But that means that within one year and a half, when you go to your card manufacturer's web site to download the drivers, you'll see your card put in a separate "legacy products" box, and that will mean that you're not getting any more driver updates. Also, at the next big operating system version bump, you'll be likely in danger of being left with no drivers at all.
Could be.
But my experience has been FOSS dropping support for my old hardware faster than proprietary does.
I've got a whole bunch of PATA DVD burners from 2007 that don't even show up in modern linux distros. Wouldn't be so bad, except that Ubuntu 9.10 doesn't like my board's SiliconImage SATA controller. No PATA and no SATA makes Linux 100% unusable on two of my computers. (same SATA controllers)
However, I'm happy to report that my old GeForce 6600 was working fine in 9.04 with proprietary drivers.;)
P.S. I'm now running XP. It's faster than Ubuntu and doesn't leave me with driver headaches. It feels strange saying that.
Besides, in some cases services like steam already have the same effect, but without the patent. I'd argue that your influence correlates to how much you watch these places for good deals. The more time you spend, the more likely you are to tell people about it. Thus, you have influence and lower prices, and it occurred naturally without a patent.
Take a look at this series of events:
-I see $5 game. (80% off) -I purchase $5 game. -I tell friends $5 game is good. -Friends either buy at $5 or buy at full price because they're too slow. (or wait for another lesser sale)
Of course...
-I FRAPS video from game. -I put video up on Youtube. -People comment that $5 game is good and they enjoyed it. -People comment that they didn't know [$SERVICE] had such good prices. -Video gets taken down by DMCA because someone was playing crappy music on Ventrilo while being recorded. -I buy new $5 game...
This particular malware is not because of a security problem with the OS. It is more of a social engineering thing - trying to trick unsuspecting users to install a malicious script by hiding it as a theme or screensaver.
Welcome to Windows, mate. I've got this cute little dancing beetle that'll keep you up to date on the local weather...;)
The principle is simple. You pay them 50 cents a day and they let you spend as many hours on their servers as you want. It is win-win for everyone until you bring an unwarranted sense of entitlement to the table. It's not food or medicine that Blizzard sells, its freaking entertainment. You CAN go without it and going without it would probably actually be good for you. If you don't like their terms, go elsewhere.
Not really, no. I would agree if they only charged you for days that you logged in on, but that's not the case.
You sound like an American. Most Americans have no concept of how annoying it is to not have servers near you for any games. It's totally baffling to a lot of you guys.
I've seen Americans quit games like TF2 and L4D when their pings hit 60 because they're too high. My god! The lowest I've ever gotten was 65 ping - usually closer to 130, or as high as 170 - and I'm in Canada. I know people from Australia that average 240-300 ping. These are first-world countries with direct links to the US, so I imagine South Africa must be worse off.
Not to mention the price. The guy just said they get charged ~$20/GB. It makes sense to go private, or you'll quickly go bankrupt!
Blizzard and other companies probably lack servers there because the bandwidth would cost them too much. Or maybe they just aren't allowed to setup in those countries. (Laws are strange) Should that prevent people from enjoying a good game? Your call - but considering the number of American pirates that exist, I have a feeling the majority of Americans would confront such an unfair situation with piracy, regardless of what your personal opinion is.
I hope they use an older kernel. The new linux kernels have great speed, and total shit compatibility. I've got four old PCs sitting next to me, and not one of them can detect a DVD drive or read stably off a PATA HDD in Ubuntu 9.10 - yet it works fine in 9.04 (minus the CD drives), and in 8.10/8.04 everything is working great.
It's sad to see an OS cut support for old hardware, like a 2.2ghz Athlon XP w/ 2GB of RAM running off a 120GB PATA HDD. (Still fast enough to browse the internet:P )
Yes, there used to be a few 'hacker friendly' ISPs who were usually run by people like thee and me and utterly clueless about ISP economics. They went out of business. It isn't quite as bad in the broadband world but back in the dialup era it was just insane to keep a nethog once we got past the period when those heavy users were also helping bring in new customers. Do the math.
Teksavvy? (Canada) No ports blocked unless you want them blocked. 200GB/mo for $30, plus $10 per 100GB extra.
My 2170W gets 2800 page cartridges for about $27 CAD. These are brand new OEM cartridges. I was worried when the capacity dropped to 25% after 200 pages, but I'm now 2000 pages in and it's still holding at 25% (could be a software glitch)
My last inkjet dried out. I got 10 pages from it. That's because I tend to not need my printer for a month and a time, and then suddenly I need 300 sheets printed.
