Death/Prison. After all, if you're the last one left then you more than likely turned someone over for an illegal activity and therefore have few loyalties and could turn on anyone at anytime... even the government...../*insert shifty eyes here*/
On a more serious note (well slightly anyways... ) I'm sure the people who like to mess with Echelon [letterbomb assasinate president, oops, sorry...] could have LOTS of fun with this thing, keep the police running all over the place [nuke nsa sabotage, oops, sorry again...], just cuz you typed something wrong or looked at sites that may have questionable purposes (A valid site that may have a section on anarchy, sites criticizing the government, etc come to mind)
-revolution congress bomb... uhh I mean: GreenHell
I'd like to add a few other points to your list...
7. People will stop setting their queue limit to zero, thereby allowing you to see the song but not download it
8. People will have to enter their real connection speed (You don't know? Well, guess what, YOU'RE A FREAKIN' MORON!)
9. People will not be allowed to rename one artist to another artist (The Gourds - Gin And Juice being listed as Phish, Dexy's Midnight Runners songs listed as the Clash, etc.)
10. Breaking of above rules will be punishable by death (as will be jay-walking, tele-marketing and working for the MPAA, but more on that later...)
Thank you, that is all...
-His exellency, El Presidente and self-appointed supreme ruler for life: GreenHell
My opinion is that you pay more to have Linux installed on the machine as you are still paying the MS license (yeah, yeah, I know, illegal, but since when has that stopped Microsoft from demanding money?) plus their (Dell's) fee for Linux
Please note that these are just my personal opinions and should in no way be seen as facts of any form
I mean, that extra weight has got to be good for something, in fact I think I can see the ads now...
Announcer: "Here at Intel we realize that laptop lefts are increasing, which is why we're doing our best to help reduce the thieves or make them easier to catch. How so? The answer is simple, weight. That's right weight. Take your normal laptop, easy to pick up, easy to run away with, why? Because it's too light. Now take this new laptop with Intel's new Pentium 4 Processor, it's heat sink alone weighs 1 pound, the processor itself is larger, as is the case (ok, I'm guessing at this one) all this extra weight means that to the average thief, your laptop is not as appealing as one with a processor by the 'other guys'. Not only that, any thief who does try to take your laptop will be burdened down with extra weight and will be less likely to run as fast as if you had another laptop. Intel, isn't your laptops safety worth a little more?"
*That Intel Sound*
Legal Sounding Announcer: "Intel makes no guarantees, implied or otherwise as to your laptop's safety."
Yes, I understand this. What I am saying is WHY? What do the companies have to gain?
It's simple, by doing so, they are able to make more money.
(The folowing explanation repeats some points already made, just thought you should know...)
To use one of the more common examples:
North American movies in Europe are usually released later than movies in North America. Now this means that by the time that (or even before) the movie hits theatres in Europe it may already be out on DVD.
One of the things that the MPAA doesn't want is for someone in Europe to buy the movie from N. America and view it/show it to their friends before it has come out on DVD in Europe, as by doing so, they have lost revenue generated by ticket sales, revenue which would help pay for the advertisements that are still showing for the movie. Previously with the incompatible formats for video cassettes this wasn't a problem.
Another thing this allows is for a form of price fixing, in N. America, the economy is able to support a higher price for such goods than other parts of the world. Say country X isn't a very rich country, therefore the citizens pay less for their DVD's than residents of the US, Canada, the UK, etc.
Now, if I set up a business which purchased the movies from country X and then sold them much cheaper to residents of other countries, the MPAA members would (theoretically) not be able to charge as much for the DVD's they sell to retailers in those countries. Now the strange thing is, technically this should be possible with CD's (I personally don't know of any incompatabilities, having ordered (more expensive) imports plenty of times, anyone know if they exist?) yet it doesn't seem to have happened.
