Not that diamonds really have much value as gems anyway, have you ever tried to sell a second hand diamond ring?
This may be true if you're just trying to sell something that you bought yourself, but if you were to sell the loose stone....if it's a quality stone that is...then of course it has value.
But you must remember, if you bought a ring at a discount or even a chain jewelery store, you're probably got ripped off. They sold you a diamond that was claimed to be much higher quality than it really is. Or had one of those kitchy names like a "Hearts on Fire Diamond".
Yes, but artificial diamonds don't sell as well as the real deal either. And yes, if you're a gemologist that has training in synthetics, it is possible to find out the "fakes" from the real deals. And of course, when speaking of diamond cartels there really is only one...De Beers, which has an almost total monopoly on the diamond trade.
But to buy something with zircons instead of diamonds may be just to have something look cool as oppose to an investment, which of course is where the zircons are moreof an attractive purchase. Also, zircons can be brittle and will show abrasions on the facet junctions fairly easily...something you won't get with a real diamond.
Most of the diamonds that these big discount stores are selling would have been used in saw blades a few years ago. Now they are in jewelry. If you are making a large investment on a diamond, make sure that you are getting a diamond grading report from a reputable gemological laboratory. Preferably from the American Gem Society Gemological Lab, the GIA, Gemological Association of Great Britain, or the Diamond High Counsel (HRD) in Belgium.
I see anonymous proxy servers getting a big boost in business now. All the ISP will see is you going to a server...then what?
Can they really see where you go after heading off to another site inside the proxy? Or will congress outlaw proxy servers next?
Hell, why not just outlaw the internet? There's so much evil going on with child porn, pirated movies and music. I mean, that's all there is right? So just shut it all off and let us go back to just reading newspapers and watching TV.
You can bet there's some out there that would just love to do that.
Porn has always been the driving force behind new technology in entertainment. But this seems to just be more of the same. Granted, I'm glad they're getting more and more into this, working out the kinks (so to speak) so that mainstream movies may follow suit in the future.
But I'm waiting for there to be a way to hook into a machine like in the movie Brainstorm or The Matrix where all 5 senses are stimulated and it seems as your really THERE. Of course Dennis Miller said it best: "Folks, the day an unemployed ironworker can lay in his Barc-a-lounger with a Fosters in one hand and a channel flicker in the other and fuck Claudia Schiffer for $19.95, it's gonna make crack look like Sanka"
Don't know why you'd belittle them, first disaster that wipes out your ass, I'll bet your standing in line bitching about not getting any free cheese from the gov't just like everyone else.
Jim Williams, director of the Department of Homeland Security
Isn't this the guy that got busted as a pedophile?
Ok, I know it isn't....but whenever I get the chance from now on, I'm going to do my part and belittle the Department of Homeland Security as much as I can. Hopefully distilling it into the joke that it is. I only wish I could get into press-conferences where they're speaking and ask that question. "Excuse me, were you the guy that was busted for being a pedophile"?
If you couldn't tell, I'm a disillusioned American.
I don't think you get it. You're FORCED to watch the advertisements.
Part of this system will be eye-instruments similar to the ones used in A Clockwork Orange that keep the lids of your eyes fully open and staring directly into the screen. There will be no way of skipping the ads nor averting your eyes away from the ads.
Of course, for a small fee you can avoid all of this.
How are you going to stop the military from using your open-source software? Who's going to stop them? They're the fricken military man! They're the ones with the guns and the tanks and the flamethrowers.
So genius, enlighten us with your model. What is it that you wanted them to do? Just give the shows away for free, commercial free, at high resolution?
You're quick to say that it's crap, but offer no alternative at all. How are they to make money? Or should they even approach online delivery at all?
Free, high-res divx downloads with no commercials. Great, sounds like a winner. But I have a feeling if even if they did that, there would still be people like you who complain.