My 2170W is working fine for home usage. It doesn't print a lot - maybe 2000 pages per year, so far - but it did survive getting drenched by a watering can.
Overall I'm happy with it. Best $100 I ever spent on a printer.
If I want to use the roads, I need a license. If I break the rules by getting really drunk, speeding down the highway at 220kph, and hit someone, (impacting their experience) then that's bad.
Similarly, modding your console to play pirated games (or possibly cheat on XBoxLive) is bad, impacts other users experiences, and should result in the termination of your "license".
Look at the bright side. This violation doesn't stick to your name for eternity, or prevent you from getting a new "license" or other consoles.
I think "an" OS is easily worth $100 or more per year to me.
But what's it offer over your last OS?
Given the amount of inflation between now and then, even paying $250 for an OS today is "so 1990s".
Does it really have $250 of improvements in it?
The first OS I loved was Windows 2000. Aside from under the hood changes in Windows like DX11, the Win2k UI still does everything I need from an OS. And thanks to those many years that XP dominated the market, there's a wealth of free software that can do almost everything Vista and Win7 can do.
I say almost, because obviously we don't have DX10 or DX11.;)
I'm still waiting for multicore enhancements. I remember the switch from Win2k to WinXP - everything ran about 10% slower. Win2k has a very light and efficient kernel - but probably loaded with vulnerabilities. Then the switch from XP to Vista - games like SupCom used about 15% more CPU on every core, but with no framerate increases. Could you remind me why I'm paying for this, again?
This doesn't prove anything except that Windows losers desperately want some shadenfruede
I've gotten pwned by legit updates more on Linux than on Windows.
That's bad. Microsoft has a poor track record. Beating it is awful, though understandable. (You can't test stuff on every piece of hardware in existence)
I haven't had a virus or trojan in about 7 years, so I think I'm finally knowledgeable enough to run Windows safely. This thing however would pwn me, because I don't have as much linux knowledge.;)
He should definitely release it. Linux is spreading - if you let admins get a false sense of security, they'll get pwned, and Linux will gain the same rep as Windows.
It would take a fundamental revolution in hardware and at least one hundred years to be able to make any such claim.
A revolution in hardware? So, see you in 2025?:P
I think C will die pretty quick for desktop software. It's a great language, but it's not the tool for the job when your software has to utilize 500 cores. (the future)
Other languages are far more suitable for such tasks. JIT-compiled languages like Scala have already shown they scale better than C across large numbers of cores, take less time to dev, etc.; I can imagine a human readable language half as fast as java, yet scaling 20x better than C, which would bring high efficiency programming to your average smart guy.
It's plausible. I mean, people said Javascript would never be fast, but now we've got a VM for that.
You do, of course, get the occasional game where the "professional" review scores seem a bit out of whack. Modern Warfare 2 felt like a bit of an example of this to me; I could have seen it as an 8/10 kind of game, but I suspect that review scores above that are being hype driven.
Oblivion? Bioshock?
Should I name others?:P
Totally agree with your points - I tend to comb reviews for insights into how the gameplay works, and any important flaws that would detract from the experience. So far it's kept me pretty safe.
It annoys me when new games are rated lower than old ones that were worse. It's hard to figure out if a game is worth it. This often happens when a game is "more refined, but doesn't add anything innovative."
So, is the 65 rating from 2009 better than the 95 rating from 2005? Maybe. Maybe not.
For me, it usually comes down to which one is less crash prone according to forums. I'm more likely to enjoy something if it doesn't disappear and leave me at my desktop all the time.
Slashdot Mirror
But that means that within one year and a half, when you go to your card manufacturer's web site to download the drivers, you'll see your card put in a separate "legacy products" box, and that will mean that you're not getting any more driver updates. Also, at the next big operating system version bump, you'll be likely in danger of being left with no drivers at all.
Could be.
But my experience has been FOSS dropping support for my old hardware faster than proprietary does.
I've got a whole bunch of PATA DVD burners from 2007 that don't even show up in modern linux distros. Wouldn't be so bad, except that Ubuntu 9.10 doesn't like my board's SiliconImage SATA controller. No PATA and no SATA makes Linux 100% unusable on two of my computers. (same SATA controllers)
However, I'm happy to report that my old GeForce 6600 was working fine in 9.04 with proprietary drivers. ;)
P.S. I'm now running XP. It's faster than Ubuntu and doesn't leave me with driver headaches. It feels strange saying that.
