This isn't pressure as much as it is . . . Walmart. Keep in mind, this is the same place that wouldn't sell the Goo-Goo Dolls album because of what looked like blood on the baby, or something like that. Walmart has had a history of being somewhat reactionary and conservative on these fronts. I don't necessarily view it, as timothy does, as pressure from attorneys. I just look at it as Walmart doing its part to further the cause of conservative censorship among its customers.
But seriously, folks, who shops at Walmart anymore? As timothy stated, there are so many other, easier places to buy anything they sell. What was the Mint thinking, giving their gold dollars for distribution exclusively at Walmart?
--- Calvin: But if we don't have cable, how will we achieve uniform commercial blandness?! Calvin's Father: Oh, we still have McDonald's and Walmart for that.
Sorry to Hear This, For Multiple Reasons
on
Is Pinball Dying?
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· Score: 2
Good lord. Pinball is dying. For me, that's like cutting a piece of me off and throwing it into Baltimore's Inner Harbor.
My Pinball heritage began before I was born. One fateful day at Cornell University, the man and woman who would later become my parents first met at a pinball machine.
Around the time I was a toddler, my Grandfather owned a vending-repair shop, and he routinely repaired pinball games. Somehow, he acquired one, and it ended up in the basement of our townhouse. I used to spend many hours of my toddler-life downstairs on that machine. I'd need to use a stool, because I was still too short.
The summer camp I went to for five years straight (7th through 11th grades) always had a pinball machine in its collection of three or four arcade games. Not a day would go by that I wouldn't play it once. I had bad days, and good days. I also had days when I would play for about a half-hour on end because I got so many replays. There were a couple times that a crowd of people, from little fourth-graders to people my age, would gather to watch me beat the heck out of that little metal ball. I frequently had to leave a replay for someone else because I had to be somewhere, and was still playing on the same quarters.
I'm sure there are many people out there, for whom pinball is such a part of them. Pinball is in my blood. For me, and the others like me, Pinball will never die. It'll just become, as some others said, a niche market.
For those doubters out there, let me offer this: Pinball is the only truly 3D arcade game. You can have all your fancy 3D-lookalike games, but Pinball is true-to-life 3D. Beat that.
While yes, I see the reasons why anyone with an interest in keeping the Internet open would be scared by the AOLization of the 'Net, I don't think it's so bad as the user above and countless others are fearing. It's a domination fantasy that Steve Case has, and that all of us have. Who wouldn't want to own the largest ISP in the world, along with two of the most powerful media outlets? It's just that he has the chance to do that. He's probably not out to screw all of us. He's just not willing to rest on his laurels.
So what does that mean for us normal, God-fearing internet users? Probably not much. Just more "Mee Toooo"'s on Usenet. Maybe more of those annoying AOL triangles as sponsors or supporters of a site. His denial of MSN from AOL IMer is just shrewd business practice: why let someone else mooch off of the progress you've built? Especially if it's AOL's most-moneyed competitor, Microsoft. It's not as if IMer isn't free anyway. And while AOL can boast IM members as part of its base, we're not giving them any money, just using a product they're giving out for free.
As for the fear that AOL sites will shut out those not using AOL browsers, I have this to say: The only sites that AOL is going to limit access to is members.aol.com sites, and who in hell visits those anyway? Seriously, if that happens, then AOL users can go to any number of free-hosting sites. And if it becomes a real problem, then some of the people using AOL will get pissed and go to a different ISP. AOL will recognize it's loosing members and back off.
I have no doubt that AOL will limit web content to its users, as it does now. But that doesn't mean that all of us will be censored. How can AOL censor any of Usenet from non-AOL users? Besides being against free-speech laws, it's just not feasible.
All that (and it's a lot) being said, I still don't like what AOL's doing. I don't like it that users think AOL IS the web, when there's so much else. I don't like it that people don't think they have more options that are just as easy as AOL (Mindspring, NetZero, etc.) I don't like it that such a bland and idiotic corporation will be controling as much as it does.
