I would be more concerned with the recent efforts of Sony and Verant to stop online auctions of game characters. Granted, they *sorta* have a right (the characters reside entirely on their servers), but the majority of time, effort and exploration is put together by the player (not to mention the $40 for buying a license of the game).
With this "online-basteridizing" of the license, what's to say Microsoft can't turn Microsoft.net around on its customers? "You can't sell Windows 2001," MS decries, "because some of your settings our are on servers, and we own that part of the license". Do we sense a privacy issue exploding here?
What would keep the open source community from developing its own, wide-open protocol (complete with GPL'd clients)?
I mean, how difficult can it be? Isn't it basically a lowend version of telnet with a candy coating (for messaging, file-transfers, etc.) Granted, voice chat would be a little more difficult, but as Yahoo has demonstrated recently, you can write a reasonable voice chat system with Java and get away with it being under 80K.
I'd be curious to read a history of all popular OS's, from timesharing and UNIX to NT and Linux.
I'd like to see the similarities and differences that are threshed out over time (what, for example, are the fundamental differences between Windows 2000 and the best UNIX systems? What's the same?)
Out of curiousity, what do most people think: would a version of IE be as stable on *nix as it is in Windows (and, in some respects, MacOS)?
I'm running 5.5 on Windows 2000, and it hasn't crashed since I bought the OS (about 2 months ago). Some might say "it's about time" given the number of tries MS has had, but it'd be nice to see something a bit more stable on the Linux side as well - something that would mirror IE.
Or how about something like Opera in a stable format?
I used to just download an occasional MP3 from a few rogue sites. Now that I have a chance to sample more music, I'm also more willing to go out and purchase CDs (if I feel a band I'm listening to deserves my money).
How is downloading MP3s any different than listening to CDs in those sample booths they have at the mall?
I remember when I used to review games for Gamespot. I reviewed some crappy full-motion game called "Samurai Gods" or something (I can't remember the title). Anyway, I bashed them in the review, and the editors put it up no problem.
A week later my editors get a call from the game company saying unless the review is redone in a more favorable format: a.) They will stop advertising on the site b.) They will stop sending product samples (like full-version games) and c.) They will begin to advertise on other, competitor sites
Needless to say my editors (and the executive editors) said "we're not going to take this bullshit" and told the company in no uncertain terms not to threaten us.
But this was my first real-live experience with politics in reviewing and the gaming industry (I was only 17 at the time). (I also heard that EGM once had advertising from Capcom pulled out from under them by giving Super Street Fighter Ex 2 Turbo etc. a bad review. Imagine that?)
To be honest, I can't see how this would be totally foolproof - or would even work.
It's very difficult for a game engine to determine which elements to trace, texture and light. The best engines automatically remove objects that won't be seen - those behind walls and not in the camera's viewpath.
In the case of switching to wireframes, you'd only really see what the game planned for you to see. Quake III Arena, for example, automatically removes objects a certain distance from the player - objects in maps it sure can't be seen.
You'd probably only see wireframes of characters immediately in front of you. Characters around corners (again, a good engine would omit them before they even reached the graphics driver) would never be seen.
I was just curious about the handles because not all Mac design decisions have been totally sound in terms of engineering - in fact, there have been a whole host of "Why do you do it that way?" designs:
- Pretty beige box on the Apple II which Jobs felt would sell more machines, in light of design concerns proposed by Wozniak (too much internal heat, wasted internal space, etc.)
- The flat, pizza-box shaped LCIII, which seemed like a great idea until heavier monitors came around and started crushing internal components
- More recently, on the iMac, the use of Powerbook CD-ROM components in the original design. Seemed like a great idea, until people realized how breakable they were when pushed down, especially by children.
- Handles on all iMacs. Great idea, until you realize due to all the CRT components the weight of the machines is 45+ lbs. Gives new meaning to the term "luggable".
- And don't even get me started on the single-button mouse. My mother uses a 2-button mouse just fine (with wheel) in Windows, and understands the right-button is for context-sensitive menus. I sometimes see her scratching for the right-mouse button when she uses the family iMac.
Food for thought.
Note to moderators: just because the guy has a few negative things to say about Apple, his username is "Fervent", and his mommy uses a Windows machine does not make him a Troll or Flamebait. People outside Slashdot don't all use Linux, FreeBSD or MacOS. Get over it.
Interesting query holding over from yesterday, but seeing the pictures today hold true for the cube (and not seeing the keynote myself)...
