" I remember how revolutionary mortal kombat was."
What was revolutionary about Mortal Kombat? The only real thing that was unprecedented about it was the amount of media frenzy over it. (Thank you Mr. Joe Liberman.) Maybe one could call the photographic elements of the game revolutionary, except it had been done before in other genres.
I'd like for you to clarify. The game was alright, lots and lots of people had fun with it, I just wonder where 'revolutionary' came from.
When my plane to Australia was landing, somebody (embarrasingly for me, it was an American) pointed towards the runway and said "Look! I think can see a bunch of kangaroos hoppin around!"
I participated in the mumbling over by my end of the plane about the 'ignorant American'.
"For those and other reasons, Worms will never be such a huge problem for Linux as they are now for Windows. "
Until worms start causing wide spread data damage, they aren't the biggest blip on the decision maker's radar. Worms don't spread very well when they kill their hosts.
"as opposed to a highly-technical Linux-biased article from OSDN, for example, which do you think the boss is going to go with? Microsoft simply has better marketing than many Linux companies, which is why they will continue to dominate the industry, unless Linux kicks up its advertising campaign and targets the big guys."
This is very much true. Just remember that marketing for Linux (or at least good/effective marketing from Linux will make the Windows users shout "FUD FUD FUD". You can make your BSOD references, but don't be surprised when everybody tells you that they're very uncommon in 2k/XP. Just an example. It's good for the PHBs tho.
"I don't think people want a small video playing device."
I think it's funny how when Microsoft cooks one up, everybody's out to prove why this thing will never be interesting. But man, when rumors of a video iPod start floating around, and there's a universal change of shorts.
Face it, this has more to do with popular opinion than with being truely turned off by a product like this.
"I'm still waiting to actually see the evidence that SCO claims is in the Linux source code. They showed us one example, and if I recall it was mostly comments! "
They're not going to show it to you. Once it's known where the infringement is, the OSS community will remove the offending code, and SCO won't be able to sue for liceses from anybody.
" For this kind of price I think most people would buy a palm PC instead, which although with a lot smaller storage they are cheaper and can do more."
Why would you assume that somebody who'd be on the market video player would be satisfied by a PocketPC or Palm? Doing 'more' is not automatically 'more interesting'.
"'stop dodging the issue' of game violence and 'start talking realistically about degrees of harm, freedoms, and responsibility'."
Prove to me there is an issue. So far, all I've seen is a handful of stupid acts blamed on GTA, not a shred of legitimacy to them. On top of that, GTA sold well into the millions. So many people playing this game...
Innocent until proven guilty. The burden of proof is on the accusers. I'm not going to stand up and agree with you just because you say I should. Compel me.
"Environment affects behavior. If you provide no balance to the violence of video games, the outcome can only be violent behavior. "
I don't understand how you connect A to B here. You said 'affects', not 'controls'. So how can the outcome 'only be violent behaviour'?
Maybe if games were more than button presses and mouse clicks, I could see your view. Maybe if you actually had to swing a chainsaw. Maybe if you actually had to act violent to play these games, I could see the concern. But until geeks everywhere start taking out bullies across the nation, we can safely say that the effect video games have on people is minimal.
" Having said that I think it's probably healthier for kids to go and play outside than to sit in front of a screen and play violent/sexually oriented games all day. "
"yeah a pop-up blocker would be cool, and the firewall probably isn't a bad idea. "
I don't have my Pitchfork Handbook on me here, but isn't Microsoft guilty of being evil every time they add a bit of software that other companies are producing?
" There is nothing wrong with this. I'm not saying I condone this guy's right to make a high-traffic pr0n portal, but I would say the fault lies with Ubisoft."
The guy who said "oo a game is blasting this URL, I'm going to immorally take advantage of it" is the guy at fault. Ubisoft could maybe have just registerred the domain, but they are not responsible for his actions. Lesson learned I guess.
The problem with popups isn't the window it opens, but rather it opening without expressed permission. Use Opera or Mozilla and popups are no longer a complaint. Why filter at the ISP level? There are some sites that use them legitimately. (Not auto popups, but opening of popup windows via click.)
"I don't have a job either.. oh, all the fast food places told me i didn't have the experiance. "
What? My first job was at McDonald's, and I started working the day I turned 16. (The legal age to work.) What experience did they expect of you that you failed to demonstrate? Did you write "OK" on the "don't write below this line" part of the form?
Slashdot Mirror
" I remember how revolutionary mortal kombat was."
What was revolutionary about Mortal Kombat? The only real thing that was unprecedented about it was the amount of media frenzy over it. (Thank you Mr. Joe Liberman.) Maybe one could call the photographic elements of the game revolutionary, except it had been done before in other genres.
I'd like for you to clarify. The game was alright, lots and lots of people had fun with it, I just wonder where 'revolutionary' came from.
They don't hop around all over the place. You pretty much have to go to a zoo to see one. Same for Dingos and Koalas.
"You mean it gets funnier with age? "
Heh.
When my plane to Australia was landing, somebody (embarrasingly for me, it was an American) pointed towards the runway and said "Look! I think can see a bunch of kangaroos hoppin around!"
