Still, I don't like having to choose a car based on which satellite radio service comes pre-installed, or considering whether I'd rather have Howard Stern or Oprah, because there is no practical way to get both.
As long as there remains a practical way to get neither, I'm set.
Re:The Amiga was a quantum leap for computers
on
AmigaOS 4
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
1) preemptive multitasking. 2) special hardware for graphics. 3) a unified memory architecture. 4) stereo sound with hardware-assisted mixer 5) a UNIX-like O/S with many goodies, including.info files for executables (a local registry for each program) 6) a nice GUI that looked good on low resolutions with datatype aware drag-n-drop for every app. 7) a good DMA architecture that allowed for easy parallelization of many tasks (for example graphics not blocked by I/O)
There were other machines around at the same time with many of these features, at the same price:-) Surely you haven't forgotten the 16-bit wars already!
provide sound and graphics of 5000$ worth at the price of 500$. This is highly unlikely, because all the billion dollar pioneering research in graphics takes place in the labs of NVidia and ATI, two companies that will not be willing to sell their top technology for a mere 500$. Don't they already sell their top designs for $500? Isn't that what a top-end video card costs these days? You just don't get the rest of the computer with it:-) What you would need them to do is sell their top designs for $20, which isn't going to happen.
Overall, I do not think Amiga has a place in today's computing environment...especially when the O/S works on special hardware platforms.
Agreed, and even more so given that, as far as I can tell, this new AmigaOS has very little to do with the original other than name. It's just another niche OS which is platform specific, non-free (in any sense) and very, very limited in functionality. Pointless.
I'm sorry - did you even read the first sentence of the article you linked to?
[blockquote] It's easy to forget that the rhythm peripheral craze all began with Beatmania, a turntable-inspired rhythm game that hit Japanese arcades in 1997 and is the forefather and namesake for Konami's entire Bemani rhythm series.[/blockquote]
Now Beatmania may well suck (I don't know, never played it) but it sure as hell isn't a GH ripoff, in fact, quite the opposite. All GH did (IMHO) is bring the already established rhythm game formula to a new musical audience - by making it guitar based instead of using dance or electronic music it suddenly appealed to people who weren't interested in DDR etc.
According to this hands-on from CES, it's basically a straight port but with an option of "enhanced" (upscaled) graphics. There are also online leaderboards. Of course, this is all based on a pre-release so take with requisite pinch of NaCl.
Yep, that's a pain. Also a pain is the modality of dialogs extending beyond the tab which triggered them. Example, I have 10 tabs and one of them needs a password, but I'm currently reading some other tab. I get a nice modal dialog splatted in front of me which blocks be from doing anything (even flipping tabs etc) until I give the password. Why? Why not alert me in some discreet way that a tab needs my attention, and then throw the popup or whatever when I switch to it.
According to the CIA factbook, Sweden is doing pretty decently. The unemployment rate is an estimated 5.8%, GDPPC is ~$30k, growth at 2.7%. To quote:
Aided by peace and neutrality for the whole of the 20th century, Sweden has achieved an enviable standard of living under a mixed system of high-tech capitalism and extensive welfare benefits. It has a modern distribution system, excellent internal and external communications, and a skilled labor force. Timber, hydropower, and iron ore constitute the resource base of an economy heavily oriented toward foreign trade. Privately owned firms account for about 90% of industrial output, of which the engineering sector accounts for 50% of output and exports. Agriculture accounts for only 2% of GDP and of jobs. The government's commitment to fiscal discipline resulted in a substantial budgetary surplus in 2001, which was cut by more than half in 2002, due to the global economic slowdown, declining revenue, and increased spending. The Swedish central bank (the Riksbank) focuses on price stability with its inflation target of 2%. Growth remained sluggish in 2003, but picked up in 2004 and 2005.
The difference is that when the iTV was announced they specifically said that wasn't the final name, presumably because they new about the existing trademarks and possibility of confusion or litigation. In this case, they called it the iPhone, and even though they knew all about the existing trademarks they didn't say anything about the name being a placeholder. I don't think they have any plans to change it unless they're forced to.
