Did you know: The creator of the original Manga was involved, heavily, with the creation of the Anime. There were supposed to be two more episodes to close out the series, however the creator went Terminaly Insane. Yes, terminaly. He is crazy enough that he will eventually die from it. Explains a lot, eh?
Thousands of flopppy AOL CDS, folded up! They'll fall out of your newspapers, magazines, cereal boxes, plane tickets! Anywhere you can think of them they'll be there!
And people though Microsoft was scary.
I think I see war, Famine, Plague, and Death on the horizon....
"...6,000 songs. That's three kids, folks. Now multiply that by millions of students and other computer users and the problem comes into sharp focus.... The RIAA estimates that - now listen to this - an astounding 3.6 billion songs are illegally downloaded every month."
Because, remember, no college monitors bandwidth to websites. Every student and every other computer user has 8 hours a day to spend downloading MP3s, and wants to do so. Everybody I know skips class and parties to download music everyday. My parents don't work. They just sit around and download music on Morpheus. Everyone I know really does download about 1000 songs a day. In actuality, there are probably 500 billion MP3s downloaded everyday. Just take the number of web users (approx 500 Mil (http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/03/07/17102 21&mode=thread&tid=95)) and multiply by 1000. Now, multiply by 365. That's 182.5 Trillion MP3s per year! Wow! No wonder the Record Industry sales were down a few percentage points this year.
It was cracked. Big deal. Everyone is saying "Now we can use this and won't have to register it with MS!" or "They probably have an archive of keys and can see the fakes, who will then be arrested!"
No. Here's what I say: So what?
Great, it's cracked. You know what? The number of people who will wind up using the crack is probably insignificant to MS.
Newsflash! There have been anti-activaition cracks from day one with more efficiency than this. How about the cracks that allow you to never register? How about buying a version of XP Pro that doesn't require activation (Corporate(expensive) or Academic)? How about pirating one? I looked on hotline the day of XP's release and there were already several servers claiming to have the Corporate Version of XP Pro.
To top this all off, how many people will really use this? I'll give you a hint: proportionately few. The vast majority of people who will upgrade to XP either don't know or care that there is a hack, or are businesses that have to have legitimate software (activation and all). Well, I suppose they don't have to, but most businesses consider it a good idea.
So that's my thoughts. It's cracked. It's a great feat and all, but the number of illegal copies of XP isn't going to suddenly, dramatically surge.
Why on earth are you Beta-ing without contracts? In the contract, you should have a clause atating all implementation suggestions submitted bleong to you. You may as well put them in the Non-disclosure agreement you have them sign.
If you're not having them sign an NDA, you must really want all details about how the software runs, screenshots and etc. to wind up on the net.
Other than that, if you find, after talking to a lawyer, that the customers could get some rights to cash for suggestions, boot the troublemaker(s) from the Beta, and issue contracts (maybe via the EULA?) in the next update, which should be ASAP.
Of course, what their saying makes a difference too. If their comments consist of "D00d, yu|2 g4m3 5ux0r, g1v3 m3 c4$h l4m3r," they won't be much of a threat.
If they are giving you suggestions on funtions to implement (i.e. enemies, weapons, submitting maps) then they might be more of a threat.
The question: is your software that unfamiliar, uninteresting or bad that the testers would demand compensation for the testing process? Look at Blizzard! They have users nearly fighting to be in on the Beta! Look at Microsoft! They've had people pay to use buggy Beta versions of Windows!!!
Besides all the other problems, I won't tell someone they need to add MiBs of RAM to their system. If I wrote it down for someone who was, shall we say, less than an expert at computers, they would go to target and complain that Men in Black only had 6 copies in stock.
Then there's the wnhole crapload of Men in Black jokes. I'm not going to deal with this.
Differences? Stability? Increased usability for the common man? Yeah, I could use 95 as well as I can XP, but my neighbor down the street flipped over XP. It does have bloat. It's Windows. I'll never argue that, but it does include Media Player, for people who don't know about Winamp/GDivx. It's got built in CD burning for people who don't know about Nero. It's got IE for people who don't know about Mozilla. It's got integrated compressed file support for people who don't know about WinRar.
