I personally have no interest in paying apple $1/song for a proprietary format; reencoding in ogg is not an option. Really, $1 per song is very, very expensive - considering a cd is about the same and you get a nice semi-permanent media, far higher quality audio, with artwork lyrics, etc.
Only if you like and will listen to every single song on that hypothetical CD. If you'd rather pick and choose every track to make sure there's no dead weight that you'll always skip over, then $1 is a perfectly good price point.
Come to think of it, $1 per song is a complete rip off. If they were ogg encoded, I might give it some consideration at.50/song.
With how pervasive MP3 is these days, it's going to take a hell of a lot of catching up before anyone will give a damn that a relatively miniscule group of people won't listen to music that isn't ogg encoded.
Nintendo is just damned if they do and damned if they don't these days. If they put out more of the same, they're blasted by people that think they're unimaginative and stale. If they move on to different things, people like you moan about how nothing new could possibly work out, and they should just upgrade their old designs forever.
I say: Kudos to Nintendo for still being willing to take chances. If you don't like the new stuff they put out, don't buy it.
I think the fact the the gamecube didn't have many games at launch really killed the console.
Eh? From everything I can see, the Gamecube is doing quite nicely in about 2nd place, either running neck-and-neck or slightly beating the XBox in the US. And that's to say nothing of Japan, where they're even farther ahead.
Sure, Nintendo has had failures in the past, but with the GB/GBC/GBA, the Cube, and soon the DS, they're not going anywhere for a while.
Indeed. Generally, when people want to buy a game system, or at least a Nintendo game system, they buy the thing to play games as the primary function.
Craming a huge number of functions into a handheld gaming system has not worked very well yet - the N-Gage, for example.
Also, has anybody bought a Seagate hard drive recently?
Yep, bought an 80 gig about 7 months ago.
Have they come through, and started selling them with Lindows pre-installed on the drives?
No clue. Why would you want a hard drive manufacturer to do this? Seems like that should be up to those selling the complete systems.
Experienced any hardware problems with it?
None whatsoever. It's been quiet, fast, and reliable. Which is much more than I can say for my WD 40 gig that went bonkers and had to be RMA'd after only a year.
Same thing happened to me - luckily I had gotten a cellphone with a better long distance plan about that time, but it still took the cancellation of my service, along with 5 seperate phone calls to their Indian customer service drones complaining about the $0 bills and that, yes, I really DID want to have my service discontinued.
And if anyone from AT&T is reading this, trying to sell somebody long-distance phone service while they're trying to *cancel* long-distance service is one of the more insulting things i've ever had to sit through. I don't care if it's company policy or not - you've lost me as a customer in that aspect for life.
I'm not talking about stuff like providing braindead-simple web/email/word processing access for elementary or high school kids to do research and type homework.
I'm talking about stuff like college-level courses, where students need complete administrator/root access on a machine to complete coursework.
In such situations, ghosting (before each class, at the end of the day, and providing disks on demand during open hours for automatic reimages, for example) is extremely useful, because there's no way to know what the previous user of a lab machine has done to the thing in the process of getting something to work, and you need a fresh start.
That's cool and all, but maybe you could just use an OS that doesn't require constant ghosting? Sounds like you've automated the task, so that means it must happen fairly often.
There are other reasons to regularly re-ghost machines in high school/college classes besides the virus and spyware concerns i'm betting you're thinking of. Making sure students have fresh machines for each lab class, for one. Or when taking practical exams. Or pretty much any time when a student working on a machine that another has screwed with is not desireable.
It's there, but it's not located anwyhere that is easily (or at all) found from the www.xmms.org page - the place I finally found it by searching on Google is on the site, but doesn't seem to actually be linked anywhere that I can see. And even then it's only for RH 8 & 9.
If you have a better link, feel free to share. Personally, this whole mp3 issue may be something silly, but it was annoying enough that i've already switched back to Mandrake (and Gentoo soon, hopefully) before finding this.
Finding rare Videogame and Anime soundtracks is a pain in the buttocks.
Well, first of all, I wasn't really talking about rare soundtracks.
That said, try installing DC++ (DirectConnect) and then go to a pretty good hub at vgmcentral.no-ip.com for starters. Read the rules at http://vgmcentral.no-ip.com/ first. Mainly VG soundtracks, obviously, but anime and other stuff mixed in as well.
