That's just the thing. I buy Apple computers because I like the Mac. Drop the Mac, and drop me as a customer.
I will say, if Apple plans on dropping OS X, then why did they spend so much effort on Lion? IMO, it's a more impressive update than iOS 5, which is basically just a "quick, let's bring this thing up-to-date with Android" release.
I would be curious to see a study on which type of payment system nets more profit - points or real money. Anecdotal and all, but for myself, I cannot stand the MS points (or Nintendo points) systems. It's related to the psychology aspect, but in reverse--I hate knowing that I'll have points left over, and I don't want to spend any more money. So I already feel robbed for having to pay extra in the first place, and then that extra just sits there. There's also an aspect where I feel like MS is being dishonest with their pricing, which makes me less likely to buy from the service.
There are actually a number of XBLA games I would like to buy, and if I did a tiny bit of math I could figure out which combinations would let me spend exactly the amount of money I need to buy them. That's too much hassle, however, so I just buy everything off of Steam and PSN. Total purchases on XBLA: 6 (Limbo and a couple GH3 packs). Total PSN purchases: 50+.
Well, I would buy more off of PSN. You know, if I could...and if I still trusted it.
A lot of the head-scratch-inducing is due to the totally arbitrary category placements and inconsistencies. For example:
Baldur's Gate is Action, but Diablo II is Target DOOM II and Deus Ex are considered as part of the same era Metal Gear Solid is Action, but Metal Gear Solid 2 is Combat/Strategy (what the hell? They're identical in terms of concept and gameplay) DOOM II is Action, Goldeneye is Target Ikaruga being a 360 game, but Rez is Dreamcast
Really, the biggest issue is how abstract the genres are. Pick any given game, and you could likely fit it in any of the categories (the more modern, the easier). Take Uncharted 2. Clearly, it has action--you're running around, dodging shots, jumping, etc. It's also clearly an adventure, with lots of exploration and climbing. There's also lots of targeting going on, because your primary method of attack is to shoot something. And it has tons of combat.
The traditional genre naming (RPG, FPS, platformer, etc.) isn't perfect or rigidly black-and-white, but it's loads better than the four super-abstract categories we have here.
Another issue is the inclusion of ports of PC games. I could get behind SimCity being a winner--but only the computer version. The SNES version? Hell no. SimCity took a spot from Ogre Battle. Ogre Battle! And then we see it again on the Saturn--SimCity 2000 instead of Shining Force 3 or Dragon Force. It's just plain silly.
There may be a stupid number of (mostly bad) games for the iPhone, but that doesn't mean the majority of development time is spent on the platform. I also wonder if the iPhone might be a different market from traditional console games.
But if your prediction is right, then there's a silver lining for me: I would save a lot of money, since I would no longer be buying games.
The Super Nintendo actually bucks the trend; it was superior to the Genesis both in graphics and especially sound. However, if you want to include the Neo Geo, then it wasn't the most powerful, but that's not fair. It was intended to just be a rental system, but it did well enough that SNK essentially said, "Screw it, let's sell the thing too; some people will buy it." It wasn't ever intended to outsell anyone.
I also hate the self-checkout things. As another poster said, no matter how fast you get, you're going to be slower than a real clerk because the machine physically doesn't let you go to fast. Add to that the fact most people are slow as molasses on those things, and they're a real pain. And if someone buys alcohol, then you still need a real person to come over and clear it, same as if there's a problem with scanning.
I know you didn't. I was saying it's natural to have a different response when a rabid dog gets put down vs. the death of someone responsible for the deaths of thousands of people.
I'm curious if you're at risk if you deleted your credit card info recently. A few days before the attack, I logged in to PSN on a friend's PS3. I didn't remember which card I had tied to the service, so when it asked me to confirm, I went ahead and said "delete credit card info". So, I guess we'll find out if Sony actually physically removes the data...
Wait a minute. When the iPad first came out, we had people saying it was unusably big at 9.7", and should be something silly like 7". Now the Xoom's 0.4" larger screen is a selling point?
Anyways, I read an article somewhere recently about the different philosophies between Apple and basically everyone else. The gist of it: Android manufacturers can only compete on two things: checklists and price. Apple controls the whole experience and focuses on a few things at a time. This means that their products will often have less features, but those features will have much more thought put into them and have a tighter level of integration to them. Once a feature is implemented well, they'll move on to another.
I look at the list of Xoom features and think two things. The first is, "wow, that's a lot of nifty features." The second is, "so what?" I'm not going to tackle all of them, which would be annoying, but here are a few.
