I looked at the binary archive and couldnt make sense of what those bits actually DO:( Any people more knowledgable about solaris want to chime in? It looks like probobly most of the code missing is either "stuff they dont own 100%" (e.g. drivers which was mentioned elsewhere) or "encryption bits" (although I cant see the issue with releasing the encryption bits, I doubt that there is 3rd party code in EVERY encryption related binary)
One thing lots of people forget is that internet explorer is more than just a web browser.
Internet explorer is a set of internet access DLLs (like wininet.dll for doing HTTP & friends), a HTML rendering engine/widget (mshtml.dll and shdocvw.dll with other dlls for JavaScript, JScript, VBScript, images and so on), ancillary dlls (like msxml.dll for doing XML related stuff) and then a web browser (iexplore.exe) that sits on top of the HTML rendering widget and the other dlls.
Removing the HTML rendering widget and internet DLLs (which is what most people think of when they say "Internet Explorer") would break many things including (but not limited to): HTML Help Explorer (i.e. the web integration) Visual Studio (including MSDN) Netscape 8 (with the IE embedding) Half-Life (just ask the WINE people about the links between Half-Life and Internet Explorer) MSN Messenger (including at least one 3rd party MSN client that uses wininet.dll to access MSN) and no doubt others that I havent mentioned.
One use for building on the moon would be so you can stick telescopes (be they radio, optical, infra-red, UV or whatever) on the far side where they have a huge chunk of rock between them and any interference sources back on earth.
Picture what you could get if you took an optical telescope the size of some of the big ones we have on earth and put it on the far side of the moon. Or a radio telescope on there, shielded by the moon from most of the radio waves being emitted by earth gadgets.
Often the 50% in the driver is necessary to get working hardware. For example, WiFi chipsets and SoftModems and stuff can take the upper level representation that windows hands them and converts it into a lower-level representation that can be processed on the card by a simple DSP and/or DAC to convert it into actual radio/telephone signals.
A number of so-called "winprinters" or "GDI printers" are showing up that do no processing in the printer, the printer just takes raw data (usually compressed with a propriatory compression algorithim) and control instructions and prints from that. Without the compression algorithim (which would probobly be considered "valuable IP" by the corp lawyers and PHBs), the printer is useless. Or there might be bugs in the hardware/firmware that are fixed or worked around by the drivers.
Plus (as some have said), for hardware like WiFi cards that need approval from e.g. FCC etc, often the approval is for the complete system (e.g. card, antenna, drivers for a WiFi card) and if the specs are released, it becomes possible to build drivers that are not approved. (including drivers that accidentally or deliberatly cause the card to talk on frequencies its not approved to talk on)
Not to mention the "chicken and egg" problem where hardware has chipsets from vendor A on boards from vendor B.
If the chipset vendor gives out the chipset specs, customers using the chipset might get annoyed with that.
If the board vendor gives out the board specs, the chipset vendor might get annoyed with that.
But how Open the system will be. For example, will it include binary kernel modules that are required to take advantage of all the hardware featutres? Will it include usable 3D libraries (e.g. OpenGL?) Will you get a driver so you can run an X server on it? Will (like with the PS2 linux kit) you have to run via a special propriatory layer (i.e. a special "official" DVD that you boot from before any code on the hard disk runs) or will it boot from the hard disk directly?
Be interesting to see if things like MAME are able to use all that power...
"DRM Doesnt Work"... That is NOT true. For experts, its easy to crack DRM. But, for a lot of people, going through all the steps to crack the DRM is beyond their skills.
One example, the PC games industry. More and more people have CD burners these days. Copying a CD in a CD burning package such as Nero is as simple as saying "duplicate disk". But, defeating/removing the copy protection (e.g. Safedisk, Securom, Starforce etc) from a protected game so it will run with said burned copy is much harder (since you need to find a crack, hope that the crack will work for your copy of the game, apply the crack, spend time trying to get the new patch to install then crack that etc etc).
The question I ask is not "Does DRM work" but "Does DRM result in more total profit on the item than would be the case without DRM" (and remember, implementing all that DRM costs money)
Why doesnt microsoft just release the source code to the IE rendering engine (either as true Open Source or as some kind of "Shared Source" with restrictions on distributing changes)
If they are worried about projects like WINE and ReactOS using the code, they can have a licence term like "You can only use this code on a legally licenced copy of Microsoft(R) Windows(R)" or something similar.
Although I am sure someone else here might know other reasons why they cant release it...
At my university, all the classes I have taken where calculators are allowed all say "calculator: no qwerty keyboard" as the rule (or something like that).
