That is completely true. From reading the local newspapers here in croatia with interviews from the released sailors, that is the the exact problem. Those sailors are trained to be sailors; I mean navigation officers, electricians, engine engineers etc, they are not trained to be soldiers, and more importantly, they *don't want* to be soldiers as you said. I have no doubt in my mind that the sailor population would shrink dramatically if everyone is required to have "Weapons and defense certificate".
And by the way, it seems that many people missed the point with the pirates. I'm quite certain that it would be much more prudent and less expensive to give those pirates a reason not to become pirates, than trying to cure the symptoms by militarization. Moreover, demilitarization of the navy in the last two(?) hundred years was a step in a right direction, but militarization certainly isn't.
You just needed to draw a parallel here. They have nicely filled every price point in the music player line so when you go shopping you always find an ipod for your money. But this just isn't true for their computer line. They only have 3 different laptops, 1 desktop computer (which is seriously overpriced), and 2 desktop computers but with integrated displays (I'm not counting mac pro). I have no doubt in my mind that if they filled the gaps in their computer line they would have a much greater market share and very probably much more $$$.
Most people aren't savvy enough to understand how to copy and paste mp3 files to a USB storage device, or how to buy music online without using itunes (or even rip a CD without itunes).
Don't get me wrong, and I agree with most of your points but that claim isn't true (at least with me and my friends). When you use itunes, at first it isn't intuitive at all. I almost spent days trying to find out how not to put 60GB of my music to 30GB ipod. How to put only selected songs, how to put playlists etc. Now when I know it fully, it seems kinda logical, but it isn't intuitive for first time users. And yes, it makes much more sense to drag and drop (or copy&paste) your music files to your music player (which ipod/iphone doesn't support). And installing itunes after a system reinstall is pita too. I never managed to get my playlists back, and there is always a problem when you use the option to "copy imported music to your music folder" not do duplicate the files. And speaking of duplicates, ever tried to get rid of hundreds (or thousands) of duplicates, triplicates, replicants in your itunes library? It isn't nice, I can assure you unfortunately.
Let me clear things up because it seems that people are taking a phrase "hard work" (or similar) in different meanings or just equivocating purposefully.
Effort, pain and difficulty as:
(1) a phrase denoting necessary work required to accomplish a goal: eg. defeat a raid boss, defeat another player. "Skill" in lolspeak. (2) a phrase denoting unnecessary work required to accomplish a goal: eg. defeat a raid boss, defeat another player. "Grind" in lolspeak.
I agree with (1) because without it, bosses and other players would be defeated by only pressing one button (this does remind me about some classes though;), totally easy, uninteresting and boring.
But my gripe is with (2) because mmorpgs have both (1) and, in large amounts, (2) unfortunately.
That means if I ultimately want to defeat a raid boss I have to not only put effort and learn how to play for that boss/instance (which is completely acceptable and desired) but I have to spend a lot of time farming herbs/ore/gold/enchants/previous instances/etc. The problem is that the latter requires nothing (no effort, no pain, no difficulty, no blood/sweat/tears), "only" time.
And this is what game companies want. They want for a gamer to spend enormous amounts of time in the game because they want you locked in the game (you don't want to quit because you "invested" so much time in your character(s)) and that means monthly revenue. And of course, you will see much more timesink type of content because it is extremely more easier to produce. I don't want to sound alarmist, but as soon more people are informed that those games have all the effects of psychological addiction the better.
Lastly, to address your question about the seriousness of some games.
I have nothing against that. But consider this. At lvl1 in WoW, your hp and mana regenerates fast and your spell casting is fast, your xp rate is huge (levels take only minutes) etc. But as you level up everything slows down. A lot. In even ten levels everything is noticeable slower. At level 60 (and even much sooner) the hp/mana regen is pretty much non existent, 1 xp level can take days to complete etc. With 60-80, all mentioned previously, but even more so. Even by now one is pretty bored doing the kill x scheme, but you always look back at how much time you already invested so you don't want to quit. Then you hit 80 and soon enough you got very bored. But even then you don't want to quit because you invested even more time before. So the more time you invest, the less you want to quit. Well, sometimes you want to quit but by now that char feels like a part of you so you don't want to abandon it. This is what games companies are banking on. Your time becomes their money, and you love it at the same time. Some sort of quasi stockholm syndrome.
