...I've been running Windows exclusively on my desktop for 15 years. No viruses here, either. I guess the security "just works" there, too. Plus, today's newest games "just work" on my Windows machine.
I now return you to your previously scheduled rant.
"In linux, you have to follow the instructions to go to Adobe and get the tarball for the flashplayer 9, then unpack, and install. It's a little more work, but you generaly get it from a trusted source."
Grannie isn't going to be unpacking tarballs. And not all Grannies have sons or grandsons who are linux users/gurus. And what is a trusted source again? Grannie just knows she needs Flash (yes she knows that much at least) and here's a little button that will get it to her.
Microsoft is all about ease of use. People accuse UAC of moving the security responsibility of the OS onto the user. Huh? Security has always been the responsibility of the end user. Is the OS smart enough enough to know good.exe and bad.exe? Suspect them all and make the user decide: Grannie doesn't care/know anything about '.exe', but Grannie will at least get an annoying popup requiring admin privleges if she tries opening "README.txt.exe". She'll click "OK" and install a virus, and that's exactly how the system should work. Even if Grannie saw ".exe", Grannie is still opening that sucker up. Hiding the extension didn't matter at all.
Linux will have to make the same deal with the devil one day, to sacrifice security for usability, or it will never reach the mainstream desktop.
If you use Vista the right way, you don't see "Cancel or Allow" for every action. You have your own little cubby hole in the file system. Stay there, you're fine. Start trying to develop in "\Program Files\Source Code", and you're probably in for a rough time. It's not hard, people.
I fire it up, surf the net, play games, do development, watch movies, all without seeing "Cancel or Allow" once during my session. The only time I see "Cancel or Allow" is when I EXPECT to see it, such as when I want to install/uninstall a program, change system settings, etc.
The whole "Cancel or Allow" issue is so overplayed by the linux and mac community, but I suspect the majority of these people have never really used Vista and are just going by what they heard from Beta Tester A in the first week of Vista Alpha 1. Seriously. I've got a Red Hat install, and a Vista install, and I get prompted to elevate my permissions at pretty much the same times and same frequency on both.
I keep seeing DRM as an argument against Microsoft. It's not. It's an argument against media companies. If Linux/Mac wants to play Blu Ray/HD-DVD at 1080, it's going to have to run on 'trusted' hardware, too.
I don't like DRM as much as the next guy, but it's not a Microsoft issue. My TV has to support DRM, so does Microsoft. If they want mom and pop user to plunk in their new HD DVD movie into their new HD DVD movie player and immediately play in 1080 goodness, it's a necessary evil.
That's in contrast to the acts of god/satan/and 5 houses of congress required to get media to play on linux. And I'm sure it's no big deal, just do this and this and this and download this and create a public/private key here using this certificate and install makefile and write "fijbke=' !!!+'" in the.config file, or whatever. I don't even know what would be involved playing a locked down HD-DVD. It scares me. I run away.
I meant as a workstation OS (which, obviously, Windows dominates).
Obviously server system administrators aren't moms and dads checking email, browsing the web, and opening and installing anything and everything they can.
My Fedora install downloads 2 or 3 security patches a week for various packages.
My college roommate, who was a linux sysadmin, had his linux box hacked - someone gained root access. How skilled he was at locking down a machine isn't really relevant. Were Linux to become mainstream tomorrow, the vast majority of people using it still wouldn't know half as much as he did about locking down a machine. (Also, people would start targeting Linux machines...)
Also, I've never had a virus on any of my 'Windoze' machines.....why should I run screaming from Windows again? It seems I'd have pretty much the same worries were I to switch to Linux.
Re:If you're worried about artificial limitations.
on
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· Score: 2, Insightful
2 reasons:
* WMC is really nice
* I don't have to learn to use another OS to use it
I think the problem with the old Atari 2600 hundred games was you had no idea if you beat the game or not.
