Aaargh. Why the hell are people trying to fix something that's not broken?
but something IS broken.. people aren't buying as many CD's... their "solution" to online prices will drive people back to the shiny overpriced plastic discs which will look like a bargain compared to the latest $3.99 50cent track.
If you bear in mind that the recording industry HATES digital distribution of product.. this decision makes much more sense.
There are entertainers and there real musicians. There are entertainers and there are real actors. There are movies and there are films.
Now granted there is a fine line between entertainment and art, and I believe that the difference is the amount of "soul" one puts into what is being created. Hell toilet creation can be an art if the creator is passionate enough about it's form and functionality and constantly strives to improve upon his or her creation. Games have been in the "entertainment" category for so long that only now are they capable of being pieces of immersive medium. Game creation can be an art, but the games themselves as art is still in it's infancy.
Perhaps the question should be is the game a more cerebral experience or more of a deeply emotional one.. currently I feel that most if not all games still fall squarly in the cerebral experience and are hence.. not art (by my definition of art), IMHO.
Be sure to stick to you "TIME PROVEN METHOD" of not releasing new things until they are good and ready.
I've heard murmurings of Vivendi pressuring Blizzard to release it's expansion on a quicker timetable, thus changing the focus from quality product to *money*...
Hold fast Blizzard... and remember what made you great! and what makes great companies falter.
Ironically doesn't this sound like the beginnings of "soma" in a brave new world. Taking a substance to inhibit negative feeling... or in this case flipping a genetic switch.
I just don't like the idea of turning off fear. Mastering fear and overcoming it with our rational thought provides humanity increased mental strength of will... Perhaps when we are ready, fear will leave on it's own, but for now I believe fear provides us with something we should be overcoming on an individual basis.
Tampering with genetics is the slipperiest of slopes. Careful judgement must me used when deciding on when and if to use genetics as a solution to our "shortcomings" rather than a solution to our "defects"
Granted this could be used as a solution to phobias which would fall under defects.. but how long do you believe it would take to abuse something like this. As a society, we're not ready.
Speaking of the pinhole viewing of eclipses.. Back in the early 90's there was a near total eclipse where I was going to school. My car was a convertible and it was a bright warm day in May..
Well, stopping at the drive up ATM which happened to be located under a young tree... I looked down and my car seat was covered with hundreds of tiny eclipses coming into and out of focus as the sunglight came through tiny "pinholes" made by the spaces between overlapping leaves which were slowly moving with the small breeze. It was quite a sight to behold right there in my car.
[i]we risk the freedom and enterprise fostered by this informational marvel and end up sacrificing access to information, privacy and protection of intellectual property we have all depended on.[/i]
"So his plan is to abolish the RIAA?
Seriously, the US government has been trying to erode protections for online privacy and information access for years, why does he think the UN would be any more dangerous?"
If you read his statement as if he were part of the RIAA, it makes more sense.... unfortunately.
"Major replicators can mass manufacture 30GB HD DVD discs today and it's well understood that these discs will cost significantly less to manufacture than the lower-capacity 25GB BD discs."
Wow Cool! Then the savings can be passed on to the consum... er.. ha.. HA... BWAHAHA!! BWAAAA HAAAAAAAAAA!!!!
" the world could never block out america from their lives, they need american money way too much. And if they did, it would be a mess, it would be slow, there would be too much down time. It really woulnt be worth it."
Well that seems to be quickly remedied as US money is on the way out! What happens when we collapse under the weight of our debt, corruption, and ramapant spending?
A poor US is a US without any power and a large portion of an angry world with a mouth watering to see it fall.
For the knee-jerk reactionaries; This isn't a judgement on the US, just the geopolitical situation as I see it currently.
Ya know.. I don't really advocate piracy, but sometimes it's hard to not justify it when studio's release and re-release and re-re-release the same material with "bonus features" when you know damn well they could have released it that way from the start.
I for one, buy a DVD once and just let the super mega bonus packs with deleted scenes fall by the wayside. But one has to see that this is nothing more than a milking scheme companies use on the public... but I have friends who will buy all three..because they feel they "have to".. Ironically, these friends also do the pirating.
