I love this mini mac, but you need a usb keyboard mouse. Your Dell keyboard won't cut it. They do sell USB/PS2 adapters though...
That's ok though, as they said it doesn't come complete. You'll need a monitor too. USB k/b+mouse wouldn't be too much of an inconvenience, nor would a converter. Personally though, I think if I were going to get one of these i'd just throw down a couple extra bucks for a bluetooth k/b+mouse and save myself a USB port or two.
My vision of this system is that it's sitting on top of my desk with a bluetooth setup for navigation and input, the only cables I'd have on this thing would be power, monitor and speakers. and the only reason it would actually be on my desk instead of behind it or something is so I could swap CDs and DVDs. Hell, it'd be like having an external USB disc drive on your desk, only smaller and it does a lot more:)
I would love one of these systems, and I think I may just pick one up for my g/f who's been wanting a mac to tool around on.
although I was told by several rows worth of people in the theater that I only improved Mystery Men.
You shot the projectionist and put on something better? Like one of the movies from this list?
Re:What other products have this capability?
on
TiVo to Go Released
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· Score: 2, Insightful
Especially on Slashdot, people seem to have blinders on that TiVo == DVR. They even use TiVo as a verb. I really don't understand it either since there are other alternatives to TiVo like ReplayTV or even free ones like MythTV. Why do people so vehemently defend TiVo
First off, I'll preface this with the fact that I went from cable, to DirecTV, to DirecTiVo, and back to cable, then finally to a cable supplied DVR. What i've found is that the TiVo DVRs have such a major following because they ARE -that much- better. My cable DVR is no more special than a f'ing VCR. You can record a particular show, or record it every time it shows on that channel. However it's not as simple as with TiVo where you say "season pass" then type in the first couple letters to find it, then you're done. On this DVR you actually need to go find a point where that show is playing on the channel you want it on, then hit record, then start assigning recordings. That is my most major gripe.
Secondly, the menuing system BLOWS on my new DVR. It's nowhere near as friendly as the TiVo's. I can't cite anything at the moment, as I gave my TiVo away since I couldn't get DirecTV anymore, but I do know that I'm nowhere near as comfortable with this menuing system as I was with the TiVo.
I also like how TiVo will record recommendations for you. I've found some really cool shows that way. I do miss that damned machine..:~( I Think I'll need to just get a cable one.
BTW, "Hacks" don't count, that functionality should be built into the system to let you copy the digital movie format off the hard drive and transfer it to your PC with little trouble.
This is the cool part though, TiVo ENCOURAGES hacking. They've got a VERY strong community following and it seems like they actually encourage all of the little hacks and projects people work on. I've heard nothing but praise for the TiVo hacking community. I haven't had a chance to play with it myself, but again, my TiVo is gone.:(
TiVo is like the google of TV appliances, it's just really cool, really friendly, and doesn't offend anybody:) (well, except for the people who are going to reply saying that it offends them just to be argumentative;P )
Now, what I want to know is, how did that disgusting dish of spoiled fish end up as the (informal) name of a rock on Mars?
And what I want to know is how a dish like that came into existence.. Somebody had to say "let's try soaking it lin lye, soaking it in water, simmering it and then baking it and serving it with -- etc" Weird.;)
I'm also troubled by your implication that a musician that uses GarageBand is a "musician", somehow different than a person that uses ProTools. A talented musician will sound good on both. A skilled graphic artist could definitely make something worthwhile in MS Paint. They wouldn't, because MS Paint is crap, but the point is that it's the artist that creates the art, the tool is just a tool, good or bad.
I'm going to hope that someone sees this as on-topic, even though I see it as just another stupid post, heh. Several years back in high school I was in a lot of art classes. All of my family and friends thought I was a great artist, I think I was good, but I had friends that were -great-. I used to sit there in awe as they would do a pencil portrait of someone sitting in front of them in about 2 minutes, and come up with an exact picture of that person, they were perfect. When they borrowed MY pencil to do this is when I was really shocked. It kinda makes you think "Shit, I was hoping it was the pencil's fault that I wasn't as good as them." heheh.
