The point is, it'll eventually happen when more people have shiny HD TVs. The question is, how soon, and can Microsoft and Sony not do too badly in the interim (i.e. when Xbox360s and PS3s are only selling to enthusiastic early adopters, people with HDTVs and too much money).
I'm in Ireland, and people are being quite silly here with money at the moment. HDTVs, even rubbish ones without HDCP, or bad picture quality (low LCD response time), or rubbish plasma screens (dimming by half every XX months), are selling like hot cakes here. I expect people to buy HDDVD or Blu-ray movies certainly after several months of the players being out. Or maybe earlier if people get PS3s instead (to play Blu-ray and games too).
Sony will probably do OK because of Japan. Microsoft probably don't have to worry whether they do well or not, and will probably keep a good hand against Sony in North America (which is more what they care about - adding towards their pervasiveness and dominance - so that they can make more money with Windows, or whatever else, even if not with Xbox360).
Yes, I can install it with Windows Update (which I do use regularly). Unlike Auto Update, it is my choice whether I install items or not. That is my point. With the WGA notifier, Microsoft could do who knows what - there is no transparency.
You were poo-pooing the suggestion that this is anything more nefarious than Auto Updates. I'm pointing out that it is an entirely different kettle of fish. I can get Auto Update's functionality with a manual process - so it is not in the same league at all.
Incidentally, I'm rather unsure as to whether I can avoid the WGA notifier even with Windows Update - it seems I need to install a new WGA tool at the least to use Windows Update now (having checked the site after reading this). Based on this article and all the screenshots, it seems that installing the WGA notifier is a separate later choice when using Windows Update (perhaps I can avoid it).
But all in all, the linked article, and topic of discussion, are interesting and worthy of discussion (at least to Windows users who at least care some bit about sanitising the OS), there is no justification for your writing off of it.
I don't use auto updates, so at least in theory, Microsoft can't do such a thing to me at present.
However, if I install this, I have no choice (leaving hacking it aside) but to give Microsoft that capability. It is not removable (through ordinary means), and allows Microsoft access to your machine in an even less transparent way than fully automatic updates.
This is definitely a large step beyond automatic updates, and is far more sinister.
This kind of approach does not scale well (state space explosion), and in any case, even if you abstract the game states enough that model-checking is tractable, one is checking the model, not the implementation.
OK, it may still be worthwhile to perform such model checking (errors may and probably will be found as a result), but I do not know that the time/money aspect is worth it.
However, the good news is that people are continuing to research how to more closely and automatically link specifications and models to software implementation, others are researching better models and languages, still others are investigating debugging and testing tools, model checking or otherwise.
I haven't figured out yet which of these to concentrate on for my own PhD thesis (I'm not particularly happy with any of them as regards their application to "the real world" - i.e. cost-run fast software development), but its been interesting investigating all of them.
Haven't got playing Oblivion or any other computer games in two weeks though - argh!
Guess what? Even ignoring global warming we're pretty successfully thrashing our own planet and the areas we have to live in. Who knows what hassle you will get because you say the wrong things in a phone call that's being monitored by the authorities.
OK, so the terrorists bit is somewhat valid; even in Northern Ireland, at the height of the Troubles, one was still more likely to die in a car accident. But terrorism works nevertheless. Strangely enough images of death and destruction don't instill a sense of calm in people. Very well pointing out the statistics, but I think it's reasonably valid people in New York, London, Madrid, etc. being terrified of going about their business in the days after terrorist attacks.
I'm not an OSS person or that sort of thing, so I've no idea really how threatening the current climate is for that. I wouldn't have thought things were particularly worse here (if anything, they're better, it really looks like Microsoft have lost the plot and Apple may have found some. Good competition going on between Intel and AMD, Nvidia and ATI, Dell aren't doing as well and Apple are doing better).
But I can understand people worrying about all sorts of stuff. It's human. And there's plenty out there to be concerned about. The global state of affairs is not remotely pleasant, regardless of whether it's better or worse than in the past.
Admittedly, I think there's reasonable grounds for us to be some bit more smug in Ireland than most places, but ultimately whatever state the US is in affects us, as does EU integration stalemate and stagnated economies of the bigger EU members. People being richer here tends to make people worry less about it all though.
