Post #101,723
5/13/03 5:57:30 PM
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Microsoft Entertainment divison stumbles, awwww.
[link|http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,,1083283,00.asp|Hmm 3rd year of losses], IRS should be looking into this soon.
| [link|mailto:greg@gregfolkert.net|greg] - IT Grand-Master for Anti-President | | [link|http://www.iwethey.org/ed_curry/|REMEMBER ED CURRY!] |
THEY ARE WATCHING YOU. The time has come for you to take the last step. You must love THEM. It is not enough to obey THEM. You must love THEM. PEACE BEGETS WAR, SLAVERY IS FREEDOM, STRENGTH IN IGNORANCE.
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Post #101,742
5/13/03 7:42:00 PM
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A good way to write off the taxes on the loss
I never thought that Microsoft was gong to make money with the XBox anyway. I thought they just did it to hurt Nintendo and Sony and gain a foothold in the console market that they didn't have any marketshare in before. The consoles were taking business away from the Windows PC, and Microsoft wanted a piece of that action.
To me, it is just like Microsoft giving IE away for free to hurt Netscape, the Xbox is sold at almost below cost and they are trying to make it up by selling the games for it and the license deals with the game makers.
"If you're going to cheat, cheat fair. If there's anything I hate it's a crooked crook!" -Moe Howard
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Post #101,774
5/14/03 12:19:39 AM
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Almost below cost?
They originally were losing $100 per box, but now they're selling the boxes for less. Sony isn't losing nearly so much because their box can be made for a lot less - Microsoft's is basically a PC.
The economics is, you bomb the box and make your money on royalties paid by the game programmers, but XBox has failed to generate enough developer interest, buecause the volume is poor.
Nontheless, Microsoft will continue with XBox and new versions of XBox because it's their entry point to take over home electronics, home entertainment, home communications and control of the appliances (universal plug-and-play). They are going to take horrifying loses for as long as it takes, or until they are defeated.
[link|http://www.aaxnet.com|AAx]
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Post #101,793
5/14/03 7:46:21 AM
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I heard that a little differently.
Specifically, that Sony sold the PS2 initially at a profit - just. Microsoft intended to do so, too, but they launched the Xbox just as the first PS2 price cut hit, which Sony did because they had made back enough on the hardware that by then it was cheaper to make. So Microsoft had to sell the Xbox at a loss right from day one.
Wade.
Is it enough to love
Is it enough to breathe
Somebody rip my heart out
And leave me here to bleed
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Is it enough to die
Somebody save my life
I'd rather be Anything but Ordinary
Please
| -- "Anything but Ordinary" by Avril Lavigne. |
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Post #101,808
5/14/03 9:38:51 AM
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Note on your .sig
Avril Lavigne is a Napanee girl... half an hour west on highway 2 from where I am right now. I've played the Paisley three or four times (bar that has bands in Napanee), though she was waaaayyyy too young to have seen any of the shows I did there.
Funny thing... the US music press seems to be having trouble figuring out if she's trying to be punk or grunge... they just don't get that the dichotomy is a false one in small town SE Ontario. She's neither punk nor grunge... she's a hoser.
--\n-------------------------------------------------------------------\n* Jack Troughton jake at consultron.ca *\n* [link|http://consultron.ca|http://consultron.ca] [link|irc://irc.ecomstation.ca|irc://irc.ecomstation.ca] *\n* Kingston Ontario Canada [link|news://news.consultron.ca|news://news.consultron.ca] *\n-------------------------------------------------------------------
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Post #102,011
5/15/03 7:53:18 AM
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Yep.
She even says it in one of her songs (not the one I quoted). You may have missed [link|http://yceran.org/static/article.qf?popmusiccanholdsurprises|my article about her album]. As you noticed, she refuses to be pigeon-holed.
Wade.
Is it enough to love
Is it enough to breathe
Somebody rip my heart out
And leave me here to bleed
| |
Is it enough to die
Somebody save my life
I'd rather be Anything but Ordinary
Please
| -- "Anything but Ordinary" by Avril Lavigne. |
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Post #101,837
5/14/03 11:38:18 AM
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Gord comments on PS2 profits
[link|http://www.actsofgord.com/Proclamations/chapter02.html|The Legend vs. The Myths!] Unlike Sega and MS, Sony is an R&D hardware company. They make a lot of things. In designing up the PS2, they spent a lot of cash. Then they spent a hell of a lot more cash to build things like the chip foundries to produce the chips for the PS2.
In the end, before the first PS2 rolled off the production line for consumers, Sony had spent $2 billion! TWO BILLION!
Then we look at Sony's stock report for Oct-Dec 2000, and there is an interesting little blurb. It said that had Sony been able to meet demand with another 1 million PS2 units, they would have pocketed $175 million in profits. $175 million divided by one million consoles equals $175 per console profit.
Now, that is a bit high. This assumed that the average consumer continues to buy four games per console (so around $24 in royalties), and 2 accessories (about $30 in profit total). That reduces the $175 to about $120. Sony is making $120 profit per system. [link|http://www.actsofgord.com/index.html|Acts of Gord] is an interesting site. Darrell Spice, Jr. [link|http://www.spiceware.org/cgi-bin/spa.pl?album=./Artistic%20Overpass|Artistic Overpass]\n[link|http://www.spiceware.org/|SpiceWare] - We don't do Windows, it's too much of a chore
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Post #101,896
5/14/03 5:12:20 PM
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See, I was right . .