That's why X-men works.. they are a team and they generally work AS a team, as do the villians.
In conventional superhero films with multiple villians, the villians are usually seperate subplots, and the hero's just have sidekicks who get a subplot in their relation to the hero.
" 'Smaller government' means 'less market intervention' and 'freedom' only refers to freedom to earn.
It's just the way things are. In fact, once this is clear you realize that there's nothing contradictory or hypocritical about the Right's message at all."...provided everyone defines freedom and smaller government in the way you just did.
"he [Jobs] wants to project phones as an extension but not a replacement of a portable music player"
Now perhaps it's jut my perception, but wouldn't most people consider the music player to be an extension of the phone. (The phone being the primary device)
What we have here is the fusion of two unrelated but compatible products, each of which has had it's own unique space in the marketplace. If Apple really wanted this to be a success it would need to get into making cellphones. I expect ROKR to flop personally, from the simple standpoint that it doesn't FEEL like Apple and at the same time doesn't seem all that great as a cellphone either (as far as design is concerned)
Now if you somehow fused the ipod with something more along the lines of Motorola's PEBL phone, and somehow managed to keep Apples touch scroll well for navigation and perhaps dialing, then MAYBE you would have the product that the people are expecting....but for now, I think it's just one small step closer to determining what does and doesn't work.
"Not a legal mechanism, just an industry agreement. That's the difference. It's not against the law for a minor to see a R rated movie unacompanied, it will be against the law for a minor to buy an equivalently rated game now."
Actually if you're going to make a movie comparison, the AO rating for games would be comparible to the NC-17 rating for movies.
>...and if sales started dropping that's exactly where their attention *would* go..
Right now, the bulk of windows purchasers are the same people who don't know any better and are more impressed with flashy graphics for their home PC than features that 99% of them will never use or never realize they are using.
Windows is the OS of the masses, yes it can be a good OS and in some respects it is, however... the bottom line is that Windows is being designed to appeal to people who buy the system based on what they *see*.
Does this mean that using an significantly large explosive device is almost a feasible scenario for specific types of comets.
I mean, I can understand not using that approach for something make of rock and ice, but with fine particles one would think that sufficient force would break it apart like a cue ball.
Obiviously this is just fuzzy thinking, but does anyone have any scientific input to why this would or would not be an emergency solution to be put on the table for this specfic type of comet?
The fundamental difference (if you'll pardon the pun) between creationists and evolutionists is that the creationist *starts* from a conclusion and works to make the facts fit his or her definition.
The evolution crowd starts from the standpoint of *not knowing* and using the data at hand to form theories based on scientific priciples known to us currently.
In my opinion the conclusion comes AFTER you've gathered data and analysed it.
If you'll pardon the comparison, creationists trying to prove intelligent design is not unlike what the NAZI's did to try and prove the superiority of the Aryian race...or in other words searching for evidence to prove their foregone conclusion.
There's laziness and there's not putting up with a browser that *refuses* to be web compliant..
The more people that let IE just sit there and look bad the more pressure there is on MS to actually make their browser part of the web community standards, as opposed to making the web community conform to MS standards.
Companies are supposed to meet demand and the demand is standards compliance... so why doesn't MS do it?.. (It's rhetorical... we all know what the answer is anyway)
Slashdot Mirror
Aaargh. Why the hell are people trying to fix something that's not broken?
but something IS broken.. people aren't buying as many CD's... their "solution" to online prices will drive people back to the shiny overpriced plastic discs which will look like a bargain compared to the latest $3.99 50cent track.
If you bear in mind that the recording industry HATES digital distribution of product.. this decision makes much more sense.
... the obscure "Time-Lime Home Cyclotron" completes the series coveted by collectors!!!
Defining something as art is pretty subjective.
There are entertainers and there real musicians.
There are entertainers and there are real actors.
There are movies and there are films.