Let's start with the lie about piracy. If piracy was so rampant as you say, then the music companies wouldn't be making any money, but the FACT of the matter is that they're actually making a lot of money even though CD sales are down, online sales are up. Do I really have to point out the sources online for all this info? The RIAA may scream about how much sales are down, but the actual facts don't support this.
This is just music also, simple songs. Not talking about software. If piracy was so rampant, then software-only companies would be going out of business all over the place....Microsoft is one of them. Are you saying that no significant amount of money is being made by software companies? Are you really saying that if Apple were to sell OSX for generic PC's that only a "few" geeks would buy it? You really want to stand by that statement?
As far as your "facts" about Applecare, where are you pulling them out of? List your sources for statements like: AppleCare actually loses money. Also, why do they sell a boxed version of OSX for PPC for $120? Wouldn't they be losing money then for the OS9 users that haven't upgraded yet to OSX? Can you pull figures out of your ass for that one too?
All in all, I'd like to know the origin of your sources and if Apple is actually losing money from their support. And don't give me "I was talking to a rep today" bullshit either. You're the one pulling these "facts" out of the air, so back them up with real sources. I'm not saying that you're making this up, but if you're not, then I'd love to see where you're getting it from. It would be an interesting read. And if you're right...hey, you're right.
Forget the morons above when they complain about "oh, it's the day after? WAH WAH WAH" or "Can't skip the commercials WAH WAH WAH".
They're trying to embrace a new delivery medium and you these idiots are fricken complaining about it. Come on, ABC should be congratulated for thinking outside the standard line that RIAA and the MPAA have been harping on. The net will make a great delivery service and they're heading out into it full steam ahead.
But no, months ago people were saying this is what they should do, and now that they're doing it, it's not enough. Give them what they want, and you get a big "fuck you" in return.
Then, how does Redhat or Suse do support? They're no where near as big as Apple or MS, and people are putting their OS on all kinds of hardware. Yet they offer support, both online and over the phone.
Interesting. But I no longer say "they will never do that" when it comes to Apple now.
Again, the average user isn't the one that's going to be going out to buy OSX and replacing the OS that came with his computer. The "average" user buys a computer and uses the OS that's on it...be it XP or whatever. If someone wants to go and buy Linux off the shelf like Redhat or Suse, they're taking a risk and they know it, yet they do it all the time. Also, Redhat and Suse and the other major Linux players don't have a CS department that's even half the size of Apple's, nor even the resources to ramp up. Yet Linux is being bought on disk or downloaded by all the time. These aren't "average" users though, but there IS a market for that out there.
The hardware side shouldn't be a problem as we've been shown that people will buy Macs now and then run Windows or Linux on the machines! Dell is also a hardware company, as is Gateway...yet you don't see them worrying that people can go and buy Windows off the shelf. Apple can play in that bigger pond as now the hardware is the same. They really don't have to charge an arm and a leg like they used to with different PPC hardware. They can get cheaper parts, drive down the costs, win customers with superior build quality and stellar customer service. Oh, and they also come pre-loaded with a kick-ass OS called OSX...but if you prefer you can also get them with XP loaded (maybe that will be an option in the future). If they were to also offer OSX on the side, this shouldn't cut into their hardware sales as again, an "average" user will want a system that's pre-configured for them so they just get it home, plug it in and run it. Apple will offer that. But if people want to also just run OSX on a system that's self-built, they'll offer that too.
No one is saying anything about clones. If you want OSX on a system, you buy the system from Apple. If you want to put it on your existing hardware, then you buy it off the shelf for full retail. No OEM prices for the OS. So if they only get 1 lousy percent of the millions and millions of Windows users to switch over to OSX, they'll be in fantastic shape. I see them doing this. It's revenue that has major potential and they're not signing anything away to other companies like the clone fiasco. It's still controlled by them.
Look at it this way, it's going to be easier and easier to load OSX on a PC. More and more people will be buying OSX off the shelves or at worse, downloading it via P2P, and cracking it to work on their hardware. The more they configure OSX for Intel with more drivers for more equipment, the easier it will be to load it on a regular PC. This is happening now and it's not going to stop. And Apple may not see a dime for this at all. If they sell it at retail, they will keep some semblance of control.
