What? Someone is being deceptive to Microsoft customers? How dare they LIE to Microsoft's customers! MS customers DEMAND honesty and integrity from the companies they buy from, and Mr. Gates will be damned if he'll just sit by and let his unfortunate customers get swindled!
...EULAs of this Xbox sort are illegal. Maybe we'll be seeing some court action in the coming weeks? It's my understanding that companies can't write these kind of intrusive clauses into their EULAs and then expect to get away with them in the EU. And with EU recently pounding Microsoft's ass, I wonder if this will be another thing to add onto their list...
There has been a lot of discussion on this lately, particuarlly on some e-mail lists. The bottom line is that in the EULA there is a clause that states Microsoft may alter the software at any point. Just by purchasing an Xbox, even without buying Live, you are forced to agree to let them edit the Dashboard to weed out things like the font hack buffer overflow Stefan Esser found.
But then again, what the hell did you expect when it said "Microsoft" on the box?
At first when I heard this, I wasn't too disappointed. That's what they get for stealing technology. But no Flash in IE? That affects...well...*does some mental math...carry the 1...*a lot of websites that I enjoy. If you can't seamlessly play Flash media in IE (or Mozilla or Opera, eventually), well that sucks. Who the hell are these Eolas guys and are they intentionally trying to send the Web's progress back about six years? For once, I think Microsoft has been wronged, mostly due to the implication that this will affect ALL web browsers.
As I think was said above, once this technology gets popular it is going to be abused. There are going to "trippy" movies where every scene has twisted backgrounds or characters and it's going to be so much "art." It's just like when someone gets Photoshop for the first time...every single image they produce comes layered with filters. Ever had a friend who was a guitarist and hung around with him when he got a new Wah pedal? Same thing...constant wah effect. It's pretty much human nature to beat new, innovative things to death. The challenge is finding the newest stuff to beat. I guess this is it.
Lost in Space used new effects, too. Bullet time is when the camera spins around the character and the character is moving in slow motion. Lost in Space used a primative form of the same technique...Instead of the character or subject moving in slow motion, the camera quickly spun around a single moment frozen in time.
except perhaps for the fight scene with 200 Agent Smiths and not only was that done poorly but the whole thing could have been avoided if only Neo had done another one of his Superman jumps
Those of us that paid attention saw that the movie gave a specific reason for Neo not running away during this fight. Those of us who are "1337" didn't like it and didn't look past the CGI.
"Are you headed to junior high schools to round up the usual suspects?" Senator Dick Durbin asked RIAA President Cary Sherman during a Senate Judiciary hearing.
In other news, I bought my first album from BuyMusic.com today. I would have waited for iTunes to go PC, but the specific CD I wanted was available for $9.50 so I went ahead and got it. The download was fast and everything was painless...The only thing is I can only burn my songs to cd three times and transfer them to three other computers. Of course, an Audigy 2 and a standalone digital recording setup says otherwise. Anyone want some Utopia Parkway MP3s?;)
to send a completed, notarized amnesty form to the RIAA, with a copy of a photo ID...
...Along with your social security number, credit card numbers, expiration date, checkbook, cell phone (not number, the physical phone), mother's maiden name, Slashdot username/password, and a copy of your SAT scores.
...Are those you don't care or won't worry. Everyone who this could possibly be used to "check up" on will be smart enough to go to Google and find a firmware hack or something to bypass the DRM check. Why do companies keep implementing encryption and copy-protection and DRM checking when they know even my 15 year old brother who spends all his time on Kazaa looking at pr0n knows enough about computers to download software to get around what he needs to get around.
Let's face it, Microsoft and Phoenix and the RIAA may be acting calm and collected, but by putting DRM checks in BIOS and suing 13 year olds, they are lashing out hopelessly. They know they can't stop what's happening, all they need to do is admit it...And they won't.
If you worked for IBM in the early 80s, I don't think selling women's shoes would be that far off. I'm sure a lot of the engineers wore women's shoes to work....You think us IT guys are nerds now, let's take a look into the magical past to see some really odd people.
It seems like we're constantly hearing this same type of story over and over again but never hearing about any substantial results...Be it diamonds, gel, or nano-technology. What does Gun-Young's research mean to me, the almighty consumer? Nothing but a few more years of speculation before anything actually happens.
After everything we've put up with for the past few years, we're starting to hear (no pun intended...ok, yeah, it was intended) good things about video games, from helping people in combat situations to improving hearing.
Now if they can only start reporting that tar heroin actually prolongs life...
Someone mentioned this above, but almost no "code" is reused in the sequels you listed above besides Doom 1-2 (almost the same game) and Quake 1-2. What is reused in the 'big' jumps is the experience of the developers and their understanding of 3D in a computer world.
