I've found this site to be a valuable resource in understanding product cycles. To save you the time of clicking the link (although you should anyway, to at least bookmark it), it says it's been 85 days since the last update. While there's no historical data to base a buying recommendation on, the MacBook Pro has an average of 104 days in a cycle. Since the MacBook is a consumer model it was unlikely to be updated at WWDC, but my guess is that the new MacBook will show up close to the Merom, which Apple should be receiving in the first week of September. I would not be surprised to see MacBook and MacBook Pro updates at the same time in September.
Every person I know who has played multiple MMOs (my roommate has played basically all of them, even some really obscure ones) has said that WoW is a "noob's MMO". They complain that it is too easy to level up, dying has too little risk, etc. etc. I know players of some other MMOs who refuse to play WoW because they consider it to be rather lame. It really is a very approachable MMO, and has the marketshare to prove it.
Yes, there are many time sinks, but this is just artificial content to appease the masses, and it's just as bad if not worse in other MMOs. While hitting level 60 does change the game quite a bit to a more hardcore MMO experience, it's still quite tame compared to other MMOs.
As for losing your characters, Blizzard (and basically every other MMO) keeps them saved pretty much forever. You apparently didn't know this, but people can reactivate their accounts, and do. I took a break myself a about a year ago for a few months, and I know people who have reactivated after a much longer time away. That's how Blizzard gets people to come back to their game. They know they can come back at any time and be right where they were.
I think you missed the point. I'm saying that a graphics set-up like this is only going to give you improved performance on high-resolution set-ups. I'm not saying CPUs are slow, I'm saying that they are slower than this graphics system on low resolutions. Anybody with a smaller monitor would get just as good performance from a less expensive GPU set-up. It's about the number of pixels, not the speed of the CPU.
I would be referring to weapons and the like which are available for reputiaton, not the honor rewards (which aren't all that good anyway). I was not saying that it'll only take you a week, but for those unable to spend 4 consecutive hours in the game, there are options. Also, there's a questline to upgrade the so-called tier 0 set items to a so-called tier 0.5. I quit the game just as this was coming out so I don't know the full details, but that's another option for very nice rares and some decent epics. Blizzard to their credit has added some content for those unable to do end-game raids.
But honestly, I'm somebody who quit the game after finding himself unable to raid. If you can't raid and don't like the alternatives, by all means stop paying your monthly fee and play something else.
People can and are addicted to non-chemical substances. They exhibit the same behavioral patterns as an addict, they have the same neural-chemistry as an addict, and they suffer the same kinds of withdrawal symptoms as an addict. We're not talking about what people enjoy. If somebody's still enjoying the game, they probably don't have a problem. It's when they have to play it, when they experience extreme discomfort when they aren't playing, when they turn their backs on everything else in life to play it, it's not about enjoyment, and that's why we talk about addictions to things other than drugs. This sort of thing is very well documented, you may want to do some research before you claim that this type of addiction doesn't exist.
On the other hand, you've got people thinking that enjoyment of games automatically means addiction. This is untrue. But so is saying addiction to games doens't exist.
It only really helps if you have a monitor capable of insanely high resolutions, like 2560x1600. Otherwise anything you'd be displaying is essentially CPU-bound.
Okay, we do have parties here and whatnot, but getting drunk and throwing up all weekend and then having hangovers and not remembering what happened anyway isn't my idea of a good time. And socializing doesn't have to be at night. You can have fun with friends any time doing almost anything, use a little creativity.
Also I use the phrase "raided two nights a week" rather loosely. Our ZG raid was actually Sunday afternoon, and night raids were generally six o'clock or so. I could go out with friends afterwards easily.
That's where Blizzard has gone wrong. The game is extremely approachable to players unfamiliar with MMOs. It certainly was for me. Things change pretty dramatically at level 60 though.