(What follows is a personal opinion, and as such may be ignored by anyone looking just for the reasoning behind regional encryption)
Now, being a bit of a movie buff, let's say I had an extensive collection of DVD's (I don't as long as the regional encoding remains, I won't) At some point I get a job offer in Europe and move over there, I now have to either A) order all my movies from N. America to play them on my DVD player, or B) have to buy a seperate DVD player (which would be liscenced, which means money goes to the MPAA's European equivalent) So, there's my first problem, the next thing is, let's say my original DVD player breaks down, I now have a large number of DVD's which, it must be noted, I legaly purchased, and as such legally own. I have two choices I can: A) replace them all with the European equivalent or B) order a new player from N. America (and expect to pay a whole lot extra than buying a local one)
I personally would like to make a MPAA member take the stand and say that (under oath) that this point never once came up while the regional encoding was being discussed.
For more information on regional encoding and DVD's in general, check OpenDVD
Yah, personally I've always been of the opinion that the more a game boasts about its graphics, the more likely there's little to no actual gameplay... Point, shoot, dodge, point, shoot, dodge, dodge, dodge, die.... repeat ad infinitum....
Hmmmm... maybe there's a scientifc relation...
X is inversely realted to Z^2
Where X is the amount of press space (reviews, ads, etc) that talk about the eye-candy, and Z is the actual gameplay...
I'm not planning on upgrading my video card anytime soon, and if a game requires a 3D card, then I just don't play it (so there!). Not that there is anything wrong in enjoying these games, but call me nostalgic, call me stuck in the past, call me whatever... but I miss my Zork!
Hmmmmmmm... glad to see I'm not the only one who noticed that point
According to that all I have to do is put a link to a search engine on my site, or link to a page that links to a page, that links to a page (that links to a page, and on and on...), that links to a search engine of some sort, and BANG! I've just created a series of links that allows the downloading of DeCSS.
I haven't checked the links the MPAA has on their web site, but I'm sure you can eventually get to the DeCSS code from at least one of them, may take a while but I'm sure you can... Personally, I'm waiting for them to go after Yahoo and the likes, after all they ARE linking o sites that provide DeCSS or links to sites that link (and so on...)
On a not quite so related note, I personally think it would be funny if a significantly large number of people provided links to this DeCSS (don't worry, nothing illegal about it) and just create a little background noise for the MPAA to have to sort through to get the sites that link to the other/real DeCSS.
I'm not sure on the details, but apparently the sub wasn't leaking... Something was wrong with it that prevented it from surfacing completely but that's all I can remember... Threw out the article because I didn't think I'd be mentioning it ever...
They'll be obsolete, dead and forgotten by then... which is why they're including a manual on how to build a CD player in there, let's just hope they remember to print it and not put it on a CD...
Hmmmmm.... Better hope the trolls don't find out about this...
(Fash forward to 52001)
A:...and now the historic occasion when B here will read the first message retrieved from the capsule.
B:.....
A: ?
B: What the hell is a penis fish?
But, on a more serious note, I'm personally convinced that mankind won't be on the planet anymore by the time this thing lands, I must say however that at least they thought enough to include a manual on how to build a CD-ROM drive, but once they build it, how will they use it? (that, and how will they be sure they get all the various measurements correctly...)
Anyways, all in all its a nice idea, I'll now have to spend all my free time trying to think of what to include though...
They gotta keep manufacturing gold and platinum albums for Britney Spears and Metallica.:)
Let's not forget they now have 'diamond' albums, those can't be cheap (although I personally wonder how you represent them...) and I bet you anything they helped finance britney's... ummmm... how should i put this.... alleged 'improvements'... in some way shape or form (hey, if it sells records, it generates money, which goes staright into the RIAA's pockets...) Of course, it could just be me being paranoid, but it still wouldn't surprise me in the least
Well, perhaps then we could suggest Kibo's HappyNet idea be expanded to include the internet itself... Now where would/. end up? my guess is probably somewhere in the megabozo category...
On a not completely related note, this is unnfortunately not the first time lives of sailors have been sacrificed for a secret/new design, this one's not the Russians though... (Some people may have heard it before, the Globe and Mail carried a story on it a few weeks ago)
Seems back near the beginning (sp?) of WWII the British were testing a new sub design when it sank. The skipper managed to get an end of the sub above water, but the British Navy refused to let the rescuers cut open the end in order to rescue the crew men, the reasons for this are unknown but last I heard was that the going theory is that they didn't want to damage the hull of a such a new design... Anyways, according to one of the men who tried to rescue the crew members, they could still hear tapping noises from inside the sub when the rescue was called off... Pity that no one seems to learn from the past...
