Just wondering what you folks think.
Do you think it'd be better to have a closed hardware platform as the majority, or are you on the side of the typical PC with a mish mash of parts ?
I'll go first by incessantly rambling on and on, thereby boring you all to no end.
I decided to get into Amiga after building my PC a few months ago. Typical PC with all the higher end crap, ended up costing a BUNCH. I always wanted to own such a ridiculous machine, but now that I own it, am totally bored with it.
There seems to be nothing really good to do (as a home user) on such a machine. Many games that would use it are just over hyped crap. Short of Arma 3, there seems to be NOTHING coming out that needs a massive machine. Thanks to CONSOLES, a lot of the stuff is also just crappy ports. Even what is coming out seems to be more just point and shoot crap.
I think that all this massive power is going to waste and crappy programming is tolerated. Going to a single unified hardware configuration has some advantages in this day and age:
1. BUG FIXES - We might all have bugs, but then everyone would get fixes sooner as 1 fix would work for everyone.
2. Programming could be made more efficient - More optimized compilers and dev tools.
3. Programmers could optimize apps like no ones business - If a C64 could pound an IBM 5150 into the ground @ 1mhz due to integration and optimization, what could we do with a Core I7 and GTX 680 or Radeon 7990 platform ?
Software developers could spend more time being creative with less platforms to have to master, and as the machines got pushed to their limits, things would have to be done more efficiently (see above).
4. Machines would be worth something when you sold them.
5. No more "My 'puter is better than yours.."
IMO old machines were more "fun" to use even taking into account the fact that that it wasn't all done before.
If it were up to me, I'd take whatever is a really high end platform and freeze it for 5 years as the standard pc. I owned an IMac till recently and IMO there are benefits to standardized hardware (now ppl should be free to know the inner workings however). I also owned a C64 and so I can see how programming efficiently can work.
IMO Jack Tramiel would have preferred the current PC ecosystem of cheap parts from everywhere.