I bet MS used their own new "engine" (so.cl) to search for information on this subject. Only to have some people tag it "Window 8" (or other crap) after which the topic suddenly takes a whole new turn with lots of extra (often unwanted) crap.
That's what you get guys from trying to re-invent the wheel :-)
You know the sad part? I didn't make up the stuff about so.cl :P
I honestly tried to approach this with an open mind considering how I think Windows Live is quite tolerable, Win7 enjoyable and Office 2010 bearable (I also kinda enjoy it but heck).
SO... Its a search engine. Okee...
I search for "Anime" and get several hits I'm not interested in. Ok, so I search for 'Ableton' which is the name of a software company as well as DAW environment. Only to have some nitwit 'tag' my search result as "Windows 8". WTF?
So now there sits a "feed" somewhere which I apparently made; it says "Ableton", it lists some screenshots and other stuff and because it tagged "Windows 8" it also lists a whole lot of Windows 8 crapola.
And of course; one can only "like" things, can cannot "dislike" or "no" vote stuff. Wonderful...
So I eventually find the option to edit my "post" (WTF?!) and remove a tag. Only to get greeted by some weird error message.
And so I eventually managed to remove the entire "post" (what post, I was only trying to use a search engine ?).
Only to have that pesky person all of sudden follow me. Yeah right; I bet to tag more serious stuff I look for as "windows 8".
RIGHT, so that's my experience so far.
And it leaves me wondering: Why the HECK would I want to use this utter and total display of CHAOS instead of my trusty search bar in the browser which gets me to Google or Bing ?
Who cares that when person A searches for item "B" several people might find the time to immediately "like" it and "tag" it. What good does this do ME ?
AND why can't I rant like this on a social network? On Live I can put "Looking at so.cl, WHAT A MESS!" in my status.
SO I have a Live ID which I used. It took them a while but I finally got an e-mail telling me I was invited to join the party.
Halleluja!
So I follow the link (copy/paste) and guess what? "Webpage can't be shown" (IE). When doing this in SeaMonkey I immediately get warnings about redirect loops ("redirection limit for this URL exceeded").
So SeaMonkey refuses to show, MSIE9 simply barfs on me... This is the new social stuff?
Now, while I don't think the Next Generation is all that bad they couldn't match the acting qualities of Scotty IMO.
"Relics"; as a passenger on the starship Jenolan Scotty is involved in a crash onto the surface of a strange globe. He and a person called "Franklin" are the only survivors of the crash. Aware that they're from a position far away from normal routes Scotty realizes that a rescue might take a while so he decides what he does best: by rigging the transporter he manages to get it into a continuous diagnostic cycle. Then he transports himself and Franklin; being the first person to survive for 60 years inside a transporter.
In this episode you get to see Scotty and LaForge together and quite frankly I think Scotty was the better engineer. When he started talking about the Dyson sphere you could /hear/ the enthusiasm and awe he had for the "technological achievement". To which LaForge could only flatly comment: "Yeah, its quite impressive" while sounding as he didn't even really mean it.
That guy was a classic... "Synthetic scotch, synthetic commanders....".
However, I do think the guy who plays Data does manage to come very close with his acting. Very well seen when he offers Scotty a drink of a non-synthahol beverage..
Scotty: "What is it?"
Data: "It is...." Data looks at the bottle, only to see there's no label on it.
He then opens the bottle to identify the scent, fully convinced that he can now answer Scotty's question Data starts: "It is....", but apparently this isn't part of his memory banks.
Data looks at Scotty: "It is green.".
Scotty now makes a gesture saying "Well, let me have it".
Of course I can't tell for sure because after trying to logon using my Live ID I've been told to wait for an approval e-mail hasn't arrived yet.
Another thing which looks reasonable are the privacy rulings. I think its a nice touch that they enhanced the sections which cover privacy themselves so that you can easily read what data they're trying to collect.
Still, I can't help wonder if MS hasn't been looking too much at Google here. You know; limiting access to their environment and getting people to invite each other and so. While it may have worked for Google that is of course no guarantee it will also work for MS.
No bad mouthing intended but I can see it happening now on my end: After a few weeks I finally get an e-mail from this so.cl thing yet totally forgot all about it. "Nah, probably sent by mistake", never to be seen there again....
In a previous comment I jested at MS removing support options from Windows (keyboard / mouse) because people could be bothered with the inability to use them.
However, this latest move makes one seriously wonder....
Aero is /much/ more than merely a shiney interface. Its highly functional as well; the option to have status bars display in the taskbar icons is IMO invaluable. In Windows 7 you can /always/ see the progress of a download or copy action.
In Windows 8 you should be using full screen crapola anyway, so who cares about all that Aero nonsense anymore?
Well: I DO!
This is yet another reason to avoid Win8 on the desktop.
Mr. Steve: "Dear investors, you may wonder why Windows 8 managed to sell even less copies than Windows Vista. I can say this; its not us. No: Developers, developers, developers, developers, ..."
<skip>
"....and so: Developers! And as you can see we foresaw this coming and issued several warnings. But did they listen? No!".
"So now I hope you'll approve /more/ investment into Windows 8 so that we can set things right!". Mr. Steve thinks: "I only hope I didn't accidentally fire the only guys who still know how to program a start menu..."
What I like best is that the app. is "no nonsense". iow; no bother with livetiles, no worrying that the Bird sits on the background to slurp more info... You open the app, and you get news.
One small complaint though; you turned off auto complete & spellcheck during input. Makes it harder to send messages.
The fact that DDoS data could reach the Piratebay means that there are still kiddies out there who can use their services and download for free! Even though our freedom abiding "copyleft organizations" have paid, errr: /persuaded/, many judges in many countries to enforce a blockade.
And so a real crime has been committed here. I'm not talking about kids extorting companies ("pay up or loose your site / services") or hinder the government (look it up in the news). That's old stuff and not important. No; they can actually still access the dreaded Piratebay! OMG!
So "copyright and freedom protecting" organizations (yes, I'm talking about YOU: Brein, riaa, buma/stemra, etc.): the fight is on. And your target is the source of the DDoS stream because there are people who download for free!
(tip: they shut down the piratebay so they could download even MORE!).
....if this doesn't get those kiddies shut down then /nothing/ will ;-)
And you know the sad part? Even though I wrote all this up as a joke I think it could actually hold some truth as well.
If only Greenpeace would consider their actions more carefully...
Because IMO they do have a point; it is important to try and limit the use of energy so that we'll last longer. But actions like these are not the way to do it. Worse: they'll most likely have the exact opposite effect as can be seen above.
Trying to force people or companies into doing something has never worked, and will only come to bite you in the behinds. Laser beaming messages; and in the end you'll only hinder people who only want to do their job and actually /earn/ a living for themselves. Job nicely done indeed.
Making people and governments aware will have much more effect. And trying not to overdo stuff and pulling into ridiculous scenario's helps too.
Example: In Holland there was a speedway all build and ready; approx. 15km of asphalt sitting ready to be used and help take traffic loads away from another busy (and because of that dangerous) highway.
Yet it couldn't be used. Because environmentalist groups (subsidized by the government no less) had filed complaints and managed to postpone the official opening of the road for at least 1.5 years. And to what end? Everything was done, all was ready and approved. No, IIRC they demanded another investigation.
Finally everything was put in place and the road has been used ever since. But actions like that do not help people understand nor appreciate, quite the opposite.
IMO this is no different. Quite a shame too because as mentioned above; I do agree that we need to work on conserving energy. Every little bit can help, but not with (IMO) idiotic actions like these.
That is utterly stupid and would be a very strong reason for me not to get into this game. Which I'm not since I'm anticipating GTA V but that's a different story...
I'm not even talking about servers which can get overloaded, but what will happen if Blizzard decides to pull the plug out of their servers in, say, 3 - 6 years because they're focusing on the game which is current then ?
