You don't have to have an internet connection to play games that are already fully downloaded. You can play in "off-line mode", they added that 6months ago or so, if I remember right.
I've been with the program since the very early private betas, and I've only had it crash 3 or 4 times, tops (in the beginning) -- it's now pretty much rock solid.
I don't understand where this subscription thinking comes from-- they want to be able to sell you a game (for a one time fee) and they want you to be able to login to any computer with Steam installed (and broadband internet) and play the games you've purchased.
Never have they said it would be a subscription service.
..about Source is that it keeps the same gameplay, including guns and maps, of the original CounterStrike and simply brings CounterStrike (which uses the original Half Life engine) up to date graphically.
This isn't correct. They ported a large chunk of the code/behaviors over, and imported the old models/maps, but they've done a significant amount of work to get them to look good in Source. This is hardly just "updating the engine." I'd even suspect that they can make CS look even better, seeing as it's a side project right now (and HL2 is the priority.)
Why do you do it? Do you think that servers and bandwidth pay for themselves? How do you expect sites to put up impartial (read: not sponsored) content without some way for the site owners to make enough money to pay the bills?
If a site doesn't want to deal with people hitting their site (read: using bandwidth) then perhaps they should make their pages private, subscription only, or maybe not be on the web at all?
There are plenty of sites out there that don't stoop to that sort of advertisement level. I can handle a small and simple graphic ad, but non of this intrusive or flashy crap (whoever came up with the idea of full-screen overlaid flash ads needs to be shot in the fact.)
These will be much more difficult to block, but ultimately, unless you WANT a subscription based Internet, what is a webmaster of a large site supposed to do? Take out another job or extra mortgage to pay his or her $1000 a month server bills?
Again, what are these people running servers for (especially web servers) if they are not prepared for the costs involved, or the visitors/bandwidth involved to their site?
The time zone map met a similar fate. The Indian government threatened to ban all Microsoft software from the country because we assigned a disputed region to Pakistan in the time zone map. (Any map that depicts an unfavorable border must bear a government stamp warning the end-user that the borders are incorrect. You can't stamp software.) We had to make a special version of Windows 95 for them.
sales representative inquire if the game is actually for the children and that it might not be suitable.
They train the employees at GameStop to do this very thing. Whether or not they remember to ask is another matter..
When I was in a GameStop last week to buy Doom3, a mom and son had come in, and he instantly ran over and picked up Grand Theft Auto: VC for XBox, asking his mom to buy it. She didn't even look at the box (like you said) and took it to the counter to pay. The GameStop employee told her that the game was rated "M" which meant it was rated mature, and that children probably shouldn't play it. He actually described what was in the game, too.. cussing, sexual things, violence, killings, and told her to review the back of the box. She got disgusted and told her son to put it back, and that they were leaving.
Uhm, we already do this. The ESRB can rate your game, and even though it's voluntary, 99% of the games out there now have an ESRB rating, usually on the very front or the back of the box. It's high-contrast black and white, so it's kind of hard to miss. It's also required to be a certain size on the box.
Not to mention the fact that all the ESRB ratings information has been available ever since the system was developed, on their websites, and in pamphlets you can send away for.
This is just one of those "feel good" laws-- they don't actually change anything, because the problem never existed in the first place.
I have about 20 games that I'm always swapping between and playing (don't ask), stuff like C&C Red Alert 2, C&C Generals, Max Payne2, Doom3, etc.. and I use Alcohol 120% to handle it all. And to this day I have never had a CD complain about Alcohol 120% being installed. I know some others haven't been as lucky. I have not played any games with this new StarForce protection (I was considering buying Prince of Persia, but forget it now) so I don't know what it will do exactly in regards to Alcohol 120% -- but if it does cause problems, you can be sure the usual channels (gamecopyworld.com, etc.) will be right there with no CD patches, and people will use them, even on their legit copies. Because game companies don't get it.
I won't even get into how SafeDisc/etc. slows down game performance, that's semi common knowledge by now.
Still a problem, because then you need always on internet access, which is a pain for some. So my cable is out - I'm not allowed to play games?
A lot of people freaked out about this on Steam; but there is actually an "offline" mode now that lets you play without being connected to the internet. I believe it caches a copy of your credentials/keys upon log-off.
Even if I bought two copies of CZ, to use them "correctly" together I'd have to sign up for TWO steam accounts. That's just annoying.
I don't get it? Two copies of CZ would have two seperate CD keys, hence the need for more than one Steam account. It's just an e-mail address, anyhow. They're a dime a dozen nowadays.
The only really nice benefit
How about the benefit of being able to go to any broadband-connected PC running Windows, enter your e-mail address/password, and have access to all of your purchased games? I think that's pretty sweet.
It also doesn't affect the 50% of Windows users that will never download the update and will continue to be hammered by viruses and worms.
I can totally see how this is Microsoft's fault.
Oh wait, it's not. It's the idiot end-user.
I'm glad SP2 is finally treating people like morons, because that's what 99% of the computer-owning world is. No one wants to take the time to learn how to use or maintain their computer properly. They want it to work like a toaster or a vacuum -- plug it in and go. It's not that simple, guys and gals.
