No need to "brag", but I will simply state that I have been playing my 360 pretty reguarlly since I got it in the first week of January (see my gamer card: http://live.xbox.com/member/SnprBoB86) and have had not a single bad experience.
The system is located in a relatively hot room and is positioned vertically, but I have not experienced a single crash or scratched a single CD. I know three other people with Xbox 360s and only one of them reported that he experienced some crashes, but only when playing this one particular hockey game.
Maybe the next major MS release to be named Interrobang or Irony Mark. Rather than spelling the name out, it will be the cool thing to use the wacky obscure characters hence making it impossible to find any thing about it.
I hardly feel that quotes from Monty Python and the Holy Grail are entirely appropriate on the welcome page of the installer...
C'mon Linux people, if you want the world to take you seriously, you need to act seriously.
I personally love Monty Python, but humor has its place and that place is certainly not an installer's welcome page which is too crowded with text to begin with.
I'm not sure about the UK, but in the USA, wouldn't this be a 5th amendment rights issue?
The summary states that this black hole is desirable for "fears that evidence could be lost by suspects claiming to have forgotten their encryption key", but why would a suspect have to say they lost their encryption key? Why not just plead the 5th?
The 5th amendment states: "No person shall [...] nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself [...]"
I honestly do not believe that the contents of a person's hard drive falls into the same category of evidence as eye witnesses or DNA. A personal computer's hard drive, particularly one with an encrypted file system, is effectively an extension of that person's memory and hence any data extracted from it seems very much like testifying against oneself.
I don't think there is a software developer in the entire world that could possibly make that mistake as you describe it.
In order to use any of the Microsoft specific functionality of C++/CLI (and hence be locked in to MS playforms), you are going to realize that they are.NET extensions. It's not like a C++ developer is going to sit down, accidentally type "ref class" and create non-standard C++ code.
You are going to have a major deploy problem on your hands reguarding the WINDOWS platform if you write a.net framework requiring application without being aware of it.
If a software engineer doesn't understand this, they are doomed to failure anyway. This is not "missleading" or "disingenuous" action on Microsoft's part. You are worring about DUMB ASS DEVELOPERS. And as many dumb ass developers as there are, I am pretty convinced that there are none dumb enough to look up and learn about managed extensions without realizing they are dependant on Microsoft.NET
C++/CLI is, in fact, a strict superset of C++. Any C++ code that compiles without the/clr flag should compile without any complaints with the/clr flag. Linking, however, is another story. Because the result of a/clr linking is different than a native linking, there is no guarentee that C++ code will link correctly.
"Managed C++" or "C++ with Managed Extensions" or "C++/CLI" or "C++.net" or whatever you want to call it (Microsoft has done a very poor naming job with the entire.NET brand) IS STILL C++
Half way through reading the summary, I was already preparing to comment on Resident Evil 4 (until I saw the summary mentioned it!).
I'll comment anyway:
I just beat RE4 for PS2 yesterday (been playing it quite a bit for the past few days). I really enjoyed the game and I think that the interactivity in the cutscenes was a major high point. I enjoy a good narrative in my single player games and RE4 had a pretty decent one. By requring me to interact with the cut scenes, I focused on the cut scenes a lot more. Rather than putting the control down and turning to look at my computer or something, only to turn around and realize I missed a major plot point, I was forced to pay attention and actually had fun trying to slam the appropriate buttons.
The mix of the same button mashing system directly into the gameplay (such as in boss battles) was probably the best part. It enables you to do some really cool stuff that the standard control scheme would never logically allow. While gameplay > graphics, I think everyone would agree that really cool action moves are always a welcome addition to a game. I think the button mashing added a great deal of memorable moments.
"we are quite along way away from an affordable processor than can replace a render farm"
Very true, but I think you do not fully understand real-time graphics.
Render farms are general purpose computers engaged in grid computing where the method is escentially "throw as much power as possible at rendering". Rendering packages such as Renderman use very sophistocated, realistic, and GENERAL techniques. Games and other real-time graphics applications, on the other hand, utilize SPECIALIZED techniques that are unique to their application. They are carefully optimized for hte game world and because of this, can achieve significantly superior performance at the cost of generality.
I know hundreds of people with iPods and I am quite confident nearly every last one of them has at least one "stolen" song on their iPod. It would be my highly educated assumption that a survey of my sample group would show that 95% or more iPod users are in illegal possession of digital media.
IE 6 with SP2 shows "Run" instead of "Open" for executable and then WINDOWS (not IE) displays the prompt I am discussing.
