So on one hand you have a civilisation with scientists trying to find out about their world by smashing things and watching closely. They use their discoveries to invent lots of things: electricity, medicine, computers, space ships etc, and eventually colonise the galaxy and become the intelligent life that we're looking for.
On the other hand you have a civilisation that didn't experiment because they might break something. They never invented space-faring rockets because they were scared they would crash into the dome of the sky and break it. They did invent electricity but it was never widely popular because people knew it would only be a matter of time before everyone got electrocuted. And they never invented computers because they weren't bloody stupid and they had better things to do with their time. And they never tried building an LHC which was a shame because it meant they never discovered how to make the faster-than-light anti-gravity propulsatron drive they needed to to escape the planet when the asteroid hit.
The 'dumbed down' was in quotes for a reason - I was quoting. Personally I like OSX - I'm using it right now. It's easier to use mainly because where windows might have, say, a window with tabs, lots of different options and an "ok" button, OSX tends to have a button labeled "do it". This could be seen as "easier to use" (you only have to press the "do it" button and it does it - that's easy) or it could be seen as "dumbed down" (even dumb people can click a "do it" button). They're two sides of the same coin.
The only trouble comes when people want a "do it slightly differently - the way I want to do it" button.
I would recommend looking at your requirements and then maybe buying a Mac if appropriate.
If you want to play games (which the OP does) then Windows is currently the way to go. If you want to do programming/development (excluding for the iPhone/iPod) or if you like getting under the hood and tweaking things then Windows/Linux is the way to go. If you want to do pro audio/video/graphics or if you want a computer that you don't need to look under the hood, then Mac is probably the way to go.
Yeah, Macs are 'dumbed down' as far as the OS goes and they're not the cheapest machines available but for some people they are perfect. A flat out recommendation to ignore them is not good advice.
Wow, what a nice, well-reasoned argument there. It's good that you took the time and effort to compose such an appropriate, effective response. Seriously, you really told him! I'm certain that after reading your carefully considered comment he will see the error in his ways and will never pirate a game again. In your first paragraph you seem to imply that you have run a games company making singleplayer games for PC with over 500 staff. I'm glad that you, as someone in a position to provide some insight into the inner workings of the games industry, didn't provide any information but instead just trolled and threw some insults around instead. Much more productive that way. It's a good way to win people over to your point of view, insulting people. Always works!
I see your point about it being the pirates' fault that we "need" DRM. I mean as there's so many pirates making copies of games the only way to effectively counteract that is to introduce systems that totally fucks over the people that actually pay for the game but can be cracked in one day - effectively ensuring that not only do the pirates get a better product (that is pretty much always the case) but also that the non-pirates, the legitimate, well-meaning, law-abiding customers get a piece of shit that they can't even play. Yeah, we/you definitely "need" DRM - it makes things better for everyone.
This wasn't supposed to be flamebait, it was supposed to be a joke about the proposed use of Hella- as the SI prefix for 10^27. I thought I read about it here...obviously I was mistaken.
If we can get out act together but don't get off earth then our chances are pretty much zero too. If we distribute ourselves around the galaxy then there is at least a higher chance of at least one group getting their act together before being annihilated.
Especially when you consider that an average household might have one shared TiVo box but might have one ipod and one iphone each. Even if TiVo sold a whole lot more it's highly unlikely they'll reach the same amount.
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I see what you're saying. Maybe SETI has already found some extraterrestrial fish-poop and we don't know it.
Substitute "life" for "fish" and works a whole lot better...
So on one hand you have a civilisation with scientists trying to find out about their world by smashing things and watching closely. They use their discoveries to invent lots of things: electricity, medicine, computers, space ships etc, and eventually colonise the galaxy and become the intelligent life that we're looking for.
On the other hand you have a civilisation that didn't experiment because they might break something. They never invented space-faring rockets because they were scared they would crash into the dome of the sky and break it. They did invent electricity but it was never widely popular because people knew it would only be a matter of time before everyone got electrocuted. And they never invented computers because they weren't bloody stupid and they had better things to do with their time. And they never tried building an LHC which was a shame because it meant they never discovered how to make the faster-than-light anti-gravity propulsatron drive they needed to to escape the planet when the asteroid hit.