But, what would happen if a lvl1 is faced with the same xp/level ratio as a lvl 79 char? The same long casting speed, the same non existent regen rate? Much more people would quit much more sooner. Mainstream mmorpgs (wow,warhammer,lotro,aoc etc) are all somewhat new. The effect they have on kids/people are not analyzed in a serous manner yet (afaik). But mark my words, in the relatively near future you'll see plenty of stories about game addictions (I mean mmogs here). Now people only laugh about it (they did about cigarettes too). And when you compare that warnings about nudity, violence, profanity etc on game boxes, I just laugh, that is nothing, and I repeat, nothing what game addiction can be.
What I'm saying is: MS or not: the time where people used to literally stay in line to upgrade an OS are over.
Never underestimate the power of new, innovative, hyped and well marketed products. Just look at iPhone for example. Have you ever seen people standing in line to buy a (mobile) phone? Have any of us seen a line in front of a Nokia store?
I know that OS-es are much more complex, but it may not happen in 2 years, 5 or even 10. But as the time goes by as computer geek I sincerely hope that day will eventually come. Hey, I like for my computer to just work most of the time, but at the same time I do like new way of doing things, something new to learn and master and new challenges (even if those are the same things done simpler).
"Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty... I have never in my life envied a human being who led an easy life. I have envied a great many people who led diffcult lives and led them well."
-Theodore Roosevelt
Nice misquote.
Couple of points:
1. TR didn't have in mind *virtual* worlds where the rules are completely artificial and are changed on a weekly basis, usually with editing a line (or two) of code. 2. "Effort, pain and difficulty" isn't about mindless, time-wasting and boring grind by killing n number of mobs for drop d, repeat that r times per day to get some gold (which this topic is all about) so you can actually spend some time having some sort of fun in the part of the game you actually want to be.
Games are supposed to be games, and that means having fun while playing. And forget about that ESRB or whatever (here in Europe) stickers on the game boxes, games where you need to grind with no guaranteed rewards, games which are by nature designed to suck you in because of your time investment and similar; there should be big, fat stickers on the boxes reading: May cause severe addiction problems, unsuitable for persons who are still in schools.
Truthfully, not *as* bad, but bad enough, because in accepting a gift which is produced as a result of torture they are directly condoning and indirectly supporting torture. And btw, person you mentioned being alive or dead doesn't have anything to do with it.
If I were to receive that kind of gift I would shove it into their awful torturing faces, and be proud of it.
That would be so great if you are locked in a brightly lit cell/chair and you have a movie with loud sound playing in a loop for days? And then your guard comes after a few days, changes the movie and you don't see him for another few days... Or maybe you prefer naked human pyramids or exploration of dog-human relations? I heard those are fun too!
I had some respect for the authors of the South Park as normal, rational men. But accepting this gift is cruel, unmoral and despicable. Just like torture I mentioned before.
This can be expanded with the answer to a question:
What do you give as a gift to people who can have anything they want?
Answer: you give them objects which symbolize or mean something to you and the person receiving the gift.
For example, a father gives his son granddad's watch for graduation/wedding/something important. He is not giving him a watch because the son doesn't have any, he is giving him a symbol to remind him of the accomplishments he has done (or something in that sense) and the link between these two people. It is even better if the object itself has a some compatible meaning (as that wood pen holder).
Giving your friend from childhood a car (when he has like 6 of them) for his, lets say, 50th birthday is certainly much less appreciated then giving him an ancient photo(s) of them playing as kids, preferably accompanied with discussing the childhood memories.
