A drop of even 5% in revenue can really hurt a company. I would imagine that Windows makes up far more than 5% of Microsoft's revenue stream. Also, you kill Windows and 99% of Microsoft's Office software distribution goes along with it. If their OS dies, the whole ship would probably go under. Sure, you would probably have spin-offs like the Xbox division, the Mac Business Unit, and their peripherals division, but I have a hard time believing that their software business would survive without Windows.
Regular home users, however are either not willing or not able (I'm really not sure which)
First of all, alot of people have a hard time just using IE, Google, and Outlook Express let alone learning an entirely new OS.
Personally, it's both. I know the Mac OS quite well. I know Windows quite well. I've done network support for both. So I'm no stranger to computers. The "neato" factor of Linux wears off pretty quickly once you realize the time investment it takes to set it up. This goes beyond familiarity with the OS. If the Linux community really wants to push their OS, they really ought to make it accessible to the common computer user. A vast majority of Linux How-To tutorials I've read were written with a fellow Linux nerd in mind. Don't assume that everyone is as comfortable with the technology as you are. Don't think that because they are ignorant of the technology that they are incapable of understanding it eventually. A little more compassion on the common computer user would go a long way in "converting" more people to Linux.
I am a home user that has tried three times in the last five years to switch to Linux and have found it to be lacking in several areas. First, I have yet to find a good solution for playing Quicktime content. I spent three hours...three freakin' hours...downloading and installing RPMs all to enable Quicktime playback in Firefox. Did it work? Hardly. Second, Firefox and Thunderbird have to be instructed (through a very non-intuitive method) to recognize each other. WTF? Third, forcing a power cycle on a hung SuSE box invariably caused really, REALLY bad things to happen to the window manager. Fourth, my wife's business software, although capable of running in a Linux environment, requires Java Web start. Now, as of the time I quit using Linux Java under FC and SuSE was completely useless. That means time and money lost. These are four items from a very long list of grievances I have with Linux. It took me two freakin' weeks to setup Linux and get it to a point where my wife was at least willing to use it. You know what? After fixing the window manager for the nth time, I decided I'd had enough. I switched back to Windows XP and was up and running in two hours. btw, I've tried Red Hat 7, 8, and 9, FC, SuSE 8.1, 9.1, 10.1, Mandrake, Gentoo, Linspire, and Knoppix.
Linux is a good OS. I just don't think it's ready for the home market yet. Windows and Mac just work. You have to flog Linux into submission.
What if the copy decides you're the one who's is not the real you and should be destroyed?
Wo there! Why would either one of you have to be destroyed? Sure that makes for a very-overused plot device, but it doesn't have to be the case in real life. Ever heard of twins? They are genetically identical yet can differ greatly in personality, memntal capacity, physical prowess, and etc. I haven't heard of a pandemic of twin fratricide.
Here's a size comparison photo of the GB Micro:
GB Micro. It looks to be about the size of a NES controller, something I would hardly call uncomfortably small.
I would gladly pay $5-$10 for old NES, SNES, and N64 classics.
Also, I don't believe that the Mario Sunshine disk image is more than 50 MB (or something like that). In other words, they didn't even come close to using the entire disk. It's a relatively small game, simple textures, not that many unique characters, and repetitive scenery. It really shouldn't be a big game.
Except that was said in connection with the iPod Shuffle not the Mini. The Mini really isn't that small. This thing is not going to be microscopic, just small.
My original point was that DVDs will not play effectively on existing VCR hardware, because the heads won't be able to handle the proprietary disc format. I certainly do not think that all innovation has stopped and that we will never have a personal home video player capable of playing DVDs--but the VCR as we know it is not that device.
Thank you Captain Obvious. X is not Y. Great! Thank you for clearing up that mystery.
Who in their right mind would endorse a switch to OpenVMS? That would be like endorsing a switch from OS X to DOS. The last company I worked for that used OpenVMS was in the process of moving all their development over to Windows when I left; not the other way around.