But I do like the fact that, someday, its practices will have to stop. This is highly theoretical and somewhat wishful, but there might come a day when advertisers are not willing to spend the three gazillion dollars it takes to advertise on AOL. There might come a day when something happens, AOL's stock takes a beating, and they find themselves without cash. There might come a day when all of the people not using AOL anymore actually cancel their accounts, and Case realizes he just lost half his subscribers. And, my biggest wish, there might come a day when people realize that just using E-mail and chat can be done easier and cheaper, and that's when AOL will really hit the fan.
Slashdot Mirror
But seriously, folks, who shops at Walmart anymore? As timothy stated, there are so many other, easier places to buy anything they sell. What was the Mint thinking, giving their gold dollars for distribution exclusively at Walmart?
---
Calvin: But if we don't have cable, how will we achieve uniform commercial blandness?!
Calvin's Father: Oh, we still have McDonald's and Walmart for that.
My Pinball heritage began before I was born. One fateful day at Cornell University, the man and woman who would later become my parents first met at a pinball machine.
Around the time I was a toddler, my Grandfather owned a vending-repair shop, and he routinely repaired pinball games. Somehow, he acquired one, and it ended up in the basement of our townhouse. I used to spend many hours of my toddler-life downstairs on that machine. I'd need to use a stool, because I was still too short.
The summer camp I went to for five years straight (7th through 11th grades) always had a pinball machine in its collection of three or four arcade games. Not a day would go by that I wouldn't play it once. I had bad days, and good days. I also had days when I would play for about a half-hour on end because I got so many replays. There were a couple times that a crowd of people, from little fourth-graders to people my age, would gather to watch me beat the heck out of that little metal ball. I frequently had to leave a replay for someone else because I had to be somewhere, and was still playing on the same quarters.
I'm sure there are many people out there, for whom pinball is such a part of them. Pinball is in my blood. For me, and the others like me, Pinball will never die. It'll just become, as some others said, a niche market.
For those doubters out there, let me offer this: Pinball is the only truly 3D arcade game. You can have all your fancy 3D-lookalike games, but Pinball is true-to-life 3D. Beat that.
So what does that mean for us normal, God-fearing internet users? Probably not much. Just more "Mee Toooo"'s on Usenet. Maybe more of those annoying AOL triangles as sponsors or supporters of a site. His denial of MSN from AOL IMer is just shrewd business practice: why let someone else mooch off of the progress you've built? Especially if it's AOL's most-moneyed competitor, Microsoft. It's not as if IMer isn't free anyway. And while AOL can boast IM members as part of its base, we're not giving them any money, just using a product they're giving out for free.
As for the fear that AOL sites will shut out those not using AOL browsers, I have this to say: The only sites that AOL is going to limit access to is members.aol.com sites, and who in hell visits those anyway? Seriously, if that happens, then AOL users can go to any number of free-hosting sites. And if it becomes a real problem, then some of the people using AOL will get pissed and go to a different ISP. AOL will recognize it's loosing members and back off.
I have no doubt that AOL will limit web content to its users, as it does now. But that doesn't mean that all of us will be censored. How can AOL censor any of Usenet from non-AOL users? Besides being against free-speech laws, it's just not feasible.
All that (and it's a lot) being said, I still don't like what AOL's doing. I don't like it that users think AOL IS the web, when there's so much else. I don't like it that people don't think they have more options that are just as easy as AOL (Mindspring, NetZero, etc.) I don't like it that such a bland and idiotic corporation will be controling as much as it does.
But I do like the fact that, someday, its practices will have to stop. This is highly theoretical and somewhat wishful, but there might come a day when advertisers are not willing to spend the three gazillion dollars it takes to advertise on AOL. There might come a day when something happens, AOL's stock takes a beating, and they find themselves without cash. There might come a day when all of the people not using AOL anymore actually cancel their accounts, and Case realizes he just lost half his subscribers. And, my biggest wish, there might come a day when people realize that just using E-mail and chat can be done easier and cheaper, and that's when AOL will really hit the fan.
Thank you.