I didn't really mind raiding, but I'd have preferred to have gotten my epic gear in smaller groups. And I think that the saved instances was a bad idea. The game is already set up so that people with more time to play have better stuff, they shouldn't have tried to balance that part of it. I really wouldn't mind it if the complete addicts raided the same place 24 hours a day for a week to get everything they could possibly get out of it, just as long as there were some actual pick-up groups among those that were in raiding guilds but wanted to go an extra time during the week whenever they wanted. If anything, saved instances prevents smaller guilds from doing high-end content because without them, you could have more experienced players coming along to help out and fill up spots.
It sounds to me that in your situation, you just don't have the time. There's a difference between being addicted and having enough time to play. But in any case, you're an ideal user for Blizzard, you pay your monthly fees and you don't even play. I bet they love you. In any case, you can very easily get to level 60 without raiding. The gear you'd get in level 42 instances you'll replace long before 60 anyway. There's also the battlegrounds route for getting some epics (it takes a lot of time, but that time doesn't have to be consecutive). You could advance your character if you wanted, my guess is you're just not interested enough in the game to be considered an enthusiast.
I agree that the game in itself would not easily survive without addicts at some level. After all, it's those people who figure out how to do all the high-end content and give everyone else the strategies. But ultimately, I don't think the addicts are the big moneymaker for Blizzard. Those people will just go to another MMO once WoW fails to provide them with their fix.
I have one, I just don't want to set myself on fire by using it.
But seriously, they just don't make big enough laptop screens to get the kind of effect I want. I'd like to be able to pick up my big widescreen monitor and plunk it down on my bed and still have access to my computer across the room. I's also settle for that flexible ultra-thin electronic paper they keep promising us...
I know my desire for a wireless monitor is rather bizzare and impractical, but I can still dream, right?
A casual player will probably play longer too, since they get through the content slower. An addict may find that the game is no longer meeting their need for new content, and go to find another MMO that gives them the same kind of fix.
That always did bug in The Matrix though. Do people in the matrix actually die from not eating? Aren't they being fed through tubes while they sleep, or does the mind make it real?
I was in a fairly casual guild that only raided two nights a week (weekends). I would have preferred to raid more often, but it just couldn't be scheduled in a way to get enough people. I remember many a raid in MC where we started clearing with just 30 people, hoping we'd get 10 more to log on before we got to the first boss. Heck, we'd be lucky if we could get 8 people to show up on ZG night, when that started. Anyway, the guild fell apart after only 19 people showed up to an Onyxia raid. The casual people pretty much doomed it. I couldn't find another raiding guild (it was a PvP server and people didn't seem to care much on my faction) and so I quit the game.
While all of my game-time was reserved for WoW, I was hardly an addict. I did plenty of other things in my other time, socialized, did work, went to classes, ate, slept, etc. Probably most telling was that I didn't spend every waking moment thinking about the game. I quit without second thought and went about occupying my game-time with other games. I did see people who were definitely addicted though. The interesting thing about taking large lectures in a tech school is that you see many people playing WoW on their laptops!
I'll probably go back to WoW when the expansion comes out, and hopefully I can avoid addiction once more.
Actually, from a business perspective, Blizzard would be better off if their players were not addicts, merely enthusiasts (yes, there's a difference).
With addicts, they're going to be playing all the time. ALL the time. They'll get through the content very quickly, and complain loudly about not having more of it pumped out in each new patch. They'll also use a lot of bandwidth and server time, which Blizzard has to pay for. Chances are these addictive personalities will eventually cause them to jump ship to another MMO to get addicted to, which means less monthly fees. I've seen this happen with people who were definitely addicts, who have eventually quit to play another MMO.
On the other hand, enthusiasts will play when they have free time, rather than quitting their jobs or skipping classes. They'll get through the content slower, probably enjoy more time roleplaying and whatnot, and this means Blizzard can count on their monthly fees for a longer period of time. Blizzard can also take more time to develop new content, since their audience can wait. And that audience, the players who genuinely enjoy the game and haven't gotten through everything yet, will most likely stick around until they have. So long as Blizzard is relatively quick about adding content, they can extend this audience out for a long time.