You're right, it's not! The combine are from a parallel dimension, not outer space.
So maybe the reason that we can't find intelligent life in space is...we haven't got there yet.
I'm not sure I like the idea of an airline with a down-to-earth business plan.
The 'dumbed down' was in quotes for a reason - I was quoting. Personally I like OSX - I'm using it right now. It's easier to use mainly because where windows might have, say, a window with tabs, lots of different options and an "ok" button, OSX tends to have a button labeled "do it". This could be seen as "easier to use" (you only have to press the "do it" button and it does it - that's easy) or it could be seen as "dumbed down" (even dumb people can click a "do it" button). They're two sides of the same coin.
The only trouble comes when people want a "do it slightly differently - the way I want to do it" button.
I would recommend looking at your requirements and then maybe buying a Mac if appropriate.
If you want to play games (which the OP does) then Windows is currently the way to go.
If you want to do programming/development (excluding for the iPhone/iPod) or if you like getting under the hood and tweaking things then Windows/Linux is the way to go.
If you want to do pro audio/video/graphics or if you want a computer that you don't need to look under the hood, then Mac is probably the way to go.
Yeah, Macs are 'dumbed down' as far as the OS goes and they're not the cheapest machines available but for some people they are perfect. A flat out recommendation to ignore them is not good advice.
Hear hear. Somehow that comment was +5 insightful, too.
I hate racism. I hate racists. Somebody ban this racist idiot please.
So...you're a racistist?
True, true. If you want stupid, useless shit it's Americans you want to talk to.
Wow, what a nice, well-reasoned argument there. It's good that you took the time and effort to compose such an appropriate, effective response. Seriously, you really told him! I'm certain that after reading your carefully considered comment he will see the error in his ways and will never pirate a game again. In your first paragraph you seem to imply that you have run a games company making singleplayer games for PC with over 500 staff. I'm glad that you, as someone in a position to provide some insight into the inner workings of the games industry, didn't provide any information but instead just trolled and threw some insults around instead. Much more productive that way. It's a good way to win people over to your point of view, insulting people. Always works!
I see your point about it being the pirates' fault that we "need" DRM. I mean as there's so many pirates making copies of games the only way to effectively counteract that is to introduce systems that totally fucks over the people that actually pay for the game but can be cracked in one day - effectively ensuring that not only do the pirates get a better product (that is pretty much always the case) but also that the non-pirates, the legitimate, well-meaning, law-abiding customers get a piece of shit that they can't even play. Yeah, we/you definitely "need" DRM - it makes things better for everyone.
Thanks for explaining the situation.
This wasn't supposed to be flamebait, it was supposed to be a joke about the proposed use of Hella- as the SI prefix for 10^27. I thought I read about it here...obviously I was mistaken.
You might say the journalism was hella lame.
...and Ubisoft would come out of it looking like the good guys.
I put a 7200 RPM hard drive in my mini, and definitely appreciated the speed boost
Wait...is this a car analogy or not?
What are you, some kind of semantics nazi?
Never mind transexual what about transpecies? I want a tail!
I use Avast! too and it's quite goo-VIRUS DATABASE HAS BEEN UPDATED!
Just make sure you turn the sounds off...
Sadly, I can't think of any viable solution to the problem.
Arizona Bay?
No, he's suggesting that he move into the apartment and report back at regular intervals.
Nutritionist or Dietician?
related: Dara O'Briain.
If we can get out act together but don't get off earth then our chances are pretty much zero too. If we distribute ourselves around the galaxy then there is at least a higher chance of at least one group getting their act together before being annihilated.
If you're looking for sense you're on the wrong planet.
Especially when you consider that an average household might have one shared TiVo box but might have one ipod and one iphone each. Even if TiVo sold a whole lot more it's highly unlikely they'll reach the same amount.