Re:Small Scale Death Star II? As opposed to what?
on
Han Solo in Lego Carbonite
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
I don't mind the custom pieces in small numbers... And if the intent is to build a specific model then they are very necessary. What I mind is the fact that it is becoming increasingly difficult for me to find/buy just the regular blocks. Sure...building a blockade runner is fun, but what about when you just want to assemble pieces and see what you can come up with? Last time I was in a toy store 95% of the lego kits they had were "models" of various kinds. Airplanes, star wars stuff, space shuttles, police stations, cars, those bionicle things...it took me quite some time to locate the regular building blocks. This is what annoys me, and what I complain about. It is becoming nigh-impossible to get the basic lego sets.
Imagine going to the store to buy some modeling clay...and all they have are kits in which most of the clay has already been shaped, dried, and painted...and all you do is stick them together into some pre-determined model. Imagine searching from store to store to find a simple tub of modeling clay, and only finding those kits. That's how I feel sometimes.
I don't really think its a matter of intent... The problem is that we don't know if it was the machine malfunctioning or not. There is no record. These people signed in and whatnot, but there are no votes recorded for them. Did the system lose the votes, or did the voters just not use the system right? We don't know. We also don't know if anyone manually edited the vote counts. There is no record of what did or didn't happen with those voters. At leas with a traditional paper ballot you can look at the piece of paper and see that yes a vote was made, no we can't tell what it is, someone screwed up.
But...that's the point. There's no paper trail at all, so who knows what those people intended. I don't live in Florida, so I have no idea what their touch-screen system looked like, but maybe there was a "none of the above" button. Maybe they didn't like any of the candidates, and intended to vote for "none of the above", but it didn't work right. Or maybe they thought they voted for someone, but didn't hit "accept" or something similar. Maybe they just got bored and went home... Maybe they hit a wrong button and couldn't figure out how to un-do it... Maybe the machine just lost their votes... We don't know, because there is absolutely no record, no indication of what they did or didn't do. There's no way to check and see whether the system is working right or not.
Personally, I don't find it all that hard to believe that violence in video games (or just about any other media) would lead to violence in real life. If little Jonny goes home every day and plays GTA3 for hours on end...how can that not affect him?
I certainly don't claim that a game or two of Vice City will turn you into a homicidal killer...but it definitely colors your view of the world. Just as a good movie or book does, quality games influence how we experience the world around us.
The problem is not the media, and mature content in the media, the problem is who it is being delivered to and how it is being recieved. Many games these days are not intended for children. That 'M' rating is there for a reason. And even the 'T' rated games expect a certain level of maturity that may not be present.
It is assumed that a parent will be present to determine whether a game is appropriate for their child, and also to set a moral foundation for that child. To explain what is right and wrong, and why something may or may not be acceptable in a video game. The problem is that this is not usually a valid assumption.
I work at the local EB and you would be absolutely amazed how many people come into my store to pick up a copy of GTA3 or Vice City for their little children. I had one woman come in to EB with her child in tow...I'd guess he was about 5 years old - couldn't possibly have been much older than that. She wanted Vice City, I informed her that it was rated "Mature - for violence, language, and sexual content." She said that was fine, he'd played it at a friend's house anyway, and bought the game for her little boy. This is what we need to fix...not the fact that there are violent video games out there.
These "parents" are subjecting their children to information and experiences that they aren't old enough to understand or assimilate... And aren't providing a moral framework to live by. Then they're amazed when their children don't turn out the way they'd hoped. Idiots.
Alright, maybe I should just keep my mouth shut... But I work retail (at EB) and this has always been an annoyance - especially over the holidays.
On sale means that items are being sold...for example, "On sale now!" means that the product is currently available in stores for your purchase. Not necessarily that it is available at a special, lower price.
Yes, I realize that "on sale" can also mean that you've got a new, temporarily lower price...but it doesn't have to.
We get signs up all the time for new games and products that say "on sale now", and then people get upset when we're charging the same price as our competitors.
Go ahead and flame me for asking...but how far did you play in NWN, and how involved did you get with the storyline? I've got a co-worker who bought the original NWN on the same day I did...and a week later he was thoroughly trashing the game. He hated it. He was looking for the next Baldur's Gate, and this wasn't it. He hated the shallowness, he hated the hirelings, he hated it all.
Then I started talking to someone else about the hireling quests...trying to help Tomi find the forged document proving his innocents... And helping people out around Neverwinter, some of the side-quests. I mentioned some of the later chapters, like the one where you sit in judgement over two muderous brothers. He wondered what game I was talking about...and when I told him it was NWN he was absolutely amazed. Apparently he'd only played for a little while and then given up.
