When a person or company sells something for alot less than its worth, its called stupidity and stupid people deserve what they get.
Actually, it's called dumping, and it's illegal in some counries...like the US for instance, who are constantly accusing other countries of dumping. Double standards.
Or, to draw an analogy...just suppose Standard Oil (MS) made a deal with General Motors (NVidia, etc) to build and supply a nice new model T car to the public. General Motors builds the car and sells it on to Standard Oil, who sell it on to the consumers at a mild loss. They engineer the loss to just underccut their toughest competitors, and fine tune that margin every six months or so as their competitors find ways to make their cars cheaper.
That's a bad business plan however (cause their not making money), so Standard Oil engineer the car so it only runs on their fuel, and any other fuel will choke it up and destroy the engine. They then sell that fuel on at a huge margin because it's the only fuel that can run in these cars. People buy the car because they see it is perhaps 10% cheaper than competing cars, but fail to notice the jacked up oil/fuel prices until after the purchase. Whew, starting to stink of monopoly now isn't it.
Some clever young engineers reverse engineer the "fuel-sodomiser" (TM) and create a replacement part which allows the car to utilise any oil companies petrol/oil. Now, you might think that's just fair play, it's your car and you can fill it up with whatever fuel you like and get it washed and serviced where you like. Standard Oil have a different concept. You got the car at a bit of a discount so they feel entitled to screw you over for the entire lifetime of the vehicle - and anybody you may sell it on to is likewise going to get screwed.
No court in the world would even think of charging you with criminal actions for replacing the fuel pump in *your* car with a cheap japanese/korean import. They wouldn't blink twice as you fitted a huge new carburator, or new mufflers from third party vendors. Nor would they convict you for switching from oil fuels to LPG. Why do they think we shouldn't have those same rights with our games consoles?
Silent and reasonably fast too. I benchmarked it serving up static web pages yesterday and it pulled 850 pages / second. That's nothing to be sniffed at. An attempt to FTP 20GB of data across showed it transferring 10MB/sec which is the total speed available from my 100mbit switch! I'm just now working on getting Mono and some other cool software on it to use it as a kick-ass server platform for fuck all cash.
I put an office carpet tile inside mine to reduce the noise levels to the point where I can happily sleep next to it and only hear a very very light amount of fan noise and occassional hard drive activity. Since the machine is my firewall and router and is in the lounge it needed to be super quiet - thus, it is a Pentium 90 with a cheap low speed drive and only 1 quiet fan. Bliss.
The EPIA can do the job but they're going to sound lousy since they only have dirt cheap onboard sound. He still needs an amp in each room to drive it or amplified speakers. Amplified speakers also usually sound like crap. All in all, it's going to be pretty expensive to deliver decent audio quality to six rooms simultaneously.
Something like a Layla will get you 4 stereo channels (8 mono) Layla There are other products out there that will do even more. They are project studio grade and sound terrific but are a bit pricey.
It speaks volumes that the original guy posted with his details available for all to see and you posted as an anonymous coward. I agree with mpost4 since I don't listen to radio (too many fucking ads, it sux0r!) and I don't watch TV (too damn shit, not worth paying the TV license for), and I don't read most magazines (crap, 65% ads, 25% fatuous celebrity shit, 10% editorial that is already out of date), and I no longer live in a country with old friends who have the same tastes (great way to glom onto new music), so peer to peer is the only way for me sample new stuff. And yes, there are people out there who will download tracks, listen for a while (a couple of months is typically what I need to know if I like something) and then hand over cash to the artist. Just because *you* won't doesn't mean others don't.
That's the problem with these corporate criminals, they're always trying to get some decent PR out of an event. Time to lean on the words of Shakespeare "That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain.
At least I am sure it may be so in Denmark.". Apparently it's also so in Utah.
They already do sell it piecemeal in the form of singles sales and radio broadcasts. All they are saying here is that they want more profit on these sales. A single sells for about £4 ($6 USD) where I'm at so selling them for only 99 cents is going to dent their profit margins.
