Suddenly, simply having to take good care of your CDs doesn't seen all that awful. They can be passed around to who you want, when you want, and they don't disappear on you.
Funny, I'm not keen on passing my discs around as that's one reasons that they tend to disappear.
defective games infested with disc-checks and nasty DRM and anti-copying technology have eroded away so much of the convenience of physical media
Whilst I do like Steam it should be mentioned that there are some games on it that have their own DRM included on top of what Steam provides (e.g. GTAIV which involves using Steam, Rockstar Social, Microsoft Live and SecuROM). However, I don't see that as a criticism of Steam, I see it as foolishness on the part of the developers not taking advantage of what Steam offers...but maybe that's just me.
I was in the mood to play privateer yesterday... so I dug up the CD, imaged it, and put it away, and fired it up minutes later (in dosbox). Took all of 5 minutes. That's how it -should- be, even with new games.
I wanted to play Half Life 1 the other day... so I fired up Steam, downloaded it and fired it up minutes later. Took all of 5 minutes. That's how it is with games, even new games (provided your connection is fast enough).
Anyway, I don't see it as being "locked into Steams model". Both the Steam and physical media methods have pros and cons. I am still perfectly able to buy a game on CD and play that without touching Steam if I see fit, so it's not like I'm stuck with them. Sure, the games that I've bought through them are stuck on Steam but I knew that when I signed up for it, so who cares?
I agree, Windows 7 is not perfect by any means but isn't bad and it's better than Vista. That driver story does seems like a strange choice of theirs.
Personally I think the worst part of Windows 7 is the search box. They appear to have removed as much functionality as possible in order to be able to fit it in the top-right-hand corner, like Apple did. Unless I'm missing something I can no longer specify case sensitivity or whether or not to search in sub-folders. They didn't even include an animated puppy to cheer me up!*
So in other words they haven't found a direct link between video games and mental health problems, they've found a link between addiction and mental health problems. Considering that addiction is a mental health problem, I'm not entirely surprised by this.
The sad fact is that there is no answer that doesn't make somebody's life slightly worse either by taking developers time or money or denying the client access to the site.
Actually, I've got a better idea than the email but I'm not sure how to implement it: Every time an IE-specific line of code is called a small withdrawal from Microsoft's bank account...
Well at the moment I don't use anything that needs that kind of functionality. I do use some jQuery to give it a bit of interactivity but it is essentially a static page.
As for maintaining a Flash version in IE9, I doubt it is easier duplicate chunks of your code in a different language (plus the cost of buying the Flash authoring tool) than it is to alter a couple of lines in your Javascript. But then again, you said "better" which is a subjective term.
My favourite way would be every time that an IE-specific line of code is called, an email gets sent to the IE team at Microsoft...That would get their attention.
Unfortunately for me one of the sites that I maintain gets the majority of its views from UK Government workers, most of which use IE. Roughly 2/3 of the visitors to this site are using IE of one form or another. (Admittedly IE9 is only a tiny proportion of these and a lot of them are using IE6 still so I'm unlikely to be using canvas any time soon)
Sure, I could block them completely and it might make a few of them take notice but the majority would just see it as us not wanting to make our site available to the people who need it.
It's a vicious circle and one that I would love to help break (I posted a comment on here a while back which included some code that does what you mention) but in the meantime we still need to get clients and they're still using IE6. We're not going to turn away business because of some browser idealism.
Everyone that I know who owns a PS3 uses PSN. Anecdotes are meaningless so lets do some figures.
According to Wikipedia 41.6 millions PS3s sold (as of Sept 30th 2010). There are 60 million PSN accounts.
The tricky bit is figuring out how many of those are active accounts. I'd say it's between 1/3 and 1/2 of that figure: 20-30 million...48-72% of users. I'd say it's a majority.
Also, I don't get how it's a waste of money when you don't have to pay for it. Maybe you don't like the selection of games on there but it's only a waste if you buy one and don't like it. Plus you can get demos from it which helps stop you from downloading games that suck. And you can download games rather than going out to buy them which, unless you live close to the shops, will save you time if anything.
Are you sure you're not talking about Playstation Home?
Sony make a loss on each PS3 sold. They make their money back in game sales. They can't rely on piracy bringing more sales of the hardware because that wouldn't earn them money, it would cost them money.
You might argue that this is Sony's problem and that they should have thought about this before they made the PS3 and developed it so that they could sell it at a profit. However if they had done this then it would most likely be either a less powerful machine, a more expensive one or both.
I don't disagree with you in principle - it would be great if they did do this - but there are reasons why they can't do this at this stage.
Well... Unless you're a telekinetic and can make your phone levitate while you perform your multitouch gesture, you'll probably need your other hand to hold the phone.
Alright Snarkypants, keep your hair on.