I will agree that the original NWN is very anemic compared to Baldur's Gate. The storyline isn't quite as rich or as deep...in this respect it compares better to the Icewind Dale games. As for the hirelings... Well, they weren't real great in NWN either...but the expansions have really improved. The hirelings in SoU and HotU now interrupt the game with comments, interact with you, toss comments into a conversation, point out things you may have missed...and there are many more options for dealing with them, including the ability to manage their inventory.
I think the problem is that in NWN, BioWare set out to create basically a D&D engine...and that's where most of the effort was focused. The storytelling suffered a bit because of that. In the expansions though...the engine is done, and the emphasis is now on the storytelling. And both the expansions have been much better than the original NWN storyline.
What I'm wondering...is how exactly he is supposed to "obtain full-time employment or enroll in college" with a ban on computer use? I teach at the local Community College, and its awfully hard to make it through a single class up there without using a computer for something. I keep in contact with my students via email, and many of their projects are submitted that way as well.
As for full-time employment...well, it looks like he's probably quite well qualified for some kind of IT type position...too bad he isn't allowed to use computers. I suppose he could work retail...oh, wait, no...they use computers too... How about food service? Nope, computers there too. Ummm... I guess he could mow lawns?
I'm seeing a lot of people on here complaining that they want their ports open...but you need to remember that we are not indicative of the "average" user.
Like it or not, the Internet no longer consists entirely of technically inclined people. We are outnumbered by folks who just want to read email and surf the web...and don't even know what SSH is.
The problem is that their ignorance affects the entire Internet community. If a few thousand people get infected with the latest worm and start DDoSing a server, or bogging down the mail relays, everyone is affected - even the technically inclined people who were smart enough not to get infected.
Your average user just wants an appliance, a tool they can use without too much effort. They don't know about ports, and don't want to. Honestly, they shouldn't have to know everything that we do - it isn't their problem. Just as I don't know everything that my Doctor does...they don't need to know everything that their ISP does.
For this average user, I think port blocking would be a godsend. Honestly, there really aren't all that many applications that require incoming connections to your home machine....most of the time it is outgoing. Shut down the ports, protect the "average" user, and then let those who know what they're doing open their ports back up.
all of these require incoming ports to be opened on the client, in case it wasn't obvious
Not true, not true.... All of these require incoming ports to be open if you want to host the service. Connecting to an existing P2P, chat, or game server works just fine with ports closed. You are the one connecting, therefor you are the one starting the data stream, and therefore it is an outgoing (not incoming) connection.
Now, yes, this isn't 100% true 100% of the time, but you'll notice that more and more software these days works from behind a firewall. Software that didn't work gets patched, and more and more of the new stuff coming out works fine. As long as you aren't hosting, closed ports aren't much of a problem.
Frankly, I think its about time that MS started at least trying to secure their products. I mean, we've had the ability to secure them for some time...but it wasn't enabled by default. The built-in firewall? Disabled by default. All those assorted patches and updates? Up to the user to actually go out and install them.
I would be thrilled to see a default install of Windows become more secure...it would make my life a lot easier. Just so long as they allow the option to disable things (like the personal firewall) if you choose to.
I live in Plattsburgh, NY...right in the middle of this blackout. Half of the city is blacked out right now. In fact, I'm home early from work since the mall lost power. But, everything is fine here at home... We don't get our power from Nyseg, or Niagra Mohawk, we're on a local electric co-op...and we've still got power. I'm amazed. Happy, but amazed.
I read the original article...and then the follow-up one posted today... And I'm underwhelmed, to say the least. I was expecting a READ MORE link at the bottom, or something. That's it...just 5 paragraphs of "remember that the techs are people, too."
Bah!
We sincerely need to educate end-users. The level of illiteracy I see on a day-to-day basis is absolutely frightening. We wouldn't let people drive cars with that level of ignorance...why let them operate a computer?
WRONG! You do need to understand the terminology, at least enough to use it. If I am buying a car, it would be good to know what MPG and Horsepower are, maybe what the difference is between all-while drive and four-wheel drive - otherwise, how will I know what I'm buying? ABS? Airbags? More terms... But it's ok to make people understand those terms, right?
So what's wrong with a gigabyte? Or megahertz? Why sholdn't people know what those mean? I don't care if someone knows exactly how big a gigabyte is...but they better know that it's a measure of storage.
Arrogance has nothing to do with it. People simply NEED to be informed.
Morally wrong? I suppose that would depend on how you'd been raised... Theft is morally wrong, right? Stealing somebody's wallet, you'd call that morally wrong wouldn't you? That's what file swapping is. It's taking (sharing, distributing, copying, whatever) something you shouldn't be.
Now, having said that, I personally pirate software quite often...and am absolutely remorseless about it...and worse, my paycheck depends on the software industry! The problem is that due to circumstances beyond my control, there is no legal way to preview the software I want to buy. And I can't buy it unless I know it works.
