I...think you misunderstood what I was saying. My point was that people shouting "free market" are mistaken, because mostly leaving ISPs alone has so far been proven to be ineffective. Your points are valid as well.
Last night i was told by my ISP that they would charge extra to get fast access to hulu.com
Oh wait no.... no they didn't
The point isn't that they are doing it, it's that they could be.
I smell government wanting to get their grubby hands on my Internet.
Let me guess...you don't want "the googles" to be inaccessable?
OH and BTW that "free market" theory has been working pretty well so far.... ya might not want to kick dirt into the face of the system that puts food in your noise hole.
When did liberals start listening to comedians for their politics
I'm a registered Independent, and have been since I turned 18. I've also never voted in the two presidential elections I've been old enough for because all of the choices are just as corrupt. Yes, that includes third, fourth, and fifth parties.
oh guess that been every sense pelsoi and friends have been a joke of a government.
Right...because before Nancy Pelosi, our government was squeaky clean and perfect.::facepalm::
What about someone like me? I run a little website because I enjoy it and because there is a small cadre of people out there that enjoy reading what I have to say.
Now let's say Comcast says that unless I pay them $10 a month, they will slow down people browsing my site through their ISP. Then say Verizon tells me the same thing. And Cox. And Time Warner. Suddenly, my little $120 investment per year in my hobby is an order of magnitude bigger, and I can no longer afford it.
THAT is why net neutrality is important. It isn't to protect the big guys, it's to protect the little guys.::generalization time:: I find it funny that republicans say they are always "for" the little guy, yet net neutrality is some kind of boogyman amongst them, waiting to come and murder their children.
This is one of those areas where I WANT the government to intervene. "But they fuck up everything, what makes you think they can get this right???" How about the fact that ISPs already fuck with us, and if left unchecked, they will just get worse anyway.
We should at least TRY to get things under control. The "free market" theory is obviously worth as much as tits on a bull when it comes to ISPs.
Sidestepping out of reality and into my own little world for a moment, this is one of the things that really bothers me about business.
The 360 HAS been succesful. Look at the various services it offers...Netflix streaming, gaming, zune streaming....and look at some of the exclusives on it. Shadow Complex, Limbo, 'Splosion Man, I Made a Game with Zombies in it, Geometry Wars Evolved, Fable II, Mass Effect 1 and 2 (counts due to being a Microsoft exclusive)...tons of games that have been cemented permanently in gaming culture.
So, realistically (i.e. from a business perspective) the 360 has been a failure. Culturally, it has been a sucess.
PS: I'm not a fanboy...I own consoles from every major company in the last 20 years, including Atari, Nintendo, Sega, Sony, Microsoft, etc. I'm simply focusing on Microsoft in this particular post.
where it puts upcoming products through exhaustive testing
Does that involve letting Apple fanboys and Apple haters handle the devices, just to be sure they can make sufficiently outrageous claims about the product?
I agree with you...using anything as a single source is a bad idea. Erowid is generally considered one of the best out there and has a fairly active community, so it's a good place to start.
My point was that people pirated games that could be had for a single cent, with no DRM. Short of giving it away for free, that is proof positive of people that simply refuse to pay for games.
I never once said that the bundle wasn't successful financially, I said that the bundle wasn't successful at keeping pirates away.
My point was that you can't have a full time job, a healthy family life, and still be considered financially successful while also being a drug abuser.
I don't see a dependency as being the same thing as being an abuser, though. Example:
My soon-to-be wife can't get started in the morning without caffeine; she has a dependency on it. That being said, if we suddenly found ourselves low on money, she isn't going to sell our DVD player just so she can go to Starbucks.
Why not? I get that you don't like it, but I don't understand your reasoning, you just make a flat statement that "microtransactions, they r teh devilz!" I'm genuinely curious, there's no "HA! IN YOUR FACE!" waiting, just curious how you're coming to the conclusion that it won't work.
For one thing, there is still nothing to stop pirates from collecting the game as it's released. Remember, if it can be engineered, it can be reverse engineered.
My primary concern is what happens if the game studio goes belly up prior to the "full game" being completed and released?
I'm not certain it'd be effective, but I do see that it might raise the bar for people trying to pirate the games, which might be "enough" of a solution that it discourages casual piracy. As you noted, you'll never fully defeat piracy - so maybe the goal is to simply make it hard enough that only really dedicated pirates will bother?
The "true" pirates are the ones who actually crack the games...and the more of a challange you make it, the more they will want to do it. It's just like the crackers from the 70's and 80's...their fun is in overcoming the challenge and gaining access. They didn't care what happend once they had it, they just wanted to know that they could. Making things harder will just encourage them.
