that I ever had done was Lindows/Linspire 4.5, parts of it are GPL and parts of it are not. So it is a commercial Linux. They worked hard to make it as easy to install and configure as Windows or MacOSX. I can really see Lindows/Linspire as a consumer Linux that can gain some serious marketshare.
Why?
#1 Wal-Mart sells machines for $300USD using Lindows/Linspire.
#2 The $50-$60USD install CD is cheaper than any OS MS puts out. Plus only $25USD for a BitTorrent download of it. Online support only being $5/month. This makes it very affordable.
#3 It is based on Debian, easier to maintain, apt-get works nicely.
#4 The GUI has been enhanced to resemble the Windows desktop. There is a "My Computer" a "My Documents" etc.
#5 Lindows/Linspire tutorial works great.
#6 Lindows/Linspire while not running Windows apps, has custom programs that can work with most popular Windows file formats.
#7 Lindows/Linspire offers great discounts to system builders and OEMs.
#8 Seagate hard drives have Lindows/Linspire preinstalled on them.
#9 Microsoft is suing Lindows/Linspire, this tells me they see them as a threat.
#10 Lindows/Linspire has a built in firewall that is ery conservative in settings, locking out ports that need to be locked out. Also an AOL client, and clients for other ISPs.
$50-$60 gets you a Lindows/Linspire CD, $5 a month gets you basic suport and the CNR (Click N Run) online storage library to reinstall your paid for programs from and update the OS se the tech forums, etc. For about $25 you can BitTorrent download Lindows/Linspire and save some money. Lindows/Linspire supports BitTorrent downloads for the purchase of their product.
and it should be a great tool for the clueless Windows users who get infected and cannont find or remove viruses. Just boot te Knoppix CD modified to use a virus scanner like F-Prot.
Inititing safety precaution #5, lifting the seal...:)
Yes I did mean to put up a sign like "warning: slippery when sarcastic", my Adult ADD must be acting up again.:)
But then I am a pirate from a long line of pirates, actually I have Viking Acenstery. Norse worshippers of Loki, we did raids by longboats. I served some time as a pirate with the Chinese pirates, learned Kung-Fu and other useful things. Captain Ming taught me how to set up my own file sharing network, and how to cover my tracks on the Internet. Using NSA backdoors I was able to gain access to Comcast servers and remove my piracy activity from their logs. So they haven't gotten anything on me. I am a techno-pagan, a worshiper of Loki, who taught us how to mix Magick and Technology. So my spells help me pirate more files and cover my tracks. I am the Neromancer, and I'm tracing! I access big server networking using my brainpower and a magickal interface invented by Loki and passed down to his followers like me.:)
Loki believes that all information should be free, all works of art and copyrights should be free for use. This is our religion, this is what we believe. To deny us our religous freedom for this is a violation of our rights and offends our great God Loki. We have the right to pirate anything we want, DeCSS came direct from Loki, as did many other technologies. Loki showed us how to combine Magick with Technology to make things smaller and cheaper. Loki helped guide the creation of Arpanet and eventually the Internet. Loki came up with the idea of P2P file sharing networks. I am on a holy quest to free all information. I am a holy man, I am protected by Demons! Loki chose me to be the Silicon Messiah of cyberspace. Eventually when I free enough information, I will be invited to Asgard to eat of the golden apple and become a Norse God.:)
Oh yeah if anyone believes any word of this post or any other posts by me in this thread, seek professional help. Your sense of humor is in bad need of repair.
"Warning: slippery when sarcastic!"
This humorous rant, brought to you by Orion Blastar's dark sense of humor.
That way I can watch just the BBC shows I like and only pay for what I want to watch.
No more paying for Video Tape or DVD copies of BBC shows and waiting for them to ship. Just pay and download, and then burn my own copy to a Video CD or DVD disk. I guess they have controls so that only one copy can be burned?
Video Rental stores ought to get into this gig, get the license to distribute the movies digitally and sell them on their website.
