At least after you return a rental DVD someone else can still watch it. These disposable things just turn to useless junk. Someone needs to tell the movie industry that their revenue model can't be based on an airtight "every eyeball pays every time they see it" ideal.
It was pretty, with graphics far beyond the capability of other contemporary games, but the gameplay sucked. You had to press the joystick in a specified pattern with precise timing in order to get the "you didn't die" animation sequence to play. It really wasn't much of a video game, just a crappy way to select which video clips to watch in what order to create a pseudo-interactive narrative.
Hmm, pretty graphics, shite gameplay. No wonder it's on XBox now. It's a natural fit.
If you plan and design right (and then release a metric shitload of service packs and miscellaneous patches) you don't need to buy a new operating system every 18 months.
Funny, I thought MSFT was the leader in the forced upgrade path market.
Excellent. That's really quite an imagination you've got. If I hadn't posted in this thread already, I'd mod you up "funny". That was too good not to get some karma thrown your way though.
Really, with all the money they have, you'd think they could get their own pr0n. Hell, they could probably hire the actresses to come over and give all the generals a personal lapdance and/or BJ.
That part's covered by the part when I said MSFT will buy Eolas out, just like they bought out the White House.
MSFT bought the support they needed from the Republicans, and when GWB got elected, sure enough, the whole tone of the case changes. That's not supposed to happen -- justice is supposed to be politically blind -- but that's what happened.
Besides, who knows, maybe MSFT *can* get W. chopping at the Eolas lawyers' knees. How hard would it be to imagine Eolas's financials being frozen because they're suspected of being linked to Al Qaeda?
(I seriously doubt that would actually happen, but it's pretty easy to imagine it happening.)
Even if their case has total merit, the MSFT strategy will be to spend so much on lawyers and drawing out the trial that eventually Eolas will run out of money and be forced to drop the suit, or go bankrupt. Then they'll probably go bankrupt anyway. Then they'll get bought out for pennies on the dollar by BillG.
I mean, duh. That's a to the letter account of exactly what happened to the US DOJ when they brought the antitrust charges against MSFT. You think the DOJ had shallower pockets than Eolas does?
We just don't want anyone going up there and bothering the monolith. It tells us it doesn't like it when the ape-people keep touching it. Monoliths are very fickle things...
Laptops are "portable" computers, but not really "mobile". The distinction, as I see it, lies in the fact that even with a fully charged batteries, many laptops don't give very useful operating times unless you're plugged in to an AC outlet.
Assuming you can find an outlet wherever you're likely to want to use your PC, laptops can be a decent choice. But without access to an AC outlet, you're not going to find a laptop to be useful for more than 30-40 minutes or so.
I can't tell you how many times I've had my laptop just shut down with no warning because the AC cable was loose and I didn't notice, and I'd only been using the computer for maybe 20-30 minutes.
So that's why I say a laptop is portable, but not mobile. You can't really go that far with one while it's umbilical is plugged in, so it's not really fair to call a laptop mobile.
And, if you're going to be plugged in 90% + of the time you're using it, then you're not going to have to deal with the reduced performance issue anyway.
For all intents and purposes, from the perspective of the average user who gets Windows bundled with their OEMbox, MS has been giving away the OS for a long time. Sure, they charge you for it, but the cost is lumped in with the cost of the hardware and you never notice it unless you look carefully.
Nowadays, of course, this point is somewhat diluted, since you *can* buy a blank-slate PC with no OS pre-installed, but even today 99% of your average computer users will want to buy a computer that comes with an OS installed on it, as it will be fairly useless until one can be installed.
But during the crucial period when MS was building its monopoly on the strength of its control of the desktop OS, you really couldn't buy an OEM built PC that didn't have an OS already installed on it.
If you refuse to deal with someone, you can retain a semblance of ethical purity, it is true. But if they don't *need* your business in order to survive, the embargo doesn't accomplish anything in real terms to effect positive change. Companies and nations that have no ethical qualms about dealing with countries that censor their internet will continue to do business with them, and then you run the risk of being the isolationist odd-man out.
Besides, with the amount of censorship that is allowed to happen in this country, it'd be fairly hypocritical if we refused to deal with other nations that practiced censorship.
That's fine for geeks, but a lot of people who have the time don't have the know-how. For them, spending $1000 on a fairly dumb appliance is a lot happier a prospect than spending 1000 hours swearing at Unix manuals.
Slashdot Mirror
It's one thing when Nissan sues you, yeah, I could deal with that. What are they going to do, run me over with a Nissan?
;)
But when the Uzi people finally get wind of this fellow, you can bet he'll change his tune.
It's just not wise to argue with Israelis armed with machine guns with a beef over territory or ownership rights.
Both the plaintiff and defendent are being represented by Wyman, Wyman, and FUD.
At least after you return a rental DVD someone else can still watch it. These disposable things just turn to useless junk. Someone needs to tell the movie industry that their revenue model can't be based on an airtight "every eyeball pays every time they see it" ideal.
Yeah, but it's the sun. So about 254 of those colors are going to be some shade of yellow.