FireFox simply disables "Open" instead of displaying run, but then shows the download manager which reads "Open" regardless of the file type and if you click that prompts you "Open Executable File?" and even has a "Don't ask me again" check box. You press "OK" (not "Run") to continue.
Upon further testing... I have discovered that FireFox DOES NOT cause the WINDOWS prompt. Apparently, FireFox fails to attach the secondary data stream to the NTFS node of the file like IE6SP2 does. This means that if I do "Save to disk" (in FireFox) or "Save" (in IE) then go and double click the file in explorer (regardless of its file extension) the file downloaded with FireFox will simply run where as the IE downloaded file will prompt me for permission for a program to execute. The IE behavior is clearly superior in that it works without the presence of IE.
What makes you think that ".gif.pif" is any better? The dialog calls the file "a program". Even if a user knows that.gif means it is a picture, who says they know that.pif is an executable and not some other image format? Besides, the only time Windows truncates the extension is when you have "hide extensions for known file types" enabled (the default) and if this is something you don't know anything about then you've probably never seen.gif and don't know that it is an image anyway.
The fact is that the dialog calls it "a program" and you have to click "run" (not yes, or OK). It is hard to protect novice users without inconviencing experts.
Your assumption that these security are IE/ActiveX related is completely flawed.
I am a WinGaim user and I have seen a large number of infected AIM profiles and away messages as well as received quite a few "click this" type IMs. The vast majority of these attacks are social attacks. Generally, the malware inserts a "click this" type link that tries to get you to "look at my pictures" or something like that with a link to pictures.gif.pif.
For IE 6 or FireFox users running on Windows XP with Service Pack 2, this results in a dialog indicating that you are about to run an application that came from an untrusted and unsigned source. STILL users click "run" on this dialog.
IE/ActiveX is not to blame. Hell, I wouldn't even blame Windows because Windows tags the incoming file as untrusted and prevents it from running without USER PERMISSION (this is the escentially same as chmod +x, just not a serious pain in the ass for when you are downloading something you trust)
Your professional qualifications mean nothing if you don't fit in with the team your trying to join. Sense of humor is a large part of personality; if your personality doesn't mesh with the team's, you might do more harm than good as part of that team. Everyone really does need to read Peoplware
As with everything, there are high points and low points to facebook.
A lot of people just amass friends to appear popular or just because they are bored. I've probably got a dozen people on my friends list that I have only ever talked to once, but who cares? It's not hurting anyone.
With facebook I have......organized parties...found people to study with...caught up with old friends...laughed quite a few times...shared things that have certainly made others laugh...easily retrieved contact information...shared pictures...killed a lot of down time...and much more
I know people who have used facebook to......find a tabletop gaming group...advertise effectively to our school...recruit actors for a the school dramas...and much much much more
Those are all positives, what's a negative? Well some girl got stuck in an elevator and some dumb ass kid refused to help her because after she told him her name he looked her up on facebook and didn't think she was hot enough to rescue. Is it facebook's fault that this guy was a dick? Luckily some not-so-evil people were around to help her.
Sure many people I know now call it "the stalker directory" after I once referred to it as that. But I'll be damned if it's not fun, addicting, and useful. If you're afraid of it, don't join or just keep a minimum profile.
I visit facebook practically every day. Hell, I have been there maybe 20 times today due to wall updates (it's my birthday). I have never seen any of this spam you are talking about. There are a few fake profiles on there because some of the more tech-savy students know you can create a secondary email address at my school. But, generally, the fake profiles are fun. I am "friends" with Slimer from Ghost Busters and Peter Griffen from Family Guy and a few other dopey characters just for laughs. I did once get a friend request from someone who was apparently mass-friending people to set a facebook record (presumably with a bot). Also, a friend of mine discovered a bug that enabled him to write a script to poke everyone in my entire school, but less than a day later they patched the hole, erased all of those pokes and shut down his account. I think the facebook team is very good at keeping their network clean.
Slashdot Mirror
No need to "brag", but I will simply state that I have been playing my 360 pretty reguarlly since I got it in the first week of January (see my gamer card: http://live.xbox.com/member/SnprBoB86) and have had not a single bad experience.
The system is located in a relatively hot room and is positioned vertically, but I have not experienced a single crash or scratched a single CD. I know three other people with Xbox 360s and only one of them reported that he experienced some crashes, but only when playing this one particular hockey game.
Maybe the next major MS release to be named Interrobang or Irony Mark. Rather than spelling the name out, it will be the cool thing to use the wacky obscure characters hence making it impossible to find any thing about it.
