[that] this sort of thing wouldn't happen if the makers of Second Life would remove the exchange rate between Linden dollars and USD
Ah, of course. Because if the exchange rate wasn't controlled by the company, then nobody would want or be able to exchange in-game currency for legal tender, because nobody does that in WOW or EVE.
OK, you don't play the games, but do you know any actual humans?
I contribute to the Irrlicht open source 3d engine, and the "Project Announcements" forum (along with Sourceforge in general) is littered with the corpses of abandoned projects. All of them start with a burst of enthusiasm and high aspirations, then within 6 months they're either dead or fragmented into 4 new projects, all equally doomed.
To cut a long rant short, completing a commercial-quality game today (i.e. one that people might actually play) takes 100 man years of work, and a minimum of 2.5 elapsed years. Of course, nobody actually believes that, or else community projects would never get started.
To identify the doomed projects (which is all of them), simply ask to see the design documentation. If the answer is "We'll do that later" (which it always is) then don't even waste your time getting involved. If they don't know what they're developing, then how will they know when they're done?
Damn skippy they need to do that. G1G1 is bullshit; you're not "giving" a 2nd machine, you're just donating $200 to OLPC's overheads. I don't get $200 of warm fuzzy from that. I'd happily pay $200 for an XO, I'd pay $250 if I had to, and I might (after a few beers) splurge $300 on one. But $400 for one device? Never going to happen.
I find it hard to credit OLPC's claims that they want volume sales when they could ship these things by the millions in Japan and Korea. The XO is ideal for those markets, especially if someone knocks up a half decent telephony app for it. Unfortunately, at $400 a device, that "someone" won't be me.
They're mandating that ISPs PROVIDE filters for those that want them.
Alternatively, if you read on a bit, then you discover that the filtering may be on by default, and anyone not wanting it has to opt out, doubtless by clicking the "Yes, I am a paedophile" button.
Because every developer thinks that they can write a better engine, and every producer thinks that an engine is only worth what you pay for it. Both of these observations are from personal experience.
Counterpoint: the high water mark of human civilisation to date was one man standing aa a podium on September 12, 1962 and saying the words that even today make me weep like a Goddamn Frenchman every time I hear or read them:
We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard
Space exploration is, in the short to medium term, an emotional, irrational, prideful folly. I find it very hard to get excited about outsourcing it.
Hello. Do you know any actual humans? Here's something to ponder: economic interdependance and global trade is the most effective way to prevent war. If you stop trading, then your neighbour may decide to just come and take your resources.
I hear that if you ask real nicely, he'll send you a smeary grainy photocopy of the original card with the edges cropped off, to punish you for not respecting the-card-he-always-wanted-to-make.
Tell you what, I'll lay off the bad jokes when he stops raping my fucking childhood.
My own son is now the same age that I was when I saw Episode 4. I have an HD projector, a 150" screen and a surround sound system that can generate a small tsunami. And what does Lucas give me to show my kid? Remastered-Han-shoots-after-incompetent-shlub, Re-remastered-Han-shoots-at -the-same-time-as-some-incompetent-shlub-while-falling-over-drunkenly, or Han-shoots-first-in-LaserDisc-on-DVD-4:3-letterboxed-Dolby 2.0-crap-o-vision.
So, yes, Lucus-baiting is wearing a bit thin, but Lucas can end it right now by just giving the actual fans of his actual work what we actually want. Fair enough?
Except this isn't a high intensity war-winning weapon, it's an assassination or mop-up device. And the target isn't China, it's uppity brown people who refuse to accept that they're already beaten, hiding mortars and crude rockets in amongst schools and hospitals. It looks fit for purpose to me.
Good luck finding me. I'll be building one chemical weapons plant, and twenty big mirrors, 19 of which I'll put on schools, hospitals, and Red Cross warehouses.
Slashdot Mirror
That's a damn lie, and you know it. Second Life also has plenty of paedophiles.
Especially if we extend "They" to Real as well as Second Life.
Ah, of course. Because if the exchange rate wasn't controlled by the company, then nobody would want or be able to exchange in-game currency for legal tender, because nobody does that in WOW or EVE.
OK, you don't play the games, but do you know any actual humans?
