I'm sorry, but you're being too harsh on a service that has 1) succeeded more than failed, 2) is still here and thriving, and 3) is the first attempt in a completely new market.
And if I were to guess, you're basing your view of OnLive's success on how its subscriber base compares with the XBox 360, PS3, and Wii subscriber bases. But when you do so, you neglect that these are different markets, and that each of these are built off of the success of their predecessors. And it's easy to ignore the chicken-and-egg problem... since many of these games are multiplayer, other players are important. Halo or CoD multiplayer wouldn't be nearly as successful if the number of players across the globe playing at a time were numbered in the hundreds, instead of the hundreds-of-thousands. But OnLive had to start somewhere, and it's grown ever since.
OnLive is definitely going uphill, but that's not a sign of failure... if anything, they've shown great success.
True, and another modern benefit comes from much better realization of parallel computing and more effective networking algorithms.
I once heard from a professor that now works at Google, that Google doesn't try to put the latest and greatest in their cloud servers, but opts to expand through volume. They acquire a bunch of old and cheap components that nobody wants anymore and adds them to their computing infrastructure. It makes sense... when they need more speed or disk space, a bunch of cheap old 2/3/4/586 computers headed for the dump get incorporated into their already massively parallel system. With the right algorithms and setup, it probably saves the company millions or billions a year.
Many in the pro-life crowd believe that rape does not justify abortion. But those who believe in abortion have forced a compromise. Arguing against abortion is an uphill battle; arguing against rape-justified abortion is like going up Mt. Everest.
If there are 46 million abortions per year in the world, and only 1% are due to rape (or incest), can you blame the pro-life crowd from trying to stop the 45.5 million needless abortions, or as they would put it, needless murders? I can't.
Besides, you call keeping the baby "punishment". Isn't that exactly how abortion supporters view it?
It seems that what you want is called a customized PC.
Consoles exist with a different purpose. The specs they are released with are guaranteed across, leading to much improved testability for developers and familiarity for consumers.
Now, I can definitely see room for one or two "addon" modules over the lifetime of a console. The Wii did this with the MotionPlus controller... XBox with Kinect, PS3 with Move. There may be room for an addon that significantly enhances the processing power of a particular console, but for it to be successful in the world of console gaming, it can't be a pick-and-choose deal. There must only be one addon module (with certain CPU/RAM/etc specs), it has to be well marketed (as if it creates a new product altogether), and must give developers a reason to use it since they potentially sacrifice a large base of users that do not have the module.
By the time all of this happens, it's just easier to create a brand new console. After all, the technology is probably better enough in 5 years that they could build it better, faster, smaller, and cheaper than building a module for an old product.
Somebody invented the transistor. Somebody invented the microchip. Somebody invented the cellular radio. Somebody invented the LCD screen. Somebody invented the speaker. Somebody invented the touchscreen. Somebody invented headphones.
Are you saying that everyone else is releasing old technology?
Then perhaps the electric car is old technology. We've had batteries, electric motors, wheels, brakes, etc. for years. Maybe the flying car is old tech. We've had the basic components for years, but have had trouble combining them into useful, compact flying transport.
It doesn't have to be completely new, to be novel or innovative. Nearly every useful new technology is the result of applying innovation to combining existing technologies.
Open notepad, paste in some text, and hit print. Now try to print anything other than "All pages". Can't, can you?
You're joking, right? The Windows 7 print dialog looks like this. Isn't that a page range selection box in the bottom left?
The GUI elements are virtualized, but the data is not. . . . There is NO WORKAROUND. None.
Wrong again. There are sensible workarounds involving lazy loading, like this. No new data grid necessary. That said, this needs to be in the framework, and it sounds like they will be addressing this soon.
Now, I complain nearly everyday about all the quirks in WPF/XAML. I hate spending an hour writing XAML code, compiling regularly, and finding out at runtime that the basis of my strategy is flawed because of something that could have been checked in the compiler, but was not. But I can't deny the flexibility and ease that WPF lends to nice UI design. The XAML language needs a makeover, but WPF itself is second to none.