Re:Isn't that the ideal of OpenBSD
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You (and the parent poster) are forgetting Windows File Protection, which prevents users or applications from deleting system-required files on XP/2003.
I've had similiar repair cases. This machine was totally thrashed, hardcore, to the point where it would take 10 minutes to boot into the Windows XP desktop. I went to uninstall Gator, and she (the customer) freaked. She told me she paid for it, and it blocks pop ups for her and saves her passwords, credit card info, etc. so she doesn't have to re-enter it all the time.
I installed SP2 and then it made me re-activate both Windows and Office 2003.
We've deployed it on approximately 100 machines here in the office, and haven't had any activation issues of any kind, with Visual Studio, Office, or Windows XP itself. I also fail to see how a service pack would force a re-activation.
spoke to numerous tech support and activation department employees before they gave me a new product key which could be re-activated. I felt like I was getting interrogated as to why I was re-activating the software
You've apparently never actually had to re-activate windows or office. The very first thing you can do is use the internet to re-activate. 90% of the time this works right off the bat. The second thing you can do is call their 1-800 number, and be connected to an automated phone system. You say/speak the code into your phone, and the system reads back an auth code. Bam, done. If for some reason the phone system cannot understand you, it transfers you to a Real Live Person (tm) who asks for your code, and gives you back an auth code. No interrogation. No questions at all, even.
I'll be glad when end users pull their head out of their ass and start getting educated about the very complex piece of hardware and software they sit in front of while being connected to a world-wide network.
Slashdot Mirror
Uhm.. there's at least two or three "live" channels on XM.. BBC Live comes to mind. :)
In fact, there are rumors of a new XM device which has a 30 minute timeshift window/buffer built into it.
# FarCry Demo fails to install
# Unreal2 won't run
Both working fine here..
# Norton Antivirus status is not detected by Security Center
Norton's problem, they've said repeatedly they're working on a patch.
# AVG Antivirus is not detected by Security Center
This should be working. It's works for a lot of other people correctly.
Windows crashes on startup if any non-MS OS is doing a SMB network scan while it is starting up
Huh? Did you pull this one out of the air? We haven't had a problem with this on our network here (300+ PCs, 10+ Macs)
Security Center considers having Automatic Updates set to "Ask Before Installing" a security risk
And I agree that it should. Users are totally retarded, and should be treated like a child.
I wish they'd update that primer for what happened in season four.. there's quite a bit :)
Also, the primer doesn't explain Jool at all. Tsk. Tsk.
Hey guys, link to Geocities. That's a great idea.
You don't have to have an internet connection to play games that are already fully downloaded. You can play in "off-line mode", they added that 6months ago or so, if I remember right.
I've been with the program since the very early private betas, and I've only had it crash 3 or 4 times, tops (in the beginning) -- it's now pretty much rock solid.
I don't understand where this subscription thinking comes from-- they want to be able to sell you a game (for a one time fee) and they want you to be able to login to any computer with Steam installed (and broadband internet) and play the games you've purchased.
Never have they said it would be a subscription service.
..about Source is that it keeps the same gameplay, including guns and maps, of the original CounterStrike and simply brings CounterStrike (which uses the original Half Life engine) up to date graphically.
This isn't correct. They ported a large chunk of the code/behaviors over, and imported the old models/maps, but they've done a significant amount of work to get them to look good in Source. This is hardly just "updating the engine." I'd even suspect that they can make CS look even better, seeing as it's a side project right now (and HL2 is the priority.)
I get marked as Troll for asking a simple question?
Suck it.
I don't think that is the same thing.. what you're describing is the Leidenfrost effect.
Such a smart and simple idea - it's surprising nobody's thought of it before.
Waitaminute, Microsoft implemented this into IE (Smart Tags), and people smacked them down for it. It's still available in Office XP/2003, though.
http://www.alistapart.com/articles/smarttags/
Why do you do it? Do you think that servers and bandwidth pay for themselves? How do you expect sites to put up impartial (read: not sponsored) content without some way for the site owners to make enough money to pay the bills?
If a site doesn't want to deal with people hitting their site (read: using bandwidth) then perhaps they should make their pages private, subscription only, or maybe not be on the web at all?
There are plenty of sites out there that don't stoop to that sort of advertisement level. I can handle a small and simple graphic ad, but non of this intrusive or flashy crap (whoever came up with the idea of full-screen overlaid flash ads needs to be shot in the fact.)
These will be much more difficult to block, but ultimately, unless you WANT a subscription based Internet, what is a webmaster of a large site supposed to do? Take out another job or extra mortgage to pay his or her $1000 a month server bills?
Again, what are these people running servers for (especially web servers) if they are not prepared for the costs involved, or the visitors/bandwidth involved to their site?
http://weblogs.asp.net/oldnewthing/archive/2003/08 /22/54679.aspx
The time zone map met a similar fate. The Indian government threatened to ban all Microsoft software from the country because we assigned a disputed region to Pakistan in the time zone map. (Any map that depicts an unfavorable border must bear a government stamp warning the end-user that the borders are incorrect. You can't stamp software.) We had to make a special version of Windows 95 for them.