This seems to be the big gun that people throw out "Apple doesn't want to deal with all the support issues". Well, they deal with support issues now don't they? What would they need, a bigger staff?
Apple is usually listed as having one of the better customer support departments now (yes yes, there are exceptions to everything so don't barrage me with your "I bought an iPod from them and I had to wait 5 minutes on a phone blah blah blah"). Why couldn't they continue this trend with OSX?
But look at it this way, if people buy OSX to place on their computer, they pretty much will know what they're doing. What Joe Average person goes out to buy a computer with no OS on it, then go back to the store to buy the OS to load? No one. They'll buy a Dell or Gateway or Compaq that has an OS already loaded and the only thing they'll ever buy is probably an upgrade. AND if they have a problem with their computer, they do NOT call MS, but they call Dell, or Gateway or whoever.
A couple of grandparents that buy a computer from Dell are not going to call MS for support when they have a TON of flyer's and stickers and warnings with Dell's customer support number and website plastered all over them. They are also not going to go out to buy OSX to replace everything on their computer. Though they might buy a Dell with OSX on it...maybe...and then again, they would call Dell for service.
So please all of you, stop with the bullshit that "Apple doesn't want to deal with the support issues". They could handle it with ease.
Sounds like a very diplomatic outcome on his part.
Whoa whoa...hold the phone here....
on
Gmail vs Pine
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· Score: 0, Flamebait
This guy works for Google, and he didn't use Googlemail?
Isn't that like working for GM and you drive a Ford? Or how about you work for Toyota and you drive a 1957 Belair because "I hate fuel injection".
Dude, it's 2006, get with the program. Well, at least he did try using it for a month, but I don't know the outcome as the website is farked.
But anyway, people like this call others "Luddites" even though they themselves are stuck in a time-warp. I suppose there are different degrees to Luddiatry (yeah, I make words up).
Why is this a good thing? I'm not a programmer, so I don't really understand why writing code that appears to be innocent, yet is really evil, help the community?
I understand about making source code available helps in a secure system, but what if that code has evil code...made to look innocent upon inspection....written into it?
I know that showing how to crack into a system, or how to write a virus actually helps in the long run as it exposes weaknesses that can and should be patched and closed. But what does having people practice hiding malicious code do for us?
Just wondering. I find this stuff fascinating....though not fascinating enough to actually learn how to do it!
I'm waiting for them to just sever all the Internet connections into and out of the country. I mean, it sounds like the country is run by a bunch of techno-scared religious people...ones that think if a 12 year old kid sees a naked boob they'll be scared for life or that everyone in the country is a potential criminal that emails they're master plan about.
I don't know, but I think if I were up-to-no-good, I'd encrypt all my emails. Oh wait, got an idea: Hey Australia, maybe you should now ban encrypted emails! Also ban "vague" emails, because it's harder to understand exactly what it's about if you don't spell it out to the poor official that has to sift through it all. If you have a plot or a crime in the works, make sure you explain everything in detail using correct terms so we can pick that up easier. No more "We need to talk about the thing last night with our friend".
StarForce has received criticism for installing its own device driver onto computers. Some users claim that the StarForce drivers can cause optical drives to fail, which has been investigated by the popular American magazine Computer Gaming World. CGW states that under certain circumstances StarForce will cause Windows to access optical drives in Programmed input/output mode which causes the drive to be accessed far more slowly, potentially causing problems. StarForce developers responded to these findings, stating "The issue on StarForce is obviously sponsored by our competitors or organized crime groups that run CD/DVD piracy operations. We are now in close cooperation with US and Russian officials investigating the matter and trying to find out who stands behind the boycott campaign". When faced with criticism on the internet, StarForce officials are known to threaten with legal action and contact with the FBI, though the extent to which these threats have been pursued remain doubtful. StarForce's developers claim that their EULA absolves them from any responsibility for problems that their software may cause [3]. Supporters of StarForce argue that the stability problems were exaggerated and have been resolved in newer versions of StarForce.
