- Viewtiful Joe (was originally an exclusive, later brought to PS2 along with RE4) - Baten Kaitos (RPG series by Monolith Soft) - Battalion Wars - Obligatory Mario Party - Super Smash Bros. Melee - Pikmin 1 + 2 - LoZ Twilight Princess (released as a GC title without being horizontally flipped like the Wii version was) - Luigi's Mansion - Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles (VERY fun if you had more than one GBA link cable) - The best versions of every multi-platform Sonic title (check the reviews) - Arguably the best version of Soul Calibur II, as it had Link in it as well as the best loading times etc.
I'm probably a bigger GC-fan than you are, as I grew up with one. It will always be my favorite console besides the Wii, and I do agree that the PS2 had some awesome games. In fact I own one right here because I bought one used last year to catch up on the games I missed out on, like Kingdom Hearts or Shadow of the Colossus.
BTW, Bert64, the person cpu6502 was replying to above, the Gamecube was actually hacked due to Phantasy Star Online. You can also buy some peripherals for it today that allow easy homebrew support as well. The main barrier-to-entry for homebrew/hacking was the system's proprietary disc format and ports.
You can't eliminate the possibility that the problem might reside with a popular add-on or two. I'm not saying Firefox doesn't have a memory problem, but what many people see might be related to an add-on. I for one never have Firefox RAM levels nearly as high as that, as do many other people. Just because I don't see the problem, though, doesn't mean that it doesn't exist, but it's still important to provide WAY more information than "I went to some pages and my RAM went up". There are so many other variables missing from that so it makes the reporter sound like a troll when he might not mean to sound like one.
...I honestly don't see how it's so hard to use your middle finger to press a button. The PS2/360/PS3 designs have four buttons on the back; I've just gotten into the habit of using my middle finger, which isn't nearly as hard as you say it is. In fact, it's pretty comfortable to me. Also, in SSBM, you can throw items with the C-stick, and almost everybody I know does that instead of simply dropping the item (why drop it when you can throw it off the edge or in someone's face?).
When they announced the N64 with its 3-prong controller, everyone said that looked like the most uncomfortable thing they'd ever seen -- and it was maybe the most comfortable one I've ever used, even to this day.
Have you tried the Gamecube controller and/or the Classic Controller Pro? As much as I love how versatile yet comfortable the N64 controller was, the Gamecube/CCP controllers were fantastically ergonomic. Unlike the PS2 controller which still makes my hands hurt to this day, I can go at Monster Hunter Tri for hours on the CCP and not feel a thing. Fantastic controller design, Nintendo has, really.
At the very least, it sounds like there's some real possibility there. I just hope I'm not paying $150 a controller!
The Wii U controller is designed so you only need one of them. The system, in effect, is just a severely upgraded Wii, to the point of the main multiplayer controller being the Wiimote. The regular Wii U controller is more or less meant for single-player games, or for a fifth player in multiplayer games (the demos they showed at E3 are very slick and indicate the possibilities for the controller; check them out on any gaming website, like IGN or Kotaku or Gamespot).
Zelda is not an adventure, it is an action-RPG (in fact, Zelda DEFINES what action-RPG even means).
It has elements of both, but Zelda is almost entirely an adventure game. Even though it's an action game and has RPG elements, that doesn't necessarily make it an "action RPG". Adventure games involve getting from Point A to Point B, usually from solving a puzzle or collecting an item that allows you to pass (in the case of Zelda, a weapon you find in a dungeon or a key item). This fits the definition of "adventure game" perfectly. The only Zelda game that I'd consider to be Action RPG-like would be Majora's Mask, because there's so many sidequests and optional things to do in that game that it really has that Action RPG feel.
If you want a good example of an Action RPG, check out Kingdom Hearts (first one preferably) or Monster Hunter, especially the latter game which is much more RPG-like in nature.
Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda. Since she's 10, she might get a kick out of Wind Waker due to kid-friendly themes (while still not being completely kid-sanitized) and a slightly better learning curve than, say, Twilight Princess or Ocarina of Time. You can't go wrong with Zelda, and Wind Waker is a really, really great game. Exploring those islands, filling my sea chart with maps of the islands and so on will live on forever in my memories because of the sense of discovery in that game. It was pretty easy to play, too, while still having challenging puzzles.
"The average gutter dwelling noob could never understand the rarefied nobility and intellectual challenge of the maximize button, so I, as their superior, as a shining example of Nietzsche's overman, will take away that dangerous option from them for their own good"
Woah woah woah, slow down there. GNOME 3 removed the maximize button from the default configuration (it's still there technically) but not the functionality. It was redundant to have the maximize button there, not only because it was so close to the close button which could accidentally be clicked, but because you can maximize by dragging the window to the top and/or double-clicking the window border.
There must not be a learning curve or the people at the bottom of it might have hurt feelings.
You have a really messed-up definition of "learning curve" and are over-simplifying this way, way too much. Minimalism and simplifying a UI aren't bad things at all. In the end, the UI that people like more will win out anyways, so it's pretty pointless to complain about something that might actually be a good UI if you get used to it; how's that for a learning curve? For example, GNOME 3, for me, took a day or two to get used to as it was so different from GNOME 2, but it's much easier, simpler, and better than GNOME 2 for me. Am I not allowed to like it because it's "minimalist" and "simplistic" and doesn't have eons of buttons and settings for me to configure? I have different priorities than the average "power user" in that sense, and so should you in this case. I don't mean to sound offensive, but at least give these new UIs a try before you complain about their flaws; some things that sound bad on paper aren't nearly as bad in real life, and you might notice some significant benefits to new UIs while you're at it. You'll never know until you try!:)
Can you please give some examples of how shiny interfaces, like those on phones, are insufficient and/or somehow always bad? I have never once heard, in my days browsing the internet, a valid reason to dislike things about phone interfaces. If there's something good to be gained from them, why not let your design be positively influenced by them? It's only logical.
Well... it kinda feels like the new Gnome and Unity interfaces, which everybody hates...
Woah woah woah, define "everybody". I like it (GNOME 3, not Unity), as do many, many other people (even Arch Linux mods/admins, and that community is the "be as minimal as possible, simplicity is better" type). Simply because some picky people don't like it doesn't mean that "everybody hates it". Don't let vocal minorities fool you into thinking that everybody hates it.
A good example is Final Fantasy XII for the PS2. That game got tons and tons of critical acclaim, and even got a perfect Famitsu score (40/40, reviewed by four people with 1-10 scores, added up). Yet, tons of people on the internet hate it because it wasn't "exactly like the earlier final fantasy games". I, for one, loved it. You just have to approach the game, like GNOME 3, with an open mind. I've played Final Fantasy I, II, V, VI, VII, IX, and even X, and XII remains my favorite. Another example is Metroid Other M, which got generally good reception (with the exception of an awful X-Play review, giving it a 2/5 because the girl that reviewed it called it "sexist" and doesn't know how to review games). I've played every single Metroid game prior, and I loved Other M. Yet, the internet is bent on hating it for some weird reason. Likewise, I've been used to GNOME 2 for a long time and GNOME 3 works very well for me.
I guess the internet is full of picky people that can't look at things with an open mind, sadly. Don't let their negativity about everything fool you. And no, I'm not saying GNOME 3 is flawless; I'm saying that if you approach it with an open mind and get used to it, it's very good. If you do have valid problems though besides the UI not being exactly like how it used to be, then file a bug report and see what the devs think the best way to deal with the problem is.
And the GNOME 3 equivalent: System Settings -> System Info -> Graphics -> Forced Fallback Mode
Then just log out and log back in. Another interesting thing to do, GNOME or not, is this:
xinit/usr/bin/insert-game-here --:1
That runs the game in a separate X server, which, depending on your setup, can increase performance. You can switch between it and your standard desktop with Ctrl+Alt+F6/F7/F8/etc, so it's very helpful for games you can't minimize out of, or games that require a different resolution than your desktop is.
