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Google is going to introduce the Google Chrome Operating System.
I'm not saying it should replace all OS's, but I do see a real use for this. I want some power on my home PC, so I probably wouldn't use it there but when I'm on the road all I use my notebook for (except when I'm working as a tech) is web use. I think of myself as an early adopter of web based storage and synchronization. I was actually a step ahead of Google on a few things for my own personal use, such as 10+ years ago when I used to upload my Netscape bookmark HTML files and browse them online/manually resync them, I used imap for email instead of POP3 so I could keep it on multiple systems, and used my webserver/personal webspace at work as web based hard drive.
Using Google as the "common ground" has helped me a lot and has taken the place of a lot of what I used to do manually. Not only because it's easier but because ISP's have become a bunch of asshats and make it difficult to do it yourself these days.
My guess is that the OS will be little more than a front end for most Google web services, and will probably have a plugin layer, my guess is this plugin layer will probably be for instant messengers and that sort of thing. Probably Linux versions of them, but I wouldn't bet the farm on it. If this OS doesn't use local storage for anything more than caching content for offline use and storing applications and a few settings - not even all the settings - I think they'll make something well worth using. A mobile web based dumb terminal, I love the idea. |
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This is a subject that's often on my mind since I read Slashdot.
What sparked this brewing in my brain was a recent (and reoccurring) article stating game publishers want a piece of the resell market. Of course I don't see where they have any standing to make these demands. I like to shop at Half Price Books a national chain of book resellers that has quite a few stores in the Houston area. They sell overstock and used books, movies, music, and yes, even video games, and just like GameStop, the target of the current debate, they'll even buy your used stuff from you at a fraction of what they're going to resell it for. They've been doing this for DECADES with books and records - other than the fact it's more profitable - I don't see where game manufacturers have any standing to complain.
So I started thinking about it - how do video games differ from music, movies, and books? I came up with the answer - repeat releases. A first edition happens when a song, book, etc.. comes out. Then, if demand is high enough, they do another - all of these types of media have this in common. The difference is, when 8-tracks and cassettes came out, what was formerly vinyl only got a new release on a new format (and more industrious people could transfer it on their own, but that's another story). Then when CD's came out it was superior to all the previous formats (with the arguable exception of a new vinyl record on a top end turn table) so everything came out on that and it became a really good long term personal "master" for other formats to come, and even as a master for making your own tape versions. The same could be said with the evolution from film to movie disk, to beta and VHS to DVD, etc.... Years later.
What typically happens with video games? Nada. When the game is new, they'll make new copies as demand increases. When the game is old, they stop doing it, even if the system is still current or has a compatible replacement. Sometimes there's a re-release, a classics collection, or a port, but not for everything. Sure it could be argued that not every band that was released on a 10" 88 RPM record got a CD release, but there certainly is a rift, and movies get a higher percentage of new format releases than even music does.
What if I want to play Final Fantasy 7? Well, they stopped making it years ago, along with the PSX. But the game will play fine on a PS2 and a PS3, even PS3's that don't play PS2 games will usually play a PSX game (little known trivia). Ok, so I'll buy an old copy - just go out on eBay and see how much an old copy of that game scratched up and used costs.
In the world of movies I'll give an example. At my old video store job we still had some Beta tapes left laying around in the back from when they were still rented out. Flight of the Navigator was one of these movies. We could have marked that thing free, sat it on the counter and some kid would have picked it up three or four days later, not because they wanted it and had a Beta player at home, but because they didn't know what it was, wanted to ask their parents, or quite likely pull the tape out and drag it up and down the street. But never fear, if it was actually the movie you wanted, we had a VHS copy out on the shelf. Now that DVD's are still the most common format - I'll let you argue among yourselves if it's an outgoing format or not - I picked up a copy of it to watch with my kid for I think it was $5 on DVD brand new off the store shelf. Final Fantasy 7 on the other hand, there's a store here in town I've found and I like the guy who owns it, he offered me a former rental copy for only $75.
To me that means game publishers are the ones who have created the resell market.
