Is there anyone who doesn't love the "Bank Error in Your Favor" card?
Greed, yes. Ignorance, not really. There are certainly people out there who have lost enough money to ATM fees that the prospect of getting a little back wouldn't seem as "evil" as pure theft, particularly when you're skimming it from a faceless, nameless machine that is tied into a mega-giant bank. I'm not saying that bank robbing is noble or hardly justified, but a faulty ATM seems about as ignorant as my bank forcing to cough up four bucks to withdraw $40 from an unapproved machine.
Part of me would rather that the Wii launched as an "unprofitable" machine with 720p output. I don't care as much about HD-DVD or BD, but a more competitive resolution would have been nice. That said, I'm excited that it's a realistically priced system. The new controls are really driving a lot of enthusiasm. No one is getting nearly as excited about the PS3. The Wii promises to break out of the "more of the same" approach of the other two major systems with some opportunities for gaming which simply didn't exist in a mass-marketed system. So ultimately the lack of 720p will not stop me from buying the system, but I do wonder if they could have packed in a little more.
-Jim
Try using BlackBoard as an instructor. The layout is cluttered and terrible, and some key functionality is buried. Tech-saavy instructors don't have a problem with probing and clicking until they find the right control, but this is used by all sorts of people, many of whom may already have difficulties with seemingly basic online navigation. My issue with the BlackBoard patent is that this is a bloated system which could use improvement (and the ideas are definitely being improved upon, just look at Moodle and Sakai), but if they're going to chase down anyone who's improvements are too effective, then we're stuck with 1999 technology and a "figure it out yourself" approach to human-computer interaction. Moodle and Sakai certainly don't have the resources to combat a lawsuit, so more power to Desire2Learn, whatever power they might have.
As for your "humorous" experience, an online course requires more planning from instructors than an in-person course. When that effort isn't put forth, it's often obvious. Additionally, there can be more required of students, as they may need to go to extra efforts to make forum postings or focus on the format of assignments. I'm not assuming that you're blaming the medium, but I hope that others reading your impressions don't come away with that notion. I have taken many online courses which were far more immersive and robust than most of the in-person courses I've had.
-Jim
I would expect h.264-compatibility to be coupled with something better than QVGA. Maybe it's a price-point thing. Or perhaps this is the "core" system.
This keeps being compared to the VHS-Beta conflict. We've already been through that and, as consumers, we learned from it. When CDs came out, there weren't competing formats. There were also no competing formats for DVDs (unless you consider DIVX more than a blip). The VHS-Beta conflict was fueled by the fact that you could adequately use either format to record. Where's the fuel for HDDVD/BR? A smattering of random titles? I'm sorry, but it's not worth $500-1000 for me to see and HD version of "Serenity". If there were more titles available at launch ("Lord of the Rings"), then I would consider diving in. This is just like trying to decide which gaming platform I'm going to buy - they are all superior to my old system, so it comes down to the games. Given the current array of weak HD titles, why would anyone bother (unless you really love "Serenity" that much)?
From the article: "Because of manufacturing problems, Microsoft was not able to come anywhere close to meeting worldwide demand."
The way I remember it, Microsoft forced retailers to sign a "sell-out" contract, artificially inflating demand for the product by witholding units. So it completely sold out on day one, and by day two they were selling for big money on eBay and everyone just had to have one. It was less a mistake on Microsoft's part than the calculated manipulation of consumers. Unfortunately, they couldn't carry the process through to the next step, as the warehouse stockpile soon disappeared. IMO, this served them right. Stop playing with people's minds and just release an affordable system that you have researched and tested before throwing onto the shelves. I still hate the name, but the Wii will hopefully be that system.
Slashdot Mirror
Is there anyone who doesn't love the "Bank Error in Your Favor" card? Greed, yes. Ignorance, not really. There are certainly people out there who have lost enough money to ATM fees that the prospect of getting a little back wouldn't seem as "evil" as pure theft, particularly when you're skimming it from a faceless, nameless machine that is tied into a mega-giant bank. I'm not saying that bank robbing is noble or hardly justified, but a faulty ATM seems about as ignorant as my bank forcing to cough up four bucks to withdraw $40 from an unapproved machine.
Part of me would rather that the Wii launched as an "unprofitable" machine with 720p output. I don't care as much about HD-DVD or BD, but a more competitive resolution would have been nice. That said, I'm excited that it's a realistically priced system. The new controls are really driving a lot of enthusiasm. No one is getting nearly as excited about the PS3. The Wii promises to break out of the "more of the same" approach of the other two major systems with some opportunities for gaming which simply didn't exist in a mass-marketed system. So ultimately the lack of 720p will not stop me from buying the system, but I do wonder if they could have packed in a little more. -Jim
Try using BlackBoard as an instructor. The layout is cluttered and terrible, and some key functionality is buried. Tech-saavy instructors don't have a problem with probing and clicking until they find the right control, but this is used by all sorts of people, many of whom may already have difficulties with seemingly basic online navigation. My issue with the BlackBoard patent is that this is a bloated system which could use improvement (and the ideas are definitely being improved upon, just look at Moodle and Sakai), but if they're going to chase down anyone who's improvements are too effective, then we're stuck with 1999 technology and a "figure it out yourself" approach to human-computer interaction. Moodle and Sakai certainly don't have the resources to combat a lawsuit, so more power to Desire2Learn, whatever power they might have. As for your "humorous" experience, an online course requires more planning from instructors than an in-person course. When that effort isn't put forth, it's often obvious. Additionally, there can be more required of students, as they may need to go to extra efforts to make forum postings or focus on the format of assignments. I'm not assuming that you're blaming the medium, but I hope that others reading your impressions don't come away with that notion. I have taken many online courses which were far more immersive and robust than most of the in-person courses I've had. -Jim
I would expect h.264-compatibility to be coupled with something better than QVGA. Maybe it's a price-point thing. Or perhaps this is the "core" system.
I've been searching that thing for two hours and I can't find a single article written by Daniel Waterhouse!
This keeps being compared to the VHS-Beta conflict. We've already been through that and, as consumers, we learned from it. When CDs came out, there weren't competing formats. There were also no competing formats for DVDs (unless you consider DIVX more than a blip). The VHS-Beta conflict was fueled by the fact that you could adequately use either format to record. Where's the fuel for HDDVD/BR? A smattering of random titles? I'm sorry, but it's not worth $500-1000 for me to see and HD version of "Serenity". If there were more titles available at launch ("Lord of the Rings"), then I would consider diving in. This is just like trying to decide which gaming platform I'm going to buy - they are all superior to my old system, so it comes down to the games. Given the current array of weak HD titles, why would anyone bother (unless you really love "Serenity" that much)?
From the article: "Because of manufacturing problems, Microsoft was not able to come anywhere close to meeting worldwide demand." The way I remember it, Microsoft forced retailers to sign a "sell-out" contract, artificially inflating demand for the product by witholding units. So it completely sold out on day one, and by day two they were selling for big money on eBay and everyone just had to have one. It was less a mistake on Microsoft's part than the calculated manipulation of consumers. Unfortunately, they couldn't carry the process through to the next step, as the warehouse stockpile soon disappeared. IMO, this served them right. Stop playing with people's minds and just release an affordable system that you have researched and tested before throwing onto the shelves. I still hate the name, but the Wii will hopefully be that system.