(from the last post off xfree86.org on this issue):
Significant amounts of well-reasoned arguments in emails from end users
might possibly have an impact. Of course, as soon as this hits/., they
will get 10 times as much flamage as reasoned argument, and be even more
convinced that Open Source is not where they care to invest their
efforts.
sad, but true. there are a lot of good arguments to be made for keeping this information open to the public. but when an issue like this gets pushed into everyone's view it tends to generate comments that might push the company further away from open source instead of closer to it.
granted, the "cat's out of the bag" at this point, let's just hope trident sees the light and reverses their decision (before 3d acceleration took off, all i used was a trident, 2MBs of video RAM... woot!)
it seems like the "run from room to room" and "shoot stuff" motif has been done to death. a successful FPS needs a good nitch that it alone holds (until it's copied to death in the following months).
Max Payne is a great example: simple controls, basic story, but Bullet-Time kicks butt.
maybe we need new concepts instead of new technology?
seems like security agencies are always trying to scare up a little extra money for defense funding.
the amount of man and brain power required to actually execute a bioterrorist attack is so far out of scale with the amount of damage that can be caused vs. say, a U-Haul full of dynamite... the report looks more like a hard-sell to politicians than anything else.
Risks? There are still 80 million things that can go wrong on a spacecraft. Challenger? The fire on Mir (ok, we'll blame that on the crazy Russians)? Space-travel is still no cake walk.
The problem is that the role of astronauts has moved from that of a daring adventurer to one of a pure scientist. And let's face it, growing bacteria in zero-G doesn't exactly get the public's pulse pounding.
The ZDnet slant is pretty bad for the first couple of paragraph, but it does turn into a very good article about halfway though.
What seemed interesting was that ZDnet choose to focus on how "new" MS's.NET stragegy was, instead of how it is based on solid and proven ideas of older open source standards. (guess they had some slant left after all)
so they created a product and sold it at cost hoping to make money as an ISP... unfortunately it caught up with them.
this should make an interesting trial case for all the discount PCs that require 1-2 year contracts with AOL or some other ISP (and end up costing as-much-as twice what the PC alone would have gone for). could these tactics get the same treatment as Netpliance's?
even though banks are attempting to comply by sending out notices which will allow you to opt-out of information sharing, these letters often arrive looking like junk-mail, or worse.
i'm not trying to say that some banks are being two-faced about this (ok, i am). but as long as they are complying with the letter of the law (sending out the notices without giving mention of their importance) the banks are legally in the clear.
Bill Gates, "The ecosystem where you have free software and commercial software--and customers always get to decide which they use--that's a very important and healthy ecosystem"
... which is why Windows XP will come bundled with a browser, media player, fire-wall, email client, and ISP.
more to the point, companies are looking for people who can fill multiple positions; an engineer with business sense, a graphic designer with a coding background...
because there tends to be so much cross-over in online business companies that can find a jack-of-all trades type of employee can easily save them the cost of trying to select individual employees that then have to constantly collaborate to succeed.
Roger Wilco is notorious for using up resources and being near-unhearable and Battlecom, while pretty solid, also has problems with static creeping into the transmission (interestingly, ShadowFactor is about to discontinue Battlecom).
One solution is simply to build Voice-Over-IP into the app... in the case of games, Valve's next patch to the Half-Life engine will contain code to do this very thing. It should be interesting to see if a company has more luck trying to write this code directly into their product, rather than replying on other companys to create add-ons (like BC and RW).
in most cases you're not paying for any actual support, you're simply buying a scape-goat.
i can't remember the last time i had a useful conversation or email with a support tech... most problem-solving occurs when the user goes out and finds the answer in a 3rd party faq or website (im sure there's a rule for it, but it seems that the less affiliation a website has with a company, the more useful it's information tends to be).
Take Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon, it has several great examples of instances when you need to transfer data and normal methods either aren't available, or can't be used (ie. sending messages via a deck of cards).
Using lamps might seem a little McGuyverish, but it certainly has it's uses.
sadly, most console companies are only looking to allow for this kind of cross-console usability when they have completely control over it.
take a look at the war Sony has launch over the Bleem, hauling them into court on three separate occasions, and finally going after the retailers to prevent distribution of a product that let's you play PS games on a PC or Dreamcast.
yes, it's cool that you can play against other consoles, but these companies need to loosen the reigns a bit.
