Yes, and is pain in the ass to use and something that no normal person will ever do. Hell, even I don't want to use it while being a geek and fully understand it's potential.. but it's just so pain in the ass.
Like with everything, how companies do things vary quite a lot. If talking about standard development environments, Visual Studio is likely the most used way to go, along with plugins for it and Microsoft Exchange infrastructure inside. It's the most professional way at least. But since you seem to be Java developer, it probably doesn't apply, but if you move to C# or C/C++ then yes.
Then he should have transferred the whole HumbleBundle account, not just Steam keys. They're given so that users can install them on their favorite platform, not give out them away for others while still using them elsewhere, ie. you use in Steam and give the Desura keys to friend.
Oh and I forgot to note that PayPal generally gives out way too much personal info. If you want to know someones real name, all you need to do is send that email $0.01 and it will be conveniently shown to you. I guess it would work for all emails you have (but don't know who they are) if they just use PayPal with the same email. Sometimes it's good to know the other parties name, especially if doing business, but it should be an option.
Best system I've seen is with WebMoney, where user have reputation score based on their activity amount, users can write about problems in their profile (and account owner can answer publicly) and you can set yourself what information is public and what is private. For example, here's account that Valve (and others) use to process payments: http://passport.wmtransfer.com/asp/certview.asp?wmid=362311291686 . It has a high business level, has been verified and ok'd to have real info via notarized documents (but still the actual information can be private) and complaints are public. This gives the option to the user to decide if he trusts the other party or not.
Maybe it's a cultural thing too, but both Europe and Russia have a history that makes people understand how important it can be protect your private information. PayPal system is really limited compared to WebMoney, but sadly it's only used mostly in Russia and other CIS countries.
There's another side to the disputes too. It generally screws over merchants and sellers, especially if they're selling digital services. It's a quite common practice for fraudsters to buy something digital and then either make a dispute or do chargeback. The seller can't really do anything else than accept it and pay additional money to cover fees. So not only the seller gives away the item/service for free, he actually loses money. Challenging it can easily lead to your account being limited or blocked, so if you rely on those transactions in your business you generally just have to take the loss.
However, such thing is much harder thing to pull out with other services like Moneybookers, WebMoney, Liberty Reserve and the now-gone ePassporte (and various others). All transactions are final, so it doesn't screw up the seller. That's why sometimes merchant require buyers to wait several days to get their digital goods or services if they're paying with PayPal.
Another thing about PayPal really are the fees. They might be ok for single purchases, but they stand to go really high if you take in lots of money, or for example get your payments via PayPal. This is especially true if you work with something like affiliate marketing and the companies pay their commissions via PayPal to international affiliates. If you generate the normal wage amount of commissions, lets say $3000 a month, the fees take $100-200 out of that. Other payment options do not take that much. For example ePassporte took $0.30 per transaction. That's why I generally use other services than PayPal, but sellers most likely have to use it as sadly PayPal gained the marketshare in western world, especially US.
Fair point about the DRM... I also like the fact you get extra Steam/Desura keys for the bonus games if you paid more than average. Gave those to my sister every time and she was happy.
Aaaand that was illegal. It clearly states they're only for your own use.
Because if it would be more widespread practice, they wouldn't get that. It's mostly just one time thing where elitist Linux geeks (those using on desktops, I actually use on servers too) want to show off when they once have the change. Also, the games being indie helps as it kind of good target audience. With more mainstream games, not so much.
On top of that, Linux is a support nightmare. The drivers are horrible, the system underneath is a moving target that changes A LOT between different Linux distros and with multiplayer games Linux users would cry aloud about some anti-cheat software like PunkBuster, VAC or Blizzard's one scanning their system while playing.
There's also no good distribution platform for Linux, like Steam. And no, apt-get or yum won't work. Considering all these, it's just not worth the effort.
