You're posting on/. - how could you possibly not see the irony in a post like this?
Slashdot - Geeks sitting inside on computers telling kids to go play outside!
=V
But more to the point on topic - kids are going to play video games, no matter how hard we shake our canes or yell at them to play on our lawns. I would rather kids have the option of playing a LEGO based MMO than, say, a GTA based MMO.
Not to mention that if you read the cup, it's a cup advertising Chocolate. Nothing about beer is mentioned in the picture. Now, I COULD be mistaken, but I'm fairly positive Hersheys Mr Goodbars contain NO alcohol.
=_= Unless...
... this isn't about alcohol at all! Instead, a conservative right-wing conspiracy covering up the left-wing media frenzy over HOT CHOCOLATE!
I myself am in the process of refinishing a home that suffered years of neglect. I'm working my way from the inside, completely finishing a barren cement basement into 2 bedrooms and another full bathroom, and then I'll get some new siding and do some landscaping and replace the roof.
So, now some company can photograph my house mid-construction and it will impact how valuable certain appraisal agencies will see my home as? That's just plain retarded. Homes change in appearance and therefor asthetic value constantly. The outside of my house won't look nice for another year or so, and if I need to finance a home equity loan to pay for the new shingles, I don't want some old photos haunting the value of my home and impacting what I can get for it.
Not to mention the easiest to set up (nothing to set up at all) and manage and back up (again, nothing to do at all) and certainly accessable from any number of machines (anything with internet access.)
Take a look at the "Virtual" Gameboy that Nintendo put out, that crashed and burned horribly. That, and all of the incidents you listed above, only go to prove that virtual reality is in fact a money pit - at least according to the history of such products.
I agree with you - the desire and the marketing and the investments were all made way before their time. The time is now. You want a market for geeky gadgets, man, this is the time and place. We all can only hope Nintendo reads Slashdot and adapts some sort of device to this effect. I imagine it wouldn't take too much to take the technology from a motion sensing Wiimote / Nunchuck, add in a little headset, and take a lesson from Microsofts XBox live. You can imagine how excellent a product like that, (properly developed and supported of course) would be.
Alas, if there was just a way to convince major console players like Nintendo that the development costs were worth the risk. Or hey, if Sony is quick about it, maybe they'll find a way to sell me on the PS3 finally, and come out with this sort of thing, it's really the only thing that might convince me the console is worth it.
Really, I use a lot of onboard services on my little network system these days. A 500GB HDD for network storage, printer attached for printing across the network, I run my internet service through it and it does FTP and HTTP externally for my personal remote access to my network. Why not have it do VOIP telephony too? Sounds convenient enough, and none of my other resources on the system would draw overhead hardware-wise.
Would I recommend this kind of setup for a poweruser that likes to cut down on all background processes on their overclocked Windows gaming rig? Nah. But it's keen for those of us that like to have a main system for our use, and a small server that sits off in the basement running the little things.
So of course, the question of whether or not there's Linux drivers for it is very valid.
The crunching capabilities of a processor arn't always about it's clockspeed. And technically, besides gaming, 600mhz is fairly solid for running Linux on, for most web browsing and general office applications.
I'd think the most likely reason these won't sell well in the US is marketing and incompatibility. For one, good luck outmarketing Dell and Intel here in the US. For incompatibility, who the heck will be writing compatible drivers for this sort of system for us geeks to add video cards to, connect MP3 players to, etc?
All in all it's certainl possible that these will be functional web browser systems, but I wouldn't expect a single thing else from them. For $150, you get what you pay for.
Since we've seen that the Revolution isn't revolutionary hardware-wise, which means the games won't be all about the graphics, we may see some kickass storyline games that are well-written around this system.
On the other hand, we may see silly shoot-em-up games with the new controller. It's a coinflip until the system has been on the shelves for a few months, really.
I did. =) I build all my own desktops as well, but laptops you're screwed on. So who do you buy a laptop from if you need one, and also want to play some WoW and Oblivion when you're not working but on the road for work? Dell, who's all Intel? Sager, who's AMD?
Out of curiousity, what reputably retailer did you buy your laptop parts from?
Also, I want to know why everyone thinks Dell is awesome. They're just notebooks from Sagers manufacturing lines (http://sagernotebooks.com/ and relabeled.
Just buy a Sager directly, skip the Dell process, and you can score an AMD Turion, X2, or heck, even a 7900Go SLI laptop, which is excessive and inane if you ask me, but, Sager seems to be where the real power lies these days.
