Halperin put his entire first novel, The Truth Machine online for people to read- and he experienced the same effect as you did with your book. Halperin surmised, initially to the dismay of his publisher, that people would want to buy the book- it's cumbersome to read the book online, few would have the resources to download it or worse print it out for themselves, the readers, having seen what they liked and liked the fact that he shared the whole thing with them would buy the book. To the publisher's surprise, the sales spiked just like your book's sales did the moment it went online.
I've known for some time that the Russians had the same level of scientific and engineering that the rest of the world does (I wouldn't be surprised if China is right on up there with us- Nature reveals her secrets to anyone who asks the right questions...) but that the USSR happened to be hampered in a few critical resource areas and as such, some things suffered (like semiconductor tech)- while other things flourished like optics (they make some of the finest in the world!) and tube technology (don't laugh- tubes are intrinsically immune to EMP attacks that'd take out solid state devices and they are the ONLY route to high power levels.).
I'm surprised that the people behind this design haven't contacted the people that got behind Svetlana Electron Devices and got something going with them. (Svetlana is one of the largest suppliers of vacuum tubes in the world)
...all software should be free, supported by the users. But then, this world isn't ideal- in fact, it's brutally far from it. It's folly to expect everything to be free- I don't expect it, and I doubt that others really expect it either. Of course, Warez kiddies will abound in any user base- thieves, swindlers, and cheats will always abound because someone will choose the path that suits themselves only.
I wouldn't worry about them making money- if the game's as good as the hype, we're going to reward them with our $40-50US. I know I am.
And the places of purchase more often than not say "no" to the refund- which the contract plainly indicates is supposed to happen.
Still going to be a slam-dunk...
on
Refund Day
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· Score: 1
Because to cover their asses when the heat comes from a class-action suit filed (believe me there will be and they'll be named a defendant, right along with anyone else brave enough (more like stupid enough) to hold the same position or the $0 cost position) they'll say that their position was mainly due to there being no agreement with MS to do this so that they can extend the refund to the users (Claims of "quality control" do not work in this case- they can assure quality WITHOUT the Windows OS.). If the DOJ trial's still going on or they file another- this will muck up their chances for that case severely.
Dell's *OFFICIAL* position on the refunds...
on
Refund Day
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· Score: 1
I just got off the phone with a customer service rep (I won't name names- wouldn't want to get them in trouble). Nice congenial conversation with the rep- Dell had circulated an E-mail about today this morning that hadn't been read yet by the rep.
The word is, they do not sell systems at this time without an OS. That OS is either Windows 98 or NT. If they do not choose to agree to the terms of the licensing for the OS on the machine, you have to return the entire system for a refund.
I hope the DOJ pays attention to this- this is a clear-cut example of tying of the OS to what is a generic computer platform.
...how many people out there are brainwashed by Microsoft.
If you only knew how sick and twisted their "object" model actually was- you'd not be singing it's praises.
At it's heart, it's an okay object model. Not stellar. Not the silver bullet for programming that MS, et al. keep claiming over and over is just that.
When the rubber meets the pavement, COM is largely painful to use without using their compilers (VB/VC++), their template and class libraries (ATL/MFC), and their wizards- even then, it's agony at times.
If they base COM+ on the same premise as COM, it will not improve things any.
Just so that you'll know where I am coming from:
I have been coding Windows applications and development tools for nearly 8 years now. My last job was developing document imaging controls for use with VB (ActiveX controls) using Visual C++ 5.0 and ATL. At this point, I know a lot about ActiveX, COM, and OLE- more than many care to know about.
Hell, they (The US and Russion Governments...) have had this evil stuff for years now.
EMP bombs (Glide bomb with lots of high energy density capacitors and lots of coil wire- a small explosive charge causes the high-discharge rate capacitors to dump into the coil when the bomb reaches it's designated target; it'll nuke any radio gear nearby and possibly take out other solid state devices as well), microwave guns designed to suppress the operation of electronics on aircraft (By either causing induced currents in the circuitry that cause a lack of syncronization within computer devices (they lose sync, quit talking with each other) or at higher power levels, burn out the electronics), etc.
