a) They probably aren't out to get you. They appear to be taking mostly reasonable steps to protect their network and your PC. The written policies are a CYA thing. It does not mean they are sniffing your online activity, scanning your PC's drives for pirated software, or logging keystrokes. A manadatory program to ensure PCs are patched and have up-to-date malware protection IS NOT THAT UNREASONABLE and there is no reason to suspect it's doing more than that. (get some CS majors to verify this if you are truly scared). Better yet, make friends with the IT dept.
b) Don't expect the freedom to download terabytes of porn & warez using your university's bandwith. I'd call that unreasonable.
c) Most companies you'll end up working for after college will have similar policies, get used to it.
d) There is ALWAYS a way around these things, and plenty of ways to protect your privacy. Figure it out.
Hell, most of the time they won't even except US citizens unless they already have a clearance. It's a very closed system.
I spend a few years doing IT/Security for the DOD.
The worst job ever, for what it's worth. So bad that I now happily work for 50% less pay, elsewhere.
In other news, it was announced that the US Army will be upgrading from XP to Vista because "It's easier to upgrade to Windows 7 from Vista than it is from XP." (not an exact quote) This is the type of mentality you have to deal with in DOD IT.
...during a recession....in the middle of a recession.
Seriously though... "Introduction to Data Compression" would seem to me to have a very limited audience to begin with. It's the type of book I'd buy used if I needed it for a class or would try to get my employer to purchase for me if I needed it for a project.
While I'm sure some will read it for personal intellectual advancement, it was never really going to be a best seller, was it?
I'm not sure if the limited audience/highly technical nature of the book works against you or for you with respect to piracy but definitely don't assume that every pirated copy is a lost purchase.
On the other hand, 50 bucks is a lot to spend on something I might need but really wish I didn't, and since your target audience probably knows better than most how to get it for free, perhaps you are screwed.
... just try firing any state or (especially) federal government employee.
I suspect for much the same reason. It's so difficult most managers won't bother. I'm all for employee rights but governments really take the cake. It's the rare, maybe even non-existent, bird that gets fired for incompetence.
I wonder if this has anything to do with the fact that at least one of the Win7 x64 RC build 7100 ISO's floating around has a trojan infected setup.exe that will autorun on 32bit machine.
It's probably been downloaded 100,000 times by now.
Been noticing this quite a bit lately.
The build works fine though and if you boot from it you can get what appears to be a clean install. Just don't run setup.exe from the root of the iso.
You're probably better off waiting for the official release.
Stop assuming you know where my files came (or didn't come) from. Just because some IT challenged official in some paranoid branch of the government demanded that you track executable file origins using hidden NTFS data streams which you don't bother to explain to the end user doesn't mean that we all need or want this functionality. The "feature" while annoying in XP SP2 is even more intolerable in Win7 which for some insane reason wants to make your screen go black for a few seconds and pop up a warning box every time you launch something from a share on your own network. The only fix? Disable ALL ZONE checking with an environment variable: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/889815
Quit designing your interfaces for the lowest common denominator, or at least provide quick and easy access to a streamlined, non-space wasting, admin/power user optimized GUI.
Why does Win7 take 2 hours to install on high end hardware?
Don't make thing harder to do. Many things that took 1 or 2 mouse clicks in XP now take 3 or 4. Example: Network connection properties. Old way: Double click on system tray icon and click properties. New way: Right click on system tray and select Open "Network and Sharing Center", On the windows that appears on the other side of your monitor, click on Change adapter Settings, Right click on "local area connection" and select properties. Double click does absolutely nothing now. Why is that exactly? (and what exactly is that silly new network diagram in the unfortunately named "Network and Sharing Center" supposed to accomplish? Each icon leads to things that I probably don't need if I'm trying to configure network settings)
Don't hide complexity behind dumbed down descriptions that are open to interpretation, or at least provide several optional levels of detail. You occasionally do this in Vista/Win7 but it's neither consistent nor detailed enough.
I've seen it mentioned in the comments but no solutions offered so here it is:
To avoid having your many Windows boxen saturate your internet connection when they're turned on at 8:00am and start downloading updates, install WSUS on your LAN. They'll still download updates but it will be local and quick and won't affect your internet bandwidth.