The European Union is ultimately important most of all for political reasons. It is bringing European countries closer together.
For some countries, it has been invaluable - e.g. in the case of Ireland. That is, not just economically, but from a point of view of being involved, not just a small isolated backward country on the outskirts of Europe. While not an equal to large European States, the country (and other small EU members) are far closer in status to the big countries than they would be outside the European Union.
The EU is also about offering help for countries to improve themselves. Sure, some countries haven't done so well (Portugal, Greece) but they might be worse off but for the EU. And it is important for every country to have at least somewhat as well-off neighbours. One doesn't want a US-Mexico situation.
At least some of the Central and Eastern EU members are already making great strides towards catching up with the rest of the EU.
I do not understand those who don't see how this benefits Europe as a whole, even those who could easily "go it alone" (e.g. UK). Besides, some of the complainers, their problem is they aren't making the best of the EU (look again at the UK - they could do so much better from all the openings that having 24 other members has).
"but DVD in 2000 was a lot more popular with the mainstream than Blu-Ray in 2006"
Really? Hindsight is from the present perspective where we are all very familiar with the big benefits of DVDs over VHS.
But in 2000, most people had not seen DVD in action, players were ridiculously expensive, and more importantly, so were DVD movies. It had barely entered into the equation in PCs.
The "common sense" of choosing DVD over VHS was not a definitive indicator of DVD's success - mainly because of price.
One could even suggest the PS2 was to some degree a significant factor in DVD's success. Sure it was more important that people bought DVD players in a big way, but the PS2 was the first publicity for DVD movies for many people.
Blu-ray is very much DVD battle rerun. And this time, HD TV uptake is a far bigger driving factor than any reason people had to ditch VHS. People with HD TVs will want HD movies, whether HD-DVD or Blu-ray. Of course, this latter item is a change from the last battle - this time there are two wannabes. But it's a major point that the PS3 will have Blu-ray and be relatively cheap *as a player*.
There is no fore-gone conclusion in this battle anymoreso than the battle for DVD uptake.
Perhaps so. In any case, the end result is highly visible PSP and UMD in the shops here right now. And the battle is not over, there are large hoardings in the shop windows at the moment for some new PSP product, and also the price drop to 205 for new PSPs (the 200 I quoted previously was for what I'd seen second hand a week or two ago - I guess it must have been a second-hand bundle).
Re:PSP in general was just a huge mistake
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Everyone Hates UMD
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PSP has more shelf space in most game shops here in Ireland than any other handhelds. There's a brisk trade in second-hand PSPs and games (though I'm not sure if that just means different people are using PSP for a while, and then giving up and passing it on). There's even plenty of UMDs for sale/rental from game shops and video rental shops.
One can rent UMD discs for now at local video stores here in Ireland.
That said, the mind boggles as to who rents *or* buys them. Maybe there's far more PSP users here than I thought.
Interestingly there are a lot of second-hand PSPs in the game shops at the moment. I wouldn't even spend the 200 that you can get them for now though. 150 I'd possibly consider it.
People are buying HDTVs, and will increasingly switch to them.
Hence, people are going to want HD movies, especially once some other people with HDTVs get them.
Blu-ray or HD-DVD? I don't know - it does depend on how much people like the games playing abilities of the PS3. But if someone is buying it as a (relatively) cheap Blu-ray player, they may be happy with it playing their PS2 games and potentially at least one or two games they'd like for next gen.
People who have no new console at time of purchase may well be enticed to buy PS3 rather than an HD-DVD player. They'll consider how much extra it is to buy a console *as well* later and how much messier their setup will be.
No - it's a question of whether one can sufficiently increase one's productivity and get work done more easily and with less pain after the (large) initial time investment spent switching from Windows to Linux and learning the ropes.
For a serious desktop user that uses the system *a lot* and for non-trivial tasks, the amount of time to get a similar level of proficiency in Linux is quite large.
While Windows may have all manner of drawbacks affecting productivity and causing user stress (note that heavy users will have work-arounds to mostly avoid these mind you), I would suggest that Linux, even if better overall (not a foregone conclusion even if it wins on many scores), is not sufficiently better (except for particular uses).
