'Ultimate' Aquarium

SunKing · 03-08-2002, 05:46 PM

Jim, here's a thought. Why not sell a 'beefy' version of the SereneScreen Aquarium? All this talk about limitations.....FREE YOURSELF - and have fun!

What I'm suggesting is - no new 'code' - per se. Just take what you've got and 'beef' it up. Offer it on the website as an 'ultimate' acquarium for fast PC's only. Call it whatever you want but distinguish it clearly from the original. I guarantee a GOOD number of registered users like my self would be more than happy to pay ANOTHER $22 for a version not limited by file size or 8mb grafix cards.

Go ahead - add in those hi-res textures. Add another backgroud layer to the back (or two!!). I'm sure you have several things you'd love to see - that would be super easy for a man like yourself to just *poof* make happen. You know - a lazy weekend spent prettying up what you've got and selling it as another product. ...might just pay for a vacation that you will surely need after all that pesky 3D background coding.

...tempting? I'd buy.

Anyone else?

patscarr · 03-09-2002, 03:59 AM

Jim's origional plan was to keep the size down so it could always fit on a 3/4" disk, but in another couple years, those will be obsolete and everyone will be using rewrite CDs (or something else that hasn't been invented yet) for the same purposes. So I agree with Sunking, and say the heck with worring about the small size. Burger King has "super size", MacDonalds has "go large" Everything has always been about "bigger and better" in the states. Why not an "ultra mega deluxe super Sachs SereneScreen 3D aquarium?"

Tiny Turtle · 03-09-2002, 04:32 AM

Um, don't you mean 3,5" disk?

patscarr · 03-09-2002, 08:05 AM

um...yes. But you knew what I meant.

So my point still stands.

Innovan · 03-09-2002, 09:48 AM

I believe his product packaging is fine.

It seems fairly standard to release an upgrade package standalone first, then after six month's aging wrap the base package and upgrade into a "Gold" release for the clueless who didn't buy it before.

If he *did* do a gold release, it would probably do more in secondary sales by people like me who've already bought the original licensed version/were waiting with baited breath for the upgrades fresh off the compiler and are now getting additional copies as an X-mas gifts for less computer literate relatives.

Socrates · 03-09-2002, 04:19 PM

Originally posted by patscarr
, but in another couple years, those will be obsolete and everyone will be using rewrite CDs

Not in Asia and in many not-so-strong economies where Jim makes a ton of sales. Alot of those people are using second hand and seriously out of date PC's. The thing needs to work on those because sales are big there.

Shinsa · 03-09-2002, 06:19 PM

Don't know about the rest of Asia, but in Korea, it seemed the avgerage computer user was ahead of the avg American user.

feldon34 · 03-09-2002, 07:13 PM

Not in Asia and in many not-so-strong economies where Jim makes a ton of sales. Alot of those people are using second hand and seriously out of date PC's. The thing needs to work on those because sales are big there.

Sales big in Asia?

Give me a minute to pick myself up off the floor from laughing so hard.

HellBound · 03-09-2002, 10:02 PM

Originally posted by feldon23

Sales big in Asia?

Give me a minute to pick myself up off the floor from laughing so hard.

W00t and you think I'am insulting :P
Hmm maybe he should make a beffed up version altho the 3d backround whenit comes out will probably make if beefed up enough.

patscarr · 03-09-2002, 10:16 PM

50 percent of Korean households have internet access. Of those, 90 percent have a high speed connection. Koreans are very big on having the latest technology. As far as sales being big in Asia, I would think pirated copies are bigger. Copywrite laws and such are still very lax and almost nonexistent in someplaces. Have you ever been to China or Thailand? You can buy a knockoff of almost anything.

Shinsa · 03-10-2002, 01:53 AM

Thanks for backing me up on that Patscarr.

SOmething I saw in Korea four years ago that I still havn't seen here (in the Phoenix area anyway) was Internet Cafe's. When I was in Seoul, I could go in, pay 10,000 won (about $8) and drink coffee and play internet games all night. On a computer with a 19" monitor and latest hardware.

Closest thing to that I have seen here is at the public library. Where you can access the internet... but you better not play any games. And the systems are as bare boned as possible. Last time I used one less than a year ago I think, the machine had windows 95 and 8 MB of RAM.

Tiny Turtle · 03-10-2002, 04:49 AM

Wazzat? No Internet Cafés? This can't be representative for all of the U.S., right?

