The problem is finding one in the wild. If you can find one in the bar, jackpot. Buy them a drink, ask them if they want to come back to your place for a little "troubleshooting" and voila! Instant, live-in geek.
Good places to look include a local computer supply store or frisbee golf courses, ymmv.
The hard part is getting them to move out/on when you're done with them;)
I bet you can't configure Windows box either Wow, what a horribly pointless and stupid comment. Configuration in windows is done through fairly simple, pretty consistent GUI's that make it pretty simple to find what you're looking for if you know a bit about what you're doing. Going through a.conf file is much, much harder; as another person said, it's like going through the windows registry. There's a world of difference.
Any program has a looooooong way to go before being usable by people like that. If you hold linux up to that standard, hold everything else to that standard too, in which case nothing is usable.
I partially agree, although I do find some form of in-entertainment advertising to be okay. For instance, in a lot of Will Ferrel movies they find ways to make the advertising part of the joke, and in that instance I usually laugh at it ("if you don't chew big red, f**k you!", etc). Also, if the things in the game are supposed to be there, why not have the game earn some revenue off of it? (red bull in rainbow 6)
I agree that copyright should be enforced, and I agree that it's wrong to download something instead of paying for it. HOWEVER, it's not rocket science to realize that when a law is unjust, people will react against it. The entire revolutionary war was an over reaction to taxes. Reform copyright then come bitching about the people who break it; until then everything looks tyrannical.
Actually, it's best for the costumer to buy from a vendor that won't sink millions of dollars into small holes, because that cost will be passed on to the costumer. If a completely secure program costs $1000 and a 90-95% secure product costs $200, the costumer will almost always buy the $200 program, especially since there's usually no way for the consumer to know if some thing's 100% secure.
Wow, what's it like to live in a world where everything's black and white?;)
But seriously, anyone, and I mean anyone, who's worked with a large program (depending on the language you use, over 10,000 lines) knows that you can't change code without the risk of unintended consequences. If a small security hole requires a large rewrite, it's nearly 100% guaranteed to introduce new bugs and security holes.
And if you rtfa you'd realize that the person has real numbers to back up the fact that most exploits are used after the patch is released and the details are public.
Finally, the argument that the company should do what's best for the consumer is bullshit. Profits drive business, everything dealing with the software should boost the bottom line somehow. If you want people to program something for the pure joy of programming, use open source, otherwise you're buying from a business and you have to deal with the downsides of businesses.
One of the big reasons that I love Halo 2 is that it's simple and, imho, has the best co-op campaign among FPS's. When I play with my friends or girlfriend, none of us want to do a deathmatch, we want to work together, and Halo does that very well.
There are actually a lot of really good reasons for that. CPUs have only emphasized low power consumption recently, and they sacrifice some performance for it. In the high end video card market performance reigns supreme whereas in the CPU market, server needs reign supreme. Server's don't take a high end GPU and, therefore, aren't driving lower power consumption.
Microsoft has fan boys all over the place. Many sysadmins will preach the up sides of microsoft all day long to those who will listen to them. From my experience, their cult following is as large as Linux's.
Invoking the names of Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, the two biggest perpetuators (is that a real word?) and perpetrators of racism in this country, loses all credibility in my eyes. Stand on your own two feet and let the facts speak for themselves.
The opposite end of that is the whole X-Files/Lost phenomena, where the writers know that wrapping up a story line will kill the show, but they don't want to kill the show. Series that are gimmicks, that are based on one story and one overarching plot, need to realize that they're going to die when that plot get's finished and still be willing to finish the plot. When they do that, if they don't have some great content to continue with the show, can it; better to go out great than to linger and diminish.
That's one of the reasons that I love anime so much, they all seem to have a definite ending point.
I know people who object to these shows on the basis of their more adult content, not on the basis of the show, and I'm talking very intelligent people too. Star Trek: TNG was the most watched drama it's last season because its content was approachable and the whole family could watch it together. Give me a great show that could be shared with children and then complain, because firefly, as great a show as it was, cut off a lot of their viewers with the inclusion of a prostitute while discussing and showing her work. If you can show me a series that's well done and squeaky clean that fails, then I'll agree with you.
