Re:If MS were to use such strategies, would anyone
on
Platform Evangelism
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Now, if Wal-Mart paid the local zoning commission to ake other stores illegal, or make it so mom and pop stores could not operate at night whereas wal-Mart can, or bought up all the supplies so that the other store could not be stocked, that would put them in the league with Microsoft.
Wal-Mart typically does do things like this, however. If they have a store in a set up center, they are the only store that will be granted the ability to be open 24 hours in that shopping center, for example.
They also have used their own pseudo-monopoly status (in many parts of the US, they are the ONLY place to shop for just about everything from clothes to groceries to electronics) to force suppliers to give them insane discounts that smaller local based stores cannot hope to get. This allows Wal-Mart to have prices much lower than the local buisnesses can even think of offering.
Add in their horrendous treatment of employees (a 28 hour work week is considered full time, but no benefits unless you make 40...which they try and ensure the regular employees never get), low salaries, etc. and Wal-Mart is just as evil as Microsoft, jut in a different market.
How in the hell are you getting updates for Unreal Championship? Even though the freaking patch (yes, patch; not an 'update') has been ready for months, it has yet to be released to the Live servers.
The way I've always seen it, however, is not that the distros are selling the software itself, but rather the technical support for said software.
Redhat, Debian, etc., all sell the software packages (Linux Kernel, X, and other software) at very low costs. But you can also download any of the ditros' versions for free from their web sites.
The big thing, however, is the tech support. You can download the software for free, but you have to pay for tech support. If you buy the official software packages from the distros, then the tech support is included (although I'm not sure if it is for a set time beofre needing to pay again or not).
So the distros aren't selling the GNU/Linux OS itself, since it is free to get from them or anyone else at any time, but the technical support to ensure it runs properly upon your system(s).
Uncle Thursday
---Technically, I may be wrong. Actually, I may also be wrong.---
Could depend on when you bought it. Mine was bought January 2001.
You do know you ain't supposed to leave your consoles out in the rain? And you shouldn't use them as door stops or anchors or rhino-ticklers too...
I do take care of my stuff. It's just Sony does have a reputation for cutting costs by using slightly sub-par components in their consoles. The PSX was pretty infamous for defects, and so is the PS2. I know people who are on their 3rd PS2's from the drives going. I'm just happy it took mine this long to go on my first PS2.
Go to hell;- )
I'm in New Jersey. That's close enough.
So, you got all 3 consoles? I want a cube, so I get that, but why an XBox? You just had to have all 3?
Well, I picked the Cube up launch day. I've been a big Nintendo fan for a long time. Overall, the quality of their first party games simply cannot be touched by anyone other than Sega.
As for the Xbox, I picked it up for Halo and JSRF. Then MechAssault caught my eye, so I got Live, and Unreal Chapionship (since my computer won't run UT2K3 very well), NHL 2K3, and Capcom vs. SNK EO. I also have Panzer Dragoon Orta.
Overall, though, I've come very close to selling my Xbox a few times. There simply aren't enough games *I* want to play....and the next game I'm looking forward to is Halo 2; which won't be out until next year at the earliest. And the majority of MS' first party games range from almost able to be fun, to absolute dog shit (Halo and MechAssault the exceptions, as well as PGR I suppose but I'm not into racers).
Xbox Live hasn't been the bees knees, either. Bad lag on some games, cheaters, people who don't bother to use the voice option given in all games, as well as just lackluster games, overall, have made me say I think I jumped in on the Live bandwagon too early.
If you aren't that interested in the Xbox now, I can't think of any arguments to sway you. Halo is coming to the PC, so that reason is gone. I might end up selling mine soon if some better games don't start coming out.
I agree that it is very uncommon for women to enjoy violent games, but I do remember one Quake goddess from high school...
Yeah, I know a few Girl GamerZ who can kick serious ass in FPS and RTS games.
This past New Year's I saw the side of a few girls I didn't even know existed. All of them attractive and in their 20's...playing Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. Their sole intent in playing? To kill as many people as possible, in as many ways as possible.
One girl found the 'bail' button while driving, so she would purposefully wreck her car until it was on fire, then aim at a large group of pedestrians, at full speed, and bail. I've never heard such gleeful laughter.
And she seemed like such a nice, sweet girl otherwise. I guess I'll just have to keep my hand on the door latch if I ever drive with her.;-
Uncle Thursday
---Attracted to Women GamerZ...especially Geek Women GamerZ---
But, I think the main thing any online game really needs to do is work on optimization of network code. And for both dial-up and broadband.
