I doubt anyone will score too well right now. The site is already sluggish so many of my answers didn't go through when I clicked. Once I clicked, nothing happened and I clicked again which, of course, skipped the next question.
Bitch at nVidia then.
Mint did its part. nVidia's shit drivers are what caused your problem.
Seriously now people, put the blame where it belongs. I don't believe I "blamed" anyone. I said it wasn't ready. I didn't say it was anyone entities fault in particular.
I'm not a big fan of using Macs for gaming either. The hardware is fine, the OS is fine but the drivers are not as mature as their win counterparts and most games never make it to the Mac. Whoever is at fault, it certainly doesn't make the Mac a good platform for gaming. It COULD be but isn't.
If I buy a sports car and expect it to be able to tow my boat, on who does the blame fall? The blame falls on you or the salesman but your sports car still isn't ready for boating season and putting the blame squarely where it belongs won't change that one bit.
I may work in a University, but we support the Enterprise, so basic rules still apply. If you want to run Linux on your work desktop (and I do... Fedora 8 on my Dell D420 laptop... will upgrade to Fedora 9 soon) that's fine. Really. But I ask that you make sure the desktop support folks (and your manager) know about it, and that you don't mess around with the install when you're supposed to be doing other things. Other things, like your job. (We pay the desktop support staff to do desktop support... I pay you to admin the UNIX systems.) You must be kidding. Are you seriously telling me what I am "supposed" to be doing on my job? Do we know each other? Do you know what my job description is?
It amazes me how many people on/. post their opinions of other people's actions on the job without knowing the first thing about which they speak. What you have just done is projected your own experience onto my post, then commented on the wrongness as if I were working for (or with) you.
This is NOT the tragedy of/.
The tragedy of/. is that you managed to score a 3 for it. This is especially true considering the way you lead with:
Putting the question of "ready for the desktop" aside for a moment Come on mods, by definitiion this is "off topic"
No, I'm not trolling, I trying to clear the misconception. Linux just isn't ready.
Recently I built a new PC. That puts me in the above average user (not above avg/.) category immediately. I've used DOS, Windows everything, Mac OS everything and even Solaris, This time I tried Mint. It installed beautifully. It was easier and quicker to install than Windows.
Unfortunately, my mainstream Nvidia card did not have drivers and the pkg installer for Mint didn't work. Now what do I do. Well, I had to get out of X. Care to tell me how to do that in Mint? Someone had too. It's a multistep process requiring strange keyboard combinations using function keys. Then I had to run the installer. Double-clicking is intuitive these days "sh" isn't.
Well now my video card works but I can't map any drives and my computer is constantly flooding the network with queries (how embarrassing). Our IT department is wanting to know what I was doing. I don't know. I manage to figure out the circuitous route to accessing shared drives on the network but when I doubleclick on the openoffice document on one of those network drives, I see the open office splash screen but it never opens the document. I learn that there is more to do than just "get to" the shared drives.
I finally gave up, formatted the drive and installed Windows. I'm not a hacker or even an overclocker anymore. I'm an administrator now and the final straw was when I realized that work was piling up on me while I fiddled with my OS. Playing with linux was cool but when it all boiled down to it, I had work to do and just wanted to get my job done.
I know, that's just one distro but how does anyone know which distro is right? I tried another whose name I cannot remember. It was worse. Sure, if I had a linux guy around I could have had him set it up for me but that's the point. You need a linux guy and until that changes, it's just not ready IMHO.
Yes, it is my humble opinion but I seem to recall that Red Hat shares it. I'm glad to see linux. I'm glad it's getting better. It's a great thing for the computer industry and will only get better as long as we don't delude ourselves into believing it is something that it is not. At least not yet.
P.S.
For all of you who have "set up a machine" for their parents and it "works just fine", I submit that requiring an expert to set up a system for an end user is the very definition of "not ready". In today's world that end user (even Mom) might need to change something, install something new, access something different and then things require an expert to "ssh in to fix things".
We need to send them virus free porn. Gentlemen time to dump your hard drives to DVD. Strange the above quote is modded +3 interesting instead of funny. Does that mean the/. community is seriously considering doing this?
'But there is no bigger tribe, and none more zealous, than fans of Apple, who are infamous for their sensitivity to slams, real or imagined, against the beloved company.' I disagree. I've worked in/with IT departments for years and they are every bit a zealous about MS and often Dell. Anything else isn't a real computer. They tend to be a little calmer about the debate but they are every bit as vicious if you try to look into opposing technology. Many of these people have never even touched a Mac (or Sun, linux box or anything else). This is what qualifies them as the biggest zealot. At least most of the mac zealots have some experience when making their decision.
