They only care about scrambling to make the current quarter look good, they have no long-term view. You can't keep luring in suckers, eventually they'll get wise. It's better to smarten up now rather than prolong the bullshit until we can't even climb back up the hill because we're exhausted and everyone else is already at the top.
I left Windows when XP was released. I was tired of ad-laden spyware-bundled software that I couldn't manage and update centrally (i.e. each piece of software was nagging me for updates), and hunting down drivers after the inevitable fresh install every 6 months. It was a PITA getting the correct driver combos to get my TV add-on card and all games to work properly with my video card driver. I didn't like being told I couldn't run certain software because of the OS version I was using, because the developer wasn't able to account for future versions of the OS and then dropped support for their software (this happened with games as well, such as Wipeout XL). Windows just started to be too much of a pain to maintain.
Then I switched to Fedora, and ran it alongside Windows 2000 for a while. I was blown away that running a program from a console would allow me to see error messages that I could resolve myself. System logs told me everything. Troubleshooting was never so painless. Still, maintaining Fedora was a bit of a pain too, and I frequently fell into RPM hell. There was no streamlined way to update the OS to a newer distro revision without breaking everything, and the desktop just wasn't there yet. Or maybe I wasn't experienced enough.
Anyway, Ubuntu came along and I never looked back. They polished the GUI and went above and beyond to make things as painless as possible for desktop end users, and that really kept me. I still had all the power and flexibility that Linux offered me, if I wanted it. But now it was optional, and the desktop was very painless.
For my gaming fix, I was happy with consoles. I never liked multiplayer much, nor FPSes, RTSes, and CRPGs. I prefer arcade-style games, platformers, racing games, rail shooters, shmups, and third-person shooters. Drop in a disc and go, it's very hassle-free.
The Gnome polish that Ubuntu introduced went a long way as well, including things like a working network manager that dealt well with wireless connections, supporting administrative tools like gparted, Synaptic Package Manager, and other printer/user/gui management tools was also a boon. They made sure users never had to go to the command-line, and provided defaults that were acceptable to the majority of desktop users. Their focus on the end user desktop experience really paid off. I'm not sure if Mint can carry that legacy, for now I'm happy enough just apt-getting gnome and sticking with Ubuntu. The fact that GUI packages such as Gnome and KDE want to re-invent the wheel for every major revision is a bit troubling, and I'm happy that projects such as Trinity exist, even though they are fringe products. I'm actually intrigued by Gnome 3, but that doesn't change my disappointment over leaving users who have gotten used to and like Gnome 2 out in the cold. XFCE never seems to change, only polish, and that's great. Too simple/bare-bones for me though.
For people to desire the product, they have to fit a niche, and for that to happen, they have to raise awareness to attract potential users. I haven't heard anything about the "Google TV experience", I just know that it exists and have no desire to pursue it because I'm happy with my own xbmc-PC based solution, not to mention my TV and PS3 which both store and play media from USB devices and memory cards, and netflix on PS3 as well (which I don't subscribe to, I primarily just rip my own media and use xbmc as a jukebox). I don't even want Apple TV and I know what that is, and to me, Google TV sounds like something similar because of the branding (i.e. being locked in to a single vendor's DRM format), but I have no idea. I am attracted to DRM-free and commercial-free solutions, with permanent ownership and unlimited format shifting. Right now, ripping my own media seems like the best route.
The iPods/iPhones with 'retina display' have a much higher resolution but the text is the same size. Just because you change the DPI doesn't mean everything else should appear smaller. A good GUI should be able to handle these things, and I'm sure Android can handle it.
That's because you're talking to software (or even firmware) that has hidden/obfuscated routines (i.e. you don't have the source). If it's open all the way, you can track down exactly what is happening, and even fix it, or it can even expose a flaw with the input you have provided. Either way, it's much easier to solve the issue.