Nope, don't think you are, the patent office is missing several things though, they're called: intelligence, common sense, and a freakin' clue!
Of course, knowing the way that the patent office works they probably had them at one point, then someone patented them and they haven't been able to afford the royalty payments ever since...
Wish I could say the same... I used Win 2000 for a little while, and while it undoubtably was stabler than any other windows I've ever used, I still got a few BSOD's, which stayed on the screen for only a few seconds before rebooting my computer (not kidding, never even got to finish reading to see what went wrong)
Given a chance I'd go back to it instead of Win98, but most of the programs I need to use as well as my modem don' work well (or often at all) in 2000, wish there was more support for it, but you know, its all just catch-22... Support for win 2000 is limited as its not as widely used as 95/98, win 2000 use is limited as there's not as much support for it...
Please note point number 2, somehow I doubt anyone has made a downloadable archive without the copyright... Personally, I hope anyone who does make the archive downloadable is considerate enough to leave the copyright info on the bottom, after all, he didn't have to do this you know...
I've found that Napster's music quality has improved greatly lately, I've also noticed that compared to the people sharing whatever the radio stations/record labels are currently trying to shove down our throats the people sharing the more obscure and less mainstream (using the term loosely of course) stuff are more likely to not have their true connection speed disguised as a 14.4 or have their file server turned off/max uploads set to 0.
Could be just me, but I seem to have noticed a major difference between the hardcore music buffs and the people who just seem to want free music
How true, I tend to sort by ping for that reason (yeah, I know, not going to guarantee me anything, but from my experience chances are the guy with the fast connectoion will have the better ping)
14.4? Several hundred files? Either you're hiding something, you've got too much time on your hands or you actually DO own all those CD's (and how many Napster users actually do?)
Personally unless there is only one person with several files available I try to spread out who I download from to try to avoid damaging someone's connection speed too badly, but whenever I find something like that, well you better pray that you aren't downloading anything important when it happens 'cuz I'm about to have some fun... (ok, ok, I've got a mean streak, I prefer to think of it as 'punishment of the 1337 d00dz' (not that I'm saying all of the offending parties are 1337 d00dz by any means...))
Unfortunately Napster only shares the files you download if you have your file server enabled, and even in this case, you may not be able to get them (firewalls for one) or if the person decides to put his/her allowable connections to 0 but still enables his file server (which simply means you connect, get remotely queued and never unqueue)
Personally I think there needs to be some incentive to sharing files over any sort of network or else it will become like this (or it results in those sharing their files requiring something, such as ratio ftp sites or even (ugh...) banner ftp sites)
What can be done? who knows, maybe the ability to set a maximum connection speed at which someone who isn't sharing files can download from your computer (the client checks, and if you don't have anything shared assigns you to that max speed) Ok, so it wouldn't be the most effecient but obviously something has to be done
<NOSTALGIA>gnutella wasn't always like this though, back when it was little known and before the napster-shutdown scare just about everyone did have something shared </NOSTALGIA>
oh well, just got to wait for something better i guess...
I think you may have just hit the nail on the head there...
The availablity of Linux games (or anything at all) makes a major difference if they are bought or not. Around here there is one store which has a section for Linux, and all thats in it is a couple (maybe 4) distros and WordPerfect for Linux. The rest of the stores in the area don't care about it.
To order a Linux game would just be out of the question, one store doesn't order, the rest charge so much for that sort of thing you may as well hand over your first born child.
Ordering online is another possibility, but living outside the US, I wouldn't even want to think about the shipping and exchamge rates.
Give it time, wait (and hope) that mroe retailers noice Linux and then the games will sell better.
Well, this really isn't technology related, but I find it kinda telling... You see, while the major labels can definately be said to have ignored the entire MP3 debate until it has become bigger than even they can control, this isn't the first time they've ignored and then tried to squash something when they realized they had no control.
Back in the 50's, you know back around the time of Johnny B. Goode, Rocket 88 (hope that ones right) and the early Elvis recordings, when rock n' roll was new and cutting edge, the major labels had no part of it, all this was released on independent labels (Sun, Chess, etc) in fact the recording industry/major labels tried to introduce various fads to stop the spread of rock (I'm afraid I fail to remember exactly what they were) and when that didn't work tried to subvert it by having squeaky clean manufactured groups (the Crew Cuts) remake the songs into a more 'commercial' (acceptable by industry standards) format (anyone see a corelation between this bit and the SDMI?)