Is it legally wrong? Yes. Is it morally wrong? yes. Is there a legal or moral alternative? No.
So, either I pirate the software...find the good stuff...buy it...and support the industry... Or I just keep my money and let the software industry do without.
I work at the local EB, and we've been having more and more customers come in with problems related to copy protection schemes in the last year or so. We've got folks who can't play their games or DVDs on their Xbox or PS2 because they happen to be running it through a VCR. We've got folks who can't install or play various games because their CD drive isn't supported by the latest incarnation of SafeDisk or its ilk. We've got people with a tiny scratch in some vital part of the disc, which suddenly makes the entire thing unplayable. We've got folks with misprinted CD keys. We've got people with strange hardware configurations that aren't allowed by SafeDisk and its friends. All these things in an attempt to prevent piracy....and all they do is make things difficult for the paying customers. The actual pirates don't have to put up with any of these problems.
I work at the local EB, and we've recently had to change our return policy due to rampant piracy (or so the company tells me). Where you were previously allowed to return software that had been opened, you are now stuck with it. Doesn't matter if you don't like it, or if it didn't work on your system, or what - if it's open, it's yours. EB isn't the only place locally with a return policy like that. This makes it vitally important to try software out before purchasing it.
Worse, many demos/betas/tests are not fully representative of the finished product. I always whine about the Lords of Magic Special Edition game I tried and purchased years ago... The demo was great, tons of fun, and made me want the game desperately. Went out and bought it, and the game was nothing like the demo. Unfortunately, I couldn't return it to the store I bought from.
So, if you can't return it, and demos aren't indicitive of product quality, what do you do? I honestly recommend "acquiring" the game through some other means and giving it a try. Download it, borrow it from a friend, play at a friend's house, rent it, whatever. These days we're running out of legal ways to preview our software...and at $50 a game it's not something I can really afford to make mistakes on...
Alright. I was all prepared to get indignant and start ranting about the destruction of the Internet... And then I had to go and visit their samples page.
I was fairly surprised to see them working properly in Mozilla, even with page resize & its friends disabled... But they did work. I got a new window that completely filled up my screen..and the add played. And amazingly enough, it really isn't that annoying.
There's a link right up at the top to skip the commercial (I hope they ALL do this), and your browser and everything else are left entirely untouched in the background. Nothing is moved or re-arranged. You just get that one commercial, which you can skip, and then back to your browsing.
Frankly, if I have to choose between those and your standard pop-up/under...I'll go with these new full-screen ones.
You know, I'm really not all that certain that Microsoft is losing money on these systems anymore. Sure, when it first came out the specs seemed fairly impressive, and there was initial outlay for the fabrication equipment.... But looking at the components from today's pricepoint I really don't think MS is losing all that much.
It's a 700 Mhz Celeron processor, 64 MB of RAM, an 8 GB HDD, a DVD dive, and a custom mobo with video & sound on it... Plus the case. I'd be very surprised if components like that cost much more than the $200 they're currently selling the Xbox for. And keep in mind that at this point in time MS is turning out dozens of Xboxes every hour from custom factories with an assortment of bulk contracts...I doubt if they're paying anything remotely close to what we would be.
My first computer was a macintosh. An old Mac SE 40. For a while there, mac were all I'd use... Now, there has never been the same range of software available for the mac as there was for PC. I used to go in to the local EB and see row after row of software for wintel machines...but little, if anything for macintosh. Inconvenient...but once I got to college it really didn't bother me anymore.
In college I had a decent internet connection, and was exposed to all the wonderful shareware out there. Ambrosia is one of the best shareward companies I have ever had the joy of dealing with. They produce both useful and useless, but all of their software is very high quality. The stuff they turn out is at least as nice as anything you'll see boxed up in a store. Escape Velocity was always one of my favorite games... For a while I was looking at getting a cheap mac or some sort of emulation program just to play EV again. I am absolutely thrilled that they're finally porting it to the PC. I can't wait to buy mine.
There are tons of very high quality shareware companies out there that turn out very nice products. I've seen a number of shareware products make the transion to retail-box products as well. There's absolutely no reason to discount a software product just because it is shareware.
You know... I honestly don't know if this war is justified or necessary. We've been told about how horrible Saddam is, how he's gassing his own people and whatnot, but I really have no idea how true that is. I know from watching various foreign coverage of world news events that what we see here in the US, and what is broadcast elsewhere can be two very different things. I don't like Saddam though, and I'll be happy to see him removed.
