Bill Gates gets richer!! (XBox)

[LDBennett]

My grandson wanted an XBox game machine for Xmas so dopey grandpa got it for him. We get it set up and DUH!, it needs a hard drive (sold separately of course) to download any of "THE" games, like Star Wars III. That baby takes 6 GIGABYTES of hard disk space. So grandpa puts up again. But hey it says right on the box that you can down load movies from the Internet and my son already has Netflix and an Internet provider and WiFi. Perfect!

Not so fast.... To get to Netflix, that they already pay for along with Internet service and WiFi, you have to pay Microsoft (Bill Gates) $10 a month (you get the first three months for $10 but its $10 per month after that). It's in the "Cloud" ?????

As if Bill Gates and Microsoft don't already have enough money they have to soak us out of more. The Play Station and the WiWi allow access to Netflix for free if you have WiFi but not rich old BILL.

I always hated Microsoft software mostly because of their constant updates that make it impossible for users behind in updates to see your new documents from the latest version and the way they change all the command structure with every update forcing you to relearn the application with a new version. But Microsoft Office is the industry standard and you just can not get away from Microsoft in the business world.

I hate Bill Gates and Microsoft. He and his company are thieves!

LDBennett

[howlnmad]

I hate video games and all that stuff. Probably because I never understood all the controller buttons but mostly because of all the time I see kids and adults wasting sitting in front of them. That's why this ol grinch of a grandpa sticks with camo and hunting accessories.
I have to agree with you on the Microsoft and all the constant upgrades. By the time you get the latast edition downloaded, there have been at least 3 more put out. It's a never ending game to keep Gates filthy rich.

[hogger129]

I was going to say you could try getting an external hard drive over at Best Buy. I got a 1 terrabyte Seagate for $150. But then I saw that the game you wanted was 6GB in size and since you would have to format the drive for FAT32 file system, it won't support any files over 4GB.

[Double Deuce]

The XBOX HD isnt like a standard HD, unless you mod the box a standard one wouldnt work. You dont need the HD to play games unless you want to download them you could have just bought the disk. As for the xbox live you can get a years subscription right now for 40 bucks, thats just over 4 bucks a month. You can go with Sony and get the same stuff for free, but they have already been hacked several times and their service has been down for weeks at a time.

The best way to avoid it would be to not buy any of his stuff but I dont know why you would be angry at him for running a successful business, usually making money is what they are set up for.

[LDBennett]

A couple of things:

According to the instructions for the XBox, using the USB port for memory expansion limits any memory device to 16 GB regardless that it might be a terabyte memory device. The model we have is the XBox360 "S" which has an hole in the chassis to plug-in the many pin connector on their specific drive. Only then can you exceed 16GB. Another "feature" to assure you have to buy their memory device for full storage capabilities.

The WIWI has always had the ability to provide movies from Netflix (assuming you are a Netflix subscriber, have an internet connection, and WiFi) as does the Play Station (or so I am told on the Play Station). As big and rich as Microsoft (BIill Gates) is, why did they choose to not match the features of the WIWI and the Play Station?

Yes, people are in the business to make money but usury rates from the bank or exceedingly high interest rates on loans are considered morally wrong. I think Microsoft (Bill Gates) to be wrong in charging for access to movies from a source already paid for by the user, over a internet service also already provided by the user, via the users WiFi router. Microsoft (Bill gates) provides NO service for the fee when it comes to allowing the downloading of movies. We already bought this stupid machine at a pretty penny. Why must we pay a fee when the packaging boxes clearly state the machine has the feature, with no mention that you have to pay a fee to get the feature? Is that not false advertising?

But hey, that's just me or is it????

LDBennett

PS: I am only an observer on the sidelines here, the one who paid for the machine. In watching the grandson use it, I thought every game, even those on disk, had to be downloaded into memory before they could be played (???). Is that wrong? The instruction indicate that not all games will run on the XBox unless you have the memory expansion hard drive or at least a flash drive plugged into the USB port. And it has to be "their" flash drive with the speed to match the machine, it says here(??).

