I do professional webdesign and use Linux. I'm also using OS X but for reasons unrelated to classic webdesign. First of all I'd like to note that the available OSS tools have come a long way since a few years ago. Inkscape as a vector tool looks impressive, Gimp is a usefull tool for professional work and Openoffice Draw isn't to bad either, allthough it's best suited for flowcharts and stuff.
For professional Print and Web work on Linux I personally use Corel Draw & Corel Photopaint for Linux (CD Version 9) for which I was fortunate enough to get a licence a few years ago (cost me about 400$). Yet Corel Photopaint Linux was released for free (beer) just a year later. I doubt it's still available from the corel website, but I'm shure many people downloaded it back then and have it somewhere on their HD. Ask around in Linux Forums like linuxgrafics or something, you'll find someone with a copy of that in no time. Despite Gimp being powerfull, I'd say Photopaint is still the most powerfull Pixelapp for Linux. Then again, for mockups Gimp should actually be just fine. I designed the buttons on my homepage with it.
I do use Photoshop (on Mac OS X) sometimes, because some filters are unmatched by others until now and Gimp doesn't have bump-displacement mapping which can be a real downside. But when it comes to editing, Gimp is a very good tool. You should give it a try aswell.
Give me 100 Million US$, 5-6 years and total creative freedom and I'll build you a MMORPG that reaches and beats WoW. I'd actually make it cross-genre and try to put 10 Million players on a single realm. I'd buy West End Games and build Torg Online. Which would so totally kick ass. More animations, but of the same or better WoW quality. Zero downsides Mid-end hardware support just as WoW (one of the things that caused WoWs raging success). Cross-plattform from the beginning, just like WoW + official Linux support. Linux freaks are the prime target audience for MMORPGS. Optional real-life in game trading - Ebay is where the real WoW cash is made, no need to pass that on to them. I'd totally ripp of the raid system of WoW and tweak it further. Barrier of entry would be just as low as WoW and I'd support causual gamers a little more - even if just by selling a budget limited-hours account.
Don't worry, WoW isn't the end of MMORPGs. It's the start.
... but one of the reasons Flash is so successfull is that it's considered the securest plugin (tm) in existance. Flash allways has been extremely picky about security - that's one of the reasons why it's the easiest cross-plattform VM to deploy in corporate enviroments.
Errrm, I don't get it. All of my friends are buying DVD Burners. I know exactly 1 (one!) case where DVDRs/RWs/+/-/whatever make sense: If you do lot's of video production and have to send the data around alot with the mail to various clients. I can't even think why anyone who records on a regular basis would even use VCRs. In you case it appears that you're moving evidence around that could be important to your clients and that other people shouldn't be able to see without you sanctioning that. DVDs are a waste of time and VCs even more so. Record the video in the quality and data format you want to use and consider appropriate and hand out the videos along with the playback device itself. Which would be some kind of Mini ITX Media Computer with an encrypted harddrive and a big yellow sticker saying "PROPERTY OF XYZ VIDEO SERVICES - THIS DEVICE CONTAINS EVIDENCE AND MAY NOT BE REMOVED FROM [COURTBUILDING] OTHER THAN BY IDd XYZ EMPLOYEES." If you're paranoid your guys can carry the key around on a thumbdrive. That's the way to enshure cheap and consistent video quality today.
Again: DVDRs are pointless and only make sense in extremely rare cases. I keep all my movies on HDDs. It's cheaper, smaller, safer, faster, easyer to backup, zero DVDRW-Bluray+whatever hassle, DRM-free by nature and, according to what you just said - apperently even better in quality. If anything you'd want to use DVDs for data archiving (HDDs might still be better there) but then you'd chose your own data format. Of course.
Bottom line: Everyone I know shelling out big bucks and wasting time to put his stuff on DVDs is basically suffering from some mass psychosis that gets people to think what they do makes sense. It doesn't. Most certainly not with new DVD recording technology standards coming up every odd month and battling for supremacy.
...The second thing to prove will be that the amount of energy coming from the system is not a function of the amount of energy that went into creating the magnets in the first place. Finally, the last thing to prove will be that the energy is not coming from some unseen environmental source that can be depleted, such as ambient heat in a room or nearby transmission lines...
And right there is where the equation isn't going to work out. At best this is a neat battery methinks.
There's an explaination for this
on
Computer Voodoo?
