There are severak IM clients that are attempting this, even if still in the beta stage. I'm surprised no one has mentioned AT&T's "I M Here" client. It was on Slashdot just a week or so ago. It already has support for AIM and MSN Messanger, with support for ICQ and Yahoo! pager in the works. Problem is, of course, that Tribal Voice developed it, and their apps for AT&T have been less than impressive. Oh, yeah, it's only good at work, since it only works with Windows 95/98 or NT. Wait a minute, maybe that's why no one posted it...
I don't see how taking out a power plant by cracking their network is any different than taking it out with a well-placed missile. At least no one is killed this way.
I'm very interested to know the specifics of their plans. With my limited knowledge of the military objectives of the war, I wonder what they targeted with the "cyber warfare" division that would have hurt teh civilian population more than the missiles aimed at their power plants. Every target for a good crack I can think of would be a military institution. And wasn't there an article a while back about how unstable the entire Yugoslav network was, because of the power outages that the bombing created? It seems to me that the commercial (civilian) network was already disrupted, so even if they had to compromise the commercial network, it wouldn't have done more damage.
"something they've never done before" ?? Hmmm... Gives all the X-philes something to think about. I'm thinking that this "something they've never done before" is pr0n.
Outsourcing is standard for ISPs throughout the country, in everything from billing to tier 1 and tier 2 level tech support. It's a lot cheaper and easier for AOL to give the proper information to Company X, and have them worry about training and staffing according to needs. I know for a fact that both AOL and AT&T WorldNet outsource their technical support, having worked for a company that had their contracts. Each agent is given a cubical, an old Unix box that has a database of errors, and a headset for incoming calls. The call comes in, and you're "an AOL representative." You answer it AOL, and you never say anything that isn't in your database.
On the AT&T contract, we had a database for Windows 3.1 and 9x, and MacOS. Windows NT 4.0 support came only a few months ago. If the error message or problem wasn't in the database, it meant that AT&T didn't want their tier 1 agents to know about it or try to fix it. You put the customer on hold, and called a "resource," who would say either a) escalate this to tier 2, or b) refer the customer to Microsoft/Modem OEM/Computer OEM. If a customer had Linux, OS/2, BeOS, or anything except Windows or MacOS, we didn't support it. We were able to give out the username/password for the network, e-mail ID/password, DNS numbers and POP3/SMTP/NNTP addresses. That was it. No tier 1 agent had any clue what authentication protocol was being used. They were taught to configure Dial-Up Networking and that was about it.
Simply put, a trained monkey could have done that job. Now, AT&T didn't actively support alternate Operating Systems like Linux, but their Tier 0 support via the web, www.wurd.com, had detailed and step-by-step instructions for setting up most systems and software. It was simply a matter of what most users used. The average user who called in was using Windows 9X and either Netscape or Internet Explorer, and required an average of 12 minutes of tech support per issue. The average Linux user didn't call in, they fixed it themselves, so why support it?
BTW, AT&T WorldNet now supports (for PC, don't know about MAC) only Windows 95/98, NT 4.0 and version 4 browsers and higher.
So, by your logic, we should ignore anything that needs improvement, simply because it is not "fully implemented" or "fully supported?" It doesn't matter whether or not there are games at launch that fully support the connectivity features. The design of the console is poorly concieved for that purpose. How many people do you think are going to go out and purchase the upgraded modem in the future? Only those that think like us. The vast majority of users, like my brother, are going to assume that they bought a fully functional and implemented design, and won't need to upgrade. What systems prior to this had the major upgrades planned that Sega does?
Again, I say that as a game console, it's a good buy, but if you're looking for the entire package that was promised, look elsewhere. As a game console, I really enjoy it, but, then again, I got mine free.
Saga would have been better off waiting a little while longer and releasing the entire package so that there would be no need for major modifications.
As for the browser: many of the planned game releases will require users to connect, and there will be online gaming forums and such for the Dreamcast. My concern is that it will be rather difficult for novice users to get there, and just annoying for those of us who are more experienced. It would have been better if they had left the browser out, and just had the games connect themselves up.