I have used my CFX-9850g graphics calculator in the exams no problems (with programs on it too)
What apple should build for this is a custom motherboard that DOESNT have all the legacy backwards compatibility bits that PC motherboards have to have. Have a custom apple firmware on it which (as the first thing it does) turns on 32 bit flat protected mode so everything on the system is running in 32-bit mode. Things like that.
is that on windows and on OSX, there is a lot of backwards compatibility built into the OS and runtimes. Any userland program written for OSX should run on the newest version. Ditto program written for win32, windows XP goes to great lengths to make backwards compatibility possible
But linux does not (you cant build a program on RedHat 7.3 with the version of GCC included there and expect it to run on RedHat 8.0 without lots of effort or a recompile)
Yet you can compile a program with visual studio 6 on an older version of windows and it will run just fine on the latest version.
Is when the game is recreating a real space (e.g. a sports stadium or racetrack) and the ads are ads for real companies but they are the not the real ads found at that ground.
If you are going to put ads in there, either make them totally fake or make them the real ads found at that statium/track/etc.
One example, EA Sports V8 Challenge bathurst track. There is a large footbridge. In real life, that bridge has a Dunlop sign on it. In the game, the bridge has a Bridgestone sign on it.
I am specifically refering to a site that could host stuff that could be seen to violate the DMCA/EUCD/etc. Such things as DVD decryptors, DeCSS, DVD libs for linux, BNetD, fairplay removers for iTunes DRM, e-book decoders, decoders for digital camera raw image files and anything else (not necessarily audio or video related) that could be seen to violate the DMCA or similar laws.
It would be hosted in a country without such laws so the MPAA/RIAA (or as they say in School of Rock, The Man) cant get at it or supoena the logs to find who wrote what code. It would have the same rules for Open Source-ness as sites like SourceForge (which would ensure that anyone can download the code, change it and distribute it)
Basicly, it would be a site hosted in a country with no DMCA laws. All sorts of "quasi-legal" stuff could be hosted there like: BnetD DVD programs (DeCSS etc) etc
People posting their code there could do so and (unless they include any identifying information with the program) it would be difficult for the media corps to actually track them down and get them into a court.
Especially if (as would be assumed) the site itself is in a country where the media corps cant force them to hand over the logs and info (and more so, the site shouldnt have any imformation on the physical location of the authors in the first place)
Aside from the technical difficulty getting ethernet through all those spaces in an existing aircraft, it would require a HUGE amount of downtime to run it all. Laptop power is different since they already have wires carrying something near the right voltage in the general area of the seats (for the lights etc)
Exactly what hardware will be in these things. Will it be possible to run x86 linux on them (and more so, will it be possible to use the existing linux display driver for whatever display chipset apple puts in there) Will you be able to run x86 linux ports of things like DOOM 3 and Neverwinter Nights?
Whether windows runs on these things depends on how different the hardware is (although porting ReactOS to one is a definate possibility)
I expect to see x86 linux and then WINE running on these things pretty quickly:)
Re:Current CPUs to maintain or increase in value
on
Intel Claims No DRM
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And what happens when internet sites (such as banks, online shopping sites etc) start insisting on "Trusted Systems" for "Security Reasons"? Not just banks and online shops, sites like Yahoo Mail, Hotmail and others could follow suit. Not to mention software like Yahoo Messenger or MSN or AIM or ICQ (which would insist on running in a trusted environment) Or when ISPs start insisting on "Trusted Systems"? Dont say it wont happen, even if ISPs dont do it willingly (in an attempt to prevent SPAM, viruses, zombies etc), the Department of Homeland Security will force them (in the name of "Cyber Security")
Any ISP that doesnt have a virus checker on their mailserver in this day and age is a crappy ISP (either that or they are too cheap to buy a copy of whatever virus checker is available:)
the big email providers like hotmail and yahoo already scan for viruses (gmail doesnt scan for viruses AFAIK, it just throws away anything potentially executable)
That alone would stop most sources of infection for the newbie (unless its been compromised by a hacker, its unlikely that any respectable website is going to be installing viruses on your machine)
Combine this with a set of clear instructions that any newbie can follow that is issued to every new customer. Something like: WARNING: Your PC is at risk of infection by viruses and worms. Infections can do any of the following nasty things: Steal your personal information (including information that could be used to steal money from your bank account, take out a credit card in your name, read private communications or...) Delete important files on your computer (which could result in your computer becoming inoperable or the loss of important data) Steal files and data on your computer (which could include private stuff you dont want anyone else to see/read) Make your computer run slower and take longer to do things Enable your computer to be used by hackers to attack other computers...
