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I am a person who will look at the Steam Machine and cry

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Re: I am a person who will look at the Steam Machine and cry

#81

Post by drdexebtjl »

foo12bar wrote: post #59
Aurornis wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Everywhere I see reviews of it on the internet, Gaming reviews have diverged from reality. Everything is about finding controversy and something to be angry about. Gaming journalism and social media are extremely toxic, but not really indicative of average gamers or consumers any more. > The writing is on the wall. This thing is going to flop. I would bet that it's going to be oversubscribed and sell out.

I bet it sells out, too. But selling out a heavily limited release doesn't mean they are going to make a profit.

They’re privately owned, not every project needs to be profitable. It can just not lose money and strengthen the Steam ecosystem where the real profit is.

If this thing becomes unobtanium unless you’re a game studio or a journalist, but becomes a standard optimization/compatibility target for game developers like the Steam Deck has been, I would consider it successful, imo.

Re: I am a person who will look at the Steam Machine and cry

#82

Post by esseph »

foo12bar wrote: post #79
esseph wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't understand how Steam works, the culture around it, or why people are excited about this. > So what are you saying? They can do this single limited release and then discontinue it and everyone is going to be happy about it? They're selling a gaming console, of which in their case the hardware is the least important part and a means to an end. It is commodity hardware. No integrated memory. No special sauce.…

I think you're too cloae to take any criticism. Any result seems like it'd be a success to you.

Valve has been working toward this ecosystem for over a decade. This is a single product offering among a growing product line that provides access to their store.

To be clear, their competitors are pretty pathetic.

> I think you're too cloae to take any criticism

I'm not even their target market, nor would I buy one when I can roll my own on my own hardware - even using SteamOS if I wanted.

https://www.theverge.com/games/953411/valve-steamos-desktop-...

Re: I am a person who will look at the Steam Machine and cry

#83

Post by tossmysalad »

slibhb wrote: post #14
everdrive wrote: post #8

"Nothing is safe, nothing is reliable, and I am looking at the extremely real possibility that I am already unemployable if I have to go back on the market." Anyone I know who has needed to look for work has had a hell of a time with it. It's a scary world out there.

In the US, unemployment is at 4.3%.

[dead]

Re: I am a person who will look at the Steam Machine and cry

#85

Post by goodmythical »

neural_thing wrote: post #46
mathgeek wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You’ll want the U-6 rate as well for comparison: https://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t15.htm

And U-6 is lower than e.g it has been in ALL of 2008-2018? Generally pretty close to historic lows. Not sure what extra information it provides

Well, the difference is ~13 million people when you scale it to US population. (14.7m @ 4.3 vs 27.8m @ 8.1%)

For perspective that's roughly New York, LA, and Las Vegas, OR Vacaville (CA), Clinton (MI), San Angelo (TX), Allen (TX), Tuscaloosa (AL), San Mateo (CA), Tracy (CA), Tyler (TX), Roanoke (VA), Sparks (NV), Spokane Valley (WA), Las Cruces (NM), Rialto (CA), Hesperia (CA), Renton (WA), Bend (OR), Carmel (IN), Longmont (CO), Sandy Springs (GA), Vista (CA), Davenport (IA), San Marcos (CA), New Braunfels (TX), Edinburg (TX), Mission Viejo (CA), League City (TX), Fall River (MA), Kenosha (WI), El Cajon (CA), Fishers (IN), Flint (MI), South Bend (IN), Green Bay (WI), Roswell (GA), Peoria (IL), Boulder (CO), Greeley (CO), Brockton (MA), Waterbury (CT), New Bedford (MA), Richmond (CA), West Palm Beach (FL), Everett (WA), Hillsboro (OR), Centennial (CO), Conroe (TX), High Point (NC), Pompano Beach (FL), Elgin (IL), Antioch (CA), Burbank (CA), Pueblo (CO), Fargo (ND), El Monte (CA), College Station (TX), Richardson (TX), Daly City (CA), Clearwater (FL), Costa Mesa (CA), Downey (CA), West Jordan (UT), Carlsbad (CA), Miami Gardens (FL), Rochester (MN), Murfreesboro (TN), Temecula (CA), Gresham (OR), Victorville (CA), Arvada (CO), Springfield (IL), Independence (MO), West Valley City (UT), Pearland (TX), Abilene (TX), Norman (OK), Vallejo (CA), Berkeley (CA), Ann Arbor (MI), Allentown (PA), Evansville (IN), Olathe (KS), Beaumont (TX), Cambridge (MA), Peoria (AZ), Lansing (MI), Lafayette (LA), Odessa (TX), Athens (GA), Columbia (MO), Manchester (NH), Billings (MT), Hartford (CT), Concord (NC), North Charleston (SC), Meridian (ID), Surprise (AZ), Santa Clara (CA), Fort Collins (CO), Miramar (FL), Charleston (SC), Denton (TX), Coral Springs (FL), Roseville (CA), Pasadena (CA), Warren (MI), Thornton (CO), Kent (WA), Midland (TX), Waco (TX), Carrollton (TX), McAllen (TX), Sterling Heights (MI), Columbia (SC), Gainesville (FL), Cedar Rapids (IA), New Haven (CT), Stamford (CT), Elizabeth (NJ), Topeka (KS), Kent (WA), Victorville (CA), Syracuse (NY), AND Dayton (OH).