·
· Score: 1
You computer probably was dirty inside, with static causing dust to bridge conectors and pins. This is the single most cause of crashing aside from Microsoft Viruses. The Applejuice neutralized the static, washed the dust away and the goo prevented it from returning. It probably was just enough to remove the static and to wash the dust away but not enough to short-circuit the electronics.
Come my story: I've been a PC freak for nearly a decade, with all my boxen custom built. The fist one being a Cyrix 200+ the first CPU to require a fancooler. Overclocket to 75mhz system clock. Custom DTK Mobo, built extra for it. Blazingly fast back then. Anyway, all of my PCs where built by me, exept the first one which was built by my geek comrades who had a PC company back then. It's after that decade, when a computer starts going haywire without the obvious reason of MS Viruses, I allways go for the "there's a spec of dust shorting your mobo or periferals out" option. Open box, clean it (canned air, carbonfiber brush, cheap shaving cream brush, whatever), close, turn on. Problem solved. Just did that the other month with an ancient laptop of a friend that showed funky stripes on the screen when booted. Dirt on the grafics chip.
Most people don't keep their PCs clean. I do. I clean my Keyboard 4 times a year and my comps at least as oftern. Once a year I open the ones with fans in them and give them a thourough clean up, vacuum cleaning and all. That combined with Linux or - nowadays - Mac OS X is the best insurance against bad suprises. It's electronics, people. Keep them clean.
What is this all about? Hello? It's Zelda. Zelda, Nintendo,... ring a bell? They could eben push out variant cover cased versions of the game that only run on Wii's with the matching case color and still make a better revenue even though it costs more than a single version to produce. If I'm a Wii fan and I'm buying a new Zelda Iteration for my new Nintendo Iteration it better be built for that exact Nintendo, using all the neat new features to the max. Especially the Wiimote. So the GameCube is getting it's own version? Nice move and good for the GameCubers I'd say.
So what's all the fuss about? You want a 'universal binary'? Stupid idea. Wii'ers will think they're getting a dumbed down version and GameCubers will think they're getting... a dumbed down version.
Bottom line: Yes, they're selling seperate versions of the new Zelde, one for each plattform - and you (yes, you) will love them for it. As usual, Nintendo has everything under control. Everythings cool, calm down.
I'm an IT freelance and don't really need mine either. It's an ancient Siemens M35i which I'm going to replace when it falls apart - which will probably take another 20 years, since it apears to be indestructable.
However, my 8 year old daughter isn't getting a cellphone anytime soon, simply because her brain is still developing and I don't want it to near to a microwave emitter that often. That's the same reason I don't carry my cellphone at my belt anymore. I think the age for a cellphone is the age at which people can appreciate the technology and are facinated and willing to learn about it without just numbly taking it for granted without thinking twice. It's the same age I'd give young people their own computer. Around about 15/16.
When she's old enough my daughter I'll buy my daughter a good quality cellphone with all the current gadgets and have her read, understand and apply the manual. That's all I ask about people using technology, be they young or old. If you're to dumb to grasp what's going own when you use a technical device - then don't use it. The world would be a much better place if people followed that rule.
Before that guy of that windbag elititst shop "addaptive path" (pardon the rant, but there is some truth to it) coined the term "Ajax" the whole sheeban was just called 'doing nice, interesting and pratical stuff with JavaScript and maybe taking advantage of the fact that current browsers have more simular JavaSrcipt engines that 5 years ago.' That Term of course is way to complicated for most people and bears the dangers of Execs and decision makers mixing up JavaScript and Java. With the obnoxiously omnipresent term 'Ajax' that isn't the case anymore. I actually use it myself when talking to customers and it actually helps bring JavaScript funcitonality to the table. It's all about the name, that's all.
People keep saying iPod price/performance is bad. I was wondering: Is that really true? As far as I can tell there's hardly a player that's even in the same market segment as the current iPod. Please tell me which player has 60GB, plays the same quality of video (or better) and tops in features (ogg?) and/or is cheaper in price. I'll probably by a music player soon, and it certainly needn't be an iPod - but I just don't see any alternative.