To prevent infection, take the following steps: Install a virus scanner and run it regularly Do not open files that are sent to you by email except from people you know and trust as they could be viruses...
(repace the... in the above text with more actual information)
Basicly, it would be a short blurb that your computer is at risk from viruses and trojans. Then something explaining what a virus is and what nasty things it can potentially do. Anything that any virus has done is potentially fair game (we want to scare the newbie users into thinking that viruses are nasty nasty things so we want to think of things that newbie computer users would be fearfull of and use them here) Then, after that, clear steps on how to prevent infection, how to tell if your computer is infected and how to clean up your system if you do get infected (including how to set things up to check automatically so you dont have to remeber to do a scan every week). This should include details of where to get virus checkers (including the online scanners and the various free checkers you can download, in case people dont want to spend the $ for software like Norton or Mcafee). And it should mention stuff about keeping your virus checker up-to-date too.
The bit at the top should be in BIG letters and really clear words so people will notice it and then realize that this is important and is something they need to read. We start by scaring people into thinking that the internet is full of nasty viruses and worms which will do all these really bad things. Then we show them how to prevent viruses in ways that dont require much effort on their part (especially ongoing effort)
The problem is companies that use open source and dont give anything back (i.e. those who violate the GPL)
Why do companies like that NOT follow the licence anyway? Its not like the GPL requires them to Open Source whatever fancy UI they have for their router/firewall/PVR/whatever it happens to be, only the changes they have made to the open source packages they are using.
Definatly want better AI in games. (RTS games especially)
Definatly aggree we need better game ideas. How about a first person shooter where "shoot everything that moves" is NOT the right answer.
Something where sneaking past a guy without them seeing you might be the better (i.e. safer) option. Something where there are puzzles to solve (by "puzzles", I mean like in games such as Resident Evil 2 where you have to find items and figure out where to use them) Or how about a game where you get to play a cop and have to solve a crime by finding the evidence and stopping the criminals.
One game I would like to see is a game that would be a cross between Diablo II, Sentinel Worlds 1 Future Magic and Star Trek Away Team. It would be a Diablo II style action RPG with items, weapons, experience, enemies to kill, shops to buy things at, skills and abillities, quests to complete and so on. Make it a party based game where you have different members of your party who would be different races and classes (e.g. medics, hackers, close combat experts, ranged weapon experts, pilots etc) and would be given experience from party kills. Attributes and abillities and items and stuff would be much like Diablo II. There would be ships to fly, planets to explore, alien races to interact with (kill, talk to, buy from, sell to, help out etc etc)
Another idea would be to make it with a single character instead of a party and make it a MMORPG. Either way would probobly be worth playing.
It could be set in or it could be done all on its own.
In fact, the aformentioned Sentinel Worlds 1 Future Magic is the closest game to what I am thinking of (that I know of)
As for the line about graphics, what annoyed me the most about E3 is that none of the 3 "next-gen" consoles were on display. Sure they were showing off the look of the new machines. But Neither Sony, Microsoft OR Nintendo had actual consoles showing actual games (or test demos, they would work too) on the real hardware. The companies talk and talk about how fancy their hardware is, lets see more actual footage to back up that talk. Instead of talking about how the XBOX 360 can get full HDTV resolution with anti-aliasing in real time, show that in action. Show shots from Halo III (or if thats not ready yet, give some programmers and artists an XBOX 360 Devkit and tell them to push the hardware to the limits and make a tech demo). Ditto to Sony and Nintendo (well less so to nintendo since they havent emphasized their hardware power so much).
Microsoft had a non-functioning console and a couple of G5 PowerMacs as its showing. Sony only had pre-rendered content to show.
A few things of my own that I want to complain about 1.No more World War 2 games.:P 2.Much more realisim in motor racing games (if you are going to have a replica of Mount Panorama at Bathurst and are going to include the advertising signs, put the right logos on it. There has never been a bridge/overpass at Mount Panorama that says "Bridgestone" on it, it says "Dunlop". EA, I am looking at you. Also, if you are going to have real-world racing, get ALL the teams and ALL the tracks found in the real competition (Codemasters I am looking at you here for missing out HRT in V8 Supercars)
Make the gameplay more realistic too. e.g. include the same pitstops the real races have. If the real race has 2 fuel stops, make the simulated race have the same fuel stops.
3.Classic games. Make more of the old games available. Nintendo has it right with the Revolution being able to play classic NES and SNES games (just as long as they are emulated and not ports/remakes and as long as the emulation is good). How about more arcade companies signing up with sites like starroms.com (making classic games available either officially or through a site like starroms) is probobly quite simple and requires next to no captial investment.