Widescreen: Nice for video, but not anything else. When we're dealing with something that displays applications in full-screen, widescreen loses its advantages. Additional marketplaces: Why does this matter when Apple's single marketplace has so many more? (I couldn't find actual numbers for Honeycomb, unfortunately. If somebody has recent numbers, that would be interesting.) Flash: Adding Flash means I'll see more ads; Youtube and several other video sites do HTML5 video now. Sensors: Why on earth I would ever want a barometer or magnetometer in a tablet is beyond me, unless you're doing scientific research. Standard USB: Non-issue. Just use the damned cable Apple gives you. Camera stuff: I don't fancy holding up a 10" tablet to take pictures, but I suppose they would be useful in a pinch. Screen resolution: Things certainly look nicer when still, but really choppy in motion. Double-edged sword.
I won't bother with the side-loading or unlocking stuff. 95% of users aren't going to bother with those, but this is Slashdot so the ratios are a little different here. The only listed feature that I really wish the iPad had is the SD card slot. Of course, Xoom owners also wish they had a working SD card slot... Listing a future feature is kind of specious.
I was amused at "Xoom clone", when the Xoom is a clone of the original iPad (let's face it; that's the metric everyone will use for a long time). So the iPad 2 is a clone of a clone of the original iPad. Hopefully we do see lots of quality competitors out there, though. Competition is a good thing. Honeycomb already has some features I wish iOS had, though there isn't exactly any hardware right now that can actually provide a nice experience with those features, so it's kind of a wash.
(I hardly consider adding cameras to be in any way innovative. People were surprised when the original iPad didn't have cameras, so it's a pretty obvious feature to include. As an aside, I don't see what the big deal is with having a camera on a tablet. I just can't see myself wanting to hold up a 10-inch tablet to take a picture.)
Actually, this is no longer the case. You can get combo DVDs that have both the theatrical and the "special" versions. Here. Unfortunately, the theatrical is only in Dolby 2.0 and the video hasn't been remastered like the re-release, but it's certainly better than VHS.
Why does the name have to reflect the fact that it's free? Those types of names always sound pretentious, and "Freedom Office" is much worse than LibreOffice ever could be (which is impressive). I shouldn't have to feel like a hippy just because of my choice of office suite. (Then again, maybe some people want that.)
Microsoft is usually damned if they do, damned if they don't. Let's say they added multiple desktop support, a la every other worthwhile OS. Everyone would laugh at MS for being late to the party. If they don't add it, then people will mock them for its omission.
I use a Mac and Win 7. There are some damn nice features that 7 has I wish my Mac would copy. Namely: snap to sides. Unfortunately, I doubt that Apple will ever add this, because they seem to refuse to admit to anyone else ever having a good idea. (We did get Spaces eventually, though, so perhaps there is hope.) I also really enjoy how the new start menu works. It's sort of an enhanced dock with the ability to preview and close windows without having to open them. Apple already does have similar functionality (sans the closing windows bit, and it's a little more cumbersome), but there are aspects of the Windows implementation that I prefer.
You could look at how Apple handled Snow Leopard. For the most part, it was an "under the hood" update, which is basically what you're asking for. And yet, even though it technically did bring a lot of new features, there were a lot of people who were mad at Apple for producing a "weak" update, even though it only cost $30.
If you're so poor you can't shop at a grocery store, how can you afford McDonald's? Fast food places are almost as expensive of average restaurants. You can make, say, spaghetti for four for around $10, but McDonald's for four would be at least $20 (assuming everyone gets a meal). Growing up, my parents would quite often say no to fast food, because it was "too expensive".
I will agree with you on mac and cheese and ramen, though. Many a college student has "enjoyed" that staple.
IANAL, but I've always figured this is allowed for two reasons.
1. Apple makes hardware that comes with a "special" OS on it. Nobody is stopping you from installing anything else. 2. Apple is unilaterally "hostile" to all other companies--they don't play favorites, they don't strong arm anyone into using their products, but they don't let anyone install OS X. Microsoft basically said, "If you work with anyone else, you can't do business with us." Apple just says, "You can't do business with us."
(There's also the fact that Apple's marketshare was and is a fraction of Microsoft's.)
I would be interested to hear with somebody who actually knows what they're talking about, though. What makes Apple's situation acceptable in the eyes of the law?
Slashdot Mirror
That's just the thing. I buy Apple computers because I like the Mac. Drop the Mac, and drop me as a customer.
I will say, if Apple plans on dropping OS X, then why did they spend so much effort on Lion? IMO, it's a more impressive update than iOS 5, which is basically just a "quick, let's bring this thing up-to-date with Android" release.
Why is that a concern? (Honest question)
HTML7? That's optimistic. HTML5 will probably still be in draft...