Socrates · 03-10-2002, 05:30 AM

I guess I rmembered ASIA instead of FOREIGN COUNTRIES. Sorry that I don't perfectly remember every detail fo every post I have ever read on every message board.

BUT HERE IS THE QUOTE I WAS THINKING OF:
The program must fit on a floppy. Each time I make a programming change (between 20 and 50 times a day), I have to put the program on a floppy to test it on all my different machines. Most of my sales are to foreign countries, and the vast majority of those machines only have floppy drives. As always, users are allowed to copy the Aquarium to all of their computers, not just ones with Internet connections. In fact, I insist that they try it on the target computers to make sure it works before purchasing a Key Code.
- Jim Sachs from this thread: https://www.feldoncentral.com/forums...ghlight=floppy

patscarr · 03-10-2002, 07:51 AM

So, Jim, what do you mean by foriegn countries? Is it mostly Asia or mostly Europe?

feldon34 · 03-10-2002, 10:31 AM

Shinsa,

http://www.buzzclub.com/java.html

Click "All" for searchable areas and click "Internet Access" as the criteria below. There are 7 matches in Phoenix, AZ.

There are a lot of Internet Cafes around. New York, Los Angeles, Seattle, etc. even Houston.

Shinsa · 03-10-2002, 02:17 PM

Morgan, thanx for that link! I found one that is close by, only 20 minutes away. The rest are from 30-60 minutes away.

This area really sux the way it is layed out. Looks good on a map, but i havn't seen one (printed) map that shows the valley streets like they really are. Would be nice to see stop lights included on a map. LOL

FishyBusiness · 03-10-2002, 08:37 PM

I have had family travel around the world, most through the military. They have told me several times that these other countries are not in the stone age. In A LOT of cases, they are more advance then us when it comes to technology gadets that are available to the consumer at a reasonable price.

As far a Internet Cafe's, I have one down the street and another one on the other side of town. Also, there are a lot of them in Pasedena. I don't know about L.A. but I am sure that there is a lot of them. I know, you said, "At least where I live in Phoenix." But I just thought that you might want to know that. One thing seems to be different....the price. Here it's $2/hour for students and $4/hour for non-students. I don't know the price for the ones in L.A. or Pasadena.

SunKing · 03-12-2002, 06:48 AM

Woah.....did this ever stray off topic.

Perhaps I wasn't clear. I don't want Jim to change ANYTHING on the current (wonderful) screensaver. But, what I'd like to see him do is to offer ANOTHER - 2nd version that is marketed for fast PC's only. The 2nd version would not be limited by filesize or 8mb grafix cards.

Jim, would this be somethong you could easily do? ...or am I barking up the wrong tree?

Yellow Tang · 03-12-2002, 07:43 AM

As Jim mentioned before, every little change can do everything. So I think there isn't something to imlement 'easily'. Also the maintainance of another version would be additional work for him. Maybe when the 3D background is finished and the widescreen-version is gone we have a chance to get our own personal version (I still want to have a turtle <- hint)

Jav400 · 03-12-2002, 11:54 AM

The last I heard, Jim was still considering the turtle. At least, I haven't heard a definate "no" at this point.

I would say that you won't see a "fast" version of the aquarium made though. Jim has plans to do 3 more screensavers after this one, and wants to be working on a movie after that. So, I would guess that there just isn't time enough to try and tackle something along those lines.

03-08-2002, 05:46 PM	#1
SunKing Registered Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 238	'Ultimate' Aquarium Jim, here's a thought. Why not sell a 'beefy' version of the SereneScreen Aquarium? All this talk about limitations.....FREE YOURSELF - and have fun! What I'm suggesting is - no new 'code' - per se. Just take what you've got and 'beef' it up. Offer it on the website as an 'ultimate' acquarium for fast PC's only. Call it whatever you want but distinguish it clearly from the original. I guarantee a GOOD number of registered users like my self would be more than happy to pay ANOTHER $22 for a version not limited by file size or 8mb grafix cards. Go ahead - add in those hi-res textures. Add another backgroud layer to the back (or two!!). I'm sure you have several things you'd love to see - that would be super easy for a man like yourself to just poof make happen. You know - a lazy weekend spent prettying up what you've got and selling it as another product. ...might just pay for a vacation that you will surely need after all that pesky 3D background coding. ...tempting? I'd buy. Anyone else? My humble Homepage Last edited by SunKing; 03-08-2002 at 09:22 PM.

