It is amazing how much the electronics industry has lost my business/interest

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ki_atsushi

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smokehouse said:
This is due to "minutes" not being a profitable sale-point anymore. My first cell phone in 1997 was $1/min...or $30/mo for 30 min. They were making a killing off of that shit. Now, with unlimited talk/etc...the industry was forced to make up new bullshit to charge you for.

This same thing happened with TV's, LED panels are so good that you can drop well under $1K and get a really good set. A set that is a far better display than what was sold for $3000 just 5 or so years ago. Because of this, the industry responded by tacking on all kinds of bullshit like internet, wi-fi, motion capture, whatever. Now the new thing is a "4K" display that is curved...LOL...like that is a big deal. It gives them a good excuse to charge $3000 for a $600 panel and $2400 worth of gimmicks.
Click to expand...

You highlight a great point, everything is profit-driven rather than innovation driven.

The only exception to that is Sony... I'm actually impressed with them for thinking outside of the box, even if it costs them money. Especially in their camera division as of late.
 
Ninjainspandex

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ki_atsushi said:
The only exception to that is Sony... I'm actually impressed with them for thinking outside of the box, even if it costs them money. Especially in their camera division as of late.
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And isn't Sony in a huge mess of financial trouble now? I read that they lost like a billion dollars this year, pretty much the only department that is turning a profit is the Playstation.
 
norton9478

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Sony is the freakin worst.

Every other consumer level digital camera uses one of 2 or 3 memory cards (usually can mix and match thanks to adapters).

Sony has a proprietary one that costs 3 times as much.
 
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Ninjainspandex said:
And isn't Sony in a huge mess of financial trouble now? I read that they lost like a billion dollars this year, pretty much the only department that is turning a profit is the Playstation.
Click to expand...

Yes, that's true... but the only reason the camera division hasn't been profitable is because camera sales across the board have been down (across all manufacturers) due to advances in the cellphone cameras.


norton9478 said:
Sony is the freakin worst.

Every other consumer level digital camera uses one of 2 or 3 memory cards (usually can mix and match thanks to adapters).

Sony has a proprietary one that costs 3 times as much.
Click to expand...

Get with the times, Sony cameras have been using SD for quite some time now. All their DSLR's and mirrorless cameras in the last 3+ years have been using regular SD cards.
 
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NeoGeoNinja

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Apple Computers used to be pretty good years ago, before the whole iPod onwards took off.

Between Apple's own OS and Adobe, both used to make sure that you got the absolute MOST out of the hardware you invested in. Then, after the G5... things got awry.

First off, people who invested in the later G5 Quad Processor machines got kicked firmly in the nuts when apple stated that there would be no OS updates beyond Leopard (10.5) and, as such, Adobe turned their attentions squarely towards supporting the Intel based machines with no support for the later gen G5 hardware. Sucks to have paid 'Apple' money for that.

Also, Apple, since the whole Intel 'thing' have been much tighter and less lenient with their software/hardware requirements for their OS updates. I have a late '06 iMac and was pretty pissed when they released 10.8, only to find it wouldn't run on my Mac ONLY because Apple 'no longer support' ATI gfx cards. All the rest of my Mac was well within spec, but it wouldn't support my gfx card.

These companies are all to aware of how easy it is to control consumers with all this update and hardware spec bullshit... releasing the latest iOS for your iPhone that will BARELY run on your older tech, just so you feel your phone is now shit and you HAVE to upgrade. By keeping my software older and more modest, is how my Mac still runs as well as it ever did (Snow Leopard/10.6/CS4 suite etc). Don't need half the shit they put in CS'X' nowadays anyway tbh...
 
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NeoGeoNinja said:
Apple Computers used to be pretty good years ago, before the whole iPod onwards took off.

Between Apple's own OS and Adobe, both used to make sure that you got the absolute MOST out of the hardware you invested in. Then, after the G5... things got awry.

First off, people who invested in the later G5 Quad Processor machines got kicked firmly in the nuts when apple stated that there would be no OS updates beyond Leopard (10.5) and, as such, Adobe turned their attentions squarely towards supporting the Intel based machines with no support for the later gen G5 hardware. Sucks to have paid 'Apple' money for that.