As much as I agree, this is a little different. This is for entertainment (Netflix), not knowledge. Also, you have to pay to use Netflix and it's meant to be used by the household members of whoever's paying for it and nobody else. As long as we have the internet, there will be free information out there.
However, over the last three years, I've watched both Gnome and KDE go from stable to hacked together pieces of crap that barely run.
Have you ever fiddled around with panel widgets in GNOME 2? Do that, resize your monitor a few times, install some third party applets that crash half the time when logging in, and THEN talk to me about "hacked together pieces of crap that barely run". If anything, by not supporting user-movable panel applets, GNOME 3 is improving on the GNOME 2 design. Sure, you can use extensions (and there's a TON of those), but by no means is it "hacked together" and more than GNOME 2 was. I can't speak for KDE, though, as I'm not a KDE user.
I stayed on KDE3 for a very long time after 4 was released, because, as has become common, it was released completely unfinished.
If I'm not mistaken, even KDE itself said that 4.0 wasn't meant for mass consumption and it was meant for developers. I could be wrong on that quote, though.
Well, that was great! Almost every feature I used either gone or mangled. It can no longer render windows properly, causes video playback to jump and freeze, and is now almost entirely unusable with my new video card. Gnome is even worse.
File a bug report or two? Maybe it's not KDE/GNOME's fault. That sounds like video card driver issues to me. Have you tried the open-source equivalents of your graphics drivers? I notice some problems when using the binary Nvidia driver that I don't notice with Nouveau, and vice-versa, for example.
I think Linux needs a complete change in focus and methodology, or it is going to end up losing what little market share it has. It is time to stop trying to copy Apple UIs and time to start worrying about stability. This whole batch of project managers has failed us - we need mass forks of major projects.
Oh my...
1) GNU is not Linux, GNOME is not Linux. KDE is not Linux. You can use one without the other just fine.
2) Your problems, from what I'm reasing, have absolutely nothing to do with the DEs but rather ATI.
3) I highly doubt that GNOME/KDE are trying to be terrible. If you have good suggestions, get in touch with the designers! Find out their priorities and make something that will please everyone. I, for one, love GNOME 3 (gasp! but that's against the Slashdot groupthink that GNOME is a feature-removing, unusable piece of trash!). Very much. If there's ever something in the UI that I don't understand, I ask about it and try to wrap my head around it. If I think of a better way to do something, I ask them about it and maybe file a bug report about it.
4) You wanna fork GNOME/KDE? Be my guest. It's a lot more work than it sounds though...
On a related note, do the Slashdot mods always mod up negative-sounding people because dissent is seen as smart for some reason, no matter whether or not the person is being smart? Is the anti-current-desktop groupthink really that strong? If it's so impossible to like current desktops, why do I love GNOME? Has anybody ever thought that just because some picky people on Slashdot don't like them, that they have to be terrible no matter what anyone thinks? How depressing...
You misread. The article says that the percentage of total internet traffic that belongs to file-sharing will decrease; not necessarily that there will be less file-sharing. I can only assume that Netflix and similar services are to blame for videos taking up so much bandwidth, as they're incredibly popular. On a related note, you really should try Netflix. I have almost no urge at all to pirate anything with them. Every week they add tons of movies and shows, some of which are absolutely fantastic (FLCL, anyone?), and whatever isn't available on streaming is available on DVD very easily. Why pirate when something as relatively inexpensive and not-bandwidth-hogging as Netflix is exists?
The only things I've ever even *thought* of pirating now are those old Digimon shows I used to see as a kid, because Bandai won't sell them to me on DVD. Rawr...
Capitalists fought safer cars at every turn and still do today.
Citation needed. I'm not saying I disagree with you, but statements like that without citations always bug me no matter what they are. Talking about capitalists like bad guys (as if they always are) is rather disturbingly inaccurate as well.
Actually, it didn't. I had this game installed for about an hour. Then removed it. So, it was (lack of) quality instead of DRM that prevented me from using it. I'm happy, i got the pirated version instead of paying then throwing it away.
