With all of our manufacturing being outsourced to cheap Asian and South American countries with less stringent labor policies, America and many other countries are essentially left as solely service-oriented. If many of these services can be performed by autonomous robots, what's left? I think we'll see some sort of "autonomous robot tax" that will make these things cost ludicrous amounts of money.
I don't think Johnny Five will be around too soon.
I've used pretty much every major distro under the sun. SuSE 7.3 was my first foray into Linux (I had owned older versions of Red Hat and Corel Linux, but never got around to installing them), and it's simple and intelligently configured, if more than a little intimidating to people who don't know what they're doing. They've got an awfully good installer, and their system is reasonably well-packaged and configured. Their configuration tools are top-notch as well.
The boxed installation comes with 7 CDs and a DVD, which is nice, especially if you don't have a broadband connection. Also, their software packages are almost always up to date and well-tested, compared to Mandrake's which are new and sometimes break things (I never got Gnome to not irrepairably screw itself up after a few days), and Debian's which are stable and well-tested but always out of date if you stick to the "stable" or even "testing" trees. Also, everything Just Works. Every system I've tried it on, SuSE has consistently detected all of my hardware, and none of it has required extra drivers. Something always goes wrong with every other distro.
Another thing many people like about SuSE is the paper manuals. If you only have one computer, you can't always get online when something goes wrong and you can't fix it; and let's face it, even the 1337est guru can only take so much of reading 80x25 monospaced man pages. SuSE is very well-documented and covers the installation process through configuration, maintenance, etc. and does a damned good job of it.
However, the "commercial-only" attitude makes them unattractive to home users, and like you said, the de-facto commercial distribution is Red Hat. They've got the tools, but they're aiming for a saturated market segment they're unable to penetrate. On the home front, they've got Mandrake and Lindows to worry about, and both of those are also much better at what they respectively do.
Personally, I used SuSE for a long time before trying Red Hat, Slackware, Mandrake and Debian. I very, very much like Debian now.
This is a trick question as Michael Jackson's skull is not made of bone. A quick perusal of his medical records evidences that his entire skeletal structure comprises melted-down recordable CDs and lemon rinds. Surprisingly, Jackson's skeletal structure lacks joints, as bones are adhered to one another with a sticky substance believed to be chewing gum. While preventing him from moving about normally, the chewing gum connections do create a rather humorous "marionette" effect when he is dangled from a balcony; this was the effect he demonstrated with the veiled child many months ago.
This isn't going to help us that much in figuring out why these redwoods are dying, because we have no climate conditions from when they weren't dying at an alarming rate to compare the current ones to. I'm not saying they won't be damned useful, but how about we sensor-network the things we would like to preserve before it's too late?
I'm not saying "layout" in the sense that you're probably thinking. The overall design, and "look and feel", are (disputably) subject to copyright (see Apple's long, long history of filing cease-and-desist orders on skin sites distributing application skins utilizing the "Aqua" look on non-Mac platforms). I believe Amazon has also had a round of bitter spats with other websites over the infringement of their "look and feel." I'm not sure if any of these have actually been proven in court, though, in which case you do have me beaten. If someone can educate me on that, I'd be grateful.
If you think I'm saying something completely ridiculous, double-check to make sure you're not misinterpreting it first.;D
You are correct. Perhaps I should reread my original postings.
However, assume that you do, then, have a $1300 Power Mac G4, and a comparable PC. Is the cost of both of these able to be paid off in a single paycheck? Unless you're Steve Jobs, probably not. Would even a $1300 product have to be something worth investing in, going all-or-nothing, to justify zealotry and a "platform war?" I would certainly hope so.
So, considering the above, is the actual cost of a Mac relevant in any way to the point I was making, or are you just trolling to emphasize your love for Macs and why I should own one?
I am referring to the latest iteration of Macintosh computers, the G5, which to my recollection start at $1,999 for the low-end model ranging through $2,999 for the dual 2.0 GHz. Certainly discussing console wars by pitting the Gamecube up against Playstation 1 doesn't make a ton of sense. If you're not going to compare the latest product cycles, then what's even the point?
