The book publishers are just mad about losing money from new book sales and having a little hissy fit about it. In the article, they don't threaten any legal action or claim that Amazon doesn't have the right to do business in this way -- they just are complaining and trying to spread FUD that the book industry will shrivel up if more than one person gets to own a book in its lifetime. The article seems pretty clear that the book publishers have no recourse but to whine and hope it works. Don't worry, it won't. -----------
"The PC Data survey greatly underscores the idea that gaming has become a mainstream form of culture, if not the single most pervasive form of culture, in America."
Yes, even the homeless love a good video game! Get a clue. Video games are a cultural niche. There are many things which reach across age and economic barriers much more -- books, movies, TV, McDonald's, Wal-Mart, turkey on Thanksgiving, watching sports, e-mail (to a lesser extent), and so on. You can throw it against the wall, Jon, but it don't stick... -----------
We're seeing the transition where the internet goes from "sexy" to "mundane". Remember all those girlfriends that seemed so exciting for a few weeks, then as you got to know them, the charm just...wore off? You started noticing their flaws. Reality came crushing down on all the novelty of having this new fling.
Well, that's what's happening with the internet. The novel has become trite. The truly useful stuff (knowledge bases, e-commerce, maps, phone books, etc) has just integrated itself nicely into ordinary life.
Oh, there will be all kinds of "sexy" (what a stupid way to describe it) new technologies, but, essentially, it's just a new bikini for the old girlfriend. It'll wear off too. The internet has become ordinary. No less useful, no less miraculous in it's way, it's just -- well, the thrill is gone, baby. But really, how long did anyone expect to be amazed by Flash animations and the JennyCam?
That's life. If you need everything to be new and exciting and groundbreaking every moment, you might end up a drug addict or divorced or worse. -----------
"Successful gaming requires a level of patience and commitment rarely associated with entertainment or, for that matter, education."
Oh, please. Maybe the education of a journalist doesn't require much concentration (why try? poly-sci!), but I would be willing to bet that anyone else here with a engineering, scientific, or computer science degree would find that remark laughable.
And so I laugh. Ha, ha Jon. Get a clue.
-----------
We are hearing journalists over and over pick up on a technical truth -- the fact that p2p networks such as Gnutella are slow because their design limits practical size, most people are taking but not giving, etc. -- and saying "look! it doesn't work!" Meanwhile, the people who designed these networks in the first place (and many others) are busy finding ways to make the technology work. That's the spirit of this thing -- "Napster is a legal problem? Ok, we'll make a decentralized network. The new network protocol is slow? OK, here's one that works..."
We are just in the time between the identification of the problem and the solution. Expect to see this one figured out. -----------
At my company, I have the Level 3 support pager for our primary business application about 70% of the time. That's 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. And we're a global firm, with about 700 users, so 10 AM emergency in Britain is pretty darn early for me. Anyway, my incentive is this: to *NOT* be paged.
My primary concern, then, is to make sure our system is robust enough that I don't get paged. I (and several others) spend a lot of time during working hours keeping things clear, tracking down bugs, improving the system, testing, testing, testing, and so on. And you know what? This MS-based (can you believe it?) worldwide app works. It rarely has problems in production. If I was getting paid directly (case-by-case, by the hour, whatever) for all the nominal support (time carrying the pager) I did, I wouldn't bust my butt to make sure that I didn't have any real off-hours support (fixing problems at 3 AM) to do.
That's not to say that we don't have occasional problems, but the trend is always toward fewer, not more. And that's what I get paid for.
Granted, not everyone doing support has the luxury of being in a position to improve the system, but that's probably just a failure to make people accountable/responsible. You want e-mail to run? Then make your e-mail administrator pull support for it and give him the power and responsibility to run the server. If it isn't reliable, a few 3 AM calls when it breaks, and he'll make damn sure the thing runs. If someone else has to clean up my mess, I won't ever bother to just be neat. -----------
...but there is just too much prior art... -----------
Didn't "they" say a lot of the same stuff...
on
Trigger Happy
·
· Score: 5
...a few decades ago about comic books? You know, comic books are bad, they are frivolous junk food for the mind, they are bad for the imagination and make kids stupid. Comic books were wildly popular and the "adults" couldn't understand the attraction.
