Ah.. you were talking about a hardcore gamer who does spend $400+ on a graphics card? those same people won't have a problem spending $600 on a console either if the games are convincing enough.
Just yesterday I spent over $2K CAD on a new system (still waiting for the parts to ship in:( ) - Athlon X2 4400+ Toledo, 2GB OCZ EL Platinum RAM, eVGA GeForce 7900 GTX EGS 512MB PCI-E graphics, Antec Neo 550W High-Efficiency PS, Antec P160W case, 2x300GB Seagate SATA2 drives; I already had dual 19" widescreen LCDs and a gaming keyboard and mouse that I'll be reusing.
I'm one of those "hardcore gamers" who would drop $500 or more on a video card... but I still wouldn't touch a console, $600 or not, with a 10-foot pole, regardless of the games that are out for it.
By the time you buy a good HDTV (I can't stand SDTV resolution, never could), the overpriced games, receivers and/or speakers, and the console itself, the costs are the same either way. A high-end PC gaming rig, or a good home theater/console gaming system... it's roughly the same in terms of initial cost.
Of course, life-span comes into play here. A high-end PC 'degrades' from bleeding-edge fairly quickly. A good home theater system and console will last several years before being considered obsolete. PC games allow you to lower graphic and detail levels, extending the use of old hardware.
Given the flexibility that PCs offer outside of a pure gaming machine (I use my machine for development work as well), I feel that it's a good value for my money. Expensive? Undoubtedly. But I don't own a TV at all, let alone a full home theater system, so it works out in the end.
Would that be the spare change from his left pocket or right pocket? One containts cash he deserves as a technical director, and the other cash he deserves as a scriptwriter/producer. If it's the latter, we have nothing to worry about. I don't think lawyers work for $0.00.
Reminds me of when I moved into a new apartment a while back. I had my DSL line moved over from my previous place, but I was getting tons of sync problems. I called to have them turn on interleaving, but of course first line tech support had to go through their standard scripts before they'd pass me onto someone who knew what they were talking about.
Tech Support: "Are you using a router?" Me: "I have a gateway server..." Tech Support: "What brand is it?" Me: "Umm, it's a computer." Tech Support: "Does it say D-Link or Linksys or something on it?" Me: "No... it's a computer that I've configured to do NAPT, DNS, DHCP and stuff like that." Tech Support: "So it's not a little box about 8 inches long?" Me: "No... it's a full-sized computer." Tech Support: "OK... *longish pause* What operating system are you using?" Me: "The machine connected to the DSL bridge is FreeBSD." Tech Support: "Umm, I mean what version of Windows." Me: "..." Tech Support: "Like, Windows 98 or XP?" Me: "It's not Windows at all, it's FreeBSD... it's a different kind of operating system."
I don't really blame the person I was talking to... most of the first-line support staff are people who are barely computer literate and only manage to do their jobs by reading the support scripts. I found it more amusing (though a waste of time) than anything else.
Umm, because it's law that the universities have to have this capability? It's been law for >10 years... it's not like the universities haven't had time to get this implemented.
It's illegal to drive with a burnt-out headlight. If your car has a burnt headlight, should the policeman who pulled you over pay for the replacement bulb?
Microsoft is looking for true stories about people using Windows computers to pursue a passion or hobby. (Emphasis mine)
I guess they were afraid to ask for stories about people who use Windows in a critical environment. I think I should put an entry in:
"My passion is screaming at my computer when it blue screens in the middle of a deathmatch. Late-night REGEDIT sessions whenever Windows hoses itself is an amusing hobby too. For everything else, there's FreeBSD."
Damn, I wish writing all contest entry essays were that easy.
I've just finished up my third year at University and I'm seriously debating the value of spending another $15K to complete my degree. One guy I know has graduated, and recently told me that he was "working on a Java program to edit a PHP database" (direct quote out of an IM conversation). What he was really doing was writing both PHP and Java frontends to a MySQL database.
I know tons of people who are in their last year and don't know how to use the trinary operator in C or Java... or they get confused with the bitshift operator.
I think that diplomas should just read "Certified Retard". The vast, vast majority of people who've graduated from college/university don't impress me with their knowledge or quality of work. Hell, some professors write the worst code I've ever seen (in a second year algorithms class, we were given a library we had to use... I took a look at it, and some of the class' variables were declared at the top of the class definition, some declared at the bottom, and more still somewhere in the middle of the file, crammed between two methods).
