1) Microsoft has been in the "Graphics Arena" for more than 15 years. A little thing called DirectX has been making waves for some time. 2) Microsoft has more money than most of those 'competitors' combined so it's not really spreading itself thin. 3) Xbox 360 rocks. It's just a fact. 4) Yeah what was that 'quicksilver' thing that died off... what ever came of that... could it be... silverlight? You know... the standard/application that the topic was indirectly about! Read The Fucking Article... or maybe a few hundred posts above you.
The simple fact of the matter is: Windows is not the future. Microsoft knows this. You're recommending they follow the IBM approach. Protect your aging and increasingly irelevant past at the cost of everything else.
Look at Flash it's become much more than bad animated intros in recent years. Youtube practically runs on flash. You've got FlashVR applications. The web is moving towards interactivity and media as bandwidth increases and HTML is not filling the gap, AJAX is a giant hack and Adobe is filling that gap by leveraging the amiguity of flash. Microsoft knows if it can get a new standard out there that they can sell that has wide and deep penetration it'll be able to use it to its advantage. It's in microsoft's advantage to get silverlight as wide as humanely possible, because that's the only way it'll succeed. Microsoft doesn't want to have to depend on Adobe to deliver a product that supports Windows Mobile, Xbox or whatever future devices microsoft attempts to sell. Right now microsoft is *dependent* on another company. That's a bad business position to be in.
Xbox 360's goals are obvious. Sell stuff through the TV. Xbox Live marketplace is hugely successful and if they can get IPTV integrated by the end of the year look at where you're at: You have a device which retails for less than some cable boxes but can play games. If Comcast asks you "Do you want a motorola digital cable box or an Xbox 360?" I don't know about you but 'free' Xbox 360 seems like the no-brainer. And then microsoft can sell additional on demand entertainment, games and accessories (where the money really is anyway) and it's conquered your television.
Operating systems and office applications are rapidly becoming commodity items. That's why Vista isn't selling well. Nobody cares. It's like announcing a brand new refrigerator. "Great! Does it keep my food cold? Excellent." Apple still has its irrational rabid masses who get thrilled over the ability to automatically back up files. Weeee! The rest of the world wouldn't probably notice if you swtiched their computer in the middle of the night.
Yeah just like Microsoft Office! Make it available to everybody and then when everyone is buying it and using it... umm... err--crap. Can I start over?
What universal alternative? It doesn't exist. This is a case where Microsoft has created something new and unique. Please... keep breathing I know it's hard to understand. Your whole world is spinning really fast but just keeping breathing.
Read through the siggraph white papers for the year. 20% of the papers by my count have a Microsoft R&D writing credit. They are investing a lot of money into bleeding edge image analysis and this is one of the few which has been brought to 'market' at the low cost of free for now.
There is a lot of whining on this site about this not being multi-platform. NASA wasting tons of money. Blah blah blah blah. All NASA had to do was provide Microsoft with several thousand photos from their archive.
That was it. Nothing more. It's not like NASA invested years of research and personal developing some project which only runs on windows... that was the Microsoft Half of the equation and shock and amaze it only runs on windows for now.
Since a vast majority of the US population is on Windows this does provide a valuable educational resource to the US Tax Paying Population at the expense of putting a few thousand photos on a portable hard drive and mailing it to Redmond.
Also Destroy All Humans is UE3 and it's a large sandbox game. You can add that to the list.
However, you can also look to the news and see that several games have been "indefinitely delayed" for the PS3 due to a lack of a functioning PS3 Engine.
"Bingo. Your rights can only be taken if you allow it."
Tell that to the prisoners in Guantanamo.
That's a bunch of idealistic bullocks. Most people who have their rights violated are completely powerless to stop it. I doubt many people say. "Oh by all means, please lock me up and don't give me a trial for 20 years."
If the treasury department decides that I'm a threat to Iraq and indefinitely freezes my assets. There probably isn't a thing I can do about it. There is something media and public attention can do. But I myself can't do shit except cite a "piece of paper" and let the institutions which derive their perceived authority from said paper put on a little show to prove they actually are relevant and do the "right thing" in order to maintain their positions.
