Slashdot Mirror
Playstation 3 In the Works
Kredal writes "The Independent is running a story about Sony's work on a new console, being built around online games, such as Everquest Adventures and Final Fantasy 11. No word on backwards compatability, but expect it to be the X-Box killer if it is."
FF11 already has me lusting.
Only 6 more versions 'till the PS9 with inhalable spores that make you hallucinate the game!
Tim
why can't people play on the systems that are out already and get on with their gaming lives.
... yeah, in about 2 years! What are you going to do until then, keep playing your N64?
Speculation like this killed the Dreamcast. Oh.. the PS2's gonna be sooo good.
Then you get lame kiddies saying stuff like "I don't want an Xbox. I'm getting a PS3, it will wipe the floor with the Xshite"
Eventually people nned to buy a current system. The best time to do so is now. Once a console has been released and then discounted (to rip off the earlier adopters) it's worth buying.
I rate the Xbox as better than the PS2, but not enough software is out there yet. People are still going nuts for MGS2 on the PS2, but it takes like a day to finish it on your first time out.
Buy an Xbox/PS2 and be done with it.
The news of the PS3 is cool, but christ, don't wait for it!
PS2 is hardly a new console, and I doubt anybody is surprised that, to quote, they're in "advanced stages of developing PlayStation 3". MS briedly talked about Xbox2, what, a month after the Xbox was out?
Anway, the article is really quite boring, nothing yet unknown is revealed, and of course there is not even a vague release date for the PS3.
Switch back to Slashdot's D1 system.
It darn well better be backwards compatible, or they'll piss off a lot of developers. And the majority of the world that doesn't have broadband . . .
...companies around the world work on new products, and many focused on the same market as previous products. More news on this odd occurance as we get more.
But seriosuly, if noone expected Sony to do anything to move to the PS3 some day, they don't understand buisness much. And online is the future by what everyone is saying, so makes sense.
With more and more gamers playing consoles, expect some expectations of faster upgrades and such to start occuring.
do you know what I had to go through to get my Wife to let be buy a PS2?
I told her that the console market is not like the PC market. Consoles stay around for a few years. I then pointed to the fact that the PS1 had been around since the early 90's.
now what the hell am I going to say to get this sucker!!!!
I am the Alpha and the Omega-3
I sure hope that Sony continues to make systems that are backwards compatable. I think that really gave Sony a major edge over the Nintendo Game Cube. Games are really expensive and it's nice to be able to continue playing the games on newer systems. Otherwise you either don't play the older games anymore or you have several systems connected in a giant mess to your TV. It might prevent Sony from using media that has more data on it, but I think they would be more successful keeping with a backwards compatable system.
FoonDog
I hope it works better than the PS/2 Linux kit I just got and have to RMA back to Sony. ;-)
My tongue-in-cheek experiences are available her for your reading enjoyment.
Then you get lame kiddies saying stuff like "I don't want an Xbox. I'm getting a PS3, it will wipe the floor with the Xshite" ... yeah, in about 2 years! What are you going to do until then, keep playing your N64?
This is much like an old urban legend, made popular through Scott Adams' Dilbert books. Once upon the time there was a company trying to sell some hideously expensive piece of hardware. Prospective clients were wary, so the salesteam tells them "Hey, Every single concern you have will be fixed by Version 2 of this hardware!" The clients then do not buy version 1, and bide their time.
Just about the time Version 2 comes out, the clients come back, and the salesteam says "Here's Version 2! ..but man, Version 3 is *really* gonna rock!" Clients then hold off to wait till Version 3 is ready because of the raw cost of the hardware and the legacy nature of the product.
Meanwhile, the company goes bankrupt because everybody's locked in a holding pattern.
This tired old legend doesn't really fit in right with the console market, as these toys are tools for entertainment -- not legacy hardware that you're expected to keep and maintain for five or ten years, such as cars and houses. Sure, some of us gamers do, but it's not the expectation.
They key to competing with Microsoft will be to continue concentrating on the game performance while allowing enough expandability for the user to add on features to make the PS3 compete with full fledged home computers. I'm sure the final design of the PS3 is going to have a hard drive, a decent amount of RAM, and an Ethernet port. However, it doesn't need to compete with the latest and greatest offering from Intel as long as it plays games great. All the other stuff an average computer user needs to do (word processing, surf the Internet, etc.) can be handled easily by the PS3's hardware. Just give the "hackers" a way to beef it up if the need arises (and it will). FireWire ports, standard HD interface, empty ram slots... In short, embrace the hacker, don't shun him/her away by making the BIOS run only Sony approved applications. Just as long as Sony can make a profit on the hardware (and get good apps on Linux), they can beat MS.