The idea of Dreamcast is more than just a game console: it's a complete gaming machine: online gaming is one of the big draws of this machine. Many of the games have at least some degree of connectivity, for multi-player or what-have-you.
I also failed to mention the CD-reader itself: it's extremely sensitive, both to vibration and fingerprints. What we've seen is that the slightest fingerprint or smudge will make the GDR un-readable. Small vibrations will cause it to skip, etc... Not that big of a deal, but I'm notorious for not being able to keep my CDs in perfect condition. Especially when I play them a lot. As a GAME console, it's not too bad, but as an entire game system, including the highly touted online gaming segment, it leaves much to be desired
And who's bright idea was it to have AT&T WorldNet as the bundled ISP?
Ahhh... Raid Over Moscow. I used to love that game. What did I play that on, my old Commodore 64? Or my 128? Wait a minute, I may still have that around here somewhere... I agree, though. The FPS games are pretty boring, and even the role-playing or strategy games are getting progressively more BLAH every year. I feel like the game game manufacturers just want to turn out games, and don't appreciate that I want something that at least acknowledges my intellegence.
Okay, so here's the real scoop on the Sega Dreamcast: it's a joke. To be honest, I was waiting patiently for the release of the Dreamcast system, and now that I've had a chance to play with it...
The system itself is not horrible. It uses a Hitachi SH-4 SuperH RISC at 200mhz, not too bad. The graphics card is a NEC Videologic PowerVR2DC capable "of rendering 3 million polygons per second." The funny part is the modem: a Rockwell HCF-based chipset. Now, don't get me wrong, for a cheap game console it's not too bad. The big problem with Rockwell HCF chipsets are that they have notorious connection problems. Connections over 43k tend to drop packets and drop connection. I hope Sega has thought ahead, because there have been all sorts of problems connecting HCF modems to USR-based modems... In the current version, there is no way to update the modem firmware or the init string.
The next, in a long list of problems, is the browser itself. The "Web Planet" browser is, quite bluntly, a piece of crap. Regardless of what Sega says, it does not handle JAVAscript. Period. And instead of a nice Javascript error, like a normal browser, it dumps raw code onto the screen, which will frighten most users. There are numerous other problems, like the inability to use redirect pages like come.to, and the lack of configurable options.
I like the idea behind Dreamcast, but after playing with one most of this week (yes, my company recieved a handful early.), I've come to the conclusion that Sega missed the mark. With all the hype, it's going to be like the first Playstation all over again, but I see a lot of disappointed users in the future.
For my money, I'll wait until Sony releases the Playstation 2. At least they're waiting and pushing back dates rather than put out a crappy product.
I don't want to be too mean to Apple (after all, the G4 is a beast), but they seem to continually miss the point. Look at their history: they created a great OS back in 1980s, and then let it sit there and gather dust. Rather than continue innovating, they let Microsoft come in, take all their best ideas, and gain an even larger market share. Instead of innovating, the Apple community in general just sat there and cried "Foul!" Now, finally, they are beginning to see the error of those ways. There have been some great improvements to the MacOs (although OSX kind of bugs me: it steals some crappy things from Windows 9x that I'd rather see die). The iMac is a great idea for home computing, but the G4 is a powerful beast of a computer, and every geek wants to get their hands in it. Maybe it's time that Apple rethink their closed-system policy. At least in regards to the powerful machines like G4.
I'd be a devout Apple user (like I was early in high school), if only they'd listen to what I want.
With the technology changing so quickly, it seems it would be difficult to keep up, especially publishing books. Yet, you keep right up. What tricks do you use?
I don't want to be mean, but I can completely understand why you were set to -1. While the history only shows the last few weeks, I've been reading your posts for a long time. It's not the third person thing, or even the caps, but it's the large number of Offtopic posts. There have been many times where I've mentally marked you as "Offtopic." The other thing I see is that many times you don't want to let things die. Sometimes, you just need to realize that it's all been said, and that just repeating your same argument over and over again isn't going to gain any converts. I remember one thread, in particular, where you said the same thing four different times, four different ways. The three extra posts didn't illuminate anything: you just didn't want to let go.
I hope this helps you see why you may have been moderated down to -1.
