You're forgetting the timeframe here. Windows 98 emerged when DOS apps were still inmensly popular and a stopgap between DOS and Win32 was needed. So, they basically extended Win3.11 to take Win32 apps. With issues, given. WinME was simply Win98 with polish.
Arguably, it did quite well, and by the time Windows 98 took off Windows 2000/XP was arround the corner to finish the transition to a "proper" OS, based on the NT kernel (which is better than most people tend to beleive). It was a bold move but it worked for them.
Region codes are a PITA, but 99% percent of standalone DVD players can be made region free with a secret remote key combination. And a lot of DVD players for PCs can be made region-free aswell, updating firmware. In that sense, it's relatively harmless.
None of the above is stuff DVD makers want you to know, but's all legal. Google is your friend!
Well, it depends. Don't forget that those are the people that will pay for your product; you don't want to piss them off much. iTunes and DVDs are two examples of (relatively) harmless DRM protected digital media. It's interesting that both have been cracked too.
To be honest, i never understood why iTunes become so sucesful. If i had to venture, i'd say it was more due to the iPod than anything else.
Others didn't did as well - DivXs, for example.
Half-Life 2 sold like crazy because it was probably the most overhyped game in recent times. It also was a good game to boot, but i know quite a few people who didn't buy it because of their hatred of Steam. And i'm one of them.
It was pirated the same; in fact, there was a NO-STEAM a day after release. So you could argue it was less of a hassle for pirates to play it than it was for some users from what i've read:)
Ohh, Rama. Rama was perhaps the first book i readed which i simply couldn't put down. I had to know what would happen next. It's funny, because i was planning to get the sequels soon:) They just don't make it like that anymore.
Now that i think of it, it would make a very nice movie in the hands of a competent director.
Check also "The mote in God's eye" series for a very interesting first contact sci-fi story.
Given. So why bother a paying user if your product is going to be pirated anyway? It's a battle you can't win; you might as well accept it as a price of doing buisness. I've been saying this for games aswell, where "no-cd" patches are simply necessary in order to play the game without it becoming an annoyance.
You just can't keep digital media from being pirated. It's as simple as that. Try a different aproach.
For example, i like buying CDs. I like having a nice, pressed, shiny CD with a good looking booklet. I like buying books, and i like buying DVDs.
I also download a lot, even though i usually end up buying what i really like. I would buy a lot more, but the thing is, music/dvds and even books are still way too expensive. Why not lowering the price, knowing that you'll still make a profit? (no, i don't beleive $20 for a CD is reasonable)
I hope stuff like this teaches companies no one wins with DRM. Not themselves, as they're made look incompetent when DRM is cracked ("Protected CDs" rippeable pressing CTRL?), and certainly not their customers.
If it's digital, and the end user can see / hear it, it can be copied. Perfectly. Deal with it, and make it interesting to buy instead of pirating.
I disagree about Contact. Don't get me wrong, the movie was very good, as most of Zemeckis work, but the book is terrific and one of my favorite sci-fi reads of all time. There's a A LOT of interesting stuff in the book that was left out of the movie.
The Green Mile was a terrific adptation from the 600 pages novel. Frank Darabont did a great job with The Swawshank Redemption as well, also a novel by Stephen King.
If you thought that you were screwing with Microsoft because they sold the XBox at a loss, you're wrong from the start. The logic behind selling at a loss is that, well, you sell a lot of them so the necessary goods that *DO* make cash for it (namely: software titles) sell well. And for every geek buying one to use it as a Linux server there are another 1000 geeks that buy one to play games ocasionally.
The more they sell, the more they earn. Simple math.
The key point here is price. SMSs are usually free or very very cheap compared to calls; here (Arg) everyone uses SMS regularly, instead of brief calls when needed. In that sense, i use my cellphone as a glorified pager most of the time.
Don't forget that lately software companies love be rather vage about defining what they sell as either "license" or "product". You buy a product (a box with CDs and manuals), but it has a license attached to it (you can only use it under certain conditions, EULAs, etc). It's not as easy as a cellphone.
I guess it depends on the seller. A lot of software companies will give you a new CD-Key if you provide evidence of ownership. Happens all the time with online games, for example.
This is just a ruse to get folks to pay less attention to the fact that the MS OS is generally less secure for most people than it should be...