Might as well, would be a much better quality than those idiots who bring video cameras to movie theatres and then upload those videos to file sharing networks.;)
Wow, a warning. Zero wipe the hard drive and reinstall the OS. Claim you had a major virus infection that used your box as a p0rn zombie that was spreading files via BitTorrent and other means. A virus that the ISP let through. Sue the ISP for incompetence and invasion of privacy. They counter that you downloaded illegal files, but cannot find them on your hard drive. Counter claim that their logs are inaccurate and the IP they claimed you used may have belonged to someone else. With them unable to produce any evidence that you have those files on your hard drive, you have a good chance of winning.
a lot of the research has been outsourced to the lowest bidders in other countries. So of course US organizations are going to lack in research if they do offshore and get p*ss poor results in scientific research.
Our US education system is a joke, kids want to be rappers, skateboarders, sports starts, divas, singers, gangstas, video game heads, etc. Anything but math and science careers like Scientists and Researchers. I partly blame:
#1 Parents for not being strict enough on their children and teaching them a value of a good education and career choice.
#2 Teachers for not encouraging students to do better, or caring enough to guide them and help them to reach their potential.
#3 State, Local, and Federal governments for cutting back on education so they can fund "Pork" projects like Sports Statium building for billionares.
#4 Businesses for refusing to hire US citizes and instead offshoring those jobs, which discourage US Citizens from getting into those type of careers.
when I tried to apply for them. Also you only listed the basic copyright fee, which is misleading if you need more than that.
My ideas or products are worth more than those fees, but I am dirt poor and have lived paycheck to paycheck giving ideas and products to companies that paid me very little to work for them. I am now out of work, and they fruadlently filed the patents on my ideas without having me sign the papers, as I am the originator of those ideas and products.
I have not earned an income since 2002, so applying for those fees are out of reach for me.
I feel like I have been used like a tissue, and thrown away once I got enough raises or gave my employers enough IP that they didn't need me anymore.
$335 to $385 may seem like a small fee to you, but it is way more than I can afford due to my economic status. I have no angel investors, no grants, cannot get a loan, and no source of income available, plus nobody will give me a job. Being out of work since 2002 is also something that counts against me. I feel like I have been blackballed by many corporations with a "do not hire" flag on my employment record.
So since you seem to know it all, how can I earn the income to get the $400 or whatever to file the patents and trademarks for my ideas? If it keeps up, I may become homeless soon.
The most I ever made from a Lemonade stand was $20, at 15 cents a glass. They tax the kiddies now for doing that, BTW.
#3 Insert that information into various Super MP3 files and strip out your information.
#4 Share files on web sites or P2P file sharing networks using an alias on a system that is not yours. Like upload files from a library, college, rental system (Kinko's, CyberCafe, etc using an fake ID to get access to the system, wear a disguise too).
#5 Sit back and watch the RIAA punish your enemies for you.
MS-DOS 1.0 did not exist, it was IBM Personal Computer DOS 1.0 instead. IIRC the first MS-DOS was 2.0 when it was renamed. IBM PC-DOS and MS-DOS were based on 86-DOS/Q-DOS which was a CP/M-86 rip-off with some modifications. DRI, maker of CP/M, released DR-DOS which was almost the same thing as MS-DOS, and after being bought out many times, eventually OpenDOS 7.01 was released with source code. So there is your source code to PC-DOS/MS-DOS right there, technically, because it is almost the same thing.:)
someone did after all leak the Windows 2000 source code to the Internet. Without the Windows 98 source code to compare it to, nobody can actually say.
If we go with what Microsoft usually says, W2k, XP, 2003 Server are based on the NT family of products and the 9X family is going away.
So how much Windows code will be in Longhorn?
Some argue that a lot of BSD Unix code is already in the NT family (TCP/IP stack, etc). So if the NT family also has 9X code, NT must be the Mutt of the Windows family!;)
I know, but nothing came up in my name for either categories. So how do I search for patients that used my ideas? I cannot search by the company name apparently, so their search is useless to me.
#1 What is the definition of Piracy? Is it making illegal copies and then selling them, or is it just making illegal copies? What about copies for backup purposes or that fall under "Fair Use"?
#2 Most other crimes carry the "burden of proof" on the prosecutor. Why is this one different? Hey there, John Doe is using Kazaa, even though we found no MP3 files on his hard drive besides the ones he bought or has a right too, the fact that he has Kazaa shows that he "Might" be sharing said files with others. We have no evidence of the sharing, but the fact that he uses Kazaa is enough for us to brand him a pirate! Slap an eyepatch and peg-leg on him and send him to jail!