Maybe it's just me, but in general, academics seem to be the most useless people in the real world.
Surprisingly (controversially?) enough, some EULAs forbid public criticism - I wonder if such clauses would ever be found valid in court, I seriously hope not - judges should declare void in whole any EULA that includes any anticonstitutional demands.
Ever hear of a non-disclosure agreement? Are those 'unconstitutional' in your fairyland world too?
The US Constitution only affects dealings between the government and private citizens, it has nothing to do with dealings between two private citizens. But then again, this is Slashdot. Carry on with your groundless bitching.
It's not that we're adverse to new technologies. It's largely due to the fact that we have come (with good reason!) to distrust the motivations of corporations.
Consider: What would happen if Valve went out of business? What if they got bought out and the company that purchased them decided that they no longer wish to use the Steam platform, opting for their own distribution/authentication method? Would you be willing to say "Oh well, I guess the $50 each I spent on all those Steam-based games went to waste since I can no longer access them." ?
When you buy a board game, you can play it indefinitely regardless of the continued existence of the manufacturer. Why should computer games be any different?
PURELY as a distribution method, Steam is a step in the right direction. In terms of forcing you to login to Steam in order to play single player... no thanks.
The first thing that pops into my mind is to show large-scale, legal usage of BitTorrent. A site like FileRush (www.filerush.com) would do it. Game demos, game patches, trailers, videos, mods... all available via BitTorrent. They do offer direct downloads of some stuff, but their primary distribution method is BT.
Go to your University's IT department and show them that just because something CAN be used illegally, there are large-scale, legal deployments of the same technology.
Indeed; the ending of the original Matrix was perfect -- left you hanging a little but wasn't obvious. The whole "To be continued" or whatever the hell it was with Reloaded was a little bit of a piss-off... but oh well. I enjoyed the movie nonetheless.
I didn't find that there was a whole lot of plot development, but what was there was interesting and definitely ties in with the original. The action sequences were just phenomenal, and the soundtrack is freaking awesome. I'd definitely see it again, and I'm definitely waiting for Revolution.
a) That site is in the US. Shipping stuff from there to here (Canada) is expensive, and by the time the government's done with the tariffs, taxes, and whatnot, I might as well have just bought a new computer... at least, that's been my experience when ordering stuff from the other side of the border. (and I'm a poor University student, so it's not like I have tons of disposable income... otherwise I'd consider it).
b) Most (in fact, almost everything I have on CD) of the series I watch are fansubs because the titles haven't been licensed in North America yet. I'll gladly buy the series on DVD when the make it (I'm anxiously awaiting Witch Hunter Robin... one of my favourite series ever). I do own legal DVDs of several series already, but if they're not available, it's not my fault.
"already paying for the cost of piracy on every pack of recordable CD's, I'd say piracy has already been assumed, and already been paid for"
That's the way I look at it. If they're going to charge me extra for my media because of "piracy", then I guess I'd better get my money's worth... Hence my relatively large collection (250+ CDs) of movies, anime, games...
And they want to increase the levy VERY SIGNIFICANTLY... if that happens, my rate of piracy will go up proportionately... the new levy is more than double the current rate, IIRC.
I don't think the problem with the Instant Sleep machine is the fact that your employer gets more productivity... the REAL problem is "Where's the time for sex?":)
Slashdot Mirror
Ah.. you were talking about a hardcore gamer who does spend $400+ on a graphics card? those same people won't have a problem spending $600 on a console either if the games are convincing enough.
:( ) - Athlon X2 4400+ Toledo, 2GB OCZ EL Platinum RAM, eVGA GeForce 7900 GTX EGS 512MB PCI-E graphics, Antec Neo 550W High-Efficiency PS, Antec P160W case, 2x300GB Seagate SATA2 drives; I already had dual 19" widescreen LCDs and a gaming keyboard and mouse that I'll be reusing.
Just yesterday I spent over $2K CAD on a new system (still waiting for the parts to ship in
I'm one of those "hardcore gamers" who would drop $500 or more on a video card... but I still wouldn't touch a console, $600 or not, with a 10-foot pole, regardless of the games that are out for it.
