*perceived because most people only look at the initial cost and don't factor in the fact that there are many people using 5+ year old Macs on a daily basis.
I know people using 5 year old PCs too, many of those people use their computers solely for web browsing, writing emails and word processing. In which case a 450 or so MHz machine running Windows 98 performs just fine. Which is about the exact same thing that the folks using a 5 year old Mac are doing too.
Now if you want to do any gaming... wait you can't do that on a Mac... how about video editing... well that will work about just as well on a 5 year old PC as a 5 year old Mac, that's saying painful by current standards, but not impossible.
The trick is that because PCs cost less then Macs, and you don't have to jump through hoops to build your own. In a 5 year time span I've built 3 PCs that altogether would cost about the same amount as if I had bought a Mac 5 years ago, and I would be stuck with that same old Mac all this time.
Personally I think the biggest reason why the Macintosh does not deserve to be at the top of the list is because they hands down lost. Apple wanted to be a Microsoft and control all of the hardware too. Not to mention that many of the "innovations" came out of Xerox Parc, not Apple.
You're saying that getting a 75+% profit margin in an industry where many companies rely on 5% or less profit margins isn't a monopoly?
However granted Apple does charge more for Mac OS X then Microsoft does for Windows... But that's just Apple taking advantage of their vertical monopoly.
Well I think a number of the movies I have therw wouldn't even be a point to buying a high-rez version because the source video isn't that good quality, especially some of the older stuff, so as long as the new players can play the 'old' DVDs should be much of a problem.
And this include Star Wars and practically every other movie that was made before the mid 90s. I look at a number of my DVDs and I can see the film grain on them because of the transfer from the source material, putting these in higher rez isn't going to change that.
There's such an ever-widening difference between technical English grammary "Written English" and "Spoken English." I largely attribute this to the conservative college folk that fool themselves about the 'purity' of English.
This is not a pure language nor ever was, or will it ever be.
Its a very strange F*ed up mixture of German, Celtic, Latin, French and Norwegian. That's why there's so damned many synonyms in this language.
So trying to keep English a static language isn't going to work because it never has been a static language.
You can have the best actors in the world and the best effects in the world, but if the writing sucks, its going to flounder.
Minority Report was tollerable because while Tom Cruise's acting sucked, the writing was decent. My favorite film, Chasing Amy, was made on less then $250,000, so you don't even need to have a lot of money to have good writing.
The problem is that we have a system set up where the actors are noticed more then the writers in most cases. There's exceptions, people go to Kevin Smith and M. Night Shaymalan movies because of fandom for the writer/director, but those are exceptions instead of rules.
Ok... Before you start talking about money you have to realize that this by no means is a profitable contract, most likely ATi will be losing money making parts for XBox2.
That's why nVidia didn't want this contract. Its the same reason why AMD didn't want the contract from the original XBox. It's a waste of production capacity to make components at little-to-no profit, more likely at a loss, and to be stuck making those same components for the next three years, where that capacity instead could be used to make more profitable chips.
This is more of a win for nVidia then ATi. In reality no one is winning because last time I checked Microsoft also is still losing money on XBox. However Microsoft has a ton of money to burn, thanks to thier incredible money making machine that is Windows and Office. So when you look at it the people that really are losing are the ones Microsoft is suckering into these contracts, hardware companies that are already running on paper-thin margins.
They're practically handing out MCSEs these days too. Its pretty sad when you see the severely incompetent low paid end of the spectrum, ie School District employees. The guy who has an MCSE in his hand and a confused look on his face when you ask him to add a user to the server.
Evidently its no longer a requirement to know how to add a user to a Windows box to get an MCSE.
You'll be surprised how easy it is to jack into an ethernet port at a public school. Walking into the library you should see a couple open ethernet ports. If you're really inventive you might see some ethernet cables running along the walls outside that could provide for not so quick access in a pinch.
Although that really isn't the big issue, wireless networks are inherrently insecure, and if all you're giving out is free bandwith its not really a big deal. However the concern is that the district had left this information without a single password: (and I blockquote)
Unauthorized users could copy many of those sensitive files, as well as upload their own files onto one of the district's servers, Fuji, the Weekly found. Unlike the majority of the district's information, the documents were not password protected.
