We've been following up with several different sources including the developers and everything we've heard has pointed to the alleged "delay" being false info.
We're just waiting on an official statement to make a follow-up post sealing the deal.
It's a pretty simple business tactic. If you create an account, you've invested time in the website and are more likely to return for returns on your investment. Obviously it scares off some people who wont bother but surprisingly not as many as many think. Yes, there are obvious downsides, but the upside has proven to be greater.
In addition, in the event that you'd like to actually subscribe to the pay service you get to keep that username you've already established and (hopefully) become attached to.
Shack is a business (although as far as businesses go, its more of a labor of love), there's no denying that.
I pay for that bandwidth, but I'm playing the odds that my asking you to create an account will make you more likely to do more than just use that bandwidth I pay for and never come back. So that is why I 'bother you' in hopes of you returning. This is actually noted on the account creation page.
Yes I'm sure there are millions of other ways to accomplish this, but really if spam isnt an issue with creating an account then I guess the only other issue is your time. Considering the service that I'm providing to you though I hope you dont think a few minutes of your time is asking so much in return for that bandwidth bill that I pay?
Yes, the entire business model of FileShack is just like the guys in the supermarket aisle. We give out free samples in hopes that you'll buy a box which of course also includes webspace/email/cdw discounts/etc. That's probably a pretty futile model though in a crowd like Slashdot.:)
Welp, we've been around for over 7 years and have in excess of 1 million accounts.
At no point have I ever or will I ever consider adding to the already disgusting amount of spam on the internet.
Of course I'm sure a lot of people say that just to get your address, but perhaps the fact that it's been all these years through the thick and thin of the internet economy that I still refused to sell those accounts (and yes there have been offers) will account for something.
Well, I've got ShackES/Shacknews (I own the pages) running on a temporary server that couldnt quite handle any additional traffic, much less a/. link. Getting that poor thing to respond at all would just be futile...
But, if ShackES was actually working you would see that the event was featured on CNN Headline News for a live 3+ minute interview and ESPN and several local TV stations were there at the event.
Once ShackES/Shacknews are up and running again (probably late tonight?) there are links to a video stream of the CNN interview and info on the ESPN etc coverage that was there.
Also btw, WCG also went on this weekend, they spread out about $250,000 in cash for their tournament, CPL did $150,000 cash and another $100,000 in prizes (including a car).
Half a million worth of prizes going out to people playing computer games in one weekend, cant say I would have expected that one.
Nope, the only module Slashdot is using is mod_perl (here) The compression I'm using on the page you mentioned (glad you like it) is called mod_gzip and you can get that here. The latest release finally addressed some of the dynamic and cache related issues we were having.. Since I'm running the Shack server on BSD had to wait around for the port which came out a couple of days ago. It's improved vastly since the earlier builds which was pretty much a novelty but hard to use in any real world scenario. The only issues I've run into with this version is the transmit error showing up a little more than it should (but that doesnt break anything) -Steve Gibson
This was a bad translation that was covered a week or so ago at Nintendojo as well as my page. Here is another quote
'We have high hopes for the show and are confident the games will impress and astound attendees.'
The 'freeze' was just horribly translated. What he was referring to was in more general terms just to stop doing whatever doesn't impress people at E3. Sounds like what any developer would say. If they show off something at a trade show and everyone says that particular aspect or feature of a game sucks then they dont do it. He wasnt referring to the console system as a whole though. -Steve Gibson
I think we're missing some important info. Are the known security holes being referenced holes in the initial setup that the host is providing or are the security holes in the software that the webmasters installed on the box?
I'd absolutely expect a host to make sure whatever they provide is secure and to not charge extra to make sure their software is secure.
However if you install your own custom software onto the box, then it is your responsibility for any problems that software may cause.
That is unless the hosts somehow claimed something as stupid as "you install it, we support it!" in their contract. That is one hell of a lot of software to support.
Like many other people here I've been involved in colos for years with a few different providers. In every case that was how things worked.
Well I guess this will be a nice workout of the new FreeBSD server. For the curious the screens.x script is PHP that works off a bunch of f_checks based on file and directory names to generate those screenshot pages. No database hits involved in serving up those DOOM images.
Oh yeah, and DOOM looks amazing. Too bad NVidia cant make up their mind about releasing more info on the GeForce3. They have changed their mind 3 times in the past 24hours. -Steve Gibson
The only thing Gamecenter had going for it was a pretty good layout. The content was absolutely god-awful bad. I felt the page was a constant embarrassment to CNET and had really been wondering when they were going to pull the plug.
An interesting note, with the merger GameSpot is hiring a total of ZERO of the Gamecenter editorial staff.
GameSpot does have a pretty assy layout but their staff has a clue which I value quite a bit more. -Steve Gibson
The article is a bit misleading, Several people got confirmation from Bubba after that article came out on cnet with word that 3dfx will not be bringing the V5-6000 to retail. Here's the story I posted about it a while ago with a quote from the same Bubba Wolford:
problem being once again this is not a cheater dll. this is a video driver hack. you cant crc the video driver because there are hundreds of drivers constantly being released, all with different version numbers and different crc values. -Steve Gibson
Slashdot Mirror
We've been following up with several different sources including the developers and everything we've heard has pointed to the alleged "delay" being false info.
We're just waiting on an official statement to make a follow-up post sealing the deal.