Actually you don't even need to be lacking compiler, most good IDE's (for PHP at least) have fully capable debugging built-in. Most people probably use the old echo die method, but the possibility is there, and it's just as powerful as with C/C++/Delphi/Java/.NET etc..
OS doesn't matter if someone wants to target it. In fact it can even be good thing - it's a lot easier to rootkit and hide in Linux based systems than Windows, and most people don't know how to get rid of them too. Hell, in Linux a simple rootkit can work just by editing the system commands like ls.
Also, don't forget the fact that Google royally screwed over their existing users when they seriously limited the available resources and changed pricing just a few weeks ago. And how do you know Google won't discontinue the service soon enough as they seem to do with a lot of their products. I can't rely on that. At least other services give me some reliability.
I really wouldn't couldn't on TOR, especially considering that it's mostly US project intended to act against Iran. In paper it's a nice project - no, it's a great project.. but, the main reason for the existence of TOR is that it helps US to spy on Iran. And this isn't some tinfoil hat stuff either, it has been written on paper several times.
Seriously, it's almost brilliant how different Slashdot articles contradict themselves. Just yesterday we talked about how bad thing it is that Microsoft employees UEFI, and now were saying it's long overdue.
Probably because you seem to assume lots of things too. I run Linux servers myself too, and I think they're better in some situations. At the same time I can also see and understand that there's also lots of Windows Servers around and they also do better job at some things. The fact is 50% of servers run Windows Server, and you can't get around that. Personally, I use the best tool for the job and don't really care about all the evangelist bullshit.
No I'm not a Microsoft employee. Why does everyone always think you have to work for some company if you give positive comments about them? Besides, I think most people don't really comment about the company they work. I'm sure slashdot has lots of Google, Microsoft, Apple and so on employees reading this site, but they stay out of the discussions about their company.
And you're a good example of how deluded some Linux geeks are, and cannot accept the fact that Microsoft actually makes good products, especially for businesses and companies. As much as I generally hate Internet Explorer, it's a good example of how open source developers just don't get what the real world requirements and needs are. IE is still the only browser that is easily mass-deployed with site wide policies and settings. I personally use Opera and Chrome, but those would be hell to deploy on a larger scale on some corporate network.
What Microsoft does get is what actual, real world businesses need. They also get what real world programmers need, and they get what enterprise servers need. Linux is great, but it misses many of those features - for example, how do you connect to a remote PC with bash and run your commands there? Oh, you can't. With PowerShell you can easily do that.
Then you aren't doing any serious programming. Good IDE really is a must for any larger project. And seriously, it's almost 2012 and Linux shells still pass data as text, when passing objects would make so much more sense and give a lot more options. Linux's problem is staying with some 80's mentality and when trying to come up with new stuff, doing it completely wrong (like the newest Gnome and KDE versions)
That's like saying no one puts a Linux based server up on the Internet where it can be attacked. UNIX based OSes have had many more remote vulnerabilities than Windows within it's entire history. Now a days the malware problem is mostly because of stupid home users and third party software like Flash. However, by default Windows Server is very locked down and no sane admin uses a server to browse for random stuff anyway. Third party software is also just as exploitable on Linux.
By the way, I would think exchange and email servers are quite critical for business functions. Hell, one of the largest programming websites StackOverflow uses Windows Servers, as do many other large businesses.
So you are bashing PowerShell for allowing you to do more than what you need with it? Seriously? You don't need to use those extra features if you don't want to, but for anyone actually doing some work it's a great tool (you know, for those that actually do something else than play around with their wardrobe servers).
I don't think you have even used PowerShell, you just want to hate on it because it's Windows-based and that "ooh Windows admins must be stupid!" line makes it even more visible. The hard cold truth is that Windows Server is used on around 50% of servers, and is usually much better choice for certain things than Linux based server, especially in corporate environments. Linux is fine for hobbyist stuff and some real work, but the real world still uses Windows Server a lot.
