That Microsoft's presence in the home will begin to waver, and people will replace their Windows PCs either with Linux installs or Apple Macs.
But Microsoft's dominance in the work place will remain for years to come. There are simply too many apps that run on Windows PCs to make them easily replaceable. Unless, of course, everything goes thin client, which it certainly won't overnight.
I might be wrong, but the average home user really only needs a bunch of things,
"I think that consumer protection laws need to be beefed up to protect consumers against the outrageous practices of ISPs."
Yes, there are calls in the UK for ISPs to be truthful about the REAL speeds that people can expect when they sign up for services.
Contention ratios, caps, traffic management... Until we can get on top of all of this the net will grind to a stand still.
Nevermind digital downloads, sometimes I can't even get on to Slashdot(!)
"some of us have wives that like to watch garbage TV"
[ever so slightly off topic]
That's right, and that's why I encourage as many people to go to the cinema, buy CDs and basically pay for the stuff they enjoy rather than getting it from p2p networks.
My one, absolute fear with the writer's strike was that the TV networks would simply fill the void with us much "reality tv" and other minimal scripted talent shows as possible.
However, my other fear is that movie and TV studios will feel inclined to start doing that anyway if they don't keep seeing decent returns on the shows, movies and music they have invested in.
Maybe that's just paranoia, but it wouldn't surprise me.
"U2's good stuff would be public domain by now if we had reasonable copyright lengths, like we used to."
Wow, there's just no pleasing some people...
Digital Downloads? No, it's full of DRM.
Digital Downloads without DRM? - No, $0.99 is too expensive.
Digital Downloads at $0.10 each? - No, it's not in the format I want.
How about if you put them all in FLAC for $0.10 each? - No, I want the fucking artist to sing it live for me. In my fucking house. At MY convenience.
Here's an idea: If it's good, and you enjoy it, you'd have no objections to parting with a few dollars for it. Clearly you're one of the Slashdot trolls who just wants everything for free, but probably bitches you're not paid enough yourself.
Thank God this war is pretty much over. Now people can stop sitting on the fences and begin actively investing in Blu-ray. Now we don't have to worry so much about "exclusives" anymore.
I sort of feel sorry for HD-DVD supports. If they're looking to blame someone for this though, they should really point fingers at Microsoft. If they had had the foresight (or even just the balls) to put HD-DVD in to the Xbox 360, the article would be the other away around.
And before anyone brings up digital downloads, I do stand by my opinion that we are still a good five or more years away from that. Much of the world is limited to 1MB or 2MB broadband at most; some are still on dial up! And even those with 8MB offerings still have caps in place (British Telecom, I'm looking at you). DDs are not going to happen until we have better bandwidth, lower contention ratios and guaranteed throughput.
... what Miguel de Icaza's obsession with shoving Microsoft technologies in to Gnome?
.NET (Mono)
OOXML
???
Is it to try and attract Windows developers to the Linux platform? Is it to ease transition from Windows to Linux? Is it to make it easier for Microsoft to threaten the entire community with patent infringement threats..? What is it?
Unless I've been reading all the wrong message boards it appears that most Halo players are by far more interested in the multiplayer deathmatches than the story. The backlash over the "story" in Halo 2 was all over Halo 2 boards for months following the game's release.
I wouldn't put too much stock in the story neither since I doubt they'll be lifting ideas from an
Iain M Banks novel this time...
Just one thing and that is plugin support for extensions and add ons. It means that people could easily write things like cross faders, support for additional codecs, etc. There could be official unoffical community website for getting hold of these plugins, providing users with source code, etc. to minimise the chances of malicious code.
Of course, there are probably some major security risks around stuff like that... But it would still be cool.
The main problem stems from the fact that there is just a constant deludge of first person shooters and racing games. The Xbox 360 is by far the worse offender in this regard. There seems to be little else on the platform worth looking at.
The other issue is that the cost of development is becoming so high now that devs are less willing to take risks on new IPs and gameplay styles. Look at Clover Studios - They made Viewtiful Joe, Okami and God Hand, all great games that did nothing but cause the company to fold.
I wouldn't be surprised if as this console generation moves on developers make more money from the smaller downloadable games on Playstation Network, etc. than from the big box retail ones.
I read this story this morning too on a number of sites but the one thing I could not find were numbers.
All I've read is that the Euro PS3 will play fewer PS2. Exactly what does that mean?
1 less than the US version is fewer. But so is 2, 3 or even 10.
Does anyone know what the severity of the "issue" is and what games are likely to be affected? If it means God of War 2, FF12 and Manhunter 2 won't work now then that's pretty bad. But if it means that Red Faction or Fantavision now won't work then who honestly gives a shit?
"ECMA just confirmed the MS Open Office XML format as a standard, not Office in general. MS further states that OOXML will be an "open and royalty-free" specification."
Slashdot Mirror
http://www.thinkgeek.com/images/products/zoom/despair-poster-idiocy.jpg
... will be using dial up.
That would be interesting just to see the two in the same room together. I don't think they've spoken for over 20 years...
"Open source, he said, creates a license 'so that nobody can ever improve the software,' he claimed"
Actually, Bill, it does the complete opposite.
On his own, one man can only go so far; but with the help of his friends, he can achieve anything.
... now if only we could do something about the over population...
And then the P-Fleet can finally be born!
Pirk's cunning strikes again!
... before the MDI argument kicks off? ;)
That Microsoft's presence in the home will begin to waver, and people will replace their Windows PCs either with Linux installs or Apple Macs.