If you spoke in English I probably only would have had to read that once to understand what you were saying. Apparently you also should have reread my post because, while you got the general point, you totally missed the message.
Thanks for the ad hominem, didn't hear one the whole day.
You don't buy a Mac and sell it (we'll go more reasonable, here) 3 years later for 10% more than a PC. Your $500 PC is now worth $100, while your $1500 Mac is still worth (er, will sell for) $1000. In other words, your Mac is worth selling and your PC isn't.
You are greatly exaggerating here trying to amend your point.
Three year old macs don't go for $1000 because your own source disagrees with you. Moreover, 5 year old g5 imacs go for $300 (which isn't much) and then the price falls steeply. I'm quite certain that those prices will fall even even more in the future as their market expands somewhat and more systems get in the market. That 10 year cost of ownership you mention in your previous post is a complete nonsense considering the facts.
That reselling thing may work for you but I never sold any of my computers, I donate them to less fortunate people when I buy new ones. That craving for the resell value just reminds me of a car culture they have in Bosnia. The car is not a car unless its a mercedes. So a large population of people drive around in complete trash of ancient mercedes (which traded like 5 owners before) cars which cost double of triple more than a two times newer and better non-mercedes cars. My point is that even if you can have a higher resell value, doesn't make that product better when buying it.
To be honest, I don't quite get your point. What is the point in selling a year old computer? It sounds like a waste of money and time buying a new one. Secondly, 5 or 10 year old computer (mac or a "pc") is pretty much worthless. It doesn't really matter if you get 50 or 80 for them. I just never understood people who would gladly pay say 20% more on a new $product1 and so they can sell it 5+ years later for 10% more than the compared $product2. The problem is that both products are worth just a fraction of their price as new (as explained earlier).
I'm not talking here about features, I'm just talking about your argument about the resell value. I just don't quite get the logic with the fast depreciating products.
I acknowledge some of your points but you failed to mention iMac's integrated displays. That bundling of displays and other hardware is horrible (not only for the enviroment). Displays don't really age that much over the years when you compare it to other hardware, so when you desktop is ready for a (newer) replacement you can always save the monitor and connect it to your new computer. It is even better if you have multi monitor setup. So when your iMac is gone in a few years time, wouldn't be nice that you can connect that perfectly good lcd to your new computer? Oh, sorry, you can't. And this is the reason many people (including me) won't buy an imac in this form.
And just as a sidenote, wouldn't be great if they offered same hardware of an imac (in a similar small form factor) but without the display? I already have a display which is better than the imac's integrated one, but I'm not rich enough to buy another display (which I don't need) nor do I need a mac pro. Frankly, I don't understand why they don't offer a standard desktop computer to fill a hole between an mac mini and mac pro and take my money for it. Maybe they prefer selling laptops? Who knows.
Actually that is not so smart idea, because they won't recognize any kind of religion except for some mainstream ones. It is simply really, they don't won't competition. They want you and me to enter their religion/church so they treat us not as equals, but as subordinates. Or as they like to put it, they are shepherds and we are sheep. They hate it when all are shepherds.
2) You do not have a right to say things that are upsetting to other people.
First line is ok, but they are more sinister with the second. It should be:
2) You do not have a right to say things that are upsetting *religious* people.
This construction is much better because it allows some religious people to openly insult other non-religious people, which in reality they do it frequently.
Or even better, guide them in that way so the students get to the conclusion by themselves. This can be hard though, because sometimes you can have all the evidence in front of you, but fail to make an (now obvious) conclusion.