Linux vendors could learn from this, saying stuff like "More secure" and "easy to use" doesn't help, every OS is more secure and easy to use, even the ones that aren't. You have to say things like: no garbage spyware-laden apps, no ads in your apps, no spontaneous GUI change with updates, no every-app-has-its-own-skin crap, stuff that users actually care about. I've never used an android product for myself (only have a land line, I'm waiting for an ipod-like device) but even I can see this marketing failure clearly.
The Humble Indie Bundle is raising awareness as to what fun can be had on Linux. People using LibreOffice, Firefox, VLC, Audacity, etc know what Linux can offer, although maybe it should be better advertised that these are part of the core Linux experience. "The Open CD" was a good initiative but fizzled out, someone should bring it back. Make a complete open software suite for proprietary OSes, so that users can get used to the experience they will have without having to leave the comfort of their OS. Then at a certain point, they can just yank the rug out and replace it with Linux.
Other good titles would be Hotel Dusk, Peggle Dual Shot, Word Jong, Scrabble, Puzzle Quest, Quest Trio (matching game, Mahjongg, Solitaire), Big Brain Academy/Brain Age, maybe even Dragon Quest (doesn't matter which one, as long as it's the mainline series), or Harvest Moon or Animal Crossing. Too bad Picross DS is out of print... Picross 3D is alright and might still be available, but the 2D one was really great...
You have a lot more faith in the government to do the right thing than I do.
You're supposed to be able to have faith in the government to do the right thing. That's what they're supposed to do. That's why we have them. If they don't act accordingly, that's when you know there's a serious problem that needs to be addressed. So how do we reform the government is the issue we should be looking at instead of firing off quips.
Should they include a killswitch so if it gets in the hands of an evil dictator it can be disabled?
Why not? It would strongly discourage the act. Who cares if you lose sales from it? It surely isn't significant. Then again, why even produce such software? In what case is it appropriate, and in which legitimate case is there no alternate means of achieving the desired goal?
the majority of developers fail to make any return on their app
The majority don't lose a lot even if their app fails, unlike a gambler who must constantly bet a lot. Apps can be coded in your spare time, and if a concept becomes popular enough, you can follow it up with something a little more fleshed out the next time and keep iterating until you reach the point of diminishing returns. Then start putting out concepts again until you find your niche, and start iterating again.
Yup, I stopped last year when I moved, because I simply didn't want to smoke in my new place. Prior to that I smoked every day because I enjoyed it. I just decided to move on. Now and then when I go to a friend's house and they offer I'll still have something, but I can take it or leave it. Last time I had any was three months ago.
USA is also trying to push its IP bullshit onto other countries and make them enforce it as well. This is just a sign of trying to remain relevant while really having nothing at all to offer.
Why are software solutions even being used at all? Shouldn't these things be controlled by specialized discrete circuits? Software solutions seen more expensive and more fault-prone, the worst of both worlds.
The Jaguar X-Type's software was custom built in-house, which could mean it's not even that mature or robust. Jaguar are not known for their software, why should we assume that their practices and methodology are sound enough when it comes to developing critical software systems? Do transportation safety board regulators even cover vehicle software? Are there any standards for this at all?
How about putting together a software suite that runs efficiently on this hardware? The hardware can be made even more cheaply through refinement, and the software can be fine-tuned to target these specs,it could lead to affordable and efficient computing in general. If the goal is to benefit the poor, or even to create a platform that will waste less resources, then don't create multiple targets, that will diminish the value of the lowest common denominator and undermine the ultimate efficiency and benefits of the platform.
And with Apple's policy of not allowing apps that replicate existing functionality, they can effectively prevent others from offering services that they provide. Google would not be able to offer their own voice-based search app on iOS, just as there are no other music stores on the platform. Whether this is seen as anti-competitive or not will be another matter if iOS achieves dominance; However, ideally, choosing a platform should not limit you to a single music store, book store, etc.
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They only care about scrambling to make the current quarter look good, they have no long-term view. You can't keep luring in suckers, eventually they'll get wise. It's better to smarten up now rather than prolong the bullshit until we can't even climb back up the hill because we're exhausted and everyone else is already at the top.
Rosegarden is a pretty good music program, but yeah, use what works well for you. Just letting you know what's out there.