PowerShell is much more powerful than bash. Bash is pretty much just running linux commands with a few logical structures built-in. PowerShell is a lot more like an actual programming language, with real objects, functions and data handling.
No it doesn't apply, as there just isn't any development tools as good as Visual Studio, nor there is cloud platform that integrates so good with your development tools. Nothing really offers the same kind of usability.
On a related note, I was seriously surprised how easy it is to develop software for both Windows Phone 7 and Azure with Visual Studio. Just try it. And the best thing is, they all work together - from your Windows app to WP7 app and to a Silverlight applet and Azure cloud. No other system comes even close to the level of integration MS has done. Just for that reason I think they're doing a great job with it.
And to be honest, Azure is probably the best cloud platform there is currently. It integrates beautifully with Visual Studio. When you compile your code you can run it directly in Azure and even debug it in the process. You have to test it yourself how easy it is actually is, there's no other platform that makes it so streamlined. If Microsoft does something right it's developing tools for programmers.
How does Facebook or Microsoft sell your data? To begin with, Microsoft always asks you first if they can collect anonymous usage data. Google doesn't even ask.
Secondly, Facebook also uses data the same way that Google does - to show relevant ads. They don't sell that data to anywhere. Hell, it's their largest asset, they would be insane to do stuff like that.
* Google's business model fundamentally relies on violating peoples privacy and selling users private information.
That is all that needs to be said, even while there's a lot more.
And seriously, you can make that kind of list of any company, even Microsoft. MS does a lot of cool R&D in Microsoft Research, they give out software freely to students, they give out Visual Studio Express freely, they support charities, and they also massively support open source software outside of their core business.
Google does a lot of evil things. You can't kill an innocent little girl and get off of it by saying "but look, I also help homeless people by giving them food!". If you do evil, you do evil, and you should be punished for it, no matter if you do good things as well.
Slashdot Mirror
Yes, and is pain in the ass to use and something that no normal person will ever do. Hell, even I don't want to use it while being a geek and fully understand it's potential.. but it's just so pain in the ass.
Like with everything, how companies do things vary quite a lot. If talking about standard development environments, Visual Studio is likely the most used way to go, along with plugins for it and Microsoft Exchange infrastructure inside. It's the most professional way at least. But since you seem to be Java developer, it probably doesn't apply, but if you move to C# or C/C++ then yes.
Then he should have transferred the whole HumbleBundle account, not just Steam keys. They're given so that users can install them on their favorite platform, not give out them away for others while still using them elsewhere, ie. you use in Steam and give the Desura keys to friend.
Oh and I forgot to note that PayPal generally gives out way too much personal info. If you want to know someones real name, all you need to do is send that email $0.01 and it will be conveniently shown to you. I guess it would work for all emails you have (but don't know who they are) if they just use PayPal with the same email. Sometimes it's good to know the other parties name, especially if doing business, but it should be an option.
Best system I've seen is with WebMoney, where user have reputation score based on their activity amount, users can write about problems in their profile (and account owner can answer publicly) and you can set yourself what information is public and what is private. For example, here's account that Valve (and others) use to process payments: http://passport.wmtransfer.com/asp/certview.asp?wmid=362311291686 . It has a high business level, has been verified and ok'd to have real info via notarized documents (but still the actual information can be private) and complaints are public. This gives the option to the user to decide if he trusts the other party or not.
Maybe it's a cultural thing too, but both Europe and Russia have a history that makes people understand how important it can be protect your private information. PayPal system is really limited compared to WebMoney, but sadly it's only used mostly in Russia and other CIS countries.
There's another side to the disputes too. It generally screws over merchants and sellers, especially if they're selling digital services. It's a quite common practice for fraudsters to buy something digital and then either make a dispute or do chargeback. The seller can't really do anything else than accept it and pay additional money to cover fees. So not only the seller gives away the item/service for free, he actually loses money. Challenging it can easily lead to your account being limited or blocked, so if you rely on those transactions in your business you generally just have to take the loss.