These people aren't producing concept albums anymore, they are producing trashy, repetitive, lowest common denominator, pop music. They need to sell it as a bundle to keep the profit margins high. It's like when you get a bundle of 4 "gold star" games, where there's 1 decent game you want and 3 bits of rubbish which they use to pad out the deal so you won't sniff at having to pay £20 for essentially outdated software.
Doh, yes, apparently Half-Life was a Quake engine licensee. I seem to recall reading that they heaviliy modified the engine however...but that could simply be the second time I'm wrong today (and I've only been awake an hour);->
Since you purchased your game and registered yourself with the BattleNet servers and because these servers are maintained by exclusively by Blizzard you should have been able to email them with your problem and get your account working again. Unless they caught you using a cheat on your games they would be able to re-instate your profile. That's the advantage to *you* of having registered, the advantage for them is to collect some useful profile information to help them determine what their market demographics look like. This helps them target future titles towards the demographic who are known to currently purchase their titles.
I'm the first person to opt-out of any profiling, *except* when it is by a company that I feel I can trust won't abuse my information by selling it on or direct marketing to me. Blizzard is one of those companies that I feel I can trust since they have consistently produced the best games in the genres (IMHO, yours may differ), have innovated, and have provided high quality, always on, high bandwidth BattleNet servers.
Alot of people would say Halflife looks nothing like Quake. Both are FPS but people dont consider those two games the same.
These games are based on two different engines and they don't share code. But aside from that, they do look different and much of it appears to me to be the texture maps they have used. I can usually spot a game based on the Helf-Life engine because it has a certain "look".
Vendors have had it really good for a long time now and are unwilling to re-evaluate their position in terms of the new software development models emerging. In other words:
In the early days of computing it was a highly specialiased art with few practitioners, and those in the hands of hard nosed businesses. Companies like Unisys and IBM would develop software without releasing the code or IP to the company that paid for this, thus causing vendor lock-in. This benefitted the vendors, but was less great for the companies who were now locked in.
Times have changed, and now many companies insist on keeping the IP for any bespoke development, or at least having the code in escrow. Escrow can protect them from the company going bust but often doesn't protect against the development company (who has an effective lock-in until they chapter 11) from "bleeding" their client dry on updates and support.
Software development is more commoditised now, and their are more available vendors who are willing to work under terms that are fairer for the person paying the cheque. This is leading to a greater expectation that people who pay for development will retain rights to the code.
The next logical step for this process is being spearheaded by the government, whose needs are different to that of most businesses. The govenment does not compete with businesses and has a greater need for openess than many proprietry businesses. The government is funded and staffed by us, for us, the people, and all products of the government should be able to directly benefit all the people - not the shameless few who rule the top 100 computer companies, but everyone - because we all took a part in the cost of developing the software. Open Source guarantees that everyone who paid for the software (that's the whole taxpaying country) can see the source and benefit from it.
It would be an entirely different matter if the government wanted to mandate this for businesses, but they don't, they only want to do this for themselves.
OTOH it is good for you as a company to GPL the code. If you write bespke software for another company generally speaking the IP will be retained by that company and you are therefore stealing from them if you re-use that software for the basis of another project. If you make it a condition that the code is GPL then you can always build on that base. You only have to give the code to that one customer, and you can build on that code base for other projects. It's a win-win! They have the code so they're not tied to you as a supplier (but will usually prefer to deal with you), you have the code to re-use, and you also got paid for the time to develop;-)
Can you then explain how it is that RedHat, a distro that is the basis for many other distros, can continue to prosper?
Businesses don't just buy the software, they buy the support agreement and the longevity and viability of that software. When given a choice between a free copy of a "RedHat like" distro without support and RedHat with support they will invariably pony up the cash and get the support. Businesses need to know they can support and maintain their systems for the lifetime of that system, that's why Open Source works so well. It's shifted the sale from a model of "You pay for the code, and then you also pay for support" to "you pay for support and service only".