Well, comic books failed to wreck the youth of this country. But they also didn't, in simulated Katz-speak, "usher in a new paradigm of creative interactivity and illustrative expression that trashes all the stale old educational and institutional models." They wound up with their niche in popular culture. Sure, I wish my differential equations textbook was as engaging as a comic book or video game, but please. Anyone who thinks that every form of media should or could somehow contain the same excitement or interactivity that Tomb Raider does needs a serious reality check. "Thrills, chills, and mind-numbing strobe-light 3d effects - it's all part of Bob Vila's Home Carpentry video workshop!" Heck, writing code for video games doesn't even have that. The thrill of video games does not replace the satisfaction of human contact, the joy of creating, or the imagination invoked when reading a particularly good book.
I think I do know a bit about it. I *have* fed the homeless. I have laid my bare hands on people dying of AIDS. I know the difference between fantasy and real life. Real life will have a bigger impact than the imaginary.
Anyway, your other argument is also flawed: "There are better things we could be doing, so we can't do this."
I never said we can't. I said that it will bring precious few positive results. There are studies that have been unable to find a link between media violence and real violence, and there are studies that have found a link. That is inconclusive at best. We could ban swearing, since someone might be able to argue that is linked to violence. But is that really worth our time? Maybe you seem to think it is. Go for it. -----------
One of the coolest uses of high-speed video for the average person is sports. Coaches/athletes could use the cameras to analyze technique, and fans could have a lot of fun with one of these at a football or hockey game -- more serious athletes, like gymnasts, golfers, and baseball players (to name just a few) could really make use of this to improve. Golfers already pay a lot of money for pros to tape their swing and do swing analysis for them. -----------
I don't think they do. Say it with me, now -- "PEER TO PEER". It describes a network of coequals. The people to whom this notion appeals are not going to like a Oligarchy governing structure. "We love the idea of a peer-to-peer network of equals, and that's why we have to rule you like a king to build it!" -----------
If so, then Trolls can sue the Moderators on /.
on
MAPS Sued Again
·
· Score: 5
Does e-mail have "rights"? Does it have the right to be delivered? Do my words have the right to be heard? Most importantly, do I have the right to ignore others, or must I listen to their free speech? Not to shut them up, just to not listen to them...
If MAPS loses, then maybe the Slashdot trolls will move forward with lawsuits agains/. and the moderators. After all, if I troll/offtopic/flamebait/hot grits myself and everyone else here to death, eventually I might have such negative karma that I'm on a blacklist and all my posts go to -1 automatically. Hey, I'm just a legitimate poster! And now no one gets to hear me rant about natalie portman or whatever unless they opt-in -- after all, default reading is at a threshold of 0.
Maybe the judge should rule that Outlook, Eudora, Netscape and every other e-mail client that can filter out junk mail disable that feature, and even require people to read all their junk e-mail in full
Because doesn't everyone, especially corporations and people with lots of money, have the right to force others to listen? -----------
But, really, it's the notion that violent video games are the problem. It's not the root, and I doubt if it's even a major contributing factor. Maybe graphic video games *do* cause kids to be more violent. Then again, maybe they don't. I think the evidence is far from clear. What is far more clear, for instance, is that kids who grow up watching dad get drunk and smack mom around are more likely to be violent, drunk, etc. Or kids who grow up without fathers at all. And the list goes on -- the list of things that could truly change a child drastically.
It also seems unlikely that graphic video games would do more than simply aggravate the problems of a troubled kid -- I doubt that they "manufacture" a bad kid where there once was a good kid (if you like to use such gross terms as "good kid/bad kid").
The bottom line for me is, even if it is a good thing to "protect" children from violent video games, it's far from the most important thing. If the same amount of energy was spent on attacking the root problems (i.e. most often family issues), you wouldn't have to worry about little Johnny playing some bad ol' video game. And I think that the reason that this subject comes up a lot is that many here see the hypocrisy of parents/educators/legislators on this -- "you and your video games are our problem; if not for you we could beat our kids all day long and they wouldn't have fantasies about using a flamethrower on us because they wouldn't know about them". -----------
Slashdot Mirror
The book publishers are just mad about losing money from new book sales and having a little hissy fit about it. In the article, they don't threaten any legal action or claim that Amazon doesn't have the right to do business in this way -- they just are complaining and trying to spread FUD that the book industry will shrivel up if more than one person gets to own a book in its lifetime. The article seems pretty clear that the book publishers have no recourse but to whine and hope it works. Don't worry, it won't.