But I guess to bring this on-topic, So long as the tools are there, a good artist can do a good job, a great artist can do a great job, and if you're good enough, the tools cease to matter because you can do a professional job with substandard basic equipment (in most cases.).
Try looking for it under the name "Quest for Glory". They had to change the name due to legal issues related to the "Hero Quest" board game. The other good thing about Sarien, is that there's a lot of fan-made games that are compatible with the same interpreter. There's a bunch of them at The Ultimate AGI & SCI Website. FYI:)
Thanks for the response, and yeah I had looked for it under both names, mostly under "Hero's Quest" though. I really wanted the one before they had to change the name, back when it was blocky and text based;). The best results I found were for "Hero's Quest So you want to be a hero" which got me close, but there was 1 site that said they had it, I just didn't trust the hoops they wanted one to jump through for membership. But damn I did love that game. hehe.
I'll have to check out the fan-made games though, thanks for the link.
The only difficulty with the format is that it's harder to update for new viruses than a traditional virus checker, but even then it's still a good idea, and I'm sure it's a problem they could find a way around.
Couldn't they set up a small RAMDisk to store the definitions file on? Assuming it can find a valid network connection and maybe DHCP an address from it the way most of the LiveCDs i've seen do? Of course you would store the most 'current' definitions possible on the disc, in case the disc can't find your NIC or establish a connection or anything.. but I think that would be a viable solution right?
So you have no problem with me pressing print a million times with full page KKK propoganda, wasting your ink and paper, while you sleep?
Absolutely, but I think what he's saying is that there's nothing wrong with your shared system showing up someplace to BE shared... After all, that's what sharing is for. People just need to make sure their stuff is secured first.
On a sidenote though, it would make for a good possibility for Apr1 jokes.;)
"Abandonware" is something made up by pirates (ooh-arr) to justify their actions.
However, it is a legit 'thing' though, in my mind. I purchase all of my games, I like to support people for their services. However, recently, I think in a/. story, I stumbled upon Sarien and was re-hooked on all of the old Sierra games. Sierra isn't going to re-release things like LSL1 (they tried with LSL for the consoles, but that game can't compare.) and all of the quest games. Especially Hero's Quest 1 (which I STILL can't find.) Anyhow, upon stumbling upon this program I've now been able to play all of the old Sierra games that got me into computer gaming to begin with. I would GLADLY buy copies of these games if they were still for sale. God knows they'd be 5 or 10 bucks a pop. But they're not for sale anymore, it wouldn't be worth it for Sierra to publish even 1 more copy, the costs just wouldn't add up. However, if they would offer downloads on their website for $2 or $3, I would gladly purchase a copy of each. Unfortunately, they don't, so I had to search for copies elsewhere.
PS: I did have copies of each of these games, but that was 10+ years ago, I have no idea where they are now or whether or not they'd still be any good.
Actually, the #1 selling enterprise anti-spam device (the Barracuda line) is a SpamAssassing core device.
I've actually been wondering about these things... Does anyone have any real-world experience with them? I mean i've read the testimonials and reports about them, but I tend to trust other people in the trenches who have to admin these things like I'd have to, not the people trying to sell me one.
Cutting into the actual sale of the systems is not a large concern, since they are often loss-leaders in the first place. They could make money selling USB game pads and accessories
If they do it right, well, what I would consider right;) it wouldn't cut into the actual sale of the systems at all. What I think they should do is create an emulator with Apple's ease of use only for NES/SNES games and offer downloads of the games for THOSE systems on nintendo.com or something. If they create USB versions of the respective controllers i'd have one of each, and you can bet I'd have all of the good ol' games from those systems.
Hell, my parents have been searching high and low for Super Mario Bros.
but I think they're also good for people who have way too much experience with computers. I've seen one person after another become fed up with the dismal state of the other platforms (Windows, Linux, whatever) and make the move to Mac OS X.