Your getting close to the real problem of abandoning cash...due to the transaction fee's charged by the banks.
But this is a logical fallacy, right? Your assumption is that electronic transactions cost a minimum amount of money, but cash transactions are free.
But cash transactions do involve work! The bank teller takes money and gives money, all day long. That person gets paid, and all they might do during the day is handle cash. If a teller makes $100/day, and processes 200 transactions a day, each transaction cost the bank $.50.
That entire time, the teller is using computers that interface with backend servers. Each of those machines, and the network routers/switches in between are sucking down electricity. And there are people behind the scenes, making loan deals with the Federal Reserve (in the US). And people who do various paperwork, and people who run collections, people who do technical/customer support, etc., who all work for real money, and whose job is to directly or indirectly support such cash transactions.
In the cash world, the bank "eats" these costs. Obviously, they don't really eat them, they just put them into interest rates. The electronic transaction world really doesn't seem to have any more costs, but banks are requiring transactions fees. In other words, they are trying to recoup their costs up front, something that is impossible to do in the cash world due to tradition.
Moral of the story: There is no such thing as a free lunch. Cash is no better answer than electronic transactions.
Not a proton? Sorry, due to violent history, antiprotons are no longer permitted to post on these forums. We hope you understand. However, if you feel this policy is threatening or misplaced, please post a message to our Dilithium moderators, and they will be glad to transfer your message once it has been phase-adjusted. We do not intend to inject our own matter/antimatter opinions, or to warp your discussions, but our core values require that we encourage a field of openness. Please do not post trilithium remarks, as this will result in an instant ban and a referral to the nearest Bussard collector.
At work, I have to use a system that not only forces you to change a password every 90 days, but you cannot change it more than once every 15 days. And of course it's difficult to get in touch with the IT admin, so if it gets lost or stolen, I have little recourse for several days.
Then there's banks... where everyone else requires special characters, they don't allow any special characters... argh...
Except that F# is one of Microsoft's newest languages, one that they are investing heavily in and are continually churning out new features. I'd say it's probably their best language to date, in my opinion.
how little it takes to get people upset enough to give away their own freedoms
So you want the freedom to shout obscenities at grieving families during the funerals of soldiers who died giving you all your freedoms?
There are exceptions to every rule. You can't shout "Fire!" in a theater. And you shouldn't be able to shout and display obscenities at and during the time of a funeral. Simple as that... we don't have to change the rule, just make rare and necessary exceptions.
But the funny thing is, Democrats have been in control of the Alabama legislature for the past 136 years, and were in control of all politics in the state between the time of Reconstruction and the Civil Rights movement.
These were fairly conservative Democrats, mind you... but they still swing in the liberal direction on many issues.
Speaking of games... ever notice how many real-life rules are based on baseball? What if the guy who invented baseball chose four-strikes, or two-strikes? Law and our economy may hang in the balance of some one-off decision made by a kid hundreds of years ago.
You keep saying "public domain", but you are using it to define nearly the opposite concept.
I like to think of it this way. Least free to most free: GPL, BSD/MIT, Public Domain. GPL is very restrictive as to what the licensee can or cannot do with the work. BSD/MIT both allow nearly any use/modification/extension, but requires the licensee to retain copyright notices. Public Domain requires neither; anyone can use and abuse it without retaining copyright notices.
So is GPL more or less free than a commercial license? Usually less free, but it depends on what you want. The GPL is more restrictive in that source code must be provided, no charge, to anyone who gets a binary copy. Typical mega-corporation commercial licenses prevent modification or extension, and many times even use and reverse-engineering, but I'd say that smaller companies tend to be less restrictive in their licenses than the GPL (barring, of course, redistribution of the original source code).