Hmm... I'd have to disagree with you on a few things. First, Hitler didn't target "faithful Christians" exactly. He targeted anyone who wouldn't cooperate with his regime in the destruction of the Jewish people. Included in this were faithful and loyal Catholics, Lutherans, Quakers... anyone who thought that he was wrong. This said, he did, in fact, target some specific religious groups, such as Catholics, since they were more likely not to follow his doctrines.
Hitler always considered his "crusade" against the Jews, as well as his plans for world domination, to be part of God's Will. Listen to his rhetoric. Somehow, he was able to combine Christianity and Nietzche and not look too much like a hypocrite to his own people. What made is worse was that the german Bishops of the Lutheran and Anglican/Episcopalian churches supported him fully in his efforts to eradicate the Jewish people. Christianity has long been advocating the destruction of the Jews, from just after Constantine legitimized the faith, through the Great Schism, through the Inquisition (which was targeted primarlity at the middle class land-owning Jews), all the way through World War 2. In fact, it was the latter that forced most major Christian religions to rethink their ideas about the Jewish people. For Catholicism, that meant a speech from the Pope, for Protestant churches, it was a bunch of councils.
Most of the worst atrocities of the world were caused by those who believed they were doing God's will. Slavery, for example, which last hundreds of years, was started and perpetuated by Christians. The Ku Klux Klan has always claimed to be doing God's will, at least if God is Protestant and White (Blacks, Jews and Catholics were the first added to the KKKs hatred list. Muslim and those of Arab descent were added later). The screams and cries of "whore," "sinner" and "killer" that surround abortion clinics across the country, and the sometimes deadly confrontations outside those same clinics are almost universally organized by "Christian" groups. These daily emotional and physical beatings of people are far worse than the atrocities of the Holocaust, because it creates a culture of hatred and dominance based on faith, color or belief. Look around you. The hatred you see isn't caused by violence on TV, or sex in the movies. It's caused because there is one vocal group that insists on telling everyone else what to do, and refuses to admit that any other view may be valid.
Now, before you start flaming me with bible quotes, I spent a great deal of time studying the Bible and religious history. I know where you're coming from. My point is that we should let everyone live the way they want to. If you feel like trying to convert the entire U.S., that's fine. But legislating it won't work. (If you doubt my words, ask the Romans. Ask Ausonius if he was a devout Christian. I'll give you a hint... you'll find him someplace extremely warm.) Start with the person next to you. And flaming me isn't going to gain you any points.
No, it is not true that a vast majority of citizens of the U.S. are Christian, Jewish or Muslim. It's just not. While it is true that a vast majority of US citizens believe in some sort of higher being, more than 90% according to some polls, less than 45% classify themselves as Christian. If you were to factor out those who say they are Christian but, by their actions, are clearly not (as most "good" Christians would), then the percentaage is less. The Constitution was created with the idea that all citizens of the country could practice what religion they want, and that the larger religions would not have the oppurtunity to beat up on the smaller religions, like the Church of England beat up on everyone else. By institutionalizing any religion, you create just that enviornment of domination. The posting of the 10 Commandments would do just that. Chances are that by posting the 10 Commandments, there would be even larger problems than the tragedies at Columbine, Littleton, and the rest. How many of us have watched people who just hate, who seeth with hatred. Now imagine that daily they have something, a little piece of paper with 10 "rules" on it, to focus their hatred on. Chances are greater that this person will get worse and worse, and maybe take it out on a church rather than the school. Think about it for a moment.
Actually, if you want to know, y'all and you all has long been considered part of the English vocabulary. Just the same way that "phat" is proper English. There is no such thing as proper English. English is a dynamic language. It's pasty-faced inbred Northern carpetbaggers that have tried to force "proper" English on people for years. Besides, you will find y'all in most dictionaries.
For the record, I was born In Sacramento, CA, raised in Virginia, and now live in Madison, WI. I will always be a southerner, though.
Slashdot Mirror
There are severak IM clients that are attempting this, even if still in the beta stage. I'm surprised no one has mentioned AT&T's "I M Here" client. It was on Slashdot just a week or so ago. It already has support for AIM and MSN Messanger, with support for ICQ and Yahoo! pager in the works. Problem is, of course, that Tribal Voice developed it, and their apps for AT&T have been less than impressive. Oh, yeah, it's only good at work, since it only works with Windows 95/98 or NT. Wait a minute, maybe that's why no one posted it...