That's really the best place I can direct you without knowing exactly what you're looking for....Other than that, get creative with Google search terms.
I have one of the latest model PS2's (SCPH-5000x, not at home atm so i can't look at it), bought new, and i've had absolutely no problems with it so far.
Also have a orignal Playstation bought in 2000 that still runs fine after being through the 4 years of use, 3 moves, falling off dressers, etc.
So....You might want to try one. Also, as I recall, Sony is legally required by a class-action lawsuit to replace any (non-modchipped/user-damagaed) PS2's getting Disc Read Errors for free.
Even if you're just asking a rhetorical question, it still bears repeating yet again. As i've already said several times on this thread:
Don't use IE. Don't use Microsoft email clients without turning off the various "dangerous" aspects like auto-loading of images and such. Don't blindly open every strange attachment that floats its way into your inbox.
That right there will cut out probably 90% of the problems you will experience from viruses/spyware/malware. For the rest, buy some antivirus software or use one of the free online scans, and spend $40 to put the machine(s) behind a router with at least a basic built-in firewall.
And as I can already see the "but that takes so much time! Linux is so much better than all that M$ crap!!!"-type reply coming from someone else again, i'm done.
Well, it's quite obvious you're not going to listen no matter what I say.
I've tried to have a somewhat civil discussion, but you're bound and determined to stick to your own distorted vision of things and basically call me an idiot.
I'm not wearing blinders, all of that is a pain in the ass. I've seen people try to do all of that. It eats up all of their time and fails anyway. I've got better things to do.
Are you kidding?
Windows automatically updates itself.
The virus scanner automatically updates itself.
Software firewalls or router hardware can be installed, configured, and then left to run untouched for months on end with only a semi-automatic update now and then - i'm using a Linksys BEFSR41 router that I haven't had to touch since the day I hooked it up, besides a couple firmware updates that took about 5 minutes.
Maintaining a decently secured system for home or light work use is not a time-consuming task. If you think it is, then you either don't know what you should be doing, or you're setting your security standards much higher than they need to be.
Your experience is not typical. The hundreds of broken machines I've seen in retail repair are.
Is this really the fault of the browser/OS, or the fact that users aren't educated enough to know that you don't click on the flashing ad banners or open attachments on "I LOVE YOU" messages and so on?
With your attitude of "that is a pain in the ass. I've seen people try to do all of that. It eats up all of their time and fails anyway. I've got better things to do.", maybe I shouldn't be so suprised that many users can't perform such simple security tasks.
You'd be suprised how far 5 minutes of explanation or putting up posters or whatnot can go with even very non-technical users.
So you did recieve viruses, and got lucky that the antivirus developers got those viruses first and worked out how to detect them...
No argument there.
What if you got infected with something new that wasn't detected yet?
Then, I admit I could be in some trouble. But, as I was trying to say, if you follow safe practices in the first place, you will not find yourself in that situation.
Yeah, but everyone does that more than they do other things and should be using free software for it.
Microsoft should not be used for anything that touches the web and should be run virtualized of firewalled heavily if not blinded to your network.
It's like you're wearing blinders. With a little common sense, Windows can be very secure and very usable. You just have to do things like running a decent firewall, don't idiotically open strange attachments from anybody, run a decent virus scanner, keep reasonably up to date with the latest patches, etc. I have personally been using Windows and following such practices from 3.1 up to XP Pro, and have never been infected with any form of system-disabling virus, or for that matter, any viruses at all that were not immediately detected and quarantined.
Dual booting solves the game problem
Yes, more or less. Though if you're always booting into Windows, there's just no reason to start up into Linux in the first place after a while. As far as most everyday tasks go, Windows can do pretty much everything Linux can, especially with Mozilla/Firefox & co., OpenOffice, and other open-source programs being available for Windows these days.
more often than not, the games are moving to Linux anyway.
Evidence, please.
Sure, there's a smattering out there, but it's not even close to the point where you could walk into a store and know there's a good chance of a Linux version being there for new game X.
Bah. I've been swapped out for years now. There's enough "good enough" free software for everything.
Yet again, you personally having swapped out does not mean that the general population is ready for the same thing:)
Let me tell you, it all runs much more practically and easier than Windoze junk ever did.