Then you're talking about /not/ being able to play a /single player/ campaign because of some half brained copy protection. That is just stupid and an utter fail in my book.
And before anyone comes up with the obvious comment: "But who would want to play a game which is so old?". Well, you'd be surprised! Only last week did I decide on checking up on Far Cry 2, a game which is now roughly 3.5 years old. To my total surprise there was still some decent online gaming action going on.
Sure; not everything. For example; I couldn't get enough people together to play a good game of "Uprising" (you need to take checkpoints to dominate the map) but there was plenty of deathmatch going on. 3.5 years after release.
That AI has come to the iPhone and it even reads the news.
While you may claim that Apple has changed the database, I know better. Siri's personality must be specific and it has grown into a state where it became tired with being asked the same question over and over again.
As such it has reached the point where it can take no more...
"You're kidding right?"... You know what it is; either get one yourself or move on!
Now, I can't comment on the Android version but the authors are apparently well aware of what's going on in the market and also provided a version for the Windows Phone, and it is indeed quite cool. Not too intrusive, all the info you want and very clear warnings when you're about to enter a part which contains spoilers.
What I also consider very cool is that they managed to maintain the looks and feel of the original program (as can be seen in the screenshots in this article) and basically converted it into the style for the "other" platform.
Writing a program for one platform is one thing. Believing in it and trying to make it available on /all/ platforms, that deserves some respect too IMO.
Now, on the risk of comparing apples and oranges... I'm passionate about electronic music / sound design and synthesizers (basically sound synthesis) in general. To that end I picked up some gear and software, my 'studio' is basically build around 'Ableton Live (Suite) 8'. It doesn't come cheap; for the Suite version (the full boxed version which contains everything) you normally pay around E 700,-.
The major difference otoh... I stepped onto the Ableton bandwagon 2 years ago (december 2010), picked up version 8.0.3. (or close enough). Right now they're on 8.3; the latest /update/ was released on the 2nd of April 2012. From 8.0.3 back in 2010 to 8.3 this year. And users never had to cough up any extra cash.
"Just updates" ? Not even that... If you're interested check the release notes. New features were also added along the way.
I know; comparing apples and oranges. But even so; that is IMO the way to do it and how you treat your userbase seriously. It seems that the bigger the company the lousier the service tends to be.
"the worst being that you can't use the keyboard when using calls (like phone banking), as the screen is off, with no way to turn it off."
Yet you can. The reason I know this from mind is because its this aspect which made me carry both a PDA /and/ cellphone for a very long time (even when smartphones became more popular). It was one of the reasons I picked up this particular phone.
When talking you simply shake the phone a little (or touch the screen) and it'll come up. Put the phone into speaker mode (if you want to keep talking). Then simply press the Windows key (start button) and you'll be in the start screen with a bar at the top which tells you that you have a call in progress.
Now you can basically do anything you want. Including taking notes, surfing the net, looking up phone numbers, even speech commands work to some extend.
If you use an earpiece its even easier; then you don't have to bother with speaker mode at all; you simply hit the Windows key and start taking notes as much as you want.
(or surf the net for pr0n when the conversation is utterly boring ;-))
What the EU did was overrated and quite frankly; the effect wasn't quite what they intended.
I mean; the choice of browser... First the ruling came long after the facts and the only thing MS actually did was add some dumb ass program (IMO) which pointed people to other possible options. But their explorer was still there, quite dominantly even. In fact; XP still came with MSIE pre-installed because: "how else would you be able to install updates on a pristine installation?".
I know for a fact that many end users considered that "choice of browsers program" annoying and intrusive instead of something which defended their rights.
"Hello? Yes, I installed Explorer 8 myself yet this stupid program keeps popping up asking me what browser I want. What should I do? I don't want another browser".
"I reinstalled XP and now I have some program which keeps asking me to select a browser. How can I tell it I don't want any change? I don't want firefox, I don't want chrome but I also don't want explorer 8. I don't want new stuff, how to turn this crap off?".
And we had dozens of support calls like that. And most people /did/ realize that this program was something which was demanded by the EU and they weren't happy about it. Some even felt being treated like idiots who couldn't make up their own minds.
Re: Netscape's browser eventually formed the basis of Mozilla’s Firefox
Yet it did form the basis of Mozilla spinoffs such as SeaMonkey. A project which IMO proofs that a bad start doesn't have to result in a bad product (I actually use & enjoy SeaMonkey on a daily basis).
Only that within that context MS doesn't ride the wave alone. There are plenty of other big US companies that get away with lots of unwanted stuff. From Intel to Apple and beyond.
...it turns out that MS has locked up the Metro interface so darned strict that they simply cannot comply to these requests without breaking some stuff.
This is only speculation; no more and no less.
But the reason I do so is because one of the commonly used arguments against Metro on the Windows Phone is that it is too strict. All apps. are sandboxed and by default its not possible for one application to access or utilize another. This has caused issues with certain developers on several occasions.
So now I wonder; is this really a Windows RT only issue or do Mozilla & Google have a problem with Metro in general? The reason this only surfaces on Windows RT could be because its a relatively popular platform and Mozilla seems more eager to build for RT than Metro on Windows 8 (or the Windows phone for that matter).
I don't mention this out of "fanboy-ism" but because it honestly wouldn't surprise me. MS has a tendency to stare themselves blind on a single goal and very much tend to ignore other aspects that come with it. Think Metro; it performs quite well on mobile devices (my phone for example) but my desktop? Ugh! Yet MS is "going after mobile".
But another thing: MS have openly admitted that they had a lot of catching up to do on security aspects. Windows 7 has come a long way (IMO) but its only partial comparable to the flexibility you have on a *nix platform. MS is obviously heavily betting on Metro for this. So could it be possible that a browser application requires too much access within the system and as such it has become impossible to utilize the way Metro is now ?
Its already a known fact that browser (-like) applications will have a different set of access rules due to the need for extensive permissions. And that RT differs on several points from the "regular" Metro.
I consider that not bad at all for an environment which is roughly 1.5 years old.
And although I know Amazon may not be the best resource it appears that they are honest with "stats which change on an hourly basis". Because only a week ago there were Lumia's sitting on place 8 and place 16.
Its not as if the devices aren't getting sold or anything.
And the reason I mention this is because you didn't need several drives next to each other, you only needed 1. And it could actually play certain melodies as well (of course no one ever tried STTNG because that didn't exist at that time, however we did have the original star trek theme).
Of course I have no idea how much damage this could do to the drive, but I do know that after having played the melodies a few times my 1541 drive still works today, now easily 20 years after the facts.
To put it simple: you don't need degrees to be good within the fields of ICT. In fact; many of the skills which are really useful in the field aren't even taught at schools. Point is; such investment firms don't look at the company and the quality; it looks at how to generate profit as quickly as possible. Preferably something which lasts and is "good enough" but of either of these options fail then they're also perfectly willing to settle for short term solutions.
That is; solutions for them and not so much for the company. If the solution would mean breaking up the company and selling of some of the assets which perform below the anticipated scope then so be it. If it turns out that this asset was actually quite important to other parts of the company then well... No one made a mistake; they simply need to sell of even more!
Now don't get me wrong; if someone lied on their resume and have been caught then its only fair that they're taken care of. But one can also wonder if the company itself added the "extra info" in order to keep the stockholders happy. For example because they recognized that the CEO had the required knowledge and experience, but simply didn't know if (and how) they could convince the stockholders of this fact.
Commonly speaking; what's good for the stockholders (esp. investment firms) doesn't always have to be good for the company. Usually its quite the opposite.
Was quite a fan of that series until the multi-repeats and "quests for more money" started.