I left Windows when XP was released. I was tired of ad-laden spyware-bundled software that I couldn't manage and update centrally (i.e. each piece of software was nagging me for updates), and hunting down drivers after the inevitable fresh install every 6 months. It was a PITA getting the correct driver combos to get my TV add-on card and all games to work properly with my video card driver. I didn't like being told I couldn't run certain software because of the OS version I was using, because the developer wasn't able to account for future versions of the OS and then dropped support for their software (this happened with games as well, such as Wipeout XL). Windows just started to be too much of a pain to maintain.
Then I switched to Fedora, and ran it alongside Windows 2000 for a while. I was blown away that running a program from a console would allow me to see error messages that I could resolve myself. System logs told me everything. Troubleshooting was never so painless. Still, maintaining Fedora was a bit of a pain too, and I frequently fell into RPM hell. There was no streamlined way to update the OS to a newer distro revision without breaking everything, and the desktop just wasn't there yet. Or maybe I wasn't experienced enough.
Anyway, Ubuntu came along and I never looked back. They polished the GUI and went above and beyond to make things as painless as possible for desktop end users, and that really kept me. I still had all the power and flexibility that Linux offered me, if I wanted it. But now it was optional, and the desktop was very painless.
For my gaming fix, I was happy with consoles. I never liked multiplayer much, nor FPSes, RTSes, and CRPGs. I prefer arcade-style games, platformers, racing games, rail shooters, shmups, and third-person shooters. Drop in a disc and go, it's very hassle-free.
Giant Bomb are known for their humor and often take jabs at the industry, they probably aimed for sarcasm, most of their "quick-looks" are quite long.
The Gnome polish that Ubuntu introduced went a long way as well, including things like a working network manager that dealt well with wireless connections, supporting administrative tools like gparted, Synaptic Package Manager, and other printer/user/gui management tools was also a boon. They made sure users never had to go to the command-line, and provided defaults that were acceptable to the majority of desktop users. Their focus on the end user desktop experience really paid off. I'm not sure if Mint can carry that legacy, for now I'm happy enough just apt-getting gnome and sticking with Ubuntu. The fact that GUI packages such as Gnome and KDE want to re-invent the wheel for every major revision is a bit troubling, and I'm happy that projects such as Trinity exist, even though they are fringe products. I'm actually intrigued by Gnome 3, but that doesn't change my disappointment over leaving users who have gotten used to and like Gnome 2 out in the cold. XFCE never seems to change, only polish, and that's great. Too simple/bare-bones for me though.
That gas is anything but pristine.
For people to desire the product, they have to fit a niche, and for that to happen, they have to raise awareness to attract potential users. I haven't heard anything about the "Google TV experience", I just know that it exists and have no desire to pursue it because I'm happy with my own xbmc-PC based solution, not to mention my TV and PS3 which both store and play media from USB devices and memory cards, and netflix on PS3 as well (which I don't subscribe to, I primarily just rip my own media and use xbmc as a jukebox). I don't even want Apple TV and I know what that is, and to me, Google TV sounds like something similar because of the branding (i.e. being locked in to a single vendor's DRM format), but I have no idea. I am attracted to DRM-free and commercial-free solutions, with permanent ownership and unlimited format shifting. Right now, ripping my own media seems like the best route.
The iPods/iPhones with 'retina display' have a much higher resolution but the text is the same size. Just because you change the DPI doesn't mean everything else should appear smaller. A good GUI should be able to handle these things, and I'm sure Android can handle it.
That's because you're talking to software (or even firmware) that has hidden/obfuscated routines (i.e. you don't have the source). If it's open all the way, you can track down exactly what is happening, and even fix it, or it can even expose a flaw with the input you have provided. Either way, it's much easier to solve the issue.
Linux vendors could learn from this, saying stuff like "More secure" and "easy to use" doesn't help, every OS is more secure and easy to use, even the ones that aren't. You have to say things like: no garbage spyware-laden apps, no ads in your apps, no spontaneous GUI change with updates, no every-app-has-its-own-skin crap, stuff that users actually care about. I've never used an android product for myself (only have a land line, I'm waiting for an ipod-like device) but even I can see this marketing failure clearly.