A new policy with many brick and mortar companies which started online departments is to have very strict no-compete clauses (you can't work in the same field for atleast a year) and also to claim anything created while you're at the company (code or otherwise) belongs to the company.
If you don't want to get stuck with something like this, make sure you ask the right questions before you're hired, and get a look at the contract well before you decide to consider the position. Usually these things can be cleared up, but once you've signed on the dotted line you're pretty much locked in.
When Aimster jumped the gun and sued the RIAA it was the beginning of the end for them (as if they didn't already have a huge bull's eye on their collective foreheads).
The problem with all the companies that have headed down this path is that they're simply too visible. If you want to create a successful filesharing system, don't do it in the open. Make software that can function if you drop off the face of the earth. Gnutella, and derivatives like Toadnode and Bearshare are still around because there's nothing for the RIAA to grab a hold of and sue (both have been around a lot longer than Aimster too).
These companies need to wise up; it's a field-day for the RIAA right now... too many fish, not enough barrels.
But when EA bought ORIGIN they got the whole ball of wax. Neither Richard or Robert work for ORIGIN anymore, in-fact, they can't even make another Ultima game, those are now the sole property of EA.
It looks like starting Destination Games was their only way to get back into gaming. Atleast they'll have a staff they're familiar with.
Slashdot Mirror
(from the last post off xfree86.org on this issue):
/., they
will get 10 times as much flamage as reasoned argument, and be even more
convinced that Open Source is not where they care to invest their
efforts.
... woot!)
Significant amounts of well-reasoned arguments in emails from end users might possibly have an impact. Of course, as soon as this hits
sad, but true. there are a lot of good arguments to be made for keeping this information open to the public. but when an issue like this gets pushed into everyone's view it tends to generate comments that might push the company further away from open source instead of closer to it.
granted, the "cat's out of the bag" at this point, let's just hope trident sees the light and reverses their decision (before 3d acceleration took off, all i used was a trident, 2MBs of video RAM
_f
microsoft wanted to be sure everyone could see this:
h tml
http://homepage.mac.com/jcarusone/iMovieTheater2.
_f
did they "re-master" the part where spock is out, flying around in a spacesuit?
... but that scene still gives me chills.
the first film really did set a tone for the rest of the series (saving the planet, one episode at a time)
_f
it seems like the "run from room to room" and "shoot stuff" motif has been done to death. a successful FPS needs a good nitch that it alone holds (until it's copied to death in the following months).
Max Payne is a great example: simple controls, basic story, but Bullet-Time kicks butt.
maybe we need new concepts instead of new technology?
_f
the lower you sink, the better chance you have of turning a profit.
_f
looks like the customer base is also up for grabs:
...
...
Total Ricochet network subscribers are 51,200
I wonder what a wireless customer goes for these days
_f
seems like security agencies are always trying to scare up a little extra money for defense funding.
... the report looks more like a hard-sell to politicians than anything else.
the amount of man and brain power required to actually execute a bioterrorist attack is so far out of scale with the amount of damage that can be caused vs. say, a U-Haul full of dynamite
scary? yes. realistic? no.
_f
Risks? There are still 80 million things that can go wrong on a spacecraft. Challenger? The fire on Mir (ok, we'll blame that on the crazy Russians)? Space-travel is still no cake walk.
The problem is that the role of astronauts has moved from that of a daring adventurer to one of a pure scientist. And let's face it, growing bacteria in zero-G doesn't exactly get the public's pulse pounding.
_f
The ZDnet slant is pretty bad for the first couple of paragraph, but it does turn into a very good article about halfway though.
.NET stragegy was, instead of how it is based on solid and proven ideas of older open source standards. (guess they had some slant left after all)
What seemed interesting was that ZDnet choose to focus on how "new" MS's
_f
strangely, Wired didn't include the homepage for the UAH Concrete Canoe Team:
E /
http://www.uah.edu/student_life/organizations/ASC
There's a pretty good shot of the canoe on the first page.
_f
so they created a product and sold it at cost hoping to make money as an ISP ... unfortunately it caught up with them.
this should make an interesting trial case for all the discount PCs that require 1-2 year contracts with AOL or some other ISP (and end up costing as-much-as twice what the PC alone would have gone for). could these tactics get the same treatment as Netpliance's?