You ever try to search for ".net"? I'm a huge C# and .net fan, but what asshat came up with that name?
"that would save me a metric ****load of frustration."
Time out... when did a shitload become an SI measure of frustration?
I hardly feel that quotes from Monty Python and the Holy Grail are entirely appropriate on the welcome page of the installer...
C'mon Linux people, if you want the world to take you seriously, you need to act seriously.
I personally love Monty Python, but humor has its place and that place is certainly not an installer's welcome page which is too crowded with text to begin with.
"Microsoft Vista Info Leaked" is the title, but "Microsoft disclosed information" is in the summary. Which is it?
t ions.asp
See also: http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/winvista_edi
I'm not sure about the UK, but in the USA, wouldn't this be a 5th amendment rights issue?
The summary states that this black hole is desirable for "fears that evidence could be lost by suspects claiming to have forgotten their encryption key", but why would a suspect have to say they lost their encryption key? Why not just plead the 5th?
The 5th amendment states: "No person shall [...] nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself [...]"
I honestly do not believe that the contents of a person's hard drive falls into the same category of evidence as eye witnesses or DNA. A personal computer's hard drive, particularly one with an encrypted file system, is effectively an extension of that person's memory and hence any data extracted from it seems very much like testifying against oneself.
I don't think there is a software developer in the entire world that could possibly make that mistake as you describe it.
.NET extensions. It's not like a C++ developer is going to sit down, accidentally type "ref class" and create non-standard C++ code.
.net framework requiring application without being aware of it.
In order to use any of the Microsoft specific functionality of C++/CLI (and hence be locked in to MS playforms), you are going to realize that they are
You are going to have a major deploy problem on your hands reguarding the WINDOWS platform if you write a
If a software engineer doesn't understand this, they are doomed to failure anyway. This is not "missleading" or "disingenuous" action on Microsoft's part. You are worring about DUMB ASS DEVELOPERS. And as many dumb ass developers as there are, I am pretty convinced that there are none dumb enough to look up and learn about managed extensions without realizing they are dependant on Microsoft.NET
C++/CLI is, in fact, a strict superset of C++. Any C++ code that compiles without the /clr flag should compile without any complaints with the /clr flag. Linking, however, is another story. Because the result of a /clr linking is different than a native linking, there is no guarentee that C++ code will link correctly.
.NET brand) IS STILL C++
"Managed C++" or "C++ with Managed Extensions" or "C++/CLI" or "C++.net" or whatever you want to call it (Microsoft has done a very poor naming job with the entire
Half way through reading the summary, I was already preparing to comment on Resident Evil 4 (until I saw the summary mentioned it!).
I'll comment anyway:
I just beat RE4 for PS2 yesterday (been playing it quite a bit for the past few days). I really enjoyed the game and I think that the interactivity in the cutscenes was a major high point. I enjoy a good narrative in my single player games and RE4 had a pretty decent one. By requring me to interact with the cut scenes, I focused on the cut scenes a lot more. Rather than putting the control down and turning to look at my computer or something, only to turn around and realize I missed a major plot point, I was forced to pay attention and actually had fun trying to slam the appropriate buttons.
The mix of the same button mashing system directly into the gameplay (such as in boss battles) was probably the best part. It enables you to do some really cool stuff that the standard control scheme would never logically allow. While gameplay > graphics, I think everyone would agree that really cool action moves are always a welcome addition to a game. I think the button mashing added a great deal of memorable moments.
Microsoft Expresion Interactive Designer will be the tool of choice for Windows Presentation Foundation (previously known as "Avalon").
"we are quite along way away from an affordable processor than can replace a render farm"
r ound3/screenindex.html
Very true, but I think you do not fully understand real-time graphics.
Render farms are general purpose computers engaged in grid computing where the method is escentially "throw as much power as possible at rendering". Rendering packages such as Renderman use very sophistocated, realistic, and GENERAL techniques. Games and other real-time graphics applications, on the other hand, utilize SPECIALIZED techniques that are unique to their application. They are carefully optimized for hte game world and because of this, can achieve significantly superior performance at the cost of generality.
Just take a look at Fight Night 3 for XBOX 360: http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/sports/fightnight
I know hundreds of people with iPods and I am quite confident nearly every last one of them has at least one "stolen" song on their iPod. It would be my highly educated assumption that a survey of my sample group would show that 95% or more iPod users are in illegal possession of digital media.
Only partially true.
IE 6 with SP2 shows "Run" instead of "Open" for executable and then WINDOWS (not IE) displays the prompt I am discussing.
