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A Decade of Kick Ass

Posted 08/20/08 at 02:00:00 PM  by Katherine Stevenson

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Humble Beginnings

Brian Lam is a cash money hustla
Brian Lam, former intern and current editor in chief of Gizmodo

Long before I had my job at Gizmodo, I was a Maximum PC intern who couldn’t write a review or run a benchmark. I learned those things from Will Smith, but I also learned how important the right voice is when writing about tech. Before there were snarky blogs, there was Maximum PC.

The point, though, wasn’t to be an ass. I think. The point was to turn the trade mags on their heads and cut through the BS and jargon, to inform without being boring. You know, actually write to people as if they were your friends. That irreverent tone complements how technophiles feel about tech: Because it’s fun thinking about how to squeeze a few more frames out of your hardware, reading and writing about such things should be fun as well.

I also learned how to order lunch, lift heavy boxes, and pack and ship a PC back to a manufacturer—and make it look like it broke during transit.

 

10 Things We Got Wrong

Yes, over the years we’ve made a few bad calls

  • Vista: We hardly gave Vista a glowing review, but given the magnitude of the botched launch—from crashing Nvidia drivers to certifying Intel’s 915 chipset as Vista-capable—Microsoft got off too easy.

  • GeForce 5800: On paper, this was Nvidia’s first DirectX 9 GPU. In reality, the company didn’t ship a DirectX 9-capable GPU for almost a full year after ATI. To anyone who bought a GeForce 5800, we’re sorry. You not only missed the full glory of Half-Life 2 but also got stuck with a bum card.

  • IBM 75GXP ‘Deathstar': It debuted as the largest, fastest IDE hard drive of its time, and we were smitten. But high failure rates for both the original models and their replacements left us feeling foolish.

  • TrueX Optical Drives: Kenwood’s CD burners were fast—when they worked. We looked past the original 40x drive’s myriad problems and gave subsequent models the nod, only to learn the whole lot of them were lemons.

  • BTX: In 2004, we believed the ATX formfactor was on its way out and that by now our motherboards would look very different. Instead, BTX has languished in obscurity.

  • Linux: Little did we know that the quirky OS favored by a fringe element would take off as it has, to become the trusty port in the storm of Microsoft’s dominance.

  • Pentium 4: Put that coffee down, P4. Coffee’s for closers. Unfortunately, who knew that the Pentium 4 would never seal the deal? Even worse, who could have seen that Intel, the king of the processor, would hit a brick wall at 1,000 mph and turn the Pentium 4 into one big dud.

  • Direct RDRAM: Kicking RDRAM under the bus seemed like the thing to do years ago, but if we could take it all back, we would. We’re now convinced that RDRAM’s serial interface was the right way to go, not DDR.

  • Tablet PC: The prospect of pen-based computing seemed awesome, and Bill Gates himself was backing the project. Unfortunately, five years later, we’re still waiting on the cheap, powerful Tablet PCs we were promised.

  • DirectX 10/Games for Windows: We feel like suckers for buying into Microsoft’s hype. DirectX 10 hasn’t delivered any significant innovation, and Games for Windows has turned out to be a joke.

Next: The old guard strolls down memory lane!

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COMMENTS:6
TAGS: maximum pc, features, kick ass, 10-year anniversary
COMMENTS
avatarThank you all

Submitted by Humpfester on Mon, 08/25/2008 - 7:38am

I would like to say Thank you for all the help and wise advice you've provided over the years and may the next ten years be as good, thank you all @ MAXIMUM PC.

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avatarBoot magazine

Submitted by Honkeychops on Sun, 08/24/2008 - 6:04pm

I remember BOOT magazine very well, but even *that magazine* had a predecessor.

I subscribed to a magazine called "CD-ROM TODAY" for a couple years, in the early 90`s (?) when one day

I was informed my subscription to "CD-ROM Today" was to be replaced by a new magazine called "Boot" magazine!

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avatarThe good old days...do NOT beat the new days

Submitted by Scapegoat on Thu, 08/21/2008 - 9:35am

Hardware and software just gets better. Wow. This whole shpeel reminds me of how desperately I need a new computer, and I how I never should have bought the hardware I did. I bought a Pentium 4 2.4 GHz (Prescott so it was pre-hyper-threading) in 2004. I AM STILL USING IT. It's the only computer I have. This anniversary should mark a new era of updated and competitive computing. But, I'm a college student, and I'll have to wait a few more months until I can afford a laptop.

But MaximumPC, thanks for giving me my hopes and dreams for computing.

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avatarHappy Birthday!!!

Submitted by Wildebeast on Wed, 08/20/2008 - 8:49pm

Congratulations on the first 10 years, and on 12 years of Kick-ass-itude.

For me, the review I'll never for get was: a Sony desktop computer that was supposed to free up more desk space for the customer... you said "If you need more space on your desk this badly, you need to get a new desk..." 

That one still makes me chuckle.  Maybe that should have been the new MPC t-shirt, with an Old Sony logo on it.  :)

 

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avatarAnother thing you got wrong

Submitted by DePat on Wed, 08/20/2008 - 10:22am

I Still have the scars of Kenwood TrueX optical drive on my back and in my wallet.  What a bunch a @#$%@ that stuff was.  But I am off course. I want to point out something to you got "wrong". I am qualifying the wrong because it was not a really a review but part of the article on how to build an HTPC. I am talking about Beyond Media.  In your "review of beyond Media" (BM) you mentionned all the niceties it can do.

 You forgot to note that BM is extremly slow when it comes to finding or playing music across a home network (Microsoft Window Home Server), that when playing videos with multiple language tracks, it will read all tracks at the same time (imagine watching a movie with the spanish, english and french tracks playing a the same time! yes, exactly), the dvd palyer of BM not playing at all (I had "challenges" from the first day a purchase BM and - Tech support has still not figure it out - we are talking about more than 9 months now) Other softwares play my dvds with no problem, the limited setting options of BM, you can select on their player or software or "windows default" window media player eventhough the world abound with more capable player and I can go on.  I do not intend the above to sound as a baching of snapstream. Their
tech people are very customer friendly and I will gladly purchase
another working software from them. BM as just not met my
expectation

 However, you got Beyond TV right and that is a step forward out of the
cave as spouse start to realized the "goodness" of an HTPC.

 I also think that you are neglecting the Home Theather PC. Apart from the article in last year magazine you have not updated this segment on how to construct or what are the best part for an htpc. Computers are bound to get out the "cave", i.e which ever room of the house we sequested ourselves in, for the family room. So take the lead, show us the way as you did in so many other areas by testing the heck out of the offerings and separating hype from reality.

 I am looking forward to the next 10

 Happy birthday KickAss

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avatarYou had me at 'craptastic'.

Submitted by PhynaeusClaw on Wed, 08/20/2008 - 10:03am

I got my first issue of MPC while I was working at EB in November 1998 (before it became EB Games and virtually stopped carrying PC games) for free. I took it home and read a review in which the word 'craptastic' (or possibly 'craptacular') appeared. I was hooked.

Keep the fun coming.

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