{Complaint}It the past 6 months are so I have been recieving about 200% more spam. I get to work in the morning and delete 90% of my e-mail becasue its spam. Out of every 200-300 e-mails I recieve, I actual only care about 10-20 of them, the rest is spam.{/Complaint}
The problem is that nobody can find a reasonable solution. Here are some examples of common solutions: 1."Make spam illegal out right." Problem: OK, this is a bit extreme. Even if you did manage to do that, companies from outside the US or companies/people can hide where the e-mails are coming from, good luck catching them.
2."Charge for e-mails." Problem: The people that want that are the post office folks. I seriously doubt anybody would sit back and allow this. Just thinking about pisses me off.
3."Find the people that send spam and destroy them." Problem: OK, this is my personal favorite. But, the goverment already made that illegal. It's like the saying goes: "Some people are alive simply because it is illegal to kill them." BTW, all of you peeps out there that are going to yell at me for suggesting something like that: RELAX, IT WAS A JOKE!!! Have a sense of humor for goodness sake.
High speed internet access will not truly be cheap until it is considered a utility instead of a commodity. Until then, people will be making wads of cash selling it to people, and that is the way it should be. Once it turns into a utility, you will see a lot more gov control over it.
So, you have to ask yourself: Would you rather have cheap Internet service or an uncontrolled Internet?
Something we all have to learn is that you cannot eat your cake and have it too.
Too often their attacks are aimed at unprepared, defenceless servers which were improperly secured by clumsy administrators.
Now if we can just get those admins that are clumsy, to admit to it and force them to read the book.
But seriously, I am glad that books like this are being printed, it makes it that much harder for crackers to play immature -and sometimes harmful- pranks and give the rest of us bad names.
If Reed is right, nearly a century of government policy on how to best administer the airwaves needs to be reconfigured, from the bottom up.
Based on the power that Television companies hold, does anybody really think this is going to happen? We have a hard enough time with the record labels, now they want to go up against people like NBC?
Great idea. Unfortunatly, it would never happen without serious reform within the Gov itself.
Not that I don't like making waves, but one step at a time.
The object of the plan is not to make money. The object is to get noticed by people that can make the money.
If the big labels found a small group they thought was good, the big guys could bring the little ones under their wing. Everbody (if done correctly) profits.
If I am reading this correctly, they have made a 3D OS. Does anybody else here feel that, we (as a community) are putting way to much emphasis on the those two little characters 3 and D?
Couldn't we be spending our time trying to figure out how to make an easier to use, less complex OS? Something that isn't scary to people who have no idea how to use computers. Perhaps then we would see what a computer revolution would be all about.
Or maybe we could spend the time figuring out how to make computers more secure, so people wouldn't be afraid to put private info on it. Thus making it so that people are more likely to use them for everyday purposes.
But, no we decide we want to go 3D.
Makes you think, does the geek community really want computers to be used by everyone? Or do that want something only they themselves can understand?
Don't mod me down because you dissagree, if you disagree make a good argument about it.
Actually, starting an underground label is easier than most people think.
The key is to have a good network of people to advertise to already set up. (*cough*Slashdot*hack*)
The only other problem with something like that is that the underground seen wouldn't get them much money. But, it would make them better known, thus attracting bigger companies to them.
Like I said, it's do-able for somebody with an awesome (in the old sense of the word) amount of drive to get it done.
Original Caption Released with Image:
This shaded relief image of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula show a subtle, but unmistakable, indication of the Chicxulub impact crater. Most scientists now agree that this impact was the cause of the Cretatious-Tertiary Extinction, the event 65 million years ago that marked the sudden extinction of the dinosaurs as well as the majority of life then on Earth.
Most of the peninsula is visible here, along with the island of Cozumel off the east coast. The Yucatan is a plateau composed mostly of limestone and is an area of very low relief with elevations varying by less than a few hundred meters (about 500 feet.) In this computer-enhanced image the topography has been greatly exaggerated to highlight a semicircular trough, the darker green arcing line at the upper left corner of the peninsula. This trough is only about 3 to 5 meters (10 to 15 feet) deep and is about 5 km. wide (3 miles), so subtle that if you walked across it you probably would not notice it, and is a surface expression of the crater's outer boundary. Scientists believe the impact, which was centered just off the coast in the Caribbean, altered the subsurface rocks such that the overlying limestone sediments, which formed later and erode very easily, would preferentially erode on the vicinity of the crater rim. This formed the trough as well as numerous sinkholes (called cenotes) which are visible as small circular depressions.
