Very interesting... Of course a new complete install will be added to the site for download as well, with all the new stuff in it, right?

Actually you'll find that more and more websites are shying away from having a completely new download for new versions. I say have a single "update pack" download which includes all the freebie updates, but there's no need to replace the existing EXE download each time you add new fish. When the Aquarium first runs, after 5 minutes, it should bring up a window "Check SereneScreen.com to see if new fish are available (this is done without sending any personally identifying information)?"

Here's another thing...

Right now, if someone has a problem running the Aquarium, they contact SereneScreen tech support and then that support person is dependant on the user giving them the necessary information about what version of Windows, which video card, which video card driver, what running tasks, etc. to try to debug the problem.

In a future version of the Aquarium, there will be a "Request Tech Support" button. At this point, I believe the user will be prompted with a message...
It would send which versions you have of Windows, DirectX, sound card driver, video card driver, and also check for the presence of nuisance/conflicting programs which may be running in the background and preventing the Aquarium from working such as NetMeeting and Lotus ScreenCam.

It sounds to me like the new release of the aquarium is a very complex process that involves many facets. So much has to be considered nowadays in order to release anything on the internet that has the whole world on its toes waiting to get a hold of it. I pray it all goes well for you and the team.

About Microsoft not worrying about service packs; I think they have more than enough servers to compensate for the entire world downloading updates whenever they come out and it is probably more cost effective for them than a box or sticker change. I don’t know how big the company “futuremark (formerly madonion)” company is with their 3dmark03 benchmarking product, but I know they were having major problems since they weren’t expecting so many downloads at the same time the day it was released.

Going off topic for one sentence, the Finding Nemo trailer looks very nice,and the fish and whales seen in it look awesome.

Good Luck Jim and Prolific, I can’t wait to get a hold of the new aquariums. =)

Actually, another postscript to what I said, wouldn't it be great if the Aquarium came with just the 3 fish and then when they purchase it, then the other 18 fish come in as an automatically-downloaded fish pack?

It would sure make piracy more difficult if it were impossible to download the full version from SereneScreen.com without a valid keycode!

Well the service packs are huge, 100MB or so. But it's better than having the user download an entirely fresh copy of Windows every time there is an update. 500MB per user. Ouch!!

External self-installing fish packs is a good thing.


And Jim, before you say this would be a tech support nightmare, look at the system Winamp uses. When Winamp first runs, it creates a file association between files of type .wsz and itself. When you go to Winamp.com and click on a "skin" for Winamp to download it, it automatically does a "Run this file from its present location" or "Open this file". Winamp runs, accepts the wsz file, and auto-installs the skin.

So if you wanted to make sure you had the most up-to-date Aquarium, either you can use the built-in upgrade system, or you could have download links to each of the fish packs on SereneScreen.com with no install process! Click on a fish pack and it automatically adds itself to the Aquarium.

There won't be a long wait between MA Time coming out and the regular Aquarium getting a similar settings panel.

Since the begining, Jim has always said that file size was crucial. The whole thing must fit onto a 3.5" floppy disc. With the addition of the 3D background, I dont think that will be possible anymore. But if you eliminate all the fish except 3 test fish, as Morgan stated, it could free up space for the "contact SerenScreen.com" script and the 3D background. You have some very good ideas, Morgan. You should be Jim's right hand programing man. :)

The floppy business was entertaining and a great testament to Jim's programming skills, but the Aquarium is incredibly successful (Prolific is mum about sales figures, but I'd guess 300,000 units including localized versions) and a 3D background and the settings panel, etc. will require more than that. I do believe it's time to move on to bigger and better things. My floppy drive has been non-operational for 3 years.

Jim has said that one reason why he wants the Aquarium to fit on a floppy is so he can test it on his ~15 computers. I hope Jim can afford 15 x $75 802.11b wireless cards and a $200 802.11b wireless access point. :) Also Jim is still on a 56k modem. I wonder if the telephone company would wire his place up with T1 or if he could have one of the high-speed satellite services like DirecPC or Starband or Sprint BBD wireless.