Having spent nearly a decade and a half as an expert in the Windows domain, I am not likely to deliberately switch completely to Linux, considering what is involved. I'll admit that there are particular things I've ended up using Linux systems for, and I'm gradually acquiring more knowledge in the domain (very slowly - it's mostly tasks that are not particularly different on a Windows or Linux CLI).
But really - it is a hideous learning curve, and enough things in Linux are as painful as other things are in Windows to not entice one to go through with it.
Surprisingly enough, after a number of rather ugly affairs in the first half of the last century, a lot of Europeans saw enough of what being willing to fight and die was like.
The amazing thing is that plenty of Europeans *are* still willing to fight and die. Last I checked, European countries have standing armies, many in fact have recently or still are in nasty places like Iraq and Afghanistan. The ones who aren't have still seen real service in recent decades - even some of the neutral countries.
Much as far too many Europeans have become too anti-American, your opinions are ridiculously anti-European and completely lacking any grounding in reality.
Not really... it depends if this stays the cheapest HD media player. It'll most definitely be the cheapest Blu-ray player, I don't know about HD-DVD players.
And it does games to boot (probably really decent ones, as much as the PS2).
So plenty of people with HDTVs are going to like this device.
As for Joe Soap, well, he'll most likely not buy one at launch, and get one a month or two later when prices come down (heck, costs come down - esp. the Blu-ray equipment is likely to once in large-scale production that is being optimised).
This isn't really so different to the Playstation 2 launch.
There's nothing so sinister behind it. It's just we aren't so ridiculously Capitalist here in Europe. We've a thing called social democracy where we realise that certain market restrictions are necessary for the general population's benefit.
You may suggest this is bad for business because France, Germany and some other European countries aren't doing so well economically. But plenty of other European countries that just have more sensible labour laws, etc. are doing fine, like the Scandinavian countries and here in Ireland. Also certain new EU members like Estonia and Slovenia are also doing very well with our EU safeguard regulations to stop companies trampling over people (they aren't people but consumers to any company). The UK and some other countries are at least doing comparably well to the US (albeit without the US's massive trade deficits, whopping huge budget deficits, etc).
ehhh... just to remove the "alternate reality" glasses for a second.
The X1800 series competes with the 7800 series, with really only the 7800GTX 512 just about coming out tops.
The X1900 series came out before the 7900 (and made the 7800 series look quite silly, as some high end 7800GTX were similar price to it) and competes with it admirably - the 7900GTX should have left the X1900XTX to eat dust - but it looks like it hasn't.
Hopefully the 7900GTX prices are competitive, as I'd like to stick with Nvidia.
Let's see... I have the 2nd expansion pack for NWN to play, and the Kingmaker expansion. I haven't finished TES III: Morrowind, nevermind the two expansions. I haven't played Civ4 half as much as I'd like, maybe half a dozen games. I've Myst 5 to play. I'm only about halfway through Guild Wars with my first character. I have Fable to play (yeah, it seems that it isn't too great, but I'll enjoy playing it through all the same, it looks reasonable pretty and has a story to follow).
And to cap it all, I'm buying TES IV: Oblivion at the end of the month.
Perhaps I should stop buying games. Mind you, some of the above games are old, and I've only a backlog due to not having a good PC to play on till last summer (or money to buy many games/games at release price).
Whoops... forgot to add my unfinished console games (PS2) - A Bard's Tale and Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance.
Oh yeah - I have Baldur's Gate II (the old PC game) to play as well.
There's no way I am going to run out of games for the next two years at least!
There should be vast mountains of Xbox360s shifting like hotcakes by now. It's not happening - whether because of shortages, or just not enough people to buy them (local stores here in Ireland finally have them in stock - but they don't seem to be moving).
And so to some extent, Microsoft has to wait too for the next holiday season and a consumer spending spree - there's a reason for the focus on that period for new product releases.
Managing to sell a few in time for last year's season doesn't cut the mustard, and the year long slog may indeed look embarrassing in retrospect. Microsoft can afford the cost, but if the Xbox360 starts looking like a failure because of the 12 months up to this year's holiday season, that could really affect things in a PS3 vs. Xbox360 battle.