[Double Deuce]

The reason they are charging is because you are using microsofts service, all their backend servers and support, to stream the movie, yes you can stream it from other devices and from the internet itself and you are free to do that, if you want to do it from the xbox though you will need to buy the Xbox live service. It has alot of features like online play and that uses the internet but are only available through the Live service. I dont agree with all the stuff they charge for nor do I use it all, but if I want to use the Live service I pay for it. Are there other things I could do to get it for free, yes. Do I agree they should offer more things for free, yes.The only way to change that though would be not to buy their service so they lose money and change their model.

If you are only looking to play games, you can do that without the live service, but you cant download them from the service you would need to buy the disk.

But the choice is still mine I can forgo the whole xbox and have several different devices to do the same thing. I can go with Sony or the Wii, but past issues with their service I would not recommend it. The xbox does match the features of Sony and Wii other than it doesnt have a Blu ray player, the Live service in my opinion is far greater than either of the services for Sony or the Wii, is it perfect? No Would I like it to be free? hell to the yes!

[Prizefighter]

If it makes you feel any better, Gates has been in retirement for some time now. Someone else is calling the shots.

As for your troubles, sounds like you got the "arcade" model of Xbox 360, which has no hard drive. There are models that come with a good size hard drive in them from the start. Whoever sold you your console should have told you about that.

As for the games, the vast majority can run off the disk. They don't have to be installed to the hard drive, but your grandson can install them if he wants to; they typically run slightly better that way.

Saving his progress in a game is another matter. He does need some kind of memory for that, whether it be a hard drive or a USB memory unit. You can use any USB flash drive 16GB or under, but the console has to format it in order to "see" it.

My initial reaction is to tell you to take it back to the store and exchange it toward a model with a hard drive already in it. That takes care of your memory woes. Then all you have to worry about is the Xbox Live subscription - the $10/month thing. You can buy a year's worth for about $60 which is a little better of a deal, but I agree that it could provide a lot better value for the money.

[LDBennett]

Well, my "store" is Amazon.com. I searched both it and Microsoft's web page and none of these issues were answered in either place. While I feel ripped-off, my grandson does not. They will not be buying the Microsoft service. They have a Wii that has the movie capabilities but the laser disk drive is broken. It still downloads movies just fine (Mom and Dad use it for movies) so not all is lost.

I don't assume to know anything about these game machines. I don't own one and never would as games are not my thing. I am just observing what Microsoft has done and posting it here so other might know that Microsoft is ripping people off. Not advertising or printing on the box that a fee is required to download movies off the Internet is exactly what I think Microsoft is good at. I have had personal computers since the early 1980's. I have observed Microsoft all those years and as an Apple user saw the underhanded things Microsoft(Bill Gates) did all those years. While Bill Gates is not around anymore at Microsoft, he built the morals of Microsoft and this experience for me shows that they have not changed with his absences.

If I had known that the XBox had a service fee for movies and that it must have the hard drive (or even a $60 flash drive) to play the latest games I might not have bought it for the grandson. Others need to measure its worth against the other game boxes when they are ready to purchase.

LDBennett

[Albtraum]

While it's great that the Xbox is the American video game console, I chose the Sony Playstation 3 because there is no online fee. I believe if you get a yearly plan for XboxLive(online) it's much less than $10/month. The Playstation network is free, although it was hacked a few months back, Sony fixed the problem.

[LDBennett]

While Microsoft is an American company, I'd bet the box was made in China using Chinese parts. That is the standard today, even for Sony, I believe.

If I had known of the fee, I would have talked the grandson into the other machines. But of course Microsoft hides the fee as best it can. My son's co-workers immediately offered up the existence of the fee after the fact when my son complained about it in passing conversation after XMAS. I guess we can not all be totally informed all of the time, especially when a manufacturer is a bit devious.

LDBennett

[raven818]

The feds don't like Gates either. They tried their best to shut him down so their ( feds ) contributing competitors could capitalize on the work he's done all his life.

[cpttango30]

You should have talked to the guys and gals of your local bestbuy. They are very helpfull most of the time.

Microsoft is not charging you for movies from Netflix. Tey are charging you a fee to use the network just like your ISP does.

