I think it would be good for team shooters to simulate "skill" with a weapon. As it is today, everyone has the same skill with a sniper rifle, so you encourage a certain amount of camping because there's no reason to move if you're a sniper and are 100% effective off the bat.
But if everyone starts at "level 1 sniper" which maybe means your sights wiggle a bit, whatever, then I think the impatient types would abandon the "sniper" class and go do something else. But for those that really have the interest, you can "level up" your sniper skill so your sights don't wiggle so much, you can aim faster, etc.
I think I want a combination - a certain amount of realism, but enough fantasy that it's still fun to pick up and play.
For example, I still play Battlefield 1943 on PS3. It's a lot of fun to jump into a game and do some team-based shooting. But I think the game might be more fun if it supported different classes: medics to heal (rather than auto-heal), engineers to build/repair... as well as the [existing] standard rifleman, anti-tank infantry, and sniper. Right now, the game merges "engineering" with the infantry class, which doesn't seem right. With separate classes to do these specific things (and especially with a medic class) I think people would do a better job of playing as a team.
I'd also like for these classes to be something you have to "earn", like a career ladder. I'm not talking about a "choose this-or-that" type of ladder. But I think it would be better for all players to start as "rifleman" only. When you advance a few levels (maybe to "sergeant") maybe you gain the "medic" skill, so now you can choose that when you respawn. Advance a bit more, and you gain "engineering", then "anti-tank", and eventually "sniper".
Basically, this adds a certain amount of realism in the game (not everyone can be a sniper, etc) without getting too bogged down by total realism.
Most kids like to write some kind of game as their first program. It's immediate enjoyment, and something they'd like to play with when it's done.
So a good start for learning programming might be GNU Robots. In it, you write a program for a little robot, then send it out to explore a world on its own. The robot has to run autonomously, using the program that you gave it to navigate obstacles, avoid (or destroy) enemies, pick up energy tablets, and collect rewards. And you get to watch the robot do its thing, so when it's done you can immediately update your program and try to improve it.
GNU Robot programs are written in Scheme, which should be fairly easy to learn.
(Disclaimer: I'm the original author of GNU Robots, although I turned it over to someone else after I released version 1.0D in 2000.)
Compare the numbers from North America against Europe. See the difference in Europe? That is what you get when you don't have total monopoly. This is why user choice is good.
Of course, if you compare the numbers with Asia, you'll also see the effects of piracy. Another reason software piracy is bad for the rest of us, if they're propping up IE.:-)
For example, in earlier versions, ordinary (non-admin) users could install software on Fedora without access to the root password. As of this version, however, local users will need to enter the root password before they can install software (as they do on almost all other Linux distributions).
What the f*ck is this guy talking about? Non-root users in Fedora could install software without the root password? What's that?
I call B.S., the person who wrote that is smoking dope. I've used Fedora since FC1, and Red Hat Linux since RH303. Red Hat / Fedora never worked like this. General users could install software, only by providing the root password.
All that said, the example of "Aquatica" being a clone of "flOw" is dead on. So Chen has a definitely point, there.
If you're a fan of a game and want to make a similar game, make it a similar game, but not an exact copy. Add something unique to your game. For example, Pixeljunk Monsters is your basic tower-defense game, but adds some quirky gameplay elements that makes it their own thing.
I'd like to add that Uncharted 2 is likely to be Game of the Year. But it's pretty darn similar (daresay, a clone?) to Tomb Raider, going all the way back to the original PlayStation. The only major differences are: the main character is a guy, and the graphics are better.
Jewel Quest was basically a version of Bejeweled, but with some RPG elements that turn it into a whole new experience.
Let's not forget that the first Half-Life for the PC was hailed as Game of the Year at the time. But isn't it really just a clone of Doom and Wolfenstein3D? I don't recall iD bitching about Duke Nukem, Blood, and all the other Doom knock-offs. After all, it's just running around, shooting things.
Going back a little further, anyone else remember Commander Keen for DOS? Maybe you didn't know that the game was originally written to be a DOS port of Super Mario Brothers, hence all the side-scrolling, jumping action. So is Commander Keen a ripoff of SMB?
As a gamer, it personally ticks me off to see a game that's a direct copy of another game, trying to cash in on a suddenly popular game. But I also recognize that this is part of the process to create better games.
For a company that believes so strongly in the inviolability of Software licensing, it's nice to see them practice what they preach when it comes to the rights of others. Fair play to Microsoft for meeting it's requirements, and score one for the GPL and Open Source.
Yes, it is good that Microsoft did the Right Thing here and opened the code under the GNU GPL. But color me pessimistic. I'm somewhat concerned that in a few months, we'll hear lots of hay being made from this - and it won't be good for F/OSS.
Microsoft is trying to kill Linux and pretty much all "Free / Open Source" software. One wedge they have continued to use is "the viral nature of the GNU GPL is evil", spreading misinformation like "if you use GNU GPL tools to build your software, you will need to publish the source code of your software under the GNU GPL."
So it's not a big stretch to think that in a few months, we'll hear Microsoft (probably Ballmer himself) say "Look, see how Linux & the GNU GPL is viral & evil, even we [Microsoft] had to publish the source code to an important tool." They'll surely omit details like "we copied GNU GPL code into ours, we were dumb" or "we weren't paying attention to what our subcontractors were doing". The spin will be "Linux and GNU are bad."
"I'm in college and working towards my Bachelors in Computer Science. Last year I passed both my CompTIA A+ and Network+ certifications and now have been offered (via a staffing company) a full-time Internship at a wireless lab of a major laptop manufacturer. [...] This field is all new to me and I don't personally know anyone who has worked in it before who will give me their honest opinions on it. Although I know circumstances differ greatly, in general, what can I expect as an IT Intern? What have been your experiences?"
Here is some simple advice I would give:
At $8/hour, you aren't going to be doing anything really cool or interesting. This isn't really a bad thing, but just set your expectations appropriately. You said your job will be "at a wireless lab of a major laptop manufacturer" but at $8 I don't think you'll be doing anything very cool or specifically related to wireless or lab work. Don't walk in and expect to work on the next Big Thing for the company. Instead, you'll probably be fixing dead PCs, helping staff with their wifi access, fetching equipment, that sort of thing.