You may still have to deal with the annoyed user who is pissed that they had to reboot 15 minutes after turning on their PC though....
I've been on two calls, this week alone, where Vista, which came with laptops purchased in the last year, was not only slow to use but literally took 15 minutes to shut down and about 5 to start up.
Granted, there were the usual (for a "home user") 20 or so system tray apps running but on similarly bloated XP machines, I rarely see 15 minute shutdown times unless it's installing updates, of which it INFORMS YOU. Vista just sat there for 15 minutes with "Don't Power Off Your Computer" displayed on the screen. I don't know what the hell it was doing and there is no excuse that it shouldn't inform me.
Suffice to say, both of those users are much happier and their laptops much snappier now, 'downgraded' to XP.
Personally, and apart from the performances issues which I might even be willing to forgive as 'growing pains', I find the many of the Vista UI changes to be pointless and annoying, the OS to be unbelievably inconsistent, and despite trying Vista out for months at a time, have always given up in disgust.
Seriously though. This happened to me more than once and I've found management to be surprisingly unconcerned. At most they want to make it your problem and not their's. Here's what I've done:
First of all, I'm way too damn lazy (and nice) to eradicate the problem all at once. I've got better things to do than root out every copy of illegal software on the network. Besides, many of the users are innocent. They have no idea that the company doesn't own a license and depend on that software do do their job.
I took the eradication through attrition approach.
First I removed any caches of pirated software on the network (they all have one...) or, more accurately "limited access" since I needed some copies for the things we did own.
Then... I created a public share with the best free replacements for the most popular software... software like jzip, GIMP, CD Burner XP... and much much more. I kept it updated and I let everyone know about this share. "Get your free software here!". It was and remains hugely popular.
Next I made sure that all expired/unlicensed software was removed from our standard install and replaced with a free alternative if possible.
Everytime I deployed a machine, it went out legal.
Everytime I replaced a machine, it went back legal.
Everytime I was asked about this software or that software, my reply was you'll check the app share for something that will do the job or get a purchase req from your manager.
This was not a 100% solution. I didn't try to control what users installed on their own machine but I did get agreement from management that if we (the IT department) didn't deploy it then we weren't liable and users were told that they could install what they wanted but were personally responsible for it's legality. (IANAL and I don't know (or care) if the company could actually defend that position)
This did HUGELY reduce the problem though. After a year or so, I doubt anyone could accuse us of systemic piracy. I don't even think we would even have been worth the effort sue, there were so few illegal copies out there.
Things such as consistency, clarity and efficency have gone and instead all we have is "wow"
Hear,hear. It's shocking how inconsistent Vista/Win7/Office2008 is. Just try to find "Options" in IE, Explorer, Windows Mail, and Word08. It's completely random. Don't even get me started on the Control Panel.
I wish they would focus more on usability for everyone, and not just the lowest common denominator.
I'd like to see a consistent level of detail implemented across all of the tasks that an OS is really supposed to be good at, like moving data around.
For example, You drag and drop a file to a different location and the file copy dialog box appears. This first dialog box can remain unchanged from XP except for the addition of a 'More' or 'Details' button. Click on that button and now you have detailed stats like, copy speed, # of files to be copied, # of files left, etc.... And then there's one more 'More' button. Click on that and now you see the entire queue which you can manipulate live (remove files, add files, etc...)
This would give 2 or 3 classes of users a much better experience. Grandma never has to click more and things work more or less as expected. Someone who wants a little more depth, might click more once to see detailed stats, and more hard core users could click yet again to manipulate the copy queue as the copy is in progress.
This is the kind of functionality I wanted added to Windows. Improvements to core capabilities and windows into what is really going on which can be opened as needed. MS has a tendency to hide how a computer actually works from the user. They are doing them a disservice, IMO.
There are 1000s of cool utilities that add truly useful core functionality to Windows. If MS just bought the best and figured out a way to integrate them in a consistent manner, they'd have a much better product (and probably for a much lower cost), than Vista/Win7.