Raider's of the Lost Ark, I got through the map room, grappled my way to island, parachuted into the cave in the cliffside (under that conveniently placed tree branch)...and then I'm taken to the Death scene, with Indy being raised up to the Ark but never reaching it.
I put my 360 in an open space with open air flow on all sides. I've put that bad boy through some 12+ hour marathon gaming sessions. And it's still alive. The cooling system is adequate when placed in the proper environment.
Most of the stories I've heard about the 360 overheating were due to putting it in areas with poor air flow. If you're going to put it in an area with BAD air flow, you're going to have to do extra work and turn it into an area with good air flow. The issue isn't the 360, it's where you put it.
I love this type of comment. It's almost prophetical at this point.
"One day, when the red moon rises over the gray hill, people will start choosing Linux over Windows because of."
People who switch to Linux are usually in the same crowd: Developers, enthusists, people who are broke and can't find a pirated copy of Windows. Your parents, my parents, Joe User, Jane User...they're not making the switch. They're sticking with what they know because there's no point in learning something new.
I often see the comment "I installed Linux on my grandmom's computer and she doesn't know the difference." Of corse she doesn't..she has dementia (just kidding). But the crux is YOU installed it on grannie's machine. And you're configuring it. And you're probably doing tech support 24/7 until grannie can open FireFox without your help. Most people don't have that. I don't. When I try my yearly linux install, it's me against an army of linux gurus who are hostile to n00bs. (I don't know how many times I've seen RTFA as a response).
I'm not unsympathetic to the cause. I just don't think it's at all realistic right now to expect a mass migration from Linux to Windows over issues most people don't care about at all.
None of the games on the PS3 right now appeal to me. When God of War 3, FF13, and MGS come out, I'll own a PS3. But in the meantime, paying 600 bucks for a system that has no games I want to play just to WAIT for the games I DO want to play is stupid.
I may as well wait until I will actually PLAY the thing to PAY for the thing.
Well, nothing that interests me. At least not until FF13 comes out. And since mine is the only opinion that matters to me on what makes a great game, I respectfully disagree with you. There's nothing on the PS3 I really care to play right now.
Agreed. More space can only be a good thing.
The problem is if PS3 doesn't really land many exclusives, all the 'cool' games will be designed for multiple consoles using the least common denominator, which is DVD. So sure there's more space on a Blu Ray disk, and the games could look and sound better on a PS3, but the space wouldn't really be used for gameplay.
I have a 1080p SXRD. And yeah, HD-DVD movies do look amazing. But like I said in another post, the HD movies aren't available yet in rental stores, and they're too expensive to buy (and I wouldn't choose a side yet, anyway). It's simply more convenient to get a regular DVD at the store vs waiting for the HD version to arrive in the mail.
So $200 seems expensive because I just don't use it all that much right now. I should've waited until it became more convenient to actually watch HD movies. At that time the players would've come down a lot in price.
Right now, I'm looking at what it will take to just stream movies over the net, and avoid the whole Blu Ray, HD-DVD war entirely.
So ultimately, if I think I paid too much for my HD-DVD player, 600 bucks for a Blu Ray player seems like insanity to me.
You can't rent HD-DVD movies at the video stores yet. And I don't want to buy them. The only way to get them is to use Netflix or Blockbuster online or something...but when I want a movie, I want it NOW. So either I get a regular DVD and watch it tonight, or I wait 2 or 3 days for the HD-DVD version to come in.
"still looks pretty good" outweighs 2-3 days right now. If I could rent HD-DVDs in the store, I'd always pick an HD-DVD over a regular DVD.
I have the 360 add-on HD-DVD player, and I find myself ignoring HD-DVD titles and just renting regular DVDs. (and yes, I have an hdtv)
Regular DVDs still look good, you know? Even 200 bucks on an HD player seems like too much for what you get. I would've been content watching regular DVDs until the price of an HD player came down to 100 or less.
