I took a gamble that you were the AC that replied to me.
"This statement is demonstratively false."
Don't get me wrong, I see what you're saying, but I still don't understand the uppity'ness of the a version without a hard drive when it's detachable. Given that it's detachable AND HD's can fail, it's a reasonable assumption that the machine is being developed so that it can operate without the HD. I'll say again: MS never promised a $299 machine with the 20 gig drive.
"And why are you insulting Microsoft bashers when you continue to use the ridiculously cliched "M$" moniker?"
Every time I point out that people are waving their pitchforks at MS for the wrong reason, there's some git that tries to say "well you're an MS fan boy." I'm not. I don't care about the XBOX. I was hoping that saying M$ would draw some attention to the fact that I don't think highly of that company. In other words, I was trying to cut that little argument off at the head. I guess I just can't win.
Detachable implies it can run without it. Gee, whiz, they're selling it cheaper so you can choose which size you want later. Those bastards!
"A wireless controller with Microsoft-patented wireless technology."
This cracks me up. The HD is understandable. But the wirless controller? It's a controller... without wires. That's the big feature of it. This will have 0 effect on the games. I mentioned the HD was understandable. Fuziness over whether or not most users will have an HD will undoubtedly have consequences with the decisions the game developers make. But the wirless controller? Gee whiz, get a grip.
Microsoft is still selling this stuff, it's just not as cheap as you imagined it'd be. That's not MS's fault. They tried to give you a choice in the matter and bitch bitch bitch. Frankly, if I were at all interested in the XBOX 360, I'd be ecstatic. I will not pay $400 for a system. I don't care about wireless controllers and the hard-drive is an expensive gimmick. I'd be happy they trimmed the fat to provide a cheaper system, not shaking my pitchforks in anger. Then again, I don't go out of my way to attract karma by bashing M$.
"Microsoft basically lied to us all about what we were getting for our money and you're sticking up for them?"
Before I answer anything else I want to be really clear: I am not sticking up for Microsoft. My issue with the other post wasn't that MS was being dissed, it's that what he said was incorrect. Sorry, but I'm not participating in a tarring and feathering for the wrong reasons.
As for the rest of your comment:
"The fact that we (fans) have been bragging for the past few months about the $300 price tag and the god damn hard drive and wireless controllers is enough to make me pissed off over the fact that I now have to pay $400 for all of that and it's STILL not the complete package that they've been hyping this entire time."
Your problem is not with Microsoft, it's with the fans. MS never ever EVER said it would be $299 with a hard drive.
" They STILL want to release updates for the fucking thing over the next few years."
So? If you were prepared to buy it before they said they were considering making an HD-DVD version, why are you suddenly allergic to it now? Oh no, you won't be able to play HD DVDs, whoop-de-fuck. If HD-DVD support is what is really tickling your fancy, why would you care in the slightest what's going on in the XBOX camp? Microsoft was very clear that the XBOX 360 at launch was going to use DVD-9. This has been clear and acceptable for months.
"Which means even more money if we want those features even tho they'll never get used by fucking developers because there is no reason to program for a feature that nobody has."
Err okay. Seems like your problem here is self solving. The features will be worthless, therefore it's not an issue that a more expensive version with these features will appear later. Again, I don't understand your attitude here. The specs for the XBOX 360 haven't gone down since it was originally announced back at E3. It was cool back then, but now it's not?
"...means that the hard drive won't be taken advantage of much."
Like the original XBOX. Whoop-de-fuck. Alternatively, it's cheaper and has less to break. Meanwhile, the XBOX 360 has standard USB ports that can be used to talk to memory sticks etc. Don't remember that little article about using the XBOX with an iPod? The developers know that the XBOX may have access to several megabytes of non volatile storage. They can work with it.
"They're basically shooting them selves in the foot."
They made an affordable verison of the system. Oh those bastards.