StarForce copy protection software also forces users to completely wipe and reinstall their partitions if they wish to remove the copy protection software. The protection will also write to any shared network drives that have full read / write access, causing problems for other users on the network.
A large number of gamers have advocated boycotts of games or publishers known to use StarForce. On 30th January 2006 Boing Boing, a popular weblog, labelled Starforce as malware, alleging several problems associated with the protection system, including disk drive performance degradation, weakening of operating system security and stability. A day later on January 31, 2006 Boing Boing received an email from Starforce, threatening legal action and stating that the article was "full of insults, lies, false accusations and rumors". CNET also ran a similar story, and has received similar [email]. However, Protection Technologies have never proven these claims are false.
On 5th March 2006, a StarForce employee posted a link [4] to an illegal download source of Galactic Civilizations 2, a game developed by StarDock which does not use copy protection. Starforce later issued an apology for this act [5], after it received a great deal of attention on the internet.
I'll never understand the "I steal so I can play without the disk!" mentality that some people have. It's not like it's that hard to change disks. You hit the little Eject button, take out the disk already there, and put in the new one. Easy. If you have time to play an hour or two in a video game, you have time to take the five seconds to change disks.
It's not like it's a new thing, either. When games first started coming out on CD, they all required you to have the game disk in the drive. Yet people didn't complain.
The requirement to change disks hasn't stopped people from playing console games. Hell, some games require you to change disks while the game is still playing! Yet, no one minds.
The whole "steal the game to avoid having to use the disk" has got to be one of the lamest excuses for theft ever. "See, judge, I wanna make my life slightly more convenient, at the cost of Ubisoft's business."
This "case" is going to be laughed out of court.
It has nothing to do with switching CD's. I'll gladly play a game that needs the CD to start up, like Oblivion. What I don't want is Starforce on my machine. At all.
Why? Again, it has nothing to do with piracy or switching disks or any of that. Starforce screwed up my machine. I bought "Silent Hunter III", a sub simulation, and installed it on my computer. But I noticed that after a while, the entire computer started acting sluggish in normal activities....even though it's a Dual-core 4200+ with 2 gigs of RAM and it wasn't sluggish before. Rebooting seemed to make it worse, yet I couldn't see any activity or stolen CPU cycles or any of that. And I run a very clean system.
Anyway, it was acting sluggish. But that wasn't even the half of it, when I went to make a CD this past Christmas to take to my in-laws of Christmas music (mainly of Tiny Tim singing carols....drives my mother-in-law crazy...but that's another story). I found nothing would burn on my burner. Then my son told me that he couldn't play his older game he liked anymore because it would launch, then just shut down. It was an older game from a few years ago, and it was working fine just a week earlier.
To make a long story longer...I finally tracked down that all of this started happening AFTER I installed "Silent Hunter III" on my computer. I did some research online and found out all about Starforce and it's drivers. I found the Starforce removal tool and WHAM, like magic, everything started working again. But I hear that I was lucky because some people's CD drives are sometimes permanently screwed, though I don't know how.
THAT is why I'm all for this lawsuit. I don't care about any money, just want Starforce to go away.
A psychological phenomenon that refers to the bad feeling one gets when a discrepancy between what you already know or believe, and new information or interpretation from someone else. Religion usually falls in this framework when two people who are on opposite positions begin discussing and get further and further away from true understanding one another.
This doesn't fall under religion exclusively either, almost any aspects of life can become deeply held beliefs that we don't want to let go of when something new comes along to upset the apple-cart.
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Not that diamonds really have much value as gems anyway, have you ever tried to sell a second hand diamond ring?
This may be true if you're just trying to sell something that you bought yourself, but if you were to sell the loose stone....if it's a quality stone that is...then of course it has value.
But you must remember, if you bought a ring at a discount or even a chain jewelery store, you're probably got ripped off. They sold you a diamond that was claimed to be much higher quality than it really is. Or had one of those kitchy names like a "Hearts on Fire Diamond".
