After witnessing the sudden rush on the web for Canonical's new version of Ubuntu I have come to a few conclusions that seem to surface following the recent "Linux Fever". I have absolutely no idea if any of these have been pointed out before but considering the number of blogs and articles reviewing and commenting on the subject they probably have been already.
Anyway, let's start right from the top. I'm not sure what people were expecting from this new release of Ubuntu,version 8.04 codenamed Hardy Heron, but it looks as if it was gonna be the "messiah" of OSs destined to bring down you know who from its throne. Far from that I've seen more hating towards this release than any other before, not only did it become obvious to me that the crowd creating this hate was doing it on false judgement but also it in a quite harsh way. Surely some of the accusations were justified but others like why Canonical couldn't keep up with the number of download requests was simply unfair, I mean take it easy, it's not like there aren't alternative mirrors someone could try...
Another thing was this girlfriend test I read on a news site. The story is that the writer gave a number of tests to his girlfriend and she had to complete them in Ubuntu to see how easy the Ubuntu OS is for the computer illiterate. But what I object here is the girl in test wasn't computer illiterate, she was Linux illiterate, so don't tell me she couldn't search on the internet to get some help for some of the fundamental philosophies of Linux (ie. Package Management, alternatives of Windows applications). Well damn, I thought the whole point of Linux was not to have an alternative to Windows but something free and different, thus the big number of distributions someone can choose from, although that could be called a disadvantage sometimes. All software have a learning curve, and I believe Ubuntu are amongst the most easy ones to learn. Another example from the aforementioned article is testing how well the user would be able to use The Gimp, yeah it has a kind of cumbersome interface when you first see it, especially when you compare it to Photoshop, but did the writer forget to write that he had to buy Photoshop?Or did he forget to mention that The Gimp comes preinstalled with Ubuntu? For free? Or perhaps he also forgot to test how well she'd do on a test with OpenOffice applications, one of the most basic software suites available. Next time if you want to make a real test I believe you should get 100 computer illiterate persons and test them in a controlled environment, now that could be called unbiased.
Of course, I don't believe Canonical and Ubuntu are innocent, rather the opposite, they too have made mistakes that not only create a false image of the Linux world but also the fact that they overhyped their recent release. One of the mistakes I believe they made not only with this release but with previous also was not including a guide for first time users that would run at the system's first startup and show some of the basic tasks and how the UI works in general, for example that you can find and install applications in the Add/Remove program. Something else is the choice of applications that they decided to include, like Firefox 3 beta 5, I simply cannot understand why they would make a choice of including programs still at testing phase.
My opinion is if you want to be the conduit for people to come into the Linux world then you have to do the best job possible. Some mistakes were more than obvious and I wonder how the Ubuntu developers let them just fly by. You can't work on the bleeding edge constantly, Linux became known for being stable and reliable, not for showing off. Perhaps they should have made the best of what they already have and then add anything new, but then again I'm just an observant in this race for prevailing.
Friday, April 25, 2008
Monday, April 21, 2008
The forgotten game
Ok, maybe it's not forgotten, but when a game has been expected for more than 10 years (Duke Nukem Forever) then...what else can I say? Do you really blame me? After all, it's predecessors are amongst my favorite games of all times. At least all this waiting gives me hope that it'll be one of the best games of the year (that it comes out), if not of all time, and I'm not rating best games by their amount of sales. Commercialism has ripped the gaming industry of most of it's innovation and originality but if you disagree tell me the games that actually have something really original and have become successful in the last few years.
Today the industry that was once ruled by the people who created it, the programmers, has been taken over by the cold and unfit eyes of marketing employees. Where are those who made the world of video games an empire? They are the low employees that are sucked off by corporations wanting nothing more than multiply their revenue in any way possible. Young people see todays games as a motive to become a part of the creation of new ones, but I doubt they really know what the world is really like. Well let me tell you, it's pretty ugly compared to what they probably have in mind. Management has took over and creativity is subject to certain success, in other words if it ain't got a guaranteed profit then you won't make it, your time is our money.
I don't expect this to change. Just like the majority of the world uses windows so is the industry, gaming or not, commanded by corporate managers and marketing. People will buy what is shown to them and today what they see before them is games with top of the line graphics and physics that need a new computer to run on. I guess most of you will know which game tops the list of the aforementioned example as of today. Hey, I agree, graphics and physics are good, but up to a point. I've seen many games with lame graphics compared to today standards and with nonexistent physics but had me addicted for a long time.
Where are those days I ask you, when programmers loved what they where doing and did it the way they wanted to? When people saw more than just the eye candy in games? Maybe the administrator of the-underdogs lost hope and stopped updating that magnificent site on which I got lost for hours reading through reviews and getting glimpses of the glorious past. But, I know I haven't, as long as people will have the need to create and the luxury to do so the way they want even if they get nothing in return I'll still have hope for a change.
These were a few of my thoughts and personal opinions and hopefully not the last to be posted. Maybe some of you will agree, some maybe not, and maybe for some I managed to stir a few thoughts and curiosity. Just an advice: be original people and you won't lose anything
Today the industry that was once ruled by the people who created it, the programmers, has been taken over by the cold and unfit eyes of marketing employees. Where are those who made the world of video games an empire? They are the low employees that are sucked off by corporations wanting nothing more than multiply their revenue in any way possible. Young people see todays games as a motive to become a part of the creation of new ones, but I doubt they really know what the world is really like. Well let me tell you, it's pretty ugly compared to what they probably have in mind. Management has took over and creativity is subject to certain success, in other words if it ain't got a guaranteed profit then you won't make it, your time is our money.
I don't expect this to change. Just like the majority of the world uses windows so is the industry, gaming or not, commanded by corporate managers and marketing. People will buy what is shown to them and today what they see before them is games with top of the line graphics and physics that need a new computer to run on. I guess most of you will know which game tops the list of the aforementioned example as of today. Hey, I agree, graphics and physics are good, but up to a point. I've seen many games with lame graphics compared to today standards and with nonexistent physics but had me addicted for a long time.
Where are those days I ask you, when programmers loved what they where doing and did it the way they wanted to? When people saw more than just the eye candy in games? Maybe the administrator of the-underdogs lost hope and stopped updating that magnificent site on which I got lost for hours reading through reviews and getting glimpses of the glorious past. But, I know I haven't, as long as people will have the need to create and the luxury to do so the way they want even if they get nothing in return I'll still have hope for a change.
These were a few of my thoughts and personal opinions and hopefully not the last to be posted. Maybe some of you will agree, some maybe not, and maybe for some I managed to stir a few thoughts and curiosity. Just an advice: be original people and you won't lose anything
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