Well here ya go
:)
It's a pretty simple business tactic. If you create an account, you've invested time in the website and are more likely to return for returns on your investment. Obviously it scares off some people who wont bother but surprisingly not as many as many think. Yes, there are obvious downsides, but the upside has proven to be greater.
In addition, in the event that you'd like to actually subscribe to the pay service you get to keep that username you've already established and (hopefully) become attached to.
Shack is a business (although as far as businesses go, its more of a labor of love), there's no denying that.
I pay for that bandwidth, but I'm playing the odds that my asking you to create an account will make you more likely to do more than just use that bandwidth I pay for and never come back. So that is why I 'bother you' in hopes of you returning. This is actually noted on the account creation page.
Yes I'm sure there are millions of other ways to accomplish this, but really if spam isnt an issue with creating an account then I guess the only other issue is your time. Considering the service that I'm providing to you though I hope you dont think a few minutes of your time is asking so much in return for that bandwidth bill that I pay?
Yes, the entire business model of FileShack is just like the guys in the supermarket aisle. We give out free samples in hopes that you'll buy a box which of course also includes webspace/email/cdw discounts/etc. That's probably a pretty futile model though in a crowd like Slashdot.
Welp, we've been around for over 7 years and have in excess of 1 million accounts.
At no point have I ever or will I ever consider adding to the already disgusting amount of spam on the internet.
Of course I'm sure a lot of people say that just to get your address, but perhaps the fact that it's been all these years through the thick and thin of the internet economy that I still refused to sell those accounts (and yes there have been offers) will account for something.
The link on the frontpage isnt quite right, here's a link to all the movies that makes a bit more sense.
Although we're a bit full tonight with the release of a couple of big demos.
... posting since /. broke my webserver ...
/. link. Getting that poor thing to respond at all would just be futile...
Well, I've got ShackES/Shacknews (I own the pages) running on a temporary server that couldnt quite handle any additional traffic, much less a
But, if ShackES was actually working you would see that the event was featured on CNN Headline News for a live 3+ minute interview and ESPN and several local TV stations were there at the event.
Once ShackES/Shacknews are up and running again (probably late tonight?) there are links to a video stream of the CNN interview and info on the ESPN etc coverage that was there.
Also btw, WCG also went on this weekend, they spread out about $250,000 in cash for their tournament, CPL did $150,000 cash and another $100,000 in prizes (including a car).
Half a million worth of prizes going out to people playing computer games in one weekend, cant say I would have expected that one.
Nope, the only module Slashdot is using is mod_perl (here) The compression I'm using on the page you mentioned (glad you like it) is called mod_gzip and you can get that here. The latest release finally addressed some of the dynamic and cache related issues we were having.. Since I'm running the Shack server on BSD had to wait around for the port which came out a couple of days ago. It's improved vastly since the earlier builds which was pretty much a novelty but hard to use in any real world scenario. The only issues I've run into with this version is the transmit error showing up a little more than it should (but that doesnt break anything)
-Steve Gibson
The 'freeze' was just horribly translated. What he was referring to was in more general terms just to stop doing whatever doesn't impress people at E3. Sounds like what any developer would say. If they show off something at a trade show and everyone says that particular aspect or feature of a game sucks then they dont do it. He wasnt referring to the console system as a whole though.
-Steve Gibson
I think we're missing some important info. Are the known security holes being referenced holes in the initial setup that the host is providing or are the security holes in the software that the webmasters installed on the box?
I'd absolutely expect a host to make sure whatever they provide is secure and to not charge extra to make sure their software is secure.
However if you install your own custom software onto the box, then it is your responsibility for any problems that software may cause.
That is unless the hosts somehow claimed something as stupid as "you install it, we support it!" in their contract. That is one hell of a lot of software to support.
Like many other people here I've been involved in colos for years with a few different providers. In every case that was how things worked.
-Steve Gibson
Well I guess this will be a nice workout of the new FreeBSD server. For the curious the screens.x script is PHP that works off a bunch of f_checks based on file and directory names to generate those screenshot pages. No database hits involved in serving up those DOOM images.
Oh yeah, and DOOM looks amazing. Too bad NVidia cant make up their mind about releasing more info on the GeForce3. They have changed their mind 3 times in the past 24hours.
-Steve Gibson
The only thing Gamecenter had going for it was a pretty good layout. The content was absolutely god-awful bad. I felt the page was a constant embarrassment to CNET and had really been wondering when they were going to pull the plug.
An interesting note, with the merger GameSpot is hiring a total of ZERO of the Gamecenter editorial staff.
GameSpot does have a pretty assy layout but their staff has a clue which I value quite a bit more.
-Steve Gibson
The article is a bit misleading, Several people got confirmation from Bubba after that article came out on cnet with word that 3dfx will not be bringing the V5-6000 to retail. Here's the story I posted about it a while ago with a quote from the same Bubba Wolford:
3dfx not bringing V5-6000 to retail
-Steve Gibson
Well since I run Shugashack.com I figured I would clarify for you guys.
2 weeks was just my idea of a bad joke. A few years ago id was famous for saying '2 weeks' for release dates.
There was no actual mention of a release date given.
-Steve Gibson
problem being once again this is not a cheater dll. this is a video driver hack. you cant crc the video driver because there are hundreds of drivers constantly being released, all with different version numbers and different crc values.
-Steve Gibson