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"Microsoft: The XBox will be the dominant console in this generation"

The XBox 360 is the dominant console of this generation, even outselling PS3 in its own homeland of Japan. The Wii could have been, if only Nintendo could keep up with production.

jayson knight wrote:
-"The XBox 360 is the dominant console of this generation, even outselling PS3 in its own homeland of Japan. The Wii could have been, if only Nintendo could keep up with production."

LOL, please site your source for this laughable statement!

http://www.the-magicbox.com/gaming.htm
http://ps3.ign.com/articles/795/795341p1.html
http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=14529
http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=14752


Here are the latest Famitsu (most respected console publication in Japan) figures (2007 up until July 2) reported by magicbox: (note these numbers are actual sales, not shipped)

Total sold 2007:

Wii
2,030,031 units

PlayStation 3
505,622 units

PlayStation 2
434,493 units

Xbox 360
120,953 units

Again, please state your sources Jayson, I'm dying to see from where your statement originated. I can dig up numbers from Famitsu for 2006, but they are even less flattering for XBox360 than those of 2007, within 2 months after release in Japan PS3 overtook XBox360 in total sales.

I think you need to also realise is that each Wii sold made a profit for Nintendo - they didn't go on a massive loss making spree which Sony and Microsoft went on.

Also, from the above data, one could argue that Playstation 3 biggest competition is actually Playstation 2.

Regarding Japan - it will be interesting to see what Sony is offering to their own market versus the rest of the world, it would also be interesting to know the level of tariffs and a number of other issues as well - anyone who has ever looked at the Japanese economy will tell you that calling it a 'free and open' market would be an insult to Adam Smith.

LOL, please site your source for this laughable statement! etc...

Umm, I think he was being sarcastic! I have to admit that I thought he was being serious for a second though...

The-ox

I don't think he was being sarcastic, unfortunately...

For 2007. Hmm. Let's see.

2,030,031 + 505,622 + 434,493 = 2,970,146

Basic math in third grade.

Given amount / Total amount (100) = percentage

120,953 / 2,970,146 = 0.040722913957765039159691139762153

(100) 0.040722913957765039159691139762153 = 4.0722913957765039159691139762153

Rounded down it is 4 percent in Japan.

I guess in `Lil' Bush math` this calculates to roughly 96 percent market domination by Microsoft in Japan.

Seriously, I agree with Valhalla that Jayson should list his source. Reader's Digest and Microsoft marketing bulletins don't count.

Edited 2007-07-20 21:22

"

"

It's called PR. Any company trying to get an edge on the market will claim their product will be the dominant / best product.

After all, who would by the XBox if MS claimed it wouldn't gain a reasonable market share or the console was significantly slower than other leading models?

While the Xbox 360 has more overall power than the PS3, it is of less qauility and reliablity overall.

The faults in the 360 are costing MS over $1 billion.

The graphics and sound capabilities of both systems are very simular, so games look and sound simular on screen.

Another major advantage of the PS3 is the ability to watch BluRay movies. The PS3 happens to be among the best players yet is the cheapest, while still being a full game console. The HD-DVD option for the 360 is expensive, plus BluRay is gaining more momentium because of stronger DRM (BD+).

Another advantage is being "open". Yes, it has HDCP DRM because of HDMI support but that only applies to HD digital media. You can use the PS3 as a full-fledged computer and connect all your devices to the USB ports or a USB hub (if necessary); after all USB controller supports upto 127 devices.

Edited 2007-07-20 21:40

Or more correctly that the only people upgrading at those who purchase new machines and paranoid people who think if they don't have the 'latest and greatest' they're going to be left high and dry - I laugh at those who purchase Windows Vista Ultimate which right now significantly lacking the ultimate area when it comes to the 'extras' they touted as being something exciting.

Microsoft is also having trouble - how many are actually adopting their new Office System and new middleware offerings? Sharepoint for example which seems like a glorified phpBB setup for example. All of it is hardly original and the only ones who appear to be sucking it up are existing customers who already get it as part of their licenceing scheme with Microsoft.

It sounds very similar to the hype HP made about winning a 'customer' from Sun whilst ignoring the fact that the computer they replaced was circa 15 years old with a whole heap of variables beyond the rivalry. Same goes for Microsoft, they may hype wins, but in reality, its achieving nothing over their competition because all they're doing is feeding existing customers.

Same goes for Microsoft, they may hype wins, but in reality, its achieving nothing over their competition because all they're doing is feeding existing customers.

