This is the same Nokia who fought open standards for HTML5, has been guilty of patent-trolling, and tried to kick OSS projects around in the past. However, when they released that they were having trouble attracting developers to their mobile platforms, they decide to purchase Qt, and suddenly try to embrace OSS developers.
What people seem to overlook is that Google wrote Android on their dime, opened it up, and then handed it over to the Open Handset Alliance, which has companies like Nokia on the board. Google does not own and control Android. The Alliance does.
And how is Android not open? The entire thing is FOSS.
They pay the salaries of guys like Andrew Morton and then cut him free to work on Linux as he sees fit, basically just answering to Linus.
They pay for projects like the Summer of Code, paying for the development of projects they don't use internally.
They released patches for projects like Wine well before they were using Wine in any releases of their projects.
You claim they only release code when they have to. They were never required to create an OS. Are you aware the Chromium browser code is BSD released, right? It wasn't like they just wanted to build upon some GPL project and then were required to stick with GPL. They build a whole new browser, and opened it up BSD so anyone can use the code however they want. How is that closed?
Look what they're doing with Wave. They developed an entire protocol from the ground up. The protocol and all the server code is open. They could have tried to patent the protocol and charge for licensing. They're just releasing the whole thing and telling people to do whatever they want with it completely for free.
What about protocols like SPDY they wrote from scratch and released for free? What about their various hardware designs for power supplies they've released for free? These are things that give them a competetive edge. If anything, most people would argue it hurts them to give them away for free, but still they do it. They rarely get credit for how many things they open up. And yet the very communities Google helps finance and take care of turn around and slam Google. Do you realize who your allies are in the FOSS world?
You claim they're just as closed as Microsoft?
Pure lies and trolling. Seriously, shut the hell up.
A church advertised a Super Bowl party, in which they weren't charging a dime to attend. It didn't stop the NFL lawyers from descending.
All major leagues also have the statement that not only can you not rebroadcast, but you can't disseminate or report on the game without their written, express consent.
You apparently don't have the right to talk about the game. Way to be fan-friendly.
Every side quest in the game uses the exact same map. The story for many of the side-quests is the same. A soldier or family member is missing. Go to location X, kill enemies, and find the dead body of the missing person.
Some of the voice acting (Benezia scene) is embarrassingly bad.
Exploring in the Mako is fun at times, but on some worlds the Mako struggles with really steep climbs which is just frustrating.
You are handed most of the companions very early on. They don't have great introductions. I feel like I barely know any of them even by the end of the game. In many ways, the story falls short of Bioware standards.
They created a universe that I find interesting. The story isn't bad, it just isn't great. I love the overall concept. Mass Effect is *ALMOST* a great game. I hope Mass Effect 2 improves on the first, which was a near miss.
I kill my iPhone battery all the time because I carry it with me all day. If I make a few phone calls, or try to browse the web on it, or play some games on it, I drain it pretty quick.
I know many people keep their laptops plugged in all the time, but they're marketing this as something you carry around, use on the couch, etc.
If it can get 5 hours, that might be good enough. However, you know people will be comparing this to the Kindle and Nook, and their insane battery lives.
Netbook battery claims are fairly accurate from what I've seen. I've seen people actually get close to 10 hours with screen dimming, etc. However, my iPhone 3GS claims 5 hours of actual 3G use. I get 2 hours max. I have since the day I got it.
If you don't believe me, Google up "iPhone Battery Life" to see everyone else on the planet complaining about it.
So when Apple claims the iPad can do 10 hours of actual use, I'm assuming that translates to 4 hours, which is less than most newer netbooks I've sen.
If.6 pounds of weight outweighs multi-tasking, keyboard, installing any software you want, Flash, faster processor, more RAM, etc. then I don't know what to tell you.
I'm an out of shape IT guy who hasn't worked out in years, but I've never felt a netbook was too heavy to use.
There you go. There is a full netbook with keyboard, a full OS, and it coverts to a tablet by flipping the screen around, and then using it as a touchscreen. You can buy it today, and it is cheaper than the iPad.
I forgot to mention that most $300 netbooks have a bigger screen than the iPad as well.
And as someone who owns an iPhone (and has a love/hate relationship with it), surfing the web is MUCH, MUCH better with a keyboard and mouse than your finger. Curling up on the couch with a netbook does beat the iPhone.
1.0 Ghz processor versus 1.66 Ghz processor 128 MB of RAM (assumed like iPhone, not explicitly stated in specs) versus 1024 MB of RAM 16 GB of storage versus 160 GB of storage No webcam versus a webcam No keyboard versus a keyboard No Flash veruss Flash No multi-tasking versus multi-tasking No Windows or Linux apps versus install whatever you want $500 versus $300.