Sure, the majority of broadband adoptors, in the home, are online gamers, but broadband saturation is still very low; and the availability, coupled with the price will probably keep it low for a while. I know people in Canada who pay between $25-$30 US per month, and get better speeds with their broadband than I get paying $55 US a month for mine.
Online games need to be optimized, no matter what connection the programmers would prefer. There's still plenty of lag on broadband when playing games, and a lot of it has to do with unoptimized code (which normally is fixed later down the road via patches on the PC).
Uncle Thursday
---In Soviet Russia, I might have gotten the first psot.---
It's still only an 8 GB or 10 GB (formatted so only 8 GB is useable) drive in the Xbox, depending on the drive manufacturer. The console is only designed to natively read the 8 GB, so putting a 20 GB drive in there would just be a waste of money; since MS would be wasting 60% of the potential. They only waste 20% of the potential using the 10 GB drives.
Uncle Thursday
---Too many posts, not enough witt.---
So did I, at first. But then I bought a stand alone DVD player, for a lot less than the PS2, and the quality is much better than the PS2's. Plus it reads all the DVDs, my PS2 had a hard time with some, especially multi-layer DVDs.
My PS2's drive is also going. It is over 2 years old, so I should be happy it lasted that long (my PSX had to be upside-down or it wouldn't work after I owned it for 6 months), but I'm still going to have to replace it soon. It rarely reads disks on the first try anymore, even when they are brand new.
Go buy a GameCube then.
I already have one, and an Xbox as well....although my Xbox hasn't even been plugged in for about a month.
I bought a PS2, now I don't need to buy a DVD that would eat away precious living-room real estate and precious bank account money.
I have my Dreamcast, PS2, GC, and Xbox all in the same area, and my DVD player as well. Plenty of space left around the TV, and the room I play in isn't very large. It's just a matter of proper organization.;- I might have to move something if I get a home theater setup....but that isn't extremely high on my list of priorities, especially since I'll want a new TV before I get one of the home theater setups. My stereo works fine for now.
Oh, and the cool thing about the PS2 is that since I allready had an original playstation, for wich my ex had given me an analogue controller, I don't need to buy an extra controller to play 2 player games! Hurrah for backwards compatibility! : )
Backwards compatibility is a plus. But the older PSX analog controller doesn't have analog buttons....but most games don't really utlize them in multiplayer, if at all. The rumble and analog sticks are really all that are required for most games.
Many of the initial purchasers of the PS2 in Japan bought itfor the DVD playback feature. DVD players were still on the pricey side in Japan when the PS2 was released, so it was actually cheaper to get a PS2 and use that for DVD playback.
Sony sold a huge number of PS2s in Japan for the launch, but didn't see the launch game sales to match the console sales. DVD movie sales in Japan, however, skyrocketed at the launch of the PS2.
The PS2 was never used as much for DVD playback in North America. Neither was the Xbox. The DVD video quality in both consoles isn't as good as stand alone players; and the Xbox requires a $30 remote just to open up DVD playback. DVD playback is a nice little feature to have, but it certainly isn't necessary. I want my game consoles to play games; I have a DVD player to watch movies on.
The RIAA is behind the times, and always has been.
I'm not sure if the RIAA was *officially* around when radio became popular, but the record industry at the time tried to get radio made illegal. Their argument? "People will just listen to the radio and we'll never sell another record!" As soon as radio actually made sales HIGHER than before, they embraced it to the point of payola.
When recordable cassette tapes were first introduced, the RIAA had a heart attack. Their first reaction was to try and get the things made illegal. Their argument? "People will just record the songs off of the radio, and we'll never sell another record!" Looks like another fallacy they thought up to protect their way of doing buisness.
Now it's the Internet and the use of file sharing. Yes, file sharing of copyrighted work not specifically designated as sharable is technically illegal. But if the RIAA had embraced the MP3 (and other) format(s) early on, there wouldn't be any 'problem' of 'rampant music piracy' going on. Instead they could be making money off of 'music on demand' or something like that.
The RIAA, and the MPAA as well (they said VCRs and video cassettes would doom the movie industry; using the same arguments the RIAA had used against radio and recordable cassettes), have been, and always will be behind the times. That's why they pushed so hard for the DMCA. That's why they're pushing so hard for the CDBTPA. They're fearfull of losing their monopoly on distribution of popular music.
Frankly, with how bad they treat most of their employees (the artists) they should go down the tubes.