As to the movies in general; since these are most likely all b or c rated movies its obvious which one is the best: the one which has boobies in it, that has always been the golden rule with movies like that. Otherwise absolutely no one would be watching it ;-)
Governments (in general, including mine) are bound to love this. It saves them the trouble (brain usage) from having to figure out where to get the stuff.
Mr. Black: "See, I can do it tool; we no need those admin guys no more, yahoo!".
Next (fictional!)! year: "Office 365 suffered from a malfunction, anyone could get access!".
Mr. Black: "I wasn't the one to blame, those darned admin guys never told me the risks of using this. We need need new laws on systems administration!".
"darned admin guys" (response never to be found in the media under normal circumstances): "you're the one who fired us for suggesting NOT to use that stuff in the first place a**"pocket").
OK, I am jesting here because in all fairness I am a fan of MS Office 2010. But I also think to know how government works and as such...
Seriously; it is a good thing that companies put some interest into all this and try to thwart any waste going on in their offices. But this looks odd to me; seems all they're doing is trying to generate income from their own remote offices.
I'd be more impressed if they tried to cut back on waste. You know; re-use paper and clipboards instead of writing on one side and throw it all away, that sort of stuff. May sound small and insignificant, but you'd be amazed what all such small things combined (throughout an entire company) can actually accomplish.
Still, its a good step in the right direction so it seems.
Not using Nuendo / Cubase myself but I am a passionate sound designer; I can't help wonder if the decision by Steinberg is more driven by Ableton than that what drove Microsoft.
Because you see; sometimes having a dull flat gray screen actually works out quite well. Ableton Live (Suite 8) (link) is an DAW which existed for 10 years now and as you can notice by the logo and screenshots on that page: its interface is completely grey. And before anyone wonders about the "colorful blocks"; that isn't the program itself, those merely represent your audio data.
By default Ableton Live only uses grey for its interface combined with yellow to indicate selected options (system options, instrument options as well as channel on/off), red to indicate a record mode and blue to indicate an individual selected track and the main "individual" volume. And finally orange to indicate a "special" option; if a track has been set to "monitoring" (it continues to pick up audio input, no need to arm it) then the indicator will be orange. Orange is also used in the interface of some instruments (for example to be able and define a waveform in their Operator synthesizer) as well as volume and balance controls (dials).
But that's it! All audio channels have the same dull grey color, the only one which is shown to be light grey is the selected track. All instruments and effects sit in a grey box which apart from a yellow selection bar is completely grey; even the icons representing folders and different type of objects (presets, instrument/effect object, 'grouped' object).
The main issue here should be obvious: what works for some doesn't have to work for others.
Within the context of Live I actually enjoy such an interface because it helps me focus on what matters to me. If I'm recording audio then I don't care about good looks or such; all I care for is that as much CPU power as possible is used to process my recording as good as possible and in the mean time having some good indicators to see what is going on.
That is what Ableton gives me; the program itself is flat grey and my data is colored so I can always immediately see whats going on.
Needless to say but as much as I enjoy this design in Ableton (IMO its a key feature) I hate it in Visual Studio. In VS it just doesn't add up for me; different programs, different uses.
Still, being a fan of MS Office 2010 I can't help myself anyway. Keep well in mind that it is /because/ of that oss community that end users are able to pick up a copy of MS Office /far/ cheaper and far more easier than before (of course I'm talking about legit channels).
The reason should be obvious: competition. In the likes MS had never seen before and initially had it haunt them because this form of competition couldn't be bought nor dominated. It just kept going and wouldn't go away no matter what they tried or did.
All this development means is that we can welcome back yet another serious competitor on the Office market. One which is more rooted in the whole OSS community, which has more experience with maintaining bigger projects (which also come with high expectations) and most of all: which doesn't have anything to proof.
Sure; in the lights of Libre Office vs. OpenOffice its obvious that Apache has the name which most people know yet it seems they also have a lot of catching up to do. Still; being an Office 2010 'power user' (at least that's what I consider myself) I think this is great news. 2 competitors are much better than 1.
In the end we /all/ benefit, no matter if you use MS Office, LibreOffice or OpenOffice (in order of personal preference).
If there's one thing Microsoft has done time and time again its releasing a product which was "so so" only to improve on it later (IMO usually very well executed improvements, but I will admit to be biased here and there).
Same has applied to Azure IMO. I'm not claiming it didn't have any potential, but initially it sure had a big label stamped on it: "Expensive!". Renting a virtual database with a good storage (2Gb) and fixed bandwith would cost a multiple factor more than renting a /whole/ virtual Linux environment (which, as the reader may know, could easily host /multiple/ virtual databases). Worse: many service providers also support virtual Window servers; Windows Server 2008 - optimized for web usage (so; with IIS, MS SQL, etc)? No problem. More expensive than a Linux server, but still /way/ cheaper than an Azure solution (which only provides the database aspect).
Now, I'm sure there is more to Azure than that. For example, i'm not taking things like redundancy, backups, and all of that into account. But nonetheless it sure did seem that you'd spend a lot of money on something which could be less expensive if only it didn't have the name 'Microsoft' attached to it.
So if MS is really going for the cloud services then I think it makes sense to "start over" this way; drop the name and embed the 'engine' in a broader package. At the very least it is bound to kill any prejudice because most people will most likely eventually approach it as something "new".
And that may very well give them opportunity to approach the consumer market as well.
You got to start somewhere, and I think this could be a step in the right direction.
That is of course assuming that IPv6 is meant to replace IPv4 but quite frankly I don't see that happening anytime soon. Its perfectly doable to use both together and I think that is also the better approach here.
Once they run side by side just give it time. Then eventually we "oldies" will probably complain about hard to memorize addresses while someone else is bound to come up with a new solution for that (or new IT guys actually train themselves to increase their memorization, who knows ;-)).
What is there to switch anyway? Once IPv6 takes off all those companies only need to invest in setting up a gateway which gets their IPv4 data onto the IPv6 network. Could easily be a hardware firewall supporting both IPv6 & IPv4. Or when in doubt setup a dedicated box for it.
Minimum amount of effort / investment vs. maximum outcome.
Sure there is a firewall in place and I fully agree that people aren't fully free to do whatever they want. But its a good start in the right direction.
Rome wasn't build in one day and IMO you also can't expect countries like China to drop the whole communistic ideals over a day as well. Because in the end that could very well lead to chaos, and with a country as big as China I think that's in no ones interest, including the people living there.
If you look at China now and 30 years back then there is no denying that people have gotten more freedom. Sure; they aren't free by our standards but IMO you can't reflect on everything solely based on your own environment. Sometimes it doesn't work that way.
Example: many Chinese were actually happier when Google filtered the search results on their own accord then when denying to do so and being ordered by the government. Why? Because by applying filters themselves Google also showed the people which sites were blocked 'on demand' (by the 'firewall') and which weren't. In a way you could argue that by applying filters to their search engine in the way Google did they gave people a slightly bit of extra freedom (to see for themselves what is blocked or not instead of being left to wonder if the site was dead or a filter was being applied).
Yet many people in the 'free West' considered it highly immoral that Google would even do such a thing. Yet once again: when placed into context things may actually be a lot less evil than it may seem.
First the recipe... Its not the final product; that would be the actual food you prepared. As such the recipe is basically a /method/ which you can use / follow to create the end product (the food).
A computer program on the other hand is an end product by itself. Its a product created by a computer programmer just like a nice dish is a product created by a cook.
So to go back to your analogy: a better description would be to think of the recipe as the documentation for a computer language. The cooking would be equal to the programming and the end products would be the food and computer program.
Not more adjusted but more controlled I think. They are allowed to call themselves a religion but I bet that the moment they'd step out of line (like your example) they can expect huge claims through lawsuits from uber-Jedi Mr. Lucas himself.