1) More color options. 2) cheaper. 199 Euros is to much. Make it 160 Euros. And Add at least 1GB memorystick by default. 3) UMD passive media is to expensive. Allways has been. Make it cheaper. As in 30% less than DVD, minimum. It's to to expensive, period. 4) Linux Kit. Official. 5) Hack Guide. Official. 6) Keyboard. Various keyboards. 1 small, 1 folding. Zero hassle generic USB keyboard connection. 7) Game Boy Emulator. GBA Emulator. I'm dead serious. 8) Portrait screen option + army of gui designers for optimizing organizer apps. And army of devs to build zero fuss intergration into all standards on the planet. 9) Organizer power saving modes. (cheap optional clip on passive LCD, power saving hacks, whatever) 10) Periferal touchscreen. Ripp of the DS. Shamelessly. 11) Port all sub 500Mhz PC titles possible. I wanna play Mechwarrior, Incubation, UFO2000, Descent 1,2 & 3, Hi-Octane and some other titles on this thing. 12) Port all PS1 titles. All. Open an official "Burn PS1 UMD on demand" shop for it if needed. But offer that option. 13) Open up the plattform, specs for the official OS and all. Make it as close to a portable equivalent of the PC as possible. Encourage 3rd party engagement big time. 14) Spare battery loading station. 15) Add a primary touchscreen to the PSP 2.
A good friend of mine is a very high profile literature critique here in germany. We're less than two decades apart and, aside from her being a professional critique, very much on the same level. We talk the very same talk about most things. I've studied art and design and more or less know my way around contemporary art and read my share of contemporary beletristics.
When it comes to video games, I'm on my own. This is a TOTALLY different world. It's like explaining brain surgery to a cow. Won't work. I set up her last two computers (her new one is a Mac Mini) and she barely manages to utelize it properly. And that's only because she's got an educated and verbaly dexterous friend who also happens to be a computer expert and won't refrain from nagging at her when he notices that she's not maintaning the minimum standard of proper order on her filessystem with the reviews she writes. Truth is: Nobody in his right mind, when having looked into it, would deny that video games are indeed a highly complex and demanding form of art. It's the 'looking into' and 'knowing your way around the field' part that counts here. When our generation and our children are the seniors in charge it will be just as much a credible art. Just as the music of the rolling stones is today, because all the crazy hippies from back then are the old conservative farts of today. And then you'll have us raving about FF and World of Warcraft to the yongsters and of the true art of video games.
Bottom line: 'Highbrow or not' is usually just a generation thing. Pure and simple.
Pardon, but you don't know what you're talking about. Flashs accessability follows official standards for RIA plattforms by the book. And there's enough ammo that has "Flash is more accessible than HTML" written on it. I'll build a site that's perfect for blind people to navigate in flash - and they won't even need a screenreader. Since AS 2 it's been an industry strength plattform and VM, with nearly all ties to the official IDE cut. Security is next to paranoid and because it's also monolithic plattform it's considered a reliable and easy to develop for. Then again, you actually need to be able to develop webapps that don't suck. If used correctly a full-blown flash only site can be the best web experience ever. And, admitted, there are very few people who can do it right. Then again you've got the same thing with websites. 80% crap, 10% so-so, 10% ok and good. Same with flash. Then again, the flash-bashers are getting less and less and the community of serious flash developers is growing steady, so future isn't that bleak.
Ajax is no 'threat' - never was.
on
The Future of Flash
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
I've been doing Flash/AS professionally since the 5.0 days. The plattform has come a long way. For one, it actually has become a plattform, and not just some crappy IDE with a little scripting bolted on. Allthough not percieved as such, it's even closer to open source right now than Java. AS 2&3, MTASC, osflash.org and the GNU Gnash project continue to add OSS credibility and non-slashdot-bullshitting awareness in the developer community. I didn't like the hickup in the release line of the official Linux Flash Player though. If Flash won't reliably support Linux, it's a no-go for me and quite a few other serious Flash developers. The dev-laps of Macromedia where a nice place to get that straight to the devteam of flash and they got the message.
All in all it's clear that if Adope doesn't screw around to much they can't do much wrong. It's still the most widespread plattform ever with nearly zero-fuss cross plattform deployment via the web. You get a high profile independant VM, with a security model and security policy that remains unmatched in RIAs. And a rock-solid ECMA compliant OOP language along with it. Ajax just isn't in that league. Nice for the one or other drag-and-drop gadget or small-scale data sync but that's about it. XUL maybe will get there someday, if they get their stuff sorted out and manage to build a hassle-free XUL-Runner plugin for all major browsers. But I don't see that happening anytime soon.