Or, there are other people, like Ian Mckay of the DC/mathrock scene and Dischord records. His solution is this: No written contracts. Just handshakes. He pays for the recording and mastering of your band's CD. He distributes the CD. All out of pocket. When it's done, he keeps all the proceeds of CD sales until the debt is paid off, and then the band and the label split it 50/50. He doesn't touch merchandise or touring profits. If a band ever gets into a disagreement with Ian and want to screw him, he hands them their master and tells them to get the fuck out, deal off, and they lose him as a contact and gain him as a bad reference.
I have a simmilar idea for a record label, provided some things go right this summer. I advertise the CDs, the bands use their own studios (or mine at a set hourly rate) to make the masters. Then we split sales of CDs 50/50. Sell the CDs for fairly cheap ($7-$8) and split it down the middle.
The bands own their masters and all copyrights. We don't produce tons of extra CDs, more or less print to order (keeps storage overhead way down).
I think it could work, with a little more refinement....but until I know if I'm going to have the money to start the venture, I'm not going to get totally into schematics of everything.
Not until Dubbya is out of office. Remember how quickly the DoJ backed off in what appeared to be mere minutes after Dubya was innagurated.
MS plegded about double to Rebulican and, Dubbya's in specific, campaigns than they did to any Democratic campaigns during and after the anti-trust trial. Gates had even met with Republicans and said he felt the Republicans should be in office because they'd "be more understanding" of MS' practices.
Yes. Supposedly Microsoft was looking to buy Vinvedi Universal's game publishing division. The two most notable development companies in that group being Sierra and Blizzard Entertainment.
It was rumored to be over $2 billion if the deal went through.
Between the $350 million for Rare, and the possible $2+ billion for Vinvedi Universal's game division, that'd be a hell of an investment into the Xbox.
Unfortunately for Microsoft, it would be litterally *years* before they saw any sort of return on either buyout.
Rare had stated they could get 5 games out within the first 2 years under MS. They haven't released their first game yet, and it's been nearly 9 months. Anyone who knows Rare's histroy knows they don't get games out fast. They tend to be good when they hit, most of the time, but they sure as hell take forever to get them out. They'll be lucky to get one game out, and have the next one halfway finished by the time that first 2 years is up.
Blizzard is the same way. Starcraft, Diablo, and Warcraft are all fantastic series of games....but they take about forever and a day to come out. Sierra gets games out more frequently, but most of them aren't huge sellers.
I'm not too sure the shareholders would like to see an investment of $2.35+ billion for the Xbox, considering it is losing money much faster than MS had said it would. (They expected to lose about $1 billion over 5 years; they've already lost around $300 million in under a year and a half on the Xbox.)
Unfortunately I recieved a corrupt IE patch many months ago which causes IE to garner all sorts of ActiveX errors, and no amount of re-patching has fixed this. As a result, IE litterally crashes my Windows 98 SE system multiple times per day if I try and use it.
The UCITA. If this law gets passed in each state in the US, then it can become a violation of EULAs to even criticise the product or company making the porduct. Of course, the UCITA also says the end user doesn't need to see the EULA in order for it to be binding, so the companies will most definitely try to go that route.
Is it a wonder MS is strongly pushing for this law?
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Wal-Mart typically does do things like this, however. If they have a store in a set up center, they are the only store that will be granted the ability to be open 24 hours in that shopping center, for example.
They also have used their own pseudo-monopoly status (in many parts of the US, they are the ONLY place to shop for just about everything from clothes to groceries to electronics) to force suppliers to give them insane discounts that smaller local based stores cannot hope to get. This allows Wal-Mart to have prices much lower than the local buisnesses can even think of offering.
Add in their horrendous treatment of employees (a 28 hour work week is considered full time, but no benefits unless you make 40...which they try and ensure the regular employees never get), low salaries, etc. and Wal-Mart is just as evil as Microsoft, jut in a different market.
How in the hell are you getting updates for Unreal Championship? Even though the freaking patch (yes, patch; not an 'update') has been ready for months, it has yet to be released to the Live servers.
Redhat, Debian, etc., all sell the software packages (Linux Kernel, X, and other software) at very low costs. But you can also download any of the ditros' versions for free from their web sites.
The big thing, however, is the tech support. You can download the software for free, but you have to pay for tech support. If you buy the official software packages from the distros, then the tech support is included (although I'm not sure if it is for a set time beofre needing to pay again or not).
So the distros aren't selling the GNU/Linux OS itself, since it is free to get from them or anyone else at any time, but the technical support to ensure it runs properly upon your system(s).
Uncle Thursday
---Technically, I may be wrong. Actually, I may also be wrong.---
Could depend on when you bought it. Mine was bought January 2001.
You do know you ain't supposed to leave your consoles out in the rain? And you shouldn't use them as door stops or anchors or rhino-ticklers too...
