(Before I go further, I want to note that I am not trying to start a flamewar.)
With all due respect, I think you're forgetting a few things thing. Let's start with what's the biggest for me: a distro that handles the install properly. I have tried many distros over the last few years, and while they've all moved forward with leaps and bounds, none of them "just work" out of the box.
Let's use Ubuntu as an example. It's far better than it was even a year ago, but it's still not perfect. For example, on Saturday, I started the quest of installing Ubuntu as the primary operating system on an older PC. The install seemed to go fine, but after doing the updates, I suddenly had no sound from my SB Live! I managed to resuscitate it after a bit, but that's the sort of thing that just shouldn't happen. Also, earlier today, BMPx randomly stopped working. I had closed everything and put my computer to sleep, and when I came back three hours later, BMPx refused to start.
You make a good point with your video comment: it's pretty easy to play video on Linux now. Will pretty much any video play? Yes. Is it blindly obvious as to how to play an encrypted DVD? It's getting there. Audio's the problem now. People seem to be focusing so much on video now that information on installing support for such things as WMA audio (c'mon, do you really expect people to rerip everything that they most certainly own?:P ).
And then there's the ubiquitous gaming comment. Thankfully, Wine's making progress, but contrary to what Linux zealots want us to think, it's not actually perfect! Support for games using OpenGL is pretty good, and as someone said earlier today in another comment (forgotten where, sorry), so is support for programs that were actually written the "right" way, but it's still far from perfect.
So, I guess, to sum up: these days, Linux is pretty (or at least, not butt-ugly as it used to be), user-friendly (once it's all working properly), and there's a wide range of utility programs out there. It just needs better gaming, easier-to-find information on installing support and codecs for protected audio formats, and it needs to just work (and keep working!) out of the box.
I think the other replies pretty much sum up the answer to the nerd points question, but I'll try to sum up what this is about.
Strong Bad is a fictional character created by The Brothers Chaps of Homestar Runner, a very popular Flash cartoon series.
While the name would suggest that the toons are about Homestar, the majority of them come from a section of the site called "Strong Bad Emails", in which Strong Bad answers e-mails sent to "his" e-mail address (strongbad [at] homestarrunner [dot] com) by the readership.
TFA is about the first episode in a video game starring Strong Bad. As a side note, in case you didn't know, Telltale Games are the good folks who gave us the (modern) adventures of Sam & Max. Great stuff.
Ah, thanks for telling me. Do you know what sort of protection is on the discs? Are the burnt games already set up for fully offline use, or do they still require activation through Steam?
That still doesn't account for future operating system reinstalls or new computers - you may have paid for the game, but how do you install it on another computer if the game's been disabled from the server side?
Correct me if I'm wrong - I don't use Steam - but I'm not aware of any "backup to CD/DVD" option, let alone one that doesn't include DRM on the disc.
You're right, I should take back part of what I said about AVG... 7.5 was great, but 8 is a little much. Its resident scanner's memory consumption doubled (~20MB to ~40MB). It's still not bad without the toolbar, though, and it's miles ahead of either McAfee or Norton (which was what I was mainly getting at, seeing as those two make up the largest percentage of bundled antivirus installations).
I've been meaning to try NOD32; thanks for reminding me.
I'll put $20 down that their test rig wasn't running an antivirus package from a major vendor such as McAfee or Symantec, since those kinds of apps kill performance like nothing else on Window.
Fixed that for you. Smaller antivirus packages (in terms of both program size and corporate size), such as AVG, make a barely noticeable impact on system performance, even in Vista.
Most 13-inch and larger televisions manufactured for the United States market since 1999 and all units as of January 2000 are required to have the V-chip technology.
I can see DRM methods like this absolutely sucking for dial-up users. Having to authenticate the game once every 10 days or so doesn't seem too bad (except for the fact that DRM is DRM no matter what way you look at it), but I shudder at the thought of having to connect - any maybe even stay online while I play, holding down my phone line - every time I want to play the game.
(And don't say, "get highspeed" - there are many places, especially in rural Canada, where it's impossible to get anything close to decent highspeed for a decent price, even if the equipment to use it is readily available.)
Pfft, have you ever tried opening a complex Office or Word document in OO.o? As awesome a product as it is, it's downright lousy for handling things like image filters and pixel-perfect positioning on Word documents. It tries, yes, and sometimes it does OK, but it's far from perfect.
Slashdot Mirror
(Before I go further, I want to note that I am not trying to start a flamewar.)
With all due respect, I think you're forgetting a few things thing. Let's start with what's the biggest for me: a distro that handles the install properly. I have tried many distros over the last few years, and while they've all moved forward with leaps and bounds, none of them "just work" out of the box.
Let's use Ubuntu as an example. It's far better than it was even a year ago, but it's still not perfect. For example, on Saturday, I started the quest of installing Ubuntu as the primary operating system on an older PC. The install seemed to go fine, but after doing the updates, I suddenly had no sound from my SB Live! I managed to resuscitate it after a bit, but that's the sort of thing that just shouldn't happen. Also, earlier today, BMPx randomly stopped working. I had closed everything and put my computer to sleep, and when I came back three hours later, BMPx refused to start.
