Floppies being phased out is a CERTAINTY. Steam going off-line is a maybe. Give me steam content over physical media protection. If required, and a crack is needed, so be it - we're simply back to where we would be with the phase out of physical media.
So what happens when the industry moves on and CD drives are no longer available, and future optical drives do not support the bastardized CD copy protection used? Before you laugh - it already virtually happened with floppy drives (certainly 5 1/4" floppies already).
Your games requiring physical media will either:
not work
require a patch from the publisher - if they're still around
require a hack from the community - which is a DMCA violation
In short, you're potentially screwed.
Physical media protection (CD) is just as bad, or potentially worse than online protection these days.
If valve were to fuck people over and remove access to the software they have licensed, you could be sure that there would be a class action suit and it would be pretty suicidal for the company and its management.
They "could" do what you say, just as much as a government could up their tax rate by 60% in one hit to fuck over the citizenry. COULD... but it would be suicidal.
I suspect that it is just "good" code - written with an eye to portability, just in case, in mind.
Blizzard were one of the few developers who supported running their old directX games (like, diablo 1) on Windows NT4.
None of their games really push hardware that hard (they rely on gameplay a lot more than "oh so pretty!!!") - so they can probably afford to write more "safe" code without using ugly performance hackery.
It would not surprise me in the slightest if they are testing stuff on Wine / Cedega in house already (and have been for years), but just haven't officially "supported" it because they don't want to deal with the support calls just yet.
If steam on linux takes off (and I reckon its going to be a huge boost to linux/OS X, and succeed) - then expect other developers to follow suit in the next couple of years. Blizzard will likely be one of the first, given the compatible nature of their games.
I second that. OpenAL is freely available and already used by a bunch of Windows games as well. Either option works pretty well, is cross platform, etc.
Minor problems to fix. OS X uses a case preserving, but case insensitive filesystem by default, however...
I can see why it needs write access to the steam folder by users - multiple users probably want to run steam and be able to share its cache for downloaded content. To do that they need to write to it when they download.
Not really very elegant, but if you've got console access to the machine you've got root if you want it anyway....
... given that lower frequency gets through walls better, and my current 2.4ghz access point is relatively crap at doing so, I would wager that 60ghz wifi will be useful only if you live like a hobo in a cardboard box.
Unless you put APs everywhere so you have line of sight... but... meh.
Don't assume that your degree or university taught "best practice" is the best way to do things at your employer. NO ONE likes a (freshly university educated) know-it-all who really doesn't know shit from chocolate in the real world. You may well have been taught "best practice" but in reality compromises often need to be made. Be helpful and be willing to learn how things work at your company before spouting off how everyone there has it wrong.
+1 to this. As linux starts getting administered by, used and developed for by people with less of a clue, expect the security problems to increase. Yes in theory more eyes on code, etc is less problems. In reality, it would appear that maybe it has been the case so far - but so far security history has been skewed by the number of users on linux (or BSD, or OS X, or whatever) being quite low in comparison to the Windows world. Windows users (and windows admins) also include the bottom of the computer literacy demographic as well.
Re:You signed away this "right" by picking Apple.
on
Flash Is Not a Right
·
· Score: 1
Its listed on apple's own software page. If you can't do something with software you have, you look for an alternative. Be it playing video, writing an office document or whatever.
If you feel like jumping through hoops, try playing a generic MPEG2 file on a Mac.
Download/install Perian.
Done. Next. It even auto-updates for new codec support. That wasn't too many hoops to jump through? Something I figured out within half an hour as a brand new mac user.
Re:You signed away this "right" by picking Apple.
on
Flash Is Not a Right
·
· Score: 1
I for one am GLAD i have no flash on my iphone. Flash sucks, its only ever used for nefarious/pointless purposes, its buggy, shit and insecure. There are other ways of doing things without flash, and I've never seen it used for any real useful purpose.
