i was wondering what halo 2 had to do with freelancer until i read the last sentence. indeed, MS will only look at money-making options. they think that making Halo 2 PC only work on Vista will make more people get Vista. I don't believe Freelancer made enough sales to make MS want to fund another game

Actually that says somthing. When they could stay with platform games, they still choose to do PC versions.

The Story.

Well if that article isn't a plug for M$ I don't know what is. While it makes owners of Vista and Halo 2 out to be part of some ultra chic clique, I'd prefer to stay with archaic XP myself because 1.) Vista is alleged to not be released until the end of the year. Doubtless they have a near release quality version that they've provided to Bungee to get the coding up to speed, but that in my layman's mind speaks of even more delays... waiting waiting waiting. We waited for a long time to get Freelancer ( a fabulous, but admittedly amputated game). Hopefully the same won't happen here. 2.) Vista will be expensive. Halo 2 for PC certainly won't retail for any less that $50 at first. Plus, many users will be forced ( I think... someone please correct me here if need be) to upgrade their hardware to run Vista and Halo. That's a strong financial commitment to make for users who don't have mom and dad tossing wads of cash their way for frivoless spending. 3.) Its just plain unwise to buy a new operating system within the first six months to a year after its release. Tested as a product may be from M$ Labs many bugs will appear during this time. It happens with any software release, and for many people the change from XP to Vista may not be worth it. After years and years of patches, updates and security fixes, XP is beginning to achieve some semblance of stability. Why disrupt that now?

And, of course, Vista is rumored to lack most or all backward compatibility with existing software, which will force not only redesign of much of the common software we use today (notice a rebuild of Office is underway to match with Vista). This will of course come at a massive ticket price to the consumer, which, IMHO will not be wanting to throw wads of cash at something untested that will be "better in the long run" just to get to shoot up gobs of slimy covenant bugs.


Now, I think one sentence in there had something to do with FL. You're all welcome to set me straight...

Hmmmmm. If there is no backward compatibility for Vista ... why now make a big jump and try out Apple's OS X, now that it is an Intel based OS ... of course, this assumes that you can buy OS X without having to buy an Apple computer.

to add to what J-Dog said:

Microsoft also said that although Vista is coming out towards the end of 2006, they will not fully switch over to Vista until 2008.

so i've decided i will not get Vista until then. that would also probably give enough time for software to be updated if vista is not "backwards compatible"

*Notes that this also means that anyone who buys vista will not likely be able to run freelancer anymore.

Nevermind that Halo 2 is NOT a new game anymore...it does not represent the latest and greatest in anything. How many people are going to pay new game prices PLUS the cost of a new (and probably buggy) OS for a game that will already be 2 years old when the port is released?

That's right...barely anybody except the rabid Halo fanboys. And by that I mean the people who go "OMFG HALO R0Xx0rZ j000 BUYBUYBUY!!!!!111!!!!11" every time somebody mentions the game. And all of them already have it for XBox.

Vista sales: +2

Halo 2 Sales: -100,000

GG, MS 0WN3D.

My prediction is that they will lose far more money from Halo 2 than they will make by the slight boost in Vista sales. Halo 2 will be quickly shuffled to the bargain bin and/or patched to work with XP in a last-ditch effort to salvage sales before they lose more money than they gain.

Would serve them right I've waited years for this game. Why should I go out and buy an x box when I already have a PC with an internet connection?

vista is a joke like xp home and Me
and considering that halo is not my type of game and fl is virtually played dead (that and the disc is shot) for me and right now i don't have the money to upgrade/ buy new, they can keep it i have my current computer just the way i like it, virtually problem free. now if M$ would take it's time on OS's instead of throwing half-a$$ finished programs into the market maybe things would be different but they put buggy and half completed programs out so they can laugh when a person on dial-up has to take 36 hours to download a patch so his sound card that is supposed to 100% compatible with xp will actually work without a high pitched-subwoffer-blasting-sorry for you problems-screech. Sorry about that i just spent an hour on the phone with tech support to figure out why my sound card just nuked my speakers *throws toasted speakers in garbage and shuts down computer*

Old but disturbing news. It is an obvious grab for money and thus, I'm not buying Vista. No way in hell. It is likely however, that a lot of people will be disgruntled and such sentiment may lead someone writing an emulator that will allow games such as Halo 2 to be played on XP, etc. If not, people can switch to Linux and wait until it works through WINE. That's probably what I'll do if necessary. *Walks off grumbling about the greedy bastards over at MS*

The problem with MS is that they have a captive audience...and they know it. It's no secret that millions of people would leap straight for Mac OS if only their favorite programs would be produced for it; as long as that hasn't happened Windows will continue to dominate the market. Once it DOES happen, MS will be forced to a higher standard of quality in its releases...unfortunately, I can't see that happening any time soon.

This is one of the many reasons i am anxiously awaiting optical computing components (Or Quantum, whatever fits the bill for mind-blowingly fast processing speed), and Artificial Intelligences. Because, by that time, Microsoft will be out of buisness.
Why? Because the very nature of Heuristic and Gentic Algorithms allows them to improve themselves. Suddenly every program ever released ill work on every platform with an onboard AI. Suddently someone can shove a Playstation disk into thier computer and play crash bandicoot in first person!
THIS is the day that i anticipate. THIS is the day when we can finally stop bashing microsoft. this is the day when i will stop having typos in my work.
Now, ending my AI rant, i'm going to read the specifications for the HaloC distribution off my box (Which i kept, i like keeping boxes. I still have the box for HL2 and HL:GOTYE)
System Requirements:
Windows(R):
98SE/ME/2000/XP - 128mb RAM

Now, i am rather confused as to why Microsoft is so eager to produce an operating system that is so, reverse incompatible. HaloC worked on every half-assed windows OS back to 98. Why would halo 2 only work on ONE platform? Microsoft marketed XP so much, people are going to stay with XP after they learn that half of thier stuff wont work with Vista. Thats how Microfost got most of thier customers to say with thier stuff int he first place-
Will my old software and documents work with the new operating system, Windows XP?
Yes, they will. XP has built-in reverse-compatibility, so all your old programs and documents will still work
Not to metion the BLATATLY OBVIOUS addition of the 'run in compatibility mode' system in windows XP. quite backwards...

I've been doing some digging and I think I see what's going on here. The reason nothing will be backwards compatabe is the new encryption being used to keep you from making "illegal" cpoies of thier products. Hah. I give it 2 weeks before pirates have cracked this system just like they do every other.

Lets note a few facts on this.

1. XP is still getting security patches what, five years after its release? I suppose this means they care, but either there are some very smart hackers or this was simply a half baked attempt at a rehashed OS when it launched.

2. XP was hacked and stolen from the Microsoft labs, reproduced in Asia with pirated copies shipping before the real one...

3. See previous threads here in OT about Windows Longhorn (aka Vista), to see that several Proof of Concept viruses have already been written for a system that is a year away from release. Now there's 'encryption' for you...