I know I don't make a good sample size (though I have discussed this with my friends and they have experienced the same) but I've been around a bit now and this kind of false premise is getting old.
5. Microsoft Word
4. Microsoft Excel
3. Microsoft PowerPoint
2. Microsoft Outlook
1. Microsoft Exchange
Honorable Mention: Internet Explorer
Like it or not, linux isn't going anywhere on the desktop without these. Apple finally got a boost on #2 with Office 2k8 but still lacks 1. They also lack all the apps that just fit so nicely with all the other MS crap like SharePoint. You also have hundreds of thousands of MCSEs running around who, with little real education can manage large numbers of installations and, finally, MS is entrenched. That's no small mountain to climb either especially when you can buy a Dell for about $600 preloaded with the latest MS OS.
And please, don't tell me how great OO is. I use it and it doesn't matter. The masses don't use it. They also don't care if it can open Office files just fine. Apple played that tune for years to no avail. It's an MS world. Until the masses get tired of Vista, DRM, word format changes, security guffaws and all of the other really really bad stuff that MS does, they aren't going to care about linux.
Oh, and unless I can hop online to Dell and buy the exact same computer (across the board not just one model) with linux pre-installed at a reduced price, linux isn't any more free than MS. If I have to build a PC myself to save the money, that's not going to fly with the masses either.
Sorry if this sounds harsh. I'd love to see linux take off but I don't see it happening in the near future. Look at the Apple Air Book. It costs more. Maybe price isn't the deciding factor.
1. O.K. I believe in global warming now. I heard a lot of dissenting evidence but it appears to be tainted.
2. Video Games do affect behavior in many children. Studies and family members in the field of education with years of observational experience have made me switch my opinion. I'm still not a big fan of government intervention on the subject, though.
3. Linux is ready for the desktop thanks to the EeePC. In fact, much of open source appears to be ready to eliminate the needs or even desire for a commercial alternative. Linux, OpenOffice, Firefox. I no longer feel like I'm having to settle for second rate in order to save money. I'd actually choose them even if the alternatives were free.
4. Slashdot is moderated largely by hypocritical children who will mod up popular opinion and mod down unpopular posts regardless of accuracy. I predict the slow demise of Slashdot as the comments area, a once fertile land of discussion and intelligent observation becomes a members only arena linux/mac fanboys and video gamers who can't envision anyone else's opinion being right other than theirs. It will be a place where where speaking ill of religion, republicans or windows will be given an automatic +2 informative while speaking ill social web sites, video games, or modding practices will be an auto -2 troll.
All four are great discoveries and lifestyle changes for me.
Hey JD. They aren't ALL starving and unless you want to spend the rest of eternity buying them fish, you might want to consider a plan to teach them HOW to fish.
Seems to me there is enough wealth and good will to do both without trying to make the other sound foolish for trying.
Readers should fairly expect there to be an inviolable firewall between advertising and editorial in journalism, and game journalism (yes, that includes "just reviews") is no different. No, we shouldn't expect that and we don't. This is the very reason so many people subscribe to Consumer Reports. We KNOW the firewall doesn't exist. We WISH it did. We WANT unbiased reporting but we have long KNOWN that it does not exist.
Sadly or eidos (heh, heh), the news of the firing will ensure that everyone knows the game sucks. Had it not been for the firing and this subsequent article, I would merely have assumed as much based on the title.
Wow! I just posted something similar to this a couple of days ago on the Jack Thompson thread and got -6 troll. (http://politics.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=371823&cid=21499417)
Regarding Mr Akio Mori's study, according to him, the risk is to gamers in their "earlier years"...
and ...many types of violent media produce identical reactions So you are agreeing, conditionally and saying you countered my claims.
I link to sites reporting that it does damage.
You respond that it does damage in "earlier years" or that it does the "same damage as other violent forms of media". You didn't counter anything, you've just agreed with me.
Again, the saddest statement here has nothing to do with the facts, you state a popular side of the story and are modded up, I state an unpopular (but founded) side and I am a troll. I'm on topic and backing up my statements with sources. You don't have to agree but reaction around here is pretty sickening and shows that we are not open to discussion on the subject. When that happens good things rarely follow.
I think the next Jack Thompson could have a very dramatic impact on the industry.
The arguments aren't flawed because of the people spitting them forth. The arguments are flawed because the premise is ridiculous. Are you sure?