I do take care of my stuff. It's just Sony does have a reputation for cutting costs by using slightly sub-par components in their consoles. The PSX was pretty infamous for defects, and so is the PS2. I know people who are on their 3rd PS2's from the drives going. I'm just happy it took mine this long to go on my first PS2.
Go to hell ;- )
I'm in New Jersey. That's close enough.
So, you got all 3 consoles? I want a cube, so I get that, but why an XBox? You just had to have all 3?
Well, I picked the Cube up launch day. I've been a big Nintendo fan for a long time. Overall, the quality of their first party games simply cannot be touched by anyone other than Sega.
As for the Xbox, I picked it up for Halo and JSRF. Then MechAssault caught my eye, so I got Live, and Unreal Chapionship (since my computer won't run UT2K3 very well), NHL 2K3, and Capcom vs. SNK EO. I also have Panzer Dragoon Orta.
Overall, though, I've come very close to selling my Xbox a few times. There simply aren't enough games *I* want to play....and the next game I'm looking forward to is Halo 2; which won't be out until next year at the earliest. And the majority of MS' first party games range from almost able to be fun, to absolute dog shit (Halo and MechAssault the exceptions, as well as PGR I suppose but I'm not into racers).
Xbox Live hasn't been the bees knees, either. Bad lag on some games, cheaters, people who don't bother to use the voice option given in all games, as well as just lackluster games, overall, have made me say I think I jumped in on the Live bandwagon too early.
If you aren't that interested in the Xbox now, I can't think of any arguments to sway you. Halo is coming to the PC, so that reason is gone. I might end up selling mine soon if some better games don't start coming out.
Who's with me?
Anyone?
Hello? Is anyone there?
Uncle Thursday
--Listening to the crickets chirp.---
I see my reputation preceeds me.
This is not necessarily a bad thing. At least you'll all know who you're dealing with. ;-
Uncle Thursday
---Cuses! Foiled again!---
Yeah, I know a few Girl GamerZ who can kick serious ass in FPS and RTS games.
This past New Year's I saw the side of a few girls I didn't even know existed. All of them attractive and in their 20's...playing Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. Their sole intent in playing? To kill as many people as possible, in as many ways as possible.
One girl found the 'bail' button while driving, so she would purposefully wreck her car until it was on fire, then aim at a large group of pedestrians, at full speed, and bail. I've never heard such gleeful laughter.
And she seemed like such a nice, sweet girl otherwise. I guess I'll just have to keep my hand on the door latch if I ever drive with her. ;-
Uncle Thursday
---Attracted to Women GamerZ...especially Geek Women GamerZ---
Personally, I feel the most important aspect is gameplay. But, in online games, shoddy network code can ruin the gameplay.
Uncle Thursday
---Gamer. Lover. Fugitive. Not necessarily in that order.---
I forgot what really is important when desinging games.
Thank you for bringing me back into the light.
Uncle Thursday
---Who wouldn't ever dream of talking about issues with merits...The EULA is obviously the most important thing.---
Sure, the majority of broadband adoptors, in the home, are online gamers, but broadband saturation is still very low; and the availability, coupled with the price will probably keep it low for a while. I know people in Canada who pay between $25-$30 US per month, and get better speeds with their broadband than I get paying $55 US a month for mine.
Online games need to be optimized, no matter what connection the programmers would prefer. There's still plenty of lag on broadband when playing games, and a lot of it has to do with unoptimized code (which normally is fixed later down the road via patches on the PC).
Uncle Thursday
---In Soviet Russia, I might have gotten the first psot.---
Uncle Thursday
---Too many posts, not enough witt.---
So did I, at first. But then I bought a stand alone DVD player, for a lot less than the PS2, and the quality is much better than the PS2's. Plus it reads all the DVDs, my PS2 had a hard time with some, especially multi-layer DVDs.
My PS2's drive is also going. It is over 2 years old, so I should be happy it lasted that long (my PSX had to be upside-down or it wouldn't work after I owned it for 6 months), but I'm still going to have to replace it soon. It rarely reads disks on the first try anymore, even when they are brand new.
Go buy a GameCube then.
I already have one, and an Xbox as well....although my Xbox hasn't even been plugged in for about a month.
I bought a PS2, now I don't need to buy a DVD that would eat away precious living-room real estate and precious bank account money.
I have my Dreamcast, PS2, GC, and Xbox all in the same area, and my DVD player as well. Plenty of space left around the TV, and the room I play in isn't very large. It's just a matter of proper organization. ;- I might have to move something if I get a home theater setup....but that isn't extremely high on my list of priorities, especially since I'll want a new TV before I get one of the home theater setups. My stereo works fine for now.