Aside from that, remember the generational differences as you meet the people you'll work with. The people who will be your immediate bosses will likely be in their late 30's and early 40's. Despite appearances, we're actually kind of conservative - speaking from a business perspective. Be careful about going to your boss to propose some dramatic change, thinking that "if it works for me, it will work for you." Likely your 30's/40's boss will say no.
Might as well ask them to pull out a gun and shoot their own foot. What should be changed are browser defaults to "delete new cookies on exit", and make it a special opt-in to allow the site to set permanent cookies. If I go to the cookies page after a surfing session, there are tons and tons of sites that have no legitimate reason to leave cookies other than to track me. Permanent cookies should be handled by a info bar in the same way as popup windows, "Allow this site to set permantent cookies?". That would cut down cookie abuse massively.
For more than 10 years now, my personal browser settings have included "delete ALL cookies on exit". For me, cookies exist only while my browser is open. Works great for browsing throughout the day while my computer is on. When I close the browser, it's all gone.
It's sometimes a pain to have to login to every web site that I use (work webmail, Gmail for my domain, my general Gmail, Sourceforge, Facebook, etc) but I think it's a bit more secure. [I know, my Flash cookies are still there...]
I originally did it because, as a laptop user, I didn't want to have to worry about my web accounts getting compromised because my laptop got stolen or lost. If the laptop goes missing, I know the bad guy isn't able to access my web accounts - and my Gmail accounts are important to me.
As for the rest - "taking computer equipment home" is often done with obsolete systems or "parts boxes"
...but only with signed approval. When I was an admin, if I tried to take home an obsolete system without getting my manager's signed approval then I'd expect to be fired. I don't care if the system is 10 years old, and had been turned off & covered an inch deep in dust in a storage closet - it's still registered as an asset to the organization.
Yes, he was the tech supervisor, and he may have had the authority to sign approval for his suboordinates to take home obsolete equipment. But not for himself. No one is ever able to sign that kind of thing for themselves. The reason for this is oversight. Without it, who's to say that a laptop doesn't become obsolete after 2 years, so the desktop support guy can just take it home?
I work at a public university, and we had something similar happen a few years ago in another department. The IT manager took home about 20 old desktops & laptops, sold a few to a pawn shop and on eBay, gave a few others to friends. His story was the PCs were all 4 years old and had been replaced, so he was just taking home obsolete equipment that would have been tossed out anyway. Maybe that's true. But he didn't have signed authority from anyone else. They fired this guy, and if he didn't see that coming then he was a fool.
user@computer:~$ delete all files in this folder, and I'm sure I want to do this
are you really sure?
This reminds me of a programmer from the FreeDOS Project who argued to change/deprecate the behavior of the/Y ("Yes") option to the FreeDOS FORMAT command, so that it would instead display something like:
A:\> FORMAT/Y C: This command will erase the contents of your C: drive !!
Do you really REALLY want to do this ??
Type YES in all caps to format... _
I thought that was really dumbing down the command, coddling the user way too much. If you felt compelled to protect the user from themselves, I'd prefer the/Y option trigger a message and a 5-second countdown, press Ctrl-C to abort.
If a magazine or website is really scoring out of 10 or out of 100, then we ought to see some 1's and 2's.
But we don't do we ?
My wife and I were having this same discussion the other day. I was going through some reviews of games that just came out, comparing them to older games in the series. When I spotted one and mentioned the poor review, my wife asked what was the score. "6 out of 10". She was confused that a bad game got such a high score.
I guess I've been reading these reviews for so long, I didn't think of it anymore. 10/10 is awesome, 9/10 is great, 8/10 is good, 7/10 is okay, 6/10 is poor, 5/10 and lower is terrible.
"But when was the last time you saw a 5/10?" I honestly didn't know. Even the big-name movie tie-ins that we all know to be awful will somehow manage to score "6.5". I actually had to go look up some reviews to find lower than "6" - but they are out there.
I've started to view the "out of 10" or "out of 100" scores like the old A-F grading system we used in school. A is 9/10 or 10/10 ("A+"), B is 8/10, C is 7/10, D is 6/10... F is 5/10 or lower. It's not ideal to view games this way, but it makes sense of the review scores.
"What does one do when a good portion of the application software at your workplace is pirated? Bringing this up did not endear me at all to the president of the company. I was given a flat "We don't pirate software," and "We must have paid for it at some point." Given that [examples...] What do you when management ignores this?"
Others have already suggested it, but I'll say it again: document the instances. But suggest alternatives. I don't know what you said to the president, or how you said it, but the president is going to want to hear suggestions - not just "complaining" that the company uses pirated software. Remember that your president is focused on the company's bottom line, and if he/she feels that they can scrape by while using pirated software, they will turn a blind eye to piracy. You need to frame this as way to save money, not just spending money. Avoid mentioning the BSA - that will look like a "threat".
You didn't say what your role was at the company. Are you a sysadmin, LAN/desktop admin, or CIO? Your level really identifies the scope of your actions, but doesn't change what you should do.
(Note: if you are none of these things, i.e. your job doesn't involve responsibility for software, the president probably doesn't want to hear this from you. Go talk to one of the admins or the CIO instead of the president, let them take it from there.)
Inventory the software in use on all the systems... how many installs of Windows, how many copies of MS Office, Acrobat, Photoshop, etc. Put this in a spreadsheet, date it, print it out, stick it in a file.
Next, inventory your licenses. Focus on the software licenses you know you paid for. If you think something is pirated, the best you should do is put "??" or "cannot locate" in the "license code" field. Put all this in the same spreadsheet, so you can match up how many valid licenses you have of MS Office, etc. compared to how many are deployed. Date it, print it, put it in your file.
Sounds like you've already done this, or at least are on the path. So let's focus on the next steps...
Are there any $0 alternatives to the software that you think is being used without a valid license? Start looking into these options. Others here have suggested some $0 alternatives for you to use. Just be sure to check the license - sometimes, software may be "free for personal or educational use", which means business need to pay for it. Avoid being too dramatic - while I'm a Linux advocate, this is not the time to suggest moving the company from Windows desktops to Linux. Instead, find free Windows programs to replace the shareware/commercial Windows programs. OpenOffice instead of MS Office, 7Zip instead of WinZip, etc. You may need to write up a separate analysis that compares the features of the commercial software with the free software. Make it short, but identify each software completely. (If you use screenshots, no more than 1 screenshot per program.) Use tables rather than lots of text to talk about it. For example: a list of features that your users actually use/want and a check mark to indicate if this feature is present in the (pirated) software you have vs the free software options.
