Assuming win95 actually came out in 95 (I'm too lazy to look it up) that's not a bad track record for an OS - people are obviously still using it, although it probably won't beat the 3 years I got out of DRDOS 6.0...
While we're at it, I'd like to sue Jon Katz for having the temerity to think that his poorly researched writings are in some way representative of the 'geek culture' of which I am a part.
First - Have a strong, NAILED design doc. This is more than 'he runs around and shoots stuff'. This can include a summary of plot points (if any), character information (sketch and bio), proposed features, market info, etc. Think of it as a business plan for a game instead of a company.
Second - have a technology prototype that gets the idea across. Ideally this is the first level/scenario/10 minutes, whatever. It should expose core gameplay, and at least some of the features you think will make the product unique. It doesn't have to look nice necessarily though.
There's a company in Canada making a PS2 product that has a lot of visualization stuff in it (yes, I work for them altho not on this product). http://mgi.moderngroove.com
Also as a related note, I didn't see if anyone answered but most of the traditional wavelength vis. programs use integer math instead of floating point (a la geiss) so you're mostly stuck with raw clock speed and a fast 2d RAMDAC to get performance out of them. It might mean that a thunderbird will spank an equivalent p4 (this is all very broad speculation).
I think what he was trying to say is that console rpg's suck, especially when compared to the breadth of experience found in PC rpg's.
I know a lot of people are going to start screaming "FF!" "Chrono-something!" But get over it. Poster above identifies the two major distinctions between a popular console rpg and a pc one, I'm simply going the step further by making a value judgement (tho that doesn't excuse my potentially trollish behaviour, ah wellL:)
It seems everyone who has been to outer space has been transfigured in some way. Hearing gagarin's (translated) speech, even if it was prepared by soviet writers beforehand(?) was inspiring. Where is the unity espoused by gagarin and tereshkova(? first woman in space I think) close to 40 years ago? It isn't here, where geeks squabble about how great/sucks the united states is. Just forget it for today, and remember that 40 years ago (roughly) the first member of the human tribe left the planet, looked back, and came back transformed.
PS-I'm going to a yuri's night event (http://www.yurisnight.net) but instead of a bunch of space geeks sipping champagne in a museum it'll be a 9 hour underground party. Seems more fitting somehow L:)
See? Wasn't that better than a Katz post on hacks?
on
Hollywood and Hackers
·
· Score: 1
I'd just like to point out that if Katz had decided to turn this into one of his unrelated screeds we'd have to wade through a lake of adjectives to come to the realization that us geeks are THE MIGHTY GODS OF MOUNT OLYMPUS!!!
"CNN scores yet another misunderstanding of the geek community by heinously underestimating our massive impact in the technology-challenged film community. When will these whining liberal arts majors realize that we tumescent geeks own the future of everything? Because our manly skins have been hardened by a lifetime of adolescent bullying, we geeks are perhaps one of the safest moving targets found in Hollywood. Why didn't they ask me, Jon Katz, homerian biographer and owner of all things nerdy to comment on this article?"
This reminds me of the whole kerfuffle surrounding the Chapters/Borders/etc. incursion into independant bookselling territory. There were a lot of articles espousing the view that these 'soulless monoliths' would take away any diversity and charm lingering in the already slim-margined book business.
A year or two goes by and it seems every one of those people will pop by their local megastore to down a starbuck's and pick up their fancy UK-imported fashion magazines that they couldn't get here before. For the most part the bookselling changeover occurred without a blip, and why?
Economies of scale for the most part. I used to work for TELUS in Alberta (Canada for the george w supporters out there) and right now they're the biggest game in town. When TELUS was a crown corporation it was LAW that they support universal access to nearly every community in Alberta (this was also true of BCTel, the deregulated british columbian company that merged with TELUS later). This meant a POP in every little town in a province larger than many american states, with 80% of its population in two large metropolitan centres. The capital outlay was incredible - what mom and pop operation could afford to run wire out to Beiseker, Acme, and Flare all while being required by law to charge the SAME RATE to all customers?
If the telco/ISP market hadn't consolidated in Alberta/BC there would NOT be affordable service to these remote areas at all. Add on to the fact that a large, well-funded corporation can do a hell of a lot more with R&D and new product development (Alberta was one of the first places in the world with a commercial DSL service rollout). If the world was run by mom 'n' pop ISPs do you think anyone would have had the money to invest in the requisite infrastructure to support high speed in the first place? Not without a consolidation in the marketplace, granting enough pie to one company so that they can afford to embark on a such a venture.