However, much depends on other factors, like what games are on the scene towards the end of the year, and whether enough consumers are interested at all in next-gen. Sony may actually be lucky if people want next-gen movies (blu-ray + HDTV) - but I doubt this. People don't seem too worked up about HDTV on its own yet nevermind (a) new disc format(s).
One of the existing Wireless broadband providers here in Ireland, Digiweb, has won a licence to use part of the radio spectrum for Wireless broadband to mobile devices. This will be used for VoIP and other services.
So such services need not necessarily rely on "wi-fi".
Although, the countryside will be a bit cluttered here in Ireland with small mobile phone cells for three operators on GSM, and a couple *extra* operators with their own 3G networks, wireless broadband to fixed locations by several operators, and now a new form of wireless broadband for mobile telephony.
Wireless broadband is getting pretty big here in Ireland, as there's no fixed line DSL outside major population centres, and the "last mile" owned by the incumbant former state telco is so badly maintained that only 70 or so percent of those close enough to a DSL-enabled exchange can get broadband.
> People aren't willing to pay a premium for PCs anymore
Not quite true. Plenty of folks are willing to pay hundreds more for more features, bigger+faster X+Y+Z, etc.
Dell have their bases so well covered compared to the other PC manufacturers in the area, with their easy customisability, and low, medium and high-end systems.
Not only do they sell the Walmart stuff, but they sell the better stuff too, even if not the most polished high-street stuff (aka rip-off stuff). Although mind you, I don't know what other category XPS would fit under - it's exactly the kind of thing one could find in an expensive high-street shop. And Dell Precisions are pretty top of the range.
It'll be interesting to see if Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion will help at all. That looks like being one pretty game.
But still, people need a HD TV to get the full effect of the better graphics.
Booey to that, instead of Xbox 360 + peripherals + HDTV, just buy a new PC.
I paid 1450 for my Dell (3GHz P4, Nvidia GeForce 6800, 20" LCD 1600x1200 res) here in Ireland and you'ld be hard put here to buy the Xbox 360 setup + an actual bona-fide HD TV (i.e. not "HD ready" nonsense) for less.
In fact, I don't know where one would buy either of those devices in my city (the HD TV *possibly* if you searched all the stores and carefully scrutinised the big shiny flat screens showing PAL TV)
Yes - I don't enjoy FPSs, War Games, or even RTS War games.
So last year I bought Guild Wars (yet another MMORPG, but with no subscription, pretty and fun to play with both a story PvE, and PvP)
I bought Civ4 which again, is a sequel. But it looks so beautiful I drool - and it does impact on the game playing experience. Besides which, the team went back to the drawing board and created Civ rules and gameplay as they should be, with all the irritating things changed/removed, and clever ideas from previous games wholeheartedly introduced. Added with some novel ideas like adding religion into the mix.
I bought Myst 5, which is also a sequel, but again, it's something where the improved graphics really add to the gaming experience. Also it may be no. 5 in the series, but there aren't many other similar games to the Myst series. I missed out on the whole thing, so I bought the 10th anniversary edition of the first three games, and got the fourth game, and I'm working my way through. If you haven't experienced Myst, go buy it. It's an immersive and beautiful experience, like a novel in the backstory, but using various media to full effect to provide the game experience and offer mentally stimulating puzzles.
And that's it for new releases. I bought some old games like Neverwinter Nights plus expansions, and Morrowind Game of the Year edition.
This year I'm buying Oblivion. Again, a game where the improved graphics will really stand to it (particularly as similarly to Civ 4, it's not just about that, but there's a host of gameplay reinvention and improvement) - it should provide an immersive experience. Go see the screenshots and trailers at elderscrolls.com - I challenge you not to drool.
In summary, there may be a dearth of innovation in general, but there are good games out there that aren't FPS or War games, and many are very well done, with a lot of innovation within well-known genres.
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The point is, it'll eventually happen when more people have shiny HD TVs. The question is, how soon, and can Microsoft and Sony not do too badly in the interim (i.e. when Xbox360s and PS3s are only selling to enthusiastic early adopters, people with HDTVs and too much money).