Linus presumes that hardware manufacturers mean and play nice. The FSF presumes the hw guys will use DRM to cripple GPLd software and the GPL. Both have a point. I actually think of the FSFs presumtion to be realistic. In the end it doesn't matter, because people can choose which GPL they use.
Bandwidth nearly free, hardware cheap, software free. All you need is time, skills, devotion and a good idea. Who needs VC? Back in 1999 people where shedding millions just to get a proper DB up and running. Nowadays all it takes is two clicks of a mouse and a 3 minute download. Hell, you can get yourself a new server after working a few extra shifts at Mc Donalds if the need arises. My cheap-ass PDA has more horsepower than my workstation back then. It's the age of Cyberpunk, pure and simple.
Xiii is a, if not the classic franco-belgian thriller 'comic'. It's been running since 1983 and - curiously enough - it's story takes place mostly in the US.
There's a free full version of Corel Photopaint for Linux. It's from the Corel Draw 9 package (the best CD imho). I bought a commercial licence of the entire package and it's still the best design package that runs on Linux. Somewhere there must still be a download of Corel Photopaint for Linux, look around. Mac OS X + Mac Mini. Problem solved.
No matter what you do, your sister should show you some respect.
There are a lot's of factors in this. 1) Your distorted perception. There's an increasing abundance of movies. Their percieved overall value decreases. Still there are good movies around. Appleseed and Advent Children are even an entirely new type of movie that wasn't possible before. Matrix and LoTR are once-in-a-decade opus magni and there're not to far back. 2) George Lucas pointed out another factor that could actually be causing a decrease in quality. He say's that in 10 years from now the maximum budget for a movie will be ca. 15 million $, because everybody will be able to get the required infrastructure with free software, two household PCs and a handfull of tech from best buy. The movie industry is next in experiencing an entire change of how it works. Photografy is ditching 35mm faster than you can watch. Film is next.
Slashdot Mirror
Unreal Tournament ought to be in that list though too.
I do professional webdesign and use Linux. I'm also using OS X but for reasons unrelated to classic webdesign.
First of all I'd like to note that the available OSS tools have come a long way since a few years ago. Inkscape as a vector tool looks impressive, Gimp is a usefull tool for professional work and Openoffice Draw isn't to bad either, allthough it's best suited for flowcharts and stuff.
For professional Print and Web work on Linux I personally use Corel Draw & Corel Photopaint for Linux (CD Version 9) for which I was fortunate enough to get a licence a few years ago (cost me about 400$). Yet Corel Photopaint Linux was released for free (beer) just a year later. I doubt it's still available from the corel website, but I'm shure many people downloaded it back then and have it somewhere on their HD. Ask around in Linux Forums like linuxgrafics or something, you'll find someone with a copy of that in no time. Despite Gimp being powerfull, I'd say Photopaint is still the most powerfull Pixelapp for Linux. Then again, for mockups Gimp should actually be just fine. I designed the buttons on my homepage with it.
I do use Photoshop (on Mac OS X) sometimes, because some filters are unmatched by others until now and Gimp doesn't have bump-displacement mapping which can be a real downside. But when it comes to editing, Gimp is a very good tool. You should give it a try aswell.
Give me 100 Million US$, 5-6 years and total creative freedom and I'll build you a MMORPG that reaches and beats WoW. I'd actually make it cross-genre and try to put 10 Million players on a single realm. I'd buy West End Games and build Torg Online. Which would so totally kick ass. More animations, but of the same or better WoW quality. Zero downsides Mid-end hardware support just as WoW (one of the things that caused WoWs raging success). Cross-plattform from the beginning, just like WoW + official Linux support. Linux freaks are the prime target audience for MMORPGS. Optional real-life in game trading - Ebay is where the real WoW cash is made, no need to pass that on to them. I'd totally ripp of the raid system of WoW and tweak it further. Barrier of entry would be just as low as WoW and I'd support causual gamers a little more - even if just by selling a budget limited-hours account.
Don't worry, WoW isn't the end of MMORPGs. It's the start.
... but one of the reasons Flash is so successfull is that it's considered the securest plugin (tm) in existance. Flash allways has been extremely picky about security - that's one of the reasons why it's the easiest cross-plattform VM to deploy in corporate enviroments.
Errrm, I don't get it.
All of my friends are buying DVD Burners. I know exactly 1 (one!) case where DVDRs/RWs/+/-/whatever make sense: If you do lot's of video production and have to send the data around alot with the mail to various clients. I can't even think why anyone who records on a regular basis would even use VCRs.
