Hell yeah!

Pyromania · 21 May 2003, 10:23

http://www.micromart.co.uk/content/f...&Type=&ID=1055

kriz · 21 May 2003, 10:24

mmmm what can I say ??! Hell yeah !!

Great article, and very true IMHO !!!

Twistin'Ghost · 21 May 2003, 11:51

Once again, great link Pyro!

LaundroMat · 21 May 2003, 12:24

The only thing left to wonder about is what would constitute the wow-factor. Surely it can't be graphics anymore...

Perhaps the next "wow" would be a computer that is actually easy to use, an OS and computer that revolutionises the way we look at them.

Perhaps a computer that actually makes your life easier, one that makes it possible to do whatever you want with it. A computer that allows tinkering, even if you're not a comp sci graduate. A computer that does not depend on applications anymore but on the computer itself. No longer "Word" or whatever, but a whole slew of possibilities from within the computer itself. A liberated platform, without the geekiness of Linux, but a true set of building blocks with which you create your perfect working environment.

Today, everything is still centered around executables, memory, files and what not. The new generation of computers should be something that starts out from a wholly different concept. What the details of this should be is not up to me, but in any case it's the only way of creating something wow-y.

Twistin'Ghost · 21 May 2003, 13:49

I know this will sound like a cheap shot, but the wow factor for me will be simply a stable OS. I don't care what PC I am using, OS-related lockups, virtual memory sluggishness, and an array of silly incompatibilites are a common standard by which we have either just learned to accept, or for users that are fairly new to computing, believe that this is just the way of computers (which is a real cop out).

But I realize that the general public is weaned on hyperbole and symbolism, so it will take something magical to get their MTV-attention-spans interested.

fiath · 21 May 2003, 13:54

I hate to be devils advocate here, but there are two things that annoyed me about it:

1) "Mac OS is over simplified"

What? Doesn't that defeat the object of the whole article? A computer that can be used for people who are not computer literate?

Even if I didn't like Macs, that is a silly thing to say. It would have been better if he didn't mention Macs at all.

2) A slight contratiction:

First:

"we have lost a great deal and the games market especially has lost the genuine originality that the bedroom coders brought."

Then:

"The biggest issue though is that any new home computer will have to have the "WOW! factor" to at least the same degree that the A500 produced when Shadow of The Beast ran in a shop window or a scene demo literally made your jaw drop to the floor in Lewis`s"

Okay, so SOTB was not a Bedroom programmer game, though I guess it is possible it could have been, but anyway...

Nowadays, "Jo Public" is only going to get a "wow" factor from cutting edge games, which need a cutting edge computer. Just look at the E3 showing of Half Life 2. That is the first time I have thought "WOW" since... Well, I am not sure... Must be a long time.

And it wasn't really WOW of just the graphics either - but the physics, characters and object interaction.

Some bedroom coders were truely magic, but "WOW" factor stuff needs more development resources that nowadays. Its sad, but it is the truth. Same thing with the movie industry - every film has to have better effects than the last to keep the mass market entertained.

The age of the Bedroom programmer is truely gone as far as the games industry is concerned. Good for interviews as a game mockup, but I suspect not much else if it is to be commerically sucessful.

I'm not talking about people who appriciate a good game by a good game as I suspect most people here would. I am talking about the general public. "Looks crap, is crap" is a thought that will never go away.

I am sorry, but it sounds like too much of a sales pitch IMO.

JudasEZT · 21 May 2003, 17:44

I also guess stability of OS would be the Wow!factor. Joined with really low price.

Do you remember when Escom wanted to do with amiga a web machine. maybe this is the chance of this new amigaOne..

but I guess is practically impossible to reach the mass market actually.

anyway, whe I save a litle of money I will purchase one amiga one

Amiga1992 · 21 May 2003, 18:39

Quote:

Originally posted by fiath
1) "Mac OS is over simplified"
What? Doesn't that defeat the object of the whole article?

Besides, it shows he talks from ZERO experience with the OS. Since you can fiddle with it as much as in a Linux environment if you know what you are doing.\

He must be talking about System 6

KombatSanta · 22 May 2003, 20:24

"So what do we want - an up to date home computer. Something that will give Joe Public everything he wants but without the need for another screen in the living room - the TV will be fine. It will open up the avenues of gaming, the internet and working from home, to those who don’t consider themselves computer literate."

