24th July 2003, 10:14 PM
24th July 2003, 10:31 PM
Yeah, that is amazing... wonder why their profits went down so drastically. :)
24th July 2003, 10:40 PM
Um, that just linked to something called "internet optimizer".
Edit: Being VERY suspicious, I checked, it's actually spyware that someone got on my machine. I'll go about removing said spyware now. *grumble grumble*
Edit the second: YES! I've eliminated the spyware. It seems it was something that put up a stupid ad page instead of a "page not found" page, and would sometimes even just fake a page not found error when there was a page.
However, this is not one of those times. I'm afraid that link is dead.
Edit: Being VERY suspicious, I checked, it's actually spyware that someone got on my machine. I'll go about removing said spyware now. *grumble grumble*
Edit the second: YES! I've eliminated the spyware. It seems it was something that put up a stupid ad page instead of a "page not found" page, and would sometimes even just fake a page not found error when there was a page.
However, this is not one of those times. I'm afraid that link is dead.
24th July 2003, 11:57 PM
25th July 2003, 1:03 AM
There is a BIT of a difference between 98% (time to get out of this business) and 18% (well, it's a bit of a drop, but it's expected).
25th July 2003, 4:14 AM
The 18% is just the videogames division. Overall, I believe, was 98%. I read it somewhere...
Ah, here's one that says the same thing that I and Darunia have read other places.
Why be so suspicious, DJ? Its not like they make up articles...
http://money.cnn.com/2003/07/24/news/int.../index.htm
Ah, here's one that says the same thing that I and Darunia have read other places.
Why be so suspicious, DJ? Its not like they make up articles...
http://money.cnn.com/2003/07/24/news/int.../index.htm
25th July 2003, 9:50 AM
Suspicious? I just thought Darunia made a typo. Yeesh, do you have to judge me at EVERY SINGLE POINT IN ALL ETERNITY?
26th July 2003, 10:23 AM
I blame it on the fact that the PS2 console is so unreliable.
After myne broke a while ago I discovered that it's a major problem and seems to be happening alot.
Wal-Mart even has instructions on what to do if your PS2 breaks, but they don't have those instructions for other consoles, meaning that the other consoles must not be having those problems
After myne broke a while ago I discovered that it's a major problem and seems to be happening alot.
Wal-Mart even has instructions on what to do if your PS2 breaks, but they don't have those instructions for other consoles, meaning that the other consoles must not be having those problems
26th July 2003, 11:25 AM
I got a later model by the time I got mine, I think it was just the early models that were breaking. Mine's worked flawlessly. In fact, of the systems I have, it's the ONLY one that has NEVER had ANY read errors EVER. Of course, I know better than to use the vertical standing ability of it :D. My friend's system however is kinda messed up. Fortunatly, Sony, like Nintendo, repairs the system for free now. His Xbox also messed up, but MS charges 100$ for repairs. To be honest I think it might actually be cheaper to sell one's old XBox for roughly that amount to someone and buy one brand new, which is what my friend actually did come to think of it. At least now when we play Halo online (using a tunnel) I no longer have to deal with his system constantly giving out dirty disk messages.
26th July 2003, 1:24 PM
My PS2 has disc read erros all the time.
26th July 2003, 8:18 PM
I had disk read errors all the time, to the point where it would no longer ever read a disk
I think the new ones are having problems too, because these things posted in wal-mart were fairly new, and it talked about what to do if you bought the system in the first 90 days, and what to do if you bought it more than 90 days ago.
Sony doesn't always fix the systems for free, it seems to depend on the mood of the operator you get when you phone them, one guy told us we had to pay some amount of money plus pay shipping, and another guy said we only had to pay for shipping to get the system fixed. We just took it to some sony liscensed technition in Calgary and exchanged the system though, so now I have one of the newer models rather than the first model.
I think the new ones are having problems too, because these things posted in wal-mart were fairly new, and it talked about what to do if you bought the system in the first 90 days, and what to do if you bought it more than 90 days ago.
