Keep this in mind... Bill Gates is only "mostly evil". Microsoft has a will of it's own, I don't know Bill Gates personally, so I don't care either way. I just hope he has the good sense and humility to refuse it.
Since the article did not really go into depth, here are my findings.
Having been playing Quake 3 competitively for some time I have found corless mice to have many problems, some of which can be overcome. The biggest problem is the fact that most cordless mice (Logitech and MS) had a small 'glitch' in transmitting movement information when a button gets pressed. This becomes quite obvious in quake with the left mouse button bound to jump and when you try and do any movement tricks such as circle jumping and strafe jumping. This can be solved to a large degree by switching jump to the keyboard (spacebar). Then there is the problem of losing your connection and battery problems.
Secondly you need a mouse sampling rate which is at least equal to your monitor refresh (and also your ingame screen update fps) For most games this would be 80fps (For those who think 25-30 or 60 is fine... read up on this at your own leisure) PS2 mice can be tweaked in win2000/XP to be 120 and USM mice are mosly 100-120. (I run everything at 100-120 if possible).
Then there is also your mouse DPI. In this field the Boomslang mice range was pretty good at, but it was mechanical, and the ball sometimes sticked. For optical the Logitech is the best when it comes to this, especially the Dual Optical, being around 800dpi per sensor for the latest good ones. (The only thing going for the MS mice is that they are cheap)
DPI makes a huge difference if you are a low or high sens (sensitivity) player. Most people prefer playing with low or no mouse accelleration, to improve accuracy and high sens or with acceleration for movement accuracy. A big problem with MS mice is that a rapid movement to the side will cause the mouse to lose tacking, and may very well point you up and down! This is fatal and irritating. Logitch mice tend to just lose tracking and stop moving. This is acceptable.
Any comments welcome. As a low sens player I may not have encountered most bugs.
Some stats on my Quake (for those who play seriously)... Can complete any Quake 3 level on Nightware (Xaero is a problem but can be beaten) Have a 60% rocket and 40% rail accuracy (OSP/RA). Can do rocket launcer platform to rail gun platform jump (no rocket jump) on DM6. But I suck at rocket jumping since I switched to space-bar jumping and low sens does not help...
The three hours effective time spent on fixing a PC is in actual fact more like 10 hours.
I have an ex-girlfriend with 3 kids aged 6-17 and a sister with 2 kids aged 10 and 16. I still help them all out with their machines.
The problem is that the machine breaks (which is a major crisis!) and I have to rush there from work (when I wanted to work late) and when I'm done, I'm too tired to go back to work.
And it's not just 3 hours if one include all the application and driver re-installation. WinXP, reboot, SP2, reboot, Gfx driver, reboot, DirectX, reboot, Sound/MB/IDE drivers, reboot, CD burning software, reboot. Argh!
I can do it in around 3 hours these days since I have it streamlined. But my advice to any person who has not already wasted countless days' time on this is to just buy generic cheap identical duron PCs (one for each kid) Install the one, and mirror them... and let them sort out the backups and fend for themselves.
Even though this post is using up my time, I think it's work it to save other people the trouble.
This solution stinks. You have the worst of both worlds here... The unreliability of 98 with the security headached of XP, combined with a healthy dose of rebooting.:(
Rather just get more PCs.
The one good idea is Norton Ghost (or other similar software). With this your re-installation time is cut down from 4 hours to 15 minutes. (installation + SP1/2 + configuration + drivers taken into account)
I've got the same setup for family of mine where they only use internet browsing and mail as multiple users. (They don't even use fast user switching.) And even though they all use restricted accounts, they still seem to be able to corrupt system registry hive files.
My advice is not to even waste your time with this. I'm sure your time is worth so much that you could have afforded another PC, or at the very least Hard drive imaging and restore software.
It's best to let kids loose on a machine, and if they mess it up, you just restore it... it's their (save game) loss. They will learn about all those vital microsoft tricks like backing up your important data and do not install all that junk.
It's also imporant then to get them each a machine, but since you will not be wasting time admining those machines anymore, I'm sure you will have a lot more time and thus money.
I mean, really, since Win NT 4.0 the graphics drivers have had admin rights... and you are still denying this to your kids!;)
I think the best admin policy is education of the user. Also keep a system restore handy with software such as Norton Ghost (with all the propper patches already installed to protect against internet worms etc.) as well as good anti-virus software. Believe me, this is the cheaper solution..
