If you look at the bottom right of the main page, you'll notice that the polls have returned!

(er correction, bottom left).

Well we're in the process of migrating to the new building now!  After 8 years in a leased building in Livonia, we finally purchased our own space in Plymouth Michigan.

(eeerie voice) What..is..the..secret..of..the..Intel..Mac...Whom..does..it...serve? (/eeerie voice)

ThinkSecret has pictures and feedback on the first developer models of the Intel Mac! And 20 quadroons to the first person who recognizes the movie reference in above..

 

Stockholm, June, 2005 - Paradox Interactive, a leading publisher and developer of critically acclaimed strategy titles, today revealed another addition to their solid portfolio. The company is proud to announce that they will be publishing the sequel to Galactic Civilizations, Galactic Civilizations II, in Europe. The title is scheduled for release around Feb, 2006.

"Galactic Civilizations was a hit worldwide and we know the franchise has many fans in Europe, one of the reasons we are really pleased about publishing Stardock's latest masterpiece there," says Fredrik Lindgren, VP of Marketing & Sales at Paradox Interactive.

Brad Wardell, President & CEO of Stardock Entertainment, says that "Stardock is very excited about working with Paradox to publish Galactic Civilizations II in Europe. In many ways, our companies are mirror images of one another: we both love creating strategy games and providing strong support to our players. Working with Paradox was a natural fit for us."

Created by the same renowned team responsible for many of Stardock's leading titles, Galactic Civilizations II takes place in the distant future, when mankind has become a space-faring civilization and must contend with other extraterrestrial powers for domination of the galaxy. The sequel is a true evolution for the series, with rethought fundamentals and exciting new changes.

Paradox and Stardock are teaming up on Galactic Civilizations II. They're the company that has made excellent games such as Hearts of Iron II, Europa Universalis, and more recently Knights of Honor. Paradox is in charge of publishing Galactic Civilizations II throughout Europe. You can click on the link below to check out their forums for the game.

Tom's Hardware has a full review of the next-generation nVidia GeForce card, the 7800 GTX.

nVidia claims that the 7800 GTX has been re-designed from the ground up.  The GTX comes with 256MB of RAM, 24 pixel pipes, and 8 vertex shaders.  With 302 million transistors, the 7800 is the most advanced GPU ever.  Of course, bear in mind, ATI is about to launch their next-gen GPU shortly.  So it'll be interesting to see how the two stack up.

From my work I come into contact with all kinds of people.  I've been traveling a lot and have had the opportunity to talk to people who work at other compainies. And one of the types of people that I occasionally run into could be labeled as "frustrated talented guy".  They are often frustrated because they feel they should be promoted, make more money, given more authority, etc. based strictly on their inate talent.

But talent really isn't enough, not usually and certainly not in business.  There's no substitute for effort -- working hard.  And that's what ends up being the obstacle for frustrated talented guy.  Because they'll see people they know (or at least they think) are less talented than they are.  Why were they passed up? They usually assume that they lost out because of "company politics" or "seniority" or something else.  Because, after all, any clear thinking business person should reward the most talented individuals, right?

That's not how it really works. Because the one who produces the most is the one who is going to win out. And while frustrated tlaened guy may have the potential to outproduce his or her peers, he or she chooses not to. In fact, often times frustrated talented guy is flagrantly not pulling their weight. Barely doing the bear minimum.  And yet they still walk around with a sense of entitlement becuase of how smart they think they are how much more talented they are than others.

Effort. Effort is the key because usually frustrated talented guy is putting in so little effort (relatively) and "regular guy" is working so hard that the regular guy (who is usually a lot more talented than people realize but is a lot less flamboyant about it) is out-producing frustrated talented guy by 2X or 3X. And that's why regular guy often beats talented guy.

For those of you interested in what the new office looks like here's a video I took (in .WMV format) with my digital camera.  The first part is muted (too windy) but I narrate a bit once inside.

Microsoft-Watcher Mary Jo Foley has been the scurge of Microsoft since the mid 90s.  Back when I was an OS/2 developer, there'd be people in the office half-rooting/half-fearing what MJ would write next about the empire. 

Now that Microsoft-Watch.com, her website/super-blog has taken off, her coverage of Longhorn has given many of Microsoft's advocates some heart burn.

The problem Microsoft is having and that Mary Jo is reporting is that Longhorn has been a much more..organic development than say Windows NT was.  The problems it is being designed to solve have changed during the course of development and as a result the priorities of Longhorn have had to change to adapt to new realities in the market.  Of course, when a site like Microsoft-Watch.com points out these changes, it can create some groaning to those who would prefer to sweep under the rug the fact that, yes Virginia, Longhorn's specs of 2005 bear little resemblance to what they were to be at PDC back in 2003 even.

So what's the verdict? Is Mary Jo just telling to cold hard truth, or is she the bringer of an anti-Microsoft FUD party?

DigiTimes has a great Q&A session with Chris Jones about what Longhorn is going to have in it.  It's definitely worth the read.

Big thanks to Mary Jo Foley for the link.