This is a very good point. While I'm a little fed up with minors facing less charges (unless someone wants to seriously argue he didn't know what he was doing was wrong), prison isn't the answer.
Community service is definitely the answer, IMHO; no point in leaving him to rot in prison, much better to get him out, and doing something useful!
I work on an application that is now well into it's maintenance stage. I'm currently doing a feature freeze, and going through all the code, cleaning it up, refactoring APIs, modularising it better, this sort of stuff.
Something I notice while doing this; code quality from the same developer is wildly variable. The same person can write brilliant code in one class, and be writing incomprehensible drivel in another. And when I go to the coder in question, and ask them what it does, and why they did it that way, I hear again and again:
Oh yeah, that code, I was tired/rushed/up late.
And by the time I've had to go over all this code, and clean it up, how much time do you think has been wasted, that wouldn't have been if they'd paced themselves properly?
I've seen how the system works. Someone will get a speeding ticket for travelling at 1300MPH through a built up area (possibly several built up areas simultaneously), and no-one will notice until it gets to court.
I remeber, at college, a group watching Romy and Michele's High School Reunion. About halfway through, one guy says "Was I the only one that enjoyed school?". Everyone turns, and looks confused them, there is complete silence, then everyone goes back to watching the film.
As someone earning loosely in the range of $20.50 an hour (I'm not paid hourly, or expected to work specific hours, which makes the calculation tricky:) ), I just thought I'd ask......so how much do you think programmers should be earning. I don't normally go for anecdotal evidence, but I'm not 100% convinced by a lot of numbers I see mentioned, so I'm looking for known salaries of programmers, and what qualifications they had to earn that salary?
Why tragically? Because they shouldn't be able to go "I didn't know I was sending porn to kids", because they the should have checked. And if they didn't know, they shouldn't have been doing it.
Myself, I figure crypto signing is the way forward. If I can verify who you are, your mail gets through, otherwise it drops in my spam folder. Tragically, I appear to be alone in this belief.
Everyone seems to be saying that the reason MMOGs don't suit casual gamers, is the grind, so the content lasts long enough.
Huh?
If they're casual gamers, there should be no need for the grind to slow them down. It took me almost a year to get to level 50 in CoH. I've been playing Guild Wars since launch, and still haven't run out of PvE content. The key point about casual gamers is that they play, y'know, casually.
Sure, the regular MMOGers will turn up, play the entire content in 3 hours, and go do something else. Does that matter, if you've got casual gamers in their place?
And when I can go out to the shops and buy a game that looks like the Killzone trailer, I'll believe it. In the meantime:
Watch the trailer carefully. Note how much stuff is on screen at once. The entire thing is _very_ carefully rigged so that the amount of action on screen at once is constant.
Define "rendered in realtime". For example, pre-calculating visible faces and ensuring that occluded polygons were never rendered, would give you a significant improvement in how much detail you can show. This is similar to a trick I believe ATi used to improve 3D Mark performance.
Both consoles are using next gen ATi/Nvidia GPUs, with modifications for their respective consoles. Unless ATi has really messed up, though, there shouldn't be a major performance difference between the two chips.
While the PS3 does look like it will have better peak performance, it is also going to be much harder to use fully. Where the XBox 360 has 3 symmetrical CPU cores, and uses the same shaders for pixel and vertex, the PS3 is loaded with components optimised towards a single purpose. To see launch titles use the full power of the PS3 would be... extremely suprising.
Exactly. The entire point of restricting kid's exposure to sex/violence in computer games/movies/TV, at least IMHO, is to ensure they learn these things from reality. Rather than sheltering them from experiences, this is a way of ensuring their formative experiences are real.
Given I don't have mod points, I'll actually have to write an response. Grumble...
Definitely agree, though. I don't see CPU time as a significant issue for games, any more. Okay, developers might have to write code a little more carefully than they do on the PC, and maybe they'll have to actually multi-thread their stuff properly to get decent performance, but I don't think they'll actually hit CPU limitation issues.