You just described me. For the past 10 years or so I've hand built every PC that I've owned, plus every PC my parents and several of my friends have owned. I got a job as a sysadmin building servers, installing OS', troubleshooting/supporting end users, etc, etc, etc...
I picked up a G3 powerbook in '99 (recently replaced with a G4) and haven't looked back. The thing just works. I love not having to worry about what's going to work and what's not.
however, when one company has a monopoly on a good or service, they can then leverage that monopoly to extend their hold on the market. like integrating a browser, or designing your own rail cars...
or, adding a desktop toolbar.
In all fairness, this isn't really using their monopoly to leverage a foothold in anything.. If that's the case than having people upgrade from IE5 to IE6 would be MS trying to 'extend their hold on the market' which really isn't true.. Just because MS is (finally) adding some much needed functionality to a browser that they've had around for several years doesn't mean anything. Hell, would people be saying this if they'd just decided to build all of the toolbar functionality into the browser and release it as IE7?
The huge monitor(s) would be much more useful if games worked perfectly with them. As it stands you're probably going to have a tough time configuring your favorite game, let alone the ones that are designed to take advantage of this sort of thing. I've seen MS Flight Simulator done over a huge amount of monitors, but until I get HL2 like that I'm not impressed.
Agreed. I'd much sooner get a top of the line projector for a fraction of the cost of the L monitors, hell, a fraction of the cost of the CHEAPEST L monitor. And isntead of getting a long thin display, I get 110" of screen on my wall. My old neighbor had a setup like this, made Command and Conquer pretty cool. My g/f once rented a projector for a side-job, after she was done we played some 4 player halo on it (single player was sick, too.) and we each got our own 55" screen basically. Good times to be had with those things, and I think they stomp all over the little overpriced L monitors.
Hmm so Microsoft do this to poor old Mike Rowe, and it's yet another example of the nasty corporate behemouth, yet when Apple do the same thing to someone who registered the domain BEFORE it was a registered Apple trademark, and they're to be praised for their actions?
The way I see it, and I could be wrong, is not that it's a matter of "Apple Bad, Microsoft Good". My reasoning behind thinking that MS are the assholes in the Mike Rowe incident, and Apple being in the right here is the simple fact that it's "Microsoft" not "Mikerowesoft" and "Windows" not "Lindows" Microsoft is suing people for making things that SOUND like their product names. Apple is trying to get back a domain which IS a product name, it's not "eTunes" or "lTunes" or anything like that, it's "iTunes" that's being used. It's blatent. Mike Rowe was the guy's name for God's sake.. that was just out of line trying to steal HIS domain.
-matt
Re:Done in by the people who would buy this stuff
on
Buy a Piece of Acclaim
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· Score: 1
If I want to download something in order to try it out before I drop ($15 on a CD, ~$25 on a DVD, or ~$50 on a game), I reserve the right to do so. If I like it, I'll buy it. If I don't, I saved myself being ripped off.
Right here you bring up a good point.. Is it just me? the fact that I don't read gaming mags or check gaming sites so I just don't know? Or do companies not release demos nearly as much as they used to.. It used to be i'd download a demo of a game, play a level or maybe two, and then be sent to a screen asking me to buy the game. Why don't they do that as much? (unless they do, in which case that shoots the poster's arguement to hell..) It'd eliminate the excuses of "I wanted to see if it was any good so I downloaded the full version and beat it and forgot to buy it once I was done".. However, my agreement with this point only applies for games. You do get to 'preview' CDs and DVDs, you've got the radio, and video rental stores.
It is theft for a record company to put 1 or 2 decent songs on a CD (which, incidentally, holds about 80 minutes worth of music, as we all well know, and sometimes -contains- less than 50...).
No it's not.. what, is it going to be theft unless they use every last byte on the CD then? Does that make CD Singles theft? Kinda a weak arguement there...
It is theft to put more effort into keeping people from playing your game than making one that they would want to and then refusing to refund the customer's money when they find that out.