The iPad does have a touchscreen. Does that offset the $200 and all other disadvantages?
1 - No. 2 - You can get free as in beer apps from the store. 3 - There are GPL apps in the App Store. In fact, there was controversy over people charging money for GPL apps in the App Store, even though the GPL allows for that.
The issue is that I can't add another "repository" nor can developers get any app they want into the store.
One of the things I love about Linux is a central repository for software, being able to find all software updates in one place, and having one simple way to install and remove apps.
The App Store is great in this regard. The issue isn't that the App Store restricts the user, but rather the App Store restricts the developer. Not anyone can simply get an app in the store. You have to pass Apple's magic gates.
Apple would never let any old app in the store, nor would they allow users to simply add other "repositories" to the App Store, because it would breed piracy. But the basic concept of the App Store is still solid.
Apple is helping drive HTML5, but Firefox has a much larger market share, and they're trying to push HTML5 as well. Let's not forget Google and Chrome.
There is actually a very good Google app that not only gives you quick access to Google features (Gmail, maps, search, etc) but also has a voice search. Talk into your phone and get Google search results.
“Two years from now, spam will be solved,” he told a select group of World Economic Forum participants at this Alpine ski resort. “And a lot of progress this year,” he added at the event late Friday, hosted by U.S. talk show host Charlie Rose.
Google it up, and you'll find several sources directly quoting him, not to mention follow-ups years later when Gates says it was a mistake to make such a claim.
Slashdot Mirror
They would only really be responsible for maintaining a set of patches, not a full-on fork.
Plenty of projects exist outside the mainline kernel that will likely never be merged upstream.
This is the same Nokia who fought open standards for HTML5, has been guilty of patent-trolling, and tried to kick OSS projects around in the past. However, when they released that they were having trouble attracting developers to their mobile platforms, they decide to purchase Qt, and suddenly try to embrace OSS developers.
What people seem to overlook is that Google wrote Android on their dime, opened it up, and then handed it over to the Open Handset Alliance, which has companies like Nokia on the board. Google does not own and control Android. The Alliance does.
And how is Android not open? The entire thing is FOSS.
They don't support OSS when it doesn't suit them?
They pay the salaries of guys like Andrew Morton and then cut him free to work on Linux as he sees fit, basically just answering to Linus.
They pay for projects like the Summer of Code, paying for the development of projects they don't use internally.
They released patches for projects like Wine well before they were using Wine in any releases of their projects.
You claim they only release code when they have to. They were never required to create an OS. Are you aware the Chromium browser code is BSD released, right? It wasn't like they just wanted to build upon some GPL project and then were required to stick with GPL. They build a whole new browser, and opened it up BSD so anyone can use the code however they want. How is that closed?
Look what they're doing with Wave. They developed an entire protocol from the ground up. The protocol and all the server code is open. They could have tried to patent the protocol and charge for licensing. They're just releasing the whole thing and telling people to do whatever they want with it completely for free.
What about protocols like SPDY they wrote from scratch and released for free? What about their various hardware designs for power supplies they've released for free? These are things that give them a competetive edge. If anything, most people would argue it hurts them to give them away for free, but still they do it. They rarely get credit for how many things they open up. And yet the very communities Google helps finance and take care of turn around and slam Google. Do you realize who your allies are in the FOSS world?
You claim they're just as closed as Microsoft?
Pure lies and trolling. Seriously, shut the hell up.
I think industry-specific proprietary apps are missing, but you can do image editing, audio mixing, video editing, etc. all on Linux just fine.
Gimp approximates 90% of Photoshop's features, and most users only use that subset of features.
Apps like Skrooge and KMyMoney are making great progress on finance software for Linux these days.
I do keep Windows for gaming. But I probably could spend all of my free time playing Linux games and never play them all.
A church advertised a Super Bowl party, in which they weren't charging a dime to attend. It didn't stop the NFL lawyers from descending.
All major leagues also have the statement that not only can you not rebroadcast, but you can't disseminate or report on the game without their written, express consent.
You apparently don't have the right to talk about the game. Way to be fan-friendly.
Most of the voice acting in ME1 was good, but the Benezia sequence makes me cringe because it is so bad.
How can you write an in-depth review (like the above) and not mention these changes?
No grenades or health packs? Less control over your squad?
I almost regret preordering this. I hope the story makes the game worthwhile.
Every side quest in the game uses the exact same map. The story for many of the side-quests is the same. A soldier or family member is missing. Go to location X, kill enemies, and find the dead body of the missing person.
Some of the voice acting (Benezia scene) is embarrassingly bad.
Exploring in the Mako is fun at times, but on some worlds the Mako struggles with really steep climbs which is just frustrating.