It uses the wmv3 video codec for which you prob. need WiMP 9 for Mac to play.... aargh!
Re:His reply to an e-mail I send him earlier today
on
PC Mag - Mac OS X Insecure
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
Wrong.
A root exploit is always a serious thing. It was just luck that it was only in a place that could only be exploited from a local subnet.
Besides that, I'm sure there is a windows machine someplace on that same subnet, and as we know, windows machines are like sieves.
I personally use windows (2000 & XP) a lot at home... and as a games OS it is the best. But for my personal and business stuff I use an iBook. (I have a Linux server as well... for server stuff)
I'm not too worried about the occational security vulnerability... these things happen... on all OSes. I'ts more about how long it takes to plug the hole that matters... and how easy it is.
Every time I have to re-install my windows OS (which happens far to regularly) I have to spend hours online to download patches... OS X is a bit better when it comes to this...
As a 30 year old I wish I had rather learnt Go and not Chess when I was 7 years old.:)
It's fairly cheap to get a good board, but can be thousands of dollars for a propper one. (So it's for players of all ages)
It's possibly the only one of three board games people of ages 70+ still play for money, and it's possibly the most intellectually stimulating game in existance.
Sure, I've got Settlers of Catan (and expansion), DnD, Magic the Gathering and a host of computer games... but nothing has gripped me like Go.
Anyone who has played at least 10 games (or watched Hikaru) will be able to tell you.
If I had to set up a community listserver on my private account. As well as any e-mail auto-forwarding. When I go online, I get 20 incoming e-mails and thus 20*n outgoing e-mail messages in a short period of time.
Still it does not matter... if it originated in ZA or elsewhere, it would still be free.
ZA's goverment is already commited to Open Source, as are many other institutions. It's mainly large unwieldly conglomerates like Banks who have a foot in either country who waste money by getting into bed with Microsoft.
But who cares where stuff is from? OSS have lifted social/political and financial boundaries, and suddently there is good software from all over the world.
The tone of this article is patronizing and irrelevant.
HP in DnD is not a 'energy counter'. It's more a law of diminishing returns. It takes longer for someone to be able to make that critical strike. At least that's what the intention was when it was created... many people see this differently.
As for morrowind: The first bit of playing was the most fun, and if you do not wander around, you are safe. You can travel between cities safely by boat or giant flea or mage guild. You can actually get pretty far by avoiding combat totally. But the problem is that the game does not scale. I've permanently imbued 2 rings with +10 Jump, and have a Jump spell with which I can jump over cities like Balmora in one leap. (The rings just help me travel faster normally...)
There aren't any real challenges anymore... a real pity.
One can always at least implement a 'path' system... the player stays on the path and does not encunter random events. Go off the beaten track and you get the chance to improve your character.
The problem with randomised encounters is that they never stop.
When you are an uber-high level character, and gnats keep attacking you (long after you have practically scorched the entire planet clean of monsters) making your progress tediously slow.
Dungeon Siege was cool in this way... after you clear out an area, that area remains clean (unless a creature moves there from another area)
This is a lot of work for the designers, but if you insist on being lazy and add random events... they should at least have an event-count per area, and have it stop when it reaches a certain level. (Diablo did this well, (deterministically statistic random events) whereas neverwinter nights is just the status quo (pure random mixed with pre-set)
PS: Re-spawning monsters are also evil. It takes away a sense of progress and continuity.
The (only) place where this may be somewhat applicable is in massively multiplayer (on-line) games... and even then it's better to have many pure once-off unique non-repeating events.
Slashdot Mirror
That's just it.
His responsibility was to the shareholders and employees.
Together they form Microsoft.
He was only mostly harmless...
Keep this in mind... Bill Gates is only "mostly evil". Microsoft has a will of it's own, I don't know Bill Gates personally, so I don't care either way. I just hope he has the good sense and humility to refuse it.
Is it whitish?
Like saying gold christmas wrapping paper should be pure gold.
Unless they state it contains Silver Ag, then they will have a problem.
Since the article did not really go into depth, here are my findings.
Having been playing Quake 3 competitively for some time I have found corless mice to have many problems, some of which can be overcome.
The biggest problem is the fact that most cordless mice (Logitech and MS) had a small 'glitch' in transmitting movement information when a button gets pressed. This becomes quite obvious in quake with the left mouse button bound to jump and when you try and do any movement tricks such as circle jumping and strafe jumping.