Also, Apple, since the whole Intel 'thing' have been much tighter and less lenient with their software/hardware requirements for their OS updates. I have a late '06 iMac and was pretty pissed when they released 10.8, only to find it wouldn't run on my Mac ONLY because Apple 'no longer support' ATI gfx cards. All the rest of my Mac was well within spec, but it wouldn't support my gfx card.

These companies are all to aware of how easy it is to control consumers with all this update and hardware spec bullshit... releasing the latest iOS for your iPhone that will BARELY run on your older tech, just so you feel your phone is now shit and you HAVE to upgrade. By keeping my software older and more modest, is how my Mac still runs as well as it ever did (Snow Leopard/10.6/CS4 suite etc). Don't need half the shit they put in CS'X' nowadays anyway tbh...
Click to expand...

10.6 really was their last best OS. I'm still running it on my iMac. No reason to upgrade.
 
BIG BEAR

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I WANT CONTROL OVER WHAT I PAY FOR. PERIOD.
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stevenk said:
Windows 8 doesn't even let me postpone upgrades any more, it just stops me in the middle of what I'm doing, kicks me off and does whatever the fuck it wants.
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Phyeir

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ki_atsushi said:
Get with the times, Sony cameras have been using SD for quite some time now. All their DSLR's and mirrorless cameras in the last 3+ years have been using regular SD cards.
Click to expand...

Isn't this part of the problem right there? If you're not already an aficionado or a camera buff, how much of the wider market still thinks they pull this BS? I did, especially considering they are still doing it today with the Vita.

Said this in the Sony thread a month or so ago, the lack of any advertising beyond PlayStation or their TVs is killing them more than they may think. I watch way more TV, streaming, etc than I should and if I didn't surf sites like CNet, I'd have no idea of their products beyond those tvs and PlayStation line.
 
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Phyeir said:
Isn't this part of the problem right there? If you're not already an aficionado or a camera buff, how much of the wider market still thinks they pull this BS? I did, especially considering they are still doing it today with the Vita.

Said this in the Sony thread a month or so ago, the lack of any advertising beyond PlayStation or their TVs is killing them more than they may think. I watch way more TV, streaming, etc than I should and if I didn't surf sites like CNet, I'd have no idea of their products beyond those tvs and PlayStation line.
Click to expand...

Very true, they need to be a little wiser with their advertising and show off their latest products.

The only way I found out that their cameras are so good now was from word of mouth (or finger) on photography message boards. It's a shame too, because their new Alpha 7 mirrorless line are the best of their kind in the market-- full frame, exceptional image quality and low noise with high ISO capability, all in a body that costs half of what a competing product from Nikon or Canon would cost. I actually was a Nikon guy before trying this camera and I was instantly converted.

(Plus, Sony has been making Nikon's sensors since the beginning, not many people know that)
 
smokehouse

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NeoGeoNinja said:
Apple Computers used to be pretty good years ago, before the whole iPod onwards took off.

Between Apple's own OS and Adobe, both used to make sure that you got the absolute MOST out of the hardware you invested in. Then, after the G5... things got awry.

First off, people who invested in the later G5 Quad Processor machines got kicked firmly in the nuts when apple stated that there would be no OS updates beyond Leopard (10.5) and, as such, Adobe turned their attentions squarely towards supporting the Intel based machines with no support for the later gen G5 hardware. Sucks to have paid 'Apple' money for that.

Also, Apple, since the whole Intel 'thing' have been much tighter and less lenient with their software/hardware requirements for their OS updates. I have a late '06 iMac and was pretty pissed when they released 10.8, only to find it wouldn't run on my Mac ONLY because Apple 'no longer support' ATI gfx cards. All the rest of my Mac was well within spec, but it wouldn't support my gfx card.

These companies are all to aware of how easy it is to control consumers with all this update and hardware spec bullshit... releasing the latest iOS for your iPhone that will BARELY run on your older tech, just so you feel your phone is now shit and you HAVE to upgrade. By keeping my software older and more modest, is how my Mac still runs as well as it ever did (Snow Leopard/10.6/CS4 suite etc). Don't need half the shit they put in CS'X' nowadays anyway tbh...
Click to expand...

