But if you purchase it, as I have, you get a product you can use from now until forever, so long as your OS supports it, plus you can get the decompression source so that you (or someone else) can always write a decompressor for a future platform. Surely you don't need to worry about replacing it until both the following are true: None of the versions you've purchased run on your current platform AND no version compatible with your current platform is available (at a reasonable price). At that point you stop creating RAR archives and simply keep the decompressor around (porting and recompiling as necessary).
(Personally, I don't care about recovery records, I just keep two copies of everything, and I moved to 7-zip -- which can decompress RAR -- about six months ago.)
RAR compression is free for decompression with source available, heaps of precompiled binaries for decompression on your OS of choice and it's included in a whole heap of popular free archive programs. Just burn the latest source on every CD you make and you should be fine.
Because they need to leverage their Operating system monopoly to take over in other areas.. (i.e. Browser, Media Player/Codecs)
Yeah, well, apart from that. It's hard to believe that there isn't a market for a fast, lightweight Windows that's worth more than having a monopoly in a bunch of stuff they give away. Also, think how impressive it would look if all the crud bundled into Windows was itemised on the back of a Plus! box. MS would have to use 4-point text just to fit it all on...
I always thought that the Plus! packs were pretty cool concepts. Why doesn't Microsoft just do a barebones OS then a cheapy Plus! product with all the extra crap nobody needs?
Making a text adventure game for the iPod - priceless. Requiring people to use PayPal to buy it - worthless.
Before anyone asks why I dislike it so much, the main reason is that if two people outside of the US make a US$ transaction PayPal adds an international transaction fee when the money neither changes currency nor actually leaves the US. Serious merchants need to find another way for people to pay.
Arbitrary changes like this point to serious management problems or directors with questionable motives. If you can't stop the change, start looking for work somewhere that appreciates the skills that you have.
Looks like all you iPod people may still have hope!
I never knew that hope was required. Aren't there a bunch of options available to replace the battery? Sorry if I don't feel outraged about the cost of the iPod battery, I just received a quote to replace the battery on my Sharp Actius 150 Ultralight at A$500. Fortunately I bought an external pack with the machine so it doesn't matter that the internal one's capacity is down from 90 minutes to 30. (The same trick can be done with the iPod.)
The best phone from Nokia at the moment is the 6600. It's basically an N-Gage with a camera in a more "normal" phone-style layout. Comes with a free copy of Opera.
I'm sure that most people's lists of what Nokia did wrong with the N-Gage is as long as my arm, but there were only two basic mistakes.
Focussing on gamers while producing patronising advertising for that very group.
DRM -- specifically, rigging games to only play on the N-Gage, from an MMC card with no way to install them on a bug MMC flash card or play them on other perfectly capable phones in the same family
The N-Gage's layout is perfect for games, while its Symbian Series 60 OS is a really nice smartphone OS. For some, it's the best S60 option because you can buy it off-plan and unlocked. For others it's the best S60 because it's the cheapest.
If Nokia had just released it quietly as a gaming-oriented S60 phone and the games had been available on CD and MMC, then it would probably have exceeded all expectations and been the homebrew (game) programmer's phone of choice.
It's protection money. You pay SCO now and they promise not to throw a brick through your X Windows. Until they decide to hit you up for some more protection money later.
Or they could just purge every mention of the Phantom from their website and wash their hands of it. I know it would look like they were giving in, but honestly I don't think I'd want my website to show up on a Google search of "Phantom Console" or "Infinium Labs".
I live in a country where the police and the government are not considered "better" than private citizens. They therefore have no greater right to go through your stuff without reason than you have to go through theirs.
very few people actually have the bandwidth to download movies
I don't think this is true. Tests I've done on my 56k modem show that a typical movie of a quality worth watching would take between 48 and 96 hours to download, leaving just enough bandwidth to check email and read Slashdot. This is easily quick enough to keep up with blockbuster movies (and vastly more than necessary to keep up with good blockbuster movies). What it isn't enough bandwidth for is to keep up with more than three or four hour-long weekly TV shows. Additionally, I only pay for 160 hours per month on my dial-up.
So that's a 56k modem. DSL being anywhere from four to 20 times faster than that, many people in the world have a pipe capable of keeping up with all new cinema releases, a dozen weekly TV shows (be they US live action or Japanese Anime) and pretty much every new release for a chosen current generation video game console or PC.
Meanwhile, I bought the Futurama Season 4 box set last night (Channel 7 has been screwing up the broadcasts) and will be buying Andromeda 4.5 tonight (not available on free-to-air here at all) if I remember. I shipped in a US version of the Underworld DVD while it was still in Australian cinemas. Personally I believe that stuff should just be made for DVD. I'd subscribe to SG-1 DVD releases if they came out at the same time as it was shown in the UK. I bet heaps of the sorts of people that download movies would be just as eager to buy a DVD if it was available immediately. What are the economics of a DVD? Did my purchase of Underworld see more money reach the people who made it than if I'd gone to the cinema?
For many people, financial ruin and death aren't much to choose between.
While I'm here, explain to me why someone should be able to be completely ruined for making copies of, say, the top 20 musical albums of 2000. Obviously the financial penalties for individuals is grossly out of proportion to the level of malicious intent required and actual provable damange caused.