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/16099971/
Researchers at the Indiana University School of Medicine say that brain scans of kids who played a violent video game showed an increase in emotional arousal - and a corresponding decrease of activity in brain areas involved in self-control, inhibition and attention. http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/articles/20070124/Feature1.asp
Despite what these readers say, many scientific studies clearly show that violent video games make kids more likely to yell, push, and punch, says Brad Bushman. He's a psychologist at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
Bushman and his colleagues recently reviewed more than 300 studies of video media effects. Across the board, he says, the message is clear.
"We included every single study we could find on the topic," Bushman says. "Regardless of what kids say, violent video games are harmful." http://www.schillerinstitute.org/new_viol/videos_brain.html
Recently released medical studies indicate that violent video games damage the brain, possibly permanently.
It's funny how this much evidence proves global warming but the link between violent video games and violent behavior is still a myth.
I think the saddest thing here is that the above comment got a 5 for insightful when the facts seem to clearly contradict the statement. Is it because we like video games that we ignore the facts and promote the fiction?
Every time we do something stupid that takes away another piece of our freedom, the terrorists win another victory. I don't know how many more battles we can lose before the whole war is lost but it can't be much more. The sad thing is that so many people are blind to this or just don't care. Perhaps that is what makes the defeat all the more imminent.
If the HD-DVD had been included since the beginning it would have cost twice as much and most of us probably wouldn't own one. You are assuming that price has anything to do with the cost to manufacture. This isn't the case and should be obvious here by the fact that MS loses money on every 360 built.
It might have been twice the price, it might have been 50% more it might have been the same price it was at launch. Whatever it would have been, it would have been determined by the Marketing department (or Sales) and ultimately us as to the price of the HD-DVD 360, not the manufacturing department.
For all of the RIAA/MPAA rants about standing up to the industry, it really amazes me that we forget (or don't get) this.
So where is the paypal account? I'll contribute $1 to help this lady out and, perhaps, make a statement to the RIAA (@#!&*) and that (@%$#!) Judge that this is unacceptable. I keep hearing that the RIAA, MPAA, and our government doesn't realize that they are alienating a vast constituency, possibly the majority, with these actions and these laws. Perhaps now is the time they find out and clearly money is the only thing that talks in this country any more.
As for their music? I don't need to steal it, pirate it or buy it. I can just do without it and I will. They will never see another dime from me.
not only was the victim attacked, but the community was as well, hence the additional penalty of committing the crime.
Unfortunately, what we seem to have lost sight of is that murder is the ultimate crime. That should be as bad as it gets (in terms of punishment). Now it seems like murder is bad but threatening the community, now you've gone too far. Actually, the murder part was too far. After that, nothing else matters.
...perhaps Jack Thompson is a tool to hype up a game. I wouldn't put it past any of the current crop of publishers to do this. I remember the heavy metal bands of the 80s and their supposed affiliation with satan drumming up publicity..
and yes, I did just indirectly compare Jack Thompson to satan.
This will be news when someone who isn't employed or funded by MS makes this statement. Until then, it's just more marketing crap that doesn't really belong on/.
I mean really, this story is almost troll-worthy. What did they expect when they post this up here? "OMG he's right. Now we no longer need *nix to feel secure. The war is over!"
phbt!
Sony showed CG footage that they hoped would represent in-game graphics, and even though it was BS, people came away wowed. Of course that hasn't translated into a lot of success at the storefront for them.
Slashdot Mirror
I doubt anyone will score too well right now. The site is already sluggish so many of my answers didn't go through when I clicked. Once I clicked, nothing happened and I clicked again which, of course, skipped the next question.
Mint did its part. nVidia's shit drivers are what caused your problem.
Seriously now people, put the blame where it belongs. I don't believe I "blamed" anyone. I said it wasn't ready. I didn't say it was anyone entities fault in particular.
I'm not a big fan of using Macs for gaming either. The hardware is fine, the OS is fine but the drivers are not as mature as their win counterparts and most games never make it to the Mac. Whoever is at fault, it certainly doesn't make the Mac a good platform for gaming. It COULD be but isn't.
If I buy a sports car and expect it to be able to tow my boat, on who does the blame fall? The blame falls on you or the salesman but your sports car still isn't ready for boating season and putting the blame squarely where it belongs won't change that one bit.
It amazes me how many people on
This is NOT the tragedy of
The tragedy of
Putting the question of "ready for the desktop" aside for a moment Come on mods, by definitiion this is "off topic"
No, I'm not trolling, I trying to clear the misconception. Linux just isn't ready.
/.) category immediately. I've used DOS, Windows everything, Mac OS everything and even Solaris, This time I tried Mint. It installed beautifully. It was easier and quicker to install than Windows.