Yes, but artificial diamonds don't sell as well as the real deal either. And yes, if you're a gemologist that has training in synthetics, it is possible to find out the "fakes" from the real deals. And of course, when speaking of diamond cartels there really is only one...De Beers, which has an almost total monopoly on the diamond trade.
But to buy something with zircons instead of diamonds may be just to have something look cool as oppose to an investment, which of course is where the zircons are moreof an attractive purchase. Also, zircons can be brittle and will show abrasions on the facet junctions fairly easily...something you won't get with a real diamond.
Most of the diamonds that these big discount stores are selling would have been used in saw blades a few years ago. Now they are in jewelry. If you are making a large investment on a diamond, make sure that you are getting a diamond grading report from a reputable gemological laboratory. Preferably from the American Gem Society Gemological Lab, the GIA, Gemological Association of Great Britain, or the Diamond High Counsel (HRD) in Belgium.
I see anonymous proxy servers getting a big boost in business now. All the ISP will see is you going to a server...then what?
Can they really see where you go after heading off to another site inside the proxy? Or will congress outlaw proxy servers next?
Hell, why not just outlaw the internet? There's so much evil going on with child porn, pirated movies and music. I mean, that's all there is right? So just shut it all off and let us go back to just reading newspapers and watching TV.
You can bet there's some out there that would just love to do that.
Porn has always been the driving force behind new technology in entertainment. But this seems to just be more of the same. Granted, I'm glad they're getting more and more into this, working out the kinks (so to speak) so that mainstream movies may follow suit in the future.
But I'm waiting for there to be a way to hook into a machine like in the movie Brainstorm or The Matrix where all 5 senses are stimulated and it seems as your really THERE. Of course Dennis Miller said it best: "Folks, the day an unemployed ironworker can lay in his Barc-a-lounger with a Fosters in one hand and a channel flicker in the other and fuck Claudia Schiffer for $19.95, it's gonna make crack look like Sanka"
Don't know why you'd belittle them, first disaster that wipes out your ass, I'll bet your standing in line bitching about not getting any free cheese from the gov't just like everyone else.
Yeah, like those crybaby Katrina victims.
Jim Williams, director of the Department of Homeland Security
Isn't this the guy that got busted as a pedophile?
Ok, I know it isn't....but whenever I get the chance from now on, I'm going to do my part and belittle the Department of Homeland Security as much as I can. Hopefully distilling it into the joke that it is. I only wish I could get into press-conferences where they're speaking and ask that question. "Excuse me, were you the guy that was busted for being a pedophile"?
If you couldn't tell, I'm a disillusioned American.
I don't think you get it. You're FORCED to watch the advertisements.
Part of this system will be eye-instruments similar to the ones used in A Clockwork Orange that keep the lids of your eyes fully open and staring directly into the screen. There will be no way of skipping the ads nor averting your eyes away from the ads.
Of course, for a small fee you can avoid all of this.
Always though the Mafia never really spoke about anything openly. It's always "We need to talk about that thing with our friend".
Now, if they had used this simple code and THEN just did the "The thing we talked about last night needs to be looked into". Or something like that.
How are you going to stop the military from using your open-source software? Who's going to stop them? They're the fricken military man! They're the ones with the guns and the tanks and the flamethrowers.
So genius, enlighten us with your model. What is it that you wanted them to do? Just give the shows away for free, commercial free, at high resolution?
You're quick to say that it's crap, but offer no alternative at all. How are they to make money? Or should they even approach online delivery at all?
Free, high-res divx downloads with no commercials. Great, sounds like a winner. But I have a feeling if even if they did that, there would still be people like you who complain.
Wow, I don't even know where to begin...
Let's start with the lie about piracy. If piracy was so rampant as you say, then the music companies wouldn't be making any money, but the FACT of the matter is that they're actually making a lot of money even though CD sales are down, online sales are up. Do I really have to point out the sources online for all this info? The RIAA may scream about how much sales are down, but the actual facts don't support this.
