If the clone companies can do it, so can the distro releasers, making it one cd will allow at least a single small paperback manual included, written in ENGLISH (or language of choice that is not acronym based geek technogarble to most people) to be included in that price.
Not sure if you're familiar with what goes into the writing of a manaual, but the inclusion of a Linux Manual that was in English, and not Tech Speak, would drive the price above $10, even if it was a small one.
This comparison here to MS is rather hard, since you're comparing something new to something that's an upgrade. Saying that it would be $10 against $199 would be more fair. Though I run XP, and have been a long time user (on/off) of both Mandrake and Red Hat, I would say that Mandrake is the distro that would be closest to capturing the home user.
But big box companies: Dell, Gateway, HP/Compaq, etc. are not going to push Linux on the typical home user machine. There are some things that are just not there that need to be. Easily installed applications, new Game Support, easy plug-and-play media (camera, scanner, printer) support that even a 30 year-old could figure out. But even beyond that, there's AOL. Those computers that you can purchase for $399-$799 all come with a year of AOL, XP, and the latest Anti-Virus Software.
Yeah, you can get Linux for "free", but the cost of XP to a big box company is less than $1 per system, and like it or not, that's what the home user wants right now. The 'support' cost you mention there would be an absolute headache. Having used Linux enough that I can figure out most things, and get applications and hardware working (I got a TV card working once... that is my crowning achievement), it would give me Nightmares to support. I'm in tech right now at one of those Big Box companies, and people have enough problems with the statement "go ahead and restart your system." Trying to walk a typical home user through basic things is hard enough...
Actually, I only know that they make these because I ran into one of their access points. Everything I've seen about their Wireless stuff seems to be positive.
Their Games and their Hardware has always been unique, innovative and stable. I just figured they were getting prepared for the Monopoly split, by putting all the good eggs in one basket.
Microsoft makes Ethernet cards. They currently ship their "100/10 Broadband adapter", in PCI and USB flavors, and used to ship cards years ago.
And MS hardware has always been a positive thing, like the Sidewinders and the Mice, but I'll admit I've never tried their Network Cards. But I don't use No-Names either, so it balances out.
That list is pertaining to the Hardware manufacturers, and I would assume the OS integrated drivers. Even those are usually packaged in the OS were provided from the manufacturers.
Since almost all ethernet cards are similar, you'd expect that most people would be affected. Nice to see that everyone gets equal billing, and we can all be hacked. Of course, everyone just assumes it's Windows. I know I'll get Flamed or what not for it, but even windows didn't mess up how the Ethernet standard worked. They just messed up how things access it.
XP's WPA is rotten just on principle. But I don't see why MCE would be exempt. Home and Pro can do everything MCE does, with the right kit. All MCE does is put a shiny face on it all.
I would not say rotten. Annoying, but honestly, given the number of pirated copies of their OS's out there, I understand why they did it. I'll omit any arguements for or against, but any business, even one with their income, would notice when over half of their users are not paying for their product.
MCE is just XP Pro with the Media Center Application. I do tech support for such a machine, was in the training classes and have had a lot of time to work with it. And no, you can't get what it does through a standard application, since essentially, it moves that remote to the forefront. I've had a TV card with a remote, and it's mostly just a glorified on/off button. The integration of recording and the scheduling setup makes this closer to a TiVo immitator (though nearly featureless). It also ties in the whole "My (Everything" folders into a browser you can use that remote for. The problems with it are in the recording format and that the Remote is used only in the Media Center Application.
Don't omit Gateway's Media Center PC from the list, and all of them are not in a price point for the Best Buy market. Having done my stint in computer sales there, I know. People ask you everytime a $400 eMachine or HP is in the ad "Is this a good computer?" It's hard to lie to them, and you want to say, no, it's a piece of crap. But you can't, you can tell them something like "There's a reason most computers cost $1000 or more."
Microsoft is not going after the Major home users on this, that's why MCE isn't an upgrade option. It's for Tech-savy, and for people that like toys. MCE is a slick toy to play with (though I'd say if you have TiVo, stick with TiVo), but it's also something that can be bundled with other options. Gateway has one with a Plasma TV, for example.
The other factor to consider is that there is a limited amount of Hardware supported in the configuration (the Video Card, TV Card, and Sound Card options are all limited). On the other side, having used the PC, for a Windows System, it's stable, and should something break in the Media Center component, it's very easy to fix.
I'm not sure about it being a matter of Privacy as much as it is a matter of paranoia. Anything that can be done with a phone could be done with a handheld digital camera, conceiled street camera, or hidden video camera. Getting your picture snapped asking for directions could be done anywhere, using the cameras that check for people running red lights to someone snapping a picture of friends and you being in the background.
In the age of American Parinoia, and the subsiquent squeeze that's been put on privacy and the right to freedom, we're all used to being video taped everywhere. Digital Cameras are all over the place, and most stores have some kind of video surveylance systems in place.