Wow. You mean you can use a desktop Mac as a server? No way!
*ahem*
People have been doing the same thing with many other OS's for a number of years. I have a cheap PC running XP with a bunch of disks and it does a fine job handling print, media and web serving duties. Linux or *BSD would work just as well (the only reason I don't use one of those is that I have some software running on it which is Win only).
The thing that WHS is doing is making this easier for the average user. For one thing, making it controllable from an application on another machine, not using remote desktop. Also automated backups and so-on. It's not doing anything new or unique, just making it a little more plug & play.
What is really needed is to get RID of Computer SCIENCE and move it over to the Engineering department and give us Computer ENGINEERING
And in a lot of the top institutions that's exactly what has happened. My degree is an engineering one, not a science.
The simplest program is done differently by every programmer where if engineers were doing it they'd all be taught to do it the exact same way.
If you re-write the exact same code over and over you're an idiot. The problem is that (at an application level) nothing is ever quite the same, so you can't just reuse 100% of an existing solution, there are always tweaks needed. It's actually the same with engineering - taking the mythical "identical bridge" example it's obvious that different bridges have different dimensions, foundations, environmental constraints, etc. So the engineer creates something new by assembling standard parts together and tweaking where needed.
Standardization is how you get rid of most errors. You'll notice that nobody is making new bolts or nails anymore, they're all standardized.
Agreed, which is why we have standard components. No-one should be writing sorts, or collections, or string manipulation routines from scratch, you should use an accepted standard. Good developers take that a step further and where possible use standard versions of much larger components, such as XML parsers, or application servers, or what have you. An engineer's bag of nails is my Java Standard Class Library.
The real difference between the engineer building a suspension bridge and a large scale software project is one of complexity and resourcing. Software developers are building much more complex systems in a much shorter period of time and with much less in the way of resources. That's why corners are cut, because our clients demand it.
According to this article, though, it would seem that Microsoft is actually blocking games from running via any other means than the Game Explorer. From what I've read in the past, this isn't the case. You will need to use GE to get the "Games for Windows" certification, but just as now, any app can be installed and run however you like. All your XP games for example, will still install and run, but they likely won't be in GE.
It would also seem to mean that installers will have to create special cases for Vista, which seems pointless to me. Creating installers is a pretty automated process (the installer itself is part of windows, you just give it a set of files and a script). So yes, it will work differently for Vista, but XP vs 95 vs 2000 is already different, vendors are used to this kind of thing, and in most cases it's just setting some flags.
The obvious point is that Microsoft would seem to have a conflict of interest here; making PC gaming attractive may draw attention away from the X-box 360, something Microsoft would want to avoid at all costs. Are they making it difficult to run games in order to make the 360 seem much simpler by comparison? Not at all. They're currently pushing Windows gaming very hard - look at the whole new "Games for Windows" brand (which now even includes an official magazine), the 360/Vista intagration (announced this week @ CES), and so on. Even all this gaming specific stuff in Vista proves they want people to run games - otherwise why bother?
The guy in this article is complaining that they're going to have to follow some rules now, and that's going to make them need to do a little more work. The end result's going to be better for the user though - better security, easier and neater installation, integration with 360 & Xbox Live, parental controls, etc. So I say to him - suck it up. It's STILL much easier and less "controlled" to develop for Vista than for any console.
I still use copper too. The copper in my coax cable which carries my internet traffic, and with it, my VOIP calls. Of course, what this article is talking about is people who use autodialers of one kind or another - which includes cell phones, PBXs with click-to-call, Skype, etc - it's got nothing to do with VOIP as a technology for transmitting the voice data. My VOIP solution uses a perfectly normal phone, not a computer, and so until Uniden and VTech start issuing vulnerability warnings I think I'm OK.
Alas, if I sell said card on ebay to someone in Alabama the packaging and fuel used to get it there most likely causes more damage than the card itself. I just keep them in a drawer until I find a use for them or a friend who needs one. It's not like they're big...
