"I never understood why they didn't just set in the ST universe, 1000 years fter the fall of the Federation. They'd have an existing fanbase and I know I'd watch it (shallow, I know). Different network, perhaps?"
Different network, different staff, probably after a different fan base.
"Be sarcastic all you want, but Berman and Braga screwed it up royally pissing off the fans that have been following Trek since TOS."
Well.. it's hard to say that there was a lot they could do to not piss off those fans. I'm not claiming that Enterprise was up to DS9's standards, but the truth of the matter is that there were so many Trek series out there that the hard-core fans had their own idea how to make a show. (All the bitching about using a non-orchestra theme song, for example... it's a RULE! You gotta use an orchestra!) Honestly, even if Enterprise had been considerably better, I really do feel that Star Trek would have crumbled under the weight of its own fans. T'is a pity B&B didn't take the Trek universe in such a new direction that they could have pissed off the fans then made a bunch of new ones. I made a joke not too long ago about a Star Trek: OZ series. Something like that would have had some seriously interesting potential at the cost of "Gee, we're not on a starship anymore."
"Actually, that is a show called Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda starring Kevin Sorbo"
Yeah they do sound similar. Except what I read talked about having the fall of the Federation while Enterprise showed the birth of it.:P Sounded cool, but I wouldn't call it a credible rumor.
I've gotta second that. Part of it was that I had low expectations, and part of it was that it was an action flick with a pinch of thought. (Emphasize pinch...) Imagine that. A decent Amisov action flick. Weird.
"No looney tunes, nope ; Selfish and shortsighted, yes ("My Steam doesn't cache right on my pentium III 500 Mhz, FUCK STEAM !!!!!!one!!")"
Um, okay. Except the complaint is about the game NOT WORKING because one of their servers ISN'T WORKING. That's actually a legitimate complaint. Selfish? Short sighted? Yeah you can label those complaints that way. Sure. One could also label the whole plan to force people down this path short sighted as well, seeing as how it has a central point of failure. Deflect the blame all you want, this is still Valve's fault, not the users'.
"The Newton was pretty cool and innovative for the time. The market just wasn't ready at the time, and their marketing left a lot to be desired. Palm came in a few years later (with a less functional product) with some kick butt marketing and succeeded."
Note: I'm only commenting on this particular part of your post, not your whole point.
The Newton's failure wasn't because the market wasn't ready. It was because it was too large, too pricey, and too much like a computer. The Palm was tiny, had a very successful purpose it excelled at, and was considerably cheaper. It was more appliance than laptop. Apple may have been innovative with the Newton, but the design was doomed to fail. It was, at best, a niche product. Which is fine, provided they made a profit. (In that case, I'd probably retract the 'failure' comment.) But Palm did the right thing with their unit despite being 'less functional'.
"That's interesting, I can't ever recall seeing a Dell with a pointer stick. And Dell certainly doesn't advertise this feature. The only way to tell is squint real hard at the picture...'
I should qualify that by saying that I have a Dell laptop that has both. But it was purchased 2 years ago.
"I wouldn't want an M-200, though, since it tries to be both a tablet and a notebook. If I go over to the tablet side, I'm going all the way."
Err, why? It actually does the job really well. The design is sturdy. The form factor is still quite small and light. Plus, you're not limited to the stlyus for keyboard entry. (That'd get on your nerves VERY quick.)
I use my M-200 as both a laptop and a tablet, and in either mode it works just fine. I'm not feeling envious or that I'm missing out. Meanwhile, I have one of the very few TabletPCs that have greater than XGA resultion.
"How many times is this FUD example going to come up? Yes, it is possible this will happen."
If it's possible, as you say, then why's it FUD? Why is your feeling that Valve would release that patch more likely to happen than anybody else's feeling that they won't? The mere fact that they're requiring Steam to play it says to me "They really don't give a rat's ass about our right to play it." That may or may not be true, but I'd be surprised if you had some other example of Valve's behaviour to suggest that they may actually release such a patch.
Either way, it doesn't matter. Valve doesn't have a good reputation with some people. You're not going to change that until they do something that proves they're getting back on track. Until that happens, your best bet is to just own up to the fact that some of their business practices are offensive and, believe it or not, the people who are offended by them aren't looney tunes.
"How is a Blackberry any different than your average game controller?"
The buttons are farther apart on any given game controller, requiring less flexing to actually push them. I useta have a little email pager with a KB similar to a BlackBerry. That thing was far more painful than any of my controllers, Nintendo or otherwise.
Sadly, no, that's not an option. The reason why I know that any laptop with a touchpad can be disabled is because I keep hitting the stupid thing every other time I hit the space bar. I feel this guy's pain. Frankly, if BIOS's (or included software) didn't typically allow this to be turned off, I'd be with him on his crusade. Fortunately, life is easier for him than he'd realize.