Silicon Knight's primary accusations against Epic Games are:
- Late delivery of Engine code. (Breach of contract.) - Withholding engine code under the guise of it being game specific (aka Gears of War source code). - Deliberately withholding code in order to comparatively showcase in-house games. - Lack of promised documentation and technical consultation.
Also it appears that Epic might be claiming Silicon Knight's new in house game engine as Unreal 3 code. Or at least Silicon Knights is taking preemptive action to ensure that doesn't happen.
What Silicon Knights wants out the lawsuit:
- To be released from their contract with Epic Games. - For a full refund. and recognition that their in house engine is the sole property of Silicon Knights and not Epic Games.
By Chineseyes (691744): How do you seriously expect your average computer user to find that? You know the people who go to sheep squad and pay $100 to do simple installs?
I expect them to google: "Office 2007 File".
First result. Fancy that. That's how I found it.
Or even easier... they can just try to open it and click "Yes microsoft, please download the compatibility pack for me automatically."
If my engine stops working. I take it to a mechanic who knows what the hell they're doing.
I don't replace my oil, filters or belts because I don't want to get dirty but assume with some research I could figure it out on my own. But you know what, if I f*** it up... tough luck. If Jiffy Lube breaks something, they fix it.
My point is: if the user finds replacing software a better use of his resources than doing some minimal research or hiring a professional to fix his compatibility issue then that's his choice. But I don't want to hear people bitchin' about their ford because they never changed the oil, never payed anyone to change the oil and just decided to buy a new car every time there was a problem with the last one.
Everybody else in the world can abandon old versions *cough* PHP *cough* but somehow microsoft has to maintain backwards compatibility with every product they've ever created.
I use 3D Studio Max every day. You know what their compatibility policy is: You can open any file from any version... wait for it... previous to the current. Save a file in the latest version and try to open it in any previous version? Tough luck. That's the end of that file. Time to upgrade.
Wow would you look at that... you don't actually have to upgrade in order to open new Office files! Just another case of Microsoft forcing people to not necessarily upgrade!
Not only that but Office will continue to *open* files even after it's expired! I had the beta for office and after it expired I was still able to open files I had saved during the beta in the new office format.
I promptly bought office 07 anyway because I found it to be a mind blowing upgrade as far as Office upgrades are concerned but there was no problem opening 07 documents after it expired.
I agree I don't think it's a misuse of a mouse as long as you aren't requiring your user to switch back and forth between typing and clicking.
I love Combustion because it's designed to be used with a tablet. If I need to enter in a number a little onscreen numpad pops up. While a numpad is astronomically faster, taking my hand off the mouse to type in "100" is greater than double tapping and tapping 1 0 0 enter.
I also take exception to this quote: || "In fact, there are only five pixels we can hit with our eyes closed--the one we're on plus the four corners. That's less than 1/150,000th of the median computer screen's real estate that can be associated with muscle memory." ||
Apparently he's never used a gestural interface before or radial menus. I *love* radial menus. I press one keyboard button and move my mouse in the direction I want. If I limit it to 4 - 6 directions the movement is fast and easy. [See: Maya, Toxik.]
But see I disagree with that from a philosophical standpoint. Truth, and I'm not talking about the fuzzy wishy washy stuff we just assume to be true, real truths, provable, universal truths are in my mind just as real as any apple (and equally definable). Saying the number two is a human construction is like saying one exact second is a human construction. While calling that unit of time a second *is* semantic and slightly arbitrary, the second itself (the thing being labeled) is a universal property (relatively speaking) and exists beyond the label. Now a "moment" that's a human construct because it has no universal equivalent, it's completely subject to the sapient's whims.
In fact I would wager the number 2 is more real than any apple because the definition of what is an apple is not at all exact.
The irony that a global integrated network capable of receiving and tabulating the opinions of millions of people from hundreds of countries wasn't a nominee for the seven wonders of the world is astounding.
What he's saying is mathematics exist whether or not we discover it.
Integers are not some linguistic bullshit we've concocted. They're a universal truth. Yes the word "integer" is a semantic expression but if you have an alien culture they will have to have integers if they exist in our universe. Anywhere there are discreet quantities of something there also exists an integer value.