Talk abounds concerning another round of price drops in the near future. Speculation says that Gamecube will fall to $129 while PS2 and Xbox will be priced at a modest $149. I had assumed the prices had already fallen. Silly me, they'll cut it in time for the holiday season like last year.
I realize that many gamers are underage, but I take the position of assuming that the article's writer (while he doesn't show it) is over the age of 18, and most likely, so are you and the rest of Slashdot's readers. This comment, being posted on Slashdot, was designed to cater specifically to Slashdot readers rather than, of course, to people who will never read the comment.
You do have a point about the Greatest Hits games, but chances are that there aren't 12 Greatest Hits games worth buying (which there almost certainly aren't) and you'll be suckered into buying more new games at $50-55 apiece. This is, of course, assuming that you don't already own the originals of Grand Theft Auto 3 and Final Fantasy X. When I was younger, I owned about 35 Playstation games. The only Greatest Hits title I owned was Crash Bandicoot, and it was given to me as a gift. I would go so far as to make the assumption that most people don't wait a long enough time for the low-price Greatest Hits release to actually buy it. If they want it, they'll probably get it when it's new. So, essentially, it boils down to 3 full-price games vs. one new console. Though, you do have me on one point -- I hadn't bothered to factor in the costs of memory cards, controllers, and other peripherals.
But the inverse may actually be true -- for many people, it may actually be more likely that you will buy more "Greatest Hits" titles for the new console that you just got -- so, if it comes down to 5 full-price games for PS2 that you've never played (since you own the originals of the Greatest Hits games), or 5 Platinum Hit games for Xbox that you've never played, you're only spending a marginal amount more on the Xbox games including the console.
I could be entirely wrong, but it sure makes sense to me.
I'd like to see a source for this market-share figure, because I'm not entirely buying it. My skepticism is attributed to the sales of games like Halo, Grand Theft Auto 3/Vice City and The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. Yes, I am aware that two of the three games mentioned do/will have PC ports.
And to address your second point, that's simply not the case: I'd hardly refer to someone without extensive computer experience as an "idiot." Many people I've spoken to have no idea what's in their computer. I work in technical support and have a good deal of experience speaking with these people. They don't know, and certainly don't care, what "DirectX" is. What's a "32 Emm Bee video card"? What the hell is AGP? These kind of things do realistically put people off somewhat. And though many modern computers are more gaming-oriented as costs of hardware is being driven down, and people are becoming more comfortable with this sort of thing, "casual" gamers are probably not going to play PC games. Besides, a PS2 costs a bit less than a new mid-end video card (retail, these people don't scope Pricewatch), and it takes no technical expertise to install; just hook it up to your television.
I will make one concession to you: The PC's chances in this market are getting better and better, as many of the young'uns become more experienced with computers and the terminology relating to them, as well as many computer-related skills. However, some people would argue that PCs are becoming more of a commodity product as many features are being transferred to other devices (cell phones that can check email and send instant messages, and the like). I prefer to centralize, everything's done on my PC, but others may differ greatly in their ways of getting things done. What do you think the desktop PC will look like in 10 years? I'm curious to hear what other people think.
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You mean you don't back up your porn to your $5,000 autoloading Exabyte SCSI tape drive?
I'm certain I'm not the only person here who thought of this when I read the article.
"No... all I've got are these 'action bills.'"
"That word is naughty! You have to be punished."
[doll brandishes kitchen knife]
I like how you referred to the "Language Police." Have you read that book? If not, you should.
Perhaps with our ever growing work weeks and globalized work force, we are turning ourselves into Robotniks.
As long as we don't have any of those pesky blue hedgehogs snooping around, I don't think it's a big problem.
What else is new? You couldn't have made a more mundane, robotic Slashdot statement without including "6. PROFIT!!!"
We could even nickname him "ReiserFS." I hear that's good at corruption.
Shit, that would be scary.
With all of our manufacturing being outsourced to cheap Asian and South American countries with less stringent labor policies, America and many other countries are essentially left as solely service-oriented. If many of these services can be performed by autonomous robots, what's left? I think we'll see some sort of "autonomous robot tax" that will make these things cost ludicrous amounts of money.
I don't think Johnny Five will be around too soon.
I sure didn't make him President.
I actually had typed "or 52nd, if you count Puerto Rico was the 51st" but removed it for brevity.