I've heard people say that, "not many people have broadband." However, the people buying these systems most often do. I suspect that the percentage of Xbox owners with broadband is much higher than average.
Also, the issue of backward compatability? It's cool, but if you're going to make a new gaming system, don't worry about the old stuff. If the gaming world has taught people anything it's, "don't worry, I'll buy anything just to play that." How many people have bought new graphics cards because of ONE game?
Sure, a developer would love to see their PS2 games run on the PS?, but would they rather do more with their new titles? You betcha. Game developers love their work, and seeing it fully realized is a better feeling than knowing that it is more compatable, but you had to sacrifice the vision of the game. Remember, we're not making a word processor here.
Cheers.
- Sighuh?
Please consider making an automatic monthly recurring donation to the EFF
I personally stayed away from Everquest due to its addictive nature; I've played MUDs before (though non-graphical)and know that they have a tendency to consume my free time. I really don't mind re-clearing areas over and over again while chatting with friends; I find it very catharthic after a long day at work.
Final Fantasy 11 is going to finish me.
I say this because I am, unashamedly, Squaresoft's Bitch. Anything they sell, I purchase. Chocobo Dungeon? Got that. Vagrant Story? Yup. 3D World Runner? Sure, child's play.
I can't pass up a Final Fantasy title, not after the first ten have given me such endless hours of fun and happiness. Turning it into an MMORPG just adds an addictive edge that may well be the end of me.
How much will MS have to spend to develop the XBox2? Well, let's see... Get a faster mobo, fast gpu, and faster cpu. Done! And it is backwards compatible with the old one already! And the development tools won't require learning some fancy new architecture. MS has stumbled out of the gate, but long term who really has the advantage here?
Lasers Controlled Games!
....but I still want one.........
sorry, lost my mind for a second there......we are from the government - we are here to help...
I'll stick with my super nintendo.
Hacking the Network
Er, didn't the X-Box do a pretty good job of that all by itself?
(Wouldn't the PS2 be one, too?)
- A.P.
"Remember when the U.S. had a drug problem, and then we declared a War On Drugs, and now you can't buy drugs anymore?"
During the release of the Playstation 2, Sony badass Ken Kutaragi announced that the Playstation 3 would be released in 2005. If you want to get the details, check out these google results.
I have been caught completely off guard by similar reports on slashdot in the past. Apparently, Apple is planning a G5 processor (as if the G4 weren't fast enough!), Microsoft is supposedly working on an operating system to replace XP, and the 2.5 branch will not be the last iteration of the Linux kernel.
Karma: Good (despite my invention of the Karma: sig)
Also maybe Sony should take their time and develope a quality console that will meet the needs of the gaming public, even if it takes a few extra months to a year. They have already demonstrated their market dominence over the superior (hardware wise) machines of their competition. Points to consider, make it easier to program, anti-aliasing (!!!), ditch the 2 controller model (multi taps suck, four controller ports on board is great), for that matter peripherals on a console suck.
I look forward to the PS3, but please, take you time and give me something remotely worth the ammount money I am going to have to drop on this thing (and the ammount of time I am going to have to spend in line to get the damn thing on launch day)...
Note to self: No more arguing with the faithful.
More interesting is the news today that Sony and Real have announced a tie-up. They'd already announced an alliance to use Real software in the PS2 - this is a further development, with Sony buying a stake in Real with the aim of using its software in other consumer devices.
Real has put out a press release here, which says: "Sony plans to adopt these combined digital distribution solutions in a variety of networked CE products such as Sony's networked audio products and Sony Computer Entertainment's PlayStation2 computer entertainment system."
The Wall Street Journal notes that the deal brings together two Microsoft rivals - the WSJ story requires $$$+registration, but the basics are:
The companies didn't announce specific product agreements, but said their research and development groups will regularly collaborate on developing new technologies. Sony said it would adopt RealNetworks' media technologies broadly in a variety of consumer electronics devices with network connections to personal computers and the Internet, and RealNetworks will consider using a Sony antipiracy format in its software.