Two visualization methods were combined to produce the image: shading and color coding of topographic height. The shade image was derived by computing topographic slope in the northwest-southeast direction, so that northwestern slopes appear bright and southeastern slopes appear dark. Color coding is directly related to topographic height, with green at the lower elevations, rising through yellow and tan, to white at the highest elevations.
Elevation data used in this image were acquired by the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour, launched on Feb. 11, 2000. SRTM used the same radar instrument that comprised the Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C/X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR) that flew twice on the Space Shuttle Endeavour in 1994. SRTM was designed to collect 3-D measurements of the Earth's surface. To collect the 3-D data, engineers added a 60-meter (approximately 200-foot) mast, installed additional C-band and X-band antennas, and improved tracking and navigation devices. The mission is a cooperative project between NASA, the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) of the U.S. Department of Defense and the German and Italian space agencies. It is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., for NASA's Earth Science Enterprise, Washington, D.C.
SAN FRANCISCO, March 10 -- Mitchell D. Kapor, a personal computer industry software pioneer and a civil liberties activist, has resigned from the board of Groove Networks after learning that the company's software was being used by the Pentagon as part of its development of a domestic surveillance system.
Mr. Kapor would say publicly only that it was a "delicate subject" and that he had resigned to pursue his interests in open source software.
The company acknowledged the resignation last week when it announced that it had received $38 million in additional financing.
"Mr. Kapor resigned from the board to focus 100 percent of his time on nonprofit activities," said a spokesman for Groove Networks, whose software has been used to permit intelligence analysts and law enforcement officials to share data in tests of the surveillance system, Total Information Awareness.
However, a person close to Mr. Kapor said that he was uncomfortable with the fact that Groove Networks' desktop collaboration software was a crucial component of the antiterrorist surveillance software being tested at the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency's Information Awareness Office, an office directed by Vice Adm. John M. Poindexter.
The project has generated controversy since it was started early last year by Admiral Poindexter, the former national security adviser for President Ronald Reagan, whose felony conviction as part of the Iran-contra scandal was reversed because of a Congressional grant of immunity.
The project has been trying to build a prototype computer system that would permit the scanning of hundreds or thousands of databases to look for information patterns that might alert the authorities to the activities of potential terrorists.
Civil liberties activists have argued that such a system, if deployed, could easily be misused in ways that would undercut traditional American privacy values.
"Mitch cares very much about the social impact of technology," said Shari Steele, executive director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a civil liberties group that was co-founded by Mr. Kapor in 1990.
"It's the reason he founded E.F.F.," she said.
Several privacy and security experts said that Mr. Kapor's decision was significant and was indicative of the kinds of clashes between security and privacy that could become increasingly common.
"With the dramatic change of funding availability in the high-tech sector, it's become difficult for companies to turn down the funding opportunities presented by the federal government," said Marc Rotenberg, director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington. "It does show that some people in the high-tech community, including some of the founders, are not happy with what's happening."
The debate echoes an earlier one that placed scientists at odds with advancing technologies. The war on terror is raising ever more difficult civil liberties issues.
"Computer scientists are going to have the same kinds of battles that physicists did amidst the fallout of Hiroshima and Nagasaki," said Michael Schrage, a senior adviser to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Security Studies Program.
On Feb. 11, House and Senate negotiators agreed that the Total Information Awareness project could not be used against Americans. Congress also agreed to restrict additional research on the program without extensive consultation with Congress.
Congressional negotiators gave the Defense Department 90 days to provide a report to Congress detailing its costs, impact on privacy and civil liberties and likelihood of success against terrorists. All further research on the project would have to stop immediately if the report is not filed by the deadline.
But President Bush can keep the research alive by certifying to Congress that a halt "would endanger the national security of the United States."
(Hope)This may actually be the first step to going completly open source (/Hope)
But, I doubt it.
Re:The truly sad thing is,
on
Half Mast
·
· Score: 0
I am going to have to disagree with you. I was considered the geekeist geek in highschool.
I still believe that you should be nice to everyone, have respect for other people, and just try to get along
I am now very successful, am liked by my co-workers, and even some of the people that used to pick on me in high-school now call me to hang out.
If the person who hurt me the most in highschool called me today and wanted to hang out, I would do it in a hearbeat. Not because I want acceptance, but holding gruges is what truly holds one back from succeeding.
To quote the great comedian, George Carlin, "If you want to know what a moronic word lifestyle is, just keep in mind that, in a technical sense, Atilla the Hun had an active outdoor lifestlye."