Damn you.
Europe is a country like Canada is the 51st state.
Because, yes, Slashdot is too American-centric.
I've used pretty much every major distro under the sun. SuSE 7.3 was my first foray into Linux (I had owned older versions of Red Hat and Corel Linux, but never got around to installing them), and it's simple and intelligently configured, if more than a little intimidating to people who don't know what they're doing. They've got an awfully good installer, and their system is reasonably well-packaged and configured. Their configuration tools are top-notch as well.
The boxed installation comes with 7 CDs and a DVD, which is nice, especially if you don't have a broadband connection. Also, their software packages are almost always up to date and well-tested, compared to Mandrake's which are new and sometimes break things (I never got Gnome to not irrepairably screw itself up after a few days), and Debian's which are stable and well-tested but always out of date if you stick to the "stable" or even "testing" trees. Also, everything Just Works. Every system I've tried it on, SuSE has consistently detected all of my hardware, and none of it has required extra drivers. Something always goes wrong with every other distro.
Another thing many people like about SuSE is the paper manuals. If you only have one computer, you can't always get online when something goes wrong and you can't fix it; and let's face it, even the 1337est guru can only take so much of reading 80x25 monospaced man pages. SuSE is very well-documented and covers the installation process through configuration, maintenance, etc. and does a damned good job of it.
However, the "commercial-only" attitude makes them unattractive to home users, and like you said, the de-facto commercial distribution is Red Hat. They've got the tools, but they're aiming for a saturated market segment they're unable to penetrate. On the home front, they've got Mandrake and Lindows to worry about, and both of those are also much better at what they respectively do.
Personally, I used SuSE for a long time before trying Red Hat, Slackware, Mandrake and Debian. I very, very much like Debian now.
This is a trick question as Michael Jackson's skull is not made of bone. A quick perusal of his medical records evidences that his entire skeletal structure comprises melted-down recordable CDs and lemon rinds. Surprisingly, Jackson's skeletal structure lacks joints, as bones are adhered to one another with a sticky substance believed to be chewing gum. While preventing him from moving about normally, the chewing gum connections do create a rather humorous "marionette" effect when he is dangled from a balcony; this was the effect he demonstrated with the veiled child many months ago.
Have you forgotten? This is Slashdot! You need "6. Profit!" Actually, you don't, and I'm happy for you.
The interference from power-line broadband is capable of travelling hundreds of miles, from places that do have power. This is A Bad Thing.
Like, you did not just end that sentence with a preposition.
This isn't going to help us that much in figuring out why these redwoods are dying, because we have no climate conditions from when they weren't dying at an alarming rate to compare the current ones to. I'm not saying they won't be damned useful, but how about we sensor-network the things we would like to preserve before it's too late?
I'm not saying "layout" in the sense that you're probably thinking. The overall design, and "look and feel", are (disputably) subject to copyright (see Apple's long, long history of filing cease-and-desist orders on skin sites distributing application skins utilizing the "Aqua" look on non-Mac platforms). I believe Amazon has also had a round of bitter spats with other websites over the infringement of their "look and feel." I'm not sure if any of these have actually been proven in court, though, in which case you do have me beaten. If someone can educate me on that, I'd be grateful.
;D
If you think I'm saying something completely ridiculous, double-check to make sure you're not misinterpreting it first.
You are correct. Perhaps I should reread my original postings.
However, assume that you do, then, have a $1300 Power Mac G4, and a comparable PC. Is the cost of both of these able to be paid off in a single paycheck? Unless you're Steve Jobs, probably not. Would even a $1300 product have to be something worth investing in, going all-or-nothing, to justify zealotry and a "platform war?" I would certainly hope so.
So, considering the above, is the actual cost of a Mac relevant in any way to the point I was making, or are you just trolling to emphasize your love for Macs and why I should own one?
I am referring to the latest iteration of Macintosh computers, the G5, which to my recollection start at $1,999 for the low-end model ranging through $2,999 for the dual 2.0 GHz. Certainly discussing console wars by pitting the Gamecube up against Playstation 1 doesn't make a ton of sense. If you're not going to compare the latest product cycles, then what's even the point?