I like a pretty UI as much as the next person but if what's under the hood is invisible and doesn't perform, then what's the point. And half-assed utilities like Notepad, Windows Mail (in win7 beta anyway), wordpad, Paint, and Hyperterminal (thank god that's gone) are just a waste of space. How hard is it to include useful text editor for goodness sake? I think MS at least owes me that.
... from what I can tell, the main problem with packing in general seems to be the marketing decision to ridiculously over package every item that ends up on a retail shelf. It's not like they don't already have other options.
This code, executed on a dd-wrt router, will give all your clients 30 seconds of nothing during commercials when watching Hulu videos. It will block most other browser ads also but what the hell... Works really well with Slashdot.
Just add it to your startup section and enjoy a nearly ad-free internet.
---- logger WAN UP Script Executing sleep 5 test -s/tmp/dlhosts if [ $? == 1 ] ; then echo -e "#!/bin/sh\nwget -O - http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.txt | grep 127.0.0.1 | tr -d '\015\032' | sed -e '2,\$s/127.0.0.1/0.0.0.0/g' -e 's/[[:space:]]*#.*$//' -e '2,\$s/0.0.0.0 localhost$/127.0.0.1 localhost/g' -e '2,\$s/0.0.0.0 pagead.*.googlesyndication.com//g' | grep 0.0 >/tmp/hosts\nlogger DOWNLOADED http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.txt\nkillall -1 dnsmasq" >/tmp/dlhosts chmod 777/tmp/dlhosts/tmp/dlhosts fi ln -s/tmp/hosts/etc/hosts echo "45 23 * * 5 root/tmp/dlhosts" >>/tmp/crontab -----
Devices currently on the market including the Sony offerings and the Bookeen Cybook Gen3, currently support a variety of the usual formats, though I agree that the platforms aren't as open as I'd prefer. Mobile PDF and EPUB support will be available on the Bookeen in the 1st quarter of 2009.
PDF support has problematic in general because many PDFs are formatted for larger screen displays. Even though pdf is "supported", they are not very readable on the current low end readers. That said, Mobipocket provides free software (http://www.mobipocket.com/en/DownloadSoft/ProductDetailsCreator.asp) that does a fine job of converting text.pdfs to mobipocket format which is supported on most readers.
These things can last for months on a charge. I've read 7 or 8 full length novels on my Cybook without recharging.
"The White House isn't some small mom and pop shop. We're talking about classified information and strict protocols which have to be followed. Which means everything is tracked and achieved in a vault somewhere. It's just a question of who have access to them."
Or maybe, they just don't back up mail (with any significant retention) as a matter of policy? I've been in several environments where users' email was routinely deleted as a matter of policy. CYA.
for many kinds of books -- long-form narratives, for instance -- reading off a screen is a poor substitute for a cheap and easy-to-buy codex...
Me thinks the author is being a bit biased since this is what he writes. I hate to break it to you Cory but long-form narratives are EXACTLY what an e-book reader is good for. They are not good for reference material because random access is too slow. (at this stage, they just can't compete with thumbing through a printed text-book, programming manual or travel guide) They might be ok for newspapers & magazines if anyone ever decides to format them properly. BUT, they are absolutely perfect for novels and anything else that you'd care to read from cover to cover.
I don't know that e-book readers are for everyone but if you love to read and you travel a lot, it's great to be able to lug an entire library of books with you in one very small package. On any given trip, I can bring, on my reader, more than enough reading material for myself, a bunch of children's books to read to my daughter, and maybe an audio-book and some music for good measure.
After a year with it, I can't say that I miss the printed page at all... and don't get me started on what I can find to read on the internet for free....
Finally, they cost about $270 now and dropping. Be afraid.
If Valve fucking implodes, or if they get bought out by someone else who doesn't feel the same way, then you won't get your beloved patches.
Well... there will always be cracks. At some point you have to trust who you are dealing with. Right now, I'll take Valve over EA, Activision, MS, etc...
For as long as Steam exists, you don't really need backups for Steam games. You can re-download at anytime on any PC.