#3 So what pirates are they targeting? While a majority of the pirated copies come from other countries such as China, Russia, etc, we have no legal power over there, so instead we shall target teenagers and college students who don't know any better and only want to share songs with friends, etc. "Sc*w fair use, we got the copyright laws rewritten to exclude it. Jane Doe is using part of a Metallica song in a college presentation, so we will lock her up and throw away the key!
#4 How much money earned is enough? Oh sure we make a ton of money selling $20USD CDs that cost us 50 cents to make and ship, and only give $2USD to the artists, but we could be making more if the John Does and Jane Does of the world stop using our songs without permission and sharing them, while they are promoting our songs and possibly generating more sales, we have a potential to earn even more income by suing these individuals.
are so high in price that only large organizations can afford to apply for them.
I have had many ideas I could not patent, trademark, or copyright because I could not afford to. Plus their database is hard to search, one of them is still in telnet form! When will these databases get into the 21st century?
My former employer said they made 40 patients based on my ideas. I tried to search on the employer's name, but that is not an available option. I searched on my name, which came up with nothing. So obviously they registered the patents in someone else's name as the inventor. Which I later found is not valid to do, as I am the inventor of those ideas.
Give a discount to people based on income level for the fees. For Pete's sake they can gather the info from the IRS for people and the SEC for companies. Also have an idea tax that taxes a small fee for revenue used for the ideas, so the government can collect some money as well.
Microsoft will eventually abandon the Windows 9X platform, so they might as well release the source code or the full API list so some other company or organization can take it over. It is W2K/XP/2003 and above now. Soon to be only Longhorn.
Someone else making security patches for the almost abandoned OS is a start.:)
Very hard to do when organizations still use Classical Management and want everything done quicker and cheaper.
For example getting rid of experienced developers who thoroughly debug the programs and produce quality code because they earn too much, and replacing them with developers who work cheaper but write sloppy code full of more bugs.
Perhaps you forgot the trend in business these days for programming? Outsource to the cheapest source of labor, that works the fastest. Then hope they have a quality assurance analyst working for them that knows how to do their job correctly. If not, you have a low quality product.
Also when the games are outsourced to reduce the costs, the game price stays the same. No benefit is passed on to the consumer, except a buggier game of a lower quality than they wanted. But hey, instead of $24/hr developers, you got $3/hr developers working for you, so who cares? Right?
The concept of total quality management is lost on most modern US corperations and game-makers. Release the game on time, and like Microsoft, slowly release bug fixes that should have been in the product during its launch.
Companies like Game Stop allow people to buy/sell/trade used games. If $60 to $50 is too much, look for a slightly used version in one of their stores or on their web site.
Many people buy the game new, and then cannot play it, or find it wasn't what it was advertised as, etc and then sell it.
Also check Half.com for used copies of games and other things.
Is charge for the online account access, and only charge for the media and manual that the game is packaged on. Then collect the revenue from those who pirated the game, but are forced to create an online account to use the game. Everquest, Merdian 59, and other 3D Muds could be like that. Chances are the pirate is going to play for a few years at $20USD - $30USD a month. Since the pirate does not want to pay for your software, but is forced to create an online account to use it, you actually earn money off the pirated copy. Just not the initial $35 USD to $60 USD for the initial purchase. So you earn $480USD off the pirate if they use your game for two years. You earn $0USD if you put copy protection on the disk and the pirate cannot use it. Multiply that amount by a few thousand or whatever, let's say 10,000 for this example, though piracy can copy more than that, but 4.8M revenue extra in two years if you allow pirates to use your game for free yet pay for online access to it, or a loss of $4.8M in potential revenue if you don't.
So use piracy to your advantage and earn that extra revenue.
I went with Lindows, which is now Linspire. The CNR (Click N Run) software makes Up2Date look weak. Well Up2Date was buggy anyway it never updated itself properly and had an expired certificate and other crud. Plus I got tired of RPM-Hell and Lib-Hell on Red Hat and Fedora that was as bad as DLL-Hell on Windows.