I don't see how taking out a power plant by cracking their network is any different than taking it out with a well-placed missile. At least no one is killed this way.
I'm very interested to know the specifics of their plans. With my limited knowledge of the military objectives of the war, I wonder what they targeted with the "cyber warfare" division that would have hurt teh civilian population more than the missiles aimed at their power plants. Every target for a good crack I can think of would be a military institution. And wasn't there an article a while back about how unstable the entire Yugoslav network was, because of the power outages that the bombing created? It seems to me that the commercial (civilian) network was already disrupted, so even if they had to compromise the commercial network, it wouldn't have done more damage.
Or am I missing something?
"something they've never done before"
?? Hmmm...
Gives all the X-philes something to think about. I'm thinking that this "something they've never done before" is pr0n.
Oh, wait, Duchovny has already done that.
Outsourcing is standard for ISPs throughout the country, in everything from billing to tier 1 and tier 2 level tech support. It's a lot cheaper and easier for AOL to give the proper information to Company X, and have them worry about training and staffing according to needs. I know for a fact that both AOL and AT&T WorldNet outsource their technical support, having worked for a company that had their contracts. Each agent is given a cubical, an old Unix box that has a database of errors, and a headset for incoming calls. The call comes in, and you're "an AOL representative." You answer it AOL, and you never say anything that isn't in your database.
On the AT&T contract, we had a database for Windows 3.1 and 9x, and MacOS. Windows NT 4.0 support came only a few months ago. If the error message or problem wasn't in the database, it meant that AT&T didn't want their tier 1 agents to know about it or try to fix it. You put the customer on hold, and called a "resource," who would say either a) escalate this to tier 2, or b) refer the customer to Microsoft/Modem OEM/Computer OEM. If a customer had Linux, OS/2, BeOS, or anything except Windows or MacOS, we didn't support it. We were able to give out the username/password for the network, e-mail ID/password, DNS numbers and POP3/SMTP/NNTP addresses. That was it. No tier 1 agent had any clue what authentication protocol was being used. They were taught to configure Dial-Up Networking and that was about it.
Simply put, a trained monkey could have done that job. Now, AT&T didn't actively support alternate Operating Systems like Linux, but their Tier 0 support via the web, www.wurd.com, had detailed and step-by-step instructions for setting up most systems and software. It was simply a matter of what most users used. The average user who called in was using Windows 9X and either Netscape or Internet Explorer, and required an average of 12 minutes of tech support per issue. The average Linux user didn't call in, they fixed it themselves, so why support it?
BTW, AT&T WorldNet now supports (for PC, don't know about MAC) only Windows 95/98, NT 4.0 and version 4 browsers and higher.
So, the mark of the beast has been patented? Does that mean the second coming has been delayed pending legal action?
Now I don't have to worry about nuclear war when I'm up on Jan 1st, recieving calls from angry customers who suddenly can't get web access.
"Well, we warned you that version 1.21 wasn't Y2K compatible."
So, by your logic, we should ignore anything that needs improvement, simply because it is not "fully implemented" or "fully supported?" It doesn't matter whether or not there are games at launch that fully support the connectivity features. The design of the console is poorly concieved for that purpose. How many people do you think are going to go out and purchase the upgraded modem in the future? Only those that think like us. The vast majority of users, like my brother, are going to assume that they bought a fully functional and implemented design, and won't need to upgrade. What systems prior to this had the major upgrades planned that Sega does?
Again, I say that as a game console, it's a good buy, but if you're looking for the entire package that was promised, look elsewhere. As a game console, I really enjoy it, but, then again, I got mine free.
Saga would have been better off waiting a little while longer and releasing the entire package so that there would be no need for major modifications.
As for the browser: many of the planned game releases will require users to connect, and there will be online gaming forums and such for the Dreamcast. My concern is that it will be rather difficult for novice users to get there, and just annoying for those of us who are more experienced. It would have been better if they had left the browser out, and just had the games connect themselves up.