Go out and surf the WWW for pages with discussions of HERF (High-Energy RF) guns, HARRP (An Ionosphere "heater" that the DOD operates up in Alaska), and EM other warfare toys. It's all out there and it's all very real.
In your situation, you're going to have to get your hands dirty and compile some sourcecode. Binaries do not always work as they were compiled to a given system situation- which includes a given kernel version.
As an example, the binaries for pppd that shipped with Red Hat 5.0 and 5.1 will not work in any way, shape or form, with the 2.2.X kernel- there's been quite a few changes that render the daemon inoperable, unless you use the sourcecode from the latest version or use the binary version installed with Red Hat 5.2.
If Red Hat didn't ship the latest binary version of libc with 5.2 (which, since libc's depreciated, I'm pretty sure they haven't) then you need to obtain the source and attempt to compile it as it's your only recourse- at least as long as nobody else works on the problem.
This is a contractual issue. Failure to follow through on the clause on Microsoft's or the OEM's part means they are open to a class action suit, something they don't want at this point in time. Believe me, some enterprising lawyer will smell blood and help set up one against the OEMs and Microsoft if they don't honor it on the 15th.
First we find out that they've been caught forging evidence for the trial, now they come forward and admit that the consumer Windows "2000" will not be NT based and 9X is still alive afterall...
The content that the engine plays (the actual game) is different than the code that plays it (i.e. you can have an open-source, GPLed MPEG layer 3 player and still proprietarize the songs that you bundle with it (since you're not "extending" the player) so long as the source is available for download somewhere or you provide it upon request...)- I'd think that it'd be allowable so long as the engine code was available for download, etc.
Nobody's making you compile them...
on
Linux 2.2.1
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· Score: 1
Just quit bothering with it and wait until Red Hat, Debian, SuSE, Caldera, etc. release a distribution with it on the CD. Otherwise, quit yer complaining and keep compiling them...
...the fact that Dell's been shipping Linux on a custom install basis on their sever line now for at least 3-4 years. Combine this with the announcement that it's going to be offered as an option on their server line (not a custom install anymore!) sometime within the next 2 months.
The top clone makers knew for some time that Linux was going to happen- this is just something that is happening a little sooner than the timetable that they had in mind...;->
I've got at least 3 or so copies of NT workstation and one copy of NT server that I and my employer will never use because these machines are Linux only boxes and the NT copies are utterly superfluous (We've a site license, believe it or not...). We're going to attempt a refund request on the date specified. All of you out there should too if you meet the criteria and have a Microsoft product covered by the EULA (Note: At least some copies of Windows 98 don't have the standard EULA with it- they've got some other license with them, according to the rumors going around. Make SURE you've got the EULA as a license for the software...)
To the best of my limited knowlege...
on
Unreal for Linux?
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· Score: 1
...it's the whole shooting match. But I think they're constrained to just the 2D aspects- you'll have to ask XFree86 for the real skinny on the info they have in hand.
This means we need to get more 3D drivers for Mesa
on
Unreal for Linux?
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· Score: 1
Work should begin in ernest on them. With Quake III, BFRIS, and now possibly Unreal, we're going to need solid support from cards other than Voodoo based ones. I happen to have the SiS register info if someone's game (I'm not going to be able to have an AGP motherboard for at least 2-4 months at this point and the SiS is only on motherboards and AGP cards...)
Right now, I'm going with the hardware I've got, such as it is- the Millenium II (Yes, I know that it's been discontinued, but there's a LOT of them out there...).
Remember boys and girls, DON'T feed the troll!
on
Unreal for Linux?
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· Score: 1
'nuff said!
I'm afraid not out of the box...
on
BFRIS Goes Gold
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· Score: 1
There's little to nothing that says that they can't be making a native FreeBSD version (everything they need, save maybe the enhanced joystick drivers, are there)- they just didn't see a need for it (smaller market share?). I suggest that you talk to them directly about the prospects thereof.
PPC's are NICE but I don't want to put money into Apple's coffers anymore than I want to put the stuff in Microsoft's. Since the primary source of obtainable PPC machines are Apple Macs, I won't buy one. Not to mention that I can pick up a motherboard just about anywhere for the Intel architecture- I can't do that with the PPC and it's hard to do it for the Alpha.
