The guy seemed to have his conclusion written before he started... Or at least that's how it seemed to me. When he was doing the SSL test, he said that the results were ONLY about 10% slower on the 64 bit version. Now I might be far too much of a graphics programmer.... but I would consider 10% to be a rather significant slowdown.
The other thing that bothered me of course was when he said that the file sizes were only 50% bigger in some cases... sure, code is never all that big, but... still...
Although I can't really see a good reason for doing this at present (because there are no games), there is a perfectly good reason that Nintendo is doing this. INNOVATION.
N64 used carts because the load times were a lot better than optical media of the day. Seriously. Look at load times on an N64, then at the PSX. Sure they might have been more expensive than a PSX disc, and didn't hold enough data, but from a purely technical standpoint, it was a far better idea.
When the GameCube came about, optical discs had gotten to the point that Nintendo could use them without compromising load times. The smaller form factor was used to create a smaller console, faster seek times, and the anti-piracy that you mentioned. Anti-Piracy was not the SOLE reason for the smaller form factor as you make out.
The same goes for the new console. There are many ways of using two separate displays. I don't think that anyone is really qualified to judge it until we start to see some of the killer apps for the console.
What about Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles? A game that requires GBAs to play multiplayer, and actually NEEDS them to do so. Connectivity at its finest.
But I am having a bit of difficulty accepting this right now. I just don't really see the need personally. I can already perform that function if I link my GBA to my GCN. In a lot of games, I have a map right on my GBA. But I suppose it would be helpful if I could have more functionality than the GBA can provide (3D stuff).
I will reserve judgement until I see what counts. The games.
Hehe... I was just about to post that link. Microsoft's most successful embedded Windows product. It didn't fail, it just refused to work, as is standard on all Windows platforms.
The ones with the optional spycam, so you can also keep a gigantic video library of your kid's entire life, including trips to the bathroom, and the time when the kid stole my... erm... your porn magazines and made a visit to the toolshed?
If so... those are cool. Not... that I would know firsthand or anything.
I'll give you that it wouldn't be healthy to have WMP be the only available format. Internet Explorer I am sure would be the template for the disrepair that Microsoft media formats would become after Microsoft eliminated Apple and Real.
But the thing is, at the moment, I FAR prefer WMV to QuickTime or Real. Sure, I don't want Microsoft to win, but I use WMV right now for the same reason I used Internet Explorer in the old days. It's simply a better product. When something better emerges, I will support that.
I personally don't like streaming movies in any format though, and will pick a MPEG4 variant when the option presents itself.
Replying to myself here... but I just got a response from the FTC. It was just a generic form letter that said absolutely nothing. Dissapointing that they couldn't even draft a new one for this situation, but I guess we did our best eh?
Having taken my last calc class about a year ago, I will say that I don't know of any teachers who allow the usage of ANY calculators in their exams, even the most basic ones you can find. The single exception was in my OpenGL class, when the teacher allowed us any calculator, as long as it didn't have the year's notes stored in memory.;-) That was when having a graphing calculator capable of calculating complex matrix operations came in VERY handy.
Yeah, you have a point. I kind of realized that when I wrote that. But to me, it was aeons ago, as that was back when I was still in grade school, and I can no longer imagine a world without Internet access. Just so you know though... my very first IBM clone was a 286 with hercules monochrome, and I thought that thing was a powerhouse.;) But I think we are both kind of off topic right now.
I used RealPlayer when I first got my PC WAAAAY back in the day. I was unimpressed with the average video quality, and I was unimpressed with the clunky interface in the player. As a result, it didn't last out the week on my PC. I never reinstalled it for years afterward, as I never saw a need to.
Last year, someone gave me a CD with a bunch of movies in.RM format on it, and me and my roommate at the time watched them together. I was forced to watch them with RealOne, as I didn't know about RealAlternative at the time. The movies would freeze at times, the player was a miserable experience. I would be doing whatever on my PC, and an ad would pop up advertising something I didn't want (at least you had the balls to admit that it was RealOne displaying the ad. Kudos for that.) The player was clunky, and although better than previous versions, my roommate was well used to me swearing at RealOne every time it froze, crashed, or even just hit the end of the current movie.
The point I am trying to make here is that I have had nothing but bad experiences with RealPlayer. With RealAlternative, I can watch.RM files in Windows Media player without issue, and WMP is one of the few Microsoft products that I have to give kudos to. There just aren't many out there that are any better.
The sad fact of the matter is that I do not feel like I SHOULD give RealPlayer 10 a chance. I don't like the.RM format, and I dislike the player. All the previous versions were horrible, and WMP does the job fine for me.