Also, education is key. EVERY parent with a teenage child needs to let their kids know about http://www.erowid.org./ It very well may save their children's life or one of their children's friend's life some day.
Education and knowledge are unbelievably important. False statistics, fear-mongering, and hearsay only encourage kids to try it, minus the knowledge of how to remain as safe as possible.
Source? I could name 14 people off the top of my head who I know personally that are currently drug users...and every single one of them have a full time job, a family, and would be considered to be financially and maternally/paternally successful.
No no no no no no no. Microtransactions are NOT the way to go.
There really isn't any solid, fool-proof way to fight piracy. Most DRM schemes make things bad for paying customers, while pirates just play cracked copies that have less problems than the legit versions.
That being said, a $10 drop across the board for new console games would go a long way. $60 is WAY too much for a console game. Sadly, the Humble Indie Bundle proved that on the PC, there isn't much you can do to fight it...offering non-DRM games for a single cent don't even necessarily work.
Standard "only my opinion, no guarantees to work, etc." apply.
Listen, parents. Don't worry about drug use with your kids...altering consciousness is something that humans have taken part in for literally thousands of years.
Drug use is no cause for concern, and in the case of some kids, it can open their minds and expand their horizons. No, what you need to be worried about is drug abuse.
Apple's response so far seems to indicate (in my opinion, of course) that they have gotten too comfortable in their market position. "People will buy our shit no matter what, why should we fork out the cash to fix this?" is the vibe I got off them.
It will be interesting to see what they have to say tomorrow.
Has anyone ever used it and engaged in an interesting conversation with a person who became a regular point of contact? Or is it all just penises and overweight bald guys?
Slashdot Mirror
I...think you misunderstood what I was saying. My point was that people shouting "free market" are mistaken, because mostly leaving ISPs alone has so far been proven to be ineffective. Your points are valid as well.
We're on the same side here :-)
Last night i was told by my ISP that they would charge extra to get fast access to hulu.com
Oh wait no .... no they didn't
The point isn't that they are doing it, it's that they could be.
I smell government wanting to get their grubby hands on my Internet.
Let me guess...you don't want "the googles" to be inaccessable?
OH and BTW that "free market" theory has been working pretty well so far .... ya might not want to kick dirt into the face of the system that puts food in your noise hole.
http://www.nathannewman.org/other/ENODE-ISP_hypocrisy.html
When did liberals start listening to comedians for their politics
I'm a registered Independent, and have been since I turned 18. I've also never voted in the two presidential elections I've been old enough for because all of the choices are just as corrupt. Yes, that includes third, fourth, and fifth parties.
oh guess that been every sense pelsoi and friends have been a joke of a government.
Right...because before Nancy Pelosi, our government was squeaky clean and perfect. ::facepalm::
What about someone like me? I run a little website because I enjoy it and because there is a small cadre of people out there that enjoy reading what I have to say.
Now let's say Comcast says that unless I pay them $10 a month, they will slow down people browsing my site through their ISP. Then say Verizon tells me the same thing. And Cox. And Time Warner. Suddenly, my little $120 investment per year in my hobby is an order of magnitude bigger, and I can no longer afford it.
THAT is why net neutrality is important. It isn't to protect the big guys, it's to protect the little guys. ::generalization time:: I find it funny that republicans say they are always "for" the little guy, yet net neutrality is some kind of boogyman amongst them, waiting to come and murder their children.
It's really weird. And hypocritical.
Typical elitist liberal agenda.
Ensuring that ISPs can't discriminate against the little guy (such as myself) is elitest?
What the fuck are you smoking?
This is one of those areas where I WANT the government to intervene. "But they fuck up everything, what makes you think they can get this right???" How about the fact that ISPs already fuck with us, and if left unchecked, they will just get worse anyway.
We should at least TRY to get things under control. The "free market" theory is obviously worth as much as tits on a bull when it comes to ISPs.
Sidestepping out of reality and into my own little world for a moment, this is one of the things that really bothers me about business.
The 360 HAS been succesful. Look at the various services it offers...Netflix streaming, gaming, zune streaming....and look at some of the exclusives on it. Shadow Complex, Limbo, 'Splosion Man, I Made a Game with Zombies in it, Geometry Wars Evolved, Fable II, Mass Effect 1 and 2 (counts due to being a Microsoft exclusive)...tons of games that have been cemented permanently in gaming culture.
So, realistically (i.e. from a business perspective) the 360 has been a failure. Culturally, it has been a sucess.