And possibly more importantly, why didn't he use these weapons during the war. The US had him backed into a corner facing an unassailable force, if there was ever a time to use some of those chemicals and weapons it was then. Why didn't we head of soldiers being hosed down with gallons of Sarin or Anthrax?
I'd find it easier to believe he actually had those weapons if he'd used some of them.
I can't count the number of bottles of beer or coke that I have exploded in my freezer because I put them in for a quick "chill down" and forget about them for a day.
It can also be debilitating if you put something on the stove, and then solve that software bug and go to code it and next thing you know. smoke alarm tweeting.
I've personally set the kitchen on fire 3 or 4 times so I'm no stranger to the old "that can cook for a bit while I do *this*" thinking;-)
Re:Please be respectful on this topic
on
Working with ADHD?
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· Score: 1
If you've never told a blonde joke, Irish joke, a joke about disabled people, spastics, foreigners or any other group of people (where the joke is funny just because they are different to you) then you are entitled to your comment. Otherwise, sit back and have a giggle for gods sake man, it's a joke, it's not targetted at you personally, just at people in general. This PC crap has gone too far.
Turning away from the stove to get a can of tomato sauce from the pantry should not result in a person deciding that it's a good time to work on fixing a bug that they found two weeks ago, yet this is the "normal" state of affairs for many people who have ADD.
And here I have spent my entire life thinking this was just normal behaviour and I was just a little eratic because I was a programmer. Maybe I'm just an undiagnosed ADHD? In fact, I'd even say it was a useful way for a programmers mind to be, kinda intuitive in a way and great for getting "the whole picture" before you start on details.
You could always blow away the Lindows install and put distro of choice on it before handing it over to the family. All the good distros cover Tk and Perl.
...and the Pentium II 350 that has been my mail/web/file server for the last five years should also be thrown out...despite the fact it still does everything it ever needed to do. In fact, with RH 9.0 on it I can still have a very nice web browsing and email experience...the 192MB of RAM helps, and Linux being light on memory also helps.
By all accounts these machines would be powerhouses compared to the 486DX66 I used to use for SOHO tasks.
They can do all of that on a 3GB drive if they load it up right. What they can't do is then archive 20GB or MP3s;-) I have some 2GB drives at home which I keep around for the odd task or two. They're great for booting from and getting a small OS running. Anyway, people can always whack in another drive later and just use the small one for booting. Let's face it, for 200USD, you can't really complain.
or you'll simply resent it for the rest of your term of employment. Refer the management drones to "The Mythical Man Month" (IIRC) where it shows how running a team like this will not work. If that doesn't cover it the "Extreme Programming" book should.
I used to work 6 days a week, 10 hours mon-fri and 4-6 on sat. It was a strain, and I didn't even have a girlfriend, and I was working from home so I could wear my pajamas, swim in my pool, and eat at convenient times.
You can probably sustain yourself for 6 days at 10 hours, maybe even 12, but you will burn out for sure if you attempt 7 days.
Tell the retarded management they need to meet you halfway and bulk the team up with contractors. That's what contractors are for. You can hire and fire them lightening fast and if you get the right sort they will provide the wedge you need to force your way through this unreasonable target. You will need to hire this week to really get value from them, and only hire 1 per team leader or you may spend too much time training them.
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Actually, it's called dumping, and it's illegal in some counries...like the US for instance, who are constantly accusing other countries of dumping. Double standards.
That's a bad business plan however (cause their not making money), so Standard Oil engineer the car so it only runs on their fuel, and any other fuel will choke it up and destroy the engine. They then sell that fuel on at a huge margin because it's the only fuel that can run in these cars. People buy the car because they see it is perhaps 10% cheaper than competing cars, but fail to notice the jacked up oil/fuel prices until after the purchase. Whew, starting to stink of monopoly now isn't it.
Some clever young engineers reverse engineer the "fuel-sodomiser" (TM) and create a replacement part which allows the car to utilise any oil companies petrol/oil. Now, you might think that's just fair play, it's your car and you can fill it up with whatever fuel you like and get it washed and serviced where you like. Standard Oil have a different concept. You got the car at a bit of a discount so they feel entitled to screw you over for the entire lifetime of the vehicle - and anybody you may sell it on to is likewise going to get screwed.