C'mon, let's be fair here for a second. The reasoning behind this decision might be shady, but Microsoft has no obligation in supporting users who pirate their product. That their product happens to be bug-loaded software is a separate issue; while i DO beleive Microsoft should be responsable for the problems their software generates (and not only for their users, third parties as well), i don't beleive they should make themselves responsables for people stealing from them.
You might argue they do it to play the "well, they don't pay! we're innocent, see?" card. And i think you would be right, but they're entitled to, even if we don't like it.
You know, i think the same. I had high hopes for the S3 DeltaChrome GPU line, which is DX9+ capable and has some very interesting features, like being able to process video in realtime using GPU horsepower and HDTV support. All of this at a very friendly price and using relatively simple cooling solutions, as S3 focuses on bundled / onboard solutions.
Yet, the reviewsfor it basically conclude it's a promising technology with poor drivers, which on GPU-land can make or kill a product. I still have hopes for them to release OSS drivers for it; over time, i think it could gain a good deal of acceptance among Linux/BSD users. Matrox did it, and sold a lot of cards to OSS users, but the 3D performance of their hardware was a bit lacking.
For some reason, i always liked S3 (even while bitching about those damn ViRGEs). Please, if someone at S3 is reading, we love you. Do it, and we'll root for the underdog!
nVidia has a very nice treat: Unified driver architecture, which means drivers are the same for all GeForces and TNTs, from the original TNT up to the latest FX offerings. In practice, it means more or less they bundle all drivers in a single download (a 8mb binary driver? sheeze) - but they work just fine. This is for all platforms too; you can get them here.
As for OSS drivers, both X.Org and XFree86 include a basic TNT/GeForce driver with some degree of 2D acceleration but no OpenGL support.
I don't know if you really feel that this is "cheating", but if so, what would you suggest as an alternative? What they do makes perfect economic sense. They've put in the money on R&D for a hi-tech product. Once the design is implemented, manufacturing cost differences between the multiple levels of cards are negligible.
I need to apologize; i mixed my thoughts a bit here (typed on a rush at work:). Graphic cards vendors HAVE been caught cheating with their drivers, doing stuff that they're not supposed to (the infamous "quak.exe" incident? 3Dmark? etc etc etc) and that might be a reason why they don't open source their drivers; there might be stuff there that we're not supposed to know about.
As for the open specs parts, well, you have a point. This happens with a lot of electonic devices nowadays, where a simple firmware update usually unlocks a ton of features not available before. The thing is, you don't need a deeper understanding about your, say, digital camera other than the USB data transfer specs in order to write OSS drivers for it. For a GPU, you need the whole deal.
It's a tough position for manufacturers, but it makes little diference for me, as an user, as i'd rather have OSS drivers which i know are continuously being patched and have a lot of eyes over them.
Having said that, atleast nVidia offers excellent closed-source drivers for Linux/BSD, rivaling their Windows counterparts in performance. I never had an issue with them, but that won't keep the zealots happy;)
Re:Finally, on the same level as the PC, for now.
on
More On PS3 and Xbox 2
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· Score: 1
Oh, i so agree with you. I was just pointing out that HL2, while a fine game, it's hardly the state-of-the-art graphic experience to be beaten on a PC.
Actually, it's more common than you think. Some nVidia-powered GFX cards brand were softmoddeable too; i remember reading something about the 6800 and software locked pipelines.
The 9700 -> 9800 ATI softmod was supposed to be doable on 9700s that were, like you said, 9800 with faulty units. I know four people that did this mod and all had the card running just fine - only one had artifacts, and was due to the GPU running much hotter, which was fixed by sticking a larger heatsink. ATI recalled that particular model after the mod was public, so i really dunno...
Re:Finally, on the same level as the PC, for now.
on
More On PS3 and Xbox 2
·
· Score: 1
Also, Half Life 2 looked damn good, but wasn't particularly heavy on GPUs - i saw it running just fine on a nVidia FX5200 at 800x600. Of all the latest graphic engines released in games, Doom 3 has the more GPU-taxing one, by far.
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You're forgetting the timeframe here. Windows 98 emerged when DOS apps were still inmensly popular and a stopgap between DOS and Win32 was needed. So, they basically extended Win3.11 to take Win32 apps. With issues, given. WinME was simply Win98 with polish.
