The service I did choose, Steam, also mentions that should they close for whatever reason, they will release a way to play steam games without needing the steam service.
By "close", I assume they mean shutting down their primary source of income, a publishing network?
I think a more realistic assumption is that "close" means the company going under. If that happens, I don't think the decision of releasing the keys will be up to the developers, but up to the owners/stockholders, such as what will happen when assets are sold off.
No thanks, I'm not going to trust a company that says they will do the right thing if they "close", because whoever was in charge before won't be when the doors are shut.
I also don't trust any company that bundled a marketing system with one of their games, or else I can't use the game, or at least some of its promised features. My dad loved HL2, but I went without because there was no way I'd have a background process running on my machine 24/7 for no good reason.
Because browsers allow 3rd party Javascript to run as if it were 1st party. This makes advertisers happy.
I've been complaining about this for years, but so long as the new economy demands that browsers be supported through sponsorships and ads, security just won't become a priority.
Hell, reading a PDF can infect your PC with a virus? I've got a great idea... let's build a PDF reader right into the web browser, and for bonus point, you can't disable it. It's okay, we built a sandbox for it, and made JavaScript twice as fast for good measure. Oh, but we still won't include support for [insert FOSS codec of choice here] because it will make the browser too bloated.
People were fine with serial and parallel ports - there was simply insufficient reasons to switch to USB.
Naturally, it had nothing to do with USB hardware costing $30 to $50 more than the parallel version. I nearly had a heart attack when I was looking for a USB flatbed scanner back then, and that was including the fact that some scanners and printers came with the cables! When iMacs were suddenly cool, it still took quite a while for USB prices to come down. PC People were not fine with parallel ports and those even more evil serial ports. They just didn't want to pay bucket loads of cash like the Mac people were (and still are) willing to do.
Reminds me of what happened when SATA came around, and it took forever for DVD drives to make the switch from P-ATA. Only enthusiasts cared about neat cables, so why the rush?
Maybe it's time for some credit card reform, too, so people would have more control over how personal information is used and partitioned in the first place.
Steam has gone down multiple times for my dad. He was very upset every time it happened.
Result? It comes back, and my dad continues buying lots games from it, no matter how much I tell him why I refuse to use it and other online stores.
Incidentally, back in Sony land, half the content in Gran Turismo 5 is now no longer accessible, and that game ships on a disc. The seasonal races are offline-only and they are no longer accessible. The "online dealership" offers the same cars that are in the regular showroom, but it is also inaccessible. Furthermore, all those "unlockable" museum cards, which are stored on the game disc, are no longer accessible. It bothers me that I have to connect to the PSN to unlock content in the first place, but even after unlocking the content already on the game disc, I still lose access to all of it if the network goes down. Even unlockable offline content disappears!
I don't buy games from the Store because I can't demo most of them, I can't own any of them. I guess I won't buy any more games on actual physical media, either.
Like when Red Hat ripped off the Windows95 interface, pixel for pixel, including a launcher menu that said "Start?" My memory is a bit fuzzy, but I didn't hear Linux fans raging too much over the blatant Windows rip-offs over the years.
Does nothing, and I've tried everything possible to fix this issue.
I believe it's related to the garbage collector, because the length of the freezes appears to be proportional to the amount of memory being used, but the time between freezes is consistent (about 10 seconds). I first noticed the freezes in a late release of FF2.
This reminds me of my Mac days. Got a problem? Blame a plugin. It's can't possibly be the app's fault.
Sorry, but I've done all kinds of experiments, including wiping out all plugins and extensions, and I still have major memory leak problems. Typically, after 10 minutes of browsing, my browser idles around 350MB of memory usage, which is when all the freezing problems (presumably garbage collection) begin to rear their ugly head. If I look at "about:blank", memory usage usually goes down to a mere 250MB. I have no doubt that the type of web sites people visit might be triggering the leaks, so individual results may vary.
Incidentally, does Firefox use a multitasking garbage collector? Regular freezes every 10 seconds drive me nuts, and those issues would likely go away if the memory manager was improved. The regular freezing is my biggest problem with Firefox, and has been bugging me for over 3 years. This problem has never improved one bit since I started having the issue in a late release of FF2.
It's not like this is exclusively a Firefox problem, too. There's a Javascript-heavy web site I've visited that makes Chrome suck up 600+MB of memory before the browser crashes. No other browser I've tested, including Firefox, has a problem with that site.