I think I read somewhere that the XBOX 360 has a USB port and that games can be saved to those USB flash drives. I cannot tell you that is precisely true, but if it is, then it potentially means not having to buy a memory card at launch. Boy, imagine if Microsoft followed a standard for once. Imagine if MS actually followed a standard AND Slashdot actually posted a pat-MS-on-the-back story about it. Heh.
"I'm more than willing to accept your crisisism of my post, but I'm sorry, I'm not a Microsoft basher. I'm actually one of those people that thinks Windows isn't a bad OS, and uses a number of MS programs on a daily basis."
I apologize for my err'd assumption. Unfortunately, every XBOX 360 thread lately has been a pitchfork party over how badly it'll fail supported by really dumb rationalizations. It wasn't cool of me to lump you into that.
"I do think it's a mistake to sell the 360 without a HD. How is little Johnny going to save his game?"
Yeah this problem has existed since the original Playstation. The Saturn and the 3DO had the right idea: Internal memory. I also think selling it without the HD will make it even less useful. But given that the original XBOX barely used the HD, I'm not exactly crying over it.
"And if I recall correctly, NES, SNES and Genesis all shipped with 2 controllers in the basic system."
No, they didn't. The 'core' system was simply the system, power supply, RF adapter, and a controller. As for no-pack in game, this has been a standard gotcha for years. It may be a misstep, but Sony is going to make the same misstep. I'd normally say Nintendo would make that mistake, too, but they're offering the download service for their classic games. So... Heh. Personally, if I were interested in getting an XBOX 360, I'd MUCH rather have the $299 version. I don't care about the wireless controller. I don't care about the headset. I don't care about hard drive. I don't care about it being a media machine. Etc. I do care about saving $100. Frankly, I find the $299 price too high to begin with. Niether Sony nor MS are getting my business at their launches. I'm not shelling out that much money for the most fragile version of their systems while the selection of games it at it's worst.
"Confusing consumers with multiple hardwares hasn't worked well for other companies in the past. Especially since the $299 360 is basically a doorstop. And if you say want a second controller and a game, you the functional version is gonna cost you $500 easy, on the first day."
Oh geez, this is getting irritating. Folks, I know we all hate Microsoft and all and we hope and hope and hope they fail, but it really is causing people to spew some strange comments.
Sega screwed up by offering multiple bits of HARDWARE, like the Saturn and the 32X, not by offering different packages at different prices. What Microsoft is doing is more akin to the strategies used by Sega and Nintendo both for the Genesis, SNES, and NES systems. Remember the 'Core' system that only came with one controller and a game? They also sold them with 2 controllers and a pack in game for more money. BTW, all three of those systems were quite successful.
Doorstop, yeah. No HD or a wireless controller is going to seriously inhibit gaming on that thing. Right.
Folks, I know it's fun to hate Microsoft and all, but aren't we scraping the bottom of the barrel for doom and gloom predictions?
"Troll? Mods need to lay off the crack. Microsoft is evil. They're a convicted monopolist, with a long history of fucking people over. I refuse to buy any product made by them or their subsidiaries, I don't give them money."
a.) Your post stinks like a two-bit karma whore.
b.) Your morals are kinda odd. You won't give money to MS because they're evil, but Sony checks out?
c.) It sounds like you've been waiting for somebody to ask that question so you could brag about how well you're not feeding Microsoft.
"This is standard Microsoft behavior though. Look at all their product releases. Look at the pre-release press. Announcing Vaporware and pumped up lists of features is a common practice for them, as a way to stifle or destroy the competition."
What XBOX 360 announcements were made before and then later pulled?
"The question is more like WHERE? Where in the world do you store all this tracking info."
You don't. You look it up when you need it. If there's somebody in particular you want to track, you track HIS data.
Frankly, I'm not terribly whoop-de-doo'd about the gov't being able to track me. Let them. Afterall, it's not like they can track my credit card transactions or anything.
"You made a lot of points, that I don't feel the need to reply to, partly because they don't apply to me and partly because this thread is pointless."
It's fun watching some of the debate strategies play out. "Oh I must save face! Maybe I can put him on the defensive by painting a cartoonesque caricature of him!" Heh. Nice try.:) Next time, try not being so transparent.