This is just music also, simple songs. Not talking about software. If piracy was so rampant, then software-only companies would be going out of business all over the place....Microsoft is one of them. Are you saying that no significant amount of money is being made by software companies? Are you really saying that if Apple were to sell OSX for generic PC's that only a "few" geeks would buy it? You really want to stand by that statement?
As far as your "facts" about Applecare, where are you pulling them out of? List your sources for statements like: AppleCare actually loses money. Also, why do they sell a boxed version of OSX for PPC for $120? Wouldn't they be losing money then for the OS9 users that haven't upgraded yet to OSX? Can you pull figures out of your ass for that one too?
All in all, I'd like to know the origin of your sources and if Apple is actually losing money from their support. And don't give me "I was talking to a rep today" bullshit either. You're the one pulling these "facts" out of the air, so back them up with real sources. I'm not saying that you're making this up, but if you're not, then I'd love to see where you're getting it from. It would be an interesting read. And if you're right...hey, you're right.
Forget the morons above when they complain about "oh, it's the day after? WAH WAH WAH" or "Can't skip the commercials WAH WAH WAH".
They're trying to embrace a new delivery medium and you these idiots are fricken complaining about it. Come on, ABC should be congratulated for thinking outside the standard line that RIAA and the MPAA have been harping on. The net will make a great delivery service and they're heading out into it full steam ahead.
But no, months ago people were saying this is what they should do, and now that they're doing it, it's not enough. Give them what they want, and you get a big "fuck you" in return.
I welcome this.
Then, how does Redhat or Suse do support? They're no where near as big as Apple or MS, and people are putting their OS on all kinds of hardware. Yet they offer support, both online and over the phone.
Interesting. But I no longer say "they will never do that" when it comes to Apple now.
Again, the average user isn't the one that's going to be going out to buy OSX and replacing the OS that came with his computer. The "average" user buys a computer and uses the OS that's on it...be it XP or whatever. If someone wants to go and buy Linux off the shelf like Redhat or Suse, they're taking a risk and they know it, yet they do it all the time. Also, Redhat and Suse and the other major Linux players don't have a CS department that's even half the size of Apple's, nor even the resources to ramp up. Yet Linux is being bought on disk or downloaded by all the time. These aren't "average" users though, but there IS a market for that out there.
The hardware side shouldn't be a problem as we've been shown that people will buy Macs now and then run Windows or Linux on the machines! Dell is also a hardware company, as is Gateway...yet you don't see them worrying that people can go and buy Windows off the shelf. Apple can play in that bigger pond as now the hardware is the same. They really don't have to charge an arm and a leg like they used to with different PPC hardware. They can get cheaper parts, drive down the costs, win customers with superior build quality and stellar customer service. Oh, and they also come pre-loaded with a kick-ass OS called OSX...but if you prefer you can also get them with XP loaded (maybe that will be an option in the future). If they were to also offer OSX on the side, this shouldn't cut into their hardware sales as again, an "average" user will want a system that's pre-configured for them so they just get it home, plug it in and run it. Apple will offer that. But if people want to also just run OSX on a system that's self-built, they'll offer that too.
No one is saying anything about clones. If you want OSX on a system, you buy the system from Apple. If you want to put it on your existing hardware, then you buy it off the shelf for full retail. No OEM prices for the OS. So if they only get 1 lousy percent of the millions and millions of Windows users to switch over to OSX, they'll be in fantastic shape. I see them doing this. It's revenue that has major potential and they're not signing anything away to other companies like the clone fiasco. It's still controlled by them.
Look at it this way, it's going to be easier and easier to load OSX on a PC. More and more people will be buying OSX off the shelves or at worse, downloading it via P2P, and cracking it to work on their hardware. The more they configure OSX for Intel with more drivers for more equipment, the easier it will be to load it on a regular PC. This is happening now and it's not going to stop. And Apple may not see a dime for this at all. If they sell it at retail, they will keep some semblance of control.