03-09-2002, 03:59 AM	#2
patscarr Pet Shark Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Back in Buffalo Posts: 5,460	Jim's origional plan was to keep the size down so it could always fit on a 3/4" disk, but in another couple years, those will be obsolete and everyone will be using rewrite CDs (or something else that hasn't been invented yet) for the same purposes. So I agree with Sunking, and say the heck with worring about the small size. Burger King has "super size", MacDonalds has "go large" Everything has always been about "bigger and better" in the states. Why not an "ultra mega deluxe super Sachs SereneScreen 3D aquarium?" Patrick

03-09-2002, 08:05 AM	#4
patscarr Pet Shark Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Back in Buffalo Posts: 5,460	um...yes. But you knew what I meant. So my point still stands. Patrick

03-09-2002, 04:19 PM	#6
Socrates Sage Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: West Hills, CA Posts: 1,529	Originally posted by patscarr , but in another couple years, those will be obsolete and everyone will be using rewrite CDs Not in Asia and in many not-so-strong economies where Jim makes a ton of sales. Alot of those people are using second hand and seriously out of date PC's. The thing needs to work on those because sales are big there. Bat rays? We don't need no stinking bat rays!

03-09-2002, 06:19 PM	#7
Shinsa Registered Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: Fayetteville, NC Posts: 407	Don't know about the rest of Asia, but in Korea, it seemed the avgerage computer user was ahead of the avg American user. Bob "When you have excluded the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." _______________________________________________

03-09-2002, 04:32 AM	#3
Tiny Turtle is pleased Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Stockholm, Sweden Posts: 7,365	Um, don't you mean 3,5" disk?

03-09-2002, 09:48 AM	#5
Innovan Registered Join Date: Feb 2002 Posts: 13	I believe his product packaging is fine. It seems fairly standard to release an upgrade package standalone first, then after six month's aging wrap the base package and upgrade into a "Gold" release for the clueless who didn't buy it before. If he did do a gold release, it would probably do more in secondary sales by people like me who've already bought the original licensed version/were waiting with baited breath for the upgrades fresh off the compiler and are now getting additional copies as an X-mas gifts for less computer literate relatives.

03-09-2002, 07:13 PM	#8
feldon34 Forum Administrator Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Rock Hill, SC Posts: 10,947	Not in Asia and in many not-so-strong economies where Jim makes a ton of sales. Alot of those people are using second hand and seriously out of date PC's. The thing needs to work on those because sales are big there. Sales big in Asia? Give me a minute to pick myself up off the floor from laughing so hard. "Journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed. Everything else is public relations." - George Orwell "If voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal." - Emma Goldman

03-09-2002, 10:02 PM	#9
HellBound Registered Join Date: Dec 2001 Posts: 48	Originally posted by feldon23 Sales big in Asia? Give me a minute to pick myself up off the floor from laughing so hard. W00t and you think I'am insulting :P Hmm maybe he should make a beffed up version altho the 3d backround whenit comes out will probably make if beefed up enough.

03-09-2002, 10:16 PM	#10
patscarr Pet Shark Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Back in Buffalo Posts: 5,460	50 percent of Korean households have internet access. Of those, 90 percent have a high speed connection. Koreans are very big on having the latest technology. As far as sales being big in Asia, I would think pirated copies are bigger. Copywrite laws and such are still very lax and almost nonexistent in someplaces. Have you ever been to China or Thailand? You can buy a knockoff of almost anything. Patrick

03-10-2002, 01:53 AM	#11
Shinsa Registered Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: Fayetteville, NC Posts: 407	Thanks for backing me up on that Patscarr. SOmething I saw in Korea four years ago that I still havn't seen here (in the Phoenix area anyway) was Internet Cafe's. When I was in Seoul, I could go in, pay 10,000 won (about $8) and drink coffee and play internet games all night. On a computer with a 19" monitor and latest hardware. Closest thing to that I have seen here is at the public library. Where you can access the internet... but you better not play any games. And the systems are as bare boned as possible. Last time I used one less than a year ago I think, the machine had windows 95 and 8 MB of RAM. Bob "When you have excluded the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." _______________________________________________

03-10-2002, 04:49 AM	#12
Tiny Turtle is pleased Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Stockholm, Sweden Posts: 7,365	Wazzat? No Internet Cafés? This can't be representative for all of the U.S., right?