Physics might be an issue, but maybe Ageia have the right idea, with their dedicated physics processor. From I've heard about their chip, it's a major leap over CPU based physics, much like 3D graphics chips were are major leap over CPU based 3D graphics when they first came out.
This leaves us with AI; unless I'm wrong, that's not going to take much CPU time. Maybe if you had a _lot_ of computer controlled chars, I suppose, but otherwise... ?
I only installed AdBlock after the Crazy Frog advert. I'm sitting there, surfing away, and suddenly there's this ABOMINATION coming through my speakers.
It may be the most popular ringtone in the world, but it makes me WANT TO KILL PEOPLE.
*twitch*
So, how about this; if you make the ads just a little less ANNOYING, not only will I stop blocking them so much, I will not come after the advertising executives WITH A BLUNT, RUSTY SPOON!
I agree entirely. In particular, I think there's a lot of people who think something is okay, unless it's specifically made hard.
People NEED to take more responsibility for their actions. If I left my systems with the default passwords, didn't patch them, and had no firewall, it still would not by fault if someone broke in. It would be irresponsible of me, but that's is a different matter.
There needs to be more of a realisation that responsibility lies with the person who CHOOSES to break the law.
Okay, fine, Amazon.com may or may not expand it's DVD rental service into the US. I don't see how on earth it lacks a future if it doesn't, though? Its rental service seems popular here in the UK (I'm pleased with it, I know friends that are pleased with it, anyone got any actual numbers?), so it may not expand into other territories anytime soon, but...
Something I think too many people forget is that passwords are security through obscurity. It isn't something that should be relied on if you don't have to, but it's better than nothing.
How about this; of computers I've ever used, and were turned off regularly, only one ever died, and that was due to me mis-wiring a cable and the magic smoke got out. The rest are, to be best of my knowledge, still out there and funtional, or recyled.
Of computers I've ever used (systems at work), and were NOT turned off regularly, one had its PSU fail during a power cut, one had a HD die in the same powercut, and another's motherboard apparently spontaneously cracked in two.
While we're on the subject, and I'm hoping someone can dig out a reference, wasn't one of IBM's original statement on the whole DeskStar/DeathStar mess that the HDs were never designed to be left on 24/7?
*blink* A minute, maybe two? If I had any sort of timer handy, I'd check.
Maybe it helps if you get used to turning the system on before you need it. For example, I get up, tap the on button, and go clean my teeth, by the time I get back it's ready. Or I get home, turn the computer on, then go get a drink.
*pause* Although I think I just proved I spend too much time infront of the computer. I'm going to go outside now...
Firstly: Of course, you're right, we've got so much processing power now, we can just throw out the proprietary cards. None of this foolish graphics card nonsense, we'll just......no, wait, that doesn't make sense!
Secondly: Ageia are targetting the PC platform. They've joined up with ASUS to make a plug-in card for PCs. As far as I know, there are no plans for their chips to turn up in next-gen consoles. This particularly means they'll have to show that their card actually improves things. If it doesn't, no-one will buy it, they'll go out of business, self-solving problem.
Can't find any figures on PS2/XBox power consumption, but you're probably looking at around 100W each (my DVD player takes around 140, for example), so that's around 150 kilowatt hours/month, which (at the rates I, in the UK, pay for electricity) is around $29/month. Unless you're leaving it on for game state, WHY???
(If someone in the US could work out how much 150 kilowatt hours actually costs, would be appreciated)
However... doesn't the noise drive you nuts? I've woken up in the middle of the night, and been driven nuts trying to figure out what the background noise was, before tracking it down to the PS2 left on by my flatmates.
Just thought I'd say; I switch my computer off regularly (anytime I'm not going to be away for more than, say, 10-20 minutes), and have never had problem. The only time I've _ever_ seen a power related problem, was a power cut at work, after which one of the old system's PSU's decided it had had enough.
