Microsoft is heavily invested in search revenue, advertising revenue, licensing, patents, hardware, consoles, media players, cell phones, you name it. If the PC goes down, it isn't taking Microsoft with it. They have enough capital to place more emphasis on other markets they are already established in.
Companies rarely choose the best product. Thin client stations have been around for ages, but companies buy PCs. They will continue to do so, and most companies will insist on Dell/Intel/Windows regardless of whether or not those are the best choices.
Compare a P3 733 mhz Celeron with 64 megs of RAM and a 4 year old crappy GPU with zero onboard memory to an XBox. Even if you are only running Win2k and you disable every unneeded service, the PC will have zero shot at running Half Life 2 or Doom 3. The XBox will.
People keep saying gaming PCs are blowing away the PS3. Sure. The very same people called the XBox a PC said 4 years ago that a current gen gaming PC was comparable to the XBox.
History has demonstrated that isn't the case. A current gen PC as of 4 years ago can't hold a candle to the XBox.
When looking at the specs of a console, you can't directly equate them to PC specs. They are different beasts. It is apples and oranges.
The PS2 and Xbox only have launchers. I've heard the PS3 will keep an OS in memory at all times, that can pull up certain features even during the middle of gameplay, such as making sure that certain online service functions are universal and always available.
That being said, the overheard from that minimal OS doesn't compare to the overheard of XP or Vista.
You have a point, which I tried to address. The situation is unique in that government censorship very much exists, and if the government didn't have those laws, perhaps the Wiki wouldn't be censored.
However, many people don't seem to understand that most every website has some rules about what content is acceptable and what isn't. I'm just saying in general there is a distinction.
I am totally against government-mandated censorship. I'm all for free speech. However, this is a corporation choosing to filter content on their site that they run. Sadly, they have that right. If you go to more websites, they restrict certain content. I know in this particular case that the censorship is motivated by China's laws which I don't support. However, many people don't see the distinction between a company establishing content rules on their own website and government madated censorship.
In addition to that, the PS3 doesn't keep an OS running in the background at all times, where as PCs will be moving to Vista real soon which is a ridiculous power consuming beast.
I tried running the latest Vista x64 beta on my PC last week, and I never even got it configured. I spent several hours trying to get through the control panel but it took minutes to wait for each window to open.
In pure processing power, a $5,000 PC might trump a PS3, but in terms of actual gaming capabilities, sadly the $500 PS3 will probably beat the $5,000 PC.
Add to that the fact that we're supposed to trust Intel on these numbers. They also said their first Mac processor was over 50% more powerful than the G5. That isn't the case.
Kids die in droves due to malaria. Honestly, given the choice between possible birth defects and possible cancer versus death, I might go for the former rather than the latter.
Mind you, I wouldn't want DDT used under almost any circumstance, but if it saves lives in a country that can't even afford mosquito nets, then so be it. But instead of going with a necessary evil, I challenge the Slashdot readers to do something even better.
http://www.unfoundation.org/malaria/
Donate $10, $20 or whatever. Buy some kids some mosquito nets rather than spray then with DDT.
I'm sure this makes Nintendo fans happy, but I didn't think the first Crystal Chronicles game was particularly great. I didn't get to play it proper-4-player style, but none of my friends own GBA's. Almost everyone I know has a PS2 and an XBox, but I'm the only one I know personally who has the Gamecube and GBA as well. Too bad they both gather dust.
Ultima III was good, but hard to distinguish from a title like Wizardry or Might and Magic. Ultima IV was innovating, and Ultima V featured both depth and compelling gameplay. It was also a well-realized virtual world, perhaps moreso for its time than Ultima VII.
They were working on FFXIII?
Shock of all shocks! I'm curious if this game will deviate from the horribly cliche route of FFXII and give us something unique and compelling like FFVI, FFVII, FFX, etc.
If there is a versus mode, I hope the gameplay is akin to something like Final Fantasy Tactics as opposed to the "I play myself while you watch" FFXII.
Again, the numbers were relative to his case at the time, which was about 7 years ago. The numbers were in fact accurate, as was my initial statement that if he were in Canada at the time, he would have died. A big part of the reason he took a job in the US was because of the health care here.
Half of my family is Canadian, and I have spent time up there. A big part of the reason Canadian healthcare is getting a huge influx of money is due to US customers buying drugs from Canada.
Propoganda is a loose term. Doctors who kick start a campaign promoting good health could be accused of propoganda. People advocate their causes all the time.
You disagree with Thompson, so his opinion is equal to that of a Nazi.
Comparing him to a genocidal maniac borders on lying. You stretch the truth to the point where it is utterly obfuscated by hyperbole.