I think I already addressed this.
It may be slow and hurt
As Yoda said, that...Is why you fail. "It may be slow and hurt" is not going to cut it.
Adoption of Mozilla on a Windoze platform is even more significant. It shows that people are willing to go out of their way to get more trusted code and that they trust a free program more than they trust M$. It's very bad news for Microsoft. It might also portend larger shift.
Your logic seems a bit flawed here. I don't know how much experience you have doing actual user support, but among those i've worked with - if you switch a typical Windows user from IE to Mozilla because of problems, they will think "yay, the problems are gone!", see Mozilla as pretty cool....And get on with their lives. They are not going to think, "Golly gee, switching my web browser makes me want to abandon Windows."
It's about as easy to replace your whole M$ system as it is to swap out the browser.
No, for most "normal" home users, and even some geek types, it is not. I don't know why this has to keep being said over and over, but not everyone is using only easily swappable web browsing, office, development, or email applications with their systems.
There are many millions of people out there running games and other specialized apps that have no (equal) counterpart on Linux or a way to run the original program without major problems (like the thousands of games still not usable under Wine/WineX).
Until it is possible to run practically any Windows software under Linux with no problems, the most you are going out of the majority of home users is a dual-boot, if that. Certainly not complete swap-outs.
Maybe if Linux had been in wide use when Windows usage was ramping up, things would have been different, but it's too late now. Home users are tied to the vast library of Windows-only apps (again, often games) that simply have no equal on Linux.
"What the RIAA is doing is having a chilling effect on online music trading, like it or not. I don't think the MPAA will have any recourse but to pursue the same tactics, but with much larger penalties."
Only partially correct. I believe it is having a chilling effect (maybe) on trading of music produced by RIAA members or that would otherwise get you in trouble with the RIAA if caught.
Conversely, in some areas, such as ( to use a rather geeky example ) anime and video game soundtracks, music is easily found with a bit of work and people are more than willing to share vast quantities.
That happens, without a doubt....I guess what I was trying to say, though, is that it doesn't always happen that way. Just like not being instantly assured that a project is good solely because it's free/open source.
you're making a tired FUD argument. and using jargon like "vector" doesn't make you any more right.
Well, I think he's at least half right. While Linux/Mozilla/Evolution are definately more secure, this still does not preclude them from being targeted by attackers when/if they become as widespread as Windows is now.
they were designed by people wanting to make good software, not by people wanting to make money. get over it.
Maybe this is a silly question to ask here, but why does wanting to make money, in your mind, stop good software from being made? The way you sound, it's like it's either one or the other, but I think both can be done, with the right person/company.
Actually, I know who/what all 3 of those names refer to, thanks:)
If you actually understand what he said, then it's pretty clear that he wasn't pretending to be a Nintendo mucky-muck, other than to the extent to which it was necessary to create a joke.
And if you actually looked into his posting history, especially on Usenet/Google Groups, it's pretty clear that he is ( and has been for quite a while ) pretending to be a Nintendo/Sega/random video game company "mucky-muck", along with falsely claiming that he's recieved a degree from MIT, and a few other things. I'd give you direct links, but it's late, and it's really not all that hard to dig up.
If you don't want to look into things, then hey, nothing I can do to change that, but accusing me of having no sense of humor because of that fact is rather silly:)
It's a shame, really. You sound like you might have some valid viewpoints.
However, you need to stop being a damn trolling liar, and quit acting like you have the specialized experience that you want people to believe you have.
Moderators - read this guy's Slashdot and Google posting histories before you use mod points.
It was funny the first time he did it. However, it's been going on for a very long time, and he recycles his rubbish over and over again, trying to dupe people into thinking he's someone important.
Now, how in the H*ll it got rated 'interesting' is another question. I think that somebody didn't pay close attention to the posting.
What did you think the purpose of his posting was?:P Again, he wants to fool people by spewing false info and feeling important. It's gone past being funny to just being tired and lame.
Slashdot Mirror
I personally have no interest in paying apple $1/song for a proprietary format; reencoding in ogg is not an option. Really, $1 per song is very, very expensive - considering a cd is about the same and you get a nice semi-permanent media, far higher quality audio, with artwork lyrics, etc.
.50/song.