I believe you are correct with the multiplication rule. According to the article,
Whereas a conventional NAND gate outputs a "1" if neither of its inputs match, the output of a Bayesian NAND gate represents the odds that the two input probabilities match. This makes it possible to perform calculations that use probabilities as their input and output.
But I'm not clear as to what "the odds that the two input probabilities match" means... that implies, to me, that it returns a 1 if the inputs are identical and 0 if not. I'm thinking it instead means, "Given events A and B with inputs p(A) and p(B), Bayesian NAND represents p(A and B)." Or perhaps p(A nand B)... I don't know.
I always assumed that the dark side was powerful enough to exploit surface-level frustrations into full-fledged evil tendencies. Anakin was already dark side, from at least the killing of the Sandpeople or possibly even further back. But he didn't acknowledge it until then, and didn't know that it had already taken him over.
Not to say Lucas's writing is great... I'm sure I'm giving him more credit than deserved.
Oooh... so yeah, I hate to say this since I hate Microsoft, but Netscape really sucks... they haven't upgraded it in like 5 years. And it's owned by AOL, the other enemy. Guess I have to go with IE...
IE hasn't been upgraded in like 5 years... we need something new.
*From heaven* "BEHOLD, FIREFOX!"
Microsoft: Oh crap, you mean we have to put out a new version of IE? Do we still have developers around?
Oh, and related to the second one... Patents should only be enforceable within the market footprint of the patent holder. So I can't just patent an idea and sue Google for every nationwide instance of infringement if I have no evidence that I operate outside of my town.
Software patents aren't bad. Software patents in the hands of mega-corporations and patent trolls are bad.
I'm fully convinced that the following patent rules would fix the process:
The enforceability of a patent should be correlated to the relative size of the infringer to the patent holder. E.g., Microsoft might get about $100 million from infringement by Apple, but only $100 from MomNPop Software.
Patents should be nullified unless evidence of a good faith attempted entry into the market is presented within 2 years of filing.
Slashdot Mirror
I'm sorry, but you're being too harsh on a service that has 1) succeeded more than failed, 2) is still here and thriving, and 3) is the first attempt in a completely new market.
And if I were to guess, you're basing your view of OnLive's success on how its subscriber base compares with the XBox 360, PS3, and Wii subscriber bases. But when you do so, you neglect that these are different markets, and that each of these are built off of the success of their predecessors. And it's easy to ignore the chicken-and-egg problem... since many of these games are multiplayer, other players are important. Halo or CoD multiplayer wouldn't be nearly as successful if the number of players across the globe playing at a time were numbered in the hundreds, instead of the hundreds-of-thousands. But OnLive had to start somewhere, and it's grown ever since.
OnLive is definitely going uphill, but that's not a sign of failure... if anything, they've shown great success.
Since when 'internet online gaming' has anything to do with 'streaming video'?
Since OnLive merged the two in one of the most impressive Internet-based services to ever exist.
True, and another modern benefit comes from much better realization of parallel computing and more effective networking algorithms.
I once heard from a professor that now works at Google, that Google doesn't try to put the latest and greatest in their cloud servers, but opts to expand through volume. They acquire a bunch of old and cheap components that nobody wants anymore and adds them to their computing infrastructure. It makes sense... when they need more speed or disk space, a bunch of cheap old 2/3/4/586 computers headed for the dump get incorporated into their already massively parallel system. With the right algorithms and setup, it probably saves the company millions or billions a year.
Many in the pro-life crowd believe that rape does not justify abortion. But those who believe in abortion have forced a compromise. Arguing against abortion is an uphill battle; arguing against rape-justified abortion is like going up Mt. Everest.
If there are 46 million abortions per year in the world, and only 1% are due to rape (or incest), can you blame the pro-life crowd from trying to stop the 45.5 million needless abortions, or as they would put it, needless murders? I can't.
Besides, you call keeping the baby "punishment". Isn't that exactly how abortion supporters view it?