Oh BTW I do not need to use the commercial software with Lindows/Linspire, apt-get works well, and OSS downloads work great too.
Lindows/Linspire is not 100% GPL, but worth it to get an easier to install and configure Linux than what the distro of the month offered. An added bonus is Non-GPL software in Lindows/Linspire that can work with data files that Windows apps also use.
We made a fix for that, if the wrong figures go in, now instead the machine plays your favorite MP3 file from the nearest file sharing network, downloads the latest spyware/adware, and then accepts a supeona from the RIAA for you to appear in court.
So make sure that you type everything in correctly this time...;)
Nobody is saying they should not make money, we are just saying make money someway else without forcing the user to install legal malware on their system tht they do not know about, but was part of some "nifty" software they downloaded from some email link or web site.
Gator keeps appearing on my system, yet I am not installing anything new. It appears in my cache for IE, traces of it, so it is being installed via an exploit in IE. I do not want this crud on my computer, yet it keeps reinstalling itself. Spysweeper always finds it and removes it, the next day it is back again. KMFSWC = No pity for the SpyWare Companies. Call it what it really is, a legal virus. Unethical, and soon it should be unlawful.
Don't protect the slimeballs of this industry. They deserve to be punished.
I am trying to find that parts catalog from 1842 so I can get this Analynic Engine to work. It is not the same since Ada had a hissy fit and quit making those punch cards for me.
Then I need that 1642 catalog so Blaize can work out the bugs in his thingamabob whatever he called it but it don't work too well either.
So they make computers using electronics now? Interesting to say the least. My 10 baud tin cans and kite-string modem works, but it is just too slow for me and it is the fastest that technology can go. It took me a day and a half to post this message.
Slashdot Mirror
that I ever had done was Lindows/Linspire 4.5, parts of it are GPL and parts of it are not. So it is a commercial Linux. They worked hard to make it as easy to install and configure as Windows or MacOSX. I can really see Lindows/Linspire as a consumer Linux that can gain some serious marketshare.
Why?
#1 Wal-Mart sells machines for $300USD using Lindows/Linspire.
#2 The $50-$60USD install CD is cheaper than any OS MS puts out. Plus only $25USD for a BitTorrent download of it. Online support only being $5/month. This makes it very affordable.
#3 It is based on Debian, easier to maintain, apt-get works nicely.
#4 The GUI has been enhanced to resemble the Windows desktop. There is a "My Computer" a "My Documents" etc.
#5 Lindows/Linspire tutorial works great.
#6 Lindows/Linspire while not running Windows apps, has custom programs that can work with most popular Windows file formats.
#7 Lindows/Linspire offers great discounts to system builders and OEMs.
#8 Seagate hard drives have Lindows/Linspire preinstalled on them.
#9 Microsoft is suing Lindows/Linspire, this tells me they see them as a threat.
#10 Lindows/Linspire has a built in firewall that is ery conservative in settings, locking out ports that need to be locked out. Also an AOL client, and clients for other ISPs.
$50-$60 gets you a Lindows/Linspire CD, $5 a month gets you basic suport and the CNR (Click N Run) online storage library to reinstall your paid for programs from and update the OS se the tech forums, etc. For about $25 you can BitTorrent download Lindows/Linspire and save some money. Lindows/Linspire supports BitTorrent downloads for the purchase of their product.
;)
Red Hat, please do try and keep up.
and it should be a great tool for the clueless Windows users who get infected and cannont find or remove viruses. Just boot te Knoppix CD modified to use a virus scanner like F-Prot.
Inititing safety precaution #5, lifting the seal... :)
:)
:)
:)
Yes I did mean to put up a sign like "warning: slippery when sarcastic", my Adult ADD must be acting up again.
But then I am a pirate from a long line of pirates, actually I have Viking Acenstery. Norse worshippers of Loki, we did raids by longboats. I served some time as a pirate with the Chinese pirates, learned Kung-Fu and other useful things. Captain Ming taught me how to set up my own file sharing network, and how to cover my tracks on the Internet. Using NSA backdoors I was able to gain access to Comcast servers and remove my piracy activity from their logs. So they haven't gotten anything on me. I am a techno-pagan, a worshiper of Loki, who taught us how to mix Magick and Technology. So my spells help me pirate more files and cover my tracks. I am the Neromancer, and I'm tracing! I access big server networking using my brainpower and a magickal interface invented by Loki and passed down to his followers like me.
