Im curious what percentage of these computers are going to end up being reformatted so they can have a pirated version of Windows installed on them. I would imagine that not many Wal-Mart users will be learning Linux anytime soon, but thats just one man's opinion.
No doubt you are correct. Im sure its obvious to just about anyone that the percentage of people using mod chips for legitimate reasons is very small; the majority of mod chip users have them for the sole purpose of pirated games.
Anyone who says otherwise is just fooling themselves.
IMO, the only one who has done effective work to prevent piracy is the GameCube, which requires either an expensive alternate device (like the Panasonic Q), physically modifying the console, or the cheapest alternative of getting the broadband adaptor and using software to exploit a buffer overflow in one game. So any way you do it, its neither cheap nor easy; not that this prevents anybody, but its still better than having a chip installed so you can play the games on cd-r's.
I had one job where having a relatively accurate map was vital to completing the job, but nothing except very bad and inaccurate (or no) maps were available.
So, I had to fall back upon skills I developed in grade school (and beyond) D&D sessions, which was map making. It took a while to actually get the metering correct (I needed to have X number of paces equal one map square, and making uniform paces is harder than one might think [at least at first]). BUT, it worked out great, and while the map wasnt architect perfect, it only took about two days to make and was accurate enough to complete the job.
Who would have thought D&D skills would eventually help in real life?
I think the failed expectations is one which will happen in MMOGs in general (in that people expect a Star Wars epic adventure). If you want to be the one person (or group of people) who can save the universe, it kind of fails when you have 100,000 other people who are also that one person who can save the universe.
Where this works out with far better is in the single player realm, where you arent competing with thousands of other people. MMOGs eventaully dilute down into a pissing contest, where people distinguish themselves with the most uber-1337 gear, or something sissy like becoming a UO-style fashion designer.
I honestly prefer the way FFXI handles this, with cutscenes and individual, client side dialogues. Now while you are still one of 100,000 shlubs saving the world, at least you are given the illusion of being 'special'. There is also a limit to how unique your gear can be, so most well outfitted level 30 monks will probably have pretty much identical gear.
It really doesnt matter to me anyway, because Im not seeking to define myself by what my character wears, or gear I have, or how 1337 i am. What will always distinguish the player, no matter what the game, will be the actual skill of the player.
As Plato said, there are two problems which can effect members of a society- wealth and poverty. A player relying on unbalanced equipment to cover their deficiencies will not be as good, and likewise a system where a player cannot afford to keep pace with their level's requirements (either in time or equipment) will make the game prohibitively difficult.
Well, while I do think DVD regions are complete bullshit, it isnt technically an unfair business practice. Its more of a price fixing measure, just like pharmacuetical companies selling drugs in the US for more than Canada or wherever.
So while both are rather odious business practices, they are completely different forms of slime.
I discussed this issue with my mechanic around ten years ago! Nice to see our legislators are fitting this in finally; I guess Janet Jackson's nipple is soooo important.
The difference between this and DVDs is that the motivation is anti-competitive behavior. While the DVD people can arguably do this to prevent piracy, the auto manufacturer's only motivation is to prevent access by non-dealership mechanics.
My mechanic at the time was debating whether or not to spend a few grand on a diagnostic computer for whatever company was starting to do this. I guess at first they just made the diagnostic computers very expensive, and soon after just stopped selling them to non-dealership mechanics.
Ah, HP's demise is a beautiful thing. First they drag a great company like Compaq into their pile of shit, and now they are making crazy, desperate moves.
So now they start purchasing linux from Mandrake, another company which is on the highway to hell. Desperate companies make good bedfellows, it seems- neither of them can make money.
Even Jet Direct is being made irrelevant, which was pretty much the best thing HP ever did. Now their printers suck monkey balls.
It's pretty irrelevent when the majority of the bad-decision makers aren't even there now, so it isn't fair to lump current management in with those losers.
Ya, the new losers deserve their chance to fuck things up.
Dont buy into that thinking! They have *really* had 200 GB platters for decades. There is evidenct of fragmented hard drives at the Roswell crash site. The truth is out there!!!
I predict they will have to stop publication of this game, because Mythic Entertainment (the creators of Dark Age of Camelot) owns all the rights to Norse mythology.