I think Thompson is an idiot, and an annoying one at that. I don't however confuse his tactics with those of Nazi's. You see, propoganda is a word with negative connotations, but it is a tactic used every day by every side. The difference between the US government using cartoon characters to convince our children than all Germans and Japanese were evil is only different fron Nazi propoganda in that we agree with out side, and don't agree with the other side. So opinions we don't agree with is evil propoganda, and we're just good guys. Thompson wants people to believe that by playing video games, we should be compared to the Columbine kids. You want to compare him to a Nazi because you disagree with him. You use the very same tactic as the person you loathe.
When my father needed an MRI it was about 7 years ago. At that time there were a whopping 10 in the country. I find it funny that my post was labeled as flame-bait when I simply stated the truth.
Had he been in Canada at the time (he just moved to the States) he would have died. They had no priority system for MRIs and there was a 3 year wait. He had an aggressive tumor that put him in a coma. Without an MRI machine, they never would have been able to properly diagnose it, locate the tumor and perform the brain surgery that saved his life.
Two out of the three countries in North America have socialized health care, and neither one of them have particularly good health care, so much so that Mexico has private health care on top of their social health care.
This doesn't surprise me in the least. Gaming is mainstream, though some people don't realize that.
That's why Halo 2's opening day of sales was better than any opening day of sales for any movie in history.
Considering the 3-year waiting list for an MRI, they might as well not exist.
The last published statistics had something like 10 MRI machines in a country of 30 million people. It is out of his own mouth as a proud Canadian that he will tell you himself that he is alive because he is on US soil and had access to the US medical system.
I agree. I'm sure she will completely side with a trusted lawyer. However, I don't see the point of arguing. Do you think she is going to listen to anyone else?
But why do we care what she thinks? If she is a consumer in the market, then she'd likely have preexisting knowledge of Oblivion, arguably the most popular and talked about game on the market at the moment.
If she doesn't then does her misinformed opinion matter that much?
The HD-Tivo boxes run about $700. I'd rather rent it for $5 a month than pay $700 to hack it. I don't need a web interface, and we've never filled the HD. We delete what we watch, and if I really want to keep a TV show I download it to my laptop and burn it to DVD, or purchase the show on DVD at Best Buy.
Cox already surpasses this, so I don't think they'd be going towards this.
And I considered switching to satelitte from Cox, but a HD-Tivo box would cost me $700 out of pocket. Cox gives me a HD-DVR box for free. That alone should make customers consider switching.
But if Cox wants to give me the fully branded Tivo box for the same price, then I'm not complaining. The two features I want that I currently lack are the 30-second skip button, and the ability to download shows from the DVR/Tivo to my laptop.
Slashdot Mirror
Why intentionally invoke Godwin's law? Poor form.
Microsoft is heavily invested in search revenue, advertising revenue, licensing, patents, hardware, consoles, media players, cell phones, you name it. If the PC goes down, it isn't taking Microsoft with it. They have enough capital to place more emphasis on other markets they are already established in.
Companies rarely choose the best product. Thin client stations have been around for ages, but companies buy PCs. They will continue to do so, and most companies will insist on Dell/Intel/Windows regardless of whether or not those are the best choices.
Compare a P3 733 mhz Celeron with 64 megs of RAM and a 4 year old crappy GPU with zero onboard memory to an XBox. Even if you are only running Win2k and you disable every unneeded service, the PC will have zero shot at running Half Life 2 or Doom 3. The XBox will.
People keep saying gaming PCs are blowing away the PS3. Sure. The very same people called the XBox a PC said 4 years ago that a current gen gaming PC was comparable to the XBox.
History has demonstrated that isn't the case. A current gen PC as of 4 years ago can't hold a candle to the XBox.
When looking at the specs of a console, you can't directly equate them to PC specs. They are different beasts. It is apples and oranges.
That being said, the overheard from that minimal OS doesn't compare to the overheard of XP or Vista.
However, many people don't seem to understand that most every website has some rules about what content is acceptable and what isn't. I'm just saying in general there is a distinction.
I am totally against government-mandated censorship. I'm all for free speech. However, this is a corporation choosing to filter content on their site that they run. Sadly, they have that right. If you go to more websites, they restrict certain content. I know in this particular case that the censorship is motivated by China's laws which I don't support. However, many people don't see the distinction between a company establishing content rules on their own website and government madated censorship.
I tried running the latest Vista x64 beta on my PC last week, and I never even got it configured. I spent several hours trying to get through the control panel but it took minutes to wait for each window to open.