Blizzard makes more money the less time you spend in their game each month. It's like Netflix, they want you to keep that one DVD on your coffee table for years at a time.
I get some crazy interference from time to time, where even holding a laptop next to the base station doesn't get a signal, but nothing major in terms of settings and stuff. I set it up once, and 99.9% of the time it's just fine. That.1% fixes itself after a minute or two when presumably whatever was causing interference stops. The most I ever actually have to do with it is give somebody the password and name of the network when they want to get on it. Well, that's not totally true because I'm paranoid and keep a MAC Address whitelist, but that's a one-time change and I'm probably well in the minority on that one. In any case, I have multiple profiles on the router that I can switch to with various settings as needed, such as no-longer having the whitelist, etc.
If you know what you're doing, wireless networks aren't all that hard to set up and don't require much maintainence. I've had more troubles with my ISP than I've had with my wireless network.
I don't understand why people are "fighting" their mouse cords. What exactly are you people doing with your mice? Mine just sits there, the cord shoots off towards the back of my desk and around behind to plug into the back of my screen. I never worry about it, it never gets tangled up or anything. I think the reason for all this "fighting" is that people have stopped using mousepads. The optical mice (and don't get me wrong, I've used optical mice for years) have gotten people trying to use their mouse all over the place. If you're really having so much trouble with wired mice, I'd suggest investing in a two dollar mousepad and stay within its bounds. Heck, I get free ones all the time, just go to some convention or something. There are advantages to not going padless. If nothing else, mice seem to stay cleaner.
I have a printer attached to my wireless network, so that I can print files from my laptop no matter where I am, and at the same time share the printer with two other desktops.
A wireless monitor would be great because then I could take it with me to someplace a little more comfortable, like those times when I'm just clicking on stuff (wireless mouse would come in handy here too) like reading webcomics or some long files. Those times when I really don't need to be sitting at a desk, don't need to be typing, and can just go lie down and relax somewhere.
The problem, as many people have mentioned, is latency. Wireless everything doesn't work well for games or anything else that requires virtually no interference and fast response. I don't care if my mouse takes a few extra milliseconds to click on the "next page" button and the monitor takes a few extra milliseconds to show the new page. I do care if I'm playing a game. And so, the only wireless I use is WiFi for internet on the go, and Bluetooth for the occasional small file transfer, and I'd still take gigabit eithernet for both if I had a choice.
Tablet PCs are very much a niche technology. Apple doesn't sell enough computers to make such an alternative model profitable. And most of the artist types already have an off-monitor tablet and know how to use it. And, you can definitely rotate them, and rotate your screen. And, you have the heavy-duty CPU for your high-end graphics card, and you can select the exact monitor you want (for color, contrast, etc.) at the resolution you want. What kind of pressure gradient is available on Tablet PCs anyway? Can it detect stylus tilt? Does the stylus have fully scriptable buttons on it? The artistic professional is either all set with what he or she has now, or would find a Tablet PC too limiting.
Not only sue, but beat up the guy first, leading to a countersuit and assault charges pressed on both sides.
I'm all for a bit of silliness. Life is too silly and absurd to not have fun with it. But, people have legitimate reason for not wanting to get their business suit soaked out of the blue by some careless "assassin", or get pushed onto the pavement by somebody running away from said assassin. I think banning this game from crowded subway cars is just common sense. Hopefully the people playing will do it in more open areas without too many people around. It's more fun if your victim has a chance to escape anyway.
I think they'd be a bit more upset if they accidentally got soaked because somebody had poor aim or the real target ducked. Doing this game in a crowded place isn't a great idea. Otherwise, I don't see why people would have a real problem with it.