That said I'm not touting the 'goods' of the 'evil' corporation. I am saying though, that if you expect a certain level of service/innovation your provider needs to have more behind it than a cottage full of helpful, hands on service personnel. In a vaguely related note, most of the innovations this community uses today came from 'evil' companies like Xerox, HP, and IBM (or at least their peace/love/dope research arms).
Who knows what could happen if the low vision person in question gets their Nomads mixed up... I wonder what six gigs of streamed MP3's would LOOK like anyway?
"wow... I can see the music man. It's all one and zeroy."
they couldn't afford to delay their print window any later. I remember when I worked at a student newspaper we had to have all our work done with flats boxed by 7:00 a.m. Weds morning. It never happened to us but some other years had the shame of a "special friday edition".
If they had listened to me none of this would have happened. Elections should be decided by... Original Star Trek Gladitorial Combat!
(dun dun DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN dun dun!)
Talking to a friend of mine in Taiwan via ICQ and he's saying a lot of taiwanese are really excited that Bush is in the lead (or Shao Buo Shi as he's known affectionately over there. Ask a chinese person). They feel that he'll do something about the US's decidedly ambiguous policy towards TW's independence. Personally I think he'll cave to the PRC anyway (on Cheney's rather cold-blooded policy making). Admittedly my friend works at an english language publication with a more 'americanized' staff but still, an interesting perspective. I'd have thought the international perspective would be on Gore.
PS-Gore has decided not to address the Dems personally - probably worried he might not be able to keep both fingers AND toes crossed L:)
I'm sure that I'm speaking for all of Canada when I say - we don't want him. Or Rosie O Donnel. Or really, any american celeberity at all. (Your selection of super models however... Hmm.) In fact, all of you/.'ers who are talking about moving to Canada - please don't. The sudden influx of technical expertise would make jobs in the field hard to find L:)
Last note: I haven't been following things but I've been reading some entertaining recounts of Bush jr. escapades (subliminal, geography, DUI, etc.) All I can say is: Think Dan Quayle with over 100 executions on his hands and I'll see you all in four years L:)
That's the day before Kevin Mitnick finally gets his release? Coincidence? I don't think so. This might be a "sign" that his release is a forerunner for... the ANTICHRIST!
Yes, the antichrist will come in mid to late January. S/he didn't come earlier because they wanted to make you feel secure. Safe. Out of the frying pan. Into the fire. What's scarier, the monster jumping out of the closet, or checking the closet, finding it empty, and having the monster jump on your head?
Yes, the antichrist is on his way. The signs will be inflicting demons upon the world (Mitnick, Prince Harry, solo spice girl albums), disappointing software (Quake 3, Netscape "Milestone" 10), and distortions in reality to cloud our sanity (Yahoo share price, linux-based start-ups, Charles Schulz' retirement).
With his/her lackey Mitnick at his side, the antichrist will rule with an iron fist, and all those who bear the mark of the beast (the "apple" logo) will know his/her suzerainty.
The news will be announced on mp3.com, as the antichrist flogs his/her new album. Then the end will come.
ANY company that occupies a near-monopoly position will attempt to hold it for as long as possible. This is because large companies are ruled by stock holders, the larger the company gets, the more outrageous the demands from stock holders get. In fact, there is no real "entity" of the company - just a board of directors who listen to share holders and a CEO (microsoft is an interesting exception since it's majority share holder is also its kinda-CEO).
People say "That dang Microsoft! That damn IBM!" Any company that approaches their size will consistently attempt to enlarge their market penetration until... guess what? They are the market. Remember ALCAN?
Both netscape and sun are run by intelligent, driven individuals and I know it in my water that they would do some of the same stuff MS does if they were in that market position. They wouldn't say, "Hey you know? Browser users should have choice. Let's not crush this new competitor like a bug." AOL/netscape is going to have some of the same battles in the coming years, I can tell.
Finally something to verify my visions of Unidentified Flying hemOs! No longer will they mock me! (cackle cackle)
On the serious side though, I'm wondering what you could do with the HUD... if it was software modifiable you could turn it into a targeting system a la Terminator. Or perhaps play a spirited game of Pong with the passenger. Hmm. I think I'm going to take a walk down to the Cadillac dealership.
I mean, how long's it been since IE 5.0 came out? And a real "new" version of Netscape anything?