Create a new document, where you can summarize the inventory of software in use, and the inventory of your licenses. Just state the facts plainly, simply. Don't put in any personal statements, let the numbers speak for themselves. Make sure to call out where the company is using software where you don't have enough licenses. Include an estimated cost to "true up" on the licenses. Identify in your document the $0 alternatives you have discovered. The important step will be to highlight these as savings to the company. Identifying as "savings" will make it more actionable. Ideally, you'll put these in a column next to the "true up" cost, so it's obvious.
Again, date it, print it, put it in your file. Also, share this document with the CIO
"Ever since I was introduced to computers at a very young age, I've been the resident tech support for a household of 7 users. I've been in a cycle for the last ~8 years where something happens to my parents' computer, I spend a week or two trying to non-destructively fix the problem (and try to explain to the users what caused it and how to avoid it), and then if it's not easily fixed I'll reformat and start from scratch. Most often, the level of infection warrants a reformat [...] My question for Slashdot is: are there any resources out there that explain computer viruses, malware, adware, and general safe computer practices to non-technical people in an easy-to-digest format? [...]"
I'm not being snide when I say this, but you really should think about moving your family to Linux. I moved my wife to Linux (from Windows) after she finished her Master's thesis. Before, on Windows, she experienced regular crashes and lock-ups, and other weird behavior. Now, on Linux, everything runs fine. My wife uses her laptop to do email, write docs, browse the web, watch Youtube, that's it. So maybe for her, it's an easy move.
I did the same for my mom several years ago. My step-dad thought himself a great PC technician... despite knowing nothing about computers other than "point and click". So the PC was often hosed, usually through some malware problem. They used the computer just to browse the web, check email, write docs, do spreadsheets (home finance), play solitaire and freecell, play Flash games, watch Youtube. It was an easy move for them to migrate to Linux.
The key in making the transition easy is for you to understand THEIR computer use, what they use the computer for. In my experience, people who are "casual" PC users aren't doing anything that couldn't be done on Linux. Note "casual"... with the people I support, that means no Everquest, no Half Life 2. Just basic computer use, and simple "diversion" games.
The next step is for you to convince your audience that Linux is okay, that it will meet their needs. My wife was an easy convert because she saw me use Linux every day, to do the same things she did. My mom was a little more difficult because I wasn't over there every day. But if you can sit down with them and show them (on your laptop?) how Linux is really just the same as Windows (what my mom just called "the PC"), then you may be in luck.
Don't push it too hard, and don't expect to change minds right away. May take several visits, casual demonstrations of what Linux can do.
When you demo Linux, don't tweak out your desktop. Let it be pretty much default. No odd themes, no cute backgrounds, no desktop effects turned on. That "geek stuff" kind of freaks out your potential audience.
Show that the same applications exist under Linux, but with a different name. OpenOffice versus "Microsoft Office". Firefox (same). Or Firefox vs IE. Make sure to install the Flash plugin ahead of time, so visiting Youtube is the same experience. I'd turn off Flashblock or not install it, so it's as close to the Windows experience.
If you do this, you might be able to make your family tech support easier. I find Linux harder to break, and certainly it isn't vulnerable to the malware that's out there.
They could have at least tested it with Security Essentials . . . it's freely available to Windows users.
And yet the post at the Sophos blog says: "On October 22nd, we settled in at SophosLabs and loaded a full release copy of Windows 7 on a clean machine. We configured it to follow the system defaults [emphasis mine] for User Account Control (UAC) and did not load any anti-virus software." The point is that they installed Windows with the defaults like 99.999% of the users out there would do.
My mom is probably a typical Windows user, and when she eventually installs "the new Windows", I'm willing to bet she'll just go with the defaults. Because it's easy. So if the default install of Windows 7 doesn't include & configure Security Essentials by default, then this test reflects what real users will see.
Sure, they could have done a followup test to install Microsoft's Security Essentials, then see how that would have fared with the same 10 viruses. But these guys sell their own anti-virus software, so I don't really expect them to take the extra step.
All I really have to say is the obvious: Screwing people only drives them towards piracy. People rent a movie because they don't want to pay $20-30 for something they will only watch once. Doing this won't change that, so if the option goes from "pirate it or rent it for $5" to "pirate it or buy it for $20", do you really think that's gonna help the studios?
Amen to that! Here's my very recent example:
I didn't see Land of the Lost when it came out in theatres, but decided I'd wait for it to come out on DVD, then rent it. But I don't rent on physical disc anymore - I rent through PSN and iTunes.
Guess what? Neither of those outlets will rent you the movie. It's purchase only, for like $14 or $15. I know I will only watch this movie one time (the reviews weren't stellar, but I'll watch it anyway) so don't really feel like shelling out $15 for a one-time, 2-hour event. But I'll happily pay $5 (typical) for an online rental.
I figure some studio dude worked out that the movie sucked so badly, no one will want to buy it. They'll only want to rent it. And maybe they estimate not enough people will rent it. So it's purchase-only.
I briefly considered grabbing a BT client just to download this movie. Just because I couldn't rent it. But I decided to wait 6 months... either they'll put out a late rental option, or the desire to see this movie will go away.
Okay, a bunch of you have responded with "Check out DEB and RPM". I already know about package management, thanks.
But if you look at an app package on MacOSX, you'll see it's presented as a single icon or "file"... but use the command line, and you'll see it's just a directory. A directory with a special structure, so the system knows that it is really an application. Kind of cool. I think we need something like it on Linux, but I am not aware of such a thing. It would probably be some kind of virtual folder, implemented in GNOME or KDE. It's really just something like a tarball with a particular directory structure, maybe with a special extension, and GNOME/KDE knows it really should be presented to the user as a single object, using an icon located at a particular place within the tarball, with a special name.
Do I see it as the new way to release versions of Firefox, or GIMP? No. For that, use RPM or DEB for package management that's integrated with the rest of the operating system, tracking dependencies on shared libraries, etc.
However, I think this would be a great solution for third-party applications that aren't going to be part of a mainline distro - assume statically linked.