All that really matters is that you can look at yourself and say "I had fun and I didn't hurt anybody."
I think that it is more important to be able to say "I had fun and I didn't get any STD's" though, not hurting anybody is a close second.
Perhaps a book like this would work well in the classrooms. I think that a big problem with the system today is that there are not of 'interesting' subjects. I think I would have gotten grades better than C's in highschool if I actually cared about chemistry.
Ya, know. I am kinda sick and tired of people from the music industry complaining about the rampant copying of music over the internet. I think that if they had any intelligence they would use this to their advantage. Like promoting up and coming stars and reinforcing old ones.
First, they have to realize that they cannot stop it. So, why don't they use it to make money? I think places like MP3.com have the right idea. Give the person a healthy sample of the music and that would encourage them to buy more. Instead of embracing the internet, the music industry is afraid of it and that is only going to hurt them.
Your use of the word 'was' is somewhat disturbing. The use of text based MUDs is still very alive and very kicking, plus it has a number of advantages over your silly graphics. 1. Everythin looks the way I think it should look. 2. People on MUDs seem to be more involved with helping one another and enjoying the game as a community. Versus your version where people seem to play to see who can come up with the best scam. 3. The majority of the reason for this discussion: lag. Yes, on-line lag happens even with text based games. But, I promise you that it is only momentary and doesn't happen often enough to become a nuisance. (Sometimes I even enjoy the break) 4. With experience comes wisdom. Text based games have probably been around longer than you have, they have had more time to develop and grow.
Personally I am afraid of the day that graphics will be indistinguishable from real life, then people like you will have no reason to leave it and gain other real life skills; such as conversing without using the words 'shit' or 'fuck'.
I somehow think you are missing a bit of the point. Today's graphic on-line universes are being plagued by players who are destroying the world. The reason (in my opinion) being the designers are concentrating too much on the coolest graphics and not enough on the consequences of cheating and the like. So, the designers should look to the MUDs on how to run a community instead of a free for all deathmatch.
But that is just my opinion, I could be wrong.
Don't get me wrong, I will admit I did enjoy playing some of the Zelda series and I will concede that FF7 wasn't exactly the pinnacle of the series (I will stand beside FF8 though). (I hated every one of the RE series)
It seems to me that Nintendo isn't using Link and Mario as a flagship, but more of a crutch. I think Nintendo's problem is that they seem very narrow minded in everything they do. They will never be the best at what they do... they will only be second or third best unless they broaden their horizen.
But thats just my opinion, I could be wrong.
That is not the point. The point is that Nintendo cannot continue to rely one just one or two games. (no matter how good they are) Americans love change, plot twists, new things. I am starting to get real sick of Mario's huge mustache and Link's stupid pointy hat. Of course that's just my opion, I could be wrong. (P.S. I am afraid that any one of the FF series is far better than anything Link has done thus far.)
You know, (as an avid gamer) it suprises me that Nintendo and Sega have been able to keep their head above water.
As a matter of fact after Sega's sad attempt with the Dreamcast, I thought for sure they would find themselves up that well known tributary without the proper means of conveyence.
While it doesn't come as a total shock that Nintendo is still alive, I do find myself wondering how long Mario will hold them. It seems to me that since the N64 they have been fighting an uphill battle with no real weapons. I think that with this generation of Nintendo, the only saving grace is that they are a full $100 cheaper than the competition.
Of course that is just my opinion, I could be wrong.
First off, I would like to say that I despise spam. I hate it in the worst way. But, to do something like "ban Asia" is a bit of an overkill.
Part of what makes the internet great is the ability to ignore what you don't like. Is it really such a big deal to simply hit the delete button?
The people who say they don't want any gov. interference with the internet are the same ones that want spam laws made. Is it just me or is that a bit of an oxymoron?
Of course that is just my opinion, I could be wrong.
Slashdot Mirror
{Complaint}It the past 6 months are so I have been recieving about 200% more spam. I get to work in the morning and delete 90% of my e-mail becasue its spam. Out of every 200-300 e-mails I recieve, I actual only care about 10-20 of them, the rest is spam.{/Complaint}
The problem is that nobody can find a reasonable solution. Here are some examples of common solutions:
1."Make spam illegal out right."
Problem: OK, this is a bit extreme. Even if you did manage to do that, companies from outside the US or companies/people can hide where the e-mails are coming from, good luck catching them.
2."Charge for e-mails."
Problem: The people that want that are the post office folks. I seriously doubt anybody would sit back and allow this. Just thinking about pisses me off.