"I have a WinXP machine with Firefox set as the default browser - and I didn't see any such effect. I have friends who use Firefox on Win2k and no one has reported such a problem to me yet."
Seconded. I dumped IE years ago. Downloading SP2 didn't cause me to have to re-assign Opera as my default browser. I'd be the first one to bitch about this, I can't stand digging around for that feature.
"Google has no such blackmarks in their permanent record."
You guys aren't even looking for those blackmarks. Meanwhile, Microsoft accumulates the black marks basedly solely on "well that's probably what they're doing" sort of rationale.
" but those who distrust Google do so because they are paranoid and fear what MIGHT happen. VAST differences, my friend."
Vast differences in perception, yeah. You see, because it's assumed everything Microsoft does is an attempt to rule the world, every move they make can be spin-doctored into some new crazy Doctor Evil'ish scheme towards their conquest. Google is held in a much brighter light, so when they do something, it's rationalized quite favorably for them.
I don't hate Google, and I don't love Microsoft, but I think you are just kidding yourself. Sooner or later, Google's need for profit is going to cause them to make moves that we, who aren't in their position, to grimace at. The sad thing is, you'll still be rationalizing how good it is for them to be around until it's too late. Meanwhile, whenever Microsoft does something right, that'll be ignored in favor of this week's conspiracy exchange.
I think you need to take a more objective look at the world.
"Why can't everyone use one standard like MPEG? What is wrong with MPEG? It is perfect, anyone can play it, it does not require anything extra."
It requires extra bandwith. It is not perfect for mass delivery on the internet simply for that reason. Compress a 320 by 240 WMV at 150KB (not kb) a sec, and it'll run circles around MPEG.
"The bandwidth costs of a video site will NOT be offset by advertising revenue. I can't even believe that Flickr pays for itself through advertising."
I'm just going to be totally honest and say "I don't know". However, a theory pops into mind. They may simply be getting a good deal on bandwidth. My company is paying $120 for a terabyte of bandwidth a month. Past that, it's a dollar a gig. Assuming the company we're hosting through is making a profit (well... it's possible they're banking on the fact that not everybody will hit that limit...) it's fairly easy to imagine that they're getting bandwidth for a reasonable cost. In other words, their costs of operations may be smaller than we initially imagine.
Then consider that right now, it doesn't appear that they're hosting ads. That says to me that they're got funding to operate for a while. It's possible they're getting people hooked so they can work out their ad strategy. Now, there's an intersting thing this service provides that makes it ideal for advertising. If the videos that are submitted are decently categorized, they've got a good target audience right there. Something like Google ads, for example, could be well targeted right there. Get enough people coming and going, and a revenue stream is sure to trickle in. Start getting millions of hits, and it may just work out for the better.
So, to me, it's possible. The catch is they have to keep their company small. I wouldn't rule out, though, that this is a 'grab investors' game intended to play out along side Google's video service.
Worked fine in Opera 7. Given the other reports of "nope, it worked for me", I'd wonder if you've got another problem on your hands. System drive low on space maybe?
No, I'm not. Despite popular belief, not everybody thinks your dupe crusade is worth the time it takes to write the phrase "dupe crusade". I'm a regular reader. I'm a regular reader that's far more irritated by the complaints about dupes than I am about the dupes themselves. Why? Mostly because of the high and mighty attitude that comes along with pointing out a dupe. Not only do you dipshits point out the dupe with that "Oh, I'd do your job so much better than you would" arrogant attitude, but you fall over each other racing to point out it's a dupe! The most amusing thing about the whole thing, is that you idiots don't even practice what you preach!! You guys complaining about dupes don't bother reading through the other comments before posting your dupe complaint. This happens EVERY FUCKING TIME. There are far more complaints than dupes!!
"It shows that even if the paid editors can't be bothered to do the most rudimentary checks on a story, at least the audience is paying attention."