Everything XP does out of the box would take at least 50-100MB more space.
Besides all that, it doesn't crash as much.
For a Window manager, I can't see where 1,490 megs of space go to make the difference in programs.
I can't see where that much goes either. However you can account for about 33% right off the bat. Windows restore points are going to default to something, and Hibernation, enabled by default, takes up the RAM in space, at all times.
Besides that, try something: take a brand new 80GB HD. Install XP on it. 78.5 GB left. Wipe it and install the compact version of 95. You now have 1990MB free. That whole FAT32/NTFS inclusion thing really helps.
Yes, it's bloated, but it's not that bad. It's not just a "purty" version of 95.
Bitch, bitch, bitch. Why don't you do something about it?
XP is a very nice, stable version of Windows. It's got almost all the back and forward compatability of 98, and the stability of 2K. Yeah, product activiation is a complete and total bastardized way to do it, but it's not like there aren't legal work arounds.
You could buy the Professional Edition, and DL a copy of the Corporate Professional Edition (no activation, ever). I don't know how exactly "legal" this is, but since you've actually bought XP Pro, it shouldn't be a huge deal.
Or, if you're lucky, you're in college and the university has a site License for all computers on campus, including student systems. Any system on campus would have rights to install XP (the Corporate, Pro version in this case, and the only one w/o activation).
So, there's at least two ways to legally or semi-legally get around the activiation. There's probably more, but I'm at 36 hours of awake time now, and my head's all fuzzy.
BTW, my system falls into the latter category. I do agree that I'll never do product activation.
MS DOS x.xx (December 31, 2001)
Windows 3.xx (December 31, 2001)
Windows 95 (November 30, 2001)
Windows NT 3.5x (December 31, 2001)
Windows 98/98 SE (June 30, 2003)
Windows NT 4.xx (June 30, 2003)
Anyone else find it odd that MS will be supporting DOS, Win 3.x and NT 3.5 a month longer than 95? I mean, seriously. I can count the number of people I know that have win 3.x system on one hand.
I only wish I could do that for people who use 95.:-)
Someone probably determined through writing on the package that it contained a MAC. I think that's justification enough for the destruction of the package and contents.:-)
Seriously though, that does blow. Best bet: whoever will ship internationally w/ insurance is your best bet for international shipping. In the US I don't know if it really matters. I've personally dealt with UPS, FEDEX, and the USPS all numerous times. FEDEX is by far the best just because of speed and reliability.
UPS is basically just a lot less expensive. This is what we use where I work. We've actually never had any problems with our packages, condition wise. The biggest problem UPS has is that they don't meet their delivery dates on time, especially at crucial dates. We missed Diablo II's release by three days b/c UPS screwed up. Not a big deal if you're one Best Buy, but I work at a local Mom and Pop Computer Store. When you miss the big releases, it's not good for business. The owner drove to our distributor (four hours both ways) to make sure we had the D2 Expansion for it's release.
USPS: I've never had a problem with the USPS, but they're damn slow. Took me a week and a half to get a processor I ordered that was being shipped cross country. Intrastate and surrounding states: they're wonderful. Next day. Maybe two days. And very easy on the old wallet.
Anyway, FEDEX : Good overall
USPS: really cheap, slow, reliable
UPS: Slower and cheaper than FEDEX, and apparently destructive to international Macs.
This is the worst attack on America. Ever. The destruction at Pearl Harbor can only begin to compare with the carnage that has taken place in America today. September 11, 2001 is a day that will live on in infamy. It is an unprovoked attack on American soil.
For those who don't seek vengeance, I can only say that you are likely not living in America. There will be a reckoning. Whoever did this, and it's looking like Bin Ladin, will be found an eradicated. Whoever is harboring them will be eradicated. Whoever defends them will be eradicated. War is now inevitable.
Good may eventually come of it, as good did eventually come from Pearl Harbor and WWII. But for the time being, we will be mobilizing, preparing for war. We were shocked. Now we are angry.
And anyone who says that we're going to war because "Bush is crzy enough to start one" as I've heard people say (though haven't looked closely on the forum here) is dead wrong. We will be going because it's the right thing to do. We need, firstly, to show the world that we will not be shaken by this, and to show the world what happens when you fsck with the USA. Any potential president, Bush, Gore, Nader, Bud Brown, Clinton, anyone would be looking for a perpetrator right now with the intent to kill. We can see this.