While the financial side of the deal is small and RealNetworks is in no immediate need of cash, the investment gives Sony at least a symbolic stake in the future of RealNetworks. RealNetworks competes fiercely with Microsoft in the market for Internet audio and video software, and it has joined other companies in accusing Microsoft of anticompetitive practices that threaten their businesses. Sony and Microsoft, meanwhile, became archcompetitors in the videogame market with Microsoft's introduction late last year of the Xbox, a heavily promoted rival to Sony's market-leading PlayStation 2.
Dave Fester, a Microsoft general manager, said the alliance with Sony wouldn't affect the appeal of Microsoft's own media software to electronics companies, but adding that it could "drive a wedge between Real and other consumer electronics manufacturers."
No word on backwards compatability, but expect it to be the Playstation 3 killer if it is.
(Of course it will be compatible - the Xbox is basically a PC.)
Remember how ridiculously overhyped PS2 was?
I expect the same with PS3. But why does it have to start now??
As for me, I don't own a console. The only reason I'd get one would be the games, not the technical superiority of a particular console when compared to another or when compared to PCs (which is simply not happenning anyway).
For example, there are no fighting games on the PC (Virtua Fighter, Dead or Alive, Soul Calibur etc.).
But that's about it - I couldn't care less for the RPGs and the racing sims are comparable to what I get on the PC.
The FPS genre is pretty much nonexistent on the consoles (it may be starting to change).
Maybe I just don't get the console culture.
-jfedor
I've jokingly said for a while now that buy the time I can afford a PS2, I should just wait for the PS3. Would it be advisable to wait for the PS3 now or would the PS2 still be a wothwhile buy?
FFX was the initial reason I bought a PS2. And after playing it I'm glad I did. Zelda and Metroid have that pull for Nintendo, for me personally, not as great as FFn, but enough to get me to buy one. As soon as both of these are out I'll be grabbing a Cube. Though, the import store down the street is selling pre-modded Cubes so I may not wait, import games tend to be so much cooler than what we get on average.
I'm the big fish in the big pond bitch.
Last I checked, 3rd party developers will have shipped 150 titles by years end.
Do you think that PS2 developers are going to sit on their hands? The PS2 library is not only already much larger then the Xbox library, but it's growing faster then the Xbox library too. If you've already got a PS2, then there's no reason to buy an Xbox, and Sony's sold (is selling) a lot of PS2s.
Anyway, now that I know that the Xenosaga games are coming out for PS2, I know I made the right choice!
The games industry is now being driven by hardware, not ideas. The consoles just get faster so the games just get prettier. No real innovation at all.
When you say "now," that makes me think you're of the "Games were so much better back when [some system from the mid to late 1990s] came out" mindset. But games have been driven by hardware as long as I can remember. Google searches will turn up big hardware debates in rec.games.video from 1990 about the TurboGrafx-16 vs. the Sega Genesis. And for many people PC gaming has always been about hardware, which is why people are willing to buy $400 video cards, complain that consoles are too expensive, and suffer through endless bleeding edge driver updates.
about the ps3 can be found here.
I Browse at +4 Flamebait
Open Source Sysadmin
(And yes, I own the cartridges. heh.)
You did read this article that states " the PlayStation 6 or 7 will be based on biotechnology".
It also states "research efforts for PlayStation 3 are focusing on distributed computing"....
-- wow a beowulf cluster of PS3's.....
This has been blown out of proportion. For the facts, please have a look at: http://www.sonyweb.com/features/insidethecell.html
Well, Nintendo is...
:)
"...but expect it to be the X-Box killer if it is."
Thats like saying the playstation 2 was a supernintendo killer. Of course its going to be better then the xbox. What, do you think its going to come out in a few months? This thing is atleast 2 years away. I am sure by the time the playstation 3 comes out microsoft will be right there with a new console too.
This is as bad as those people who say the xbox killed the dreamcast. Of course it did, it came out 2 years later!
Part of why the PS2 is backwards compatible is that it wasn't hard to impliment. The PS2 has a chip that the PSX used, so it isn't all software based emulation.
Moreover, in a previous slashdot article it was stated that the PS3 is basically 4 PS2 units smashed into one case. Again, backwards compatability will be trivial to impliment.
