They unleash the BSA to blackmail companies/schools, etc to UPGRADE when they don't want to.
How? Short of withdrawing support for older OSes, how can MS compel someone to upgrade as long as the prior version in use is properly licensed?
Posession alone isn't proof!
I agree that the BSA's tactics are underhanded, ruthless, and unfair. But my central point is that MS uses them to enforce license compliance, and while it may suck, those "OEM" Office 97 licenses aren't gonna cut it.
I think MS is a despicable, ruthless, money-grubbing monopoly, much like most of the pharmacorps. I don't think their overly-restrictive definition of a "client" requiring a CAL is fair. I think they should compete with product, not rhetoric and bully tactics.
But I still think they have a right to dictate how many concurrent live installations you can get out of one CD.
Even Microsoft is a better alternative than SCO, at least they don't sue customers over what they do. They just use the BSA to do it...
Can you cite any instances where MS unleashed the BSA hellhounds on someone for anything OTHER than unlicensed software use?
Which, despite all the hippy free-software advocacy around here, is their right under their EULA. It's not a nice EULA, and their SW mostly sucks, but that still doesn't justify illegal use.
Cable company billing systems are, in general, not very flexible...Building [such] a system...is a non-trivial task.
Granted, these systems have to deal with a lot of data, but my bill has like 4 breakouts for my service. They can obviously track multiple service tiers. Theoretically, scaling from 7 packages to 200 is a matter of table size, training, and some UI tweaks.
Cable networks set their prices, in many cases, based on bundles of channels...A la carte channels will greatly reduce the revenue potential of advertising, and will have to be made up somehow.
Again, granted. But right now, I'm paying $52/mo for basically 30 channels. They sell me about 110 for that. They could charge 3 times per channel and I'd still come out ahead. And I'd be able to more easily adjust as new channels came along or old ones stopped being relevant. And they could set some kind of upper limit on individual channeling, if they want to balance choice with maintainability.
I know everybody's different, and I currently pay $52/mo for digital ($44.95 my ass - the FCC charges are non-optional and THEY collect them - they should include that in their quote!). Things I'd miss without cable:
Formula 1 and World Rally
Adult Swim
Discovery and TLC
G4TV
IFC TV (some of the most interesting movies around)
Speed Channel for other assorted motorsport
Little of what I watch can be bought on DVD, and in the case of TLC/Discovery, their DVD's wouldn't be cheaper than cable.
What kills me is that Comcast rapes me for 52 bucks and says it's because of the 100+ channels I get. However, about 60 of them I don't even SEE - I set favorites on the remote and channel-surf that way.
P.S. - I'd turn off the stupid TV Guide infobar, but you can't...Stupid thing keeps getting in the way at inopportune times...
True, and True. But there might be a problem of application...your parent was almost certainly talking about their parent's Compaq prototype at 25 pounds, not the story's 16-pound Acer.
And while we're at it, if one could deal with lugging 16 pounds, I think going to 18.2 would be worth it for the two-fisted double-Mac uber-geek appeal!
I think others have replied, but as a longtime Nintendo fanboy converted by Gran Turismo, and back again:
analog face buttons that feel just like digital click switches... All buttons with the exception of Start, Select, L3 and R3 are analog. I use X and Square all the time in racing games as Gas and Brake, and as long as the game supports it, and uses a decent sensitivity range (couugh *TIR* cough) they work fine.
poor positioning of the analog sticks... I'll agree a little - I have large hands and sometimes in FPS's or other games that use both sticks (Robotron) I get a little "angled" because of how my thumbs line up. But for most games it's not a prob.
analog stick is too loose, rubbery surface gives no grip for your thumb, lacks the 8-way "insert"... Totally agree here - especially when intense gaming action has led to sweaty thumbs. I hate when my thumb slides off the center of the stick and all my inputs are off. Or I get distracted... The DS2 is tighter than the DS1 though.
the broken up d-pad... I don't play a lot of fighters, but when I do, I have no complaints about the cross.
