Re:Yeah. Until they make it illegal.
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· Score: 2, Insightful
"I give it not one month and the RIAA, MPAA and Microsoft will be jumping on this like flies on poop to make this illegal."
Ya had me until you mentioned Microsoft. What do they have to do with anything? Pardon my pessimistic attitude, but I can't help but think that was an attempt at karma whoring. Explain to me why I'm wrong please?
"Did I mention that I don't purchase software that has any sort of copy protection?"
What's the point of that? I'm going to defend software companies (particularly game companies) here. They haven't been terribly abusive about copy protection. You can (usually) back up your stuff. On top of that, when it comes to sampling things like games, you usually have demo versions available. Need to install your software on a second computer? Nothing really preventing you from that unless you have a hardware lock. Even Microsoft's okay with that. Office's license allows a for a second copy to be installed on your laptop as well as your desktop. I can honestly say that I think software companies have a much better idea about how to protect themselves without raping the customers than content industries like the *AA does. What software companies do can usually be considered true copy protection, not restriction like the *AA is promoting.
Not buying copy protected software is not making much fo a stand. Software has a much better reason to protect it's works than the Television Industry does. As a matter of fact, save TurboTax and Windows XP's insistence on calling home, I can't think of the last time anybody got overly uppity about software protection. So I ask you again, did you really have a point or are you karma whoring?
"I would tell myself to not register slashdot.org as doing so would mean there is no slashdot to ask this question and thus I couldn't have made the initial change thus causing a paradox."
You're completely wrong. But then again, I subscribe to Star Trek physics.;)
"That reminds me something I always wanted to ask, what is the point of a 8MB cache? I thought that having a good amount of RAM for the cache would have been more effective."
I have one of these drives with the 8-meg cache. It is definitely a lot zippier than any of the UW SCSI drives I have in my computer at work. The biggest difference I've noticed is that progress bars for things like installing a program just fly across the screen.
I did an informal experiment once where I put a put an uncompressed AVI on my computer at work (with the fast SCSI drive) and on my computer at home with the 8meg drive. The computer at work stuttered while playing it back, my computer at home played it back smoothly.
Dunno what the real world performance is on these drives, but I can tell you that my computer at home has been a good deal more responsive.
"Well, this would be the perfect companion to my Tentacle Rape Hentai divx collection. It's nice to have text to read along with while you look at the pictures."
Too bad that quality doesn't always bubble itself up to the UI. That's probably my biggest complaint about open source software is that few ppl actually put serious thought into the UI design. It starts off as a utility written to solve their own problem and eventually it becomes useful enough to share with ppl. VirtualDub comes to mind. Kick ass prog, hardly intuitive in terms of UI.
"Uhhm, anything else using the Nvidia X server?" -- What does the NVidiaX server do that it requires a card as powerful as the XBOX's? (Serious question, I honestly have no knowledge of that area.)
"Did I mention Neverwinter Nights Linux?" -- Commercial.
"RTCW linux?" -- Commercial.
You might be wondering why I'm labelling them as commercial. These are not good reasons for Microsoft to sign the Linux code. They work against that effort because MS won't get licensing fees for it. (Shitty, eh?)
Secondly, the XBOX would be an inferior machine to play these games (and future games) on because the companies porting these games are doing because they're popular. What will happen when you try to run Doom III on the XBOX? You'll have a really shitty graphics, not to mention you'll have an inferior controller to play them on.
You did not list any Open Source/Free Games in development. If there were that type of thing going on, then I'd totally understand this view. But there aren't, at least not that are incredibly visible. (well maybe Tux Racer, yay.) Certainly none that are going to take reasonable advantage of this hardware.
"ompanies are certainly free to incorporate DRM or other anti-piracy features, but consumers should be equiped with all the information they need to make a sound choice."
Just to add to that, I think it'd force companies to charge less money for restricted (I hate the word protection in this context) materials. I won't buy a Music CD that won't work in my computer. But if the restricted CD were say $5 less, well then I'd consider it.
It's a pity, these corps have a wonderful opportunity here to gain user acceptance of crippled CD's.
"We're doing this to thwart piracy in order to make our business more profitable. As a pre-emptive reward, we're lowering the price of our products. Support anti-piracy steps, and we'll pass some of the savings on to you."
