Thursday, August 28, 2008

Even Thieves Don't want Vista!

IT News had a funny but true article about a stolen laptop. A laptop running Linux was stolen but the criminals did not want the more expensive Windows Vista laptops and left them behind. Full article via the link below.

Thieves don't want Vista

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

NVISION 08 Started Today


Jen-Hsun Huang (co-founder of Nvidia) kicked off NVISION 08 today speaking about the leaps and bounds GPU's have taken in the last 10 years.

"Few technologies have made the leaps that the GPU has over the past 10 years. Years ago, the GPU was really just an accelerator, an application-specific integrated circuit. Now it's a general purpose parallel computing processor," said Jen-Hsun. We plan to take advantage of GPU's in future versions of Aladdin 4D.

:)



Link Below

NVISION 08



Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Too Many Cooks In the Kitchen!

The Senior VP in charge of Windows 7 development, has just posted some details on the Microsoft's Windows 7 Engineering blog on what the internal structure looks like for the upcoming OS. It sounds (at least to us) equal parts logistical nightmare and brute force "1000 monkeys at 1000 typewriters", with 25 teams divided up to an average of 40 developers per team. More info via the link below.


Windows 7

Monday, August 18, 2008

One Third of New PCs Downgraded To XP?


"More than one in every three new PCs is downgraded from Windows Vista to Windows XP, either at the factory or by the buyer, said performance and metrics researcher Devil Mountain Software, which operates a community-based testing network. Full article linked below.






Windows XP Article


Sunday, August 17, 2008

Computer World Article

According to the article linked below computer manufactures like Dell are giving Windows the boot to increase performance and please customers. The future of computers is all about web access, muti-platform apps and getting things done not dominating the industry with one operating system.




Computer World Article

Friday, August 15, 2008

Punished for Doing 3D on Windows?


Realsoft 3D has been in the 3D software animation business for many years. They started by developing Real 3D version one on the Amiga platform. The current version of this very powerful animation program is 600 Euro for the Windows version. Economically it pays to buy and use one of the other versions. You can save half your money buying the Mac OS X version, even more if you get the Linux version.

Using Windows for 3D can punish the wallet it seems.

Realsoft 3D Pricing Page

NVIDIA Shows Interactive Ray Tracing on GPUs


Breaking news from SIGGRAPH 2008, Interactive real-time ray tracing using NVIDA GPU's. In the graphics world, ray tracing is a technique used to generate an image by tracing the rays or paths of light as they bounce through and around the objects in a scene. When done right, ray tracing can produce photorealistic imagery because shadows are cast correctly, water and other materials show proper reflections with correct coloring, and lighting in general just looks more realistic. The problem with ray tracing is that the algorithms necessary for producing photorealistic imagery are very complex and require much more compute power than is available in today's PCs, if the imagery is to be rendered in real-time, at a high enough frame rate to produce fluid motion, i.e. for gaming. Full news at the link below.

NVIDA SIGGRAPH Demo

Windows Vista, What a Disaster!

When MS shipped Windows Vista in 2007 they thought everyone would just lap it up and make them more billions. Now over 1 1/2 years later people still avoid Vista like the plague. You can only fool customers so long and make them part with their money. Looks like the honeymoon period is over for Windows. Giving customers an expensive operating system that does less then their used to and charging a premium for it won't win you any fans.

The continued failure of Vista in the marketplace gives us confidence that we made the right decision of not focusing on the Windows version of Aladdin 4D. Windows is slowly dying. Don't be sad, it's just business. Roughly Drafted Magazine has more detail information about the nightmare that is Windows Vista at the link below.

RoughlyDrafted Magazine

Thursday, August 14, 2008

VmwAROS 85,000 Downloads


A few months ago VmwAROS reached a great milestone, over 85,000 downloads! It's awesome that so many people are learning about and enjoying AROS on VMware virtual machines. Learn more about VmwAROS & VMware solutions from the links below. A wealth of new exciting operating systems are available to everyone if they take the time to explore them.



VMware

VmwAROS

Saturday, August 9, 2008

An Operating System of Convenience

One of the reasons that we don't focus more effort on the Windows version of Aladdin 4D is that it is not an operating system of convenience. Sure Windows is everywhere and everyone uses it for now but it is not very convenient or loved. People use it because they have to not because they want to. With the dangers of virus, spyware and adware infections, configuration nightmares and the horror story that is Windows Vista expect Windows use to continue to plummet in the coming years.

These problems with Windows have given rise to more convenient operating systems like Mac OS X. The years 2006-2008 have been record sales years for machines running OS X from Apple. Believe it or not this helps operating systems like AROS, MorphOS & Amiga OS 4.1 because it breaks the cycle of Windows dependance and opens up peoples minds to other choices. Amiga inspired operating systems with thier lighting fast boot times and ease of use are convenant and friendly to customers.

Friday, August 8, 2008

Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery


Microsoft followed our lead and they too are giving away a Windows 3D animation program for free. They also know the true value of Windows (-$0) it seems and are trying to prop it up with no cost animation software and hurt other 3D animation software companies at the same time. Our offer of a free Aladdin 4D for Windows comes at a price, you must buy one of the other versions and are given the Windows version for free as a bonus because you just might have a Windows machine lying around. Microsoft's offer of a free 3D animation program is a poison pill meant to chain you to the Windows empire forever.

The Four Headsmen of Amiga

The first time around when the Amiga was doing things other computers never even thought of doing, Ray-traced 3D animation, stereo sound, bit blitter graphics, multitasking, etc, the Amiga lost out in the platform wars. Even the Mac lost out and was replace in name alone with a much more powerful hybrid. A NeXT, FreeBSD, Unix based operating system (Mac OS X). This time around the Amiga is not alone and has four headsmen; MorphOS, Amiga OS 4.1, AROS, Amiga virtual machine (Amiga Forever 2008). The IT industry is still young and at least one or more of these will rise again and be enjoyed by millions. The Amiga itself sold over 7 million machines and it was an exciting time. How many versions of the four headsmen of the Amiga will sell in the future is unknown but we hope for exciting times again. Innovative Developers and users will make it happen this time not a solo greedy parent company. We know who you were thinking but we meant Commodore.

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Amiga OS 4.1 Has Gone Gold, Congrats to the Team


According to an article on amigaworld.net (link below) Amiga OS 4.1 went gold on August 5th, 2008. Congratulations to the Amiga OS 4.1 development team for all your hard work. Amiga OS 4 is a fantastic update to the classic Amiga operating system.


News Article

Saturday, August 2, 2008

Aladdin 4D Available Again




The Aladdin 4D Special Sale for $69.95 has ended but the package is available again for the regular price of $99.95 via the Buy link below. Aladdin 4D runs in real time on Amiga Forever 2008 from Cloanto. Rub the Lamp, Render the Magic.