I wouldn't say this is exactly true. I work in an academic environment and for the most part students walk around with laptops with Windows XP. All those students will graduate and will continue to buy Microsoft software since it is what they are most comfortable with. I once saw a student running Fedora on a laptop but that student was in engineering. A new crop of MS loyal people is always being generated. The irony here is that the functions students need: IM, browser, mp3 playback, word processor - all work great on desktop linux if it is configured right. The configuration part though is what scares away most students.

It maybe the case in the US but from what I've seen in New Zealand at Canterbury University, the number of Linux and Apple laptops are increasing.

As for your assertion about configuration, Linux provides all the above btw using SLED 10 - again, there is nothing stopping an end user from going to www.novell.com/sled and downloading the latest version - and if they like it, paying a piddly $50 per year; it includes mp3 encoding/decoding. iPod support out of the box. Flash and Java support. Nvidia and ATI video support.

As for me, I constantly get asked to 'fix my PC' to which I say 'no'. Unless I get paid, I don't fix. Gone of my days of being the free IT guy - I've got my little piece of paradise, a realm of reliability. If these people choose to run Windows, thats their choice, but don't expect any help or sympathy when things go wrong.

It maybe the case in the US but from what I've seen in New Zealand at Canterbury University, the number of Linux and Apple laptops are increasing.

When I first started going to college here (I live in the states), it seemed like I was almost the only one on campus with an Apple laptop. Now, three-and-a-half years later, it seems like 15-20% of the students' laptops are Macs.

Linux could be slightly on the rise at my college too, if nothing else but awareness of it; some Tech dept students started giving out Ubuntu CDs shortly after Dapper was released, and people take them like they're candy. But I'm unsure whether or not they actually install Ubuntu (or even know what it is)--I haven't witnessed any laypeople talking about Linux or Ubuntu, which might show how people will jump all over anything that has "free" written on it.

Also, last semester, all of the university's old Windows 2000 servers were replaced with new Solaris-powered machines. A lot of students and professors were highly frustrated by the resulting downtime. I was small-talking with one of the tech guys, and I asked him exactly what they were upgrading. (I didn't know exactly why the servers were down, only that they were being upgraded.) He said they were replacing the servers with Opteron boxes running Solaris. A confused expression crept its way onto my face--I thought this place was die-hard Microsoft (not that there's anything wrong with that, whatever works for you). The tech guy apologized for getting too technical for me, thinking it's what led to my perplexed look. I told him he hadn't and I'd toyed with Solaris before. After that, we had a rather nice, geeky conversation.

Anyway, I'm not saying Microsoft is dying--around my parts or anywhere else--but it sure seems a sizable number of people are looking at and using Windows alternatives. Microsoft still has their stranglehold and everything, but it's interesting to see people look at its competition for once.

As for me, I constantly get asked to 'fix my PC' to which I say 'no'.

I earned a reputation in my community as the helpful resident geek, but I got tired of fixing computers for nothing. Actually, I didn't get tired of it per se--I just had a part-time job and too much schoolwork to throw away my precious free time like that. So, I stopped doing it, and then folks started offering me money to help them. Found myself with a new part-time job. It's less actual work than a 'real' part-time job, and I'm making more money. 'course I live in a part of the US (*cough*Alabama*cough*) not exactly known for technology literacy, and Lord knows my frustration and stress levels haven't decreased since leaving my old job.

Edited 2007-07-20 19:01

Like shadowcopy? or bitkeeper drive encryption?



Microsoft has become the most successful software company on the planet by not innovating, but waiting to see what works and what doesnt, then ripping it off.



I think everyone here would agree that MS is a monopoly, and if they are, where do they have to grow? The only growth MS can possibly see is what gets created as the industry grows, which aparently they do as they have an average of a 15% annual growth rate according to the registers figures.

Did they even try Vista?

I had Vista installed on my secondary desktop. Recently I installed Ubuntu on it instead and enabled desktop effects.

Funny thing is, they both run the same speed. Vista takes slightly longer to boot. The apps on Ubuntu tend to lag slightly more. Firefox loves to lock up a lot when I have more than 3 or 4 tabs open.

It's basically a wash. The machine has an Athlon XP 2500 processor (1.8Ghz), 512mb of memory, 80gig drive (7200rpm) and an ATI Radeon 9500.

512 MB is too low for Vista.

I'm surprised that the Ubuntu apps seem to lag...they run quite smoothly on my Compaq laptop, which is not as powerful as your machine. Did you install proprietary drivers (i.e. fglrx)?

Here's the best instructions for installing ATI's proprietary drivers (since they're not yet handled by Ubuntu's Restricted Manager):

http://wiki.cchtml.com/index.php/Ubuntu_Feisty_Installation_Guide

I suggest Method #2 for maximum performance (strangely enough, they have a link for driver 8.39.4, even though the ATI site still lists 8.38.6 as the latest one...)

