Every device should store all user data (like you mentioned) in XML. Have a standard for the way things are written in the XML, and then every device has controls for what parts of the XML can be released (credit card number when you say so) and what can not (pin numbers, private bookmarks, whatever).
Keep it simple, keep it text (XML) and that's that. The problem is that every company wants to be the only company who works with their own stuff. Look at the hoars at Sony that butcher FireWire and their MemoryShaft^H^H^H^H^HStick. Look at MS and their protocals (MS-TCPIP, MSXML, MSHTML, MSJava!).
The answer is simple. Text. XML. The problem is the corporate hoars behind the product.
If they let ebonics into the classroom, then they should accept this... and yes I'm being serious. Should homework be written in leet speak or palm pilot letters? No... but if kids want to write notes or talk? in this fashion (calling each other l337 h@x0r if someone gets a question righ) it's no different that saying "Yo brother, you hot like h to the izzo."
Max OS X User: "Build my own PC? Never. This one time, my home built PC was like beep beep beep, and half my paper was gone. And I was like, huuuu? *head tilts*
Linux User: "Fuck them, let them figure it out themselves and get their hanks cut on a cheap case. My modded nitrogen boxen runs great. Gentoo rocks! vi is best!
Vax User: "What? All computers come with COLOR? Heaven bless! CGI for everyone! 4 colors should be enough for anyone."
Lindows ala-Walmart User: "YeHaw! Easier than building my own plow! Ya'll come back now, ya hear?"
Windoze User: "Dude, I got a Dell. Let's run Windoze Update and watch TechTV."
Garriot? Well said... if he spent less money on building his fscking castle of a home, and a bit of cash on Q&A, Ultima6, 7 and 8 would have had a lot less bugs and I could have enjyoyed them a lot more... Ultima 7 was the only game i ever played that had so many bugs it stoped me from finishing it and I couldn't see the ending. Never played 8 or the others because of it.
Because "If you don't want to look at ads, don't buy the game." won't soon apply since adds will be everywhere, and unless you want a Ted K. type shack to live in, you'll have BigMac's floating around your head as you walk through the mall.
Why should I pay for entertainment, then be forced to watch advertisements? Once this makes its way into every game (every movie is getting polluted, and TV shows are soon to be) it's going to be an ugly world. Until then we call all use Mozilla and BannerBlind. That is, if Mozilla is still legal to use post Palladium.
So while you slurp down 100 grams of fat in one meal, your on-line representation can also plump up, too.
I would agree to this kind of advertising under three conditions.
1) The price of the game should be reduced by a percentage of the advertising revenue, since it's our eyeballs doing the work of watching the add.
2) NPC's should get fatter, sue because they don't want to be responsible for anything, including what they shove in their mouths, and then they clog up your court building and you loose 1000 points.
3) You should be able to rob the drive-through, just like in real life.
Please don't go on about, "I won't spend XXX money to hook up that monitor to my Voodoo2-SLI boxen." A monitor of this capability is for medical, military, research applications, etc. Not for your pr0n and lan parties. (or your lan and pr0n parties, either way).
Think brain surgery, high-res scans, super-acurate 3d models to further help reduce prototyping stages.
Maybe Duke Nukem Forever, though, cause this monitor will be around $500 by the time that game comes out.
2004 - Hand over $20,000 for a few specs of moon dust.
2008 - Wait a bit, go on moon trip for $20,000 and bring back a big round ol' rock the size of a new iMac and photos of you having low-grav sex with loved one (or the stanger in seat 3F. Yeah, row 3. You'd be up in first class, of course).
I'm feeling sad. If the future (2-5 years) means PC's are gone and all we will have are X-Box type boxen on the desktop, I'll cry. Faster RAM? What for? I don't care if I have 100GHZ and a Petabyte of nanosecond ram all in my pocket. If it becomes against the law to get a BASH shell running, I'll cry. Don't laugh, we are almost there. Getting a prompt on a palladium box might just become illegal (trying to cirvumvent the boxen with C:\ are ya? Go to jail then!) For the first time in my 26 years on this planet, I UNDERSTAND why old men go, "When I was a boy" and "Back in my day." I'm saying that allready, then you had to earn a spot on the boards and respect the sysop. Back in my day...
And how does this affect me and my wittle iMac and my 17 inch wide screen which is perfect for DVD pr0n^H^H^H^H Matrix viewing???