"Never, never suspect the dreams within the dreams of dreaming children." ~The Amazon Quartet
I don't want to sound like my grandpa (I'm only 23!), but back in the day, when I was gaming on a daily basis, the games were just so much more fun to play. With Nintendo you had the mega man, final fantasy, zelda, mario, and metroid, and on sega you had all the sports games. These games could be picked up and learned in a few minutes, but took hours and hours to master. And were fun all the way along. There are of course some exceptions, but games and systems today seem to be all about tech. bragging points and cinema scenes. The push to be the most high tech. and have the most titles has cause the gaming industry to accept quantity over quality. This brings me on topic...Playstation has to be the worst offender in these areas and seems to be dead set on continuing that trend. Thrid party licensees crank out sh*t games and Sony braggs about having so many titles. 50% of those games are basically racing games featuring different vehicles/settings. Ex. XXS snowboarding, it's fun to play for 20 minutes and looks pretty, but really, how much can you look at scenery when you're in the middle of a game! Meanwhile game developers are stumbling over themselves to make 'adult themed' games that may look pretty or gross sometimes but are an absolute bore to play. And last but not least, Nintendo all but turns it's back on older gamers when they sent the Gamecube controllers back to the drawing board to make them smaller b/c kids in their testing groups said they were too big...
Thank you Dave Raggett
I started playing the Ultima series way back when, because it gave me the opportunity to leave behind my mundane life and become a hero in another realm. Along the way, I've played most of the RPGs on the C64, PC, and game consoles, as well as others like Monkey Island and The Longest Journey. I played the hero. I directed the action (well, as far as you can in the storyline).
I've put my time in a couple of MMORPGs, at one point putting in a good 10 hours a day for several months. For what? So I can be just another semi-powerful warrior among thousands of others all trying to accomplish the same quests? Running into the same people, who just like me are trying to escape our "real" lives for a few moments... why do I really want to talk to them? If I wanted to talk to them I could do so on ICQ for free, or head down to the local pub and meet with my friends.
As much as I didn't like the story driven nature of FFX, it was fantastic. The conversations between Tidus and Yuna, Auron's mysterious demeanor, poor Lulu... that's why I bought and played FFX. Why I bought every other FF game. Why I play RPGs. Why I no longer play MMORPGs. I don't want to meet a group of heros and listen to how they had a miserable day at work, how the dog shit on the rug, how the car needs an overhaul. How there's a group of campers by the mystical sword each one of us needs for a quest and how we're going to have to get 6mil gold apiece to buy from the campers. I want to meet characters who were brought together by some epic destiny, not those who happen to live in the same time zone. I want to hear scripted conversations that took months of thought and use professional voiceovers, not the half-hearted attempts at role playing and old English phrases lifted from "Robin Hood".
FF 11 online? No thanks.
-- If god wanted me to have a sig, he'd have given me a sense of humor.
The GameCube uses a variant of the PowerPC processor, named "Gekko", and IBM was responsible for R&D on that as well.
IBM -- mercenaries of the gaming world?
There's 10 types of people in this world, those who understand binary and those who don't.
GameGear was one of the coolest handhelds I've ever seen. Way ahead of its time, IMHO. It was a portable, full-colour handheld gaming system with a backlit LCD. You could play the thing in full colour in a pitch dark room, out of the box. What systems, even today, can make such a claim?
It's drawbacks were lack of games, pretty pricey, and it ate batteries like Oprah goes through Twinkies.
Like woodworking? Build your own picture frames.
All I have to say is Luigi's Castle... oh wait, that really sucked. (Especially compared to Halo)
/., home of the RIAA/MPAA/Adobe/GPL/XBOX/European hypocrites.
And I wouldn't hold my breathe for the new Mario (Mario walks around with a water cannon trying to remove graffiti (??)) or the new Super Cartoony Zelda, or the first person Metroid (that is just capitalizing on Halo and the FPS craze.)
I'm sorry, I'd rather be playing the new World Series Baseball, Halo, Spiderman (on the best of the multi-console translations), the new Toe Jam & Earl game (how many of you remember that old Genesis game,) NFL Fever, Midtown Madness 3, Max Payne (I'm sorry, the game is DESIGNED for a control pad, not keyboard+mouse,) Morrowind, Project Ego, POW, etc etc etc.
Yes Yes, the PS2 has great games too (although it has games like Britney's Dance Beat too) and so does the gamecube (currently, all three of them.) But the only reason everyone is trashin the xbox is because it's from microsoft.