In pure processing power, a $5,000 PC might trump a PS3, but in terms of actual gaming capabilities, sadly the $500 PS3 will probably beat the $5,000 PC.
Add to that the fact that we're supposed to trust Intel on these numbers. They also said their first Mac processor was over 50% more powerful than the G5. That isn't the case.
Kids die in droves due to malaria. Honestly, given the choice between possible birth defects and possible cancer versus death, I might go for the former rather than the latter. Mind you, I wouldn't want DDT used under almost any circumstance, but if it saves lives in a country that can't even afford mosquito nets, then so be it. But instead of going with a necessary evil, I challenge the Slashdot readers to do something even better. http://www.unfoundation.org/malaria/ Donate $10, $20 or whatever. Buy some kids some mosquito nets rather than spray then with DDT.
That's why it has been so many years in the making.
You compare people to Nazi's and then call them names. And I'm a troll. Right. I'm done with you.
But Microsoft doesn't want us to play with ourselves any longer. They keep insisting that it is good to play together.
I think I'll pass on Crystal Chronicles 2.
Ultima III was good, but hard to distinguish from a title like Wizardry or Might and Magic. Ultima IV was innovating, and Ultima V featured both depth and compelling gameplay. It was also a well-realized virtual world, perhaps moreso for its time than Ultima VII.
They were working on FFXIII? Shock of all shocks! I'm curious if this game will deviate from the horribly cliche route of FFXII and give us something unique and compelling like FFVI, FFVII, FFX, etc. If there is a versus mode, I hope the gameplay is akin to something like Final Fantasy Tactics as opposed to the "I play myself while you watch" FFXII.
Does that only apply to calling someone a "Dirty Commie"? I wonder if a distinction is made for those who bathe.
Half of my family is Canadian, and I have spent time up there. A big part of the reason Canadian healthcare is getting a huge influx of money is due to US customers buying drugs from Canada.
You disagree with Thompson, so his opinion is equal to that of a Nazi.
Comparing him to a genocidal maniac borders on lying. You stretch the truth to the point where it is utterly obfuscated by hyperbole.
I think Thompson is an idiot, and an annoying one at that. I don't however confuse his tactics with those of Nazi's. You see, propoganda is a word with negative connotations, but it is a tactic used every day by every side. The difference between the US government using cartoon characters to convince our children than all Germans and Japanese were evil is only different fron Nazi propoganda in that we agree with out side, and don't agree with the other side. So opinions we don't agree with is evil propoganda, and we're just good guys. Thompson wants people to believe that by playing video games, we should be compared to the Columbine kids. You want to compare him to a Nazi because you disagree with him. You use the very same tactic as the person you loathe.
That's what I have an issue with.
When my father needed an MRI it was about 7 years ago. At that time there were a whopping 10 in the country. I find it funny that my post was labeled as flame-bait when I simply stated the truth. Had he been in Canada at the time (he just moved to the States) he would have died. They had no priority system for MRIs and there was a 3 year wait. He had an aggressive tumor that put him in a coma. Without an MRI machine, they never would have been able to properly diagnose it, locate the tumor and perform the brain surgery that saved his life. Two out of the three countries in North America have socialized health care, and neither one of them have particularly good health care, so much so that Mexico has private health care on top of their social health care.
Yes, but it is a substantial accomplishment none the less.
This doesn't surprise me in the least. Gaming is mainstream, though some people don't realize that. That's why Halo 2's opening day of sales was better than any opening day of sales for any movie in history.
The last published statistics had something like 10 MRI machines in a country of 30 million people. It is out of his own mouth as a proud Canadian that he will tell you himself that he is alive because he is on US soil and had access to the US medical system.
But why do we care what she thinks? If she is a consumer in the market, then she'd likely have preexisting knowledge of Oblivion, arguably the most popular and talked about game on the market at the moment.
If she doesn't then does her misinformed opinion matter that much?
Ignoring Thompson is still the best bet.
The HD-Tivo boxes run about $700. I'd rather rent it for $5 a month than pay $700 to hack it. I don't need a web interface, and we've never filled the HD. We delete what we watch, and if I really want to keep a TV show I download it to my laptop and burn it to DVD, or purchase the show on DVD at Best Buy.
Cox already surpasses this, so I don't think they'd be going towards this. And I considered switching to satelitte from Cox, but a HD-Tivo box would cost me $700 out of pocket. Cox gives me a HD-DVR box for free. That alone should make customers consider switching. But if Cox wants to give me the fully branded Tivo box for the same price, then I'm not complaining. The two features I want that I currently lack are the 30-second skip button, and the ability to download shows from the DVR/Tivo to my laptop.