This can be solved to a large degree by switching jump to the keyboard (spacebar).
Then there is the problem of losing your connection and battery problems.
Secondly you need a mouse sampling rate which is at least equal to your monitor refresh (and also your ingame screen update fps) For most games this would be 80fps (For those who think 25-30 or 60 is fine... read up on this at your own leisure) PS2 mice can be tweaked in win2000/XP to be 120 and USM mice are mosly 100-120. (I run everything at 100-120 if possible).
Then there is also your mouse DPI.
In this field the Boomslang mice range was pretty good at, but it was mechanical, and the ball sometimes sticked. For optical the Logitech is the best when it comes to this, especially the Dual Optical, being around 800dpi per sensor for the latest good ones. (The only thing going for the MS mice is that they are cheap)
DPI makes a huge difference if you are a low or high sens (sensitivity) player. Most people prefer playing with low or no mouse accelleration, to improve accuracy and high sens or with acceleration for movement accuracy. A big problem with MS mice is that a rapid movement to the side will cause the mouse to lose tacking, and may very well point you up and down! This is fatal and irritating. Logitch mice tend to just lose tracking and stop moving. This is acceptable.
Any comments welcome. As a low sens player I may not have encountered most bugs.
Some stats on my Quake (for those who play seriously)... Can complete any Quake 3 level on Nightware (Xaero is a problem but can be beaten) Have a 60% rocket and 40% rail accuracy (OSP/RA). Can do rocket launcer platform to rail gun platform jump (no rocket jump) on DM6.
But I suck at rocket jumping since I switched to space-bar jumping and low sens does not help...
I work on an hourly rate.
The three hours effective time spent on fixing a PC is in actual fact more like 10 hours.
I have an ex-girlfriend with 3 kids aged 6-17 and a sister with 2 kids aged 10 and 16. I still help them all out with their machines.
The problem is that the machine breaks (which is a major crisis!) and I have to rush there from work (when I wanted to work late) and when I'm done, I'm too tired to go back to work.
And it's not just 3 hours if one include all the application and driver re-installation. WinXP, reboot, SP2, reboot, Gfx driver, reboot, DirectX, reboot, Sound/MB/IDE drivers, reboot, CD burning software, reboot.
Argh!
I can do it in around 3 hours these days since I have it streamlined. But my advice to any person who has not already wasted countless days' time on this is to just buy generic cheap identical duron PCs (one for each kid) Install the one, and mirror them... and let them sort out the backups and fend for themselves.
Even though this post is using up my time, I think it's work it to save other people the trouble.
I'm sure they only listed the most requested changes...
As for performance, you should just run a benchmark.
but, yes, I do agree... more information would have been better... even if it was hidden away for Joe common user.
Not so much fdisk, but misbehaving apps?
4.5- Did Win98SE take the XP partition with it?
:(
This solution stinks. You have the worst of both worlds here... The unreliability of 98 with the security headached of XP, combined with a healthy dose of rebooting.
Rather just get more PCs.
The one good idea is Norton Ghost (or other similar software). With this your re-installation time is cut down from 4 hours to 15 minutes.
(installation + SP1/2 + configuration + drivers taken into account)
I've got the same setup for family of mine where they only use internet browsing and mail as multiple users. (They don't even use fast user switching.) And even though they all use restricted accounts, they still seem to be able to corrupt system registry hive files.
;)
My advice is not to even waste your time with this. I'm sure your time is worth so much that you could have afforded another PC, or at the very least Hard drive imaging and restore software.
It's best to let kids loose on a machine, and if they mess it up, you just restore it... it's their (save game) loss.
They will learn about all those vital microsoft tricks like backing up your important data and do not install all that junk.
It's also imporant then to get them each a machine, but since you will not be wasting time admining those machines anymore, I'm sure you will have a lot more time and thus money.
I mean, really, since Win NT 4.0 the graphics drivers have had admin rights... and you are still denying this to your kids!
I think the best admin policy is education of the user. Also keep a system restore handy with software such as Norton Ghost (with all the propper patches already installed to protect against internet worms etc.) as well as good anti-virus software. Believe me, this is the cheaper solution..
I find my fan already kicks in earlier than on 10.2... and it's noisy on my 12" iBook G3.
Then you should just follow the link HERE and read a fuller more detailed description.
It uses the wmv3 video codec for which you prob. need WiMP 9 for Mac to play.... aargh!