My belief is that they ran out of good ideas at the end of the second season. First part of the third season was good too, but what followed later (couple of final 3rd season and whole season 4) was a completely different show in my opinion. The problem was they were just inventing stuff on the fly (even by their own admission!) and that recoiled of course because the show now was full of inconsistencies and pretty much had no decent storyline. When you compare the first 2.5 seasons to the remaining 1.5 seasons you are pretty much looking at the different series, just with the same actors. The first 2.5 seasons were absolutely the best series I have ever watched; good storyline, action packed, spectacular space battles, extremely exciting, good cliffhangers, cylon mistique etc. But compare that to the rest of the show (the last 1.5 seasons) and you get complete bullshit like that final five mysticism (well it started somewhat acceptable, but turned out completely unplausible), starbuck resurrection, moon sized plot holes (ressurection ships/hubs, hera child which is just blah, starbuck music, coordinates...), stupid later opera house sequences, baltar's stupid and useless cult, apollo turn into a lawyer/politician, no action, melodrama, life and death pseudophilosophy, presiden't who just won't die etc. After disappointing last few season 3 series I was hoping that they realized what mistakes they made and amend them in season 4. But first part of season 4 was barely watchable then there was a huge pause and the second part of the season 4 arrived. They introduced that mutiny but that was it. The show was dead anyway. I just knew two days ago that the finale would be unsatisfactory and I was somewhat right. I won't go into it, many other posters explained anyway.
It is just such a shame that this show wasted the last season even though it could have been the greatest.
They were just inventing stuff as they went. That explains the final few episodes of season 3 and a whole season 4. When you invent stuff on the fly it is bound to return like an angry boomerang. I rewatched mini+season 1, season 2 and a good deal of season 3 the last month. The best and mind blowing series I have ever watched and those episodes are completely different from the later ones where they completely dropped the ball.
Now instead of rogue nasa 100K floating toolboxes, we can have rogue 10M floating toolboxes! Great, I'll enjoy the all those cool I-can't-reach-it-is-floating-away videos;)
You either paid more up front, or have taken a subsidized phone "off the grid" - technically taking away the revenue Apple expected, but those cases are outliers.
Firstly comparing the price won't get you anywhere because they are different devices, so they have different prices. Secondly, both ipod touch and iphone are fully paid for when you leave the store (at least in italy) so there goes your second part of the "argument". But hey, rationalize away, if that makes you feel better.
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That is completely true. From reading the local newspapers here in croatia with interviews from the released sailors, that is the the exact problem. Those sailors are trained to be sailors; I mean navigation officers, electricians, engine engineers etc, they are not trained to be soldiers, and more importantly, they *don't want* to be soldiers as you said. I have no doubt in my mind that the sailor population would shrink dramatically if everyone is required to have "Weapons and defense certificate".
And by the way, it seems that many people missed the point with the pirates. I'm quite certain that it would be much more prudent and less expensive to give those pirates a reason not to become pirates, than trying to cure the symptoms by militarization. Moreover, demilitarization of the navy in the last two(?) hundred years was a step in a right direction, but militarization certainly isn't.
You just needed to draw a parallel here. They have nicely filled every price point in the music player line so when you go shopping you always find an ipod for your money. But this just isn't true for their computer line. They only have 3 different laptops, 1 desktop computer (which is seriously overpriced), and 2 desktop computers but with integrated displays (I'm not counting mac pro). I have no doubt in my mind that if they filled the gaps in their computer line they would have a much greater market share and very probably much more $$$.
Don't get me wrong, and I agree with most of your points but that claim isn't true (at least with me and my friends). When you use itunes, at first it isn't intuitive at all. I almost spent days trying to find out how not to put 60GB of my music to 30GB ipod. How to put only selected songs, how to put playlists etc. Now when I know it fully, it seems kinda logical, but it isn't intuitive for first time users. And yes, it makes much more sense to drag and drop (or copy&paste) your music files to your music player (which ipod/iphone doesn't support). And installing itunes after a system reinstall is pita too. I never managed to get my playlists back, and there is always a problem when you use the option to "copy imported music to your music folder" not do duplicate the files. And speaking of duplicates, ever tried to get rid of hundreds (or thousands) of duplicates, triplicates, replicants in your itunes library? It isn't nice, I can assure you unfortunately.
Let me clear things up because it seems that people are taking a phrase "hard work" (or similar) in different meanings or just equivocating purposefully.