Oh and BTW, a remake of a classic game is almost certainly NOT going
Its about control. The MPAA (which these days probobly covers most american made TV entertainment as well as movies) wants to stop people from being able to record a TV show onto their PVR and watching it later (fast-forwarding all the ads). And from recording something off the TV and keeping it to watch again and again instead of buying the DVD.
Just remember, anything capable of recieving video signals (TVs, VCRs, DVD Recorders, PVRs, Video Capture cards and probobly more) will have to deal with the flag.
And the flag will not just be for Free-To-Air transmissions, it will be for cable TV, sattelite TV and probobly the next generation of DVDs too (with the new generation of DVDs having the broadcast flag embedded into the video content in the same way that Macrovision is used on current DVDs to prevent illegal copying.
Now would probobly be a good time to buy a HDTV tuner card so that you have one WITHOUT the broadcast flag. Alhough at least we dont have this broadcast flag crap here in australia.
Are specifically built to only use hardware that has good linux compatibility (pref without the need to use binary drivers although for some things like video cards that might be unavoidable, especially for laptops).
The laptops would have WiFi chipsets with linux support. And power management functionality that works in linux. And so on. The desktops would include things like Ethernet cards with linux support. And so on. Then, have printers, scanners and such that are also supported in linux available as an option.
Said computers would be available with windows too but being able to offer "Linux" as an option and know that all the hardware will work would be a nice thing.
Or better yet, someone should make a database listing hardware and how well its supported in linux i.e.: 1.Isnt usable at all (this would include the case where you can use it via a "hack loader" that loads the windows driver) 2.Usable only if you use the binary driver (which would mean that its specifically linked to a particular kernel version/distro/whatever) 3.Usable via open drivers created by reverse engineering (i.e. without the help of the company) 4.Usable via open drivers created with help/documents supplied by the manufacturer 5.Usable via official open source drivers
So it could be given a rating from 1 to 5 matching that list, with hardware rating a 4 or 5 being the best to buy (since it is supporting companies who support Open Source).
The same sort of ratings could be applied to vendors, something like: 1.Vendors who are openly hostile to linux or Open Source (e.g. vendors who have sued someone for reverse engineering their product, vendors who violate GPL etc) 2.Vendors who are neutral to Open Source (i.e. they dont care about linux at all) 3.Vendors who support Linux (by providing binary drivers for example) but dont support Open Source 4.Vendors who support Open Source by providing documentation and information to Open Source developers 5.Vendors who support Open Source by making actual code written by them available (e.g. an Open source linux driver for their product) Like with the hardware rating, it would give a guide to who to support and who to avoid (any hardware vendors who rate a 1 would certainly be vendors that anyone smart would avoid if at all possible)
If I go and post an ad in the paper (for example) telling people where to go and buy illegal drugs from, I am breaking the law. By the same token, the newspaper would probobly also be breaking the law because they published the ad (knowing full well the ad was for something blatently illegal)
All a.torrent file is is a note saying "talk to to machines x,y,z to download this file" (or something like that anyway, I dont know the techincal details of bittorrent). And, like the hypothetical newspaper ad, a.torrent file for an illegal copy of a movie/song/program/game/etc serves no other purpose than to aid people in breaking the law (downloading the item without permission from the copyright holders).
As for the sites themselves, the sites being shut down tend to have only (or almost only) torrents for illegal files so its quite within the rights for them to be shut down (depending on what country they are in)
Why neither Sony or Microsoft had actual silicon on display showing what the system can do.
They should have both taken a devkit and given it to whoever (either inside MS/SONY or inside the GPU companies) can push these things to the limits and had them produce the best possible tech demo for these things, complete with full high-definition graphics. And then hooked them up to the best output device money can buy.
Then, the world would be able to see exactly what these impressive new systems are capable of.
Only problem is that if they do that, everyone will expect every game on the new systems to be as good as the tech demos:)
Here in australia there is a channel called Boomerang which has quite a number of the old cartoons (e.g. original Tom & Jerry, original Warner Bros shorts, Woody Woodpecker, various MGM cartoons e.g. some by Tex Avery, Popeye The Salor Man and a huge number of the old TV cartoons like Yogi Bear)
Although I do aggree that new rehashes of old things like "Baby Looney Tunes" and "Duck Dodgers" are crap (especially when you realize that the new stuff doesnt have Mel Blanc as voice artist)
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I looked at the binary archive and couldnt make sense of what those bits actually DO :(
Any people more knowledgable about solaris want to chime in? It looks like probobly most of the code missing is either "stuff they dont own 100%" (e.g. drivers which was mentioned elsewhere) or "encryption bits" (although I cant see the issue with releasing the encryption bits, I doubt that there is 3rd party code in EVERY encryption related binary)
One thing lots of people forget is that internet explorer is more than just a web browser.
