This article doesn't really say anything new. To me it sounds like everyone is saying concentrate on the game, the IP is icing on the cake.
Without this article, we already know that IP holders are looking at games just as another merchandising opportunities. Which is why most of the time the quality is low and veteran gamers stay away from them. Everyone is familiar with the saga of the worst game ever, right?
We have had MQSeries at each IBM implementation that I have worked at (SAP software).
My perception of MQ is that we would be better off throwing it away and FTPing files back and forth while using SAP's job control to kick things off.
It really depends on what you're trying to do. FTP is a valid tool to use, along with MQ, HTTP, etc. Martin Fowler's Enterprise Integration Pattern book has a good catalogue of those.
For something small, I can see how MQ will weigh you down, especially when you start using the MQSI (or WBIMBEBCGAG.. whatever) for message brokering and pub/sub. MQ is also a pretty old technology for IBM and administering it feels "different" than administering other stuff. Most of projects I've been on, there's a dedicated MQ admin and MQSI developers - unlike DBA or WAS admin, which some developers can double as. However, for serious enterprise wide, mission critical pieces, MQ is almost always a must. FTP almost always finds its place though.
I'm involved in a large renovation project using MQ right now and we've been pressing IBM to tell us their plans for MQ but we didn't get any meaningful information. Either our IBM people is really good at keeping secret or they don't have a clue either. Our best guess is IBM will keep MQ for indefinite period of time because of its customer base. Technology-wise, they may renovate MQ internally and at the same time grooming its replacement. CEI (Common Event Infrastructure) which was introduced in WebSphere AppServer 5.0 (WBISF edition) looks like a candidate to replace MQ.
Clinton wanted INS to reprioritize their green card process work and concentrate more on issuing citizenship. Why? This is the election year and only citizens can vote. Guess who these grateful new citizens will vote for? As a reward for their good behavior, INS get little or no grief from current administration for their incompetence.
Their most vocal critics are people whose lives depend upon these paperworks to be completed. Is it a coincidence that these people have no political power whatsoever and the fact that things haven't improved year after year?
I met my current girlfriend through ICQ and it has been the healthiest relationship I've been in. However, I can't recommend putting too much expectation in finding love through internet. I started going to college 10 years ago and I've known many couples who met online. It seems about 1 out of 10 seemed to blossom into something with a future. There are many reasons why this happened:
1. Introverts are attracted to Internet. A lot of relationship grew out of mutual loneliness. I'm not saying all introverts are lonely, but a lot of them are.
2. Lack of accountability. I've seen both sides. I don't think women are better than men in this. When you don't see the other person, it's easier to forget about them. It's hard enough to find people with honesty and integrity in real life nowadays, what do you think of your chance of finding one in a "Young swinging professionals" chat room?
3. Geographic barrier. Rarely you meet someone you like online who lives within an hour drive from your place. This leads to a long distance relationship, which is another can of worm by itself.
I was very skeptical about my own relationship because I was too aware of the problems that may come with it. I only have a couple of advises for those who're thinking of going into it:
Don't Force It Just like any other relationships, let things grow naturally. It's also important to handle things more delicately than usual. Prepare for the chance that you may not be suitable for each other after all. Women are also too often getting emotional over doing something that's been sickeningly glorified by movies like You've Got Mail.
Maintain your cool Most geeks I know (including myself) are fiercely loyal to their partners. Sometimes we misplace our trust and get blinded by red flags. Always be tough on yourself and ask those hard questions. Sure, you could end up overanalyzing it, but I've never seen one that failed because of it. Most failures are caused by "playing by heart" too much and not enough "listening to reason".
Online and long-distance relationship is not for everyone. Even if you think you can handle it, make sure your partner can too. I've mentioned honesty and integrity before. Other helpful qualities are maturity and good communication skills.