I like IE because it has a more mature DOM that (in my opinion) you can do more with using less code. I like the fact that it has an XML component that's actually useable. I like the more complete adherance to CSS specifications (again, in my opinion). I like the open ended object/active x/ole/whatever they're calling it this week/ structure (this is more MS strategy stuff, but what they hey).
I don't like the security holes (found in other software), the lack of input into design decisions, and occasional stability problems. Those are pretty big "don't likes" actually. On the other hand though, Netscape doesn't really have anything I like (as a developer), and some of the same dislikes. Makes it an easy decision doesn't it?
All that said, I think that Mozilla's only chance is to become the consumer browser, because I would choose IE as a development platform in a hot minute. I've read several articles mentioning the fact that IE is eclipsing NN/C in the intranet/internal development marketplace (some posted here) and I agree totally. If I had to support netscape right now it'd double my work. I'd have to write everything twice, AND some things I couldn't do at all. The long and short of this long message is (and here's the flamey bit): I don't think netscape/mozilla, given many delays before producing a useable product, being so far behind what MS has accomplished with the technology curve, I don't think they'll be a viable competitor in the marketspace. If they pull off a miracle and make it better, I'd use that in a second instead too. I'm a traiterous pragmatist.
Off Topic FUD and crap following vvvvvvvvvv
Just as a side note, I've been vett'ing slashdot for quite a while now and have drawn some interesting conclusions. It seems that Big automatically == BAD and Small/independent automatically == GOOD. I think in some part it goes to a hearkening back to the grassroots origin of the internet. Is there a "good" "big" company that fits into the narrow slashdot canon? And not just because they're the next great white hope against microsoft, but because they make good stuff that people can use and like?
I remember how the knives came out after the Red Hat IPO once they became BIG and therefore BAD. If a Big(bad) company actually puts out a good product, will anyone actually notice for all the knees jerking?
Slashdot Mirror
Wanna see a little ol poop clod all running around.
Assuming win95 actually came out in 95 (I'm too lazy to look it up) that's not a bad track record for an OS - people are obviously still using it, although it probably won't beat the 3 years I got out of DRDOS 6.0...
While we're at it, I'd like to sue Jon Katz for having the temerity to think that his poorly researched writings are in some way representative of the 'geek culture' of which I am a part.
Note, IANAGD -
First - Have a strong, NAILED design doc. This is more than 'he runs around and shoots stuff'. This can include a summary of plot points (if any), character information (sketch and bio), proposed features, market info, etc. Think of it as a business plan for a game instead of a company.
Second - have a technology prototype that gets the idea across. Ideally this is the first level/scenario/10 minutes, whatever. It should expose core gameplay, and at least some of the features you think will make the product unique. It doesn't have to look nice necessarily though.
I'd be curious to hear a limey's take on this - Skye's penetration isn't that big, how does the BBC handle it's near monopoly?
In Canada the CBC handles it by producing really crappy television (except for news and sports) coverage.
There's a company in Canada making a PS2 product that has a lot of visualization stuff in it (yes, I work for them altho not on this product). http://mgi.moderngroove.com
Also as a related note, I didn't see if anyone answered but most of the traditional wavelength vis. programs use integer math instead of floating point (a la geiss) so you're mostly stuck with raw clock speed and a fast 2d RAMDAC to get performance out of them. It might mean that a thunderbird will spank an equivalent p4 (this is all very broad speculation).
I think what he was trying to say is that console rpg's suck, especially when compared to the breadth of experience found in PC rpg's.
I know a lot of people are going to start screaming "FF!" "Chrono-something!" But get over it. Poster above identifies the two major distinctions between a popular console rpg and a pc one, I'm simply going the step further by making a value judgement (tho that doesn't excuse my potentially trollish behaviour, ah wellL:)
It seems everyone who has been to outer space has been transfigured in some way. Hearing gagarin's (translated) speech, even if it was prepared by soviet writers beforehand(?) was inspiring. Where is the unity espoused by gagarin and tereshkova(? first woman in space I think) close to 40 years ago? It isn't here, where geeks squabble about how great/sucks the united states is. Just forget it for today, and remember that 40 years ago (roughly) the first member of the human tribe left the planet, looked back, and came back transformed.