Only if you like and will listen to every single song on that hypothetical CD. If you'd rather pick and choose every track to make sure there's no dead weight that you'll always skip over, then $1 is a perfectly good price point.
Come to think of it, $1 per song is a complete rip off. If they were ogg encoded, I might give it some consideration at
With how pervasive MP3 is these days, it's going to take a hell of a lot of catching up before anyone will give a damn that a relatively miniscule group of people won't listen to music that isn't ogg encoded.
Nintendo is just damned if they do and damned if they don't these days. If they put out more of the same, they're blasted by people that think they're unimaginative and stale. If they move on to different things, people like you moan about how nothing new could possibly work out, and they should just upgrade their old designs forever.
I say: Kudos to Nintendo for still being willing to take chances. If you don't like the new stuff they put out, don't buy it.
I think the fact the the gamecube didn't have many games at launch really killed the console.
Eh? From everything I can see, the Gamecube is doing quite nicely in about 2nd place, either running neck-and-neck or slightly beating the XBox in the US. And that's to say nothing of Japan, where they're even farther ahead.
Sure, Nintendo has had failures in the past, but with the GB/GBC/GBA, the Cube, and soon the DS, they're not going anywhere for a while.
I'm obviously not their target market.
Indeed. Generally, when people want to buy a game system, or at least a Nintendo game system, they buy the thing to play games as the primary function.
Craming a huge number of functions into a handheld gaming system has not worked very well yet - the N-Gage, for example.
Also, has anybody bought a Seagate hard drive recently?
Yep, bought an 80 gig about 7 months ago.
Have they come through, and started selling them with Lindows pre-installed on the drives?
No clue. Why would you want a hard drive manufacturer to do this? Seems like that should be up to those selling the complete systems.
Experienced any hardware problems with it?
None whatsoever. It's been quiet, fast, and reliable. Which is much more than I can say for my WD 40 gig that went bonkers and had to be RMA'd after only a year.
Same thing happened to me - luckily I had gotten a cellphone with a better long distance plan about that time, but it still took the cancellation of my service, along with 5 seperate phone calls to their Indian customer service drones complaining about the $0 bills and that, yes, I really DID want to have my service discontinued.
And if anyone from AT&T is reading this, trying to sell somebody long-distance phone service while they're trying to *cancel* long-distance service is one of the more insulting things i've ever had to sit through. I don't care if it's company policy or not - you've lost me as a customer in that aspect for life.
I don't think you understand what I mean :)
I'm not talking about stuff like providing braindead-simple web/email/word processing access for elementary or high school kids to do research and type homework.
I'm talking about stuff like college-level courses, where students need complete administrator/root access on a machine to complete coursework.
In such situations, ghosting (before each class, at the end of the day, and providing disks on demand during open hours for automatic reimages, for example) is extremely useful, because there's no way to know what the previous user of a lab machine has done to the thing in the process of getting something to work, and you need a fresh start.
Hopefully that is clearer.
That's cool and all, but maybe you could just use an OS that doesn't require constant ghosting? Sounds like you've automated the task, so that means it must happen fairly often.
There are other reasons to regularly re-ghost machines in high school/college classes besides the virus and spyware concerns i'm betting you're thinking of. Making sure students have fresh machines for each lab class, for one. Or when taking practical exams. Or pretty much any time when a student working on a machine that another has screwed with is not desireable.
It's there, but it's not located anwyhere that is easily (or at all) found from the www.xmms.org page - the place I finally found it by searching on Google is on the site, but doesn't seem to actually be linked anywhere that I can see. And even then it's only for RH 8 & 9.
p m/
http://havardk.xmms.org/dist/xmms-1.2.7-rh8-rh9-r
If you have a better link, feel free to share. Personally, this whole mp3 issue may be something silly, but it was annoying enough that i've already switched back to Mandrake (and Gentoo soon, hopefully) before finding this.
Finding rare Videogame and Anime soundtracks is a pain in the buttocks.
Well, first of all, I wasn't really talking about rare soundtracks.
That said, try installing DC++ (DirectConnect) and then go to a pretty good hub at vgmcentral.no-ip.com for starters. Read the rules at http://vgmcentral.no-ip.com/ first. Mainly VG soundtracks, obviously, but anime and other stuff mixed in as well.