I mean, come on... I'm hearing comments like "It's too fucking big." WHO THE FUCK CARES? If it plays games better than any other system than who cares if it's about 15% bigger than the PS2? My tivo is fucking huge but I don't complain about it's size when I talk about functionality. A comment like that has no basis other than resentment and bias against Microsoft (oh, and the US too since apparently that's a US-only design trait.)
The XBox is a great system with great games. So is the PS2 and so is the GC. Less anti-microsoft, anti-us rhetoric... oh wait, this is
Let's face it, so far the Xbox has been a disaster and Sony want to make sure it stays that way even with the recent price cuts. What better way to make sure of that than cut their own prices and drop heavy hints that a PS3 might be just around the corner?
Of course realistically no PS3 is going to appear before Christmas 2003 unless its a revamped PS2 with a harddrive, but anyone thinking of getting an XBox is likely to think again.
The XBox has a serious problem on its hands now. It's still the most expensive of the games consoles, and the games are expensive and boring. It's rapidly becoming the next Dreamcast.
I know people who didn't buy an Xbox because of it's size. And they don't give a rats ass who makes the system. They have no idea what Linux is, etc. Put simply, it wouldn't have fit in as nicely as a PS2 with all the stereo components, and another didn't want a huge box sitting on the floor since it wouldn't fit in his "entertainment" center.
WWJD.... for a Klondike bar?
But I'm a little more optimistic about the future. Game consoles are quickly reaching a tecnological apex. Once consoles are consistently putting out HDTV or better video and Dolby 5.1 audio or better, they're going to have very little else to improve upon.
It'll happen more quickly than you think. I can't wait until it does as then game makers will have to concentrate on playability as much as they do now on FX.
In the meantime, vendors like Sony really *need* to provide backwards compatibility for all games. That's been the primary fly in my ointment over the years. Sure, I want the shiny new console with the new games. But I also want my old games. Those, after all, represent most of the investment we all make as gamers. The console is just a delivery mechanism.
Please mod this post only if you think others should/n't read this. I have enough ego^H^H^Hkarma. Thanks!
That's the common wisdom, like "consoles are always sold at a loss," but it's really not true.
Some examples of successful add-ons:
With the exception of the analog pads, which were eventually made the new standard, it's more accurate to say that add-ons tend to be at least an order of magnitude less successful than the parent console. So you need a big enough consumer base to support your niche markets. The current playstation 2 has a big enough market to support an online adapter as long as the hardware works. It's been proven by the Dreamcast that enough gamers will sign up for good online games to make it profitable, and the Dreamcast market was much smaller than PS2's.
I agree with the rest of your post, though. Especially that it's really all about the games.
Jon Acheson
All opinions expressed herein are my own, and not those of my employers, who are appalled.
There are downsides to using computer parts instead of a custom design.
One is that the total size of the console is significantly larger than its competitors, which makes it a pain to fit into an already crowded entertainment center.
Also, the custom-designed PS2s and Gamecubes are apparently much cheaper to manufacture in bulk, because they have fewer parts.
Lastly, I don't see how designing a new mobo, gpu and cpu is necessarily simpler than designing a new console-style console.
Jon Acheson
All opinions expressed herein are my own, and not those of my employers, who are appalled.
Real is the single worst company making a media player today. EVERY single time I log into my offic laptop, I am reminded of this by the nagging update messages and spam that Real thrusts upon me. You think WMP is the only alternative? Quicktime works great, and is 1000% less offensive than RealOne. Plus, you don't have to pay Apple to stream content. Get a clue.
Supposedly we'll see a significant price drop in the US PS2 after E3 at the end of May. This is still just a rumor, but it seems plausible. I would wait to see.
PS2 has enough good games out now to justify buying one, and more are on the way. Plus there are many games available used. That makes it a wise buy.
Wait for PS3? Why not wait for PS4 while you're at it? IMHO, it's better to wait until after the first price cut for a console, then jump on board.
Jon Acheson
All opinions expressed herein are my own, and not those of my employers, who are appalled.
It would cost too much. Gamepads should be cheap, so you can buy 4 of them and play party games.
What I want to know is, why have a memory card slot for each controller? I've never used the ones on the multi-tap, ever.
Just put 2 memory stick slots in the console (for trading saves), and you're good.
Jon Acheson
All opinions expressed herein are my own, and not those of my employers, who are appalled.