You're both right, but this argument is about the current value of a PS3 vs a 360. What do I get when I leave the store with it today. When I got my 360, I got Dead Rising, Gears of War, and Dead or Alive 4 in the same week. (I also got my 360 Premium for 200 bucks, so yay me!) I didn't find myself waiting around for a good 360 game to come out.
If I got a PS3 today, I'd find myself thinking "Why did I pay 600 bucks for this?" Potential isn't worth 600 bucks, IMO. Further on down the line, if the PS3 proves itself and has cool games and all that, I'm sure I'll get one. But right now, the 360 is a much better deal than a PS3.
I ran Ubuntu 6.06 as a file/print server for a few months. Couldn't configure a RAID in the UI. Had to do it from the shell. Is configuring a RAID so esoteric nobody has bothered to write a GUI for configuring it?
And I don't know how you can say editing the registry is harder. Add key. Add value. Repeat. And safer? You can hose a system just as easily editing a.config file. Just be smart and back it up before you fiddle with it.
Good man keeping Microsoft from getting your hard earned money. Now you can go give it to the billionaire monopolist family that lives further down the street.
"I want to understand how various parts interact to make things work."
Personally, I don't really want to learn the 100+ configuration parameters of the.conf file. You go right ahead if it makes you happy. In the meantime I'm opening up 'Control Panel', selecting the little networky looking picture thingy and clicking some checkboxes it presents to me, and getting on with the rest of my life.
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...I've been running Windows exclusively on my desktop for 15 years. No viruses here, either. I guess the security "just works" there, too. Plus, today's newest games "just work" on my Windows machine. I now return you to your previously scheduled rant.
"In linux, you have to follow the instructions to go to Adobe and get the tarball for the flashplayer 9, then unpack, and install. It's a little more work, but you generaly get it from a trusted source."
.exe and bad .exe? Suspect them all and make the user decide: Grannie doesn't care/know anything about '.exe', but Grannie will at least get an annoying popup requiring admin privleges if she tries opening "README.txt.exe". She'll click "OK" and install a virus, and that's exactly how the system should work. Even if Grannie saw ".exe", Grannie is still opening that sucker up. Hiding the extension didn't matter at all.
Grannie isn't going to be unpacking tarballs. And not all Grannies have sons or grandsons who are linux users/gurus. And what is a trusted source again? Grannie just knows she needs Flash (yes she knows that much at least) and here's a little button that will get it to her.
Microsoft is all about ease of use. People accuse UAC of moving the security responsibility of the OS onto the user. Huh? Security has always been the responsibility of the end user. Is the OS smart enough enough to know good
Linux will have to make the same deal with the devil one day, to sacrifice security for usability, or it will never reach the mainstream desktop.
And I guess this needs to be said again, too:
If you use Vista the right way, you don't see "Cancel or Allow" for every action. You have your own little cubby hole in the file system. Stay there, you're fine. Start trying to develop in "\Program Files\Source Code", and you're probably in for a rough time. It's not hard, people.
I fire it up, surf the net, play games, do development, watch movies, all without seeing "Cancel or Allow" once during my session. The only time I see "Cancel or Allow" is when I EXPECT to see it, such as when I want to install/uninstall a program, change system settings, etc.
The whole "Cancel or Allow" issue is so overplayed by the linux and mac community, but I suspect the majority of these people have never really used Vista and are just going by what they heard from Beta Tester A in the first week of Vista Alpha 1. Seriously. I've got a Red Hat install, and a Vista install, and I get prompted to elevate my permissions at pretty much the same times and same frequency on both.
I'm a fellow PC gamer enthusiast. Me and my 7900GTX are doing just fine with Vista. 1900x1200 C&C3 with max details...runs smooth.
Yay Vista!
(duck)
I keep seeing DRM as an argument against Microsoft. It's not. It's an argument against media companies. If Linux/Mac wants to play Blu Ray/HD-DVD at 1080, it's going to have to run on 'trusted' hardware, too.
.config file, or whatever. I don't even know what would be involved playing a locked down HD-DVD. It scares me. I run away.