Here I have one bookstore literally around the corner from where I live, from which I could get pretty much any fiction title I am likely to want, and there's a larger store within about 40 minutes travelling.
However:
1. Neither of them come even close to the range of computing books I need. Even the larger store is almost entirely beginners books, or Windows-focused stuff, none of which is useful to me.
2. Amazon.co.uk generally ship stuff to me for the next day, and with enough of a discount that it wipes out S&H.
3. Travelling to the larger store is more expensive than S&H anyway, not to mention generally not wanting to spend an hour travelling to buy a book or two.
While I think society's general attitude towards borrowing (and putting problems off until later, in general) is terrible, and the media's encouragement of this (it seems every time lending goes down, they panic about the economy is slowing), I've got to agree with the people that talk about personal responsibility.
"So.. if you like Motorolas, use BT Mobile or Vodafone and want BT Broadband AND you are close enough to an ADSL-capable exchange then you are in luck."
That's more or less me. The mobile doesn't make me want to scream "Oh God YES I must have one", but also doesn't look too bad. I have a Vodafone phone, and have ADSL through my BT line. I'm not sure if the article actually means I'd need ADSL from BT Openworld, that might be a nuisance, but...
Then add in the fact that I don't get mobile phone reception in my house, or any of the last few houses I've lived in, or my office for that matter. If this can auto-route my mobile calls to a phoneline I'm near, it's perfect for me (as it is, I set my mobile to auto-redirect to my house if I'm out of range, and that more or less works).
I'm also particularly puzzled about these rough edges you mention?
Had the PS2 kit - mostly it was out of date and slow. I did try patching stuff up to more recent versions, but it was mostly rather slow and dull, and I got bored before too long.
It was idealy for learning how to work with the hardware, cheaply, but that was mostly it.
For the PS3, if we can actually get enough enthusiasm together to keep the Linux up to date, it should work just fine.
As to pricing - I'd have thought they'd sell it at not much more than the price of a 2.5" drive, mayve even less, to stay competitive with the Xbox 360, but could be wrong...
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This is a very good point. While I'm a little fed up with minors facing less charges (unless someone wants to seriously argue he didn't know what he was doing was wrong), prison isn't the answer.
Community service is definitely the answer, IMHO; no point in leaving him to rot in prison, much better to get him out, and doing something useful!
I work on an application that is now well into it's maintenance stage. I'm currently doing a feature freeze, and going through all the code, cleaning it up, refactoring APIs, modularising it better, this sort of stuff.
Something I notice while doing this; code quality from the same developer is wildly variable. The same person can write brilliant code in one class, and be writing incomprehensible drivel in another. And when I go to the coder in question, and ask them what it does, and why they did it that way, I hear again and again:
Oh yeah, that code, I was tired/rushed/up late.
And by the time I've had to go over all this code, and clean it up, how much time do you think has been wasted, that wouldn't have been if they'd paced themselves properly?
Optimist.
I've seen how the system works. Someone will get a speeding ticket for travelling at 1300MPH through a built up area (possibly several built up areas simultaneously), and no-one will notice until it gets to court.
I remeber, at college, a group watching Romy and Michele's High School Reunion. About halfway through, one guy says "Was I the only one that enjoyed school?". Everyone turns, and looks confused them, there is complete silence, then everyone goes back to watching the film.
As someone earning loosely in the range of $20.50 an hour (I'm not paid hourly, or expected to work specific hours, which makes the calculation tricky :) ), I just thought I'd ask... ...so how much do you think programmers should be earning. I don't normally go for anecdotal evidence, but I'm not 100% convinced by a lot of numbers I see mentioned, so I'm looking for known salaries of programmers, and what qualifications they had to earn that salary?
Tragically, you're probably right.
Why tragically? Because they shouldn't be able to go "I didn't know I was sending porn to kids", because they the should have checked. And if they didn't know, they shouldn't have been doing it.