I believe the idea of employers asking for pictures of a sick person is a little out of place, since they could go so far as make you bring in a doctors note, but most don't.
Now I will believe that business will violate some sort of ethical boundry with devices like this, just like they have with their other surveylance devices. It's nothing new... as long as there has been a camera there has been someone abusing them. Things will get posted for people to see until someone does something about it, and then they will be posted for employees to see.
I'd be curious to see if they extend the study outside of just Sci-Fi, and see how many of the things that have appeared in Sci-Fi end up, or have ended up, in real life.
Some examples I know of are the Sick Bay beds and displays from Star Trek, which appeared in hospitals shortly thereafter. On those same lines, a hypospry always looked like it would beat a shot or pills.
My personal thing I'd like to see is a holodeck, though I'd assume that that's just a tad bit off. But Quake in one of those would rule. Or be messy and dangerous. Or all above! It'd just give politions and parents something more to whine about.
And I'd just love a hoverboard, compliments Back to the Future. Or a self-drying jacket, autolace shoes, flat-tvs that play the scenery channel, and pizzas the size of my palm that come out fresh. It had to be Sci-Fi, pizza hut pizza is far greasier than that.
Well, I'd say I'm bais when I say that I'd recommend a gateway for it's phone techs, not its service (just take that like it sounds). But the people at the stores are semi-literate most of the time, since they don't read documentation from said phone techs. However, having the option of the local store beats having to ship it to a national service center or getting only phone support, like other national manufactures.
As a phone tech, I'd say that 20% of my call volume goes to viruses. And these are confirmed viruses, since sometimes people will blame a virus for their own stupidity. Not in the opening an attachment, but in trying to mess with settings and nothing working now.
My father has had a Gateway machine, running 98, going stable for almost 4 years now. It's never been reloaded, and only has some compatability problems with Netscape and newer webpages. I tell him it'd be better to use IE than Netscape (sorry, I've long hated that program), but he switches between the two. He goes through a good 40 e-mails a day, and has never had a virus.
Anything I've learned in all my experience with computers is that logs can easily lie. Black Ice Firewall for example, has probably the worst logging I've ever seen. I'm convinced that someone sneezing in china would be logged as an attack with that thing. I'm all for a hardware router before I'd run firewall software.
Microsoft isn't to blame for the spread of the newer versions of viruses, since most are looking at features that are used on a day-to-day basis. Things like executing the code for KLEZ just by previewing a message. I can't even remember the last time I opened a message to read it... I live by that preview pane. Just running updates for the software does away with most problems.
Microsoft has patched a good deal of the exploits, and even if you don't like WindowsUpdate, it does make them easy to get. People just don't use them, or run them, and that's why they get burned.
Those logs lie, most of the time. Especially if they're using anything like Kazaa or iMesh, which most firewall software picks up any multi-node hit as an attack. The same is true with IM programs. I've been running a system on cable unprotected for a while now, and noticed that everything I saw when I had Black Ice installed was phantom hits. Things that didn't have much to do with my system. Nothing is shared, nothing open.
As for viruses... I will flat out say that the sentiment on KLEZ is a lie. It did affect home users... I know, I deal with it every day. As a tech support guy, when someone says their system is running slow, crashing, can't burn CDs, can't get online, etc., the first thing I do is check for signs of the KLEZ.
I believe in surf-safe practice, but I've always said that the reason Windows seems less secure most times is that it's more of a high-profile item than Linux. There are a number of security vulnerabilities in Linux, and you can see all kinds of things when you check your connection logs. But you don't see as many of the exploit type things, like stack-overflows and IIS service exploits. You see things like port attack and process vulnerabilities.
And as for Spyware... yes, that should be Illegal. I've posted it before. I think the main problem with computer users is that too many blame poor performance and errors on viruses, instead of just running too much stuff or using crappy programs (and I'm talking things like Kazaa, Real Player, and the like).
Actually, what about the Gateway 42" Plasma monitor. It's not true HDTV, but it is widescreen, supports DVI and Component video, and looks very, very nice.
It's another one of those lovely moons like those around Mars. I've always loved the fact that if you were standing on one, and started walking to fast, you would hit escape velocity and fly off into space.
I don't believe this is the smallest of the moons out there either. Some orbiting around Saturn would have trouble convincing other moons it was even a rock, let alone a moon.
I would have to assume that the RIAA would have us all listening to music after we crawled to them to get it, if they could get away with it.
And I don't believe it's a matter of pressing, it'd just need to be done in an industrial burner. Something like a rackmount system that took 1 real CD and dumped out 20 copies.
I can understand them wanting to shut down things like this, but honestly, this step is going a little overboard for the need of raids. What's funny is they probably had to pull the Narcotic guys off stopping drug dealers to round up all the CDRs.
