You don't have broadband? Sounds like a problem with your employer to me.
You don't have the ability to play QT movies on your box? Hmm.... MAYBE YOU SHOULDN'T INSULT THE PEOPLE WHEN YOU SPEAK TO THEM!! Or maybe you should just use that other partition that you so frequently mention when announcing new game release.
(-1, troll, flamebait, THE TRUTH. Go ahead. My karma can handle it. Mod me down and I'll come back more powerful than before.)
The problem is, the plot for LOTR is 50, 70 years old? (Sorry, can't remember). What it means is that there are no new ideas. (Although some would include Matrix. I've only seen it once, so won't editorialize on it). Or, there are no good new interpretations of old memes.
In high school, I used to lift weights. Did a little in college. Now my body has gone wayyyyy to pot. Just to show that I'm not anti-weight lifting.
But, did anyone read the whole article? Did you catch the narcicissm (sp?) of the primaries? Did you read the last page, and the page about the meetings? If these guys are punching walls and acting this belligerent, it sounds like a couple of guys may have been abusing steroids.
Maybe it was easier to give him a damned story, and hope he'll shut the hell up. You don't see me pimping my project except once in my journal, and in my url.
Too bad I'm just a PHB, and my programmer bailed on me:(
I'd guess you were my white box shop, but the owner is fairly clueless about Linux, so wouldn't be around slashdot. Heck, I did their last Linux install:)
Anyway, most of the input so far has been on the ball. Let me mostly just repeat what others have said.
First, have some stuff in stock. If you don't have anything, there is no reason I shouldn't go mail order. It's going to cost me just as much. You don't need everything. But you do need some RAM, drives, etc. that aren't committed to machines you are building.
Second, tell folks your name. "I'm John Smith, when you have a problem with your computer, you will talk to me." Well, not exactly, but knowing the person behind the counter is a good thing.
Set an upgrade plan for people who don't buy all-in-one boards. Include it in your probably overpriced (IMO) service plan. "If you buy the warranty, we will sell you upgrades at 10% list price".
Remind people that there is no shipping. If they really can't get through life with phone tech support, they can go to someone in their neighborhood and drop their machine off. This is the number one reason my office does not use Dell/IBM/Gateway machines. I don't have to ship them to who knows where for service. I go there on a Monday, they look at it by Tuesday, and I pick it up by Wednesday.
Someone mentioned making the techs and machine builders accessible. Once upon a time, I would have laughed my ass off at that. Not anymore. It made them more 'human' to me. Also, I feel like I'm getting special attention. True, they are going to give away a little bit of money (extra IDE cables go bye-bye, a little tech support that isn't charged for, etc). But I'm also a damned good customer. Eventually, they figured out that if I come in with a diagnosis, I'm 99% right. It makes their lives easier, and I'm not spoken to like a moron. That's the biggest thing. Of course, if they are busy, I have sense enough to clear out.
And the final thing that I saw mentioned in the replies that I also believe in is serious customization. I'm sitting next to a reasonably new Athlon. I could have EASILY built it myself. But I haven't had a new machine, all my own, not owned by work, since college. I got EXACTLY what I wanted. I even brought in a print of prices from Pricewatch. And paid more for every single component. Because I knew that it was worth a few bucks to have the machine built for me. Instead of tinkering, I just wanted the thing to run. But I also wanted very specific things. A certain motherboard, a certain video card, etc. (Of course, I also wanted the RAID set up a certain way. It wasn't. I was pissed. But that guy was fired.) Hell, I wanted a certain case! All done without a problem. 'Just tell me what you want'.
I think that white-box shops are best suited to the second or third computer purchaser. First timers want the Dell or Gateway with the reassuring corporate logo on the front. But after getting the runaround with tech support, they'll be happy to have a name to bitch at. Similarly, gamers, etc. want Falcon NW and Alienware machines, but not at those prices. I KNOW you can undercut them. My guy can do it, so can you. Get one of the benchmarking programs and benchmark your gaming systems. Include an individual benchmark on their actual machine. It's like some of the car manufacturers who include dyno results with each car.
They find problems, the virus scanner companies find problems, etc. to justify their existence. But I think you may have missed some of the introduction in the link you used. How many companies will acknowledge a vulnerability (theoretical) without there being an actual threat in the wild?
Now, I must admit that MS and others are getting better, but it is still not certain that they will pay attention to various bug reports.