For example: commercial games. Download the latest version of "Sports Franchise 2009", put it in your "Games" directory or wherever you keep games, and just click it's icon in GNOME or KDE to launch it.
We don't need the universal binary, so much as we need the "1-file install" idea that MacOS has. This would greatly simplify installing a standalone application.
For those of you who don't know, if you download an app for MacOSX (say, Firefox) you are presented with one icon to drag into your "Applications" folder. This is really a payload, a "Firefox.app" directory that contains the program and its [static?] libraries. But to the user, you have dragged a single "file" or "app" into your "Applications" folder - thus, installing it.
It's dead simple. We need something like this in Linux.
Are you really recommending installing software to help the software [we already have] to work properly? In the world I'd rather live in, the software (in this case, Microsoft Word) would work right in the first place.
2. run the Compatibility Checker
In the ideal, everyone would do this, right? In reality, no one does. I'm using Word to create a Word document... why do I need to worry about "compatibility" if the people reading my document are also using Word? I didn't even know about a Compatibility Checker, and I'm sure no one else at my meeting did. But again, you're recommending installing software to help the software [we already have] to work properly.
3. the free Office 2007 Word Viewer
But why would we do that, when we already have Microsoft Office? And the important thing to remember is that everyone thought that their document printed out just fine. It was only when we gathered around the table that we realized some of us had different documents... or thought we did, since the documents didn't have the same formatting (flow around tables, page breaks, etc.)
... Sure, it may not be the right thing to rack-mount en mass (though maybe it would work fine for that too), but it'd be a safe bet to say that Apple isn't trying to take over the rack-mounted server market with this particular offering....
Yup, I'd agree with you. I consider myself a Linux guy, but I have a Mac Mini at home. I originally bought it so I could push stuff I purchased from iTunes to my iPod (and I still use it for that.) I have it plugged into my TV via VGA, and use a bluetooth keyboard/mouse.
Mostly though, it's a convenient backup server for the Linux laptops in our home, using rsync over ssh. It's great, and fits conveniently on a shelf next to my TV.
I think Apple hopes to do similar business with a Mac Mini Server. There's no optical drive, so I'm curious about that... but if you want to set up a small server in your home, I'm sure Apple would love to sell you this thing. Small, fits on a shelf, great for home use.
I don't see this being used at the office, unless someone works in a small business (less than 100 people) that doesn't have their own server room, and wants to set up a small web server or file server.
Your example is wrong. It's *expected behaviour* that documents printed on different computer+printer combinations will look different.
Whoa, it is really sad that it's now accepted behavior for a word processing document to look vastly different (note my example: wrapping text around a table, page breaks, etc.) depending on the printer Windows was using. I might understand if the text were rendered a little different due to fonts (installed on the printer) being slightly different from the fonts Windows is using. But I do not accept that text flowing around a table should be any different on one computer+printer vs another computer+printer. If that's really how Windows works, I'm even less of a fan.
What's important - and what Word is designed to do - is make the hard output look like the screen. WYSIWYG means What You See Is What You Get, not What You See Is What They Get.
And yet, Microsoft makes a big deal that if you run Microsoft Office, you will be able to share your documents with others running Office. Apple makes a point of that too in some of their ads. The Microsoft ad-copy on Apple's Online Store says:
The latest version of the industry standard for productivity software on the Macintosh platform. Microsoft® Office 2008 for Mac is more powerful and easier to use. Office 2008 combines Microsoft Word for Mac, Microsoft Power-Point® for Mac, Microsoft Excel® for Mac, Microsoft Entourage® for Mac, and Microsoft Messenger for Mac and lets you easily create high-impact documents and seamlessly share your ideas with others, whether they are on the Mac or Windows® platform.
(Emphasis mine.)
And yet, if you cannot guarantee that your document on a Mac (in my example, at least one person printed their copy of the doc on a Mac) will look the same as on Windows, how is that seamless???
Another commenter made a good point about how printing on Windows:
A large part of this is that as part of the printing API, Windows allows applications to find out what printers are capable of. Word in particular takes full advantage of this, and renders documents according to what the default printer can do.
The Unix way, OTOH, expects the application to produce Postscript and it's the driver/printers' problem to render this appropriately on the page. Which, arguably, is the whole damn point of a printer driver.
MySQL uses the parallel licensing approach to generate revenue to continue the FLOSS development of the software. If Oracle acquired MySQL, it would then be the only entity able to release the code other than under the GPL. Oracle would not be obligated to diligently sell or reasonably price the MySQL commercial licenses. More importantly, Oracle is under no obligation to use the revenues from these licenses to advance MySQL. In making decisions in these matters, Oracle is facing an obvious conflict of interest - the continued development of a powerful, feature rich free alternative to its core product.
As only the original rights holder can sell commercial licenses, no new forked version of the code will have the ability to practice the parallel licensing approach, and will not easily generate the resources to support continued development of the MySQL platform.
The acquisition of MySQL by Oracle will be a major setback to the development of a FLOSS database platform, potentially alienating and dispersing MySQL's core community of developers. It could take several years before another database platform could rival the progress and opportunities now available to MySQL, because it will take time before any of them attract and cultivate a large enough team of developers and achieve a similar customer base.
So basically, RMS is concerned that Oracle really would fork MySQL, and end the dual-licensing for any future versions they release. This effectively would make the Oracle fork of MySQL into proprietary or "closed source" software.
And Oracle would likely keep the "MySQL" name, because Oracle really wants that brand recognition in the low-end database market, competing with MS-SQL. So I'd guess a forked F/OSS version of MySQL would need to call themselves something else, losing the name.
Actually, Microsoft Office isn't all that compatible with Microsoft Office, when you are talking about different versions. In my 6-7 years running Linux at work, I used OpenOffice exclusively to write and edit documents, and to create and modify spreadsheets. I never had a problem exchanging documents with others. Of course, I was careful to save documents in the Microsoft Word "DOC" format, and spreadsheets in the Microsoft Excel "XLS" format.
It's true that sometimes Word will fail to render a document properly. But it's not the fault of OpenOffice - sometimes, Microsoft Word fails to properly display other Microsoft Word files. An example I wrote about a few months ago:
Last night, one of the attendees sent out some notes for us to read before the meeting. We all dutifully printed out our copy of the document, and brought it with us to the meeting.