The same information was also accessible to individuals using district computers within school sites.
The problem here is that we have some idiot that left the files on a public share, evidently according to the paper they were also able to get into the SASIxp system, which for those of you who are unfamiliar is a popular (in the eyes of the people who sell it, not those who use it) bulky, slow, unstable and generally horrid student, grade and attendance management system. With the click of a button on an account that some teacher carelessly left open, students can access their peers grades, attendance records and permanent record including any criminal offenses and mental analysis.
This is a system that is being implemented in schools across the nation at an alarming rate. Why? Is it because it works? Hardly. At the two schools I've seen it used both the SASI servers were down half the time. Is it because its user friendly? Definately not. Many teachers are afraid to touch it, others flat out refuse because it takes too much time out of class for them to have to sit down at the computer and take attendance. But like I said, this system has its perks, it gives teachers access to information which they themselves are not supposed to know.
So you are probably right, it almost certainly was a disgruntled teacher that reported this, maybe even a disgruntled student. Good for them. If the district office won't listen the first time around they deserve to get themselves embarassed. Hopefuly this will serve as a shining example for the other lazy, beuracratic waste of money district administrators out there.
The point is that there is no security to bypass... None, zip, zero, zilch. I live and just graduated from Monta Vista in the nearbye Fremont Union High School District, and the thing about 90% of the District tech guys is that they don't know what they are doing.
I've met an MCSE before that didn't know how to add a user to a Windows 2000 server. Honestly, these people on the most part are the lowest of the low. And similarly in FUHSD they too have an unencrypted wireless network. I can access that network *from my house* that's a mile away, granted we had to pull out a friend's parabolic dish, but we managed to hit the thing, not to mention that I have good line of sight to the entire valley from my house.
These guys don't comprehend that a wireless network does not stop at their walls, and they leave the networks unencrypted to make it "easier" for them. Security is only a concern as long as they don't get caught. I've seen, I've known students that have broke into a Apple File Sharing server with a simple brute force attack, and then they proceeded to delete several students work from the Typing class and move some files around.
This was a situation that was easily preventable by maxing out the number of times a account can attempt to login within an hour, but they didn't do it because it was "too inconvient." Evidently these guys also aren't smart enough to remember their own passwords, so much for security.
The difference between IE and Office though is that Microsoft wasn't making any money off of IE. Let's think about this. It costs money to keep a product updated and to continue supporting it. If Apple is willing to take this job over for Microsoft, why not? Microsoft is simply doing the economic thing.
Unfortunately though IE has become something of a pseudo-standard. There's already one too many websites out there that require a user to be using Internet Explorer, and even a few that will stop the user from entering unless they're using Internet Explorer. A number of undereducated website admins haven't even looked at Mozilla and tried to get it to work, considering the only IE security flaw, sorry, I mean "feature", that doesn't work to any extent in Mozilla, under windows, is ActiveX controls. Granted ActiveX isn't going to work well on a Mac either, but for some reason a number of sites check specifically for IE.
If you want to look at where IE for the mac is, take a look at IE for the PC. Neither have been updated in a good amount of time, nor have there been any significant features added in either. Feature-wise both are very much behind Mozilla, which has such nifty things as Tabbed Browsing and built-in popup blocking which is superior to any add-on for IE.
There are standards for HTML, granted there are no trademarks on the name, however they would be much better off if there were. Before Netscape 6.0 it was a pain for web developers to try to get something to look the same in Netscape and IE because Netscape did not comply to the standard and rendered things in a very funny manner (tables and the like would be rendered too large, a 130 pixel table might be 200 pixels)
Right now the only "big" browser that complies to the HTML standards is Mozilla, and then consequentially, Netscape which is based off of Mozilla.
I'm sure if I looked hard enough I could find standards boards for most of the other things too. Having teeth to a standard isn't necessarily a bad thing. Phillips isn't allowing the RIAA to use the "Compact Disc" logo on their copy-protected CDs because it doesn't comply to the standard for a Compact Disc. This is legitamate to Apple not being able to call OSX "Unix" in their marketing, because it is not Unix.
These standards boards exist to protect the consumer so they know what the product they are buying is what it says it is.