You make a good point with your video comment: it's pretty easy to play video on Linux now. Will pretty much any video play? Yes. Is it blindly obvious as to how to play an encrypted DVD? It's getting there. Audio's the problem now. People seem to be focusing so much on video now that information on installing support for such things as WMA audio (c'mon, do you really expect people to rerip everything that they most certainly own? :P ).
And then there's the ubiquitous gaming comment. Thankfully, Wine's making progress, but contrary to what Linux zealots want us to think, it's not actually perfect! Support for games using OpenGL is pretty good, and as someone said earlier today in another comment (forgotten where, sorry), so is support for programs that were actually written the "right" way, but it's still far from perfect.
So, I guess, to sum up: these days, Linux is pretty (or at least, not butt-ugly as it used to be), user-friendly (once it's all working properly), and there's a wide range of utility programs out there. It just needs better gaming, easier-to-find information on installing support and codecs for protected audio formats, and it needs to just work (and keep working!) out of the box.
--- Mr. DOS
I think the other replies pretty much sum up the answer to the nerd points question, but I'll try to sum up what this is about.
Strong Bad is a fictional character created by The Brothers Chaps of Homestar Runner, a very popular Flash cartoon series.
While the name would suggest that the toons are about Homestar, the majority of them come from a section of the site called "Strong Bad Emails", in which Strong Bad answers e-mails sent to "his" e-mail address (strongbad [at] homestarrunner [dot] com) by the readership.
TFA is about the first episode in a video game starring Strong Bad. As a side note, in case you didn't know, Telltale Games are the good folks who gave us the (modern) adventures of Sam & Max. Great stuff.
--- Mr. DOS
Sorry, but last time I checked, there was only one MacGyver ;)
--- Mr. DOS
Ah, thanks for telling me. Do you know what sort of protection is on the discs? Are the burnt games already set up for fully offline use, or do they still require activation through Steam?
--- Mr. DOS
That still doesn't account for future operating system reinstalls or new computers - you may have paid for the game, but how do you install it on another computer if the game's been disabled from the server side?
Correct me if I'm wrong - I don't use Steam - but I'm not aware of any "backup to CD/DVD" option, let alone one that doesn't include DRM on the disc.
--- Mr. DOS
You're right, I should take back part of what I said about AVG... 7.5 was great, but 8 is a little much. Its resident scanner's memory consumption doubled (~20MB to ~40MB). It's still not bad without the toolbar, though, and it's miles ahead of either McAfee or Norton (which was what I was mainly getting at, seeing as those two make up the largest percentage of bundled antivirus installations).
I've been meaning to try NOD32; thanks for reminding me.
--- Mr. DOS
Fixed that for you. Smaller antivirus packages (in terms of both program size and corporate size), such as AVG, make a barely noticeable impact on system performance, even in Vista.
--- Mr. DOS
Darn, and just when I run out of mod points. Even if it is AC, and even if it does just back up the parent's point ;)
--- Mr. DOS
Just for the record: I'm 16, and I cannot wait for this. But then, I'm not exactly your usual 16-year-old ;)
--- Mr. DOS
Indeed. From Wikipedia:
--- Mr. DOS
- Slashdot - http://rss.slashdot.org/Slashdot/slashdot (well, duh) /. generally carries)
- Slashdot: Games - http://rss.slashdot.org/Slashdot/slashdotGames
- El Reg - http://www.theregister.co.uk/headlines.rss (different sort of tech news than
- Wired - http://feeds.wired.com/wired/topheadlines (sometimes nice for a change, although I don't read anywhere near all of it)
--- Mr. DOS
Infinity plus one?
--- Mr. DOS
So where does that put the creator of C++? ;)
--- Mr. DOS
I, for one, cannot wait for this. No, I have been waiting - for several years.
Once again, Canada gets the epic fail when it comes to technology. Great country and all, but can we try to keep on top of this sorta thing?
--- Mr. DOS
Isn't that basically what Rob's doing by posting this?
--- Mr. DOS
--- Mr. DOS
...Until you realize that you have to stop looking at females because it's too painful otherwise ;)
--- Mr. DOS
I use zsh you insensitive clod!
--- Mr. DOS
I can see DRM methods like this absolutely sucking for dial-up users. Having to authenticate the game once every 10 days or so doesn't seem too bad (except for the fact that DRM is DRM no matter what way you look at it), but I shudder at the thought of having to connect - any maybe even stay online while I play, holding down my phone line - every time I want to play the game.
(And don't say, "get highspeed" - there are many places, especially in rural Canada, where it's impossible to get anything close to decent highspeed for a decent price, even if the equipment to use it is readily available.)
--- Mr. DOS
Pfft, have you ever tried opening a complex Office or Word document in OO.o? As awesome a product as it is, it's downright lousy for handling things like image filters and pixel-perfect positioning on Word documents. It tries, yes, and sometimes it does OK, but it's far from perfect.