Most of your issues seem to be bandwidth related. You can't really expect them to cater to people with modems forever.... Steam totally falls apart without high speed internet. I'll give you that.
I do think that if they are going to sell retail, they should sell offline versions. Otherwise, what's the point?
But then I got home and tried to install it and it requires you install Steam and Games for Windows Live and activate the game via Steam. I tried to activate it and was told I can't because it's not for sale in my country- presumably because although some shops are selling it THQ decided the actual release date was today.
This would seriously piss me off as well but I think this can be attributed more to limitations placed on Valve by your country than by Valve's own policies. (some one correct me if I'm wrong) Also, your shop jumped the gun. If you had made the purchase on Steam, you would have been informed of the activation date before you spent your money.
Actually, you can log into Steam on any machine you please and play any of your games.
This is true. All of your Steam games can be downloaded to as many PCs as you like... just install Steam. If you are using a friend's PC and they've already Steam installed and own the same games, you can log in as yourself and play them with no waiting. If you are installing Steam on a new PC, you can even copy the game data from another PC if you don't want to wait for the download. (I do wish they'd make this a bit clearer/easier though... It's a FEATURE!)
DRM only kicks in if you try to login as yourself on more than one machine at a time. You can't.
This is a pretty good compromise. I now prefer to purchase my games on Steam if they are available there. It's highly convenient. I've even re-purchased some games that I already own on Steam (9.99 for UT3) just for the convenience factor.
Until you've perfected mind reading, please stop assuming you know what I'm trying to do
At the very least, please provide a "no second guessing" mode.
Microsoft, this especially means you.
Slashdot Mirror
a) They probably aren't out to get you. They appear to be taking mostly reasonable steps to protect their network and your PC. The written policies are a CYA thing. It does not mean they are sniffing your online activity, scanning your PC's drives for pirated software, or logging keystrokes. A manadatory program to ensure PCs are patched and have up-to-date malware protection IS NOT THAT UNREASONABLE and there is no reason to suspect it's doing more than that. (get some CS majors to verify this if you are truly scared). Better yet, make friends with the IT dept.
b) Don't expect the freedom to download terabytes of porn & warez using your university's bandwith. I'd call that unreasonable.
c) Most companies you'll end up working for after college will have similar policies, get used to it.
d) There is ALWAYS a way around these things, and plenty of ways to protect your privacy. Figure it out.
... especially considering the recently announced cyber-security initiatives, not to mention all of the DOD stuff going on.
We are building an entire ARMY of script kiddies who will need such tools. ;) And guess who's paying for them?
Nobody thought to rip 'em to the hd? I was under the impression that every ounce counted when launching a shuttle.
Hell, most of the time they won't even except US citizens unless they already have a clearance. It's a very closed system.
I spend a few years doing IT/Security for the DOD.
The worst job ever, for what it's worth. So bad that I now happily work for 50% less pay, elsewhere.
In other news, it was announced that the US Army will be upgrading from XP to Vista because "It's easier to upgrade to Windows 7 from Vista than it is from XP." (not an exact quote) This is the type of mentality you have to deal with in DOD IT.
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/1137451/us-army-finally-moves-vista
...during a recession. ...in the middle of a recession.
Seriously though... "Introduction to Data Compression" would seem to me to have a very limited audience to begin with. It's the type of book I'd buy used if I needed it for a class or would try to get my employer to purchase for me if I needed it for a project.
While I'm sure some will read it for personal intellectual advancement, it was never really going to be a best seller, was it?
I'm not sure if the limited audience/highly technical nature of the book works against you or for you with respect to piracy but definitely don't assume that every pirated copy is a lost purchase.
On the other hand, 50 bucks is a lot to spend on something I might need but really wish I didn't, and since your target audience probably knows better than most how to get it for free, perhaps you are screwed.
... just try firing any state or (especially) federal government employee.
I suspect for much the same reason. It's so difficult most managers won't bother.
I'm all for employee rights but governments really take the cake. It's the rare, maybe even non-existent, bird that gets fired for incompetence.
I wonder if this has anything to do with the fact that at least one of the Win7 x64 RC build 7100 ISO's floating around has a trojan infected setup.exe that will autorun on 32bit machine.
