I'm fond of this analysis. However, after a few hours of thinking about it, it occurred to me that there's a significant flaw here. Namely: MS, by selling cheap products, made it up in volume, and still had boatloads of cash to throw around and expand itself with. In the sense that GPL'd code is without cost, no one is specifically profiting from it. Therefore, if MS gets nasty in venues other than the naked marketplace (i.e., political lobbying, legislation against GPL'd code, legal attacks on GPL, patent lockups of critical technology), there'll be no monolithic organization to fund a defense of the interests of the GPL in these other arenas.
This weakness may be something like many dot-com-bust business cases; you can't "make it up on volume" while selling at zero or a loss.
I think that this article is off-base. What I don't think anyone has pointed out yet is, regardless of the article title or Slashdot commentary, it really doesn't have much to do with computer games... it's really just an observation of the "booth babe" culture at any large convention, video games or otherwise. I don't see anything in the article describing or criticizing the action in any actual game product.
Just this Sunday, the New York Times had a whole article booth-babe-culture, describing the same thing at auto races and trade shows, and never mentioning video games in particular. Some posters have said E3 babes with booths had fewer visitors (I wasn't there), but that seems to fly in the face of most trade show experiences. And according to the NYT article: "Competition for the job of trade-show hostess is so fierce that the agents who audition the young women and dispatch them to shows say that many would work for free just for the pleasure of all the attention." Read the whole thing here.
It seems like there's a lot of vitriol the Salon author got a chance to vent at geeks, with its shots of "white-trash sex fantasia", "mouth-breathing dudes", "disreputably grab-ass, twerpy", "underground... lost boys", and so forth. I'm not even sure I believe the anecdote about the anonymous gaming/gangbang session with a company-logoed prostitute... that just seems too perfectly disgusting, similar to that journalist a few years ago who fabricated a story about a "gangbang" at the Young Republicans convention in D.C.
To me, this article seems conceived in bad faith in a number of senses, and even misleading, in that it uses the experience of a trade show walkaround as shorthand for the products of a certain industry.
Children, even high schoolers, are not miniature adults. They lack both the biological maturity and life experience...
This, frankly, is completely untrue. Middle teenagers are in all ways biologically mature. Every previous culture has instituted it's "you're an adult now" ceremony at around the age of 13 or so.
Here in America, the saying is "Ignorance of the law is no defense against it." In other words, it's completely acceptable for someone to have no idea of the law (for whatever reason, we don't care) and be prosecuted under it.
The computer rarely stumbled upon six-word matches in papers that otherwise appeared to have been written independently. But almost every time it found a six-word match, it found long passages in common, up to cases where "virtually the entire paper is the same."
And:
Word got out about the honor investigation a week before this semester's term papers were due. When he tested the latest batch, he found almost no plagiarism.
That's incredibly strong evidence that this method is valid (and being double-checked reasonably).
Hmm, seems to me that the ownership of a living being by another living being is referred to as "slavery". No matter what color, etc. this is still the same issue.
Well, that statement is incorrect in all cases except where party (A) is a homo sapiens.
You're either trying to mislead people or only bothered to read the 1st claim yourself. Claim 5, "An apparatus for interaction between a plurality of users in a three-dimensional, computer-generated graphical space...", in detail, pretty much describes any 3D RPG or shooter client program.
I've got to add my "this is bullshit" comment to the chorus herein. The above poster is either joking or simply mad. If he's talking about Metaverses and the "destiny of our race, our species" to "transverse the universes", he's not really working on a PhD in Mathematics. (Which, parenthetically, he misspells as "D.Phill".)
The comment in no way resembles currect cosmological or mathematical research.
I disagree on a number of counts. Firstly, "this is Slashdot, and the left is disproportionately represented here". I my view, Slashdot commentators are distressingly to the right; either wildly pro-business or with an apolitical, let-me-live-anonymously militia-type mindset. (Both being flavors of the Ayn Rand-ish school of thought.)
Secondly, "who loses in this situation?" Clearly, the worker who has an increased genetic likelihood of receiving carpal tunnel syndrome. Apparently you think it's okay for a railroad company to not employ such a person. So, where do they work? I guess not in construction... or on an assembly line... or typing in an office. Under your argument, a whole class of people, through no fault of their own, are made unemployable and basically unable to get health insurance (in the US) for any such ailment that does occur.