-----------
...is someone to achieve a perfect game of Blue Meanies From Outer Space! When will THAT record fall?
-----------
"The PC Data survey greatly underscores the idea that gaming has become a mainstream form of culture, if not the single most pervasive form of culture, in America."
Yes, even the homeless love a good video game! Get a clue. Video games are a cultural niche. There are many things which reach across age and economic barriers much more -- books, movies, TV, McDonald's, Wal-Mart, turkey on Thanksgiving, watching sports, e-mail (to a lesser extent), and so on. You can throw it against the wall, Jon, but it don't stick...
-----------
We're seeing the transition where the internet goes from "sexy" to "mundane". Remember all those girlfriends that seemed so exciting for a few weeks, then as you got to know them, the charm just...wore off? You started noticing their flaws. Reality came crushing down on all the novelty of having this new fling.
Well, that's what's happening with the internet. The novel has become trite. The truly useful stuff (knowledge bases, e-commerce, maps, phone books, etc) has just integrated itself nicely into ordinary life.
Oh, there will be all kinds of "sexy" (what a stupid way to describe it) new technologies, but, essentially, it's just a new bikini for the old girlfriend. It'll wear off too. The internet has become ordinary. No less useful, no less miraculous in it's way, it's just -- well, the thrill is gone, baby. But really, how long did anyone expect to be amazed by Flash animations and the JennyCam?
That's life. If you need everything to be new and exciting and groundbreaking every moment, you might end up a drug addict or divorced or worse.
-----------
You'll need 750GHz just to run Windows CE 2005...but that little paper clip is SOOOOOOOOOOO cute!
-----------
"Successful gaming requires a level of patience and commitment rarely associated with entertainment or, for that matter, education."
Oh, please. Maybe the education of a journalist doesn't require much concentration (why try? poly-sci!), but I would be willing to bet that anyone else here with a engineering, scientific, or computer science degree would find that remark laughable.
And so I laugh. Ha, ha Jon. Get a clue.
-----------
We are hearing journalists over and over pick up on a technical truth -- the fact that p2p networks such as Gnutella are slow because their design limits practical size, most people are taking but not giving, etc. -- and saying "look! it doesn't work!" Meanwhile, the people who designed these networks in the first place (and many others) are busy finding ways to make the technology work. That's the spirit of this thing -- "Napster is a legal problem? Ok, we'll make a decentralized network. The new network protocol is slow? OK, here's one that works..."
We are just in the time between the identification of the problem and the solution. Expect to see this one figured out.
-----------
...nanotech-toting script kidd3z? That'll give "port scanning" a new meaning!
-----------
At my company, I have the Level 3 support pager for our primary business application about 70% of the time. That's 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. And we're a global firm, with about 700 users, so 10 AM emergency in Britain is pretty darn early for me. Anyway, my incentive is this: to *NOT* be paged.
My primary concern, then, is to make sure our system is robust enough that I don't get paged. I (and several others) spend a lot of time during working hours keeping things clear, tracking down bugs, improving the system, testing, testing, testing, and so on. And you know what? This MS-based (can you believe it?) worldwide app works. It rarely has problems in production. If I was getting paid directly (case-by-case, by the hour, whatever) for all the nominal support (time carrying the pager) I did, I wouldn't bust my butt to make sure that I didn't have any real off-hours support (fixing problems at 3 AM) to do.
That's not to say that we don't have occasional problems, but the trend is always toward fewer, not more. And that's what I get paid for.
Granted, not everyone doing support has the luxury of being in a position to improve the system, but that's probably just a failure to make people accountable/responsible. You want e-mail to run? Then make your e-mail administrator pull support for it and give him the power and responsibility to run the server. If it isn't reliable, a few 3 AM calls when it breaks, and he'll make damn sure the thing runs. If someone else has to clean up my mess, I won't ever bother to just be neat.
-----------
...but there is just too much prior art...
-----------
...a few decades ago about comic books? You know, comic books are bad, they are frivolous junk food for the mind, they are bad for the imagination and make kids stupid. Comic books were wildly popular and the "adults" couldn't understand the attraction.