Finally, when they realized they couldn't stop it, they bought it out, that IMHO is what we are going to be seeing next in the RIAA vs. MP3 cases, the labels are going to buy the means of distributing the MP3's so they have full control.
(Off-topic maybe, but I still think its interesting)
-GreenHell
I hear ya on that one... I stopped using napster a while ago as I was couldn't find anything I was looking for (a lot of it is out of print or only available in boxed sets of OTHER artists)
Last week I happened to load it up for no reason what so ever and I found that artists who previously only returned 1 or 2 hits on a good day were now regularly returning 10 to 20 on bad days. In fact the other day I found old bootleg recordings of Rocket From The Tombs (thats Tombs, not Crypt, you don't know how many times I'm told I have the name wrong) In fact, those recordings are some of the ones that seem to be transfered the most often.
Napser isn't the place to go to talk about good music, the chat areas seem to be filled with 1337 d00dz most of the time, but you can find some good, hard to find music on it if your willing to look.
Slashdot Mirror
And the prize to be the last one left is...?
/*insert shifty eyes here*/
Death/Prison. After all, if you're the last one left then you more than likely turned someone over for an illegal activity and therefore have few loyalties and could turn on anyone at anytime... even the government.....
On a more serious note (well slightly anyways... ) I'm sure the people who like to mess with Echelon [letterbomb assasinate president, oops, sorry...] could have LOTS of fun with this thing, keep the police running all over the place [nuke nsa sabotage, oops, sorry again...], just cuz you typed something wrong or looked at sites that may have questionable purposes (A valid site that may have a section on anarchy, sites criticizing the government, etc come to mind)
-revolution congress bomb... uhh I mean: GreenHell
I'd like to add a few other points to your list...
7. People will stop setting their queue limit to zero, thereby allowing you to see the song but not download it
8. People will have to enter their real connection speed (You don't know? Well, guess what, YOU'RE A FREAKIN' MORON!)
9. People will not be allowed to rename one artist to another artist (The Gourds - Gin And Juice being listed as Phish, Dexy's Midnight Runners songs listed as the Clash, etc.)
10. Breaking of above rules will be punishable by death (as will be jay-walking, tele-marketing and working for the MPAA, but more on that later...)
Thank you, that is all...
-His exellency, El Presidente and self-appointed supreme ruler for life: GreenHell
My opinion is that you pay more to have Linux installed on the machine as you are still paying the MS license (yeah, yeah, I know, illegal, but since when has that stopped Microsoft from demanding money?) plus their (Dell's) fee for Linux
Please note that these are just my personal opinions and should in no way be seen as facts of any form
-GreenHell
I mean, that extra weight has got to be good for something, in fact I think I can see the ads now...
Announcer: "Here at Intel we realize that laptop lefts are increasing, which is why we're doing our best to help reduce the thieves or make them easier to catch. How so? The answer is simple, weight. That's right weight. Take your normal laptop, easy to pick up, easy to run away with, why? Because it's too light. Now take this new laptop with Intel's new Pentium 4 Processor, it's heat sink alone weighs 1 pound, the processor itself is larger, as is the case (ok, I'm guessing at this one) all this extra weight means that to the average thief, your laptop is not as appealing as one with a processor by the 'other guys'. Not only that, any thief who does try to take your laptop will be burdened down with extra weight and will be less likely to run as fast as if you had another laptop. Intel, isn't your laptops safety worth a little more?"
*That Intel Sound*
Legal Sounding Announcer: "Intel makes no guarantees, implied or otherwise as to your laptop's safety."
-GreenHell
Yes, I understand this. What I am saying is WHY? What do the companies have to gain?
It's simple, by doing so, they are able to make more money.
(The folowing explanation repeats some points already made, just thought you should know...)
To use one of the more common examples:
North American movies in Europe are usually released later than movies in North America. Now this means that by the time that (or even before) the movie hits theatres in Europe it may already be out on DVD.