Lastly, I don't see how designing a new mobo, gpu and cpu is necessarily simpler than designing a new console-style console.
It's about the R&D dollars, son. Sony is apparently throwing what, a billion, 2 billion dollars into the PS3's development?
Microsoft on the other hand can cimply take advantage of Nvidia's huge R&D budget, and buy chips (at a bulk rate). No manufacturing processes to build, no R&D work and hiring. So much easier! At the same time, they get a product guaranteed to be competetive and successful in today's graphics market.
Same with a CPU and Motherboard - Microsoft again worked with NVidia, AMD, and Intel, and simply had those companies assemble a board with an AMD bus, an Intel processor, and an Nvidia chipset.
At the same time there is a decent budget at Microsoft to make sure the board is 100% stable. Because it's a PC, it had a semblance of an operating system on it, in the form of stripped-down Windows 2000 with DirectX.
All of the technologies come from other companies or parts of Microsoft, which means in the end R&D dollars are kept at a minimum.
The hardware can then be sold at a loss, while Microsoft still makes enough money on game sales to keep up with Sony, who is $$$ in the hole until they sell enough PS2's.
This strategy would work perfectly, of course, if all the good games actually came out for Xbox.... where is my Unreal Championship god damn it!
...give it to someone that does. You brought up WMP, not me. RealOne steals file extensions, too, EVEN if you explicitly tell it not to. I'm not here to defend M$, but Real makes Microsoft look good. As far as getting a media player for your platform, the WORST way to do that is to support scumbags like Real by using their content. Ban Real from your machine, complain to websites that offer content in Real format. Do the same for M$, and stick with the best of the three currently available mainstream options -- Quicktime. You're running O.S., dude! Do you expect the mainstream computing world to bend over backwards so you can watch thumbnail-sized video? Where is the all-holy O.S. community when you need them? Their hands are bound by the evil lawyers that protect codecs?! Oh, right...Apple did all the work for you, but they want you to buy their kickass machines in return. Funny how the old adage remains true -- "there's no such thing as a free lunch."
Most companies announce an impending new product to spread FUD about current competing products. But when you are already #1 in your market then the FUD will mostly impact your own product. So the only way this move makes any sense is if Sony cuts the price on their current console and guarantees that the PS3 will be backward compatible with PS2 games.
Then people will buy the PS2 because it's cheaper than it was before and rest assured that their investment in games will carry through to the next generation platform.
There are all these links to this Sony stuff here. I mean comeon, get the facts straight.
Spilled.net
A pentagon implies a 2 dimensional shape.
It is a GameCube, not a GameSquare, thus GamePentagon would not be the natural progression.
Honestly, my vote would be for GameSphere. Boxy shapes are so 2001... or so 2002 for you Europeans who are always a year behind the times.
-gerbik
And I wouldn't hold my breathe for the new Mario (Mario walks around with a water cannon trying to remove graffiti (??))
Is that what it is? Then I want a multiplayer version with Mario against the gang from Jet Grind Radio (Dreamcast) or Jet Set Radio Future (xbox). For the uninitiated, it's a Sega game that lets you control a gang of graffiti-sprayin', cop-avoiding' inline skaters. Think of the possibilities!
"Our new machine will go in your head, take your old thoughts out, and put new ones in... it'll be the greatest video game experience ever, and you'll never buy anything but Sony again!"
Kinda reminds me when Zik-Zak reprogrammed families to live off of their burger packs and stuff.
Someone set us up the bomb, so shine we are!
The XBox also had an R&D budget in the billions of dollars.
Except that everything I've read on the subject says that it's Sony who's making money on their hardware from day one, and Microsoft who is losing money on each XBox and hoping to make it up in volume. What are your sources?
Furthermore, from the worldwide sales numbers, Microsoft isn't even keeping up with Nintendo, much less Sony.
From what I have read, both the Sony and Nintendo systems are much simpler to manufacture than the XBox, because they have fewer chips and fewer boards and fewer moving parts.
Jon Acheson
All opinions expressed herein are my own, and not those of my employers, who are appalled.
Or set up a local network? The problem with having it's own DSL/Cable interface is that I *would* have to physically swap it with my computer, as I don't think you can have more than one DSL interface in a home on the same line. Perhaps you can with cable, but that would seem like a waste of resources when you can just gateway a home network through a computer.
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