So, ya know, like a couple people.

Re: I am a person who will look at the Steam Machine and cry

#86

Post by elzbardico »

NavinF wrote: post #60
elzbardico wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Employment numbers don't tell the whole history. You may lose your job as a SWE making 200k/y and to control the hemorrage of your savings, accept a part time contractor role that nets you a fraction of what you used to get, without benefits, or you can start driving for uber, door dash, etc. All of it will make you count as employed.

That's often called "occupational mismatch" and it smuggles in a normative claim that someone always deserves a job matching their prior title, education, or salary. Labor statistics do not and should not assume that. Also in my experience part time contractor roles are awesome. <20hr/wk = low stress, most of my big purchases like computer hardware were deductible business expenses, and the coveredca subsidy let me g…

The point is, I hope you agree that normal people may find a labor market where should them lose their jobs, there's a heightened chance they will find themselves in a situation of "occupational mimatch" a lit bit stressing and not really the ideal, optimal market under their point of view.

It may be that this perception would be particularly amplified when those persons have some doubt whether they would be able, in any single month, to be able to pay both their mortgage and food with their "occupationally mismatched" new income levels.

Despite the fact that you're probably right when you say the labor statistics should not assume that those people are unemployed, I think you can now appreaciate the fact that for some people, the current labor market is not particularly reassuring no matter what numbers the Department of Labor proclaim for this particular statistics.

Re: I am a person who will look at the Steam Machine and cry

#87

Post by elzbardico »

narrator wrote: post #77
elzbardico wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Usually the people in low income/developing countries that engage in student exchange programs are upper middle class and beyond and have lives no much different from their peers in developed western societies. People in western societies tend to ignore that developing countries are not merelly poorer but also generally marked by extreme wealth and income inequality. The rich and the upper middle class for all practi…

Dhaka, Bangladesh, it's not a nice place to live no matter how much money you have compared to developed countries.

Even Bangladesh have huge gated communities (almost closed city districts, with office buildings and commerce besides residences) that are orders of magnitude that do a really good job of isolating someone from the general dystopian chaos of the city.

Re: I am a person who will look at the Steam Machine and cry

#88

Post by oliculipolicula »

PaulHoule wrote: post #47
crumpled wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish I could look forward and say, "prices will go down again" I don't see when or how. I hope I'm wrong.

Well the bubble could pop, but... as much as we are blaming the pandemic, and the crypto and AI bubbles I think Moore's law was really about transistors getting exponentially cheaper not just exponentially smaller. If you can't afford them it doesn't matter how big or small they are! I think the EUV transition broke the long-term cost decreases and we might be seeing the end of progress in electronics and computing u…

On a wide enough horizon, litho (& MRI) machines are nothing more than a source of entertainment?

Narrower horizon: https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/enepol/v38y2010i9p5174-5188.ht...

Re: I am a person who will look at the Steam Machine and cry

#89

Post by PaulHoule »

oliculipolicula wrote: post #88
PaulHoule wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well the bubble could pop, but... as much as we are blaming the pandemic, and the crypto and AI bubbles I think Moore's law was really about transistors getting exponentially cheaper not just exponentially smaller. If you can't afford them it doesn't matter how big or small they are! I think the EUV transition broke the long-term cost decreases and we might be seeing the end of progress in electronics and computing u…

On a wide enough horizon, litho (& MRI) machines are nothing more than a source of entertainment? Narrower horizon: https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/enepol/v38y2010i9p5174-5188.ht...

I think China came to the conclusion that the French got it right when they standardized on the Hualong One [1] rather than AP-1000. I did break out the champagne the other day when I heard they actually installed a BWRX 300 module at Darlington the other day!

As for electronics manufacturing it's believable we see something entirely different in 20 years (SQUID? true 3-d integration?) but I expect a rough patch for most of the rest of my life. Not like I won't have enough retro games to play for my entertainment.

Just got back giving from Casey Handmer some tough love over (1) it is not commercially interesting to make methane on Earth and (2) it is not feasible to make make methane on Mars unless you can make everything else. Handmer is a tragic figure like Klein, except Klein's tragedy is a tragedy for us all whereas Handmer and I are the only ones crying over his tragedy because I could use a buddy to talk to about the interests we share who is worth talking to.

If Musk was the hard man he pretended to be he'd be interested in my notes on how to attain manufacturing autarky after the future event the Club of Rome warned you about. But he's not so he's not. He gets to date the models from Looker [3] but which witch can resist a pet therianthrope? [2]

[1] ... of which, oddly, there are two different designs!

[2] ... sorry gsf_emergency_\d but a good parody deserves a parody; is @cindy your sister?

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Looker (I was so dazzled by that LOOKER Gun, my second favorite sci-fi gun of all time, that I had to watch the movie a few times to realize it really is just as bad as everybody else says it is)

Re: I am a person who will look at the Steam Machine and cry

#90

Post by mcmoor »

crumpled wrote: post #43
PaulHoule wrote: post #2

I hope it is a while before I have to buy a new computer!

I wish I could look forward and say, "prices will go down again" I don't see when or how. I hope I'm wrong.

My hope is that whatever makes hardware prices go down over last decades would eventually work again now. I guess CPU is a dead end, but why not RAM and storage?
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