The parent is correct in that any regulation will be pro-MS, but I believe for a very different reason (Im not big on conspiracy theories).
Regulations are going to favor something standardized. Since MS ends up, at the core level, as being very standard (my Windows XP Pro is using pretty much the same files as any other, considering they are all up to date), they are going to be favored by any regulation verus something which is non-standard and fragmented (different distros, different companies, etc).
I never understand people who whine about Windows and think Linux should be what everyone uses. Linux is good for people who know how to use it and customize it to their needs, but your average user needs less complexity, not more. But, if you make something less complex, experts arent going to like it because it doesnt work exactly how they want. You cant be all things to all people.
Novell has different management this time around, and with people like you who can do nothing but point out their past failures, they know well enough not to let it happen again.
Well, if what happened to Word Perfect is any indication of what Novell is planning, I would start being very worried.
Re:Cha ching, reloaded.
on
Gates on Spam
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· Score: 1
How many times are they going to keep reposting this subject? I have personally seen this issue at least five times in the last year, with them trying to spin it as Microsoft trying to make people pay for email.
Assigning a COST to an email is definitely NOT a new idea, nor even a Microsoft idea. Nor is MS even *saying* they came up with this idea.
The COST concept has nothing to do with a monetary transaction. People often get confused at technical jargon, but the term refers to a cost in CPU cycles. Since the cost would be set high enough to, say, prohibit a machine from sending more than 50 emails per minute (or whatever), it will make bulk mail extremely difficult.
This is one of a great many of ideas companies are developing to help fight spam. So either lead, follow, or get the hell out of the way, because complaining and conspiracy theories dont help anyone come up with a solution.
Microsoft has a knowledgebase as well, but only for troubleshooting, service packs, and development. I've been to their site maybe twice.
Ignorance is bliss, maybe? Because you can find out just about anything Microsoft related via Technet. This includes troubleshooting, white papers, documents on best practices, general network design, security, etc.
If you actaully work with MS products, and dont use technet, you are definitely not working smart.
It would be NICE to say you dont need a large database, but it would be pretty ignorant to think that anything could be that way. Auto mechanics, lawyers, doctors, EVERYONE who works on complex matters is going to need a well organized resource to help them out. There is far too many details for someone to think they will know it all.
The only people who seem like they never encounter problems are those who are just good at troubleshooting and using their reference sources.
Ya, apple was great back in the day. Several of us would play Bards Tale in the computer lab after school, mainly just trying to show off how powerful we could get our guys. Its amazing, nobody really got all that far- I was the first one to finish it, and it was only because I broke my leg and, having nothing better to do, decided to start making a map on graph paper. Those were the days.
Back before Apple started charging over $100 for service packs, they were pretty good.
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Im curious what percentage of these computers are going to end up being reformatted so they can have a pirated version of Windows installed on them. I would imagine that not many Wal-Mart users will be learning Linux anytime soon, but thats just one man's opinion.
Anyone who says otherwise is just fooling themselves.
IMO, the only one who has done effective work to prevent piracy is the GameCube, which requires either an expensive alternate device (like the Panasonic Q), physically modifying the console, or the cheapest alternative of getting the broadband adaptor and using software to exploit a buffer overflow in one game. So any way you do it, its neither cheap nor easy; not that this prevents anybody, but its still better than having a chip installed so you can play the games on cd-r's.
bekuz m1cr0$l0th iz teh ev1l
Well, why dont you just go to a fucking computer store, retard? Im sure there are at least one or two in the New York City area.
Personally, though, I would prefer a pill.
Oh, the irony.
One can only hope.
So, I had to fall back upon skills I developed in grade school (and beyond) D&D sessions, which was map making. It took a while to actually get the metering correct (I needed to have X number of paces equal one map square, and making uniform paces is harder than one might think [at least at first]). BUT, it worked out great, and while the map wasnt architect perfect, it only took about two days to make and was accurate enough to complete the job.
Who would have thought D&D skills would eventually help in real life?
Where this works out with far better is in the single player realm, where you arent competing with thousands of other people. MMOGs eventaully dilute down into a pissing contest, where people distinguish themselves with the most uber-1337 gear, or something sissy like becoming a UO-style fashion designer.