Loki believes that all information should be free, all works of art and copyrights should be free for use. This is our religion, this is what we believe. To deny us our religous freedom for this is a violation of our rights and offends our great God Loki. We have the right to pirate anything we want, DeCSS came direct from Loki, as did many other technologies. Loki showed us how to combine Magick with Technology to make things smaller and cheaper. Loki helped guide the creation of Arpanet and eventually the Internet. Loki came up with the idea of P2P file sharing networks. I am on a holy quest to free all information. I am a holy man, I am protected by Demons! Loki chose me to be the Silicon Messiah of cyberspace. Eventually when I free enough information, I will be invited to Asgard to eat of the golden apple and become a Norse God.
Oh yeah if anyone believes any word of this post or any other posts by me in this thread, seek professional help. Your sense of humor is in bad need of repair.
"Warning: slippery when sarcastic!"
This humorous rant, brought to you by Orion Blastar's dark sense of humor.
did you see the smiley face?
Reading comprehension is not your strong point, now is it?
That way I can watch just the BBC shows I like and only pay for what I want to watch.
;)
No more paying for Video Tape or DVD copies of BBC shows and waiting for them to ship. Just pay and download, and then burn my own copy to a Video CD or DVD disk. I guess they have controls so that only one copy can be burned?
Video Rental stores ought to get into this gig, get the license to distribute the movies digitally and sell them on their website.
Might as well, would be a much better quality than those idiots who bring video cameras to movie theatres and then upload those videos to file sharing networks.
Wow, a warning. Zero wipe the hard drive and reinstall the OS. Claim you had a major virus infection that used your box as a p0rn zombie that was spreading files via BitTorrent and other means. A virus that the ISP let through. Sue the ISP for incompetence and invasion of privacy. They counter that you downloaded illegal files, but cannot find them on your hard drive. Counter claim that their logs are inaccurate and the IP they claimed you used may have belonged to someone else. With them unable to produce any evidence that you have those files on your hard drive, you have a good chance of winning.
;)
Sue me, I need the money!
a lot of the research has been outsourced to the lowest bidders in other countries. So of course US organizations are going to lack in research if they do offshore and get p*ss poor results in scientific research.
Our US education system is a joke, kids want to be rappers, skateboarders, sports starts, divas, singers, gangstas, video game heads, etc. Anything but math and science careers like Scientists and Researchers. I partly blame:
#1 Parents for not being strict enough on their children and teaching them a value of a good education and career choice.
#2 Teachers for not encouraging students to do better, or caring enough to guide them and help them to reach their potential.
#3 State, Local, and Federal governments for cutting back on education so they can fund "Pork" projects like Sports Statium building for billionares.
#4 Businesses for refusing to hire US citizes and instead offshoring those jobs, which discourage US Citizens from getting into those type of careers.
Computer Geeks
Net Seller
PC Onramp aka EPC
Directron
For comparison shopping:
Price Grabber
MySimon
when I tried to apply for them. Also you only listed the basic copyright fee, which is misleading if you need more than that.
My ideas or products are worth more than those fees, but I am dirt poor and have lived paycheck to paycheck giving ideas and products to companies that paid me very little to work for them. I am now out of work, and they fruadlently filed the patents on my ideas without having me sign the papers, as I am the originator of those ideas and products.
I have not earned an income since 2002, so applying for those fees are out of reach for me.
I feel like I have been used like a tissue, and thrown away once I got enough raises or gave my employers enough IP that they didn't need me anymore.
$335 to $385 may seem like a small fee to you, but it is way more than I can afford due to my economic status. I have no angel investors, no grants, cannot get a loan, and no source of income available, plus nobody will give me a job. Being out of work since 2002 is also something that counts against me. I feel like I have been blackballed by many corporations with a "do not hire" flag on my employment record.