Effort, pain and difficulty as:
(1) a phrase denoting necessary work required to accomplish a goal: eg. defeat a raid boss, defeat another player. "Skill" in lolspeak.
(2) a phrase denoting unnecessary work required to accomplish a goal: eg. defeat a raid boss, defeat another player. "Grind" in lolspeak.
I agree with (1) because without it, bosses and other players would be defeated by only pressing one button (this does remind me about some classes though;), totally easy, uninteresting and boring.
But my gripe is with (2) because mmorpgs have both (1) and, in large amounts, (2) unfortunately.
That means if I ultimately want to defeat a raid boss I have to not only put effort and learn how to play for that boss/instance (which is completely acceptable and desired) but I have to spend a lot of time farming herbs/ore/gold/enchants/previous instances/etc. The problem is that the latter requires nothing (no effort, no pain, no difficulty, no blood/sweat/tears), "only" time.
And this is what game companies want. They want for a gamer to spend enormous amounts of time in the game because they want you locked in the game (you don't want to quit because you "invested" so much time in your character(s)) and that means monthly revenue. And of course, you will see much more timesink type of content because it is extremely more easier to produce. I don't want to sound alarmist, but as soon more people are informed that those games have all the effects of psychological addiction the better.
Lastly, to address your question about the seriousness of some games.
I have nothing against that. But consider this. At lvl1 in WoW, your hp and mana regenerates fast and your spell casting is fast, your xp rate is huge (levels take only minutes) etc. But as you level up everything slows down. A lot. In even ten levels everything is noticeable slower. At level 60 (and even much sooner) the hp/mana regen is pretty much non existent, 1 xp level can take days to complete etc. With 60-80, all mentioned previously, but even more so. Even by now one is pretty bored doing the kill x scheme, but you always look back at how much time you already invested so you don't want to quit. Then you hit 80 and soon enough you got very bored. But even then you don't want to quit because you invested even more time before. So the more time you invest, the less you want to quit. Well, sometimes you want to quit but by now that char feels like a part of you so you don't want to abandon it. This is what games companies are banking on. Your time becomes their money, and you love it at the same time. Some sort of quasi stockholm syndrome.
But, what would happen if a lvl1 is faced with the same xp/level ratio as a lvl 79 char? The same long casting speed, the same non existent regen rate? Much more people would quit much more sooner. Mainstream mmorpgs (wow,warhammer,lotro,aoc etc) are all somewhat new. The effect they have on kids/people are not analyzed in a serous manner yet (afaik). But mark my words, in the relatively near future you'll see plenty of stories about game addictions (I mean mmogs here). Now people only laugh about it (they did about cigarettes too). And when you compare that warnings about nudity, violence, profanity etc on game boxes, I just laugh, that is nothing, and I repeat, nothing what game addiction can be.
Clean install isn't mandatory for windows 7. Windows 7 can be upgraded from xp and vista, just not from windows 7 beta builds.
What I'm saying is: MS or not: the time where people used to literally stay in line to upgrade an OS are over.
Never underestimate the power of new, innovative, hyped and well marketed products. Just look at iPhone for example. Have you ever seen people standing in line to buy a (mobile) phone? Have any of us seen a line in front of a Nokia store?
I know that OS-es are much more complex, but it may not happen in 2 years, 5 or even 10. But as the time goes by as computer geek I sincerely hope that day will eventually come. Hey, I like for my computer to just work most of the time, but at the same time I do like new way of doing things, something new to learn and master and new challenges (even if those are the same things done simpler).
Nice misquote.
Couple of points:
1. TR didn't have in mind *virtual* worlds where the rules are completely artificial and are changed on a weekly basis, usually with editing a line (or two) of code.
2. "Effort, pain and difficulty" isn't about mindless, time-wasting and boring grind by killing n number of mobs for drop d, repeat that r times per day to get some gold (which this topic is all about) so you can actually spend some time having some sort of fun in the part of the game you actually want to be.