_f
even though banks are attempting to comply by sending out notices which will allow you to opt-out of information sharing, these letters often arrive looking like junk-mail, or worse.
i'm not trying to say that some banks are being two-faced about this (ok, i am). but as long as they are complying with the letter of the law (sending out the notices without giving mention of their importance) the banks are legally in the clear.
check your mailboxes!
_f
Bill Gates, "The ecosystem where you have free software and commercial software--and customers always get to decide which they use--that's a very important and healthy ecosystem"
... which is why Windows XP will come bundled with a browser, media player, fire-wall, email client, and ISP.
_f
this is gunna put a major crimp on naked outdoor sunbathing _f
just because it's an addiction doesn't mean it's unhealthy ...
just because i drop 20k on speakers doesn't mean im in the same boat as the guy who hops down to the local steet-corner to grab some smack.
_f
more to the point, companies are looking for people who can fill multiple positions; an engineer with business sense, a graphic designer with a coding background ...
because there tends to be so much cross-over in online business companies that can find a jack-of-all trades type of employee can easily save them the cost of trying to select individual employees that then have to constantly collaborate to succeed.
_f
but, to date it hasn't been done well.
... in the case of games, Valve's next patch to the Half-Life engine will contain code to do this very thing. It should be interesting to see if a company has more luck trying to write this code directly into their product, rather than replying on other companys to create add-ons (like BC and RW).
Roger Wilco is notorious for using up resources and being near-unhearable and Battlecom, while pretty solid, also has problems with static creeping into the transmission (interestingly, ShadowFactor is about to discontinue Battlecom).
One solution is simply to build Voice-Over-IP into the app
_f
in most cases you're not paying for any actual support, you're simply buying a scape-goat.
... most problem-solving occurs when the user goes out and finds the answer in a 3rd party faq or website (im sure there's a rule for it, but it seems that the less affiliation a website has with a company, the more useful it's information tends to be).
i can't remember the last time i had a useful conversation or email with a support tech
of corse, you could just be spending that money on the Psychic Friends Network:
Microsoft Technical Support vs. The Psychic Friends Network
_f
not necessarily ...
Take Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon, it has several great examples of instances when you need to transfer data and normal methods either aren't available, or can't be used (ie. sending messages via a deck of cards).
Using lamps might seem a little McGuyverish, but it certainly has it's uses.
_f
give me one of these, a divx codec, some bose speakers and you can keep your high-definition TV. _f
sadly, most console companies are only looking to allow for this kind of cross-console usability when they have completely control over it.
take a look at the war Sony has launch over the Bleem, hauling them into court on three separate occasions, and finally going after the retailers to prevent distribution of a product that let's you play PS games on a PC or Dreamcast.
yes, it's cool that you can play against other consoles, but these companies need to loosen the reigns a bit.
_f
A new policy with many brick and mortar companies which started online departments is to have very strict no-compete clauses (you can't work in the same field for atleast a year) and also to claim anything created while you're at the company (code or otherwise) belongs to the company.
If you don't want to get stuck with something like this, make sure you ask the right questions before you're hired, and get a look at the contract well before you decide to consider the position. Usually these things can be cleared up, but once you've signed on the dotted line you're pretty much locked in.
_f
Yup, if you still have one of these you can wire it to you PC (no one's tried to hack this for the Linux ... yet).
Do it yourself version
Pay for the parts version
_f
When Aimster jumped the gun and sued the RIAA it was the beginning of the end for them (as if they didn't already have a huge bull's eye on their collective foreheads).
... too many fish, not enough barrels.
The problem with all the companies that have headed down this path is that they're simply too visible. If you want to create a successful filesharing system, don't do it in the open. Make software that can function if you drop off the face of the earth. Gnutella, and derivatives like Toadnode and Bearshare are still around because there's nothing for the RIAA to grab a hold of and sue (both have been around a lot longer than Aimster too).
These companies need to wise up; it's a field-day for the RIAA right now
_f
But when EA bought ORIGIN they got the whole ball of wax. Neither Richard or Robert work for ORIGIN anymore, in-fact, they can't even make another Ultima game, those are now the sole property of EA.
It looks like starting Destination Games was their only way to get back into gaming. Atleast they'll have a staff they're familiar with.
_f