Waiting for Digital Godot

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[gotto@islandpacific.com]

Waiting for Digital Godot

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I really don't understand the "gotta be the first", "gotta have it now at all costs" folks. They are going to make more so why do you want the first one that has bugs probably and freezes up after a few minutes of play. It must be in the genes.

[Guest.Visitor]

Waiting for Digital Godot

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People here didn't have to worry about rain, since it was below freezing when they lined up for hours. On top of that, a large share of them didn't even get the XBox, and I read of at least one incident where a person got one, but then got mugged leaving the store. While I would certainly never advocate stealing, the mugger seemed the smarter of the two. The phenomenon isn't limited to video games either. I recall stores opening at midnight to lines of people for Harry Potter books and movies like the Titanic, when it was released on video. I'm a night person, so going out at midnight wouldn't bother me, but I can't imagine waiting in lines like that for anything replaceable.

[Mike Rizzi]

Waiting for Digital Godot

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you'd think that Mr Bill would offer some sort of employee plan to purchase the latest and greatest so they wouldn't have ot queue up! -

[J.Klebanoff]

Waiting for Digital Godot

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I read of at least one incident where a person got one, but then got mugged leaving the store.

I wonder if any of the muggers lined up in order to get a good mugging spot?

[dennis@midmed.com]

Waiting for Digital Godot

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So, if the mugger gets one of the XBoxes that are defective, what does he do? Take it back to the store? Send it back to Microsoft? Don't think so. It's getting to the point where a mugger can't make a dishonest living any more.

[J.Klebanoff]

Waiting for Digital Godot

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Maybe the mugger could kidnap a Microsoft support person and demand that he/she fix it. Hey, if you're into mugging, what's a little kidnapping? Then again, I don't know which continent Microsoft stashes its support staff on.

[Guest.Visitor]

Waiting for Digital Godot

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People do this for major movie releases, too. Star Wars, Lord Of The Rings, Harry Potter fans lined up for days just to get advanced sale tickets for the movies. Not to see the movies but just to get tickets. Tom.

[H.Boldt]

Waiting for Digital Godot

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There are a few things I'll buy on the first day of availability. I had a coupon for a discounted copy of the "Corner Gas" Season 2 DVDs valid only on the first day at a local chain, but by the time I got there, their copies were sold out. I was a bit pissed off. I had to buy my copy at regular price from another store in the mall. When the first Animaniacs DVD's come out next summer, I might be willing to wait in line overnight for that. Regarding "Godot", that was the name of a text editor running on a PDP-11/45 we used in school in the late 1970's. It was delivered later than expected, and so earned that name. The prof who wrote it didn't like it when people pronounced the name as "Go Dot". Would I wait in line overnight for anything from Microsoft? Is there anything made by Microsoft that I'd even want in my home? Hell no! Cheers! Hans

[Guest.Visitor]

Waiting for Digital Godot

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I hate best buy. I dont any brick store for that matter. The prices are outrageous and they are all attached with the earth's more abominable thing ... Mail-in-Rebates ... something I never seems to get and therefore end up paying more than regular price. I will always buy electronics from pricegrabber.com etc and this week's edition of Consumer Report has listed many more like that. I also hate paper edition of Globe and Mail for many reasons. First the idea of a tree being chopped because of my personal preference, second it is full of advertisements, third it is not available here in Atlanta, and fourth and most importantly, I have to buy it! There is no price for passion ... or call it obsession. People wait in line for new Star Wars, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings. The one thing I did not understand was the picture of a CD shop in Holland where people lined up to get the newest CD from Tupac Shakur!!! What the heck? 2pac was about the anger of poor black people living in ghettos in gangs. Lots of white kids living in slums think they are black ... but what has the people of Holland got to do with this fascination? They don't even speak English. It happened 10 years ago and I am still confused.

[J.Klebanoff]

Waiting for Digital Godot

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I also hate paper edition of Globe and Mail for many reasons. First the idea of a tree being chopped because of my personal preference, second it is full of advertisements, third it is not available here in Atlanta, and fourth and most importantly, I have to buy it!

I can certainly understand your preference for not paying for things or being bombarded by advertising, but exactly how do you think that the Globe & Mail (or any other newspaper) is going to pay its reporters, editors, administrators and other people required to put out the paper? How do you think it’s going to pay the printing and paper (and satellite time since it satellite publishes across Canada) costs for the print edition or, if you don’t want to chop down that tree, the server and bandwidth costs for the online edition? Since starting to write this column and other articles for MC Press I’ve come to love advertisers. I get depressed when my column runs without a complete slate of paid advertisements on it. I certainly don’t get paid anywhere near a king’s ransom for this column (or if I do, the king’s kidnappers must have self-esteem problems if they are asking such a low ransom), but MC Press would not be able to pay me anything if it weren’t for the advertisers. Either that or they would have to start charging subscription fees. As someone once said, there is no free lunch.

[Guest.Visitor]

Waiting for Digital Godot

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I do not undermine the importance of advertisements. It is the bloodline of all freeware. However there is a difference between seeing an advertisement while reading news vs trying to find news in between advertisements. So when I see the electronic version of Globe and Mail, I do see the advertisement strips. They dont bother me and as a matter of fact, I click some of them to find out details, if not to make a purchase. On the otherhand there are entire sections of newspapers that people simply throw away without reading because they are not interested in. What a waste! I can not speak for all but I do notice advertisement strips when I read an article on MC press. My favourites, besides your tirades, is Tips and Tricks and Bob Cozzi's column. I have not only made purchases worth hundreds of dollars in the past year thru MC press, I have also recommended many. The same is true for iSeries Network. Maybe MC press should have some confidence on your readership and advertise more books alongside your columns. I am sure the clicks on advertisements are recorded somewhere and they can figure out which article sells and which not.