One of the things that the MPAA doesn't want is for someone in Europe to buy the movie from N. America and view it/show it to their friends before it has come out on DVD in Europe, as by doing so, they have lost revenue generated by ticket sales, revenue which would help pay for the advertisements that are still showing for the movie. Previously with the incompatible formats for video cassettes this wasn't a problem.
Another thing this allows is for a form of price fixing, in N. America, the economy is able to support a higher price for such goods than other parts of the world. Say country X isn't a very rich country, therefore the citizens pay less for their DVD's than residents of the US, Canada, the UK, etc.
Now, if I set up a business which purchased the movies from country X and then sold them much cheaper to residents of other countries, the MPAA members would (theoretically) not be able to charge as much for the DVD's they sell to retailers in those countries. Now the strange thing is, technically this should be possible with CD's (I personally don't know of any incompatabilities, having ordered (more expensive) imports plenty of times, anyone know if they exist?) yet it doesn't seem to have happened.
(What follows is a personal opinion, and as such may be ignored by anyone looking just for the reasoning behind regional encryption)
Now, being a bit of a movie buff, let's say I had an extensive collection of DVD's (I don't as long as the regional encoding remains, I won't) At some point I get a job offer in Europe and move over there, I now have to either A) order all my movies from N. America to play them on my DVD player, or B) have to buy a seperate DVD player (which would be liscenced, which means money goes to the MPAA's European equivalent) So, there's my first problem, the next thing is, let's say my original DVD player breaks down, I now have a large number of DVD's which, it must be noted, I legaly purchased, and as such legally own. I have two choices I can: A) replace them all with the European equivalent or B) order a new player from N. America (and expect to pay a whole lot extra than buying a local one)
I personally would like to make a MPAA member take the stand and say that (under oath) that this point never once came up while the regional encoding was being discussed.
For more information on regional encoding and DVD's in general, check OpenDVD
-GreeHell
Hmmmmm.... so we'll want to pass out and stay awake, interesting... (warning: Simpsons parody folows)
shhhoo tired....
CaffeineKickiningIn!I'mSoAwake!
Didsh I ever telll yoush that your beauti*hic*ful?
CaffeineAgain!I'mWired,I'mReadyToGo!I'm...
*thunk*
Strange thing is, I think I once heard something about a caffeinated beer...
-GreenHell
Test? who needs that test, all you got to do is look for the twitchy guy talking like this:
u saythat?
Hi!Whatseemstobetheproblemofficer?
Coffee?NoIhaven'tbeendrinkinganycoffeeWhatmakesyo
UhexcusemeforamomentIgottagotakealeak
Sorryboutthatnowwhatwereyoutalkingaboutagain?
And so on... (If you can read that easliy, you HAVE been drinking too much coffee)
-GreenHell
Yah, personally I've always been of the opinion that the more a game boasts about its graphics, the more likely there's little to no actual gameplay... Point, shoot, dodge, point, shoot, dodge, dodge, dodge, die.... repeat ad infinitum....
Hmmmm... maybe there's a scientifc relation...
X is inversely realted to Z^2
Where X is the amount of press space (reviews, ads, etc) that talk about the eye-candy, and Z is the actual gameplay...
I'm not planning on upgrading my video card anytime soon, and if a game requires a 3D card, then I just don't play it (so there!). Not that there is anything wrong in enjoying these games, but call me nostalgic, call me stuck in the past, call me whatever... but I miss my Zork!
-GreenHell
Hmmmmmmm... glad to see I'm not the only one who noticed that point
According to that all I have to do is put a link to a search engine on my site, or link to a page that links to a page, that links to a page (that links to a page, and on and on...), that links to a search engine of some sort, and BANG! I've just created a series of links that allows the downloading of DeCSS.
I haven't checked the links the MPAA has on their web site, but I'm sure you can eventually get to the DeCSS code from at least one of them, may take a while but I'm sure you can... Personally, I'm waiting for them to go after Yahoo and the likes, after all they ARE linking o sites that provide DeCSS or links to sites that link (and so on...)
On a not quite so related note, I personally think it would be funny if a significantly large number of people provided links to this DeCSS (don't worry, nothing illegal about it) and just create a little background noise for the MPAA to have to sort through to get the sites that link to the other/real DeCSS.