I'm not so sure that the first hour of a pirated, hardcore CRPG is a good indicator of whether or not the game is worth playing (especially since, due to being pirated, it might have issues in it not in the official release). A lot of very good games had slow starts, including many Zelda games (especially Twilight Princess), Final Fantasy XII (which got great critical acclaim, even a perfect Famitsu score, despite it's slow start), the Monster Hunter series (I've put 11 hours into Monster Hunter Tri and I haven't even learned how to capture monsters yet), and so on. I'd give the game WAY longer than an hour before you decide if it's good or not. Some of the most engaging games I've played had slow starts.
CD Projekt, the developer/publisher of the game, also owns GOG.com. The version they sold themselves was completely DRM-free, as is every other game on GOG. Why do you think that is? It's because, like they said, they have a stance against DRM. They hate it as much as we do, and they removed it very shortly after release not just because it caused issues, but because they never planned to keep the DRM on all versions of the game (which would that be stupidly inconsistent if they didn't remove it). What evidence do you have to believe that they approve of DRM? Your assertions are rather unfounded, and it would help if you actually did a little bit of research on CD Projekt before commenting.
For the record, the game is being developed by Team Ninja, not Nintendo, and it isn't even being published by them. And I know you might have not been totally serious, but you do know that Dead or Alive is a fighting game, right? A fighting game that, like almost all of the other famous fighting games out there, does not involve "blood splattering the screen from the inside". The complaint had to do with a mode where you can position the camera to look at their clothed crotches, not normal gameplay.
It's not convenient to keep moving your hand to and from the mouse and keyboard.
You have two hands, right? Most people do. If you do, just keep one hand near the keyboard and the other near the mouse. Problem solved.
I think these new UIs are completely forgetting they need to work with multiple interfaces. They're also heavy on the eye candy to look cool and fresh. Personally, the desktop should not be the focus. It's merely the means to get to the real applications. I want to be able to launch my apps, see any status I want to see and easily switch between open applications. That's all the shell really needs to accomplish for me.
Last I checked, it already does all of that very well. A tap of the windows key and then typing/clicking on a favorite is all you need to launch an app. Notifications are also visible in the message tray (bottom-right corner) in and out of the overlay. Switching windows can be accomplished by simply clicking on the window, using Alt+Tab/Alt+[above tab], the overlay (a tap of the windows key; there's even an extension to make navigating the windows in the overlay with the keyboard possible), the dash (favorites list)... There's more than enough ways to switch the windows you have open. Also, GNOME 3 was designed to be usable on desktops, small screens (which they admit they have a few problems with right now), and touch devices (which is going to be better in 3.2).
The documentation for GNOME 3 is very easy to read; it's not like a confusing man page or anything. Just type Alt+F2 and type "yelp" (or look for the launcher for Help in the applications menu). You can also read around online if you want, but yelp is also very helpful.
Try to learn the keyboard shortcuts (Windows, Alt+Tab/Alt+`, searching to launch apps... etc.). It makes the experience much better than the other desktops I've tried. Also, check out some of the fantastic GNOME Shell extensions that have been released on the internet. There's a places/device menu extension icons on the top panel, a less slide-y message tray, etc. To tell you the truth, though, I don't use GNOME 3 with any extensions at all; it works that well for me. Read the documentation, approach it with an open mind, and it might just grow on you like it did to me and many other users:)
If you could change one thing about copyright/IP law in the USA, what would it be? If you can't think of only one thing, two or three would be fine. You license your music under a Creative Commons license, which is great as I support Creative Commons and other, similar licenses very much.
Second, optional question: Who are some of your favorite independent musicians (like you)?
And yet the/. groupthink-people mod the baseless troll up. How logical! There are no people in the world that like GNOME and agree with their decisions, nope... *cough*
Slashdot Mirror
- plus some others I've likely forgotten
- Viewtiful Joe (was originally an exclusive, later brought to PS2 along with RE4)
- Baten Kaitos (RPG series by Monolith Soft)
- Battalion Wars
- Obligatory Mario Party
- Super Smash Bros. Melee
- Pikmin 1 + 2
- LoZ Twilight Princess (released as a GC title without being horizontally flipped like the Wii version was)
- Luigi's Mansion
- Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles (VERY fun if you had more than one GBA link cable)
- The best versions of every multi-platform Sonic title (check the reviews)
- Arguably the best version of Soul Calibur II, as it had Link in it as well as the best loading times
etc.