IMO there are 3 big concerns for Microsoft when it comes to their products. I'm not talking about just the mobile market btw, but instead try to approach it as a whole.
First: Inflexibility. The market has changed - considerably - yet it seems that Microsoft somehow doesn't manage to adapt. For example: the times where they could dictate standards are pretty much gone. The time where they could put a new product on the market with solid expectations that it will sell is also behind us.
Examples of this issue would be the ongoing cycle of pushing out a product which is "so so" only to fix things afterwards. A first impression is the most important moment, yet it seems MS doesn't care about that. Another example would be advertisement. I get the impression that MS doesn't really know how to sell their own products. Take the recent Windows Phone: "It can 'smoke' the competition" (when taking pictures, putting stuff on social media, finding locations around you, etc.). Cool, but I'm not into social media, occasionally take pictures and locations... I live in the Netherlands where that service doesn't work yet. So why would I want a Windows Phone?
Second: Prejudice. IMO well deserved (see above wrt 'first impressions') but still a sad development. Because if there's one thing MS does quite well (IMO of course) its fixing stuff. Software like Office, Expression Web, Visual Studio, etc. have come a long way and when looking at the current version it has become quite usable and enjoyable (though taste obviously differs).
And finally: Tunnel vision. Closely related to my first point but IMO important enough to mention separately: Whenever they spot a missed opportunity which could provide access to a new market then MS seems to have a tendency to totally focus on that single aspect and somewhat ignore everything else. Something which in the end also manages to get "fixed" again but by that time the 'damage' has already been done. Resulting at least in item 2 to become a relevant issue again.
IMO Microsoft has some very high potential and manages to produce quite some interesting and plain out impressive products. Yet it seems to me that they really need to realize that times have changed.
BUT... I guess we'll find out how many of my assumptions hold truth once Windows 8 hits the shelves.
But unfortunately, as the author worded quite well, that will eventually become boring. I enjoyed the original Prototype but many aspects were far too limited for my taste. You could consume people after which you could take over their personality. So far, so good.
But only when consuming /specific/ people; it didn't stick. For example; a terrified person comes up to you, you consume him/her to replenish your health. Then I'd expect to know what scared the heck out of the guy/girl. For example; knowing where the nearby enemies are located. But Prototype never went that deep. Which disappointed me to some end.
Back in the day Prototype stood directly against inFAMOUS; after careful consideration I eventually picked Prototype. It was good fun, and it still is (I still play Prototype occasionally). But now I think inFAMOUS is the better of the two. The side missions in inFAMOUS added to the whole storyline and expanded heavily on the feeling of being in a city which was in total anarchy. The Prototype side missions on the other hand were mere tests. Race to the top of a building, glide to the spot marked X, consume as many people as possible, etc. It was fun, don't get me wrong, but it never added up to the story of the game itself. Within that context the tests never made much sense...
When looking at the inFAMOUS sequel I think its obvious that Sucker Punch (company behind inFAMOUS) realized all too well that this stuff could get repetitive. And so they added a state of the art (IMO) editor to the game. Some critics considered it a sign of weakness, but owning inFAMOUS 2 I think it was a sign of brilliance. Even now I enjoy messing with it; not bad for a game which storyline you could finish in a few days! The editor is easy enough to let anyone work on it (you don't have to be a graphic artist to build up a story) yet advanced enough to really build something deep.
Prototype 2 otoh... I still think it'll be fun, but I'm not quite tempted to get it, maybe second hand or after a year or so at a (heavily) reduced price. It simply seems to be more of the same.
I'm not too pleased with the whole "marketplace development". I think its only a matter of time before more and more components are stripped from Windows where customers are left to fend for themselves using the Marketplace. Of course the price for the OS doesn't go down, even though it provides less functionality.
And considering that developers need to pay to publish stuff through the marketplace and customers most likely will need to buy stuff from the marketplace leaves MS in the middle of the revenue; generating more income with less effort.
Partly meant as a joke but still: Google is doing everything it can to force Google+ on everyone? Guess they missed me then. You get what you pay for and if you don't like it (this includes me btw) then don't use their services and move on to something else. THEN you're making a statement.
Time and time again do people speculate over stuff which Microsoft does; one party often makes the story even more horrible than the other and this continues until it eventually finds its way into "mainstream media" which, partly because of all the 'hype', now starts to read "between the lines" whenever MS releases a public statement.
When will the media learn ?
I mean; come one here... Last 'hype' was that MS was allegedly killing off .NET with the release of Windows 8 because they were said to fully bet on HTML5 and Javascript. Metro would mean the end of .NET as we knew it.
Well, we all know how that turned out do we? I have the Windows Phone SDK right here; I can develop Metro applications using VB or C# (all within the .NET framework) and it utilizes Silverlight (another development which was said to go) or XNA. Windows 8? VS2011 is said to support HTML5, Javascript, C++, C# and VB. So much for the "end of .NET".
This is no different IMO. Just like it would be suicide for MS to kill .NET it would be the exact same deal when it comes to Windows Live.
I have a Live ID which I can use to authenticate with a zillion MS services. From Hotmail to Skydrive right to TechNet and the Office blogs. Or what to think of my Windows Phone? Outlook utilizes Windows Live (Hotmail) to sync its data with my phone. My Windows Phone fully utilizes Windows Live to gain access to storage such as SkyDrive or the online services such as my agenda and contacts (Hotmail). Its an essential part of the whole experience.
In one story we read how 'desperate' Microsoft is to uphold its MS Phone market; Ballmer is rumored to meet up with LG to "discuss their stance on the Windows Phone" (its a rumor but everyone believes it so it seems).
Yet on other other hand we're also perfectly willing to believe that they're going to kill a service which is a fundamental part of said Windows Phone environment ?
Make up your mind already... Better yet: do more research and don't read between the lines.
Please note: This is not a sneer nor an attempt to compare these 2 games with each other. Because that is simply impossible; the only similarity I can think of is that both are FPS games.
The reason I mention FC2 though is because it has baffled and amazed me how they managed to implement all of the mentioned points above (non linear and fairly intelligent AI) almost /4/ years ago.
So reading how even bigger names such as CoD are adapting this system can't help me mentioning how games such as FC2 really set a standard. Not bad for a budget game IMO :-) (and I love the flamethrower in that game ;-)).
Register
755 posts • joined Sunday 19th December 2010 15:08 GMT
Page:
Not surprising...
I bet MS used their own new "engine" (so.cl) to search for information on this subject. Only to have some people tag it "Window 8" (or other crap) after which the topic suddenly takes a whole new turn with lots of extra (often unwanted) crap.
That's what you get guys from trying to re-invent the wheel :-)
You know the sad part? I didn't make up the stuff about so.cl :P
And so I finally got on...
I honestly tried to approach this with an open mind considering how I think Windows Live is quite tolerable, Win7 enjoyable and Office 2010 bearable (I also kinda enjoy it but heck).
SO... Its a search engine. Okee...
I search for "Anime" and get several hits I'm not interested in. Ok, so I search for 'Ableton' which is the name of a software company as well as DAW environment. Only to have some nitwit 'tag' my search result as "Windows 8". WTF?
So now there sits a "feed" somewhere which I apparently made; it says "Ableton", it lists some screenshots and other stuff and because it tagged "Windows 8" it also lists a whole lot of Windows 8 crapola.
And of course; one can only "like" things, can cannot "dislike" or "no" vote stuff. Wonderful...
So I eventually find the option to edit my "post" (WTF?!) and remove a tag. Only to get greeted by some weird error message.
And so I eventually managed to remove the entire "post" (what post, I was only trying to use a search engine ?).
Only to have that pesky person all of sudden follow me. Yeah right; I bet to tag more serious stuff I look for as "windows 8".
RIGHT, so that's my experience so far.