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Halperin put his entire first novel, The Truth Machine online for people to read- and he experienced the same effect as you did with your book. Halperin surmised, initially to the dismay of his publisher, that people would want to buy the book- it's cumbersome to read the book online, few would have the resources to download it or worse print it out for themselves, the readers, having seen what they liked and liked the fact that he shared the whole thing with them would buy the book. To the publisher's surprise, the sales spiked just like your book's sales did the moment it went online.
I've known for some time that the Russians had the same level of scientific and engineering that the rest of the world does (I wouldn't be surprised if China is right on up there with us- Nature reveals her secrets to anyone who asks the right questions...) but that the USSR happened to be hampered in a few critical resource areas and as such, some things suffered (like semiconductor tech)- while other things flourished like optics (they make some of the finest in the world!) and tube technology (don't laugh- tubes are intrinsically immune to EMP attacks that'd take out solid state devices and they are the ONLY route to high power levels.).
I'm surprised that the people behind this design haven't contacted the people that got behind Svetlana Electron Devices and got something going with them. (Svetlana is one of the largest suppliers of vacuum tubes in the world)
...all software should be free, supported by the users. But then, this world isn't ideal- in fact, it's brutally far from it. It's folly to expect everything to be free- I don't expect it, and I doubt that others really expect it either. Of course, Warez kiddies will abound in any user base- thieves, swindlers, and cheats will always abound because someone will choose the path that suits themselves only.
I wouldn't worry about them making money- if the game's as good as the hype, we're going to reward them with our $40-50US. I know I am.
And the places of purchase more often than not say "no" to the refund- which the contract plainly indicates is supposed to happen.
Because to cover their asses when the heat comes from a class-action suit filed (believe me there will be and they'll be named a defendant, right along with anyone else brave enough (more like stupid enough) to hold the same position or the $0 cost position) they'll say that their position was mainly due to there being no agreement with MS to do this so that they can extend the refund to the users (Claims of "quality control" do not work in this case- they can assure quality WITHOUT the Windows OS.). If the DOJ trial's still going on or they file another- this will muck up their chances for that case severely.
I just got off the phone with a customer service rep (I won't name names- wouldn't want to get them in trouble). Nice congenial conversation with the rep- Dell had circulated an E-mail about today this morning that hadn't been read yet by the rep.
The word is, they do not sell systems at this time without an OS. That OS is either Windows 98 or NT. If they do not choose to agree to the terms of the licensing for the OS on the machine, you have to return the entire system for a refund.
I hope the DOJ pays attention to this- this is a clear-cut example of tying of the OS to what is a generic computer platform.
...how many people out there are brainwashed by Microsoft.
If you only knew how sick and twisted their "object" model actually was- you'd not be singing it's praises.
At it's heart, it's an okay object model. Not stellar. Not the silver bullet for programming that MS, et al. keep claiming over and over is just that.
When the rubber meets the pavement, COM is largely painful to use without using their compilers (VB/VC++), their template and class libraries (ATL/MFC), and their wizards- even then, it's agony at times.
If they base COM+ on the same premise as COM, it will not improve things any.
Just so that you'll know where I am coming from:
I have been coding Windows applications and development tools for nearly 8 years now.
My last job was developing document imaging controls for use with VB (ActiveX controls) using Visual C++ 5.0 and ATL. At this point, I know a lot about ActiveX, COM, and OLE- more than many care to know about.
We DO NOT WANT COM+- EVER
Hell, they (The US and Russion Governments...) have had this evil stuff for years now.
EMP bombs (Glide bomb with lots of high energy density capacitors and lots of coil wire- a small explosive charge causes the high-discharge rate capacitors to dump into the coil when the bomb reaches it's designated target; it'll nuke any radio gear nearby and possibly take out other solid state devices as well), microwave guns designed to suppress the operation of electronics on aircraft (By either causing induced currents in the circuitry that cause a lack of syncronization within computer devices (they lose sync, quit talking with each other) or at higher power levels, burn out the electronics), etc.