By the time you buy a good HDTV (I can't stand SDTV resolution, never could), the overpriced games, receivers and/or speakers, and the console itself, the costs are the same either way. A high-end PC gaming rig, or a good home theater/console gaming system... it's roughly the same in terms of initial cost.
Of course, life-span comes into play here. A high-end PC 'degrades' from bleeding-edge fairly quickly. A good home theater system and console will last several years before being considered obsolete. PC games allow you to lower graphic and detail levels, extending the use of old hardware.
Given the flexibility that PCs offer outside of a pure gaming machine (I use my machine for development work as well), I feel that it's a good value for my money. Expensive? Undoubtedly. But I don't own a TV at all, let alone a full home theater system, so it works out in the end.
Would that be the spare change from his left pocket or right pocket? One containts cash he deserves as a technical director, and the other cash he deserves as a scriptwriter/producer. If it's the latter, we have nothing to worry about. I don't think lawyers work for $0.00.
I have seen some captchas that ask users in plain text to solve a simple arithmetic or logic problem.
While not illegal, some may considering it amoral to discriminate against stupid people.
Anyone worthy of carrying the FDoP simply must have the knowledge and skills to perform a low-level disk analysis and recovery.
It's part of the mystique, you see.
We're the founders, but we're far from the smartest people here
Anyone who submits an idea gets labelled "not a team player" for not backing management's ludicrous schemes.
It's a trap!
[/end Dilbert-esque paranoia]
Don't forget that America's vices cost more money than exists.
Satirical, but an amusing read.
Now, don't quote me on this as I may be wrong, but I'm pretty sure IRC still exists.
Say it with me... "mIRC is not a network."
IRC = Internet Relay Chat
mIRC = A particular program used to access IRC servers. See also X-Chat, Lirc, and many others.
Reminds me of when I moved into a new apartment a while back. I had my DSL line moved over from my previous place, but I was getting tons of sync problems. I called to have them turn on interleaving, but of course first line tech support had to go through their standard scripts before they'd pass me onto someone who knew what they were talking about.
Tech Support: "Are you using a router?"
Me: "I have a gateway server..."
Tech Support: "What brand is it?"
Me: "Umm, it's a computer."
Tech Support: "Does it say D-Link or Linksys or something on it?"
Me: "No... it's a computer that I've configured to do NAPT, DNS, DHCP and stuff like that."
Tech Support: "So it's not a little box about 8 inches long?"
Me: "No... it's a full-sized computer."
Tech Support: "OK... *longish pause* What operating system are you using?"
Me: "The machine connected to the DSL bridge is FreeBSD."
Tech Support: "Umm, I mean what version of Windows."
Me: "..."
Tech Support: "Like, Windows 98 or XP?"
Me: "It's not Windows at all, it's FreeBSD... it's a different kind of operating system."
I don't really blame the person I was talking to... most of the first-line support staff are people who are barely computer literate and only manage to do their jobs by reading the support scripts. I found it more amusing (though a waste of time) than anything else.
Umm, because it's law that the universities have to have this capability? It's been law for >10 years... it's not like the universities haven't had time to get this implemented.
It's illegal to drive with a burnt-out headlight. If your car has a burnt headlight, should the policeman who pulled you over pay for the replacement bulb?
When will apt finally replace /usr/ports in FreeBSD?
Hopefully never... Ports rocks!
The modern purpose of news and media companies is to sell viewers/listerners/whatever to their advertisers, not actually provide any news.
In the meantime, you could just pick it up for Xbox ...
Except if you're like me and hate consoles...
Microsoft is looking for true stories about people using Windows computers to pursue a passion or hobby. (Emphasis mine)
I guess they were afraid to ask for stories about people who use Windows in a critical environment. I think I should put an entry in:
"My passion is screaming at my computer when it blue screens in the middle of a deathmatch. Late-night REGEDIT sessions whenever Windows hoses itself is an amusing hobby too. For everything else, there's FreeBSD."
Damn, I wish writing all contest entry essays were that easy.
Oh yes, a PhD, very impressive. Whatever.
I've just finished up my third year at University and I'm seriously debating the value of spending another $15K to complete my degree. One guy I know has graduated, and recently told me that he was "working on a Java program to edit a PHP database" (direct quote out of an IM conversation). What he was really doing was writing both PHP and Java frontends to a MySQL database.