Internet explorer is a set of internet access DLLs (like wininet.dll for doing HTTP & friends), a HTML rendering engine/widget (mshtml.dll and shdocvw.dll with other dlls for JavaScript, JScript, VBScript, images and so on), ancillary dlls (like msxml.dll for doing XML related stuff) and then a web browser (iexplore.exe) that sits on top of the HTML rendering widget and the other dlls.
Removing the HTML rendering widget and internet DLLs (which is what most people think of when they say "Internet Explorer") would break many things including (but not limited to):
HTML Help
Explorer (i.e. the web integration)
Visual Studio (including MSDN)
Netscape 8 (with the IE embedding)
Half-Life (just ask the WINE people about the links between Half-Life and Internet Explorer)
MSN Messenger (including at least one 3rd party MSN client that uses wininet.dll to access MSN)
and no doubt others that I havent mentioned.
One use for building on the moon would be so you can stick telescopes (be they radio, optical, infra-red, UV or whatever) on the far side where they have a huge chunk of rock between them and any interference sources back on earth.
Picture what you could get if you took an optical telescope the size of some of the big ones we have on earth and put it on the far side of the moon.
Or a radio telescope on there, shielded by the moon from most of the radio waves being emitted by earth gadgets.
Often the 50% in the driver is necessary to get working hardware.
For example, WiFi chipsets and SoftModems and stuff can take the upper level representation that windows hands them and converts it into a lower-level representation that can be processed on the card by a simple DSP and/or DAC to convert it into actual radio/telephone signals.
A number of so-called "winprinters" or "GDI printers" are showing up that do no processing in the printer, the printer just takes raw data (usually compressed with a propriatory compression algorithim) and control instructions and prints from that.
Without the compression algorithim (which would probobly be considered "valuable IP" by the corp lawyers and PHBs), the printer is useless.
Or there might be bugs in the hardware/firmware that are fixed or worked around by the drivers.
Plus (as some have said), for hardware like WiFi cards that need approval from e.g. FCC etc, often the approval is for the complete system (e.g. card, antenna, drivers for a WiFi card) and if the specs are released, it becomes possible to build drivers that are not approved. (including drivers that accidentally or deliberatly cause the card to talk on frequencies its not approved to talk on)
Not to mention the "chicken and egg" problem where hardware has chipsets from vendor A on boards from vendor B.
If the chipset vendor gives out the chipset specs, customers using the chipset might get annoyed with that.
If the board vendor gives out the board specs, the chipset vendor might get annoyed with that.
But how Open the system will be.
For example, will it include binary kernel modules that are required to take advantage of all the hardware featutres?
Will it include usable 3D libraries (e.g. OpenGL?)
Will you get a driver so you can run an X server on it?
Will (like with the PS2 linux kit) you have to run via a special propriatory layer (i.e. a special "official" DVD that you boot from before any code on the hard disk runs) or will it boot from the hard disk directly?
Be interesting to see if things like MAME are able to use all that power...
"DRM Doesnt Work"...
That is NOT true.
For experts, its easy to crack DRM.
But, for a lot of people, going through all the steps to crack the DRM is beyond their skills.
One example, the PC games industry. More and more people have CD burners these days. Copying a CD in a CD burning package such as Nero is as simple as saying "duplicate disk". But, defeating/removing the copy protection (e.g. Safedisk, Securom, Starforce etc) from a protected game so it will run with said burned copy is much harder (since you need to find a crack, hope that the crack will work for your copy of the game, apply the crack, spend time trying to get the new patch to install then crack that etc etc).
The question I ask is not "Does DRM work" but "Does DRM result in more total profit on the item than would be the case without DRM" (and remember, implementing all that DRM costs money)
Why doesnt microsoft just release the source code to the IE rendering engine (either as true Open Source or as some kind of "Shared Source" with restrictions on distributing changes)
If they are worried about projects like WINE and ReactOS using the code, they can have a licence term like "You can only use this code on a legally licenced copy of Microsoft(R) Windows(R)" or something similar.
Although I am sure someone else here might know other reasons why they cant release it...
At my university, all the classes I have taken where calculators are allowed all say "calculator: no qwerty keyboard" as the rule (or something like that).