That's right. It doesn't.
Trust me, it keeps me up at night, the though of not being able to run *nix on Intel or AMD chips... the future looks dim. Thankfully, Apple boxen are open and free to enjoy. For now.
Get off the computer and TALK to your little brother or sitster. Talk to your parents. Talk to your neighbors. Talk to the idiot browsing magazines in Borders while you sip your chai. Let everyone know that Microsoft is about restricting rights, and there is no need to upgrade. Let people know that office 98 is FINE. They will like hearing that from a "geek". If you can keep one person in doubt when MS starts hitting the cover of Time magazine with their Palladium propoganda when it comes out (2005?) you've done your part.
I'm serious, talk to your less-geeky friends and family. This is not a rant. Spread the word in plain english, then the common folk know they don't need to upgrade to an operating system that will simply restrict what they do.
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Yes, cheap sarcasim, I am trully crying inside at all these HORRIFIC patent laws... sad times indeed...
Keep it simple, keep it text (XML) and that's that. The problem is that every company wants to be the only company who works with their own stuff. Look at the hoars at Sony that butcher FireWire and their MemoryShaft^H^H^H^H^HStick. Look at MS and their protocals (MS-TCPIP, MSXML, MSHTML, MSJava!).
The answer is simple. Text. XML. The problem is the corporate hoars behind the product.
Linux User: "Fuck them, let them figure it out themselves and get their hanks cut on a cheap case. My modded nitrogen boxen runs great. Gentoo rocks! vi is best!
Vax User: "What? All computers come with COLOR? Heaven bless! CGI for everyone! 4 colors should be enough for anyone."
Lindows ala-Walmart User: "YeHaw! Easier than building my own plow! Ya'll come back now, ya hear?"
Windoze User: "Dude, I got a Dell. Let's run Windoze Update and watch TechTV."
Why should I pay for entertainment, then be forced to watch advertisements? Once this makes its way into every game (every movie is getting polluted, and TV shows are soon to be) it's going to be an ugly world. Until then we call all use Mozilla and BannerBlind. That is, if Mozilla is still legal to use post Palladium.
I would agree to this kind of advertising under three conditions.
1) The price of the game should be reduced by a percentage of the advertising revenue, since it's our eyeballs doing the work of watching the add.
2) NPC's should get fatter, sue because they don't want to be responsible for anything, including what they shove in their mouths, and then they clog up your court building and you loose 1000 points.
3) You should be able to rob the drive-through, just like in real life.
;)
10...9...8...7...EMERGENCY LAUNCH HOLD!
"We have a warning light!" "What's wrong!" "The External Fuel Tank, It's The Camera. It melted."
Think brain surgery, high-res scans, super-acurate 3d models to further help reduce prototyping stages.
Maybe Duke Nukem Forever, though, cause this monitor will be around $500 by the time that game comes out.
2004 - Hand over $20,000 for a few specs of moon dust.
2008 - Wait a bit, go on moon trip for $20,000 and bring back a big round ol' rock the size of a new iMac and photos of you having low-grav sex with loved one (or the stanger in seat 3F. Yeah, row 3. You'd be up in first class, of course).
Hmmm... let me see.
I'm feeling sad. If the future (2-5 years) means PC's are gone and all we will have are X-Box type boxen on the desktop, I'll cry. Faster RAM? What for? I don't care if I have 100GHZ and a Petabyte of nanosecond ram all in my pocket. If it becomes against the law to get a BASH shell running, I'll cry. Don't laugh, we are almost there. Getting a prompt on a palladium box might just become illegal (trying to cirvumvent the boxen with C:\ are ya? Go to jail then!) For the first time in my 26 years on this planet, I UNDERSTAND why old men go, "When I was a boy" and "Back in my day." I'm saying that allready, then you had to earn a spot on the boards and respect the sysop. Back in my day...
That's right. It doesn't.
Trust me, it keeps me up at night, the though of not being able to run *nix on Intel or AMD chips... the future looks dim. Thankfully, Apple boxen are open and free to enjoy. For now.
I'm running whatever Ellen Feiss tells me to.
And please, don't bother replying with, "And it'll also come out when I root your boxen."
:)
$0.00/month or $0,000.00/year.
I'm serious, talk to your less-geeky friends and family. This is not a rant. Spread the word in plain english, then the common folk know they don't need to upgrade to an operating system that will simply restrict what they do.