It shows that you guys are hypocrites, arrogant, and incredibly petty. "Oh look! There's a dupe! It's real easy to find dupes!" "Oh look! There's a dupe! It's real easy to find dupes! But pressing ctrl+F and looking for the word 'dupe' is far beyond my capacity. Really, I just like to bitch!" "DUPE!!! But I'm too lazy to even link to the duped article." "Dupe! Oops. After I hit enter, I just realized that the dude 3 comments up said dupe also. But I won't admit fault!" You guys aren't paying attention, either.
hmm. From what I've read, it's a little bit of both. Embarrasingly, I was hit by it. Bios was fine, hard drive wasn't. However, a quick little Google search says the Bios was hit, too.
"What we need to happen is have something like blaster come along, that spreads for three days and THEN formats the hard drive."
It's already come and gone. It was called the Chernobyl virus. It was a subtle little app that would attach itself to.. oh.. EVERYTHING. Then, on the anniversary of Chernobyl, it'd blow away your fat table, effectively and instantaneously killing your computer. Kinda neat, though frustrating. It nuked an impressive number of computers.
Frankly, this didn't work for a simple reason: Shit happens, life goes on. Computer dies? No prob, put it back together and start again. Make backups. It doesn't take a virus for this to happen. Dead hard drive, lightning strike, idiot using your computer, whatever.
I think it's hard for a Slashdotters to understand that to a LOT of people, computers aren't a prized possession that must be preserved at all costs.
Slashdot Mirror
Oh wow, that was some amazing dumb-assedness on my part. Sorry.
I used to go to the Inquirer and the Register every day. Can you tell I got them confused? Then I didn't RTFA so I didn't catch the "Sydney" bit...
Okay, I'm a tard, that's well documented now. You may all point at me and laugh now.
That isn't the first time the Register has had some fun with wording.
"Imagine poor Mr. Data. With an "Intel Inside" decal stuck on his forehead."
Imagine poor Mr. Data's hot-headed brother Lore running AMD...
"Who said I was mad at Microsoft?"
I took a gamble that you were the AC that replied to me.
"This statement is demonstratively false."
Don't get me wrong, I see what you're saying, but I still don't understand the uppity'ness of the a version without a hard drive when it's detachable. Given that it's detachable AND HD's can fail, it's a reasonable assumption that the machine is being developed so that it can operate without the HD. I'll say again: MS never promised a $299 machine with the 20 gig drive.
"And why are you insulting Microsoft bashers when you continue to use the ridiculously cliched "M$" moniker?"
Every time I point out that people are waving their pitchforks at MS for the wrong reason, there's some git that tries to say "well you're an MS fan boy." I'm not. I don't care about the XBOX. I was hoping that saying M$ would draw some attention to the fact that I don't think highly of that company. In other words, I was trying to cut that little argument off at the head. I guess I just can't win.
You're reaching pretty hard to be mad at M$.
"Detachable and expandable 20GB hard drive..."
Detachable implies it can run without it. Gee, whiz, they're selling it cheaper so you can choose which size you want later. Those bastards!
"A wireless controller with Microsoft-patented wireless technology."
This cracks me up. The HD is understandable. But the wirless controller? It's a controller... without wires. That's the big feature of it. This will have 0 effect on the games. I mentioned the HD was understandable. Fuziness over whether or not most users will have an HD will undoubtedly have consequences with the decisions the game developers make. But the wirless controller? Gee whiz, get a grip.
Microsoft is still selling this stuff, it's just not as cheap as you imagined it'd be. That's not MS's fault. They tried to give you a choice in the matter and bitch bitch bitch. Frankly, if I were at all interested in the XBOX 360, I'd be ecstatic. I will not pay $400 for a system. I don't care about wireless controllers and the hard-drive is an expensive gimmick. I'd be happy they trimmed the fat to provide a cheaper system, not shaking my pitchforks in anger. Then again, I don't go out of my way to attract karma by bashing M$.
"goaste.cx? is that why im blind?"
You might get hairy palms, but, no you won't go blind.
"Microsoft basically lied to us all about what we were getting for our money and you're sticking up for them?"
