I've been an avid iPhone user for the past few years. Was just about to grab the iPhone 4 up in Canada when it's release next week but I already had iOS 4 (mildly jailbroken) on my 3g and in all honesty, I wasn't overly impressed. While it did implement the much need multi-tasking I always felt locked and when I did fiddle with other jailbroken apps (OS 3 + 4) I found the performance went to hell.
So a few weeks back I saw the Nexus One won't be offered anymore and I did a bit of investigating and realized just how open Android really is. So I ordered the phone on Monday after hearing the last shipment is abound and when I went to check the status this morning it appears they're already all gone.
That being said, I am not hating on the iPhone at all, and I will miss my iPhone. But I'm willing to forgo the well thought out "eco system" with Apple to something a bit more robust and open. I like to fiddle, jailbreaking allowed me that, but I still felt locked in.
Also our phone plans in Canada absolutely suck, I'm locked into my contract with Rogers until mid next year so I could buy the iPhone at $300 and I'm certain they'll say I can't get an early upgrade (couldn't do it with the 3GS!!). So 300 vs 550 unlocked and I can leave Rogers whenever I want(after my damn contract is up:) ) is money well spent.
I haven't seen any comments referencing the Macbook Air. Everyone keeps stating the new tablet could, if it even exists be an oversized iphone/itouch. But has anyone given any real serious thought into the macbook air, possibly reconfigred to have a touch screen on a swivel or something similar? This could provide both a laptop with a keyboard, and possibly a touch tablet similar to other competing offerings, just built on OSX instead of the iphoneOS. Meh, just a thought.
Hmmm, there's an issue with the "we wont' be deploying in 2010" argument. While most are saying they want to do a "shakedown" of the windows7 OS and get all of the bugs out, what most do not realize is the release date is at the end of most companies fiscal year. All of the budgets for 2010 have already been allocated and there is no way any company would approve a budget for an OS that will be deployed as soon as it's released as the app guys haven't had a chance to test their apps in a full production build.
However, if you are a large corporation I can guarentee the desktop engineers already have a working build and would be ready to deploy if it was necessary, but it all comes down to money and dev time!
While XP is still a HUGE force in the corporate world it isn't free to maintain the MS support. It will eventually come down to minor deployments here and there within a firm but full adoption will not happen until 2011 at a minimum.
The real looser here is Vista. I know of maybe a handful of companies that actually did the Vista thing. Everyone else will leap frog it and adopt Windows 7.
Yea I definitley agree, startled is not the same as scared!
But this reminds me of a game back in the late 90's, Alien Vs. Predator for the PC. Now THAT game was scary. Wandering around as a marine hearing the motion sensor blip, then beep when something was around and you not having any idea where the hell the thing was. That was the only game that actually made me afraid of what it was going to do next, and when the encounter did happen it usually started with a scream, shooting wildly into the dark, and then a "Did I actually just scream? WTF"
This has got to be the cheapest recruiting campaign yet! Answer questions from slashdot that has a HUGE following of tech people, make them feel like they're needs are being taken of, success!
But I will admit, it's interesting they're answering questions directly from the public in such a huge forum(whether they're American or not).
yep bios is set properly. It's it happens as soon as I log in. I always have to update it by syncing with internet time. I've even tried turning off that sync to internet servers and still no luck. ah well, I've learned to live with it!
I'm seeing a lot of comments regarding how Gates is behind his time and there's all of these new technologies and languages and how it's making life easy, etc etc.
I suspect Gates is alluding to the fact the engineering aspect of software development is still quite new. To put it into perspective, software engineering has been around for what, 30 MAYBE 40 years? How long have humans been building bridges? thousands of years?
So as you can see, there is a long way to go for improvements into the engineering/process aspects of development.
Personally I've been an OS junkie since the DOS 6.0 days / slackware 1.0 (can't even remember how long ago that was) and I've more or less tried every OS for the x86 platform (hell I even tried OS/2 and BeOS!!)