Take Starcraft, for instance (I know it's not an id game, but I know beyond doubt that what I say about Starcraft below is true). The very first build of Starcraft was made by adding onto and editing the Warcraft II engine Blizzard already had. After about three complete start-from-scratch redesigns, the game was released. What is used are the ideas and concepts, but the physical Warcraft II code was not carried over. Quake III was made in a similar fashion, with start-from-scratch code.
I just finished reading Masters of Doom, and I'm fairly confident in saying that Carmack and his team could all walk away from id Software and make a new FPS called 'Mountain Dew Menace' or something with Doom 3 caliber graphics because they have the skills and the knowledge.
Just thought of something, too. I'm fairly certain Quake 2 was a complete redesign due to a part of Masters of Doom where Romero gets the code from Carmack and has trouble porting Daikatana from Quake 1 to Quake 2 because Quake 2's codebase was so radically different than Quake 1's.
So, in short, Doom 3's code has nothing to do with Doom 1's code. Only the concepts have evolved, not the actual if-thens.
Win2003 and WinXP are fairly, in fact very, similar in design. Windows 98 and Windows XP are the same operating system, just different versions. Windows 98 isn't supported or maintained, updates are no longer released for it. They are the same operating system, just different versions.
And as far as differences in GUI, you can always just set XP to 'classic' with a few, easy clicks and have your basic Win95 inspired setup.
You can't compare KDE and Gnome to Windows98 and WindowsXP. It's like comparing Kernel 2.4 to 2.5.
Maybe I'm missing the "big picture" here (freedom of choice?), but I don't know why they can't just work together. Isn't that what Linux is all about? I don't see how working on a standardized desktop would do anything but help Linux in the long run...Sure some of us prefer KDE over Gnome, and vica versa, but the bottom line is they could all get a lot further together than they could seperate.
Come on, they've got that one sweet game...what's it called...oh yeah, Photoshop. Adobe makes it. You can't go wrong with a game that has seven sequels, all of which are best sellers!
...does that mean we'll have cubic zarconium CPUs for the cheapos? I can just see my dad buying me a glass CPU while Jimmy down the street gets a diamond one.
"But boy, you can't even tell the difference! Look at it gleam in the light!"
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What? Someone is being deceptive to Microsoft customers? How dare they LIE to Microsoft's customers! MS customers DEMAND honesty and integrity from the companies they buy from, and Mr. Gates will be damned if he'll just sit by and let his unfortunate customers get swindled!
...Building it would get him older college chicks?
...EULAs of this Xbox sort are illegal. Maybe we'll be seeing some court action in the coming weeks? It's my understanding that companies can't write these kind of intrusive clauses into their EULAs and then expect to get away with them in the EU. And with EU recently pounding Microsoft's ass, I wonder if this will be another thing to add onto their list...
But then again, what the hell did you expect when it said "Microsoft" on the box?
At first when I heard this, I wasn't too disappointed. That's what they get for stealing technology. But no Flash in IE? That affects...well...*does some mental math...carry the 1...*a lot of websites that I enjoy. If you can't seamlessly play Flash media in IE (or Mozilla or Opera, eventually), well that sucks. Who the hell are these Eolas guys and are they intentionally trying to send the Web's progress back about six years? For once, I think Microsoft has been wronged, mostly due to the implication that this will affect ALL web browsers.
Windows will make everything you do more fun.
I wouldn't mind a "Linux increases your sex drive" message during install. Little friendly competition never hurt anyone.
As I think was said above, once this technology gets popular it is going to be abused. There are going to "trippy" movies where every scene has twisted backgrounds or characters and it's going to be so much "art." It's just like when someone gets Photoshop for the first time...every single image they produce comes layered with filters. Ever had a friend who was a guitarist and hung around with him when he got a new Wah pedal? Same thing...constant wah effect. It's pretty much human nature to beat new, innovative things to death. The challenge is finding the newest stuff to beat. I guess this is it.
Lost in Space used new effects, too. Bullet time is when the camera spins around the character and the character is moving in slow motion. Lost in Space used a primative form of the same technique...Instead of the character or subject moving in slow motion, the camera quickly spun around a single moment frozen in time.
except perhaps for the fight scene with 200 Agent Smiths and not only was that done poorly but the whole thing could have been avoided if only Neo had done another one of his Superman jumps
Those of us that paid attention saw that the movie gave a specific reason for Neo not running away during this fight. Those of us who are "1337" didn't like it and didn't look past the CGI.
She's going to have to do a shitload of babysitting to pay her mom back that two grand. Ouch.
"Are you headed to junior high schools to round up the usual suspects?" Senator Dick Durbin asked RIAA President Cary Sherman during a Senate Judiciary hearing.
