Todd Holmdahl demonstrates a train-wreck.

So, you know, I read a bit. The web, blogs, news, that sort of thing. I don't have a fifth gen gaming console, like the Wii, or Xbox-360, or PS3. Those things are way beyond my means, but you see a lot of news about them, bluster, sabre-rattling and failure rates.

It's pretty much axiomatic that after the launch of a new gizmo you'll get a lot of news pieces on the web about failures of this device or that. Too fragile, screen scratches too easily, unit sets fire to the cat, blows up grannies, and so on. It doesn't necessarily mean that there's actually any problem.

Dean Takahashi has a Q&A posted with Xbox hardware guy Todd Holmdahl. Go read it.

Now, this is how you don't deal with a unit-failure issue like this (real or imagined). Reading Holmdahl's responses, the reasonable reader can reasonably infer that there's a huge failure problem. Maybe there isn't, but Holmdahl makes it seem like there is one. He's practically screaming it in your face, so much so that it looks like a really, really big one.

How do you reasonably infer that? Imagine that you were in Holmdahl's position, and there was no problem at all. How would you answer the questions, in that case?

Now compare them with Holmdahl's answers - or perhaps I should say answer (singular) since he's really holding the line on this. See the difference? That difference is a disaster. Either from an actual unit-failures perspective, or from a PR perspective.

Whether there's a problem or not, he's just made a whole lot of people certain there is.

Return to the past

The hosting service's server time jumped 8 hours into the past during the evening, preventing the automated data-collectors from functioning. Bonus - their support system is down for maintenance for a few hours.

Trying to get this looked at.

Technology is awesome.

Why would that make it any less real?

Fred Gallagher nails it right on the head.

CNN to Shirky - Practice what you preach

David Kirkpatrick over at CNN Money is a bit miffed with Clay Shirky, and goes on to point out that:

• Shirky's missing the point.
• Shirky's indulging in hype-sans-research.

Ouch.

Shirky responds, first-to-comment but does so obliquely, dodging the Kirkpatrick's main points and either ignoring or failing to research the available data. Double-ouch.

Monty Python's black knight comes to mind here, bleeding from stumps but still full of ineffectual fight.

I've got to hand this one to Kirkpatrick. Shirky's response seems to confirm Kirkpatrick's point, and makes Shirky look like he's carrying a specific grudge. He knows that no MMO or virtual world or web-services company can address his first basic question on which he predicates all the rest of his arguments, but he's hammering on just the one company.

How many people (real unique people) have created a gmail account?
How many people (real unique people) have created a World of Warcraft Character?

I don't see him kicking up the same fuss about Blizzard or Google, so ... what's his beef with Linden Lab? He's entered into what looks increasingly like a personal grudge-match with Linden Lab, with reporters and journalists being used as simple cannon fodder.

How many people (real unique people) read Shirky's posts on Valleywag? Answers on a postcard.

Live panels

Mmm. And now I have a snapzilla live panel of my own. Perhaps this will encourage me to actually post more snaps - something I've always been a little forgetful about.

Thanks to Torley for spotting this.

Learning from History

"Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it."
- Santana

"Thank you graciously ... for this tremendous resource."
- Torley

"We learn from history that we do not learn from history."
- Hegel

Who are you going to listen to? William Hegel? Or Torley and Santana?

Go visit the SL History Wiki. Read it. Enjoy it. Contribute to it.

Still here? Shoo!