The one thing about Vista that has been DRIVING ME INSANE, is the fact my vista clock keeps going forward by 4 - 6hrs (it's random but at a minimum of 4hrs). I've tried everything to correct this issue and have even come across users who have the same issue and still no avail. fix. I've tried new drivers, confirmed the time zone, checked in other OS's, etc etc but Vista will not remember the time for the life of it. It's a huge nuissance and is about to force me to go back to XP. I can't believe I've lived with Vista this long (bought it on the day it came out. . . yes I paid real $$$ for it). There is a bunch of other random issues but I won't bore anyone with the details as I'm sure it's already been beaten to death with the "I hate Vista stick"
When I find the time to reinstall all of the windows apps on XP I'm throwing Vista out.
SLA's are generally created between the internal technology group and the internal users(ie. the business). Now I haven't read through the agreement but i can almost guarentee you there is no mention of guarenteed uptime for xbox live.
Also it's considered a binding contract according to the ITIL definition of service level management for services provided to *external* clients (ie, everybody who uses xbox live). So that is probably why they're giving away a free game in order to avert the class action suit due to this binding contract.
yes I know, I'm nitpicking on the definition of an SLA:)
I've read through a lot of comments and I'm seeing a lot of people discussing the iPhone price drop (which is pretty huge) and how it's a smack in the face to early adopters.
Question: If a company purchases a few million additional components which is used in both the iPhone and ipod touch wouldn't that drive the cost down of the iphone?
To me I see the Ipod touch as an iphone in a different suit. And since the iphone is only available in the US market their new phone (or a lot of the required components) just opened up to a massive market including Japan, UK, Canada, etc.. Also, the early adopters who went out and spent the money only proved the market was ready for such a change in user input.
So to all future buyers of the iphone, you just lucked out. At least Apple appears to be bringing the cost savings back to the consumer. . or this could be an evil scheme to take over the phone market!
MS bought out softricity I think last year. In theory the system is great from an enterprise management perspective because it basically streams one instance of an application to many desktops.
We actually use softgrid for citrix(softgrid steams to citrix, citrix streams to remote user). We've had some issues with it but very few compared to our regular problems across our citrix environment.
Now the interesting part of softgrid is it's ability to sequence and stream a small set of the app. For instance after evaluating visio, we discovered most of the users only used 20% of the app, so softgrid only deployed that small footprint. Neat technology, and we will be using it next year when we move to XP for my environment of 7000+ desktops. (We're slow moving to new OS's:) )
Ha! it may be well built, and extremely quiet! But holy shit is it ever hot! I have it in a room that is about 300 square feet and I can use it as a heater in the winters!!
It's been a long time since I've read Enders Game, Speaker for the Dead, and Xenocide. But this kinda sounds like the ansible. That way of communication through what, thousands of light years instantly??
Aren't those the special Tim Hortons(Canadian version of crack in a cup) Remembrance Day coins they gave out a few years back? Funny they thought it had a microchip in them. Man some people can be so naive.
So your going to buy another 360 just to put your xbox1 on component?
Personally I'm REALLY hoping they have some type of conversion cable to HDMI for existing owners (looks like it's a no). My TV doesn't support 1080p over SVGA (damn sony's!) but over HDMI it should work. I only want HDMI for audio / HD-DVD, but i have noticed a few games appear to support 1080p (GRAW 2 has it listed), so I'd like to see if there is any differences..
On the PS3 I noticed a remarkable difference when I went from my old HDTV(1080i) -> Sony SXRD(1080p) for gran turismoHD, it actually looked like a different game. I doubt GRAW2 will see that type of improvement, but I'd love to see.
I don't think comparing the two consoles's launch periods is really a good indication regarding how they compare to each other. This is due to the fact the 360 had no competition at the time and the games sucked! well up until GRAW 1 they were terrible.
So now, the PS3 is suffering the same fate, TERRIBLE software. But whats different this time around is the fact the old exclusive titles are coming out on both the PS3 and the 360, so based on cost and other titles available a consumer may lean towards the 360 instead of the ps3.
Its still way to early to predict the success of either console, I personally have both and am hoping the PS3 finds its market and they regain some of their exclusive titles back because so far the PS3 is just a 360 in disguise with respect to gaming.