Apple are plenty generous when it comes to the distribution and licensing of the apple developer tools. If you want to program in flash, then find some other device (preferably one that is not compatible with anything I own) to do it with.
Having a heap of extra crap on your bike/car keys makes then swing/dangle about and destroy either the interior trim of your car or the finish on the triple clamp of you bike.
I have 5 sets of keys (other than work stuff, that stays at work - external access to work is via swipe card).
car key on its own soft leather key ring
primary bike key, on a keyring with a soft rubber tag
fun bike key, also on a keyring with a soft rubber tag
house key, garage door key
other seldom used, non-vehicle keys (these typically stay in a safe place at home)
I only take the keys with me for whatever vehicle (which is in the barrel until i get off it and then it goes in my pocket) along with the house key/garage door opener.
I see zero point in carrying around a multitude of keys for stuff I am not likely to need until i get back to the house.
OGG/theora having zero hardware support, lack of OGG supporting video tools and there being a massive backlog of h.264 encoded video has absolutely nothing to do with it of course.
If people want ogg/theora to take off and become a "standard" then people have to have an incentive to use it, first. Be it superior quality, superior hardware support, superior tools or whatever. Until at least one and preferably ALL of those elements in place, bitching about "oh but its free!" is going to fall on deaf ears.
Most people don't care about free if its crap or makes their life harder.
The CODEC/container format and video tag should be totally independent. Specify codec/container in the tag and let users pick the best codec for a given situation. For 99.99% of people, my bet is that is currently h.264. However, in future that may change - binding a codec to the tag is short sighted.
Until OGG offers something other than "its free" people bitching about it becoming a "Standard" are dreaming. No one cares.
Because 99% of general day to day "office" work is stuff that is written in 5 minutes and then discarded, or a slight modification of an existing template (code stays same, data changes).
Yes, code maintenance is nice, but for 99% of OFFICE workers (as opposed to geeks, admins, etc) it isn't an issue.
good luck getting the average office drone (you know, the people who actually need to USE office suites day to day) to learn those options. the average corporate office drone doesn't have time to learn SQL. Access (as evil and broken as we all know it is) allows them to do something quick and dirty to solve a problem on the spot within a few minutes.
Slashdot Mirror
Actually, sounds to me like Ryan Tate got owned, and ended the discussion with his tail between his legs.
I still play games from 1995 or so. By 2020, realistically i'm likely to still occasionally fire up games from 2010.
By floppies, I meant physical media such as cd/dvd. Only had 1 coffee this morning...
Floppies being phased out is a CERTAINTY. Steam going off-line is a maybe. Give me steam content over physical media protection. If required, and a crack is needed, so be it - we're simply back to where we would be with the phase out of physical media.
So what happens when your 2015 machine has no optical drive, and is 100% dependent on network connectivity or flash cards?
Think i'm off in fantasy land? Go find me a 5 1/4" floppy drive for a laptop....
So what happens when the industry moves on and CD drives are no longer available, and future optical drives do not support the bastardized CD copy protection used? Before you laugh - it already virtually happened with floppy drives (certainly 5 1/4" floppies already).
Your games requiring physical media will either:
In short, you're potentially screwed.
Physical media protection (CD) is just as bad, or potentially worse than online protection these days.
If valve were to fuck people over and remove access to the software they have licensed, you could be sure that there would be a class action suit and it would be pretty suicidal for the company and its management.
They "could" do what you say, just as much as a government could up their tax rate by 60% in one hit to fuck over the citizenry. COULD... but it would be suicidal.
I suspect that it is just "good" code - written with an eye to portability, just in case, in mind.
Blizzard were one of the few developers who supported running their old directX games (like, diablo 1) on Windows NT4.
None of their games really push hardware that hard (they rely on gameplay a lot more than "oh so pretty!!!") - so they can probably afford to write more "safe" code without using ugly performance hackery.
It would not surprise me in the slightest if they are testing stuff on Wine / Cedega in house already (and have been for years), but just haven't officially "supported" it because they don't want to deal with the support calls just yet.