"Battle.net was the first online gaming service incorporated directly into the games that make use of it" according to wikipedia.
Up to that point you had shitty services providing shitty game experience that was hard to use by the average person. On the other hand you have Blizzard providing their own servers and first party support.
Next you're going to tell me that heat was as good as battle.net;)
A rating system that functions like Slashdot's moderating system could help. Perhaps instead of giving people the equivalent of mod points, you could give them the ability to rate the gave after 10 minutes of playing and if they have a registered account. Most user generated content could be helped with user ratings as well.
But older devices aren't a problem. The main growth is going to come in two areas: geeks that want to upgrade for one reason or another (probably gaming with DX10), and people who buy a new computer. Either way, old drivers won't be an issue.
For Vista to not become the standard, Dell and the other main suppliers will have to sell XP standard, and I just don't see that happening.
As a PC gamer, I sincerely hope it fails. Battle.net was the first example of free online play, but other games are following suit. Microsoft is pulling this shit right as it's become standard for RTS's (at least) to include a free online service. In addition to that, it'll create more lock-in for gamers.
The upside is that it'll standardize things like in-game voice chat and online play, but it isn't enough.
I completely agree, over the course of 18 years the simpsons has changed way too much. They should be the exact same family that they were in the first season.
Reminds me of futurama, when they note that the simspons is still running, but the last century wasn't as good as the first.
Why not just abolish the electoral college system in general? Or, better yet, have the electoral votes be cast in the same ration as the popular vote in the state.
They were certainly started for those reasons, but where's the long-term benefits that should have been derived? I seem to remember the US and its allies holding western Europe, then giving it back and spending massive amounts of money to rebuild it. This was also the case with Japan.
If World War 2 was about global resources, how did the US benefit?
Disclaimer: in no way, shape, or form is this post meant to offend or to assert US dominance/superiority; I seek personal enlightenment, nothing more.
Slashdot Mirror
The problem is finding one in the wild. If you can find one in the bar, jackpot. Buy them a drink, ask them if they want to come back to your place for a little "troubleshooting" and voila! Instant, live-in geek.
;)
Good places to look include a local computer supply store or frisbee golf courses, ymmv.
The hard part is getting them to move out/on when you're done with them
Any program has a looooooong way to go before being usable by people like that. If you hold linux up to that standard, hold everything else to that standard too, in which case nothing is usable.
Is this somewhat akin to my parents helping me kill my dreams and ambitions?
I partially agree, although I do find some form of in-entertainment advertising to be okay. For instance, in a lot of Will Ferrel movies they find ways to make the advertising part of the joke, and in that instance I usually laugh at it ("if you don't chew big red, f**k you!", etc). Also, if the things in the game are supposed to be there, why not have the game earn some revenue off of it? (red bull in rainbow 6)
I agree that copyright should be enforced, and I agree that it's wrong to download something instead of paying for it. HOWEVER, it's not rocket science to realize that when a law is unjust, people will react against it. The entire revolutionary war was an over reaction to taxes. Reform copyright then come bitching about the people who break it; until then everything looks tyrannical.
Actually, it's best for the costumer to buy from a vendor that won't sink millions of dollars into small holes, because that cost will be passed on to the costumer. If a completely secure program costs $1000 and a 90-95% secure product costs $200, the costumer will almost always buy the $200 program, especially since there's usually no way for the consumer to know if some thing's 100% secure.
Wow, what's it like to live in a world where everything's black and white? ;)
But seriously, anyone, and I mean anyone, who's worked with a large program (depending on the language you use, over 10,000 lines) knows that you can't change code without the risk of unintended consequences. If a small security hole requires a large rewrite, it's nearly 100% guaranteed to introduce new bugs and security holes.
And if you rtfa you'd realize that the person has real numbers to back up the fact that most exploits are used after the patch is released and the details are public.
Finally, the argument that the company should do what's best for the consumer is bullshit. Profits drive business, everything dealing with the software should boost the bottom line somehow. If you want people to program something for the pure joy of programming, use open source, otherwise you're buying from a business and you have to deal with the downsides of businesses.