Sony doesn't always fix the systems for free, it seems to depend on the mood of the operator you get when you phone them, one guy told us we had to pay some amount of money plus pay shipping, and another guy said we only had to pay for shipping to get the system fixed. We just took it to some sony liscensed technition in Calgary and exchanged the system though, so now I have one of the newer models rather than the first model.
26th July 2003, 9:42 PM
Odd, I would've thought that it'd be the X-Box with all the blue screens of death.
NEO---I KNOW THAT MOVIE in your avatar; thats from Equilibrium!!
NEO---I KNOW THAT MOVIE in your avatar; thats from Equilibrium!!
27th July 2003, 4:08 PM
I love my PS2...
27th July 2003, 6:20 PM
What? Why would you think that Darunia? It's a CONSOLE! Consoles have fixed software and hardware! An OS is MUCH trickier.
27th July 2003, 7:44 PM
Because its Microsoft. Need I say more?
27th July 2003, 8:17 PM
My Xbox hasn't given me any trouble and neither has my GC really, which has only had a couple of very minor errors. My PS2, on the otherhand, has disc read erros A LOT.
27th July 2003, 9:39 PM
Ya sure do. Oh ABF, I've been trying out Netscape like you suggested. As far as I can tell, it's only got a total of 3 real features that IE lacks. Sure there's stuff like AIM as part of the package, but that's barely enough to be called a feature at all. Same with IE including MSN, it's just something I can get anyway.
In any case, those three features are that weird tab browsing thing, built in pop-up blocking, and per-site cookie controls.
First, let me get this out of the way. I thought maybe tab browsing really would end up being a lot cooler than it sounded, but sadly it just doesn't seem that great. I mean, so it seems they put the various boxes inside the browser instead of up on the taskbar (I keep mine on the top, dunno why...), but that hasn't sped up anything or made it easier to browse at all for me. I tried it out by purposfully having multiple threads open here. But, after a few hours of use, it just didn't seem very helpful at all. It's different, but I can just as easily click on other windows on the taskbar. I dunno, maybe I need a few days with it to really find it useful, but it's certainly no mouse scroll. Now THAT was something I instantly fell in love with, even though the first time I saw it I thought it was stupid :D.
Second, built in popup blocking is a great idea. Since it's actually built into the browser, this means it really can block pop-ups VERY effectivly since it has access to the very method used to launch pop-ups. For obvious reasons, I shut off the annoying "you blocked a pop-up" noise it plays, just like with the add-on for IE I'm already using, but aside from that, it's great. Pretty much similar blocking too. I imagine in the future a built in blocker will be able to block much more than any 3rd party add-on to a browser as well, though at the moment they are pretty much equal. This is something I'd love to see added to IE in the future, but since currently I have all the blocking I need from my add-on, it's not something that'll get me to switch.
Third, the per-site cookie moderating. All IE can do is control how cookies are stored per security level, and I can sorta group all sites I wanna allow cookies on in the "trusted sites" catagory, but it's not quite the same, or nearly as easy, as the control granted by Netscape. This feature, and this feature ALONE, is the one thing that IE really lacks that actually hurts it. The first is something I really see no use for, the second is something I have an add-on to do the function of (though admittedly having it built in IS the better way to go), but this is something IE just plain doesn't have, at least not in a way that I can actually manage easily.
However, even though these are three features IE pretty much lacks, none of them (especially the first one) are enough to really get me to switch. The cookie thing is kinda tempting, but I'll just do without. Too much of the hastle of dealing with the conflicts that come up with having navigator as the default when dealing with various other programs that like to use IE.
Also, I noticed a slew of features just added to 7.1 (well, maybe it was 7.0 it was added to, yeah I think that was the feature list it was going for) and it listed stuff IE has had for years as "brand new". For instance, I wasn't aware netscape only JUST added the ability to save all the files attached to a web page when one saves a web page, such as images and sounds and some downloads. I thought it already had it since I've used it on IE for such a long time. Not ragging on it, but I think perhaps the judgement that netscape is "always ahead of IE" like you say may just be a bit premature. I think they are currently in the same boat they have always been in, each one coming up with features the other lacks for a time. However, since IE is built in and Netscape would be kinda superfluous to have, plus those incompatibilities, minor as they are to deal with, I do believe I'll just stick with IE until Netscape really has something I need.