Yeah, I know, it's not likely to happen. But a price drop for those particular materials would let people vote with their wallets. "So... we lowered the price of CD's and made more money, weird. But, this album isn't restricted and it made a greater profit, wow."
"Show me a single bare bones PC under $200 with an nvidia 3d accellerator on it. Can you? Can anyone? For that matter show me one that comes with ram, hard drive and DVD drive + nvidia"
Show me an app that'd actually put that 3D acellerator to good use.
"I'll tell you why Linux on Xbox would be cool. It's all about the multimedia. "
I agree with you that the XBOX would be wonderful for this. I'd even buy one for the purpose of doing that. But (going back to what sparked my response) it wouldn't preclude me from buying games. Games from the same box would be icing on the cake.
If I were aware of somebody developing the XBOX media player with DivX (and other common formats like MP3 or OGG...) support and a special 'made for TV' interface complete with remote support, then I'd totally be for challenging MS on it.
The trick is to make it clear why the XBOX needs to be the machine to do this. The TV + Remote interface alone could do it.
"Signing the linux code so that it can run, free, doesn't pay the bills. It also encourages people to buy machines that will never be used to run licensed software titles."
I don't think that'd actually happen. Who'd buy an XBOX to run Linux on it, without wanting to play games on it? That won't happen.
a.) What app would you want to run on it that'd be worth $200 or so?
b.) What would the advantage be towards getting an XBOX vs. buying a bare bones PC, except that you'd be able to play games?
c.) What benefit is there period?
People here are all excited about the potential of running Linux on the XBOX, but nobody's exactly bombarding/. with actual practical use of it. Hate to sound like a troll here, but so far this whole "Linux on the XBOX" project smells more like a "How can we make trouble for Microsoft" project than a "ooo if only we could do that we could do something really cool!" project. As if MS would do anything to contribute to that.
If MS says no, it won't be because people are going to buy it without buying games as well. It'll be because they'll be concerned about what will eventually evolve from it. I.e. will they be opening the door to bypassing their protection with signed code? (i.e. Linux XBOX emulator)
At least with a real focus on a use for it (that also compliments playing games...) MS would have encouragement to allow it. "We want to port Linux to it so that we can play DiVX movies. That way, we can keep the XBOX in the living room instead of the kid's room..."
"However, this sort of technology can track any sort of characteristic you care to imagine. People should be worried that this is a logical next step, even if it hasn't been admitted to by a government official yet."
Um no, I shouldn't be paranoid.
1.) It's FAR too easy to get around the pork thing. Anybody carrying out "God's will" would be waived from that tradition. (Just like allowing them to shave their beards, etc...)
2.) The only way to make this data useful is to record which passenger orders what, which means a lot of overhead and paperwork to carry out for something that could easily be avoided.
3.) It's simply not a good way to weed out ANY group of people, including islamic extremists. You couldn't even take a poll to see who's vegetarian that way.
So no, I'm not living the paranoid life over what somebody could do.
"I can't stand pork. Therefore I must be a terrorist!
I swear, this country is tearing itself apart with self-induced paranoia."
Blame the author of this article. The word 'pork' does not show up in any of the articles mentioned. What you have here is a blantant attempt at riling people up.
This book, from around '95 I think, was a great read. I don't know how much overlapit has with the articles mentioned above, but I enjoyed it. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/- /0029 356717/103-3105313-8496655?vi=glance Also available at your local library!
Whoah, you should have set up the hyperlink there, dude. There might be a Mac user watching...
Slashdot Mirror
"Pretty things happen in space... NEAT! Heh."
Trolling? I wonder who took offense to a light hearted comment like that?
Pretty things happen in space... NEAT! Heh.
"I give it not one month and the RIAA, MPAA and Microsoft will be jumping on this like flies on poop to make this illegal."
Ya had me until you mentioned Microsoft. What do they have to do with anything? Pardon my pessimistic attitude, but I can't help but think that was an attempt at karma whoring. Explain to me why I'm wrong please?
"Did I mention that I don't purchase software that has any sort of copy protection?"
What's the point of that? I'm going to defend software companies (particularly game companies) here. They haven't been terribly abusive about copy protection. You can (usually) back up your stuff. On top of that, when it comes to sampling things like games, you usually have demo versions available. Need to install your software on a second computer? Nothing really preventing you from that unless you have a hardware lock. Even Microsoft's okay with that. Office's license allows a for a second copy to be installed on your laptop as well as your desktop. I can honestly say that I think software companies have a much better idea about how to protect themselves without raping the customers than content industries like the *AA does. What software companies do can usually be considered true copy protection, not restriction like the *AA is promoting.