Actually, it's all Sony Online Entertainment now. It is a business, as is the entire game industry. All of those "money making schemes" are just ways for them to stay in business. They are part of the design for a MMOG game. If the game would end, people would stop playing. How many times have you been playing a game, and thought it was too short, or too long. EQ, and other MMOs, are not based on the idea of racing towards a finish.
They are about your character, and not about getting from the big city level to the big jungle level. The subscription is not just money making, but service provision, the same way as using an ISP to connect to the internet.
Galaxies is based on Star Wars, and will sell on that alone. But it's about putting time into your One character and getting him to something you enjoy playing.
I played EQ for over 2 years, and never made it above 32 level. I spent most of my time running around, trading items, and talking. I had fun in the game, and think the most fun I ever had in it was just messing around with my guild during a halloween even a year or so back.
Yes, more time and money will let you advance beyond other players, but the same rule applies to real life as well. Do you want someone to get to the same point as you when you play for two hours a day and they play for 20 minutes? It's about the reward system that makes a game worth playing.
Money enters into doing it as a business, but if a business wasn't doing it, it would never be big. Adding services such as name changes and transfers were done from user requests. The same is true from adding melee binding points, teleports to new zones and expanding on existing systems. They aren't just there to take money, but to also provide a game to their customers.
And with all the people that play it, I'd have to say they're doing a good job.
Putting a Year to something dooms it to failure...
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Christmas in 2050
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· Score: 1
Great Technological advancements in the next 50 years will be absolutly nothing like any article has to say. Some may remember things like "By the year 2000, we'll have flying cars and never need to do anything."
I believe we were promised robot helpers as well. The entire article seems exactly like articles from Post WW2 america, when the promise of scientific advancements like nuclear power and two city-block computer technology.
Anytime someone has ever put a year to a selected achievement, like flying cars and artificial intellegence, those things have never really come. Why? Because those promises are built on technology that hasn't been invented yet.
Build a redundant button into the wall, and put a sign above it that says: "Do Not Push!". Then see how many people you can get to push it, and show it at X-Mas parties.
You could always name it "Duke Nukem Forever Game in Progress"... sorry, thinking on the VaporWare thing.
Or how about "1 box to run the webserver, 1 box for the mail, 1 box for the Quake game, 1 box for all the Mp3s = Pretty Good Server Room"
Call it: "Obsolete by the time you're done reading this sign"
Re:If we could find the Pop-Up Authors, we could..
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Next-Gen Pop-up Ads
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· Score: 1
but pop-up ads are legal (even though they are annoying as hell).
True, to a point. There are several of these ads that could be flirting at the very edge of the concept of "Truth in Advertising." However, no one is really willing to call them on it as much because the evidence is so easy to hide on the internet. If a banner ad comes up and says something outright false, as soon as the complaint is loged (Speed Up Your Internet Connection Now!), the banner can be erased. Beyond that, most of these palces aren't a true business in the sense of walls, staff, and everything. They could be a shed with some kid uploading bad code (AOL?).
How many of you window's users have run Ad-Aware out there and come up with 10 sex-tracker ads, even though you've never touched something outside of Google,/. , Bluesnews and maybe Yahoo. These things seem to spawn from just looking at a computer.
And most things anymore aren't content to just go away. NewDotNet for example, seems to install on it's own without authorization. While it leaves rather nicely, it's still annoying.
They will tax you for anything, up to and including dying.
If we could find the Pop-Up Authors, we could...
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Next-Gen Pop-up Ads
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· Score: 3, Interesting
Pop-ups are by far the single most annoying thing on the web. I'd say that by this trend, we're only a step away from the pop-up ad that automatically installs GATOR and whatnot just by sitting at a keyboard.
What is disconcerning about these ads that it's the same thing as if you were watching TV, and there was a product on the screen. By glancing at the product, your channel is changed to an Infomercial about that product. If it's anything like other ads, changing back to your channel will give you 4 PIP windows that support that product and other products by that company.
I thought it was bad enough when I saw the anti-pop scripting that existed on a site I went to. I still use my trusty Pop-UP Killer (may it rest in peace), and was rather annoyed to be denied access to a site based on my software choice.
I am seriously starting to wonder about the legality of pop-up ads and internet spyware. I don't have a problem with things that function like a TV commericial (banner ads, or Advertisement and Click-to-continue at Gamespy), but I despise it when someone else tries to determine what I should look at, and hate it even more when someone decides to put something I didn't authorize on my system.
I say we gather up all these pop-up authors in room. Tie them all together, and make them run Windows Me on 386s. After that, we'll just send them to Equitorial Guinea to be humanitarian workers.
What I'd be more curious of is how you could abuse it just by using the system. I'm pulling the update for my XP machine right now, actually.
A page could have an mp3 audio imbedded into the page. XP sees these and plays them in Media Player, which by itself isn't so bad, but is just annoying on the internet. This file is cached to memory, and there it can do it's damage. File doesn't need to be "played" of sorts on the local machine, just copying it there would work.