From a purely political standpoint, the nation is calling for vengeance. Any preisdent who sought re-election for himself or anyone in his party would commit political suicide otherwise.
This is edited slightly for content, mostly for length:
"The United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked. The United States was at Peace with the world. We have been looking towards the maintenacne of world peace. This attack was deliberately planned days or even weeks ago. The attack on our cities has caused damage to civilians and economic centers. Very many America lives have been lost.
The facts, so far, today speak for themselves. The American people have already formed their opinions, and well undertstand the implications to the very life and safety of our nation. The commander in chief has directed our forces in our defense. Always, will our whole nation remember the character of the onslaught against us.
No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the America people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory. We will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost, but we will make certain that this form of treachery shall never again endanger us again. We will gain the inevitable triumph, so help us God.
This was an unprovoked and dastardly attack on the united states."
Franklin D. Roosevelt, December 8, 1941
December 7, 1941. A day that has lived on in infamy. September 11, 2001 will live on in infamy now as well.
I hear you there! Monkey Kombat was just plain wierd! (j/k Lucasarts!)
Oh, you said Mortal Kombat. That was much much worse.:-)
Seriously, Midway, thanks for all the great times when, years ago, arcades had truly amazing games. It's been slipping, but as many, many people have said, nothing can replace pinball.
Hell, I work at the local Mom and Pop computer store. Some of the questions I get make me want to vomit.
Phone Transcript:
Caller: "I need a new tower."
Me: "OK, with or without a power supply?"
C: "I don't know. One that can get on the Internet."
M: "You'll need a new computer to do that, or at least a modem."
C: "I don't need a new computer, I just need a tower that can get on the Internet."
He actually hung up after I told him that you need an entire computer to get on the internet, not just an empty tower.
And another (brief synopsis):
A guy called needing to change the diplay settings in Windows. Everything was "really large"(i.e. 640x480). Well, I walked him through the menus to where you change the settings, and he was zipping right along. Once he got there, I told him to just slide the bar over, hit Apply, andd he'd be good. Ten minutes later: "I've been tilting my monitor to the side for about ten minutes, and the bar just won't slide!"
Somedays.... *sigh*
Whatever floats your boat. In my case, that would be a sea full of Mercury.
Re:Other historical tragedies.
on
The Challenger
·
· Score: 1
>I know he also has done a few good things, but I can't think of them off hand.
A "few good things"? You mean like giving the country it's first three-year budget surplus since the Truman Administration (surplus 1947-1949)? Like making amazing strides to pay down the national debt? It's hard to think that if we followed his budget plan, we'd be debt free as a country for the first time since Jackson was president by 2010. Honestly, 2015-2020 is more reasonable, but if we issue out trillion dollar tax cuts, it probably won't happen.
Reagonomics or Clintonomics? I make well under one-million dollars a year.... I have to go with Clinton on this one.
I'd continue, but it's 2:30, I'm lacking caffeine, and I have an exam at 8 today....:-(
I won't dispute the fact that he's immoral. Too bad really. He could have one even more good....
I'm going to close my completely off subject rant by saying that, personally, I want to support Bush, but I know he's going to be against many things I believe in (I'm a bleedin' heart liberal). Neither one (Bush/Gore) was anything to get excited about. I'm just going to do what I was going to do even if Gore had been elected: Realize that, regardless of who the "press" says is President, Martin Sheen is the leader of the free world. Go West Wing.:-)
"I think, therefore I am? What if I think I'm not?" - The_Shadows
Slashdot Mirror
His name is Peter, not Taylor. He may, however, be a tailor. Or a seamster. I like the sound of that.
Except they're all filmed already....
Did you know: The creator of the original Manga was involved, heavily, with the creation of the Anime. There were supposed to be two more episodes to close out the series, however the creator went Terminaly Insane. Yes, terminaly. He is crazy enough that he will eventually die from it. Explains a lot, eh?
I think Microsoft was thinkning more along the lines of "Toaster" or the new Lump-stick-rectangle from Apple.