The original has a 733 MHz custom-built Celeron-like processor. However, even a top-of-the-line G5 running Virtual PC can only emulate a 600 MHz or so PIII without 3D video acceleration. I think it's highly unlikely that the performance gap between Apple's offering and Microsoft's is enough to make up for those deficiencies.
Last time I checked, Longhorn (or any Windows OS) was not compatible with RISC processors. Hey, maybe you could run Virtual PC on top of Mac OS X and then run Longhorn. Seriously, Linux will be the first thing to run on this. Down the road we might see OS X running on it, but that's much less likely due to the somewhat proprietary nature of the tri-core processor the 360 has in it.
Ah, but it should not matter whether or not it's controversial to the Congressmen. It should matter whether or not it's controversial to the constituents.
Anyway, how can Real-ID be "controversial"? Nobody but slashdot readers and "bloggers" even know it exists.
First, you are mistaken: Congressmen know it exists. Second, that is exactly why I personally find it controversial: very few people know about it. Should citizens of the U.S. be forced to adopt a national I.D. that none of them knew about before the law was passed? It's very controversial because now, instead of your driving record (and many other things) being tracked at the state level, it is now tracked at the national level. This is another step in the direction of big, centralized government. Not a good thing in my opinion. Congress is voting away statehood one resolution at a time.
Last time I checked, cell-phone faceplates were quite the hot commodity. I'm taking a shot in the dark here, but might this not appeal more to the Japanese gaming community? They really seem to be into customizing alot more than their American or European counterparts.
$10 says the "winner" of this contest will turn out to not be a gamer, and will never have even played everquest 2 prior to hearing about this contest.
Coders are quite a bit cheaper in places like India, Singapore, and China, and are arguably just as good as those in the EU and US. I can readily see not just IBM but any major corporation laying off an entire division of developers. As has been mentioned previously, you just can't compete when your salary is $80,000/year and someone in SE Asia will work for $15,000.
Why were you modded insightful? Every other post on Slahdot is about someone complaining about "Why all the advertising?" Goodness, so every news piece about any company that's offering a new product is now an advertisement? There is such a thing as passive advertising. It's the kind that happens unintentionally, but it still works in the company's favor.
For instance, let's say that Apple releases a 100GB iPod that's half the size of the current one. Every tech magazine and website would cover it. Is that aggressive advertising by Apple? No. It's a genuine news-worthy piece. Does it give Apple free advertising? Absolutely.
I, for one, was not aware of Alienware releasing Star Wars themed computers and was glad to hear the news.
Apple most likely does not use LiteOn DVD drives and they most likely do not use OCz RAM. Last time I checked, they were shipping with Micron RAM and Mitsubishi DVD drives. That doesn't change the price of the components a whole lot though. Can anyone confirm this?
Interesting you should mention the space helmet. I worked in a Mac shop as a Manager/bench-tech back when the eMac was first release. Well, we got alot of them in for repair within the first few months (I'm talking 50%+ fail rate). Anyways, we had alot of the outer shells lying around as we worked on their innards. If you've ever seen one of them, it actually could be a space helmet. There's an opening in the "bottom" part of the case that frames an average face perfectly. It reminds me of a white version of Dark Helmet's headgear.
Here's my perspective on what is cool and what is not cool. First of all, it's a relative term. What is cool to one group is not cool to another.
For instance, a string of critical hit rolls on a D20 is incredibly cool to a nerd and will be talked about for weeks. If you were to mention that to Paris Hilton she would give you a blank stare and then laugh at you and say something like "Ummm...isn't my crotch jewelry, PSP-thingy cool?" Same thing will happen if you try to talk to a nerd about the latest episode of The O.C. (unless it was the one during which the SW: Episode III trailer premiered).
Therfore, I define "cool" as describing anything that appeals to the drool gene in any sub-culture.
Slashdot Mirror
We'll never see Sonic on a Nintendo system either. Wait...
A drop of even 5% in revenue can really hurt a company. I would imagine that Windows makes up far more than 5% of Microsoft's revenue stream. Also, you kill Windows and 99% of Microsoft's Office software distribution goes along with it. If their OS dies, the whole ship would probably go under. Sure, you would probably have spin-offs like the Xbox division, the Mac Business Unit, and their peripherals division, but I have a hard time believing that their software business would survive without Windows.