And it leaves me wondering: Why the HECK would I want to use this utter and total display of CHAOS instead of my trusty search bar in the browser which gets me to Google or Bing ?
Who cares that when person A searches for item "B" several people might find the time to immediately "like" it and "tag" it. What good does this do ME ?
AND why can't I rant like this on a social network? On Live I can put "Looking at so.cl, WHAT A MESS!" in my status.
As such my conclusion: FAIL!
He overlooks one detail
Devices /shipped/ with OS != Devices always /running/ with OS.
Has he already forgotten what most people did when they could no longer buy an XP PC and ended up with Vista ?
Its down already it seems...
SO I have a Live ID which I used. It took them a while but I finally got an e-mail telling me I was invited to join the party.
Halleluja!
So I follow the link (copy/paste) and guess what? "Webpage can't be shown" (IE). When doing this in SeaMonkey I immediately get warnings about redirect loops ("redirection limit for this URL exceeded").
So SeaMonkey refuses to show, MSIE9 simply barfs on me... This is the new social stuff?
He always stood out...
Now, while I don't think the Next Generation is all that bad they couldn't match the acting qualities of Scotty IMO.
"Relics"; as a passenger on the starship Jenolan Scotty is involved in a crash onto the surface of a strange globe. He and a person called "Franklin" are the only survivors of the crash. Aware that they're from a position far away from normal routes Scotty realizes that a rescue might take a while so he decides what he does best: by rigging the transporter he manages to get it into a continuous diagnostic cycle. Then he transports himself and Franklin; being the first person to survive for 60 years inside a transporter.
In this episode you get to see Scotty and LaForge together and quite frankly I think Scotty was the better engineer. When he started talking about the Dyson sphere you could /hear/ the enthusiasm and awe he had for the "technological achievement". To which LaForge could only flatly comment: "Yeah, its quite impressive" while sounding as he didn't even really mean it.
That guy was a classic... "Synthetic scotch, synthetic commanders....".
However, I do think the guy who plays Data does manage to come very close with his acting. Very well seen when he offers Scotty a drink of a non-synthahol beverage..
Scotty: "What is it?"
Data: "It is...." Data looks at the bottle, only to see there's no label on it.
He then opens the bottle to identify the scent, fully convinced that he can now answer Scotty's question Data starts: "It is....", but apparently this isn't part of his memory banks.
Data looks at Scotty: "It is green.".
Scotty now makes a gesture saying "Well, let me have it".
That dear reader is what I call a classic :-)
@dazzza
But being of an older generation probably left the guy a little hard-hearing. That tends to cause some shouting too ;-)
It seems they got one thing right...
And that's allowing people to use aliases.
Of course I can't tell for sure because after trying to logon using my Live ID I've been told to wait for an approval e-mail hasn't arrived yet.
Another thing which looks reasonable are the privacy rulings. I think its a nice touch that they enhanced the sections which cover privacy themselves so that you can easily read what data they're trying to collect.
Still, I can't help wonder if MS hasn't been looking too much at Google here. You know; limiting access to their environment and getting people to invite each other and so. While it may have worked for Google that is of course no guarantee it will also work for MS.
No bad mouthing intended but I can see it happening now on my end: After a few weeks I finally get an e-mail from this so.cl thing yet totally forgot all about it. "Nah, probably sent by mistake", never to be seen there again....
Seems an earlier comment wasn't that much off....
In a previous comment I jested at MS removing support options from Windows (keyboard / mouse) because people could be bothered with the inability to use them.
However, this latest move makes one seriously wonder....
Aero is /much/ more than merely a shiney interface. Its highly functional as well; the option to have status bars display in the taskbar icons is IMO invaluable. In Windows 7 you can /always/ see the progress of a download or copy action.
In Windows 8 you should be using full screen crapola anyway, so who cares about all that Aero nonsense anymore?
Well: I DO!
This is yet another reason to avoid Win8 on the desktop.
Re: STOP IT
Uhm... XP /is/ still supported ;-)
Damage control already ?
Oh I can see it now...
Mr. Steve: "Dear investors, you may wonder why Windows 8 managed to sell even less copies than Windows Vista. I can say this; its not us. No: Developers, developers, developers, developers, ..."
<skip>
"....and so: Developers! And as you can see we foresaw this coming and issued several warnings. But did they listen? No!".
"So now I hope you'll approve /more/ investment into Windows 8 so that we can set things right!". Mr. Steve thinks: "I only hope I didn't accidentally fire the only guys who still know how to program a start menu..."
@Michael
And amazingly enough WP51 can also run on WP7.
...If someone cared to port it. Which I doubt anyone will do because the confusion would be catastrophic (but funny!) :-)
Very well done!
What I like best is that the app. is "no nonsense". iow; no bother with livetiles, no worrying that the Bird sits on the background to slurp more info... You open the app, and you get news.
One small complaint though; you turned off auto complete & spellcheck during input. Makes it harder to send messages.
Apart from that: Well done!
(sent from my phone using the app.).
Turn this into something good!
The fact that DDoS data could reach the Piratebay means that there are still kiddies out there who can use their services and download for free! Even though our freedom abiding "copyleft organizations" have paid, errr: /persuaded/, many judges in many countries to enforce a blockade.
And so a real crime has been committed here. I'm not talking about kids extorting companies ("pay up or loose your site / services") or hinder the government (look it up in the news). That's old stuff and not important. No; they can actually still access the dreaded Piratebay! OMG!
So "copyright and freedom protecting" organizations (yes, I'm talking about YOU: Brein, riaa, buma/stemra, etc.): the fight is on. And your target is the source of the DDoS stream because there are people who download for free!
(tip: they shut down the piratebay so they could download even MORE!).
....if this doesn't get those kiddies shut down then /nothing/ will ;-)
And you know the sad part? Even though I wrote all this up as a joke I think it could actually hold some truth as well.
@Jimc
Indeed, they used to be a bunch of very good wrestlers!
Makes you wonder indeed...
Damaging actions...
If only Greenpeace would consider their actions more carefully...
Because IMO they do have a point; it is important to try and limit the use of energy so that we'll last longer. But actions like these are not the way to do it. Worse: they'll most likely have the exact opposite effect as can be seen above.
Trying to force people or companies into doing something has never worked, and will only come to bite you in the behinds. Laser beaming messages; and in the end you'll only hinder people who only want to do their job and actually /earn/ a living for themselves. Job nicely done indeed.
Making people and governments aware will have much more effect. And trying not to overdo stuff and pulling into ridiculous scenario's helps too.
Example: In Holland there was a speedway all build and ready; approx. 15km of asphalt sitting ready to be used and help take traffic loads away from another busy (and because of that dangerous) highway.
Yet it couldn't be used. Because environmentalist groups (subsidized by the government no less) had filed complaints and managed to postpone the official opening of the road for at least 1.5 years. And to what end? Everything was done, all was ready and approved. No, IIRC they demanded another investigation.
Finally everything was put in place and the road has been used ever since. But actions like that do not help people understand nor appreciate, quite the opposite.
IMO this is no different. Quite a shame too because as mentioned above; I do agree that we need to work on conserving energy. Every little bit can help, but not with (IMO) idiotic actions like these.
You /need/ to be online?
That is utterly stupid and would be a very strong reason for me not to get into this game. Which I'm not since I'm anticipating GTA V but that's a different story...
I'm not even talking about servers which can get overloaded, but what will happen if Blizzard decides to pull the plug out of their servers in, say, 3 - 6 years because they're focusing on the game which is current then ?
Then you're talking about /not/ being able to play a /single player/ campaign because of some half brained copy protection. That is just stupid and an utter fail in my book.
And before anyone comes up with the obvious comment: "But who would want to play a game which is so old?". Well, you'd be surprised! Only last week did I decide on checking up on Far Cry 2, a game which is now roughly 3.5 years old. To my total surprise there was still some decent online gaming action going on.