Go out and surf the WWW for pages with discussions of HERF (High-Energy RF) guns, HARRP (An Ionosphere "heater" that the DOD operates up in Alaska), and EM other warfare toys. It's all out there and it's all very real.
Linux runs on the Pilot. (A tricked out, hopped up Pilot, to be sure- but it runs on it just the same!)
In your situation, you're going to have to get your hands dirty and compile some sourcecode. Binaries do not always work as they were compiled to a given system situation- which includes a given kernel version.
As an example, the binaries for pppd that shipped with Red Hat 5.0 and 5.1 will not work in any way, shape or form, with the 2.2.X kernel- there's been quite a few changes that render the daemon inoperable, unless you use the sourcecode from the latest version or use the binary version installed with Red Hat 5.2.
If Red Hat didn't ship the latest binary version of libc with 5.2 (which, since libc's depreciated, I'm pretty sure they haven't) then you need to obtain the source and attempt to compile it as it's your only recourse- at least as long as nobody else works on the problem.
This is a contractual issue. Failure to follow through on the clause on Microsoft's or the OEM's part means they are open to a class action suit, something they don't want at this point in time. Believe me, some enterprising lawyer will smell blood and help set up one against the OEMs and Microsoft if they don't honor it on the 15th.
Intel and HP have said as much repeatedly.
First we find out that they've been caught forging evidence for the trial, now they come forward and admit that the consumer Windows "2000" will not be NT based and 9X is still alive afterall...
And it's going to get thrown out...
Which makes it mondo cool.
The content that the engine plays (the actual game) is different than the code that plays it (i.e. you can have an open-source, GPLed MPEG layer 3 player and still proprietarize the songs that you bundle with it (since you're not "extending" the player) so long as the source is available for download somewhere or you provide it upon request...)- I'd think that it'd be allowable so long as the engine code was available for download, etc.
Just quit bothering with it and wait until Red Hat, Debian, SuSE, Caldera, etc. release a distribution with it on the CD. Otherwise, quit yer complaining and keep compiling them...
...the fact that Dell's been shipping Linux on a custom install basis on their sever line now for at least 3-4 years. Combine this with the announcement that it's going to be offered as an option on their server line (not a custom install anymore!) sometime within the next 2 months.
;->
The top clone makers knew for some time that Linux was going to happen- this is just something that is happening a little sooner than the timetable that they had in mind...
I've got at least 3 or so copies of NT workstation and one copy of NT server that I and my employer will never use because these machines are Linux only boxes and the NT copies are utterly superfluous (We've a site license, believe it or not...). We're going to attempt a refund request on the date specified. All of you out there should too if you meet the criteria and have a Microsoft product covered by the EULA (Note: At least some copies of Windows 98 don't have the standard EULA with it- they've got some other license with them, according to the rumors going around. Make SURE you've got the EULA as a license for the software...)
...it's the whole shooting match. But I think they're constrained to just the 2D aspects- you'll have to ask XFree86 for the real skinny on the info they have in hand.
Work should begin in ernest on them. With Quake III, BFRIS, and now possibly Unreal, we're going to need solid support from cards other than Voodoo based ones. I happen to have the SiS register info if someone's game (I'm not going to be able to have an AGP motherboard for at least 2-4 months at this point and the SiS is only on motherboards and AGP cards...)
Right now, I'm going with the hardware I've got, such as it is- the Millenium II (Yes, I know that it's been discontinued, but there's a LOT of them out there...).
'nuff said!
There's little to nothing that says that they can't be making a native FreeBSD version (everything they need, save maybe the enhanced joystick drivers, are there)- they just didn't see a need for it (smaller market share?). I suggest that you talk to them directly about the prospects thereof.
PPC's are NICE but I don't want to put money into Apple's coffers anymore than I want to put the stuff in Microsoft's. Since the primary source of obtainable PPC machines are Apple Macs, I won't buy one. Not to mention that I can pick up a motherboard just about anywhere for the Intel architecture- I can't do that with the PPC and it's hard to do it for the Alpha.
If it pans out that this is the case, then watch as Microsoft's stocks take a major dive.