I don't like DRM as much as the next guy, but it's not a Microsoft issue. My TV has to support DRM, so does Microsoft. If they want mom and pop user to plunk in their new HD DVD movie into their new HD DVD movie player and immediately play in 1080 goodness, it's a necessary evil.
That's in contrast to the acts of god/satan/and 5 houses of congress required to get media to play on linux. And I'm sure it's no big deal, just do this and this and this and download this and create a public/private key here using this certificate and install makefile and write "fijbke=' !!!+'" in the
I meant as a workstation OS (which, obviously, Windows dominates).
Obviously server system administrators aren't moms and dads checking email, browsing the web, and opening and installing anything and everything they can.
My Fedora install downloads 2 or 3 security patches a week for various packages.
....why should I run screaming from Windows again? It seems I'd have pretty much the same worries were I to switch to Linux.
My college roommate, who was a linux sysadmin, had his linux box hacked - someone gained root access. How skilled he was at locking down a machine isn't really relevant. Were Linux to become mainstream tomorrow, the vast majority of people using it still wouldn't know half as much as he did about locking down a machine. (Also, people would start targeting Linux machines...)
Also, I've never had a virus on any of my 'Windoze' machines.
2 reasons:
* WMC is really nice
* I don't have to learn to use another OS to use it
*sigh*
Ok fine. I'll fly it.
I think the problem with the old Atari 2600 hundred games was you had no idea if you beat the game or not.
Raider's of the Lost Ark, I got through the map room, grappled my way to island, parachuted into the cave in the cliffside (under that conveniently placed tree branch)...and then I'm taken to the Death scene, with Indy being raised up to the Ark but never reaching it.
I still don't know if I beat the game.
And don't get me started on Riddle of the Sphinx.
I put my 360 in an open space with open air flow on all sides. I've put that bad boy through some 12+ hour marathon gaming sessions. And it's still alive. The cooling system is adequate when placed in the proper environment.
Most of the stories I've heard about the 360 overheating were due to putting it in areas with poor air flow. If you're going to put it in an area with BAD air flow, you're going to have to do extra work and turn it into an area with good air flow. The issue isn't the 360, it's where you put it.
I went looking for a movie-download site this weekend for 1080p movies.
The only service I could find is the 720p service offered by XBox Live. And the last time I used it, it took 8 hours to download a movie.
I love this type of comment. It's almost prophetical at this point. "One day, when the red moon rises over the gray hill, people will start choosing Linux over Windows because of ."
People who switch to Linux are usually in the same crowd: Developers, enthusists, people who are broke and can't find a pirated copy of Windows. Your parents, my parents, Joe User, Jane User...they're not making the switch. They're sticking with what they know because there's no point in learning something new.
I often see the comment "I installed Linux on my grandmom's computer and she doesn't know the difference." Of corse she doesn't..she has dementia (just kidding). But the crux is YOU installed it on grannie's machine. And you're configuring it. And you're probably doing tech support 24/7 until grannie can open FireFox without your help. Most people don't have that. I don't. When I try my yearly linux install, it's me against an army of linux gurus who are hostile to n00bs. (I don't know how many times I've seen RTFA as a response).
I'm not unsympathetic to the cause. I just don't think it's at all realistic right now to expect a mass migration from Linux to Windows over issues most people don't care about at all.
Dude, it's real simple.
None of the games on the PS3 right now appeal to me. When God of War 3, FF13, and MGS come out, I'll own a PS3. But in the meantime, paying 600 bucks for a system that has no games I want to play just to WAIT for the games I DO want to play is stupid.
I may as well wait until I will actually PLAY the thing to PAY for the thing.
Well, nothing that interests me. At least not until FF13 comes out. And since mine is the only opinion that matters to me on what makes a great game, I respectfully disagree with you. There's nothing on the PS3 I really care to play right now.