If you're asking if I believe that we're likely to see an off-the-shelf PC motherboard in every new fridge, then the answer is no. If you're asking if there are entertainment options for small quiet x86-based motherboards, then I point you to Mini-ITX.com (depsite the cost), particularly to "Lippert's Passively Cooled Thunderbird".
If you're asking if modern consumer OSes based on the x86 range are bullet-proof and idiot-proof enough to power a device as easy to use as an answering machine or VCR, then I'd have to say no, these are still hobbyist devices.
No matter how bad the job market is, you don't need to work for a place that overanalyses this badly. The staff turnover at places like this is typically so bad that statistically they're only likely to show up as yet another blot on your job history anyway.
The RIAA is going after all the Kazaa (Windows) users. SCO is going after all the Linux users. Mac users must be feeling pretty unloved, who's going to sue them?
Slashdot Mirror
(Personally, I don't care about recovery records, I just keep two copies of everything, and I moved to 7-zip -- which can decompress RAR -- about six months ago.)
RAR compression is free for decompression with source available, heaps of precompiled binaries for decompression on your OS of choice and it's included in a whole heap of popular free archive programs. Just burn the latest source on every CD you make and you should be fine.
I always thought that the Plus! packs were pretty cool concepts. Why doesn't Microsoft just do a barebones OS then a cheapy Plus! product with all the extra crap nobody needs?
Just a Google search for "DVD Jukebox", but here you go.
Requiring people to use PayPal to buy it - worthless.
Before anyone asks why I dislike it so much, the main reason is that if two people outside of the US make a US$ transaction PayPal adds an international transaction fee when the money neither changes currency nor actually leaves the US. Serious merchants need to find another way for people to pay.
I use Opera S60 for my GPRS browsing.
Arbitrary changes like this point to serious management problems or directors with questionable motives. If you can't stop the change, start looking for work somewhere that appreciates the skills that you have.
Division by zero error. I don't drink.
Shouldn't this have been taken to the Police, rather than home with some drunk guys?
The best phone from Nokia at the moment is the 6600. It's basically an N-Gage with a camera in a more "normal" phone-style layout. Comes with a free copy of Opera.
- Focussing on gamers while producing patronising advertising for that very group.
- DRM -- specifically, rigging games to only play on the N-Gage, from an MMC card with no way to install them on a bug MMC flash card or play them on other perfectly capable phones in the same family
The N-Gage's layout is perfect for games, while its Symbian Series 60 OS is a really nice smartphone OS. For some, it's the best S60 option because you can buy it off-plan and unlocked. For others it's the best S60 because it's the cheapest.If Nokia had just released it quietly as a gaming-oriented S60 phone and the games had been available on CD and MMC, then it would probably have exceeded all expectations and been the homebrew (game) programmer's phone of choice.
It's protection money. You pay SCO now and they promise not to throw a brick through your X Windows. Until they decide to hit you up for some more protection money later.
Or they could just purge every mention of the Phantom from their website and wash their hands of it. I know it would look like they were giving in, but honestly I don't think I'd want my website to show up on a Google search of "Phantom Console" or "Infinium Labs".
Somwhere else this was described as "liquid salt water brine". It's nice to see people at /. actually know what these words mean.
I live in a country where the police and the government are not considered "better" than private citizens. They therefore have no greater right to go through your stuff without reason than you have to go through theirs.
So that's a 56k modem. DSL being anywhere from four to 20 times faster than that, many people in the world have a pipe capable of keeping up with all new cinema releases, a dozen weekly TV shows (be they US live action or Japanese Anime) and pretty much every new release for a chosen current generation video game console or PC.
Meanwhile, I bought the Futurama Season 4 box set last night (Channel 7 has been screwing up the broadcasts) and will be buying Andromeda 4.5 tonight (not available on free-to-air here at all) if I remember. I shipped in a US version of the Underworld DVD while it was still in Australian cinemas. Personally I believe that stuff should just be made for DVD. I'd subscribe to SG-1 DVD releases if they came out at the same time as it was shown in the UK. I bet heaps of the sorts of people that download movies would be just as eager to buy a DVD if it was available immediately. What are the economics of a DVD? Did my purchase of Underworld see more money reach the people who made it than if I'd gone to the cinema?
While I'm here, explain to me why someone should be able to be completely ruined for making copies of, say, the top 20 musical albums of 2000. Obviously the financial penalties for individuals is grossly out of proportion to the level of malicious intent required and actual provable damange caused.
If you're asking if modern consumer OSes based on the x86 range are bullet-proof and idiot-proof enough to power a device as easy to use as an answering machine or VCR, then I'd have to say no, these are still hobbyist devices.
One small change. Good employers are looking for hard working, etc... There are plenty of dodgy little organisations that want amoral arseholes.
No matter how bad the job market is, you don't need to work for a place that overanalyses this badly. The staff turnover at places like this is typically so bad that statistically they're only likely to show up as yet another blot on your job history anyway.
The RIAA is going after all the Kazaa (Windows) users. SCO is going after all the Linux users. Mac users must be feeling pretty unloved, who's going to sue them?