Before I answer anything else I want to be really clear: I am not sticking up for Microsoft. My issue with the other post wasn't that MS was being dissed, it's that what he said was incorrect. Sorry, but I'm not participating in a tarring and feathering for the wrong reasons.
As for the rest of your comment:
"The fact that we (fans) have been bragging for the past few months about the $300 price tag and the god damn hard drive and wireless controllers is enough to make me pissed off over the fact that I now have to pay $400 for all of that and it's STILL not the complete package that they've been hyping this entire time."
Your problem is not with Microsoft, it's with the fans. MS never ever EVER said it would be $299 with a hard drive.
" They STILL want to release updates for the fucking thing over the next few years."
So? If you were prepared to buy it before they said they were considering making an HD-DVD version, why are you suddenly allergic to it now? Oh no, you won't be able to play HD DVDs, whoop-de-fuck. If HD-DVD support is what is really tickling your fancy, why would you care in the slightest what's going on in the XBOX camp? Microsoft was very clear that the XBOX 360 at launch was going to use DVD-9. This has been clear and acceptable for months.
"Which means even more money if we want those features even tho they'll never get used by fucking developers because there is no reason to program for a feature that nobody has."
Err okay. Seems like your problem here is self solving. The features will be worthless, therefore it's not an issue that a more expensive version with these features will appear later. Again, I don't understand your attitude here. The specs for the XBOX 360 haven't gone down since it was originally announced back at E3. It was cool back then, but now it's not?
"...means that the hard drive won't be taken advantage of much."
Like the original XBOX. Whoop-de-fuck. Alternatively, it's cheaper and has less to break. Meanwhile, the XBOX 360 has standard USB ports that can be used to talk to memory sticks etc. Don't remember that little article about using the XBOX with an iPod? The developers know that the XBOX may have access to several megabytes of non volatile storage. They can work with it.
"They're basically shooting them selves in the foot."
They made an affordable verison of the system. Oh those bastards.
I think I read somewhere that the XBOX 360 has a USB port and that games can be saved to those USB flash drives. I cannot tell you that is precisely true, but if it is, then it potentially means not having to buy a memory card at launch. Boy, imagine if Microsoft followed a standard for once. Imagine if MS actually followed a standard AND Slashdot actually posted a pat-MS-on-the-back story about it. Heh.
"I'm more than willing to accept your crisisism of my post, but I'm sorry, I'm not a Microsoft basher. I'm actually one of those people that thinks Windows isn't a bad OS, and uses a number of MS programs on a daily basis."
I apologize for my err'd assumption. Unfortunately, every XBOX 360 thread lately has been a pitchfork party over how badly it'll fail supported by really dumb rationalizations. It wasn't cool of me to lump you into that.
"I do think it's a mistake to sell the 360 without a HD. How is little Johnny going to save his game?"
Yeah this problem has existed since the original Playstation. The Saturn and the 3DO had the right idea: Internal memory. I also think selling it without the HD will make it even less useful. But given that the original XBOX barely used the HD, I'm not exactly crying over it.
"And if I recall correctly, NES, SNES and Genesis all shipped with 2 controllers in the basic system."
No, they didn't. The 'core' system was simply the system, power supply, RF adapter, and a controller. As for no-pack in game, this has been a standard gotcha for years. It may be a misstep, but Sony is going to make the same misstep. I'd normally say Nintendo would make that mistake, too, but they're offering the download service for their classic games. So... Heh. Personally, if I were interested in getting an XBOX 360, I'd MUCH rather have the $299 version. I don't care about the wireless controller. I don't care about the headset. I don't care about hard drive. I don't care about it being a media machine. Etc. I do care about saving $100. Frankly, I find the $299 price too high to begin with. Niether Sony nor MS are getting my business at their launches. I'm not shelling out that much money for the most fragile version of their systems while the selection of games it at it's worst.
"Confusing consumers with multiple hardwares hasn't worked well for other companies in the past. Especially since the $299 360 is basically a doorstop. And if you say want a second controller and a game, you the functional version is gonna cost you $500 easy, on the first day."