As I said before, I can't recommend this for everybody. My girlfriend and I are very aware of what's going on around us. We saw other couples crashed and burned and we tried to learn from their mistakes. We talked to couples who have gone through the same process and made it, and we tried to draw inspirations from them. Sure, it sounds like a disney movie, but it works for us. It never crossed our mind that we could skip all those troubles by asking slashdot about it.:)
This is the oft-mentioned post from will@whistlingfish.net.
I did some checking on this a while back and it's true that there're not a lot of responses to this query.
There's one that told the guy to switch to FreeBSD and then there's this one from comp.os.linux.networking that kinda wondered why they're using such a souped-up box for Linux and asked if they could provide more setup information. There's no followup from will@whistlingfish after this.
If you looked at that post, you'll see that the guy was very helpful (he even gave some tips on php stuff) and he did asked for more setup info. There's no reason for anyone to write MOTS "gimme more info"-type posts. Most people would wait for more info from will and then continue from there. The fact that he didn't post anything back also suggests that it's possible he's already communicating with the helper by email.
This is great! I posted a few days ago that we should bug the firaxis people to port their games to linux. The kind of games that they make are perfect for linux and its users:
1. their games are intelligent and intended for adults.
2. their games doesn't need 3D cards.
3. their games, esp. alpha centauri, tries to be as "open" as possible. alpha centauri uses a text file that can be used to customize almost all aspects of the game. this is a perfect game for hackers (not crackers!)
besides those, i've been continually impressed with their supports. the patches (now at 3.0) are actually more of enhancements than bug fixes. they also put out an optional patch for people who are color blind.
firaxis has also been bucking the industry trends:
1. the in-box manual is much much better than the rip-off "strategy guide"
2. they don't put CD-check copy protection on alpha centauri, except the european version (because no retailer in europe would carry a game without some sort of copy protection). however, with 3.0 patch, they removed the CD-check. before the patch was released , a certain firaxis employee has subtly hinted in the newsgroups that the european players could get the US version of terran.exe to get around the CD-check.
as far as I'm concerned, any games from firaxis will get 5 moderator points from me automatically. (NO, i'm not a moderator).
I've played the windows version since I couldn't wait for the linux port. I was going to return it and exchange it for the linux version, but now I'm just going to return it period.
First of all, the game is still good. It is civilization after all. However, the UI is obtusely designed and I can't see myself using (playing) it for 30 hours or more without losing my voice from all the screamings of frustration.
Alpha Centauri is the real civ sequel. It the most "open" game that I've come across. The designer (Brian Reynolds) went into the newsgroup to solicit for feedbacks well before and after the game was released. It also sports a plain text file that can be modified to change virtually ANY rules in the game.
If you want to see a linux port of this game, go to www.firaxis.com and let them know! Firaxis is a cool company staffed by cool people, they might actually oblige if we can show them there's enough demand for a linux port. Sid Meier, the guy who originally designed civ is the CEO there - so you can be sure that they'll produce quality games only.. their support for linux will be invaluable.
There's a shift in 3Dfx focus from being a tech company into one that depends heavily on marketing. A few years ago, they started the whole cheap 3D accelerator market and they are now getting fierce competitions from nVidia, S3, and ATI.
It seems clear to us now that 3Dfx has responded by pouring more money into their marketing instead of the R&D dept. There was an article on tom's hardware about marketing programs that rewards hardware review sites for pushing 3Dfx products. Also the recent announcement of their support for linux which was purely a media stunt.
This latest move of shutting down the underground site is quite moronic, IMHO. I own a TNT but I was able to dabble with Glide precisely because there's a wrapper available. Since 3Dfx is already losing their market share, this move will assure they'll lose more mindshare.
Heh.. at least it'll be easier to choose between TNT2 and V3. Well, it actually depends on who would have a linux driver available first... which is not hard to guess.
I went to see WC on friday at a 30-screens cineplex. On saturday, I came back to watch Life is Beautiful. The theatre has this sign plastered all over the box offices (all 18 of them):
"NOTICE: We will not issue refunds or exchanges for Wing Commander tickets!"