This seems to be the big gun that people throw out "Apple doesn't want to deal with all the support issues". Well, they deal with support issues now don't they? What would they need, a bigger staff?
Apple is usually listed as having one of the better customer support departments now (yes yes, there are exceptions to everything so don't barrage me with your "I bought an iPod from them and I had to wait 5 minutes on a phone blah blah blah"). Why couldn't they continue this trend with OSX?
But look at it this way, if people buy OSX to place on their computer, they pretty much will know what they're doing. What Joe Average person goes out to buy a computer with no OS on it, then go back to the store to buy the OS to load? No one. They'll buy a Dell or Gateway or Compaq that has an OS already loaded and the only thing they'll ever buy is probably an upgrade. AND if they have a problem with their computer, they do NOT call MS, but they call Dell, or Gateway or whoever.
A couple of grandparents that buy a computer from Dell are not going to call MS for support when they have a TON of flyer's and stickers and warnings with Dell's customer support number and website plastered all over them. They are also not going to go out to buy OSX to replace everything on their computer. Though they might buy a Dell with OSX on it...maybe...and then again, they would call Dell for service.
So please all of you, stop with the bullshit that "Apple doesn't want to deal with the support issues". They could handle it with ease.
I'm here on SBC (now AT&T) DSL, and actually, haven't had an ounce of problems with my connection for the past 2 years. It's been stellar actually.
But the only high speed alternative in my area is Comcast....and it will be a very very VERY cold day in Hell before I ever go back to Comcast.
Should check out this artist, Linda Bergkvist. She's in the realistic realm:
http://www.furiae.com/gallery/spoiled.jpg
Sounds like a very diplomatic outcome on his part.
This guy works for Google, and he didn't use Googlemail?
Isn't that like working for GM and you drive a Ford? Or how about you work for Toyota and you drive a 1957 Belair because "I hate fuel injection".
Dude, it's 2006, get with the program. Well, at least he did try using it for a month, but I don't know the outcome as the website is farked.
But anyway, people like this call others "Luddites" even though they themselves are stuck in a time-warp. I suppose there are different degrees to Luddiatry (yeah, I make words up).
But hey, good times right?
Why is this a good thing? I'm not a programmer, so I don't really understand why writing code that appears to be innocent, yet is really evil, help the community?
I understand about making source code available helps in a secure system, but what if that code has evil code...made to look innocent upon inspection....written into it?
I know that showing how to crack into a system, or how to write a virus actually helps in the long run as it exposes weaknesses that can and should be patched and closed. But what does having people practice hiding malicious code do for us?
Just wondering. I find this stuff fascinating....though not fascinating enough to actually learn how to do it!
They have 7/11's in Australia? Then perhaps this country isn't in bad shape after all!
I'm waiting for them to just sever all the Internet connections into and out of the country. I mean, it sounds like the country is run by a bunch of techno-scared religious people...ones that think if a 12 year old kid sees a naked boob they'll be scared for life or that everyone in the country is a potential criminal that emails they're master plan about.
I don't know, but I think if I were up-to-no-good, I'd encrypt all my emails. Oh wait, got an idea: Hey Australia, maybe you should now ban encrypted emails! Also ban "vague" emails, because it's harder to understand exactly what it's about if you don't spell it out to the poor official that has to sift through it all. If you have a plot or a crime in the works, make sure you explain everything in detail using correct terms so we can pick that up easier. No more "We need to talk about the thing last night with our friend".
This is taken right from Wikipedia:
StarForce has received criticism for installing its own device driver onto computers. Some users claim that the StarForce drivers can cause optical drives to fail, which has been investigated by the popular American magazine Computer Gaming World. CGW states that under certain circumstances StarForce will cause Windows to access optical drives in Programmed input/output mode which causes the drive to be accessed far more slowly, potentially causing problems. StarForce developers responded to these findings, stating "The issue on StarForce is obviously sponsored by our competitors or organized crime groups that run CD/DVD piracy operations. We are now in close cooperation with US and Russian officials investigating the matter and trying to find out who stands behind the boycott campaign". When faced with criticism on the internet, StarForce officials are known to threaten with legal action and contact with the FBI, though the extent to which these threats have been pursued remain doubtful. StarForce's developers claim that their EULA absolves them from any responsibility for problems that their software may cause [3]. Supporters of StarForce argue that the stability problems were exaggerated and have been resolved in newer versions of StarForce.