I think its interesting how both countries also like to avoid what they call "American Style" systems. However when I hear people give their honest opinion about those countries' governments and hear about some of their own restrictive, wasteful laws, its in many ways just as bad as the US.
I live in the SF Bay Area, so granted there is more choices then in many other areas in terms of ISPs, on top of the Comcast Cable Internet, formerly ATTBI (which IMO, was when it was at its best state), formerly ATT@Home, there's also ten or so other DSL providers, Sprint Wireless Broadband if you get really desperate, and if bad comes to worse, Satalite internet via DirecTV/DirectPC.
As much as our legislation is corporate influenced, the US government has also seemed more ready to take on a monopoly. Granted not the Bush administration by any stretch of the imagination, but that dictator mostly likely, hopefully, will be out in another year.
Here's a thought... Now granted its highly unlikely, but you never know... Lets say if France decides that they want to attack some country that say... I don't know... sent terrorists to bomb one of their buildings.
Now what if this happens and the US decides it doesn't warrant turning on Selective Availability on the GPS system... just because the French are doing something...
Like I said, all of this is in the hypothetical, some of it could be considered down-right fiction, but you never know.
The EU building this system also makes the US less likely to comply with any requests to turn off the GPS system if ever needed. Like I said you never know, but if I recall in the last two World Wars the US didn't become involved in it later...
The first is the producer that pretty much is there to give money and have a credit. They don't do much, maybe setup a meeting or two with a connection, but otherwise they're hands-off.
The second kind would be those that give money and try to give notes on gameplay, some are taken in but others are ignored for better or worse, there's some input on the production process but its minimal.
The third and most rare kind is the producer that is involved in ever step of the development proccess from the products inception to release.
It's quite possible that Miyamota was only topically involved with Metroid Prime, but you'd have to find some evidence either way, all I'm saying is that its a production credit, not a creative credit like Writing, Artistic Work or even Coding.
I believe I heard on CNBC that Microsoft's profit margins are around 85%. I am unsure whether this number is for windows alone, or specific versions of windows, or all Microsoft products combined. Either way this number is insanely high.
StarCraft was one of the first games to get working under WINE before WineX. There is a LINUX NATIVE version of both UT and UT2003 (I have both), and I've heard favorable reports to getting CS working under WINE, however the anti-cheating software doesn't work too well in WINE. Take a good look at Transgaming, there's a number of games on that list that do work under linux.
However this really is a moot point. The goal of the rural cyberecafes is to provide access to email and web browsing, not to train a generation of "uber1337" kiddies that can't do anything but cheat in CS.
And eveidently you don't understand what capitalist system is. If it was a socailist system there would be no choice, its one-service-for-all, kind of like how Microsoft wants it, that for every PC you have you have to pay the "Microsoft Tax". Linux is the one trying to break this up so there actually is competition in the x86 PC market.
The only ratings in the US that have age-restrictions placed on them are:
"R" - No one under 17 is admitted without a parent (or an adult that looks like he/she could be your parent)
"NC-17" - No Children Under 17.
Anything below those two are purely for guidance reasons they aren't actual restrictions and they shouldn't be. The line between the various movie ratings can be quite blurry and often can be biased by movie studios or the characters/cast. (ie Austin Powers has a much easier time getting a PG-13 then say, South Park). In short, its impossible to make a perfect ratings system so it exist there as guidance. I saw PG-13 movies when I was 4, but my parents would watch them first to be sure.
George Lucas has said in interviews that he never intended to make a sequel trilogy and probably won't, then again the capitalist in him might prevail, if a sub-par Star Wars movies (read: Episode I) can make $200+ million at the box office then more Star Wars movies are easy cash. However considering how long it took him to start making Episode I it seems doubtful.
As for complicating the Star Wars "canon" the general rule of thumb for any SciFi universe is to treat extretaneous sources (Books, animated series, etc.) as seperate and inconsequential in the universe. However there are exceptions, there's been a number of Babylon 5 books released drawn up on plot outlines written by J. Michael Straczynski that works nicely within the existing B5 canon, however there hasn't been many major B5 projects since Rangers. If Lucas is willing to write out some storylines for the animated series that fit into the existing Star Wars "canon", it could provide a nice treat for Star Wars fans.