Arguably, it did quite well, and by the time Windows 98 took off Windows 2000/XP was arround the corner to finish the transition to a "proper" OS, based on the NT kernel (which is better than most people tend to beleive). It was a bold move but it worked for them.
Region codes are a PITA, but 99% percent of standalone DVD players can be made region free with a secret remote key combination. And a lot of DVD players for PCs can be made region-free aswell, updating firmware. In that sense, it's relatively harmless.
None of the above is stuff DVD makers want you to know, but's all legal. Google is your friend!
Well, it depends. Don't forget that those are the people that will pay for your product; you don't want to piss them off much. iTunes and DVDs are two examples of (relatively) harmless DRM protected digital media. It's interesting that both have been cracked too. To be honest, i never understood why iTunes become so sucesful. If i had to venture, i'd say it was more due to the iPod than anything else. Others didn't did as well - DivXs, for example.
Isn't all of the above prety much the same?
(ok ok, enough! it was a joke damnit!)
Half-Life 2 sold like crazy because it was probably the most overhyped game in recent times. It also was a good game to boot, but i know quite a few people who didn't buy it because of their hatred of Steam. And i'm one of them.
:)
It was pirated the same; in fact, there was a NO-STEAM a day after release. So you could argue it was less of a hassle for pirates to play it than it was for some users from what i've read
Ohh, Rama. Rama was perhaps the first book i readed which i simply couldn't put down. I had to know what would happen next. It's funny, because i was planning to get the sequels soon :) They just don't make it like that anymore.
Now that i think of it, it would make a very nice movie in the hands of a competent director.
Check also "The mote in God's eye" series for a very interesting first contact sci-fi story.
Given. So why bother a paying user if your product is going to be pirated anyway? It's a battle you can't win; you might as well accept it as a price of doing buisness. I've been saying this for games aswell, where "no-cd" patches are simply necessary in order to play the game without it becoming an annoyance.
You just can't keep digital media from being pirated. It's as simple as that. Try a different aproach.
For example, i like buying CDs. I like having a nice, pressed, shiny CD with a good looking booklet. I like buying books, and i like buying DVDs.
I also download a lot, even though i usually end up buying what i really like. I would buy a lot more, but the thing is, music/dvds and even books are still way too expensive. Why not lowering the price, knowing that you'll still make a profit? (no, i don't beleive $20 for a CD is reasonable)
Relevant link here!
I hope stuff like this teaches companies no one wins with DRM. Not themselves, as they're made look incompetent when DRM is cracked ("Protected CDs" rippeable pressing CTRL?), and certainly not their customers.
If it's digital, and the end user can see / hear it, it can be copied. Perfectly. Deal with it, and make it interesting to buy instead of pirating.
I disagree about Contact. Don't get me wrong, the movie was very good, as most of Zemeckis work, but the book is terrific and one of my favorite sci-fi reads of all time. There's a A LOT of interesting stuff in the book that was left out of the movie.
The Green Mile was a terrific adptation from the 600 pages novel. Frank Darabont did a great job with The Swawshank Redemption as well, also a novel by Stephen King.
If you thought that you were screwing with Microsoft because they sold the XBox at a loss, you're wrong from the start. The logic behind selling at a loss is that, well, you sell a lot of them so the necessary goods that *DO* make cash for it (namely: software titles) sell well. And for every geek buying one to use it as a Linux server there are another 1000 geeks that buy one to play games ocasionally.
The more they sell, the more they earn. Simple math.
These WMV files (1-2 MB each) can be downloaded for nostalgia flashbacks or if you are curious (you young kids!)
Oh no anymore they can't!
PS: I hope someone atleast warned the poor guy hosting the videos.
I have this weird, irrational feeling that the "slower" button might slow the slides down. But that's just me :)
For Pete's sake, someone mod this guy up!
Great! I have an evil-bit scrambler to sell you for only $39.99, plus shipping.
The key point here is price. SMSs are usually free or very very cheap compared to calls; here (Arg) everyone uses SMS regularly, instead of brief calls when needed. In that sense, i use my cellphone as a glorified pager most of the time.