For instance there *are* *two* apples. Even if no sentient species ever came into existence and recognized that fact, it is still true. Those two apples are embodiments of a universal truth that there is a discreet quantity of 'something'. There is a universal concept of "are"... something exists, in contrast to not existing. In our universe every species will need an equivalent of declaring something a reality. There is a universal understanding of the definition of "two" || XX YY ** '' you can't argue this fact, there are instances in the universe where there is more than | but less than ||| and it transcends understanding... it simply is... in our universe at least. Apples is more shady because it's defining a system of things, which could still be describe in absolute terms breaking it down into the specific composition and organization of the matter/energy it is formed from but really you can think of apple as a $variable.
Mathematics transcend the language and understanding of the user or even the observation of the truth. It doesn't take someone to count something for the 'truth' of it to exist.
>>>I activated two yesterday, they both worked for 12 hours. This morning neither >>>phone will make or receive calls; or browse on EDGE.
This is perfectly normal, welcome to AT&T. What you have to do is turn off the phone, take out the battery... ah crap... uhh... whatever it is that is the equivalent of taking out the battery in an iphone. Let it sit for a few seconds and then turn it back on.
I have to do this every morning in order to make and receive calls. Enjoy!
TFA mentions that Microsoft on several occasions asked him to check his power. He did and found no problems.
Without long term monitoring there is no way to know if he doesn't get the odd spike every 3 weeks or so I suppose his testing isn't conclusive but power does not seem to be the problem.
Just got back my first Xbox. Besides being without an Xbox for 2 weeks it was overall a very pleasant experience. Called support. Talked for 15 minutes. They decided it needed to be serviced and started the process. I hadn't registered for the standard warantee but they just asked when I purchased it and registered it right then and there which was grateful for. Glad they weren't dicks and didn't honor the warantee because I didn't register it when I bought. I suppose I could have lied and told them a later date than when I actually bought it but, they didn't require any proof. Very consumer conscious.
2 weeks later, I have a replacement Xbox. Spent the 5 minutes setting it up. Popped in my HDD and everything is back to normal.
Overall I would give them a 10/10. No waiting on the phone. No warantee evasion. I could probably tolerate going through the process a time or two. Of course by 11, I would expect microsoft to just immediately mail out two new 360s and hope for the best.
It's more than symbolic it's the start of a legislation patchwork policy. If there is something that large corporations hate more than just about anything else it's legislative patchwork because it costs them a lot of money.
When it comes to mass production it will often cost more to design a product or service which conforms to two different standards than just implement the stricter standard in all of your products.
If even 25% of the states in the US implemented a Net Neutrality Resolution the cost to ISPs to ensure that packets originating and ending in a Net Neutral state would be significantly higher than just abandoning QoS nation wide. And if someone like Google moved into your state then ISPs would need to know which datacenter IP range they need to throttle and which they can leave alone.
If you bounce your packet through a Net Neutral state and it is throttled while in the state, they've broken the law. Can you imagine how difficult it would be to ensure that every packet you send and receive didn't pass through a state with a net neutrality law?
Behold the beauty of de facto legislation. One of the first real gems of globalization.
"I make models on the compu--" "I make pict--" "I draw on the Compu--" "I make stuff for the screen in your room which is bright and shows films which you watch. I put the stuff in the frame on top of each other with math. I make the fake stuff look real and not stand out from the rest of the real stuff in the frame." *Blank stare* "I make cool spaceship battles like in star wars." *whheeeeee!*
Let's not forget "Gameboy" is two syllables. Computer is three syllables. Mac is one. Which is a 5 year old more likely to understand? Hell even the number "Seven" is more than one syllable.
Yeah because 64+ bit email addresses have been a hugeeee help in combating spam.
I see it as a hopeless cause. If there is an easy way to access a device, there is an easy way to find a device. Unless of course you put a password on the DNS redirect.
Sure your Xbox might not have a DNS because all of the interfacing is under the table but how long until your nice static IP address is on the "black market" just like a credit card #?
Slashdot Mirror
Really? You can't afford less than $1000 a year for Max's maintanance? That's significantly less than the day rate a client pays for one artist.
XSI's core package is only $495. Maya has some inexpensive options as well. Every one of the packages is a bargain!
Wow... where to begin.
1) Microsoft has been in the "Graphics Arena" for more than 15 years. A little thing called DirectX has been making waves for some time.
2) Microsoft has more money than most of those 'competitors' combined so it's not really spreading itself thin.