I'm in Ireland, and people are being quite silly here with money at the moment. HDTVs, even rubbish ones without HDCP, or bad picture quality (low LCD response time), or rubbish plasma screens (dimming by half every XX months), are selling like hot cakes here. I expect people to buy HDDVD or Blu-ray movies certainly after several months of the players being out. Or maybe earlier if people get PS3s instead (to play Blu-ray and games too).
Sony will probably do OK because of Japan. Microsoft probably don't have to worry whether they do well or not, and will probably keep a good hand against Sony in North America (which is more what they care about - adding towards their pervasiveness and dominance - so that they can make more money with Windows, or whatever else, even if not with Xbox360).
Yes, I can install it with Windows Update (which I do use regularly). Unlike Auto Update, it is my choice whether I install items or not. That is my point. With the WGA notifier, Microsoft could do who knows what - there is no transparency.
You were poo-pooing the suggestion that this is anything more nefarious than Auto Updates. I'm pointing out that it is an entirely different kettle of fish. I can get Auto Update's functionality with a manual process - so it is not in the same league at all.
Incidentally, I'm rather unsure as to whether I can avoid the WGA notifier even with Windows Update - it seems I need to install a new WGA tool at the least to use Windows Update now (having checked the site after reading this). Based on this article and all the screenshots, it seems that installing the WGA notifier is a separate later choice when using Windows Update (perhaps I can avoid it).
But all in all, the linked article, and topic of discussion, are interesting and worthy of discussion (at least to Windows users who at least care some bit about sanitising the OS), there is no justification for your writing off of it.
I don't use auto updates, so at least in theory, Microsoft can't do such a thing to me at present.
However, if I install this, I have no choice (leaving hacking it aside) but to give Microsoft that capability. It is not removable (through ordinary means), and allows Microsoft access to your machine in an even less transparent way than fully automatic updates.
This is definitely a large step beyond automatic updates, and is far more sinister.
"We think that the transition is only partially complete"
And you'd be right... strangely enough, most people will stick with their current consoles for months and years* more.
*OK, well, at least another year before upgrading for the majority of console owners, and some will not be getting the next gen until the years ahead.
This kind of approach does not scale well (state space explosion), and in any case, even if you abstract the game states enough that model-checking is tractable, one is checking the model, not the implementation.
OK, it may still be worthwhile to perform such model checking (errors may and probably will be found as a result), but I do not know that the time/money aspect is worth it.
However, the good news is that people are continuing to research how to more closely and automatically link specifications and models to software implementation, others are researching better models and languages, still others are investigating debugging and testing tools, model checking or otherwise.
I haven't figured out yet which of these to concentrate on for my own PhD thesis (I'm not particularly happy with any of them as regards their application to "the real world" - i.e. cost-run fast software development), but its been interesting investigating all of them.
Haven't got playing Oblivion or any other computer games in two weeks though - argh!
Guess what? Even ignoring global warming we're pretty successfully thrashing our own planet and the areas we have to live in. Who knows what hassle you will get because you say the wrong things in a phone call that's being monitored by the authorities.
OK, so the terrorists bit is somewhat valid; even in Northern Ireland, at the height of the Troubles, one was still more likely to die in a car accident. But terrorism works nevertheless. Strangely enough images of death and destruction don't instill a sense of calm in people. Very well pointing out the statistics, but I think it's reasonably valid people in New York, London, Madrid, etc. being terrified of going about their business in the days after terrorist attacks.
I'm not an OSS person or that sort of thing, so I've no idea really how threatening the current climate is for that. I wouldn't have thought things were particularly worse here (if anything, they're better, it really looks like Microsoft have lost the plot and Apple may have found some. Good competition going on between Intel and AMD, Nvidia and ATI, Dell aren't doing as well and Apple are doing better).
But I can understand people worrying about all sorts of stuff. It's human. And there's plenty out there to be concerned about. The global state of affairs is not remotely pleasant, regardless of whether it's better or worse than in the past.
Admittedly, I think there's reasonable grounds for us to be some bit more smug in Ireland than most places, but ultimately whatever state the US is in affects us, as does EU integration stalemate and stagnated economies of the bigger EU members. People being richer here tends to make people worry less about it all though.