I have used my CFX-9850g graphics calculator in the exams no problems (with programs on it too)
I thought macs had IDE hard drives and CD/DVD drives, if nothing else.
What apple should build for this is a custom motherboard that DOESNT have all the legacy backwards compatibility bits that PC motherboards have to have.
Have a custom apple firmware on it which (as the first thing it does) turns on 32 bit flat protected mode so everything on the system is running in 32-bit mode.
Things like that.
is that on windows and on OSX, there is a lot of backwards compatibility built into the OS and runtimes.
Any userland program written for OSX should run on the newest version.
Ditto program written for win32, windows XP goes to great lengths to make backwards compatibility possible
But linux does not (you cant build a program on RedHat 7.3 with the version of GCC included there and expect it to run on RedHat 8.0 without lots of effort or a recompile)
Yet you can compile a program with visual studio 6 on an older version of windows and it will run just fine on the latest version.
Is when the game is recreating a real space (e.g. a sports stadium or racetrack) and the ads are ads for real companies but they are the not the real ads found at that ground.
If you are going to put ads in there, either make them totally fake or make them the real ads found at that statium/track/etc.
One example, EA Sports V8 Challenge bathurst track. There is a large footbridge. In real life, that bridge has a Dunlop sign on it. In the game, the bridge has a Bridgestone sign on it.
I am specifically refering to a site that could host stuff that could be seen to violate the DMCA/EUCD/etc.
Such things as DVD decryptors, DeCSS, DVD libs for linux, BNetD, fairplay removers for iTunes DRM, e-book decoders, decoders for digital camera raw image files and anything else (not necessarily audio or video related) that could be seen to violate the DMCA or similar laws.
It would be hosted in a country without such laws so the MPAA/RIAA (or as they say in School of Rock, The Man) cant get at it or supoena the logs to find who wrote what code. It would have the same rules for Open Source-ness as sites like SourceForge (which would ensure that anyone can download the code, change it and distribute it)
Basicly, it would be a site hosted in a country with no DMCA laws.
All sorts of "quasi-legal" stuff could be hosted there like:
BnetD
DVD programs (DeCSS etc)
etc
People posting their code there could do so and (unless they include any identifying information with the program) it would be difficult for the media corps to actually track them down and get them into a court.
Especially if (as would be assumed) the site itself is in a country where the media corps cant force them to hand over the logs and info (and more so, the site shouldnt have any imformation on the physical location of the authors in the first place)
Aside from the technical difficulty getting ethernet through all those spaces in an existing aircraft, it would require a HUGE amount of downtime to run it all. Laptop power is different since they already have wires carrying something near the right voltage in the general area of the seats (for the lights etc)
Exactly what hardware will be in these things.
:)
Will it be possible to run x86 linux on them (and more so, will it be possible to use the existing linux display driver for whatever display chipset apple puts in there)
Will you be able to run x86 linux ports of things like DOOM 3 and Neverwinter Nights?
Whether windows runs on these things depends on how different the hardware is (although porting ReactOS to one is a definate possibility)
I expect to see x86 linux and then WINE running on these things pretty quickly
And what happens when internet sites (such as banks, online shopping sites etc) start insisting on "Trusted Systems" for "Security Reasons"?
Not just banks and online shops, sites like Yahoo Mail, Hotmail and others could follow suit.
Not to mention software like Yahoo Messenger or MSN or AIM or ICQ (which would insist on running in a trusted environment)
Or when ISPs start insisting on "Trusted Systems"? Dont say it wont happen, even if ISPs dont do it willingly (in an attempt to prevent SPAM, viruses, zombies etc), the Department of Homeland Security will force them (in the name of "Cyber Security")
Any ISP that doesnt have a virus checker on their mailserver in this day and age is a crappy ISP (either that or they are too cheap to buy a copy of whatever virus checker is available :)
...) ...
...
... in the above text with more actual information)
the big email providers like hotmail and yahoo already scan for viruses (gmail doesnt scan for viruses AFAIK, it just throws away anything potentially executable)
That alone would stop most sources of infection for the newbie (unless its been compromised by a hacker, its unlikely that any respectable website is going to be installing viruses on your machine)
Combine this with a set of clear instructions that any newbie can follow that is issued to every new customer. Something like:
WARNING: Your PC is at risk of infection by viruses and worms. Infections can do any of the following nasty things:
Steal your personal information (including information that could be used to steal money from your bank account, take out a credit card in your name, read private communications or
Delete important files on your computer (which could result in your computer becoming inoperable or the loss of important data)
Steal files and data on your computer (which could include private stuff you dont want anyone else to see/read)
Make your computer run slower and take longer to do things
Enable your computer to be used by hackers to attack other computers
To prevent infection, take the following steps:
Install a virus scanner and run it regularly
Do not open files that are sent to you by email except from people you know and trust as they could be viruses
(repace the
Basicly, it would be a short blurb that your computer is at risk from viruses and trojans.