Yeah, good luck! If you want to sell something that brings back the homecomputer, it will have to revolutionize the whole idea of computers. It will have to fight against already firmed astablished competitors on the electronic market, like M$ with their software and the whole PC concept.
I don't think "Joe Public" will want yet another gizmo in his home, the PC does what he thinks is adaquate for his needs, namely: He can write documents in M$ Word and print them, the kids have something that they can play games on and he can dowload on it!

gary · 23 May 2003, 03:14

This may have been mentioned before, but considering a WOW factor, how about a WOW! application?

For me the Amigas WOW! app was Deluxe Paint )and animation in particular) - a hell of a lot more fun than just playing games. After that came ProTracker and then eventually Videotracker to merge Pics/Anims and Mods.

If people have the MTV mentality how about an app along the lines of VideoTracker that merges MP3s synchronised with pics/anims/AVI clips/etc.. into a single standalone executable that runs on basic hardware? It would have to be fairly simplified and include a CD full of example video clips/pics/music/etc. The potential to store the finished work on Video/VCD/DVD and played without the need for a computer at all would appeal to the MTV inspired crowd (eg: Make your own video clip).

KombatSanta · 23 May 2003, 15:49

@Gary: I sure would like it. But There is probably just easier to do make an app for the PC to appeal to the people becuase so many already have a PC in their home, work and school.

haynor666 · 25 May 2003, 16:29

Interesting point of view:suspiciou

KombatSanta · 26 May 2003, 19:22

Quote:

Originally posted by haynor
Interesting point of view:suspiciou

and/but/or...

Oscar Castillo · 27 May 2003, 05:50

Just sounds like another person longing to recapture his youth and the early days of the Amiga when there really was a wow factor. The rest of the market was so bland and failed to recognize the importance of multimedia to the home market when Amiga came along it caught everyone by surprise. And the software that the hardware help usher in simply was out of this world in those days. It's all common place now.

Twistin'Ghost · 27 May 2003, 06:17

Quote:

Originally posted by Oscar Castillo
It's all common place now.

Not quite. Where's the stable OS?

Miggy2TheMax · 27 May 2003, 06:27

I think the "WOW" factor will be hard if not impossible to recapture. The A500 had so many points of WOW in it its not funny, production s/w, light weigth and _truely_ multitasking OS, awsome multimedia and games, custom H/W for different tasks. It was considered WOW because nobody came even close to delivering all that in one neat cool looking package! Now on the otherhand as Oscar says its all been done. Sure many of the above things could be done better, some a hell of a lot better!! I think the A500 will remain the sole owner of the "Wow" factor for a long time to come, if not for good.

The Amiga One sounds great and I hope it goes a long way! Indeed another great article Pyro!

Oscar Castillo · 27 May 2003, 06:44

Quote:

Originally posted by Twistin'Ghost
Not quite. Where's the stable OS?

My XP Pro is stable. My OS X is stable. And my Solaris and Irix are stable, but they all can get hosed. Amiga OS was no better. It ran well and was great for its time, but it crashed a lot too.
The trouble with the PC market is its success. There are way too many people building components. And though a chip or two may be common amongst the different components being sold, the manufacturing tolerances are never the same between companies. Everyone's looking for performance on the cheap with a PC ends up putting these cheapo boards in their system and cry foul on Microsoft and Windows when things go bad. But it most cases it's just cheap hardware.

Pyromania · 27 May 2003, 07:22

XP is slow and freezes here, Sony 2 Ghz hardware so it is not a cheap hardware issue.

Twistin'Ghost · 27 May 2003, 12:33

And I use fast machines with good hardware at work, but despite that I still experience similar OS issues on those systems. My system(s) usually perform like a champ after a fresh OS install, then the performance gradually degrades, leading me to 1) a new install, or 2) system instability. By nature, Windows needs reinstalls too often. The registry is so flawed in execution, this adds to the system degrade process. Closed API's do nothing to strengthen the durability and integrity of third-party apps. Maybe that's why there are so many programs that trip over themselves, then get blamed for the crash by a Windows error message.

Another good excuse is user error. Good because a lot of times it's true. But a lot of times, it isn't true. It's all about sub-standards.

