Well, you're wrong. They have a current window where they're selling the newest console. It is to their advantage to get as many 360s into consumers hands as possible now, while there is no competition. The battle to sell the 360 isn't going to get easier once the Revolution and the PS3 come out. There is absolutely no reason to think that a company would not want to sell as many units as possible - even at a loss - MS still wants their installed base to dwarf the competition, not be barely noticable after a successful launch of the next consoles to come out. It's somewhat amusing to speculate that the shortage was done on purpose and there's a great marketing theory that MS has put in place but clearly Occam's Razor should be applied here. There is a shortage because MS has not been able to make enough machines to keep up with demand. Simple as that.
Accepting those figures as completely accurate: do you see how that is significantly different than saying, "No one I know has one."? Your initial statement has no merit whatsoever because it is statistically insignificant. Understood?
"But by being first out of the gate(yes the Dreamcast was earlier, but I'm not counting it for simiplicity's sake) Sony was able to dominate Nintendo and Microsoft with momentum alone."
You're not counting it for simplicity's sake? What does that even mean? You're not counting the Dreamcast because if you did, your point would not stand.
Yes, being first to market can be an advantage but there are many other factors involved in whether a console will be a success or not. Furthermore, rushing to market to try to beat the competition, without actually being prepared (Sega Saturn) probably isn't a good idea.
"It was half of a joke, half reality after the 2002 player strike. Some fans who had season tickets would go to games and take a cardboard cutout of a fan that said,..."
There was no strike in 2002.
"Very true. However, if I could pocket $600k a week with a half full ballpark of 30,000 people, I would not even worry about trying to collect $10 a week or month from some geek that wants to read about RBIs, errors, and homeruns. All of this data is freely available anyway. Go here: http://www.baseball-reference.com/ Sure, they probably make a modest amount of cash off of the niche stats market, nothing on order of $600k a week. If you think its worth it, go ahead. $600k is nothing to sneeze at."
What does that have to do with your snide attitude towards those who follow statistics? Answer: absolutely nothing.
"Huh? I can be as openminded under my bridge all I want, it probably doesn't pay much. To get paid for things you need 2 things. 1) skill at doing something 2) people have to like it, so they will pay you money."
More nonsense that doesn't have anything to do with the criticism you heaped upon those who have an interest in stats.
"Especially if the players and fans are on strike?"
How do the fans go on strike exactly? And what impact would that mythical action have on stats?
"Who would pay $10/week or even a month for statistics over going to see a game?"
Different people have different interests. And furthermore, this is not an XOR situation. You can go to the games and still analyze statistics on your own time. Your comments continue to show that you're not a fan of the game. Stop criticizing people who are for the way in which their interest manifests. Again, different people have different interests.
"$10 a month or worse a week does not seem like its worth my money for basic statistics (mean and count) for people running around with a ball in a field."
So open-minded and accepting of people who enjoy different things than you, I see. I believe you should get back to hiding beneath your bridge.
"No its not. The most important part of baseball is filling up a stadium every week."
I believe the OP was referring to the role of statistics in the fan's mind. Obviously attendance is important for management but the typical fan doesn't really care about attendance figures as much as the statistics of the actual gameplay. And yes, statistics are important to baseball fans - much more so than any other sport in the U.S. The numbers both current and historical are sacred. You obviously don't know anything about baseball so why are you commenting on it?
"Again, missing the point. The implication exists, because it, well, exists: if you tell someone, "iTunes is sending information about what songs you're listening to to Apple," they're naturally going to think and assume that Apple is keeping, logging, tracking, or otherwise archiving or aggregating this information, probably for marketing purposes. The super paranoid will even make assertions that Apple might be proving said information to the RIAA."
The implication exists because it exists? Great logic there. Saying that iTunes sends information to Apple does not imply any type of storage of the data. It doesn't imply anything about what is done with the data. It merely means that the data has been sent. The sender has no idea what is done with the data once it is received. If people you talk to jump to the conclusion you describe, so be it but that's not an implication. That's a conclusion based on no evidence to support it. Those are different things.
"Now, you might think ANY time any information is outbound from your computer, that it constitutes "sending" it to someone."
Uh, if data is outbound, it is being sent. See, with data flow you can either send, receive or do nothing. Since the data is leaving your computer, it is being sent. Your statement makes no sense.
"I take issue with this, because, again, it implies it's being taken and kept."
The act of sending something doesn't imply anything about what the receiver does with the data. Why do you believe that implication exists?
Furthermore, let's break things down a little more simply for you since you seem to be having trouble understanding what the word "send" means. I can send a letter by mail to someone. I write my letter, drop it into a mailbox, and off it goes. I am assuming that the postoffice is going to deliver it to the correct address to keep this nice and simple for you. What I've done is sent a letter. I have no idea what the recipient will do with the letter once he or she receives it because it is out of my hands. There's no implication that the person keeps it or that the person throws it away from the limited details I've given you. Now, if the recipient has a privacy and data retention policy, then I can find out what's going to be done with my letter.
"Apple did not try to hide this, and while I agree it would have been a good idea to at least ask politely (and give a clear option to decline), I don't think there is any malicious intent here whatsoever."
The fact is that if you write software that is going to send data on a user's behavior that only the local machine has, it should be completely opt-in and not on by default. Apple knows what music you've purchased from them without your machine telling them so that data is fine to use however they want.
You need to think a little harder about this, if you are capable.
Since the whole process is closed to everyone except a few - why do you expect that people would have any constructive critcism to offer? You're the only one that knows what the submission queue looks like and behaves like. You're asking for help on a problem you're only partially revealing. Slashdot needs more openness.
