That's still true with the latest version of Steam. If Steam cannot get online, you cannot move it to offline. I struggled with this very problem just last week: I was on a laptop away from any open wi-fi access points, wanted to demo Sanctum (a wonderful game, btw) to a friend, and couldn't launch Steam. One can play in offline mode only if you have the foresight to set yourself as offline while being online.
What about Microsoft CALs? For each machine or user connecting to your server, Windows Server requires a CAL, whereas RH does not. I believe CALs, not the server license, is the largest chunk of the expense.
Everyone can afford a phone number. T-Mobile sells prepaid SIM cards with 100 minutes of airtime for $10. In fact, most prepaid providers sell refills as small as $10. You usually have at least three months to use them. Who cannot afford $3.33 a month for cell phone service?
That's not very bright—assuming you're this card's owner, and the info is correct. This info will now come up on a cursory Google search, and if your credit provider learns that you wilfully published this info, they'll close your account because you've violated the cardholder agreement. The law that provides for reimbursement of unauthorized charges does not extend to people shouting their credit card info from the rooftops and expecting a bailout later.
Wow, four of the five (thus far) replies to my post have said that Virgin is a branch of Sprint. So what? Boost is also! But each sets its own prices and policies. Sprint's postpaid is $80/mo for Everything Data. Virgin Mobile is $40/mo. Now tell me why I should care that Virgin is a Sprint subsidiary. Way to miss the forest for the trees.
That's not cheating—that's being smart. When a user is typing his username and password, waiting for network authorization, and fetching the profile, 99.9999% of the time the PC would be idle. Why not use that time to load non-critical services?
Or just issue self-signed certificates, and tell your users to verify the fingerprint manually.
Try making a site with more than two total users, then re-read what you just said. Of course, your site is so important and irreplaceable that your users will verify the fingerprint manually. To avoid the bootstrapping problem, maybe put your phone number into the certificate and they'll call you, read you the fingerprint, and you can confirm it for them. They won't mind at all.
I appreciate that you're trying to show how the free market is flawed and central planning is the way to go, but no one was "forced".
The GSMA trade association announced at its 2009 Mobile World Congress here that it has brokered a deal with the world's leading handset makers to come up with a standard for charging cell phones.
All the major handset makers, including, LG, Motorola, Nokia, Samsung, and Sony Ericsson, have agreed to use the Micro-USB technology as the common universal charging interface, Rob Conway, GSMA CEO, said during the opening keynote speech Tuesday. By 2012, the GSMA promises, most cell phones will use the same kind of connector to charge their batteries.
Seventeen mobile operators, including Vodafone, Orange, and Telofonic, announced they are committed to implementing the standard for the universal mobile phone charger.
The GSMA said that going to this single standard will not only make life easier for the more than 3 billion mobile phone users in the world today, but it will also help the environment.
I know I'm in the minority, but I'd rather see an advertisement for low latency than high speed. Tethering my phone to my laptop and using SSH over Sprint's 3G is an experience I wish to avoid. (Ironically, 1RTTX seems to have lower latency than 3G.)
I've said it in the thread about cramming, I'll repeat it here: prepaid. I don't understand why Americans underappreciate prepaid, with such wonderful options like Virgin Mobile and Boost. I pay $25/mo (total) for unlimited (realistically 2.5 gigabytes/mo) data, unlimited SMS, and 300 minutes per month.
When I pay $25 a month for a plan with 300 minutes, I am not paying for the minutes themselves -- I am buying an option that gives me 300 minutes—with an expiration date. Once the expiration is reached, I forfeit the remainder.
I bought this option while aware of its limitations. You did too. So did everyone else.
I think that's a stretch. This is not a fee, unless you redefine what fee means. Yes, you get a certain number of minutes per month without rollover. If you don't use them, you lose them. I've had months where I've used 299 out of 300 (and even 300 out of 300!) minutes when my billing cycle ended. I've also gone over, and paid 10 cents a minute.
To me, a fee (1) is poorly advertised, (2) should be included in the base price. The 911 government fee is an example. Better yet, the "administrative fee" that Sprint and Verizon charge to "help recoup costs associated with collecting other fees." Those are real fees. Losing my unused minutes is not a fee, IMHO.
Not sure what you are talking about. Take me as an example. I use Virgin Mobile's $25/mo plan. No contract. This gives me "unlimited" 3G data, unlimited SMS, and 300 minutes/mo. If I go over my minutes, I pay 10 cents/minute, or I can renew my billing cycle anytime. I never see any of the fees you mention.
Thankfully we all have backups of our real wallets, with USD currency. That way when we lose/misplace our wallet or get mugged, we simply pull out the backup and proceed with our lives.
Coins must see some transaction once every two years or they become invalid.
A nice gesture, but it wouldn't work. What would keep me from transacting with my other wallet just to preserve the value of my coins? There's no limit to how many wallets any individual can own.
Slashdot Mirror
It wouldn't be a very good "play offline" button indeed. Here's a thread for you: http://games.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=2526808&cid=38059660
That's still true with the latest version of Steam. If Steam cannot get online, you cannot move it to offline. I struggled with this very problem just last week: I was on a laptop away from any open wi-fi access points, wanted to demo Sanctum (a wonderful game, btw) to a friend, and couldn't launch Steam. One can play in offline mode only if you have the foresight to set yourself as offline while being online.
That's sort of like saying that /dev/random includes the honeycomb source code. Technically it's there, but please point me to it.