I tried with and w/o the "experimental" drivers. Both gave the same results. Even so, that should have little to do with Firefox locking up so often like it did.

You mean with or without the proprietary drivers, or with two versions of the proprietary drivers? (Not sure what you mean by "experimental" here...)

And yes, that might not have anything to do with Firefox locking up, I was talking about performance.

I don't know what would be causing FF to lock up, as I've never had that issue, whether it's under Windows or Linux. What version of FF do you have? (Version 2.0.0.5 just came out, btw...)

I'll take what you say with a grain of salt.

If Firefox locks on 2-4 tabs there is something fundamentally wrong with your setup. I actually suspect its through flash, as its certainly not on any common lists of complaints.

It is true that XP was slightly snappier on a fresh install than gnome's for menu's etc which is what I *think* you are trying to possibly referring to.

What is true Linux internal politics aside this is appearing in
http://www.linuxinsight.com/cfs-scheduler-to-appear-in-linux-kernel...
the next version of Ubuntu.

If you really are concerned about *start-up-times* there are multitudes of ways of speeding these things up like pre-cashing files. None of them I suspect are worthwhile. Although I know of at least 2 competing products that look at speeding up boot time..one from red hat that I know little about, but for *fun* check out http://www.bootchart.org/

On a side not, because of the nature of GNU as a platform is *anything* does not work for you, *immediately* replace it with one of the many alternatives. It also is helpful to ensure correct working that you *report* these bugs to the appropriate place on bugzilla for the benefit of *everyone*. I suspect Ubuntu's is excellent. It must also be noted that Ubuntu earns money from *support* so why not obtain professional support and *pay* for it.

It's always something wrong with someones setup.

All I did was install it and start up Firefox. I didn't even really configure anything. And Opera on Ubuntu didn't keep locking up viewing the same sites either, so I know it's Firefox.

But anyway, I didn't say anything about XP. I was simply saying they (Vista and Ubuntu 7.04) were comparable on the same hardware for me.

Well, when it works for everybody else but not for you, chances are the problems *are* with your setup.

One thing I recently found out was that Linux PCs are sometimes more finicky about bad/misconfigured RAM than those running Windows. A friend of mine had severe lockups with Firefox (i.e. it would lock the entire system). These would be triggered when he tried to access Flash sites with streaming video (e.g. YouTube).

I spent hours searching the Internet for a clue, and then remembered he had had some instability in Windows as well (though much less frequently). So I turned to the metal and, switching his RAM around, found out that he had a flaky memory slot. So I used the other slots instead, and lo and behold! everything became rock-solid, and has stayed this way since.

Anyway, the fact is that for the majority of people FF does *not* crash, therefore it is likely that there is something that is not working correctly with your setup...

"And Opera on Ubuntu didn't keep locking up viewing the same sites either, so I know it's Firefox."

It could still easily be Flash related, as Opera bundles and runs it's own version of the binary.

No one expects that - heck, before the big decline of Sun, they were growing quarter on quarter - they could do no wrong - the only problem, they were gaining no new customers, their existing customer base were dodgy start ups; they were extremely reliant on an existing customer base to increase their purchases. It isn't a long term strategy.

At the beginning of the year, many people here were seriously suggesting that by this time, Microsoft would be dead and everyone would be using Linux.

Uh, no. Even the most die-hard Linux fans wouldn't make such a claim.

Perhaps you can provide a few links to bolster your claim?

Gotta agree with you there as I have never heard a Linux nut come out with such a statement (I should know. I used to be one, back in the good old days...;-).

The thing is, I've been running Vista since September last year and updates still regularly break the system. In fact, today I had to reinstall again because of just such an update.

Now, taking that into consideration, why on earth would I recommend either customer, job or friend of mien take the jump unless they really like messing around with they're PC's?

I doubt I'm the only early adopter to take this position and that has to be at least partly the reason why Vista sales are so lacklust.

Broken to the point of reinstallation? Where the heck have you been getting your updates from?? I could see this happening once or twice (I mean, Microsoft is far from perfect), but regularly is a little hard to believe. There is some pretty extensive testing going on in Redmond.

Uh, no. Even the most die-hard Linux fans wouldn't make such a claim.

C'mon, Archie. Even you aren't so daft as to deny that many pro-Linux/-Mac fans tend to prognosticate that "Microsoft is on its last legs as a company". Whether they're claiming that it's going to happen 9 months or a year or 3 years down the road, I can't count the number of times that I've read that kind of tripe here; when, in fact, even if MS shuttered its doors and failed to deliver any more products, the interest on its cash reserves alone would keep the company afloat for many YEARS.

