6 ms·

BeOS . That was the best os at the time by far, stellar performance, fantastic C++ api usable by a newbie, i still haven’t found a GUI as responsive as this one

• bhnmmhmd 9y ago
  Similarly, Windows 10 Mobile didn't take off either. Before that, even Windows Phone became a failure. I was really excited when I got my Lumia 920 [0]: The OS was just so solid, sleek, and fast. Too bad Microsoft didn't put adequate effort into it. It's as if they couldn't care less about this OS. [0]: Not to mention the great, solid design of the hardware by Nokia.
• IshKebab 9y ago
  I'm not surprised DVD-Audio and co failed. Their quality is indistinguishable from CDs despite what audiophiles would have you believe, and by the time they came out MP3 was clearly the future.
  • bsaul 9y ago
    even if you don’t believe in very high quality audio like me, the fact is we’re listening to stereo music, but viewing movies on 5.1 systems. This would have been different with dvd-a. I would have loved to listen to a live concert cd with surround sound.
    • jasode 9y ago
      >5.1 systems. This would have been different with dvd-a. I would have loved to listen to a live concert cd with surround sound. As to your specific DVD-Audio example, I think it didn't widely catch on because most music is consumed (1) with earphones (2) in the car (3) as incidental background while multitasking. The scenario of "purposeful" music listening by sitting in the center sweet spot of a 5.1 setup is very rare. There's also a long history of technology that's "superior" but isn't accepted by the masses. There's a "law of diminishing returns" and/or other dimensions of utility (such as convenience) have higher priority than quality. Examples: - quadrophonic sound[1] is more immersive than 2-channel stereo but people didn't buy it - satellite radio is higher quality sound than FM radio but Sirius XM remains a niche and won't penetrate the market like FM did. Yes, FM had higher fidelity than AM and listeners switched but the same didn't happen for satellite. - 24bit-96kHz or 192kHz audio did not take over 16bit-44kHz (1411kbps). Instead, the opposite happened and more listeners consumed lower quality 128kbps mp3 and AAC files. Lower quality was driven by Napster + iPod + Spotify. Convenience trumped highest fidelity. - Bluray discs : more customers pay for digital streaming (often with lower resolution than 1080p) than upgrading the old DVDs to Bluray. There was more market penetration with VHS to DVD. - large 3D tv screens : the explosive growth is smaller screens on mobile phones playing Youtube rather than 3D content like Avatar. 3D is now seen as a gimmick fad. History has shown that we always overestimate how technical "quality" drives consumer adoption. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quadraphonic_sound https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quadraphonic_sound
      • tacoman 9y ago
        >- satellite radio is higher quality sound than FM radio I'm not an audiophile, but when I listen to SiriusXM it hear compression artifacts. I'd way rather listen to FM.
      • dbatten 9y ago
        I agree with almost all of your examples... except for 3d. While almost everybody I know would say they prefer seeing a movie on a big screen (even though the phone/tablet is sometimes more convenient), I don't know _anybody_ that prefers 3d movies. They're utter garbage.
  • icebraining 9y ago
    +1. Even if they could be distinguished, it would be only in top HiFi setups. Most people (me included) listened with shitty car stereos, portable players with terrible DACs and cheap headphones.
    • bsaul 9y ago
      Yeap. Portable and free (because stolen) trumped quality. That's something the music industry still hasn't recovered from.
      • baldfat 9y ago
        As someone who use to have a SMALL Recording studio. We are in the best music business times for small indie bands. More people can support themselves through kickstarter like programs. Two of my bands traveled the world and were on MTV (Back when they played videos). The most one band made was $7,000 per person and they traveled to Europe and Australia/NZ. I never made a dime. They posted on Kickstarter 6 years after they stopped touring and got $50,000 in one week and $65,000 by the time it was done. Their album was awesome because they all just took breaks from their jobs and got it done. BIG Music Business sucks and the slow death to the Pop Music Industry. http://brandsplusmusic.blogspot.com/2011/02/death-of-pop-music.html http://brandsplusmusic.blogspot.com/2011/02/death-of-pop-mus...
        • bsaul 9y ago
          i'm really glad to read the situation is starting to get better. after the rain comes the sun, but that was a hell of a decade to wait...
          • baldfat 9y ago
            Well I will say that this is the first time since the traveling poets of ancient times that people can make money on their own with music. I think the issue is people think an artist should make millions. The only place losing music jobs is label employed musicians. We cut out the middle man they can make a good living. One of my friends just plays Acoustic Guitar and travels the world for competitions and makes a decent living. He isn't what you would call rich but he is paying the bills and has a family. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lo9kGHYn_bI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lo9kGHYn_bI "...things are actually much better for independent musicians than in the past, just as we would expect. In fact, there's been an astounding 510% increase in independent musicians making their full time living from music in just the past decade." https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130529/15560423243/massive-growth-independent-musicians-singers-over-past-decade.shtml https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130529/15560423243/massi...