In you case it appears that you're moving evidence around that could be important to your clients and that other people shouldn't be able to see without you sanctioning that.
DVDs are a waste of time and VCs even more so. Record the video in the quality and data format you want to use and consider appropriate and hand out the videos along with the playback device itself. Which would be some kind of Mini ITX Media Computer with an encrypted harddrive and a big yellow sticker saying "PROPERTY OF XYZ VIDEO SERVICES - THIS DEVICE CONTAINS EVIDENCE AND MAY NOT BE REMOVED FROM [COURTBUILDING] OTHER THAN BY IDd XYZ EMPLOYEES." If you're paranoid your guys can carry the key around on a thumbdrive.
That's the way to enshure cheap and consistent video quality today.
Again: DVDRs are pointless and only make sense in extremely rare cases. I keep all my movies on HDDs. It's cheaper, smaller, safer, faster, easyer to backup, zero DVDRW-Bluray+whatever hassle, DRM-free by nature and, according to what you just said - apperently even better in quality. If anything you'd want to use DVDs for data archiving (HDDs might still be better there) but then you'd chose your own data format. Of course.
Bottom line: Everyone I know shelling out big bucks and wasting time to put his stuff on DVDs is basically suffering from some mass psychosis that gets people to think what they do makes sense. It doesn't. Most certainly not with new DVD recording technology standards coming up every odd month and battling for supremacy.
You watch to much TV at night and hang out on slashdot all afternoon.
...The second thing to prove will be that the amount of energy coming from the system is not a function of the amount of energy that went into creating the magnets in the first place. Finally, the last thing to prove will be that the energy is not coming from some unseen environmental source that can be depleted, such as ambient heat in a room or nearby transmission lines...
And right there is where the equation isn't going to work out. At best this is a neat battery methinks.
You computer probably was dirty inside, with static causing dust to bridge conectors and pins. This is the single most cause of crashing aside from Microsoft Viruses. The Applejuice neutralized the static, washed the dust away and the goo prevented it from returning. It probably was just enough to remove the static and to wash the dust away but not enough to short-circuit the electronics.
Come my story:
I've been a PC freak for nearly a decade, with all my boxen custom built. The fist one being a Cyrix 200+ the first CPU to require a fancooler. Overclocket to 75mhz system clock. Custom DTK Mobo, built extra for it. Blazingly fast back then. Anyway, all of my PCs where built by me, exept the first one which was built by my geek comrades who had a PC company back then. It's after that decade, when a computer starts going haywire without the obvious reason of MS Viruses, I allways go for the "there's a spec of dust shorting your mobo or periferals out" option. Open box, clean it (canned air, carbonfiber brush, cheap shaving cream brush, whatever), close, turn on. Problem solved. Just did that the other month with an ancient laptop of a friend that showed funky stripes on the screen when booted. Dirt on the grafics chip.
Most people don't keep their PCs clean. I do. I clean my Keyboard 4 times a year and my comps at least as oftern. Once a year I open the ones with fans in them and give them a thourough clean up, vacuum cleaning and all. That combined with Linux or - nowadays - Mac OS X is the best insurance against bad suprises. It's electronics, people. Keep them clean.
What is this all about? ... ring a bell?
... a dumbed down version.
Hello? It's Zelda. Zelda, Nintendo,
They could eben push out variant cover cased versions of the game that only run on Wii's with the matching case color and still make a better revenue even though it costs more than a single version to produce. If I'm a Wii fan and I'm buying a new Zelda Iteration for my new Nintendo Iteration it better be built for that exact Nintendo, using all the neat new features to the max. Especially the Wiimote.
So the GameCube is getting it's own version? Nice move and good for the GameCubers I'd say.
So what's all the fuss about? You want a 'universal binary'? Stupid idea. Wii'ers will think they're getting a dumbed down version and GameCubers will think they're getting
Bottom line:
Yes, they're selling seperate versions of the new Zelde, one for each plattform - and you (yes, you) will love them for it. As usual, Nintendo has everything under control. Everythings cool, calm down.
I'm an IT freelance and don't really need mine either. It's an ancient Siemens M35i which I'm going to replace when it falls apart - which will probably take another 20 years, since it apears to be indestructable.
However, my 8 year old daughter isn't getting a cellphone anytime soon, simply because her brain is still developing and I don't want it to near to a microwave emitter that often. That's the same reason I don't carry my cellphone at my belt anymore.