I realize that Saddam had years and years to disarm, and that he's (supposedly) got weapons of mass destruction, and he's violated the UN decisions time and time again... But he's not the only one. North Korea openly admits to having nukes, while Saddam continues to insist that he got rid of all the mass destruction stuff. There are plenty of nations out there that have ignored and/or violated UN decisions, and we can now add our name to that list, but we aren't attacking all of them.
What really bothers me about this is the fact that we're the bad-guy. In just about every other war I can think of, and especially anything recent, the US was the good-guy. We were going in there to make things better. To fix something that was broken. And generally speaking, the world stood behind us. This time around, it looks as if the only ones who want to go to war are the US and Brittain, while everyone else screams for peace.
I wouldn't find that nearly so disturbing if our reasons didn't seem to shift with every new day. First we had this "war on terror" thing, and Iraq was linked to terrorism. Then it was about him not disarming and ignoring the UN. Then it had something to do with pre-emptively attacking so he couldn't hit us. Now we're "liberating" Iraq. Sure, all these reasons could be true.... That's possible. But the way they're being presented feels like a kid fishing around for excuses.
I've taken plenty of comparative religion and anthropology courses in college, and I just can't shake the feeling that we shouldn't be going over there to "liberate" anyone. Maybe they're oppressed...maybe they aren't. I don't know. But it seems to me that if a nation wants liberation, it should come from within. Who are we to say that they need to be liberated? Who else around this world needs to be liberated? Who is next?
I'm also more than a little saddened to see history repeating itself... We've funded more than one extremist group in the Middle East beause it served our purposes at the time. We give them money, hardware, training...tell them that we'll help them rebuild after it is all over...and they attack our enemies. Sounds great, but then we leave them high and dry, with no help on the rebuilding. This, understandably, leaves a sour taste in their mouth and eventually leads to a new enemy for the US. And then we go in and "liberate" the country from these horrible, awful people. That's how Bin Laden and the Taliban got their start...that's how Saddam got his start... And if you'll notice, it looks like we're leaving Afganistan high & dry at the moment.
I suppose, if I had more faith in the President, that I wouldn't be objecting nearly as much. The fact of the matter though, is that I don't like Bush. He seems like an idiotic rich kid who just got voted in because of his daddy. I know this probably isn't true, I doubt if it is really that easy to become president, but that is the image that he portrays. Add to that the questionable evidence of drug use, alchoholism, and his ties to big business... I don't like his politics. I don't like how he's handling the international scene. I don't like his assorted tax cuts and school reforms. In short, I can't wait to vote him out.
I can't help but wonder if we'd be better off if Gore had been elected. Maybe we'd still be going to war, maybe we wouldn't.... Nobody can know that. Maybe this war is completely necessary, and there's no way it could have been avoided. But, with this idiot behind the wheel, I have a very hard time feeling good about anything the US is doing these days. When so much of the world is against us on this decision, it just makes me wonder even more. Is this really necessary? Are the motives really humanitarian? Is there no better way?
I bought MoO3, and played it for 30+ hours, desperately seeking some kind of enjoyment. I never found any. I wound up returning my copy for Freelancer. I've been watching GalCiv for a little while now, and it actually looks halfway decent. I think I may need to pick up a copy. This time around, however, I'll wait and see what some of the players are saying before I pick it up.
Well, that's the whole point, really. The idea is to design a monitor/screen system that can create a truly 3D image, without having to rely on any kind of goggles or glasses. So that people could sit back in their comfy chair, and get a 3D experience.
I picked up my copy of MoO3 earlier today, and I've been playing it ever since. The transition from MoO2 (which I was playing just last night) is rough, to say the least. Many, many things have changed. Not better, not worse, just very different. I don't know if I like it yet. Some things seem to be more complicated than they need to be... Others seem too simple... The in-game documentation is either well hidden, or missing. There isn't much of a tutorial. Numbers appear to be the preferred representation...rather than any kind of graphical charts or meters. And there's an awful lot of AI assistance available to keep things moving along. Visually, it's a disappointment. The graphics are very dated. The GUI is stark, dull, and cluttered. But... I'm still being drawn back to it, to play some more. We'll see.
If anyone is curious, I'll be posting my impressions to my blog.
Yes, there are people who buy every single season of a game just to get the updated rosters. There really is little more than that different from one season to the next, too. A tweak in gameplay here, a minor update to graphics there, but nothing major. Essentially the same game recycled with different players.
What's worse than that, however, is that many of these people will also buy several different brands of the same game. At EB we have folks come in who have been playing Madden 2003 for months and are bored with it...so they grab Sega NFL 2k3 or NFL Fever for a little variety!