The way distribution of almost any copyrighted medium works is they print/press whatever a whole bunch of copies, then if the demand exist they do it again. But that doesn't work for everything. You don't want to do that for something that doesn't have a large demand, it's to expensive and wasteful. My question - if kids in my neighborhood can make a recording of themselves screaming into a microphone in their parents garage, upload the album to CafePress.com and let anyone with the nerve to tolerate it buy a copy, why can't they sell video games the same way? Print on demand back catalogs. Seriously, everything from the Dreamcast on uses optical disk. That works great! How about cartridge based systems? Well..... Those are memory chips. I can fit every NES, Genesis, SNES, Atari 2600, GameBoy, GameGear, and Turbo Graphix 16 - even the optical ones on my phone. You can't tell me we can't come up with a cheaper to make cartridge than the old ones, or lord forbid, a cartridge that will take an SD card that will work on the older systems. Sort of like the adapter my parents had so we could play cassettes in the 8track and the adapter I have that lets me plug any 1/8th" jack into a tape deck (I actually put one of those in the 8track adapter once). Really, all of these games are being pirated already, sure they'll want to make it difficult to copy, to keep the honest people honest, but there's nothing to lose doing that.
This post has been brewing in my head for over a month. I meant to write it a few days ago and just never did. Then, this story hit Slashdot, so I figured it was time to put this one out there. Steam is a step in the right direction. I really think it's a good idea to put the back catalog on something like that. A PS3 has the power to emulate just about any previous system and the controls are reasonable substitutes for most of the old ones, but that doesn't mean they should ignore the possibility of a print on demand market. Given a choice I would much rather buy my FF7 print on demand from Square/Enix than I would a used former rental copy for $75.
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![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) bbovenguy posted this in ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif) spacexploration
I'm not saying the song/singing is particularly good - but it's interesting. My actual reply follows:
The fact Buzz will do stuff like this, stays active, stays in the public eye, not to attention whore, but because he genuinely likes to educate people and enjoys sharing is why Buzz is my favorite old school astronaut. Make that my favorite astronaut.
Despite all of the above, he is still a humble, friendly approachable person.
Buzz Aldrin is a true American - make that world - treasure, and one of the very few people I consider a personal hero.
In the end, Buzz's adventure into singing is better than Leonard Nimoys.
just a link to the wikipedia article so you can decide if you want to suffer through clicking the video at the bottom or not for yourself |
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Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett - fine - but come on Billy Mays? Now who will yell at me through my TV? Vince doesn't yell enough, he just makes faces and beats up hookers.
I used to actually buy Oxi Clean, wasn't actually sure if it actually worked, or if it was the fact I was scrubbing it that made a difference. |
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I plan to be sound asleep at that time. I think it's funny that as of this writing Wikipedia still has it listed as tomorrow. Usually people are breaking their necks to update that, I could, but I wont.
Scrubbed Never mind for now.
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Fifteen classic PC design mistakes - problem #14 bulky expansion modules. That's my old PC! With my printer and both sets of expansion ports attached if I was carrying it by the handle it would literally tap the ground with every step.
I kind of wished I still had that thing. It was an awesome word processor. It became impossible to get ink for the daisy wheel printer though.
For the expansion flaw, this thing had a lot of first:
1. The first portable PC that could run off of a battery. Older portables had to be plugged in.
2. First IBM compatible computer to utilize 3.5" floppies.
3. The first computer with a suspend mode. |
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I just have to share the link to the barrel monster. I think they could probably sell it for more than damages done.
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In response to ellyssians pictures - here's some from yesterday.
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Jun. 9th, 2009 @ 12:56 pm
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( Cut due to size )
Before long I should have some better image hosting.
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Not that I'm looking forward to a digital picture or anything. I'm just can't wait to stop hearing about it.
I keep hearing "If you have cable you're already ready!" I don't have cable.
I keep hearing "If you have satellite you're already ready!" I don't have a satellite.
I keep hearing "If you have an antenna you may be ok if you have an ATSC tuner, otherwise you're screwed!" I don't have an ATSC tuner or an antenna for that matter. I don't feel particularly screwed over it.
The TV is on non-stop at work, even if I turn it off it magically turns on a short time later. I swear they talk about the DTV transition every commercial break. I was watching Fox News while I was working out, and I still heard about it occasionally there. I now watch Sponge Bob Square Pants while working out. Much better, I don't hear about DTV transitions there. If I watch 10 minutes of the news channel (that is 10 minutes of the news channel that isn't commercial) I catch everything they're going to repeat over and over again the rest of that hour/day/week anyways.
I had satellite before Ike hit. I felt like it was a waste of money. I watched Battlestar Galactica if I happened to be able to catch it, which I rarely could. Otherwise I might turn it on occasionally for South Park or the History Channel. Yeah, I turned my TV on once every two weeks or so. Just wasn't worth it. Now I have Hulu and other peoples cable.
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I found this incredibly relevant.
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