Slashdot Mirror
I've found this site to be a valuable resource in understanding product cycles. To save you the time of clicking the link (although you should anyway, to at least bookmark it), it says it's been 85 days since the last update. While there's no historical data to base a buying recommendation on, the MacBook Pro has an average of 104 days in a cycle. Since the MacBook is a consumer model it was unlikely to be updated at WWDC, but my guess is that the new MacBook will show up close to the Merom, which Apple should be receiving in the first week of September. I would not be surprised to see MacBook and MacBook Pro updates at the same time in September.
Every person I know who has played multiple MMOs (my roommate has played basically all of them, even some really obscure ones) has said that WoW is a "noob's MMO". They complain that it is too easy to level up, dying has too little risk, etc. etc. I know players of some other MMOs who refuse to play WoW because they consider it to be rather lame. It really is a very approachable MMO, and has the marketshare to prove it.
Yes, there are many time sinks, but this is just artificial content to appease the masses, and it's just as bad if not worse in other MMOs. While hitting level 60 does change the game quite a bit to a more hardcore MMO experience, it's still quite tame compared to other MMOs.
As for losing your characters, Blizzard (and basically every other MMO) keeps them saved pretty much forever. You apparently didn't know this, but people can reactivate their accounts, and do. I took a break myself a about a year ago for a few months, and I know people who have reactivated after a much longer time away. That's how Blizzard gets people to come back to their game. They know they can come back at any time and be right where they were.
I think you missed the point. I'm saying that a graphics set-up like this is only going to give you improved performance on high-resolution set-ups. I'm not saying CPUs are slow, I'm saying that they are slower than this graphics system on low resolutions. Anybody with a smaller monitor would get just as good performance from a less expensive GPU set-up. It's about the number of pixels, not the speed of the CPU.
I would be referring to weapons and the like which are available for reputiaton, not the honor rewards (which aren't all that good anyway). I was not saying that it'll only take you a week, but for those unable to spend 4 consecutive hours in the game, there are options. Also, there's a questline to upgrade the so-called tier 0 set items to a so-called tier 0.5. I quit the game just as this was coming out so I don't know the full details, but that's another option for very nice rares and some decent epics. Blizzard to their credit has added some content for those unable to do end-game raids.
But honestly, I'm somebody who quit the game after finding himself unable to raid. If you can't raid and don't like the alternatives, by all means stop paying your monthly fee and play something else.
People can and are addicted to non-chemical substances. They exhibit the same behavioral patterns as an addict, they have the same neural-chemistry as an addict, and they suffer the same kinds of withdrawal symptoms as an addict. We're not talking about what people enjoy. If somebody's still enjoying the game, they probably don't have a problem. It's when they have to play it, when they experience extreme discomfort when they aren't playing, when they turn their backs on everything else in life to play it, it's not about enjoyment, and that's why we talk about addictions to things other than drugs. This sort of thing is very well documented, you may want to do some research before you claim that this type of addiction doesn't exist.
On the other hand, you've got people thinking that enjoyment of games automatically means addiction. This is untrue. But so is saying addiction to games doens't exist.
It only really helps if you have a monitor capable of insanely high resolutions, like 2560x1600. Otherwise anything you'd be displaying is essentially CPU-bound.
Haven't people known this for years now? I thought it was common sense.
What part of tech school did you not understand?
Okay, we do have parties here and whatnot, but getting drunk and throwing up all weekend and then having hangovers and not remembering what happened anyway isn't my idea of a good time. And socializing doesn't have to be at night. You can have fun with friends any time doing almost anything, use a little creativity.
Also I use the phrase "raided two nights a week" rather loosely. Our ZG raid was actually Sunday afternoon, and night raids were generally six o'clock or so. I could go out with friends afterwards easily.
That's where Blizzard has gone wrong. The game is extremely approachable to players unfamiliar with MMOs. It certainly was for me. Things change pretty dramatically at level 60 though.