The idea of Dreamcast is more than just a game console: it's a complete gaming machine: online gaming is one of the big draws of this machine. Many of the games have at least some degree of connectivity, for multi-player or what-have-you.
I also failed to mention the CD-reader itself: it's extremely sensitive, both to vibration and fingerprints. What we've seen is that the slightest fingerprint or smudge will make the GDR un-readable. Small vibrations will cause it to skip, etc... Not that big of a deal, but I'm notorious for not being able to keep my CDs in perfect condition. Especially when I play them a lot. As a GAME console, it's not too bad, but as an entire game system, including the highly touted online gaming segment, it leaves much to be desired
And who's bright idea was it to have AT&T WorldNet as the bundled ISP?
Whoa! According to what I've been told, and I may be misinformed, Sega's proprietary OS is Windows CE-based, as well.
Does anyone have more information on this?
Ahhh... Raid Over Moscow. I used to love that game. What did I play that on, my old Commodore 64? Or my 128? Wait a minute, I may still have that around here somewhere... I agree, though. The FPS games are pretty boring, and even the role-playing or strategy games are getting progressively more BLAH every year. I feel like the game game manufacturers just want to turn out games, and don't appreciate that I want something that at least acknowledges my intellegence.
Okay, so here's the real scoop on the Sega Dreamcast: it's a joke. To be honest, I was waiting patiently for the release of the Dreamcast system, and now that I've had a chance to play with it...
The system itself is not horrible. It uses a Hitachi SH-4 SuperH RISC at 200mhz, not too bad. The graphics card is a NEC Videologic PowerVR2DC capable "of rendering 3 million polygons per second." The funny part is the modem: a Rockwell HCF-based chipset. Now, don't get me wrong, for a cheap game console it's not too bad. The big problem with Rockwell HCF chipsets are that they have notorious connection problems. Connections over 43k tend to drop packets and drop connection. I hope Sega has thought ahead, because there have been all sorts of problems connecting HCF modems to USR-based modems... In the current version, there is no way to update the modem firmware or the init string.
The next, in a long list of problems, is the browser itself. The "Web Planet" browser is, quite bluntly, a piece of crap. Regardless of what Sega says, it does not handle JAVAscript. Period. And instead of a nice Javascript error, like a normal browser, it dumps raw code onto the screen, which will frighten most users. There are numerous other problems, like the inability to use redirect pages like come.to, and the lack of configurable options.
I like the idea behind Dreamcast, but after playing with one most of this week (yes, my company recieved a handful early.), I've come to the conclusion that Sega missed the mark. With all the hype, it's going to be like the first Playstation all over again, but I see a lot of disappointed users in the future.
For my money, I'll wait until Sony releases the Playstation 2. At least they're waiting and pushing back dates rather than put out a crappy product.
I don't want to be too mean to Apple (after all, the G4 is a beast), but they seem to continually miss the point. Look at their history: they created a great OS back in 1980s, and then let it sit there and gather dust. Rather than continue innovating, they let Microsoft come in, take all their best ideas, and gain an even larger market share. Instead of innovating, the Apple community in general just sat there and cried "Foul!" Now, finally, they are beginning to see the error of those ways. There have been some great improvements to the MacOs (although OSX kind of bugs me: it steals some crappy things from Windows 9x that I'd rather see die). The iMac is a great idea for home computing, but the G4 is a powerful beast of a computer, and every geek wants to get their hands in it. Maybe it's time that Apple rethink their closed-system policy. At least in regards to the powerful machines like G4.
I'd be a devout Apple user (like I was early in high school), if only they'd listen to what I want.
With the technology changing so quickly, it seems it would be difficult to keep up, especially publishing books. Yet, you keep right up. What tricks do you use?
DAVEO -
I don't want to be mean, but I can completely understand why you were set to -1. While the history only shows the last few weeks, I've been reading your posts for a long time. It's not the third person thing, or even the caps, but it's the large number of Offtopic posts. There have been many times where I've mentally marked you as "Offtopic."