Despite the fact that the document was created with Microsoft Office, and that we all run Microsoft Office, there were 3 different versions of the printed document at the meeting. You could tell by looking around the table that one version of the notes (printed from Microsoft Office for Macintosh) arranged the text around a table in a weird way. Another version (printed by Microsoft Office 2007) put a page break in a different place and put an extra blank line between a table and its caption. The original version (Microsoft Office 2003) was formatted as intended.
This was a simple 3-page document in "DOC" format, with an enumerated list of paragraphs, so it didn't take long for us to realize our copies printed out differently, and to figure out the correlation between versions of Word and how the document printed out.
I think it just goes to show: if you have a document that absolutely must preserve formatting, send it as a PDF.
Slashdot Mirror
I think it would be good for team shooters to simulate "skill" with a weapon. As it is today, everyone has the same skill with a sniper rifle, so you encourage a certain amount of camping because there's no reason to move if you're a sniper and are 100% effective off the bat.
But if everyone starts at "level 1 sniper" which maybe means your sights wiggle a bit, whatever, then I think the impatient types would abandon the "sniper" class and go do something else. But for those that really have the interest, you can "level up" your sniper skill so your sights don't wiggle so much, you can aim faster, etc.
Same for the other classes and their weapons.
I think I want a combination - a certain amount of realism, but enough fantasy that it's still fun to pick up and play.
For example, I still play Battlefield 1943 on PS3. It's a lot of fun to jump into a game and do some team-based shooting. But I think the game might be more fun if it supported different classes: medics to heal (rather than auto-heal), engineers to build/repair ... as well as the [existing] standard rifleman, anti-tank infantry, and sniper. Right now, the game merges "engineering" with the infantry class, which doesn't seem right. With separate classes to do these specific things (and especially with a medic class) I think people would do a better job of playing as a team.
I'd also like for these classes to be something you have to "earn", like a career ladder. I'm not talking about a "choose this-or-that" type of ladder. But I think it would be better for all players to start as "rifleman" only. When you advance a few levels (maybe to "sergeant") maybe you gain the "medic" skill, so now you can choose that when you respawn. Advance a bit more, and you gain "engineering", then "anti-tank", and eventually "sniper".
Basically, this adds a certain amount of realism in the game (not everyone can be a sniper, etc) without getting too bogged down by total realism.
Most kids like to write some kind of game as their first program. It's immediate enjoyment, and something they'd like to play with when it's done.
So a good start for learning programming might be GNU Robots. In it, you write a program for a little robot, then send it out to explore a world on its own. The robot has to run autonomously, using the program that you gave it to navigate obstacles, avoid (or destroy) enemies, pick up energy tablets, and collect rewards. And you get to watch the robot do its thing, so when it's done you can immediately update your program and try to improve it.
GNU Robot programs are written in Scheme, which should be fairly easy to learn.
(Disclaimer: I'm the original author of GNU Robots, although I turned it over to someone else after I released version 1.0D in 2000.)
Compare the numbers from North America against Europe. See the difference in Europe? That is what you get when you don't have total monopoly. This is why user choice is good.
Of course, if you compare the numbers with Asia, you'll also see the effects of piracy. Another reason software piracy is bad for the rest of us, if they're propping up IE. :-)
For example, in earlier versions, ordinary (non-admin) users could install software on Fedora without access to the root password. As of this version, however, local users will need to enter the root password before they can install software (as they do on almost all other Linux distributions).
What the f*ck is this guy talking about? Non-root users in Fedora could install software without the root password? What's that?
I call B.S., the person who wrote that is smoking dope. I've used Fedora since FC1, and Red Hat Linux since RH303. Red Hat / Fedora never worked like this. General users could install software, only by providing the root password.
Let's not forget the huge outcry we saw when Fedora 12 [desktop edition only] let users install signed packages without root. Thankfully, that policy was reversed very quickly.
Bad form to reply to my own comment, but ...
All that said, the example of "Aquatica" being a clone of "flOw" is dead on. So Chen has a definitely point, there.
If you're a fan of a game and want to make a similar game, make it a similar game, but not an exact copy. Add something unique to your game. For example, Pixeljunk Monsters is your basic tower-defense game, but adds some quirky gameplay elements that makes it their own thing.
I'd like to add that Uncharted 2 is likely to be Game of the Year. But it's pretty darn similar (daresay, a clone?) to Tomb Raider, going all the way back to the original PlayStation. The only major differences are: the main character is a guy, and the graphics are better.
Jewel Quest was basically a version of Bejeweled, but with some RPG elements that turn it into a whole new experience.
Let's not forget that the first Half-Life for the PC was hailed as Game of the Year at the time. But isn't it really just a clone of Doom and Wolfenstein3D? I don't recall iD bitching about Duke Nukem, Blood, and all the other Doom knock-offs. After all, it's just running around, shooting things.
Going back a little further, anyone else remember Commander Keen for DOS? Maybe you didn't know that the game was originally written to be a DOS port of Super Mario Brothers, hence all the side-scrolling, jumping action. So is Commander Keen a ripoff of SMB?
As a gamer, it personally ticks me off to see a game that's a direct copy of another game, trying to cash in on a suddenly popular game. But I also recognize that this is part of the process to create better games.
For a company that believes so strongly in the inviolability of Software licensing, it's nice to see them practice what they preach when it comes to the rights of others. Fair play to Microsoft for meeting it's requirements, and score one for the GPL and Open Source.
Yes, it is good that Microsoft did the Right Thing here and opened the code under the GNU GPL. But color me pessimistic. I'm somewhat concerned that in a few months, we'll hear lots of hay being made from this - and it won't be good for F/OSS.
Microsoft is trying to kill Linux and pretty much all "Free / Open Source" software. One wedge they have continued to use is "the viral nature of the GNU GPL is evil", spreading misinformation like "if you use GNU GPL tools to build your software, you will need to publish the source code of your software under the GNU GPL."
So it's not a big stretch to think that in a few months, we'll hear Microsoft (probably Ballmer himself) say "Look, see how Linux & the GNU GPL is viral & evil, even we [Microsoft] had to publish the source code to an important tool." They'll surely omit details like "we copied GNU GPL code into ours, we were dumb" or "we weren't paying attention to what our subcontractors were doing". The spin will be "Linux and GNU are bad."