Besides, in some cases services like steam already have the same effect, but without the patent. I'd argue that your influence correlates to how much you watch these places for good deals. The more time you spend, the more likely you are to tell people about it. Thus, you have influence and lower prices, and it occurred naturally without a patent.
Take a look at this series of events:
-I see $5 game. (80% off)
-I purchase $5 game.
-I tell friends $5 game is good.
-Friends either buy at $5 or buy at full price because they're too slow. (or wait for another lesser sale)
Of course...
-I FRAPS video from game.
-I put video up on Youtube.
-People comment that $5 game is good and they enjoyed it.
-People comment that they didn't know [$SERVICE] had such good prices.
-Video gets taken down by DMCA because someone was playing crappy music on Ventrilo while being recorded.
-I buy new $5 game...
The fact is, you have no real way of knowing where any given search engine may be following you.
You two make good points, so might be interested in this: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/9609
I trust Google with my info more than I trust Microsoft. At least Google requires a court order to give out my info.
This is why prompt-on-connect Firewalls exist for Windows. ;)
You can't trust what your computer is trying to do behind your back!
This particular malware is not because of a security problem with the OS. It is more of a social engineering thing - trying to trick unsuspecting users to install a malicious script by hiding it as a theme or screensaver.
Welcome to Windows, mate. I've got this cute little dancing beetle that'll keep you up to date on the local weather... ;)
The principle is simple. You pay them 50 cents a day and they let you spend as many hours on their servers as you want. It is win-win for everyone until you bring an unwarranted sense of entitlement to the table. It's not food or medicine that Blizzard sells, its freaking entertainment. You CAN go without it and going without it would probably actually be good for you. If you don't like their terms, go elsewhere.
Not really, no. I would agree if they only charged you for days that you logged in on, but that's not the case.
You sound like an American. Most Americans have no concept of how annoying it is to not have servers near you for any games. It's totally baffling to a lot of you guys.
I've seen Americans quit games like TF2 and L4D when their pings hit 60 because they're too high. My god! The lowest I've ever gotten was 65 ping - usually closer to 130, or as high as 170 - and I'm in Canada. I know people from Australia that average 240-300 ping. These are first-world countries with direct links to the US, so I imagine South Africa must be worse off.
Not to mention the price. The guy just said they get charged ~$20/GB. It makes sense to go private, or you'll quickly go bankrupt!
Blizzard and other companies probably lack servers there because the bandwidth would cost them too much. Or maybe they just aren't allowed to setup in those countries. (Laws are strange) Should that prevent people from enjoying a good game? Your call - but considering the number of American pirates that exist, I have a feeling the majority of Americans would confront such an unfair situation with piracy, regardless of what your personal opinion is.
They wouldn't do that.
Google has repeatedly demonstrated that they value their reputation more than short term revenue.
Well that's good. :) An engineer somewhere got his way.
without zfs why not go for the more mature linux based NAS?
Would that be FreeNAS? :P
Because OpenFiler doesn't run on my NAS. It runs fine on my gaming computer, but it won't run on an old Athlon XP...
Glad it's stable for you, but FreeNAS is definitely more mature.
I hope they use an older kernel. The new linux kernels have great speed, and total shit compatibility. I've got four old PCs sitting next to me, and not one of them can detect a DVD drive or read stably off a PATA HDD in Ubuntu 9.10 - yet it works fine in 9.04 (minus the CD drives), and in 8.10/8.04 everything is working great.
It's sad to see an OS cut support for old hardware, like a 2.2ghz Athlon XP w/ 2GB of RAM running off a 120GB PATA HDD. (Still fast enough to browse the internet :P )
I believe Microsoft set the Win7 version number to 7.0, even though there were no significant kernel changes to warrant it.
I mean, Win2k to XP had kernel changes, but it was only .1 - not a complete overhaul. Same story for Vista -> Win7.
Your point about product names vs version numbers is totally correct.
that are so overengineered that they tried to break it and couldn't (experimental model).
Indestructo tank?
Yes, there used to be a few 'hacker friendly' ISPs who were usually run by people like thee and me and utterly clueless about ISP economics. They went out of business. It isn't quite as bad in the broadband world but back in the dialup era it was just insane to keep a nethog once we got past the period when those heavy users were also helping bring in new customers. Do the math.