How exactly DO you pick the cube up? Are there handles? I can just imagine IT workers the world over picking them up out of cars and saying "Whoops, shit, slipped through my hands again. There goes another one of the Macs.":)
Proving once again: never *ever* run your web server using MacOS.:)
(By the way, does anyone remember when Job was introducing the original iBook, and he tried to access the Apple site - and couldn't get in during the presentation? hehe)
This is huge (although I would have thought...)
on
CNET Buys Ziff-Davis
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· Score: 2
This is definitely one of the biggest stories to affect web users today, particularly those who rely on both Slashdot and mainstream tech news sites.
I would have really thought it'd been the other way around, though. ZD always seemed to be the bigger property (they own nearly every print magazine involving computers on the planet). But then again, CNET always seemed to be rather silent, growing quietly with each passing year and seemingly saving it's money.
Except that some scientists are starting to view gasoline as a renewable resource - something that will never run out in humankind's lifetime (see this wired article).
Gas prices are in constant flux. Buying a gas/electric hybrid at this point because of gas reasons is like purchasing war bonds. A nice idea, but not really efficient after the event is over.
I'd wait for a little more competition between car manufacturers - get a few more machines into the mix and lower prices. By the way, does anyone else think a hybrid version of the new VW Beetle would rock?
Wait a second, are you guys saying you actually want these other countries to purchase and control high-level encryption that can be used against us? Why in the hell would we want to do that? Personally, I *like* being on the top of the heap!
It's akin to selling nuclear weapons to Hussein ("Buy five, get the sixth free"). Let them build their own encryption schemes if they want. (Or let them figure out how to use PGP with 4000-bit keys).
Besides, any college comp-sci student can put together their own encryption scheme. Hell, my project this semester was to put together a 256-bit scheme of DES (piece of cake...) Are we saying that there aren't hackers out there in other countries that can't do that? They have to buy our schemes?
The gentleman who said that WindowsUpdate doesn't update drivers is not in tune with Windows entirely. Going to the WindowsUpdate site will only update critical system components, you are right. But going into Device Manager, selecting a piece of hardware and telling Windows to search the WindowsUpdate site for "updated drivers" is what I'm talking about. I was able to download the "proper" Voodoo 3000 AGP drivers (1.0.4 WQHL). Windows was able to identify the beta I was using and flag it as a potential problem.
Anyone who thinks that modules isn't the future of driver development on Linux is fooling themselves. Yes, having specific devices imbedded into the kernel itself is nice (and speeds driver load time), but what about all the drivers that *don't* need to be in there, such as the amateur radio drivers compiled into the kernel up until a few years ago? The ability to remove, update, and add new drivers at will is a strength of the Windows platform, and should be copied (or at least emulated) on Linux. Call them what you will (Windows calls them drivers, Mac calls them extensions, Linux calls them modules) they are fully needed.
The view that Linux cannot be a gaming platform is clearly amateurish. If it cannot, why are companies like Loki even bothering? Why do most distributions include Gnome and KDE games out of box, even when the install is set to "server" mode? Clearly there is a need, albiet a small one at present, to have entertainment on the Linux platform. You can turn this stuff off if you like, but when DeCSS makes such a dent on news sites regarding Linux, it's clear that *someone* must be viewing the platform outside the bounds of "workstation-only".
As the article points out, the major issues holding Linux back today from being a viable gaming platform are standards and driver implementation. I've only been able to get a few games to properly work with my system (after numerous hours downloading and adjusting new drivers). Some games won't work at all. This is a far cry from Windows 98 SE.
What Linux needs to push it into the realm of gaming heaven:
1.) A feature like WindowsUpdate, which downloads and installs the latest drivers for hardware. This is an underappreciated Godsend for Windows users (where I dabble on occasion). Why can't a Linux distributor, particularly a highly-paid one like Corel, Caldera or RedHat, implement a simple website which includes up-to-date driver downloads? I don't mean the "system updates" that RedHat offers, with the simple updates to the kernel. I'm talking full-on driver updates, something I can just click and it will say "You are not using the best drivers for your GeForce board? Should I download and install the newest ones for you?" Review the changes (of course) and bam, one step closer to gaming heaven.
2.) A better standardized X needs to be in place. I want full support for DirectX-like screen calls and antialiasing for fonts. I want OpenGL embedded in the system itself if I'm going to use it. I want support for USB devices like mice out of box. I know this is going to be difficult, but these are areas Windows is flogging Linux in. I can set up a Windows 98 system, plug in a few peripherals, have the system detect them, install the latest DirectX and bam, full support for 99.9% of the best games out there.
