Love that wording, makes them sound like one step down from Navy Seals...
Security is a myth people. You are always the weakest link. RPM's, as has been stated, are no worse than source. The author of the article is clueless. Actually more likely he just loves the sound of his own voice...
Thus, even if you know what the source URL is, anyone can create, say, a directory structure that looks like a Red Hat distro and place trojaned files in there -- then they can track downloads, and voila, an instant list of who (probably) installed what package. And this is something that can be trivially done today.
Be serious. While it would be trivial to setup, the effort involved wouldn't be. Do you honestly think the average trojan writer is going to go to this effort? They're too busy pissing their pants laughing if someone downloads the program, there is no way they would go to this effort. They don't need too. Some RPM packages already email the creator when they're installed (details available upon request). The trojan installer is about as likely to do this as they are to come break into your house and steal your computer. Get real.
This is quite possibly the worst example of scaremongering I've seen outside of 20/20 and Dateline...
And if you hose your system by using third party binary packages or untrusted binaries, you will need to re-install.
I have a remarkable talent for hosing my computer over. I've destroyed hard disks (destroyed it so much it was claiming it had over 100 gigabytes free. Not bad for a 2 gig drive.), I've have totalled my install on various occasions, and I can honestly state, hand on heart, that it I have never had a problem with untrusted binaries causing problems.
For the record, I've had a system become totally hosed using TRUSTED binaries from my distros FTP site, so that's a load of crap. (Won't mention any names lest this devolve into a distro war.)
You should have everything vital on your system backed up so if you have to reinstall, oh well. I've had to do that a few times. No real inconvenience. I don't give a rats ass about trusted or untrusted having been hosed over by the former more than the latter.
BTW, there is an author of a certain Sinclair Spectrum emulator that has his RPM install email him with your system details without your knowledge, which to me means he's as big a scumbag as anyone at Microsoft or Real. As I don't have Sendmail running the mail was never sent, but I think that gives you an idea of what an RPM can do.
This isn't in any way new. There was an online game put out by the makers of You Don't Know Jack! called Acrophobia. I was playing it 3 years ago and in every game, you had 3 ad breaks. It downloaded the ads in advance and then just spooled them off the drive. I'm not sure why what Celador are doing is so revolutionary since they are by no means the first.
I'd be very curious to see how they get around the copyright issue with FPA since if what you say is true, that could lead to a whole load of legal problems. I have Firepro G for the PSX and it's blindingly obvious who's who, even without any translation. If they're going for a US release of the title, Kudos to them, that could convince me a GBA is worth it since the Firepro series are spectacularly good.
As for no region locking, that would be great. Though I feel part of the Firepro experience is the actual Japanese atmosphere the whole title generates, so if it's translated, it might not feel quite the same.
Thanks for the info. And yes, being into Puroresu, more like 100% of what I like is in Japanse:) I have a total of 4 Japanese tapes:)
No, you still have a few hours to design it and get it to market:) Look on it as a challenge:)
Firepro Wrestling A (I believe that's the title) is one game for the GBA that will never be released here for idiotic copyright reasons. Real shame if you're into puroresu...
Albeit this was 5 years ago now and things have changed, but I met the woman who is now my wife on a newsgroup. It was wild, since the news server at my ISP had been hosed for a week before the day I saw her post (she posted once), and was hosed for a week after. We met in mid February online, I flew to her country to be with her in September, and we were married the following January.
I think that the further we progress with console technology, the more arcade game manufacturers will leave the market. Many years ago, back in the days of the C64 and the Spectrum, arcade games had much cooler graphics and sound. The gap in quality was quite big. Compare C64 Enduro Racer with the arcade version. Huge difference.
The problem is, the gap has come down dramatically with technological advances, making it so items like the Metal Gear Solid 2 trailer for the PS2, which is all rendered in realtime, blow away a lot of arcade material, or at the very least equals it.
With the cost of playing, coupled with the fact that the PS2 and other consoles now generate comparable graphics and sound that equal if not exceed their arcade brethren, the home console is becoming a more attractive proposition for a games player. Shell out a buck or two a go, or shell out 50 or so for a game you can play infinite times. Home technology has finally caught up.
It could be worse though I guess. At least Capcom are still going to makes games.
Unless I'm very much mistaken, to act in any sense, wether it be voice or in person, you HAVE to be a member of the actors union. I COULD be mistaken, but I'm pretty sure the show would have no choice.
As for big stars, they're not essential. Starship Troopers: Roughneck Chronicles had no big names in it, but was a very popular show that died due to the immense budget for it. (Several episodes had to be cancelled because they were too expensive to produce.)