Yep I'm using HDMI on the PS3 and the regular xbox360 component cable. I tried the xbox VGA cable to get 1080p, but I didn't realize the Sony's won't let you do 1080p on VGA so that's why my HD-dvd is @ 1080i.
So, I actually own both Blu-ray/HD-dvd players (PS3, and HD-dvd addon for 360). I have both systems hooked up to a 50" sony SXRD LCD projection TV and so far . . . I think HD-DVD looks better even though it's displaying at 1080i. (My PS3 is @ 1080p)
I've now come across quite a few instances of really grainy video with the blu-ray movies I have. This has not been a problem with HD-DVD.
In terms of quality both are identical (except for the annoying grainy video on blu-ray). I've shown this to quite a few friends and they all see the exact same thing (so I'm not crazy). So from experience, I'm hoping HD-DVD overcomes blu-ray.
***SIDENOTE*** So far I've been really disappointed with the PS3. It's probably been the worst purchase I've made in years. Sony had better get their shit together, and get it together FAST!!!
So reading a bunch of comments here and I've done a bit of research on net neutrality and as stated by other posters it more or less gets rid of QoS. Now I understand why this is so troubling for the majority of the people because it could affect services they use.
But my question is, how would they implement QOS? I recall when I did my comp science degree, in my 3rd/4th year networking classes they showed us inetv and diffserv (if my memory serves me correctly). These were router based protocols that would allow QOS. But the thing is it wasn't really feasible because these protocols required EVERY single router had to have it which when you look at the grand scheme of things wasn't going to happen thus never becoming reality.
So, how would they implement such a system now a days? Has things changed that fast? Please correct me if I'm wrong on my info:) Thanks
So I bought the SXRD sony TV thinking the SVGA support actually supports 1080p. Picked up the xbox VGA cable and well, that was a waste of money. no dice didn't work at all.
The sony TV doesn't do 1080p through component so meh, I'm screwed. Now if they release an HDMI compliant 360, they sure as hell better release a cable as well for the existing owners! I"m not going to buy another 360 so I can have 1080p.
Hopefully they don't start releasing 1080p games because that is the only place I see a difference. Blu-ray 1080p, and the HD-DVD addon (1080i) I have yet to see any noticable difference. Now, gran turismo HD, when it was on my old 1080i HDTV didn't look all that great. Actually PGR3 looked better, BUT, in 1080p I noticed a huge difference..
I lucked out and recieved a flawless xbox360 on launch day. It hasn't actually crashed once, and I'm serious to. However a friend of mine did get the red ring before and had it to be replaced a few weeks after launch, even then he somehow got the replacement within a week.
Either way, there will always be defective units, but since the 360 was first to market we may of heard about the bad ones much "louder" than today. No manufacture can get around defective units
Also the kiosk machine I saw crash at bestbuy arrived after launch, so I doubt it was pre-production. Don't get me wrong though, I'm not hating on the PS3 now that I just bought a new Sony SXRD 50". A few weeks back, heheh I wanted to kill it and believed it was a piece of shit(I had an older HDTV with no 720P). But now with the new TV, it's simply amazing, well all of the games suck but gran turismo GT looks great in 1080p. I hate this damn system forced me to buy a new TV though.
Considering how small the space is in the demo units enclosures (using bestbuy as an example) I'm pretty sure it's because of overheating. The first thing my friend said about the PS3 was the heat it created when it was on (significantly hotter than my xbox360).. So yea, purposely freezing demos? That's complete bullshit, and if it's true that's a terribly bad practice and doesn't make the customer feel as though they're buying a quality product.
My PS3 froze during the system setup phase (kinda scared the shit out of me). But it hasn't froze since (even with yellow dog linux 5.0 on it)..
Slashdot Mirror
Ha! You know James Cameron is going to figure out someway to link this project with Avatar 3!
I've been an avid iPhone user for the past few years. Was just about to grab the iPhone 4 up in Canada when it's release next week but I already had iOS 4 (mildly jailbroken) on my 3g and in all honesty, I wasn't overly impressed. While it did implement the much need multi-tasking I always felt locked and when I did fiddle with other jailbroken apps (OS 3 + 4) I found the performance went to hell.