The problem I have with this arguement is.. They don't put a lot of effort into keeping people from playing the game.. Is it really that hard to put the CD in? I know it's inconvenient and personally, I would use a no-cd patch (unless I knew it'd fuck up my game, like hl2) but seriously, companies don't go through THAT much trouble, and copy protection mechanisms don't de-value a game... all of the old sierra games had them, and I think those were some of the most fun games made.
It is theft when I move and my DVD collection which I perfectly legally purchased becomes worthless....huh?
Toyota asked us to "authenticate" our car every time we started it there would be a Toyota for all of five seconds. If I purchase a CD, game, or movie, that copy is MY property.
Toyota asks you to authenticate your car every time you want to get in or start it, so does Chevy, Ford, Honda, every car company does... the same way a lot of games and other software want you to authenticate.. with a key..
-matt
Re:Welcome to capitalism
on
HIV Vaccine
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· Score: 1
This is simply not true. R&D costs are huge, between $500M and $700M depending on who you believe. Clinical trials alone cost a fortune and take years to conduct. The vast majority of drugs do not make it to market. Thus pharmaceuticals must make huge profits on the ones that do to make up for all the many ones that don't.
Heh, I thought you were talking about somebody else who's often discussed on/. there for a minute..;)
Which, I imagine is where we lose pretty much everybody because:
a) users just want to get going already - not install secuirty patches
b) as an article about counterfeit copies of XP in Asia put it, "Windows Update wouldn't work, so they gave up."
c) users get screwed due to attacks that cause their system to crash faster than they can even get to WU to download the patches to keep their system up long enough to become up to date and/or secure.
Not everybody knows to turn the firewall on to prevent this, and it's caused a lot of problems for a lot of the less technical users that I know.
Tell them that they can have 2 hours and that is it. They are teenagers they will break that rule and then you provide a consequence.
I'm not a parent or anything, and not well versed (yet) in proxy servers, but being that this is/., I don't think this sounds like an unreasonable idea.. maybe set up a home proxy server to limit access? You can do that kind of thing with modern proxy software right?
Dad - unlimited usage 24/7 Mom - unlimited usage 24/7 Child1 - 2 hours per day, 8am-10pm Child2 - 5 hours per day 8am-12pm
Or something like that? It'd make your life easier not having to police anything.
-matt
Re:Netscape backed by firefox??
on
Netscape Reborn?
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· Score: 1
Isn't firefox based on Mozilla? Wasn't Mozilla based on Netscape? So now Netscape is going to be based on Firefox?
Netscape->Mozilla->FireFox->Netscape!?!?!
Heh, Kinda reminds me of that "I'm my own grandpa" song!
No, it's a great idea. Free samples are marketing, by vendors to engineers. The cost of thousands of free, and cheap to manufacture, voltage regs is much less than the cost of other marketing. And less than the profit from increased sales, to the engineers who tried and like them.
Eeeexactly. And they're thinking "sure, we'll give them a few of this cheap part for free" because just wait until you need something that they offer that is NOT in their "bag o' samples". They'll probably be the first company you turn to to order it. Brilliant move IMO.
Great post, and since you're capped as far as moderation goes, I'll reply.
I agree with you 100%. People may say "well even if the voting wasn't skewed he would have won" there should BE NO IF! I don't see why they can't get it right... I'm thinking why can't there be a central database in each state with a list of all of the registered SS#s. You could then allow people to vote from their computer if you wanted to. You'd just use a standard PC at the polls and have people click their votes. It would be hard to fraud since you'd have to know someone's SS# and district. Hell, you could lock SS#s to districts to prevent brute forcing votes through via scripting. I'm sure there's some security issues i'm missing, but even this idea seems more secure than what we've got right now. I do think this is probably the way voting is going, though. But hey, maybe I'm wrong. Let me know if you think so.
