Your rose-tinted scenario is very different from the grim portrait I have seen elsewhere. Here's how Wikipedia put it:
Nokia was the world's largest vendor of mobile phones from 1998 to 2012. However, over the past five years its market share declined as a result of the growing use of touchscreen smartphones from other vendors—principally the iPhone, by Apple, and devices running on Android, an operating system created by Google. The corporation's share price fell from a high of US$40 in late 2007 to under US$2 in mid-2012. In a bid to recover, Nokia announced a strategic partnership with Microsoft in February 2011, leading to the replacement of Symbian with Microsoft's Windows Phone operating system in all Nokia smartphones. Following the replacement of the Symbian system, Nokia's smartphone sales figures, which had previously increased, collapsed dramatically. From the beginning of 2011 until 2013, Nokia fell from its position as the world's largest smartphone vendor to assume the status of tenth largest.
Things might have improved now that MS took over, but then again, they could be much better if they hadn't touched that shit in the first place.
iPhone... was what people now wanted, and continue to want.
Yes, the iPhone brought smartphones to the mainstream - a new style of smartphones, even. Can't deny that. Yet you overestimate its "hook" on users: if everyone's so crazy about it, how come Android has surpassed it? I think there was room in the market for MeeGo, which, unlike WP, carriers actually intended to support.
Until late 2010, Nokia's market share was around 70% -- uncontested leader, twice the size of Apple, four times bigger than Samsung, and consistently, immensely profitable. They had the largest ecosystem and the top-selling app store. Carriers and retailers loved Nokia. Customer fidelity was near absolute. Market analysts expected Nokia to remain the leader for years. Maybe Symbian was getting a bit long in the tooth, but MeeGo was on the way.
After the "burning platforms" and the move to Winblows Phoney, however... their market share collapsed overnight. Users, carriers, and retailers fully rejected it. While the press was drooling over the first MeeGo phone, they gave it a very limited launch and announced that no more would be made. Ratings companies now rank Nokia stock as junk.
You call this "a fairly good job"? Well, sure, taking in account that this was Elop's true goal all along: to sabotage Nokia, make its stock near worthless so that Microsoft could buy the whole damn thing. He achieved what he meant to, and killed Nokia while doing so.
That's Brazil for you: everything electronics is insanely expensive down here. $200 is just slightly above the low-end class of Nokia Asha and Samsung Wave.
An important detail there. Back then, as I recall, HD TVs (1280×720), or even lower res, were very common. While that's okay for watching movies or TV shows from the couch, that's awful for a large screen sitting within arm's reach. And even now, most TVs are only Full HD (1920x1080), no matter the size, while computer monitors often go higher; 27" monitors at WQHD (2560x1440) are getting quite popular, I heard.
I think a semi-rational argument, more than "sex bad violence good", is that kids are more likely to see sex and want to have sex than they are to see violence and want to be violent.
Frankly, if they want to have sex, teach them about how to do it safely and LET THEM!
"Indeed, as I learned, there were on the planet where the little prince lived -- as on all planets -- good plants and bad plants. In consequence, there were good seeds from good plants, and bad seeds from bad plants. But seeds are invisible. They sleep deep in the heart of the earth's darkness, until some one among them is seized with the desire to awaken. Then this little seed will stretch itself and begin -- timidly at first -- to push a charming little sprig inoffensively upward toward the sun. If it is only a sprout of radish or the sprig of a rose-bush, one would let it grow wherever it might wish. But when it is a bad plant, one must destroy it as soon as possible, the very first instant that one recognizes it.
Now there were some terrible seeds on the planet that was the home of the little prince; and these were the seeds of the baobab. The soil of that planet was infested with them. A baobab is something you will never, never be able to get rid of if you attend to it too late. It spreads over the entire planet. It bores clear through it with its roots. And if the planet is too small, and the baobabs are too many, they split it in pieces..."
(Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, "The Little Prince", 1943)
It's hard to believe that men went to the moon because they don't go anymore. It's hard to believe that such knowledge, such infrastructure, such willingness to fund science, existed just a few decades ago and is now gone.
I heard that Prometheus' original script was solid, but then Ridley Scott got another writer (who also did Star Trek Into Darkness) to make it more pretentious and less like Alien.
No, you got it backwards: let J.J. Hackhams annihilate Star Wars if he wants, but The Black Hole is an underrated gem that deserves a good remake. Yes, the writing was a bit wonky in the end, but it was intelligent, had an irreproachable cast, some stunning designs, impressive effects, and one of the most haunting themes ever.
Good luck making good controls for a platformer on mobile.
By "making controls", do you mean as the game's designer or the hardware's designer? I mean, there are controllers for mobiles, and even a few mobiles with proper game buttons, check this.
Slashdot Mirror
Your rose-tinted scenario is very different from the grim portrait I have seen elsewhere. Here's how Wikipedia put it:
Nokia was the world's largest vendor of mobile phones from 1998 to 2012. However, over the past five years its market share declined as a result of the growing use of touchscreen smartphones from other vendors—principally the iPhone, by Apple, and devices running on Android, an operating system created by Google. The corporation's share price fell from a high of US$40 in late 2007 to under US$2 in mid-2012. In a bid to recover, Nokia announced a strategic partnership with Microsoft in February 2011, leading to the replacement of Symbian with Microsoft's Windows Phone operating system in all Nokia smartphones. Following the replacement of the Symbian system, Nokia's smartphone sales figures, which had previously increased, collapsed dramatically. From the beginning of 2011 until 2013, Nokia fell from its position as the world's largest smartphone vendor to assume the status of tenth largest.