Games are supposed to be games, and that means having fun while playing. And forget about that ESRB or whatever (here in Europe) stickers on the game boxes, games where you need to grind with no guaranteed rewards, games which are by nature designed to suck you in because of your time investment and similar; there should be big, fat stickers on the boxes reading: May cause severe addiction problems, unsuitable for persons who are still in schools.
Just to sum up: this is similar to some guy you don't know storing materials in the empty space of your back yard.
Oh, wait... D'oh!
No! I'm anonymous!
Truthfully, not *as* bad, but bad enough, because in accepting a gift which is produced as a result of torture they are directly condoning and indirectly supporting torture. And btw, person you mentioned being alive or dead doesn't have anything to do with it.
If I were to receive that kind of gift I would shove it into their awful torturing faces, and be proud of it.
That would be so great if you are locked in a brightly lit cell/chair and you have a movie with loud sound playing in a loop for days? And then your guard comes after a few days, changes the movie and you don't see him for another few days... Or maybe you prefer naked human pyramids or exploration of dog-human relations? I heard those are fun too!
I had some respect for the authors of the South Park as normal, rational men. But accepting this gift is cruel, unmoral and despicable. Just like torture I mentioned before.
This can be expanded with the answer to a question:
What do you give as a gift to people who can have anything they want?
Answer: you give them objects which symbolize or mean something to you and the person receiving the gift.
For example, a father gives his son granddad's watch for graduation/wedding/something important. He is not giving him a watch because the son doesn't have any, he is giving him a symbol to remind him of the accomplishments he has done (or something in that sense) and the link between these two people. It is even better if the object itself has a some compatible meaning (as that wood pen holder).
Giving your friend from childhood a car (when he has like 6 of them) for his, lets say, 50th birthday is certainly much less appreciated then giving him an ancient photo(s) of them playing as kids, preferably accompanied with discussing the childhood memories.
If you spoke in English I probably only would have had to read that once to understand what you were saying. Apparently you also should have reread my post because, while you got the general point, you totally missed the message.
Thanks for the ad hominem, didn't hear one the whole day.
You don't buy a Mac and sell it (we'll go more reasonable, here) 3 years later for 10% more than a PC. Your $500 PC is now worth $100, while your $1500 Mac is still worth (er, will sell for) $1000. In other words, your Mac is worth selling and your PC isn't.
You are greatly exaggerating here trying to amend your point.
Three year old macs don't go for $1000 because your own source disagrees with you. Moreover, 5 year old g5 imacs go for $300 (which isn't much) and then the price falls steeply. I'm quite certain that those prices will fall even even more in the future as their market expands somewhat and more systems get in the market. That 10 year cost of ownership you mention in your previous post is a complete nonsense considering the facts.
That reselling thing may work for you but I never sold any of my computers, I donate them to less fortunate people when I buy new ones. That craving for the resell value just reminds me of a car culture they have in Bosnia. The car is not a car unless its a mercedes. So a large population of people drive around in complete trash of ancient mercedes (which traded like 5 owners before) cars which cost double of triple more than a two times newer and better non-mercedes cars. My point is that even if you can have a higher resell value, doesn't make that product better when buying it.
To be honest, I don't quite get your point. What is the point in selling a year old computer? It sounds like a waste of money and time buying a new one. Secondly, 5 or 10 year old computer (mac or a "pc") is pretty much worthless. It doesn't really matter if you get 50 or 80 for them. I just never understood people who would gladly pay say 20% more on a new $product1 and so they can sell it 5+ years later for 10% more than the compared $product2. The problem is that both products are worth just a fraction of their price as new (as explained earlier).
I'm not talking here about features, I'm just talking about your argument about the resell value. I just don't quite get the logic with the fast depreciating products.