As someone who has lived in the UK and the US, I can assure you that there are just as many CCTV cameras around here (NYC & NNJ) as there are in London. The ratio of public/private ownership of the cameras may be different (not that that really makes any difference in how the footage may be [mis]used) but they're still there. Cameras on the highway, cameras at intersections, cameras attached to every store and building lobby you walk past, cameras in parks, cameras high up on buildings watching whole streets. But having said that, I never really minded them in London and I don't really mind them here. If I'm in public and doing something which the cameras would be interested in the chances are other people are going to see me too.
Despite all that, we're still the most free place on Earth, or else we wouldn't even be allowed to post sensationalist coverage of this story and talk about it and the so-called "Bush regime." You actually believe that no other country is allowed to criticise their own government? Wow. Go explore the rest of the world and realize that the US is really nothing special when it comes to "freedom". By no means the worst, for sure, but certainly not the "most free place on earth".
Yes, it would be 70 years before it becomes public domain (unless the heirs specifically open it earlier). But there is a difference between infringment and enforcement - only a small number of people illegally distributing music online actually face enforcement actions but that doesn't mean the others aren't still breaking the law.
I've never seen an ISP contract which didn't say that (and I've seen a lot). What makes you think that FIOS/Verizon will allow you to pull 100% of your bandwidth 24/7? While you and I would like it, the business-class services which actually allow such things cost a lot more (because the home services are under-provisioned). On a personal note, I have the 30mbps service from Cablevision and it's fine (actual speed is in the 25-26mbps region whenever I test), so I certainly wouldn't switch even if I could.
Well I'm the opposite - Cablevision have been fine for me (I use their 30mbps service) and Verizon managed to piss me off in about every way possible for the 10 months I was a customer. Vive la difference:)
I'm one of those 64,000 - just not really interested in Zelda games. Alas, despite a lot of excitement for the system (and many hours of waiting outside in the cold) I'm yet to be blown away by the Wii due to a lack of really great games. We've switched back to the 360 for most of our gaming already...Viva Pinata and GoW FTW:)
You should also be aware that, as always, the internet blows problems way out of proportion. If we believed everything we read there would be no MacBooks left without brown stains all over them, 50% of Wii owners would be buying a new TV due to Wiimote impact and no-one would be able to use 720p on their PS3. Of course all of these are true, but isolated problems, and the 360 ones are likely the same. Of course I don't know for sure, because I can only go off a sample size of 4, but none of those 4 have had any problems and they're all kept 100% up to date with patches.
Slashdot Mirror
Still, I don't like having to choose a car based on which satellite radio service comes pre-installed, or considering whether I'd rather have Howard Stern or Oprah, because there is no practical way to get both.
As long as there remains a practical way to get neither, I'm set.
1) preemptive multitasking. .info files for executables (a local registry for each program)
:-) Surely you haven't forgotten the 16-bit wars already!
:-) What you would need them to do is sell their top designs for $20, which isn't going to happen.
2) special hardware for graphics.
3) a unified memory architecture.
4) stereo sound with hardware-assisted mixer
5) a UNIX-like O/S with many goodies, including
6) a nice GUI that looked good on low resolutions with datatype aware drag-n-drop for every app.
7) a good DMA architecture that allowed for easy parallelization of many tasks (for example graphics not blocked by I/O)
There were other machines around at the same time with many of these features, at the same price
provide sound and graphics of 5000$ worth at the price of 500$. This is highly unlikely, because all the billion dollar pioneering research in graphics takes place in the labs of NVidia and ATI, two companies that will not be willing to sell their top technology for a mere 500$.
Don't they already sell their top designs for $500? Isn't that what a top-end video card costs these days? You just don't get the rest of the computer with it
Overall, I do not think Amiga has a place in today's computing environment...especially when the O/S works on special hardware platforms.
Agreed, and even more so given that, as far as I can tell, this new AmigaOS has very little to do with the original other than name. It's just another niche OS which is platform specific, non-free (in any sense) and very, very limited in functionality. Pointless.
I'm sorry - did you even read the first sentence of the article you linked to?
[blockquote]
It's easy to forget that the rhythm peripheral craze all began with Beatmania, a turntable-inspired rhythm game that hit Japanese arcades in 1997 and is the forefather and namesake for Konami's entire Bemani rhythm series.[/blockquote]
Now Beatmania may well suck (I don't know, never played it) but it sure as hell isn't a GH ripoff, in fact, quite the opposite. All GH did (IMHO) is bring the already established rhythm game formula to a new musical audience - by making it guitar based instead of using dance or electronic music it suddenly appealed to people who weren't interested in DDR etc.
According to this hands-on from CES, it's basically a straight port but with an option of "enhanced" (upscaled) graphics. There are also online leaderboards. Of course, this is all based on a pre-release so take with requisite pinch of NaCl.
... and with today's graphics the ghosts would look phenomenal!
:)
With today's graphics yes, with the Wii's.....I'm not so sure
Yep, that's a pain. Also a pain is the modality of dialogs extending beyond the tab which triggered them. Example, I have 10 tabs and one of them needs a password, but I'm currently reading some other tab. I get a nice modal dialog splatted in front of me which blocks be from doing anything (even flipping tabs etc) until I give the password. Why? Why not alert me in some discreet way that a tab needs my attention, and then throw the popup or whatever when I switch to it.
The difference is that when the iTV was announced they specifically said that wasn't the final name, presumably because they new about the existing trademarks and possibility of confusion or litigation. In this case, they called it the iPhone, and even though they knew all about the existing trademarks they didn't say anything about the name being a placeholder. I don't think they have any plans to change it unless they're forced to.
Wow. You mean you can use a desktop Mac as a server? No way!
*ahem*
People have been doing the same thing with many other OS's for a number of years. I have a cheap PC running XP with a bunch of disks and it does a fine job handling print, media and web serving duties. Linux or *BSD would work just as well (the only reason I don't use one of those is that I have some software running on it which is Win only).
The thing that WHS is doing is making this easier for the average user. For one thing, making it controllable from an application on another machine, not using remote desktop. Also automated backups and so-on. It's not doing anything new or unique, just making it a little more plug & play.
What is really needed is to get RID of Computer SCIENCE and move it over to the Engineering department and give us Computer ENGINEERING
And in a lot of the top institutions that's exactly what has happened. My degree is an engineering one, not a science.
The simplest program is done differently by every programmer where if engineers were doing it they'd all be taught to do it the exact same way.
If you re-write the exact same code over and over you're an idiot. The problem is that (at an application level) nothing is ever quite the same, so you can't just reuse 100% of an existing solution, there are always tweaks needed. It's actually the same with engineering - taking the mythical "identical bridge" example it's obvious that different bridges have different dimensions, foundations, environmental constraints, etc. So the engineer creates something new by assembling standard parts together and tweaking where needed.
Standardization is how you get rid of most errors. You'll notice that nobody is making new bolts or nails anymore, they're all standardized.
Agreed, which is why we have standard components. No-one should be writing sorts, or collections, or string manipulation routines from scratch, you should use an accepted standard. Good developers take that a step further and where possible use standard versions of much larger components, such as XML parsers, or application servers, or what have you. An engineer's bag of nails is my Java Standard Class Library.
The real difference between the engineer building a suspension bridge and a large scale software project is one of complexity and resourcing. Software developers are building much more complex systems in a much shorter period of time and with much less in the way of resources. That's why corners are cut, because our clients demand it.
According to this article, though, it would seem that Microsoft is actually blocking games from running via any other means than the Game Explorer.
From what I've read in the past, this isn't the case. You will need to use GE to get the "Games for Windows" certification, but just as now, any app can be installed and run however you like. All your XP games for example, will still install and run, but they likely won't be in GE.
It would also seem to mean that installers will have to create special cases for Vista, which seems pointless to me.
Creating installers is a pretty automated process (the installer itself is part of windows, you just give it a set of files and a script). So yes, it will work differently for Vista, but XP vs 95 vs 2000 is already different, vendors are used to this kind of thing, and in most cases it's just setting some flags.
The obvious point is that Microsoft would seem to have a conflict of interest here; making PC gaming attractive may draw attention away from the X-box 360, something Microsoft would want to avoid at all costs. Are they making it difficult to run games in order to make the 360 seem much simpler by comparison?