  • blattimwind 9y ago
    I own a DVD audio copy of Linkin Parks' Reanimation and played on a proper 5.1 system it really is something, completely beyond any simple stereo CD.
    • brokenmachine 9y ago
      I have that as well. It's great. Also check out Crystal Method's Legion of Boom in DTS-ES. I wish there were more releases in 5.1 or better, and specifically EDM releases.
  • baldfat 9y ago
    > Their quality is indistinguishable from CDs despite what audiophiles would have you believe Well I blame the system. You needed upgraded headphones or speakers. I have $2000 studio monitors when I was an audio engineer and well I can 100% tell you in a blind test I can tell the difference. 95% of the reason why is people don't care about quality audio. It's something about human brains. MP3 sound horrible compared to a FLAC and good equipment. Instead people wear Beats Bluetooth Headphones listening to streamed Audio. I also blame myself. I use $15 in ear bluetooth ear piece (Looks like a hearing aid) Inovate G10. I listen almost exclusively to podcasts or YouTube videos. The convenience is so much more needed than sound quality. I listen to music at home (When my kids aren't around because all they do is complain). I need to get a good pair of headphones.
    • throwanem 9y ago
      I use a Rowkin Mini for the same sort of stuff, most often while commuting. For spoken content it renders intelligibly, and it is tiny and comfortable to use. It also lasts a few hours on a charge and lives on my keyring. Devices like this exist in a local optimum of convenience, as long as they and their audio sources both do Bluetooth right. (I tried a bunch of the cheap ones off Amazon before settling on the Rowkin. It really is a lot better!) For at-rest listening, God made Sennheiser.
      • j_s 9y ago
        Woah, 60%+ off ($40) right now? https://amzn.com/dp/B01IU5ZTKC https://amzn.com/dp/B01IU5ZTKC (referral: http://amzn.to/2irAi7v http://amzn.to/2irAi7v)
        • throwanem 9y ago
          Yup. They have a new line out, so are probably clearing old stock with the discount. That link is the exact model I have, though, and it's been awesome; I might pick up a couple of spares just to have them against need.
    • abainbridge 9y ago
• donretag 9y ago
  I could not get BeOS installed on my only computer at the time.
• nl 9y ago
  In an alternate universe, Apple bought Be. Inc. instead of NeXT. It nearly happened too - they got down to talking price[1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BeOS#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BeOS#History
  • seanmcdirmid 9y ago
    Would Apple have been resurgent without Steve Jobs? That is a huge what if.
  • throwanem 9y ago
    In that alternate universe, what happened next?
    • bunderbunder 9y ago
      I think that Apple would not have had quite the same resurgence. POSIX compatibility is one of the unsung heroes of the post-OS X era, and BeOS wasn't quite compatible enough.
    • BjoernKW 9y ago
      This would've been quite a different world in terms of design and technology. Eventually some company, Google comes to mind in particular, would have invented a device similar to, but not as well-designed as the iPhone. The development might just not have been that momentous and perhaps technology would have developed in an entirely different direction because of that. Perhaps - due to a lack of an App Store business model - we even would have had a continuous boom of the web and more open technologies on mobile devices rather than the lull web technologies experienced on mobile devices until fairly recently. Who knows? BeOS was very much a desktop OS. Like other operating systems such as AmigaOS it performed very well on some stripped-down desktop platforms such as set-top boxes, too (those were all the rage back in the 90s, at least some companies bet the whole farm on that assumption ...). I'm not sure if BeOS would've lent itself to mobile devices as well as NeXTSTEP did. NeXTSTEP was a forward-looking, POSIX-compatible OS that was ahead of its time. Most importantly though, Be Inc. didn't have Steve Jobs. They had Jean-Louis Gassée but I somehow doubt he would've had a similar influence on design, technology and the business world. Someone once quipped that NeXT bought Apple for -$400 million. There's something very true about that statement.
• Veratyr 9y ago
  On DVD-audio, there's R.E.M. released an album using spatial audio on Blu-Ray: https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2017/11/spatial-audio-is-the-most-exciting-thing-to-happen-to-pop-music-since-stereo/ https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2017/11/spatial-audio-is-the-...
• mycat 9y ago
  BeOS has extreme task scheduling to give smooth UI, for example if you run too many programs at once, BeOS network connection has noticeable stutter even if your UI seems slick enough
• waddlesplash 9y ago
  BeOS lives on in Haiku: https://www.haiku-os.org/ https://www.haiku-os.org/ -- and yes, we still have that user-friendly C++ API. :)