If they're anything like the trolls in The Witcher 2, I'll do anything for them. Best characters in the game.
Rent movies from the regular mail-in rental service. The streaming selection can be pretty horrendous outside of TV episodes.
Lies! Just tried it, and it ran just fine. No complaints due to a lack of Flash.
I would be curious to see a study on which type of payment system nets more profit - points or real money. Anecdotal and all, but for myself, I cannot stand the MS points (or Nintendo points) systems. It's related to the psychology aspect, but in reverse--I hate knowing that I'll have points left over, and I don't want to spend any more money. So I already feel robbed for having to pay extra in the first place, and then that extra just sits there. There's also an aspect where I feel like MS is being dishonest with their pricing, which makes me less likely to buy from the service.
There are actually a number of XBLA games I would like to buy, and if I did a tiny bit of math I could figure out which combinations would let me spend exactly the amount of money I need to buy them. That's too much hassle, however, so I just buy everything off of Steam and PSN. Total purchases on XBLA: 6 (Limbo and a couple GH3 packs). Total PSN purchases: 50+.
Well, I would buy more off of PSN. You know, if I could...and if I still trusted it.
A lot of the head-scratch-inducing is due to the totally arbitrary category placements and inconsistencies. For example:
Baldur's Gate is Action, but Diablo II is Target
DOOM II and Deus Ex are considered as part of the same era
Metal Gear Solid is Action, but Metal Gear Solid 2 is Combat/Strategy (what the hell? They're identical in terms of concept and gameplay)
DOOM II is Action, Goldeneye is Target
Ikaruga being a 360 game, but Rez is Dreamcast
Really, the biggest issue is how abstract the genres are. Pick any given game, and you could likely fit it in any of the categories (the more modern, the easier). Take Uncharted 2. Clearly, it has action--you're running around, dodging shots, jumping, etc. It's also clearly an adventure, with lots of exploration and climbing. There's also lots of targeting going on, because your primary method of attack is to shoot something. And it has tons of combat.
The traditional genre naming (RPG, FPS, platformer, etc.) isn't perfect or rigidly black-and-white, but it's loads better than the four super-abstract categories we have here.
Another issue is the inclusion of ports of PC games. I could get behind SimCity being a winner--but only the computer version. The SNES version? Hell no. SimCity took a spot from Ogre Battle. Ogre Battle! And then we see it again on the Saturn--SimCity 2000 instead of Shining Force 3 or Dragon Force. It's just plain silly.
There may be a stupid number of (mostly bad) games for the iPhone, but that doesn't mean the majority of development time is spent on the platform. I also wonder if the iPhone might be a different market from traditional console games.
But if your prediction is right, then there's a silver lining for me: I would save a lot of money, since I would no longer be buying games.
The Super Nintendo actually bucks the trend; it was superior to the Genesis both in graphics and especially sound. However, if you want to include the Neo Geo, then it wasn't the most powerful, but that's not fair. It was intended to just be a rental system, but it did well enough that SNK essentially said, "Screw it, let's sell the thing too; some people will buy it." It wasn't ever intended to outsell anyone.
I also hate the self-checkout things. As another poster said, no matter how fast you get, you're going to be slower than a real clerk because the machine physically doesn't let you go to fast. Add to that the fact most people are slow as molasses on those things, and they're a real pain. And if someone buys alcohol, then you still need a real person to come over and clear it, same as if there's a problem with scanning.
I know you didn't. I was saying it's natural to have a different response when a rabid dog gets put down vs. the death of someone responsible for the deaths of thousands of people.
Rabid dogs usually find it difficult to commit mass murder and inspire others to do the same.
I'm curious if you're at risk if you deleted your credit card info recently. A few days before the attack, I logged in to PSN on a friend's PS3. I didn't remember which card I had tied to the service, so when it asked me to confirm, I went ahead and said "delete credit card info". So, I guess we'll find out if Sony actually physically removes the data...
Wait a minute. When the iPad first came out, we had people saying it was unusably big at 9.7", and should be something silly like 7". Now the Xoom's 0.4" larger screen is a selling point?
Anyways, I read an article somewhere recently about the different philosophies between Apple and basically everyone else. The gist of it: Android manufacturers can only compete on two things: checklists and price. Apple controls the whole experience and focuses on a few things at a time. This means that their products will often have less features, but those features will have much more thought put into them and have a tighter level of integration to them. Once a feature is implemented well, they'll move on to another.
I look at the list of Xoom features and think two things. The first is, "wow, that's a lot of nifty features." The second is, "so what?" I'm not going to tackle all of them, which would be annoying, but here are a few.
