I've been a fan for years, mostly because of the addons. Between the flakiness of the Android version and the chromification of the desktop browser, I think I'm in the market for something different. I understand the need to release security updates ASAP. But tossing in features and jacking up the UI every freakin month is a bit silly.
You know, you really haven't had the full Slashdot experience if you haven't browsed at -1 at least for a while. There are trolls, and then there are some truly dedicated individuals that have taken it to the next level.
Your personal anecdotes may be well founded. However, I have a personal anecdote too. I have a child who is on Addreall and I can attest to how much better it makes him function. Since the last 2 years of taking it, he has made leaps and bounds in his ability to speak and articulate thoughts. Without the drug, he reverts to extremely erratic behavior, his speech suffers, and sometimes he unintentionally hurts himself. Recently, the Adderall shortage caught us off guard once, and we had a fairly wild weekend with him (not the only time actually). So yes, he is a clear case of where the drug works as intended.
That people abuse this drug upsets me to no end. I'm reminded of it every time I have to go through the prescription refill process.
For the record, I'm not one of the parents that would dose up their kid just to get him to sit still and be quiet. Far from it. I'm certain without it, he'd be held back or in a special needs school.
Actually for good laughs, read the Twitter "feed" on the home page. Pretty sure they've got their target market set on the Slashdot crowd, but clearly underestimate their market's ability to see through the BS.
I've been a slashdot fan long before I joined other online communities and games. In fact, this site has probably lead to a lot of the things I delve into online.
I guarantee you that people will make do with personal certificates or other such measures to stay connected. Spam filtering is working, and soon those chumps will be throwing bits to the wind as no network worth using will permit such rubbish to enter. Hopefully by 2006 will see "public" network security catch on and a lot less wasted resources.
Another problem with adventure games, once they're done, that's it. Zero replay value. Obviously there'll be little money to be had in making such games, unless you constantly churn out more. And that flow of more adventure games typically left designers with fewer creative puzzles.
Speaking as an ex-latest-greatest buyer... In computing power, you get very diminishing returns on bleeding edge gear. Furthermore, you might have even more headaches with getting support and functioning drivers for the latest-greatest. As most have mentioned, you need to find that sweet spot, which right now, is less than $1000.
Two of the four pc's I've bought were "top-end". In both cases, certain big names hastily pushed out their parts and I got stuck with lemons with crippled performance. My last PC was only $700 and it smokes. (Go AMD!)
But go ahead, keep doing what you doing, if it makes you feel better in your mind. I know it makes my wallet feel better when prices get bumped down.
SOE upgraded the graphics engine to use DirectX 9, causing much headache for under par machines (which were running fine before).
Within a short period, they released many expansions. The latest, Gates of Discord, being totally aimed at uber high end raiders, and was not labeled as such.
Said latest expansion was so difficult, if you weren't playing the "core" classes, you're SOL. Also, it appeared much of the content was buggy.
In the midst of Dx9 issues and fixing bugs with the latest expansion, SOE announces yet another expansion.
Interestingly enough, during this time they've reduced prices on expansions and have several bargains on year long subscriptions. My theory is SOE is painfully aware of the MMORPG competition and is using a shotgun approach to hang onto the market. That would explain bringing the game up to speed to today's graphics and releasing expansions rapid fire, while at the same time dropping prices.
If you have the time, I highly recommend builing your own. Check out some of the popular tech sites and read the reviews.
A hot gaming system nowadays mostly consists of a $300 video card and whatever hardware will support it. Get the a AMD 64bit chip, a good mobo (Abit, Asus, etc.), some fast RAM (Corsair, etc) and your looking at a system under $1500 that will kick the snot out of their proposed $3K system.
Anyone here old enough to remember people freaking out about the UPC sybmol going on everything? This is basically UPC 2.0. It's all about better inventory tracking, and that is the key for retailers like Walmart. Heck, I think I have a Mad magazine from years ago that did a theme spoof on UPCs.
Guessing the guy is clever enough to know how to install things, but not enough to know how to keep a system tuned. It's my firm belief that a well maintained XP/2000 system can run stable without any monthly purgings. If you're experiencing trouble you either need to remove some spyware or update a driver or two, easy. That being said here's some of my zero-day install items for a windows machine:
* Windows Updates! * Latest Directx * Video drivers * Mobo/chipset drivers * FireFox * Winamp * PuTTy * VNC * TextPad * Adobe Acrobat Reader * Yahoo IM (blech, but all my friends are on it)
Things I loathe to install but usually do anyways: * RealAudio * Shockwave * Flash * Quicktime Then I promptly disable all their system tray junk and hunt out their startup services and disable them.
Slashdot Mirror
You've ruined your lands...
I've been a fan for years, mostly because of the addons. Between the flakiness of the Android version and the chromification of the desktop browser, I think I'm in the market for something different. I understand the need to release security updates ASAP. But tossing in features and jacking up the UI every freakin month is a bit silly.