Oscar Castillo · 27 May 2003, 13:08

Quote:

Originally posted by Pyromania
XP is slow and freezes here, Sony 2 Ghz hardware so it is not a cheap hardware issue.

I bought a Vaio for my christmas for my nephew. Solid machine. He's put a beating on it and his XP is solid. Mine is home-built and solid as well. Steer clear of VIA though, not worth the trouble even though they seem to always come out with something new first.

21 May 2003, 10:23	#1
Pyromania Moderator Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Chicago, IL Posts: 3,375	Hell yeah! http://www.micromart.co.uk/content/f...&Type=&ID=1055

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21 May 2003, 10:24	#2
kriz Junior Member Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: No(R)Way Age: 41 Posts: 3,188	mmmm what can I say ??! Hell yeah !! Great article, and very true IMHO !!!

21 May 2003, 11:51	#3
Twistin'Ghost Give up the ghost Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: U$A Age: 33 Posts: 4,662	Once again, great link Pyro!

21 May 2003, 12:24	#4
LaundroMat Junior Member Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: In the cellar. With your mum. Age: 49 Posts: 404	The only thing left to wonder about is what would constitute the wow-factor. Surely it can't be graphics anymore... Perhaps the next "wow" would be a computer that is actually easy to use, an OS and computer that revolutionises the way we look at them. Perhaps a computer that actually makes your life easier, one that makes it possible to do whatever you want with it. A computer that allows tinkering, even if you're not a comp sci graduate. A computer that does not depend on applications anymore but on the computer itself. No longer "Word" or whatever, but a whole slew of possibilities from within the computer itself. A liberated platform, without the geekiness of Linux, but a true set of building blocks with which you create your perfect working environment. Today, everything is still centered around executables, memory, files and what not. The new generation of computers should be something that starts out from a wholly different concept. What the details of this should be is not up to me, but in any case it's the only way of creating something wow-y.

21 May 2003, 13:49	#5
Twistin'Ghost Give up the ghost Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: U$A Age: 33 Posts: 4,662	I know this will sound like a cheap shot, but the wow factor for me will be simply a stable OS. I don't care what PC I am using, OS-related lockups, virtual memory sluggishness, and an array of silly incompatibilites are a common standard by which we have either just learned to accept, or for users that are fairly new to computing, believe that this is just the way of computers (which is a real cop out). But I realize that the general public is weaned on hyperbole and symbolism, so it will take something magical to get their MTV-attention-spans interested.

21 May 2003, 13:54	#6
fiath Moderator Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: South East / UK Age: 46 Posts: 1,930	I hate to be devils advocate here, but there are two things that annoyed me about it: 1) "Mac OS is over simplified" What? Doesn't that defeat the object of the whole article? A computer that can be used for people who are not computer literate? Even if I didn't like Macs, that is a silly thing to say. It would have been better if he didn't mention Macs at all. 2) A slight contratiction: First: "we have lost a great deal and the games market especially has lost the genuine originality that the bedroom coders brought." Then: "The biggest issue though is that any new home computer will have to have the "WOW! factor" to at least the same degree that the A500 produced when Shadow of The Beast ran in a shop window or a scene demo literally made your jaw drop to the floor in Lewis`s" Okay, so SOTB was not a Bedroom programmer game, though I guess it is possible it could have been, but anyway... Nowadays, "Jo Public" is only going to get a "wow" factor from cutting edge games, which need a cutting edge computer. Just look at the E3 showing of Half Life 2. That is the first time I have thought "WOW" since... Well, I am not sure... Must be a long time. And it wasn't really WOW of just the graphics either - but the physics, characters and object interaction. Some bedroom coders were truely magic, but "WOW" factor stuff needs more development resources that nowadays. Its sad, but it is the truth. Same thing with the movie industry - every film has to have better effects than the last to keep the mass market entertained. The age of the Bedroom programmer is truely gone as far as the games industry is concerned. Good for interviews as a game mockup, but I suspect not much else if it is to be commerically sucessful. I'm not talking about people who appriciate a good game by a good game as I suspect most people here would. I am talking about the general public. "Looks crap, is crap" is a thought that will never go away. I am sorry, but it sounds like too much of a sales pitch IMO.