In any case, those three features are that weird tab browsing thing, built in pop-up blocking, and per-site cookie controls.
First, let me get this out of the way. I thought maybe tab browsing really would end up being a lot cooler than it sounded, but sadly it just doesn't seem that great. I mean, so it seems they put the various boxes inside the browser instead of up on the taskbar (I keep mine on the top, dunno why...), but that hasn't sped up anything or made it easier to browse at all for me. I tried it out by purposfully having multiple threads open here. But, after a few hours of use, it just didn't seem very helpful at all. It's different, but I can just as easily click on other windows on the taskbar. I dunno, maybe I need a few days with it to really find it useful, but it's certainly no mouse scroll. Now THAT was something I instantly fell in love with, even though the first time I saw it I thought it was stupid :D.
Second, built in popup blocking is a great idea. Since it's actually built into the browser, this means it really can block pop-ups VERY effectivly since it has access to the very method used to launch pop-ups. For obvious reasons, I shut off the annoying "you blocked a pop-up" noise it plays, just like with the add-on for IE I'm already using, but aside from that, it's great. Pretty much similar blocking too. I imagine in the future a built in blocker will be able to block much more than any 3rd party add-on to a browser as well, though at the moment they are pretty much equal. This is something I'd love to see added to IE in the future, but since currently I have all the blocking I need from my add-on, it's not something that'll get me to switch.
Third, the per-site cookie moderating. All IE can do is control how cookies are stored per security level, and I can sorta group all sites I wanna allow cookies on in the "trusted sites" catagory, but it's not quite the same, or nearly as easy, as the control granted by Netscape. This feature, and this feature ALONE, is the one thing that IE really lacks that actually hurts it. The first is something I really see no use for, the second is something I have an add-on to do the function of (though admittedly having it built in IS the better way to go), but this is something IE just plain doesn't have, at least not in a way that I can actually manage easily.
However, even though these are three features IE pretty much lacks, none of them (especially the first one) are enough to really get me to switch. The cookie thing is kinda tempting, but I'll just do without. Too much of the hastle of dealing with the conflicts that come up with having navigator as the default when dealing with various other programs that like to use IE.
Also, I noticed a slew of features just added to 7.1 (well, maybe it was 7.0 it was added to, yeah I think that was the feature list it was going for) and it listed stuff IE has had for years as "brand new". For instance, I wasn't aware netscape only JUST added the ability to save all the files attached to a web page when one saves a web page, such as images and sounds and some downloads. I thought it already had it since I've used it on IE for such a long time. Not ragging on it, but I think perhaps the judgement that netscape is "always ahead of IE" like you say may just be a bit premature. I think they are currently in the same boat they have always been in, each one coming up with features the other lacks for a time. However, since IE is built in and Netscape would be kinda superfluous to have, plus those incompatibilities, minor as they are to deal with, I do believe I'll just stick with IE until Netscape really has something I need.
27th July 2003, 10:02 PM
LOL...I never knew that the PS2 was such a shotty piece of crap. You'd think that with all their billions they'd be able to afford maufacturing a decent piece of machinery.
27th July 2003, 10:19 PM
That's the thing, I've never seen such an unusual grouping of sheer bad luck as I've seen here. I mean, all 3 current gen systems launched with disk reading flaws (I had to get both my GCN AND XBox replaced farily soon after I got them for instance), but oddly enough, rather than the usual MS probs I'm used to hearing about from my friends (seems I'm the only one amongst us that had to replace my GCN, though I'm not the only one HERE, like lazy and LL who also bought the system first day), a lot here only had problems with their PS2. Odd, since as I said, I've never had a problem with mine, and a good number of my friends haven't had problems either, except one, but that person got it first day. Oh, don't forget how Sega's Dreamcast did, and the PS1 before that's first model, actually first couple models, were also faulty. To be honest I don't think Sony did any worse than the other companies with thier launch systems (though MS's launch in Japan, with the systems that actually damaged the games? that's certainly the WORST launch yet...)
