doesn't provide details, and I was unable to find any references to this on the Microsoft website. Michael:...and most of the computers they purchase are normal consumer machines which will be purchased with Windows and Office already installed, so the Army will be paying twice for each machine.
Did Michael not even bother reading what was submitted? The cash isn't for the OS. So the army isn't paying twice for the OS. You may assume that part of the money is going towards the OS but since no details have been released, making that assumption is just slanting the story to fit your particular political view of the situation - which is not what a journalist should do in reporting news.
There was never any X-Box version planned. Even though Sony is a huge company with different divisions having their own plans in how they want to attack their individual markets (Sony Music vs. the VAIO crew and their CD burners), SOE knows that you don't sell PS2s by giving Microsoft exclusives for the X-Box, which is effectively what you are suggesting (exclusive to consoles that is).
How many CEOs have you been friends with? I mean, sure - it's easy to get some karma by taking hated group X and making a derogatory comment about them but I think your statement that the opinion of a CEO is worthless is a bit overstated. The CEO's job is to guide the company and help make profit - to that effect, their public statements must always be confident. You don't inspire your workers and you don't attract customers by second-guessing your product. What you mean to say is that the PR released by a company is quite biased and is no real indication of the quality of the product.
But consider this, if the CEO wasn't saying how great this new technology is, do you think it would have any shot at all? Wouldn't that alert you that either the technology is seriously flawed or that the company is in such a state of disarray that they will never deliver a product?
In short, a CEO is normally a well-educated person whose opinion is far from worthless but whose public talks on the company's work are going to be quite slanted.
Sega, the software company, has a proven track record that is enticing to any console manufacturer - get all of Sega's games exclusive to your hardware and you've got a step up on the competition. Sega, the hardware company has a long history of hits and mostly misses but no one, except maybe you, is thinking that Microsoft is mulling over Sega for their hardware expertise. It's all about Sonic, Virtua Fighter, the sports line, and a host of other games that Sega has in their pocket.
My point was that you were bemoaning the fact that every game being released was a GTA clone and going on about how you long for the days of your Dreamcast (what do you think of people that long for the days of the Atari 2800? You're in the same boat.) and by bringing up WSB 2K3, I was pointing out a recently released game that had no ties to GTA that was a good game.
As for the confrontational ("too" not "to") part: Sorry! I wasn't trying to be confrontational at all, just trying to make a few points and figure out what you were getting at. As for telling me to smile more; I wouldn't ever claim to have any idea about a person's psyche based on their Slashdot postings but if you want to, enjoy!
"I'd rather not play anymore GTA/next generation racing games."
So don't buy them.
Seriously, most entertainments markets operate this way. If the next big thing comes along, the companies flood the market with knockoffs. It doesn't mean that the original wasn't good or that the new copies coming out can't expand on the original concept. For instance, GTA III vs. GTA: Vice City - for the most part, very similar games, but I think in many ways Vice City was an improvement over GTA III.
There are plenty of interesting games coming out on the current batch of consoles - depending upon what you define as interesting. Since you've only listed games that you found interesting, I don't really know. But I'm currently enjoying World Series Baseball 2K3 for the PS2 - a very enjoyable game; we just held our draft, which was a lot of fun.
Anyway, perhaps you could expand a bit on your thought. There are lots of games coming out that aren't based on the GTA game model. And the games you listed, with the exception of Seamen (which I did not enjoy), aren't new genres but just very nice instances of past genres. When Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter II were dominating the market and tons of fighting games were flooding the market, I didn't complain about the fact - I just avoided the junk and only bought quality.
Oh, and here's a grammatical note: the Dreamcast didn't put out any games. Companies released games for the Dreamcast.
I'm always critical of legislating common sense. It's common sense that you should wear a seat belt and so I don't believe there should be a law which dictates that you must wear one. As we add more and more laws to the books, each single law loses values because there are so many other laws.
With that being said, common sense should dictate to anyone in government who is in charge of purchasing that an open data format is much more inviting than a non-open format. But I can see that just because this should be common sense does not neccescarily mean that it is.
Here is my only concern: I don't like to have the government's hands tied, one way or another. Sometimes the market does not produce a product to satisfy these conditions or the market will produce an open data format product and a closed data format product where the closed data format product is superior in all ways but the obvious one. Now, I want the government to be able to evaluate their needs (considering how likely it is that they will need backups of the data - for instance if the data is only going to be temporary work product for an internal office and will eventually be converted to HTML) and make an informed decision. But I suppose in many cases it is better to lay down a rule which will work positively in 99% of all situations.