I acknowledge some of your points but you failed to mention iMac's integrated displays. That bundling of displays and other hardware is horrible (not only for the enviroment). Displays don't really age that much over the years when you compare it to other hardware, so when you desktop is ready for a (newer) replacement you can always save the monitor and connect it to your new computer. It is even better if you have multi monitor setup. So when your iMac is gone in a few years time, wouldn't be nice that you can connect that perfectly good lcd to your new computer? Oh, sorry, you can't. And this is the reason many people (including me) won't buy an imac in this form.
And just as a sidenote, wouldn't be great if they offered same hardware of an imac (in a similar small form factor) but without the display? I already have a display which is better than the imac's integrated one, but I'm not rich enough to buy another display (which I don't need) nor do I need a mac pro. Frankly, I don't understand why they don't offer a standard desktop computer to fill a hole between an mac mini and mac pro and take my money for it. Maybe they prefer selling laptops? Who knows.
Actually that is not so smart idea, because they won't recognize any kind of religion except for some mainstream ones. It is simply really, they don't won't competition. They want you and me to enter their religion/church so they treat us not as equals, but as subordinates. Or as they like to put it, they are shepherds and we are sheep. They hate it when all are shepherds.
1) Religion is primarily a source of identity.
2) You do not have a right to say things that are upsetting to other people.
First line is ok, but they are more sinister with the second. It should be:
2) You do not have a right to say things that are upsetting *religious* people.
This construction is much better because it allows some religious people to openly insult other non-religious people, which in reality they do it frequently.
Yay competition.
Lucky you.
Greetings from Croatia =(
I have unlocked an iphone and no, you don't have to resync when you change SIM cards. There aren't any downsides at all if you have unlocked iphone.
Or even better, guide them in that way so the students get to the conclusion by themselves. This can be hard though, because sometimes you can have all the evidence in front of you, but fail to make an (now obvious) conclusion.
My belief is that they ran out of good ideas at the end of the second season. First part of the third season was good too, but what followed later (couple of final 3rd season and whole season 4) was a completely different show in my opinion. The problem was they were just inventing stuff on the fly (even by their own admission!) and that recoiled of course because the show now was full of inconsistencies and pretty much had no decent storyline. When you compare the first 2.5 seasons to the remaining 1.5 seasons you are pretty much looking at the different series, just with the same actors. The first 2.5 seasons were absolutely the best series I have ever watched; good storyline, action packed, spectacular space battles, extremely exciting, good cliffhangers, cylon mistique etc. But compare that to the rest of the show (the last 1.5 seasons) and you get complete bullshit like that final five mysticism (well it started somewhat acceptable, but turned out completely unplausible), starbuck resurrection, moon sized plot holes (ressurection ships/hubs, hera child which is just blah, starbuck music, coordinates...), stupid later opera house sequences, baltar's stupid and useless cult, apollo turn into a lawyer/politician, no action, melodrama, life and death pseudophilosophy, presiden't who just won't die etc. After disappointing last few season 3 series I was hoping that they realized what mistakes they made and amend them in season 4. But first part of season 4 was barely watchable then there was a huge pause and the second part of the season 4 arrived. They introduced that mutiny but that was it. The show was dead anyway. I just knew two days ago that the finale would be unsatisfactory and I was somewhat right. I won't go into it, many other posters explained anyway.
It is just such a shame that this show wasted the last season even though it could have been the greatest.
They were just inventing stuff as they went. That explains the final few episodes of season 3 and a whole season 4. When you invent stuff on the fly it is bound to return like an angry boomerang. I rewatched mini+season 1, season 2 and a good deal of season 3 the last month. The best and mind blowing series I have ever watched and those episodes are completely different from the later ones where they completely dropped the ball.
Now instead of rogue nasa 100K floating toolboxes, we can have rogue 10M floating toolboxes! Great, I'll enjoy the all those cool I-can't-reach-it-is-floating-away videos;)
Firstly comparing the price won't get you anywhere because they are different devices, so they have different prices. Secondly, both ipod touch and iphone are fully paid for when you leave the store (at least in italy) so there goes your second part of the "argument". But hey, rationalize away, if that makes you feel better.