Here is your link on attach rates, and you can drill down to the actual data: http://forum.pcvsconsole.com/viewthread.php?tid=18305
It looks like 3-5 was too low; more like a spread of 4-11, with some systems getting as low as 3.5 and others as high as 11. It's interesting how the Xbox has such a high attach rate; my guess is that has something to do with the type of gamer it attracts (including many ex-PC gamers who are used to buying lots of new games). I would've thought the DS would have more, though. Nintendo is who I mainly had in mind; I can't tell you how many of my friends had an NES and never bought any games, only playing Mario & Duck Hunt with the occasional rental.
Matt Barton wrote:
as we're all well aware of the benefits of hard drives over everything being disk-based. And three, PC's were used in the office. Businesses are notorious for going the no-frills route and being averse (for both good and bad reasons) to the latest and greatest. Command line systems were proven and familiar, GUI's were new and untested, and frankly, on the earliest systems, offered a performance hit for business applications. GUI-based systems never got the momentum while they still could, the PC platform became entrenched in businesses, and it flowed down to the home desktop as time improved on the other points, namely cost and more home friendly technology.
That's probably it, there--the idea that a command line interface was somehow more "professional," and of course the hard drives were a huge factor. It's amazing to me that other machines went so long without internal hard drives being standard. Heck, I didn't get one until we purchased an Amiga 3000 back in 92 or so, and it was limited to a paltry 50 megs (which was paltry even by then-standards). Still, being able to run a game off the hard drive instead of floppies was amazing; it sped up pretty much everything. If we'd even a 25 meg in the A1000, no telling how things might have gone differently.
Matt Barton wrote:
Again, the GUI was something new, unproven and somewhat scary. In fact, at times, it was derided versus the more "professional" command line interface. Also, let's not overlook Apple ALWAYS charging a premium back then, even moreso then they do today. They were famous for 30% or greater profit margins on their computers, something few companies could ever get away with. In short, their computers cost way too much and always have. Only in recent years have they loosened that up a bit.
Does Apple really charge that much? Holy cow. No wonder they're niche. I've heard rumors off and on that they might open up a bit, but I guess they've been successful at squashing all the Apple clones (Franklin, anyone?). It'd be nice if they did what Microsoft did and just sold their OS and let anyone manufacture Macs, but they always seem to have been in the hardware business. I've always seen them as more a case of style vs. substance myself, but their fans really seem to enjoy them. At least they have beautiful screens and look great on the desktop. ;)
Matt Barton wrote:
Again, it's what I said above. The QWERTY arrangement is good enough and it's what everyone knows, so the system sustains itself. It would require huge amounts of education and training to get people to learn Dvorak, and for what, just so they can type 50 WPM versus 35 WPM? 35 WPM is good enough, so why change? Now if something came out that allowed you to type 100 WPM versus 35 WPM, then you might have something there, but then you'd still be working against the existing infrastructure of keyboards and devices in the QWERTY format. Hell, we couldn't even get this country on the Metric system when it was a government initiative because there was too much resistance to change. Imagine trying to change something that people use everyday now.
Yes, and look at who is most mired in the old system--government subsidized industries (i.e., farms). You don't buy a "gallon" of Coca-Cola; you buy 2-liter. You only buy a "gallon" of old farm stuff like milk. You get the same nonsense in almost every government subsidized industry; old-fashioned, wasteful nonsense that would be improved a hundredfold if they just cut the umbilical cord and forced them to make it or break it on their own.
Back when we had government-subsidized computing, we made incremental progress.
BTW, that Tipping Point book looks interesting. I think I'll have to add it to my reading queue. Re-reading "All Quiet on the Western Front" now.
Here is your link on attach rates, and you can drill down to the actual data: http://forum.pcvsconsole.com/viewthread.php?tid=18305
It looks like 3-5 was too low; more like a spread of 4-11, with some systems getting as low as 3.5 and others as high as 11. It's interesting how the Xbox has such a high attach rate; my guess is that has something to do with the type of gamer it attracts (including many ex-PC gamers who are used to buying lots of new games). I would've thought the DS would have more, though. Nintendo is who I mainly had in mind; I can't tell you how many of my friends had an NES and never bought any games, only playing Mario & Duck Hunt with the occasional rental.
as we're all well aware of the benefits of hard drives over everything being disk-based. And three, PC's were used in the office. Businesses are notorious for going the no-frills route and being averse (for both good and bad reasons) to the latest and greatest. Command line systems were proven and familiar, GUI's were new and untested, and frankly, on the earliest systems, offered a performance hit for business applications. GUI-based systems never got the momentum while they still could, the PC platform became entrenched in businesses, and it flowed down to the home desktop as time improved on the other points, namely cost and more home friendly technology.
That's probably it, there--the idea that a command line interface was somehow more "professional," and of course the hard drives were a huge factor. It's amazing to me that other machines went so long without internal hard drives being standard. Heck, I didn't get one until we purchased an Amiga 3000 back in 92 or so, and it was limited to a paltry 50 megs (which was paltry even by then-standards). Still, being able to run a game off the hard drive instead of floppies was amazing; it sped up pretty much everything. If we'd even a 25 meg in the A1000, no telling how things might have gone differently.
Again, the GUI was something new, unproven and somewhat scary. In fact, at times, it was derided versus the more "professional" command line interface. Also, let's not overlook Apple ALWAYS charging a premium back then, even moreso then they do today. They were famous for 30% or greater profit margins on their computers, something few companies could ever get away with. In short, their computers cost way too much and always have. Only in recent years have they loosened that up a bit.
Does Apple really charge that much? Holy cow. No wonder they're niche. I've heard rumors off and on that they might open up a bit, but I guess they've been successful at squashing all the Apple clones (Franklin, anyone?). It'd be nice if they did what Microsoft did and just sold their OS and let anyone manufacture Macs, but they always seem to have been in the hardware business. I've always seen them as more a case of style vs. substance myself, but their fans really seem to enjoy them. At least they have beautiful screens and look great on the desktop. ;)
Again, it's what I said above. The QWERTY arrangement is good enough and it's what everyone knows, so the system sustains itself. It would require huge amounts of education and training to get people to learn Dvorak, and for what, just so they can type 50 WPM versus 35 WPM? 35 WPM is good enough, so why change? Now if something came out that allowed you to type 100 WPM versus 35 WPM, then you might have something there, but then you'd still be working against the existing infrastructure of keyboards and devices in the QWERTY format. Hell, we couldn't even get this country on the Metric system when it was a government initiative because there was too much resistance to change. Imagine trying to change something that people use everyday now.
Yes, and look at who is most mired in the old system--government subsidized industries (i.e., farms). You don't buy a "gallon" of Coca-Cola; you buy 2-liter. You only buy a "gallon" of old farm stuff like milk. You get the same nonsense in almost every government subsidized industry; old-fashioned, wasteful nonsense that would be improved a hundredfold if they just cut the umbilical cord and forced them to make it or break it on their own.
Back when we had government-subsidized computing, we made incremental progress.
BTW, that Tipping Point book looks interesting. I think I'll have to add it to my reading queue. Re-reading "All Quiet on the Western Front" now.
Matt Barton, Managing Editor
Location: St. Cloud, Minnesota, USA
Email: matt@armchairarcade.com