Evidence offered for september's $200 XBox 360

An SKU inquiry on some ancient inventory system reveals a forthcoming "promo price" of $199.99 for the XBox 360 Arcade. There's no further details on offer, other than that it confirms the general expectation that Microsoft knows it's time to stop coasting and start aggressing Nintendo — especially if it can still make a profit on hardware at the new price.

VGC Exclusive: Xbox 360 to Cut Arcade Prices to $199.99 on Sept. 7th [VGChartz via Kotaku]

[#1 posted by A New Challenger , August 4, 2008 12:50 AM]

If I could add a non-proprietary hard drive to a $200 Arcade I'd totally bite. As it is, I don't think so, though Pac-Man CE is tempting.

[#2 posted by David Carroll , August 4, 2008 2:37 AM]

I always get a kick out of these dBASE/ANSI point of sale/inventory systems. Especially in computer stores.

Everything they sell is Vista this and MAC that. They want you to run your business with these. But when it comes to their bottom line, they use ultra reliable tried and true (and cheap) 20 year old tech.

I helped install and administer a state-of-the-art newsroom (Avid iNews) automation system recently. Clients are Mac, Windows or web based. On the back end? A rack full of UNIX/Linux and MS-DOS 6.x boxes!

Runs like spit! (That's a good thing.)

[#3 posted by spiritek , August 4, 2008 3:15 AM]

Looks like an AS400 or System 36 system... they are freaking awesome and I still don't understand why our company is moving away from it...

[#4 posted by ROSSINDETROIT , August 4, 2008 6:17 AM]

Looks like CICS to me. TRANSID blacked out at the upper left. PFKEY row at the bottom with standard key designations. The only thing that's maybe nonstandard is the colors. I hand-coded so many of those screens I could do it in my sleep.

[#5 posted by Rob Beschizza , August 4, 2008 8:32 AM]

I like those things, too.

In 2008, it's still the case that text-only ANSI displays and their simple Tab 'n' type user interfaces rule in the land of critical server-client operations. They're fast, efficient, and reliable.

At BBG, we've toyed with the idea of writing a blogging app that is basically just that, but able to deal with images.

[#6 posted by zuzu , August 4, 2008 8:54 AM]

Looks like CICS to me. TRANSID blacked out at the upper left. PFKEY row at the bottom with standard key designations. The only thing that's maybe nonstandard is the colors. I hand-coded so many of those screens I could do it in my sleep.

Sounds like good fodder for someone's next cyberpunk novel. I find myself somewhat surprised at the gulf in hacking between consumer systems and enterprise systems. Frankly, the only example I can recall of the latter was the widespread interest in taking control of Ma Bell / AT&T's telephone network (i.e. phreaking) -- not just blue boxes, but listen to Kevin Mitnick (now past the statute of limitations) talk about the extent of his escapades sometime. The future is looking to be more like John Brunner's The Shockwave Rider than we care to admit.

CICS (Customer Information Control System) is a transaction server that runs primarily on IBM mainframe systems under z/OS and z/VSE. CICS is a transaction manager designed for rapid, high-volume online processing. This processing is mostly interactive (screen-oriented), but background transactions are possible. While CICS has its highest profile among financial institutions such as banks and insurance companies, over 90 percent of Fortune 500 companies are reported to rely on CICS (running on z/OS) for their core business functions, beside many governments. CICS is used in bank-teller applications, ATM systems, industrial production control systems, insurance applications and many other types of interactive application.

[#7 posted by ROSSINDETROIT , August 4, 2008 11:31 AM]

Mainframe = Business Machine
PC/Mac = Consumer Product

And don't get me started on the cost VS reliability issue. There's just no contest.

[#8 posted by zuzu , August 4, 2008 2:04 PM]

Mainframe = Business Machine, PC/Mac = Consumer Product

You're begging the question.

Everyone does business, and every business is a customer to someone. So this whole "consumer/business" dichotomy is completely arbitrary bullshit.

[#9 posted by ROSSINDETROIT , August 4, 2008 2:33 PM]

So this whole "consumer/business" dichotomy is completely arbitrary bullshit.

Long, nasty rant deleted. I didn't work in IT for 18 years full time to get baited in a comments thread.