I didn't really mind raiding, but I'd have preferred to have gotten my epic gear in smaller groups. And I think that the saved instances was a bad idea. The game is already set up so that people with more time to play have better stuff, they shouldn't have tried to balance that part of it. I really wouldn't mind it if the complete addicts raided the same place 24 hours a day for a week to get everything they could possibly get out of it, just as long as there were some actual pick-up groups among those that were in raiding guilds but wanted to go an extra time during the week whenever they wanted. If anything, saved instances prevents smaller guilds from doing high-end content because without them, you could have more experienced players coming along to help out and fill up spots.
It sounds to me that in your situation, you just don't have the time. There's a difference between being addicted and having enough time to play. But in any case, you're an ideal user for Blizzard, you pay your monthly fees and you don't even play. I bet they love you. In any case, you can very easily get to level 60 without raiding. The gear you'd get in level 42 instances you'll replace long before 60 anyway. There's also the battlegrounds route for getting some epics (it takes a lot of time, but that time doesn't have to be consecutive). You could advance your character if you wanted, my guess is you're just not interested enough in the game to be considered an enthusiast. I agree that the game in itself would not easily survive without addicts at some level. After all, it's those people who figure out how to do all the high-end content and give everyone else the strategies. But ultimately, I don't think the addicts are the big moneymaker for Blizzard. Those people will just go to another MMO once WoW fails to provide them with their fix.
I have one, I just don't want to set myself on fire by using it.
But seriously, they just don't make big enough laptop screens to get the kind of effect I want. I'd like to be able to pick up my big widescreen monitor and plunk it down on my bed and still have access to my computer across the room. I's also settle for that flexible ultra-thin electronic paper they keep promising us...
I know my desire for a wireless monitor is rather bizzare and impractical, but I can still dream, right?
A casual player will probably play longer too, since they get through the content slower. An addict may find that the game is no longer meeting their need for new content, and go to find another MMO that gives them the same kind of fix.
I don't need to eat, I have 250 spirit!
That always did bug in The Matrix though. Do people in the matrix actually die from not eating? Aren't they being fed through tubes while they sleep, or does the mind make it real?
I was in a fairly casual guild that only raided two nights a week (weekends). I would have preferred to raid more often, but it just couldn't be scheduled in a way to get enough people. I remember many a raid in MC where we started clearing with just 30 people, hoping we'd get 10 more to log on before we got to the first boss. Heck, we'd be lucky if we could get 8 people to show up on ZG night, when that started. Anyway, the guild fell apart after only 19 people showed up to an Onyxia raid. The casual people pretty much doomed it. I couldn't find another raiding guild (it was a PvP server and people didn't seem to care much on my faction) and so I quit the game.
While all of my game-time was reserved for WoW, I was hardly an addict. I did plenty of other things in my other time, socialized, did work, went to classes, ate, slept, etc. Probably most telling was that I didn't spend every waking moment thinking about the game. I quit without second thought and went about occupying my game-time with other games. I did see people who were definitely addicted though. The interesting thing about taking large lectures in a tech school is that you see many people playing WoW on their laptops!
I'll probably go back to WoW when the expansion comes out, and hopefully I can avoid addiction once more.
Actually, from a business perspective, Blizzard would be better off if their players were not addicts, merely enthusiasts (yes, there's a difference).
With addicts, they're going to be playing all the time. ALL the time. They'll get through the content very quickly, and complain loudly about not having more of it pumped out in each new patch. They'll also use a lot of bandwidth and server time, which Blizzard has to pay for. Chances are these addictive personalities will eventually cause them to jump ship to another MMO to get addicted to, which means less monthly fees. I've seen this happen with people who were definitely addicts, who have eventually quit to play another MMO.
On the other hand, enthusiasts will play when they have free time, rather than quitting their jobs or skipping classes. They'll get through the content slower, probably enjoy more time roleplaying and whatnot, and this means Blizzard can count on their monthly fees for a longer period of time. Blizzard can also take more time to develop new content, since their audience can wait. And that audience, the players who genuinely enjoy the game and haven't gotten through everything yet, will most likely stick around until they have. So long as Blizzard is relatively quick about adding content, they can extend this audience out for a long time.