Recently I built a new PC. That puts me in the above average user (not above avg
Unfortunately, my mainstream Nvidia card did not have drivers and the pkg installer for Mint didn't work. Now what do I do. Well, I had to get out of X. Care to tell me how to do that in Mint? Someone had too. It's a multistep process requiring strange keyboard combinations using function keys. Then I had to run the installer. Double-clicking is intuitive these days "sh" isn't.
Well now my video card works but I can't map any drives and my computer is constantly flooding the network with queries (how embarrassing). Our IT department is wanting to know what I was doing. I don't know. I manage to figure out the circuitous route to accessing shared drives on the network but when I doubleclick on the openoffice document on one of those network drives, I see the open office splash screen but it never opens the document. I learn that there is more to do than just "get to" the shared drives.
I finally gave up, formatted the drive and installed Windows. I'm not a hacker or even an overclocker anymore. I'm an administrator now and the final straw was when I realized that work was piling up on me while I fiddled with my OS. Playing with linux was cool but when it all boiled down to it, I had work to do and just wanted to get my job done.
I know, that's just one distro but how does anyone know which distro is right? I tried another whose name I cannot remember. It was worse. Sure, if I had a linux guy around I could have had him set it up for me but that's the point. You need a linux guy and until that changes, it's just not ready IMHO.
Yes, it is my humble opinion but I seem to recall that Red Hat shares it. I'm glad to see linux. I'm glad it's getting better. It's a great thing for the computer industry and will only get better as long as we don't delude ourselves into believing it is something that it is not. At least not yet.
P.S.
For all of you who have "set up a machine" for their parents and it "works just fine", I submit that requiring an expert to set up a system for an end user is the very definition of "not ready". In today's world that end user (even Mom) might need to change something, install something new, access something different and then things require an expert to "ssh in to fix things".
I know I don't make a good sample size (though I have discussed this with my friends and they have experienced the same) but I've been around a bit now and this kind of false premise is getting old.
I'm at home (and awake) 20% of the time.
My landline is up 99.999% meaning my phone is available to me when I need it 19.998% of the time.
I'm out and about (and coherent) 40% of the time.
My cell phone works 90% of the time meaning it is available to me when I need it 36% of the time.
Clear winner, cell phone.
Sometimes we lose site of reality while studying statistics.
5. Microsoft Word
4. Microsoft Excel
3. Microsoft PowerPoint
2. Microsoft Outlook
1. Microsoft Exchange
Honorable Mention: Internet Explorer
Like it or not, linux isn't going anywhere on the desktop without these. Apple finally got a boost on #2 with Office 2k8 but still lacks 1. They also lack all the apps that just fit so nicely with all the other MS crap like SharePoint. You also have hundreds of thousands of MCSEs running around who, with little real education can manage large numbers of installations and, finally, MS is entrenched. That's no small mountain to climb either especially when you can buy a Dell for about $600 preloaded with the latest MS OS.
And please, don't tell me how great OO is. I use it and it doesn't matter. The masses don't use it. They also don't care if it can open Office files just fine. Apple played that tune for years to no avail. It's an MS world. Until the masses get tired of Vista, DRM, word format changes, security guffaws and all of the other really really bad stuff that MS does, they aren't going to care about linux.
Oh, and unless I can hop online to Dell and buy the exact same computer (across the board not just one model) with linux pre-installed at a reduced price, linux isn't any more free than MS. If I have to build a PC myself to save the money, that's not going to fly with the masses either.
Sorry if this sounds harsh. I'd love to see linux take off but I don't see it happening in the near future. Look at the Apple Air Book. It costs more. Maybe price isn't the deciding factor.
1. O.K. I believe in global warming now. I heard a lot of dissenting evidence but it appears to be tainted.
2. Video Games do affect behavior in many children. Studies and family members in the field of education with years of observational experience have made me switch my opinion. I'm still not a big fan of government intervention on the subject, though.
3. Linux is ready for the desktop thanks to the EeePC. In fact, much of open source appears to be ready to eliminate the needs or even desire for a commercial alternative. Linux, OpenOffice, Firefox. I no longer feel like I'm having to settle for second rate in order to save money. I'd actually choose them even if the alternatives were free.
4. Slashdot is moderated largely by hypocritical children who will mod up popular opinion and mod down unpopular posts regardless of accuracy. I predict the slow demise of Slashdot as the comments area, a once fertile land of discussion and intelligent observation becomes a members only arena linux/mac fanboys and video gamers who can't envision anyone else's opinion being right other than theirs. It will be a place where where speaking ill of religion, republicans or windows will be given an automatic +2 informative while speaking ill social web sites, video games, or modding practices will be an auto -2 troll.
All four are great discoveries and lifestyle changes for me.
