What he said, I submitted this link yesterday as a Story, but was denied! I'm 2 for 4 now... the shame!
I am going to begin testing results with some of these new search Engines against Google see if I find one that works better. Google was great but I would say for the past several months it's results have been subpar.
However, no Search Engine will ever have as good a name as Google!!
All the talk about making Spam illegal but imo Spyware or any software installed without the user's express consent is much more of a problem than Spam!!
Talk about invasion of privacy. To me this just like a cable guy coming into your house to install cable tv/broadband and just happens to drop a couple of hidden cameras in your house as well.
Yes I agree users should be more careful what they install, I ran Spybot on my system just to see, it found a few cookies that was it, but I am very careful of what I install on my system.
Nonetheless it should still be illegal for any software to be installed without the users express consent. And this should be specific, not some read the license agreement loophole. When installing software the installer should plainly and clearly explain what is being installed. Anything installed in addition or code that is beyond the scope of what the software is suppose to do should be illegal.
My conspiracy theory is simple really. HL2 and for that matter Doom3 both will require some serious CPU and Video hardware for each to run well and "Look" the way they want users to experience the game. IMO the average gamer's rig does not have the horsepower for the game to be playable and look good. Both games got ahead of the Hardware curve a little too far.
So by waiting 6-9 months video cards that will run the games well should be around $200 not at the $400-500 they are now. They can also continue quashing bugs and adding content/levels to the game to extend it's play life and therefore perceived value. Lastly it gives Nvidia and ATI more time to tweak their drivers for the games.
is rather amusing, since most agree it is being killed by computer generated 3D animation! You bunch of lame hypocrites!! lol
Seriously though, I also think this is sad news. And I also agree that it is not simply... "2D animation is dead." Disney has not produced a 2D animated smash hit since the Lion King (1994), which is currenty the 10th ranked Domestic movie of all time in terms of ticket sales. The next Disney movie on the list (not including Pixar) is Aladdin at 43rd (1992), Snow White (1937 - Re-release) at 60th, Beauty and the Beast (1991) at 84th, then we have Tarzan (1999) at 85th which did 171 Million which is good. The other Disney animation movies to break 100 million since the Lion King are Lilo & Stich (2002) 145 Million, Mulan (1998) 120 Million, Pochahontas (1995) 141 Million and Hunchback (1996) 100 Million.
Mixed in there are some money losers, Hercules, Atlantis, Treasure Planet, Emperor's New Groove, Fantasia 2000, and Country Bears. In particular Treasure and Atlantis were BIG money losers.
The 1 large strike that traditional hand drawn animation has against it is that it is more time consuming and expensive to do hand drawn today than computer generated. Ultimately this is what will kill it.
I suppose if Disney is gonna keep cranking out the sub-par fare it is better if it cost significantly less and takes less time to make!
NOTE: All Ticket Sales figures from BoxOfficeMojo.com
Exactly, "Control" is a huge part of why on-line games will continue to eat away at TV ratings.
This is old news imo, and if you don't believe it then I have a simple question for you.
If you had to give up your TV or your On-Line PC which would you choose? (Alternate: Give up Cable TV or Cable modem?)
I don't even have to think about it, I can just see that TV flying out the door... actually I'd be struggling to push it out the door but that is not the point!
But don't use your answer, ask people at work, as kids and adults. I think you'd be surprised at how many Today would choose the PC, now just look down the road 10 years.
This is a Major societal change. I am just curious to see what the companies involved in bringing TV programming are gonna do...
I had the unpleasant experience of managing an internal tech support group for a company with 9 locations and 250+ computers, 800+ handheld computers (sales force), 20 servers. I did so under protest and only did it for 3 months. If you have never done tech support then you have no idea what it is like. It is all of the following: boring, stressful, frustrating, infuriating, inconvenient, unrewarding, thankless. On many days when the phone rang all I wanted to do was throw it out the window, during this time I would sometimes disconnect the phone at home and would not talk on it at night unless forced too. The sound of the phone ringing became synonymous with an unhappy employee complaining.
I would say at least 50% of the calls and problems were user error, this is probably higher but this was 10 years ago so I am not sure. The real joy was trying to troubleshoot what the person did, this was made even more exciting by doing it over the phone (now click on the Icon that looks like a Computer, long pause... where?, try the top left corner, under breath (Moron)) AND the user not being honest about what they did to screw it up! I do remember thinking how much time I could save if the user would just fess up to what they did.