The European Union is ultimately important most of all for political reasons. It is bringing European countries closer together.
For some countries, it has been invaluable - e.g. in the case of Ireland. That is, not just economically, but from a point of view of being involved, not just a small isolated backward country on the outskirts of Europe. While not an equal to large European States, the country (and other small EU members) are far closer in status to the big countries than they would be outside the European Union.
The EU is also about offering help for countries to improve themselves. Sure, some countries haven't done so well (Portugal, Greece) but they might be worse off but for the EU. And it is important for every country to have at least somewhat as well-off neighbours. One doesn't want a US-Mexico situation.
At least some of the Central and Eastern EU members are already making great strides towards catching up with the rest of the EU.
I do not understand those who don't see how this benefits Europe as a whole, even those who could easily "go it alone" (e.g. UK). Besides, some of the complainers, their problem is they aren't making the best of the EU (look again at the UK - they could do so much better from all the openings that having 24 other members has).
"but DVD in 2000 was a lot more popular with the mainstream than Blu-Ray in 2006"
Really? Hindsight is from the present perspective where we are all very familiar with the big benefits of DVDs over VHS.
But in 2000, most people had not seen DVD in action, players were ridiculously expensive, and more importantly, so were DVD movies. It had barely entered into the equation in PCs.
The "common sense" of choosing DVD over VHS was not a definitive indicator of DVD's success - mainly because of price.
One could even suggest the PS2 was to some degree a significant factor in DVD's success. Sure it was more important that people bought DVD players in a big way, but the PS2 was the first publicity for DVD movies for many people.
Blu-ray is very much DVD battle rerun. And this time, HD TV uptake is a far bigger driving factor than any reason people had to ditch VHS. People with HD TVs will want HD movies, whether HD-DVD or Blu-ray. Of course, this latter item is a change from the last battle - this time there are two wannabes. But it's a major point that the PS3 will have Blu-ray and be relatively cheap *as a player*.
There is no fore-gone conclusion in this battle anymoreso than the battle for DVD uptake.
Perhaps so. In any case, the end result is highly visible PSP and UMD in the shops here right now. And the battle is not over, there are large hoardings in the shop windows at the moment for some new PSP product, and also the price drop to 205 for new PSPs (the 200 I quoted previously was for what I'd seen second hand a week or two ago - I guess it must have been a second-hand bundle).
PSP has more shelf space in most game shops here in Ireland than any other handhelds. There's a brisk trade in second-hand PSPs and games (though I'm not sure if that just means different people are using PSP for a while, and then giving up and passing it on). There's even plenty of UMDs for sale/rental from game shops and video rental shops.
One can rent UMD discs for now at local video stores here in Ireland.
That said, the mind boggles as to who rents *or* buys them. Maybe there's far more PSP users here than I thought.
Interestingly there are a lot of second-hand PSPs in the game shops at the moment. I wouldn't even spend the 200 that you can get them for now though. 150 I'd possibly consider it.
People are buying HDTVs, and will increasingly switch to them.
Hence, people are going to want HD movies, especially once some other people with HDTVs get them.
Blu-ray or HD-DVD? I don't know - it does depend on how much people like the games playing abilities of the PS3. But if someone is buying it as a (relatively) cheap Blu-ray player, they may be happy with it playing their PS2 games and potentially at least one or two games they'd like for next gen.
People who have no new console at time of purchase may well be enticed to buy PS3 rather than an HD-DVD player. They'll consider how much extra it is to buy a console *as well* later and how much messier their setup will be.
No - it's a question of whether one can sufficiently increase one's productivity and get work done more easily and with less pain after the (large) initial time investment spent switching from Windows to Linux and learning the ropes.
For a serious desktop user that uses the system *a lot* and for non-trivial tasks, the amount of time to get a similar level of proficiency in Linux is quite large.
While Windows may have all manner of drawbacks affecting productivity and causing user stress (note that heavy users will have work-arounds to mostly avoid these mind you), I would suggest that Linux, even if better overall (not a foregone conclusion even if it wins on many scores), is not sufficiently better (except for particular uses).