If steam on linux takes off (and I reckon its going to be a huge boost to linux/OS X, and succeed) - then expect other developers to follow suit in the next couple of years. Blizzard will likely be one of the first, given the compatible nature of their games.
I second that. OpenAL is freely available and already used by a bunch of Windows games as well. Either option works pretty well, is cross platform, etc.
I just don't water it so it doesn't grow, thus solving the problem permanently.
Minor problems to fix. OS X uses a case preserving, but case insensitive filesystem by default, however...
I can see why it needs write access to the steam folder by users - multiple users probably want to run steam and be able to share its cache for downloaded content. To do that they need to write to it when they download.
Not really very elegant, but if you've got console access to the machine you've got root if you want it anyway....
Unless you put APs everywhere so you have line of sight... but... meh.
Don't assume that your degree or university taught "best practice" is the best way to do things at your employer. NO ONE likes a (freshly university educated) know-it-all who really doesn't know shit from chocolate in the real world. You may well have been taught "best practice" but in reality compromises often need to be made. Be helpful and be willing to learn how things work at your company before spouting off how everyone there has it wrong.
+1 to this. As linux starts getting administered by, used and developed for by people with less of a clue, expect the security problems to increase. Yes in theory more eyes on code, etc is less problems. In reality, it would appear that maybe it has been the case so far - but so far security history has been skewed by the number of users on linux (or BSD, or OS X, or whatever) being quite low in comparison to the Windows world. Windows users (and windows admins) also include the bottom of the computer literacy demographic as well.
Javascript is cross platform.
Have fun not being able to use your box for plenty of stuff.
Its listed on apple's own software page. If you can't do something with software you have, you look for an alternative. Be it playing video, writing an office document or whatever.
Download/install Perian.
Done. Next. It even auto-updates for new codec support. That wasn't too many hoops to jump through? Something I figured out within half an hour as a brand new mac user.
Apple are plenty generous when it comes to the distribution and licensing of the apple developer tools. If you want to program in flash, then find some other device (preferably one that is not compatible with anything I own) to do it with.
Having a heap of extra crap on your bike/car keys makes then swing/dangle about and destroy either the interior trim of your car or the finish on the triple clamp of you bike.
I have 5 sets of keys (other than work stuff, that stays at work - external access to work is via swipe card).
I only take the keys with me for whatever vehicle (which is in the barrel until i get off it and then it goes in my pocket) along with the house key/garage door opener.
I see zero point in carrying around a multitude of keys for stuff I am not likely to need until i get back to the house.
OGG/theora having zero hardware support, lack of OGG supporting video tools and there being a massive backlog of h.264 encoded video has absolutely nothing to do with it of course.
If people want ogg/theora to take off and become a "standard" then people have to have an incentive to use it, first. Be it superior quality, superior hardware support, superior tools or whatever. Until at least one and preferably ALL of those elements in place, bitching about "oh but its free!" is going to fall on deaf ears.
Most people don't care about free if its crap or makes their life harder.
The CODEC/container format and video tag should be totally independent. Specify codec/container in the tag and let users pick the best codec for a given situation. For 99.99% of people, my bet is that is currently h.264. However, in future that may change - binding a codec to the tag is short sighted.
Until OGG offers something other than "its free" people bitching about it becoming a "Standard" are dreaming. No one cares.
Yeah... but *I* am not creating h.264 video. My camera is. And my camera (or rather, my camera's manufacturer) has a license.
Its just a speed bump on the way to thought recognition, which will be far more useful.
Yes, code maintenance is nice, but for 99% of OFFICE workers (as opposed to geeks, admins, etc) it isn't an issue.
good luck getting the average office drone (you know, the people who actually need to USE office suites day to day) to learn those options. the average corporate office drone doesn't have time to learn SQL. Access (as evil and broken as we all know it is) allows them to do something quick and dirty to solve a problem on the spot within a few minutes.