You purchased the wrong item so don't be mad at someone else for our mistake. Not a big deal I and others here are tech guys and gamers. You could have come on here and asked "My grandson wants an Xbox which one do I get him?" I know for a fact I would have answered as well as others and we would have guided you to a much better purchas.

If you think Uncle Bill is a thief them take a look at apple. They sued their only hard drive manufacture. They sell computer that cost almost double with a regular windows machine does.

Also about product updates. They release a new office suite about every two years really that is a very slow. Graphics cards have a new batch just about every 6 to 8 months. A ton of software out there has 6 month to 1 year product update time.

If you have an older version of office like 2003 there is a small patch you can download from ms for free that will add the ability to view office 2007 and office 2010 documents.


Just be lucky you dont have to use autodesk software. That is a $2500 bill every year for every computer it is on.

Microsoft is a good company. That is located in the USA trying to hire Americans. Do they make the best maybe maybe not. Depends on what you like. I prefer windows over macs because of the draconian ways in which apple rules their software.

[LDBennett]

cpttango30:

Gates didn't invent anything. He stole his first operating system, stole Apple's Mac operating system look, and got caught forcing PC manufacturers to buy his products. I think there is still an ongoing legal case in Europe over a similar issue (thwarting competition).

I have both an Apple MAC (since the mid 1980's both here and at work when I worked) and a Windows PC I bought just to get Delorme map programs to interface with my GPS. The Windows machine is stupid. I have used a Vista version PC and it is just as bad. Everything is hidden from the user. Dumb!

Apple hardware is expensive because it is built to last. I have owned several Apple computers only discarded when they became obsolete after an average of seven years. Most PC's don't last that long and some die of massive virus attacks (there is only one documented Apple virus ever know to infiltrate their current OS X series of operating systems based on what I have read).

While I did not know about the Microsoft patch you suggested, neither did my employer who for years and years had to update all the thousands of Microsoft software copies spread throughout this major company with every change of Word or Excel all the way back to the 1980's.

But we all get to choose. I did bad by not researching the XBox better but who would have thought to come to a gun website for that information?

LDBennett

[Bobitis]

My gaming pretty much consisted of Pong, Frogger, and Tailgunner. I just don't have the coordination or reflexes to play them any more.

My son is an avid gamer and MS fanatic. He's had an XboX from the day they came out. The only 'extras' he has are a battery charger, and wireless controllers.
Everything else he needs came with the consoles (cept some misc cables). He also has a PS3 that is similarly outfitted. His choice of platforms? XboX hands down.

He's also a PAX Enforcer, and has connections coast to coast in the industry. Because he knows many MS employees, he gets his Gold Card for 25 bucks a year.

That said, here're a few MS/Bill Gates factoids.

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/inside_ms.mspx

http://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/Micr...ries-E1651.htm

http://www.gatesfoundation.org/about...act-sheet.aspx

Yes, the numbers in that last link are Billions.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation donates Billions of dollars every year to MANY programs. Vastly more than anyone else on the planet.

If ya stop and consider all the details, Microsoft is directly responsible for creating Millions of jobs. Good jobs. Jobs all over the planet.

Like it or not, Bill Gates has changed the world. Profoundly. In more ways than one.

As far as I'm concerned, he deserves every penny he gets.

[raven818]

Originally Posted by Bobitis

My gaming pretty much consisted of Pong, Frogger, and Tailgunner. I just don't have the coordination or reflexes to play them any more.

My son is an avid gamer and MS fanatic. He's had an XboX from the day they came out. The only 'extras' he has are a battery charger, and wireless controllers.
Everything else he needs came with the consoles (cept some misc cables). He also has a PS3 that is similarly outfitted. His choice of platforms? XboX hands down.

He's also a PAX Enforcer, and has connections coast to coast in the industry. Because he knows many MS employees, he gets his Gold Card for 25 bucks a year.

That said, here're a few MS/Bill Gates factoids.

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/inside_ms.mspx

http://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/Micr...ries-E1651.htm

http://www.gatesfoundation.org/about...act-sheet.aspx

Yes, the numbers in that last link are Billions.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation donates Billions of dollars every year to MANY programs. Vastly more than anyone else on the planet.