Slashdot Mirror
Sounds like breast enlargement pills if you ask me ;-)
I know people using 5 year old PCs too, many of those people use their computers solely for web browsing, writing emails and word processing. In which case a 450 or so MHz machine running Windows 98 performs just fine. Which is about the exact same thing that the folks using a 5 year old Mac are doing too.
Now if you want to do any gaming... wait you can't do that on a Mac... how about video editing... well that will work about just as well on a 5 year old PC as a 5 year old Mac, that's saying painful by current standards, but not impossible.
The trick is that because PCs cost less then Macs, and you don't have to jump through hoops to build your own. In a 5 year time span I've built 3 PCs that altogether would cost about the same amount as if I had bought a Mac 5 years ago, and I would be stuck with that same old Mac all this time.
Personally I think the biggest reason why the Macintosh does not deserve to be at the top of the list is because they hands down lost. Apple wanted to be a Microsoft and control all of the hardware too. Not to mention that many of the "innovations" came out of Xerox Parc, not Apple.
Um... 1/16th the monopoly price?
You're saying that getting a 75+% profit margin in an industry where many companies rely on 5% or less profit margins isn't a monopoly?
However granted Apple does charge more for Mac OS X then Microsoft does for Windows... But that's just Apple taking advantage of their vertical monopoly.
Well I think a number of the movies I have therw wouldn't even be a point to buying a high-rez version because the source video isn't that good quality, especially some of the older stuff, so as long as the new players can play the 'old' DVDs should be much of a problem.
And this include Star Wars and practically every other movie that was made before the mid 90s. I look at a number of my DVDs and I can see the film grain on them because of the transfer from the source material, putting these in higher rez isn't going to change that.
What, you mean a jizz-mopper?
There's such an ever-widening difference between technical English grammary "Written English" and "Spoken English." I largely attribute this to the conservative college folk that fool themselves about the 'purity' of English.
This is not a pure language nor ever was, or will it ever be.
Its a very strange F*ed up mixture of German, Celtic, Latin, French and Norwegian. That's why there's so damned many synonyms in this language.
So trying to keep English a static language isn't going to work because it never has been a static language.
SF Bay Area also uses AIM.
The couple canadians I know use MSN.
My cousins in Illinois also use AIM. My cousin in Colorado uses MSN.
I use gaim on windows, as I consider it to be far superior to Trillian, despite a few stability issues, but most of my conversations go through AIM.
You forgot the "get better writers"
You can have the best actors in the world and the best effects in the world, but if the writing sucks, its going to flounder.
Minority Report was tollerable because while Tom Cruise's acting sucked, the writing was decent. My favorite film, Chasing Amy, was made on less then $250,000, so you don't even need to have a lot of money to have good writing.
The problem is that we have a system set up where the actors are noticed more then the writers in most cases. There's exceptions, people go to Kevin Smith and M. Night Shaymalan movies because of fandom for the writer/director, but those are exceptions instead of rules.
Ok... Before you start talking about money you have to realize that this by no means is a profitable contract, most likely ATi will be losing money making parts for XBox2.
That's why nVidia didn't want this contract. Its the same reason why AMD didn't want the contract from the original XBox. It's a waste of production capacity to make components at little-to-no profit, more likely at a loss, and to be stuck making those same components for the next three years, where that capacity instead could be used to make more profitable chips.
This is more of a win for nVidia then ATi. In reality no one is winning because last time I checked Microsoft also is still losing money on XBox. However Microsoft has a ton of money to burn, thanks to thier incredible money making machine that is Windows and Office. So when you look at it the people that really are losing are the ones Microsoft is suckering into these contracts, hardware companies that are already running on paper-thin margins.
There's been child tracking devices for a while now, they're called Cell Phones (aka Yuppie Leashes), and most teens want them too.
They're practically handing out MCSEs these days too. Its pretty sad when you see the severely incompetent low paid end of the spectrum, ie School District employees. The guy who has an MCSE in his hand and a confused look on his face when you ask him to add a user to the server.
Evidently its no longer a requirement to know how to add a user to a Windows box to get an MCSE.