I agree. Free will is important for an immersive experience. In fact possibly the greatest example of freedom I found in a game was in an old game called Damocles if I recall, by Paul Woakes. I think that was his name. He wrote Mercenary anyway.
This was a good few years ago, but if I recall the character you play was running for election and had to win. Anyway, I came across a woman and child related to the story. I honestly don't remember now what the storyline was, but what I DO remember is saying to my friend "I'm going to steal her kid for a laugh" and the game let me. I picked up the kid, the mother asked me to give him back, so I ran away. I was entered in the election in the game and, if I recall, there was a news story about me kidnapping this womans child, which I thought was very cool given that it had absolutely no relevance to the game, yet the design was made in such a way as to deal with it on the off chance some psycho like me decided "I'm gonna kidnap her kid!":) Now THAT'S freedom.
Bards Tale, now THAT was an absolute classic. Okay, so it all boiled down too "Walk over there, kill stuff, grab gold and experience, head back to Inn to save, lather rinse repeat" but that game was so fiendishly addictive. The sequels blew though:(
As for DM, I think the coolest thing was Chaos Strikes back, the wicked intro on disk 2 if I recall. I still quite often hum that music to this day:)
Mortal Kombat was a kick ass movie. The sequel blew major chunks, in fact the producers and director actually outright apologized for it shortly after it's release and asked fans for ideas for the 3rd movie so as not to repeat their mistake.
All other video games movies have sucked. As for TV shows, there WAS a Mortal Kombat TV show, and from what I heard it was okay.
I personally can't see how The Sims will translate to a TV show. I mean part of the appeal of the concept to start with is playing God and ruining the lives of your sims. Remove the control aspect, and what do you have? A pretty freakin' bland soap opera.
Actually, your "average" gamer these days is late 20's, attached, and has a lot of disposable income. Sure there are teenagers, but the biggest portion of the demo is late 20's and attached.
It may not be much by global standards, but assuming the govt. DOES filter it into poverty programs, imagine what difference a million bucks will make to so many lives!
Kudos to the Mexican govt. for doing this. Now we just have to get other govts. to do it. Less money on licences means more for programs to help the needy. I'm all for that.
It is getting very bad. I'm a freelancer in the Linux biz and am constantly worried by the sword of damocles over my head.
It's a sad state of affairs when Fucked Company is a handy reference for worried employees... "Phew! Not listed today. I'm safe for now..." 24 hours later "Phew! Not listed today. Safe for now..."
What happened to this brave new world of Internet business? Sure looks like it's all going to hell in a handbasket from where I'm sitting.
There's also Win4Lin as well (look it up on Google, can't remember the URL offhand). Supposedly VERY good. Allows you to run Win natively under Linux. Only problem is you have to have a Windows install disk for it. Supports everything but DirectX from what I've heard.
As for the number of boxes, I'd say as many as money will allow, but the thing is, unless I'm mistaken, it's hard to judge without knowing the relative specs. I mean a cluster of say P300's will be far superior to a cluster of 486/33's... Of course, given the price old computers go for these days you could probably easily sling together some cheap boxes and build quite a big cluster.
The problem is a lot of instruction on the net isn't that great. Every piece of old hardware will probably come with a whole different set of issues for getting it working. For example I bought an old Toshiba laptop and hunted down instructions for it. I found a set of instructions for setting Linux up on the EXACT model I had and they were pathetic. While I appreciate the work people put in to writing about it, the attitude of a lot seems to be "it worked for me, if it doesn't work for you well you obviously did something wrong."
Best thing I can suggest would be to head too Google and do what I do. I enter the hardware name and model number as accurately as possible, add the word "linux" and see what comes up. I did eventually find good instructions for getting my laptop working courtesy of a cached message board post on Google, whereas the Linux Documentation Project and other resources were next to useless.
Slashdot Mirror
Besides, there's a much easier way to make your system even more secure. Simply, as root run the following:
rm -rf /*
No more security problems. Nothing left to secure...
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Love that wording, makes them sound like one step down from Navy Seals...
Security is a myth people. You are always the weakest link. RPM's, as has been stated, are no worse than source. The author of the article is clueless. Actually more likely he just loves the sound of his own voice...
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Be serious. While it would be trivial to setup, the effort involved wouldn't be. Do you honestly think the average trojan writer is going to go to this effort? They're too busy pissing their pants laughing if someone downloads the program, there is no way they would go to this effort. They don't need too. Some RPM packages already email the creator when they're installed (details available upon request). The trojan installer is about as likely to do this as they are to come break into your house and steal your computer. Get real.