However, such thing is much harder thing to pull out with other services like Moneybookers, WebMoney, Liberty Reserve and the now-gone ePassporte (and various others). All transactions are final, so it doesn't screw up the seller. That's why sometimes merchant require buyers to wait several days to get their digital goods or services if they're paying with PayPal.
Another thing about PayPal really are the fees. They might be ok for single purchases, but they stand to go really high if you take in lots of money, or for example get your payments via PayPal. This is especially true if you work with something like affiliate marketing and the companies pay their commissions via PayPal to international affiliates. If you generate the normal wage amount of commissions, lets say $3000 a month, the fees take $100-200 out of that. Other payment options do not take that much. For example ePassporte took $0.30 per transaction. That's why I generally use other services than PayPal, but sellers most likely have to use it as sadly PayPal gained the marketshare in western world, especially US.
Fair point about the DRM... I also like the fact you get extra Steam/Desura keys for the bonus games if you paid more than average. Gave those to my sister every time and she was happy.
Aaaand that was illegal. It clearly states they're only for your own use.
Because if it would be more widespread practice, they wouldn't get that. It's mostly just one time thing where elitist Linux geeks (those using on desktops, I actually use on servers too) want to show off when they once have the change. Also, the games being indie helps as it kind of good target audience. With more mainstream games, not so much.
On top of that, Linux is a support nightmare. The drivers are horrible, the system underneath is a moving target that changes A LOT between different Linux distros and with multiplayer games Linux users would cry aloud about some anti-cheat software like PunkBuster, VAC or Blizzard's one scanning their system while playing.
There's also no good distribution platform for Linux, like Steam. And no, apt-get or yum won't work. Considering all these, it's just not worth the effort.
Actually you don't even need to be lacking compiler, most good IDE's (for PHP at least) have fully capable debugging built-in. Most people probably use the old echo die method, but the possibility is there, and it's just as powerful as with C/C++/Delphi/Java/.NET etc..
OS doesn't matter if someone wants to target it. In fact it can even be good thing - it's a lot easier to rootkit and hide in Linux based systems than Windows, and most people don't know how to get rid of them too. Hell, in Linux a simple rootkit can work just by editing the system commands like ls.
Also, don't forget the fact that Google royally screwed over their existing users when they seriously limited the available resources and changed pricing just a few weeks ago. And how do you know Google won't discontinue the service soon enough as they seem to do with a lot of their products. I can't rely on that. At least other services give me some reliability.
Not to throw away Nasa's success, but I just want to point out this fun game http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerbal_Space_Program It's indie, lets you build your own spacecraft etc :P
I really wouldn't couldn't on TOR, especially considering that it's mostly US project intended to act against Iran. In paper it's a nice project - no, it's a great project.. but, the main reason for the existence of TOR is that it helps US to spy on Iran. And this isn't some tinfoil hat stuff either, it has been written on paper several times.
Seriously, it's almost brilliant how different Slashdot articles contradict themselves. Just yesterday we talked about how bad thing it is that Microsoft employees UEFI , and now were saying it's long overdue.
Probably because you seem to assume lots of things too. I run Linux servers myself too, and I think they're better in some situations. At the same time I can also see and understand that there's also lots of Windows Servers around and they also do better job at some things. The fact is 50% of servers run Windows Server, and you can't get around that. Personally, I use the best tool for the job and don't really care about all the evangelist bullshit.
No I'm not a Microsoft employee. Why does everyone always think you have to work for some company if you give positive comments about them? Besides, I think most people don't really comment about the company they work. I'm sure slashdot has lots of Google, Microsoft, Apple and so on employees reading this site, but they stay out of the discussions about their company.