I guess this is because some people might just want to watch the prequel trailer because the movie doesn't suck that bad. Well, it's really bad, but not as bad as Avengers. On the flip side, people who don't know about the trailer would also get a fair warning on the film quality:)
Look at Roger Ebert's web site. In the "Movieman answer" section, there's one question about this (the gap commercialc, the schwab ones, etc.) There're actually two competing (maybe) techniques out there. I'm pretty sure one of them was patented and their website has a lot of sample movies you can download that use this technique.
The movie has a lot of allusions to naval warfare. There was one scene where a destoyer was "pinging" and dropping "depth charges" on an asteroid to find the Tiger Claw (which is built like a submarine and has Jurgen Prochnow as the CO, btw).
When the destroyer got closer, either Prochnow or Paladin was shhushing everybody otherwise "they can hear us." I think they use the word "hear" literally there.
It's fine with me when movies try to make stylistic impression like the looks of WW2 war machines in this movie - it was cute for a while. But they should not cross the line by letting the story line (or logic) affected by it.
I think it's pretty pathetic trying to make a movie out of a game franchise whose heydays were like 8 years ago.
Who cares now? I mean, how many people are going to recognize and smile at the broken fuse box in the cockpit that looks just like in the game? or How about that corny cameo by Chris Roberts?
I was a big fan of the game but I couldn't care less about those in-jokes - not after getting assaulted with "facts" like if you make too much noise in space, your enemy can hear you. Yes, it's true, I didn't make this up, guys..
I'm so glad I didn't drag anyone with me to see this crap...they'd demand me to be their slave for a week!
No serious apps of any scale that requires stability and flexibility should be written with VB. Check out this page that I originally wrote for my team: DLL Hell
That was VB5 and I'd rather poke my eyes with a jagged skewer first before touching VB6.
Slashdot Mirror
This article doesn't really say anything new. To me it sounds like everyone is saying concentrate on the game, the IP is icing on the cake. Without this article, we already know that IP holders are looking at games just as another merchandising opportunities. Which is why most of the time the quality is low and veteran gamers stay away from them. Everyone is familiar with the saga of the worst game ever, right?
We have had MQSeries at each IBM implementation that I have worked at (SAP software). My perception of MQ is that we would be better off throwing it away and FTPing files back and forth while using SAP's job control to kick things off.
It really depends on what you're trying to do. FTP is a valid tool to use, along with MQ, HTTP, etc. Martin Fowler's Enterprise Integration Pattern book has a good catalogue of those.
For something small, I can see how MQ will weigh you down, especially when you start using the MQSI (or WBIMBEBCGAG.. whatever) for message brokering and pub/sub. MQ is also a pretty old technology for IBM and administering it feels "different" than administering other stuff. Most of projects I've been on, there's a dedicated MQ admin and MQSI developers - unlike DBA or WAS admin, which some developers can double as. However, for serious enterprise wide, mission critical pieces, MQ is almost always a must. FTP almost always finds its place though.
I'm involved in a large renovation project using MQ right now and we've been pressing IBM to tell us their plans for MQ but we didn't get any meaningful information. Either our IBM people is really good at keeping secret or they don't have a clue either. Our best guess is IBM will keep MQ for indefinite period of time because of its customer base. Technology-wise, they may renovate MQ internally and at the same time grooming its replacement. CEI (Common Event Infrastructure) which was introduced in WebSphere AppServer 5.0 (WBISF edition) looks like a candidate to replace MQ.
that I got from my lawyer was this:
Clinton wanted INS to reprioritize their green card process work and concentrate more on issuing citizenship. Why? This is the election year and only citizens can vote. Guess who these grateful new citizens will vote for? As a reward for their good behavior, INS get little or no grief from current administration for their incompetence.
Their most vocal critics are people whose lives depend upon these paperworks to be completed. Is it a coincidence that these people have no political power whatsoever and the fact that things haven't improved year after year?
