Wow, you must demand some really decent quality video. Your average 90 minute MPEG4/XviD/DivX 700MB movie is between 0.8 and 1.2 Mbps ((700 * 8)Mb / (90 * 60)sec = 1.03 Mbps) including audio. This quality is surely decent enough for video streaming... So if 2Mbps is low in your opinion, I would like to know what sort of video you normally stream and where you get it from (and what codec it uses). 2Mbps can usually encode a DVD with all 6 channels of audio and full DVD resolution with noticeable but little quality loss (when quantisers and variable bitrate settings are used correctly).
And please adapt yourself to the correct metric abbreviations. A lowercase m represents "milli", i.e. 1/1000, and an uppercase m represents mega, i.e. 1,000,000, because I am sure you intended to say 2 megabits per second and not 2 millibits per second.
Re:ah the memories
on
Quake is 10
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
Duke Nukem 3D's engine used billboarding. If you remember back to your old Doom days, some things on the map would look the same no matter what angle you looked at it [a good example of this is the trident shaped candle holders right at the end of episode 1 map 1]. It was similar for Duke Nukem in a lot of ways. The enemies were all billboarded onto the screen, but they drew side-on and rear (possibly more) angles of the enemies so they don't always look at you.
In Quake however, just about everything is 3D, including the rockets you shoot... even the nails I believe. I can't recall anything that was billboarded in Quake (but then again I haven't played it for a good 7 years or so). Billboarding was a simple tactic to speed up 3D environment rendering. It looks great until you get close or the angle changes quickly.
So main difference:
Duke Nukem 3D: Not entirely 3D
Quake: More 3D than Duke Nukem 3D (if not fully 3D)
Much of their profit would either be contractual corporate licensing, or wholesale OEM distribution to companies like Dell. One bank in New Zealand use Windows-based ATMs (namely Kiwibank). They run Windows 2000 and connect to a server via Terminal Services [and believe it or not, they play ding.wav upon dispensing your cash!]. If 500 ATMs are deployed throughout the country, that's 500 licenses for Windows 2000 and 500 user licenses for Terminal Services (not to mention Server side and database software). This excludes any on-going support costs/contracts they may have with Microsoft. Still, the amount of money that this bank paid Microsoft (even though it's not like banks don't make a lot of money) is huge compared to what a consumer pays for an OEM copy of Windows/Office. It doesn't stop there though, MS Volume Licensing is contracted, and in most instances, they send you the latest software with x amount of licenses for a rather undulating but nevertheless large fee per year. This is why their figures are still rather attractive.
My gut feeling is that Vista will be a huge loss. It will turn out like Sega did. Sega used to make leading consoles and now they develop and produce games for what used to be their competitors. Poor old Sega.
OK, OK, it won't be exactly the same as Sega, but that's what I'm hoping for.
a) That's a potential $65m they could have used for marketing... yeah I know, each department is funded differently etc etc, but a $65m loss is a $65m loss no matter how you look at it. Funding would have to be cut somewhere, unless they have a fund for lawsuits that stretches more than $65m (which wouldn't surprise me).
b) I think it would. Vista's launch is all flaky... when's it going to happen? What exactly are the final features? Will it run on a majority of the PCs people currently own? Who knows? Not them... apparently*. The Microsoft Corp is beginning to crumble a bit more every year since it's peak with Windows 2000 and XP*. Now with so much competition and with excellent marketing from Apple (with their PC/Mac ads, hahaha they're so funny), as well as the typical free OSs like Linux and FreeBSD, MS need all the money they can get. Bill can see it's not going to happen any time that he can be bothered waiting, so he's quitting while he's ahead like a smart man. It wasn't this $65m that caused him to resign, it was the fact that MS's profit is slowly diminishing*, and this $65m is just further evidence that they won't be able to stand strong forever.
* facts are not verified, just assumed
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Wow, you must demand some really decent quality video. Your average 90 minute MPEG4/XviD/DivX 700MB movie is between 0.8 and 1.2 Mbps ((700 * 8)Mb / (90 * 60)sec = 1.03 Mbps) including audio. This quality is surely decent enough for video streaming... So if 2Mbps is low in your opinion, I would like to know what sort of video you normally stream and where you get it from (and what codec it uses). 2Mbps can usually encode a DVD with all 6 channels of audio and full DVD resolution with noticeable but little quality loss (when quantisers and variable bitrate settings are used correctly).
And please adapt yourself to the correct metric abbreviations. A lowercase m represents "milli", i.e. 1/1000, and an uppercase m represents mega, i.e. 1,000,000, because I am sure you intended to say 2 megabits per second and not 2 millibits per second.
Duke Nukem 3D's engine used billboarding. If you remember back to your old Doom days, some things on the map would look the same no matter what angle you looked at it [a good example of this is the trident shaped candle holders right at the end of episode 1 map 1]. It was similar for Duke Nukem in a lot of ways. The enemies were all billboarded onto the screen, but they drew side-on and rear (possibly more) angles of the enemies so they don't always look at you. In Quake however, just about everything is 3D, including the rockets you shoot... even the nails I believe. I can't recall anything that was billboarded in Quake (but then again I haven't played it for a good 7 years or so). Billboarding was a simple tactic to speed up 3D environment rendering. It looks great until you get close or the angle changes quickly. So main difference: Duke Nukem 3D: Not entirely 3D Quake: More 3D than Duke Nukem 3D (if not fully 3D)
Much of their profit would either be contractual corporate licensing, or wholesale OEM distribution to companies like Dell. One bank in New Zealand use Windows-based ATMs (namely Kiwibank). They run Windows 2000 and connect to a server via Terminal Services [and believe it or not, they play ding.wav upon dispensing your cash!]. If 500 ATMs are deployed throughout the country, that's 500 licenses for Windows 2000 and 500 user licenses for Terminal Services (not to mention Server side and database software). This excludes any on-going support costs/contracts they may have with Microsoft. Still, the amount of money that this bank paid Microsoft (even though it's not like banks don't make a lot of money) is huge compared to what a consumer pays for an OEM copy of Windows/Office. It doesn't stop there though, MS Volume Licensing is contracted, and in most instances, they send you the latest software with x amount of licenses for a rather undulating but nevertheless large fee per year. This is why their figures are still rather attractive. My gut feeling is that Vista will be a huge loss. It will turn out like Sega did. Sega used to make leading consoles and now they develop and produce games for what used to be their competitors. Poor old Sega. OK, OK, it won't be exactly the same as Sega, but that's what I'm hoping for.
a) That's a potential $65m they could have used for marketing... yeah I know, each department is funded differently etc etc, but a $65m loss is a $65m loss no matter how you look at it. Funding would have to be cut somewhere, unless they have a fund for lawsuits that stretches more than $65m (which wouldn't surprise me). b) I think it would. Vista's launch is all flaky... when's it going to happen? What exactly are the final features? Will it run on a majority of the PCs people currently own? Who knows? Not them... apparently*. The Microsoft Corp is beginning to crumble a bit more every year since it's peak with Windows 2000 and XP*. Now with so much competition and with excellent marketing from Apple (with their PC/Mac ads, hahaha they're so funny), as well as the typical free OSs like Linux and FreeBSD, MS need all the money they can get. Bill can see it's not going to happen any time that he can be bothered waiting, so he's quitting while he's ahead like a smart man. It wasn't this $65m that caused him to resign, it was the fact that MS's profit is slowly diminishing*, and this $65m is just further evidence that they won't be able to stand strong forever. * facts are not verified, just assumed