Red Meat - always delightfully twisted.
http://www.redmeat.com/redmeat/current/index.html
You know, you really haven't had the full Slashdot experience if you haven't browsed at -1 at least for a while. There are trolls, and then there are some truly dedicated individuals that have taken it to the next level.
I suspect the grits are still hot.
15 years of an almost daily ritual, and yet 99% of the time I don't post myself. Still, good times!
Your personal anecdotes may be well founded. However, I have a personal anecdote too. I have a child who is on Addreall and I can attest to how much better it makes him function. Since the last 2 years of taking it, he has made leaps and bounds in his ability to speak and articulate thoughts. Without the drug, he reverts to extremely erratic behavior, his speech suffers, and sometimes he unintentionally hurts himself. Recently, the Adderall shortage caught us off guard once, and we had a fairly wild weekend with him (not the only time actually). So yes, he is a clear case of where the drug works as intended.
That people abuse this drug upsets me to no end. I'm reminded of it every time I have to go through the prescription refill process.
For the record, I'm not one of the parents that would dose up their kid just to get him to sit still and be quiet. Far from it. I'm certain without it, he'd be held back or in a special needs school.
Nope. SCOTTEVEST(A).
Actually for good laughs, read the Twitter "feed" on the home page. Pretty sure they've got their target market set on the Slashdot crowd, but clearly underestimate their market's ability to see through the BS.
You are not alone. The Zahn trilogy felt completely contrived. Thrawn was just way over the top and the anti-force monkeys were just too convenient.
Yes. :)
I've been a slashdot fan long before I joined other online communities and games. In fact, this site has probably lead to a lot of the things I delve into online.
Thanks for the good work over the years, keep it up.
Thinking the same thing!
I think Penny Arcade sums up Oblivion and its predecessors well.
Gammaworld - role playing game in a post apocalyptic world. I.e. fantasy, not real.
I guarantee you that people will make do with personal certificates or other such measures to stay connected. Spam filtering is working, and soon those chumps will be throwing bits to the wind as no network worth using will permit such rubbish to enter. Hopefully by 2006 will see "public" network security catch on and a lot less wasted resources.
Did anyone else catch that? Classic SNL skit for Old Glory Robot Insurance. How very appropriate.
Leave to OMM to tell it like it is.
Another problem with adventure games, once they're done, that's it. Zero replay value. Obviously there'll be little money to be had in making such games, unless you constantly churn out more. And that flow of more adventure games typically left designers with fewer creative puzzles.
Hmm, that'd be a fun idea for a virus, have it install the Torgo screensaver. Imagine, a world of PC's churning out the haunting Torgo theme!
Speaking as an ex-latest-greatest buyer... In computing power, you get very diminishing returns on bleeding edge gear. Furthermore, you might have even more headaches with getting support and functioning drivers for the latest-greatest. As most have mentioned, you need to find that sweet spot, which right now, is less than $1000.
Two of the four pc's I've bought were "top-end". In both cases, certain big names hastily pushed out their parts and I got stuck with lemons with crippled performance. My last PC was only $700 and it smokes. (Go AMD!)
But go ahead, keep doing what you doing, if it makes you feel better in your mind. I know it makes my wallet feel better when prices get bumped down.
Things that led to this:
Interestingly enough, during this time they've reduced prices on expansions and have several bargains on year long subscriptions. My theory is SOE is painfully aware of the MMORPG competition and is using a shotgun approach to hang onto the market. That would explain bringing the game up to speed to today's graphics and releasing expansions rapid fire, while at the same time dropping prices.
If you have the time, I highly recommend builing your own. Check out some of the popular tech sites and read the reviews.
A hot gaming system nowadays mostly consists of a $300 video card and whatever hardware will support it. Get the a AMD 64bit chip, a good mobo (Abit, Asus, etc.), some fast RAM (Corsair, etc) and your looking at a system under $1500 that will kick the snot out of their proposed $3K system.
Anyone here old enough to remember people freaking out about the UPC sybmol going on everything? This is basically UPC 2.0. It's all about better inventory tracking, and that is the key for retailers like Walmart. Heck, I think I have a Mad magazine from years ago that did a theme spoof on UPCs.
Guessing the guy is clever enough to know how to install things, but not enough to know how to keep a system tuned. It's my firm belief that a well maintained XP/2000 system can run stable without any monthly purgings. If you're experiencing trouble you either need to remove some spyware or update a driver or two, easy. That being said here's some of my zero-day install items for a windows machine:
* Windows Updates!
* Latest Directx
* Video drivers
* Mobo/chipset drivers
* FireFox
* Winamp
* PuTTy
* VNC
* TextPad
* Adobe Acrobat Reader
* Yahoo IM (blech, but all my friends are on it)
Things I loathe to install but usually do anyways:
* RealAudio
* Shockwave
* Flash
* Quicktime
Then I promptly disable all their system tray junk and hunt out their startup services and disable them.
Alternatively, check out http://www.gucomics.com for all things MMORPG. Not quite as dry, and very stylish.
I'll take anything over that rubbish.
You read traffic monitoring and wonder how you can use that on your network.