Then something explaining what a virus is and what nasty things it can potentially do. Anything that any virus has done is potentially fair game (we want to scare the newbie users into thinking that viruses are nasty nasty things so we want to think of things that newbie computer users would be fearfull of and use them here)
Then, after that, clear steps on how to prevent infection, how to tell if your computer is infected and how to clean up your system if you do get infected (including how to set things up to check automatically so you dont have to remeber to do a scan every week). This should include details of where to get virus checkers (including the online scanners and the various free checkers you can download, in case people dont want to spend the $ for software like Norton or Mcafee).
And it should mention stuff about keeping your virus checker up-to-date too.
The bit at the top should be in BIG letters and really clear words so people will notice it and then realize that this is important and is something they need to read.
We start by scaring people into thinking that the internet is full of nasty viruses and worms which will do all these really bad things.
Then we show them how to prevent viruses in ways that dont require much effort on their part (especially ongoing effort)
The problem is companies that use open source and dont give anything back (i.e. those who violate the GPL)
Why do companies like that NOT follow the licence anyway? Its not like the GPL requires them to Open Source whatever fancy UI they have for their router/firewall/PVR/whatever it happens to be, only the changes they have made to the open source packages they are using.
Definatly want better AI in games. (RTS games especially)
:P
Definatly aggree we need better game ideas.
How about a first person shooter where "shoot everything that moves" is NOT the right answer.
Something where sneaking past a guy without them seeing you might be the better (i.e. safer) option.
Something where there are puzzles to solve (by "puzzles", I mean like in games such as Resident Evil 2 where you have to find items and figure out where to use them)
Or how about a game where you get to play a cop and have to solve a crime by finding the evidence and stopping the criminals.
One game I would like to see is a game that would be a cross between Diablo II, Sentinel Worlds 1 Future Magic and Star Trek Away Team. It would be a Diablo II style action RPG with items, weapons, experience, enemies to kill, shops to buy things at, skills and abillities, quests to complete and so on. Make it a party based game where you have different members of your party who would be different races and classes (e.g. medics, hackers, close combat experts, ranged weapon experts, pilots etc) and would be given experience from party kills. Attributes and abillities and items and stuff would be much like Diablo II.
There would be ships to fly, planets to explore, alien races to interact with (kill, talk to, buy from, sell to, help out etc etc)
Another idea would be to make it with a single character instead of a party and make it a MMORPG.
Either way would probobly be worth playing.
It could be set in or it could be done all on its own.
In fact, the aformentioned Sentinel Worlds 1 Future Magic is the closest game to what I am thinking of (that I know of)
As for the line about graphics, what annoyed me the most about E3 is that none of the 3 "next-gen" consoles were on display. Sure they were showing off the look of the new machines.
But Neither Sony, Microsoft OR Nintendo had actual consoles showing actual games (or test demos, they would work too) on the real hardware.
The companies talk and talk about how fancy their hardware is, lets see more actual footage to back up that talk. Instead of talking about how the XBOX 360 can get full HDTV resolution with anti-aliasing in real time, show that in action. Show shots from Halo III (or if thats not ready yet, give some programmers and artists an XBOX 360 Devkit and tell them to push the hardware to the limits and make a tech demo).
Ditto to Sony and Nintendo (well less so to nintendo since they havent emphasized their hardware power so much).
Microsoft had a non-functioning console and a couple of G5 PowerMacs as its showing.
Sony only had pre-rendered content to show.
A few things of my own that I want to complain about
1.No more World War 2 games.
2.Much more realisim in motor racing games (if you are going to have a replica of Mount Panorama at Bathurst and are going to include the advertising signs, put the right logos on it. There has never been a bridge/overpass at Mount Panorama that says "Bridgestone" on it, it says "Dunlop". EA, I am looking at you.
Also, if you are going to have real-world racing, get ALL the teams and ALL the tracks found in the real competition (Codemasters I am looking at you here for missing out HRT in V8 Supercars)
Make the gameplay more realistic too.
e.g. include the same pitstops the real races have. If the real race has 2 fuel stops, make the simulated race have the same fuel stops.