"rounded" grips for holding comfort... I've used almost every first-party console controller made in the last 20 years and I still feel the basic design of the DS is the best. It could use some tweaks (maybe two sizes like the Xbox pads) but overall, I prefer the DS layout to any of the others. Although the Xbox Controller S is a close second.
I just can't get used to having only two shoulder buttons and most GC/Xbox games mapping those as Gas/Brake, leaving me to shift with face buttons. I think my most hated pad is the Dreamcast's, and one look at a DC pad and a non-S Xbox pad...
GTRacer
- Wonder if that PS to GC/XB controller adaptor is worth 12 bucks...
Aaaaahh-h-h... I see now. I thought he was replying and inherited the subject. Guess I'm so used to "Re:"s all over the place I see them where they're not!
My bad, and I apologize to Paladine.
GTRacer
- Still annoyed by the whole LOSE-LOOSE, SIGHT-SITE thing...
Fatal Frame? No
Beyond Good & Evil? Have it - unopened present
Adventures of Cookies & Cream? No
Wario Ware? On demo GBA - would buy if I had a GBA
Ico? YES!!!
Conker's Bad Fur Day? Yes
Blast Corps? Yes
Pokemon Snap? No
Jet Grind Radio? No
No One Can Stop Mr. Domino? No
Mr. Mosquito? Yes
Animal Crossing? On demo GC - would consider buying
Disaster Report? Have it - unopened present
Karaoke Revolution? Not yet - getting for Wife's b-day
Dungeon Keeper? No
Deception? No
Have you played:
Rez?
Gallop Racer (any)?
RAD - Robot Alchemic Drive
Metropolismania?
Incredible Crisis
Naval Warship Gunner (I haven't either but I'm getting it when I find it on sale)?
Document of MGS?
My wife gets on to me, but I try to buy such rare games when I see them because I know a lot of them won't be around for long...
IIRC, it *HAS* to be able to decrypt the DVD because standard burners can't write the CCA key. Kinda like how burning bit-perfect copies of PlayStation games is useless for an unmodded system.
I wish these people would get over themselves. They should be THRILLED I want to make backups of their crappy movies. Actually, I don't want backups. I'm looking for DVD-to-MP3 ripping so I can listen to my favorites at work like Office Space, the Simpsons, South Park, Princess Bride, etc.
GTRacer
- I do not think that law means what you think it means...
...I live in a world of a locked down PC controlled by my IT division.
You and I need to talk. I posted an Ask Slashdot about what steps people in our position have tried and what successes they've had in getting policies relaxed for legitimate "power-user" needs.
It was Rejected of course. But anyway, I was going to post the same comment - I have to use VBA because I have no other options. Although I do all my VBA in Access (forms are way better with VBA and a control table to handle DAO lookups!).
I've got as much open-source/Free Software running as I possibly can, but I can only do so much with the restrictions they've given me.
GTRacer
- Ask me about StormWindows and LAN Escort
Because, IIRC, most of our "preventive" laws are based on a risk vs. restraint kind of deal. Most of the time. Well, OK, it's the ideal, anyway.
There's a practical limit to the damage I can do in my own car if I were drunk, versus what could be damaged using a plane or other mass-transit vehicle. Plus, the car is mine. The plane (and airport, etc.) is not.
Also, I've already agreed to the "rules of the road" when I got my license. As well as consented to any sobriety test demanded by a police officer.
If New Mexico's leaders feel that putting these interlocks in every car in the state will solve their problem, they're solving the wrong problem.
GTRacer
- Mythbusters busted the "beat a breathalyzer" myths...
Out of curiosity, and no, I'm not flaming, are those legit OSTs or are they Son May/EverAnime/etc. discs?
I ask because I've been wanting to get more game-based OSTs and the legit ones are crazy expensive! Do you know a good site or store to order from (both in terms of price and reliability)?