Not buying copy protected software is not making much fo a stand. Software has a much better reason to protect it's works than the Television Industry does. As a matter of fact, save TurboTax and Windows XP's insistence on calling home, I can't think of the last time anybody got overly uppity about software protection. So I ask you again, did you really have a point or are you karma whoring?
I'm confused by this article. Do we like or hate Blizzard this round?
"Two stories from three decades ago...I guess Linux can only have so many kernel updates to report about..."
Not to worry, Mozilla will have a minor version update soon. Soon there'll be much rejoicing!
"I would tell myself to not register slashdot.org as doing so would mean there is no slashdot to ask this question and thus I couldn't have made the initial change thus causing a paradox."
;)
You're completely wrong. But then again, I subscribe to Star Trek physics.
Avoid links that inlcude the word 'goat' in them.
"That reminds me something I always wanted to ask, what is the point of a 8MB cache? I thought that having a good amount of RAM for the cache would have been more effective."
I have one of these drives with the 8-meg cache. It is definitely a lot zippier than any of the UW SCSI drives I have in my computer at work. The biggest difference I've noticed is that progress bars for things like installing a program just fly across the screen.
I did an informal experiment once where I put a put an uncompressed AVI on my computer at work (with the fast SCSI drive) and on my computer at home with the 8meg drive. The computer at work stuttered while playing it back, my computer at home played it back smoothly.
Dunno what the real world performance is on these drives, but I can tell you that my computer at home has been a good deal more responsive.
"Here ya go, why don't you start with this, some major, enterprise server porn. http://www.sun.com/smrc/photos-sun/downloads/datac enter-gen03s.jpg"
Nice rack!
"Well, this would be the perfect companion to my Tentacle Rape Hentai divx collection. It's nice to have text to read along with while you look at the pictures."
Yours aren't subtitled? Man you're hard core.
"While somewhat interesting, this is really only a partial plot summary, not a critical (or non-critical) review of the book, writing style, e.t.c."
I don't knnow what you're talking about, they had me at death, consensual torture and murder, sex, cancer, and incest.
"Did anyone else read that as "Swiss Researchers Find A-Hole In SSL" and think, "How did he get there?"
Close, I thought it said SNL. It made perfect sense until I stumbled across the word 'protocol'.
"But where are these 15-year olds who know what a surfactant is? :)"
I know exactly what that is. It's an espresso maker.
(somehow, Arnold Schwarzenegger quotes just don't have the same bite to them that Homer Simpson or Arnold Rimmer have.)
"Swiss Researchers Find A Hole In SSL"
Isn't that their style?
Yeah, I know, that joke was cheesey.
"Coding for the end result = quality"
Too bad that quality doesn't always bubble itself up to the UI. That's probably my biggest complaint about open source software is that few ppl actually put serious thought into the UI design. It starts off as a utility written to solve their own problem and eventually it becomes useful enough to share with ppl. VirtualDub comes to mind. Kick ass prog, hardly intuitive in terms of UI.
"Quake 3 linux?" -- Commercial.
"UT2003 Linux?" -- Commercial
"Uhhm, anything else using the Nvidia X server?" -- What does the NVidiaX server do that it requires a card as powerful as the XBOX's? (Serious question, I honestly have no knowledge of that area.)
"Did I mention Neverwinter Nights Linux?" -- Commercial.
"RTCW linux?" -- Commercial.
You might be wondering why I'm labelling them as commercial. These are not good reasons for Microsoft to sign the Linux code. They work against that effort because MS won't get licensing fees for it. (Shitty, eh?)
Secondly, the XBOX would be an inferior machine to play these games (and future games) on because the companies porting these games are doing because they're popular. What will happen when you try to run Doom III on the XBOX? You'll have a really shitty graphics, not to mention you'll have an inferior controller to play them on.
You did not list any Open Source/Free Games in development. If there were that type of thing going on, then I'd totally understand this view. But there aren't, at least not that are incredibly visible. (well maybe Tux Racer, yay.) Certainly none that are going to take reasonable advantage of this hardware.
"You know, DivX movies were quite a bit cheaper than normal DVDs..."