I'm probably a bigger GC-fan than you are, as I grew up with one. It will always be my favorite console besides the Wii, and I do agree that the PS2 had some awesome games. In fact I own one right here because I bought one used last year to catch up on the games I missed out on, like Kingdom Hearts or Shadow of the Colossus.
BTW, Bert64, the person cpu6502 was replying to above, the Gamecube was actually hacked due to Phantasy Star Online. You can also buy some peripherals for it today that allow easy homebrew support as well. The main barrier-to-entry for homebrew/hacking was the system's proprietary disc format and ports.
You can't eliminate the possibility that the problem might reside with a popular add-on or two. I'm not saying Firefox doesn't have a memory problem, but what many people see might be related to an add-on. I for one never have Firefox RAM levels nearly as high as that, as do many other people. Just because I don't see the problem, though, doesn't mean that it doesn't exist, but it's still important to provide WAY more information than "I went to some pages and my RAM went up". There are so many other variables missing from that so it makes the reporter sound like a troll when he might not mean to sound like one.
What add-ons are you using? One of those could be contributing to that rather high RAM usage.
...I honestly don't see how it's so hard to use your middle finger to press a button. The PS2/360/PS3 designs have four buttons on the back; I've just gotten into the habit of using my middle finger, which isn't nearly as hard as you say it is. In fact, it's pretty comfortable to me. Also, in SSBM, you can throw items with the C-stick, and almost everybody I know does that instead of simply dropping the item (why drop it when you can throw it off the edge or in someone's face?).
When they announced the N64 with its 3-prong controller, everyone said that looked like the most uncomfortable thing they'd ever seen -- and it was maybe the most comfortable one I've ever used, even to this day.
Have you tried the Gamecube controller and/or the Classic Controller Pro? As much as I love how versatile yet comfortable the N64 controller was, the Gamecube/CCP controllers were fantastically ergonomic. Unlike the PS2 controller which still makes my hands hurt to this day, I can go at Monster Hunter Tri for hours on the CCP and not feel a thing. Fantastic controller design, Nintendo has, really.
At the very least, it sounds like there's some real possibility there. I just hope I'm not paying $150 a controller!
The Wii U controller is designed so you only need one of them. The system, in effect, is just a severely upgraded Wii, to the point of the main multiplayer controller being the Wiimote. The regular Wii U controller is more or less meant for single-player games, or for a fifth player in multiplayer games (the demos they showed at E3 are very slick and indicate the possibilities for the controller; check them out on any gaming website, like IGN or Kotaku or Gamespot).
Zelda is not an adventure, it is an action-RPG (in fact, Zelda DEFINES what action-RPG even means).
It has elements of both, but Zelda is almost entirely an adventure game. Even though it's an action game and has RPG elements, that doesn't necessarily make it an "action RPG". Adventure games involve getting from Point A to Point B, usually from solving a puzzle or collecting an item that allows you to pass (in the case of Zelda, a weapon you find in a dungeon or a key item). This fits the definition of "adventure game" perfectly. The only Zelda game that I'd consider to be Action RPG-like would be Majora's Mask, because there's so many sidequests and optional things to do in that game that it really has that Action RPG feel.
If you want a good example of an Action RPG, check out Kingdom Hearts (first one preferably) or Monster Hunter, especially the latter game which is much more RPG-like in nature.
Zelda Zelda Zelda Zelda. Since she's 10, she might get a kick out of Wind Waker due to kid-friendly themes (while still not being completely kid-sanitized) and a slightly better learning curve than, say, Twilight Princess or Ocarina of Time. You can't go wrong with Zelda, and Wind Waker is a really, really great game. Exploring those islands, filling my sea chart with maps of the islands and so on will live on forever in my memories because of the sense of discovery in that game. It was pretty easy to play, too, while still having challenging puzzles.