" And unfortunately that pretty much limits you to Thinkpads, since other manufacturers seem to be abandoning them (more expensive?)."
Not sure if it helps or not, but my Dell came with both. They make good laptops, at least in my experience. I'd happily buy from them again.
" Instead, I'll get a tablet PC. When I don't have a table to work on, I'll use a stylus and an onscreen keyboard. When I do have a table, I'll plug in a USB keyboard and mouse."
I have a Toshiba M-200 TabletPC. Yep, it makes for great couch browsing. MS actually did a pretty decent job on making a TPC worthwhile with Windows XP. I also found it's great for watching movies in bed. I know that may sound a little weird, but the tablet form factor is definitely stronger for mobility. It's also great when you're doing sysadmin sorta stuff. It's handy having a laptop you can use while standing up. Couple that with wireless internet, and you've got yourself a rather powerful combination there. Frankly, I'm surprised system administrators haven't been picking these little guys up.
"How anyone can say "well, I'd get a Mac if only they had feature xxxxx, and no way in hell will I spend $20 to et that...""
Erm okay. The guy was talking about built-in functionality, not something a peripheral can address. Granted, I don't think it's the greatest reason in the world, but you have to understand that $20 does NOT fix this problem. It provides him a workaround. However, if he wants to use his laptop without a mouse attached (and believe it or not, there are reasons fo rthat.) it actually does suck that they don't have the other buttons built in.
Slashdot Mirror
"I never understood why they didn't just set in the ST universe, 1000 years fter the fall of the Federation. They'd have an existing fanbase and I know I'd watch it (shallow, I know). Different network, perhaps?"
Different network, different staff, probably after a different fan base.
"Be sarcastic all you want, but Berman and Braga screwed it up royally pissing off the fans that have been following Trek since TOS."
Well.. it's hard to say that there was a lot they could do to not piss off those fans. I'm not claiming that Enterprise was up to DS9's standards, but the truth of the matter is that there were so many Trek series out there that the hard-core fans had their own idea how to make a show. (All the bitching about using a non-orchestra theme song, for example... it's a RULE! You gotta use an orchestra!) Honestly, even if Enterprise had been considerably better, I really do feel that Star Trek would have crumbled under the weight of its own fans. T'is a pity B&B didn't take the Trek universe in such a new direction that they could have pissed off the fans then made a bunch of new ones. I made a joke not too long ago about a Star Trek: OZ series. Something like that would have had some seriously interesting potential at the cost of "Gee, we're not on a starship anymore."
Oh well.
"Actually, that is a show called Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda starring Kevin Sorbo"
:P Sounded cool, but I wouldn't call it a credible rumor.
Yeah they do sound similar. Except what I read talked about having the fall of the Federation while Enterprise showed the birth of it.
"Out with Star Trek, in with Battlestar Galactica."
Uh, why? It's not like one was preventing the other from being enjoyed.
Boy I'm sick of comments like these.
I enjoyed the show. But if people weren't watching it, then all I can really say is 'farewell'.
Hmm maybe now we'll get that Star Trek: Titan show that was rumored to be about Captain Riker and the fall of the Federation....
"How often do you actually download something at 5.0Mb/s?"
I max out my 4 megabit line pretty routinely, actually. I'm having difficulty feeling envious, though, as I nearly never have to wait for anything.
"Can a machine spell symphony or compose correctly?"
Can a human read a misspelled word without ERRORing?
"Worth adding to your Netflix queue anyhow."
I've gotta second that. Part of it was that I had low expectations, and part of it was that it was an action flick with a pinch of thought. (Emphasize pinch...) Imagine that. A decent Amisov action flick. Weird.
"I love that quote. What's it from?"
Believe it or not: I, Robot. The movie.
"Can a machine create a syphany or comopse a masterpiece?"
"Can you?"
"mention the game anymore? What game is this concerning?"
Argh no kidding. Imagine how somebody out of the loop read: "Naked Gnome March"...
Thought it was LoTR related or something.
"Honestly, nothing humanity does on the Internet surprises me."
Gee, a cynical view of humanity posted on the internet. Surprising.
"How about they try to establish their revenue ?"
By punishing their legit customers?
"No looney tunes, nope ; Selfish and shortsighted, yes ("My Steam doesn't cache right on my pentium III 500 Mhz, FUCK STEAM !!!!!!one!!")"
Um, okay. Except the complaint is about the game NOT WORKING because one of their servers ISN'T WORKING. That's actually a legitimate complaint. Selfish? Short sighted? Yeah you can label those complaints that way. Sure. One could also label the whole plan to force people down this path short sighted as well, seeing as how it has a central point of failure. Deflect the blame all you want, this is still Valve's fault, not the users'.
"The Newton was pretty cool and innovative for the time. The market just wasn't ready at the time, and their marketing left a lot to be desired. Palm came in a few years later (with a less functional product) with some kick butt marketing and succeeded."