3.Classic games. Make more of the old games available. Nintendo has it right with the Revolution being able to play classic NES and SNES games (just as long as they are emulated and not ports/remakes and as long as the emulation is good). How about more arcade companies signing up with sites like starroms.com (making classic games available either officially or through a site like starroms) is probobly quite simple and requires
next to no captial investment.
Oh and BTW, a remake of a classic game is almost certainly NOT going
Its about control.
The MPAA (which these days probobly covers most american made TV entertainment as well as movies) wants to stop people from being able to record a TV show onto their PVR and watching it later (fast-forwarding all the ads). And from recording something off the TV and keeping it to watch again and again instead of buying the DVD.
Just remember, anything capable of recieving video signals (TVs, VCRs, DVD Recorders, PVRs, Video Capture cards and probobly more) will have to deal with the flag.
And the flag will not just be for Free-To-Air transmissions, it will be for cable TV, sattelite TV and probobly the next generation of DVDs too (with the new generation of DVDs having the broadcast flag embedded into the video content in the same way that Macrovision is used on current DVDs to prevent illegal copying.
Now would probobly be a good time to buy a HDTV tuner card so that you have one WITHOUT the broadcast flag. Alhough at least we dont have this broadcast flag crap here in australia.
Are specifically built to only use hardware that has good linux compatibility (pref without the need to use binary drivers although for some things like video cards that might be unavoidable, especially for laptops).
The laptops would have WiFi chipsets with linux support. And power management functionality that works in linux. And so on.
The desktops would include things like Ethernet cards with linux support. And so on.
Then, have printers, scanners and such that are also supported in linux available as an option.
Said computers would be available with windows too but being able to offer "Linux" as an option and know that all the hardware will work would be a nice thing.
Or better yet, someone should make a database listing hardware and how well its supported in linux i.e.:
1.Isnt usable at all (this would include the case where you can use it via a "hack loader" that loads the windows driver)
2.Usable only if you use the binary driver (which would mean that its specifically linked to a particular kernel version/distro/whatever)
3.Usable via open drivers created by reverse engineering (i.e. without the help of the company)
4.Usable via open drivers created with help/documents supplied by the manufacturer
5.Usable via official open source drivers
So it could be given a rating from 1 to 5 matching that list, with hardware rating a 4 or 5 being the best to buy (since it is supporting companies who support Open Source).
The same sort of ratings could be applied to vendors, something like:
1.Vendors who are openly hostile to linux or Open Source (e.g. vendors who have sued someone for reverse engineering their product, vendors who violate GPL etc)
2.Vendors who are neutral to Open Source (i.e. they dont care about linux at all)
3.Vendors who support Linux (by providing binary drivers for example) but dont support Open Source
4.Vendors who support Open Source by providing documentation and information to Open Source developers
5.Vendors who support Open Source by making actual code written by them available (e.g. an Open source linux driver for their product)
Like with the hardware rating, it would give a guide to who to support and who to avoid (any hardware vendors who rate a 1 would certainly be vendors that anyone smart would avoid if at all possible)
If I go and post an ad in the paper (for example) telling people where to go and buy illegal drugs from, I am breaking the law.
.torrent file is is a note saying "talk to to machines x,y,z to download this file" (or something like that anyway, I dont know the techincal details of bittorrent). And, like the hypothetical newspaper ad, a .torrent file for an illegal copy of a movie/song/program/game/etc serves no other purpose than to aid people in breaking the law (downloading the item without permission from the copyright holders).
By the same token, the newspaper would probobly also be breaking the law because they published the ad (knowing full well the ad was for something blatently illegal)
All a
As for the sites themselves, the sites being shut down tend to have only (or almost only) torrents for illegal files so its quite within the rights for them to be shut down (depending on what country they are in)
Why neither Sony or Microsoft had actual silicon on display showing what the system can do.
:)
They should have both taken a devkit and given it to whoever (either inside MS/SONY or inside the GPU companies) can push these things to the limits and had them produce the best possible tech demo for these things, complete with full high-definition graphics. And then hooked them up to the best output device money can buy.
Then, the world would be able to see exactly what these impressive new systems are capable of.
Only problem is that if they do that, everyone will expect every game on the new systems to be as good as the tech demos
Here in australia there is a channel called Boomerang which has quite a number of the old cartoons (e.g. original Tom & Jerry, original Warner Bros shorts, Woody Woodpecker, various MGM cartoons e.g. some by Tex Avery, Popeye The Salor Man and a huge number of the old TV cartoons like Yogi Bear)
Although I do aggree that new rehashes of old things like "Baby Looney Tunes" and "Duck Dodgers" are crap (especially when you realize that the new stuff doesnt have Mel Blanc as voice artist)