I contribute to the Irrlicht open source 3d engine, and the "Project Announcements" forum (along with Sourceforge in general) is littered with the corpses of abandoned projects. All of them start with a burst of enthusiasm and high aspirations, then within 6 months they're either dead or fragmented into 4 new projects, all equally doomed.
To cut a long rant short, completing a commercial-quality game today (i.e. one that people might actually play) takes 100 man years of work, and a minimum of 2.5 elapsed years. Of course, nobody actually believes that, or else community projects would never get started.
To identify the doomed projects (which is all of them), simply ask to see the design documentation. If the answer is "We'll do that later" (which it always is) then don't even waste your time getting involved. If they don't know what they're developing, then how will they know when they're done?
Damn skippy they need to do that. G1G1 is bullshit; you're not "giving" a 2nd machine, you're just donating $200 to OLPC's overheads. I don't get $200 of warm fuzzy from that. I'd happily pay $200 for an XO, I'd pay $250 if I had to, and I might (after a few beers) splurge $300 on one. But $400 for one device? Never going to happen.
I find it hard to credit OLPC's claims that they want volume sales when they could ship these things by the millions in Japan and Korea. The XO is ideal for those markets, especially if someone knocks up a half decent telephony app for it. Unfortunately, at $400 a device, that "someone" won't be me.
I'm not talking about what the button does, I'm talking about the label on it - and by extension, on you.
And God so loved teh gay mans that He created organised religion to pressure them into staying in the closet and breeding.
Here's $2000. Give me 8 of those Thinkpads. What's the warranty on them like?
<Republican>Of course that's how it works. Nobody is born homosexual or French; they have to be groomed into it.</Republican>
Because every developer thinks that they can write a better engine, and every producer thinks that an engine is only worth what you pay for it. Both of these observations are from personal experience.
Counterpoint: the high water mark of human civilisation to date was one man standing aa a podium on September 12, 1962 and saying the words that even today make me weep like a Goddamn Frenchman every time I hear or read them:
Space exploration is, in the short to medium term, an emotional, irrational, prideful folly. I find it very hard to get excited about outsourcing it.
Hello. Do you know any actual humans? Here's something to ponder: economic interdependance and global trade is the most effective way to prevent war. If you stop trading, then your neighbour may decide to just come and take your resources.
Same question to you, but for XP vs 2K.
Hey, that should be Microsoft's new Vista marketing strategy: "Get the fuck over it." Snappy!
I think you meant to post that over at your browser homepage, feministing.com. THIS. IS. SLASHDOT.
You say that now, but what do you whisper to your iMac in the privacy of your parent's basement?
I hear that if you ask real nicely, he'll send you a smeary grainy photocopy of the original card with the edges cropped off, to punish you for not respecting the-card-he-always-wanted-to-make.
Tell you what, I'll lay off the bad jokes when he stops raping my fucking childhood.
My own son is now the same age that I was when I saw Episode 4. I have an HD projector, a 150" screen and a surround sound system that can generate a small tsunami. And what does Lucas give me to show my kid? Remastered-Han-shoots-after-incompetent-shlub, Re-remastered-Han-shoots-at -the-same-time-as-some-incompetent-shlub-while-falling-over-drunkenly, or Han-shoots-first-in-LaserDisc-on-DVD-4:3-letterboxed-Dolby 2.0-crap-o-vision.
So, yes, Lucus-baiting is wearing a bit thin, but Lucas can end it right now by just giving the actual fans of his actual work what we actually want. Fair enough?
They can get gmail on their iPhones?
Heeeeeeeeeeeeeehahahahaha, that's the funniest thing I've read this year. Thanks for ending it on a high!
You're really not getting the part about the Forces of Freedom only picking on brown people with 30 year old technology, are you?
Oh noes, an illegal weapon! Now the War Police will take it off us!
Right makes right, you tree hugging fag.
Except this isn't a high intensity war-winning weapon, it's an assassination or mop-up device. And the target isn't China, it's uppity brown people who refuse to accept that they're already beaten, hiding mortars and crude rockets in amongst schools and hospitals. It looks fit for purpose to me.
Good luck finding me. I'll be building one chemical weapons plant, and twenty big mirrors, 19 of which I'll put on schools, hospitals, and Red Cross warehouses.