Agreed. More space can only be a good thing. The problem is if PS3 doesn't really land many exclusives, all the 'cool' games will be designed for multiple consoles using the least common denominator, which is DVD. So sure there's more space on a Blu Ray disk, and the games could look and sound better on a PS3, but the space wouldn't really be used for gameplay.
I have a 1080p SXRD. And yeah, HD-DVD movies do look amazing. But like I said in another post, the HD movies aren't available yet in rental stores, and they're too expensive to buy (and I wouldn't choose a side yet, anyway). It's simply more convenient to get a regular DVD at the store vs waiting for the HD version to arrive in the mail.
So $200 seems expensive because I just don't use it all that much right now. I should've waited until it became more convenient to actually watch HD movies. At that time the players would've come down a lot in price.
Right now, I'm looking at what it will take to just stream movies over the net, and avoid the whole Blu Ray, HD-DVD war entirely.
So ultimately, if I think I paid too much for my HD-DVD player, 600 bucks for a Blu Ray player seems like insanity to me.
You can't rent HD-DVD movies at the video stores yet. And I don't want to buy them. The only way to get them is to use Netflix or Blockbuster online or something...but when I want a movie, I want it NOW. So either I get a regular DVD and watch it tonight, or I wait 2 or 3 days for the HD-DVD version to come in.
"still looks pretty good" outweighs 2-3 days right now. If I could rent HD-DVDs in the store, I'd always pick an HD-DVD over a regular DVD.
I have the 360 add-on HD-DVD player, and I find myself ignoring HD-DVD titles and just renting regular DVDs. (and yes, I have an hdtv) Regular DVDs still look good, you know? Even 200 bucks on an HD player seems like too much for what you get. I would've been content watching regular DVDs until the price of an HD player came down to 100 or less.
600 bucks for a Blu Ray player is still way too high.
Especially since movies cost 30 bucks.
And you can only watch a subset of movies that are released today because some are only available in HD-DVD and some are only available in Blu Ray.
You're both right, but this argument is about the current value of a PS3 vs a 360. What do I get when I leave the store with it today. When I got my 360, I got Dead Rising, Gears of War, and Dead or Alive 4 in the same week. (I also got my 360 Premium for 200 bucks, so yay me!) I didn't find myself waiting around for a good 360 game to come out.
If I got a PS3 today, I'd find myself thinking "Why did I pay 600 bucks for this?" Potential isn't worth 600 bucks, IMO. Further on down the line, if the PS3 proves itself and has cool games and all that, I'm sure I'll get one. But right now, the 360 is a much better deal than a PS3.
The 360 is $200 cheaper. (I dare you to find me a PS3 20GB).
Also, you don't have to pay a monthly fee for online pay. $50 for a year (which is 4 bucks a month)
Also, being a 'cool machine with more capabilities' means squat when all the cool games are on the other system.
Also, most people don't get the $600 top of the line ultimate video card. They get the cheaper cousin that does just about the same thing.
I'm sure all the PS3 owners are still waiting for it to even out. quickly.
"(Above link is almost certainly NSFW, BTW.)"
...I'm just looking out for all the people who click links as they find them while reading from the top down.
This should read:
"(Below link is almost certainly NSFW, BTW.)"
and appear ABOVE the link.
I ran Ubuntu 6.06 as a file/print server for a few months. Couldn't configure a RAID in the UI. Had to do it from the shell. Is configuring a RAID so esoteric nobody has bothered to write a GUI for configuring it?
.config file. Just be smart and back it up before you fiddle with it.
And I don't know how you can say editing the registry is harder. Add key. Add value. Repeat.
And safer? You can hose a system just as easily editing a
Good man keeping Microsoft from getting your hard earned money. Now you can go give it to the billionaire monopolist family that lives further down the street.
.conf file. You go right ahead if it makes you happy. In the meantime I'm opening up 'Control Panel', selecting the little networky looking picture thingy and clicking some checkboxes it presents to me, and getting on with the rest of my life.
"I want to understand how various parts interact to make things work."
Personally, I don't really want to learn the 100+ configuration parameters of the