Thirdly, "IMHO the real reason the economy has been in a downturn has been eight years of big government assault from the Clinton Administration..." With all your business acumen, have you never heard of an economic cycle? That we've just seen the longest period of increasing production ever? Please, clue us in to what Clinton-sponsored regulation forced cruddy VC investments and nutty Amazon market capitalizations to finally confront rational business reality. You know, there are legions of Democrats (et. al.) angry at Clinton for being the most pro-corporate leader of his party in decades. Count your blessings, Mr. Good Business.
you anti-gun ownership people understand the argument that I and others make... The right to bear arms is intended to keep the government in line, and within the law.
The second amendment is the only part of the Constitution that I know with a crystal-clear description of intention included in its language. Namely, "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state..."
Hence your argument does not stand; the right to bear arms is explicitly to be "well regulated" by the government, not used against it. Thus spake the amendment itself.
Look at the rioting in Cincinati. If policing were private, that would not have happened.
I'm a former Libertarian, and man, you have got to be joking. Look here for an essay on the use and abuses of private security guards, and here for an analysis of abuses in privately-run prisons.
I mean, god forbid that we engage in democracy and have authorities held accountable to a public decision-making process, or maintain social programs that are supported by the majority of our citizens.
So much for the standard Republican criticism of high taxes and Social Security, "average people can manage their own money better than the government can!"
The folks who drop out in the buyout process are the ones who aren't committed to the product but to a certain lifestyle.
Bullshit. Does anyone actually find a buck off soda and a Nerf game once in a while critical to where they're employed? You've got to be kidding me... in all the dot-com hype pieces I've ever seen, no one's ever been quoted as saying "I work here for the free food".
All that stuff is just peripheral, and merely complimentary with an institution which empowers it's employees, lets them be creative, and makes them responsible for solving problems (and dressing themselves, and arranging their schedule) on their own.
On the other hand, I don't really want to buy a game from a place whose employees aren't allowed to play games, you know?
I don't believe that for a second, based on the following descriptions from the Reuters news article today:
Senior space official Nikolai Anfimov told reporters Russia had not had the means to pinpoint where Mir's remnants landed.
``We are hoping to get some observers' information and then we can analyze it,'' he said. Such information could come from Fiji and a U.S.-Russian group that flew two planes to the area.
South Pacific nations had been on standby in case chunks hit land instead of water. A fleet of 27 tuna boats fishing in the target zone was not hit by any debris, a spokeswoman for the fleet, Tana McHale, told Reuters from California.
``They didn't even get a decent light show,'' she said.
You're overlooking what is, to me, the single most valuable aspect of email: it's automatically saved, archived, and immediately available for quoting/ editting/ referencing/ pasting into another document/ insertion into a legal brief or proceeding, etc.
You don't have this facility with any of the other communication methods that you mention: unless you can afford to pay the salary of one or more secretaries who are filing/ typing/ making transcripts of recordings all day...
Maxis usually makes decent games, but they definitely missed the boat when they though[t] people would play a game that involves such uninteresting gameplay.
In what has become somewhat of a routine, The Sims took first place in the most recent PC Data list of best-selling games, which covers the week of January 7-13, 2001. The virtual life game has been almost continuously in the top ten list since its release in early 2000, and lately it has been taking the top spot. Second place went to The Sims: Livin' Large expansion pack, which knocked Hasbro's incredibly popular Roller Coaster Tycoon down to third place...
Lord, I only hope I can miss that same boat some day.
Slashdot Mirror
It's now Sunday, and I can't get to the above-linked website for additional information (like, what location was decided on). Any help?
This weakness may be something like many dot-com-bust business cases; you can't "make it up on volume" while selling at zero or a loss.
Do Not Taunt.
Just this Sunday, the New York Times had a whole article booth-babe-culture, describing the same thing at auto races and trade shows, and never mentioning video games in particular. Some posters have said E3 babes with booths had fewer visitors (I wasn't there), but that seems to fly in the face of most trade show experiences. And according to the NYT article: "Competition for the job of trade-show hostess is so fierce that the agents who audition the young women and dispatch them to shows say that many would work for free just for the pleasure of all the attention." Read the whole thing here.
It seems like there's a lot of vitriol the Salon author got a chance to vent at geeks, with its shots of "white-trash sex fantasia", "mouth-breathing dudes", "disreputably grab-ass, twerpy", "underground... lost boys", and so forth. I'm not even sure I believe the anecdote about the anonymous gaming/gangbang session with a company-logoed prostitute... that just seems too perfectly disgusting, similar to that journalist a few years ago who fabricated a story about a "gangbang" at the Young Republicans convention in D.C.