Sure; not everything. For example; I couldn't get enough people together to play a good game of "Uprising" (you need to take checkpoints to dominate the map) but there was plenty of deathmatch going on. 3.5 years after release.
This is solid proof
That AI has come to the iPhone and it even reads the news.
While you may claim that Apple has changed the database, I know better. Siri's personality must be specific and it has grown into a state where it became tired with being asked the same question over and over again.
As such it has reached the point where it can take no more...
"You're kidding right?"... You know what it is; either get one yourself or move on!
Very cool app!
Now, I can't comment on the Android version but the authors are apparently well aware of what's going on in the market and also provided a version for the Windows Phone, and it is indeed quite cool. Not too intrusive, all the info you want and very clear warnings when you're about to enter a part which contains spoilers.
What I also consider very cool is that they managed to maintain the looks and feel of the original program (as can be seen in the screenshots in this article) and basically converted it into the style for the "other" platform.
Writing a program for one platform is one thing. Believing in it and trying to make it available on /all/ platforms, that deserves some respect too IMO.
Lousy way to treat customers
Now, on the risk of comparing apples and oranges... I'm passionate about electronic music / sound design and synthesizers (basically sound synthesis) in general. To that end I picked up some gear and software, my 'studio' is basically build around 'Ableton Live (Suite) 8'. It doesn't come cheap; for the Suite version (the full boxed version which contains everything) you normally pay around E 700,-.
The major difference otoh... I stepped onto the Ableton bandwagon 2 years ago (december 2010), picked up version 8.0.3. (or close enough). Right now they're on 8.3; the latest /update/ was released on the 2nd of April 2012. From 8.0.3 back in 2010 to 8.3 this year. And users never had to cough up any extra cash.
"Just updates" ? Not even that... If you're interested check the release notes. New features were also added along the way.
I know; comparing apples and oranges. But even so; that is IMO the way to do it and how you treat your userbase seriously. It seems that the bigger the company the lousier the service tends to be.
@AC
"the worst being that you can't use the keyboard when using calls (like phone banking), as the screen is off, with no way to turn it off."
Yet you can. The reason I know this from mind is because its this aspect which made me carry both a PDA /and/ cellphone for a very long time (even when smartphones became more popular). It was one of the reasons I picked up this particular phone.
When talking you simply shake the phone a little (or touch the screen) and it'll come up. Put the phone into speaker mode (if you want to keep talking). Then simply press the Windows key (start button) and you'll be in the start screen with a bar at the top which tells you that you have a call in progress.
Now you can basically do anything you want. Including taking notes, surfing the net, looking up phone numbers, even speech commands work to some extend.
If you use an earpiece its even easier; then you don't have to bother with speaker mode at all; you simply hit the Windows key and start taking notes as much as you want.
(or surf the net for pr0n when the conversation is utterly boring ;-))
@Big_ted
What the EU did was overrated and quite frankly; the effect wasn't quite what they intended.
I mean; the choice of browser... First the ruling came long after the facts and the only thing MS actually did was add some dumb ass program (IMO) which pointed people to other possible options. But their explorer was still there, quite dominantly even. In fact; XP still came with MSIE pre-installed because: "how else would you be able to install updates on a pristine installation?".
I know for a fact that many end users considered that "choice of browsers program" annoying and intrusive instead of something which defended their rights.
"Hello? Yes, I installed Explorer 8 myself yet this stupid program keeps popping up asking me what browser I want. What should I do? I don't want another browser".
"I reinstalled XP and now I have some program which keeps asking me to select a browser. How can I tell it I don't want any change? I don't want firefox, I don't want chrome but I also don't want explorer 8. I don't want new stuff, how to turn this crap off?".
And we had dozens of support calls like that. And most people /did/ realize that this program was something which was demanded by the EU and they weren't happy about it. Some even felt being treated like idiots who couldn't make up their own minds.
Re: Netscape's browser eventually formed the basis of Mozilla’s Firefox
Yet it did form the basis of Mozilla spinoffs such as SeaMonkey. A project which IMO proofs that a bad start doesn't have to result in a bad product (I actually use & enjoy SeaMonkey on a daily basis).
@Philip
You mean "download a spellchecker".
@Giles
Only that within that context MS doesn't ride the wave alone. There are plenty of other big US companies that get away with lots of unwanted stuff. From Intel to Apple and beyond.
It wouldn't surprise me if...
...it turns out that MS has locked up the Metro interface so darned strict that they simply cannot comply to these requests without breaking some stuff.
This is only speculation; no more and no less.
But the reason I do so is because one of the commonly used arguments against Metro on the Windows Phone is that it is too strict. All apps. are sandboxed and by default its not possible for one application to access or utilize another. This has caused issues with certain developers on several occasions.
So now I wonder; is this really a Windows RT only issue or do Mozilla & Google have a problem with Metro in general? The reason this only surfaces on Windows RT could be because its a relatively popular platform and Mozilla seems more eager to build for RT than Metro on Windows 8 (or the Windows phone for that matter).
I don't mention this out of "fanboy-ism" but because it honestly wouldn't surprise me. MS has a tendency to stare themselves blind on a single goal and very much tend to ignore other aspects that come with it. Think Metro; it performs quite well on mobile devices (my phone for example) but my desktop? Ugh! Yet MS is "going after mobile".
But another thing: MS have openly admitted that they had a lot of catching up to do on security aspects. Windows 7 has come a long way (IMO) but its only partial comparable to the flexibility you have on a *nix platform. MS is obviously heavily betting on Metro for this. So could it be possible that a browser application requires too much access within the system and as such it has become impossible to utilize the way Metro is now ?
Its already a known fact that browser (-like) applications will have a different set of access rules due to the need for extensive permissions. And that RT differs on several points from the "regular" Metro.
As such I can't help wonder here...
@AC
And yet when you check out Amazon's Top 100 of best selling cell phones with service plans you'll see a Lumia sitting in the top 20. (at the time of writing it sits at 20).
I consider that not bad at all for an environment which is roughly 1.5 years old.
And although I know Amazon may not be the best resource it appears that they are honest with "stats which change on an hourly basis". Because only a week ago there were Lumia's sitting on place 8 and place 16.
Its not as if the devices aren't getting sold or anything.
C64 already did it.
And the reason I mention this is because you didn't need several drives next to each other, you only needed 1. And it could actually play certain melodies as well (of course no one ever tried STTNG because that didn't exist at that time, however we did have the original star trek theme).
Of course I have no idea how much damage this could do to the drive, but I do know that after having played the melodies a few times my 1541 drive still works today, now easily 20 years after the facts.
Re: Oh dear
Well, that could be a plan B.
"When new game fails stack every game item on top of each other, mix items with pigs, and add catapult with new type of birds".
Money vs. quality
To put it simple: you don't need degrees to be good within the fields of ICT. In fact; many of the skills which are really useful in the field aren't even taught at schools. Point is; such investment firms don't look at the company and the quality; it looks at how to generate profit as quickly as possible. Preferably something which lasts and is "good enough" but of either of these options fail then they're also perfectly willing to settle for short term solutions.
That is; solutions for them and not so much for the company. If the solution would mean breaking up the company and selling of some of the assets which perform below the anticipated scope then so be it. If it turns out that this asset was actually quite important to other parts of the company then well... No one made a mistake; they simply need to sell of even more!
Now don't get me wrong; if someone lied on their resume and have been caught then its only fair that they're taken care of. But one can also wonder if the company itself added the "extra info" in order to keep the stockholders happy. For example because they recognized that the CEO had the required knowledge and experience, but simply didn't know if (and how) they could convince the stockholders of this fact.
Commonly speaking; what's good for the stockholders (esp. investment firms) doesn't always have to be good for the company. Usually its quite the opposite.