It's probably been downloaded 100,000 times by now.
Been noticing this quite a bit lately.
The build works fine though and if you boot from it you can get what appears to be a clean install. Just don't run setup.exe from the root of the iso.
You're probably better off waiting for the official release.
I agree with most of that... let me add a few:
Stop assuming you know where my files came (or didn't come) from. Just because some IT challenged official in some paranoid branch of the government demanded that you track executable file origins using hidden NTFS data streams which you don't bother to explain to the end user doesn't mean that we all need or want this functionality. The "feature" while annoying in XP SP2 is even more intolerable in Win7 which for some insane reason wants to make your screen go black for a few seconds and pop up a warning box every time you launch something from a share on your own network. The only fix? Disable ALL ZONE checking with an environment variable: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/889815
Quit designing your interfaces for the lowest common denominator, or at least provide quick and easy access to a streamlined, non-space wasting, admin/power user optimized GUI.
Why does Win7 take 2 hours to install on high end hardware?
Don't make thing harder to do. Many things that took 1 or 2 mouse clicks in XP now take 3 or 4.
Example: Network connection properties. Old way: Double click on system tray icon and click properties. New way: Right click on system tray and select Open "Network and Sharing Center", On the windows that appears on the other side of your monitor, click on Change adapter Settings, Right click on "local area connection" and select properties. Double click does absolutely nothing now. Why is that exactly? (and what exactly is that silly new network diagram in the unfortunately named "Network and Sharing Center" supposed to accomplish? Each icon leads to things that I probably don't need if I'm trying to configure network settings)
Don't hide complexity behind dumbed down descriptions that are open to interpretation, or at least provide several optional levels of detail. You occasionally do this in Vista/Win7 but it's neither consistent nor detailed enough.
I'm hoping Ridley Scott repeats his Aliens and Blade Runner magic on this.
Minor quibble.... Ridley Scott directed the original Alien and James Cameron directed Aliens.
I've seen it mentioned in the comments but no solutions offered so here it is:
To avoid having your many Windows boxen saturate your internet connection when they're turned on at 8:00am and start downloading updates, install WSUS on your LAN. They'll still download updates but it will be local and quick and won't affect your internet bandwidth.
You may still have to deal with the annoyed user who is pissed that they had to reboot 15 minutes after turning on their PC though....
I've been on two calls, this week alone, where Vista, which came with laptops purchased in the last year, was not only slow to use but literally took 15 minutes to shut down and about 5 to start up.
Granted, there were the usual (for a "home user") 20 or so system tray apps running but on similarly bloated XP machines, I rarely see 15 minute shutdown times unless it's installing updates, of which it INFORMS YOU. Vista just sat there for 15 minutes with "Don't Power Off Your Computer" displayed on the screen. I don't know what the hell it was doing and there is no excuse that it shouldn't inform me.
Suffice to say, both of those users are much happier and their laptops much snappier now, 'downgraded' to XP.
Personally, and apart from the performances issues which I might even be willing to forgive as 'growing pains', I find the many of the Vista UI changes to be pointless and annoying, the OS to be unbelievably inconsistent, and despite trying Vista out for months at a time, have always given up in disgust.
... it would be confusing for the user that it not work the first time.... but it would every time thereafter.
No... That never happens. Never. Ever. Really...
ZOMG, replace it all with OSS.
Seriously though. This happened to me more than once and I've found management to be surprisingly unconcerned. At most they want to make it your problem and not their's. Here's what I've done:
First of all, I'm way too damn lazy (and nice) to eradicate the problem all at once. I've got better things to do than root out every copy of illegal software on the network. Besides, many of the users are innocent. They have no idea that the company doesn't own a license and depend on that software do do their job.
I took the eradication through attrition approach.
First I removed any caches of pirated software on the network (they all have one...) or, more accurately "limited access" since I needed some copies for the things we did own.
Then... I created a public share with the best free replacements for the most popular software... software like jzip, GIMP, CD Burner XP... and much much more. I kept it updated and I let everyone know about this share. "Get your free software here!". It was and remains hugely popular.