Part of the reason that accusations of a Slashdot insider submitting stories is that the going-ons of Slashdot are shrouded in secrecy. What happened to Jon Katz? What is Michael's status? What is Timothy's status? If Rob Malda was a little more up-front with things like this, maybe people wouldn't need to guess or come up with conspiracy theories.
"Perhaps because it's on the front page, and as a former/sometimes gamer I can offer a perspective that you probably can't."
Is it? Based on your comment it looks like all you want to do is take a shot at people who enjoy a hobby. You casually implied that video games are only for children and that children who play video games do not read books. You added no new perspective.
Why is that sad? Your social interactions in a MMORPG may be enjoyable but do you really think they are more important than having a healthy relationship with your wife or girlfriend? I'm not saying that all MMORPG use is bad but if the time spent on the activity is hurting your real life relationships, there is a problem.
So why is it sad that people want to have a significant other who is actually involved in the relationship?
It's doubtful that that was his point. His obvious lack of knowledge with regards to where the concept of Santa Claus came from shows that he is on shaky ground for even discussing the topic.
You're not trying to make the claim that because the church subverted an existing festival with Christian ideals, the resulting holiday is not Christian, are you?
"I think Chrismas is now more a popular celebration to mark the end of the year than a religious celebration. I mean, if it was a religious thing, we'd see Jesus all around the place and not an old man from the North Pole, right?"
You know the mythology of Santa Claus is based on a Christian Saint, right?
"People are used to the way current controllers work; what exactly makes this one "easier?"
You obviously haven't thought about this that much. Let's take the most blatant example possible and try to get you up to speed with the rest of us. I am going to assume you're aware of the existence of fishing simulation games. These haven't been produced that often in recent years but made regular appearances on the SNES and Genesis. Is it more intuitive for the controller to mimic the real world object of a fishing pole or is it more intuitive to push and hold a button to cast, while moving the pole with a D-pad?
Example 1: you don't have to be familiar with fishing to understand that casting a line involves a rudimentary understanding of physics and the basic pole design.
Example 2: Knowledge of fishing does not help you understand anything about the control scheme. The only source of information on the control scheme is the instruction manual and the only "rules" it adheres to are the arbitary rules set by the developer.
You see, with a controller that closely mimics the real world object, the player can use what he or she knows about the behavior of real world objects to determine how the controller works. This cannot be done with a standard controller.
I was just making a joke about the language used to express your departure. Without that extra information, it sounds a little silly to say you left after you were fired. Of course, on Slashdot the no-fun moderators rule the roost and I got modded down for it. Oh well...
Slashdot Mirror
Congrats! Yours is the dumbest comment in this whole discussion.
Accepting those figures as completely accurate: do you see how that is significantly different than saying, "No one I know has one."? Your initial statement has no merit whatsoever because it is statistically insignificant. Understood?
Because your personal world view represents the entire globe, right?
That doesn't refute the point I made about your statement.
Yes, being first to market can be an advantage but there are many other factors involved in whether a console will be a success or not. Furthermore, rushing to market to try to beat the competition, without actually being prepared (Sega Saturn) probably isn't a good idea.
Furthermore, let's break things down a little more simply for you since you seem to be having trouble understanding what the word "send" means. I can send a letter by mail to someone. I write my letter, drop it into a mailbox, and off it goes. I am assuming that the postoffice is going to deliver it to the correct address to keep this nice and simple for you. What I've done is sent a letter. I have no idea what the recipient will do with the letter once he or she receives it because it is out of my hands. There's no implication that the person keeps it or that the person throws it away from the limited details I've given you. Now, if the recipient has a privacy and data retention policy, then I can find out what's going to be done with my letter.
The fact is that if you write software that is going to send data on a user's behavior that only the local machine has, it should be completely opt-in and not on by default. Apple knows what music you've purchased from them without your machine telling them so that data is fine to use however they want.You need to think a little harder about this, if you are capable.
Since the whole process is closed to everyone except a few - why do you expect that people would have any constructive critcism to offer? You're the only one that knows what the submission queue looks like and behaves like. You're asking for help on a problem you're only partially revealing. Slashdot needs more openness.
Part of the reason that accusations of a Slashdot insider submitting stories is that the going-ons of Slashdot are shrouded in secrecy. What happened to Jon Katz? What is Michael's status? What is Timothy's status? If Rob Malda was a little more up-front with things like this, maybe people wouldn't need to guess or come up with conspiracy theories.
So why is it sad that people want to have a significant other who is actually involved in the relationship?
It's doubtful that that was his point. His obvious lack of knowledge with regards to where the concept of Santa Claus came from shows that he is on shaky ground for even discussing the topic.
You're not trying to make the claim that because the church subverted an existing festival with Christian ideals, the resulting holiday is not Christian, are you?
Example 1: you don't have to be familiar with fishing to understand that casting a line involves a rudimentary understanding of physics and the basic pole design.
Example 2: Knowledge of fishing does not help you understand anything about the control scheme. The only source of information on the control scheme is the instruction manual and the only "rules" it adheres to are the arbitary rules set by the developer.
You see, with a controller that closely mimics the real world object, the player can use what he or she knows about the behavior of real world objects to determine how the controller works. This cannot be done with a standard controller.
I wish people could think on their own.
I was just making a joke about the language used to express your departure. Without that extra information, it sounds a little silly to say you left after you were fired. Of course, on Slashdot the no-fun moderators rule the roost and I got modded down for it. Oh well...