I participated in the mumbling over by my end of the plane about the 'ignorant American'.
You should consider understanding what I said. Perhaps a re-read is in order?
"Brazil? I hear the monkey problem is even worse than before."
If you've ever been to Brazil, that's about as funny as a Windows/Mac user making jokes about Linux's lack of USB support.
It's like a gargoyle. Damn martians keep messing with the equipment.
"For those and other reasons, Worms will never be such a huge problem for Linux as they are now for Windows. "
Until worms start causing wide spread data damage, they aren't the biggest blip on the decision maker's radar. Worms don't spread very well when they kill their hosts.
They didn't start out at that price. You think the Media Center thingy is going to stay at that price range forever?
"as opposed to a highly-technical Linux-biased article from OSDN, for example, which do you think the boss is going to go with? Microsoft simply has better marketing than many Linux companies, which is why they will continue to dominate the industry, unless Linux kicks up its advertising campaign and targets the big guys."
This is very much true. Just remember that marketing for Linux (or at least good/effective marketing from Linux will make the Windows users shout "FUD FUD FUD". You can make your BSOD references, but don't be surprised when everybody tells you that they're very uncommon in 2k/XP. Just an example. It's good for the PHBs tho.
"I don't think people want a small video playing device."
I think it's funny how when Microsoft cooks one up, everybody's out to prove why this thing will never be interesting. But man, when rumors of a video iPod start floating around, and there's a universal change of shorts.
Face it, this has more to do with popular opinion than with being truely turned off by a product like this.
"I'm still waiting to actually see the evidence that SCO claims is in the Linux source code. They showed us one example, and if I recall it was mostly comments! "
They're not going to show it to you. Once it's known where the infringement is, the OSS community will remove the offending code, and SCO won't be able to sue for liceses from anybody.
" For this kind of price I think most people would buy a palm PC instead, which although with a lot smaller storage they are cheaper and can do more."
Why would you assume that somebody who'd be on the market video player would be satisfied by a PocketPC or Palm? Doing 'more' is not automatically 'more interesting'.
"Nobody is going to walk around with a movie player. Why would they? Can you ride a bike, jog, work out, watching a movie? - urrr no. End of product."
I might be inclined to agree with you if not for the portable DVD players doing well on the market.
"It costs 300 dollars more."
And it plays video.
"And it runs Windows CEment."
So?
"'stop dodging the issue' of game violence and 'start talking realistically about degrees of harm, freedoms, and responsibility'."
Prove to me there is an issue. So far, all I've seen is a handful of stupid acts blamed on GTA, not a shred of legitimacy to them. On top of that, GTA sold well into the millions. So many people playing this game...
Innocent until proven guilty. The burden of proof is on the accusers. I'm not going to stand up and agree with you just because you say I should. Compel me.
"Environment affects behavior. If you provide no balance to the violence of video games, the outcome can only be violent behavior. "
I don't understand how you connect A to B here. You said 'affects', not 'controls'. So how can the outcome 'only be violent behaviour'?
Maybe if games were more than button presses and mouse clicks, I could see your view. Maybe if you actually had to swing a chainsaw. Maybe if you actually had to act violent to play these games, I could see the concern. But until geeks everywhere start taking out bullies across the nation, we can safely say that the effect video games have on people is minimal.
" Having said that I think it's probably healthier for kids to go and play outside than to sit in front of a screen and play violent/sexually oriented games all day. "
Be a good parent and encourage this in your kids.
"'power users', 'Windows'... in the same sentance.. what are you smoking? :P"
It's nice to be able to use an OS without needing to be a power user.
"yeah a pop-up blocker would be cool, and the firewall probably isn't a bad idea. "
I don't have my Pitchfork Handbook on me here, but isn't Microsoft guilty of being evil every time they add a bit of software that other companies are producing?
"You can download the service pack here"
:(
Stupid beta software! Vice City won't run anymore.
"I'd tolerate all the exploits if this thing would make me toast and coffee in the morning.. meh."
Then you'd bitch that Microsoft kept the coffee blend secret.
" There is nothing wrong with this. I'm not saying I condone this guy's right to make a high-traffic pr0n portal, but I would say the fault lies with Ubisoft."
The guy who said "oo a game is blasting this URL, I'm going to immorally take advantage of it" is the guy at fault. Ubisoft could maybe have just registerred the domain, but they are not responsible for his actions. Lesson learned I guess.
The problem with popups isn't the window it opens, but rather it opening without expressed permission. Use Opera or Mozilla and popups are no longer a complaint. Why filter at the ISP level? There are some sites that use them legitimately. (Not auto popups, but opening of popup windows via click.)
"Sorry you need to update your version of Microsoft Office to 2003sp3 in order to report a child missing."
Careful about firing shots like that. Open Source has it's downsides too. You don't want anybody scoring a +3 funny on ya.
"I don't have a job either.. oh, all the fast food places told me i didn't have the experiance. "
What? My first job was at McDonald's, and I started working the day I turned 16. (The legal age to work.) What experience did they expect of you that you failed to demonstrate? Did you write "OK" on the "don't write below this line" part of the form?