PS-I'm going to a yuri's night event (http://www.yurisnight.net) but instead of a bunch of space geeks sipping champagne in a museum it'll be a 9 hour underground party. Seems more fitting somehow L:)
I'd just like to point out that if Katz had decided to turn this into one of his unrelated screeds we'd have to wade through a lake of adjectives to come to the realization that us geeks are THE MIGHTY GODS OF MOUNT OLYMPUS!!!
"CNN scores yet another misunderstanding of the geek community by heinously underestimating our massive impact in the technology-challenged film community. When will these whining liberal arts majors realize that we tumescent geeks own the future of everything? Because our manly skins have been hardened by a lifetime of adolescent bullying, we geeks are perhaps one of the safest moving targets found in Hollywood. Why didn't they ask me, Jon Katz, homerian biographer and owner of all things nerdy to comment on this article?"
Instead we got mostly the facts. Thanks taco!
This couldn't have predated the classic Eye of The Beholder - after all, there's no such thing as non-pc gaming.
This reminds me of the whole kerfuffle surrounding the Chapters/Borders/etc. incursion into independant bookselling territory. There were a lot of articles espousing the view that these 'soulless monoliths' would take away any diversity and charm lingering in the already slim-margined book business.
A year or two goes by and it seems every one of those people will pop by their local megastore to down a starbuck's and pick up their fancy UK-imported fashion magazines that they couldn't get here before. For the most part the bookselling changeover occurred without a blip, and why?
Economies of scale for the most part. I used to work for TELUS in Alberta (Canada for the george w supporters out there) and right now they're the biggest game in town. When TELUS was a crown corporation it was LAW that they support universal access to nearly every community in Alberta (this was also true of BCTel, the deregulated british columbian company that merged with TELUS later). This meant a POP in every little town in a province larger than many american states, with 80% of its population in two large metropolitan centres. The capital outlay was incredible - what mom and pop operation could afford to run wire out to Beiseker, Acme, and Flare all while being required by law to charge the SAME RATE to all customers?
If the telco/ISP market hadn't consolidated in Alberta/BC there would NOT be affordable service to these remote areas at all. Add on to the fact that a large, well-funded corporation can do a hell of a lot more with R&D and new product development (Alberta was one of the first places in the world with a commercial DSL service rollout). If the world was run by mom 'n' pop ISPs do you think anyone would have had the money to invest in the requisite infrastructure to support high speed in the first place? Not without a consolidation in the marketplace, granting enough pie to one company so that they can afford to embark on a such a venture.
That said I'm not touting the 'goods' of the 'evil' corporation. I am saying though, that if you expect a certain level of service/innovation your provider needs to have more behind it than a cottage full of helpful, hands on service personnel. In a vaguely related note, most of the innovations this community uses today came from 'evil' companies like Xerox, HP, and IBM (or at least their peace/love/dope research arms).
Who knows what could happen if the low vision person in question gets their Nomads mixed up... I wonder what six gigs of streamed MP3's would LOOK like anyway?
"wow... I can see the music man. It's all one and zeroy."
they couldn't afford to delay their print window any later. I remember when I worked at a student newspaper we had to have all our work done with flats boxed by 7:00 a.m. Weds morning. It never happened to us but some other years had the shame of a "special friday edition".
If they had listened to me none of this would have happened. Elections should be decided by... Original Star Trek Gladitorial Combat!
(dun dun DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN dun dun!)
"Five quatloos on the living contestant!"
like anyone has any mod points left in this enormous 800+ thread L:)
Talking to a friend of mine in Taiwan via ICQ and he's saying a lot of taiwanese are really excited that Bush is in the lead (or Shao Buo Shi as he's known affectionately over there. Ask a chinese person). They feel that he'll do something about the US's decidedly ambiguous policy towards TW's independence. Personally I think he'll cave to the PRC anyway (on Cheney's rather cold-blooded policy making). Admittedly my friend works at an english language publication with a more 'americanized' staff but still, an interesting perspective. I'd have thought the international perspective would be on Gore.
PS-Gore has decided not to address the Dems personally - probably worried he might not be able to keep both fingers AND toes crossed L:)
I'm sure that I'm speaking for all of Canada when I say - we don't want him. Or Rosie O Donnel. Or really, any american celeberity at all. (Your selection of super models however... Hmm.) In fact, all of you /.'ers who are talking about moving to Canada - please don't. The sudden influx of technical expertise would make jobs in the field hard to find L:)
Last note: I haven't been following things but I've been reading some entertaining recounts of Bush jr. escapades (subliminal, geography, DUI, etc.) All I can say is: Think Dan Quayle with over 100 executions on his hands and I'll see you all in four years L:)
That's the day before Kevin Mitnick finally gets his release? Coincidence? I don't think so. This might be a "sign" that his release is a forerunner for... the ANTICHRIST!