Slashdot Mirror
I don't mind the custom pieces in small numbers... And if the intent is to build a specific model then they are very necessary. What I mind is the fact that it is becoming increasingly difficult for me to find/buy just the regular blocks. Sure...building a blockade runner is fun, but what about when you just want to assemble pieces and see what you can come up with? Last time I was in a toy store 95% of the lego kits they had were "models" of various kinds. Airplanes, star wars stuff, space shuttles, police stations, cars, those bionicle things...it took me quite some time to locate the regular building blocks. This is what annoys me, and what I complain about. It is becoming nigh-impossible to get the basic lego sets.
Imagine going to the store to buy some modeling clay...and all they have are kits in which most of the clay has already been shaped, dried, and painted...and all you do is stick them together into some pre-determined model. Imagine searching from store to store to find a simple tub of modeling clay, and only finding those kits. That's how I feel sometimes.
yrs,
Ephemeriis
I don't really think its a matter of intent... The problem is that we don't know if it was the machine malfunctioning or not. There is no record. These people signed in and whatnot, but there are no votes recorded for them. Did the system lose the votes, or did the voters just not use the system right? We don't know. We also don't know if anyone manually edited the vote counts. There is no record of what did or didn't happen with those voters. At leas with a traditional paper ballot you can look at the piece of paper and see that yes a vote was made, no we can't tell what it is, someone screwed up.
yrs,
Ephemeriis
But...that's the point. There's no paper trail at all, so who knows what those people intended. I don't live in Florida, so I have no idea what their touch-screen system looked like, but maybe there was a "none of the above" button. Maybe they didn't like any of the candidates, and intended to vote for "none of the above", but it didn't work right. Or maybe they thought they voted for someone, but didn't hit "accept" or something similar. Maybe they just got bored and went home... Maybe they hit a wrong button and couldn't figure out how to un-do it... Maybe the machine just lost their votes... We don't know, because there is absolutely no record, no indication of what they did or didn't do. There's no way to check and see whether the system is working right or not.
yrs,
Ephemeriis
Personally, I don't find it all that hard to believe that violence in video games (or just about any other media) would lead to violence in real life. If little Jonny goes home every day and plays GTA3 for hours on end...how can that not affect him?
I certainly don't claim that a game or two of Vice City will turn you into a homicidal killer...but it definitely colors your view of the world. Just as a good movie or book does, quality games influence how we experience the world around us.
The problem is not the media, and mature content in the media, the problem is who it is being delivered to and how it is being recieved. Many games these days are not intended for children. That 'M' rating is there for a reason. And even the 'T' rated games expect a certain level of maturity that may not be present.
It is assumed that a parent will be present to determine whether a game is appropriate for their child, and also to set a moral foundation for that child. To explain what is right and wrong, and why something may or may not be acceptable in a video game. The problem is that this is not usually a valid assumption.
I work at the local EB and you would be absolutely amazed how many people come into my store to pick up a copy of GTA3 or Vice City for their little children. I had one woman come in to EB with her child in tow...I'd guess he was about 5 years old - couldn't possibly have been much older than that. She wanted Vice City, I informed her that it was rated "Mature - for violence, language, and sexual content." She said that was fine, he'd played it at a friend's house anyway, and bought the game for her little boy. This is what we need to fix...not the fact that there are violent video games out there.
These "parents" are subjecting their children to information and experiences that they aren't old enough to understand or assimilate... And aren't providing a moral framework to live by. Then they're amazed when their children don't turn out the way they'd hoped. Idiots.
yrs,
Ephemeriis
Alright, maybe I should just keep my mouth shut... But I work retail (at EB) and this has always been an annoyance - especially over the holidays.
On sale means that items are being sold...for example, "On sale now!" means that the product is currently available in stores for your purchase. Not necessarily that it is available at a special, lower price.
Yes, I realize that "on sale" can also mean that you've got a new, temporarily lower price...but it doesn't have to.
We get signs up all the time for new games and products that say "on sale now", and then people get upset when we're charging the same price as our competitors.
yrs,
Ephemeriis
Go ahead and flame me for asking...but how far did you play in NWN, and how involved did you get with the storyline? I've got a co-worker who bought the original NWN on the same day I did...and a week later he was thoroughly trashing the game. He hated it. He was looking for the next Baldur's Gate, and this wasn't it. He hated the shallowness, he hated the hirelings, he hated it all.
Then I started talking to someone else about the hireling quests...trying to help Tomi find the forged document proving his innocents... And helping people out around Neverwinter, some of the side-quests. I mentioned some of the later chapters, like the one where you sit in judgement over two muderous brothers. He wondered what game I was talking about...and when I told him it was NWN he was absolutely amazed. Apparently he'd only played for a little while and then given up.
I will agree that the original NWN is very anemic compared to Baldur's Gate. The storyline isn't quite as rich or as deep...in this respect it compares better to the Icewind Dale games. As for the hirelings... Well, they weren't real great in NWN either...but the expansions have really improved. The hirelings in SoU and HotU now interrupt the game with comments, interact with you, toss comments into a conversation, point out things you may have missed...and there are many more options for dealing with them, including the ability to manage their inventory.