Talk abounds concerning another round of price drops in the near future. Speculation says that Gamecube will fall to $129 while PS2 and Xbox will be priced at a modest $149. I had assumed the prices had already fallen. Silly me, they'll cut it in time for the holiday season like last year.
I realize that many gamers are underage, but I take the position of assuming that the article's writer (while he doesn't show it) is over the age of 18, and most likely, so are you and the rest of Slashdot's readers. This comment, being posted on Slashdot, was designed to cater specifically to Slashdot readers rather than, of course, to people who will never read the comment.
You do have a point about the Greatest Hits games, but chances are that there aren't 12 Greatest Hits games worth buying (which there almost certainly aren't) and you'll be suckered into buying more new games at $50-55 apiece. This is, of course, assuming that you don't already own the originals of Grand Theft Auto 3 and Final Fantasy X. When I was younger, I owned about 35 Playstation games. The only Greatest Hits title I owned was Crash Bandicoot, and it was given to me as a gift. I would go so far as to make the assumption that most people don't wait a long enough time for the low-price Greatest Hits release to actually buy it. If they want it, they'll probably get it when it's new. So, essentially, it boils down to 3 full-price games vs. one new console. Though, you do have me on one point -- I hadn't bothered to factor in the costs of memory cards, controllers, and other peripherals.
But the inverse may actually be true -- for many people, it may actually be more likely that you will buy more "Greatest Hits" titles for the new console that you just got -- so, if it comes down to 5 full-price games for PS2 that you've never played (since you own the originals of the Greatest Hits games), or 5 Platinum Hit games for Xbox that you've never played, you're only spending a marginal amount more on the Xbox games including the console.
I could be entirely wrong, but it sure makes sense to me.
And you know what? I bet 19 out of 20 people make the frozen lasagna instead.
I'd like to see a source for this market-share figure, because I'm not entirely buying it. My skepticism is attributed to the sales of games like Halo, Grand Theft Auto 3/Vice City and The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. Yes, I am aware that two of the three games mentioned do/will have PC ports.
And to address your second point, that's simply not the case: I'd hardly refer to someone without extensive computer experience as an "idiot." Many people I've spoken to have no idea what's in their computer. I work in technical support and have a good deal of experience speaking with these people. They don't know, and certainly don't care, what "DirectX" is. What's a "32 Emm Bee video card"? What the hell is AGP? These kind of things do realistically put people off somewhat. And though many modern computers are more gaming-oriented as costs of hardware is being driven down, and people are becoming more comfortable with this sort of thing, "casual" gamers are probably not going to play PC games. Besides, a PS2 costs a bit less than a new mid-end video card (retail, these people don't scope Pricewatch), and it takes no technical expertise to install; just hook it up to your television.
I will make one concession to you: The PC's chances in this market are getting better and better, as many of the young'uns become more experienced with computers and the terminology relating to them, as well as many computer-related skills. However, some people would argue that PCs are becoming more of a commodity product as many features are being transferred to other devices (cell phones that can check email and send instant messages, and the like). I prefer to centralize, everything's done on my PC, but others may differ greatly in their ways of getting things done. What do you think the desktop PC will look like in 10 years? I'm curious to hear what other people think.
Are you looking for American sales figures or global sales figures?
Also, a smaller Xbox has been talked about for many months now and will probably be seen fairly soon.
Take a look at the hardware requirements for Jedi Knight II:
Operating System: Windows 95 OSR2/98/ME/2000/XP
Computer: 100% DirectX-compatible computer required.
CPU: Pentium II or Athlon class 350 MHz or faster CPU required.
Memory: 64 MB required. 128 MB required for Windows 2000 and XP.
Graphics card: 16MB OpenGL-compatible PCI or AGP 3D Hardware Accelerator required.
Sound card: 16-bit DirectX 8.x-compatible sound card required.
CD-ROM: Quad-Speed IDE or SCSI CD-ROM drive required.
Input device: Keyboard or mouse required. Joystick supported.
DirectX: Microsoft DirectX 8.0a is included on this CD.
Installation: 665 MB of free hard drive space required. Additional free space required after game installation for Windows swap file and save games.
By comparison, here's the hardware requirements for Halo:
Xbox.