Yes, the antichrist will come in mid to late January. S/he didn't come earlier because they wanted to make you feel secure. Safe. Out of the frying pan. Into the fire. What's scarier, the monster jumping out of the closet, or checking the closet, finding it empty, and having the monster jump on your head?
Yes, the antichrist is on his way. The signs will be inflicting demons upon the world (Mitnick, Prince Harry, solo spice girl albums), disappointing software (Quake 3, Netscape "Milestone" 10), and distortions in reality to cloud our sanity (Yahoo share price, linux-based start-ups, Charles Schulz' retirement).
With his/her lackey Mitnick at his side, the antichrist will rule with an iron fist, and all those who bear the mark of the beast (the "apple" logo) will know his/her suzerainty.
The news will be announced on mp3.com, as the antichrist flogs his/her new album. Then the end will come.
http://www.slaughterhouse.ab.ca
I think you guys are getting too specific -
ANY company that occupies a near-monopoly position will attempt to hold it for as long as possible. This is because large companies are ruled by stock holders, the larger the company gets, the more outrageous the demands from stock holders get. In fact, there is no real "entity" of the company - just a board of directors who listen to share holders and a CEO (microsoft is an interesting exception since it's majority share holder is also its kinda-CEO).
People say "That dang Microsoft! That damn IBM!" Any company that approaches their size will consistently attempt to enlarge their market penetration until... guess what? They are the market. Remember ALCAN?
Both netscape and sun are run by intelligent, driven individuals and I know it in my water that they would do some of the same stuff MS does if they were in that market position. They wouldn't say, "Hey you know? Browser users should have choice. Let's not crush this new competitor like a bug." AOL/netscape is going to have some of the same battles in the coming years, I can tell.
Finally something to verify my visions of Unidentified Flying hemOs! No longer will they mock me!
(cackle cackle)
On the serious side though, I'm wondering what you could do with the HUD... if it was software modifiable you could turn it into a targeting system a la Terminator. Or perhaps play a spirited game of Pong with the passenger. Hmm. I think I'm going to take a walk down to the Cadillac dealership.
cdensch don't do signatures
I mean, how long's it been since IE 5.0 came out? And a real "new" version of Netscape anything?
I like IE because it has a more mature DOM that (in my opinion) you can do more with using less code. I like the fact that it has an XML component that's actually useable. I like the more complete adherance to CSS specifications (again, in my opinion). I like the open ended object/active x/ole/whatever they're calling it this week/ structure (this is more MS strategy stuff, but what they hey).
I don't like the security holes (found in other software), the lack of input into design decisions, and occasional stability problems. Those are pretty big "don't likes" actually. On the other hand though, Netscape doesn't really have anything I like (as a developer), and some of the same dislikes. Makes it an easy decision doesn't it?
All that said, I think that Mozilla's only chance is to become the consumer browser, because I would choose IE as a development platform in a hot minute. I've read several articles mentioning the fact that IE is eclipsing NN/C in the intranet/internal development marketplace (some posted here) and I agree totally. If I had to support netscape right now it'd double my work. I'd have to write everything twice, AND some things I couldn't do at all. The long and short of this long message is (and here's the flamey bit): I don't think netscape/mozilla, given many delays before producing a useable product, being so far behind what MS has accomplished with the technology curve, I don't think they'll be a viable competitor in the marketspace. If they pull off a miracle and make it better, I'd use that in a second instead too. I'm a traiterous pragmatist.
Off Topic FUD and crap following
vvvvvvvvvv
Just as a side note, I've been vett'ing slashdot for quite a while now and have drawn some interesting conclusions. It seems that Big automatically == BAD and Small/independent automatically == GOOD. I think in some part it goes to a hearkening back to the grassroots origin of the internet. Is there a "good" "big" company that fits into the narrow slashdot canon? And not just because they're the next great white hope against microsoft, but because they make good stuff that people can use and like?
I remember how the knives came out after the Red Hat IPO once they became BIG and therefore BAD. If a Big(bad) company actually puts out a good product, will anyone actually notice for all the knees jerking?
End FUD and crap ^^^^^
cdensch doesn't do signatures