So a few weeks back I saw the Nexus One won't be offered anymore and I did a bit of investigating and realized just how open Android really is. So I ordered the phone on Monday after hearing the last shipment is abound and when I went to check the status this morning it appears they're already all gone.
That being said, I am not hating on the iPhone at all, and I will miss my iPhone. But I'm willing to forgo the well thought out "eco system" with Apple to something a bit more robust and open. I like to fiddle, jailbreaking allowed me that, but I still felt locked in.
Also our phone plans in Canada absolutely suck, I'm locked into my contract with Rogers until mid next year so I could buy the iPhone at $300 and I'm certain they'll say I can't get an early upgrade (couldn't do it with the 3GS!!). So 300 vs 550 unlocked and I can leave Rogers whenever I want(after my damn contract is up :) ) is money well spent.
I haven't seen any comments referencing the Macbook Air. Everyone keeps stating the new tablet could, if it even exists be an oversized iphone/itouch. But has anyone given any real serious thought into the macbook air, possibly reconfigred to have a touch screen on a swivel or something similar? This could provide both a laptop with a keyboard, and possibly a touch tablet similar to other competing offerings, just built on OSX instead of the iphoneOS. Meh, just a thought.
Hmmm, there's an issue with the "we wont' be deploying in 2010" argument. While most are saying they want to do a "shakedown" of the windows7 OS and get all of the bugs out, what most do not realize is the release date is at the end of most companies fiscal year. All of the budgets for 2010 have already been allocated and there is no way any company would approve a budget for an OS that will be deployed as soon as it's released as the app guys haven't had a chance to test their apps in a full production build.
However, if you are a large corporation I can guarentee the desktop engineers already have a working build and would be ready to deploy if it was necessary, but it all comes down to money and dev time!
While XP is still a HUGE force in the corporate world it isn't free to maintain the MS support. It will eventually come down to minor deployments here and there within a firm but full adoption will not happen until 2011 at a minimum.
The real looser here is Vista. I know of maybe a handful of companies that actually did the Vista thing. Everyone else will leap frog it and adopt Windows 7.
Yea I definitley agree, startled is not the same as scared!
But this reminds me of a game back in the late 90's, Alien Vs. Predator for the PC. Now THAT game was scary. Wandering around as a marine hearing the motion sensor blip, then beep when something was around and you not having any idea where the hell the thing was. That was the only game that actually made me afraid of what it was going to do next, and when the encounter did happen it usually started with a scream, shooting wildly into the dark, and then a "Did I actually just scream? WTF"
This has got to be the cheapest recruiting campaign yet! Answer questions from slashdot that has a HUGE following of tech people, make them feel like they're needs are being taken of, success!
But I will admit, it's interesting they're answering questions directly from the public in such a huge forum(whether they're American or not).
yep bios is set properly. It's it happens as soon as I log in. I always have to update it by syncing with internet time. I've even tried turning off that sync to internet servers and still no luck. ah well, I've learned to live with it!
I'm seeing a lot of comments regarding how Gates is behind his time and there's all of these new technologies and languages and how it's making life easy, etc etc.
:)
I suspect Gates is alluding to the fact the engineering aspect of software development is still quite new. To put it into perspective, software engineering has been around for what, 30 MAYBE 40 years? How long have humans been building bridges? thousands of years?
So as you can see, there is a long way to go for improvements into the engineering/process aspects of development.
Who knows, maybe I've missed the point
Personally I've been an OS junkie since the DOS 6.0 days / slackware 1.0 (can't even remember how long ago that was) and I've more or less tried every OS for the x86 platform (hell I even tried OS/2 and BeOS!!)