Hey-y-y...I bet someone could write a good story about mail fraud... It could be a thriller, maybe involving a larger crime so that the fraud doesn't seem important until the VERY END, where it becomes clear that committing mail fraud will get you in big trouble, buddy!
GTRacer
- Nothing better to do
Re:This Kind of Thing Keep Happening...
on
Buddylinks Stinks
·
· Score: 1
Personal firewalls are, frankly, the worst thing to hit the Net...
I didn't mean personal software-based FW's. I know that Norton and ZoneAlarm can be tricked, bypassed, or even easily misused to give a false sense of security.
And I know that most of this stuff works by hijacking or piggybacking legitimate port use. I was meaning something along the lines of an agressive, separate piece of FW hardware that would limit port 80 traffic to HTTP under most circumstances, and restrict Active and JavaScript unless whitelisted (hopefully by a clueful person). It could also watch for excessive SMTP traffic (perhaps a TO: count threshold or messages/sec) and flag it or require user intervention.
Advances in FW tech have surely made such a thing possible. I doubt that the average home user needs much more than HTTP and SMTP, and certainly doesn't need inbound access! Well, P2P notwithstanding...
I always wondered if you worked at a new branch of Electronic Arts;)
GTRacer
- Nice Python ref, BTW
This Kind of Thing Keep Happening...
on
Buddylinks Stinks
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
...Only because there are FAR too many people who just don't understand that there are people on the Internet with ulterior motives. I don't want to generalize, but I bet the kind of person easily swayed in this manner is also the telemarketer's best friend.
The more this type of "attack" keeps happening, the more I wonder if there shouldn't be a license or minimum firewall requirement to get on the 'Net.
Maybe we have to start teaching "Safe Surfing" along with Safe Sex in the teen years.
Well, bear in mind when I got my PS2 in 2000, my kids were 3.5 and 2...I think I gave them the PSX about 6 months after I was sure my PSX titles would play on the PS2 - Vagrant Story anyone?
Now, three years later, they have a GameCube.
GTRacer
- Been gaming longer than many of you've been breathing!
Slashdot Mirror
How? Short of withdrawing support for older OSes, how can MS compel someone to upgrade as long as the prior version in use is properly licensed?
Posession alone isn't proof!
I agree that the BSA's tactics are underhanded, ruthless, and unfair. But my central point is that MS uses them to enforce license compliance, and while it may suck, those "OEM" Office 97 licenses aren't gonna cut it.
I think MS is a despicable, ruthless, money-grubbing monopoly, much like most of the pharmacorps. I don't think their overly-restrictive definition of a "client" requiring a CAL is fair. I think they should compete with product, not rhetoric and bully tactics.
But I still think they have a right to dictate how many concurrent live installations you can get out of one CD.
GTRacer
- Step 2: ???
Can you cite any instances where MS unleashed the BSA hellhounds on someone for anything OTHER than unlicensed software use?
Which, despite all the hippy free-software advocacy around here, is their right under their EULA. It's not a nice EULA, and their SW mostly sucks, but that still doesn't justify illegal use.
GTRacer
- Spending too long at the Kap...
Granted, these systems have to deal with a lot of data, but my bill has like 4 breakouts for my service. They can obviously track multiple service tiers. Theoretically, scaling from 7 packages to 200 is a matter of table size, training, and some UI tweaks.
Cable networks set their prices, in many cases, based on bundles of channels...A la carte channels will greatly reduce the revenue potential of advertising, and will have to be made up somehow.
Again, granted. But right now, I'm paying $52/mo for basically 30 channels. They sell me about 110 for that. They could charge 3 times per channel and I'd still come out ahead. And I'd be able to more easily adjust as new channels came along or old ones stopped being relevant. And they could set some kind of upper limit on individual channeling, if they want to balance choice with maintainability.
GTRacer
- Where's the clicker?