I find it funny, and kinda sad, that not a single optical disk based console can come out without having horrible reading errors in the first batch that need addressing. I mean, shouldn't this be the kind of thing the big companies TEST for? Instead, countless people need to get repairs. I also find it kinda odd that people would be having problems with the newer PS2 models, since that's one I happen to have without error. I think it's very possible they are using the vertical stand feature of the system, even though Sony has pretty much stopped advertising it entirely since just like every single vertical stand optical drive before, and in fact after it to a point, have the exact same dealigning problem it has, and thus Sony should have never even said it can do that in the first place. I think Sony managed to kill it's own system, even the updated ones that don't skip on horizontal mode, for including such a feature. This is the harm that advertising can do, actual physical harm, when it gets out of control.
I find it funny, and kinda sad, that not a single optical disk based console can come out without having horrible reading errors in the first batch that need addressing. I mean, shouldn't this be the kind of thing the big companies TEST for? Instead, countless people need to get repairs. I also find it kinda odd that people would be having problems with the newer PS2 models, since that's one I happen to have without error. I think it's very possible they are using the vertical stand feature of the system, even though Sony has pretty much stopped advertising it entirely since just like every single vertical stand optical drive before, and in fact after it to a point, have the exact same dealigning problem it has, and thus Sony should have never even said it can do that in the first place. I think Sony managed to kill it's own system, even the updated ones that don't skip on horizontal mode, for including such a feature. This is the harm that advertising can do, actual physical harm, when it gets out of control.
27th July 2003, 10:29 PM
First... I have NS 7.01, not 7.1. But I think i'll upgrade it soon.
It is just so, so nice not to have 5 or 6 windows of IE cluttering up the system and just to have one window... I almost never close my webbrowser so having 5+ IE windows open all the time is a major, major pain for system resources, alt-tab switching, finding apps in the taskbar, and just using the internet... its slower to switch between and takes more time and resources to deal with. Having tabs is just so much nicer and quicker... and it gets rid of so many extra instances of the program, a GREAT side effect. It really is hard to use browsers without this...
IE also doesn't have a built-in webpage builder, but Netscape has been including Composer for years now... sure its not a great webpage maker but it is one (that requires no programming) and its free... MS doesn't believe in free webpage builders...
Oh, and the per-site cookie controls are GREAT. I have it on. I block cookies for everywhere except sites that need them... and Netscape remembers it! SO, SO much better than having to have all cookies on, all cookies off, or the 'confirm' box EVERY SINGLE TIME... three bad options. This feature is great.
As for the popup blocker... yes, its similar to third party ones but a bit more effective since its built into the browser. Since its built in it also makes it easier to manage the list of sites exempted from the blocker, I think.
The only place Netscape is behind IE is in being a windows browser -- you can look at directories on your hdd but not run stuff from there. But why you'd be trying to do that in Netscape is beyond me...
Oh, and what are these features that IE had and Netscape didn't? I can't think of any features that IE has had before Netscape (though I never save whole webpages to my HDD so I wouldn't know about that)...
No, Netscape/Mozilla has been first with most all relevant new features. Not that it helped them.
Maybe once IE has those four features I'll look at it again but until then, Mozill (Netscape seems somewhat dead now) is the way to go, no question.
Sorry, but IE just doesn't have any relevant features whatsoever that NS doesn't have.
Oh, as for sites incompatible with NS7, I think I've seen a few that are messed up... nothing too big usually, but for a couple I have to use IE.
Needless to say I don't go to those sites anymore... but its so few that it doesn't really matter as an issue.
I just want to know what MS has against running multiple things in the same app window.
Lets take word processors.
I have two... Corel's 1996 edition of WordPerfect 6.1 (for Win3.1 and 95), and Word 2000.
