What I would like to see is a trend similar to the one in Roleplaying. Older games that have long payed off are sold as legal PDF for cheap. Prices range from 1/3rd origianl for a reasonably recent like CP2020 to 2€ per book for oldies like Twilight2000. Those are not even specially generated PDF just high quality scan and ocr jobs. And the trade platforms are in place. I bet Drivethru RPG won't refuse and they even cater to small home publishers so Squadron etc. should be mid-sized for them. Some Shareware software platforms like Share*it also publish PDF with some cheap pricing models and even do Cd on demand.
This may not work for stuff like a Spielberger that sells well in nth Edition but stuff like Marines in Khe San or Modelling the x might work well. And be less hassle
Some classic books are out in an even more enhanced format as DVDs with comments samples. Some of Mr. Windrows Terrain modelling book i.e. I found them useful. But they cost at least as much as the book. Acceptable for the quality.
Hosted by Jim Starkweather
Down loading modeling references
mmeier
Member Since: October 22, 2008
entire network: 1,280 Posts
KitMaker Network: 213 Posts
Posted: Thursday, December 15, 2011 - 02:31 PM UTC
mmeier
Member Since: October 22, 2008
entire network: 1,280 Posts
KitMaker Network: 213 Posts
Posted: Thursday, December 15, 2011 - 02:37 PM UTC
Quoted Text
Quoted TextSorry but the MS-Tools, Google Tools, Facebook etc. all fall way short of what a good forum software must and can do.
Discussion threads
FB-style "discussion threads" are VERY hard to follow if they get length. The UI is quite similar to the mailing lists of old - and I HAPPILY left those behind. To be useful for more than "Oh, look at my shiny picture" threads they need to evolve until they look like - Well a current day forum software
Picture storage
Centralized storage is there since half a decade ago. Just add a link where you want the picture to appear. No need to play around with rights management, folders and all. Just use photobucket. If you absolutely want to play around with permissions and all - get a VServer.
A forum/portal today delivers more than simple storage with less hassle
The community is bigger than you thing
Most forums these days do not run on an "Admins heartbreaker" homebrew but on one of the few forum/portal systems that survived. And those have a solid support team that keeps development going.
MS won't deliver more
MS will at best deliver YAPF - Yet Another Portal/Forum. Like Netweaver did and others do. It's likely a well done one but so are those currently on the market. The rest is "admins work" just like today. MS did so with Sharepoint.
The endpoint devices are unimportant as long as they can do HTML/CSS/JScript. I can use this forum just fine from a Fandroid tablet or the iosef pad.
Don't fall for the hype
The Cloud is nothing more than a group of redundant servers and a load balancer. Ooooold stuff, used that even before "da Web" was around. And using it for years commercially with distributed image hosting
Overall classic portal/forum system will stay for a long time since they deliver features that the "Oh Shiny!" world of the iThingy and Social Networks can not deliver due to their need to keep the UI useable by the "less educated" to get the masses.
Very interesting
I hope that in five years time, when all posiible futures have condensed to a single reality, we can come back to this thread and look at our writings again.
Okay, I bring the beer and you bring your nationals prefered drink, then we share a laugh.
mmeier
Member Since: October 22, 2008
entire network: 1,280 Posts
KitMaker Network: 213 Posts
Posted: Monday, March 05, 2012 - 08:16 AM UTC
With three more month having passed one of my wished is coming true:
Osprey is portig a lot of their books, even newer once like the "Duel" series" over to the Kindle.Prices are about 1/2 of the printed version, quality is solid (Not perfect, the multi-page pictures are cut apart)
Bad for the bank account but a good thing for reading "everywhere". Recommended!
Osprey is portig a lot of their books, even newer once like the "Duel" series" over to the Kindle.Prices are about 1/2 of the printed version, quality is solid (Not perfect, the multi-page pictures are cut apart)
Bad for the bank account but a good thing for reading "everywhere". Recommended!
big_bert_uk
Member Since: February 14, 2012
entire network: 15 Posts
KitMaker Network: 13 Posts
Posted: Monday, March 05, 2012 - 10:10 PM UTC
I work in IT as a Desktop Support Engineer, and even I say that when it really comes down to it, I prefer a book rather than gazing at a picture or piece of text on a screen.
The web is a very powerful tool and provides an abundance of materials, but you cant beat having a book to hand
The web is a very powerful tool and provides an abundance of materials, but you cant beat having a book to hand
mmeier
Member Since: October 22, 2008
entire network: 1,280 Posts
KitMaker Network: 213 Posts
Posted: Tuesday, March 06, 2012 - 04:18 AM UTC
Quoted Text
I work in IT as a Desktop Support Engineer, and even I say that when it really comes down to it, I prefer a book rather than gazing at a picture or piece of text on a screen.
The web is a very powerful tool and provides an abundance of materials, but you cant beat having a book to hand
Depends on the book and the screen lMHO. l use a tablet for viewing docs so it is light and a book layout and at 10 or12inch a book size. A normal monitor is a different beast. There the only solution that partially works is one of the portrait/landscape switchabel ones.
Tablet has portability and the „library at your fingertips" benefit as well as annotation
retiredyank
Member Since: June 29, 2009
entire network: 11,610 Posts
KitMaker Network: 3,657 Posts
Posted: Tuesday, March 06, 2012 - 07:25 AM UTC
You may want to consider moving your pc/tablet/notebook closer to your bench. I have mine on the next desk over. I download a good deal of photos and articles, but save the rest in my favorites menu. All I have to do is look over and it's right there.
big_bert_uk
Member Since: February 14, 2012
entire network: 15 Posts
KitMaker Network: 13 Posts
Posted: Monday, March 12, 2012 - 12:37 AM UTC
Quoted Text
Quoted TextI work in IT as a Desktop Support Engineer, and even I say that when it really comes down to it, I prefer a book rather than gazing at a picture or piece of text on a screen.
The web is a very powerful tool and provides an abundance of materials, but you cant beat having a book to hand
Depends on the book and the screen lMHO. l use a tablet for viewing docs so it is light and a book layout and at 10 or12inch a book size. A normal monitor is a different beast. There the only solution that partially works is one of the portrait/landscape switchabel ones.
Tablet has portability and the „library at your fingertips" benefit as well as annotation
I suppose alot of my opinion comes from staring at them all day every day, and dont get me wrong, one of the big incentives for getting back into modelling for me was the sheer volume of resources available online, things have changed alot in the 25 years since I last made one.
on the flip side of that coin, my dad not only left me a large hoard of kits to build, but a small library of reference books, some dating back 60 ish years which have proved invaluable to him and no doubt will with me as well.
both have pros and cons, and its very much down to the individual, the existence of this site, and in particular, topics such as this one, testifies to that fact and long may both options provide the goodies we all need!
 |
WEB HOSTING BY
Copyright ©2021 KitMaker Network and Kitmaker Network, a subsidiary of Silver Star Enterprises
All Rights Reserved. Please read our Conditions of Use and Privacy Policy.
All Rights Reserved. Please read our Conditions of Use and Privacy Policy.