I'd love to be proven wrong.
"I'm in college and working towards my Bachelors in Computer Science. Last year I passed both my CompTIA A+ and Network+ certifications and now have been offered (via a staffing company) a full-time Internship at a wireless lab of a major laptop manufacturer. [...] This field is all new to me and I don't personally know anyone who has worked in it before who will give me their honest opinions on it. Although I know circumstances differ greatly, in general, what can I expect as an IT Intern? What have been your experiences?"
Here is some simple advice I would give:
At $8/hour, you aren't going to be doing anything really cool or interesting. This isn't really a bad thing, but just set your expectations appropriately. You said your job will be "at a wireless lab of a major laptop manufacturer" but at $8 I don't think you'll be doing anything very cool or specifically related to wireless or lab work. Don't walk in and expect to work on the next Big Thing for the company. Instead, you'll probably be fixing dead PCs, helping staff with their wifi access, fetching equipment, that sort of thing.
Aside from that, remember the generational differences as you meet the people you'll work with. The people who will be your immediate bosses will likely be in their late 30's and early 40's. Despite appearances, we're actually kind of conservative - speaking from a business perspective. Be careful about going to your boss to propose some dramatic change, thinking that "if it works for me, it will work for you." Likely your 30's/40's boss will say no.
Might as well ask them to pull out a gun and shoot their own foot. What should be changed are browser defaults to "delete new cookies on exit", and make it a special opt-in to allow the site to set permanent cookies. If I go to the cookies page after a surfing session, there are tons and tons of sites that have no legitimate reason to leave cookies other than to track me. Permanent cookies should be handled by a info bar in the same way as popup windows, "Allow this site to set permantent cookies?". That would cut down cookie abuse massively.
For more than 10 years now, my personal browser settings have included "delete ALL cookies on exit". For me, cookies exist only while my browser is open. Works great for browsing throughout the day while my computer is on. When I close the browser, it's all gone.
It's sometimes a pain to have to login to every web site that I use (work webmail, Gmail for my domain, my general Gmail, Sourceforge, Facebook, etc) but I think it's a bit more secure. [I know, my Flash cookies are still there...]
I originally did it because, as a laptop user, I didn't want to have to worry about my web accounts getting compromised because my laptop got stolen or lost. If the laptop goes missing, I know the bad guy isn't able to access my web accounts - and my Gmail accounts are important to me.
As for the rest - "taking computer equipment home" is often done with obsolete systems or "parts boxes"
...but only with signed approval. When I was an admin, if I tried to take home an obsolete system without getting my manager's signed approval then I'd expect to be fired. I don't care if the system is 10 years old, and had been turned off & covered an inch deep in dust in a storage closet - it's still registered as an asset to the organization.
Yes, he was the tech supervisor, and he may have had the authority to sign approval for his suboordinates to take home obsolete equipment. But not for himself. No one is ever able to sign that kind of thing for themselves. The reason for this is oversight. Without it, who's to say that a laptop doesn't become obsolete after 2 years, so the desktop support guy can just take it home?
I work at a public university, and we had something similar happen a few years ago in another department. The IT manager took home about 20 old desktops & laptops, sold a few to a pawn shop and on eBay, gave a few others to friends. His story was the PCs were all 4 years old and had been replaced, so he was just taking home obsolete equipment that would have been tossed out anyway. Maybe that's true. But he didn't have signed authority from anyone else. They fired this guy, and if he didn't see that coming then he was a fool.
This reminds me of a programmer from the FreeDOS Project who argued to change/deprecate the behavior of the /Y ("Yes") option to the FreeDOS FORMAT command, so that it would instead display something like:
A:\> FORMAT /Y C:
... _
This command will erase the contents of your C: drive !!
Do you really REALLY want to do this ??
Type YES in all caps to format
I thought that was really dumbing down the command, coddling the user way too much. If you felt compelled to protect the user from themselves, I'd prefer the /Y option trigger a message and a 5-second countdown, press Ctrl-C to abort.
If a magazine or website is really scoring out of 10 or out of 100, then we ought to see some 1's and 2's. But we don't do we ?
My wife and I were having this same discussion the other day. I was going through some reviews of games that just came out, comparing them to older games in the series. When I spotted one and mentioned the poor review, my wife asked what was the score. "6 out of 10". She was confused that a bad game got such a high score.
I guess I've been reading these reviews for so long, I didn't think of it anymore. 10/10 is awesome, 9/10 is great, 8/10 is good, 7/10 is okay, 6/10 is poor, 5/10 and lower is terrible.
"But when was the last time you saw a 5/10?" I honestly didn't know. Even the big-name movie tie-ins that we all know to be awful will somehow manage to score "6.5". I actually had to go look up some reviews to find lower than "6" - but they are out there.
I've started to view the "out of 10" or "out of 100" scores like the old A-F grading system we used in school. A is 9/10 or 10/10 ("A+"), B is 8/10, C is 7/10, D is 6/10 ... F is 5/10 or lower. It's not ideal to view games this way, but it makes sense of the review scores.
"What does one do when a good portion of the application software at your workplace is pirated? Bringing this up did not endear me at all to the president of the company. I was given a flat "We don't pirate software," and "We must have paid for it at some point." Given that [examples...] What do you when management ignores this?"
Others have already suggested it, but I'll say it again: document the instances. But suggest alternatives. I don't know what you said to the president, or how you said it, but the president is going to want to hear suggestions - not just "complaining" that the company uses pirated software. Remember that your president is focused on the company's bottom line, and if he/she feels that they can scrape by while using pirated software, they will turn a blind eye to piracy. You need to frame this as way to save money, not just spending money. Avoid mentioning the BSA - that will look like a "threat".
You didn't say what your role was at the company. Are you a sysadmin, LAN/desktop admin, or CIO? Your level really identifies the scope of your actions, but doesn't change what you should do.
(Note: if you are none of these things, i.e. your job doesn't involve responsibility for software, the president probably doesn't want to hear this from you. Go talk to one of the admins or the CIO instead of the president, let them take it from there.)
Inventory the software in use on all the systems ... how many installs of Windows, how many copies of MS Office, Acrobat, Photoshop, etc. Put this in a spreadsheet, date it, print it out, stick it in a file.