Regular home users, however are either not willing or not able (I'm really not sure which)
First of all, alot of people have a hard time just using IE, Google, and Outlook Express let alone learning an entirely new OS.
Personally, it's both. I know the Mac OS quite well. I know Windows quite well. I've done network support for both. So I'm no stranger to computers. The "neato" factor of Linux wears off pretty quickly once you realize the time investment it takes to set it up. This goes beyond familiarity with the OS. If the Linux community really wants to push their OS, they really ought to make it accessible to the common computer user. A vast majority of Linux How-To tutorials I've read were written with a fellow Linux nerd in mind. Don't assume that everyone is as comfortable with the technology as you are. Don't think that because they are ignorant of the technology that they are incapable of understanding it eventually. A little more compassion on the common computer user would go a long way in "converting" more people to Linux.
I am a home user that has tried three times in the last five years to switch to Linux and have found it to be lacking in several areas. First, I have yet to find a good solution for playing Quicktime content. I spent three hours...three freakin' hours...downloading and installing RPMs all to enable Quicktime playback in Firefox. Did it work? Hardly. Second, Firefox and Thunderbird have to be instructed (through a very non-intuitive method) to recognize each other. WTF? Third, forcing a power cycle on a hung SuSE box invariably caused really, REALLY bad things to happen to the window manager. Fourth, my wife's business software, although capable of running in a Linux environment, requires Java Web start. Now, as of the time I quit using Linux Java under FC and SuSE was completely useless. That means time and money lost. These are four items from a very long list of grievances I have with Linux. It took me two freakin' weeks to setup Linux and get it to a point where my wife was at least willing to use it. You know what? After fixing the window manager for the nth time, I decided I'd had enough. I switched back to Windows XP and was up and running in two hours. btw, I've tried Red Hat 7, 8, and 9, FC, SuSE 8.1, 9.1, 10.1, Mandrake, Gentoo, Linspire, and Knoppix.
Linux is a good OS. I just don't think it's ready for the home market yet. Windows and Mac just work. You have to flog Linux into submission.
What if the copy decides you're the one who's is not the real you and should be destroyed?
Wo there! Why would either one of you have to be destroyed? Sure that makes for a very-overused plot device, but it doesn't have to be the case in real life. Ever heard of twins? They are genetically identical yet can differ greatly in personality, memntal capacity, physical prowess, and etc. I haven't heard of a pandemic of twin fratricide.
Here's a size comparison photo of the GB Micro: GB Micro. It looks to be about the size of a NES controller, something I would hardly call uncomfortably small.
I would gladly pay $5-$10 for old NES, SNES, and N64 classics.
Also, I don't believe that the Mario Sunshine disk image is more than 50 MB (or something like that). In other words, they didn't even come close to using the entire disk. It's a relatively small game, simple textures, not that many unique characters, and repetitive scenery. It really shouldn't be a big game.
Except that was said in connection with the iPod Shuffle not the Mini. The Mini really isn't that small. This thing is not going to be microscopic, just small.
Have you held one yet? How do you know it's too small to be comfortable?
My original point was that DVDs will not play effectively on existing VCR hardware, because the heads won't be able to handle the proprietary disc format. I certainly do not think that all innovation has stopped and that we will never have a personal home video player capable of playing DVDs--but the VCR as we know it is not that device.
Thank you Captain Obvious. X is not Y. Great! Thank you for clearing up that mystery.
FFVII was indeed release for the Windows platform.
Who in their right mind would endorse a switch to OpenVMS? That would be like endorsing a switch from OS X to DOS. The last company I worked for that used OpenVMS was in the process of moving all their development over to Windows when I left; not the other way around.
The original has a 733 MHz custom-built Celeron-like processor. However, even a top-of-the-line G5 running Virtual PC can only emulate a 600 MHz or so PIII without 3D video acceleration. I think it's highly unlikely that the performance gap between Apple's offering and Microsoft's is enough to make up for those deficiencies.