The Humble Indie Bundle is raising awareness as to what fun can be had on Linux. People using LibreOffice, Firefox, VLC, Audacity, etc know what Linux can offer, although maybe it should be better advertised that these are part of the core Linux experience. "The Open CD" was a good initiative but fizzled out, someone should bring it back. Make a complete open software suite for proprietary OSes, so that users can get used to the experience they will have without having to leave the comfort of their OS. Then at a certain point, they can just yank the rug out and replace it with Linux.
Other good titles would be Hotel Dusk, Peggle Dual Shot, Word Jong, Scrabble, Puzzle Quest, Quest Trio (matching game, Mahjongg, Solitaire), Big Brain Academy/Brain Age, maybe even Dragon Quest (doesn't matter which one, as long as it's the mainline series), or Harvest Moon or Animal Crossing. Too bad Picross DS is out of print... Picross 3D is alright and might still be available, but the 2D one was really great...
You have a lot more faith in the government to do the right thing than I do.
You're supposed to be able to have faith in the government to do the right thing. That's what they're supposed to do. That's why we have them. If they don't act accordingly, that's when you know there's a serious problem that needs to be addressed. So how do we reform the government is the issue we should be looking at instead of firing off quips.
Should they include a killswitch so if it gets in the hands of an evil dictator it can be disabled?
Why not? It would strongly discourage the act. Who cares if you lose sales from it? It surely isn't significant. Then again, why even produce such software? In what case is it appropriate, and in which legitimate case is there no alternate means of achieving the desired goal?
Anyone who goes mucking around in the file system outside their /home/$user folder generally knows what they're doing, so why even bother?
There are PS3 models available without wifi, why not use one of these?
the majority of developers fail to make any return on their app
The majority don't lose a lot even if their app fails, unlike a gambler who must constantly bet a lot. Apps can be coded in your spare time, and if a concept becomes popular enough, you can follow it up with something a little more fleshed out the next time and keep iterating until you reach the point of diminishing returns. Then start putting out concepts again until you find your niche, and start iterating again.
Yup, I stopped last year when I moved, because I simply didn't want to smoke in my new place. Prior to that I smoked every day because I enjoyed it. I just decided to move on. Now and then when I go to a friend's house and they offer I'll still have something, but I can take it or leave it. Last time I had any was three months ago.
USA is also trying to push its IP bullshit onto other countries and make them enforce it as well. This is just a sign of trying to remain relevant while really having nothing at all to offer.
Why are software solutions even being used at all? Shouldn't these things be controlled by specialized discrete circuits? Software solutions seen more expensive and more fault-prone, the worst of both worlds.
The Jaguar X-Type's software was custom built in-house, which could mean it's not even that mature or robust. Jaguar are not known for their software, why should we assume that their practices and methodology are sound enough when it comes to developing critical software systems? Do transportation safety board regulators even cover vehicle software? Are there any standards for this at all?
You'd still need those things for a $250 PC. If you buy this one, you will be able to afford that monitor/mouse/keyboard a lot more easily.
How about putting together a software suite that runs efficiently on this hardware? The hardware can be made even more cheaply through refinement, and the software can be fine-tuned to target these specs,it could lead to affordable and efficient computing in general. If the goal is to benefit the poor, or even to create a platform that will waste less resources, then don't create multiple targets, that will diminish the value of the lowest common denominator and undermine the ultimate efficiency and benefits of the platform.
It's inconvenient either way...
Less individuality and less development of personal preference
And with Apple's policy of not allowing apps that replicate existing functionality, they can effectively prevent others from offering services that they provide. Google would not be able to offer their own voice-based search app on iOS, just as there are no other music stores on the platform. Whether this is seen as anti-competitive or not will be another matter if iOS achieves dominance; However, ideally, choosing a platform should not limit you to a single music store, book store, etc.