The other thing I see is that many times you don't want to let things die. Sometimes, you just need to realize that it's all been said, and that just repeating your same argument over and over again isn't going to gain any converts. I remember one thread, in particular, where you said the same thing four different times, four different ways. The three extra posts didn't illuminate anything: you just didn't want to let go.
I hope this helps you see why you may have been moderated down to -1.
Hmm... I'd have to disagree with you on a few things. First, Hitler didn't target "faithful Christians" exactly. He targeted anyone who wouldn't cooperate with his regime in the destruction of the Jewish people. Included in this were faithful and loyal Catholics, Lutherans, Quakers... anyone who thought that he was wrong. This said, he did, in fact, target some specific religious groups, such as Catholics, since they were more likely not to follow his doctrines.
Hitler always considered his "crusade" against the Jews, as well as his plans for world domination, to be part of God's Will. Listen to his rhetoric. Somehow, he was able to combine Christianity and Nietzche and not look too much like a hypocrite to his own people. What made is worse was that the german Bishops of the Lutheran and Anglican/Episcopalian churches supported him fully in his efforts to eradicate the Jewish people. Christianity has long been advocating the destruction of the Jews, from just after Constantine legitimized the faith, through the Great Schism, through the Inquisition (which was targeted primarlity at the middle class land-owning Jews), all the way through World War 2. In fact, it was the latter that forced most major Christian religions to rethink their ideas about the Jewish people. For Catholicism, that meant a speech from the Pope, for Protestant churches, it was a bunch of councils.
Most of the worst atrocities of the world were caused by those who believed they were doing God's will. Slavery, for example, which last hundreds of years, was started and perpetuated by Christians. The Ku Klux Klan has always claimed to be doing God's will, at least if God is Protestant and White (Blacks, Jews and Catholics were the first added to the KKKs hatred list. Muslim and those of Arab descent were added later). The screams and cries of "whore," "sinner" and "killer" that surround abortion clinics across the country, and the sometimes deadly confrontations outside those same clinics are almost universally organized by "Christian" groups. These daily emotional and physical beatings of people are far worse than the atrocities of the Holocaust, because it creates a culture of hatred and dominance based on faith, color or belief. Look around you. The hatred you see isn't caused by violence on TV, or sex in the movies. It's caused because there is one vocal group that insists on telling everyone else what to do, and refuses to admit that any other view may be valid.
Now, before you start flaming me with bible quotes, I spent a great deal of time studying the Bible and religious history. I know where you're coming from. My point is that we should let everyone live the way they want to. If you feel like trying to convert the entire U.S., that's fine. But legislating it won't work. (If you doubt my words, ask the Romans. Ask Ausonius if he was a devout Christian. I'll give you a hint... you'll find him someplace extremely warm.) Start with the person next to you. And flaming me isn't going to gain you any points.
No, it is not true that a vast majority of citizens of the U.S. are Christian, Jewish or Muslim. It's just not. While it is true that a vast majority of US citizens believe in some sort of higher being, more than 90% according to some polls, less than 45% classify themselves as Christian. If you were to factor out those who say they are Christian but, by their actions, are clearly not (as most "good" Christians would), then the percentaage is less. The Constitution was created with the idea that all citizens of the country could practice what religion they want, and that the larger religions would not have the oppurtunity to beat up on the smaller religions, like the Church of England beat up on everyone else. By institutionalizing any religion, you create just that enviornment of domination. The posting of the 10 Commandments would do just that. Chances are that by posting the 10 Commandments, there would be even larger problems than the tragedies at Columbine, Littleton, and the rest. How many of us have watched people who just hate, who seeth with hatred. Now imagine that daily they have something, a little piece of paper with 10 "rules" on it, to focus their hatred on. Chances are greater that this person will get worse and worse, and maybe take it out on a church rather than the school. Think about it for a moment.
Actually, if you want to know, y'all and you all has long been considered part of the English vocabulary. Just the same way that "phat" is proper English. There is no such thing as proper English. English is a dynamic language. It's pasty-faced inbred Northern carpetbaggers that have tried to force "proper" English on people for years. Besides, you will find y'all in most dictionaries.
For the record, I was born In Sacramento, CA, raised in Virginia, and now live in Madison, WI. I will always be a southerner, though.