Slashdot Mirror
And now it looks like they took her picture away and replaced it with a different heading pic. :(
;)
It was a dude when I looked, so I refreshed and it was some girl, looks like it's a randomly selected image
I love this mini mac, but you need a usb keyboard mouse. Your Dell keyboard won't cut it. They do sell USB/PS2 adapters though...
:)
That's ok though, as they said it doesn't come complete. You'll need a monitor too. USB k/b+mouse wouldn't be too much of an inconvenience, nor would a converter. Personally though, I think if I were going to get one of these i'd just throw down a couple extra bucks for a bluetooth k/b+mouse and save myself a USB port or two.
My vision of this system is that it's sitting on top of my desk with a bluetooth setup for navigation and input, the only cables I'd have on this thing would be power, monitor and speakers. and the only reason it would actually be on my desk instead of behind it or something is so I could swap CDs and DVDs. Hell, it'd be like having an external USB disc drive on your desk, only smaller and it does a lot more
I would love one of these systems, and I think I may just pick one up for my g/f who's been wanting a mac to tool around on.
although I was told by several rows worth of people in the theater that I only improved Mystery Men.
You shot the projectionist and put on something better? Like one of the movies from this list?
Especially on Slashdot, people seem to have blinders on that TiVo == DVR. They even use TiVo as a verb. I really don't understand it either since there are other alternatives to TiVo like ReplayTV or even free ones like MythTV. Why do people so vehemently defend TiVo
:~( I Think I'll need to just get a cable one.
:(
:) (well, except for the people who are going to reply saying that it offends them just to be argumentative ;P )
First off, I'll preface this with the fact that I went from cable, to DirecTV, to DirecTiVo, and back to cable, then finally to a cable supplied DVR. What i've found is that the TiVo DVRs have such a major following because they ARE -that much- better. My cable DVR is no more special than a f'ing VCR. You can record a particular show, or record it every time it shows on that channel. However it's not as simple as with TiVo where you say "season pass" then type in the first couple letters to find it, then you're done. On this DVR you actually need to go find a point where that show is playing on the channel you want it on, then hit record, then start assigning recordings. That is my most major gripe.
Secondly, the menuing system BLOWS on my new DVR. It's nowhere near as friendly as the TiVo's. I can't cite anything at the moment, as I gave my TiVo away since I couldn't get DirecTV anymore, but I do know that I'm nowhere near as comfortable with this menuing system as I was with the TiVo.
I also like how TiVo will record recommendations for you. I've found some really cool shows that way. I do miss that damned machine..
BTW, "Hacks" don't count, that functionality should be built into the system to let you copy the digital movie format off the hard drive and transfer it to your PC with little trouble.
This is the cool part though, TiVo ENCOURAGES hacking. They've got a VERY strong community following and it seems like they actually encourage all of the little hacks and projects people work on. I've heard nothing but praise for the TiVo hacking community. I haven't had a chance to play with it myself, but again, my TiVo is gone.
TiVo is like the google of TV appliances, it's just really cool, really friendly, and doesn't offend anybody
Ahh, makes a lot more sense now, thanks for the insight!
Now, what I want to know is, how did that disgusting dish of spoiled fish end up as the (informal) name of a rock on Mars?
;)
And what I want to know is how a dish like that came into existence.. Somebody had to say "let's try soaking it lin lye, soaking it in water, simmering it and then baking it and serving it with -- etc" Weird.
I'm also troubled by your implication that a musician that uses GarageBand is a "musician", somehow different than a person that uses ProTools. A talented musician will sound good on both. A skilled graphic artist could definitely make something worthwhile in MS Paint. They wouldn't, because MS Paint is crap, but the point is that it's the artist that creates the art, the tool is just a tool, good or bad.
I'm going to hope that someone sees this as on-topic, even though I see it as just another stupid post, heh. Several years back in high school I was in a lot of art classes. All of my family and friends thought I was a great artist, I think I was good, but I had friends that were -great-. I used to sit there in awe as they would do a pencil portrait of someone sitting in front of them in about 2 minutes, and come up with an exact picture of that person, they were perfect. When they borrowed MY pencil to do this is when I was really shocked. It kinda makes you think "Shit, I was hoping it was the pencil's fault that I wasn't as good as them." heheh.