What I've always wondered is just the feasability of all of these threats to the home user. This would have more of a place on business machines that may have an mp3-or-three on the system to entertain the workers using the machines. I've taken my share of Mp3s to work with me.
And as for KaZaA, you're just asking for punishment if you install that. As a willing member of the community dedicated to breaking the law by installing Kazaa Lite, I can say that. I'm a computer tech, and I'd say that I get at least four calls (out of say 20) a night that have something to do with KaZaA and their nice ad/spy-ware messing something up.
I can't blame MS for not revolutionizing the way their OS works to counteract them, and to their credit, they've been rather fast on the fixes lately. Eventually something will be done, but for now I will not run off deleting my "modest" Mp3 collection out of fear.
About 5 years ago, there was a huge drive in the church community to boycott Disney, their movies, and all things associated with Mickey Mouse and friends. The reasons were inane: they had marketing offerings for all types of Sexual Orientations at their theme parks, and had pro-orientation awareness politics in their workplace culture. Thousands of parents threw away their kids copies of the Disney Classics, forbid their kids from watching those movies and shows, and thought they could actually make a difference.
There is a difference here, of sorts, in that the MPAA actually has reasons to deserve the boycott and bad press. They're about as close to evil as a company can get. But it would still do no good.
We're not talking about something easy to get around. I cannot blame a company's product for actions on the company. I don't care how bad the RIAA is, I will still support the artists I love and get their CDs. Used isn't an option on New CDs, and that is the surefire way to guarantee that the artist will not get any money from your purchase. At least they get something from a retail sale.
As a proud member of the masses, I enjoy purchasing things like CDs, DVDs, and Video Games. There are incentives to buying a DVD these days. All those bonus features, deleted scenes, etc. There is no other medium that moves around the RIAA/MPAA that offers these things. This problem is not new, and will not go away, it just simply is part of capitalism.
There is no true alternative for a lot of entertainment venues out there. Movies are movies, and even if you download them, you trade quality and extras for that "freedom". And there is a rule... if enough people do it, and they actually lose money, then things will vanish. How many bands out there have been affected by poor album sales, and then been dropped by a label. There is no way that I can tell if they were killed off by KaZaA or the other Napster clones, but I'm sure at some point it helped. The same could some day be true with movies.
The problem is in what the RIAA does now, and how much of a drain they are. Boycotting perfectly good movies and artists will not make the RIAA/MPAA go away. It will strangle out the good artists, and we will be covered with every clone and "corporate success" artist out there. Even if the artists are only getting $1 a CD, they are still getting that dollar, and boycotting them affects that too.
What I would look at doing is trying, like some others, to bring the truth about the RIAA/MPAA to light for all to see. Passing around those articles, writing letters to congressmen, or making those visible posts. The/. readers are huge, but we are still a small piece of the pie. Get something big enough to get on MSN, CNN or Yahoo that is not bias and you've done something. Support the artists through their website and concerts, though even there, you're feeding the beast (who do you think the artists have to buy their CDs from?) and not completely free from them. The key to this game is exposure, and getting some people that have power. All the negative press out there won't help until someone who can do something reads it, and then acts on it.
EA, EA Sports, EA Big, Maxis, and who knows what..
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EA As The Next Disney
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· Score: 2, Interesting
It's a shame that Wing Commander was mentioned, and yet is about as dead of a series as they come. That is a series that has more-or-less gone to Microsoft in all but name (Starlancer and Freelancer), and is the closest that Mark "Aren't you that Skywalker Guy" Hammel will ever get to non-voice over fame.
I also noticed that where the Sims got a lot of time, their other biggest stable, EA Sports, only got two short blurbs. Madden has been the standard for Video Game Football for years, and most likely will continue to be for a while. Other notable titles like NBA Street, SSX Tricky and Medal of Honor were left off.
I don't get the reference to EA being the Microsoft of the gaming world. I could have sworn that Microsoft was the Microsoft of the gaming world, but who knows. I mean, Microsoft Games is one of their good points (and I know there are few), and they make a huge amount of games as well. That little X-Box thing, and AoM/AoE, plus their sports stable.
EA will never be another Disney in the sense of what Disney is. However, they could easily be to Software what Disney is to animated features and children's programming: the standard. I'm not sure if I own more Sierra or EA games. For the PS2 it's hand's down EA, and for the computer it's a little closer.
For them to really go into the entertainment industry, they would have to pull in something that could move them past being just a software company. Someone like Blizzard or Square Soft (I thought they used to have a stake in Square USA) could be what moves them closer to Digital Movie entertainment. I know that the Warcraft 3 made me think that Blizzard would someday go movie instead of game. But for now, they can rest on being the best publisher out there.