3) Xbox 360 rocks. It's just a fact.
4) Yeah what was that 'quicksilver' thing that died off... what ever came of that... could it be... silverlight? You know... the standard/application that the topic was indirectly about! Read The Fucking Article... or maybe a few hundred posts above you.
The simple fact of the matter is: Windows is not the future. Microsoft knows this. You're recommending they follow the IBM approach. Protect your aging and increasingly irelevant past at the cost of everything else.
Look at Flash it's become much more than bad animated intros in recent years. Youtube practically runs on flash. You've got FlashVR applications. The web is moving towards interactivity and media as bandwidth increases and HTML is not filling the gap, AJAX is a giant hack and Adobe is filling that gap by leveraging the amiguity of flash. Microsoft knows if it can get a new standard out there that they can sell that has wide and deep penetration it'll be able to use it to its advantage. It's in microsoft's advantage to get silverlight as wide as humanely possible, because that's the only way it'll succeed. Microsoft doesn't want to have to depend on Adobe to deliver a product that supports Windows Mobile, Xbox or whatever future devices microsoft attempts to sell. Right now microsoft is *dependent* on another company. That's a bad business position to be in.
Xbox 360's goals are obvious. Sell stuff through the TV. Xbox Live marketplace is hugely successful and if they can get IPTV integrated by the end of the year look at where you're at: You have a device which retails for less than some cable boxes but can play games. If Comcast asks you "Do you want a motorola digital cable box or an Xbox 360?" I don't know about you but 'free' Xbox 360 seems like the no-brainer. And then microsoft can sell additional on demand entertainment, games and accessories (where the money really is anyway) and it's conquered your television.
Operating systems and office applications are rapidly becoming commodity items. That's why Vista isn't selling well. Nobody cares. It's like announcing a brand new refrigerator. "Great! Does it keep my food cold? Excellent." Apple still has its irrational rabid masses who get thrilled over the ability to automatically back up files. Weeee! The rest of the world wouldn't probably notice if you swtiched their computer in the middle of the night.
Yeah just like Microsoft Office! Make it available to everybody and then when everyone is buying it and using it... umm... err--crap. Can I start over?
What universal alternative? It doesn't exist. This is a case where Microsoft has created something new and unique. Please... keep breathing I know it's hard to understand. Your whole world is spinning really fast but just keeping breathing.
Read through the siggraph white papers for the year. 20% of the papers by my count have a Microsoft R&D writing credit. They are investing a lot of money into bleeding edge image analysis and this is one of the few which has been brought to 'market' at the low cost of free for now.
There is a lot of whining on this site about this not being multi-platform. NASA wasting tons of money. Blah blah blah blah. All NASA had to do was provide Microsoft with several thousand photos from their archive.
That was it. Nothing more. It's not like NASA invested years of research and personal developing some project which only runs on windows... that was the Microsoft Half of the equation and shock and amaze it only runs on windows for now.
Since a vast majority of the US population is on Windows this does provide a valuable educational resource to the US Tax Paying Population at the expense of putting a few thousand photos on a portable hard drive and mailing it to Redmond.
So quit yo' belly aching!
Also Destroy All Humans is UE3 and it's a large sandbox game. You can add that to the list.
However, you can also look to the news and see that several games have been "indefinitely delayed" for the PS3 due to a lack of a functioning PS3 Engine.
"Bingo. Your rights can only be taken if you allow it."
Tell that to the prisoners in Guantanamo.
That's a bunch of idealistic bullocks. Most people who have their rights violated are completely powerless to stop it. I doubt many people say. "Oh by all means, please lock me up and don't give me a trial for 20 years."
If the treasury department decides that I'm a threat to Iraq and indefinitely freezes my assets. There probably isn't a thing I can do about it. There is something media and public attention can do. But I myself can't do shit except cite a "piece of paper" and let the institutions which derive their perceived authority from said paper put on a little show to prove they actually are relevant and do the "right thing" in order to maintain their positions.
Silicon Knight's primary accusations against Epic Games are:
t ory=14759
- Late delivery of Engine code. (Breach of contract.)
- Withholding engine code under the guise of it being game specific (aka Gears of War source code).
- Deliberately withholding code in order to comparatively showcase in-house games.
- Lack of promised documentation and technical consultation.