PS: I'm not a fanboy...I own consoles from every major company in the last 20 years, including Atari, Nintendo, Sega, Sony, Microsoft, etc. I'm simply focusing on Microsoft in this particular post.
where it puts upcoming products through exhaustive testing
Does that involve letting Apple fanboys and Apple haters handle the devices, just to be sure they can make sufficiently outrageous claims about the product?
Hell, I'd buy one just to take notes in meetings at work. I can hardly read my own handwriting, lol
...but what kind? TFA didn't make any mention of it (or any specs, for that matter). Anyone have any additional info on this thing?
I have already touched on the importance of education prior to experimentation here.
I would also consider trying a drug without studying it first to be abuse, something else that I spoke out against in the post that you responded to.
I agree with you...using anything as a single source is a bad idea. Erowid is generally considered one of the best out there and has a fairly active community, so it's a good place to start.
My point was that people pirated games that could be had for a single cent, with no DRM. Short of giving it away for free, that is proof positive of people that simply refuse to pay for games.
I never once said that the bundle wasn't successful financially, I said that the bundle wasn't successful at keeping pirates away.
My point was that you can't have a full time job, a healthy family life, and still be considered financially successful while also being a drug abuser.
I don't see a dependency as being the same thing as being an abuser, though. Example:
My soon-to-be wife can't get started in the morning without caffeine; she has a dependency on it. That being said, if we suddenly found ourselves low on money, she isn't going to sell our DVD player just so she can go to Starbucks.
::pause::
OK, move along.
Why not? I get that you don't like it, but I don't understand your reasoning, you just make a flat statement that "microtransactions, they r teh devilz!" I'm genuinely curious, there's no "HA! IN YOUR FACE!" waiting, just curious how you're coming to the conclusion that it won't work.
For one thing, there is still nothing to stop pirates from collecting the game as it's released. Remember, if it can be engineered, it can be reverse engineered.
My primary concern is what happens if the game studio goes belly up prior to the "full game" being completed and released?
I'm not certain it'd be effective, but I do see that it might raise the bar for people trying to pirate the games, which might be "enough" of a solution that it discourages casual piracy. As you noted, you'll never fully defeat piracy - so maybe the goal is to simply make it hard enough that only really dedicated pirates will bother?
The "true" pirates are the ones who actually crack the games...and the more of a challange you make it, the more they will want to do it. It's just like the crackers from the 70's and 80's...their fun is in overcoming the challenge and gaining access. They didn't care what happend once they had it, they just wanted to know that they could. Making things harder will just encourage them.
Also, education is key. EVERY parent with a teenage child needs to let their kids know about http://www.erowid.org./ It very well may save their children's life or one of their children's friend's life some day.
Education and knowledge are unbelievably important. False statistics, fear-mongering, and hearsay only encourage kids to try it, minus the knowledge of how to remain as safe as possible.
Source? I could name 14 people off the top of my head who I know personally that are currently drug users...and every single one of them have a full time job, a family, and would be considered to be financially and maternally/paternally successful.
No no no no no no no. Microtransactions are NOT the way to go.
There really isn't any solid, fool-proof way to fight piracy. Most DRM schemes make things bad for paying customers, while pirates just play cracked copies that have less problems than the legit versions.
That being said, a $10 drop across the board for new console games would go a long way. $60 is WAY too much for a console game. Sadly, the Humble Indie Bundle proved that on the PC, there isn't much you can do to fight it...offering non-DRM games for a single cent don't even necessarily work.
Standard "only my opinion, no guarantees to work, etc." apply.
Agreed.
Listen, parents. Don't worry about drug use with your kids...altering consciousness is something that humans have taken part in for literally thousands of years.
Drug use is no cause for concern, and in the case of some kids, it can open their minds and expand their horizons. No, what you need to be worried about is drug abuse.
There is a very distinct difference.
Because people are twitter shitters
Marco: "Commissar. I have rehabilitated another group of the party's enemies."
Murphy: "Ha haaaa! Yeah! What does rehabilitated mean again?"
Marco: "Beaten the asses of."
Murphy: "I love newspeak."
...
...
Murphy: "Now, if you'll excuse me, we need to rehabilitate Phil...in the face."
Ask, and ye shall receive.
Apple's response so far seems to indicate (in my opinion, of course) that they have gotten too comfortable in their market position. "People will buy our shit no matter what, why should we fork out the cash to fix this?" is the vibe I got off them.
It will be interesting to see what they have to say tomorrow.
"Show them the dark side of the Plutonian Moons!"
Has anyone ever used it and engaged in an interesting conversation with a person who became a regular point of contact? Or is it all just penises and overweight bald guys?