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If the clone companies can do it, so can the distro releasers, making it one cd will allow at least a single small paperback manual included, written in ENGLISH (or language of choice that is not acronym based geek technogarble to most people) to be included in that price.
Not sure if you're familiar with what goes into the writing of a manaual, but the inclusion of a Linux Manual that was in English, and not Tech Speak, would drive the price above $10, even if it was a small one.
This comparison here to MS is rather hard, since you're comparing something new to something that's an upgrade. Saying that it would be $10 against $199 would be more fair. Though I run XP, and have been a long time user (on/off) of both Mandrake and Red Hat, I would say that Mandrake is the distro that would be closest to capturing the home user.
But big box companies: Dell, Gateway, HP/Compaq, etc. are not going to push Linux on the typical home user machine. There are some things that are just not there that need to be. Easily installed applications, new Game Support, easy plug-and-play media (camera, scanner, printer) support that even a 30 year-old could figure out. But even beyond that, there's AOL. Those computers that you can purchase for $399-$799 all come with a year of AOL, XP, and the latest Anti-Virus Software.
Yeah, you can get Linux for "free", but the cost of XP to a big box company is less than $1 per system, and like it or not, that's what the home user wants right now. The 'support' cost you mention there would be an absolute headache. Having used Linux enough that I can figure out most things, and get applications and hardware working (I got a TV card working once... that is my crowning achievement), it would give me Nightmares to support. I'm in tech right now at one of those Big Box companies, and people have enough problems with the statement "go ahead and restart your system." Trying to walk a typical home user through basic things is hard enough...
Actually, I only know that they make these because I ran into one of their access points. Everything I've seen about their Wireless stuff seems to be positive.
Their Games and their Hardware has always been unique, innovative and stable. I just figured they were getting prepared for the Monopoly split, by putting all the good eggs in one basket.
Microsoft makes Ethernet cards. They currently ship their "100/10 Broadband adapter", in PCI and USB flavors, and used to ship cards years ago.
And MS hardware has always been a positive thing, like the Sidewinders and the Mice, but I'll admit I've never tried their Network Cards. But I don't use No-Names either, so it balances out.
That list is pertaining to the Hardware manufacturers, and I would assume the OS integrated drivers. Even those are usually packaged in the OS were provided from the manufacturers.
Since almost all ethernet cards are similar, you'd expect that most people would be affected. Nice to see that everyone gets equal billing, and we can all be hacked. Of course, everyone just assumes it's Windows. I know I'll get Flamed or what not for it, but even windows didn't mess up how the Ethernet standard worked. They just messed up how things access it.
XP's WPA is rotten just on principle. But I don't see why MCE would be exempt. Home and Pro can do everything MCE does, with the right kit. All MCE does is put a shiny face on it all.
I would not say rotten. Annoying, but honestly, given the number of pirated copies of their OS's out there, I understand why they did it. I'll omit any arguements for or against, but any business, even one with their income, would notice when over half of their users are not paying for their product.
MCE is just XP Pro with the Media Center Application. I do tech support for such a machine, was in the training classes and have had a lot of time to work with it. And no, you can't get what it does through a standard application, since essentially, it moves that remote to the forefront. I've had a TV card with a remote, and it's mostly just a glorified on/off button. The integration of recording and the scheduling setup makes this closer to a TiVo immitator (though nearly featureless). It also ties in the whole "My (Everything" folders into a browser you can use that remote for. The problems with it are in the recording format and that the Remote is used only in the Media Center Application.
Don't omit Gateway's Media Center PC from the list, and all of them are not in a price point for the Best Buy market. Having done my stint in computer sales there, I know. People ask you everytime a $400 eMachine or HP is in the ad "Is this a good computer?" It's hard to lie to them, and you want to say, no, it's a piece of crap. But you can't, you can tell them something like "There's a reason most computers cost $1000 or more."
Microsoft is not going after the Major home users on this, that's why MCE isn't an upgrade option. It's for Tech-savy, and for people that like toys. MCE is a slick toy to play with (though I'd say if you have TiVo, stick with TiVo), but it's also something that can be bundled with other options. Gateway has one with a Plasma TV, for example.
The other factor to consider is that there is a limited amount of Hardware supported in the configuration (the Video Card, TV Card, and Sound Card options are all limited). On the other side, having used the PC, for a Windows System, it's stable, and should something break in the Media Center component, it's very easy to fix.
Actually, I do work at a Tech Support call center for one of the top 5 computer companies. I e-mail my boss when I'm sick.
I'm not sure about it being a matter of Privacy as much as it is a matter of paranoia. Anything that can be done with a phone could be done with a handheld digital camera, conceiled street camera, or hidden video camera. Getting your picture snapped asking for directions could be done anywhere, using the cameras that check for people running red lights to someone snapping a picture of friends and you being in the background.