3."Find the people that send spam and destroy them."
Problem: OK, this is my personal favorite. But, the goverment already made that illegal. It's like the saying goes: "Some people are alive simply because it is illegal to kill them." BTW, all of you peeps out there that are going to yell at me for suggesting something like that: RELAX, IT WAS A JOKE!!! Have a sense of humor for goodness sake.
That's just my opinion,
SirLantos
High speed internet access will not truly be cheap until it is considered a utility instead of a commodity. Until then, people will be making wads of cash selling it to people, and that is the way it should be. Once it turns into a utility, you will see a lot more gov control over it.
So, you have to ask yourself: Would you rather have cheap Internet service or an uncontrolled Internet?
Something we all have to learn is that you cannot eat your cake and have it too.
Thats just my humble opinion,
SirLantos
Of course Microsoft will do everything in its power to find a loop hole or get the decision overturned.
I wonder if MS was hoping that nobody would notice they did the same thing with Media Player that they did is MSIE.
I could see a conversation between a consumer and MS now:
Consumer: "Hey! You guys are shoving Media Player down my throat."
MS: "Media player? What Media Player?"
Consumer:"Oh, come on! You didn't actually think nobody would notice did you?"
*MS waves hand in front of consumers face*
MS:"There is no Media Player."
Consumer:"There is no media player."
MS:"You don't want any plugins."
Consumer:"I don't want any plugins."
MS:"Move along."
Consumer:"Move alone. Move along."
Too often their attacks are aimed at unprepared, defenceless servers which were improperly secured by clumsy administrators.
Now if we can just get those admins that are clumsy, to admit to it and force them to read the book.
But seriously, I am glad that books like this are being printed, it makes it that much harder for crackers to play immature -and sometimes harmful- pranks and give the rest of us bad names.
Just my humble opinion,
SirLantos
If Reed is right, nearly a century of government policy on how to best administer the airwaves needs to be reconfigured, from the bottom up.
Based on the power that Television companies hold, does anybody really think this is going to happen? We have a hard enough time with the record labels, now they want to go up against people like NBC?
Great idea. Unfortunatly, it would never happen without serious reform within the Gov itself.
Not that I don't like making waves, but one step at a time.
Just my humble opinion,
SirLantos
The object of the plan is not to make money. The object is to get noticed by people that can make the money.
If the big labels found a small group they thought was good, the big guys could bring the little ones under their wing. Everbody (if done correctly) profits.
So, pirating wouldn't always be a bad thing.
Just my humble opinion,
SirLantos
If I am reading this correctly, they have made a 3D OS. Does anybody else here feel that, we (as a community) are putting way to much emphasis on the those two little characters 3 and D?
Couldn't we be spending our time trying to figure out how to make an easier to use, less complex OS? Something that isn't scary to people who have no idea how to use computers. Perhaps then we would see what a computer revolution would be all about.
Or maybe we could spend the time figuring out how to make computers more secure, so people wouldn't be afraid to put private info on it. Thus making it so that people are more likely to use them for everyday purposes.
But, no we decide we want to go 3D.
Makes you think, does the geek community really want computers to be used by everyone? Or do that want something only they themselves can understand?
Don't mod me down because you dissagree, if you disagree make a good argument about it.
Just my humble opinion,
SirLantos
Actually, starting an underground label is easier than most people think.
The key is to have a good network of people to advertise to already set up. (*cough*Slashdot*hack*)
The only other problem with something like that is that the underground seen wouldn't get them much money. But, it would make them better known, thus attracting bigger companies to them.
Like I said, it's do-able for somebody with an awesome (in the old sense of the word) amount of drive to get it done.
Just my humble opinion,
SirLantos
Original Caption Released with Image: This shaded relief image of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula show a subtle, but unmistakable, indication of the Chicxulub impact crater. Most scientists now agree that this impact was the cause of the Cretatious-Tertiary Extinction, the event 65 million years ago that marked the sudden extinction of the dinosaurs as well as the majority of life then on Earth.
Most of the peninsula is visible here, along with the island of Cozumel off the east coast. The Yucatan is a plateau composed mostly of limestone and is an area of very low relief with elevations varying by less than a few hundred meters (about 500 feet.) In this computer-enhanced image the topography has been greatly exaggerated to highlight a semicircular trough, the darker green arcing line at the upper left corner of the peninsula. This trough is only about 3 to 5 meters (10 to 15 feet) deep and is about 5 km. wide (3 miles), so subtle that if you walked across it you probably would not notice it, and is a surface expression of the crater's outer boundary. Scientists believe the impact, which was centered just off the coast in the Caribbean, altered the subsurface rocks such that the overlying limestone sediments, which formed later and erode very easily, would preferentially erode on the vicinity of the crater rim. This formed the trough as well as numerous sinkholes (called cenotes) which are visible as small circular depressions.