"The average gutter dwelling noob could never understand the rarefied nobility and intellectual challenge of the maximize button, so I, as their superior, as a shining example of Nietzsche's overman, will take away that dangerous option from them for their own good"
Woah woah woah, slow down there. GNOME 3 removed the maximize button from the default configuration (it's still there technically) but not the functionality. It was redundant to have the maximize button there, not only because it was so close to the close button which could accidentally be clicked, but because you can maximize by dragging the window to the top and/or double-clicking the window border.
There must not be a learning curve or the people at the bottom of it might have hurt feelings.
You have a really messed-up definition of "learning curve" and are over-simplifying this way, way too much. Minimalism and simplifying a UI aren't bad things at all. In the end, the UI that people like more will win out anyways, so it's pretty pointless to complain about something that might actually be a good UI if you get used to it; how's that for a learning curve? For example, GNOME 3, for me, took a day or two to get used to as it was so different from GNOME 2, but it's much easier, simpler, and better than GNOME 2 for me. Am I not allowed to like it because it's "minimalist" and "simplistic" and doesn't have eons of buttons and settings for me to configure? I have different priorities than the average "power user" in that sense, and so should you in this case. I don't mean to sound offensive, but at least give these new UIs a try before you complain about their flaws; some things that sound bad on paper aren't nearly as bad in real life, and you might notice some significant benefits to new UIs while you're at it. You'll never know until you try! :)
Can you please give some examples of how shiny interfaces, like those on phones, are insufficient and/or somehow always bad? I have never once heard, in my days browsing the internet, a valid reason to dislike things about phone interfaces. If there's something good to be gained from them, why not let your design be positively influenced by them? It's only logical.
Well... it kinda feels like the new Gnome and Unity interfaces, which everybody hates...
Woah woah woah, define "everybody". I like it (GNOME 3, not Unity), as do many, many other people (even Arch Linux mods/admins, and that community is the "be as minimal as possible, simplicity is better" type). Simply because some picky people don't like it doesn't mean that "everybody hates it". Don't let vocal minorities fool you into thinking that everybody hates it.
A good example is Final Fantasy XII for the PS2. That game got tons and tons of critical acclaim, and even got a perfect Famitsu score (40/40, reviewed by four people with 1-10 scores, added up). Yet, tons of people on the internet hate it because it wasn't "exactly like the earlier final fantasy games". I, for one, loved it. You just have to approach the game, like GNOME 3, with an open mind. I've played Final Fantasy I, II, V, VI, VII, IX, and even X, and XII remains my favorite. Another example is Metroid Other M, which got generally good reception (with the exception of an awful X-Play review, giving it a 2/5 because the girl that reviewed it called it "sexist" and doesn't know how to review games). I've played every single Metroid game prior, and I loved Other M. Yet, the internet is bent on hating it for some weird reason. Likewise, I've been used to GNOME 2 for a long time and GNOME 3 works very well for me.
I guess the internet is full of picky people that can't look at things with an open mind, sadly. Don't let their negativity about everything fool you. And no, I'm not saying GNOME 3 is flawless; I'm saying that if you approach it with an open mind and get used to it, it's very good. If you do have valid problems though besides the UI not being exactly like how it used to be, then file a bug report and see what the devs think the best way to deal with the problem is.
And the GNOME 3 equivalent:
System Settings -> System Info -> Graphics -> Forced Fallback Mode
Then just log out and log back in. Another interesting thing to do, GNOME or not, is this:
xinit /usr/bin/insert-game-here -- :1
That runs the game in a separate X server, which, depending on your setup, can increase performance. You can switch between it and your standard desktop with Ctrl+Alt+F6/F7/F8/etc, so it's very helpful for games you can't minimize out of, or games that require a different resolution than your desktop is.
As much as I agree, this is a little different. This is for entertainment (Netflix), not knowledge. Also, you have to pay to use Netflix and it's meant to be used by the household members of whoever's paying for it and nobody else. As long as we have the internet, there will be free information out there.