I also think that a broader view is required. One must also look at the original publisher/programmer, and determine their liability. Is it NTBugTraq's fault for discussing the exploit, or is it Microsoft's fault for ignoring it and/or having the bug in the first place?
I agree with what you are saying, but am not sure that it goes far enough.
Being opposed to the war on drugs is a traditional conservative view point. What another man does that doesn't bother me is his own business. Traditionally, abortion rights supporters were conservatives.
But, since '72 or '80, depending on how you look at things, it's all been flopped around and mixed up.
Damn. That's what I get for responding to another story before posting on this one. I just noticed the Atari logo on the NWN site this morning:)
I've also seen that Atari has an ad all over TV for some driving game.
Re:Anyone read the short story?
on
Minority Report
·
· Score: 2
The version of the book I have in which the short story appears has some annotations by PKD and a forward by... Can't remember. But they point to his overwhelming disgust with war. And looking at other stories and books of his, it seems as though he does have an anti-authoritarian bent. My last piece of 'evidence' is an essay or something he wrote wherein he discussed short stories. He said that the main character in a short story does not have to be likeable, someone we agree with, or even someone you can feel empathy towards. In that context, I would say that he appreciated the struggle, but PKD did not agree with Anderton's final solution.
OTOH, it's quite easy to see where the story gives the impression that Anderton did the 'right' thing by someone's reckoning. Certainly if I hadn't read the essays by/about PKD, I would have come away with a different interpretation.
I'm in the middle of Stephen King's 'Everything's Eventual', another collection of short stories. King also discusses the differences between shorts and full length novels. If I weren't in the middle of it, I'd probably reread Minority Report myself.
Hmm, one thing I just thought of: PKD was also somewhat religious. Was Anderton's final action attempting to reconcile fate and free will? How do they intertwine in the story? I don't have any answers to that one. Maybe I will reread that tonight...
I read the short story a week or so ago. I believe out of the 'same' book you read, but the title changed to 'Minority Report and...' Makes sense. I wouldn't have picked it up otherwise. But having picked that up, I got another collection of short stories and also got 'Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch'. Kooky stuff.
Anyhow, from what I saw in the commercials, I kinda agreed with your assessment (von Sydow should have been Anderton, etc.) Without having seen it, I can't say how the jet packs, etc. changed things. But certainly there seemed to be more action in this movie than in the short story. I was expecting/hoping for a film noir or spy thriller take on it. Oh well:(
Re:Anyone read the short story?
on
Minority Report
·
· Score: 2
Should have mentioned that I just read the story:)
Anyway, I thought that in the short story, Anderton thought precrime was good. But PKD clearly meant the reader to think that it was bad.
Slight difference. Wouldn't notice if not for a great English teacher I had years ago:)
Anyone read the short story?
on
Minority Report
·
· Score: 2
Anybody seen this AND read the short story? Any comments on how faithful the adaptation is?
When the story first appeared (I believe my comment was the fifth for the story) the link was:/freebsdfoundation.org. It was corrected without the editor making note of the fact that there was an error in the original story.
I'm not the only one who noticed. This person, this person, this person, and this person all noticed the problem. Funny thing is that I have seen a story or two on Slashdot complaining when other news cites change stories without indicating it.
The record companies ARE super profitable. The reason everyone isn't doing it is highlighted in the article: payola. It requires a certain, large, amount of capital to get in.
But the more important thing is where you mention that ~5% of the records go to support the other 95%. Well, remember that the record companies claim that ~90% of the cost of a CD is promotion. But if only 5% of the records are successful, it means that the promotion isn't working. It is $13 or so out of every CD that is just going into churn.
If you eliminate this 70% of the cost of a CD, it is possible that music sales will decrease. But will they decrease enough to offset the increased profitability of each disc? I don't think so. Again, if promotions were so good, why doesn't it work more than 5% of the time?
Slashdot Mirror
You don't have broadband? Sounds like a problem with your employer to me.
You don't have the ability to play QT movies on your box? Hmm.... MAYBE YOU SHOULDN'T INSULT THE PEOPLE WHEN YOU SPEAK TO THEM!! Or maybe you should just use that other partition that you so frequently mention when announcing new game release.
(-1, troll, flamebait, THE TRUTH. Go ahead. My karma can handle it. Mod me down and I'll come back more powerful than before.)