I'd say what you'd want to teach the kids is a mix of the pratical and useful softwares, things that are necessary, yet with the budget in mind.
I'd say stick with Windows XP, as Windows is still the most prevelant OS and will be the most useful, generally, in terms of getting a job or even extending education farther later. You can use Open Office to teach the basics of Word Processing, Internet Explorer for teaching Web usage, and Windows is a fine platform for learning a little basic networking even. Even showing someone how to Add and Remove Programs in Windows is useful knowledge down the road as well, as I've bumped into Phd's that can't figure that out, for some reason.
While using a Linux variant might be free, you may not have the choice for Windows dependant on your budget, but I'd recommend it. You want to teach the masses how to use the most common operating system they'll more than likely come in contact with, and need to know how to use.
My OS recommendation would only change if the costs were prohibitive to your budget. You can secure a legal copy of XP Home for $50 or so these days, and certainly even cheaper if buying in bulk as a non-profit entity. I'd recommend looking farther into the cost situation before writing it off though.
In terms of hardware, shoot for between the 600mhz and up, with at least 256MB RAM and at least a 10GB hard drive. I've got several 550mhz-800mhz servers that run Windows XP nicely, and that age tech is cheap if not free, and people are regularly dumping their old systems for Dell's new $399 Intel-Celeron crap deal with a flatpanel monitor, ooooo. One of my servers I swiped from the local dump, perfectly good 550mhz PII system with 256MB SDRAM. It won't run games, but then again, it doesn't need to, it just needs to share half a terabyte of storage on the network, and so it does quite nicely for the last 6 months.
PCs already surpass the XBox 360 in graphics. It's just the nature of the console beast. Don't get me wrong, I'd like to be able to afford a 360 myself, but in terms of raw power, computers win every time. Now, simplicity and ease of use...
If you read the article, you might've caught that these cards run cooler, thanks to 90nm.
Please read the article. The 7900 is an actual step forwards from the 7800. In this article, Nvidia delivers.
I'm interested to see what ATI is going to do. I'm not a fanboy of either manufacturer, but the 7800GT/GTX and the GS series have been laying into ATI hard, and they still havn't released a card that matches the 7800 series yet. I'd like to see something comparable, just so the prices are driven down a little on these higher-end cards.
At that point Google Desktop would be more of a tool, and it would fall more on the employees shoulders for responsibility.
If I install a FTP server app on my computer at work, set it to allow anonymous and share my whole hard drive, that's my fault when feces meets oscillating blades.
You;re forgetting crucial items, such as payroll and customer information like personal info and credit card info, for example. These two things alone would convince me to lock down my workplace from using Google Desktop. That is data I don't want easily distributed in any fashion.
Slashdot Mirror
You're posting on /. - how could you possibly not see the irony in a post like this?
Slashdot - Geeks sitting inside on computers telling kids to go play outside!
=VBut more to the point on topic - kids are going to play video games, no matter how hard we shake our canes or yell at them to play on our lawns. I would rather kids have the option of playing a LEGO based MMO than, say, a GTA based MMO.
No? What? What's "reality TV" got to do with music television? Nothing?... =V
Think of the future children!
'Newer' doesn't necessarily mean 'better.'
=_= Unless...
So, now some company can photograph my house mid-construction and it will impact how valuable certain appraisal agencies will see my home as? That's just plain retarded. Homes change in appearance and therefor asthetic value constantly. The outside of my house won't look nice for another year or so, and if I need to finance a home equity loan to pay for the new shingles, I don't want some old photos haunting the value of my home and impacting what I can get for it.
Not to mention the easiest to set up (nothing to set up at all) and manage and back up (again, nothing to do at all) and certainly accessable from any number of machines (anything with internet access.)
Take a look at the "Virtual" Gameboy that Nintendo put out, that crashed and burned horribly. That, and all of the incidents you listed above, only go to prove that virtual reality is in fact a money pit - at least according to the history of such products.
I agree with you - the desire and the marketing and the investments were all made way before their time. The time is now. You want a market for geeky gadgets, man, this is the time and place. We all can only hope Nintendo reads Slashdot and adapts some sort of device to this effect. I imagine it wouldn't take too much to take the technology from a motion sensing Wiimote / Nunchuck, add in a little headset, and take a lesson from Microsofts XBox live. You can imagine how excellent a product like that, (properly developed and supported of course) would be.
Alas, if there was just a way to convince major console players like Nintendo that the development costs were worth the risk. Or hey, if Sony is quick about it, maybe they'll find a way to sell me on the PS3 finally, and come out with this sort of thing, it's really the only thing that might convince me the console is worth it.