;)
In other news, I bought my first album from BuyMusic.com today. I would have waited for iTunes to go PC, but the specific CD I wanted was available for $9.50 so I went ahead and got it. The download was fast and everything was painless...The only thing is I can only burn my songs to cd three times and transfer them to three other computers. Of course, an Audigy 2 and a standalone digital recording setup says otherwise. Anyone want some Utopia Parkway MP3s?
to send a completed, notarized amnesty form to the RIAA, with a copy of a photo ID...
...Along with your social security number, credit card numbers, expiration date, checkbook, cell phone (not number, the physical phone), mother's maiden name, Slashdot username/password, and a copy of your SAT scores.
...Are those you don't care or won't worry. Everyone who this could possibly be used to "check up" on will be smart enough to go to Google and find a firmware hack or something to bypass the DRM check. Why do companies keep implementing encryption and copy-protection and DRM checking when they know even my 15 year old brother who spends all his time on Kazaa looking at pr0n knows enough about computers to download software to get around what he needs to get around.
Let's face it, Microsoft and Phoenix and the RIAA may be acting calm and collected, but by putting DRM checks in BIOS and suing 13 year olds, they are lashing out hopelessly. They know they can't stop what's happening, all they need to do is admit it...And they won't.
If you worked for IBM in the early 80s, I don't think selling women's shoes would be that far off. I'm sure a lot of the engineers wore women's shoes to work....You think us IT guys are nerds now, let's take a look into the magical past to see some really odd people.
It seems like we're constantly hearing this same type of story over and over again but never hearing about any substantial results...Be it diamonds, gel, or nano-technology. What does Gun-Young's research mean to me, the almighty consumer? Nothing but a few more years of speculation before anything actually happens.
How else would they know what e-mail addresses to filter and which to accept messages from?
Wow...Microsoft undertaking anti-competitive behavior and holding evidence from a court of law? I don't believe it.
Err...wait...that's the only thing they seem to be doing lately, aside from helping the feds bust 18 year olds for writing worms.
After everything we've put up with for the past few years, we're starting to hear (no pun intended...ok, yeah, it was intended) good things about video games, from helping people in combat situations to improving hearing.
Now if they can only start reporting that tar heroin actually prolongs life...
Someone mentioned this above, but almost no "code" is reused in the sequels you listed above besides Doom 1-2 (almost the same game) and Quake 1-2. What is reused in the 'big' jumps is the experience of the developers and their understanding of 3D in a computer world.
Take Starcraft, for instance (I know it's not an id game, but I know beyond doubt that what I say about Starcraft below is true). The very first build of Starcraft was made by adding onto and editing the Warcraft II engine Blizzard already had. After about three complete start-from-scratch redesigns, the game was released. What is used are the ideas and concepts, but the physical Warcraft II code was not carried over. Quake III was made in a similar fashion, with start-from-scratch code.
I just finished reading Masters of Doom, and I'm fairly confident in saying that Carmack and his team could all walk away from id Software and make a new FPS called 'Mountain Dew Menace' or something with Doom 3 caliber graphics because they have the skills and the knowledge.
Just thought of something, too. I'm fairly certain Quake 2 was a complete redesign due to a part of Masters of Doom where Romero gets the code from Carmack and has trouble porting Daikatana from Quake 1 to Quake 2 because Quake 2's codebase was so radically different than Quake 1's.
So, in short, Doom 3's code has nothing to do with Doom 1's code. Only the concepts have evolved, not the actual if-thens.
And the "basic Win95 inspired setup" is actually just a modified Win2k look.
And the Win2k look came from Win95, in which the modern-style desktop and Start menu came into play.
Win2003 and WinXP are fairly, in fact very, similar in design. Windows 98 and Windows XP are the same operating system, just different versions. Windows 98 isn't supported or maintained, updates are no longer released for it. They are the same operating system, just different versions.
And as far as differences in GUI, you can always just set XP to 'classic' with a few, easy clicks and have your basic Win95 inspired setup.
You can't compare KDE and Gnome to Windows98 and WindowsXP. It's like comparing Kernel 2.4 to 2.5.
Maybe I'm missing the "big picture" here (freedom of choice?), but I don't know why they can't just work together. Isn't that what Linux is all about? I don't see how working on a standardized desktop would do anything but help Linux in the long run...Sure some of us prefer KDE over Gnome, and vica versa, but the bottom line is they could all get a lot further together than they could seperate.
Come on, they've got that one sweet game...what's it called...oh yeah, Photoshop. Adobe makes it. You can't go wrong with a game that has seven sequels, all of which are best sellers!
...does that mean we'll have cubic zarconium CPUs for the cheapos? I can just see my dad buying me a glass CPU while Jimmy down the street gets a diamond one.
"But boy, you can't even tell the difference! Look at it gleam in the light!"
"Dad, that's the case lighting on fire."