The problem is, the plot for LOTR is 50, 70 years old? (Sorry, can't remember). What it means is that there are no new ideas. (Although some would include Matrix. I've only seen it once, so won't editorialize on it). Or, there are no good new interpretations of old memes.
In high school, I used to lift weights. Did a little in college. Now my body has gone wayyyyy to pot. Just to show that I'm not anti-weight lifting.
But, did anyone read the whole article? Did you catch the narcicissm (sp?) of the primaries? Did you read the last page, and the page about the meetings? If these guys are punching walls and acting this belligerent, it sounds like a couple of guys may have been abusing steroids.
If so, I just hope their peckers shrivelled up.
Most of the above. I just don't know where I'd come up with the $1M fee...
Maybe it was easier to give him a damned story, and hope he'll shut the hell up. You don't see me pimping my project except once in my journal, and in my url.
Too bad I'm just a PHB, and my programmer bailed on me:(
American born, yes, female, no.
Actually, not even American born. You have to have been an American citizen since birth. Slightly different.
I'd guess you were my white box shop, but the owner is fairly clueless about Linux, so wouldn't be around slashdot. Heck, I did their last Linux install:)
Anyway, most of the input so far has been on the ball. Let me mostly just repeat what others have said.
First, have some stuff in stock. If you don't have anything, there is no reason I shouldn't go mail order. It's going to cost me just as much. You don't need everything. But you do need some RAM, drives, etc. that aren't committed to machines you are building.
Second, tell folks your name. "I'm John Smith, when you have a problem with your computer, you will talk to me." Well, not exactly, but knowing the person behind the counter is a good thing.
Set an upgrade plan for people who don't buy all-in-one boards. Include it in your probably overpriced (IMO) service plan. "If you buy the warranty, we will sell you upgrades at 10% list price".
Remind people that there is no shipping. If they really can't get through life with phone tech support, they can go to someone in their neighborhood and drop their machine off. This is the number one reason my office does not use Dell/IBM/Gateway machines. I don't have to ship them to who knows where for service. I go there on a Monday, they look at it by Tuesday, and I pick it up by Wednesday.
Someone mentioned making the techs and machine builders accessible. Once upon a time, I would have laughed my ass off at that. Not anymore. It made them more 'human' to me. Also, I feel like I'm getting special attention. True, they are going to give away a little bit of money (extra IDE cables go bye-bye, a little tech support that isn't charged for, etc). But I'm also a damned good customer. Eventually, they figured out that if I come in with a diagnosis, I'm 99% right. It makes their lives easier, and I'm not spoken to like a moron. That's the biggest thing. Of course, if they are busy, I have sense enough to clear out.
And the final thing that I saw mentioned in the replies that I also believe in is serious customization. I'm sitting next to a reasonably new Athlon. I could have EASILY built it myself. But I haven't had a new machine, all my own, not owned by work, since college. I got EXACTLY what I wanted. I even brought in a print of prices from Pricewatch. And paid more for every single component. Because I knew that it was worth a few bucks to have the machine built for me. Instead of tinkering, I just wanted the thing to run. But I also wanted very specific things. A certain motherboard, a certain video card, etc. (Of course, I also wanted the RAID set up a certain way. It wasn't. I was pissed. But that guy was fired.) Hell, I wanted a certain case! All done without a problem. 'Just tell me what you want'.
I think that white-box shops are best suited to the second or third computer purchaser. First timers want the Dell or Gateway with the reassuring corporate logo on the front. But after getting the runaround with tech support, they'll be happy to have a name to bitch at. Similarly, gamers, etc. want Falcon NW and Alienware machines, but not at those prices. I KNOW you can undercut them. My guy can do it, so can you. Get one of the benchmarking programs and benchmark your gaming systems. Include an individual benchmark on their actual machine. It's like some of the car manufacturers who include dyno results with each car.
Good luck with it.
But what kinda hit does it take to make someone with $42 billion in cash notice?
They find problems, the virus scanner companies find problems, etc. to justify their existence. But I think you may have missed some of the introduction in the link you used. How many companies will acknowledge a vulnerability (theoretical) without there being an actual threat in the wild?
Now, I must admit that MS and others are getting better, but it is still not certain that they will pay attention to various bug reports.
I also think that a broader view is required. One must also look at the original publisher/programmer, and determine their liability. Is it NTBugTraq's fault for discussing the exploit, or is it Microsoft's fault for ignoring it and/or having the bug in the first place?