I think the age for a cellphone is the age at which people can appreciate the technology and are facinated and willing to learn about it without just numbly taking it for granted without thinking twice. It's the same age I'd give young people their own computer. Around about 15/16.
When she's old enough my daughter I'll buy my daughter a good quality cellphone with all the current gadgets and have her read, understand and apply the manual. That's all I ask about people using technology, be they young or old. If you're to dumb to grasp what's going own when you use a technical device - then don't use it. The world would be a much better place if people followed that rule.
Before that guy of that windbag elititst shop "addaptive path" (pardon the rant, but there is some truth to it) coined the term "Ajax" the whole sheeban was just called 'doing nice, interesting and pratical stuff with JavaScript and maybe taking advantage of the fact that current browsers have more simular JavaSrcipt engines that 5 years ago.' That Term of course is way to complicated for most people and bears the dangers of Execs and decision makers mixing up JavaScript and Java. With the obnoxiously omnipresent term 'Ajax' that isn't the case anymore. I actually use it myself when talking to customers and it actually helps bring JavaScript funcitonality to the table.
It's all about the name, that's all.
People keep saying iPod price/performance is bad.
I was wondering: Is that really true?
As far as I can tell there's hardly a player that's even in the same market segment as the current iPod. Please tell me which player has 60GB, plays the same quality of video (or better) and tops in features (ogg?) and/or is cheaper in price.
I'll probably by a music player soon, and it certainly needn't be an iPod - but I just don't see any alternative.
1) More color options.
2) cheaper. 199 Euros is to much. Make it 160 Euros. And Add at least 1GB memorystick by default.
3) UMD passive media is to expensive. Allways has been. Make it cheaper. As in 30% less than DVD, minimum. It's to to expensive, period.
4) Linux Kit. Official.
5) Hack Guide. Official.
6) Keyboard. Various keyboards. 1 small, 1 folding. Zero hassle generic USB keyboard connection.
7) Game Boy Emulator. GBA Emulator. I'm dead serious.
8) Portrait screen option + army of gui designers for optimizing organizer apps. And army of devs to build zero fuss intergration into all standards on the planet.
9) Organizer power saving modes. (cheap optional clip on passive LCD, power saving hacks, whatever)
10) Periferal touchscreen. Ripp of the DS. Shamelessly.
11) Port all sub 500Mhz PC titles possible. I wanna play Mechwarrior, Incubation, UFO2000, Descent 1,2 & 3, Hi-Octane and some other titles on this thing.
12) Port all PS1 titles. All. Open an official "Burn PS1 UMD on demand" shop for it if needed. But offer that option.
13) Open up the plattform, specs for the official OS and all. Make it as close to a portable equivalent of the PC as possible. Encourage 3rd party engagement big time.
14) Spare battery loading station.
15) Add a primary touchscreen to the PSP 2.
0MFG!!!111one BOARD G4MIN 15 S0 UB3RL4mE 4nD 4 +0+4L SUXX[]Rz. B04RDG4M!N I5 50 +0+t411i L4m3. L33+3Rzz pl4y p3n + p4p3R RPGz and +0+4lly R0XX0R @+ T4BL3T0PS. MY W4RH4MMR F0RTYK4Y 4RMY +0+4LLY K!CK0Rz YOUR $4D B04rdG4MIN A$$!!!!111one! GET 4 L1F3, L4m3R!
A good friend of mine is a very high profile literature critique here in germany. We're less than two decades apart and, aside from her being a professional critique, very much on the same level. We talk the very same talk about most things. I've studied art and design and more or less know my way around contemporary art and read my share of contemporary beletristics.
When it comes to video games, I'm on my own. This is a TOTALLY different world. It's like explaining brain surgery to a cow. Won't work. I set up her last two computers (her new one is a Mac Mini) and she barely manages to utelize it properly. And that's only because she's got an educated and verbaly dexterous friend who also happens to be a computer expert and won't refrain from nagging at her when he notices that she's not maintaning the minimum standard of proper order on her filessystem with the reviews she writes.
Truth is: Nobody in his right mind, when having looked into it, would deny that video games are indeed a highly complex and demanding form of art. It's the 'looking into' and 'knowing your way around the field' part that counts here.
When our generation and our children are the seniors in charge it will be just as much a credible art. Just as the music of the rolling stones is today, because all the crazy hippies from back then are the old conservative farts of today. And then you'll have us raving about FF and World of Warcraft to the yongsters and of the true art of video games.