WP sure did Nokia a lot of good, you say...
Citations please.
Fitch downgrades Nokia rating
Nokia Rating Cut Further Into Junk by S&P
Nokia Cut Further Into Junk by Moody’s
Things might have improved now that MS took over, but then again, they could be much better if they hadn't touched that shit in the first place.
iPhone ... was what people now wanted, and continue to want.
Yes, the iPhone brought smartphones to the mainstream - a new style of smartphones, even. Can't deny that. Yet you overestimate its "hook" on users: if everyone's so crazy about it, how come Android has surpassed it? I think there was room in the market for MeeGo, which, unlike WP, carriers actually intended to support.
Let me tell you why that's bullshit.
Until late 2010, Nokia's market share was around 70% -- uncontested leader, twice the size of Apple, four times bigger than Samsung, and consistently, immensely profitable. They had the largest ecosystem and the top-selling app store. Carriers and retailers loved Nokia. Customer fidelity was near absolute. Market analysts expected Nokia to remain the leader for years. Maybe Symbian was getting a bit long in the tooth, but MeeGo was on the way.
After the "burning platforms" and the move to Winblows Phoney, however... their market share collapsed overnight. Users, carriers, and retailers fully rejected it. While the press was drooling over the first MeeGo phone, they gave it a very limited launch and announced that no more would be made. Ratings companies now rank Nokia stock as junk.
You call this "a fairly good job"? Well, sure, taking in account that this was Elop's true goal all along: to sabotage Nokia, make its stock near worthless so that Microsoft could buy the whole damn thing. He achieved what he meant to, and killed Nokia while doing so.
Moving from "undisputed market leader" to "near bankrupt also-ran" is no good job.
Windows 8 is an unusable operating system in the same sense as Comic Sans is an unusable font.
Serves them right, for giving EA money!
It's a very stylish lens.
That's Brazil for you: everything electronics is insanely expensive down here. $200 is just slightly above the low-end class of Nokia Asha and Samsung Wave.
A few years ago
An important detail there. Back then, as I recall, HD TVs (1280×720), or even lower res, were very common. While that's okay for watching movies or TV shows from the couch, that's awful for a large screen sitting within arm's reach. And even now, most TVs are only Full HD (1920x1080), no matter the size, while computer monitors often go higher; 27" monitors at WQHD (2560x1440) are getting quite popular, I heard.
Wine is quite complicated to use. You were foolish not to recommend OpenOffice / LibreOffice.
What joke?
That same PC might also run a fully modern (more secure) lightweight Linux distro.
On the other hand, parents...
Taiwan IS China. The legit one, anyway.
I think a semi-rational argument, more than "sex bad violence good", is that kids are more likely to see sex and want to have sex than they are to see violence and want to be violent.
Frankly, if they want to have sex, teach them about how to do it safely and LET THEM!
"Indeed, as I learned, there were on the planet where the little prince lived -- as on all planets -- good plants and bad plants. In consequence, there were good seeds from good plants, and bad seeds from bad plants. But seeds are invisible. They sleep deep in the heart of the earth's darkness, until some one among them is seized with the desire to awaken. Then this little seed will stretch itself and begin -- timidly at first -- to push a charming little sprig inoffensively upward toward the sun. If it is only a sprout of radish or the sprig of a rose-bush, one would let it grow wherever it might wish. But when it is a bad plant, one must destroy it as soon as possible, the very first instant that one recognizes it.
Now there were some terrible seeds on the planet that was the home of the little prince; and these were the seeds of the baobab. The soil of that planet was infested with them. A baobab is something you will never, never be able to get rid of if you attend to it too late. It spreads over the entire planet. It bores clear through it with its roots. And if the planet is too small, and the baobabs are too many, they split it in pieces..."
(Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, "The Little Prince", 1943)
Hypothetically, the Xbox wouldn't have sold well without Halo, which was hyped to the stratosphere.
Sometimes it does, see Therac-25.
It's hard to believe that men went to the moon because they don't go anymore. It's hard to believe that such knowledge, such infrastructure, such willingness to fund science, existed just a few decades ago and is now gone.
The reason we can't Skype is because her and her fat flabby "she-husband" run around the house naked.
A good lawyer would easily take the kid away from them.
I heard that Prometheus' original script was solid, but then Ridley Scott got another writer (who also did Star Trek Into Darkness) to make it more pretentious and less like Alien.
No, you got it backwards: let J.J. Hackhams annihilate Star Wars if he wants, but The Black Hole is an underrated gem that deserves a good remake. Yes, the writing was a bit wonky in the end, but it was intelligent, had an irreproachable cast, some stunning designs, impressive effects, and one of the most haunting themes ever.
ST:2009 was the best film by Academy Awards, inflation-adjusted box office, Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic, and IMDB.
Seriously, FUCK everyone who gave that piece of shit a good review. The writing was horrible, chock-full of plot holes and contrived coincidences.
And the lens flare.
Good luck making good controls for a platformer on mobile.
By "making controls", do you mean as the game's designer or the hardware's designer? I mean, there are controllers for mobiles, and even a few mobiles with proper game buttons, check this.
People hate that thing with a passion because it is THAT bad.