Oh geez, this is getting irritating. Folks, I know we all hate Microsoft and all and we hope and hope and hope they fail, but it really is causing people to spew some strange comments.
Sega screwed up by offering multiple bits of HARDWARE, like the Saturn and the 32X, not by offering different packages at different prices. What Microsoft is doing is more akin to the strategies used by Sega and Nintendo both for the Genesis, SNES, and NES systems. Remember the 'Core' system that only came with one controller and a game? They also sold them with 2 controllers and a pack in game for more money. BTW, all three of those systems were quite successful.
Doorstop, yeah. No HD or a wireless controller is going to seriously inhibit gaming on that thing. Right.
Folks, I know it's fun to hate Microsoft and all, but aren't we scraping the bottom of the barrel for doom and gloom predictions?
"Troll? Mods need to lay off the crack. Microsoft is evil. They're a convicted monopolist, with a long history of fucking people over. I refuse to buy any product made by them or their subsidiaries, I don't give them money."
a.) Your post stinks like a two-bit karma whore.
b.) Your morals are kinda odd. You won't give money to MS because they're evil, but Sony checks out?
c.) It sounds like you've been waiting for somebody to ask that question so you could brag about how well you're not feeding Microsoft.
"This is standard Microsoft behavior though. Look at all their product releases. Look at the pre-release press. Announcing Vaporware and pumped up lists of features is a common practice for them, as a way to stifle or destroy the competition."
What XBOX 360 announcements were made before and then later pulled?
"The question is more like WHERE? Where in the world do you store all this tracking info."
You don't. You look it up when you need it. If there's somebody in particular you want to track, you track HIS data.
Frankly, I'm not terribly whoop-de-doo'd about the gov't being able to track me. Let them. Afterall, it's not like they can track my credit card transactions or anything.
"You made a lot of points, that I don't feel the need to reply to, partly because they don't apply to me and partly because this thread is pointless."
:) Next time, try not being so transparent.
It's fun watching some of the debate strategies play out. "Oh I must save face! Maybe I can put him on the defensive by painting a cartoonesque caricature of him!" Heh. Nice try.
"And perhaps lay off the caffeine for a while. A silly website like this is not worth getting worked up about."
Translation: "Oops, he made a point and I don't have a rebuttal."
"I have a WinXP machine with Firefox set as the default browser - and I didn't see any such effect. I have friends who use Firefox on Win2k and no one has reported such a problem to me yet."
Seconded. I dumped IE years ago. Downloading SP2 didn't cause me to have to re-assign Opera as my default browser. I'd be the first one to bitch about this, I can't stand digging around for that feature.
"Google has no such blackmarks in their permanent record."
You guys aren't even looking for those blackmarks. Meanwhile, Microsoft accumulates the black marks basedly solely on "well that's probably what they're doing" sort of rationale.
" but those who distrust Google do so because they are paranoid and fear what MIGHT happen. VAST differences, my friend."
Vast differences in perception, yeah. You see, because it's assumed everything Microsoft does is an attempt to rule the world, every move they make can be spin-doctored into some new crazy Doctor Evil'ish scheme towards their conquest. Google is held in a much brighter light, so when they do something, it's rationalized quite favorably for them.
I don't hate Google, and I don't love Microsoft, but I think you are just kidding yourself. Sooner or later, Google's need for profit is going to cause them to make moves that we, who aren't in their position, to grimace at. The sad thing is, you'll still be rationalizing how good it is for them to be around until it's too late. Meanwhile, whenever Microsoft does something right, that'll be ignored in favor of this week's conspiracy exchange.
I think you need to take a more objective look at the world.
"Licking and blowing? thats the only way i can get my girlfriend to work "
Well that and the puncture repair kit.
"Why can't everyone use one standard like MPEG? What is wrong with MPEG? It is perfect, anyone can play it, it does not require anything extra."
It requires extra bandwith. It is not perfect for mass delivery on the internet simply for that reason. Compress a 320 by 240 WMV at 150KB (not kb) a sec, and it'll run circles around MPEG.