Note: I'm only commenting on this particular part of your post, not your whole point.
The Newton's failure wasn't because the market wasn't ready. It was because it was too large, too pricey, and too much like a computer. The Palm was tiny, had a very successful purpose it excelled at, and was considerably cheaper. It was more appliance than laptop. Apple may have been innovative with the Newton, but the design was doomed to fail. It was, at best, a niche product. Which is fine, provided they made a profit. (In that case, I'd probably retract the 'failure' comment.) But Palm did the right thing with their unit despite being 'less functional'.
"Clearly, by your logic, Ferrari is a failed car brand, because there are not nearly as many Ferraris sold as Hondas, or Toyotas, or Fords."
Heh. Thought I was in a Nintendo thread for a moment.
"That's interesting, I can't ever recall seeing a Dell with a pointer stick. And Dell certainly doesn't advertise this feature. The only way to tell is squint real hard at the picture...'
I should qualify that by saying that I have a Dell laptop that has both. But it was purchased 2 years ago.
"I wouldn't want an M-200, though, since it tries to be both a tablet and a notebook. If I go over to the tablet side, I'm going all the way."
Err, why? It actually does the job really well. The design is sturdy. The form factor is still quite small and light. Plus, you're not limited to the stlyus for keyboard entry. (That'd get on your nerves VERY quick.)
I use my M-200 as both a laptop and a tablet, and in either mode it works just fine. I'm not feeling envious or that I'm missing out. Meanwhile, I have one of the very few TabletPCs that have greater than XGA resultion.
"How many times is this FUD example going to come up? Yes, it is possible this will happen."
If it's possible, as you say, then why's it FUD? Why is your feeling that Valve would release that patch more likely to happen than anybody else's feeling that they won't? The mere fact that they're requiring Steam to play it says to me "They really don't give a rat's ass about our right to play it." That may or may not be true, but I'd be surprised if you had some other example of Valve's behaviour to suggest that they may actually release such a patch.
Either way, it doesn't matter. Valve doesn't have a good reputation with some people. You're not going to change that until they do something that proves they're getting back on track. Until that happens, your best bet is to just own up to the fact that some of their business practices are offensive and, believe it or not, the people who are offended by them aren't looney tunes.
"How is a Blackberry any different than your average game controller?"
The buttons are farther apart on any given game controller, requiring less flexing to actually push them. I useta have a little email pager with a KB similar to a BlackBerry. That thing was far more painful than any of my controllers, Nintendo or otherwise.
"Or you can just not touch it."
Sadly, no, that's not an option. The reason why I know that any laptop with a touchpad can be disabled is because I keep hitting the stupid thing every other time I hit the space bar. I feel this guy's pain. Frankly, if BIOS's (or included software) didn't typically allow this to be turned off, I'd be with him on his crusade. Fortunately, life is easier for him than he'd realize.
" And unfortunately that pretty much limits you to Thinkpads, since other manufacturers seem to be abandoning them (more expensive?)."
Not sure if it helps or not, but my Dell came with both. They make good laptops, at least in my experience. I'd happily buy from them again.
" Instead, I'll get a tablet PC. When I don't have a table to work on, I'll use a stylus and an onscreen keyboard. When I do have a table, I'll plug in a USB keyboard and mouse."
I have a Toshiba M-200 TabletPC. Yep, it makes for great couch browsing. MS actually did a pretty decent job on making a TPC worthwhile with Windows XP. I also found it's great for watching movies in bed. I know that may sound a little weird, but the tablet form factor is definitely stronger for mobility. It's also great when you're doing sysadmin sorta stuff. It's handy having a laptop you can use while standing up. Couple that with wireless internet, and you've got yourself a rather powerful combination there. Frankly, I'm surprised system administrators haven't been picking these little guys up.
.. can have it's touch pad turned off in the bios.
"How is this gap measured?"
They looked it up on Google.
""Doom: The Boardgame $54.95" At $15 more than Doom3 (the computer game) is going for at EB games is it really worth it?"
Well, it'll work when ever Steam goes down, so you'll be... Oh. Sorry, wrong game.
"how hard was an actual non-mangled clickable link?"
It's not very hard at all. All you've got to do is post the URL, and some URL nazi will come along and do it for you. It's all automatic!
"While the Espresso is in the right ballgame for size, weight, etc, performance is not even close."
Well, no, but if you want to run Windows on a unit that small...
"How anyone can say "well, I'd get a Mac if only they had feature xxxxx, and no way in hell will I spend $20 to et that...""
Erm okay. The guy was talking about built-in functionality, not something a peripheral can address. Granted, I don't think it's the greatest reason in the world, but you have to understand that $20 does NOT fix this problem. It provides him a workaround. However, if he wants to use his laptop without a mouse attached (and believe it or not, there are reasons fo rthat.) it actually does suck that they don't have the other buttons built in.