Next I made sure that all expired/unlicensed software was removed from our standard install and replaced with a free alternative if possible.
Everytime I deployed a machine, it went out legal.
Everytime I replaced a machine, it went back legal.
Everytime I was asked about this software or that software, my reply was you'll check the app share for something that will do the job or get a purchase req from your manager.
This was not a 100% solution. I didn't try to control what users installed on their own machine but I did get agreement from management that if we (the IT department) didn't deploy it then we weren't liable and users were told that they could install what they wanted but were personally responsible for it's legality. (IANAL and I don't know (or care) if the company could actually defend that position)
This did HUGELY reduce the problem though. After a year or so, I doubt anyone could accuse us of systemic piracy. I don't even think we would even have been worth the effort sue, there were so few illegal copies out there.
Things such as consistency, clarity and efficency have gone and instead all we have is "wow"
Hear,hear. It's shocking how inconsistent Vista/Win7/Office2008 is. Just try to find "Options" in IE, Explorer, Windows Mail, and Word08. It's completely random. Don't even get me started on the Control Panel.
I wish they would focus more on usability for everyone, and not just the lowest common denominator.
I'd like to see a consistent level of detail implemented across all of the tasks that an OS is really supposed to be good at, like moving data around.
For example, You drag and drop a file to a different location and the file copy dialog box appears. This first dialog box can remain unchanged from XP except for the addition of a 'More' or 'Details' button. Click on that button and now you have detailed stats like, copy speed, # of files to be copied, # of files left, etc.... And then there's one more 'More' button. Click on that and now you see the entire queue which you can manipulate live (remove files, add files, etc...)
This would give 2 or 3 classes of users a much better experience. Grandma never has to click more and things work more or less as expected. Someone who wants a little more depth, might click more once to see detailed stats, and more hard core users could click yet again to manipulate the copy queue as the copy is in progress.
This is the kind of functionality I wanted added to Windows. Improvements to core capabilities and windows into what is really going on which can be opened as needed. MS has a tendency to hide how a computer actually works from the user. They are doing them a disservice, IMO.
There are 1000s of cool utilities that add truly useful core functionality to Windows. If MS just bought the best and figured out a way to integrate them in a consistent manner, they'd have a much better product (and probably for a much lower cost), than Vista/Win7.
I like a pretty UI as much as the next person but if what's under the hood is invisible and doesn't perform, then what's the point. And half-assed utilities like Notepad, Windows Mail (in win7 beta anyway), wordpad, Paint, and Hyperterminal (thank god that's gone) are just a waste of space. How hard is it to include useful text editor for goodness sake? I think MS at least owes me that.
I think most equipment can run much hotter than people allow.
I've had servers run for years with no AC. 4-5 months out of the year it was 80-100 in that room. No humidity control either.
Equipment life may be shortened but if it's not shorter than the normal life cycle, it doesn't really matter.
I think it's entirely feasible to run a datacenter at 100 degrees with the right equipment.
This code, executed on a dd-wrt router, will give all your clients 30 seconds of nothing during commercials when watching Hulu videos. It will block most other browser ads also but what the hell... Works really well with Slashdot.
Just add it to your startup section and enjoy a nearly ad-free internet.
---- /tmp/dlhosts /tmp/hosts\nlogger DOWNLOADED http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.txt\nkillall -1 dnsmasq" > /tmp/dlhosts /tmp/dlhosts /tmp/dlhosts /tmp/hosts /etc/hosts /tmp/dlhosts" >> /tmp/crontab
logger WAN UP Script Executing
sleep 5
test -s
if [ $? == 1 ] ; then
echo -e "#!/bin/sh\nwget -O - http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.txt | grep 127.0.0.1 | tr -d '\015\032' | sed -e '2,\$s/127.0.0.1/0.0.0.0/g' -e 's/[[:space:]]*#.*$//' -e '2,\$s/0.0.0.0 localhost$/127.0.0.1 localhost/g' -e '2,\$s/0.0.0.0 pagead.*.googlesyndication.com//g' | grep 0.0 >
chmod 777
fi
ln -s
echo "45 23 * * 5 root
-----
Devices currently on the market including the Sony offerings and the Bookeen Cybook Gen3, currently support a variety of the usual formats, though I agree that the platforms aren't as open as I'd prefer. Mobile PDF and EPUB support will be available on the Bookeen in the 1st quarter of 2009.