If ya stop and consider all the details, Microsoft is directly responsible for creating Millions of jobs. Good jobs. Jobs all over the planet.

Like it or not, Bill Gates has changed the world. Profoundly. In more ways than one.

As far as I'm concerned, he deserves every penny he gets.

Damn, Bobitis, you take everything I put together in my head, and put it on front street.

I got my first PC in the early 90's ( before Windows ). DOS operated. Anything at all I put on it had to be written, by me. I liked it a lot, but when windows came along, my life got sooo much better.

I remember a friend calling me and asked if I knew about Win. I said no, what is it. He tried to explain to me, that it downloads information, and then the information disappears, when you do something else.

Disappears? Are you high, dude?

I got the software, win 3.1, I think it was the first. And it was history from there. Great tool.

[geds]

If my memory serves correctly Bill Gates would not part with a penny for charity until just a few years ago when he had a change of heart and set up his foundation. Not exactly what I would consider a model citizen....

[raven818]

Originally Posted by geds

If my memory serves correctly Bill Gates would not part with a penny for charity until just a few years ago when he had a change of heart and set up his foundation. Not exactly what I would consider a model citizen....

Got a link?

[Bobitis]

Originally Posted by raven818

Damn, Bobitis, you take everything I put together in my head, and put it on front street.

I got my first PC in the early 90's ( before Windows ). DOS operated. Anything at all I put on it had to be written, by me. I liked it a lot, but when windows came along, my life got sooo much better.

I remember a friend calling me and asked if I knew about Win. I said no, what is it. He tried to explain to me, that it downloads information, and then the information disappears, when you do something else.

Disappears? Are you high, dude?

I got the software, win 3.1, I think it was the first. And it was history from there. Great tool.

I 1st got my introduction to computing with a Commadore (before the 64).
I would sit for hours writing code to make stuff up. Very engaging.

10 years later, I was writing programs for a company that I worked for that tracked sales, and one that the fed used to track steel imports from foreign countries.

Back then, it was simple stuff. Today?

Sadly, my heart was in mechanical engineeering. I shoulda stuck with computers.

[HunterAlpha1]

this is why i stick to PC gaming. i think a mouse is much easier to control, and the keyboard gives you much more flexibility with hotkey commands. if you want to play a game that isn't for PC, you can usually find a patch that allows you to play it.

also, a PC is multi-purpose. you can check email, browse, watch movies, and tons more. you can also get console style controllers for the PC if that's what you prefer.
why would you buy a whole separate machine just to play games on?

[Bobitis]

Originally Posted by raven818

Got a link?

I think I already posted them.

[geds]

Originally Posted by raven818

Got a link?

According to Wikipedia:

"Philanthropy

Gates began to appreciate the expectations others had of him when public opinion mounted suggesting that he could give more of his wealth to charity. Gates studied the work of Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller, and in 1994 sold some of his Microsoft stock to create the William H. Gates Foundation. In 2000, Gates and his wife combined three family foundations into one to create the charitable Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which is the largest transparently operated charitable foundation in the world."

Nice way of saying he was not supporting charitable giving in a meaningful way until 1994.

[Bobitis]

Originally Posted by geds

According to Wikipedia:

"Philanthropy

Gates began to appreciate the expectations others had of him when public opinion mounted suggesting that he could give more of his wealth to charity. Gates studied the work of Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller, and in 1994 sold some of his Microsoft stock to create the William H. Gates Foundation. In 2000, Gates and his wife combined three family foundations into one to create the charitable Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which is the largest transparently operated charitable foundation in the world."

Nice way of saying he was not supporting charitable giving in a meaningful way until 1994.

Ya lost me Geds. To every time comes a purpose.

5 years ago I couldn't donate to any cause. Now I can to many.

Am I to be condemned cuz I wasn't able at that time?

[geds]

Originally Posted by Bobitis

Ya lost me Geds. To every time comes a purpose.

5 years ago I couldn't donate to any cause. Now I can to many.

Am I to be condemned cuz I wasn't able at that time?