So? Crippled CD's aren't going to be pay per play like DivX DVD's were.
"ompanies are certainly free to incorporate DRM or other anti-piracy features, but consumers should be equiped with all the information they need to make a sound choice."
Just to add to that, I think it'd force companies to charge less money for restricted (I hate the word protection in this context) materials. I won't buy a Music CD that won't work in my computer. But if the restricted CD were say $5 less, well then I'd consider it.
It's a pity, these corps have a wonderful opportunity here to gain user acceptance of crippled CD's.
"We're doing this to thwart piracy in order to make our business more profitable. As a pre-emptive reward, we're lowering the price of our products. Support anti-piracy steps, and we'll pass some of the savings on to you."
Yeah, I know, it's not likely to happen. But a price drop for those particular materials would let people vote with their wallets. "So... we lowered the price of CD's and made more money, weird. But, this album isn't restricted and it made a greater profit, wow."
"Show me a single bare bones PC under $200 with an nvidia 3d accellerator on it. Can you? Can anyone? For that matter show me one that comes with ram, hard drive and DVD drive + nvidia"
Show me an app that'd actually put that 3D acellerator to good use.
"I'll tell you why Linux on Xbox would be cool. It's all about the multimedia. "
I agree with you that the XBOX would be wonderful for this. I'd even buy one for the purpose of doing that. But (going back to what sparked my response) it wouldn't preclude me from buying games. Games from the same box would be icing on the cake.
If I were aware of somebody developing the XBOX media player with DivX (and other common formats like MP3 or OGG...) support and a special 'made for TV' interface complete with remote support, then I'd totally be for challenging MS on it.
The trick is to make it clear why the XBOX needs to be the machine to do this. The TV + Remote interface alone could do it.
"Signing the linux code so that it can run, free, doesn't pay the bills. It also encourages people to buy machines that will never be used to run licensed software titles."
/. with actual practical use of it. Hate to sound like a troll here, but so far this whole "Linux on the XBOX" project smells more like a "How can we make trouble for Microsoft" project than a "ooo if only we could do that we could do something really cool!" project. As if MS would do anything to contribute to that.
I don't think that'd actually happen. Who'd buy an XBOX to run Linux on it, without wanting to play games on it? That won't happen.
a.) What app would you want to run on it that'd be worth $200 or so?
b.) What would the advantage be towards getting an XBOX vs. buying a bare bones PC, except that you'd be able to play games?
c.) What benefit is there period?
People here are all excited about the potential of running Linux on the XBOX, but nobody's exactly bombarding
If MS says no, it won't be because people are going to buy it without buying games as well. It'll be because they'll be concerned about what will eventually evolve from it. I.e. will they be opening the door to bypassing their protection with signed code? (i.e. Linux XBOX emulator)
At least with a real focus on a use for it (that also compliments playing games...) MS would have encouragement to allow it. "We want to port Linux to it so that we can play DiVX movies. That way, we can keep the XBOX in the living room instead of the kid's room..."
"Will their virtual machines run operating systems other than Microsoft's?"
Err right. Nice anti-MS troll.
"Will MS make an inferior product to VM-Ware? VM-Ware should watch out!"
You guys should be happy if MS makes a Virtual Machine that only runs Windows OS's. It means that VM-Ware has a HUGE advantage over MS.
Duh.
"However, this sort of technology can track any sort of characteristic you care to imagine. People should be worried that this is a logical next step, even if it hasn't been admitted to by a government official yet."
Um no, I shouldn't be paranoid.
1.) It's FAR too easy to get around the pork thing. Anybody carrying out "God's will" would be waived from that tradition. (Just like allowing them to shave their beards, etc...)
2.) The only way to make this data useful is to record which passenger orders what, which means a lot of overhead and paperwork to carry out for something that could easily be avoided.
3.) It's simply not a good way to weed out ANY group of people, including islamic extremists. You couldn't even take a poll to see who's vegetarian that way.
So no, I'm not living the paranoid life over what somebody could do.
"I can't stand pork. Therefore I must be a terrorist!
I swear, this country is tearing itself apart with self-induced paranoia."
Blame the author of this article. The word 'pork' does not show up in any of the articles mentioned. What you have here is a blantant attempt at riling people up.
Whoah, you should have set up the hyperlink there, dude. There might be a Mac user watching...