What would it be then if I post of Slashdot that you're a soulless satan worshipping ballbag?
Although that really isn't the big issue, wireless networks are inherrently insecure, and if all you're giving out is free bandwith its not really a big deal. However the concern is that the district had left this information without a single password: (and I blockquote)
The problem here is that we have some idiot that left the files on a public share, evidently according to the paper they were also able to get into the SASIxp system, which for those of you who are unfamiliar is a popular (in the eyes of the people who sell it, not those who use it) bulky, slow, unstable and generally horrid student, grade and attendance management system. With the click of a button on an account that some teacher carelessly left open, students can access their peers grades, attendance records and permanent record including any criminal offenses and mental analysis.
This is a system that is being implemented in schools across the nation at an alarming rate. Why? Is it because it works? Hardly. At the two schools I've seen it used both the SASI servers were down half the time. Is it because its user friendly? Definately not. Many teachers are afraid to touch it, others flat out refuse because it takes too much time out of class for them to have to sit down at the computer and take attendance. But like I said, this system has its perks, it gives teachers access to information which they themselves are not supposed to know.
So you are probably right, it almost certainly was a disgruntled teacher that reported this, maybe even a disgruntled student. Good for them. If the district office won't listen the first time around they deserve to get themselves embarassed. Hopefuly this will serve as a shining example for the other lazy, beuracratic waste of money district administrators out there.
The point is that there is no security to bypass... None, zip, zero, zilch. I live and just graduated from Monta Vista in the nearbye Fremont Union High School District, and the thing about 90% of the District tech guys is that they don't know what they are doing.
I've met an MCSE before that didn't know how to add a user to a Windows 2000 server. Honestly, these people on the most part are the lowest of the low. And similarly in FUHSD they too have an unencrypted wireless network. I can access that network *from my house* that's a mile away, granted we had to pull out a friend's parabolic dish, but we managed to hit the thing, not to mention that I have good line of sight to the entire valley from my house.
These guys don't comprehend that a wireless network does not stop at their walls, and they leave the networks unencrypted to make it "easier" for them. Security is only a concern as long as they don't get caught. I've seen, I've known students that have broke into a Apple File Sharing server with a simple brute force attack, and then they proceeded to delete several students work from the Typing class and move some files around.
This was a situation that was easily preventable by maxing out the number of times a account can attempt to login within an hour, but they didn't do it because it was "too inconvient." Evidently these guys also aren't smart enough to remember their own passwords, so much for security.
~Noodle
The difference between IE and Office though is that Microsoft wasn't making any money off of IE. Let's think about this. It costs money to keep a product updated and to continue supporting it. If Apple is willing to take this job over for Microsoft, why not? Microsoft is simply doing the economic thing.
Unfortunately though IE has become something of a pseudo-standard. There's already one too many websites out there that require a user to be using Internet Explorer, and even a few that will stop the user from entering unless they're using Internet Explorer. A number of undereducated website admins haven't even looked at Mozilla and tried to get it to work, considering the only IE security flaw, sorry, I mean "feature", that doesn't work to any extent in Mozilla, under windows, is ActiveX controls. Granted ActiveX isn't going to work well on a Mac either, but for some reason a number of sites check specifically for IE.
If you want to look at where IE for the mac is, take a look at IE for the PC. Neither have been updated in a good amount of time, nor have there been any significant features added in either. Feature-wise both are very much behind Mozilla, which has such nifty things as Tabbed Browsing and built-in popup blocking which is superior to any add-on for IE.
~Noodle
http://www.w3c.org/
There are standards for HTML, granted there are no trademarks on the name, however they would be much better off if there were. Before Netscape 6.0 it was a pain for web developers to try to get something to look the same in Netscape and IE because Netscape did not comply to the standard and rendered things in a very funny manner (tables and the like would be rendered too large, a 130 pixel table might be 200 pixels)
Right now the only "big" browser that complies to the HTML standards is Mozilla, and then consequentially, Netscape which is based off of Mozilla.