I'm no freetard!
Because some of the stuff I download isn't free at all, so there!
Oh darn, wait a sec....
Asuka Langley Soryu
Not Soraya :-)
Was quite a fan of that series until the multi-repeats and "quests for more money" started.
As to the movies in general; since these are most likely all b or c rated movies its obvious which one is the best: the one which has boobies in it, that has always been the golden rule with movies like that. Otherwise absolutely no one would be watching it ;-)
This is gonna get ugly
I like Bing!
The daily pictures are nice, but the fact its not Google can be nice too at times.
Bing.com: I start typing and I can stay focused on what I am doing.
Google.com: I type one sentence and the whole thing comes tumbling down and starts changing with everything I typed.
Neither engines are the best anymore (IMO) but I'd sure hate to lose any of them (because; without competition the market will REALLY turn to sh*t).
Not surprising...
Governments (in general, including mine) are bound to love this. It saves them the trouble (brain usage) from having to figure out where to get the stuff.
Mr. Black: "See, I can do it tool; we no need those admin guys no more, yahoo!".
Next (fictional!)! year: "Office 365 suffered from a malfunction, anyone could get access!".
Mr. Black: "I wasn't the one to blame, those darned admin guys never told me the risks of using this. We need need new laws on systems administration!".
"darned admin guys" (response never to be found in the media under normal circumstances): "you're the one who fired us for suggesting NOT to use that stuff in the first place a**"pocket").
OK, I am jesting here because in all fairness I am a fan of MS Office 2010. But I also think to know how government works and as such...
With or without...
Anethesia ?
On both accounts ;-)
And as the world when "carbon neutral"...
...All plants died from lack of 'food'.
Seriously; it is a good thing that companies put some interest into all this and try to thwart any waste going on in their offices. But this looks odd to me; seems all they're doing is trying to generate income from their own remote offices.
I'd be more impressed if they tried to cut back on waste. You know; re-use paper and clipboards instead of writing on one side and throw it all away, that sort of stuff. May sound small and insignificant, but you'd be amazed what all such small things combined (throughout an entire company) can actually accomplish.
Still, its a good step in the right direction so it seems.
@Turtle
Not using Nuendo / Cubase myself but I am a passionate sound designer; I can't help wonder if the decision by Steinberg is more driven by Ableton than that what drove Microsoft.
Because you see; sometimes having a dull flat gray screen actually works out quite well. Ableton Live (Suite 8) (link) is an DAW which existed for 10 years now and as you can notice by the logo and screenshots on that page: its interface is completely grey. And before anyone wonders about the "colorful blocks"; that isn't the program itself, those merely represent your audio data.
By default Ableton Live only uses grey for its interface combined with yellow to indicate selected options (system options, instrument options as well as channel on/off), red to indicate a record mode and blue to indicate an individual selected track and the main "individual" volume. And finally orange to indicate a "special" option; if a track has been set to "monitoring" (it continues to pick up audio input, no need to arm it) then the indicator will be orange. Orange is also used in the interface of some instruments (for example to be able and define a waveform in their Operator synthesizer) as well as volume and balance controls (dials).
But that's it! All audio channels have the same dull grey color, the only one which is shown to be light grey is the selected track. All instruments and effects sit in a grey box which apart from a yellow selection bar is completely grey; even the icons representing folders and different type of objects (presets, instrument/effect object, 'grouped' object).
The main issue here should be obvious: what works for some doesn't have to work for others.
Within the context of Live I actually enjoy such an interface because it helps me focus on what matters to me. If I'm recording audio then I don't care about good looks or such; all I care for is that as much CPU power as possible is used to process my recording as good as possible and in the mean time having some good indicators to see what is going on.
That is what Ableton gives me; the program itself is flat grey and my data is colored so I can always immediately see whats going on.
Needless to say but as much as I enjoy this design in Ableton (IMO its a key feature) I hate it in Visual Studio. In VS it just doesn't add up for me; different programs, different uses.
Re: Yay, everyone loses.
I know, I know: YHBT...
Still, being a fan of MS Office 2010 I can't help myself anyway. Keep well in mind that it is /because/ of that oss community that end users are able to pick up a copy of MS Office /far/ cheaper and far more easier than before (of course I'm talking about legit channels).
The reason should be obvious: competition. In the likes MS had never seen before and initially had it haunt them because this form of competition couldn't be bought nor dominated. It just kept going and wouldn't go away no matter what they tried or did.
All this development means is that we can welcome back yet another serious competitor on the Office market. One which is more rooted in the whole OSS community, which has more experience with maintaining bigger projects (which also come with high expectations) and most of all: which doesn't have anything to proof.
Sure; in the lights of Libre Office vs. OpenOffice its obvious that Apache has the name which most people know yet it seems they also have a lot of catching up to do. Still; being an Office 2010 'power user' (at least that's what I consider myself) I think this is great news. 2 competitors are much better than 1.
In the end we /all/ benefit, no matter if you use MS Office, LibreOffice or OpenOffice (in order of personal preference).
I think they're onto something here.
If there's one thing Microsoft has done time and time again its releasing a product which was "so so" only to improve on it later (IMO usually very well executed improvements, but I will admit to be biased here and there).
Same has applied to Azure IMO. I'm not claiming it didn't have any potential, but initially it sure had a big label stamped on it: "Expensive!". Renting a virtual database with a good storage (2Gb) and fixed bandwith would cost a multiple factor more than renting a /whole/ virtual Linux environment (which, as the reader may know, could easily host /multiple/ virtual databases). Worse: many service providers also support virtual Window servers; Windows Server 2008 - optimized for web usage (so; with IIS, MS SQL, etc)? No problem. More expensive than a Linux server, but still /way/ cheaper than an Azure solution (which only provides the database aspect).
Now, I'm sure there is more to Azure than that. For example, i'm not taking things like redundancy, backups, and all of that into account. But nonetheless it sure did seem that you'd spend a lot of money on something which could be less expensive if only it didn't have the name 'Microsoft' attached to it.
So if MS is really going for the cloud services then I think it makes sense to "start over" this way; drop the name and embed the 'engine' in a broader package. At the very least it is bound to kill any prejudice because most people will most likely eventually approach it as something "new".
And that may very well give them opportunity to approach the consumer market as well.
You got to start somewhere, and I think this could be a step in the right direction.
Linux on the desktopIPv6!@boltar
That is of course assuming that IPv6 is meant to replace IPv4 but quite frankly I don't see that happening anytime soon. Its perfectly doable to use both together and I think that is also the better approach here.
Once they run side by side just give it time. Then eventually we "oldies" will probably complain about hard to memorize addresses while someone else is bound to come up with a new solution for that (or new IT guys actually train themselves to increase their memorization, who knows ;-)).
Linux on the desktopIPv6!@Mark
Not sure I agree with that.
What is there to switch anyway? Once IPv6 takes off all those companies only need to invest in setting up a gateway which gets their IPv4 data onto the IPv6 network. Could easily be a hardware firewall supporting both IPv6 & IPv4. Or when in doubt setup a dedicated box for it.
Minimum amount of effort / investment vs. maximum outcome.
Its a first step...
Sure there is a firewall in place and I fully agree that people aren't fully free to do whatever they want. But its a good start in the right direction.
Rome wasn't build in one day and IMO you also can't expect countries like China to drop the whole communistic ideals over a day as well. Because in the end that could very well lead to chaos, and with a country as big as China I think that's in no ones interest, including the people living there.
If you look at China now and 30 years back then there is no denying that people have gotten more freedom. Sure; they aren't free by our standards but IMO you can't reflect on everything solely based on your own environment. Sometimes it doesn't work that way.