Not at all. They're currently pushing Windows gaming very hard - look at the whole new "Games for Windows" brand (which now even includes an official magazine), the 360/Vista intagration (announced this week @ CES), and so on. Even all this gaming specific stuff in Vista proves they want people to run games - otherwise why bother?
The guy in this article is complaining that they're going to have to follow some rules now, and that's going to make them need to do a little more work. The end result's going to be better for the user though - better security, easier and neater installation, integration with 360 & Xbox Live, parental controls, etc. So I say to him - suck it up. It's STILL much easier and less "controlled" to develop for Vista than for any console.
I still use copper too. The copper in my coax cable which carries my internet traffic, and with it, my VOIP calls. Of course, what this article is talking about is people who use autodialers of one kind or another - which includes cell phones, PBXs with click-to-call, Skype, etc - it's got nothing to do with VOIP as a technology for transmitting the voice data. My VOIP solution uses a perfectly normal phone, not a computer, and so until Uniden and VTech start issuing vulnerability warnings I think I'm OK.
Alas, if I sell said card on ebay to someone in Alabama the packaging and fuel used to get it there most likely causes more damage than the card itself. I just keep them in a drawer until I find a use for them or a friend who needs one. It's not like they're big...
As someone who has lived in the UK and the US, I can assure you that there are just as many CCTV cameras around here (NYC & NNJ) as there are in London. The ratio of public/private ownership of the cameras may be different (not that that really makes any difference in how the footage may be [mis]used) but they're still there. Cameras on the highway, cameras at intersections, cameras attached to every store and building lobby you walk past, cameras in parks, cameras high up on buildings watching whole streets. But having said that, I never really minded them in London and I don't really mind them here. If I'm in public and doing something which the cameras would be interested in the chances are other people are going to see me too.
Hey, I'm no Sony fan, but FUD is bad from any direction. Gamefly certainly think you can rent PS3 games.
Despite all that, we're still the most free place on Earth, or else we wouldn't even be allowed to post sensationalist coverage of this story and talk about it and the so-called "Bush regime."
You actually believe that no other country is allowed to criticise their own government? Wow. Go explore the rest of the world and realize that the US is really nothing special when it comes to "freedom". By no means the worst, for sure, but certainly not the "most free place on earth".
Nice idea. You could even give it a catchy name...like...err..."Start"? :)
Yes, it would be 70 years before it becomes public domain (unless the heirs specifically open it earlier). But there is a difference between infringment and enforcement - only a small number of people illegally distributing music online actually face enforcement actions but that doesn't mean the others aren't still breaking the law.
Journal Square is in Jersey City, not Hoboken.
I've never seen an ISP contract which didn't say that (and I've seen a lot). What makes you think that FIOS/Verizon will allow you to pull 100% of your bandwidth 24/7? While you and I would like it, the business-class services which actually allow such things cost a lot more (because the home services are under-provisioned). On a personal note, I have the 30mbps service from Cablevision and it's fine (actual speed is in the 25-26mbps region whenever I test), so I certainly wouldn't switch even if I could.
Well I'm the opposite - Cablevision have been fine for me (I use their 30mbps service) and Verizon managed to piss me off in about every way possible for the 10 months I was a customer. Vive la difference :)
There's nothing like Slashdot for a mature, well-reasoned conversation :)
I'm one of those 64,000 - just not really interested in Zelda games. Alas, despite a lot of excitement for the system (and many hours of waiting outside in the cold) I'm yet to be blown away by the Wii due to a lack of really great games. We've switched back to the 360 for most of our gaming already...Viva Pinata and GoW FTW :)
You should also be aware that, as always, the internet blows problems way out of proportion. If we believed everything we read there would be no MacBooks left without brown stains all over them, 50% of Wii owners would be buying a new TV due to Wiimote impact and no-one would be able to use 720p on their PS3. Of course all of these are true, but isolated problems, and the 360 ones are likely the same. Of course I don't know for sure, because I can only go off a sample size of 4, but none of those 4 have had any problems and they're all kept 100% up to date with patches.
Free trip to Australia? Let me just go fire up Azerus...