I think the problem is that in NWN, BioWare set out to create basically a D&D engine...and that's where most of the effort was focused. The storytelling suffered a bit because of that. In the expansions though...the engine is done, and the emphasis is now on the storytelling. And both the expansions have been much better than the original NWN storyline.
yrs
Ephemeriis
What I'm wondering...is how exactly he is supposed to "obtain full-time employment or enroll in college" with a ban on computer use? I teach at the local Community College, and its awfully hard to make it through a single class up there without using a computer for something. I keep in contact with my students via email, and many of their projects are submitted that way as well.
As for full-time employment...well, it looks like he's probably quite well qualified for some kind of IT type position...too bad he isn't allowed to use computers. I suppose he could work retail...oh, wait, no...they use computers too... How about food service? Nope, computers there too. Ummm... I guess he could mow lawns?
yrs,
Ephemeriis
I'm seeing a lot of people on here complaining that they want their ports open...but you need to remember that we are not indicative of the "average" user.
Like it or not, the Internet no longer consists entirely of technically inclined people. We are outnumbered by folks who just want to read email and surf the web...and don't even know what SSH is.
The problem is that their ignorance affects the entire Internet community. If a few thousand people get infected with the latest worm and start DDoSing a server, or bogging down the mail relays, everyone is affected - even the technically inclined people who were smart enough not to get infected.
Your average user just wants an appliance, a tool they can use without too much effort. They don't know about ports, and don't want to. Honestly, they shouldn't have to know everything that we do - it isn't their problem. Just as I don't know everything that my Doctor does...they don't need to know everything that their ISP does.
For this average user, I think port blocking would be a godsend. Honestly, there really aren't all that many applications that require incoming connections to your home machine....most of the time it is outgoing. Shut down the ports, protect the "average" user, and then let those who know what they're doing open their ports back up.
yrs,
Ephemeriis
all of these require incoming ports to be opened on the client, in case it wasn't obvious
Not true, not true.... All of these require incoming ports to be open if you want to host the service. Connecting to an existing P2P, chat, or game server works just fine with ports closed. You are the one connecting, therefor you are the one starting the data stream, and therefore it is an outgoing (not incoming) connection.
Now, yes, this isn't 100% true 100% of the time, but you'll notice that more and more software these days works from behind a firewall. Software that didn't work gets patched, and more and more of the new stuff coming out works fine. As long as you aren't hosting, closed ports aren't much of a problem.
yrs,
Ephemeriis
Frankly, I think its about time that MS started at least trying to secure their products. I mean, we've had the ability to secure them for some time...but it wasn't enabled by default. The built-in firewall? Disabled by default. All those assorted patches and updates? Up to the user to actually go out and install them.
I would be thrilled to see a default install of Windows become more secure...it would make my life a lot easier. Just so long as they allow the option to disable things (like the personal firewall) if you choose to.
yrs,
Ephemeriis
I live in Plattsburgh, NY...right in the middle of this blackout. Half of the city is blacked out right now. In fact, I'm home early from work since the mall lost power. But, everything is fine here at home... We don't get our power from Nyseg, or Niagra Mohawk, we're on a local electric co-op...and we've still got power. I'm amazed. Happy, but amazed.
yrs,
Ephemeriis
I read the original article...and then the follow-up one posted today... And I'm underwhelmed, to say the least. I was expecting a READ MORE link at the bottom, or something. That's it...just 5 paragraphs of "remember that the techs are people, too."
Bah!
We sincerely need to educate end-users. The level of illiteracy I see on a day-to-day basis is absolutely frightening. We wouldn't let people drive cars with that level of ignorance...why let them operate a computer?
yrs,
Ephemeriis
WRONG! You do need to understand the terminology, at least enough to use it. If I am buying a car, it would be good to know what MPG and Horsepower are, maybe what the difference is between all-while drive and four-wheel drive - otherwise, how will I know what I'm buying? ABS? Airbags? More terms... But it's ok to make people understand those terms, right?
So what's wrong with a gigabyte? Or megahertz? Why sholdn't people know what those mean? I don't care if someone knows exactly how big a gigabyte is...but they better know that it's a measure of storage.
Arrogance has nothing to do with it. People simply NEED to be informed.
yrs,
Ephemeriis
Morally wrong? I suppose that would depend on how you'd been raised... Theft is morally wrong, right? Stealing somebody's wallet, you'd call that morally wrong wouldn't you? That's what file swapping is. It's taking (sharing, distributing, copying, whatever) something you shouldn't be.