To me, this article seems conceived in bad faith in a number of senses, and even misleading, in that it uses the experience of a trade show walkaround as shorthand for the products of a certain industry.
This, frankly, is completely untrue. Middle teenagers are in all ways biologically mature. Every previous culture has instituted it's "you're an adult now" ceremony at around the age of 13 or so.
Hell, I'd spit in your food, too. I come from the country of America.
Here in America, the saying is "Ignorance of the law is no defense against it." In other words, it's completely acceptable for someone to have no idea of the law (for whatever reason, we don't care) and be prosecuted under it.
"Well Regulated Militia"
The word you're seeking is "loser", not "looser".
e^(i Pi) + 1 = 0
Your post is one of the best arguments for unions I have ever read. Thank you.
Well, that statement is incorrect in all cases except where party (A) is a homo sapiens.
You're either trying to mislead people or only bothered to read the 1st claim yourself. Claim 5, "An apparatus for interaction between a plurality of users in a three-dimensional, computer-generated graphical space...", in detail, pretty much describes any 3D RPG or shooter client program.
The comment in no way resembles currect cosmological or mathematical research.
Secondly, "who loses in this situation?" Clearly, the worker who has an increased genetic likelihood of receiving carpal tunnel syndrome. Apparently you think it's okay for a railroad company to not employ such a person. So, where do they work? I guess not in construction... or on an assembly line... or typing in an office. Under your argument, a whole class of people, through no fault of their own, are made unemployable and basically unable to get health insurance (in the US) for any such ailment that does occur.
Thirdly, "IMHO the real reason the economy has been in a downturn has been eight years of big government assault from the Clinton Administration..." With all your business acumen, have you never heard of an economic cycle? That we've just seen the longest period of increasing production ever? Please, clue us in to what Clinton-sponsored regulation forced cruddy VC investments and nutty Amazon market capitalizations to finally confront rational business reality. You know, there are legions of Democrats (et. al.) angry at Clinton for being the most pro-corporate leader of his party in decades. Count your blessings, Mr. Good Business.
The second amendment is the only part of the Constitution that I know with a crystal-clear description of intention included in its language. Namely, "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state..."
Hence your argument does not stand; the right to bear arms is explicitly to be "well regulated" by the government, not used against it. Thus spake the amendment itself.
I'm a former Libertarian, and man, you have got to be joking. Look here for an essay on the use and abuses of private security guards, and here for an analysis of abuses in privately-run prisons.
I mean, god forbid that we engage in democracy and have authorities held accountable to a public decision-making process, or maintain social programs that are supported by the majority of our citizens.
In my version of MSWord 97, he's called "Clippit", not "Clippy".
So much for the standard Republican criticism of high taxes and Social Security, "average people can manage their own money better than the government can!"
I hereby nominate UE as "cleverest troll on slashdot".
Bullshit. Does anyone actually find a buck off soda and a Nerf game once in a while critical to where they're employed? You've got to be kidding me... in all the dot-com hype pieces I've ever seen, no one's ever been quoted as saying "I work here for the free food".
All that stuff is just peripheral, and merely complimentary with an institution which empowers it's employees, lets them be creative, and makes them responsible for solving problems (and dressing themselves, and arranging their schedule) on their own.
On the other hand, I don't really want to buy a game from a place whose employees aren't allowed to play games, you know?
Senior space official Nikolai Anfimov told reporters Russia had not had the means to pinpoint where Mir's remnants landed.
``We are hoping to get some observers' information and then we can analyze it,'' he said. Such information could come from Fiji and a U.S.-Russian group that flew two planes to the area.
South Pacific nations had been on standby in case chunks hit land instead of water. A fleet of 27 tuna boats fishing in the target zone was not hit by any debris, a spokeswoman for the fleet, Tana McHale, told Reuters from California.
``They didn't even get a decent light show,'' she said.
You don't have this facility with any of the other communication methods that you mention: unless you can afford to pay the salary of one or more secretaries who are filing/ typing/ making transcripts of recordings all day...
Maxis usually makes decent games, but they definitely missed the boat when they though[t] people would play a game that involves such uninteresting gameplay.
Here's a quote Gamespot's early January sales run-down:
In what has become somewhat of a routine, The Sims took first place in the most recent PC Data list of best-selling games, which covers the week of January 7-13, 2001. The virtual life game has been almost continuously in the top ten list since its release in early 2000, and lately it has been taking the top spot. Second place went to The Sims: Livin' Large expansion pack, which knocked Hasbro's incredibly popular Roller Coaster Tycoon down to third place...
Lord, I only hope I can miss that same boat some day.