The one thing about Vista that has been DRIVING ME INSANE, is the fact my vista clock keeps going forward by 4 - 6hrs (it's random but at a minimum of 4hrs). I've tried everything to correct this issue and have even come across users who have the same issue and still no avail. fix. I've tried new drivers, confirmed the time zone, checked in other OS's, etc etc but Vista will not remember the time for the life of it. It's a huge nuissance and is about to force me to go back to XP. I can't believe I've lived with Vista this long (bought it on the day it came out. . . yes I paid real $$$ for it). There is a bunch of other random issues but I won't bore anyone with the details as I'm sure it's already been beaten to death with the "I hate Vista stick"
When I find the time to reinstall all of the windows apps on XP I'm throwing Vista out.
SLA's are generally created between the internal technology group and the internal users(ie. the business). Now I haven't read through the agreement but i can almost guarentee you there is no mention of guarenteed uptime for xbox live.
:)
Also it's considered a binding contract according to the ITIL definition of service level management for services provided to *external* clients (ie, everybody who uses xbox live). So that is probably why they're giving away a free game in order to avert the class action suit due to this binding contract.
yes I know, I'm nitpicking on the definition of an SLA
I've read through a lot of comments and I'm seeing a lot of people discussing the iPhone price drop (which is pretty huge) and how it's a smack in the face to early adopters.
Question: If a company purchases a few million additional components which is used in both the iPhone and ipod touch wouldn't that drive the cost down of the iphone?
To me I see the Ipod touch as an iphone in a different suit. And since the iphone is only available in the US market their new phone (or a lot of the required components) just opened up to a massive market including Japan, UK, Canada, etc.. Also, the early adopters who went out and spent the money only proved the market was ready for such a change in user input.
So to all future buyers of the iphone, you just lucked out. At least Apple appears to be bringing the cost savings back to the consumer. . or this could be an evil scheme to take over the phone market!
MS bought out softricity I think last year. In theory the system is great from an enterprise management perspective because it basically streams one instance of an application to many desktops.
:) )
We actually use softgrid for citrix(softgrid steams to citrix, citrix streams to remote user). We've had some issues with it but very few compared to our regular problems across our citrix environment.
Now the interesting part of softgrid is it's ability to sequence and stream a small set of the app. For instance after evaluating visio, we discovered most of the users only used 20% of the app, so softgrid only deployed that small footprint. Neat technology, and we will be using it next year when we move to XP for my environment of 7000+ desktops. (We're slow moving to new OS's
Ha! it may be well built, and extremely quiet! But holy shit is it ever hot! I have it in a room that is about 300 square feet and I can use it as a heater in the winters!!
And I'm not lying either.
MrJynxx
It's been a long time since I've read Enders Game, Speaker for the Dead, and Xenocide. But this kinda sounds like the ansible. That way of communication through what, thousands of light years instantly??
To bad we'll never see that in this lifetime..
Aren't those the special Tim Hortons(Canadian version of crack in a cup) Remembrance Day coins they gave out a few years back? Funny they thought it had a microchip in them. Man some people can be so naive.
So your going to buy another 360 just to put your xbox1 on component?
Personally I'm REALLY hoping they have some type of conversion cable to HDMI for existing owners (looks like it's a no). My TV doesn't support 1080p over SVGA (damn sony's!) but over HDMI it should work. I only want HDMI for audio / HD-DVD, but i have noticed a few games appear to support 1080p (GRAW 2 has it listed), so I'd like to see if there is any differences..
On the PS3 I noticed a remarkable difference when I went from my old HDTV(1080i) -> Sony SXRD(1080p) for gran turismoHD, it actually looked like a different game. I doubt GRAW2 will see that type of improvement, but I'd love to see.
I don't think comparing the two consoles's launch periods is really a good indication regarding how they compare to each other. This is due to the fact the 360 had no competition at the time and the games sucked! well up until GRAW 1 they were terrible.
So now, the PS3 is suffering the same fate, TERRIBLE software. But whats different this time around is the fact the old exclusive titles are coming out on both the PS3 and the 360, so based on cost and other titles available a consumer may lean towards the 360 instead of the ps3.
Its still way to early to predict the success of either console, I personally have both and am hoping the PS3 finds its market and they regain some of their exclusive titles back because so far the PS3 is just a 360 in disguise with respect to gaming.