I honestly prefer the way FFXI handles this, with cutscenes and individual, client side dialogues. Now while you are still one of 100,000 shlubs saving the world, at least you are given the illusion of being 'special'. There is also a limit to how unique your gear can be, so most well outfitted level 30 monks will probably have pretty much identical gear.
It really doesnt matter to me anyway, because Im not seeking to define myself by what my character wears, or gear I have, or how 1337 i am. What will always distinguish the player, no matter what the game, will be the actual skill of the player.
As Plato said, there are two problems which can effect members of a society- wealth and poverty. A player relying on unbalanced equipment to cover their deficiencies will not be as good, and likewise a system where a player cannot afford to keep pace with their level's requirements (either in time or equipment) will make the game prohibitively difficult.
So while both are rather odious business practices, they are completely different forms of slime.
The difference between this and DVDs is that the motivation is anti-competitive behavior. While the DVD people can arguably do this to prevent piracy, the auto manufacturer's only motivation is to prevent access by non-dealership mechanics.
My mechanic at the time was debating whether or not to spend a few grand on a diagnostic computer for whatever company was starting to do this. I guess at first they just made the diagnostic computers very expensive, and soon after just stopped selling them to non-dealership mechanics.
There is a reason why /. is widely regarded as the great unwashed masses- its nothing but wannabee hobbyists.
Why am I here? I just come for the trolling.
So now they start purchasing linux from Mandrake, another company which is on the highway to hell. Desperate companies make good bedfellows, it seems- neither of them can make money.
Even Jet Direct is being made irrelevant, which was pretty much the best thing HP ever did. Now their printers suck monkey balls.
This guy is a troll. Everyone knows that Linux is the Alpha and Omega of operating systems.
Ya, the new losers deserve their chance to fuck things up.
Dont buy into that thinking! They have *really* had 200 GB platters for decades. There is evidenct of fragmented hard drives at the Roswell crash site. The truth is out there!!!
I predict they will have to stop publication of this game, because Mythic Entertainment (the creators of Dark Age of Camelot) owns all the rights to Norse mythology.
Dont take away their illusions- its all they have left.
Regulations are going to favor something standardized. Since MS ends up, at the core level, as being very standard (my Windows XP Pro is using pretty much the same files as any other, considering they are all up to date), they are going to be favored by any regulation verus something which is non-standard and fragmented (different distros, different companies, etc).
I never understand people who whine about Windows and think Linux should be what everyone uses. Linux is good for people who know how to use it and customize it to their needs, but your average user needs less complexity, not more. But, if you make something less complex, experts arent going to like it because it doesnt work exactly how they want. You cant be all things to all people.
You say that like its a bad thing.
Well, if what happened to Word Perfect is any indication of what Novell is planning, I would start being very worried.
Assigning a COST to an email is definitely NOT a new idea, nor even a Microsoft idea. Nor is MS even *saying* they came up with this idea.
The COST concept has nothing to do with a monetary transaction. People often get confused at technical jargon, but the term refers to a cost in CPU cycles. Since the cost would be set high enough to, say, prohibit a machine from sending more than 50 emails per minute (or whatever), it will make bulk mail extremely difficult.
This is one of a great many of ideas companies are developing to help fight spam. So either lead, follow, or get the hell out of the way, because complaining and conspiracy theories dont help anyone come up with a solution.
Ignorance is bliss, maybe? Because you can find out just about anything Microsoft related via Technet. This includes troubleshooting, white papers, documents on best practices, general network design, security, etc.
If you actaully work with MS products, and dont use technet, you are definitely not working smart.
It would be NICE to say you dont need a large database, but it would be pretty ignorant to think that anything could be that way. Auto mechanics, lawyers, doctors, EVERYONE who works on complex matters is going to need a well organized resource to help them out. There is far too many details for someone to think they will know it all.
The only people who seem like they never encounter problems are those who are just good at troubleshooting and using their reference sources.
Wow, when I saw the headline of the post (Apple: iPod Mini Sells Out), I had flashbacks of Bill Gates giving Steve Jobs a hot cash injection.
Back before Apple started charging over $100 for service packs, they were pretty good.