There is a difference. Gates was already a multi-millionaire - were you?

[Cryptic]

Originally Posted by LDBennett

Gates didn't invent anything. He stole his first operating system, stole Apple's Mac operating system look, and got caught forcing PC manufacturers to buy his products. I think there is still an ongoing legal case in Europe over a similar issue (thwarting competition).LDBennett

Yep!

Originally Posted by LDBennett

I have both an Apple MAC (since the mid 1980's both here and at work when I worked) and a Windows PC I bought just to get Delorme map programs to interface with my GPS. The Windows machine is stupid. I have used a Vista version PC and it is just as bad. Everything is hidden from the user. Dumb!LDBennett

Been there with that Windows issue

Originally Posted by LDBennett

Apple hardware is expensive because it is built to last. I have owned several Apple computers only discarded when they became obsolete after an average of seven years. Most PC's don't last that long and some die of massive virus attacks (there is only one documented Apple virus ever know to infiltrate their current OS X series of operating systems based on what I have read).LDBennett

Yep, yep, yep!! Gotta love a Mac! I know I love mine!!

Originally Posted by LDBennett

I did bad by not researching the XBox better but who would have thought to come to a gun website for that information?LDBennett

Years back, it wasn't this confusing purchasing a gaming console - Specifically the XBox system. It sounds like you've purchased one of the XBox systems that is around 4GB? I agree with whoever suggested sending it back. The system I have is a 250GB console. I have no issues with storage, or saving games.

You might wanna save yourself the headache and upgrade .

[cpttango30]

Apple hardware is expensive because it is built to last. I have owned several Apple computers only discarded when they became obsolete after an average of seven years. Most PC's don't last that long and some die of massive virus attacks (there is only one documented Apple virus ever know to infiltrate their current OS X series of operating systems based on what I have read).

That is the biggest bunch of FANBOY garbage I have ever heard.

Before my promotion I took care of 200 PCs and 95 Macs. I had just as many problems with my macs as I did with my PC's. Now I have 800+ PC's and 30 macbooks. These new macbooks have way more problems than any of my PC's do.

Mac hardware is the same as PC hardware. They just force you to ONLY use their software on their approved hardware. Macs are all made in china as well as 99% of everything else.

I can go build a HACKINTOSH for 1/3 the price of a true mac and it will do everything a mac will do.

I have sitting in front of me now a Toshiba PC laptop, iPad, iPod, Android phones, I also have 3 more android tablets for the wife and kids.

Kind of funny that I have a 12 year old Sony Vaio that the only problem is the HDD went out after 12 years. That was my mother in law. I replaced it with a 7 year old Gateway running windows 7 Pro. It runs fine and will run for another 5 to 7 years if I need it to.

My last PC laptop was 9 years old when I sold it to some guy on ebay for 50% of what I paid for it.

As for mac viruses they are out there. But, Hackers look for bang for the buck. Why am I going to waste time writing a virus when there are so few macs in the world vs the PC's.

You want to talk about crapy os's Ever since I was FORCED to upgrade from iOS 5 to iOS 5 every app I use crashes. facebook, safari, you name it it crashes every time I use it. It never did that till iOS 5. I have restored it to factory original (HAS TO BE iOS 5 though) it still crashes all the time. and Today I did some upgrades on it and POOF now it doesn't boot.

Win 7 is light years ahead of xp and vista for being a secure OS. The biggest PLUS to OSX is also in my eyes a big draw back. I can take a windows OS disk and install it on any PC out there and it will work. I had to have a different os disk for a macbook pro or a macbook or an imac.

Are there things macs do better sure video and photo editing are the two major things macs do a little bit better.

half the stuff on the new improved iphone 4s have been on android phones for a year.

Back on topic now.

Microsoft's xboxlive doesn't hide anything. It says right on the console box and games that on line play costs extra.

I gladly pay my $5 a month to have a secure network that hasn't been hacked. I also like the fact that I can play on line and at the same time talk to my team mates. You can't do that on Sony's PSN.

I don't understand why you are mad at Microsoft because YOU failed to do your homework as a end user.