Widescreen: Nice for video, but not anything else. When we're dealing with something that displays applications in full-screen, widescreen loses its advantages.
Additional marketplaces: Why does this matter when Apple's single marketplace has so many more? (I couldn't find actual numbers for Honeycomb, unfortunately. If somebody has recent numbers, that would be interesting.)
Flash: Adding Flash means I'll see more ads; Youtube and several other video sites do HTML5 video now.
Sensors: Why on earth I would ever want a barometer or magnetometer in a tablet is beyond me, unless you're doing scientific research.
Standard USB: Non-issue. Just use the damned cable Apple gives you.
Camera stuff: I don't fancy holding up a 10" tablet to take pictures, but I suppose they would be useful in a pinch.
Screen resolution: Things certainly look nicer when still, but really choppy in motion. Double-edged sword.
I won't bother with the side-loading or unlocking stuff. 95% of users aren't going to bother with those, but this is Slashdot so the ratios are a little different here. The only listed feature that I really wish the iPad had is the SD card slot. Of course, Xoom owners also wish they had a working SD card slot... Listing a future feature is kind of specious.
I was amused at "Xoom clone", when the Xoom is a clone of the original iPad (let's face it; that's the metric everyone will use for a long time). So the iPad 2 is a clone of a clone of the original iPad. Hopefully we do see lots of quality competitors out there, though. Competition is a good thing. Honeycomb already has some features I wish iOS had, though there isn't exactly any hardware right now that can actually provide a nice experience with those features, so it's kind of a wash.
(I hardly consider adding cameras to be in any way innovative. People were surprised when the original iPad didn't have cameras, so it's a pretty obvious feature to include. As an aside, I don't see what the big deal is with having a camera on a tablet. I just can't see myself wanting to hold up a 10-inch tablet to take a picture.)
I would assume AC is complaining about "if their using IE6".
Actually, this is no longer the case. You can get combo DVDs that have both the theatrical and the "special" versions. Here. Unfortunately, the theatrical is only in Dolby 2.0 and the video hasn't been remastered like the re-release, but it's certainly better than VHS.
I think it took you longer to write that post than it would have to actually RTFA.
Why does the name have to reflect the fact that it's free? Those types of names always sound pretentious, and "Freedom Office" is much worse than LibreOffice ever could be (which is impressive). I shouldn't have to feel like a hippy just because of my choice of office suite. (Then again, maybe some people want that.)
Microsoft is usually damned if they do, damned if they don't. Let's say they added multiple desktop support, a la every other worthwhile OS. Everyone would laugh at MS for being late to the party. If they don't add it, then people will mock them for its omission.
I use a Mac and Win 7. There are some damn nice features that 7 has I wish my Mac would copy. Namely: snap to sides. Unfortunately, I doubt that Apple will ever add this, because they seem to refuse to admit to anyone else ever having a good idea. (We did get Spaces eventually, though, so perhaps there is hope.) I also really enjoy how the new start menu works. It's sort of an enhanced dock with the ability to preview and close windows without having to open them. Apple already does have similar functionality (sans the closing windows bit, and it's a little more cumbersome), but there are aspects of the Windows implementation that I prefer.
You could look at how Apple handled Snow Leopard. For the most part, it was an "under the hood" update, which is basically what you're asking for. And yet, even though it technically did bring a lot of new features, there were a lot of people who were mad at Apple for producing a "weak" update, even though it only cost $30.
You just can't please everyone.
A McDouble is $1? What is it made of, sawdust? I guess I rescind my earlier statements.
If you're so poor you can't shop at a grocery store, how can you afford McDonald's? Fast food places are almost as expensive of average restaurants. You can make, say, spaghetti for four for around $10, but McDonald's for four would be at least $20 (assuming everyone gets a meal). Growing up, my parents would quite often say no to fast food, because it was "too expensive".
I will agree with you on mac and cheese and ramen, though. Many a college student has "enjoyed" that staple.
True, but only 40% of people know that.
IANAL, but I've always figured this is allowed for two reasons.
1. Apple makes hardware that comes with a "special" OS on it. Nobody is stopping you from installing anything else.
2. Apple is unilaterally "hostile" to all other companies--they don't play favorites, they don't strong arm anyone into using their products, but they don't let anyone install OS X. Microsoft basically said, "If you work with anyone else, you can't do business with us." Apple just says, "You can't do business with us."
(There's also the fact that Apple's marketshare was and is a fraction of Microsoft's.)
I would be interested to hear with somebody who actually knows what they're talking about, though. What makes Apple's situation acceptable in the eyes of the law?