Holy Shit! Did you drop it? Didn't you get a case with it?
Damn, sorry dude. It'll probably still play. If you still have the box and stuff maybe you can give it to someone for Xmas and get a new one.
MjM
Gamers who "change hardware more than underwear" are part of the "not nearly" group.
I am not a gamer. Nor do I know any "hard-core" gamers. I just know what I read in the tech pubs and ads for mobos and video cards, and I had this image of a serious contingent of passionate people who constantly upgrade machines in order to achieve the "next level" of gaming performance.
I was wondering if these people might be a large enough group to cause MS some pain.
Someone else raised this point in a different way. Namely, can Apple use Microsoft's increasingly onereous licensing to lure away the gamers?
It's no bit secret that incumbent IP industries (software, movies, music, television, etc) are frightened to death of the concept of "free". Giving away some items to encourage the purchase of others. I.e., free cartoons, mp3s, etc on web pages with links to buy tshirts, cups and stickers, free software with offers to purchase support. This is a healthy and (can be) sound business practice, but it flies in the face of the entrenched industrie's business model.
What to do?
Change business model to compete?
Noooo
Legislate against FREE!!!
It's so simple. Why didn't we think of this before?
I'm a little baffled by your comments about "political correctness" and Bill Clinton, however. According to the article you linked:
"This decision to deny a warrant gave rise to the myth that 'The Wall' between overseas intelligence and criminal investigations made the PATRIOT Act necessary. To this day this myth is cherished among right-wing radio talkers and has, just now, morphed into a clumsy justification for the White House's sidestepping the FISA court and directing its own wiretap frenzy via the NSA. This is all pure fantasy.
"Instead of clueless Carter-era restrictions on domestic spying or insufficient distrust of civil liberties, Samit cited
'obstructionism, criminal negligence and careerism' by top FBI officials as what stopped his investigation."
and:
"Minneapolis, Phoenix, New York. Three different Bureau offices were hot on the terror plot in the days leading up to 9/11 and all were stiffed by Washington. If that is not institutional incompetence, Stalin purge-worthy stuff, heaven help the next 3,000 martyrs to J. Edgar Hoover's über-suits."
Hmm. The FBI and the CIA both knew that Saudi students were taking commercial aircraft flying lessons. Hell they even knew that the "students" weren't interested in landing the planes, just flying them. And, since the early '80's, there had been plenty of speculation (and some testing) about what kind of damage could be done to a structure with an airliner.
911 wasn't a failure of surveillance. It was a failure of interpretation and commmunication.
I know this is slightly off-topic (the question is "Ordinary Users and Linux?", not "Why do You Like Linux?") but the reason I try to do as much as possible with Linux is because I don't like the feeling of my software being "leased" from some company whose End User License requires me to basically sign over part ownership of my computer in order to run it.
99% of the stuff I install (with yum/rpm) does not come with a pop-up license box asking me to agree to several paragraphs of legalese. I know there's licenses attached (GPL, etc), but rarely do I have to explicitly click on an agreement in order to use the software.
I can only hope that Microsoft's slavish desire to be Hollywood's water boy (by crippling/burdening their software with DRM) will cause more people to try an alternative.
From what I understand, "Ordinary Users" should be fine with Linux. It's when they attempt to step out of the box that they can run into trouble - editing video, say. Or, trying to convert documents for use with Office. The two things mentioned in the article as being problematic just happen to be the two things left on the list for Linux to solve.
The first on the list will be taken care of as soon as someone releases a video package that's as comprehensive as Audacity is for audio.
The second on the list, Office interoperability looks like it's headed for a showdown very soon as a result of MS's legal battles in the UK.
Slashdot Mirror
The Attorney General should be looking into this!
Oh wait, they're busy fighting terror^h^h^h^h^h pornography
MjM
Holy Shit! Did you drop it? Didn't you get a case with it? Damn, sorry dude. It'll probably still play. If you still have the box and stuff maybe you can give it to someone for Xmas and get a new one. MjM
I'm confused. Were this SparcStations?
MjM
That's the last time I run code posted in somebody's sig...
Dig the sig!
I've done that!
I wasn't crying what about the gamers?
I was asking what about the gamers? I just wondered if they were possibly a factor...
MjM
Gamers who "change hardware more than underwear" are part of the "not nearly" group.
I am not a gamer. Nor do I know any "hard-core" gamers. I just know what I read in the tech pubs and ads for mobos and video cards, and I had this image of a serious contingent of passionate people who constantly upgrade machines in order to achieve the "next level" of gaming performance.
I was wondering if these people might be a large enough group to cause MS some pain.