If that has been your college experience, then the institution you selected was quite weak. College is never about busy work but about teaching how to think about things. I am currently a PhD student and an instructor for classes and I never assign my students busy work. I assign problems that will make them think about how to apply the information they should have gathered from lecture to a problem.
I am currently a graduate student and have always found that pen and paper in the classroom work the best. When I become disinterested, the worst I can do is doodle in the margins. If I had a laptop, I'd be playing on my NES emulator. It's still possible to stay a bit focused if you're doodling BUT, as we all should know by now, Super Mario Bros. requires all your attention!
Slashdot Mirror
Model only has one l in it.
As for your points
1. That's what I was saying. It's a silly idea to believe that your purchase or non-purchase makes a different.
Anyway, companies (not people as you put it) are stuck with extra inventory all the time. You are correct that they are only stuck with warehouses full when there is a huge error but the fact remains that when we are dealing with whether one person is going to buy the console, if that one unit is not purchased, it is not guaranteed to sell. In fact, they may estimate that they will sell 100,000 units. By not purchasing that one unit, they sell 99,999 - and are stuck with an extra unit. It happens quite often. You're talking about companies getting stuck with thousands. You think about the reality of that. And spending $500 doesn't make a statement - it merely gives the company $500.
And if you want to see a company stuck with excess inventory - go into EB and ask for a Dreamcast. There are plenty lying around.
Listen, this type of approach always gets brought up whenever someone is discussing consoles. Sure, you can buy the console for $500 (no idea what it will cost) and they might lose $200 because it cost them $700 to make. But if they don't sell the console to you, then they lose $700 because it is just sitting in a warehouse, unsold. Honestly, I see this type of threat made all the time. Think about the economics of it just a little bit.
"I've got a working cartridge image that plays filtered bass notes from keyboard keys (keys match up with the C64 piano keyboard overlay: Q,2,W,3,E,R..etc) Currently it's monophonic and only plays one bass sound, but it does sound pretty nice. It runs on the CCS64 emulator. In the emulator press ALT-C to select a cartridge image.
I've also got it working as a cartridge on a real C64. I removed the chips from a Magic Desk I cartridge (thanks to Nicholas Coplin's hardware projects page) and installed a socket for an EPROM. See pictures below."
What this game does is give people a way to really get to know the players. The NBA has always excelled at marketing their players because you see the guys and they're up close and personal on the television. The NFL doesn't have this benefit but this game will help to bridge that gap - especially if it is anywhere near as well done as NBA Street Volume 2.
Another poster mentioned the NFL Blitz series - good games - but they don't offer this marketing benefit to the NFL that this new game by EA will.
Your girlfriend's daughter? I will assume that you are not the father of this child and I will also assume that your girlfriend is not married to the father of this child. My question to you is why would you date a woman so irresponsible as to spread her legs and get pregnant with someone who isn't going to even take care of the creation. Your girlfriend is an irresponsible slut and I hope you see the huge error you are making soon.
Horseshit! I submitted a great article about the developments on the PS3 front and this nigger simonjewbag rejects it in favor of this horseshit? What a jew
For instance, the RIAA views anyone who uses Kazaa as a criminal who is breaking the law - regardless of whether they are or aren't. Without the legal backing, people are forced to take punishment from the RIAA (example: the kid at RPI that made the search engine). It's not easy being a civil rights leader and standing up for your rights. So I guess, long story short - those people currently logged into Kazaa downloading public domain works like how_to_uncap_your_cable_modem.txt are akin to Rosa Parks and other freedom riders of the past generation.
The reason companies have standardized platforms is so that when Cube Dweller #04561 calls up the company's IT department complaining that he can't send e-mail, the IT department can walk that user through how to fix the problem more easily. It just makes support simpler if everyone is using the same programs and tech support knows what programs are being used. So, yeah - people don't want to be forced to use a particular client but if they want to be "supported", that's the way it's going to be.
You want to know my browser? That's none of your damn business and I'll thank you to stay out of my personal affairs.
This isn't like the RIAA going gestapo-style on people. Piracy in Asia of all sorts of copyrighted works runs rampant. It's a problem and I don't think citing it is Microsoft's attempt to scare consumers, as it appears you are suggesting.
So, in a nutshell - the text you referenced wasn't making a link between software piracy and disappointing hardware sales. It was merely summing up the problems Microsoft has faced in the Asian market.
As far as dealers and endusers go, I don't think ratings come into play heavily. There's no video game rating similar to NC-17, which is the kiss of death and most dealers wouldn't show at their cineplex so it's not so much an issue. And as a buyer of video games, I don't consider the ratings (I'm well above age to buy anything) but instead read reviews and take a look at how enjoyable the game is.