This just provides all the more justification for making a permanent backup of the data. Thanks, movie industry morons!
It was pretty, with graphics far beyond the capability of other contemporary games, but the gameplay sucked. You had to press the joystick in a specified pattern with precise timing in order to get the "you didn't die" animation sequence to play. It really wasn't much of a video game, just a crappy way to select which video clips to watch in what order to create a pseudo-interactive narrative.
Hmm, pretty graphics, shite gameplay. No wonder it's on XBox now. It's a natural fit.
If you plan and design right (and then release a metric shitload of service packs and miscellaneous patches) you don't need to buy a new operating system every 18 months.
Funny, I thought MSFT was the leader in the forced upgrade path market.
You better not show your--
Excellent. That's really quite an imagination you've got. If I hadn't posted in this thread already, I'd mod you up "funny". That was too good not to get some karma thrown your way though.
Really, with all the money they have, you'd think they could get their own pr0n. Hell, they could probably hire the actresses to come over and give all the generals a personal lapdance and/or BJ.
That part's covered by the part when I said MSFT will buy Eolas out, just like they bought out the White House.
MSFT bought the support they needed from the Republicans, and when GWB got elected, sure enough, the whole tone of the case changes. That's not supposed to happen -- justice is supposed to be politically blind -- but that's what happened.
Besides, who knows, maybe MSFT *can* get W. chopping at the Eolas lawyers' knees. How hard would it be to imagine Eolas's financials being frozen because they're suspected of being linked to Al Qaeda?
(I seriously doubt that would actually happen, but it's pretty easy to imagine it happening.)
Even if their case has total merit, the MSFT strategy will be to spend so much on lawyers and drawing out the trial that eventually Eolas will run out of money and be forced to drop the suit, or go bankrupt. Then they'll probably go bankrupt anyway. Then they'll get bought out for pennies on the dollar by BillG.
I mean, duh. That's a to the letter account of exactly what happened to the US DOJ when they brought the antitrust charges against MSFT. You think the DOJ had shallower pockets than Eolas does?
It wasn't a fake...
We just don't want anyone going up there and bothering the monolith. It tells us it doesn't like it when the ape-people keep touching it. Monoliths are very fickle things...
I don't know if I'd trust the delivery boy if he's bringing stuff over on a... Landshark!
All I asked for is that the word "la-ser" be printed with quote marks around it, is that so hard?
Laptops are "portable" computers, but not really "mobile". The distinction, as I see it, lies in the fact that even with a fully charged batteries, many laptops don't give very useful operating times unless you're plugged in to an AC outlet.
Assuming you can find an outlet wherever you're likely to want to use your PC, laptops can be a decent choice. But without access to an AC outlet, you're not going to find a laptop to be useful for more than 30-40 minutes or so.
I can't tell you how many times I've had my laptop just shut down with no warning because the AC cable was loose and I didn't notice, and I'd only been using the computer for maybe 20-30 minutes.
So that's why I say a laptop is portable, but not mobile. You can't really go that far with one while it's umbilical is plugged in, so it's not really fair to call a laptop mobile.
And, if you're going to be plugged in 90% + of the time you're using it, then you're not going to have to deal with the reduced performance issue anyway.
For all intents and purposes, from the perspective of the average user who gets Windows bundled with their OEMbox, MS has been giving away the OS for a long time. Sure, they charge you for it, but the cost is lumped in with the cost of the hardware and you never notice it unless you look carefully.
Nowadays, of course, this point is somewhat diluted, since you *can* buy a blank-slate PC with no OS pre-installed, but even today 99% of your average computer users will want to buy a computer that comes with an OS installed on it, as it will be fairly useless until one can be installed.
But during the crucial period when MS was building its monopoly on the strength of its control of the desktop OS, you really couldn't buy an OEM built PC that didn't have an OS already installed on it.
So, if we can project this trend out, when do I need to start wearing sunglasses while I'm in the office?
in 2-3 years when the court settlement finally gets hammered out, the machines in question will be outdated, obsolete, and depreciated.
Obviously, unless Batman has some kryptonite stashed in his utility belt, he's thoroughly F'd if he messes with the Man of Steel.
/. editors ever read any comic books? Batman is a normal guy. He just has a fancy suit and a lot of gadgets and training. It's no contest.
Have the
Duh.
If you refuse to deal with someone, you can retain a semblance of ethical purity, it is true. But if they don't *need* your business in order to survive, the embargo doesn't accomplish anything in real terms to effect positive change. Companies and nations that have no ethical qualms about dealing with countries that censor their internet will continue to do business with them, and then you run the risk of being the isolationist odd-man out.
Besides, with the amount of censorship that is allowed to happen in this country, it'd be fairly hypocritical if we refused to deal with other nations that practiced censorship.
We're #17!!
Let's hope Auerbach left the plans for the DNS server loaded in the memory buffer of a brave astromech droid.
That's incredible! I have that same combination on my luggage!
That's fine for geeks, but a lot of people who have the time don't have the know-how. For them, spending $1000 on a fairly dumb appliance is a lot happier a prospect than spending 1000 hours swearing at Unix manuals.
We just call them "cops" around here.