But I guess to bring this on-topic, So long as the tools are there, a good artist can do a good job, a great artist can do a great job, and if you're good enough, the tools cease to matter because you can do a professional job with substandard basic equipment (in most cases.).
Try looking for it under the name "Quest for Glory". They had to change the name due to legal issues related to the "Hero Quest" board game. The other good thing about Sarien, is that there's a lot of fan-made games that are compatible with the same interpreter. There's a bunch of them at The Ultimate AGI & SCI Website. FYI :)
;). The best results I found were for "Hero's Quest So you want to be a hero" which got me close, but there was 1 site that said they had it, I just didn't trust the hoops they wanted one to jump through for membership. But damn I did love that game. hehe.
Thanks for the response, and yeah I had looked for it under both names, mostly under "Hero's Quest" though. I really wanted the one before they had to change the name, back when it was blocky and text based
I'll have to check out the fan-made games though, thanks for the link.
The only difficulty with the format is that it's harder to update for new viruses than a traditional virus checker, but even then it's still a good idea, and I'm sure it's a problem they could find a way around.
Couldn't they set up a small RAMDisk to store the definitions file on? Assuming it can find a valid network connection and maybe DHCP an address from it the way most of the LiveCDs i've seen do? Of course you would store the most 'current' definitions possible on the disc, in case the disc can't find your NIC or establish a connection or anything.. but I think that would be a viable solution right?
So you have no problem with me pressing print a million times with full page KKK propoganda, wasting your ink and paper, while you sleep?
;)
Absolutely, but I think what he's saying is that there's nothing wrong with your shared system showing up someplace to BE shared... After all, that's what sharing is for. People just need to make sure their stuff is secured first.
On a sidenote though, it would make for a good possibility for Apr1 jokes.
"Abandonware" is something made up by pirates (ooh-arr) to justify their actions.
/. story, I stumbled upon Sarien and was re-hooked on all of the old Sierra games. Sierra isn't going to re-release things like LSL1 (they tried with LSL for the consoles, but that game can't compare.) and all of the quest games. Especially Hero's Quest 1 (which I STILL can't find.) Anyhow, upon stumbling upon this program I've now been able to play all of the old Sierra games that got me into computer gaming to begin with. I would GLADLY buy copies of these games if they were still for sale. God knows they'd be 5 or 10 bucks a pop. But they're not for sale anymore, it wouldn't be worth it for Sierra to publish even 1 more copy, the costs just wouldn't add up. However, if they would offer downloads on their website for $2 or $3, I would gladly purchase a copy of each. Unfortunately, they don't, so I had to search for copies elsewhere.
However, it is a legit 'thing' though, in my mind. I purchase all of my games, I like to support people for their services. However, recently, I think in a
PS: I did have copies of each of these games, but that was 10+ years ago, I have no idea where they are now or whether or not they'd still be any good.
Actually, the #1 selling enterprise anti-spam device (the Barracuda line) is a SpamAssassing core device.
I've actually been wondering about these things... Does anyone have any real-world experience with them? I mean i've read the testimonials and reports about them, but I tend to trust other people in the trenches who have to admin these things like I'd have to, not the people trying to sell me one.
Cutting into the actual sale of the systems is not a large concern, since they are often loss-leaders in the first place. They could make money selling USB game pads and accessories
;) it wouldn't cut into the actual sale of the systems at all. What I think they should do is create an emulator with Apple's ease of use only for NES/SNES games and offer downloads of the games for THOSE systems on nintendo.com or something. If they create USB versions of the respective controllers i'd have one of each, and you can bet I'd have all of the good ol' games from those systems.
If they do it right, well, what I would consider right
Hell, my parents have been searching high and low for Super Mario Bros.
but I think they're also good for people who have way too much experience with computers. I've seen one person after another become fed up with the dismal state of the other platforms (Windows, Linux, whatever) and make the move to Mac OS X.