Two visualization methods were combined to produce the image: shading and color coding of topographic height. The shade image was derived by computing topographic slope in the northwest-southeast direction, so that northwestern slopes appear bright and southeastern slopes appear dark. Color coding is directly related to topographic height, with green at the lower elevations, rising through yellow and tan, to white at the highest elevations.
Elevation data used in this image were acquired by the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour, launched on Feb. 11, 2000. SRTM used the same radar instrument that comprised the Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C/X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR) that flew twice on the Space Shuttle Endeavour in 1994. SRTM was designed to collect 3-D measurements of the Earth's surface. To collect the 3-D data, engineers added a 60-meter (approximately 200-foot) mast, installed additional C-band and X-band antennas, and improved tracking and navigation devices. The mission is a cooperative project between NASA, the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) of the U.S. Department of Defense and the German and Italian space agencies. It is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., for NASA's Earth Science Enterprise, Washington, D.C.
SAN FRANCISCO, March 10 -- Mitchell D. Kapor, a personal computer industry software pioneer and a civil liberties activist, has resigned from the board of Groove Networks after learning that the company's software was being used by the Pentagon as part of its development of a domestic surveillance system.
Mr. Kapor would say publicly only that it was a "delicate subject" and that he had resigned to pursue his interests in open source software.
The company acknowledged the resignation last week when it announced that it had received $38 million in additional financing.
"Mr. Kapor resigned from the board to focus 100 percent of his time on nonprofit activities," said a spokesman for Groove Networks, whose software has been used to permit intelligence analysts and law enforcement officials to share data in tests of the surveillance system, Total Information Awareness.
However, a person close to Mr. Kapor said that he was uncomfortable with the fact that Groove Networks' desktop collaboration software was a crucial component of the antiterrorist surveillance software being tested at the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency's Information Awareness Office, an office directed by Vice Adm. John M. Poindexter.
The project has generated controversy since it was started early last year by Admiral Poindexter, the former national security adviser for President Ronald Reagan, whose felony conviction as part of the Iran-contra scandal was reversed because of a Congressional grant of immunity.
The project has been trying to build a prototype computer system that would permit the scanning of hundreds or thousands of databases to look for information patterns that might alert the authorities to the activities of potential terrorists.
Civil liberties activists have argued that such a system, if deployed, could easily be misused in ways that would undercut traditional American privacy values.
"Mitch cares very much about the social impact of technology," said Shari Steele, executive director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a civil liberties group that was co-founded by Mr. Kapor in 1990.
"It's the reason he founded E.F.F.," she said.
Several privacy and security experts said that Mr. Kapor's decision was significant and was indicative of the kinds of clashes between security and privacy that could become increasingly common.
"With the dramatic change of funding availability in the high-tech sector, it's become difficult for companies to turn down the funding opportunities presented by the federal government," said Marc Rotenberg, director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington. "It does show that some people in the high-tech community, including some of the founders, are not happy with what's happening."
The debate echoes an earlier one that placed scientists at odds with advancing technologies. The war on terror is raising ever more difficult civil liberties issues.
"Computer scientists are going to have the same kinds of battles that physicists did amidst the fallout of Hiroshima and Nagasaki," said Michael Schrage, a senior adviser to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Security Studies Program.
On Feb. 11, House and Senate negotiators agreed that the Total Information Awareness project could not be used against Americans. Congress also agreed to restrict additional research on the program without extensive consultation with Congress.
Congressional negotiators gave the Defense Department 90 days to provide a report to Congress detailing its costs, impact on privacy and civil liberties and likelihood of success against terrorists. All further research on the project would have to stop immediately if the report is not filed by the deadline.
But President Bush can keep the research alive by certifying to Congress that a halt "would endanger the national security of the United States."
(Hope)This may actually be the first step to going completly open source (/Hope)
But, I doubt it.
I am going to have to disagree with you. I was considered the geekeist geek in highschool.
I still believe that you should be nice to everyone, have respect for other people, and just try to get along
I am now very successful, am liked by my co-workers, and even some of the people that used to pick on me in high-school now call me to hang out. If the person who hurt me the most in highschool called me today and wanted to hang out, I would do it in a hearbeat. Not because I want acceptance, but holding gruges is what truly holds one back from succeeding.