Now, having said that, I personally pirate software quite often...and am absolutely remorseless about it...and worse, my paycheck depends on the software industry! The problem is that due to circumstances beyond my control, there is no legal way to preview the software I want to buy. And I can't buy it unless I know it works.
Is it legally wrong? Yes. Is it morally wrong? yes. Is there a legal or moral alternative? No.
So, either I pirate the software...find the good stuff...buy it...and support the industry... Or I just keep my money and let the software industry do without.
yrs,
Ephemeriis
I work at the local EB, and we've been having more and more customers come in with problems related to copy protection schemes in the last year or so. We've got folks who can't play their games or DVDs on their Xbox or PS2 because they happen to be running it through a VCR. We've got folks who can't install or play various games because their CD drive isn't supported by the latest incarnation of SafeDisk or its ilk. We've got people with a tiny scratch in some vital part of the disc, which suddenly makes the entire thing unplayable. We've got folks with misprinted CD keys. We've got people with strange hardware configurations that aren't allowed by SafeDisk and its friends. All these things in an attempt to prevent piracy....and all they do is make things difficult for the paying customers. The actual pirates don't have to put up with any of these problems.
yrs,
Ephemeriis
I work at the local EB, and we've recently had to change our return policy due to rampant piracy (or so the company tells me). Where you were previously allowed to return software that had been opened, you are now stuck with it. Doesn't matter if you don't like it, or if it didn't work on your system, or what - if it's open, it's yours. EB isn't the only place locally with a return policy like that. This makes it vitally important to try software out before purchasing it.
Worse, many demos/betas/tests are not fully representative of the finished product. I always whine about the Lords of Magic Special Edition game I tried and purchased years ago... The demo was great, tons of fun, and made me want the game desperately. Went out and bought it, and the game was nothing like the demo. Unfortunately, I couldn't return it to the store I bought from.
So, if you can't return it, and demos aren't indicitive of product quality, what do you do? I honestly recommend "acquiring" the game through some other means and giving it a try. Download it, borrow it from a friend, play at a friend's house, rent it, whatever. These days we're running out of legal ways to preview our software...and at $50 a game it's not something I can really afford to make mistakes on...
yrs,
Ephemeriis
Since when are women the only strippers around? Last time I checked, we had a male strip club right across town.
yrs,
Ephemeriis
Alright. I was all prepared to get indignant and start ranting about the destruction of the Internet... And then I had to go and visit their samples page.
I was fairly surprised to see them working properly in Mozilla, even with page resize & its friends disabled... But they did work. I got a new window that completely filled up my screen..and the add played. And amazingly enough, it really isn't that annoying.
There's a link right up at the top to skip the commercial (I hope they ALL do this), and your browser and everything else are left entirely untouched in the background. Nothing is moved or re-arranged. You just get that one commercial, which you can skip, and then back to your browsing.
Frankly, if I have to choose between those and your standard pop-up/under...I'll go with these new full-screen ones.
yrs,
Ephemeriis
You know, I'm really not all that certain that Microsoft is losing money on these systems anymore. Sure, when it first came out the specs seemed fairly impressive, and there was initial outlay for the fabrication equipment.... But looking at the components from today's pricepoint I really don't think MS is losing all that much.
It's a 700 Mhz Celeron processor, 64 MB of RAM, an 8 GB HDD, a DVD dive, and a custom mobo with video & sound on it... Plus the case. I'd be very surprised if components like that cost much more than the $200 they're currently selling the Xbox for. And keep in mind that at this point in time MS is turning out dozens of Xboxes every hour from custom factories with an assortment of bulk contracts...I doubt if they're paying anything remotely close to what we would be.
yrs,
Ephemeriis
My first computer was a macintosh. An old Mac SE 40. For a while there, mac were all I'd use... Now, there has never been the same range of software available for the mac as there was for PC. I used to go in to the local EB and see row after row of software for wintel machines...but little, if anything for macintosh. Inconvenient...but once I got to college it really didn't bother me anymore.
In college I had a decent internet connection, and was exposed to all the wonderful shareware out there. Ambrosia is one of the best shareward companies I have ever had the joy of dealing with. They produce both useful and useless, but all of their software is very high quality. The stuff they turn out is at least as nice as anything you'll see boxed up in a store. Escape Velocity was always one of my favorite games... For a while I was looking at getting a cheap mac or some sort of emulation program just to play EV again. I am absolutely thrilled that they're finally porting it to the PC. I can't wait to buy mine.