03-10-2002, 05:30 AM	#13
Socrates Sage Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: West Hills, CA Posts: 1,529	I guess I rmembered ASIA instead of FOREIGN COUNTRIES. Sorry that I don't perfectly remember every detail fo every post I have ever read on every message board. BUT HERE IS THE QUOTE I WAS THINKING OF: The program must fit on a floppy. Each time I make a programming change (between 20 and 50 times a day), I have to put the program on a floppy to test it on all my different machines. Most of my sales are to foreign countries, and the vast majority of those machines only have floppy drives. As always, users are allowed to copy the Aquarium to all of their computers, not just ones with Internet connections. In fact, I insist that they try it on the target computers to make sure it works before purchasing a Key Code. - Jim Sachs from this thread: https://www.feldoncentral.com/forums...ghlight=floppy Bat rays? We don't need no stinking bat rays!

03-10-2002, 07:51 AM	#14
patscarr Pet Shark Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Back in Buffalo Posts: 5,460	So, Jim, what do you mean by foriegn countries? Is it mostly Asia or mostly Europe? Patrick

03-10-2002, 10:31 AM	#15
feldon34 Forum Administrator Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Rock Hill, SC Posts: 10,947	Shinsa, http://www.buzzclub.com/java.html Click "All" for searchable areas and click "Internet Access" as the criteria below. There are 7 matches in Phoenix, AZ. There are a lot of Internet Cafes around. New York, Los Angeles, Seattle, etc. even Houston. "Journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed. Everything else is public relations." - George Orwell "If voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal." - Emma Goldman Last edited by feldon34; 03-10-2002 at 10:37 AM.

03-10-2002, 02:17 PM	#16
Shinsa Registered Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: Fayetteville, NC Posts: 407	Morgan, thanx for that link! I found one that is close by, only 20 minutes away. The rest are from 30-60 minutes away. This area really sux the way it is layed out. Looks good on a map, but i havn't seen one (printed) map that shows the valley streets like they really are. Would be nice to see stop lights included on a map. LOL Bob "When you have excluded the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." _______________________________________________

03-10-2002, 08:37 PM	#17
FishyBusiness Registered Join Date: Jan 2001 Posts: 2,206	I have had family travel around the world, most through the military. They have told me several times that these other countries are not in the stone age. In A LOT of cases, they are more advance then us when it comes to technology gadets that are available to the consumer at a reasonable price. As far a Internet Cafe's, I have one down the street and another one on the other side of town. Also, there are a lot of them in Pasedena. I don't know about L.A. but I am sure that there is a lot of them. I know, you said, "At least where I live in Phoenix." But I just thought that you might want to know that. One thing seems to be different....the price. Here it's $2/hour for students and $4/hour for non-students. I don't know the price for the ones in L.A. or Pasadena. Frank

03-12-2002, 06:48 AM	#18
SunKing Registered Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 238	And now for something completely different. Woah.....did this ever stray off topic. Perhaps I wasn't clear. I don't want Jim to change ANYTHING on the current (wonderful) screensaver. But, what I'd like to see him do is to offer ANOTHER - 2nd version that is marketed for fast PC's only. The 2nd version would not be limited by filesize or 8mb grafix cards. Jim, would this be somethong you could easily do? ...or am I barking up the wrong tree? My humble Homepage

03-12-2002, 07:43 AM	#19
Yellow Tang YT Join Date: Jan 2002 Tournaments Won: 1 Location: Germany Posts: 729	As Jim mentioned before, every little change can do everything. So I think there isn't something to imlement 'easily'. Also the maintainance of another version would be additional work for him. Maybe when the 3D background is finished and the widescreen-version is gone we have a chance to get our own personal version (I still want to have a turtle <- hint)

03-12-2002, 11:54 AM	#20
Jav400 Administrator Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Tennessee Posts: 9,725	The last I heard, Jim was still considering the turtle. At least, I haven't heard a definate "no" at this point. I would say that you won't see a "fast" version of the aquarium made though. Jim has plans to do 3 more screensavers after this one, and wants to be working on a movie after that. So, I would guess that there just isn't time enough to try and tackle something along those lines. Michael Administrator of Inside:SereneScreen Aquarium Forum, Chatroom, Fan Site & *Gallery* DVD Collection