This is quite possibly the worst example of scaremongering I've seen outside of 20/20 and Dateline...
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I have a remarkable talent for hosing my computer over. I've destroyed hard disks (destroyed it so much it was claiming it had over 100 gigabytes free. Not bad for a 2 gig drive.), I've have totalled my install on various occasions, and I can honestly state, hand on heart, that it I have never had a problem with untrusted binaries causing problems.
For the record, I've had a system become totally hosed using TRUSTED binaries from my distros FTP site, so that's a load of crap. (Won't mention any names lest this devolve into a distro war.)
You should have everything vital on your system backed up so if you have to reinstall, oh well. I've had to do that a few times. No real inconvenience. I don't give a rats ass about trusted or untrusted having been hosed over by the former more than the latter.
BTW, there is an author of a certain Sinclair Spectrum emulator that has his RPM install email him with your system details without your knowledge, which to me means he's as big a scumbag as anyone at Microsoft or Real. As I don't have Sendmail running the mail was never sent, but I think that gives you an idea of what an RPM can do.
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It was Mel Brooks that said it.
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As for no region locking, that would be great. Though I feel part of the Firepro experience is the actual Japanese atmosphere the whole title generates, so if it's translated, it might not feel quite the same.
Thanks for the info. And yes, being into Puroresu, more like 100% of what I like is in Japanse:) I have a total of 4 Japanese tapes:)
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Firepro Wrestling A (I believe that's the title) is one game for the GBA that will never be released here for idiotic copyright reasons. Real shame if you're into puroresu...
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The problem is, the gap has come down dramatically with technological advances, making it so items like the Metal Gear Solid 2 trailer for the PS2, which is all rendered in realtime, blow away a lot of arcade material, or at the very least equals it.
With the cost of playing, coupled with the fact that the PS2 and other consoles now generate comparable graphics and sound that equal if not exceed their arcade brethren, the home console is becoming a more attractive proposition for a games player. Shell out a buck or two a go, or shell out 50 or so for a game you can play infinite times. Home technology has finally caught up.
It could be worse though I guess. At least Capcom are still going to makes games.
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As for big stars, they're not essential. Starship Troopers: Roughneck Chronicles had no big names in it, but was a very popular show that died due to the immense budget for it. (Several episodes had to be cancelled because they were too expensive to produce.)
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This was a good few years ago, but if I recall the character you play was running for election and had to win. Anyway, I came across a woman and child related to the story. I honestly don't remember now what the storyline was, but what I DO remember is saying to my friend "I'm going to steal her kid for a laugh" and the game let me. I picked up the kid, the mother asked me to give him back, so I ran away. I was entered in the election in the game and, if I recall, there was a news story about me kidnapping this womans child, which I thought was very cool given that it had absolutely no relevance to the game, yet the design was made in such a way as to deal with it on the off chance some psycho like me decided "I'm gonna kidnap her kid!":) Now THAT'S freedom.
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As for DM, I think the coolest thing was Chaos Strikes back, the wicked intro on disk 2 if I recall. I still quite often hum that music to this day:)
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All other video games movies have sucked. As for TV shows, there WAS a Mortal Kombat TV show, and from what I heard it was okay.
I personally can't see how The Sims will translate to a TV show. I mean part of the appeal of the concept to start with is playing God and ruining the lives of your sims. Remove the control aspect, and what do you have? A pretty freakin' bland soap opera.
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Kudos to the Mexican govt. for doing this. Now we just have to get other govts. to do it. Less money on licences means more for programs to help the needy. I'm all for that.
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It's a sad state of affairs when Fucked Company is a handy reference for worried employees... "Phew! Not listed today. I'm safe for now..." 24 hours later "Phew! Not listed today. Safe for now..."
What happened to this brave new world of Internet business? Sure looks like it's all going to hell in a handbasket from where I'm sitting.
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As for the number of boxes, I'd say as many as money will allow, but the thing is, unless I'm mistaken, it's hard to judge without knowing the relative specs. I mean a cluster of say P300's will be far superior to a cluster of 486/33's... Of course, given the price old computers go for these days you could probably easily sling together some cheap boxes and build quite a big cluster.
Good luck.
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Best thing I can suggest would be to head too Google and do what I do. I enter the hardware name and model number as accurately as possible, add the word "linux" and see what comes up. I did eventually find good instructions for getting my laptop working courtesy of a cached message board post on Google, whereas the Linux Documentation Project and other resources were next to useless.
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Well maybe someone should take a photo of it and give it to them to help jog their memory.
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