Next, inventory your licenses. Focus on the software licenses you know you paid for. If you think something is pirated, the best you should do is put "??" or "cannot locate" in the "license code" field. Put all this in the same spreadsheet, so you can match up how many valid licenses you have of MS Office, etc. compared to how many are deployed. Date it, print it, put it in your file.
Sounds like you've already done this, or at least are on the path. So let's focus on the next steps ...
Are there any $0 alternatives to the software that you think is being used without a valid license? Start looking into these options. Others here have suggested some $0 alternatives for you to use. Just be sure to check the license - sometimes, software may be "free for personal or educational use", which means business need to pay for it. Avoid being too dramatic - while I'm a Linux advocate, this is not the time to suggest moving the company from Windows desktops to Linux. Instead, find free Windows programs to replace the shareware/commercial Windows programs. OpenOffice instead of MS Office, 7Zip instead of WinZip, etc. You may need to write up a separate analysis that compares the features of the commercial software with the free software. Make it short, but identify each software completely. (If you use screenshots, no more than 1 screenshot per program.) Use tables rather than lots of text to talk about it. For example: a list of features that your users actually use/want and a check mark to indicate if this feature is present in the (pirated) software you have vs the free software options.
Create a new document, where you can summarize the inventory of software in use, and the inventory of your licenses. Just state the facts plainly, simply. Don't put in any personal statements, let the numbers speak for themselves. Make sure to call out where the company is using software where you don't have enough licenses. Include an estimated cost to "true up" on the licenses. Identify in your document the $0 alternatives you have discovered. The important step will be to highlight these as savings to the company. Identifying as "savings" will make it more actionable. Ideally, you'll put these in a column next to the "true up" cost, so it's obvious.
Again, date it, print it, put it in your file. Also, share this document with the CIO
"Ever since I was introduced to computers at a very young age, I've been the resident tech support for a household of 7 users. I've been in a cycle for the last ~8 years where something happens to my parents' computer, I spend a week or two trying to non-destructively fix the problem (and try to explain to the users what caused it and how to avoid it), and then if it's not easily fixed I'll reformat and start from scratch. Most often, the level of infection warrants a reformat [...] My question for Slashdot is: are there any resources out there that explain computer viruses, malware, adware, and general safe computer practices to non-technical people in an easy-to-digest format? [...]"
I'm not being snide when I say this, but you really should think about moving your family to Linux. I moved my wife to Linux (from Windows) after she finished her Master's thesis. Before, on Windows, she experienced regular crashes and lock-ups, and other weird behavior. Now, on Linux, everything runs fine. My wife uses her laptop to do email, write docs, browse the web, watch Youtube, that's it. So maybe for her, it's an easy move.
I did the same for my mom several years ago. My step-dad thought himself a great PC technician ... despite knowing nothing about computers other than "point and click". So the PC was often hosed, usually through some malware problem. They used the computer just to browse the web, check email, write docs, do spreadsheets (home finance), play solitaire and freecell, play Flash games, watch Youtube. It was an easy move for them to migrate to Linux.
The key in making the transition easy is for you to understand THEIR computer use, what they use the computer for. In my experience, people who are "casual" PC users aren't doing anything that couldn't be done on Linux. Note "casual" ... with the people I support, that means no Everquest, no Half Life 2. Just basic computer use, and simple "diversion" games.
The next step is for you to convince your audience that Linux is okay, that it will meet their needs. My wife was an easy convert because she saw me use Linux every day, to do the same things she did. My mom was a little more difficult because I wasn't over there every day. But if you can sit down with them and show them (on your laptop?) how Linux is really just the same as Windows (what my mom just called "the PC"), then you may be in luck.
Don't push it too hard, and don't expect to change minds right away. May take several visits, casual demonstrations of what Linux can do.
When you demo Linux, don't tweak out your desktop. Let it be pretty much default. No odd themes, no cute backgrounds, no desktop effects turned on. That "geek stuff" kind of freaks out your potential audience.
Show that the same applications exist under Linux, but with a different name. OpenOffice versus "Microsoft Office". Firefox (same). Or Firefox vs IE. Make sure to install the Flash plugin ahead of time, so visiting Youtube is the same experience. I'd turn off Flashblock or not install it, so it's as close to the Windows experience.
If you do this, you might be able to make your family tech support easier. I find Linux harder to break, and certainly it isn't vulnerable to the malware that's out there.
If anyone is interested, you can see screenshots of early Mozilla versions, including Mozilla 1.0 and 1.1, at this archive.
They could have at least tested it with Security Essentials . . . it's freely available to Windows users.
And yet the post at the Sophos blog says: "On October 22nd, we settled in at SophosLabs and loaded a full release copy of Windows 7 on a clean machine. We configured it to follow the system defaults [emphasis mine] for User Account Control (UAC) and did not load any anti-virus software." The point is that they installed Windows with the defaults like 99.999% of the users out there would do.
My mom is probably a typical Windows user, and when she eventually installs "the new Windows", I'm willing to bet she'll just go with the defaults. Because it's easy. So if the default install of Windows 7 doesn't include & configure Security Essentials by default, then this test reflects what real users will see.
Sure, they could have done a followup test to install Microsoft's Security Essentials, then see how that would have fared with the same 10 viruses. But these guys sell their own anti-virus software, so I don't really expect them to take the extra step.
All I really have to say is the obvious: Screwing people only drives them towards piracy. People rent a movie because they don't want to pay $20-30 for something they will only watch once. Doing this won't change that, so if the option goes from "pirate it or rent it for $5" to "pirate it or buy it for $20", do you really think that's gonna help the studios?
Amen to that! Here's my very recent example:
I didn't see Land of the Lost when it came out in theatres, but decided I'd wait for it to come out on DVD, then rent it. But I don't rent on physical disc anymore - I rent through PSN and iTunes.
Guess what? Neither of those outlets will rent you the movie. It's purchase only, for like $14 or $15. I know I will only watch this movie one time (the reviews weren't stellar, but I'll watch it anyway) so don't really feel like shelling out $15 for a one-time, 2-hour event. But I'll happily pay $5 (typical) for an online rental.
I figure some studio dude worked out that the movie sucked so badly, no one will want to buy it. They'll only want to rent it. And maybe they estimate not enough people will rent it. So it's purchase-only.