Really, I use a lot of onboard services on my little network system these days. A 500GB HDD for network storage, printer attached for printing across the network, I run my internet service through it and it does FTP and HTTP externally for my personal remote access to my network. Why not have it do VOIP telephony too? Sounds convenient enough, and none of my other resources on the system would draw overhead hardware-wise.
Would I recommend this kind of setup for a poweruser that likes to cut down on all background processes on their overclocked Windows gaming rig? Nah. But it's keen for those of us that like to have a main system for our use, and a small server that sits off in the basement running the little things.
So of course, the question of whether or not there's Linux drivers for it is very valid.
Yeah, doesn't matter if they're personal friends, business customers or relatives - they'll never WANT to speak to you again!
Not just filters, but alerts the proper authorities if some criminal breaks into your house and searches Google on the topic of "free speech!"
I'd think the most likely reason these won't sell well in the US is marketing and incompatibility. For one, good luck outmarketing Dell and Intel here in the US. For incompatibility, who the heck will be writing compatible drivers for this sort of system for us geeks to add video cards to, connect MP3 players to, etc?
All in all it's certainl possible that these will be functional web browser systems, but I wouldn't expect a single thing else from them. For $150, you get what you pay for.
And here I am without mod points. Thanks for the laugh. ^_^
If Oblivion chugs my AMD Socket 939 2ghz system with a 6800GTX a 1GB of RAM, I can't wait to see what it'll do to a PSP :P
On the other hand, we may see silly shoot-em-up games with the new controller. It's a coinflip until the system has been on the shelves for a few months, really.
Also, I want to know why everyone thinks Dell is awesome. They're just notebooks from Sagers manufacturing lines (http://sagernotebooks.com/ and relabeled.
Just buy a Sager directly, skip the Dell process, and you can score an AMD Turion, X2, or heck, even a 7900Go SLI laptop, which is excessive and inane if you ask me, but, Sager seems to be where the real power lies these days.
It's only XTREME if you run Windows and play solitaire on it.
I'd say stick with Windows XP, as Windows is still the most prevelant OS and will be the most useful, generally, in terms of getting a job or even extending education farther later. You can use Open Office to teach the basics of Word Processing, Internet Explorer for teaching Web usage, and Windows is a fine platform for learning a little basic networking even. Even showing someone how to Add and Remove Programs in Windows is useful knowledge down the road as well, as I've bumped into Phd's that can't figure that out, for some reason.
While using a Linux variant might be free, you may not have the choice for Windows dependant on your budget, but I'd recommend it. You want to teach the masses how to use the most common operating system they'll more than likely come in contact with, and need to know how to use.
My OS recommendation would only change if the costs were prohibitive to your budget. You can secure a legal copy of XP Home for $50 or so these days, and certainly even cheaper if buying in bulk as a non-profit entity. I'd recommend looking farther into the cost situation before writing it off though.
In terms of hardware, shoot for between the 600mhz and up, with at least 256MB RAM and at least a 10GB hard drive. I've got several 550mhz-800mhz servers that run Windows XP nicely, and that age tech is cheap if not free, and people are regularly dumping their old systems for Dell's new $399 Intel-Celeron crap deal with a flatpanel monitor, ooooo. One of my servers I swiped from the local dump, perfectly good 550mhz PII system with 256MB SDRAM. It won't run games, but then again, it doesn't need to, it just needs to share half a terabyte of storage on the network, and so it does quite nicely for the last 6 months.
Incoming "Ha-ha-the-French-will-just-give-up :V" comments!
PCs already surpass the XBox 360 in graphics. It's just the nature of the console beast. Don't get me wrong, I'd like to be able to afford a 360 myself, but in terms of raw power, computers win every time. Now, simplicity and ease of use...
Please read the article. The 7900 is an actual step forwards from the 7800. In this article, Nvidia delivers.
I'm interested to see what ATI is going to do. I'm not a fanboy of either manufacturer, but the 7800GT/GTX and the GS series have been laying into ATI hard, and they still havn't released a card that matches the 7800 series yet. I'd like to see something comparable, just so the prices are driven down a little on these higher-end cards.
If I install a FTP server app on my computer at work, set it to allow anonymous and share my whole hard drive, that's my fault when feces meets oscillating blades.
You;re forgetting crucial items, such as payroll and customer information like personal info and credit card info, for example. These two things alone would convince me to lock down my workplace from using Google Desktop. That is data I don't want easily distributed in any fashion.
How are they even supposed to get their missles over the Iron Curtain anyways? =)