Thanks for the overseas video game history. I was unaware of the Famicon. In my social circles at the time, the Atari 2600 was king. I even managed to make my own cartridge, which looking back was incredibly lame.
Don MarangThere is just so much stuff in the world that, to me, is devoid of any real substance, value, and content that I just try to make sure that I am working on things that matter.
Dean Kamen -------------------------------------------------- From: "Kerneels Roos" <kerneels@xxxxxxxxx> Sent: Wednesday, December 22, 2010 5:42 AM To: <programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Subject: Re: iOS Development?
Hi Don,I was actually just talking about the video game industry, and the near collapse was in the North American market. The rest of the world apparently didn't experience a similar crash (from what I can gather -- wasn't around then ha ha). The home computer industry actually capitalised on this low consumer confidence in video game consoles by telling the public, why buy your kid games when you can buy him a computer for his/her education. They didn't mention however that you would probably end up playing more games on a computer than a video games console because you can pirate software easier. But they were right, on a computer you will get more of an education -- even if it's just how to wangle operating systems and how to get extra RAM for that hungry game / app (HiMEM etc.).The same Nintendo which revitalised the market in 1985 was selling under a different name, the Famicon (for family computer) in the far East and that version didn't have the copy protection the NES had. You could also get a keyboard and disk drive for the Famicon and software piracy was rife in Japan and other places where the Famicon was distributed, yet it seems it's games and so on kept selling well -- Nintendo wasn't that worried about home brew development and piracy given that they released a keyboard and disk drive for the Famicon, which was never officially released in the US it seems.The state of fragmentation in the PC application world is a source of constant irretation for me. It's actually rediculous and you have to research a lot in order not to be fooled by every Tom Dick and Harry trying to sell and promote their tool / app. Nice thing with Linux is the ease with which you can install software (e.g. apt package manager) and so you can try many things quickly. There also seems to be only two or three really good contesters for the best app / tool for the job generally speaking, so my experience is that the *NIX open source software world is less fragmented than the PC MS world. Then again, you do get a lot of useless open source, but it doesn't frustrate me that much since you didn't pay for it in the first place and they generally don't bombard you with adds and so on. Also, the developers are very passionate and have a face to them, so you can interact with them and not some company that can only respect paying customer's wishes (understandably).Cheers, Kerneels On 12/22/2010 8:38 AM, Don Marang wrote:No I do not! Most PC users have never figured out how to research software or figured out where to find it. Microsoft just won the battle by name and laziness, not quality.Don MarangThere is just so much stuff in the world that, to me, is devoid of any real substance, value, and content that I just try to make sure that I am working on things that matter.Dean Kamen -------------------------------------------------- From: "Oriol Gómez" <ogomez.s92@xxxxxxxxx> Sent: Wednesday, December 22, 2010 1:13 AM To: <programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Subject: Re: iOS Development?no, not at all. But there is a difference. There is no real/official centralized place to get applications on the pc right now. Which means that in order to get something you have to research it. Honestly, if I went to cydia right now and looked for something, I'd just see way too many useless apps and eventually give up because I could never find anything I wanted in the categories. Not unless there was some form of good rating system, which I don't think it exists in cydia since there are way too many sources. You get what I mean? On 12/22/10, Don Marang <donald.marang@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:I get your example. However, this may be closer to the Mac / PC differences. Are you saying the PC software market or the Mac software market nearly collapsed? Don MarangThere is just so much stuff in the world that, to me, is devoid of any real substance, value, and content that I just try to make sure that I am workingon things that matter. Dean Kamen -------------------------------------------------- From: "Oriol Gómez" <ogomez.s92@xxxxxxxxx> Sent: Tuesday, December 21, 2010 4:51 PM To: <programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Subject: Re: iOS Development?i agree with you partially, though apple's review guidelines are kidn fo strict. But hey, this is what's happenign with cydia right now. Cydia jsut has way too many useless apps it's discouraging. So I guess apple is doing it right. On 12/21/10, Kerneels Roos <kerneels@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:Hi guys, This was a nice discussion. I want to add something to it. As much aspeople hate Apple's obsessive control and "Apple's way or the highway" approach, I think that it is the very thing that keeps them going, and what will continue to guarantee quality and maintain consumer confidencein their products. In the early 1980's the console game industry in North America almost came to a grinding hault due to a few factors. One major one was the flooding of the game console market in the late 70's by hundreds ofclones and cheap machines. Since it was fairly easy to program for those machines (like in little to no licensing controls) many companies sprang up producing ever increasingly pathetic games, resulting in a total lossof consumer confidence.When Nintendo released their 8 bit NES (Nintendo Entertainment System)in North America in 1985 they included a lockout chip that made itfairly hard for hobbyists to copy and program for the NES. Development houses had to obtain a license from Nintendo in order to produce gamesfor the NES and a similar model has persisted ever since. It can be argued that the introduction of the NES basically saved the console game industry in North America, and key to it's success was quality games and tight control.Maybe the openness of the Android platform, the very thing that everyone loves so much about it, is actually going to work in it's detrament by flooding the available apps market with tons of useless, virus like, lowquality stuff? Just some thoughts anyway. Kerneels -- Kerneels Roos Cell: +27 (0)82 309 1998 Skype: cornelis.roos"If one has the talent it pushes for utterance and torments one; it willout; and then one is out with it without questioning. And, look you, thereis nothing in this thing of learning out of books. Here, here and here(pointing to his ear, his head and his heart) is your school. If everythingis right there, then take your pen and down with it; afterward ask theopinion of a man who knows his business." (To a musically talented boy who asked Mozart how one might learn to compose.) __________ View the list's information and change your settings at //www.freelists.org/list/programmingblind__________ View the list's information and change your settings at //www.freelists.org/list/programmingblind__________ View the list's information and change your settings at //www.freelists.org/list/programmingblind__________ View the list's information and change your settings at //www.freelists.org/list/programmingblind__________View the list's information and change your settings at //www.freelists.org/list/programmingblind-- Kerneels Roos Cell: +27 (0)82 309 1998 Skype: cornelis.roos"If one has the talent it pushes for utterance and torments one; it will out; and then one is out with it without questioning. And, look you, there is nothing in this thing of learning out of books. Here, here and here (pointing to his ear, his head and his heart) is your school. If everything is right there, then take your pen and down with it; afterward ask the opinion of a man who knows his business."(To a musically talented boy who asked Mozart how one might learn to compose.)__________View the list's information and change your settings at //www.freelists.org/list/programmingblind
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