Unfortunately, developers will immediately require people to disable all those security features. People will say Yes to anything if it makes the messages go away.
When a game demands admin access and requires me to restart my computer after installation, the first thing I ask is, "why?" I don't run those kinds of games on my work computer, knowing full well why a stupid game wants total, unrestricted control over my system. I'd rather buy software that "just works."
Two cases in point, a Toshiba laptop with AMD and a 13" MacBook Pro with Intel, the fans run annoyingly at high speed, the bottoms are hot enough to fry eggs on. That's just sitting with one web page open.
This tells me a few things:
- The laptops were not built correctly with an appropriately sized heat sink.
- Web developers still haven't figured out how to use wait states.
- Web browsers haven't, either.
I don't think discrete graphics chips are going to solve any of these problems.
I just did a clean install of Win2K (IE 5.5) under VM, and put on Netscape 4 for fun. The results weren't pretty. IE 5.5 did pretty well on my sites which made no accommodations for IE at all. Netscape regularly showed blank pages because it choked on the CSS, and some perfectly valid code even made the browser crash.
This perfectly reflects my experience when I was in college. I stopped using Netscape because it was a slow, cranky, crash-prone piece of junk, especially on the Mac. People have fond memories thanks to the nostalgic factor. In reality, Netscape 4 was a direct response to the IE monopoly panic, and the company screwed up big time. They killed themselves.
Apparently, I'm alone in my memories that Netscape wasn't that great a product, thus making it part of yet another VHS vs Betamax.
Slashdot Mirror
The service I did choose, Steam, also mentions that should they close for whatever reason, they will release a way to play steam games without needing the steam service.
By "close", I assume they mean shutting down their primary source of income, a publishing network?
I think a more realistic assumption is that "close" means the company going under. If that happens, I don't think the decision of releasing the keys will be up to the developers, but up to the owners/stockholders, such as what will happen when assets are sold off.
No thanks, I'm not going to trust a company that says they will do the right thing if they "close", because whoever was in charge before won't be when the doors are shut.
I also don't trust any company that bundled a marketing system with one of their games, or else I can't use the game, or at least some of its promised features. My dad loved HL2, but I went without because there was no way I'd have a background process running on my machine 24/7 for no good reason.
Because browsers allow 3rd party Javascript to run as if it were 1st party. This makes advertisers happy.
I've been complaining about this for years, but so long as the new economy demands that browsers be supported through sponsorships and ads, security just won't become a priority.
Hell, reading a PDF can infect your PC with a virus? I've got a great idea... let's build a PDF reader right into the web browser, and for bonus point, you can't disable it. It's okay, we built a sandbox for it, and made JavaScript twice as fast for good measure. Oh, but we still won't include support for [insert FOSS codec of choice here] because it will make the browser too bloated.
Snoring?
If somebody builds on your work and doesn't release it back to you, you don't lose anything.
You're talking to open-source fanatics, sir. Everyone knows reasonable examples like this only apply to piracy and jailbreaking.
People were fine with serial and parallel ports - there was simply insufficient reasons to switch to USB.
Naturally, it had nothing to do with USB hardware costing $30 to $50 more than the parallel version. I nearly had a heart attack when I was looking for a USB flatbed scanner back then, and that was including the fact that some scanners and printers came with the cables! When iMacs were suddenly cool, it still took quite a while for USB prices to come down. PC People were not fine with parallel ports and those even more evil serial ports. They just didn't want to pay bucket loads of cash like the Mac people were (and still are) willing to do.
Reminds me of what happened when SATA came around, and it took forever for DVD drives to make the switch from P-ATA. Only enthusiasts cared about neat cables, so why the rush?
They also seem to forget that Nintendo insists on making a profit on the hardware -- even at launch.
Really, I'm surprised I haven't heard even one person so far bring that up.
Maybe it's time for some credit card reform, too, so people would have more control over how personal information is used and partitioned in the first place.
Meanwhile, on planet Earth...
Heh. I won't even use the same web browser to access secure sites, let alone the same password.
Steam has gone down multiple times for my dad. He was very upset every time it happened.
Result? It comes back, and my dad continues buying lots games from it, no matter how much I tell him why I refuse to use it and other online stores.