Having spent nearly a decade and a half as an expert in the Windows domain, I am not likely to deliberately switch completely to Linux, considering what is involved. I'll admit that there are particular things I've ended up using Linux systems for, and I'm gradually acquiring more knowledge in the domain (very slowly - it's mostly tasks that are not particularly different on a Windows or Linux CLI).
But really - it is a hideous learning curve, and enough things in Linux are as painful as other things are in Windows to not entice one to go through with it.
Lazy? I don't think so - it's entirely logical.
Surprisingly enough, after a number of rather ugly affairs in the first half of the last century, a lot of Europeans saw enough of what being willing to fight and die was like.
The amazing thing is that plenty of Europeans *are* still willing to fight and die. Last I checked, European countries have standing armies, many in fact have recently or still are in nasty places like Iraq and Afghanistan. The ones who aren't have still seen real service in recent decades - even some of the neutral countries.
Much as far too many Europeans have become too anti-American, your opinions are ridiculously anti-European and completely lacking any grounding in reality.
Not really... it depends if this stays the cheapest HD media player. It'll most definitely be the cheapest Blu-ray player, I don't know about HD-DVD players.
And it does games to boot (probably really decent ones, as much as the PS2).
So plenty of people with HDTVs are going to like this device.
As for Joe Soap, well, he'll most likely not buy one at launch, and get one a month or two later when prices come down (heck, costs come down - esp. the Blu-ray equipment is likely to once in large-scale production that is being optimised).
This isn't really so different to the Playstation 2 launch.
There's nothing so sinister behind it. It's just we aren't so ridiculously Capitalist here in Europe. We've a thing called social democracy where we realise that certain market restrictions are necessary for the general population's benefit.
You may suggest this is bad for business because France, Germany and some other European countries aren't doing so well economically. But plenty of other European countries that just have more sensible labour laws, etc. are doing fine, like the Scandinavian countries and here in Ireland. Also certain new EU members like Estonia and Slovenia are also doing very well with our EU safeguard regulations to stop companies trampling over people (they aren't people but consumers to any company). The UK and some other countries are at least doing comparably well to the US (albeit without the US's massive trade deficits, whopping huge budget deficits, etc).
I prefer Nvidia, but at the top end, with single cards (no prospect of SLI-ing or Crossfire), the ATI cards are currently cheaper *and* faster.
I'm holding off on purchasing right now - but I may well end up buying ATI next time (I've Nvidia ATM) for this reason.
I'm not attempting to run Linux though.
Well, French Connection will probably *actually* register http://fcuk.eu/
ehhh... just to remove the "alternate reality" glasses for a second.
The X1800 series competes with the 7800 series, with really only the 7800GTX 512 just about coming out tops.
The X1900 series came out before the 7900 (and made the 7800 series look quite silly, as some high end 7800GTX were similar price to it) and competes with it admirably - the 7900GTX should have left the X1900XTX to eat dust - but it looks like it hasn't.
Hopefully the 7900GTX prices are competitive, as I'd like to stick with Nvidia.
Let's see... I have the 2nd expansion pack for NWN to play, and the Kingmaker expansion.
I haven't finished TES III: Morrowind, nevermind the two expansions.
I haven't played Civ4 half as much as I'd like, maybe half a dozen games.
I've Myst 5 to play.
I'm only about halfway through Guild Wars with my first character.
I have Fable to play (yeah, it seems that it isn't too great, but I'll enjoy playing it through all the same, it looks reasonable pretty and has a story to follow).
And to cap it all, I'm buying TES IV: Oblivion at the end of the month.
Perhaps I should stop buying games. Mind you, some of the above games are old, and I've only a backlog due to not having a good PC to play on till last summer (or money to buy many games/games at release price).
Whoops... forgot to add my unfinished console games (PS2) - A Bard's Tale and Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance.
Oh yeah - I have Baldur's Gate II (the old PC game) to play as well.
There's no way I am going to run out of games for the next two years at least!
There should be vast mountains of Xbox360s shifting like hotcakes by now. It's not happening - whether because of shortages, or just not enough people to buy them (local stores here in Ireland finally have them in stock - but they don't seem to be moving).
And so to some extent, Microsoft has to wait too for the next holiday season and a consumer spending spree - there's a reason for the focus on that period for new product releases.
