DLog
Saturday, August 09, 2008
Encarta: upgrade to get less?
Microsoft Encarta gives you less when you upgrade.
In using Student 2006 and Student 2009, less encyclopedic content is evident everywhere. The number of articles has been reduced by 6000. The number of media in articles were reduced. The video of the Return of Hong Kong was replaced by a picture, and the picture was listed under the video section. Excerpts from Chinese philosophical texts were removed. The number of virtual tours were reduced by half. The book summaries no longer have a list by title option. And the list can go on.
In the old days, when the storage capacity of the delivery media is a limiting factor (e.g. a CD holds 600M), some features are scaled back to make room for new features. An example was the removal of "collages" in Encarta. But in the modern era of high capacity DVDs, and when there is more than a gigabyte of space left on a DVD, it makes much less sense to reduce multimedia and article counts. In releases of Encarta from 2005 to 2008, there is always something that is reduced. Remaining space on the delivery medium certainly cannot be a factor.
| Year | # articles | # pictures | # sound clips | #animations |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | 68,000 | 25,000 | 2,800 | 400 |
| 2006 | 68,000 | 25,000 | 2,500 | 300 |
| 2007 | 66,000 | 26,000 | 3,000 | 300 |
| 2008 | 60,000 | 25,000 | 3,800 | 800 (incl. activities) |
| 2009 | 62,000 | ? | ? | ? |
In using Student 2006 and Student 2009, less encyclopedic content is evident everywhere. The number of articles has been reduced by 6000. The number of media in articles were reduced. The video of the Return of Hong Kong was replaced by a picture, and the picture was listed under the video section. Excerpts from Chinese philosophical texts were removed. The number of virtual tours were reduced by half. The book summaries no longer have a list by title option. And the list can go on.
In the old days, when the storage capacity of the delivery media is a limiting factor (e.g. a CD holds 600M), some features are scaled back to make room for new features. An example was the removal of "collages" in Encarta. But in the modern era of high capacity DVDs, and when there is more than a gigabyte of space left on a DVD, it makes much less sense to reduce multimedia and article counts. In releases of Encarta from 2005 to 2008, there is always something that is reduced. Remaining space on the delivery medium certainly cannot be a factor.
Labels: Encarta, encyclopedias, reference
¶ 4:31 PM
Tuesday, August 05, 2008
Dark trivial forces rising
Dave and Devon discuss some recent observation in the ongoing battle to get good trivia games at thrift stores.
Devon: I don't see the "big corporate store" really as a friendly force based on some of our recent purchases.
Dave: I fully agree. They appear to have some system to price games based on condition, so that a poorer looking box of TP1 can go for $2 while a newer looking one will be $3. But that is definitely not applied consistently. We've seen and bought games with missing pieces that is going at the regular price.
Devon: And sometimes the missing parts are vital to play. For example, one game Outburst requires using a clear red filter to be able to see the answers. That piece was missing from the game, thus making gameplay impossible. That clearly should have been a criteria to classifiy the game as broken.
Dave: We also seen a set of pentominoes with a piece missing, going for regular price. I feel sorry for whoever bought that thinking it might be complete.
Devon: Yet our competitors doesn't seem rattled by this. They've been on a frenzy lately.
Dave: They picked up all three of the generation TP's (The 1980's, Pop Culture, and DVD edition), all three of the TP1's, Simpons Battle of the Sexes and both Outburst Jr's within a few days.
Devon: Either there are many people with a sudden interest in trivia games, or someone is flipping these for a profit.
Dave: If it is a profit-monger, why didn't they get the SNL and Cheers trivia games as well? Or first getting the TP Millennium edition for $10. Or not getting the other games such as IQ 2000 or Who wants to be a millionaires?
Devon: This pattern of contradictions shows the sign of multiple hunters at work, each with their own agenda.
Dave: A greedy source and multiple rivals... this might be happening everywhere. Game makers should be paying attention.
Devon: I don't see the "big corporate store" really as a friendly force based on some of our recent purchases.
Dave: I fully agree. They appear to have some system to price games based on condition, so that a poorer looking box of TP1 can go for $2 while a newer looking one will be $3. But that is definitely not applied consistently. We've seen and bought games with missing pieces that is going at the regular price.
Devon: And sometimes the missing parts are vital to play. For example, one game Outburst requires using a clear red filter to be able to see the answers. That piece was missing from the game, thus making gameplay impossible. That clearly should have been a criteria to classifiy the game as broken.
Dave: We also seen a set of pentominoes with a piece missing, going for regular price. I feel sorry for whoever bought that thinking it might be complete.
Devon: Yet our competitors doesn't seem rattled by this. They've been on a frenzy lately.
Dave: They picked up all three of the generation TP's (The 1980's, Pop Culture, and DVD edition), all three of the TP1's, Simpons Battle of the Sexes and both Outburst Jr's within a few days.
Devon: Either there are many people with a sudden interest in trivia games, or someone is flipping these for a profit.
Dave: If it is a profit-monger, why didn't they get the SNL and Cheers trivia games as well? Or first getting the TP Millennium edition for $10. Or not getting the other games such as IQ 2000 or Who wants to be a millionaires?
Devon: This pattern of contradictions shows the sign of multiple hunters at work, each with their own agenda.
Dave: A greedy source and multiple rivals... this might be happening everywhere. Game makers should be paying attention.
Labels: boardgames, games, thrift stores, trivia
¶ 7:00 AM
