Linked by Thom Holwerda on Mon 18th Feb 2013 21:18 UTC
"Although Bill Gates stepped away from his day-to-day role at Microsoft nearly five years ago, he still keeps a close eye on the company he co-founded - and he isn't always happy with what he sees. During a recent interview broadcast this morning on CBS This Morning, the Microsoft chairman was asked by Charlie Rose whether he was happy with Steve Ballmer's performance as chief executive. Noting that there have been 'many amazing things' accomplished under Ballmer's leadership in the past couple of years, Gates said he was not satisfied with the company's innovations." It's impossible to deny by this point that Microsoft hasn't done well in mobile. It would be more surprising if Gates had denied it.
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Member since:2005-11-29
Sure, but this isn't really about "Firsts" its about who executes it well.
The fact that I didn't even know this was true about Wii should say a lot. Its a great idea, I just think it needs something on a grand sale.
Imagine writing a Windows Store app and having it work across Windows Phone, Windows, and Xbox with minimal changes and a streamlined unified submission and commerce system.
That'd be a disruption. Look at how other phones did touch prior to the iPhone, but it took the iPhone to radically change the direction of the consumer smartphone market.
Another example is Danger with the Sidekicks. (and before someone points it out Linux distros and other OSes had repositories which still are great) With Sidekicks they had an App store of sorts prior to Apple but it really took Apple to set the framework for how most app stores will be run in the future.
Member since:2007-03-26
Sure, but this isn't really about "Firsts" its about who executes it well.
Both the Dreamcast and Wii are well executed.
The fact that I didn't even know this was true about Wii should say a lot. Its a great idea, I just think it needs something on a grand sale.
It is on a grand scale on the Wii. The only way you wouldn't know about Wii's store would be if you have never taken your Wii online or don't own a Wii - which in either case, that's your adding bias to skew your opinion in favour of Microsoft.
Imagine writing a Windows Store app and having it work across Windows Phone, Windows, and Xbox with minimal changes and a streamlined unified submission and commerce system.
That'd be a disruption.
I'd already voiced my opinion about that with XNA. The real question is will MS ever pull their finger out of their arse and actually do that?
They have a history of badly uniting their hardware ranges and I'm not convinced that Win8 does a better job than their past attempts, but only time will tell
Look at how other phones did touch prior to the iPhone, but it took the iPhone to radically change the direction of the consumer smartphone market.
You mean like the LG Prada for example?
That "revolution" would have happened with or without Apple. After all, we already had similar interfaces on other embedded devices (eg TomToms), multi-touch hardware had been prototyped for years in labs and most people used their finger as a stylus for basic tasks on even the more fiddly WinCE interfaces. So it was just a matter of the technology being released (ie capacitive touch screen) to make the final step viable. Once that happened, a number of technology firms were making the switch - Apple just being one of them.
But as always, history is written by the victors; so everyone thinks Apple invented touch screen phones...
Another example is Danger with the Sidekicks. (and before someone points it out Linux distros and other OSes had repositories which still are great) With Sidekicks they had an App store of sorts prior to Apple but it really took Apple to set the framework for how most app stores will be run in the future.
It took Apple to popularise it. Sony Ericsson's had app stores years before the iPhone but back then bandwidth was very expensive so few people wanted to waste it downloading games and themes when they could just pirate it on their home internet connection.
I do agree that the iPhone did a grand job of taking a number of existing ideas and marketing and popularising them. and in business, that's the number 1 priority (sales > originality). But since we're talking about technology and innovation rather than a companies ability to sell a product, Apple were not the pioneers of the vast majority of the technology they (and many others) claim Apple invented.
Member since:2005-07-06
>Xbox needs an app store. Maybe this will all tie into that. Hopefully. Xbox has the potential to disrupt gaming and do for games what the phone app stores did for normal software development: Democratize it.
It wouldn't be much of a disruption as Microsoft have already been beaten to that goal at least twice before:
* Nintendo already did that on the Wii. Not just for professional games either, but home brew as well.
* The Dreamcast also did this, but to a far less sophisticated level (but back then the vast majority of people were still on dial up, so the DC still deserves some kudos)
I will grant you that the Dreamcast (as awesome as it was), didn't take off, and the Wii isn't really a "gamers console", but even so, it's already been done.
It wouldn't be much of a disruption as Microsoft have already been beaten to that goal at least twice before:
* Nintendo already did that on the Wii. Not just for professional games either, but home brew as well.
* The Dreamcast also did this, but to a far less sophisticated level (but back then the vast majority of people were still on dial up, so the DC still deserves some kudos)
I will grant you that the Dreamcast (as awesome as it was), didn't take off, and the Wii isn't really a "gamers console", but even so, it's already been done.
I don't recall anything like that for the Dreamcast ...was it for software running on its memory cards? Japan-only?