There are tons of very high quality shareware companies out there that turn out very nice products. I've seen a number of shareware products make the transion to retail-box products as well. There's absolutely no reason to discount a software product just because it is shareware.
yrs,
Ephemeriis
I realize that Saddam had years and years to disarm, and that he's (supposedly) got weapons of mass destruction, and he's violated the UN decisions time and time again... But he's not the only one. North Korea openly admits to having nukes, while Saddam continues to insist that he got rid of all the mass destruction stuff. There are plenty of nations out there that have ignored and/or violated UN decisions, and we can now add our name to that list, but we aren't attacking all of them.
What really bothers me about this is the fact that we're the bad-guy. In just about every other war I can think of, and especially anything recent, the US was the good-guy. We were going in there to make things better. To fix something that was broken. And generally speaking, the world stood behind us. This time around, it looks as if the only ones who want to go to war are the US and Brittain, while everyone else screams for peace.
I wouldn't find that nearly so disturbing if our reasons didn't seem to shift with every new day. First we had this "war on terror" thing, and Iraq was linked to terrorism. Then it was about him not disarming and ignoring the UN. Then it had something to do with pre-emptively attacking so he couldn't hit us. Now we're "liberating" Iraq. Sure, all these reasons could be true.... That's possible. But the way they're being presented feels like a kid fishing around for excuses.
I've taken plenty of comparative religion and anthropology courses in college, and I just can't shake the feeling that we shouldn't be going over there to "liberate" anyone. Maybe they're oppressed...maybe they aren't. I don't know. But it seems to me that if a nation wants liberation, it should come from within. Who are we to say that they need to be liberated? Who else around this world needs to be liberated? Who is next?
I'm also more than a little saddened to see history repeating itself... We've funded more than one extremist group in the Middle East beause it served our purposes at the time. We give them money, hardware, training...tell them that we'll help them rebuild after it is all over...and they attack our enemies. Sounds great, but then we leave them high and dry, with no help on the rebuilding. This, understandably, leaves a sour taste in their mouth and eventually leads to a new enemy for the US. And then we go in and "liberate" the country from these horrible, awful people. That's how Bin Laden and the Taliban got their start...that's how Saddam got his start... And if you'll notice, it looks like we're leaving Afganistan high & dry at the moment.
I suppose, if I had more faith in the President, that I wouldn't be objecting nearly as much. The fact of the matter though, is that I don't like Bush. He seems like an idiotic rich kid who just got voted in because of his daddy. I know this probably isn't true, I doubt if it is really that easy to become president, but that is the image that he portrays. Add to that the questionable evidence of drug use, alchoholism, and his ties to big business... I don't like his politics. I don't like how he's handling the international scene. I don't like his assorted tax cuts and school reforms. In short, I can't wait to vote him out.
I can't help but wonder if we'd be better off if Gore had been elected. Maybe we'd still be going to war, maybe we wouldn't.... Nobody can know that. Maybe this war is completely necessary, and there's no way it could have been avoided. But, with this idiot behind the wheel, I have a very hard time feeling good about anything the US is doing these days. When so much of the world is against us on this decision, it just makes me wonder even more. Is this really necessary? Are the motives really humanitarian? Is there no better way?
yrs,
Ephemeriis
I bought MoO3, and played it for 30+ hours, desperately seeking some kind of enjoyment. I never found any. I wound up returning my copy for Freelancer. I've been watching GalCiv for a little while now, and it actually looks halfway decent. I think I may need to pick up a copy. This time around, however, I'll wait and see what some of the players are saying before I pick it up.
yrs,
Ephemeriis
Well, that's the whole point, really. The idea is to design a monitor/screen system that can create a truly 3D image, without having to rely on any kind of goggles or glasses. So that people could sit back in their comfy chair, and get a 3D experience.
yrs,
Ephemeriis
I picked up my copy of MoO3 earlier today, and I've been playing it ever since. The transition from MoO2 (which I was playing just last night) is rough, to say the least. Many, many things have changed. Not better, not worse, just very different. I don't know if I like it yet. Some things seem to be more complicated than they need to be... Others seem too simple... The in-game documentation is either well hidden, or missing. There isn't much of a tutorial. Numbers appear to be the preferred representation...rather than any kind of graphical charts or meters. And there's an awful lot of AI assistance available to keep things moving along. Visually, it's a disappointment. The graphics are very dated. The GUI is stark, dull, and cluttered. But... I'm still being drawn back to it, to play some more. We'll see.
If anyone is curious, I'll be posting my impressions to my blog.
yrs,
Ephemeriis
Yes, there are people who buy every single season of a game just to get the updated rosters. There really is little more than that different from one season to the next, too. A tweak in gameplay here, a minor update to graphics there, but nothing major. Essentially the same game recycled with different players.
What's worse than that, however, is that many of these people will also buy several different brands of the same game. At EB we have folks come in who have been playing Madden 2003 for months and are bored with it...so they grab Sega NFL 2k3 or NFL Fever for a little variety!
yrs,
Ephemeriis