Bottom line:
'Highbrow or not' is usually just a generation thing. Pure and simple.
Pardon, but you don't know what you're talking about.
Flashs accessability follows official standards for RIA plattforms by the book. And there's enough ammo that has "Flash is more accessible than HTML" written on it. I'll build a site that's perfect for blind people to navigate in flash - and they won't even need a screenreader.
Since AS 2 it's been an industry strength plattform and VM, with nearly all ties to the official IDE cut. Security is next to paranoid and because it's also monolithic plattform it's considered a reliable and easy to develop for.
Then again, you actually need to be able to develop webapps that don't suck. If used correctly a full-blown flash only site can be the best web experience ever. And, admitted, there are very few people who can do it right. Then again you've got the same thing with websites. 80% crap, 10% so-so, 10% ok and good. Same with flash.
Then again, the flash-bashers are getting less and less and the community of serious flash developers is growing steady, so future isn't that bleak.
I've been doing Flash/AS professionally since the 5.0 days. The plattform has come a long way. For one, it actually has become a plattform, and not just some crappy IDE with a little scripting bolted on. Allthough not percieved as such, it's even closer to open source right now than Java. AS 2&3, MTASC, osflash.org and the GNU Gnash project continue to add OSS credibility and non-slashdot-bullshitting awareness in the developer community. I didn't like the hickup in the release line of the official Linux Flash Player though. If Flash won't reliably support Linux, it's a no-go for me and quite a few other serious Flash developers. The dev-laps of Macromedia where a nice place to get that straight to the devteam of flash and they got the message.
All in all it's clear that if Adope doesn't screw around to much they can't do much wrong. It's still the most widespread plattform ever with nearly zero-fuss cross plattform deployment via the web. You get a high profile independant VM, with a security model and security policy that remains unmatched in RIAs. And a rock-solid ECMA compliant OOP language along with it.
Ajax just isn't in that league. Nice for the one or other drag-and-drop gadget or small-scale data sync but that's about it.
XUL maybe will get there someday, if they get their stuff sorted out and manage to build a hassle-free XUL-Runner plugin for all major browsers. But I don't see that happening anytime soon.
Linus presumes that hardware manufacturers mean and play nice. The FSF presumes the hw guys will use DRM to cripple GPLd software and the GPL. Both have a point. I actually think of the FSFs presumtion to be realistic. In the end it doesn't matter, because people can choose which GPL they use.
Bandwidth nearly free, hardware cheap, software free. All you need is time, skills, devotion and a good idea. Who needs VC? Back in 1999 people where shedding millions just to get a proper DB up and running. Nowadays all it takes is two clicks of a mouse and a 3 minute download. Hell, you can get yourself a new server after working a few extra shifts at Mc Donalds if the need arises. My cheap-ass PDA has more horsepower than my workstation back then. It's the age of Cyberpunk, pure and simple.
Xiii is a, if not the classic franco-belgian thriller 'comic'. It's been running since 1983 and - curiously enough - it's story takes place mostly in the US.
What will this mean for moodle?
Nothing, as the patent isn't even worth the paper it's written on.
That picture of a moon habitat is a crayon copy from an image in a National Geografic from 1970. A concept drawing that is like, what, 36 years old?
There's a free full version of Corel Photopaint for Linux. It's from the Corel Draw 9 package (the best CD imho). I bought a commercial licence of the entire package and it's still the best design package that runs on Linux. Somewhere there must still be a download of Corel Photopaint for Linux, look around.
Mac OS X + Mac Mini. Problem solved.
No matter what you do, your sister should show you some respect.
There are a lot's of factors in this.
1) Your distorted perception. There's an increasing abundance of movies. Their percieved overall value decreases. Still there are good movies around. Appleseed and Advent Children are even an entirely new type of movie that wasn't possible before. Matrix and LoTR are once-in-a-decade opus magni and there're not to far back.
2) George Lucas pointed out another factor that could actually be causing a decrease in quality. He say's that in 10 years from now the maximum budget for a movie will be ca. 15 million $, because everybody will be able to get the required infrastructure with free software, two household PCs and a handfull of tech from best buy. The movie industry is next in experiencing an entire change of how it works. Photografy is ditching 35mm faster than you can watch. Film is next.
Globalisation is allmost once around by now.