PDF support has problematic in general because many PDFs are formatted for larger screen displays. Even though pdf is "supported", they are not very readable on the current low end readers. That said, Mobipocket provides free software (http://www.mobipocket.com/en/DownloadSoft/ProductDetailsCreator.asp) that does a fine job of converting text .pdfs to mobipocket format which is supported on most readers.
These things can last for months on a charge. I've read 7 or 8 full length novels on my Cybook without recharging.
"The White House isn't some small mom and pop shop. We're talking about classified information and strict protocols which have to be followed. Which means everything is tracked and achieved in a vault somewhere. It's just a question of who have access to them."
Or maybe, they just don't back up mail (with any significant retention) as a matter of policy? I've been in several environments where users' email was routinely deleted as a matter of policy. CYA.
FTA:
for many kinds of books -- long-form narratives, for instance -- reading off a screen is a poor substitute for a cheap and easy-to-buy codex...
Me thinks the author is being a bit biased since this is what he writes. I hate to break it to you Cory but long-form narratives are EXACTLY what an e-book reader is good for. They are not good for reference material because random access is too slow. (at this stage, they just can't compete with thumbing through a printed text-book, programming manual or travel guide) They might be ok for newspapers & magazines if anyone ever decides to format them properly. BUT, they are absolutely perfect for novels and anything else that you'd care to read from cover to cover.
I don't know that e-book readers are for everyone but if you love to read and you travel a lot, it's great to be able to lug an entire library of books with you in one very small package. On any given trip, I can bring, on my reader, more than enough reading material for myself, a bunch of children's books to read to my daughter, and maybe an audio-book and some music for good measure.
After a year with it, I can't say that I miss the printed page at all... and don't get me started on what I can find to read on the internet for free....
Finally, they cost about $270 now and dropping. Be afraid.
If Valve fucking implodes, or if they get bought out by someone else who doesn't feel the same way, then you won't get your beloved patches.
Well... there will always be cracks. At some point you have to trust who you are dealing with. Right now, I'll take Valve over EA, Activision, MS, etc...
For as long as Steam exists, you don't really need backups for Steam games. You can re-download at anytime on any PC.
Most of your issues seem to be bandwidth related. You can't really expect them to cater to people with modems forever.... Steam totally falls apart without high speed internet. I'll give you that.
I do think that if they are going to sell retail, they should sell offline versions. Otherwise, what's the point?
I tried that. Didn't work. Are you sure?
But then I got home and tried to install it and it requires you install Steam and Games for Windows Live and activate the game via Steam. I tried to activate it and was told I can't because it's not for sale in my country- presumably because although some shops are selling it THQ decided the actual release date was today.
This would seriously piss me off as well but I think this can be attributed more to limitations placed on Valve by your country than by Valve's own policies. (some one correct me if I'm wrong) Also, your shop jumped the gun. If you had made the purchase on Steam, you would have been informed of the activation date before you spent your money.
Actually, you can log into Steam on any machine you please and play any of your games.
This is true. All of your Steam games can be downloaded to as many PCs as you like... just install Steam. If you are using a friend's PC and they've already Steam installed and own the same games, you can log in as yourself and play them with no waiting. If you are installing Steam on a new PC, you can even copy the game data from another PC if you don't want to wait for the download. (I do wish they'd make this a bit clearer/easier though... It's a FEATURE!)
DRM only kicks in if you try to login as yourself on more than one machine at a time. You can't.
This is a pretty good compromise. I now prefer to purchase my games on Steam if they are available there. It's highly convenient. I've even re-purchased some games that I already own on Steam (9.99 for UT3) just for the convenience factor.
Until you've perfected mind reading, please stop assuming you know what I'm trying to do At the very least, please provide a "no second guessing" mode. Microsoft, this especially means you.