That's why I try to the be programmer who comes up with the great idea.
Ah, my next great idea: a web text editor for the dyslexic.
That's why I try to the be programmer who comes up with the great idea.
It seems that what you want is called a customized PC.
Consoles exist with a different purpose. The specs they are released with are guaranteed across, leading to much improved testability for developers and familiarity for consumers.
Now, I can definitely see room for one or two "addon" modules over the lifetime of a console. The Wii did this with the MotionPlus controller... XBox with Kinect, PS3 with Move. There may be room for an addon that significantly enhances the processing power of a particular console, but for it to be successful in the world of console gaming, it can't be a pick-and-choose deal. There must only be one addon module (with certain CPU/RAM/etc specs), it has to be well marketed (as if it creates a new product altogether), and must give developers a reason to use it since they potentially sacrifice a large base of users that do not have the module.
By the time all of this happens, it's just easier to create a brand new console. After all, the technology is probably better enough in 5 years that they could build it better, faster, smaller, and cheaper than building a module for an old product.
Somebody invented the transistor. Somebody invented the microchip. Somebody invented the cellular radio. Somebody invented the LCD screen. Somebody invented the speaker. Somebody invented the touchscreen. Somebody invented headphones.
Are you saying that everyone else is releasing old technology?
Then perhaps the electric car is old technology. We've had batteries, electric motors, wheels, brakes, etc. for years. Maybe the flying car is old tech. We've had the basic components for years, but have had trouble combining them into useful, compact flying transport.
It doesn't have to be completely new, to be novel or innovative. Nearly every useful new technology is the result of applying innovation to combining existing technologies.
Open notepad, paste in some text, and hit print. Now try to print anything other than "All pages". Can't, can you?
You're joking, right? The Windows 7 print dialog looks like this. Isn't that a page range selection box in the bottom left?
The GUI elements are virtualized, but the data is not. . . . There is NO WORKAROUND. None.
Wrong again. There are sensible workarounds involving lazy loading, like this. No new data grid necessary. That said, this needs to be in the framework, and it sounds like they will be addressing this soon.
Now, I complain nearly everyday about all the quirks in WPF/XAML. I hate spending an hour writing XAML code, compiling regularly, and finding out at runtime that the basis of my strategy is flawed because of something that could have been checked in the compiler, but was not. But I can't deny the flexibility and ease that WPF lends to nice UI design. The XAML language needs a makeover, but WPF itself is second to none.
Your getting close to the real problem of abandoning cash...due to the transaction fee's charged by the banks.
But this is a logical fallacy, right? Your assumption is that electronic transactions cost a minimum amount of money, but cash transactions are free.
But cash transactions do involve work! The bank teller takes money and gives money, all day long. That person gets paid, and all they might do during the day is handle cash. If a teller makes $100/day, and processes 200 transactions a day, each transaction cost the bank $.50.
That entire time, the teller is using computers that interface with backend servers. Each of those machines, and the network routers/switches in between are sucking down electricity. And there are people behind the scenes, making loan deals with the Federal Reserve (in the US). And people who do various paperwork, and people who run collections, people who do technical/customer support, etc., who all work for real money, and whose job is to directly or indirectly support such cash transactions.
In the cash world, the bank "eats" these costs. Obviously, they don't really eat them, they just put them into interest rates. The electronic transaction world really doesn't seem to have any more costs, but banks are requiring transactions fees. In other words, they are trying to recoup their costs up front, something that is impossible to do in the cash world due to tradition.
Moral of the story: There is no such thing as a free lunch. Cash is no better answer than electronic transactions.
IANAP
Not a proton? Sorry, due to violent history, antiprotons are no longer permitted to post on these forums. We hope you understand. However, if you feel this policy is threatening or misplaced, please post a message to our Dilithium moderators, and they will be glad to transfer your message once it has been phase-adjusted. We do not intend to inject our own matter/antimatter opinions, or to warp your discussions, but our core values require that we encourage a field of openness. Please do not post trilithium remarks, as this will result in an instant ban and a referral to the nearest Bussard collector.