Geopolitics is a very sensitive subject.
sales representative inquire if the game is actually for the children and that it might not be suitable.
They train the employees at GameStop to do this very thing. Whether or not they remember to ask is another matter..
When I was in a GameStop last week to buy Doom3, a mom and son had come in, and he instantly ran over and picked up Grand Theft Auto: VC for XBox, asking his mom to buy it. She didn't even look at the box (like you said) and took it to the counter to pay. The GameStop employee told her that the game was rated "M" which meant it was rated mature, and that children probably shouldn't play it. He actually described what was in the game, too.. cussing, sexual things, violence, killings, and told her to review the back of the box. She got disgusted and told her son to put it back, and that they were leaving.
Putting big visible warning labels on packaging
Uhm, we already do this. The ESRB can rate your game, and even though it's voluntary, 99% of the games out there now have an ESRB rating, usually on the very front or the back of the box. It's high-contrast black and white, so it's kind of hard to miss. It's also required to be a certain size on the box.
Not to mention the fact that all the ESRB ratings information has been available ever since the system was developed, on their websites, and in pamphlets you can send away for.
This is just one of those "feel good" laws-- they don't actually change anything, because the problem never existed in the first place.
I have about 20 games that I'm always swapping between and playing (don't ask), stuff like C&C Red Alert 2, C&C Generals, Max Payne2, Doom3, etc.. and I use Alcohol 120% to handle it all. And to this day I have never had a CD complain about Alcohol 120% being installed. I know some others haven't been as lucky. I have not played any games with this new StarForce protection (I was considering buying Prince of Persia, but forget it now) so I don't know what it will do exactly in regards to Alcohol 120% -- but if it does cause problems, you can be sure the usual channels (gamecopyworld.com, etc.) will be right there with no CD patches, and people will use them, even on their legit copies. Because game companies don't get it.
I won't even get into how SafeDisc/etc. slows down game performance, that's semi common knowledge by now.
Still a problem, because then you need always on internet access, which is a pain for some. So my cable is out - I'm not allowed to play games?
A lot of people freaked out about this on Steam; but there is actually an "offline" mode now that lets you play without being connected to the internet. I believe it caches a copy of your credentials/keys upon log-off.
Even if I bought two copies of CZ, to use them "correctly" together I'd have to sign up for TWO steam accounts. That's just annoying.
I don't get it? Two copies of CZ would have two seperate CD keys, hence the need for more than one Steam account. It's just an e-mail address, anyhow. They're a dime a dozen nowadays.
The only really nice benefit
How about the benefit of being able to go to any broadband-connected PC running Windows, enter your e-mail address/password, and have access to all of your purchased games? I think that's pretty sweet.
I have a PIX 501-- is it affected by this vulnerability? It's hard to tell from the report..
About 90% of your facts/statements are false, and any number of simple searches on Google will show that.
You sound like a puppet of Michael Moore, and that's never a good thing.
It also doesn't affect the 50% of Windows users that will never download the update and will continue to be hammered by viruses and worms.
I can totally see how this is Microsoft's fault.
Oh wait, it's not. It's the idiot end-user.
I'm glad SP2 is finally treating people like morons, because that's what 99% of the computer-owning world is. No one wants to take the time to learn how to use or maintain their computer properly. They want it to work like a toaster or a vacuum -- plug it in and go. It's not that simple, guys and gals.
You (and the parent poster) are forgetting Windows File Protection, which prevents users or applications from deleting system-required files on XP/2003.
So your discussions are semi-pointless.
I've had similiar repair cases. This machine was totally thrashed, hardcore, to the point where it would take 10 minutes to boot into the Windows XP desktop. I went to uninstall Gator, and she (the customer) freaked. She told me she paid for it, and it blocks pop ups for her and saves her passwords, credit card info, etc. so she doesn't have to re-enter it all the time.
Wow.
Sorry, but you're talking out your arse.
I installed SP2 and then it made me re-activate both Windows and Office 2003.
We've deployed it on approximately 100 machines here in the office, and haven't had any activation issues of any kind, with Visual Studio, Office, or Windows XP itself. I also fail to see how a service pack would force a re-activation.
spoke to numerous tech support and activation department employees before they gave me a new product key which could be re-activated. I felt like I was getting interrogated as to why I was re-activating the software
You've apparently never actually had to re-activate windows or office. The very first thing you can do is use the internet to re-activate. 90% of the time this works right off the bat. The second thing you can do is call their 1-800 number, and be connected to an automated phone system. You say/speak the code into your phone, and the system reads back an auth code. Bam, done. If for some reason the phone system cannot understand you, it transfers you to a Real Live Person (tm) who asks for your code, and gives you back an auth code. No interrogation. No questions at all, even.
I'll be glad when end users pull their head out of their ass and start getting educated about the very complex piece of hardware and software they sit in front of while being connected to a world-wide network.
Ok, here's my point:
No one gives a crap about your not being able to run P2P apps. That's your problem. And it's especially not Microsoft's problem.
Besides, Shareaza is working just fine over here. Don't know what you retards are having problems with.