You just described me. For the past 10 years or so I've hand built every PC that I've owned, plus every PC my parents and several of my friends have owned. I got a job as a sysadmin building servers, installing OS', troubleshooting/supporting end users, etc, etc, etc...
I picked up a G3 powerbook in '99 (recently replaced with a G4) and haven't looked back. The thing just works. I love not having to worry about what's going to work and what's not.
however, when one company has a monopoly on a good or service, they can then leverage that monopoly to extend their hold on the market. like integrating a browser, or designing your own rail cars...
or, adding a desktop toolbar.
In all fairness, this isn't really using their monopoly to leverage a foothold in anything.. If that's the case than having people upgrade from IE5 to IE6 would be MS trying to 'extend their hold on the market' which really isn't true.. Just because MS is (finally) adding some much needed functionality to a browser that they've had around for several years doesn't mean anything. Hell, would people be saying this if they'd just decided to build all of the toolbar functionality into the browser and release it as IE7?
-matt
The huge monitor(s) would be much more useful if games worked perfectly with them. As it stands you're probably going to have a tough time configuring your favorite game, let alone the ones that are designed to take advantage of this sort of thing. I've seen MS Flight Simulator done over a huge amount of monitors, but until I get HL2 like that I'm not impressed.
Agreed. I'd much sooner get a top of the line projector for a fraction of the cost of the L monitors, hell, a fraction of the cost of the CHEAPEST L monitor. And isntead of getting a long thin display, I get 110" of screen on my wall. My old neighbor had a setup like this, made Command and Conquer pretty cool. My g/f once rented a projector for a side-job, after she was done we played some 4 player halo on it (single player was sick, too.) and we each got our own 55" screen basically. Good times to be had with those things, and I think they stomp all over the little overpriced L monitors.
-matt
Hmm so Microsoft do this to poor old Mike Rowe, and it's yet another example of the nasty corporate behemouth, yet when Apple do the same thing to someone who registered the domain BEFORE it was a registered Apple trademark, and they're to be praised for their actions?
The way I see it, and I could be wrong, is not that it's a matter of "Apple Bad, Microsoft Good". My reasoning behind thinking that MS are the assholes in the Mike Rowe incident, and Apple being in the right here is the simple fact that it's "Microsoft" not "Mikerowesoft" and "Windows" not "Lindows" Microsoft is suing people for making things that SOUND like their product names. Apple is trying to get back a domain which IS a product name, it's not "eTunes" or "lTunes" or anything like that, it's "iTunes" that's being used. It's blatent. Mike Rowe was the guy's name for God's sake.. that was just out of line trying to steal HIS domain.
-matt
If I want to download something in order to try it out before I drop ($15 on a CD, ~$25 on a DVD, or ~$50 on a game), I reserve the right to do so. If I like it, I'll buy it. If I don't, I saved myself being ripped off.
...huh?
Right here you bring up a good point.. Is it just me? the fact that I don't read gaming mags or check gaming sites so I just don't know? Or do companies not release demos nearly as much as they used to.. It used to be i'd download a demo of a game, play a level or maybe two, and then be sent to a screen asking me to buy the game. Why don't they do that as much? (unless they do, in which case that shoots the poster's arguement to hell..) It'd eliminate the excuses of "I wanted to see if it was any good so I downloaded the full version and beat it and forgot to buy it once I was done".. However, my agreement with this point only applies for games. You do get to 'preview' CDs and DVDs, you've got the radio, and video rental stores.
It is theft for a record company to put 1 or 2 decent songs on a CD (which, incidentally, holds about 80 minutes worth of music, as we all well know, and sometimes -contains- less than 50...).
No it's not.. what, is it going to be theft unless they use every last byte on the CD then? Does that make CD Singles theft? Kinda a weak arguement there...
It is theft to put more effort into keeping people from playing your game than making one that they would want to and then refusing to refund the customer's money when they find that out.