Also it appears that Epic might be claiming Silicon Knight's new in house game engine as Unreal 3 code. Or at least Silicon Knights is taking preemptive action to ensure that doesn't happen.
What Silicon Knights wants out the lawsuit:
- To be released from their contract with Epic Games.
- For a full refund.
and recognition that their in house engine is the sole property of Silicon Knights and not Epic Games.
Source:
http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?s
By Chineseyes (691744): How do you seriously expect your average computer user to find that? You know the people who go to sheep squad and pay $100 to do simple installs?
I expect them to google: "Office 2007 File".
First result. Fancy that. That's how I found it.
Or even easier... they can just try to open it and click "Yes microsoft, please download the compatibility pack for me automatically."
If my engine stops working. I take it to a mechanic who knows what the hell they're doing.
I don't replace my oil, filters or belts because I don't want to get dirty but assume with some research I could figure it out on my own. But you know what, if I f*** it up... tough luck. If Jiffy Lube breaks something, they fix it.
My point is: if the user finds replacing software a better use of his resources than doing some minimal research or hiring a professional to fix his compatibility issue then that's his choice. But I don't want to hear people bitchin' about their ford because they never changed the oil, never payed anyone to change the oil and just decided to buy a new car every time there was a problem with the last one.
Everybody else in the world can abandon old versions *cough* PHP *cough* but somehow microsoft has to maintain backwards compatibility with every product they've ever created.
I use 3D Studio Max every day. You know what their compatibility policy is: You can open any file from any version... wait for it... previous to the current. Save a file in the latest version and try to open it in any previous version? Tough luck. That's the end of that file. Time to upgrade.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?Fa milyId=941b3470-3ae9-4aee-8f43-c6bb74cd1466&displa ylang=en
Wow would you look at that... you don't actually have to upgrade in order to open new Office files! Just another case of Microsoft forcing people to not necessarily upgrade!
Not only that but Office will continue to *open* files even after it's expired! I had the beta for office and after it expired I was still able to open files I had saved during the beta in the new office format.
I promptly bought office 07 anyway because I found it to be a mind blowing upgrade as far as Office upgrades are concerned but there was no problem opening 07 documents after it expired.
I agree I don't think it's a misuse of a mouse as long as you aren't requiring your user to switch back and forth between typing and clicking.
I love Combustion because it's designed to be used with a tablet. If I need to enter in a number a little onscreen numpad pops up. While a numpad is astronomically faster, taking my hand off the mouse to type in "100" is greater than double tapping and tapping 1 0 0 enter.
I also take exception to this quote:
||
"In fact, there are only five pixels we can hit with our eyes closed--the one we're on plus the four corners. That's less than 1/150,000th of the median computer screen's real estate that can be associated with muscle memory."
||
Apparently he's never used a gestural interface before or radial menus. I *love* radial menus. I press one keyboard button and move my mouse in the direction I want. If I limit it to 4 - 6 directions the movement is fast and easy. [See: Maya, Toxik.]
But see I disagree with that from a philosophical standpoint. Truth, and I'm not talking about the fuzzy wishy washy stuff we just assume to be true, real truths, provable, universal truths are in my mind just as real as any apple (and equally definable). Saying the number two is a human construction is like saying one exact second is a human construction. While calling that unit of time a second *is* semantic and slightly arbitrary, the second itself (the thing being labeled) is a universal property (relatively speaking) and exists beyond the label. Now a "moment" that's a human construct because it has no universal equivalent, it's completely subject to the sapient's whims. In fact I would wager the number 2 is more real than any apple because the definition of what is an apple is not at all exact.
The irony that a global integrated network capable of receiving and tabulating the opinions of millions of people from hundreds of countries wasn't a nominee for the seven wonders of the world is astounding.
What he's saying is mathematics exist whether or not we discover it.
Integers are not some linguistic bullshit we've concocted. They're a universal truth. Yes the word "integer" is a semantic expression but if you have an alien culture they will have to have integers if they exist in our universe. Anywhere there are discreet quantities of something there also exists an integer value.