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The guy seemed to have his conclusion written before he started... Or at least that's how it seemed to me. When he was doing the SSL test, he said that the results were ONLY about 10% slower on the 64 bit version. Now I might be far too much of a graphics programmer.... but I would consider 10% to be a rather significant slowdown.
The other thing that bothered me of course was when he said that the file sizes were only 50% bigger in some cases... sure, code is never all that big, but... still...
Although I can't really see a good reason for doing this at present (because there are no games), there is a perfectly good reason that Nintendo is doing this. INNOVATION.
N64 used carts because the load times were a lot better than optical media of the day. Seriously. Look at load times on an N64, then at the PSX. Sure they might have been more expensive than a PSX disc, and didn't hold enough data, but from a purely technical standpoint, it was a far better idea.
When the GameCube came about, optical discs had gotten to the point that Nintendo could use them without compromising load times. The smaller form factor was used to create a smaller console, faster seek times, and the anti-piracy that you mentioned. Anti-Piracy was not the SOLE reason for the smaller form factor as you make out.
The same goes for the new console. There are many ways of using two separate displays. I don't think that anyone is really qualified to judge it until we start to see some of the killer apps for the console.
What about Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles? A game that requires GBAs to play multiplayer, and actually NEEDS them to do so. Connectivity at its finest.
But I am having a bit of difficulty accepting this right now. I just don't really see the need personally. I can already perform that function if I link my GBA to my GCN. In a lot of games, I have a map right on my GBA. But I suppose it would be helpful if I could have more functionality than the GBA can provide (3D stuff). I will reserve judgement until I see what counts. The games.
Hehe... I was just about to post that link. Microsoft's most successful embedded Windows product. It didn't fail, it just refused to work, as is standard on all Windows platforms.
The ones with the optional spycam, so you can also keep a gigantic video library of your kid's entire life, including trips to the bathroom, and the time when the kid stole my... erm... your porn magazines and made a visit to the toolshed?
If so... those are cool. Not... that I would know firsthand or anything.
But I seem to remember it being Greenday's "Time of Your Life". Either that or Dennis Leary's "Asshole".
oooh... He accepts Canadian Tire money... I am all over that.
I'll give you that it wouldn't be healthy to have WMP be the only available format. Internet Explorer I am sure would be the template for the disrepair that Microsoft media formats would become after Microsoft eliminated Apple and Real. But the thing is, at the moment, I FAR prefer WMV to QuickTime or Real. Sure, I don't want Microsoft to win, but I use WMV right now for the same reason I used Internet Explorer in the old days. It's simply a better product. When something better emerges, I will support that. I personally don't like streaming movies in any format though, and will pick a MPEG4 variant when the option presents itself.
Replying to myself here... but I just got a response from the FTC. It was just a generic form letter that said absolutely nothing. Dissapointing that they couldn't even draft a new one for this situation, but I guess we did our best eh?
I just did that. Thanks for the great idea. ;-)
Having taken my last calc class about a year ago, I will say that I don't know of any teachers who allow the usage of ANY calculators in their exams, even the most basic ones you can find. The single exception was in my OpenGL class, when the teacher allowed us any calculator, as long as it didn't have the year's notes stored in memory. ;-) That was when having a graphing calculator capable of calculating complex matrix operations came in VERY handy.
Yeah, you have a point. I kind of realized that when I wrote that. But to me, it was aeons ago, as that was back when I was still in grade school, and I can no longer imagine a world without Internet access. Just so you know though... my very first IBM clone was a 286 with hercules monochrome, and I thought that thing was a powerhouse. ;) But I think we are both kind of off topic right now.
I used RealPlayer when I first got my PC WAAAAY back in the day. I was unimpressed with the average video quality, and I was unimpressed with the clunky interface in the player. As a result, it didn't last out the week on my PC. I never reinstalled it for years afterward, as I never saw a need to.
Last year, someone gave me a CD with a bunch of movies in .RM format on it, and me and my roommate at the time watched them together. I was forced to watch them with RealOne, as I didn't know about RealAlternative at the time. The movies would freeze at times, the player was a miserable experience. I would be doing whatever on my PC, and an ad would pop up advertising something I didn't want (at least you had the balls to admit that it was RealOne displaying the ad. Kudos for that.) The player was clunky, and although better than previous versions, my roommate was well used to me swearing at RealOne every time it froze, crashed, or even just hit the end of the current movie.
The point I am trying to make here is that I have had nothing but bad experiences with RealPlayer. With RealAlternative, I can watch .RM files in Windows Media player without issue, and WMP is one of the few Microsoft products that I have to give kudos to. There just aren't many out there that are any better.
The sad fact of the matter is that I do not feel like I SHOULD give RealPlayer 10 a chance. I don't like the .RM format, and I dislike the player. All the previous versions were horrible, and WMP does the job fine for me.