I know tons of people who are in their last year and don't know how to use the trinary operator in C or Java... or they get confused with the bitshift operator.
I think that diplomas should just read "Certified Retard". The vast, vast majority of people who've graduated from college/university don't impress me with their knowledge or quality of work. Hell, some professors write the worst code I've ever seen (in a second year algorithms class, we were given a library we had to use... I took a look at it, and some of the class' variables were declared at the top of the class definition, some declared at the bottom, and more still somewhere in the middle of the file, crammed between two methods).
Maybe it's just me, but in general, academics seem to be the most useless people in the real world.
Yup, it was Steam. I think this particular song was very late 60's, '68 or '69 as I recall.
Surprisingly (controversially?) enough, some EULAs forbid public criticism - I wonder if such clauses would ever be found valid in court, I seriously hope not - judges should declare void in whole any EULA that includes any anticonstitutional demands.
Ever hear of a non-disclosure agreement? Are those 'unconstitutional' in your fairyland world too?
The US Constitution only affects dealings between the government and private citizens, it has nothing to do with dealings between two private citizens. But then again, this is Slashdot. Carry on with your groundless bitching.
It's not that we're adverse to new technologies. It's largely due to the fact that we have come (with good reason!) to distrust the motivations of corporations.
Consider: What would happen if Valve went out of business? What if they got bought out and the company that purchased them decided that they no longer wish to use the Steam platform, opting for their own distribution/authentication method? Would you be willing to say "Oh well, I guess the $50 each I spent on all those Steam-based games went to waste since I can no longer access them." ?
When you buy a board game, you can play it indefinitely regardless of the continued existence of the manufacturer. Why should computer games be any different?
PURELY as a distribution method, Steam is a step in the right direction. In terms of forcing you to login to Steam in order to play single player... no thanks.
The first thing that pops into my mind is to show large-scale, legal usage of BitTorrent. A site like FileRush (www.filerush.com) would do it. Game demos, game patches, trailers, videos, mods... all available via BitTorrent. They do offer direct downloads of some stuff, but their primary distribution method is BT.
Go to your University's IT department and show them that just because something CAN be used illegally, there are large-scale, legal deployments of the same technology.
Last I checked, being nocturnal wasn't a bad thing, nor uncommon among Slashdotters.
"$20 PDF writer"
Umm, no. How about you try PDF995. It's free and works great. I use it all the time.
Indeed; the ending of the original Matrix was perfect -- left you hanging a little but wasn't obvious. The whole "To be continued" or whatever the hell it was with Reloaded was a little bit of a piss-off... but oh well. I enjoyed the movie nonetheless.
and thought it was freaking *awesome*.
I didn't find that there was a whole lot of plot development, but what was there was interesting and definitely ties in with the original. The action sequences were just phenomenal, and the soundtrack is freaking awesome. I'd definitely see it again, and I'm definitely waiting for Revolution.
a) That site is in the US. Shipping stuff from there to here (Canada) is expensive, and by the time the government's done with the tariffs, taxes, and whatnot, I might as well have just bought a new computer... at least, that's been my experience when ordering stuff from the other side of the border. (and I'm a poor University student, so it's not like I have tons of disposable income... otherwise I'd consider it).
b) Most (in fact, almost everything I have on CD) of the series I watch are fansubs because the titles haven't been licensed in North America yet. I'll gladly buy the series on DVD when the make it (I'm anxiously awaiting Witch Hunter Robin... one of my favourite series ever). I do own legal DVDs of several series already, but if they're not available, it's not my fault.
"already paying for the cost of piracy on every pack of recordable CD's, I'd say piracy has already been assumed, and already been paid for"
That's the way I look at it. If they're going to charge me extra for my media because of "piracy", then I guess I'd better get my money's worth... Hence my relatively large collection (250+ CDs) of movies, anime, games...
And they want to increase the levy VERY SIGNIFICANTLY... if that happens, my rate of piracy will go up proportionately... the new levy is more than double the current rate, IIRC.
I don't think the problem with the Instant Sleep machine is the fact that your employer gets more productivity... the REAL problem is "Where's the time for sex?" :)