No court in the world would even think of charging you with criminal actions for replacing the fuel pump in *your* car with a cheap japanese/korean import. They wouldn't blink twice as you fitted a huge new carburator, or new mufflers from third party vendors. Nor would they convict you for switching from oil fuels to LPG. Why do they think we shouldn't have those same rights with our games consoles?
Silent and reasonably fast too. I benchmarked it serving up static web pages yesterday and it pulled 850 pages / second. That's nothing to be sniffed at. An attempt to FTP 20GB of data across showed it transferring 10MB/sec which is the total speed available from my 100mbit switch! I'm just now working on getting Mono and some other cool software on it to use it as a kick-ass server platform for fuck all cash.
I put an office carpet tile inside mine to reduce the noise levels to the point where I can happily sleep next to it and only hear a very very light amount of fan noise and occassional hard drive activity. Since the machine is my firewall and router and is in the lounge it needed to be super quiet - thus, it is a Pentium 90 with a cheap low speed drive and only 1 quiet fan. Bliss.
That's the character that moves the teletype head back to the start of the line. You are still using typetypes right? :->
The EPIA can do the job but they're going to sound lousy since they only have dirt cheap onboard sound. He still needs an amp in each room to drive it or amplified speakers. Amplified speakers also usually sound like crap. All in all, it's going to be pretty expensive to deliver decent audio quality to six rooms simultaneously.
Something like a Layla will get you 4 stereo channels (8 mono) Layla There are other products out there that will do even more. They are project studio grade and sound terrific but are a bit pricey.
It speaks volumes that the original guy posted with his details available for all to see and you posted as an anonymous coward. I agree with mpost4 since I don't listen to radio (too many fucking ads, it sux0r!) and I don't watch TV (too damn shit, not worth paying the TV license for), and I don't read most magazines (crap, 65% ads, 25% fatuous celebrity shit, 10% editorial that is already out of date), and I no longer live in a country with old friends who have the same tastes (great way to glom onto new music), so peer to peer is the only way for me sample new stuff. And yes, there are people out there who will download tracks, listen for a while (a couple of months is typically what I need to know if I like something) and then hand over cash to the artist. Just because *you* won't doesn't mean others don't.
That's the problem with these corporate criminals, they're always trying to get some decent PR out of an event. Time to lean on the words of Shakespeare "That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain. At least I am sure it may be so in Denmark.". Apparently it's also so in Utah.
These people aren't producing concept albums anymore, they are producing trashy, repetitive, lowest common denominator, pop music. They need to sell it as a bundle to keep the profit margins high. It's like when you get a bundle of 4 "gold star" games, where there's 1 decent game you want and 3 bits of rubbish which they use to pad out the deal so you won't sniff at having to pay £20 for essentially outdated software.
The Linux kernel is over 4,000,000 lines of code now. That's definitely bigger than plenty of other closed source programs.
Doh, yes, apparently Half-Life was a Quake engine licensee. I seem to recall reading that they heaviliy modified the engine however...but that could simply be the second time I'm wrong today (and I've only been awake an hour) ;->
I'm the first person to opt-out of any profiling, *except* when it is by a company that I feel I can trust won't abuse my information by selling it on or direct marketing to me. Blizzard is one of those companies that I feel I can trust since they have consistently produced the best games in the genres (IMHO, yours may differ), have innovated, and have provided high quality, always on, high bandwidth BattleNet servers.
In the early days of computing it was a highly specialiased art with few practitioners, and those in the hands of hard nosed businesses. Companies like Unisys and IBM would develop software without releasing the code or IP to the company that paid for this, thus causing vendor lock-in. This benefitted the vendors, but was less great for the companies who were now locked in.
Times have changed, and now many companies insist on keeping the IP for any bespoke development, or at least having the code in escrow. Escrow can protect them from the company going bust but often doesn't protect against the development company (who has an effective lock-in until they chapter 11) from "bleeding" their client dry on updates and support.