Oh, and the cool thing about the PS2 is that since I allready had an original playstation, for wich my ex had given me an analogue controller, I don't need to buy an extra controller to play 2 player games! Hurrah for backwards compatibility! : )
Backwards compatibility is a plus. But the older PSX analog controller doesn't have analog buttons....but most games don't really utlize them in multiplayer, if at all. The rumble and analog sticks are really all that are required for most games.
Uncle Thursday
----This Space For Rent----
Uncle Thursday
--Link Goes Here--
Sony sold a huge number of PS2s in Japan for the launch, but didn't see the launch game sales to match the console sales. DVD movie sales in Japan, however, skyrocketed at the launch of the PS2.
The PS2 was never used as much for DVD playback in North America. Neither was the Xbox. The DVD video quality in both consoles isn't as good as stand alone players; and the Xbox requires a $30 remote just to open up DVD playback. DVD playback is a nice little feature to have, but it certainly isn't necessary. I want my game consoles to play games; I have a DVD player to watch movies on.
The RIAA is behind the times, and always has been.
I'm not sure if the RIAA was *officially* around when radio became popular, but the record industry at the time tried to get radio made illegal. Their argument? "People will just listen to the radio and we'll never sell another record!" As soon as radio actually made sales HIGHER than before, they embraced it to the point of payola.
When recordable cassette tapes were first introduced, the RIAA had a heart attack. Their first reaction was to try and get the things made illegal. Their argument? "People will just record the songs off of the radio, and we'll never sell another record!" Looks like another fallacy they thought up to protect their way of doing buisness.
Now it's the Internet and the use of file sharing. Yes, file sharing of copyrighted work not specifically designated as sharable is technically illegal. But if the RIAA had embraced the MP3 (and other) format(s) early on, there wouldn't be any 'problem' of 'rampant music piracy' going on. Instead they could be making money off of 'music on demand' or something like that.
The RIAA, and the MPAA as well (they said VCRs and video cassettes would doom the movie industry; using the same arguments the RIAA had used against radio and recordable cassettes), have been, and always will be behind the times. That's why they pushed so hard for the DMCA. That's why they're pushing so hard for the CDBTPA. They're fearfull of losing their monopoly on distribution of popular music.
Frankly, with how bad they treat most of their employees (the artists) they should go down the tubes.
Uncle Thursday --Witty saying goes here--
I have a simmilar idea for a record label, provided some things go right this summer. I advertise the CDs, the bands use their own studios (or mine at a set hourly rate) to make the masters. Then we split sales of CDs 50/50. Sell the CDs for fairly cheap ($7-$8) and split it down the middle.
The bands own their masters and all copyrights. We don't produce tons of extra CDs, more or less print to order (keeps storage overhead way down).
I think it could work, with a little more refinement....but until I know if I'm going to have the money to start the venture, I'm not going to get totally into schematics of everything.
MS plegded about double to Rebulican and, Dubbya's in specific, campaigns than they did to any Democratic campaigns during and after the anti-trust trial. Gates had even met with Republicans and said he felt the Republicans should be in office because they'd "be more understanding" of MS' practices.
It was rumored to be over $2 billion if the deal went through.
Between the $350 million for Rare, and the possible $2+ billion for Vinvedi Universal's game division, that'd be a hell of an investment into the Xbox.
Unfortunately for Microsoft, it would be litterally *years* before they saw any sort of return on either buyout.
Rare had stated they could get 5 games out within the first 2 years under MS. They haven't released their first game yet, and it's been nearly 9 months. Anyone who knows Rare's histroy knows they don't get games out fast. They tend to be good when they hit, most of the time, but they sure as hell take forever to get them out. They'll be lucky to get one game out, and have the next one halfway finished by the time that first 2 years is up.
Blizzard is the same way. Starcraft, Diablo, and Warcraft are all fantastic series of games....but they take about forever and a day to come out. Sierra gets games out more frequently, but most of them aren't huge sellers.
I'm not too sure the shareholders would like to see an investment of $2.35+ billion for the Xbox, considering it is losing money much faster than MS had said it would. (They expected to lose about $1 billion over 5 years; they've already lost around $300 million in under a year and a half on the Xbox.)
Unfortunately I recieved a corrupt IE patch many months ago which causes IE to garner all sorts of ActiveX errors, and no amount of re-patching has fixed this. As a result, IE litterally crashes my Windows 98 SE system multiple times per day if I try and use it.
So I use Netscape 7.0.2 on my Windows system.
Looks like I'm not going to check this out.
Is it a wonder MS is strongly pushing for this law?