You are handed most of the companions very early on. They don't have great introductions. I feel like I barely know any of them even by the end of the game. In many ways, the story falls short of Bioware standards.
They created a universe that I find interesting. The story isn't bad, it just isn't great. I love the overall concept. Mass Effect is *ALMOST* a great game. I hope Mass Effect 2 improves on the first, which was a near miss.
I kill my iPhone battery all the time because I carry it with me all day. If I make a few phone calls, or try to browse the web on it, or play some games on it, I drain it pretty quick.
I know many people keep their laptops plugged in all the time, but they're marketing this as something you carry around, use on the couch, etc.
If it can get 5 hours, that might be good enough. However, you know people will be comparing this to the Kindle and Nook, and their insane battery lives.
I'm aware of clock speed differences, but it is all we have to go on.
Netbook battery claims are fairly accurate from what I've seen. I've seen people actually get close to 10 hours with screen dimming, etc. However, my iPhone 3GS claims 5 hours of actual 3G use. I get 2 hours max. I have since the day I got it.
If you don't believe me, Google up "iPhone Battery Life" to see everyone else on the planet complaining about it.
So when Apple claims the iPad can do 10 hours of actual use, I'm assuming that translates to 4 hours, which is less than most newer netbooks I've sen.
If .6 pounds of weight outweighs multi-tasking, keyboard, installing any software you want, Flash, faster processor, more RAM, etc. then I don't know what to tell you.
I'm an out of shape IT guy who hasn't worked out in years, but I've never felt a netbook was too heavy to use.
I noted the touchscreen.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B002GCR04Y/ref=ord_cart_shr?_encoding=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&v=glance
There you go. There is a full netbook with keyboard, a full OS, and it coverts to a tablet by flipping the screen around, and then using it as a touchscreen. You can buy it today, and it is cheaper than the iPad.
I forgot to mention that most $300 netbooks have a bigger screen than the iPad as well.
And as someone who owns an iPhone (and has a love/hate relationship with it), surfing the web is MUCH, MUCH better with a keyboard and mouse than your finger. Curling up on the couch with a netbook does beat the iPhone.
1.0 Ghz processor versus 1.66 Ghz processor
128 MB of RAM (assumed like iPhone, not explicitly stated in specs) versus 1024 MB of RAM
16 GB of storage versus 160 GB of storage
No webcam versus a webcam
No keyboard versus a keyboard
No Flash veruss Flash
No multi-tasking versus multi-tasking
No Windows or Linux apps versus install whatever you want
$500 versus $300.
The iPad does have a touchscreen. Does that offset the $200 and all other disadvantages?
http://dev.chromium.org/spdy/spdy-whitepaper
Do I get $30 million for finding that for him?
1 - No.
2 - You can get free as in beer apps from the store.
3 - There are GPL apps in the App Store. In fact, there was controversy over people charging money for GPL apps in the App Store, even though the GPL allows for that.
The issue is that I can't add another "repository" nor can developers get any app they want into the store.
One of the things I love about Linux is a central repository for software, being able to find all software updates in one place, and having one simple way to install and remove apps.
The App Store is great in this regard. The issue isn't that the App Store restricts the user, but rather the App Store restricts the developer. Not anyone can simply get an app in the store. You have to pass Apple's magic gates.
Apple would never let any old app in the store, nor would they allow users to simply add other "repositories" to the App Store, because it would breed piracy. But the basic concept of the App Store is still solid.
Apple is helping drive HTML5, but Firefox has a much larger market share, and they're trying to push HTML5 as well. Let's not forget Google and Chrome.
I really preffered Slate or iSlate over iPad.
Apple is not perfect. They whiff just like everyone else from time to time.
If you can free TV shows and movies streaming over Flash, why buy them on iTunes?
I don't expect Flash on this or the iPhone anytime soon.
I was seriously thinking about jailbreaking mine just to get the Google Voice app. I might not need to now.
There is actually a very good Google app that not only gives you quick access to Google features (Gmail, maps, search, etc) but also has a voice search. Talk into your phone and get Google search results.
In the second paragraph there is a direct quote.
“Two years from now, spam will be solved,” he told a select group of World Economic Forum participants at this Alpine ski resort. “And a lot of progress this year,” he added at the event late Friday, hosted by U.S. talk show host Charlie Rose.
Google it up, and you'll find several sources directly quoting him, not to mention follow-ups years later when Gates says it was a mistake to make such a claim.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/01/24/tech/main595595.shtml
Bill Gates promised in 2004 that spam would be completely solved within 2 years.
I believe the GBA version of FFI also had 4 new lengthy bonus dungeons. I assume this content might also go into the iPhone versions.
Square has also done updated cut-scenes for many of their remakes.