Just my $0.02,
SirLantos
To quote the great comedian, George Carlin, "If you want to know what a moronic word lifestyle is, just keep in mind that, in a technical sense, Atilla the Hun had an active outdoor lifestlye."
All that really matters is that you can look at yourself and say "I had fun and I didn't hurt anybody."
I think that it is more important to be able to say "I had fun and I didn't get any STD's" though, not hurting anybody is a close second.
Perhaps a book like this would work well in the classrooms. I think that a big problem with the system today is that there are not of 'interesting' subjects. I think I would have gotten grades better than C's in highschool if I actually cared about chemistry.
Ok, now I guess it is time for the tv industry to complain as much as the music industr has been about copied shows with out commercials.
is, do you really think that sombody who could afford this is actually any good at Wolfenstien?
Ya, know. I am kinda sick and tired of people from the music industry complaining about the rampant copying of music over the internet. I think that if they had any intelligence they would use this to their advantage. Like promoting up and coming stars and reinforcing old ones. First, they have to realize that they cannot stop it. So, why don't they use it to make money? I think places like MP3.com have the right idea. Give the person a healthy sample of the music and that would encourage them to buy more. Instead of embracing the internet, the music industry is afraid of it and that is only going to hurt them.
Your use of the word 'was' is somewhat disturbing. The use of text based MUDs is still very alive and very kicking, plus it has a number of advantages over your silly graphics. 1. Everythin looks the way I think it should look.
2. People on MUDs seem to be more involved with helping one another and enjoying the game as a community. Versus your version where people seem to play to see who can come up with the best scam.
3. The majority of the reason for this discussion: lag. Yes, on-line lag happens even with text based games. But, I promise you that it is only momentary and doesn't happen often enough to become a nuisance. (Sometimes I even enjoy the break)
4. With experience comes wisdom. Text based games have probably been around longer than you have, they have had more time to develop and grow.
Personally I am afraid of the day that graphics will be indistinguishable from real life, then people like you will have no reason to leave it and gain other real life skills; such as conversing without using the words 'shit' or 'fuck'.
But thats just my opinion, I could be wrong.
I somehow think you are missing a bit of the point. Today's graphic on-line universes are being plagued by players who are destroying the world. The reason (in my opinion) being the designers are concentrating too much on the coolest graphics and not enough on the consequences of cheating and the like. So, the designers should look to the MUDs on how to run a community instead of a free for all deathmatch. But that is just my opinion, I could be wrong.
Don't get me wrong, I will admit I did enjoy playing some of the Zelda series and I will concede that FF7 wasn't exactly the pinnacle of the series (I will stand beside FF8 though). (I hated every one of the RE series) It seems to me that Nintendo isn't using Link and Mario as a flagship, but more of a crutch. I think Nintendo's problem is that they seem very narrow minded in everything they do. They will never be the best at what they do... they will only be second or third best unless they broaden their horizen. But thats just my opinion, I could be wrong.
That is not the point. The point is that Nintendo cannot continue to rely one just one or two games. (no matter how good they are) Americans love change, plot twists, new things. I am starting to get real sick of Mario's huge mustache and Link's stupid pointy hat. Of course that's just my opion, I could be wrong. (P.S. I am afraid that any one of the FF series is far better than anything Link has done thus far.)
You know, (as an avid gamer) it suprises me that Nintendo and Sega have been able to keep their head above water. As a matter of fact after Sega's sad attempt with the Dreamcast, I thought for sure they would find themselves up that well known tributary without the proper means of conveyence. While it doesn't come as a total shock that Nintendo is still alive, I do find myself wondering how long Mario will hold them. It seems to me that since the N64 they have been fighting an uphill battle with no real weapons. I think that with this generation of Nintendo, the only saving grace is that they are a full $100 cheaper than the competition. Of course that is just my opinion, I could be wrong.
First off, I would like to say that I despise spam. I hate it in the worst way. But, to do something like "ban Asia" is a bit of an overkill. Part of what makes the internet great is the ability to ignore what you don't like. Is it really such a big deal to simply hit the delete button? The people who say they don't want any gov. interference with the internet are the same ones that want spam laws made. Is it just me or is that a bit of an oxymoron? Of course that is just my opinion, I could be wrong.
Not only do we have internet access, but actual programmers too p.s. We only pay in pelts occasionally, usually we use tanned hides.