StarForce copy protection software also forces users to completely wipe and reinstall their partitions if they wish to remove the copy protection software. The protection will also write to any shared network drives that have full read / write access, causing problems for other users on the network.
A large number of gamers have advocated boycotts of games or publishers known to use StarForce. On 30th January 2006 Boing Boing, a popular weblog, labelled Starforce as malware, alleging several problems associated with the protection system, including disk drive performance degradation, weakening of operating system security and stability. A day later on January 31, 2006 Boing Boing received an email from Starforce, threatening legal action and stating that the article was "full of insults, lies, false accusations and rumors". CNET also ran a similar story, and has received similar [email]. However, Protection Technologies have never proven these claims are false.
On 5th March 2006, a StarForce employee posted a link [4] to an illegal download source of Galactic Civilizations 2, a game developed by StarDock which does not use copy protection. Starforce later issued an apology for this act [5], after it received a great deal of attention on the internet.
More info at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starforce
I'll never understand the "I steal so I can play without the disk!" mentality that some people have. It's not like it's that hard to change disks. You hit the little Eject button, take out the disk already there, and put in the new one. Easy. If you have time to play an hour or two in a video game, you have time to take the five seconds to change disks.
It's not like it's a new thing, either. When games first started coming out on CD, they all required you to have the game disk in the drive. Yet people didn't complain.
The requirement to change disks hasn't stopped people from playing console games. Hell, some games require you to change disks while the game is still playing! Yet, no one minds.
The whole "steal the game to avoid having to use the disk" has got to be one of the lamest excuses for theft ever. "See, judge, I wanna make my life slightly more convenient, at the cost of Ubisoft's business."
This "case" is going to be laughed out of court.
It has nothing to do with switching CD's. I'll gladly play a game that needs the CD to start up, like Oblivion. What I don't want is Starforce on my machine. At all.
Why? Again, it has nothing to do with piracy or switching disks or any of that. Starforce screwed up my machine. I bought "Silent Hunter III", a sub simulation, and installed it on my computer. But I noticed that after a while, the entire computer started acting sluggish in normal activities....even though it's a Dual-core 4200+ with 2 gigs of RAM and it wasn't sluggish before. Rebooting seemed to make it worse, yet I couldn't see any activity or stolen CPU cycles or any of that. And I run a very clean system.
Anyway, it was acting sluggish. But that wasn't even the half of it, when I went to make a CD this past Christmas to take to my in-laws of Christmas music (mainly of Tiny Tim singing carols....drives my mother-in-law crazy...but that's another story). I found nothing would burn on my burner. Then my son told me that he couldn't play his older game he liked anymore because it would launch, then just shut down. It was an older game from a few years ago, and it was working fine just a week earlier.
To make a long story longer...I finally tracked down that all of this started happening AFTER I installed "Silent Hunter III" on my computer. I did some research online and found out all about Starforce and it's drivers. I found the Starforce removal tool and WHAM, like magic, everything started working again. But I hear that I was lucky because some people's CD drives are sometimes permanently screwed, though I don't know how.
THAT is why I'm all for this lawsuit. I don't care about any money, just want Starforce to go away.
A psychological phenomenon that refers to the bad feeling one gets when a discrepancy between what you already know or believe, and new information or interpretation from someone else. Religion usually falls in this framework when two people who are on opposite positions begin discussing and get further and further away from true understanding one another.
This doesn't fall under religion exclusively either, almost any aspects of life can become deeply held beliefs that we don't want to let go of when something new comes along to upset the apple-cart.