And Nintendo is notoriously unfriendly to indies...
Either way, it would still be a disruption, when on the scale of likely future Xbox ecosystem.
Features
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/13/13 14:35 UTC
The third and final WWDC product I want to talk about is - of course - OS X 10.9 Mavericks. While iOS 7 was clearly the focus of this year's WWDC, its venerable desktop counterpart certainly wasn't left behind. Apple announced OS X 10.9 Mavericks, the first OS X release not to carry the name of a big cat.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/11/13 17:07 UTC
We already talked about iOS 7 yesterday (after a night of sleep, it's only looking worse and worse - look at this, for Fiona's sake!), so now it's time to talk about the downright stunning and belly flutters-inducing new Mac Pro. As former owner and huge, huge, huge fan of the PowerMac G4 Cube - I haven't been this excited about an Apple product since, well, I would say the iMac G4. This is the Apple I used to love.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/10/13 23:13 UTC
Apple held its big keynote event thing at WWDC earlier this evening, but since I was away with friends I've had to read up on it later in the evening. The company announced iOS 7, OS X 10.9 Mavericks, and they gave a preview of the new Mac Pro. Especially the Mac Pro impressed me, and while iOS 7's new Holo/Metro-inspired theme looks messy and garish to me, I do commend Apple for finally breaking the mold. This news item will focus on iOS 7 - I'll dive into the Mac Pro and OS X 10.9 tomorrow (it's late here now).
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/08/13 14:57 UTC
And yes, the PRISM scandal is far, far from over. More and more information keeps leaking out, and the more gets out, the worse it gets. The companies involved have sent out official statements - often by mouth of their CEOs - and what's interesting is that not only are these official statements eerily similar to each other, using the same terms clearly designed by lawyers, they also directly contradict new reports from The New York Times. So, who is lying?
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/07/13 11:40 UTC
This story is getting bigger and bigger. Even though most Americans probably already knew, it is now official: the United States government, through its National Security Agency, is collecting the communications and data of all American citizens, and of non-Americans using American services, through a wide collaboration with the large companies in technology, like Apple, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, and so on. Interestingly enough, the NSA itself, as well as the US government, have repeatedly and firmly denied this massive spying on Americans and non-Americans took place at all.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 06/04/13 12:45 UTC
Ah, patents - the never-ending scourge of the technology industry. Whether wielded by companies who don't actually make any products, or large corporations who abuse them because they can't compete in the market place or because they're simply jerks, they do the industry a huge disservice and are simply plain dangerous. According to The Wall Street Journal (circumvention link), president Obama is about to take several executive actions to address patent trolls - which may seem like a good idea, but I am very worried that all this will do is strengthen the positions of notorious patent system abusers such as Apple and Microsoft.
Linked by nfeske on 05/31/13 10:12 UTC
With version 13.05, the developers of the Genode OS Framework take measures to ensure that Genode continues to scale well with a growing number of users and the steadily broadening platform coverage. Further highlights are the improved SoC support for Exynos 5, OMAP4, Raspberry Pi, i.MX, and new components for realizing headless systems.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/29/13 16:59 UTC
At the D11 conference, Apple CEO Tim Cook once again took the stage to be interviewed by Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher. While most of the interview can be replicated by picking and reading 10 random Apple fanblog stories - there were still a number of very interesting things that warrant some closer scrutiny.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/24/13 17:26 UTC
So, the Xbox One disaster continues. Microsoft's policy for dealing with the used games market has reportedly leaked - and it's a clear and direct attack to destroy the used games market. Prices for used games will be set at the retail value of a new game, and retailers have to hook into Microsoft's computer systems and comply with Microsoft's terms and conditions.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/21/13 21:38 UTC
At an event earlier today, Microsoft unveiled the next Xbox - the third model, but confusingly named Xbox One. The big focus was TV, integrated Kinect, and all the other stuff we all expected to be forced down our throats. I think it took them 25 minutes to actually come to what should be the core of the story: gaming. Nothing groundbreaking in the gaming department, except for how Microsoft intends to handle the used games market and borrowing games from friends: pay up, buddy!More Features »
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Member since:
2007-03-26
Xbox needs an app store. Maybe this will all tie into that. Hopefully. Xbox has the potential to disrupt gaming and do for games what the phone app stores did for normal software development: Democratize it.
It wouldn't be much of a disruption as Microsoft have already been beaten to that goal at least twice before:
* Nintendo already did that on the Wii. Not just for professional games either, but home brew as well.
* The Dreamcast also did this, but to a far less sophisticated level (but back then the vast majority of people were still on dial up, so the DC still deserves some kudos)
I will grant you that the Dreamcast (as awesome as it was), didn't take off, and the Wii isn't really a "gamers console", but even so, it's already been done.