Those are much easier to use than VCRs.
Content delivery system? From Valve?
This is what has been staving off the release off Team Fortress 2 (and Half-Life 2, for that matter)?!?!?
Valve: I want TF2! Make with the gaming!
Thousands of flopppy AOL CDS, folded up! They'll fall out of your newspapers, magazines, cereal boxes, plane tickets! Anywhere you can think of them they'll be there!
And people though Microsoft was scary.
I think I see war, Famine, Plague, and Death on the horizon....
"...6,000 songs. That's three kids, folks. Now multiply that by millions of students and other computer users and the problem comes into sharp focus.... The RIAA estimates that - now listen to this - an astounding 3.6 billion songs are illegally downloaded every month."
2 21&mode=thread&tid=95)) and multiply by 1000. Now, multiply by 365. That's 182.5 Trillion MP3s per year! Wow! No wonder the Record Industry sales were down a few percentage points this year.
Because, remember, no college monitors bandwidth to websites. Every student and every other computer user has 8 hours a day to spend downloading MP3s, and wants to do so. Everybody I know skips class and parties to download music everyday. My parents don't work. They just sit around and download music on Morpheus. Everyone I know really does download about 1000 songs a day. In actuality, there are probably 500 billion MP3s downloaded everyday. Just take the number of web users (approx 500 Mil (http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/03/07/1710
It was cracked. Big deal. Everyone is saying "Now we can use this and won't have to register it with MS!" or "They probably have an archive of keys and can see the fakes, who will then be arrested!"
No. Here's what I say: So what?
Great, it's cracked. You know what? The number of people who will wind up using the crack is probably insignificant to MS.
Newsflash! There have been anti-activaition cracks from day one with more efficiency than this. How about the cracks that allow you to never register? How about buying a version of XP Pro that doesn't require activation (Corporate(expensive) or Academic)? How about pirating one? I looked on hotline the day of XP's release and there were already several servers claiming to have the Corporate Version of XP Pro.
To top this all off, how many people will really use this? I'll give you a hint: proportionately few. The vast majority of people who will upgrade to XP either don't know or care that there is a hack, or are businesses that have to have legitimate software (activation and all). Well, I suppose they don't have to, but most businesses consider it a good idea.
So that's my thoughts. It's cracked. It's a great feat and all, but the number of illegal copies of XP isn't going to suddenly, dramatically surge.
It's all coming from Monty Python and their Vikings.
Duh.
Why on earth are you Beta-ing without contracts? In the contract, you should have a clause atating all implementation suggestions submitted bleong to you. You may as well put them in the Non-disclosure agreement you have them sign.
If you're not having them sign an NDA, you must really want all details about how the software runs, screenshots and etc. to wind up on the net.
Other than that, if you find, after talking to a lawyer, that the customers could get some rights to cash for suggestions, boot the troublemaker(s) from the Beta, and issue contracts (maybe via the EULA?) in the next update, which should be ASAP.
Of course, what their saying makes a difference too. If their comments consist of "D00d, yu|2 g4m3 5ux0r, g1v3 m3 c4$h l4m3r," they won't be much of a threat.
If they are giving you suggestions on funtions to implement (i.e. enemies, weapons, submitting maps) then they might be more of a threat.
The question: is your software that unfamiliar, uninteresting or bad that the testers would demand compensation for the testing process? Look at Blizzard! They have users nearly fighting to be in on the Beta! Look at Microsoft! They've had people pay to use buggy Beta versions of Windows!!!
Besides all the other problems, I won't tell someone they need to add MiBs of RAM to their system. If I wrote it down for someone who was, shall we say, less than an expert at computers, they would go to target and complain that Men in Black only had 6 copies in stock.
Then there's the wnhole crapload of Men in Black jokes. I'm not going to deal with this.
"I'll be back!"
l
Looks like it wasn't just a catchphrase after all.
Good thing he gave up his bid for governor: http://www.eonline.com/News/Items/0,1,7924,00.htm
Differences? Stability? Increased usability for the common man? Yeah, I could use 95 as well as I can XP, but my neighbor down the street flipped over XP. It does have bloat. It's Windows. I'll never argue that, but it does include Media Player, for people who don't know about Winamp/GDivx. It's got built in CD burning for people who don't know about Nero. It's got IE for people who don't know about Mozilla. It's got integrated compressed file support for people who don't know about WinRar.
Everything XP does out of the box would take at least 50-100MB more space.
Besides all that, it doesn't crash as much.
For a Window manager, I can't see where 1,490 megs of space go to make the difference in programs.
I can't see where that much goes either. However you can account for about 33% right off the bat. Windows restore points are going to default to something, and Hibernation, enabled by default, takes up the RAM in space, at all times.
Besides that, try something: take a brand new 80GB HD. Install XP on it. 78.5 GB left. Wipe it and install the compact version of 95. You now have 1990MB free. That whole FAT32/NTFS inclusion thing really helps.
Yes, it's bloated, but it's not that bad. It's not just a "purty" version of 95.
Bitch, bitch, bitch. Why don't you do something about it?
XP is a very nice, stable version of Windows. It's got almost all the back and forward compatability of 98, and the stability of 2K. Yeah, product activiation is a complete and total bastardized way to do it, but it's not like there aren't legal work arounds.
You could buy the Professional Edition, and DL a copy of the Corporate Professional Edition (no activation, ever). I don't know how exactly "legal" this is, but since you've actually bought XP Pro, it shouldn't be a huge deal.
Or, if you're lucky, you're in college and the university has a site License for all computers on campus, including student systems. Any system on campus would have rights to install XP (the Corporate, Pro version in this case, and the only one w/o activation).
So, there's at least two ways to legally or semi-legally get around the activiation. There's probably more, but I'm at 36 hours of awake time now, and my head's all fuzzy.
BTW, my system falls into the latter category. I do agree that I'll never do product activation.
MS OSes will be unsupported:
:-)
MS DOS x.xx (December 31, 2001)
Windows 3.xx (December 31, 2001)
Windows 95 (November 30, 2001)
Windows NT 3.5x (December 31, 2001)
Windows 98/98 SE (June 30, 2003)
Windows NT 4.xx (June 30, 2003)
Anyone else find it odd that MS will be supporting DOS, Win 3.x and NT 3.5 a month longer than 95? I mean, seriously. I can count the number of people I know that have win 3.x system on one hand.
I only wish I could do that for people who use 95.
Someone probably determined through writing on the package that it contained a MAC. I think that's justification enough for the destruction of the package and contents. :-)
Seriously though, that does blow. Best bet: whoever will ship internationally w/ insurance is your best bet for international shipping. In the US I don't know if it really matters. I've personally dealt with UPS, FEDEX, and the USPS all numerous times. FEDEX is by far the best just because of speed and reliability.
UPS is basically just a lot less expensive. This is what we use where I work. We've actually never had any problems with our packages, condition wise. The biggest problem UPS has is that they don't meet their delivery dates on time, especially at crucial dates. We missed Diablo II's release by three days b/c UPS screwed up. Not a big deal if you're one Best Buy, but I work at a local Mom and Pop Computer Store. When you miss the big releases, it's not good for business. The owner drove to our distributor (four hours both ways) to make sure we had the D2 Expansion for it's release.
USPS: I've never had a problem with the USPS, but they're damn slow. Took me a week and a half to get a processor I ordered that was being shipped cross country. Intrastate and surrounding states: they're wonderful. Next day. Maybe two days. And very easy on the old wallet.
Anyway, FEDEX : Good overall
USPS: really cheap, slow, reliable
UPS: Slower and cheaper than FEDEX, and apparently destructive to international Macs.
Ohhhh.... that's an absurdly easy way to store your speakers in an out of the way place. Mobile flying speakers!
This is the worst attack on America. Ever. The destruction at Pearl Harbor can only begin to compare with the carnage that has taken place in America today. September 11, 2001 is a day that will live on in infamy. It is an unprovoked attack on American soil.
For those who don't seek vengeance, I can only say that you are likely not living in America. There will be a reckoning. Whoever did this, and it's looking like Bin Ladin, will be found an eradicated. Whoever is harboring them will be eradicated. Whoever defends them will be eradicated. War is now inevitable.
Good may eventually come of it, as good did eventually come from Pearl Harbor and WWII. But for the time being, we will be mobilizing, preparing for war. We were shocked. Now we are angry.
And anyone who says that we're going to war because "Bush is crzy enough to start one" as I've heard people say (though haven't looked closely on the forum here) is dead wrong. We will be going because it's the right thing to do. We need, firstly, to show the world that we will not be shaken by this, and to show the world what happens when you fsck with the USA. Any potential president, Bush, Gore, Nader, Bud Brown, Clinton, anyone would be looking for a perpetrator right now with the intent to kill. We can see this.
From a purely political standpoint, the nation is calling for vengeance. Any preisdent who sought re-election for himself or anyone in his party would commit political suicide otherwise.
This is edited slightly for content, mostly for length:
"The United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked. The United States was at Peace with the world. We have been looking towards the maintenacne of world peace. This attack was deliberately planned days or even weeks ago. The attack on our cities has caused damage to civilians and economic centers. Very many America lives have been lost.
The facts, so far, today speak for themselves. The American people have already formed their opinions, and well undertstand the implications to the very life and safety of our nation. The commander in chief has directed our forces in our defense. Always, will our whole nation remember the character of the onslaught against us.
No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the America people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory. We will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost, but we will make certain that this form of treachery shall never again endanger us again. We will gain the inevitable triumph, so help us God.
This was an unprovoked and dastardly attack on the united states."
Franklin D. Roosevelt, December 8, 1941
December 7, 1941. A day that has lived on in infamy. September 11, 2001 will live on in infamy now as well.
Never again. Never.
I hear you there! Monkey Kombat was just plain wierd! (j/k Lucasarts!) Oh, you said Mortal Kombat. That was much much worse. :-)
Seriously, Midway, thanks for all the great times when, years ago, arcades had truly amazing games. It's been slipping, but as many, many people have said, nothing can replace pinball.
Then everybody better watch out for killer GNomes.
They'll be led by the evil 2.4 Kernel Klink.
Whatever floats your boat. In my case, that would be a sea of Mercury.
Hell, I work at the local Mom and Pop computer store. Some of the questions I get make me want to vomit.
Phone Transcript:
Caller: "I need a new tower."
Me: "OK, with or without a power supply?"
C: "I don't know. One that can get on the Internet."
M: "You'll need a new computer to do that, or at least a modem."
C: "I don't need a new computer, I just need a tower that can get on the Internet."
He actually hung up after I told him that you need an entire computer to get on the internet, not just an empty tower.
And another (brief synopsis):
A guy called needing to change the diplay settings in Windows. Everything was "really large"(i.e. 640x480). Well, I walked him through the menus to where you change the settings, and he was zipping right along. Once he got there, I told him to just slide the bar over, hit Apply, andd he'd be good. Ten minutes later: "I've been tilting my monitor to the side for about ten minutes, and the bar just won't slide!"
Somedays.... *sigh*
Whatever floats your boat. In my case, that would be a sea full of Mercury.
>I know he also has done a few good things, but I can't think of them off hand.
:-(
:-)
A "few good things"? You mean like giving the country it's first three-year budget surplus since the Truman Administration (surplus 1947-1949)? Like making amazing strides to pay down the national debt? It's hard to think that if we followed his budget plan, we'd be debt free as a country for the first time since Jackson was president by 2010. Honestly, 2015-2020 is more reasonable, but if we issue out trillion dollar tax cuts, it probably won't happen.
Reagonomics or Clintonomics? I make well under one-million dollars a year.... I have to go with Clinton on this one.
I'd continue, but it's 2:30, I'm lacking caffeine, and I have an exam at 8 today....
I won't dispute the fact that he's immoral. Too bad really. He could have one even more good....
I'm going to close my completely off subject rant by saying that, personally, I want to support Bush, but I know he's going to be against many things I believe in (I'm a bleedin' heart liberal). Neither one (Bush/Gore) was anything to get excited about. I'm just going to do what I was going to do even if Gore had been elected: Realize that, regardless of who the "press" says is President, Martin Sheen is the leader of the free world. Go West Wing.
"I think, therefore I am? What if I think I'm not?" - The_Shadows