I know everybody's different, and I currently pay $52/mo for digital ($44.95 my ass - the FCC charges are non-optional and THEY collect them - they should include that in their quote!). Things I'd miss without cable:
Formula 1 and World Rally
Adult Swim
Discovery and TLC
G4TV
IFC TV (some of the most interesting movies around)
Speed Channel for other assorted motorsport
Little of what I watch can be bought on DVD, and in the case of TLC/Discovery, their DVD's wouldn't be cheaper than cable.
What kills me is that Comcast rapes me for 52 bucks and says it's because of the 100+ channels I get. However, about 60 of them I don't even SEE - I set favorites on the remote and channel-surf that way.
P.S. - I'd turn off the stupid TV Guide infobar, but you can't...Stupid thing keeps getting in the way at inopportune times...
GTRacer
- When is a la carte TV coming?
Hundreds of clueless, careless or defiant spellers and you jump on the one guy who does it right...*sigh*
GTRacer /.
- Oh well, this IS
18.2 > 16
True, and True. But there might be a problem of application...your parent was almost certainly talking about their parent's Compaq prototype at 25 pounds, not the story's 16-pound Acer.
And while we're at it, if one could deal with lugging 16 pounds, I think going to 18.2 would be worth it for the two-fisted double-Mac uber-geek appeal!
GTRacer
- What about the Osborne?
analog face buttons that feel just like digital click switches... All buttons with the exception of Start, Select, L3 and R3 are analog. I use X and Square all the time in racing games as Gas and Brake, and as long as the game supports it, and uses a decent sensitivity range (couugh *TIR* cough) they work fine.
poor positioning of the analog sticks... I'll agree a little - I have large hands and sometimes in FPS's or other games that use both sticks (Robotron) I get a little "angled" because of how my thumbs line up. But for most games it's not a prob.
analog stick is too loose, rubbery surface gives no grip for your thumb, lacks the 8-way "insert"... Totally agree here - especially when intense gaming action has led to sweaty thumbs. I hate when my thumb slides off the center of the stick and all my inputs are off. Or I get distracted... The DS2 is tighter than the DS1 though.
the broken up d-pad... I don't play a lot of fighters, but when I do, I have no complaints about the cross.
"rounded" grips for holding comfort... I've used almost every first-party console controller made in the last 20 years and I still feel the basic design of the DS is the best. It could use some tweaks (maybe two sizes like the Xbox pads) but overall, I prefer the DS layout to any of the others. Although the Xbox Controller S is a close second.
I just can't get used to having only two shoulder buttons and most GC/Xbox games mapping those as Gas/Brake, leaving me to shift with face buttons. I think my most hated pad is the Dreamcast's, and one look at a DC pad and a non-S Xbox pad...
GTRacer
- Wonder if that PS to GC/XB controller adaptor is worth 12 bucks...
My bad, and I apologize to Paladine.
GTRacer
- Still annoyed by the whole LOSE-LOOSE, SIGHT-SITE thing...
Are you sure you're not using your troll account?
And why am I feeding it?
GTRacer
- Oh right, it's Super Value Wednesday at McD's
Fatal Frame? No
Beyond Good & Evil? Have it - unopened present
Adventures of Cookies & Cream? No
Wario Ware? On demo GBA - would buy if I had a GBA
Ico? YES!!!
Conker's Bad Fur Day? Yes
Blast Corps? Yes
Pokemon Snap? No
Jet Grind Radio? No
No One Can Stop Mr. Domino? No
Mr. Mosquito? Yes
Animal Crossing? On demo GC - would consider buying
Disaster Report? Have it - unopened present
Karaoke Revolution? Not yet - getting for Wife's b-day
Dungeon Keeper? No
Deception? No
Have you played:
Rez?
Gallop Racer (any)?
RAD - Robot Alchemic Drive
Metropolismania?
Incredible Crisis
Naval Warship Gunner (I haven't either but I'm getting it when I find it on sale)?