So since you seem to know it all, how can I earn the income to get the $400 or whatever to file the patents and trademarks for my ideas? If it keeps up, I may become homeless soon.
The most I ever made from a Lemonade stand was $20, at 15 cents a glass. They tax the kiddies now for doing that, BTW.
1) I did not sign anything, so the patents that they applied for using my ideas are fraudulent.
2) The patents where applied for from 1997 to 2001. How long does the patent process take anyway?
3) It is a law firm that applied for the patents, I think they assigned them to their own company.
#1 Learn how the Super MP3 file format works.
#2 Collect information on your enemies.
#3 Insert that information into various Super MP3 files and strip out your information.
#4 Share files on web sites or P2P file sharing networks using an alias on a system that is not yours. Like upload files from a library, college, rental system (Kinko's, CyberCafe, etc using an fake ID to get access to the system, wear a disguise too).
#5 Sit back and watch the RIAA punish your enemies for you.
MS-DOS 1.0 did not exist, it was IBM Personal Computer DOS 1.0 instead. IIRC the first MS-DOS was 2.0 when it was renamed. IBM PC-DOS and MS-DOS were based on 86-DOS/Q-DOS which was a CP/M-86 rip-off with some modifications. DRI, maker of CP/M, released DR-DOS which was almost the same thing as MS-DOS, and after being bought out many times, eventually OpenDOS 7.01 was released with source code. So there is your source code to PC-DOS/MS-DOS right there, technically, because it is almost the same thing. :)
someone did after all leak the Windows 2000 source code to the Internet. Without the Windows 98 source code to compare it to, nobody can actually say.
;)
If we go with what Microsoft usually says, W2k, XP, 2003 Server are based on the NT family of products and the 9X family is going away.
So how much Windows code will be in Longhorn?
Some argue that a lot of BSD Unix code is already in the NT family (TCP/IP stack, etc). So if the NT family also has 9X code, NT must be the Mutt of the Windows family!
I know, but nothing came up in my name for either categories. So how do I search for patients that used my ideas? I cannot search by the company name apparently, so their search is useless to me.
#1 What is the definition of Piracy? Is it making illegal copies and then selling them, or is it just making illegal copies? What about copies for backup purposes or that fall under "Fair Use"?
#2 Most other crimes carry the "burden of proof" on the prosecutor. Why is this one different? Hey there, John Doe is using Kazaa, even though we found no MP3 files on his hard drive besides the ones he bought or has a right too, the fact that he has Kazaa shows that he "Might" be sharing said files with others. We have no evidence of the sharing, but the fact that he uses Kazaa is enough for us to brand him a pirate! Slap an eyepatch and peg-leg on him and send him to jail!
#3 So what pirates are they targeting? While a majority of the pirated copies come from other countries such as China, Russia, etc, we have no legal power over there, so instead we shall target teenagers and college students who don't know any better and only want to share songs with friends, etc. "Sc*w fair use, we got the copyright laws rewritten to exclude it. Jane Doe is using part of a Metallica song in a college presentation, so we will lock her up and throw away the key!
#4 How much money earned is enough? Oh sure we make a ton of money selling $20USD CDs that cost us 50 cents to make and ship, and only give $2USD to the artists, but we could be making more if the John Does and Jane Does of the world stop using our songs without permission and sharing them, while they are promoting our songs and possibly generating more sales, we have a potential to earn even more income by suing these individuals.
are so high in price that only large organizations can afford to apply for them.
I have had many ideas I could not patent, trademark, or copyright because I could not afford to. Plus their database is hard to search, one of them is still in telnet form! When will these databases get into the 21st century?
My former employer said they made 40 patients based on my ideas. I tried to search on the employer's name, but that is not an available option. I searched on my name, which came up with nothing. So obviously they registered the patents in someone else's name as the inventor. Which I later found is not valid to do, as I am the inventor of those ideas.
Give a discount to people based on income level for the fees. For Pete's sake they can gather the info from the IRS for people and the SEC for companies. Also have an idea tax that taxes a small fee for revenue used for the ideas, so the government can collect some money as well.
Microsoft will eventually abandon the Windows 9X platform, so they might as well release the source code or the full API list so some other company or organization can take it over. It is W2K/XP/2003 and above now. Soon to be only Longhorn.