The problem I have with this arguement is.. They don't put a lot of effort into keeping people from playing the game.. Is it really that hard to put the CD in? I know it's inconvenient and personally, I would use a no-cd patch (unless I knew it'd fuck up my game, like hl2) but seriously, companies don't go through THAT much trouble, and copy protection mechanisms don't de-value a game... all of the old sierra games had them, and I think those were some of the most fun games made.
It is theft when I move and my DVD collection which I perfectly legally purchased becomes worthless.
Toyota asked us to "authenticate" our car every time we started it there would be a Toyota for all of five seconds. If I purchase a CD, game, or movie, that copy is MY property.
Toyota asks you to authenticate your car every time you want to get in or start it, so does Chevy, Ford, Honda, every car company does... the same way a lot of games and other software want you to authenticate.. with a key..
-matt
This is simply not true. R&D costs are huge, between $500M and $700M depending on who you believe. Clinical trials alone cost a fortune and take years to conduct. The vast majority of drugs do not make it to market. Thus pharmaceuticals must make huge profits on the ones that do to make up for all the many ones that don't.
/. there for a minute.. ;)
Heh, I thought you were talking about somebody else who's often discussed on
-matt
My mom doesn't understand why I make her click on the red globe icon instead of the blue E.
:)
You can resort to the old standby of car analogies.
Or you can just point the blue E to the red globe's exe file and she'll never know the difference
-matt
Which, I imagine is where we lose pretty much everybody because:
a) users just want to get going already - not install secuirty patches
b) as an article about counterfeit copies of XP in Asia put it, "Windows Update wouldn't work, so they gave up."
c) users get screwed due to attacks that cause their system to crash faster than they can even get to WU to download the patches to keep their system up long enough to become up to date and/or secure.
Not everybody knows to turn the firewall on to prevent this, and it's caused a lot of problems for a lot of the less technical users that I know.
-matt
Tell them that they can have 2 hours and that is it. They are teenagers they will break that rule and then you provide a consequence.
/., I don't think this sounds like an unreasonable idea.. maybe set up a home proxy server to limit access? You can do that kind of thing with modern proxy software right?
I'm not a parent or anything, and not well versed (yet) in proxy servers, but being that this is
Dad - unlimited usage 24/7
Mom - unlimited usage 24/7
Child1 - 2 hours per day, 8am-10pm
Child2 - 5 hours per day 8am-12pm
Or something like that? It'd make your life easier not having to police anything.
-matt
Isn't firefox based on Mozilla? Wasn't Mozilla based on Netscape? So now Netscape is going to be based on Firefox?
Netscape->Mozilla->FireFox->Netscape!?!?!
Heh, Kinda reminds me of that "I'm my own grandpa" song!
-matt
No, it's a great idea. Free samples are marketing, by vendors to engineers. The cost of thousands of free, and cheap to manufacture, voltage regs is much less than the cost of other marketing. And less than the profit from increased sales, to the engineers who tried and like them.
Eeeexactly. And they're thinking "sure, we'll give them a few of this cheap part for free" because just wait until you need something that they offer that is NOT in their "bag o' samples". They'll probably be the first company you turn to to order it. Brilliant move IMO.
-matt
Great post, and since you're capped as far as moderation goes, I'll reply.
I agree with you 100%. People may say "well even if the voting wasn't skewed he would have won" there should BE NO IF! I don't see why they can't get it right... I'm thinking why can't there be a central database in each state with a list of all of the registered SS#s. You could then allow people to vote from their computer if you wanted to. You'd just use a standard PC at the polls and have people click their votes. It would be hard to fraud since you'd have to know someone's SS# and district. Hell, you could lock SS#s to districts to prevent brute forcing votes through via scripting. I'm sure there's some security issues i'm missing, but even this idea seems more secure than what we've got right now. I do think this is probably the way voting is going, though. But hey, maybe I'm wrong. Let me know if you think so.
-matt