3.) Position Linux to developers as a viable gaming platform. This is the most difficult task, and can only be done after the first 2 are completed. The Mac has been jockeying for developer support for years. The problem (and how Linux cannot fall into the same trap) is that Apple refuses to bend the needs of the OS towards developers' needs. All the standards for UI and UI consistency across apps doesn't do a heap of good when iD is trying to port Quake III Arena to the system, which has its own UI. Apple has to get off its bandwagon and start positioning OpenGL within the system (as they are doing in MacOS X) NOW to developers, instead of continuting to push stale standards like QuickDraw (Apple's Vietnam, next to OpenDoc).
These are not simple changes, but they are necessary to gaming development on the Linux platform. Hopefully distributors will realize them and get Linux in a position where it can take over Microsoft's PC gaming crown.
Slashdot Mirror
With this "online-basteridizing" of the license, what's to say Microsoft can't turn Microsoft.net around on its customers? "You can't sell Windows 2001," MS decries, "because some of your settings our are on servers, and we own that part of the license". Do we sense a privacy issue exploding here?
I mean, how difficult can it be? Isn't it basically a lowend version of telnet with a candy coating (for messaging, file-transfers, etc.) Granted, voice chat would be a little more difficult, but as Yahoo has demonstrated recently, you can write a reasonable voice chat system with Java and get away with it being under 80K.
The engine's there, graphically I'm sure LucasArts has digitized art laying around - what more needs to be done?
One wonders if they'll iron out all the antialiasing/memory bus difficulties they're still having with the PS2...
I'd like to see the similarities and differences that are threshed out over time (what, for example, are the fundamental differences between Windows 2000 and the best UNIX systems? What's the same?)
I have it running in under one minute on my Win2000 machine, a bit longer in Linux. And I have only a "paltry" 700-mhz Athlon.
Better mods, better weapons, game of the year awards left and right. :)
I'm running 5.5 on Windows 2000, and it hasn't crashed since I bought the OS (about 2 months ago). Some might say "it's about time" given the number of tries MS has had, but it'd be nice to see something a bit more stable on the Linux side as well - something that would mirror IE.
Or how about something like Opera in a stable format?
Hand me a copy of Win2000 please. No, I'm not kidding.
How is downloading MP3s any different than listening to CDs in those sample booths they have at the mall?
I'm taking catholicchurch.com and jewishrabbis.com. Anyone want to grab hindugods.com?
A week later my editors get a call from the game company saying unless the review is redone in a more favorable format:
a.) They will stop advertising on the site
b.) They will stop sending product samples (like full-version games) and
c.) They will begin to advertise on other, competitor sites
Needless to say my editors (and the executive editors) said "we're not going to take this bullshit" and told the company in no uncertain terms not to threaten us.
But this was my first real-live experience with politics in reviewing and the gaming industry (I was only 17 at the time). (I also heard that EGM once had advertising from Capcom pulled out from under them by giving Super Street Fighter Ex 2 Turbo etc. a bad review. Imagine that?)
Number two: Mac fans have to lay off the caffeine.
It's very difficult for a game engine to determine which elements to trace, texture and light. The best engines automatically remove objects that won't be seen - those behind walls and not in the camera's viewpath.
In the case of switching to wireframes, you'd only really see what the game planned for you to see. Quake III Arena, for example, automatically removes objects a certain distance from the player - objects in maps it sure can't be seen.
You'd probably only see wireframes of characters immediately in front of you. Characters around corners (again, a good engine would omit them before they even reached the graphics driver) would never be seen.
- Pretty beige box on the Apple II which Jobs felt would sell more machines, in light of design concerns proposed by Wozniak (too much internal heat, wasted internal space, etc.)
- The flat, pizza-box shaped LCIII, which seemed like a great idea until heavier monitors came around and started crushing internal components
- More recently, on the iMac, the use of Powerbook CD-ROM components in the original design. Seemed like a great idea, until people realized how breakable they were when pushed down, especially by children.
- Handles on all iMacs. Great idea, until you realize due to all the CRT components the weight of the machines is 45+ lbs. Gives new meaning to the term "luggable".
- And don't even get me started on the single-button mouse. My mother uses a 2-button mouse just fine (with wheel) in Windows, and understands the right-button is for context-sensitive menus. I sometimes see her scratching for the right-mouse button when she uses the family iMac.
Food for thought.
Note to moderators: just because the guy has a few negative things to say about Apple, his username is "Fervent", and his mommy uses a Windows machine does not make him a Troll or Flamebait. People outside Slashdot don't all use Linux, FreeBSD or MacOS. Get over it.