The article is talking about iPads, not iPhones (although I admit I accidentally replied to the comment that's talking about iPhones rather than the OP and the change will presumably be made to iPhones as well...but still, iPads)
I've not used an iPad but I usually picture them resting in someone's lap or on a table while being used/caressed with one hand while the other hand pours cappuccino into its owners smug maw.
I suppose it would cause you trouble if you were, for example, walking around whilst carrying something (a cappuccino, say) and therefore only had one hand free but if that's the case you should probably be looking where you're going otherwise you might fall over and spill your cappuccino all over your skin-tight jeans and "ironically" ugly t-shirt.
Switching from a dedicated mp3 player with physical buttons to a phone was definitely a case of two steps forward, one step back.
True but the controls on my Desire (with winamp app) are still better than my damned temperamental iPod scrollwheel, only about 1/4 of which seems to respond to being touched.
I buy it. Anonymous is just a name for a bunch of people who are doing as they see fit. Anonymous isn't necessarily the same people each time. It may help if you replace "Anonymous" with "a bunch of people who feel strongly on the subject".
The issue some of them are currently fighting against is the censorship of the Wikileaks website. The issue they were fighting against in the Scientology case was the Church's efforts to censor and shut down websites. I see no "flavour of the week" flip-flopping, they're the same issue! So, yes, next week they probably will be back to rallying against Scientology because many of them never stopped. As for Gene Simmons, I don't really know...+
DDoSing might not be the most subtle, mature or democratic method to achieve their goals but it does seem to work. It also has the bonus of attracting a lot of attention which, when you're trying to expose internet censorship, is a helpful thing.
You say that you can speak for yourself. Am I to assume that you will be making your own protest then?
Or from another angle: SUV driver doesn't leave adequate stopping distance between themselves and the bicycle in front and consequently almost runs over the cyclist. If you were driving a car, had to stop suddenly and were hit by someone behind you would you say that it was your fault for braking too quickly?
Slashdot Mirror
Because it is.
Yes.
Suddenly, simply having to take good care of your CDs doesn't seen all that awful. They can be passed around to who you want, when you want, and they don't disappear on you.
Funny, I'm not keen on passing my discs around as that's one reasons that they tend to disappear.
defective games infested with disc-checks and nasty DRM and anti-copying technology have eroded away so much of the convenience of physical media
Whilst I do like Steam it should be mentioned that there are some games on it that have their own DRM included on top of what Steam provides (e.g. GTAIV which involves using Steam, Rockstar Social, Microsoft Live and SecuROM). However, I don't see that as a criticism of Steam, I see it as foolishness on the part of the developers not taking advantage of what Steam offers...but maybe that's just me.
I was in the mood to play privateer yesterday... so I dug up the CD, imaged it, and put it away, and fired it up minutes later (in dosbox). Took all of 5 minutes. That's how it -should- be, even with new games.
I wanted to play Half Life 1 the other day... so I fired up Steam, downloaded it and fired it up minutes later. Took all of 5 minutes. That's how it is with games, even new games (provided your connection is fast enough).
Anyway, I don't see it as being "locked into Steams model". Both the Steam and physical media methods have pros and cons. I am still perfectly able to buy a game on CD and play that without touching Steam if I see fit, so it's not like I'm stuck with them. Sure, the games that I've bought through them are stuck on Steam but I knew that when I signed up for it, so who cares?
There's no such thing as the dark side of the moon unless you're talking about albums by Pink Floyd. Maybe you mean the far side of the moon?
I agree, Windows 7 is not perfect by any means but isn't bad and it's better than Vista. That driver story does seems like a strange choice of theirs.
Personally I think the worst part of Windows 7 is the search box. They appear to have removed as much functionality as possible in order to be able to fit it in the top-right-hand corner, like Apple did. Unless I'm missing something I can no longer specify case sensitivity or whether or not to search in sub-folders. They didn't even include an animated puppy to cheer me up!*
*this bit is a joke
So in other words they haven't found a direct link between video games and mental health problems, they've found a link between addiction and mental health problems. Considering that addiction is a mental health problem, I'm not entirely surprised by this.
why did everyone think 7 was better. I just can't figure it out.
Because it is. It sounds like you've got some troublesome hardware or a badly configured system.
The sad fact is that there is no answer that doesn't make somebody's life slightly worse either by taking developers time or money or denying the client access to the site.
Actually, I've got a better idea than the email but I'm not sure how to implement it: Every time an IE-specific line of code is called a small withdrawal from Microsoft's bank account...
Well at the moment I don't use anything that needs that kind of functionality. I do use some jQuery to give it a bit of interactivity but it is essentially a static page.
As for maintaining a Flash version in IE9, I doubt it is easier duplicate chunks of your code in a different language (plus the cost of buying the Flash authoring tool) than it is to alter a couple of lines in your Javascript. But then again, you said "better" which is a subjective term.