But Microsoft's dominance in the work place will remain for years to come. There are simply too many apps that run on Windows PCs to make them easily replaceable. Unless, of course, everything goes thin client, which it certainly won't overnight.
I might be wrong, but the average home user really only needs a bunch of things,
- A web browser
- A way to play music and movies
- A way to manage photographs
- Basic word processing needs
And Linux has all of these already.Will this actually lure people away from Google? Right now the mentality is quite simply "Google It".
I'm not sure we'll be hearing "Yahoo! It" or "MSN It" any time soon.
It probably doesn't help that Google is the default search in Firefox either.
"Microsoft Gets a New Open Source Chief"
Is it Miguel de Icaza?!! Is it??!
(reads summary)
Awwwwww... disappointment... :)
"I think that consumer protection laws need to be beefed up to protect consumers against the outrageous practices of ISPs." Yes, there are calls in the UK for ISPs to be truthful about the REAL speeds that people can expect when they sign up for services. Contention ratios, caps, traffic management... Until we can get on top of all of this the net will grind to a stand still. Nevermind digital downloads, sometimes I can't even get on to Slashdot(!)
"How does Microsoft beat Linux? The same way you beat any other competitor: You offer good value"
So what were Vista, Zune and the Xbox 360 all about then..? ;)
"some of us have wives that like to watch garbage TV"
[ever so slightly off topic]
That's right, and that's why I encourage as many people to go to the cinema, buy CDs and basically pay for the stuff they enjoy rather than getting it from p2p networks.
My one, absolute fear with the writer's strike was that the TV networks would simply fill the void with us much "reality tv" and other minimal scripted talent shows as possible.
However, my other fear is that movie and TV studios will feel inclined to start doing that anyway if they don't keep seeing decent returns on the shows, movies and music they have invested in.
Maybe that's just paranoia, but it wouldn't surprise me.
"U2's good stuff would be public domain by now if we had reasonable copyright lengths, like we used to."
Wow, there's just no pleasing some people...
Digital Downloads? No, it's full of DRM.
Digital Downloads without DRM? - No, $0.99 is too expensive.
Digital Downloads at $0.10 each? - No, it's not in the format I want.
How about if you put them all in FLAC for $0.10 each? - No, I want the fucking artist to sing it live for me. In my fucking house. At MY convenience.
Here's an idea: If it's good, and you enjoy it, you'd have no objections to parting with a few dollars for it. Clearly you're one of the Slashdot trolls who just wants everything for free, but probably bitches you're not paid enough yourself.
Thank God this war is pretty much over. Now people can stop sitting on the fences and begin actively investing in Blu-ray. Now we don't have to worry so much about "exclusives" anymore.
I sort of feel sorry for HD-DVD supports. If they're looking to blame someone for this though, they should really point fingers at Microsoft. If they had had the foresight (or even just the balls) to put HD-DVD in to the Xbox 360, the article would be the other away around.
And before anyone brings up digital downloads, I do stand by my opinion that we are still a good five or more years away from that. Much of the world is limited to 1MB or 2MB broadband at most; some are still on dial up! And even those with 8MB offerings still have caps in place (British Telecom, I'm looking at you). DDs are not going to happen until we have better bandwidth, lower contention ratios and guaranteed throughput.
... what Miguel de Icaza's obsession with shoving Microsoft technologies in to Gnome?
Is it to try and attract Windows developers to the Linux platform? Is it to ease transition from Windows to Linux? Is it to make it easier for Microsoft to threaten the entire community with patent infringement threats..? What is it?
Politically Correct overlords, intent on ruining everybody's fun... :)
The question is - Why are they bothering?
Unless I've been reading all the wrong message boards it appears that most Halo players are by far more interested in the multiplayer deathmatches than the story. The backlash over the "story" in Halo 2 was all over Halo 2 boards for months following the game's release.
I wouldn't put too much stock in the story neither since I doubt they'll be lifting ideas from an Iain M Banks novel this time...
"Are they still hedging all their bets on Halo 3?"
Yep
Just one thing and that is plugin support for extensions and add ons. It means that people could easily write things like cross faders, support for additional codecs, etc. There could be official unoffical community website for getting hold of these plugins, providing users with source code, etc. to minimise the chances of malicious code.
Of course, there are probably some major security risks around stuff like that... But it would still be cool.
The main problem stems from the fact that there is just a constant deludge of first person shooters and racing games. The Xbox 360 is by far the worse offender in this regard. There seems to be little else on the platform worth looking at.
The other issue is that the cost of development is becoming so high now that devs are less willing to take risks on new IPs and gameplay styles. Look at Clover Studios - They made Viewtiful Joe, Okami and God Hand, all great games that did nothing but cause the company to fold.
I wouldn't be surprised if as this console generation moves on developers make more money from the smaller downloadable games on Playstation Network, etc. than from the big box retail ones.
"as someone with a Microsoft Office Word Expert cert, ABIWord feels most comfortable"
Wow man, I bet you're a real hit with the ladies :)
I read this story this morning too on a number of sites but the one thing I could not find were numbers.
All I've read is that the Euro PS3 will play fewer PS2. Exactly what does that mean?
1 less than the US version is fewer. But so is 2, 3 or even 10.
Does anyone know what the severity of the "issue" is and what games are likely to be affected? If it means God of War 2, FF12 and Manhunter 2 won't work now then that's pretty bad. But if it means that Red Faction or Fantavision now won't work then who honestly gives a shit?
"ECMA just confirmed the MS Open Office XML format as a standard, not Office in general. MS further states that OOXML will be an "open and royalty-free" specification."
You mean in this same way that C# is a "standard"..?
So, who's doing the other 99,999 then...? :)