What about Microsoft CALs? For each machine or user connecting to your server, Windows Server requires a CAL, whereas RH does not. I believe CALs, not the server license, is the largest chunk of the expense.
Everyone can afford a phone number. T-Mobile sells prepaid SIM cards with 100 minutes of airtime for $10. In fact, most prepaid providers sell refills as small as $10. You usually have at least three months to use them. Who cannot afford $3.33 a month for cell phone service?
That's not very bright—assuming you're this card's owner, and the info is correct. This info will now come up on a cursory Google search, and if your credit provider learns that you wilfully published this info, they'll close your account because you've violated the cardholder agreement. The law that provides for reimbursement of unauthorized charges does not extend to people shouting their credit card info from the rooftops and expecting a bailout later.
Wow, four of the five (thus far) replies to my post have said that Virgin is a branch of Sprint. So what? Boost is also! But each sets its own prices and policies. Sprint's postpaid is $80/mo for Everything Data. Virgin Mobile is $40/mo. Now tell me why I should care that Virgin is a Sprint subsidiary. Way to miss the forest for the trees.
I assume you're a fan of mobile data. Sprint is by far not the cheapest cellular provider. For cheapest, look into Virgin Mobile's $40/mo "unlimited" data and texting and T-Mobile's newest offering: "unlimited" 4G prepaid for $30/mo.
As far as I know there's no standard for fax encryption... how do you know if the remote side supports it?
(As an aside, the term "military-grade" is virtually meaningless. The military used (or uses?) DES.)
You don't understand economics.
No mention of Sprint in the article... I wonder who'll end up winning from this.
That's not cheating—that's being smart. When a user is typing his username and password, waiting for network authorization, and fetching the profile, 99.9999% of the time the PC would be idle. Why not use that time to load non-critical services?
Or just issue self-signed certificates, and tell your users to verify the fingerprint manually.
Try making a site with more than two total users, then re-read what you just said. Of course, your site is so important and irreplaceable that your users will verify the fingerprint manually. To avoid the bootstrapping problem, maybe put your phone number into the certificate and they'll call you, read you the fingerprint, and you can confirm it for them. They won't mind at all.
I appreciate that you're trying to show how the free market is flawed and central planning is the way to go, but no one was "forced".
The GSMA trade association announced at its 2009 Mobile World Congress here that it has brokered a deal with the world's leading handset makers to come up with a standard for charging cell phones.
All the major handset makers, including, LG, Motorola, Nokia, Samsung, and Sony Ericsson, have agreed to use the Micro-USB technology as the common universal charging interface, Rob Conway, GSMA CEO, said during the opening keynote speech Tuesday. By 2012, the GSMA promises, most cell phones will use the same kind of connector to charge their batteries.
Seventeen mobile operators, including Vodafone, Orange, and Telofonic, announced they are committed to implementing the standard for the universal mobile phone charger.
The GSMA said that going to this single standard will not only make life easier for the more than 3 billion mobile phone users in the world today, but it will also help the environment.
Source: CNet.
I know I'm in the minority, but I'd rather see an advertisement for low latency than high speed. Tethering my phone to my laptop and using SSH over Sprint's 3G is an experience I wish to avoid. (Ironically, 1RTTX seems to have lower latency than 3G.)
I've said it in the thread about cramming, I'll repeat it here: prepaid. I don't understand why Americans underappreciate prepaid, with such wonderful options like Virgin Mobile and Boost. I pay $25/mo (total) for unlimited (realistically 2.5 gigabytes/mo) data, unlimited SMS, and 300 minutes per month.
Here's a thread from earlier: http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=2254224&cid=36506886
When I pay $25 a month for a plan with 300 minutes, I am not paying for the minutes themselves -- I am buying an option that gives me 300 minutes—with an expiration date. Once the expiration is reached, I forfeit the remainder.
I bought this option while aware of its limitations. You did too. So did everyone else.
Calling it a fee seems disingenuous.
all-your-remaining-minutes-belong-to-us fee
I think that's a stretch. This is not a fee, unless you redefine what fee means. Yes, you get a certain number of minutes per month without rollover. If you don't use them, you lose them. I've had months where I've used 299 out of 300 (and even 300 out of 300!) minutes when my billing cycle ended. I've also gone over, and paid 10 cents a minute.
To me, a fee (1) is poorly advertised, (2) should be included in the base price. The 911 government fee is an example. Better yet, the "administrative fee" that Sprint and Verizon charge to "help recoup costs associated with collecting other fees." Those are real fees. Losing my unused minutes is not a fee, IMHO.
What the hell are you going on about. That's not how Virgin Mobile works.
Not sure what you are talking about. Take me as an example. I use Virgin Mobile's $25/mo plan. No contract. This gives me "unlimited" 3G data, unlimited SMS, and 300 minutes/mo. If I go over my minutes, I pay 10 cents/minute, or I can renew my billing cycle anytime. I never see any of the fees you mention.
According to earnings calls, profit margins are higher (by a lot!) on post-paid than on pre-paid.
Prepaid.
I know, right!
Thankfully we all have backups of our real wallets, with USD currency. That way when we lose/misplace our wallet or get mugged, we simply pull out the backup and proceed with our lives.
Coins must see some transaction once every two years or they become invalid.
A nice gesture, but it wouldn't work. What would keep me from transacting with my other wallet just to preserve the value of my coins? There's no limit to how many wallets any individual can own.
Speaking of "holes/bugs patched", why don't you upgrade to SP3?