In the age of American Parinoia, and the subsiquent squeeze that's been put on privacy and the right to freedom, we're all used to being video taped everywhere. Digital Cameras are all over the place, and most stores have some kind of video surveylance systems in place.
I believe the idea of employers asking for pictures of a sick person is a little out of place, since they could go so far as make you bring in a doctors note, but most don't.
Now I will believe that business will violate some sort of ethical boundry with devices like this, just like they have with their other surveylance devices. It's nothing new... as long as there has been a camera there has been someone abusing them. Things will get posted for people to see until someone does something about it, and then they will be posted for employees to see.
Yes, miracle thing that velcro. Making shoes unfashionable for all.
Actually, I think shoes have already gotten to that autolace step, since most new shoes don't seem to tie anywhere.
I'd be curious to see if they extend the study outside of just Sci-Fi, and see how many of the things that have appeared in Sci-Fi end up, or have ended up, in real life.
Some examples I know of are the Sick Bay beds and displays from Star Trek, which appeared in hospitals shortly thereafter. On those same lines, a hypospry always looked like it would beat a shot or pills.
My personal thing I'd like to see is a holodeck, though I'd assume that that's just a tad bit off. But Quake in one of those would rule. Or be messy and dangerous. Or all above! It'd just give politions and parents something more to whine about.
And I'd just love a hoverboard, compliments Back to the Future. Or a self-drying jacket, autolace shoes, flat-tvs that play the scenery channel, and pizzas the size of my palm that come out fresh. It had to be Sci-Fi, pizza hut pizza is far greasier than that.
Well, I'd say I'm bais when I say that I'd recommend a gateway for it's phone techs, not its service (just take that like it sounds). But the people at the stores are semi-literate most of the time, since they don't read documentation from said phone techs. However, having the option of the local store beats having to ship it to a national service center or getting only phone support, like other national manufactures.
As a phone tech, I'd say that 20% of my call volume goes to viruses. And these are confirmed viruses, since sometimes people will blame a virus for their own stupidity. Not in the opening an attachment, but in trying to mess with settings and nothing working now.
My father has had a Gateway machine, running 98, going stable for almost 4 years now. It's never been reloaded, and only has some compatability problems with Netscape and newer webpages. I tell him it'd be better to use IE than Netscape (sorry, I've long hated that program), but he switches between the two. He goes through a good 40 e-mails a day, and has never had a virus.
Anything I've learned in all my experience with computers is that logs can easily lie. Black Ice Firewall for example, has probably the worst logging I've ever seen. I'm convinced that someone sneezing in china would be logged as an attack with that thing. I'm all for a hardware router before I'd run firewall software.
Microsoft isn't to blame for the spread of the newer versions of viruses, since most are looking at features that are used on a day-to-day basis. Things like executing the code for KLEZ just by previewing a message. I can't even remember the last time I opened a message to read it... I live by that preview pane. Just running updates for the software does away with most problems.
Microsoft has patched a good deal of the exploits, and even if you don't like WindowsUpdate, it does make them easy to get. People just don't use them, or run them, and that's why they get burned.
Those logs lie, most of the time. Especially if they're using anything like Kazaa or iMesh, which most firewall software picks up any multi-node hit as an attack. The same is true with IM programs. I've been running a system on cable unprotected for a while now, and noticed that everything I saw when I had Black Ice installed was phantom hits. Things that didn't have much to do with my system. Nothing is shared, nothing open.
As for viruses... I will flat out say that the sentiment on KLEZ is a lie. It did affect home users... I know, I deal with it every day. As a tech support guy, when someone says their system is running slow, crashing, can't burn CDs, can't get online, etc., the first thing I do is check for signs of the KLEZ.
I believe in surf-safe practice, but I've always said that the reason Windows seems less secure most times is that it's more of a high-profile item than Linux. There are a number of security vulnerabilities in Linux, and you can see all kinds of things when you check your connection logs. But you don't see as many of the exploit type things, like stack-overflows and IIS service exploits. You see things like port attack and process vulnerabilities.
And as for Spyware... yes, that should be Illegal. I've posted it before. I think the main problem with computer users is that too many blame poor performance and errors on viruses, instead of just running too much stuff or using crappy programs (and I'm talking things like Kazaa, Real Player, and the like).
Actually, what about the Gateway 42" Plasma monitor. It's not true HDTV, but it is widescreen, supports DVI and Component video, and looks very, very nice.
And it only runs $3k
It's another one of those lovely moons like those around Mars. I've always loved the fact that if you were standing on one, and started walking to fast, you would hit escape velocity and fly off into space.
I don't believe this is the smallest of the moons out there either. Some orbiting around Saturn would have trouble convincing other moons it was even a rock, let alone a moon.
I would have to assume that the RIAA would have us all listening to music after we crawled to them to get it, if they could get away with it.
And I don't believe it's a matter of pressing, it'd just need to be done in an industrial burner. Something like a rackmount system that took 1 real CD and dumped out 20 copies.