Blizzard makes more money the less time you spend in their game each month. It's like Netflix, they want you to keep that one DVD on your coffee table for years at a time.
I get some crazy interference from time to time, where even holding a laptop next to the base station doesn't get a signal, but nothing major in terms of settings and stuff. I set it up once, and 99.9% of the time it's just fine. That .1% fixes itself after a minute or two when presumably whatever was causing interference stops. The most I ever actually have to do with it is give somebody the password and name of the network when they want to get on it. Well, that's not totally true because I'm paranoid and keep a MAC Address whitelist, but that's a one-time change and I'm probably well in the minority on that one. In any case, I have multiple profiles on the router that I can switch to with various settings as needed, such as no-longer having the whitelist, etc.
If you know what you're doing, wireless networks aren't all that hard to set up and don't require much maintainence. I've had more troubles with my ISP than I've had with my wireless network.
I don't understand why people are "fighting" their mouse cords. What exactly are you people doing with your mice? Mine just sits there, the cord shoots off towards the back of my desk and around behind to plug into the back of my screen. I never worry about it, it never gets tangled up or anything. I think the reason for all this "fighting" is that people have stopped using mousepads. The optical mice (and don't get me wrong, I've used optical mice for years) have gotten people trying to use their mouse all over the place. If you're really having so much trouble with wired mice, I'd suggest investing in a two dollar mousepad and stay within its bounds. Heck, I get free ones all the time, just go to some convention or something. There are advantages to not going padless. If nothing else, mice seem to stay cleaner.
I have a printer attached to my wireless network, so that I can print files from my laptop no matter where I am, and at the same time share the printer with two other desktops.
A wireless monitor would be great because then I could take it with me to someplace a little more comfortable, like those times when I'm just clicking on stuff (wireless mouse would come in handy here too) like reading webcomics or some long files. Those times when I really don't need to be sitting at a desk, don't need to be typing, and can just go lie down and relax somewhere.
The problem, as many people have mentioned, is latency. Wireless everything doesn't work well for games or anything else that requires virtually no interference and fast response. I don't care if my mouse takes a few extra milliseconds to click on the "next page" button and the monitor takes a few extra milliseconds to show the new page. I do care if I'm playing a game. And so, the only wireless I use is WiFi for internet on the go, and Bluetooth for the occasional small file transfer, and I'd still take gigabit eithernet for both if I had a choice.
For a single questionable feature, compared to the other issues I raised, I just don't think many professional artists would go for it.
But the article is not really about IBM itself, it's about PCs in general. Why not put it down as Hardware or IT? Or even Businesses or Technology?
Why does this slashdot story have the IBM logo?
What? Why would his parents inherit their son's money? I don't think you understand how inheritance usually works...
Tablet PCs are very much a niche technology. Apple doesn't sell enough computers to make such an alternative model profitable. And most of the artist types already have an off-monitor tablet and know how to use it. And, you can definitely rotate them, and rotate your screen. And, you have the heavy-duty CPU for your high-end graphics card, and you can select the exact monitor you want (for color, contrast, etc.) at the resolution you want. What kind of pressure gradient is available on Tablet PCs anyway? Can it detect stylus tilt? Does the stylus have fully scriptable buttons on it? The artistic professional is either all set with what he or she has now, or would find a Tablet PC too limiting.
Not only sue, but beat up the guy first, leading to a countersuit and assault charges pressed on both sides.
I'm all for a bit of silliness. Life is too silly and absurd to not have fun with it. But, people have legitimate reason for not wanting to get their business suit soaked out of the blue by some careless "assassin", or get pushed onto the pavement by somebody running away from said assassin. I think banning this game from crowded subway cars is just common sense. Hopefully the people playing will do it in more open areas without too many people around. It's more fun if your victim has a chance to escape anyway.
I think they'd be a bit more upset if they accidentally got soaked because somebody had poor aim or the real target ducked. Doing this game in a crowded place isn't a great idea. Otherwise, I don't see why people would have a real problem with it.