There are certain laws that supercede any contract. For instance, you can't enter into a contract with me to murder me and avoid criminal prosecution for the crime. But in this case, are you suggesting a law that states that in a contract, a company may not reserve the right to modify the software on the client's end without their express consent? That might be feasible but in 9 out of 10 cases, what is going to happen because of that is end users of software are going to have unpatched and insecure software which leads to Internet worms that affect everyone's use. With a lot of software, automatic updating is a very good thing. It's a complicated issue and I worry about just slapping a law into the books as you suggest. Please expound on what you think needs to be illegal about this situation.
The Submitter: At roughly $950 per computer this clearly involves more than just the OS, although the article unfortunately doesn't provide details, and I was unable to find any references to this on the Microsoft website.
Michael:
Did Michael not even bother reading what was submitted? The cash isn't for the OS. So the army isn't paying twice for the OS. You may assume that part of the money is going towards the OS but since no details have been released, making that assumption is just slanting the story to fit your particular political view of the situation - which is not what a journalist should do in reporting news.
X-Box versions? You must be joking.
But consider this, if the CEO wasn't saying how great this new technology is, do you think it would have any shot at all? Wouldn't that alert you that either the technology is seriously flawed or that the company is in such a state of disarray that they will never deliver a product?
In short, a CEO is normally a well-educated person whose opinion is far from worthless but whose public talks on the company's work are going to be quite slanted.
Property lists and XML config files are in the book! I guess you missed that in your skimming.
Sega, the software company, has a proven track record that is enticing to any console manufacturer - get all of Sega's games exclusive to your hardware and you've got a step up on the competition. Sega, the hardware company has a long history of hits and mostly misses but no one, except maybe you, is thinking that Microsoft is mulling over Sega for their hardware expertise. It's all about Sonic, Virtua Fighter, the sports line, and a host of other games that Sega has in their pocket.
As for the confrontational ("too" not "to") part: Sorry! I wasn't trying to be confrontational at all, just trying to make a few points and figure out what you were getting at. As for telling me to smile more; I wouldn't ever claim to have any idea about a person's psyche based on their Slashdot postings but if you want to, enjoy!
Seriously, most entertainments markets operate this way. If the next big thing comes along, the companies flood the market with knockoffs. It doesn't mean that the original wasn't good or that the new copies coming out can't expand on the original concept. For instance, GTA III vs. GTA: Vice City - for the most part, very similar games, but I think in many ways Vice City was an improvement over GTA III.
There are plenty of interesting games coming out on the current batch of consoles - depending upon what you define as interesting. Since you've only listed games that you found interesting, I don't really know. But I'm currently enjoying World Series Baseball 2K3 for the PS2 - a very enjoyable game; we just held our draft, which was a lot of fun.
Anyway, perhaps you could expand a bit on your thought. There are lots of games coming out that aren't based on the GTA game model. And the games you listed, with the exception of Seamen (which I did not enjoy), aren't new genres but just very nice instances of past genres. When Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter II were dominating the market and tons of fighting games were flooding the market, I didn't complain about the fact - I just avoided the junk and only bought quality.
Oh, and here's a grammatical note: the Dreamcast didn't put out any games. Companies released games for the Dreamcast.
With that being said, common sense should dictate to anyone in government who is in charge of purchasing that an open data format is much more inviting than a non-open format. But I can see that just because this should be common sense does not neccescarily mean that it is.
Here is my only concern: I don't like to have the government's hands tied, one way or another. Sometimes the market does not produce a product to satisfy these conditions or the market will produce an open data format product and a closed data format product where the closed data format product is superior in all ways but the obvious one. Now, I want the government to be able to evaluate their needs (considering how likely it is that they will need backups of the data - for instance if the data is only going to be temporary work product for an internal office and will eventually be converted to HTML) and make an informed decision. But I suppose in many cases it is better to lay down a rule which will work positively in 99% of all situations.
If that has been your college experience, then the institution you selected was quite weak. College is never about busy work but about teaching how to think about things. I am currently a PhD student and an instructor for classes and I never assign my students busy work. I assign problems that will make them think about how to apply the information they should have gathered from lecture to a problem.
I am currently a graduate student and have always found that pen and paper in the classroom work the best. When I become disinterested, the worst I can do is doodle in the margins. If I had a laptop, I'd be playing on my NES emulator. It's still possible to stay a bit focused if you're doodling BUT, as we all should know by now, Super Mario Bros. requires all your attention!