Maybe when I'm in Calif in April I can visit Jim. :cowboy: Then again I think he might barricade the door. :(

Agreed, I'm much the same way. My floppy is doing nothing more than taking up space. To be honest, I'm looking forward to when USB flash memory (aka Pen Drive, Thumb drive, disk on key, handy drive, etc.) gets more affordable to the point where we can completely abondon floppies.

Compared to floppies, they already are incredibly affordable. 64MB SmartMedia Sandisk cards are $30 at Best Buy. I about fell out of my chair when I saw that. If Jim is serious about not having wireless/networking between the PCs, then he could add memory card readers to each PC for $15-20 a pop. :artist:

I agree with feldon, flash memory is getting cheaper every day. I respect Jim for keeping his older computers working this long and not feeling the need to upgrade if his old machines are doing what he wants them to do. And I also agree that keeping the aquarium a small file size overall and keeping the minimum system requirements so every computer is able to run it is something hardly anybody cares to look at anymore. To make people with 300 dollar graphics cards happy, with a 3d background, if you wanted to add antialiasing and anistropic filtering to the new version it would make a difference to how it would look. I'm wondering if Jim is going to test the screensaver with those extra nvidia settings enabled to see if it really does improve anything, or make it look bad or worse. However I'm still happy to say that the original 99 and 1.1 versions look great just the way they are.

And hey, you spend 50 to 100 bucks for a lionfish in the store, and much more to keep it alive. It is worth spending 10 bucks to download it on an aquarium that costs as much as a 20 gallon tank would in a store. It's just like the video game console concept. You buy the console, and if theres a game you like, you buy it. I think this is better overall for the longevity of the aquarium and make upgrading a thing of the past. And this would make Jim work really hard to getting those new extra fish look even better, giving people sneak peeks at how they would look like to make people salivate when they see it.

Hmmmm seems like Jim needs some help to get to the Terrarium in the list, to bad he doesn't want help :/

The terrarium is right behind the Butterfly Habitat, and ahead of the Aviary.

True Art Takes Time
 

Been a while since I posted but I just have to say this.........

Jim, your work is by far the best and well worth the wait.
You have never brought us anything less than perfect and that is why many of us are still standing behind you.
Art of a master is a result of time, patience and perfection.
Your promise and word has always been honest and straight forwards.
It is a shame so many try to "read" too deep without first referring to past posts.
Jim is honest and very upfront with us all and that is exactly why I support him 100%. He has never lied to any of us about his endeavors.

When he has completed the tasks he has at hand, I am sure we will all be mesmerized by the newest additions he has planned ahead for us all.

As for paying for any additions.......

Man! I can't wait to see them!

TOM

Tom,

Thanks for the kind words, and the wisdom. :)

Yes, thanks Alabama.

A quick note on how obsolete 3.5" floppy drives are. Starting later this year Dell will only include a floppy drive if it is specially requested by the buyer.

PS: I just added an awsome African Butterfly fish to my 20 gal. freshwater tank. Any chance of seeing this fish in the freshwater aquarium?

sword,

Add that one to the wishlist in the freshwater forum. You never know. :)

Along the lines of Dell getting rid of Floppies:

Generic Floppies: $.24 each.

Generic CD's: $.39 each

On a side note, I havn't seen a decent computer in 5 or 6 years that didn't have a CD-ROM drive. In the last six months, I would say that more than 70% of the machines I worked on had a CD burner of one kind or another. Installing CD Burners is one of the most common upgrade calls I get. Of course that's just my business, in the LA area, and says nothing about the rest of the country or the world.




http://www.staples.com/Catalog/Brows...e=CD%2DR+Media

http://www.staples.com/Catalog/Brows...oppy+Diskettes

At my store, most all of the new systems we build include CD-RW's. CD-RW's are also one of the most requested upgrades we see on systems 1-4 years old. EVERYONE seems to want them, although most of my customers seem to rarely burn CD's. Go figure.

The fastest growing device today seems to be our EasyDisk. (Also known as a ThumbDrive, DriveKey, etc.) They are cheap, portable, and very useful.

I would hate to see the floppy go.... It is the easiest way to take small files back and forth to work. And all our digital cameras copy to floppy. As to the price of your generic CD's they are cheap enough but the "anti-copy" tax the Canadian government adds to them tripples the price.