No no, silly, not if but when it runs Linux.
Last time I checked, Longhorn (or any Windows OS) was not compatible with RISC processors. Hey, maybe you could run Virtual PC on top of Mac OS X and then run Longhorn. Seriously, Linux will be the first thing to run on this. Down the road we might see OS X running on it, but that's much less likely due to the somewhat proprietary nature of the tri-core processor the 360 has in it.
Ah, but it should not matter whether or not it's controversial to the Congressmen. It should matter whether or not it's controversial to the constituents.
Anyway, how can Real-ID be "controversial"? Nobody but slashdot readers and "bloggers" even know it exists.
First, you are mistaken: Congressmen know it exists. Second, that is exactly why I personally find it controversial: very few people know about it. Should citizens of the U.S. be forced to adopt a national I.D. that none of them knew about before the law was passed? It's very controversial because now, instead of your driving record (and many other things) being tracked at the state level, it is now tracked at the national level. This is another step in the direction of big, centralized government. Not a good thing in my opinion. Congress is voting away statehood one resolution at a time.
Last time I checked, cell-phone faceplates were quite the hot commodity. I'm taking a shot in the dark here, but might this not appeal more to the Japanese gaming community? They really seem to be into customizing alot more than their American or European counterparts.
Well, it is quite old, but if you ever get the chance, check out Marathon (not 2 and 3, the original). It was quite amazing for its time.
Surprised as in "Wow, when I picked up this little, metal canister thingy and pushed the button on it, it lit up. I wasn't expecting that."
$10 says the "winner" of this contest will turn out to not be a gamer, and will never have even played everquest 2 prior to hearing about this contest.
Ya think?
Coders are quite a bit cheaper in places like India, Singapore, and China, and are arguably just as good as those in the EU and US. I can readily see not just IBM but any major corporation laying off an entire division of developers. As has been mentioned previously, you just can't compete when your salary is $80,000/year and someone in SE Asia will work for $15,000.
Why were you modded insightful? Every other post on Slahdot is about someone complaining about "Why all the advertising?" Goodness, so every news piece about any company that's offering a new product is now an advertisement? There is such a thing as passive advertising. It's the kind that happens unintentionally, but it still works in the company's favor.
For instance, let's say that Apple releases a 100GB iPod that's half the size of the current one. Every tech magazine and website would cover it. Is that aggressive advertising by Apple? No. It's a genuine news-worthy piece. Does it give Apple free advertising? Absolutely.
I, for one, was not aware of Alienware releasing Star Wars themed computers and was glad to hear the news.
Egads! Did I say Mitsubishi? Yes, I did mean Matsushita.
Apple most likely does not use LiteOn DVD drives and they most likely do not use OCz RAM. Last time I checked, they were shipping with Micron RAM and Mitsubishi DVD drives. That doesn't change the price of the components a whole lot though. Can anyone confirm this?
Interesting you should mention the space helmet. I worked in a Mac shop as a Manager/bench-tech back when the eMac was first release. Well, we got alot of them in for repair within the first few months (I'm talking 50%+ fail rate). Anyways, we had alot of the outer shells lying around as we worked on their innards. If you've ever seen one of them, it actually could be a space helmet. There's an opening in the "bottom" part of the case that frames an average face perfectly. It reminds me of a white version of Dark Helmet's headgear.
Agreed. Gold plated crap is still crap.
Here's my perspective on what is cool and what is not cool. First of all, it's a relative term. What is cool to one group is not cool to another.
For instance, a string of critical hit rolls on a D20 is incredibly cool to a nerd and will be talked about for weeks. If you were to mention that to Paris Hilton she would give you a blank stare and then laugh at you and say something like "Ummm...isn't my crotch jewelry, PSP-thingy cool?" Same thing will happen if you try to talk to a nerd about the latest episode of The O.C. (unless it was the one during which the SW: Episode III trailer premiered).
Therfore, I define "cool" as describing anything that appeals to the drool gene in any sub-culture.