Incidentally, back in Sony land, half the content in Gran Turismo 5 is now no longer accessible, and that game ships on a disc. The seasonal races are offline-only and they are no longer accessible. The "online dealership" offers the same cars that are in the regular showroom, but it is also inaccessible. Furthermore, all those "unlockable" museum cards, which are stored on the game disc, are no longer accessible. It bothers me that I have to connect to the PSN to unlock content in the first place, but even after unlocking the content already on the game disc, I still lose access to all of it if the network goes down. Even unlockable offline content disappears!
I don't buy games from the Store because I can't demo most of them, I can't own any of them. I guess I won't buy any more games on actual physical media, either.
I thought the whole point wasn't to get something better than Chromium, only to not get the extra stuff in Chrome (Google Update, anyone?)
Also, since when are open-source forks a scam? Maybe the source code isn't as important as the installation and packaging.
Casual gamers don't have enough games to keep them happy?
Like when Red Hat ripped off the Windows95 interface, pixel for pixel, including a launcher menu that said "Start?" My memory is a bit fuzzy, but I didn't hear Linux fans raging too much over the blatant Windows rip-offs over the years.
So, your brain is too distracted to feel a headache?
The desktop does not matter it is only a device on which to run a web browser.
If you don't do anything useful with your computer.
Netbooks were desktops that just ran web browsers. I hear Linux flopped big time in that market.
Does nothing, and I've tried everything possible to fix this issue.
I believe it's related to the garbage collector, because the length of the freezes appears to be proportional to the amount of memory being used, but the time between freezes is consistent (about 10 seconds). I first noticed the freezes in a late release of FF2.
This reminds me of my Mac days. Got a problem? Blame a plugin. It's can't possibly be the app's fault.
Sorry, but I've done all kinds of experiments, including wiping out all plugins and extensions, and I still have major memory leak problems. Typically, after 10 minutes of browsing, my browser idles around 350MB of memory usage, which is when all the freezing problems (presumably garbage collection) begin to rear their ugly head. If I look at "about:blank", memory usage usually goes down to a mere 250MB. I have no doubt that the type of web sites people visit might be triggering the leaks, so individual results may vary.
Incidentally, does Firefox use a multitasking garbage collector? Regular freezes every 10 seconds drive me nuts, and those issues would likely go away if the memory manager was improved. The regular freezing is my biggest problem with Firefox, and has been bugging me for over 3 years. This problem has never improved one bit since I started having the issue in a late release of FF2.
It's not like this is exclusively a Firefox problem, too. There's a Javascript-heavy web site I've visited that makes Chrome suck up 600+MB of memory before the browser crashes. No other browser I've tested, including Firefox, has a problem with that site.
Secret sauce?
Google has a huge array of money-draining services, some of which are labor-intensive. They're not generating much revenue.
Just like Microsoft.
Mostly, they're defensive measures to ward off Microsoft.
Uh...
Be careful. They say not to bite the hand that feeds you.
So, they patented a KISS doll for corporate logos.
The summary made me think Google patented oekaki. Now that would've made me mad.
Unfortunately, developers will immediately require people to disable all those security features. People will say Yes to anything if it makes the messages go away.
When a game demands admin access and requires me to restart my computer after installation, the first thing I ask is, "why?" I don't run those kinds of games on my work computer, knowing full well why a stupid game wants total, unrestricted control over my system. I'd rather buy software that "just works."
Two cases in point, a Toshiba laptop with AMD and a 13" MacBook Pro with Intel, the fans run annoyingly at high speed, the bottoms are hot enough to fry eggs on. That's just sitting with one web page open.
This tells me a few things:
I don't think discrete graphics chips are going to solve any of these problems.
How do they take an interest in you in the first place?
Yesterday there had to be anonymous tips. Today they just sift through databases of random people looking for "suspicious behavior."
Everybody could understand each other in Star Wars, no matter how many beeps were going on. Why exactly did they need C-3PO again?
I just did a clean install of Win2K (IE 5.5) under VM, and put on Netscape 4 for fun. The results weren't pretty. IE 5.5 did pretty well on my sites which made no accommodations for IE at all. Netscape regularly showed blank pages because it choked on the CSS, and some perfectly valid code even made the browser crash.
This perfectly reflects my experience when I was in college. I stopped using Netscape because it was a slow, cranky, crash-prone piece of junk, especially on the Mac. People have fond memories thanks to the nostalgic factor. In reality, Netscape 4 was a direct response to the IE monopoly panic, and the company screwed up big time. They killed themselves.
Apparently, I'm alone in my memories that Netscape wasn't that great a product, thus making it part of yet another VHS vs Betamax.