That's really the best place I can direct you without knowing exactly what you're looking for....Other than that, get creative with Google search terms.
I have one of the latest model PS2's (SCPH-5000x, not at home atm so i can't look at it), bought new, and i've had absolutely no problems with it so far.
Also have a orignal Playstation bought in 2000 that still runs fine after being through the 4 years of use, 3 moves, falling off dressers, etc.
So....You might want to try one. Also, as I recall, Sony is legally required by a class-action lawsuit to replace any (non-modchipped/user-damagaed) PS2's getting Disc Read Errors for free.
And what are safe practices
Even if you're just asking a rhetorical question, it still bears repeating yet again. As i've already said several times on this thread:
Don't use IE. Don't use Microsoft email clients without turning off the various "dangerous" aspects like auto-loading of images and such. Don't blindly open every strange attachment that floats its way into your inbox.
That right there will cut out probably 90% of the problems you will experience from viruses/spyware/malware. For the rest, buy some antivirus software or use one of the free online scans, and spend $40 to put the machine(s) behind a router with at least a basic built-in firewall.
And as I can already see the "but that takes so much time! Linux is so much better than all that M$ crap!!!"-type reply coming from someone else again, i'm done.
Have a nice life.
Well, it's quite obvious you're not going to listen no matter what I say.
I've tried to have a somewhat civil discussion, but you're bound and determined to stick to your own distorted vision of things and basically call me an idiot.
Have fun feeling superior and all that.
I'm not wearing blinders, all of that is a pain in the ass. I've seen people try to do all of that. It eats up all of their time and fails anyway. I've got better things to do.
Are you kidding?
Windows automatically updates itself.
The virus scanner automatically updates itself.
Software firewalls or router hardware can be installed, configured, and then left to run untouched for months on end with only a semi-automatic update now and then - i'm using a Linksys BEFSR41 router that I haven't had to touch since the day I hooked it up, besides a couple firmware updates that took about 5 minutes.
Maintaining a decently secured system for home or light work use is not a time-consuming task. If you think it is, then you either don't know what you should be doing, or you're setting your security standards much higher than they need to be.
Your experience is not typical. The hundreds of broken machines I've seen in retail repair are.
Is this really the fault of the browser/OS, or the fact that users aren't educated enough to know that you don't click on the flashing ad banners or open attachments on "I LOVE YOU" messages and so on?
With your attitude of "that is a pain in the ass. I've seen people try to do all of that. It eats up all of their time and fails anyway. I've got better things to do.", maybe I shouldn't be so suprised that many users can't perform such simple security tasks.
You'd be suprised how far 5 minutes of explanation or putting up posters or whatnot can go with even very non-technical users.
So you did recieve viruses, and got lucky that the antivirus developers got those viruses first and worked out how to detect them...
No argument there.
What if you got infected with something new that wasn't detected yet?
Then, I admit I could be in some trouble. But, as I was trying to say, if you follow safe practices in the first place, you will not find yourself in that situation.
Definately agreed. As you say, when you shift to business users, many of the key applications are already there on Linux and working pretty well.
Not so sure about business use causing a change at home, though....Only time will tell if the built up inertia can be overcome, I guess.
Yeah, but everyone does that more than they do other things and should be using free software for it.
:)
Microsoft should not be used for anything that touches the web and should be run virtualized of firewalled heavily if not blinded to your network.
It's like you're wearing blinders. With a little common sense, Windows can be very secure and very usable. You just have to do things like running a decent firewall, don't idiotically open strange attachments from anybody, run a decent virus scanner, keep reasonably up to date with the latest patches, etc. I have personally been using Windows and following such practices from 3.1 up to XP Pro, and have never been infected with any form of system-disabling virus, or for that matter, any viruses at all that were not immediately detected and quarantined.
Dual booting solves the game problem
Yes, more or less. Though if you're always booting into Windows, there's just no reason to start up into Linux in the first place after a while. As far as most everyday tasks go, Windows can do pretty much everything Linux can, especially with Mozilla/Firefox & co., OpenOffice, and other open-source programs being available for Windows these days.
more often than not, the games are moving to Linux anyway.
Evidence, please.
Sure, there's a smattering out there, but it's not even close to the point where you could walk into a store and know there's a good chance of a Linux version being there for new game X.