I met my current girlfriend through ICQ and it has been the healthiest relationship I've been in. However, I can't recommend putting too much expectation in finding love through internet. I started going to college 10 years ago and I've known many couples who met online. It seems about 1 out of 10 seemed to blossom into something with a future. There are many reasons why this happened:
:)
1. Introverts are attracted to Internet. A lot of relationship grew out of mutual loneliness. I'm not saying all introverts are lonely, but a lot of them are.
2. Lack of accountability. I've seen both sides. I don't think women are better than men in this. When you don't see the other person, it's easier to forget about them. It's hard enough to find people with honesty and integrity in real life nowadays, what do you think of your chance of finding one in a "Young swinging professionals" chat room?
3. Geographic barrier. Rarely you meet someone you like online who lives within an hour drive from your place. This leads to a long distance relationship, which is another can of worm by itself.
I was very skeptical about my own relationship because I was too aware of the problems that may come with it. I only have a couple of advises for those who're thinking of going into it:
Don't Force It
Just like any other relationships, let things grow naturally. It's also important to handle things more delicately than usual. Prepare for the chance that you may not be suitable for each other after all. Women are also too often getting emotional over doing something that's been sickeningly glorified by movies like You've Got Mail.
Maintain your cool
Most geeks I know (including myself) are fiercely loyal to their partners. Sometimes we misplace our trust and get blinded by red flags. Always be tough on yourself and ask those hard questions. Sure, you could end up overanalyzing it, but I've never seen one that failed because of it. Most failures are caused by "playing by heart" too much and not enough "listening to reason".
Online and long-distance relationship is not for everyone. Even if you think you can handle it, make sure your partner can too. I've mentioned honesty and integrity before. Other helpful qualities are maturity and good communication skills.
As I said before, I can't recommend this for everybody. My girlfriend and I are very aware of what's going on around us. We saw other couples crashed and burned and we tried to learn from their mistakes. We talked to couples who have gone through the same process and made it, and we tried to draw inspirations from them. Sure, it sounds like a disney movie, but it works for us. It never crossed our mind that we could skip all those troubles by asking slashdot about it.
wan
This is the oft-mentioned post from will@whistlingfish.net.
I did some checking on this a while back and it's true that there're not a lot of responses to this query.
There's one that told the guy to switch to FreeBSD and then there's this one from comp.os.linux.networking that kinda wondered why they're using such a souped-up box for Linux and asked if they could provide more setup information. There's no followup from will@whistlingfish after this.
If you looked at that post, you'll see that the guy was very helpful (he even gave some tips on php stuff) and he did asked for more setup info. There's no reason for anyone to write MOTS "gimme more info"-type posts. Most people would wait for more info from will and then continue from there. The fact that he didn't post anything back also suggests that it's possible he's already communicating with the helper by email.
This is great! I posted a few days ago that we should bug the firaxis people to port their games to linux. The kind of games that they make are perfect for linux and its users:
1. their games are intelligent and intended for adults.
2. their games doesn't need 3D cards.
3. their games, esp. alpha centauri, tries to be as "open" as possible. alpha centauri uses a text file that can be used to customize almost all aspects of the game. this is a perfect game for hackers (not crackers!)
besides those, i've been continually impressed with their supports. the patches (now at 3.0) are actually more of enhancements than bug fixes. they also put out an optional patch for people who are color blind.
firaxis has also been bucking the industry trends:
1. the in-box manual is much much better than the rip-off "strategy guide"
2. they don't put CD-check copy protection on alpha centauri, except the european version (because no retailer in europe would carry a game without some sort of copy protection). however, with 3.0 patch, they removed the CD-check. before the patch was released , a certain firaxis employee has subtly hinted in the newsgroups that the european players could get the US version of terran.exe to get around the CD-check.
as far as I'm concerned, any games from firaxis will get 5 moderator points from me automatically. (NO, i'm not a moderator).