My favourite way would be every time that an IE-specific line of code is called, an email gets sent to the IE team at Microsoft...That would get their attention.
Unfortunately for me one of the sites that I maintain gets the majority of its views from UK Government workers, most of which use IE. Roughly 2/3 of the visitors to this site are using IE of one form or another. (Admittedly IE9 is only a tiny proportion of these and a lot of them are using IE6 still so I'm unlikely to be using canvas any time soon)
Sure, I could block them completely and it might make a few of them take notice but the majority would just see it as us not wanting to make our site available to the people who need it.
It's a vicious circle and one that I would love to help break (I posted a comment on here a while back which included some code that does what you mention) but in the meantime we still need to get clients and they're still using IE6. We're not going to turn away business because of some browser idealism.
"The problem is that most users *do* use PSN "
Do they?
Yes, they do.
Everyone that I know who owns a PS3 uses PSN. Anecdotes are meaningless so lets do some figures.
According to Wikipedia 41.6 millions PS3s sold (as of Sept 30th 2010).
There are 60 million PSN accounts.
The tricky bit is figuring out how many of those are active accounts. I'd say it's between 1/3 and 1/2 of that figure: 20-30 million...48-72% of users. I'd say it's a majority.
Also, I don't get how it's a waste of money when you don't have to pay for it. Maybe you don't like the selection of games on there but it's only a waste if you buy one and don't like it. Plus you can get demos from it which helps stop you from downloading games that suck. And you can download games rather than going out to buy them which, unless you live close to the shops, will save you time if anything.
Are you sure you're not talking about Playstation Home?
Sony make a loss on each PS3 sold. They make their money back in game sales. They can't rely on piracy bringing more sales of the hardware because that wouldn't earn them money, it would cost them money.
You might argue that this is Sony's problem and that they should have thought about this before they made the PS3 and developed it so that they could sell it at a profit. However if they had done this then it would most likely be either a less powerful machine, a more expensive one or both.
I don't disagree with you in principle - it would be great if they did do this - but there are reasons why they can't do this at this stage.
Isn't that what HTML5 local storage is for?
Well... Unless you're a telekinetic and can make your phone levitate while you perform your multitouch gesture, you'll probably need your other hand to hold the phone.
Alright Snarkypants, keep your hair on.
The article is talking about iPads, not iPhones (although I admit I accidentally replied to the comment that's talking about iPhones rather than the OP and the change will presumably be made to iPhones as well...but still, iPads)
I've not used an iPad but I usually picture them resting in someone's lap or on a table while being used/caressed with one hand while the other hand pours cappuccino into its owners smug maw.
I suppose it would cause you trouble if you were, for example, walking around whilst carrying something (a cappuccino, say) and therefore only had one hand free but if that's the case you should probably be looking where you're going otherwise you might fall over and spill your cappuccino all over your skin-tight jeans and "ironically" ugly t-shirt.
Switching from a dedicated mp3 player with physical buttons to a phone was definitely a case of two steps forward, one step back.
True but the controls on my Desire (with winamp app) are still better than my damned temperamental iPod scrollwheel, only about 1/4 of which seems to respond to being touched.
Multitouch means both hands? I thought it meant multiple fingers...
A podcast is simply and audio file download as far as I can tell...
Yes, usually with some kind of XML file in order to automate the download of new items.
Star Trek?! Hand over your geek card, now!
I buy it. Anonymous is just a name for a bunch of people who are doing as they see fit. Anonymous isn't necessarily the same people each time. It may help if you replace "Anonymous" with "a bunch of people who feel strongly on the subject".
The issue some of them are currently fighting against is the censorship of the Wikileaks website. The issue they were fighting against in the Scientology case was the Church's efforts to censor and shut down websites. I see no "flavour of the week" flip-flopping, they're the same issue! So, yes, next week they probably will be back to rallying against Scientology because many of them never stopped. As for Gene Simmons, I don't really know...+
DDoSing might not be the most subtle, mature or democratic method to achieve their goals but it does seem to work. It also has the bonus of attracting a lot of attention which, when you're trying to expose internet censorship, is a helpful thing.
You say that you can speak for yourself. Am I to assume that you will be making your own protest then?
No problem. I have just sent you some telepathically. You should start tripping in about 5 minutes.
It makes people feel better subjectively.
Is there an objective measurement of a persons feeling of wellness?
And if there is, does it matter? No-one else can feel the patient's discomfort.
You're right. Maybe they should start attaching lights to cars so that people can see them when it gets dark.
Or from another angle: SUV driver doesn't leave adequate stopping distance between themselves and the bicycle in front and consequently almost runs over the cyclist. If you were driving a car, had to stop suddenly and were hit by someone behind you would you say that it was your fault for braking too quickly?
Joke? I thought it was a snarky, reductio ad absurdum strawman.
Is that illegal?
*applauds*