Now granted there is a fine line between entertainment and art, and I believe that the difference is the amount of "soul" one puts into what is being created. Hell toilet creation can be an art if the creator is passionate enough about it's form and functionality and constantly strives to improve upon his or her creation. Games have been in the "entertainment" category for so long that only now are they capable of being pieces of immersive medium. Game creation can be an art, but the games themselves as art is still in it's infancy.
Perhaps the question should be is the game a more cerebral experience or more of a deeply emotional one.. currently I feel that most if not all games still fall squarly in the cerebral experience and are hence.. not art (by my definition of art), IMHO.
Would you rather they have their schedule "sped up"????
If they're struggling now.. what do you think will happen when they are under the gun of a timetable set by Vivendi???
Be sure to stick to you "TIME PROVEN METHOD" of not releasing new things until they are good and ready.
I've heard murmurings of Vivendi pressuring Blizzard to release it's expansion on a quicker timetable, thus changing the focus from quality product to *money*...
Hold fast Blizzard... and remember what made you great! and what makes great companies falter.
Ironically doesn't this sound like the beginnings of "soma" in a brave new world. Taking a substance to inhibit negative feeling... or in this case flipping a genetic switch.
I just don't like the idea of turning off fear. Mastering fear and overcoming it with our rational thought provides humanity increased mental strength of will... Perhaps when we are ready, fear will leave on it's own, but for now I believe fear provides us with something we should be overcoming on an individual basis.
Tampering with genetics is the slipperiest of slopes. Careful judgement must me used when deciding on when and if to use genetics as a solution to our "shortcomings" rather than a solution to our "defects"
Granted this could be used as a solution to phobias which would fall under defects.. but how long do you believe it would take to abuse something like this. As a society, we're not ready.
Speaking of the pinhole viewing of eclipses.. Back in the early 90's there was a near total eclipse where I was going to school. My car was a convertible and it was a bright warm day in May..
Well, stopping at the drive up ATM which happened to be located under a young tree... I looked down and my car seat was covered with hundreds of tiny eclipses coming into and out of focus as the sunglight came through tiny "pinholes" made by the spaces between overlapping leaves which were slowly moving with the small breeze. It was quite a sight to behold right there in my car.
Just as Apple flounders without Jobs, Microsoft flounders without Gates...
Woe to their shareholders if one ever died!
[i]we risk the freedom and enterprise fostered by this informational marvel and end up sacrificing access to information, privacy and protection of intellectual property we have all depended on.[/i]
"So his plan is to abolish the RIAA?
Seriously, the US government has been trying to erode protections for online privacy and information access for years, why does he think the UN would be any more dangerous?"
If you read his statement as if he were part of the RIAA, it makes more sense.... unfortunately.
"It puts all the retailers on the same level."
While at the same time, striking yet another blow to consumer demand. Something that isn't the wisest of moves in a struggling economy IMHO.
"Major replicators can mass manufacture 30GB HD DVD discs today and it's well understood that these discs will cost significantly less to manufacture than the lower-capacity 25GB BD discs."
Wow Cool! Then the savings can be passed on to the consum... er.. ha.. HA... BWAHAHA!! BWAAAA HAAAAAAAAAA!!!!
I tried to say it! I really tried!
" the world could never block out america from their lives, they need american money way too much. And if they did, it would be a mess, it would be slow, there would be too much down time. It really woulnt be worth it."
Well that seems to be quickly remedied as US money is on the way out! What happens when we collapse under the weight of our debt, corruption, and ramapant spending?
A poor US is a US without any power and a large portion of an angry world with a mouth watering to see it fall.
For the knee-jerk reactionaries; This isn't a judgement on the US, just the geopolitical situation as I see it currently.
Ya know.. I don't really advocate piracy, but sometimes it's hard to not justify it when studio's release and re-release and re-re-release the same material with "bonus features" when you know damn well they could have released it that way from the start.
I for one, buy a DVD once and just let the super mega bonus packs with deleted scenes fall by the wayside. But one has to see that this is nothing more than a milking scheme companies use on the public... but I have friends who will buy all three..because they feel they "have to".. Ironically, these friends also do the pirating.
That's why X-men works.. they are a team and they generally work AS a team, as do the villians.