Don't forget that lately software companies love be rather vage about defining what they sell as either "license" or "product". You buy a product (a box with CDs and manuals), but it has a license attached to it (you can only use it under certain conditions, EULAs, etc). It's not as easy as a cellphone.
I guess it depends on the seller. A lot of software companies will give you a new CD-Key if you provide evidence of ownership. Happens all the time with online games, for example.
This is just a ruse to get folks to pay less attention to the fact that the MS OS is generally less secure for most people than it should be...
C'mon, let's be fair here for a second. The reasoning behind this decision might be shady, but Microsoft has no obligation in supporting users who pirate their product. That their product happens to be bug-loaded software is a separate issue; while i DO beleive Microsoft should be responsable for the problems their software generates (and not only for their users, third parties as well), i don't beleive they should make themselves responsables for people stealing from them.
You might argue they do it to play the "well, they don't pay! we're innocent, see?" card. And i think you would be right, but they're entitled to, even if we don't like it.
You know, i think the same. I had high hopes for the S3 DeltaChrome GPU line, which is DX9+ capable and has some very interesting features, like being able to process video in realtime using GPU horsepower and HDTV support. All of this at a very friendly price and using relatively simple cooling solutions, as S3 focuses on bundled / onboard solutions.
Yet, the reviews for it basically conclude it's a promising technology with poor drivers, which on GPU-land can make or kill a product. I still have hopes for them to release OSS drivers for it; over time, i think it could gain a good deal of acceptance among Linux/BSD users. Matrox did it, and sold a lot of cards to OSS users, but the 3D performance of their hardware was a bit lacking.
For some reason, i always liked S3 (even while bitching about those damn ViRGEs). Please, if someone at S3 is reading, we love you. Do it, and we'll root for the underdog!
nVidia has a very nice treat: Unified driver architecture, which means drivers are the same for all GeForces and TNTs, from the original TNT up to the latest FX offerings. In practice, it means more or less they bundle all drivers in a single download (a 8mb binary driver? sheeze) - but they work just fine. This is for all platforms too; you can get them here.
As for OSS drivers, both X.Org and XFree86 include a basic TNT/GeForce driver with some degree of 2D acceleration but no OpenGL support.
I don't know if you really feel that this is "cheating", but if so, what would you suggest as an alternative? What they do makes perfect economic sense. They've put in the money on R&D for a hi-tech product. Once the design is implemented, manufacturing cost differences between the multiple levels of cards are negligible.
:). Graphic cards vendors HAVE been caught cheating with their drivers, doing stuff that they're not supposed to (the infamous "quak.exe" incident? 3Dmark? etc etc etc) and that might be a reason why they don't open source their drivers; there might be stuff there that we're not supposed to know about.
;)
I need to apologize; i mixed my thoughts a bit here (typed on a rush at work
As for the open specs parts, well, you have a point. This happens with a lot of electonic devices nowadays, where a simple firmware update usually unlocks a ton of features not available before. The thing is, you don't need a deeper understanding about your, say, digital camera other than the USB data transfer specs in order to write OSS drivers for it. For a GPU, you need the whole deal.
It's a tough position for manufacturers, but it makes little diference for me, as an user, as i'd rather have OSS drivers which i know are continuously being patched and have a lot of eyes over them.
Having said that, atleast nVidia offers excellent closed-source drivers for Linux/BSD, rivaling their Windows counterparts in performance. I never had an issue with them, but that won't keep the zealots happy
Oh, i so agree with you. I was just pointing out that HL2, while a fine game, it's hardly the state-of-the-art graphic experience to be beaten on a PC.
Actually, it's more common than you think. Some nVidia-powered GFX cards brand were softmoddeable too; i remember reading something about the 6800 and software locked pipelines.
The 9700 -> 9800 ATI softmod was supposed to be doable on 9700s that were, like you said, 9800 with faulty units. I know four people that did this mod and all had the card running just fine - only one had artifacts, and was due to the GPU running much hotter, which was fixed by sticking a larger heatsink. ATI recalled that particular model after the mod was public, so i really dunno...
Also, Half Life 2 looked damn good, but wasn't particularly heavy on GPUs - i saw it running just fine on a nVidia FX5200 at 800x600. Of all the latest graphic engines released in games, Doom 3 has the more GPU-taxing one, by far.