Well, comic books failed to wreck the youth of this country. But they also didn't, in simulated Katz-speak, "usher in a new paradigm of creative interactivity and illustrative expression that trashes all the stale old educational and institutional models." They wound up with their niche in popular culture. Sure, I wish my differential equations textbook was as engaging as a comic book or video game, but please. Anyone who thinks that every form of media should or could somehow contain the same excitement or interactivity that Tomb Raider does needs a serious reality check. "Thrills, chills, and mind-numbing strobe-light 3d effects - it's all part of Bob Vila's Home Carpentry video workshop!" Heck, writing code for video games doesn't even have that. The thrill of video games does not replace the satisfaction of human contact, the joy of creating, or the imagination invoked when reading a particularly good book.
-----------
The bogeyman for scaring my kids every night!
-----------
I think I do know a bit about it. I *have* fed the homeless. I have laid my bare hands on people dying of AIDS. I know the difference between fantasy and real life. Real life will have a bigger impact than the imaginary.
Anyway, your other argument is also flawed: "There are better things we could be doing, so we can't do this."
I never said we can't. I said that it will bring precious few positive results. There are studies that have been unable to find a link between media violence and real violence, and there are studies that have found a link. That is inconclusive at best. We could ban swearing, since someone might be able to argue that is linked to violence. But is that really worth our time? Maybe you seem to think it is. Go for it.
-----------
One of the coolest uses of high-speed video for the average person is sports. Coaches/athletes could use the cameras to analyze technique, and fans could have a lot of fun with one of these at a football or hockey game -- more serious athletes, like gymnasts, golfers, and baseball players (to name just a few) could really make use of this to improve. Golfers already pay a lot of money for pros to tape their swing and do swing analysis for them.
-----------
I don't think they do. Say it with me, now -- "PEER TO PEER". It describes a network of coequals. The people to whom this notion appeals are not going to like a Oligarchy governing structure. "We love the idea of a peer-to-peer network of equals, and that's why we have to rule you like a king to build it!"
-----------
Does e-mail have "rights"? Does it have the right to be delivered? Do my words have the right to be heard? Most importantly, do I have the right to ignore others, or must I listen to their free speech? Not to shut them up, just to not listen to them...
/. and the moderators. After all, if I troll/offtopic/flamebait/hot grits myself and everyone else here to death, eventually I might have such negative karma that I'm on a blacklist and all my posts go to -1 automatically. Hey, I'm just a legitimate poster! And now no one gets to hear me rant about natalie portman or whatever unless they opt-in -- after all, default reading is at a threshold of 0.
If MAPS loses, then maybe the Slashdot trolls will move forward with lawsuits agains
Maybe the judge should rule that Outlook, Eudora, Netscape and every other e-mail client that can filter out junk mail disable that feature, and even require people to read all their junk e-mail in full
Because doesn't everyone, especially corporations and people with lots of money, have the right to force others to listen?
-----------
But, really, it's the notion that violent video games are the problem. It's not the root, and I doubt if it's even a major contributing factor. Maybe graphic video games *do* cause kids to be more violent. Then again, maybe they don't. I think the evidence is far from clear. What is far more clear, for instance, is that kids who grow up watching dad get drunk and smack mom around are more likely to be violent, drunk, etc. Or kids who grow up without fathers at all. And the list goes on -- the list of things that could truly change a child drastically.
It also seems unlikely that graphic video games would do more than simply aggravate the problems of a troubled kid -- I doubt that they "manufacture" a bad kid where there once was a good kid (if you like to use such gross terms as "good kid/bad kid").
The bottom line for me is, even if it is a good thing to "protect" children from violent video games, it's far from the most important thing. If the same amount of energy was spent on attacking the root problems (i.e. most often family issues), you wouldn't have to worry about little Johnny playing some bad ol' video game. And I think that the reason that this subject comes up a lot is that many here see the hypocrisy of parents/educators/legislators on this -- "you and your video games are our problem; if not for you we could beat our kids all day long and they wouldn't have fantasies about using a flamethrower on us because they wouldn't know about them".
-----------
To host Napster and DeCSS up there?
-----------
Rednecks -> Monster Truck Rallies
Geeks -> BattleBots
Women -> Oprah
-----------