Someone else raised this point in a different way. Namely, can Apple use Microsoft's increasingly onereous licensing to lure away the gamers?
MjM
What's the secret of comedy?
:)
Timing
You're so right! That's excellent.
MjM
I only saw one other one
That one got modded up to 3. You shoulda jumped in there, man. You coulda done better, I just know it.
MjM
Haha.
Possible new slogans:
MjM
Personally, I'm all for anything that makes Windows:
Especially if it involves Microsoft pointing the gun at its own foot.
MjM
For the end-user, this is nearly a non-issue.
What about gamers? People who change hardware more than underwear and mostly run Windows?
MjM
Why only 120?? Are you depressed? Is there anything we can do to help?
MjM
The truth of the matter is, the pirates rule the ports, and if you try to remove ports...
Expect to see this as the body of SPAM email soon.
MjM
Let's just hope that all this leads to a day when people use Open Source software because "It just works..."
MjM
Loose lips lose elasticity
I've wondered the same thing about string cheese for quite some time now.
MjM
you will simply end up with something else installed instead, in the form of a randomly named executable dumped in your system32 folder.
/etc or /usr/local? :)
I've looked everywhere - is the system32 folder in
MjM
First, bubble memory, then optical processors, then...
Yay!!
MjM
Lately, operating system ownership is looking a lot less valuable.
Yay, Netscape!!!
Oh. Wait...
MjM
It's no bit secret that incumbent IP industries (software, movies, music, television, etc) are frightened to death of the concept of "free". Giving away some items to encourage the purchase of others. I.e., free cartoons, mp3s, etc on web pages with links to buy tshirts, cups and stickers, free software with offers to purchase support. This is a healthy and (can be) sound business practice, but it flies in the face of the entrenched industrie's business model.
What to do?
Change business model to compete?
Noooo
Legislate against FREE!!!
It's so simple. Why didn't we think of this before?
MjM
Thanks for the link! Interesting reading.
I'm a little baffled by your comments about "political correctness" and Bill Clinton, however. According to the article you linked:
"This decision to deny a warrant gave rise to the myth that 'The Wall' between overseas intelligence and criminal investigations made the PATRIOT Act necessary. To this day this myth is cherished among right-wing radio talkers and has, just now, morphed into a clumsy justification for the White House's sidestepping the FISA court and directing its own wiretap frenzy via the NSA. This is all pure fantasy.
"Instead of clueless Carter-era restrictions on domestic spying or insufficient distrust of civil liberties, Samit cited 'obstructionism, criminal negligence and careerism' by top FBI officials as what stopped his investigation."
and:
"Minneapolis, Phoenix, New York. Three different Bureau offices were hot on the terror plot in the days leading up to 9/11 and all were stiffed by Washington. If that is not institutional incompetence, Stalin purge-worthy stuff, heaven help the next 3,000 martyrs to J. Edgar Hoover's über-suits."
MjM
is enough to raise red flags all over the place
Hmm. The FBI and the CIA both knew that Saudi students were taking commercial aircraft flying lessons. Hell they even knew that the "students" weren't interested in landing the planes, just flying them. And, since the early '80's, there had been plenty of speculation (and some testing) about what kind of damage could be done to a structure with an airliner.
911 wasn't a failure of surveillance. It was a failure of interpretation and commmunication.
feh.
MjM
Now I just have to find something on TV I actually want to watch so badly that I can't wait until I get home and I'll be the shizzle!
MjM
I know this is slightly off-topic (the question is "Ordinary Users and Linux?", not "Why do You Like Linux?") but the reason I try to do as much as possible with Linux is because I don't like the feeling of my software being "leased" from some company whose End User License requires me to basically sign over part ownership of my computer in order to run it.
99% of the stuff I install (with yum/rpm) does not come with a pop-up license box asking me to agree to several paragraphs of legalese. I know there's licenses attached (GPL, etc), but rarely do I have to explicitly click on an agreement in order to use the software.
I can only hope that Microsoft's slavish desire to be Hollywood's water boy (by crippling/burdening their software with DRM) will cause more people to try an alternative.
MjM
From what I understand, "Ordinary Users" should be fine with Linux. It's when they attempt to step out of the box that they can run into trouble - editing video, say. Or, trying to convert documents for use with Office. The two things mentioned in the article as being problematic just happen to be the two things left on the list for Linux to solve.
The first on the list will be taken care of as soon as someone releases a video package that's as comprehensive as Audacity is for audio.
The second on the list, Office interoperability looks like it's headed for a showdown very soon as a result of MS's legal battles in the UK.
Link:
http://www.changingworldtech.com/