Managing to sell a few in time for last year's season doesn't cut the mustard, and the year long slog may indeed look embarrassing in retrospect. Microsoft can afford the cost, but if the Xbox360 starts looking like a failure because of the 12 months up to this year's holiday season, that could really affect things in a PS3 vs. Xbox360 battle.
However, much depends on other factors, like what games are on the scene towards the end of the year, and whether enough consumers are interested at all in next-gen. Sony may actually be lucky if people want next-gen movies (blu-ray + HDTV) - but I doubt this. People don't seem too worked up about HDTV on its own yet nevermind (a) new disc format(s).
One of the existing Wireless broadband providers here in Ireland, Digiweb, has won a licence to use part of the radio spectrum for Wireless broadband to mobile devices. This will be used for VoIP and other services.
So such services need not necessarily rely on "wi-fi".
Although, the countryside will be a bit cluttered here in Ireland with small mobile phone cells for three operators on GSM, and a couple *extra* operators with their own 3G networks, wireless broadband to fixed locations by several operators, and now a new form of wireless broadband for mobile telephony.
Wireless broadband is getting pretty big here in Ireland, as there's no fixed line DSL outside major population centres, and the "last mile" owned by the incumbant former state telco is so badly maintained that only 70 or so percent of those close enough to a DSL-enabled exchange can get broadband.
> People aren't willing to pay a premium for PCs anymore
Not quite true. Plenty of folks are willing to pay hundreds more for more features, bigger+faster X+Y+Z, etc.
Dell have their bases so well covered compared to the other PC manufacturers in the area, with their easy customisability, and low, medium and high-end systems.
Not only do they sell the Walmart stuff, but they sell the better stuff too, even if not the most polished high-street stuff (aka rip-off stuff). Although mind you, I don't know what other category XPS would fit under - it's exactly the kind of thing one could find in an expensive high-street shop. And Dell Precisions are pretty top of the range.
It'll be interesting to see if Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion will help at all. That looks like being one pretty game.
But still, people need a HD TV to get the full effect of the better graphics.
Booey to that, instead of Xbox 360 + peripherals + HDTV, just buy a new PC.
I paid 1450 for my Dell (3GHz P4, Nvidia GeForce 6800, 20" LCD 1600x1200 res) here in Ireland and you'ld be hard put here to buy the Xbox 360 setup + an actual bona-fide HD TV (i.e. not "HD ready" nonsense) for less.
In fact, I don't know where one would buy either of those devices in my city (the HD TV *possibly* if you searched all the stores and carefully scrutinised the big shiny flat screens showing PAL TV)
Yes - I don't enjoy FPSs, War Games, or even RTS War games.
So last year I bought Guild Wars (yet another MMORPG, but with no subscription, pretty and fun to play with both a story PvE, and PvP)
I bought Civ4 which again, is a sequel. But it looks so beautiful I drool - and it does impact on the game playing experience. Besides which, the team went back to the drawing board and created Civ rules and gameplay as they should be, with all the irritating things changed/removed, and clever ideas from previous games wholeheartedly introduced. Added with some novel ideas like adding religion into the mix.
I bought Myst 5, which is also a sequel, but again, it's something where the improved graphics really add to the gaming experience. Also it may be no. 5 in the series, but there aren't many other similar games to the Myst series. I missed out on the whole thing, so I bought the 10th anniversary edition of the first three games, and got the fourth game, and I'm working my way through. If you haven't experienced Myst, go buy it. It's an immersive and beautiful experience, like a novel in the backstory, but using various media to full effect to provide the game experience and offer mentally stimulating puzzles.
And that's it for new releases. I bought some old games like Neverwinter Nights plus expansions, and Morrowind Game of the Year edition.
This year I'm buying Oblivion. Again, a game where the improved graphics will really stand to it (particularly as similarly to Civ 4, it's not just about that, but there's a host of gameplay reinvention and improvement) - it should provide an immersive experience. Go see the screenshots and trailers at elderscrolls.com - I challenge you not to drool.
In summary, there may be a dearth of innovation in general, but there are good games out there that aren't FPS or War games, and many are very well done, with a lot of innovation within well-known genres.