In WordPerfect 6.1, if I open four documents they all open in seperate windows in wordperfect. You can resize the windows to look at multiple ones at the same time or make it fullscreen and switch with a menu on the menubar. Nice, clean... as I'd expect it to be like.
Word 2000? Sorry, five documents open five Word windows. How nice of them. :chainsaw:
That's just one of the reasons that I honestly believe that my 1996 copy of WordPerfect is better than the many years newer version of Word.
Or any version of Word.
It is just so, so nice not to have 5 or 6 windows of IE cluttering up the system and just to have one window... I almost never close my webbrowser so having 5+ IE windows open all the time is a major, major pain for system resources, alt-tab switching, finding apps in the taskbar, and just using the internet... its slower to switch between and takes more time and resources to deal with. Having tabs is just so much nicer and quicker... and it gets rid of so many extra instances of the program, a GREAT side effect. It really is hard to use browsers without this...
IE also doesn't have a built-in webpage builder, but Netscape has been including Composer for years now... sure its not a great webpage maker but it is one (that requires no programming) and its free... MS doesn't believe in free webpage builders...
Oh, and the per-site cookie controls are GREAT. I have it on. I block cookies for everywhere except sites that need them... and Netscape remembers it! SO, SO much better than having to have all cookies on, all cookies off, or the 'confirm' box EVERY SINGLE TIME... three bad options. This feature is great.
As for the popup blocker... yes, its similar to third party ones but a bit more effective since its built into the browser. Since its built in it also makes it easier to manage the list of sites exempted from the blocker, I think.
The only place Netscape is behind IE is in being a windows browser -- you can look at directories on your hdd but not run stuff from there. But why you'd be trying to do that in Netscape is beyond me...
Oh, and what are these features that IE had and Netscape didn't? I can't think of any features that IE has had before Netscape (though I never save whole webpages to my HDD so I wouldn't know about that)...
No, Netscape/Mozilla has been first with most all relevant new features. Not that it helped them.
Maybe once IE has those four features I'll look at it again but until then, Mozill (Netscape seems somewhat dead now) is the way to go, no question.
Sorry, but IE just doesn't have any relevant features whatsoever that NS doesn't have.
Oh, as for sites incompatible with NS7, I think I've seen a few that are messed up... nothing too big usually, but for a couple I have to use IE.
Needless to say I don't go to those sites anymore... but its so few that it doesn't really matter as an issue.
I just want to know what MS has against running multiple things in the same app window.
Lets take word processors.
I have two... Corel's 1996 edition of WordPerfect 6.1 (for Win3.1 and 95), and Word 2000.
In WordPerfect 6.1, if I open four documents they all open in seperate windows in wordperfect. You can resize the windows to look at multiple ones at the same time or make it fullscreen and switch with a menu on the menubar. Nice, clean... as I'd expect it to be like.
Word 2000? Sorry, five documents open five Word windows. How nice of them. :chainsaw:
That's just one of the reasons that I honestly believe that my 1996 copy of WordPerfect is better than the many years newer version of Word.
Or any version of Word.
27th July 2003, 11:04 PM
Actually, Word DOES let you have multiple documents open at once. Since you almost never use it, I'm not surprised you didn't notice. But, you can just minimize the document INSIDE the program instead of the whole thing, and it's stored on the bottom of the program window as a little box, and you can do the same with anything else. Of course, that's never been an issue for me.
28th July 2003, 5:58 AM
Quote:Originally posted by Darunia
LOL...I never knew that the PS2 was such a shotty piece of crap. You'd think that with all their billions they'd be able to afford maufacturing a decent piece of machinery.
The whole point of making it shoddy is so it will break and people will have to buy another one.
28th July 2003, 9:29 AM
Quote:Originally posted by Great Rumbler
The whole point of making it shoddy is so it will break and people will have to buy another one.