However, over the last three years, I've watched both Gnome and KDE go from stable to hacked together pieces of crap that barely run.
Have you ever fiddled around with panel widgets in GNOME 2? Do that, resize your monitor a few times, install some third party applets that crash half the time when logging in, and THEN talk to me about "hacked together pieces of crap that barely run". If anything, by not supporting user-movable panel applets, GNOME 3 is improving on the GNOME 2 design. Sure, you can use extensions (and there's a TON of those), but by no means is it "hacked together" and more than GNOME 2 was. I can't speak for KDE, though, as I'm not a KDE user.
I stayed on KDE3 for a very long time after 4 was released, because, as has become common, it was released completely unfinished.
If I'm not mistaken, even KDE itself said that 4.0 wasn't meant for mass consumption and it was meant for developers. I could be wrong on that quote, though.
Well, that was great! Almost every feature I used either gone or mangled. It can no longer render windows properly, causes video playback to jump and freeze, and is now almost entirely unusable with my new video card. Gnome is even worse.
File a bug report or two? Maybe it's not KDE/GNOME's fault. That sounds like video card driver issues to me. Have you tried the open-source equivalents of your graphics drivers? I notice some problems when using the binary Nvidia driver that I don't notice with Nouveau, and vice-versa, for example.
I think Linux needs a complete change in focus and methodology, or it is going to end up losing what little market share it has. It is time to stop trying to copy Apple UIs and time to start worrying about stability. This whole batch of project managers has failed us - we need mass forks of major projects.
Oh my...
1) GNU is not Linux, GNOME is not Linux. KDE is not Linux. You can use one without the other just fine.
2) Your problems, from what I'm reasing, have absolutely nothing to do with the DEs but rather ATI.
3) I highly doubt that GNOME/KDE are trying to be terrible. If you have good suggestions, get in touch with the designers! Find out their priorities and make something that will please everyone. I, for one, love GNOME 3 (gasp! but that's against the Slashdot groupthink that GNOME is a feature-removing, unusable piece of trash!). Very much. If there's ever something in the UI that I don't understand, I ask about it and try to wrap my head around it. If I think of a better way to do something, I ask them about it and maybe file a bug report about it.
4) You wanna fork GNOME/KDE? Be my guest. It's a lot more work than it sounds though...
On a related note, do the Slashdot mods always mod up negative-sounding people because dissent is seen as smart for some reason, no matter whether or not the person is being smart? Is the anti-current-desktop groupthink really that strong? If it's so impossible to like current desktops, why do I love GNOME? Has anybody ever thought that just because some picky people on Slashdot don't like them, that they have to be terrible no matter what anyone thinks? How depressing...
You misread. The article says that the percentage of total internet traffic that belongs to file-sharing will decrease; not necessarily that there will be less file-sharing. I can only assume that Netflix and similar services are to blame for videos taking up so much bandwidth, as they're incredibly popular. On a related note, you really should try Netflix. I have almost no urge at all to pirate anything with them. Every week they add tons of movies and shows, some of which are absolutely fantastic (FLCL, anyone?), and whatever isn't available on streaming is available on DVD very easily. Why pirate when something as relatively inexpensive and not-bandwidth-hogging as Netflix is exists?
The only things I've ever even *thought* of pirating now are those old Digimon shows I used to see as a kid, because Bandai won't sell them to me on DVD. Rawr...
Capitalists fought safer cars at every turn and still do today.
Citation needed. I'm not saying I disagree with you, but statements like that without citations always bug me no matter what they are. Talking about capitalists like bad guys (as if they always are) is rather disturbingly inaccurate as well.
Actually, it didn't. I had this game installed for about an hour. Then removed it. So, it was (lack of) quality instead of DRM that prevented me from using it.
I'm happy, i got the pirated version instead of paying then throwing it away.