How exactly DO you pick the cube up? Are there handles? I can just imagine IT workers the world over picking them up out of cars and saying "Whoops, shit, slipped through my hands again. There goes another one of the Macs." :)
(By the way, does anyone remember when Job was introducing the original iBook, and he tried to access the Apple site - and couldn't get in during the presentation? hehe)
I would have really thought it'd been the other way around, though. ZD always seemed to be the bigger property (they own nearly every print magazine involving computers on the planet). But then again, CNET always seemed to be rather silent, growing quietly with each passing year and seemingly saving it's money.
This is big.
The fraud article is correct in at least one aspect: the screws definitely give it away. 3 in one picture and 2 in another? Definite fraud.
Except that some scientists are starting to view gasoline as a renewable resource - something that will never run out in humankind's lifetime (see this wired article).
I'd wait for a little more competition between car manufacturers - get a few more machines into the mix and lower prices. By the way, does anyone else think a hybrid version of the new VW Beetle would rock?
It's akin to selling nuclear weapons to Hussein ("Buy five, get the sixth free"). Let them build their own encryption schemes if they want. (Or let them figure out how to use PGP with 4000-bit keys).
Besides, any college comp-sci student can put together their own encryption scheme. Hell, my project this semester was to put together a 256-bit scheme of DES (piece of cake...) Are we saying that there aren't hackers out there in other countries that can't do that? They have to buy our schemes?
Hogwash.
I won't even mention my experiences with Debian, but I will say this: you might want to upgrade to DirectX 7a there, pirate. :)
The gentleman who said that WindowsUpdate doesn't update drivers is not in tune with Windows entirely. Going to the WindowsUpdate site will only update critical system components, you are right. But going into Device Manager, selecting a piece of hardware and telling Windows to search the WindowsUpdate site for "updated drivers" is what I'm talking about. I was able to download the "proper" Voodoo 3000 AGP drivers (1.0.4 WQHL). Windows was able to identify the beta I was using and flag it as a potential problem.
Anyone who thinks that modules isn't the future of driver development on Linux is fooling themselves. Yes, having specific devices imbedded into the kernel itself is nice (and speeds driver load time), but what about all the drivers that *don't* need to be in there, such as the amateur radio drivers compiled into the kernel up until a few years ago? The ability to remove, update, and add new drivers at will is a strength of the Windows platform, and should be copied (or at least emulated) on Linux. Call them what you will (Windows calls them drivers, Mac calls them extensions, Linux calls them modules) they are fully needed.
The view that Linux cannot be a gaming platform is clearly amateurish. If it cannot, why are companies like Loki even bothering? Why do most distributions include Gnome and KDE games out of box, even when the install is set to "server" mode? Clearly there is a need, albiet a small one at present, to have entertainment on the Linux platform. You can turn this stuff off if you like, but when DeCSS makes such a dent on news sites regarding Linux, it's clear that *someone* must be viewing the platform outside the bounds of "workstation-only".
What Linux needs to push it into the realm of gaming heaven:
1.) A feature like WindowsUpdate, which downloads and installs the latest drivers for hardware. This is an underappreciated Godsend for Windows users (where I dabble on occasion). Why can't a Linux distributor, particularly a highly-paid one like Corel, Caldera or RedHat, implement a simple website which includes up-to-date driver downloads? I don't mean the "system updates" that RedHat offers, with the simple updates to the kernel. I'm talking full-on driver updates, something I can just click and it will say "You are not using the best drivers for your GeForce board? Should I download and install the newest ones for you?" Review the changes (of course) and bam, one step closer to gaming heaven.
2.) A better standardized X needs to be in place. I want full support for DirectX-like screen calls and antialiasing for fonts. I want OpenGL embedded in the system itself if I'm going to use it. I want support for USB devices like mice out of box. I know this is going to be difficult, but these are areas Windows is flogging Linux in. I can set up a Windows 98 system, plug in a few peripherals, have the system detect them, install the latest DirectX and bam, full support for 99.9% of the best games out there.
3.) Position Linux to developers as a viable gaming platform. This is the most difficult task, and can only be done after the first 2 are completed. The Mac has been jockeying for developer support for years. The problem (and how Linux cannot fall into the same trap) is that Apple refuses to bend the needs of the OS towards developers' needs. All the standards for UI and UI consistency across apps doesn't do a heap of good when iD is trying to port Quake III Arena to the system, which has its own UI. Apple has to get off its bandwagon and start positioning OpenGL within the system (as they are doing in MacOS X) NOW to developers, instead of continuting to push stale standards like QuickDraw (Apple's Vietnam, next to OpenDoc).
These are not simple changes, but they are necessary to gaming development on the Linux platform. Hopefully distributors will realize them and get Linux in a position where it can take over Microsoft's PC gaming crown.