Yep I'm using HDMI on the PS3 and the regular xbox360 component cable. I tried the xbox VGA cable to get 1080p, but I didn't realize the Sony's won't let you do 1080p on VGA so that's why my HD-dvd is @ 1080i.
So, I actually own both Blu-ray/HD-dvd players (PS3, and HD-dvd addon for 360). I have both systems hooked up to a 50" sony SXRD LCD projection TV and so far . . . I think HD-DVD looks better even though it's displaying at 1080i. (My PS3 is @ 1080p)
I've now come across quite a few instances of really grainy video with the blu-ray movies I have. This has not been a problem with HD-DVD.
In terms of quality both are identical (except for the annoying grainy video on blu-ray). I've shown this to quite a few friends and they all see the exact same thing (so I'm not crazy). So from experience, I'm hoping HD-DVD overcomes blu-ray.
***SIDENOTE***
So far I've been really disappointed with the PS3. It's probably been the worst purchase I've made in years. Sony had better get their shit together, and get it together FAST!!!
So reading a bunch of comments here and I've done a bit of research on net neutrality and as stated by other posters it more or less gets rid of QoS. Now I understand why this is so troubling for the majority of the people because it could affect services they use.
But my question is, how would they implement QOS? I recall when I did my comp science degree, in my 3rd/4th year networking classes they showed us inetv and diffserv (if my memory serves me correctly). These were router based protocols that would allow QOS. But the thing is it wasn't really feasible because these protocols required EVERY single router had to have it which when you look at the grand scheme of things wasn't going to happen thus never becoming reality.
So, how would they implement such a system now a days? Has things changed that fast? Please correct me if I'm wrong on my info:) Thanks
It's leaps and bounds better than my old HDTV. I can't even compare the two, every single game looks even better.. Even the 360 games look refreshed..
But, some of my friends have problems watching bluray/hddvd's on it, it actually makes them feel sick to their stomachs.. heh
MrJynx
So I bought the SXRD sony TV thinking the SVGA support actually supports 1080p. Picked up the xbox VGA cable and well, that was a waste of money. no dice didn't work at all.
The sony TV doesn't do 1080p through component so meh, I'm screwed. Now if they release an HDMI compliant 360, they sure as hell better release a cable as well for the existing owners! I"m not going to buy another 360 so I can have 1080p.
Hopefully they don't start releasing 1080p games because that is the only place I see a difference. Blu-ray 1080p, and the HD-DVD addon (1080i) I have yet to see any noticable difference. Now, gran turismo HD, when it was on my old 1080i HDTV didn't look all that great. Actually PGR3 looked better, BUT, in 1080p I noticed a huge difference..
MrJynx
There isn't 300 million americans physically fighting the war in iraq. So your perspective is a little off as well.
MrJynx
I lucked out and recieved a flawless xbox360 on launch day. It hasn't actually crashed once, and I'm serious to. However a friend of mine did get the red ring before and had it to be replaced a few weeks after launch, even then he somehow got the replacement within a week.
Either way, there will always be defective units, but since the 360 was first to market we may of heard about the bad ones much "louder" than today. No manufacture can get around defective units
Also the kiosk machine I saw crash at bestbuy arrived after launch, so I doubt it was pre-production. Don't get me wrong though, I'm not hating on the PS3 now that I just bought a new Sony SXRD 50". A few weeks back, heheh I wanted to kill it and believed it was a piece of shit(I had an older HDTV with no 720P). But now with the new TV, it's simply amazing, well all of the games suck but gran turismo GT looks great in 1080p. I hate this damn system forced me to buy a new TV though.
MrJynx
Considering how small the space is in the demo units enclosures (using bestbuy as an example) I'm pretty sure it's because of overheating. The first thing my friend said about the PS3 was the heat it created when it was on (significantly hotter than my xbox360).. So yea, purposely freezing demos? That's complete bullshit, and if it's true that's a terribly bad practice and doesn't make the customer feel as though they're buying a quality product.
..
My PS3 froze during the system setup phase (kinda scared the shit out of me). But it hasn't froze since (even with yellow dog linux 5.0 on it)
MrJynx