:)
Someone else making security patches for the almost abandoned OS is a start.
Very hard to do when organizations still use Classical Management and want everything done quicker and cheaper.
For example getting rid of experienced developers who thoroughly debug the programs and produce quality code because they earn too much, and replacing them with developers who work cheaper but write sloppy code full of more bugs.
Perhaps you forgot the trend in business these days for programming? Outsource to the cheapest source of labor, that works the fastest. Then hope they have a quality assurance analyst working for them that knows how to do their job correctly. If not, you have a low quality product.
Also when the games are outsourced to reduce the costs, the game price stays the same. No benefit is passed on to the consumer, except a buggier game of a lower quality than they wanted. But hey, instead of $24/hr developers, you got $3/hr developers working for you, so who cares? Right?
The concept of total quality management is lost on most modern US corperations and game-makers. Release the game on time, and like Microsoft, slowly release bug fixes that should have been in the product during its launch.
Companies like Game Stop allow people to buy/sell/trade used games. If $60 to $50 is too much, look for a slightly used version in one of their stores or on their web site. Many people buy the game new, and then cannot play it, or find it wasn't what it was advertised as, etc and then sell it. Also check Half.com for used copies of games and other things.
Is charge for the online account access, and only charge for the media and manual that the game is packaged on. Then collect the revenue from those who pirated the game, but are forced to create an online account to use the game. Everquest, Merdian 59, and other 3D Muds could be like that. Chances are the pirate is going to play for a few years at $20USD - $30USD a month. Since the pirate does not want to pay for your software, but is forced to create an online account to use it, you actually earn money off the pirated copy. Just not the initial $35 USD to $60 USD for the initial purchase. So you earn $480USD off the pirate if they use your game for two years. You earn $0USD if you put copy protection on the disk and the pirate cannot use it. Multiply that amount by a few thousand or whatever, let's say 10,000 for this example, though piracy can copy more than that, but 4.8M revenue extra in two years if you allow pirates to use your game for free yet pay for online access to it, or a loss of $4.8M in potential revenue if you don't.
So use piracy to your advantage and earn that extra revenue.
I went with Lindows, which is now Linspire. The CNR (Click N Run) software makes Up2Date look weak. Well Up2Date was buggy anyway it never updated itself properly and had an expired certificate and other crud. Plus I got tired of RPM-Hell and Lib-Hell on Red Hat and Fedora that was as bad as DLL-Hell on Windows.
Oh BTW I do not need to use the commercial software with Lindows/Linspire, apt-get works well, and OSS downloads work great too.
Lindows/Linspire is not 100% GPL, but worth it to get an easier to install and configure Linux than what the distro of the month offered. An added bonus is Non-GPL software in Lindows/Linspire that can work with data files that Windows apps also use.
So who needs Windows?
We made a fix for that, if the wrong figures go in, now instead the machine plays your favorite MP3 file from the nearest file sharing network, downloads the latest spyware/adware, and then accepts a supeona from the RIAA for you to appear in court.
;)
So make sure that you type everything in correctly this time...
Nobody is saying they should not make money, we are just saying make money someway else without forcing the user to install legal malware on their system tht they do not know about, but was part of some "nifty" software they downloaded from some email link or web site.
Gator keeps appearing on my system, yet I am not installing anything new. It appears in my cache for IE, traces of it, so it is being installed via an exploit in IE. I do not want this crud on my computer, yet it keeps reinstalling itself. Spysweeper always finds it and removes it, the next day it is back again. KMFSWC = No pity for the SpyWare Companies. Call it what it really is, a legal virus. Unethical, and soon it should be unlawful.
Don't protect the slimeballs of this industry. They deserve to be punished.
I am trying to find that parts catalog from 1842 so I can get this Analynic Engine to work. It is not the same since Ada had a hissy fit and quit making those punch cards for me.
Then I need that 1642 catalog so Blaize can work out the bugs in his thingamabob whatever he called it but it don't work too well either.
So they make computers using electronics now? Interesting to say the least. My 10 baud tin cans and kite-string modem works, but it is just too slow for me and it is the fastest that technology can go. It took me a day and a half to post this message.