I briefly considered grabbing a BT client just to download this movie. Just because I couldn't rent it. But I decided to wait 6 months ... either they'll put out a late rental option, or the desire to see this movie will go away.
Okay, a bunch of you have responded with "Check out DEB and RPM". I already know about package management, thanks.
But if you look at an app package on MacOSX, you'll see it's presented as a single icon or "file" ... but use the command line, and you'll see it's just a directory. A directory with a special structure, so the system knows that it is really an application. Kind of cool. I think we need something like it on Linux, but I am not aware of such a thing. It would probably be some kind of virtual folder, implemented in GNOME or KDE. It's really just something like a tarball with a particular directory structure, maybe with a special extension, and GNOME/KDE knows it really should be presented to the user as a single object, using an icon located at a particular place within the tarball, with a special name.
Do I see it as the new way to release versions of Firefox, or GIMP? No. For that, use RPM or DEB for package management that's integrated with the rest of the operating system, tracking dependencies on shared libraries, etc.
However, I think this would be a great solution for third-party applications that aren't going to be part of a mainline distro - assume statically linked.
For example: commercial games. Download the latest version of "Sports Franchise 2009", put it in your "Games" directory or wherever you keep games, and just click it's icon in GNOME or KDE to launch it.
We don't need the universal binary, so much as we need the "1-file install" idea that MacOS has. This would greatly simplify installing a standalone application.
For those of you who don't know, if you download an app for MacOSX (say, Firefox) you are presented with one icon to drag into your "Applications" folder. This is really a payload, a "Firefox.app" directory that contains the program and its [static?] libraries. But to the user, you have dragged a single "file" or "app" into your "Applications" folder - thus, installing it.
It's dead simple. We need something like this in Linux.
1. install the Office 2007 compatibility pack
Are you really recommending installing software to help the software [we already have] to work properly? In the world I'd rather live in, the software (in this case, Microsoft Word) would work right in the first place.
2. run the Compatibility Checker
In the ideal, everyone would do this, right? In reality, no one does. I'm using Word to create a Word document ... why do I need to worry about "compatibility" if the people reading my document are also using Word? I didn't even know about a Compatibility Checker, and I'm sure no one else at my meeting did. But again, you're recommending installing software to help the software [we already have] to work properly.
3. the free Office 2007 Word Viewer
But why would we do that, when we already have Microsoft Office? And the important thing to remember is that everyone thought that their document printed out just fine. It was only when we gathered around the table that we realized some of us had different documents ... or thought we did, since the documents didn't have the same formatting (flow around tables, page breaks, etc.)
Yup, I'd agree with you. I consider myself a Linux guy, but I have a Mac Mini at home. I originally bought it so I could push stuff I purchased from iTunes to my iPod (and I still use it for that.) I have it plugged into my TV via VGA, and use a bluetooth keyboard/mouse.
Mostly though, it's a convenient backup server for the Linux laptops in our home, using rsync over ssh. It's great, and fits conveniently on a shelf next to my TV.
I think Apple hopes to do similar business with a Mac Mini Server. There's no optical drive, so I'm curious about that ... but if you want to set up a small server in your home, I'm sure Apple would love to sell you this thing. Small, fits on a shelf, great for home use.
I don't see this being used at the office, unless someone works in a small business (less than 100 people) that doesn't have their own server room, and wants to set up a small web server or file server.
> An example I wrote about a few months ago:
Your example is wrong. It's *expected behaviour* that documents printed on different computer+printer combinations will look different.
Whoa, it is really sad that it's now accepted behavior for a word processing document to look vastly different (note my example: wrapping text around a table, page breaks, etc.) depending on the printer Windows was using. I might understand if the text were rendered a little different due to fonts (installed on the printer) being slightly different from the fonts Windows is using. But I do not accept that text flowing around a table should be any different on one computer+printer vs another computer+printer. If that's really how Windows works, I'm even less of a fan.
What's important - and what Word is designed to do - is make the hard output look like the screen. WYSIWYG means What You See Is What You Get, not What You See Is What They Get.
And yet, Microsoft makes a big deal that if you run Microsoft Office, you will be able to share your documents with others running Office. Apple makes a point of that too in some of their ads. The Microsoft ad-copy on Apple's Online Store says:
The latest version of the industry standard for productivity software on the Macintosh platform. Microsoft® Office 2008 for Mac is more powerful and easier to use. Office 2008 combines Microsoft Word for Mac, Microsoft Power-Point® for Mac, Microsoft Excel® for Mac, Microsoft Entourage® for Mac, and Microsoft Messenger for Mac and lets you easily create high-impact documents and seamlessly share your ideas with others, whether they are on the Mac or Windows® platform.
(Emphasis mine.)
And yet, if you cannot guarantee that your document on a Mac (in my example, at least one person printed their copy of the doc on a Mac) will look the same as on Windows, how is that seamless???
Another commenter made a good point about how printing on Windows:
A large part of this is that as part of the printing API, Windows allows applications to find out what printers are capable of. Word in particular takes full advantage of this, and renders documents according to what the default printer can do. The Unix way, OTOH, expects the application to produce Postscript and it's the driver/printers' problem to render this appropriately on the page. Which, arguably, is the whole damn point of a printer driver.
I think the Unix method makes more sense.
Here's what RMS said in the letter:
So basically, RMS is concerned that Oracle really would fork MySQL, and end the dual-licensing for any future versions they release. This effectively would make the Oracle fork of MySQL into proprietary or "closed source" software.
And Oracle would likely keep the "MySQL" name, because Oracle really wants that brand recognition in the low-end database market, competing with MS-SQL. So I'd guess a forked F/OSS version of MySQL would need to call themselves something else, losing the name.
Actually, Microsoft Office isn't all that compatible with Microsoft Office, when you are talking about different versions. In my 6-7 years running Linux at work, I used OpenOffice exclusively to write and edit documents, and to create and modify spreadsheets. I never had a problem exchanging documents with others. Of course, I was careful to save documents in the Microsoft Word "DOC" format, and spreadsheets in the Microsoft Excel "XLS" format.
It's true that sometimes Word will fail to render a document properly. But it's not the fault of OpenOffice - sometimes, Microsoft Word fails to properly display other Microsoft Word files. An example I wrote about a few months ago:
I think it just goes to show: if you have a document that absolutely must preserve formatting, send it as a PDF.