FireFox simply disables "Open" instead of displaying run, but then shows the download manager which reads "Open" regardless of the file type and if you click that prompts you "Open Executable File?" and even has a "Don't ask me again" check box. You press "OK" (not "Run") to continue.
Upon further testing... I have discovered that FireFox DOES NOT cause the WINDOWS prompt. Apparently, FireFox fails to attach the secondary data stream to the NTFS node of the file like IE6SP2 does. This means that if I do "Save to disk" (in FireFox) or "Save" (in IE) then go and double click the file in explorer (regardless of its file extension) the file downloaded with FireFox will simply run where as the IE downloaded file will prompt me for permission for a program to execute. The IE behavior is clearly superior in that it works without the presence of IE.
What makes you think that ".gif.pif" is any better? The dialog calls the file "a program". Even if a user knows that .gif means it is a picture, who says they know that .pif is an executable and not some other image format? Besides, the only time Windows truncates the extension is when you have "hide extensions for known file types" enabled (the default) and if this is something you don't know anything about then you've probably never seen .gif and don't know that it is an image anyway.
The fact is that the dialog calls it "a program" and you have to click "run" (not yes, or OK). It is hard to protect novice users without inconviencing experts.
Your assumption that these security are IE/ActiveX related is completely flawed.
I am a WinGaim user and I have seen a large number of infected AIM profiles and away messages as well as received quite a few "click this" type IMs. The vast majority of these attacks are social attacks. Generally, the malware inserts a "click this" type link that tries to get you to "look at my pictures" or something like that with a link to pictures.gif.pif.
For IE 6 or FireFox users running on Windows XP with Service Pack 2, this results in a dialog indicating that you are about to run an application that came from an untrusted and unsigned source. STILL users click "run" on this dialog.
IE/ActiveX is not to blame. Hell, I wouldn't even blame Windows because Windows tags the incoming file as untrusted and prevents it from running without USER PERMISSION (this is the escentially same as chmod +x, just not a serious pain in the ass for when you are downloading something you trust)
This is bullshit reasoning as well.
How hard could it possibily be to rename all of the basic commands and then provide a legacy-aliases.sh file to source from the default profile?
Your professional qualifications mean nothing if you don't fit in with the team your trying to join. Sense of humor is a large part of personality; if your personality doesn't mesh with the team's, you might do more harm than good as part of that team. Everyone really does need to read Peoplware
Bender? Are you jacking on in there?
As with everything, there are high points and low points to facebook.
...organized parties ...found people to study with ...caught up with old friends ...laughed quite a few times ...shared things that have certainly made others laugh ...easily retrieved contact information ...shared pictures ...killed a lot of down time ...and much more
...find a tabletop gaming group ...advertise effectively to our school ...recruit actors for a the school dramas ...and much much much more
A lot of people just amass friends to appear popular or just because they are bored. I've probably got a dozen people on my friends list that I have only ever talked to once, but who cares? It's not hurting anyone.
With facebook I have...
I know people who have used facebook to...
Those are all positives, what's a negative?
Well some girl got stuck in an elevator and some dumb ass kid refused to help her because after she told him her name he looked her up on facebook and didn't think she was hot enough to rescue. Is it facebook's fault that this guy was a dick? Luckily some not-so-evil people were around to help her.
Sure many people I know now call it "the stalker directory" after I once referred to it as that. But I'll be damned if it's not fun, addicting, and useful. If you're afraid of it, don't join or just keep a minimum profile.
I visit facebook practically every day. Hell, I have been there maybe 20 times today due to wall updates (it's my birthday). I have never seen any of this spam you are talking about. There are a few fake profiles on there because some of the more tech-savy students know you can create a secondary email address at my school. But, generally, the fake profiles are fun. I am "friends" with Slimer from Ghost Busters and Peter Griffen from Family Guy and a few other dopey characters just for laughs. I did once get a friend request from someone who was apparently mass-friending people to set a facebook record (presumably with a bot). Also, a friend of mine discovered a bug that enabled him to write a script to poke everyone in my entire school, but less than a day later they patched the hole, erased all of those pokes and shut down his account. I think the facebook team is very good at keeping their network clean.
I am amazed that no one has mentioned http://www.facebook.com/
facebook has had an increadable impact on the social lives of college students.
Not to mention, it is an increadable well designed web app.
What prevents you from doing this with Windows now? I do it all the time...
What MS has created is a way to do it automatically in a generalized way -- something *nix can not do safely.
Go watch Monty Python and the Holy Grail" and all will be explained
Sorry, you're far from the first :-)