For instance there *are* *two* apples. Even if no sentient species ever came into existence and recognized that fact, it is still true. Those two apples are embodiments of a universal truth that there is a discreet quantity of 'something'. There is a universal concept of "are"... something exists, in contrast to not existing. In our universe every species will need an equivalent of declaring something a reality. There is a universal understanding of the definition of "two" || XX YY ** '' you can't argue this fact, there are instances in the universe where there is more than | but less than ||| and it transcends understanding... it simply is... in our universe at least. Apples is more shady because it's defining a system of things, which could still be describe in absolute terms breaking it down into the specific composition and organization of the matter/energy it is formed from but really you can think of apple as a $variable.
Mathematics transcend the language and understanding of the user or even the observation of the truth. It doesn't take someone to count something for the 'truth' of it to exist.
>>>MY IPHONE DOESNT WORK.
>>>I activated two yesterday, they both worked for 12 hours. This morning neither
>>>phone will make or receive calls; or browse on EDGE.
This is perfectly normal, welcome to AT&T. What you have to do is turn off the phone, take out the battery... ah crap... uhh... whatever it is that is the equivalent of taking out the battery in an iphone. Let it sit for a few seconds and then turn it back on.
I have to do this every morning in order to make and receive calls. Enjoy!
TFA mentions that Microsoft on several occasions asked him to check his power. He did and found no problems.
Without long term monitoring there is no way to know if he doesn't get the odd spike every 3 weeks or so I suppose his testing isn't conclusive but power does not seem to be the problem.
Just got back my first Xbox. Besides being without an Xbox for 2 weeks it was overall a very pleasant experience. Called support. Talked for 15 minutes. They decided it needed to be serviced and started the process. I hadn't registered for the standard warantee but they just asked when I purchased it and registered it right then and there which was grateful for. Glad they weren't dicks and didn't honor the warantee because I didn't register it when I bought. I suppose I could have lied and told them a later date than when I actually bought it but, they didn't require any proof. Very consumer conscious.
2 weeks later, I have a replacement Xbox. Spent the 5 minutes setting it up. Popped in my HDD and everything is back to normal.
Overall I would give them a 10/10. No waiting on the phone. No warantee evasion. I could probably tolerate going through the process a time or two. Of course by 11, I would expect microsoft to just immediately mail out two new 360s and hope for the best.
Oxdeadbeef: This is madness!
Mods: No this is SLASHDOT!!!!!!
It's more than symbolic it's the start of a legislation patchwork policy. If there is something that large corporations hate more than just about anything else it's legislative patchwork because it costs them a lot of money.
When it comes to mass production it will often cost more to design a product or service which conforms to two different standards than just implement the stricter standard in all of your products.
If even 25% of the states in the US implemented a Net Neutrality Resolution the cost to ISPs to ensure that packets originating and ending in a Net Neutral state would be significantly higher than just abandoning QoS nation wide. And if someone like Google moved into your state then ISPs would need to know which datacenter IP range they need to throttle and which they can leave alone.
If you bounce your packet through a Net Neutral state and it is throttled while in the state, they've broken the law. Can you imagine how difficult it would be to ensure that every packet you send and receive didn't pass through a state with a net neutrality law?
Behold the beauty of de facto legislation. One of the first real gems of globalization.
P.S. Cat Carriers + Cabin Area in car accident = Flying Cats of Death. Put the animals in the loose luggage--err cats in the trunk where they belong.
Yeah but... minivans have *more* space.
Nice try. Better luck next time.
Or are your children morbidly obese and you need the extra torque to get up a steep hill?
Yeah sure wish I had payed $1 to put a bigger logo on a loser. Go linux!
"I make models on the compu--"
"I make pict--"
"I draw on the Compu--"
"I make stuff for the screen in your room which is bright and shows films which you watch. I put the stuff in the frame on top of each other with math. I make the fake stuff look real and not stand out from the rest of the real stuff in the frame." *Blank stare*
"I make cool spaceship battles like in star wars." *whheeeeee!*
Let's not forget "Gameboy" is two syllables. Computer is three syllables. Mac is one. Which is a 5 year old more likely to understand? Hell even the number "Seven" is more than one syllable.
Yeah because 64+ bit email addresses have been a hugeeee help in combating spam.
I see it as a hopeless cause. If there is an easy way to access a device, there is an easy way to find a device. Unless of course you put a password on the DNS redirect.
Sure your Xbox might not have a DNS because all of the interfacing is under the table but how long until your nice static IP address is on the "black market" just like a credit card #?