Good to see that people modded your insults up. It goes to show that the anti-Linux camp has just as many immature fanboys as it accuses the pro-Linux one of having.

One thing is certain, I'm not so daft as to not notice when you dinsingeneously change the subject. Here is Almafeta's statement:

"At the beginning of the year, many people here were seriously suggesting that by this time, Microsoft would be dead and everyone would be using Linux."

*This* is what I was responding to, and nothing else. Now, if you agree with Almafeta's statement, I will also ask you to provide links - otherwise, it's just more BS coming out your pie hole.

Modded down as inappropriate *and* off-topic.

I think everyone is aware that Microsoft hasn't had a successful launch in 7 years of an OS and yet is still has a monopoly in the market, even when better alternatives exist. Is a shame really.

" ... even if MS shuttered its doors and failed to deliver any more products, the interest on its cash reserves alone would keep the company afloat for many YEARS."

Wrong.

If this happened the lawyers and stock holders would demand their cut of the disolved Microsoft equity. After that it would be a short period of time before it went completely away like Be, Inc. leaving only its OS to be rebuilt like BeOS.

Edited 2007-07-20 21:29

Does Artie MacStrawman have a Linux using cousin?

What's better than getting paid? Getting paid *more*.

It's sort of like a subscription-based business model: how do you keep your customers paying continuously over time (without locking them in a contract like cell phone companies). Relevant to software sales: how do you get people to continue to buy licenses/upgrade?

If Joe Six-Pack upgrades to Vista it's a good indication that he still has faith in this company and perhaps continue spending money on their [Microsoft] products.

On the flip side: people who still buy XP licenses with a new PC is a sign that they're hesitant about moving forward with future Microsoft technologies and unless MS does something to improve Vista (read: SP1 damn well better be good) this class of customers may migrate to other platforms.

Sure, because OSNews never links to articles that are critical of Linux, right?

Look, MS is the dominant software company, and it often uses its market dominance to try and crush the competition. It's only natural that people would often be critical of it. After all, who ever sides with the Empire in Star Wars?

Edited 2007-07-20 15:29

And they should be critical. I just wish some of criticism was more constructive, instead of some of the foaming-at-the-mouth stuff you might see here sometimes. Oh well, you take the good with the bad.

I guess it's sometimes difficult to remain calm when MS pulls out some of their stunts, such as the recent ones when they have been trying to stack committees with friendly voters so that OOXML would fast-track through the ISO process.

http://blog.wired.com/monkeybites/2007/07/standards-org-d.html

Oh... you're having trouble staying calm about that?
If you look at the composition of INCITS V1, the original members were mostly OASIS folks who worked on ODF. Rob Weir, whose blog that article is quoting, is a member of INCITS V1, but has been consistently dissing OOXML (not constructively or even fairly when compared to ODF). Rob Weir has been taking the non-traditional (and utterly demeaning to a US standards body) tack of openly flaming the OOXML format and calling for its destruction while being on the board that is evaluating it.

The OOXML - ODF affair is a straight-out brutal war between IBM and Microsoft. It's about whether IBM will be able to get government mandates for an ISO standardized format for which they will be the only suppliers with a enterprise-quality product. Microsoft obviously does not want to get locked out of this market, because that is just about the only thing they can't just immediately steamroll with their massive development resources and experience.

You really don't want to see an ODF-only mandate from any government organization because the alternative products to Office simply aren't as good or well-tested. And Microsoft will eventually have to support ODF natively in some form, but they'll just use the extensibility points and app-specific sections to make their features work, which will make ODF just about useless for any interop. ISO OOXML is not bad for anyone, except maybe those who want to see SmartSuite deployed slightly more at high cost to national governments.

Based on my past experience in playing Star Wars: Galaxies (mmorpg in case anyone didn't know) quite a lot of people actually.

I don't agree that OSNews is a "pro-Mac pro-Linux site", but I was indeed wondering why, out of all of the articles regarding Microsoft's record earnings, OSNews went with theregister. :p

Edited 2007-07-20 22:22

"Since they have pronounced themselves only 'broadly happy', I think we are safe for another year from the dreaded "Ballmer Dance"!"

Its off-topic but for all his criticisms the monkey dance actually showed Ballmer for a leader encouraging the troupes. It looks funny out of context but what he did was showmanship, and worked quite well.

Now if you want to talk about that interview with Zune, and his fake laughing, and what a slimy toad he came across across as. I'd agree...but the monkey thing pure rock'n'roll