I can understand them wanting to shut down things like this, but honestly, this step is going a little overboard for the need of raids. What's funny is they probably had to pull the Narcotic guys off stopping drug dealers to round up all the CDRs.
Actually, it's all Sony Online Entertainment now. It is a business, as is the entire game industry. All of those "money making schemes" are just ways for them to stay in business. They are part of the design for a MMOG game. If the game would end, people would stop playing. How many times have you been playing a game, and thought it was too short, or too long. EQ, and other MMOs, are not based on the idea of racing towards a finish.
They are about your character, and not about getting from the big city level to the big jungle level. The subscription is not just money making, but service provision, the same way as using an ISP to connect to the internet.
Galaxies is based on Star Wars, and will sell on that alone. But it's about putting time into your One character and getting him to something you enjoy playing.
I played EQ for over 2 years, and never made it above 32 level. I spent most of my time running around, trading items, and talking. I had fun in the game, and think the most fun I ever had in it was just messing around with my guild during a halloween even a year or so back.
Yes, more time and money will let you advance beyond other players, but the same rule applies to real life as well. Do you want someone to get to the same point as you when you play for two hours a day and they play for 20 minutes? It's about the reward system that makes a game worth playing.
Money enters into doing it as a business, but if a business wasn't doing it, it would never be big. Adding services such as name changes and transfers were done from user requests. The same is true from adding melee binding points, teleports to new zones and expanding on existing systems. They aren't just there to take money, but to also provide a game to their customers.
And with all the people that play it, I'd have to say they're doing a good job.
Great Technological advancements in the next 50 years will be absolutly nothing like any article has to say. Some may remember things like "By the year 2000, we'll have flying cars and never need to do anything."
I believe we were promised robot helpers as well. The entire article seems exactly like articles from Post WW2 america, when the promise of scientific advancements like nuclear power and two city-block computer technology.
Anytime someone has ever put a year to a selected achievement, like flying cars and artificial intellegence, those things have never really come. Why? Because those promises are built on technology that hasn't been invented yet.
But I guess it may happen...
Build a redundant button into the wall, and put a sign above it that says: "Do Not Push!". Then see how many people you can get to push it, and show it at X-Mas parties.
You could always name it "Duke Nukem Forever Game in Progress"... sorry, thinking on the VaporWare thing.
Or how about "1 box to run the webserver, 1 box for the mail, 1 box for the Quake game, 1 box for all the Mp3s = Pretty Good Server Room"
Call it: "Obsolete by the time you're done reading this sign"
but pop-up ads are legal (even though they are annoying as hell).
/. , Bluesnews and maybe Yahoo. These things seem to spawn from just looking at a computer.
True, to a point. There are several of these ads that could be flirting at the very edge of the concept of "Truth in Advertising." However, no one is really willing to call them on it as much because the evidence is so easy to hide on the internet. If a banner ad comes up and says something outright false, as soon as the complaint is loged (Speed Up Your Internet Connection Now!), the banner can be erased. Beyond that, most of these palces aren't a true business in the sense of walls, staff, and everything. They could be a shed with some kid uploading bad code (AOL?).
How many of you window's users have run Ad-Aware out there and come up with 10 sex-tracker ads, even though you've never touched something outside of Google,
And most things anymore aren't content to just go away. NewDotNet for example, seems to install on it's own without authorization. While it leaves rather nicely, it's still annoying.
Actually, there are taxes on all of the death related services, such as services, plots and stones.
I'm not exactly sure on the Flamebait thing, except maybe my tagline, but I've been using that for some time now.
My personal favorite is taxes on taxes. That's the best.
They will tax you for anything, up to and including dying.
Pop-ups are by far the single most annoying thing on the web. I'd say that by this trend, we're only a step away from the pop-up ad that automatically installs GATOR and whatnot just by sitting at a keyboard.
What is disconcerning about these ads that it's the same thing as if you were watching TV, and there was a product on the screen. By glancing at the product, your channel is changed to an Infomercial about that product. If it's anything like other ads, changing back to your channel will give you 4 PIP windows that support that product and other products by that company.
I thought it was bad enough when I saw the anti-pop scripting that existed on a site I went to. I still use my trusty Pop-UP Killer (may it rest in peace), and was rather annoyed to be denied access to a site based on my software choice.
I am seriously starting to wonder about the legality of pop-up ads and internet spyware. I don't have a problem with things that function like a TV commericial (banner ads, or Advertisement and Click-to-continue at Gamespy), but I despise it when someone else tries to determine what I should look at, and hate it even more when someone decides to put something I didn't authorize on my system.
I say we gather up all these pop-up authors in room. Tie them all together, and make them run Windows Me on 386s. After that, we'll just send them to Equitorial Guinea to be humanitarian workers.
What I'd be more curious of is how you could abuse it just by using the system. I'm pulling the update for my XP machine right now, actually.