But they don't because it they are smart enough to call sony they will often offer to fix it for them, causing a loss in some of the profit on that system, actually since it costs more to make a console than they sell it for and they earn the money back from software sales they are loosing more money on that console than normal
28th July 2003, 10:11 AM
Yeah GR, major flaw in that theorum... All three console makers are banking on the idea that selling the consoles at loss is an investment to get it all back in software sales. Sorry, the theory that Sony is purposfully doing this sort of a scam is silly. That's Divx player's jobs! Okay, that format is outdated, but they are going to attempt it again with some new DVD format. They don't realize people are all going to HATE the idea of a company FORCING a product that would otherwise last forever to be a disposable. It's never once worked in the past to do this, like with the Divx player, and it won't work this time.
28th July 2003, 1:38 PM
Quote:Actually, Word DOES let you have multiple documents open at once. Since you almost never use it, I'm not surprised you didn't notice. But, you can just minimize the document INSIDE the program instead of the whole thing, and it's stored on the bottom of the program window as a little box, and you can do the same with anything else. Of course, that's never been an issue for me.
Sorry, but it doesn't. There is no way to minimize files in the Word window, and when you go to open or create a document it does it in a whole new program instance. Maybe Word XP added it, but 2000 definitely does NOT have that feature.
Quote: Yeah GR, major flaw in that theorum... All three console makers are banking on the idea that selling the consoles at loss is an investment to get it all back in software sales. Sorry, the theory that Sony is purposfully doing this sort of a scam is silly. That's Divx player's jobs! Okay, that format is outdated, but they are going to attempt it again with some new DVD format. They don't realize people are all going to HATE the idea of a company FORCING a product that would otherwise last forever to be a disposable. It's never once worked in the past to do this, like with the Divx player, and it won't work this time.
Not once the price to make the console gets below the retal price...
As for Divx it might have failed as a seperate player, but its one of the most common formats for video files on the web (read: pirated movies/tv show eps in filesharing programs). :)
28th July 2003, 1:56 PM
Quote:Sorry, the theory that Sony is purposfully doing this sort of a scam is silly.
I guess you're right, which leaves only one possibility: They're just a bunch of idiots who have no idea how to make a piece of equipment that doesn't fall apart all the time. :)
28th July 2003, 6:57 PM
Yeah, Sony has a habbit of creating their own proprietary medium in order to make money through royalty fees just because they *think* they need to have the power to control industry standards. *cough* MiniDisc and DVD+R *cough*
28th July 2003, 7:03 PM
I assume you're speaking metaphorically. :)
28th July 2003, 8:19 PM
Let's not forget Sony's greatest invention
Betamatrix
It's actually still used to tell you the truth
$5 in virtual TC money to whoever can tell me what common medium uses betamatrix in part of it's production process.
Betamatrix
It's actually still used to tell you the truth
$5 in virtual TC money to whoever can tell me what common medium uses betamatrix in part of it's production process.
28th July 2003, 9:40 PM
GR, did ya miss that every single game system has the exact same flaw and ALSO had to update their systems? I have no idea WHY they all launched with disk read problems, but it seems like consoles are CURSED in that regard. I blame the economy of Jupiter.
29th July 2003, 9:58 AM
I got my GC the very day it was released and it hasn't once done that to me. My PS2 on the otherhand I got quite a few months after its launch it has given me a lot of trouble.
29th July 2003, 10:45 AM
Yeah that's a nice sig you got there, DJ. Think you could get one that doesn't cover half the page?
29th July 2003, 10:45 AM
Quote:Originally posted by Dark Lord Neo
Let's not forget Sony's greatest invention
Betamatrix
It's actually still used to tell you the truth
$5 in virtual TC money to whoever can tell me what common medium uses betamatrix in part of it's production process.
Um..... is the money usable?
29th July 2003, 10:54 AM
You only have to pay me $5 in virtual TC money for me to attempt to virtualaly assasinate anyone on the board, except Darunia, I'll do that one for free
29th July 2003, 10:59 AM
Woo! Do it then!
1st August 2003, 1:52 PM
Quote:Originally posted by A Black Falcon
Yeah, that is amazing... wonder why their profits went down so drastically. :)
If I could find the quote I would, but Sony admitted that it's last fiscal year was nothing but a fluke (mainly due to Spiderman). Their profits are still way up from 2001.