And you're a good example of how deluded some Linux geeks are, and cannot accept the fact that Microsoft actually makes good products, especially for businesses and companies. As much as I generally hate Internet Explorer, it's a good example of how open source developers just don't get what the real world requirements and needs are. IE is still the only browser that is easily mass-deployed with site wide policies and settings. I personally use Opera and Chrome, but those would be hell to deploy on a larger scale on some corporate network.
What Microsoft does get is what actual, real world businesses need. They also get what real world programmers need, and they get what enterprise servers need. Linux is great, but it misses many of those features - for example, how do you connect to a remote PC with bash and run your commands there? Oh, you can't. With PowerShell you can easily do that.
Then you aren't doing any serious programming. Good IDE really is a must for any larger project. And seriously, it's almost 2012 and Linux shells still pass data as text, when passing objects would make so much more sense and give a lot more options. Linux's problem is staying with some 80's mentality and when trying to come up with new stuff, doing it completely wrong (like the newest Gnome and KDE versions)
That's like saying no one puts a Linux based server up on the Internet where it can be attacked. UNIX based OSes have had many more remote vulnerabilities than Windows within it's entire history. Now a days the malware problem is mostly because of stupid home users and third party software like Flash. However, by default Windows Server is very locked down and no sane admin uses a server to browse for random stuff anyway. Third party software is also just as exploitable on Linux.
By the way, I would think exchange and email servers are quite critical for business functions. Hell, one of the largest programming websites StackOverflow uses Windows Servers, as do many other large businesses.
Why you blame Microsoft for it? What about we turn it around and ask why can't Linux folks just make a good PowerShell variant for Linux distros?
So you are bashing PowerShell for allowing you to do more than what you need with it? Seriously? You don't need to use those extra features if you don't want to, but for anyone actually doing some work it's a great tool (you know, for those that actually do something else than play around with their wardrobe servers).
I don't think you have even used PowerShell, you just want to hate on it because it's Windows-based and that "ooh Windows admins must be stupid!" line makes it even more visible. The hard cold truth is that Windows Server is used on around 50% of servers, and is usually much better choice for certain things than Linux based server, especially in corporate environments. Linux is fine for hobbyist stuff and some real work, but the real world still uses Windows Server a lot.
PowerShell is much more powerful than bash. Bash is pretty much just running linux commands with a few logical structures built-in. PowerShell is a lot more like an actual programming language, with real objects, functions and data handling.
No it doesn't apply, as there just isn't any development tools as good as Visual Studio, nor there is cloud platform that integrates so good with your development tools. Nothing really offers the same kind of usability.
On a related note, I was seriously surprised how easy it is to develop software for both Windows Phone 7 and Azure with Visual Studio. Just try it. And the best thing is, they all work together - from your Windows app to WP7 app and to a Silverlight applet and Azure cloud. No other system comes even close to the level of integration MS has done. Just for that reason I think they're doing a great job with it.
And to be honest, Azure is probably the best cloud platform there is currently. It integrates beautifully with Visual Studio. When you compile your code you can run it directly in Azure and even debug it in the process. You have to test it yourself how easy it is actually is, there's no other platform that makes it so streamlined. If Microsoft does something right it's developing tools for programmers.
How does Facebook or Microsoft sell your data? To begin with, Microsoft always asks you first if they can collect anonymous usage data. Google doesn't even ask.
Secondly, Facebook also uses data the same way that Google does - to show relevant ads. They don't sell that data to anywhere. Hell, it's their largest asset, they would be insane to do stuff like that.
* Google's business model fundamentally relies on violating peoples privacy and selling users private information.
That is all that needs to be said, even while there's a lot more.
And seriously, you can make that kind of list of any company, even Microsoft. MS does a lot of cool R&D in Microsoft Research, they give out software freely to students, they give out Visual Studio Express freely, they support charities, and they also massively support open source software outside of their core business.
Google does a lot of evil things. You can't kill an innocent little girl and get off of it by saying "but look, I also help homeless people by giving them food!". If you do evil, you do evil, and you should be punished for it, no matter if you do good things as well.