A page could have an mp3 audio imbedded into the page. XP sees these and plays them in Media Player, which by itself isn't so bad, but is just annoying on the internet. This file is cached to memory, and there it can do it's damage. File doesn't need to be "played" of sorts on the local machine, just copying it there would work.
What I've always wondered is just the feasability of all of these threats to the home user. This would have more of a place on business machines that may have an mp3-or-three on the system to entertain the workers using the machines. I've taken my share of Mp3s to work with me.
And as for KaZaA, you're just asking for punishment if you install that. As a willing member of the community dedicated to breaking the law by installing Kazaa Lite, I can say that. I'm a computer tech, and I'd say that I get at least four calls (out of say 20) a night that have something to do with KaZaA and their nice ad/spy-ware messing something up.
I can't blame MS for not revolutionizing the way their OS works to counteract them, and to their credit, they've been rather fast on the fixes lately. Eventually something will be done, but for now I will not run off deleting my "modest" Mp3 collection out of fear.
About 5 years ago, there was a huge drive in the church community to boycott Disney, their movies, and all things associated with Mickey Mouse and friends. The reasons were inane: they had marketing offerings for all types of Sexual Orientations at their theme parks, and had pro-orientation awareness politics in their workplace culture. Thousands of parents threw away their kids copies of the Disney Classics, forbid their kids from watching those movies and shows, and thought they could actually make a difference.
/. readers are huge, but we are still a small piece of the pie. Get something big enough to get on MSN, CNN or Yahoo that is not bias and you've done something. Support the artists through their website and concerts, though even there, you're feeding the beast (who do you think the artists have to buy their CDs from?) and not completely free from them. The key to this game is exposure, and getting some people that have power. All the negative press out there won't help until someone who can do something reads it, and then acts on it.
There is a difference here, of sorts, in that the MPAA actually has reasons to deserve the boycott and bad press. They're about as close to evil as a company can get. But it would still do no good.
We're not talking about something easy to get around. I cannot blame a company's product for actions on the company. I don't care how bad the RIAA is, I will still support the artists I love and get their CDs. Used isn't an option on New CDs, and that is the surefire way to guarantee that the artist will not get any money from your purchase. At least they get something from a retail sale.
As a proud member of the masses, I enjoy purchasing things like CDs, DVDs, and Video Games. There are incentives to buying a DVD these days. All those bonus features, deleted scenes, etc. There is no other medium that moves around the RIAA/MPAA that offers these things. This problem is not new, and will not go away, it just simply is part of capitalism.
There is no true alternative for a lot of entertainment venues out there. Movies are movies, and even if you download them, you trade quality and extras for that "freedom". And there is a rule... if enough people do it, and they actually lose money, then things will vanish. How many bands out there have been affected by poor album sales, and then been dropped by a label. There is no way that I can tell if they were killed off by KaZaA or the other Napster clones, but I'm sure at some point it helped. The same could some day be true with movies.
The problem is in what the RIAA does now, and how much of a drain they are. Boycotting perfectly good movies and artists will not make the RIAA/MPAA go away. It will strangle out the good artists, and we will be covered with every clone and "corporate success" artist out there. Even if the artists are only getting $1 a CD, they are still getting that dollar, and boycotting them affects that too.
What I would look at doing is trying, like some others, to bring the truth about the RIAA/MPAA to light for all to see. Passing around those articles, writing letters to congressmen, or making those visible posts. The
It's a shame that Wing Commander was mentioned, and yet is about as dead of a series as they come. That is a series that has more-or-less gone to Microsoft in all but name (Starlancer and Freelancer), and is the closest that Mark "Aren't you that Skywalker Guy" Hammel will ever get to non-voice over fame.
I also noticed that where the Sims got a lot of time, their other biggest stable, EA Sports, only got two short blurbs. Madden has been the standard for Video Game Football for years, and most likely will continue to be for a while. Other notable titles like NBA Street, SSX Tricky and Medal of Honor were left off.
I don't get the reference to EA being the Microsoft of the gaming world. I could have sworn that Microsoft was the Microsoft of the gaming world, but who knows. I mean, Microsoft Games is one of their good points (and I know there are few), and they make a huge amount of games as well. That little X-Box thing, and AoM/AoE, plus their sports stable.
EA will never be another Disney in the sense of what Disney is. However, they could easily be to Software what Disney is to animated features and children's programming: the standard. I'm not sure if I own more Sierra or EA games. For the PS2 it's hand's down EA, and for the computer it's a little closer.
For them to really go into the entertainment industry, they would have to pull in something that could move them past being just a software company. Someone like Blizzard or Square Soft (I thought they used to have a stake in Square USA) could be what moves them closer to Digital Movie entertainment. I know that the Warcraft 3 made me think that Blizzard would someday go movie instead of game. But for now, they can rest on being the best publisher out there.