In conventional superhero films with multiple villians, the villians are usually seperate subplots, and the hero's just have sidekicks who get a subplot in their relation to the hero.
" 'Smaller government' means 'less market intervention' and 'freedom' only refers to freedom to earn.
...provided everyone defines freedom and smaller government in the way you just did.
It's just the way things are. In fact, once this is clear you realize that there's nothing contradictory or hypocritical about the Right's message at all."
Most do NOT define it that way.
"he [Jobs] wants to project phones as an extension but not a replacement of a portable music player"
..but for now, I think it's just one small step closer to determining what does and doesn't work.
Now perhaps it's jut my perception, but wouldn't most people consider the music player to be an extension of the phone. (The phone being the primary device)
What we have here is the fusion of two unrelated but compatible products, each of which has had it's own unique space in the marketplace. If Apple really wanted this to be a success it would need to get into making cellphones. I expect ROKR to flop personally, from the simple standpoint that it doesn't FEEL like Apple and at the same time doesn't seem all that great as a cellphone either (as far as design is concerned)
Now if you somehow fused the ipod with something more along the lines of Motorola's PEBL phone, and somehow managed to keep Apples touch scroll well for navigation and perhaps dialing, then MAYBE you would have the product that the people are expecting..
"Not a legal mechanism, just an industry agreement. That's the difference. It's not against the law for a minor to see a R rated movie unacompanied, it will be against the law for a minor to buy an equivalently rated game now."
Actually if you're going to make a movie comparison, the AO rating for games would be comparible to the NC-17 rating for movies.
> ...and if sales started dropping that's exactly where their attention *would* go..
Right now, the bulk of windows purchasers are the same people who don't know any better and are more impressed with flashy graphics for their home PC than features that 99% of them will never use or never realize they are using.
Windows is the OS of the masses, yes it can be a good OS and in some respects it is, however... the bottom line is that Windows is being designed to appeal to people who buy the system based on what they *see*.
Does this mean that using an significantly large explosive device is almost a feasible scenario for specific types of comets.
I mean, I can understand not using that approach for something make of rock and ice, but with fine particles one would think that sufficient force would break it apart like a cue ball.
Obiviously this is just fuzzy thinking, but does anyone have any scientific input to why this would or would not be an emergency solution to be put on the table for this specfic type of comet?
There is humanized murder and dehmumanized murder:
They are known as hot blooded and cold blooded murder, and are even treated differently in our legal system.
Any murder where the person knows the victim is pretty much guaranteed to be an up close and violent form of killing both physically and emotionally.
Cold blood murder is usually done at more of a distance both physically and emotionally.
I think that's a great idea.. send out the first OS for free and when you have millions of people on it.. hit them with the $129 upgrade...
It would be a big gamble for Apple, but it could have a tremendous future payoff in greatly enhanced marketshare..
The fundamental difference (if you'll pardon the pun) between creationists and evolutionists is that the creationist *starts* from a conclusion and works to make the facts fit his or her definition.
The evolution crowd starts from the standpoint of *not knowing* and using the data at hand to form theories based on scientific priciples known to us currently.
In my opinion the conclusion comes AFTER you've gathered data and analysed it.
If you'll pardon the comparison, creationists trying to prove intelligent design is not unlike what the NAZI's did to try and prove the superiority of the Aryian race...or in other words searching for evidence to prove their foregone conclusion.
I disagree.. and quite frankly it's a matter of opinion, so I know I won't convice you otherwise..
However, I believe that the demand IS for standards compliance which is part of why firefox is gaining popularity.
Unless you had hard numbers to show to the contrary..... no? ok... then opinion it is.
>
There's laziness and there's not putting up with a browser that *refuses* to be web compliant..
The more people that let IE just sit there and look bad the more pressure there is on MS to actually make their browser part of the web community standards, as opposed to making the web community conform to MS standards.
Companies are supposed to meet demand and the demand is standards compliance... so why doesn't MS do it?.. (It's rhetorical... we all know what the answer is anyway)
I'm going to wait for wireless sunlight...