Bah. I've been swapped out for years now. There's enough "good enough" free software for everything.
Yet again, you personally having swapped out does not mean that the general population is ready for the same thing
Let me tell you, it all runs much more practically and easier than Windoze junk ever did.
I think I already addressed this.
It may be slow and hurt
As Yoda said, that...Is why you fail. "It may be slow and hurt" is not going to cut it.
Adoption of Mozilla on a Windoze platform is even more significant. It shows that people are willing to go out of their way to get more trusted code and that they trust a free program more than they trust M$. It's very bad news for Microsoft. It might also portend larger shift.
Your logic seems a bit flawed here. I don't know how much experience you have doing actual user support, but among those i've worked with - if you switch a typical Windows user from IE to Mozilla because of problems, they will think "yay, the problems are gone!", see Mozilla as pretty cool....And get on with their lives. They are not going to think, "Golly gee, switching my web browser makes me want to abandon Windows."
It's about as easy to replace your whole M$ system as it is to swap out the browser.
No, for most "normal" home users, and even some geek types, it is not. I don't know why this has to keep being said over and over, but not everyone is using only easily swappable web browsing, office, development, or email applications with their systems.
There are many millions of people out there running games and other specialized apps that have no (equal) counterpart on Linux or a way to run the original program without major problems (like the thousands of games still not usable under Wine/WineX).
Until it is possible to run practically any Windows software under Linux with no problems, the most you are going out of the majority of home users is a dual-boot, if that. Certainly not complete swap-outs.
Maybe if Linux had been in wide use when Windows usage was ramping up, things would have been different, but it's too late now. Home users are tied to the vast library of Windows-only apps (again, often games) that simply have no equal on Linux.
"What the RIAA is doing is having a chilling effect on online music trading, like it or not. I don't think the MPAA will have any recourse but to pursue the same tactics, but with much larger penalties."
Only partially correct. I believe it is having a chilling effect (maybe) on trading of music produced by RIAA members or that would otherwise get you in trouble with the RIAA if caught.
Conversely, in some areas, such as ( to use a rather geeky example ) anime and video game soundtracks, music is easily found with a bit of work and people are more than willing to share vast quantities.
That happens, without a doubt....I guess what I was trying to say, though, is that it doesn't always happen that way. Just like not being instantly assured that a project is good solely because it's free/open source.
you're making a tired FUD argument. and using jargon like "vector" doesn't make you any more right.
Well, I think he's at least half right. While Linux/Mozilla/Evolution are definately more secure, this still does not preclude them from being targeted by attackers when/if they become as widespread as Windows is now.
they were designed by people wanting to make good software, not by people wanting to make money. get over it.
Maybe this is a silly question to ask here, but why does wanting to make money, in your mind, stop good software from being made? The way you sound, it's like it's either one or the other, but I think both can be done, with the right person/company.
Actually, I know who/what all 3 of those names refer to, thanks :)
:)
If you actually understand what he said, then it's pretty clear that he wasn't pretending to be a Nintendo mucky-muck, other than to the extent to which it was necessary to create a joke.
And if you actually looked into his posting history, especially on Usenet/Google Groups, it's pretty clear that he is ( and has been for quite a while ) pretending to be a Nintendo/Sega/random video game company "mucky-muck", along with falsely claiming that he's recieved a degree from MIT, and a few other things. I'd give you direct links, but it's late, and it's really not all that hard to dig up.
If you don't want to look into things, then hey, nothing I can do to change that, but accusing me of having no sense of humor because of that fact is rather silly
Believe what you want. Merely saying that the merit of his content is in question. And looking at his past posts is a good way to gauge that.
It's a shame, really. You sound like you might have some valid viewpoints.
However, you need to stop being a damn trolling liar, and quit acting like you have the specialized experience that you want people to believe you have.
Moderators - read this guy's Slashdot and Google posting histories before you use mod points.
It was funny the first time he did it. However, it's been going on for a very long time, and he recycles his rubbish over and over again, trying to dupe people into thinking he's someone important.
:P Again, he wants to fool people by spewing false info and feeling important. It's gone past being funny to just being tired and lame.
Now, how in the H*ll it got rated 'interesting' is another question. I think that somebody didn't pay close attention to the posting.
What did you think the purpose of his posting was?