Teksavvy? (Canada) No ports blocked unless you want them blocked. 200GB/mo for $30, plus $10 per 100GB extra.
Cartridges are more likely to part with their ink if they've already experienced loss.
My 2170W gets 2800 page cartridges for about $27 CAD. These are brand new OEM cartridges. I was worried when the capacity dropped to 25% after 200 pages, but I'm now 2000 pages in and it's still holding at 25% (could be a software glitch)
My last inkjet dried out. I got 10 pages from it. That's because I tend to not need my printer for a month and a time, and then suddenly I need 300 sheets printed.
My 2170W is working fine for home usage. It doesn't print a lot - maybe 2000 pages per year, so far - but it did survive getting drenched by a watering can.
Overall I'm happy with it. Best $100 I ever spent on a printer.
It's like driving a car.
If I want to use the roads, I need a license. If I break the rules by getting really drunk, speeding down the highway at 220kph, and hit someone, (impacting their experience) then that's bad.
Similarly, modding your console to play pirated games (or possibly cheat on XBoxLive) is bad, impacts other users experiences, and should result in the termination of your "license".
Look at the bright side. This violation doesn't stick to your name for eternity, or prevent you from getting a new "license" or other consoles.
Errors out, with no way to elevate privileges.
Win7 doesn't even have an easy way to do that.
Try running Spybot under a user account rather than Admin. Use the Run as Admin option if you wish. You're locked out from altering startup programs.
I think "an" OS is easily worth $100 or more per year to me.
But what's it offer over your last OS?
Given the amount of inflation between now and then, even paying $250 for an OS today is "so 1990s".
Does it really have $250 of improvements in it?
The first OS I loved was Windows 2000. Aside from under the hood changes in Windows like DX11, the Win2k UI still does everything I need from an OS. And thanks to those many years that XP dominated the market, there's a wealth of free software that can do almost everything Vista and Win7 can do.
I say almost, because obviously we don't have DX10 or DX11. ;)
I'm still waiting for multicore enhancements. I remember the switch from Win2k to WinXP - everything ran about 10% slower. Win2k has a very light and efficient kernel - but probably loaded with vulnerabilities. Then the switch from XP to Vista - games like SupCom used about 15% more CPU on every core, but with no framerate increases. Could you remind me why I'm paying for this, again?
What can Windows 8 do that can't be done with Windows 7?
More than 256 cores!
This doesn't prove anything except that Windows losers desperately want some shadenfruede
I've gotten pwned by legit updates more on Linux than on Windows.
That's bad. Microsoft has a poor track record. Beating it is awful, though understandable. (You can't test stuff on every piece of hardware in existence)
I haven't had a virus or trojan in about 7 years, so I think I'm finally knowledgeable enough to run Windows safely. This thing however would pwn me, because I don't have as much linux knowledge. ;)
He should definitely release it. Linux is spreading - if you let admins get a false sense of security, they'll get pwned, and Linux will gain the same rep as Windows.
It would take a fundamental revolution in hardware and at least one hundred years to be able to make any such claim.
A revolution in hardware? So, see you in 2025? :P
I think C will die pretty quick for desktop software. It's a great language, but it's not the tool for the job when your software has to utilize 500 cores. (the future)
Other languages are far more suitable for such tasks. JIT-compiled languages like Scala have already shown they scale better than C across large numbers of cores, take less time to dev, etc.; I can imagine a human readable language half as fast as java, yet scaling 20x better than C, which would bring high efficiency programming to your average smart guy.
It's plausible. I mean, people said Javascript would never be fast, but now we've got a VM for that.
You do, of course, get the occasional game where the "professional" review scores seem a bit out of whack. Modern Warfare 2 felt like a bit of an example of this to me; I could have seen it as an 8/10 kind of game, but I suspect that review scores above that are being hype driven.
Oblivion? Bioshock?
Should I name others? :P
Totally agree with your points - I tend to comb reviews for insights into how the gameplay works, and any important flaws that would detract from the experience. So far it's kept me pretty safe.
It annoys me when new games are rated lower than old ones that were worse. It's hard to figure out if a game is worth it. This often happens when a game is "more refined, but doesn't add anything innovative."
So, is the 65 rating from 2009 better than the 95 rating from 2005? Maybe. Maybe not.
For me, it usually comes down to which one is less crash prone according to forums. I'm more likely to enjoy something if it doesn't disappear and leave me at my desktop all the time.