I'm sure if I looked hard enough I could find standards boards for most of the other things too. Having teeth to a standard isn't necessarily a bad thing. Phillips isn't allowing the RIAA to use the "Compact Disc" logo on their copy-protected CDs because it doesn't comply to the standard for a Compact Disc. This is legitamate to Apple not being able to call OSX "Unix" in their marketing, because it is not Unix.
These standards boards exist to protect the consumer so they know what the product they are buying is what it says it is.
I think its interesting how both countries also like to avoid what they call "American Style" systems. However when I hear people give their honest opinion about those countries' governments and hear about some of their own restrictive, wasteful laws, its in many ways just as bad as the US.
I live in the SF Bay Area, so granted there is more choices then in many other areas in terms of ISPs, on top of the Comcast Cable Internet, formerly ATTBI (which IMO, was when it was at its best state), formerly ATT@Home, there's also ten or so other DSL providers, Sprint Wireless Broadband if you get really desperate, and if bad comes to worse, Satalite internet via DirecTV/DirectPC.
As much as our legislation is corporate influenced, the US government has also seemed more ready to take on a monopoly. Granted not the Bush administration by any stretch of the imagination, but that dictator mostly likely, hopefully, will be out in another year.
Here's a thought... Now granted its highly unlikely, but you never know... Lets say if France decides that they want to attack some country that say... I don't know... sent terrorists to bomb one of their buildings.
Now what if this happens and the US decides it doesn't warrant turning on Selective Availability on the GPS system... just because the French are doing something...
Like I said, all of this is in the hypothetical, some of it could be considered down-right fiction, but you never know.
The EU building this system also makes the US less likely to comply with any requests to turn off the GPS system if ever needed. Like I said you never know, but if I recall in the last two World Wars the US didn't become involved in it later...
A simple fix to this is to just use Mozilla. And if you ever absolutely need to view something with flash switch over to IE *shudder*.
~Noodle
There are several kinds of producers:
The first is the producer that pretty much is there to give money and have a credit. They don't do much, maybe setup a meeting or two with a connection, but otherwise they're hands-off.
The second kind would be those that give money and try to give notes on gameplay, some are taken in but others are ignored for better or worse, there's some input on the production process but its minimal.
The third and most rare kind is the producer that is involved in ever step of the development proccess from the products inception to release.
It's quite possible that Miyamota was only topically involved with Metroid Prime, but you'd have to find some evidence either way, all I'm saying is that its a production credit, not a creative credit like Writing, Artistic Work or even Coding.
~Noodle
I believe I heard on CNBC that Microsoft's profit margins are around 85%. I am unsure whether this number is for windows alone, or specific versions of windows, or all Microsoft products combined. Either way this number is insanely high.
~Noodle
However this really is a moot point. The goal of the rural cyberecafes is to provide access to email and web browsing, not to train a generation of "uber1337" kiddies that can't do anything but cheat in CS.
And eveidently you don't understand what capitalist system is. If it was a socailist system there would be no choice, its one-service-for-all, kind of like how Microsoft wants it, that for every PC you have you have to pay the "Microsoft Tax". Linux is the one trying to break this up so there actually is competition in the x86 PC market.
~noodle
I'd believe it.
The only ratings in the US that have age-restrictions placed on them are:
"R" - No one under 17 is admitted without a parent (or an adult that looks like he/she could be your parent)
"NC-17" - No Children Under 17.
Anything below those two are purely for guidance reasons they aren't actual restrictions and they shouldn't be. The line between the various movie ratings can be quite blurry and often can be biased by movie studios or the characters/cast. (ie Austin Powers has a much easier time getting a PG-13 then say, South Park). In short, its impossible to make a perfect ratings system so it exist there as guidance. I saw PG-13 movies when I was 4, but my parents would watch them first to be sure.
~Noodle
As for complicating the Star Wars "canon" the general rule of thumb for any SciFi universe is to treat extretaneous sources (Books, animated series, etc.) as seperate and inconsequential in the universe. However there are exceptions, there's been a number of Babylon 5 books released drawn up on plot outlines written by J. Michael Straczynski that works nicely within the existing B5 canon, however there hasn't been many major B5 projects since Rangers. If Lucas is willing to write out some storylines for the animated series that fit into the existing Star Wars "canon", it could provide a nice treat for Star Wars fans.
~Noodle