I agree with what you are saying, but am not sure that it goes far enough.
Being opposed to the war on drugs is a traditional conservative view point. What another man does that doesn't bother me is his own business. Traditionally, abortion rights supporters were conservatives.
But, since '72 or '80, depending on how you look at things, it's all been flopped around and mixed up.
I think Space Invaders had more options. One or two player. Invisible aliens. Moving shields. Invisible gun. Or any combination.
Breakout also had a number of options, but not as many as combat AFAIR.
7800 sticks suck. Sounds like something I heard about 17 years ago:)
eBay is your friend. About a year or two ago, I got two systems, a ton of controllers, and a big pile of games for about $45 or so.
Damn. That's what I get for responding to another story before posting on this one. I just noticed the Atari logo on the NWN site this morning:)
I've also seen that Atari has an ad all over TV for some driving game.
The version of the book I have in which the short story appears has some annotations by PKD and a forward by... Can't remember. But they point to his overwhelming disgust with war. And looking at other stories and books of his, it seems as though he does have an anti-authoritarian bent. My last piece of 'evidence' is an essay or something he wrote wherein he discussed short stories. He said that the main character in a short story does not have to be likeable, someone we agree with, or even someone you can feel empathy towards. In that context, I would say that he appreciated the struggle, but PKD did not agree with Anderton's final solution.
OTOH, it's quite easy to see where the story gives the impression that Anderton did the 'right' thing by someone's reckoning. Certainly if I hadn't read the essays by/about PKD, I would have come away with a different interpretation.
I'm in the middle of Stephen King's 'Everything's Eventual', another collection of short stories. King also discusses the differences between shorts and full length novels. If I weren't in the middle of it, I'd probably reread Minority Report myself.
Hmm, one thing I just thought of: PKD was also somewhat religious. Was Anderton's final action attempting to reconcile fate and free will? How do they intertwine in the story? I don't have any answers to that one. Maybe I will reread that tonight...
I read the short story a week or so ago. I believe out of the 'same' book you read, but the title changed to 'Minority Report and...' Makes sense. I wouldn't have picked it up otherwise. But having picked that up, I got another collection of short stories and also got 'Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch'. Kooky stuff.
Anyhow, from what I saw in the commercials, I kinda agreed with your assessment (von Sydow should have been Anderton, etc.) Without having seen it, I can't say how the jet packs, etc. changed things. But certainly there seemed to be more action in this movie than in the short story. I was expecting/hoping for a film noir or spy thriller take on it. Oh well:(
Should have mentioned that I just read the story:)
Anyway, I thought that in the short story, Anderton thought precrime was good. But PKD clearly meant the reader to think that it was bad.
Slight difference. Wouldn't notice if not for a great English teacher I had years ago:)
Anybody seen this AND read the short story? Any comments on how faithful the adaptation is?
Anybody looking forward to a JK review?
:)
Yeah, yeah. Was too slow on the uptake.
Are the RIAA and MPAA exempted from this law?
Just curious.
When the story first appeared (I believe my comment was the fifth for the story) the link was: /freebsdfoundation.org. It was corrected without the editor making note of the fact that there was an error in the original story.
I'm not the only one who noticed. This person, this person, this person, and this person all noticed the problem. Funny thing is that I have seen a story or two on Slashdot complaining when other news cites change stories without indicating it.
'Editor' One who edits.
'Edit' To prepare (written material) for publication or presentation, as by correcting, revising, or adapting.
It seems to me that if the marketing is what separates the 10% from the 90%, they should market 100%.
BTW, SDF-1 or not, I'll still kick your ass:)
Just a couple of things:
The record companies ARE super profitable. The reason everyone isn't doing it is highlighted in the article: payola. It requires a certain, large, amount of capital to get in.
But the more important thing is where you mention that ~5% of the records go to support the other 95%. Well, remember that the record companies claim that ~90% of the cost of a CD is promotion. But if only 5% of the records are successful, it means that the promotion isn't working. It is $13 or so out of every CD that is just going into churn.
If you eliminate this 70% of the cost of a CD, it is possible that music sales will decrease. But will they decrease enough to offset the increased profitability of each disc? I don't think so. Again, if promotions were so good, why doesn't it work more than 5% of the time?
I'll have to try that. I need something to replace 99.1 on my presets. Can't remember last time I listened for more than 30 seconds.