At work, I have to use a system that not only forces you to change a password every 90 days, but you cannot change it more than once every 15 days. And of course it's difficult to get in touch with the IT admin, so if it gets lost or stolen, I have little recourse for several days.
Then there's banks... where everyone else requires special characters, they don't allow any special characters... argh...
A bit too late for a recall of 1.0 right?
I know! At this rate, it'll be 2031 before Vista is finally recalled...
Except that F# is one of Microsoft's newest languages, one that they are investing heavily in and are continually churning out new features. I'd say it's probably their best language to date, in my opinion.
how little it takes to get people upset enough to give away their own freedoms
So you want the freedom to shout obscenities at grieving families during the funerals of soldiers who died giving you all your freedoms?
There are exceptions to every rule. You can't shout "Fire!" in a theater. And you shouldn't be able to shout and display obscenities at and during the time of a funeral. Simple as that... we don't have to change the rule, just make rare and necessary exceptions.
But the funny thing is, Democrats have been in control of the Alabama legislature for the past 136 years, and were in control of all politics in the state between the time of Reconstruction and the Civil Rights movement.
These were fairly conservative Democrats, mind you... but they still swing in the liberal direction on many issues.
Speaking of games... ever notice how many real-life rules are based on baseball? What if the guy who invented baseball chose four-strikes, or two-strikes? Law and our economy may hang in the balance of some one-off decision made by a kid hundreds of years ago.
Windows will always run faster than Wine.
FTFY
Wine is a native client. Wine Is Not an Emulator. Performance is not a priority for Wine, so your point is clear... but your words are misguiding.
You keep saying "public domain", but you are using it to define nearly the opposite concept.
I like to think of it this way. Least free to most free: GPL, BSD/MIT, Public Domain. GPL is very restrictive as to what the licensee can or cannot do with the work. BSD/MIT both allow nearly any use/modification/extension, but requires the licensee to retain copyright notices. Public Domain requires neither; anyone can use and abuse it without retaining copyright notices.
So is GPL more or less free than a commercial license? Usually less free, but it depends on what you want. The GPL is more restrictive in that source code must be provided, no charge, to anyone who gets a binary copy. Typical mega-corporation commercial licenses prevent modification or extension, and many times even use and reverse-engineering, but I'd say that smaller companies tend to be less restrictive in their licenses than the GPL (barring, of course, redistribution of the original source code).
I believe you are correct with the multiplication rule. According to the article,
Whereas a conventional NAND gate outputs a "1" if neither of its inputs match, the output of a Bayesian NAND gate represents the odds that the two input probabilities match. This makes it possible to perform calculations that use probabilities as their input and output.
But I'm not clear as to what "the odds that the two input probabilities match" means... that implies, to me, that it returns a 1 if the inputs are identical and 0 if not. I'm thinking it instead means, "Given events A and B with inputs p(A) and p(B), Bayesian NAND represents p(A and B)." Or perhaps p(A nand B)... I don't know.
I always assumed that the dark side was powerful enough to exploit surface-level frustrations into full-fledged evil tendencies. Anakin was already dark side, from at least the killing of the Sandpeople or possibly even further back. But he didn't acknowledge it until then, and didn't know that it had already taken him over.
Not to say Lucas's writing is great... I'm sure I'm giving him more credit than deserved.
Oh, and related to the second one... Patents should only be enforceable within the market footprint of the patent holder. So I can't just patent an idea and sue Google for every nationwide instance of infringement if I have no evidence that I operate outside of my town.
Software patents aren't bad. Software patents in the hands of mega-corporations and patent trolls are bad.
I'm fully convinced that the following patent rules would fix the process:
Looking forward to a day with $10 limited-use tablets... hopefully in the next 5 years or so...