21 May 2003, 17:44	#7
JudasEZT Registered User Join Date: May 2003 Location: mercury Posts: 577	I also guess stability of OS would be the Wow!factor. Joined with really low price. Do you remember when Escom wanted to do with amiga a web machine. maybe this is the chance of this new amigaOne.. but I guess is practically impossible to reach the mass market actually. anyway, whe I save a litle of money I will purchase one amiga one

22 May 2003, 20:24	#9
KombatSanta Pipboy approved Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Karlstad, Sweden Age: 48 Posts: 460	"So what do we want - an up to date home computer. Something that will give Joe Public everything he wants but without the need for another screen in the living room - the TV will be fine. It will open up the avenues of gaming, the internet and working from home, to those who don’t consider themselves computer literate." Yeah, good luck! If you want to sell something that brings back the homecomputer, it will have to revolutionize the whole idea of computers. It will have to fight against already firmed astablished competitors on the electronic market, like M$ with their software and the whole PC concept. I don't think "Joe Public" will want yet another gizmo in his home, the PC does what he thinks is adaquate for his needs, namely: He can write documents in M$ Word and print them, the kids have something that they can play games on and he can dowload on it!

23 May 2003, 03:14	#10
gary Junior Member Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Perth, Western Australia Age: 50 Posts: 283	This may have been mentioned before, but considering a WOW factor, how about a WOW! application? For me the Amigas WOW! app was Deluxe Paint )and animation in particular) - a hell of a lot more fun than just playing games. After that came ProTracker and then eventually Videotracker to merge Pics/Anims and Mods. If people have the MTV mentality how about an app along the lines of VideoTracker that merges MP3s synchronised with pics/anims/AVI clips/etc.. into a single standalone executable that runs on basic hardware? It would have to be fairly simplified and include a CD full of example video clips/pics/music/etc. The potential to store the finished work on Video/VCD/DVD and played without the need for a computer at all would appeal to the MTV inspired crowd (eg: Make your own video clip).

23 May 2003, 15:49	#11
KombatSanta Pipboy approved Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Karlstad, Sweden Age: 48 Posts: 460	@Gary: I sure would like it. But There is probably just easier to do make an app for the PC to appeal to the people becuase so many already have a PC in their home, work and school.

25 May 2003, 16:29	#12
haynor666 retro maniac Join Date: May 2002 Location: Tarnobrzeg/Poland Age: 45 Posts: 1,748	Interesting point of view:suspiciou

27 May 2003, 05:50	#14
Oscar Castillo Junior Member Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: New Jersey, USA Posts: 291	Just sounds like another person longing to recapture his youth and the early days of the Amiga when there really was a wow factor. The rest of the market was so bland and failed to recognize the importance of multimedia to the home market when Amiga came along it caught everyone by surprise. And the software that the hardware help usher in simply was out of this world in those days. It's all common place now.

27 May 2003, 06:27	#16
Miggy2TheMax Junior Member Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Australia Age: 45 Posts: 381	I think the "WOW" factor will be hard if not impossible to recapture. The A500 had so many points of WOW in it its not funny, production s/w, light weigth and _truely_ multitasking OS, awsome multimedia and games, custom H/W for different tasks. It was considered WOW because nobody came even close to delivering all that in one neat cool looking package! Now on the otherhand as Oscar says its all been done. Sure many of the above things could be done better, some a hell of a lot better!! I think the A500 will remain the sole owner of the "Wow" factor for a long time to come, if not for good. The Amiga One sounds great and I hope it goes a long way! Indeed another great article Pyro!

27 May 2003, 07:22	#18
Pyromania Moderator Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Chicago, IL Posts: 3,375	XP is slow and freezes here, Sony 2 Ghz hardware so it is not a cheap hardware issue.

27 May 2003, 12:33	#19
Twistin'Ghost Give up the ghost Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: U$A Age: 33 Posts: 4,662	And I use fast machines with good hardware at work, but despite that I still experience similar OS issues on those systems. My system(s) usually perform like a champ after a fresh OS install, then the performance gradually degrades, leading me to 1) a new install, or 2) system instability. By nature, Windows needs reinstalls too often. The registry is so flawed in execution, this adds to the system degrade process. Closed API's do nothing to strengthen the durability and integrity of third-party apps. Maybe that's why there are so many programs that trip over themselves, then get blamed for the crash by a Windows error message. Another good excuse is user error. Good because a lot of times it's true. But a lot of times, it isn't true. It's all about sub-standards.

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