-GreenHell
I'm not sure on the details, but apparently the sub wasn't leaking... Something was wrong with it that prevented it from surfacing completely but that's all I can remember... Threw out the article because I didn't think I'd be mentioning it ever...
-GreenHell
They'll be obsolete, dead and forgotten by then... which is why they're including a manual on how to build a CD player in there, let's just hope they remember to print it and not put it on a CD...
-GreenHell
Hmmmmm.... Better hope the trolls don't find out about this...
...and now the historic occasion when B here will read the first message retrieved from the capsule. .....
(Fash forward to 52001)
A:
B:
A: ?
B: What the hell is a penis fish?
But, on a more serious note, I'm personally convinced that mankind won't be on the planet anymore by the time this thing lands, I must say however that at least they thought enough to include a manual on how to build a CD-ROM drive, but once they build it, how will they use it? (that, and how will they be sure they get all the various measurements correctly...)
Anyways, all in all its a nice idea, I'll now have to spend all my free time trying to think of what to include though...
-GreenHell
They gotta keep manufacturing gold and platinum albums for Britney Spears and Metallica. :)
Let's not forget they now have 'diamond' albums, those can't be cheap (although I personally wonder how you represent them...) and I bet you anything they helped finance britney's... ummmm... how should i put this.... alleged 'improvements'... in some way shape or form (hey, if it sells records, it generates money, which goes staright into the RIAA's pockets...) Of course, it could just be me being paranoid, but it still wouldn't surprise me in the least
-GreenHell
Well, perhaps then we could suggest Kibo's HappyNet idea be expanded to include the internet itself... Now where would /. end up? my guess is probably somewhere in the megabozo category...
-GreenHell
On a not completely related note, this is unnfortunately not the first time lives of sailors have been sacrificed for a secret/new design, this one's not the Russians though... (Some people may have heard it before, the Globe and Mail carried a story on it a few weeks ago)
Seems back near the beginning (sp?) of WWII the British were testing a new sub design when it sank. The skipper managed to get an end of the sub above water, but the British Navy refused to let the rescuers cut open the end in order to rescue the crew men, the reasons for this are unknown but last I heard was that the going theory is that they didn't want to damage the hull of a such a new design... Anyways, according to one of the men who tried to rescue the crew members, they could still hear tapping noises from inside the sub when the rescue was called off... Pity that no one seems to learn from the past...
-GreenHell
Am I missing something here?
Nope, don't think you are, the patent office is missing several things though, they're called: intelligence, common sense, and a freakin' clue!
Of course, knowing the way that the patent office works they probably had them at one point, then someone patented them and they haven't been able to afford the royalty payments ever since...
-GreenHell
Let me repeat, Windows 2000 is rock solid.
Wish I could say the same... I used Win 2000 for a little while, and while it undoubtably was stabler than any other windows I've ever used, I still got a few BSOD's, which stayed on the screen for only a few seconds before rebooting my computer (not kidding, never even got to finish reading to see what went wrong)
Given a chance I'd go back to it instead of Win98, but most of the programs I need to use as well as my modem don' work well (or often at all) in 2000, wish there was more support for it, but you know, its all just catch-22... Support for win 2000 is limited as its not as widely used as 95/98, win 2000 use is limited as there's not as much support for it...
-GreenHell
well, reading this has got me nostalgic so...
*FLAME ON!*
This Usenet Oldnews Archive article may be copied and distributed freely, provided:
1. There is no money collected for the text(s) of the articles.
2. The following notice remains appended to each copy:
The Usenet Oldnews Archive: Compilation Copyright© 1981, 1996
Bruce Jones, Henry Spencer, David Wiseman.
Please note point number 2, somehow I doubt anyone has made a downloadable archive without the copyright... Personally, I hope anyone who does make the archive downloadable is considerate enough to leave the copyright info on the bottom, after all, he didn't have to do this you know...
-GreenHell
most stable windows yet? that's like referring to a new missle as 'the safest nuke yet'
-GreenHell
I've found that Napster's music quality has improved greatly lately, I've also noticed that compared to the people sharing whatever the radio stations/record labels are currently trying to shove down our throats the people sharing the more obscure and less mainstream (using the term loosely of course) stuff are more likely to not have their true connection speed disguised as a 14.4 or have their file server turned off/max uploads set to 0.