Document of MGS?
My wife gets on to me, but I try to buy such rare games when I see them because I know a lot of them won't be around for long...
GTRacer
- GT4: Prologue?
IIRC, it *HAS* to be able to decrypt the DVD because standard burners can't write the CCA key. Kinda like how burning bit-perfect copies of PlayStation games is useless for an unmodded system.
I wish these people would get over themselves. They should be THRILLED I want to make backups of their crappy movies. Actually, I don't want backups. I'm looking for DVD-to-MP3 ripping so I can listen to my favorites at work like Office Space, the Simpsons, South Park, Princess Bride, etc.
GTRacer
- I do not think that law means what you think it means...
You and I need to talk. I posted an Ask Slashdot about what steps people in our position have tried and what successes they've had in getting policies relaxed for legitimate "power-user" needs.
It was Rejected of course. But anyway, I was going to post the same comment - I have to use VBA because I have no other options. Although I do all my VBA in Access (forms are way better with VBA and a control table to handle DAO lookups!).
I've got as much open-source/Free Software running as I possibly can, but I can only do so much with the restrictions they've given me.
GTRacer
- Ask me about StormWindows and LAN Escort
There's a practical limit to the damage I can do in my own car if I were drunk, versus what could be damaged using a plane or other mass-transit vehicle. Plus, the car is mine. The plane (and airport, etc.) is not.
Also, I've already agreed to the "rules of the road" when I got my license. As well as consented to any sobriety test demanded by a police officer.
If New Mexico's leaders feel that putting these interlocks in every car in the state will solve their problem, they're solving the wrong problem.
GTRacer
- Mythbusters busted the "beat a breathalyzer" myths...
I don't live in NM, but I can see where feel-good laws like this could spread very quickly!
GTRacer
- Probably *need* to get drunk
Out of curiosity, and no, I'm not flaming, are those legit OSTs or are they Son May/EverAnime/etc. discs?
I ask because I've been wanting to get more game-based OSTs and the legit ones are crazy expensive! Do you know a good site or store to order from (both in terms of price and reliability)?
GTRacer
- Long Live the Music!
GTRacer
- IDIC
GTRacer
- Nothing better to do
I didn't mean personal software-based FW's. I know that Norton and ZoneAlarm can be tricked, bypassed, or even easily misused to give a false sense of security.
And I know that most of this stuff works by hijacking or piggybacking legitimate port use. I was meaning something along the lines of an agressive, separate piece of FW hardware that would limit port 80 traffic to HTTP under most circumstances, and restrict Active and JavaScript unless whitelisted (hopefully by a clueful person). It could also watch for excessive SMTP traffic (perhaps a TO: count threshold or messages/sec) and flag it or require user intervention.
Advances in FW tech have surely made such a thing possible. I doubt that the average home user needs much more than HTTP and SMTP, and certainly doesn't need inbound access! Well, P2P notwithstanding...
GTRacer
- Hey...where's a VC?
GTRacer
- Nice Python ref, BTW
The more this type of "attack" keeps happening, the more I wonder if there shouldn't be a license or minimum firewall requirement to get on the 'Net.
Maybe we have to start teaching "Safe Surfing" along with Safe Sex in the teen years.
GTRacer
- speechless
Way to go.
GTRacer
- Still, the paint's nice
Stan: There it is, the Okama GameSphere...
Kyle: Dude, it's got 128GHz DRAM.
Stan: What's that?
Kyle: Don't know, but it kicks ass!
GTRacer
- It's Japanese slang or something...
Now, three years later, they have a GameCube.
GTRacer
- Been gaming longer than many of you've been breathing!
And yes, we have bought a number of PlayStation games after the PS2 launch - some were exclusively for the kids, and some were mine for PS2-use only.
GTRacer
- Even if PS3 does PS2, nobody's getting my Japanese PS2!
GTRacer
- I can admit it, can you?