Software development is more commoditised now, and their are more available vendors who are willing to work under terms that are fairer for the person paying the cheque. This is leading to a greater expectation that people who pay for development will retain rights to the code.
The next logical step for this process is being spearheaded by the government, whose needs are different to that of most businesses. The govenment does not compete with businesses and has a greater need for openess than many proprietry businesses. The government is funded and staffed by us, for us, the people, and all products of the government should be able to directly benefit all the people - not the shameless few who rule the top 100 computer companies, but everyone - because we all took a part in the cost of developing the software. Open Source guarantees that everyone who paid for the software (that's the whole taxpaying country) can see the source and benefit from it.
It would be an entirely different matter if the government wanted to mandate this for businesses, but they don't, they only want to do this for themselves.
OTOH it is good for you as a company to GPL the code. If you write bespke software for another company generally speaking the IP will be retained by that company and you are therefore stealing from them if you re-use that software for the basis of another project. If you make it a condition that the code is GPL then you can always build on that base. You only have to give the code to that one customer, and you can build on that code base for other projects. It's a win-win! They have the code so they're not tied to you as a supplier (but will usually prefer to deal with you), you have the code to re-use, and you also got paid for the time to develop ;-)
Businesses don't just buy the software, they buy the support agreement and the longevity and viability of that software. When given a choice between a free copy of a "RedHat like" distro without support and RedHat with support they will invariably pony up the cash and get the support. Businesses need to know they can support and maintain their systems for the lifetime of that system, that's why Open Source works so well. It's shifted the sale from a model of "You pay for the code, and then you also pay for support" to "you pay for support and service only".
And possibly more importantly, why didn't he use these weapons during the war. The US had him backed into a corner facing an unassailable force, if there was ever a time to use some of those chemicals and weapons it was then. Why didn't we head of soldiers being hosed down with gallons of Sarin or Anthrax?
I'd find it easier to believe he actually had those weapons if he'd used some of them.
It can also be debilitating if you put something on the stove, and then solve that software bug and go to code it and next thing you know. smoke alarm tweeting.
I've personally set the kitchen on fire 3 or 4 times so I'm no stranger to the old "that can cook for a bit while I do *this*" thinking ;-)
If you've never told a blonde joke, Irish joke, a joke about disabled people, spastics, foreigners or any other group of people (where the joke is funny just because they are different to you) then you are entitled to your comment. Otherwise, sit back and have a giggle for gods sake man, it's a joke, it's not targetted at you personally, just at people in general. This PC crap has gone too far.
And here I have spent my entire life thinking this was just normal behaviour and I was just a little eratic because I was a programmer. Maybe I'm just an undiagnosed ADHD? In fact, I'd even say it was a useful way for a programmers mind to be, kinda intuitive in a way and great for getting "the whole picture" before you start on details.
You could always blow away the Lindows install and put distro of choice on it before handing it over to the family. All the good distros cover Tk and Perl.
By all accounts these machines would be powerhouses compared to the 486DX66 I used to use for SOHO tasks.
They can do all of that on a 3GB drive if they load it up right. What they can't do is then archive 20GB or MP3s ;-) I have some 2GB drives at home which I keep around for the odd task or two. They're great for booting from and getting a small OS running. Anyway, people can always whack in another drive later and just use the small one for booting. Let's face it, for 200USD, you can't really complain.
I used to work 6 days a week, 10 hours mon-fri and 4-6 on sat. It was a strain, and I didn't even have a girlfriend, and I was working from home so I could wear my pajamas, swim in my pool, and eat at convenient times.
You can probably sustain yourself for 6 days at 10 hours, maybe even 12, but you will burn out for sure if you attempt 7 days.
Tell the retarded management they need to meet you halfway and bulk the team up with contractors. That's what contractors are for. You can hire and fire them lightening fast and if you get the right sort they will provide the wedge you need to force your way through this unreasonable target. You will need to hire this week to really get value from them, and only hire 1 per team leader or you may spend too much time training them.