I've played the windows version since I couldn't wait for the linux port. I was going to return it and exchange it for the linux version, but now I'm just going to return it period.
First of all, the game is still good. It is civilization after all. However, the UI is obtusely designed and I can't see myself using (playing) it for 30 hours or more without losing my voice from all the screamings of frustration.
Alpha Centauri is the real civ sequel. It the most "open" game that I've come across. The designer (Brian Reynolds) went into the newsgroup to solicit for feedbacks well before and after the game was released. It also sports a plain text file that can be modified to change virtually ANY rules in the game.
If you want to see a linux port of this game, go to www.firaxis.com and let them know! Firaxis is a cool company staffed by cool people, they might actually oblige if we can show them there's enough demand for a linux port. Sid Meier, the guy who originally designed civ is the CEO there - so you can be sure that they'll produce quality games only.. their support for linux will be invaluable.
There's a shift in 3Dfx focus from being a tech company into one that depends heavily on marketing. A few years ago, they started the whole cheap 3D accelerator market and they are now getting fierce competitions from nVidia, S3, and ATI.
It seems clear to us now that 3Dfx has responded by pouring more money into their marketing instead of the R&D dept. There was an article on tom's hardware about marketing programs that rewards hardware review sites for pushing 3Dfx products. Also the recent announcement of their support for linux which was purely a media stunt.
This latest move of shutting down the underground site is quite moronic, IMHO. I own a TNT but I was able to dabble with Glide precisely because there's a wrapper available. Since 3Dfx is already losing their market share, this move will assure they'll lose more mindshare.
Heh.. at least it'll be easier to choose between TNT2 and V3. Well, it actually depends on who would have a linux driver available first... which is not hard to guess.
I went to see WC on friday at a 30-screens cineplex. On saturday, I came back to watch Life is Beautiful. The theatre has this sign plastered all over the box offices (all 18 of them):
:)
"NOTICE: We will not issue refunds or exchanges for Wing Commander tickets!"
I guess this is because some people might just want to watch the prequel trailer because the movie doesn't suck that bad. Well, it's really bad, but not as bad as Avengers. On the flip side, people who don't know about the trailer would also get a fair warning on the film quality
Look at Roger Ebert's web site. In the "Movieman answer" section, there's one question about this (the gap commercialc, the schwab ones, etc.) There're actually two competing (maybe) techniques out there. I'm pretty sure one of them was patented and their website has a lot of sample movies you can download that use this technique.
email me if you can't find it.
No, I don't mean turning off radar or engines..
The movie has a lot of allusions to naval warfare. There was one scene where a destoyer was "pinging" and dropping "depth charges" on an asteroid to find the Tiger Claw (which is built like a submarine and has Jurgen Prochnow as the CO, btw).
When the destroyer got closer, either Prochnow or Paladin was shhushing everybody otherwise "they can hear us." I think they use the word "hear" literally there.
It's fine with me when movies try to make stylistic impression like the looks of WW2 war machines in this movie - it was cute for a while. But they should not cross the line by letting the story line (or logic) affected by it.
I think it's pretty pathetic trying to make a movie out of a game franchise whose heydays were like 8 years ago.
Who cares now? I mean, how many people are going to recognize and smile at the broken fuse box in the cockpit that looks just like in the game? or How about that corny cameo by Chris Roberts?
I was a big fan of the game but I couldn't care less about those in-jokes - not after getting assaulted with "facts" like if you make too much noise in space, your enemy can hear you. Yes, it's true, I didn't make this up, guys..
I'm so glad I didn't drag anyone with me to see this crap...they'd demand me to be their slave for a week!
I only see Star Wars prequel on the list.. Where's the just "Star Wars"??
The prequel item doesn't filter out the just SW items, btw. I've tried it.
No serious apps of any scale that requires stability and flexibility should be written with VB. Check out this page that I originally wrote for my team: DLL Hell
That was VB5 and I'd rather poke my eyes with a jagged skewer first before touching VB6.