Myself, I figure crypto signing is the way forward. If I can verify who you are, your mail gets through, otherwise it drops in my spam folder. Tragically, I appear to be alone in this belief.
Everyone seems to be saying that the reason MMOGs don't suit casual gamers, is the grind, so the content lasts long enough.
Huh?
If they're casual gamers, there should be no need for the grind to slow them down. It took me almost a year to get to level 50 in CoH. I've been playing Guild Wars since launch, and still haven't run out of PvE content. The key point about casual gamers is that they play, y'know, casually.
Sure, the regular MMOGers will turn up, play the entire content in 3 hours, and go do something else. Does that matter, if you've got casual gamers in their place?
While the PS3 does look like it will have better peak performance, it is also going to be much harder to use fully. Where the XBox 360 has 3 symmetrical CPU cores, and uses the same shaders for pixel and vertex, the PS3 is loaded with components optimised towards a single purpose. To see launch titles use the full power of the PS3 would be... extremely suprising.
Exactly. The entire point of restricting kid's exposure to sex/violence in computer games/movies/TV, at least IMHO, is to ensure they learn these things from reality. Rather than sheltering them from experiences, this is a way of ensuring their formative experiences are real.
Given I don't have mod points, I'll actually have to write an response. Grumble...
Definitely agree, though. I don't see CPU time as a significant issue for games, any more. Okay, developers might have to write code a little more carefully than they do on the PC, and maybe they'll have to actually multi-thread their stuff properly to get decent performance, but I don't think they'll actually hit CPU limitation issues.
Physics might be an issue, but maybe Ageia have the right idea, with their dedicated physics processor. From I've heard about their chip, it's a major leap over CPU based physics, much like 3D graphics chips were are major leap over CPU based 3D graphics when they first came out.
This leaves us with AI; unless I'm wrong, that's not going to take much CPU time. Maybe if you had a _lot_ of computer controlled chars, I suppose, but otherwise... ?
We design for Firefox. It's only 20% of our market, and we'll be shot (no, I don't mean fired) if anyone ever realises, but it helps keep us sane :)
I only installed AdBlock after the Crazy Frog advert. I'm sitting there, surfing away, and suddenly there's this ABOMINATION coming through my speakers.
It may be the most popular ringtone in the world, but it makes me WANT TO KILL PEOPLE.
*twitch*
So, how about this; if you make the ads just a little less ANNOYING, not only will I stop blocking them so much, I will not come after the advertising executives WITH A BLUNT, RUSTY SPOON!
"...gamers and PC builders staunchly defend their favorite brands while throwing mud in the face of the other, treating anecdotal evidence as gospel"
Am I truly the only person willing to switch happily between Nvidia and ATi, depending on which best fits my needs at the time?
I agree entirely. In particular, I think there's a lot of people who think something is okay, unless it's specifically made hard.
People NEED to take more responsibility for their actions. If I left my systems with the default passwords, didn't patch them, and had no firewall, it still would not by fault if someone broke in. It would be irresponsible of me, but that's is a different matter.
There needs to be more of a realisation that responsibility lies with the person who CHOOSES to break the law.
Okay, fine, Amazon.com may or may not expand it's DVD rental service into the US. I don't see how on earth it lacks a future if it doesn't, though? Its rental service seems popular here in the UK (I'm pleased with it, I know friends that are pleased with it, anyone got any actual numbers?), so it may not expand into other territories anytime soon, but...
So what, exactly?
Something I think too many people forget is that passwords are security through obscurity. It isn't something that should be relied on if you don't have to, but it's better than nothing.
How about this; of computers I've ever used, and were turned off regularly, only one ever died, and that was due to me mis-wiring a cable and the magic smoke got out. The rest are, to be best of my knowledge, still out there and funtional, or recyled.
Of computers I've ever used (systems at work), and were NOT turned off regularly, one had its PSU fail during a power cut, one had a HD die in the same powercut, and another's motherboard apparently spontaneously cracked in two.