"The bandwidth costs of a video site will NOT be offset by advertising revenue. I can't even believe that Flickr pays for itself through advertising."
I'm just going to be totally honest and say "I don't know". However, a theory pops into mind. They may simply be getting a good deal on bandwidth. My company is paying $120 for a terabyte of bandwidth a month. Past that, it's a dollar a gig. Assuming the company we're hosting through is making a profit (well... it's possible they're banking on the fact that not everybody will hit that limit...) it's fairly easy to imagine that they're getting bandwidth for a reasonable cost. In other words, their costs of operations may be smaller than we initially imagine.
Then consider that right now, it doesn't appear that they're hosting ads. That says to me that they're got funding to operate for a while. It's possible they're getting people hooked so they can work out their ad strategy. Now, there's an intersting thing this service provides that makes it ideal for advertising. If the videos that are submitted are decently categorized, they've got a good target audience right there. Something like Google ads, for example, could be well targeted right there. Get enough people coming and going, and a revenue stream is sure to trickle in. Start getting millions of hits, and it may just work out for the better.
So, to me, it's possible. The catch is they have to keep their company small. I wouldn't rule out, though, that this is a 'grab investors' game intended to play out along side Google's video service.
Worked fine in Opera 7. Given the other reports of "nope, it worked for me", I'd wonder if you've got another problem on your hands. System drive low on space maybe?
"Taco? Is that you?"
No, I'm not. Despite popular belief, not everybody thinks your dupe crusade is worth the time it takes to write the phrase "dupe crusade". I'm a regular reader. I'm a regular reader that's far more irritated by the complaints about dupes than I am about the dupes themselves. Why? Mostly because of the high and mighty attitude that comes along with pointing out a dupe. Not only do you dipshits point out the dupe with that "Oh, I'd do your job so much better than you would" arrogant attitude, but you fall over each other racing to point out it's a dupe! The most amusing thing about the whole thing, is that you idiots don't even practice what you preach!! You guys complaining about dupes don't bother reading through the other comments before posting your dupe complaint. This happens EVERY FUCKING TIME. There are far more complaints than dupes!!
"It shows that even if the paid editors can't be bothered to do the most rudimentary checks on a story, at least the audience is paying attention."
It shows that you guys are hypocrites, arrogant, and incredibly petty. "Oh look! There's a dupe! It's real easy to find dupes!" "Oh look! There's a dupe! It's real easy to find dupes! But pressing ctrl+F and looking for the word 'dupe' is far beyond my capacity. Really, I just like to bitch!" "DUPE!!! But I'm too lazy to even link to the duped article." "Dupe! Oops. After I hit enter, I just realized that the dude 3 comments up said dupe also. But I won't admit fault!" You guys aren't paying attention, either.
Spare me the righteousness.
Why do I have the feeling that before too much longer, 'nano' will be the next big buzzword? Buy the new 'NanoPod Video Player!'
Okay, sorry, I have nothing interesting to say about this article. Just remembering the good ol' days when every new exciting tech began with an E.
hmm. From what I've read, it's a little bit of both. Embarrasingly, I was hit by it. Bios was fine, hard drive wasn't. However, a quick little Google search says the Bios was hit, too.
Hooray, we're both right.
"What we need to happen is have something like blaster come along, that spreads for three days and THEN formats the hard drive."
It's already come and gone. It was called the Chernobyl virus. It was a subtle little app that would attach itself to.. oh.. EVERYTHING. Then, on the anniversary of Chernobyl, it'd blow away your fat table, effectively and instantaneously killing your computer. Kinda neat, though frustrating. It nuked an impressive number of computers.
Frankly, this didn't work for a simple reason: Shit happens, life goes on. Computer dies? No prob, put it back together and start again. Make backups. It doesn't take a virus for this to happen. Dead hard drive, lightning strike, idiot using your computer, whatever.
I think it's hard for a Slashdotters to understand that to a LOT of people, computers aren't a prized possession that must be preserved at all costs.