Could be just me, but I seem to have noticed a major difference between the hardcore music buffs and the people who just seem to want free music
-GreenHell
How true, I tend to sort by ping for that reason (yeah, I know, not going to guarantee me anything, but from my experience chances are the guy with the fast connectoion will have the better ping)
14.4? Several hundred files? Either you're hiding something, you've got too much time on your hands or you actually DO own all those CD's (and how many Napster users actually do?)
Personally unless there is only one person with several files available I try to spread out who I download from to try to avoid damaging someone's connection speed too badly, but whenever I find something like that, well you better pray that you aren't downloading anything important when it happens 'cuz I'm about to have some fun... (ok, ok, I've got a mean streak, I prefer to think of it as 'punishment of the 1337 d00dz' (not that I'm saying all of the offending parties are 1337 d00dz by any means...))
-GreenHell
Unfortunately Napster only shares the files you download if you have your file server enabled, and even in this case, you may not be able to get them (firewalls for one) or if the person decides to put his/her allowable connections to 0 but still enables his file server (which simply means you connect, get remotely queued and never unqueue)
Personally I think there needs to be some incentive to sharing files over any sort of network or else it will become like this (or it results in those sharing their files requiring something, such as ratio ftp sites or even (ugh...) banner ftp sites)
What can be done? who knows, maybe the ability to set a maximum connection speed at which someone who isn't sharing files can download from your computer (the client checks, and if you don't have anything shared assigns you to that max speed) Ok, so it wouldn't be the most effecient but obviously something has to be done
<NOSTALGIA>gnutella wasn't always like this though, back when it was little known and before the napster-shutdown scare just about everyone did have something shared </NOSTALGIA>
oh well, just got to wait for something better i guess...
-GreenHell
I think you may have just hit the nail on the head there...
The availablity of Linux games (or anything at all) makes a major difference if they are bought or not. Around here there is one store which has a section for Linux, and all thats in it is a couple (maybe 4) distros and WordPerfect for Linux. The rest of the stores in the area don't care about it.
To order a Linux game would just be out of the question, one store doesn't order, the rest charge so much for that sort of thing you may as well hand over your first born child.
Ordering online is another possibility, but living outside the US, I wouldn't even want to think about the shipping and exchamge rates.
Give it time, wait (and hope) that mroe retailers noice Linux and then the games will sell better.
-GreenHell
Well, this really isn't technology related, but I find it kinda telling... You see, while the major labels can definately be said to have ignored the entire MP3 debate until it has become bigger than even they can control, this isn't the first time they've ignored and then tried to squash something when they realized they had no control.
Back in the 50's, you know back around the time of Johnny B. Goode, Rocket 88 (hope that ones right) and the early Elvis recordings, when rock n' roll was new and cutting edge, the major labels had no part of it, all this was released on independent labels (Sun, Chess, etc) in fact the recording industry/major labels tried to introduce various fads to stop the spread of rock (I'm afraid I fail to remember exactly what they were) and when that didn't work tried to subvert it by having squeaky clean manufactured groups (the Crew Cuts) remake the songs into a more 'commercial' (acceptable by industry standards) format (anyone see a corelation between this bit and the SDMI?)
Finally, when they realized they couldn't stop it, they bought it out, that IMHO is what we are going to be seeing next in the RIAA vs. MP3 cases, the labels are going to buy the means of distributing the MP3's so they have full control.
(Off-topic maybe, but I still think its interesting)
-GreenHell
I hear ya on that one... I stopped using napster a while ago as I was couldn't find anything I was looking for (a lot of it is out of print or only available in boxed sets of OTHER artists)
Last week I happened to load it up for no reason what so ever and I found that artists who previously only returned 1 or 2 hits on a good day were now regularly returning 10 to 20 on bad days. In fact the other day I found old bootleg recordings of Rocket From The Tombs (thats Tombs, not Crypt, you don't know how many times I'm told I have the name wrong) In fact, those recordings are some of the ones that seem to be transfered the most often.
Napser isn't the place to go to talk about good music, the chat areas seem to be filled with 1337 d00dz most of the time, but you can find some good, hard to find music on it if your willing to look.
-GreenHell