Miyamoto is Da Vinci to Bungie's Bob Ross - both do excellent work, and while Bungie has much better hair, Miyamoto's work is more varied.
One of the big reasons that I love Halo 2 is that it's simple and, imho, has the best co-op campaign among FPS's. When I play with my friends or girlfriend, none of us want to do a deathmatch, we want to work together, and Halo does that very well.
There are actually a lot of really good reasons for that. CPUs have only emphasized low power consumption recently, and they sacrifice some performance for it. In the high end video card market performance reigns supreme whereas in the CPU market, server needs reign supreme. Server's don't take a high end GPU and, therefore, aren't driving lower power consumption.
Microsoft has fan boys all over the place. Many sysadmins will preach the up sides of microsoft all day long to those who will listen to them. From my experience, their cult following is as large as Linux's.
Wouldn't data collection itself require a program? Since it's got a processor, might as well lend the extra cycles to something ;)
I once saw a video of a severely schizophrenic man. Your post reminds me a lot of him.
Invoking the names of Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, the two biggest perpetuators (is that a real word?) and perpetrators of racism in this country, loses all credibility in my eyes. Stand on your own two feet and let the facts speak for themselves.
The opposite end of that is the whole X-Files/Lost phenomena, where the writers know that wrapping up a story line will kill the show, but they don't want to kill the show. Series that are gimmicks, that are based on one story and one overarching plot, need to realize that they're going to die when that plot get's finished and still be willing to finish the plot. When they do that, if they don't have some great content to continue with the show, can it; better to go out great than to linger and diminish.
That's one of the reasons that I love anime so much, they all seem to have a definite ending point.
I know people who object to these shows on the basis of their more adult content, not on the basis of the show, and I'm talking very intelligent people too. Star Trek: TNG was the most watched drama it's last season because its content was approachable and the whole family could watch it together. Give me a great show that could be shared with children and then complain, because firefly, as great a show as it was, cut off a lot of their viewers with the inclusion of a prostitute while discussing and showing her work. If you can show me a series that's well done and squeaky clean that fails, then I'll agree with you.
"Battle.net was the first online gaming service incorporated directly into the games that make use of it" according to wikipedia.
;)
Up to that point you had shitty services providing shitty game experience that was hard to use by the average person. On the other hand you have Blizzard providing their own servers and first party support.
Next you're going to tell me that heat was as good as battle.net
A rating system that functions like Slashdot's moderating system could help. Perhaps instead of giving people the equivalent of mod points, you could give them the ability to rate the gave after 10 minutes of playing and if they have a registered account. Most user generated content could be helped with user ratings as well.
But older devices aren't a problem. The main growth is going to come in two areas: geeks that want to upgrade for one reason or another (probably gaming with DX10), and people who buy a new computer. Either way, old drivers won't be an issue.
For Vista to not become the standard, Dell and the other main suppliers will have to sell XP standard, and I just don't see that happening.
As a PC gamer, I sincerely hope it fails. Battle.net was the first example of free online play, but other games are following suit. Microsoft is pulling this shit right as it's become standard for RTS's (at least) to include a free online service. In addition to that, it'll create more lock-in for gamers. The upside is that it'll standardize things like in-game voice chat and online play, but it isn't enough.
I completely agree, over the course of 18 years the simpsons has changed way too much. They should be the exact same family that they were in the first season.
Reminds me of futurama, when they note that the simspons is still running, but the last century wasn't as good as the first.
Why not just abolish the electoral college system in general? Or, better yet, have the electoral votes be cast in the same ration as the popular vote in the state.
"She lives with me!"
They were certainly started for those reasons, but where's the long-term benefits that should have been derived? I seem to remember the US and its allies holding western Europe, then giving it back and spending massive amounts of money to rebuild it. This was also the case with Japan.
If World War 2 was about global resources, how did the US benefit?
Disclaimer: in no way, shape, or form is this post meant to offend or to assert US dominance/superiority; I seek personal enlightenment, nothing more.