Wrong.
... for server stuff)
A root exploit is always a serious thing. It was just luck that it was only in a place that could only be exploited from a local subnet.
Besides that, I'm sure there is a windows machine someplace on that same subnet, and as we know, windows machines are like sieves.
I personally use windows (2000 & XP) a lot at home... and as a games OS it is the best. But for my personal and business stuff I use an iBook. (I have a Linux server as well
I'm not too worried about the occational security vulnerability... these things happen... on all OSes. I'ts more about how long it takes to plug the hole that matters... and how easy it is.
Every time I have to re-install my windows OS (which happens far to regularly) I have to spend hours online to download patches... OS X is a bit better when it comes to this...
For family, Setlers of Catan (series) is better. (Even Risk is better than Monopoly) Monopoly only amuses the younger family members.
;)
For serious, Go is way better than chess. But only if you can grasp ladders.
Risk used to be my favorite game... it's ending is a bit lacking tho... it tends to become teadious the constant to and fro.
:)
Start and middle game is great tho, and I still do reccomend it.
Since I discovered Setlers of Catan, Risk is only my 3rg favorite now:
1. Go
2. Settlers
3. Risk
As a 30 year old I wish I had rather learnt Go and not Chess when I was 7 years old. :)
It's fairly cheap to get a good board, but can be thousands of dollars for a propper one. (So it's for players of all ages)
It's possibly the only one of three board games people of ages 70+ still play for money, and it's possibly the most intellectually stimulating game in existance.
Sure, I've got Settlers of Catan (and expansion), DnD, Magic the Gathering and a host of computer games... but nothing has gripped me like Go.
Anyone who has played at least 10 games (or watched Hikaru) will be able to tell you.
A 17 kyu (and climbing) signing off.
Perhaps Sun has a problem with the name ' Eclipse', fearing they may lose out?
-grin-
If I had to set up a community listserver on my private account. As well as any e-mail auto-forwarding. When I go online, I get 20 incoming e-mails and thus 20*n outgoing e-mail messages in a short period of time.
Hm...
Still it does not matter... if it originated in ZA or elsewhere, it would still be free.
ZA's goverment is already commited to Open Source, as are many other institutions. It's mainly large unwieldly conglomerates like Banks who have a foot in either country who waste money by getting into bed with Microsoft.
Yup, and combine it with the 46664 concert... it'l rock!
PS: Do you live in Cape Town?
Another project from (South) Africa.
But who cares where stuff is from? OSS have lifted social/political and financial boundaries, and suddently there is good software from all over the world.
The tone of this article is patronizing and irrelevant.
A couple of points:
;)
HP in DnD is not a 'energy counter'. It's more a law of diminishing returns. It takes longer for someone to be able to make that critical strike. At least that's what the intention was when it was created... many people see this differently.
As for morrowind: The first bit of playing was the most fun, and if you do not wander around, you are safe. You can travel between cities safely by boat or giant flea or mage guild. You can actually get pretty far by avoiding combat totally. But the problem is that the game does not scale. I've permanently imbued 2 rings with +10 Jump, and have a Jump spell with which I can jump over cities like Balmora in one leap. (The rings just help me travel faster normally...)
There aren't any real challenges anymore... a real pity.
But I still play it just to stare at the sky...
Agreed.
One can always at least implement a 'path' system... the player stays on the path and does not encunter random events. Go off the beaten track and you get the chance to improve your character.
Sounds like the best compromise yet.
That is why these games come with adjustable difficulty settings.
Besides: the game should have been scaled properly, with enough static? encounters programmed in to put the character on the propper level.
The problem with randomised encounters is that they never stop.
When you are an uber-high level character, and gnats keep attacking you (long after you have practically scorched the entire planet clean of monsters) making your progress tediously slow.
Dungeon Siege was cool in this way... after you clear out an area, that area remains clean (unless a creature moves there from another area)
This is a lot of work for the designers, but if you insist on being lazy and add random events... they should at least have an event-count per area, and have it stop when it reaches a certain level.
(Diablo did this well, (deterministically statistic random events) whereas neverwinter nights is just the status quo (pure random mixed with pre-set)
PS: Re-spawning monsters are also evil. It takes away a sense of progress and continuity.
The (only) place where this may be somewhat applicable is in massively multiplayer (on-line) games... and even then it's better to have many pure once-off unique non-repeating events.