While we're on the subject, and I'm hoping someone can dig out a reference, wasn't one of IBM's original statement on the whole DeskStar/DeathStar mess that the HDs were never designed to be left on 24/7?
*blink* A minute, maybe two? If I had any sort of timer handy, I'd check.
Maybe it helps if you get used to turning the system on before you need it. For example, I get up, tap the on button, and go clean my teeth, by the time I get back it's ready. Or I get home, turn the computer on, then go get a drink.
*pause* Although I think I just proved I spend too much time infront of the computer. I'm going to go outside now...
Firstly: Of course, you're right, we've got so much processing power now, we can just throw out the proprietary cards. None of this foolish graphics card nonsense, we'll just... ...no, wait, that doesn't make sense!
Secondly: Ageia are targetting the PC platform. They've joined up with ASUS to make a plug-in card for PCs. As far as I know, there are no plans for their chips to turn up in next-gen consoles. This particularly means they'll have to show that their card actually improves things. If it doesn't, no-one will buy it, they'll go out of business, self-solving problem.
Can't find any figures on PS2/XBox power consumption, but you're probably looking at around 100W each (my DVD player takes around 140, for example), so that's around 150 kilowatt hours/month, which (at the rates I, in the UK, pay for electricity) is around $29/month. Unless you're leaving it on for game state, WHY???
(If someone in the US could work out how much 150 kilowatt hours actually costs, would be appreciated)
However... doesn't the noise drive you nuts? I've woken up in the middle of the night, and been driven nuts trying to figure out what the background noise was, before tracking it down to the PS2 left on by my flatmates.
Just thought I'd say; I switch my computer off regularly (anytime I'm not going to be away for more than, say, 10-20 minutes), and have never had problem. The only time I've _ever_ seen a power related problem, was a power cut at work, after which one of the old system's PSU's decided it had had enough.
Here I have one bookstore literally around the corner from where I live, from which I could get pretty much any fiction title I am likely to want, and there's a larger store within about 40 minutes travelling.
However:
1. Neither of them come even close to the range of computing books I need. Even the larger store is almost entirely beginners books, or Windows-focused stuff, none of which is useful to me.
2. Amazon.co.uk generally ship stuff to me for the next day, and with enough of a discount that it wipes out S&H.
3. Travelling to the larger store is more expensive than S&H anyway, not to mention generally not wanting to spend an hour travelling to buy a book or two.
While I think society's general attitude towards borrowing (and putting problems off until later, in general) is terrible, and the media's encouragement of this (it seems every time lending goes down, they panic about the economy is slowing), I've got to agree with the people that talk about personal responsibility.
"So.. if you like Motorolas, use BT Mobile or Vodafone and want BT Broadband AND you are close enough to an ADSL-capable exchange then you are in luck."
That's more or less me. The mobile doesn't make me want to scream "Oh God YES I must have one", but also doesn't look too bad. I have a Vodafone phone, and have ADSL through my BT line. I'm not sure if the article actually means I'd need ADSL from BT Openworld, that might be a nuisance, but...
Then add in the fact that I don't get mobile phone reception in my house, or any of the last few houses I've lived in, or my office for that matter. If this can auto-route my mobile calls to a phoneline I'm near, it's perfect for me (as it is, I set my mobile to auto-redirect to my house if I'm out of range, and that more or less works).
I'm also particularly puzzled about these rough edges you mention?
Had the PS2 kit - mostly it was out of date and slow. I did try patching stuff up to more recent versions, but it was mostly rather slow and dull, and I got bored before too long.
It was idealy for learning how to work with the hardware, cheaply, but that was mostly it.
For the PS3, if we can actually get enough enthusiasm together to keep the Linux up to date, it should work just fine.
As to pricing - I'd have thought they'd sell it at not much more than the price of a 2.5" drive, mayve even less, to stay competitive with the Xbox 360, but could be wrong...