I've had MacS for years now...many, many years. My first Mac was a G4 tower. The iPod didn't muck things up too much, it was the Intel switch as well as the iPhone and iPad that really fucked things up. iTunes went from being updated 2 times a year to being updated 62 times a year. Mac OS was really stage and clean...but the constant flow of updates and security shit would bring a new iMac to its knees in less than 24 months.

I replaced my June 2006 iMac in Nov 2011. Here we are just 3 years later and my iMac is buggy as shit...and I hardly run anything on it.

I just did a little search on iTunes history…between iTunes 1 and 6 there were 30 updates (10 of which were for iTunes 5). Between iTunes 7-11, there have been 72 updates. The iPhone came in during iTunes 7 BTW...
 
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Neorebel

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I feel the same way. With incomplete software out the door, nickel-and-diming, software as a service, hardware licensed by you to be used in a certain way, planned obsolescence... it is all kind of nauseating. Not to mention issues with how electronics are made here and in other countries, and how they are disposed of... the way we consume is even more sickening.
 
NeoSneth

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Move to linux. It sucks over there too.
 
100proof

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NeoSneth said:
Move to linux. It sucks over there too.
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Linux only sucks if you don't like tinkering. If you want it to "just work", yeah Linux isn't going to be any better. Even Ubuntu/Mint, which attempts to be Linux for Windows/MacOS users, requires far more computer knowledge to install and run than 95% of people have or are willing to learn.

That said, it's free, has pretty good approximations of all of the major programs people use computers for and is much more tailored to an individual's needs (with different distros and branching within distros) than its for-profit brethren. My media/storage servers have run some form of Linux for 10+ years and I would recommend it to anyone who's fed up with Microsoft's bloated driver-fest or Apple's sterile playpen.
 
ebinsugewa

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100proof said:
Linux only sucks if you don't like tinkering. If you want it to "just work", yeah Linux isn't going to be any better. Even Ubuntu/Mint, which attempts to be Linux for Windows/MacOS users, requires far more computer knowledge to install and run than 95% of people have or are willing to learn.
Click to expand...

The only difficult part for the average user is partitioning a drive that has Windows already on it, if necessary. The rest is pretty straightforward. With some knowledge of how the file structure works and Google, you can fix basically any issue you come across. One nice thing about Linux distros and the software that runs on them is that open-source users tend to be pretty obsessive about creating bug reports and detailed instructions on how to fix them. I have an ancient Win XP laptop that I can still use because Ubuntu runs 15 times better than XP.
 
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The lack of a Word Processor on par with or better than Office 2003 is what's keeping me away from Linux full-time. That and games.
 
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o.pwuaioc said:
The lack of a Word Processor on par with or better than Office 2003 is what's keeping me away from Linux full-time. That and games.
Click to expand...

And LOL at Office after 2003. It epitomizes this very topic.

I just bought a Wii U yesterday. Fuck me.

I have to disagree about Steam, though. Leave it running in the background, and you usually sidestep all the game updating bullshit because it will automatically download updates for you. They'll be done before you know it. Client updates aren't more than a minute's inconvenience, too. Now, the client itself is buggy for me. I somewhat often have to start it again after it crashes and closes. That being said, it's extremely rare that I lose gameplay progress due to that, so it's not that big of a deal.
 
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SpamYouToDeath said:
I use LaTeX.

:snack:
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2010_03_29_latex_footnotes.png
 
Lagduf

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o.pwuaioc said:
The lack of a Word Processor on par with or better than Office 2003 is what's keeping me away from Linux full-time. That and games.
Click to expand...

What do you do that requires a word processor?

Anymore my computer is a glorified internet box.

I'd probably be fine with a single board computer so long as I could surf the internet and display youtube videos.
 
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Lagduf said:
What do you do that requires a word processor?

Anymore my computer is a glorified internet box.

I'd probably be fine with a single board computer so long as I could surf the internet and display youtube videos.
Click to expand...

Yup, I bought the latest version of office last year and to date I still haven't had a use for it. All I do is surf the net.
 
ebinsugewa

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LibreOffice/OpenOffice are just as good in case anyone hasn't heard of them. Not as fancy-looking but the all do the same shit.
 
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