I'm not so sure that the first hour of a pirated, hardcore CRPG is a good indicator of whether or not the game is worth playing (especially since, due to being pirated, it might have issues in it not in the official release). A lot of very good games had slow starts, including many Zelda games (especially Twilight Princess), Final Fantasy XII (which got great critical acclaim, even a perfect Famitsu score, despite it's slow start), the Monster Hunter series (I've put 11 hours into Monster Hunter Tri and I haven't even learned how to capture monsters yet), and so on. I'd give the game WAY longer than an hour before you decide if it's good or not. Some of the most engaging games I've played had slow starts.
CD Projekt, the developer/publisher of the game, also owns GOG.com. The version they sold themselves was completely DRM-free, as is every other game on GOG. Why do you think that is? It's because, like they said, they have a stance against DRM. They hate it as much as we do, and they removed it very shortly after release not just because it caused issues, but because they never planned to keep the DRM on all versions of the game (which would that be stupidly inconsistent if they didn't remove it). What evidence do you have to believe that they approve of DRM? Your assertions are rather unfounded, and it would help if you actually did a little bit of research on CD Projekt before commenting.
Agreed. One-year-underage panties never killed anyone (neither did bloody virtual violence).
For the record, the game is being developed by Team Ninja, not Nintendo, and it isn't even being published by them. And I know you might have not been totally serious, but you do know that Dead or Alive is a fighting game, right? A fighting game that, like almost all of the other famous fighting games out there, does not involve "blood splattering the screen from the inside". The complaint had to do with a mode where you can position the camera to look at their clothed crotches, not normal gameplay.
"Lesbian Nazi hookers abducted by UFOs and forced into weight-loss programs. All this week on Town Talk"
Fixed that for myself. Also, here's a 10-second clip of the quote (SFW)
"Lesbian Nazi hookers abducted by aliens and forced into weight-loss programs. All next week on Town Talk"
- George Newman (Weird Al Yankovic), UHF
It's not convenient to keep moving your hand to and from the mouse and keyboard.
You have two hands, right? Most people do. If you do, just keep one hand near the keyboard and the other near the mouse. Problem solved.
I think these new UIs are completely forgetting they need to work with multiple interfaces. They're also heavy on the eye candy to look cool and fresh. Personally, the desktop should not be the focus. It's merely the means to get to the real applications. I want to be able to launch my apps, see any status I want to see and easily switch between open applications. That's all the shell really needs to accomplish for me.
Last I checked, it already does all of that very well. A tap of the windows key and then typing/clicking on a favorite is all you need to launch an app. Notifications are also visible in the message tray (bottom-right corner) in and out of the overlay. Switching windows can be accomplished by simply clicking on the window, using Alt+Tab/Alt+[above tab], the overlay (a tap of the windows key; there's even an extension to make navigating the windows in the overlay with the keyboard possible), the dash (favorites list)... There's more than enough ways to switch the windows you have open. Also, GNOME 3 was designed to be usable on desktops, small screens (which they admit they have a few problems with right now), and touch devices (which is going to be better in 3.2).
The documentation for GNOME 3 is very easy to read; it's not like a confusing man page or anything. Just type Alt+F2 and type "yelp" (or look for the launcher for Help in the applications menu). You can also read around online if you want, but yelp is also very helpful.
Try to learn the keyboard shortcuts (Windows, Alt+Tab/Alt+`, searching to launch apps... etc.). It makes the experience much better than the other desktops I've tried. Also, check out some of the fantastic GNOME Shell extensions that have been released on the internet. There's a places/device menu extension icons on the top panel, a less slide-y message tray, etc. To tell you the truth, though, I don't use GNOME 3 with any extensions at all; it works that well for me. Read the documentation, approach it with an open mind, and it might just grow on you like it did to me and many other users :)
If you could change one thing about copyright/IP law in the USA, what would it be? If you can't think of only one thing, two or three would be fine. You license your music under a Creative Commons license, which is great as I support Creative Commons and other, similar licenses very much.
Second, optional question: Who are some of your favorite independent musicians (like you)?
And yet the /. groupthink-people mod the baseless troll up. How logical! There are no people in the world that like GNOME and agree with their decisions, nope... *cough*