Happy New Year.
You know, you are the first person to make me realize that the RIAA is really SCO. Same business model, same MO. Why didn't I see it before?
Hey JD. They aren't ALL starving and unless you want to spend the rest of eternity buying them fish, you might want to consider a plan to teach them HOW to fish.
Seems to me there is enough wealth and good will to do both without trying to make the other sound foolish for trying.
Sadly or eidos (heh, heh), the news of the firing will ensure that everyone knows the game sucks. Had it not been for the firing and this subsequent article, I would merely have assumed as much based on the title.
Wow! I just posted something similar to this a couple of days ago on the Jack Thompson thread and got -6 troll. (http://politics.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=371823&cid=21499417)
What's your secret?
and
I link to sites reporting that it does damage.
You respond that it does damage in "earlier years" or that it does the "same damage as other violent forms of media". You didn't counter anything, you've just agreed with me.
Again, the saddest statement here has nothing to do with the facts, you state a popular side of the story and are modded up, I state an unpopular (but founded) side and I am a troll. I'm on topic and backing up my statements with sources. You don't have to agree but reaction around here is pretty sickening and shows that we are not open to discussion on the subject. When that happens good things rarely follow.
I think the next Jack Thompson could have a very dramatic impact on the industry.
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/16099971/
Researchers at the Indiana University School of Medicine say that brain scans of kids who played a violent video game showed an increase in emotional arousal - and a corresponding decrease of activity in brain areas involved in self-control, inhibition and attention.
http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/articles/20070124/Feature1.asp
Despite what these readers say, many scientific studies clearly show that violent video games make kids more likely to yell, push, and punch, says Brad Bushman. He's a psychologist at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Bushman and his colleagues recently reviewed more than 300 studies of video media effects. Across the board, he says, the message is clear. "We included every single study we could find on the topic," Bushman says. "Regardless of what kids say, violent video games are harmful."
http://www.schillerinstitute.org/new_viol/videos_brain.html Recently released medical studies indicate that violent video games damage the brain, possibly permanently.
It's funny how this much evidence proves global warming but the link between violent video games and violent behavior is still a myth.
I think the saddest thing here is that the above comment got a 5 for insightful when the facts seem to clearly contradict the statement. Is it because we like video games that we ignore the facts and promote the fiction?
Fortunately, selective enforcement of the law has never had any serious drawbacks.
Every time we do something stupid that takes away another piece of our freedom, the terrorists win another victory. I don't know how many more battles we can lose before the whole war is lost but it can't be much more. The sad thing is that so many people are blind to this or just don't care. Perhaps that is what makes the defeat all the more imminent.
It might have been twice the price, it might have been 50% more it might have been the same price it was at launch. Whatever it would have been, it would have been determined by the Marketing department (or Sales) and ultimately us as to the price of the HD-DVD 360, not the manufacturing department.
For all of the RIAA/MPAA rants about standing up to the industry, it really amazes me that we forget (or don't get) this.
So where is the paypal account? I'll contribute $1 to help this lady out and, perhaps, make a statement to the RIAA (@#!&*) and that (@%$#!) Judge that this is unacceptable. I keep hearing that the RIAA, MPAA, and our government doesn't realize that they are alienating a vast constituency, possibly the majority, with these actions and these laws. Perhaps now is the time they find out and clearly money is the only thing that talks in this country any more.
As for their music? I don't need to steal it, pirate it or buy it. I can just do without it and I will. They will never see another dime from me.
not only was the victim attacked, but the community was as well, hence the additional penalty of committing the crime.
Unfortunately, what we seem to have lost sight of is that murder is the ultimate crime. That should be as bad as it gets (in terms of punishment). Now it seems like murder is bad but threatening the community, now you've gone too far. Actually, the murder part was too far. After that, nothing else matters.
...perhaps Jack Thompson is a tool to hype up a game. I wouldn't put it past any of the current crop of publishers to do this. I remember the heavy metal bands of the 80s and their supposed affiliation with satan drumming up publicity..
and yes, I did just indirectly compare Jack Thompson to satan.
This will be news when someone who isn't employed or funded by MS makes this statement. Until then, it's just more marketing crap that doesn't really belong on /.
I mean really, this story is almost troll-worthy. What did they expect when they post this up here? "OMG he's right. Now we no longer need *nix to feel secure. The war is over!"
phbt!
PICO!
For one thing, it's the fastest way to end a vi vs emacs argument. I've never seen two warring parties unite against an aspiring geek so fast.
Don't blame apple fans. Look, if Windows had 95% of the market share you'd be reading about this kind of thing all the ti...
oh damn.