Making a profit is a lot less loss than Microsoft's.
[link|http://www.aaxnet.com|AAx]
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Post #102,009
5/15/03 7:50:53 AM
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That would be it.
That or something essentially the same. It probably was Gord, now that I think of it. He's a funny guy.
Back when the PS2 was a certainty but not out yet, I read a story in a games mag about how SCEI made and sold the original PlayStation as a bit of an experiment. They had *no* help from Sony Corporate, but that was deliberate: Sony Corporate was *very* interested in how it would do but wanted it to succeed without big momma's deep pockets. Or something like that.
So, came time to consider an upgrade and Sony Corporate said to SCEI, "You run it, we fund it."
Wade.
Is it enough to love
Is it enough to breathe
Somebody rip my heart out
And leave me here to bleed
| |
Is it enough to die
Somebody save my life
I'd rather be Anything but Ordinary
Please
| -- "Anything but Ordinary" by Avril Lavigne. |
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Post #101,753
5/13/03 9:12:17 PM
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I thought after 3 years it was a hobby :-)
will work for cash and other incentives [link|http://home.tampabay.rr.com/boxley/resume/Resume.html|skill set]
questions, help? [link|mailto:pappas@catholic.org|email pappas at catholic.org]
Carpe Dieu
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Post #101,775
5/14/03 12:38:02 AM
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As long as you show a clear intent . .
. . to make money, and consistently strive to do so, you can lose money forever without IRS shutting you off. If, however, you claim your race horse as a business, and don't race him much, the IRS is going to declare him a hobby in three years.
In Microsoft's case, they're making money on the business of Microsoft Inc., which XBox is part of, so no IRS problem.
[link|http://www.aaxnet.com|AAx]
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Post #101,798
5/14/03 8:41:20 AM
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Aww....
Shoot, I thought maybe the IRS would force M$ to make it a hobby... shucks.
| [link|mailto:greg@gregfolkert.net|greg] - IT Grand-Master for Anti-President | | [link|http://www.iwethey.org/ed_curry/|REMEMBER ED CURRY!] |
THEY ARE WATCHING YOU. The time has come for you to take the last step. You must love THEM. It is not enough to obey THEM. You must love THEM. PEACE BEGETS WAR, SLAVERY IS FREEDOM, STRENGTH IN IGNORANCE.
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Post #101,809
5/14/03 9:39:03 AM
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What if you *deliberately lose* money?
What if you formulate a business plan to intentionally lose money in order to gain a market position. Isn't this advertising, not operating loss?
===
Implicitly condoning stupidity since 2001.
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Post #101,855
5/14/03 2:08:40 PM
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either way it is an expense and deductable
will work for cash and other incentives [link|http://home.tampabay.rr.com/boxley/resume/Resume.html|skill set]
questions, help? [link|mailto:pappas@catholic.org|email pappas at catholic.org]
Carpe Dieu
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Post #101,911
5/14/03 6:38:17 PM
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Read "Catch-22" reference Milo Minderbender
He sold eggs to the US Army at a price cheaper than he bought them. He actually claimed that it made him money. Old Milo must be in charge of the Microsoft Entertainment division.
"If you're going to cheat, cheat fair. If there's anything I hate it's a crooked crook!" -Moe Howard
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Post #102,257
5/16/03 11:51:27 AM
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XBox price slashed $20USD
[link|http://news.com.com/2100-1043_3-1001536.html|http://news.com.com/...43_3-1001536.html]
Now $179.99 instead of $199.99, 20 bucks saved. Looks like they will be making even less on the XBox than they had before.
"If you're going to cheat, cheat fair. If there's anything I hate it's a crooked crook!" -Moe Howard
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Post #102,259
5/16/03 11:54:25 AM
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You mean: Losing more than the did before per X-Box!
| [link|mailto:greg@gregfolkert.net|greg] - IT Grand-Master for Anti-President | | [link|http://www.iwethey.org/ed_curry/|REMEMBER ED CURRY!] |
THEY ARE WATCHING YOU. The time has come for you to take the last step. You must love THEM. It is not enough to obey THEM. You must love THEM. PEACE BEGETS WAR, SLAVERY IS FREEDOM, STRENGTH IN IGNORANCE.
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Post #102,487
5/18/03 11:19:21 PM
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Microsoft also muffed it with Electronic Arts.
Sony also unveiled an exclusive deal with No. 1 publisher Electronic Arts Inc. for online sports games.
EA, which dominates the sports market with games like "Madden NFL," has balked at the financial terms of Microsoft's Xbox Live online service and also the direct control it would give Microsoft over some of EA's most-loyal customers. [link|http://biz.yahoo.com/rc/030513/tech_sony_psp_4.html|Link]. Alex
"Freedom is not an ideal, it is not even a protection, if it means nothing more than freedom to stagnate, to live without dreams, to have no greater aim than a second car and another television set." -- Adlai Stevenson (1900-1965)
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