Example: many Chinese were actually happier when Google filtered the search results on their own accord then when denying to do so and being ordered by the government. Why? Because by applying filters themselves Google also showed the people which sites were blocked 'on demand' (by the 'firewall') and which weren't. In a way you could argue that by applying filters to their search engine in the way Google did they gave people a slightly bit of extra freedom (to see for themselves what is blocked or not instead of being left to wonder if the site was dead or a filter was being applied).
Yet many people in the 'free West' considered it highly immoral that Google would even do such a thing. Yet once again: when placed into context things may actually be a lot less evil than it may seem.
Just my 2 cents...
@sueme2
Sorry to say, but that analogy is flawed.
First the recipe... Its not the final product; that would be the actual food you prepared. As such the recipe is basically a /method/ which you can use / follow to create the end product (the food).
A computer program on the other hand is an end product by itself. Its a product created by a computer programmer just like a nice dish is a product created by a cook.
So to go back to your analogy: a better description would be to think of the recipe as the documentation for a computer language. The cooking would be equal to the programming and the end products would be the food and computer program.
@PXG
Not more adjusted but more controlled I think. They are allowed to call themselves a religion but I bet that the moment they'd step out of line (like your example) they can expect huge claims through lawsuits from uber-Jedi Mr. Lucas himself.
3 problems...
IMO there are 3 big concerns for Microsoft when it comes to their products. I'm not talking about just the mobile market btw, but instead try to approach it as a whole.
First: Inflexibility. The market has changed - considerably - yet it seems that Microsoft somehow doesn't manage to adapt. For example: the times where they could dictate standards are pretty much gone. The time where they could put a new product on the market with solid expectations that it will sell is also behind us.
Examples of this issue would be the ongoing cycle of pushing out a product which is "so so" only to fix things afterwards. A first impression is the most important moment, yet it seems MS doesn't care about that. Another example would be advertisement. I get the impression that MS doesn't really know how to sell their own products. Take the recent Windows Phone: "It can 'smoke' the competition" (when taking pictures, putting stuff on social media, finding locations around you, etc.). Cool, but I'm not into social media, occasionally take pictures and locations... I live in the Netherlands where that service doesn't work yet. So why would I want a Windows Phone?
Second: Prejudice. IMO well deserved (see above wrt 'first impressions') but still a sad development. Because if there's one thing MS does quite well (IMO of course) its fixing stuff. Software like Office, Expression Web, Visual Studio, etc. have come a long way and when looking at the current version it has become quite usable and enjoyable (though taste obviously differs).
And finally: Tunnel vision. Closely related to my first point but IMO important enough to mention separately: Whenever they spot a missed opportunity which could provide access to a new market then MS seems to have a tendency to totally focus on that single aspect and somewhat ignore everything else. Something which in the end also manages to get "fixed" again but by that time the 'damage' has already been done. Resulting at least in item 2 to become a relevant issue again.
IMO Microsoft has some very high potential and manages to produce quite some interesting and plain out impressive products. Yet it seems to me that they really need to realize that times have changed.
BUT... I guess we'll find out how many of my assumptions hold truth once Windows 8 hits the shelves.
Prototype was good for mindless action...
But unfortunately, as the author worded quite well, that will eventually become boring. I enjoyed the original Prototype but many aspects were far too limited for my taste. You could consume people after which you could take over their personality. So far, so good.
But only when consuming /specific/ people; it didn't stick. For example; a terrified person comes up to you, you consume him/her to replenish your health. Then I'd expect to know what scared the heck out of the guy/girl. For example; knowing where the nearby enemies are located. But Prototype never went that deep. Which disappointed me to some end.
Back in the day Prototype stood directly against inFAMOUS; after careful consideration I eventually picked Prototype. It was good fun, and it still is (I still play Prototype occasionally). But now I think inFAMOUS is the better of the two. The side missions in inFAMOUS added to the whole storyline and expanded heavily on the feeling of being in a city which was in total anarchy. The Prototype side missions on the other hand were mere tests. Race to the top of a building, glide to the spot marked X, consume as many people as possible, etc. It was fun, don't get me wrong, but it never added up to the story of the game itself. Within that context the tests never made much sense...
When looking at the inFAMOUS sequel I think its obvious that Sucker Punch (company behind inFAMOUS) realized all too well that this stuff could get repetitive. And so they added a state of the art (IMO) editor to the game. Some critics considered it a sign of weakness, but owning inFAMOUS 2 I think it was a sign of brilliance. Even now I enjoy messing with it; not bad for a game which storyline you could finish in a few days! The editor is easy enough to let anyone work on it (you don't have to be a graphic artist to build up a story) yet advanced enough to really build something deep.
Prototype 2 otoh... I still think it'll be fun, but I'm not quite tempted to get it, maybe second hand or after a year or so at a (heavily) reduced price. It simply seems to be more of the same.
So it wasn't the beer afterall!
I knew that Win7 booted much faster ever since I used these Seagate disks (and had a few beers, but obviously that had nothing to do with it ;-))!
Disturbing move...
I'm not too pleased with the whole "marketplace development". I think its only a matter of time before more and more components are stripped from Windows where customers are left to fend for themselves using the Marketplace. Of course the price for the OS doesn't go down, even though it provides less functionality.
And considering that developers need to pay to publish stuff through the marketplace and customers most likely will need to buy stuff from the marketplace leaves MS in the middle of the revenue; generating more income with less effort.
Not too sure I like where this is going.
To quote Jean-Luc Picard
"Shut up Wesley".
Partly meant as a joke but still: Google is doing everything it can to force Google+ on everyone? Guess they missed me then. You get what you pay for and if you don't like it (this includes me btw) then don't use their services and move on to something else. THEN you're making a statement.
I call BS
Time and time again do people speculate over stuff which Microsoft does; one party often makes the story even more horrible than the other and this continues until it eventually finds its way into "mainstream media" which, partly because of all the 'hype', now starts to read "between the lines" whenever MS releases a public statement.
When will the media learn ?
I mean; come one here... Last 'hype' was that MS was allegedly killing off .NET with the release of Windows 8 because they were said to fully bet on HTML5 and Javascript. Metro would mean the end of .NET as we knew it.
Well, we all know how that turned out do we? I have the Windows Phone SDK right here; I can develop Metro applications using VB or C# (all within the .NET framework) and it utilizes Silverlight (another development which was said to go) or XNA. Windows 8? VS2011 is said to support HTML5, Javascript, C++, C# and VB. So much for the "end of .NET".
This is no different IMO. Just like it would be suicide for MS to kill .NET it would be the exact same deal when it comes to Windows Live.
I have a Live ID which I can use to authenticate with a zillion MS services. From Hotmail to Skydrive right to TechNet and the Office blogs. Or what to think of my Windows Phone? Outlook utilizes Windows Live (Hotmail) to sync its data with my phone. My Windows Phone fully utilizes Windows Live to gain access to storage such as SkyDrive or the online services such as my agenda and contacts (Hotmail). Its an essential part of the whole experience.
In one story we read how 'desperate' Microsoft is to uphold its MS Phone market; Ballmer is rumored to meet up with LG to "discuss their stance on the Windows Phone" (its a rumor but everyone believes it so it seems).
Yet on other other hand we're also perfectly willing to believe that they're going to kill a service which is a fundamental part of said Windows Phone environment ?
Make up your mind already... Better yet: do more research and don't read between the lines.
Far Cry 2 already did it
Please note: This is not a sneer nor an attempt to compare these 2 games with each other. Because that is simply impossible; the only similarity I can think of is that both are FPS games.
The reason I mention FC2 though is because it has baffled and amazed me how they managed to implement all of the mentioned points above (non linear and fairly intelligent AI) almost /4/ years ago.
So reading how even bigger names such as CoD are adapting this system can't help me mentioning how games such as FC2 really set a standard. Not bad for a budget game IMO :-) (and I love the flamethrower in that game ;-)).
Page: