You know, about 10 years ago, I would've probably made a similar rant about the advantages of consoles. Nowadays, though, the difference between gaming on PC and on consoles tends to be a thin line. Every time I start playing something on my X360, the first thing to happen is a notification of a patch. The games *really* are much more buggy than they were on the previous console generation, I think they even crash more often than before. And when it comes to games aging very well, note that these days games are mostly about yearly iteration and sequels. No point ever playing Gran Turismo 3 or NHL 2005 again when the latest and the greatest versions are only available on the latest consoles. Funny thing, it also seems that the amount of console exclusive titles has diminished lately, whereas the selection and amount of PC exclusive titles (good ones, too) is going through the roof. The point about cheating is valid, though the single player modes have always been more important to me, and it's also worth noting that games on Steam are pretty good at blocking cheaters.
Long story short, the sad fact that those points have been rendered invalid as of late is the reason why consoles will be leaving my home soon:( had plenty of fun with them, there's no denying that, but things have been going downhill for a while and I don't think the direction is going to change.
"No monthly fee" is hardly a requirement for aggressive banning policies, though. Microsoft has been banning (paying) users from Xbox Live for eons for inconsiderate gamertags, behaviour etc., and that kind of ban is much more severe since it means no more online gaming EVER on that particular CONSOLE (not just user account). Note also that while it's "free to play" they still have to turn profit from their game, and right now they're actively turning customers away - even many of those dicks could be willing to purchase additional content. Microsoft can afford to be aggressive about this since it's running a whole platform with a dictatorship, but a free-to-play game could be quite a different case. I don't think Arenanet could simply replace micropayments with advertising.
Do you like to have to bribe your way around the local bureaucracy? Do you like to live within a mile of crushing poverty? Do you like to endure social, natural, and economic crises?
If you answered yes to all of these, then yes an emerging market is for you (i.e. Brazil, China, India, etc). If you answered no to any of them, stay in a Western country.
A nice, cozy, Western country like the United States?
If you want to avoid all these, you pretty much don't have other choice than one of those OMIGOD SOCIALIST! wellfare states, and even then these are not guaranteed. Nitpicking aside, all these three problems seem to be a part of everyday life in the US, just in a (slightly) different scale.
Still, selling Windows licenses to OEMs continues to be Microsoft's meat and potatoes. So if everything goes catastrophically wrong, they lose their OEM customers AND they'll never break through to the tablet market... right?
Just some optimistic thinking, but from my (naive) point of view, Microsoft is making plenty of phenomenally bad business decisions in a row.
Also, that would only hide what your were saying, and not who you were saying it to. Those connections are the more important data.
Only in the case you're a criminal/police/politician/someone else to whom it would be dangerous to be linked to someone of bad reputation. When it comes to your average citizen, however, there can be a lot of conversations with your friends and relatives regarding your relationships, work etc. that you'd rather not have anyone else hear. Especially if you are a well known figure. While I'm not, I certainly regret having a few VERY personal conversations via Facebook chat feature, which has roughly the same amount of security as writing on a toilet wall. They can grab you by the balls with this data, you just have to hope to remain so utterly unimportant that your data isn't worth looking at.
We hate this piece of shit system! It's, um, a breach on our privacy, or some other blah blah blah. I mean, I wish we just could beat the living shit out of the guy who came up with this and stuff.
Taxing the shit out of cigarettes has probably ended no tobacco addictions whatsoever, given that I see a large proportion of poorer people smoking frequently. People will pay for their addictions, whether it is tobacco, hard drugs, or soda. You only stop those addictions when you can show the addicts what it does to them and what kind of life they can lead without it. At that point, it is then up to them.
Don't know about ending addictions, but at least according to WHO (http://www.who.int/tobacco/en/atlas35.pdf), "for every 10 percent increase in cigarette taxes, there is on average a four percent reduction in consumption". It's of course quite possible that this might be countered by (illegally) importing tobacco from lower-tax regions, but in principle, pricing/taxing greatly influences consumption. Basic rules of capitalism, I suppose.
It's equivalent, proportionally, to approximately 34 Danes getting so angry at their country's high taxes that they renounce citizenship. I think Denmark would probably survive that devastating blow.
If those 34 Danes were all billionaires (or had a net worth of at least hundreds of millions of dollars), it would have a considerable effect on the Danish economy. If the numbers go up at the rate they've been going for the last couple of years, the US is also going to feel the sting. Note that we ARE talking about the RICH here, not the Average Joes.
but DRM doesn't effect 99% of the consumers who buy Blu ray.
I've had two computers with blu-ray drives, and neither of them can play blu-ray movies. Unless, of course, you're willing to purchase 3rd party playback software and update it at least twice a year for a modest fee... (Doesn't counter your argument, just points out what greedy f**ks the people at Sony really are)
DVD has DRM on it too
And yet, for some reason, my computer can play movies on DVD just fine, with pretty much any set of playback software I'm in the mood to use. (Yes, I'm running Windows)
The shitty DRM was the sole reason I've given up on buying any more movies on retail formats, and I don't think I'm the only one who made this decision.
Gold is a terrible currency, the most overvalued material on earth. It has almost no real value. Its only practical use is as a corrosion resistant connector in basic electronics.
Terrible currency, maybe... but a metal that has a very high density, excellent resistance to corrosion, excellent conductivity to electricity and heat and is also very malleable/ductile "has almost no real value" and only one practical use? Give me a break.
Gold would be a widely used, standard metal in all industries if it only were found and mined in abundance. For instance, all the bullets fired by soldiers would probably be cast from gold, were it cheaper to produce (and more common) than depleted uranium.
NK provides the crazy uncle that China needs to cover some of the things it does in regard to Tibet, Taiwan, and Iran. China is not going to get on board with any program of regime change in NK.
I know this isn't of much value since I can't quote my references, but I remember hearing/reading about this particular matter and it actually seems China is getting slightly frustrated with its "crazy uncle". It makes sense, actually: NK requires a lot of material aid yet provides very little of concrete value in return. The only thing China really wants from NK is to act as a strong buffer against the capitalistic influence of SK, and by now, I suppose they've realized that this particular concern is rather insignificant. If NK becomes even more dependant on Chinese aid, it's possible that even China will have a change of mind.
It's also hard to believe that China is particularly happy about a "new" nuclear power rising very close to it's borders, especially since the ruling despot family has proven to be very eager to test its arsenal every once in a while.
...is why on Earth does Microsoft advertise studies about its own products and always emphatize the fact that "this is an independent source"? It's like the most obvious possible way to tell everyone they had their fingers on the research. If there are no independent studies that show your product is the best, then I guess maybe you should, like, IMPROVE those products? Or make completely new (and BETTER) ones?
Oh, and when it comes to spam filters, I've had an account on gmail for over 3 years and only received my first spam message about two weeks ago. That about sums it up. (Although I've only had a hotmail account for a very short period of time, so I'm giving MS a slight benefit of doubt)
Slashdot Mirror
There's so much irony here...
You know, about 10 years ago, I would've probably made a similar rant about the advantages of consoles. Nowadays, though, the difference between gaming on PC and on consoles tends to be a thin line. Every time I start playing something on my X360, the first thing to happen is a notification of a patch. The games *really* are much more buggy than they were on the previous console generation, I think they even crash more often than before. And when it comes to games aging very well, note that these days games are mostly about yearly iteration and sequels. No point ever playing Gran Turismo 3 or NHL 2005 again when the latest and the greatest versions are only available on the latest consoles. Funny thing, it also seems that the amount of console exclusive titles has diminished lately, whereas the selection and amount of PC exclusive titles (good ones, too) is going through the roof. The point about cheating is valid, though the single player modes have always been more important to me, and it's also worth noting that games on Steam are pretty good at blocking cheaters.
Long story short, the sad fact that those points have been rendered invalid as of late is the reason why consoles will be leaving my home soon :( had plenty of fun with them, there's no denying that, but things have been going downhill for a while and I don't think the direction is going to change.
"No monthly fee" is hardly a requirement for aggressive banning policies, though. Microsoft has been banning (paying) users from Xbox Live for eons for inconsiderate gamertags, behaviour etc., and that kind of ban is much more severe since it means no more online gaming EVER on that particular CONSOLE (not just user account). Note also that while it's "free to play" they still have to turn profit from their game, and right now they're actively turning customers away - even many of those dicks could be willing to purchase additional content. Microsoft can afford to be aggressive about this since it's running a whole platform with a dictatorship, but a free-to-play game could be quite a different case. I don't think Arenanet could simply replace micropayments with advertising.
Do you like to have to bribe your way around the local bureaucracy?
Do you like to live within a mile of crushing poverty?
Do you like to endure social, natural, and economic crises?
If you answered yes to all of these, then yes an emerging market is for you (i.e. Brazil, China, India, etc). If you answered no to any of them, stay in a Western country.
A nice, cozy, Western country like the United States?
If you want to avoid all these, you pretty much don't have other choice than one of those OMIGOD SOCIALIST! wellfare states, and even then these are not guaranteed. Nitpicking aside, all these three problems seem to be a part of everyday life in the US, just in a (slightly) different scale.
Still, selling Windows licenses to OEMs continues to be Microsoft's meat and potatoes. So if everything goes catastrophically wrong, they lose their OEM customers AND they'll never break through to the tablet market... right?
Just some optimistic thinking, but from my (naive) point of view, Microsoft is making plenty of phenomenally bad business decisions in a row.
Are you telling me none of you have enough magnification in your telescopes?? Pathetic...
Now I can begin ignoring the whole thing immediately!
Also, that would only hide what your were saying, and not who you were saying it to. Those connections are the more important data.
Only in the case you're a criminal/police/politician/someone else to whom it would be dangerous to be linked to someone of bad reputation. When it comes to your average citizen, however, there can be a lot of conversations with your friends and relatives regarding your relationships, work etc. that you'd rather not have anyone else hear. Especially if you are a well known figure. While I'm not, I certainly regret having a few VERY personal conversations via Facebook chat feature, which has roughly the same amount of security as writing on a toilet wall. They can grab you by the balls with this data, you just have to hope to remain so utterly unimportant that your data isn't worth looking at.
We hate this piece of shit system! It's, um, a breach on our privacy, or some other blah blah blah. I mean, I wish we just could beat the living shit out of the guy who came up with this and stuff.
Taxing the shit out of cigarettes has probably ended no tobacco addictions whatsoever, given that I see a large proportion of poorer people smoking frequently. People will pay for their addictions, whether it is tobacco, hard drugs, or soda. You only stop those addictions when you can show the addicts what it does to them and what kind of life they can lead without it. At that point, it is then up to them.
Don't know about ending addictions, but at least according to WHO (http://www.who.int/tobacco/en/atlas35.pdf), "for every 10 percent increase in
cigarette taxes, there is on average a four percent reduction in consumption". It's of course quite possible that this might be countered by (illegally) importing tobacco from lower-tax regions, but in principle, pricing/taxing greatly influences consumption. Basic rules of capitalism, I suppose.
It's equivalent, proportionally, to approximately 34 Danes getting so angry at their country's high taxes that they renounce citizenship. I think Denmark would probably survive that devastating blow.
If those 34 Danes were all billionaires (or had a net worth of at least hundreds of millions of dollars), it would have a considerable effect on the Danish economy. If the numbers go up at the rate they've been going for the last couple of years, the US is also going to feel the sting. Note that we ARE talking about the RICH here, not the Average Joes.
but DRM doesn't effect 99% of the consumers who buy Blu ray.
I've had two computers with blu-ray drives, and neither of them can play blu-ray movies. Unless, of course, you're willing to purchase 3rd party playback software and update it at least twice a year for a modest fee... (Doesn't counter your argument, just points out what greedy f**ks the people at Sony really are)
DVD has DRM on it too
And yet, for some reason, my computer can play movies on DVD just fine, with pretty much any set of playback software I'm in the mood to use. (Yes, I'm running Windows)
The shitty DRM was the sole reason I've given up on buying any more movies on retail formats, and I don't think I'm the only one who made this decision.
Gold is a terrible currency, the most overvalued material on earth. It has almost no real value. Its only practical use is as a corrosion resistant connector in basic electronics.
Terrible currency, maybe... but a metal that has a very high density, excellent resistance to corrosion, excellent conductivity to electricity and heat and is also very malleable/ductile "has almost no real value" and only one practical use? Give me a break.
Gold would be a widely used, standard metal in all industries if it only were found and mined in abundance. For instance, all the bullets fired by soldiers would probably be cast from gold, were it cheaper to produce (and more common) than depleted uranium.
NK provides the crazy uncle that China needs to cover some of the things it does in regard to Tibet, Taiwan, and Iran. China is not going to get on board with any program of regime change in NK.
I know this isn't of much value since I can't quote my references, but I remember hearing/reading about this particular matter and it actually seems China is getting slightly frustrated with its "crazy uncle". It makes sense, actually: NK requires a lot of material aid yet provides very little of concrete value in return. The only thing China really wants from NK is to act as a strong buffer against the capitalistic influence of SK, and by now, I suppose they've realized that this particular concern is rather insignificant. If NK becomes even more dependant on Chinese aid, it's possible that even China will have a change of mind.
It's also hard to believe that China is particularly happy about a "new" nuclear power rising very close to it's borders, especially since the ruling despot family has proven to be very eager to test its arsenal every once in a while.
You have to wonder about the other applications of this technology - targeting specific genetic groups with a vaccine or even a weapon for example.
Deus Ex, anyone?
...is why on Earth does Microsoft advertise studies about its own products and always emphatize the fact that "this is an independent source"? It's like the most obvious possible way to tell everyone they had their fingers on the research. If there are no independent studies that show your product is the best, then I guess maybe you should, like, IMPROVE those products? Or make completely new (and BETTER) ones? Oh, and when it comes to spam filters, I've had an account on gmail for over 3 years and only received my first spam message about two weeks ago. That about sums it up. (Although I've only had a hotmail account for a very short period of time, so I'm giving MS a slight benefit of doubt)
I heard they have some oil in the North Sea ... ;)
Not to mention that France and Britain are confirmed to have weapons of mass destruction... :P