There is no reason why any sane/intelligent person would work in support for any length of time. It is the worst IT job and surely competing for worst job period. Therefore what is the typical support person going to be like? I'll let you figure that one out.
Scripts are used to deal with dumb customers and dumb tech employees. I hate 'em, I understand why they use them but it drives me nuts.
I think the typical Slashdot reader is frustrated with support because we usually know more about the problem, and software than the tech support person we talk too! This is frustrating! It is also frustrating when you can only understand about 50% of what the support person is saying, I will not identify any ethnicity but I think many people know what I am talking about. I can't tell you how many times I have wanted to say, "listen I know what the hell I am doing can you put someone on the phone who knows what the hell they are doing too!". I call support as my last option, and when I do I expect the person to not understand or care.
When I did tech support it was always a pleasure to deal with an intelligent user, being intelligent myself it was usually a quick or easy process to help. Dealing with average users was difficult and dumb users was simply an exercise in frustration. I can only imagine what a dumb user, dumb tech interchange must be like... oh yea...
You forgot to mention he was also eating and talking on his cellphone too!
I wonder if this guy is the same one who turns on his blinker right when he makes his turn...
Any serious hardware geek abandoned THG many moons ago. At the least you should take anything you read there with a grain of salt. IMO they have some serious integrity issues.
I just installed MDK 9.1 a week ago. I had Zero problems installing, a pleasant surprise. In fact I would say it was easier installing MDK 9.1 than Win2000 Pro. This was my first try at Linux, it is growing on me quickly.
I know many here at/. think MDK is for wimps, real Linux users use(name your favorite distro) so on and so on, but I wanted to "try" it out first before I decided to jump in and get dirty. I'm very glad I choose MDK as it has made my "first" Linux experience a generally positive and painless one.
If you want Linux to supplant or at least give Windows a run for it's money then installing does need to be painless. I get the feeling some hard core geeks don't understand this, I guess they come from the "pain is good" camp?!?! Or maybe there are some who really don't want Linux to become popular or dare I say mainstream because that would force them to move to a different OS because using Linux would no longer be geeky or unique enough!
Now that I have tried MDK 9.1 I am sure I will try other distros in the future, in fact I will probably buy another HD to do just that! I know I could have handled installing the more challenging distros as I am a developer and also a hardware geek. But it was "refreshing" that installing MDK 9.1 was so fast and easy. For the "average" user this is exactly what they need. I hope MDK has a long and prosperous life.
I had no problems installing. This was my first Linux installation. Cut my teeth on changing the monitor refresh rate, installing Nvidia drivers, Opera and Wolfenstein:ET. Linux is growing on me quickly.
I did C/++ development work on DOS/Unix in the early 90's, but our desktops were primarily all Macs, I loved Macs then and it was a FAR superior OS till Win3.11 rolled out, that is when I made the switch. I remember laughing at a co-worker playing with Win2.0!
Course it will be awhile till I switch to Linux, I currently develop Access Apps for a living. Don't laugh, it's a decent living. Maybe it's time to learn MySQL, Python, and Java?!?!
I am seeing a trend in the past 6-12 months of people putting switches, toggles, buttons on their computers. I thought part of the elegance of a computer was getting away from all that?!?!
Something about the tactile feel I guess... or knob envy...;)
I mean come on! We won't even mention how many Slashdotters were inspired by this movie alone... maybe more amazing is they remained geeks after they realized that they will not get the pretty girl, even if they did alter her grades!
Sadly we did find out that you cannot hold the world hostage with a computer, 300 baud modem, and a cool voice syntheziser!! But damnit if we did not try!!
2 Classic and ground breaking games that get very little mention. Descent for the 1st truly 3D world, and some amazing levels. Outlaws, imho, a top 10 FPS of all time. Great story, great music, solid levels, and the first game to introduce the rifle with a scope where you could "zoom" in!
I look at Unreal2 as simply a vehicle to demonstrate what the new Unreal engine can do. So it's real target is the potential developers who will license the engine!
Very few companies can create a great engine and a great game at the same time, the only real exception is ID Software. I have no problem with that. The skill set needed to create a great engine is very different than that needed to create a great game. I have no doubt we will continue to see Many good games using the Unreal engine(s) in the next few years.
What is the recharge time of these lasers and how many shots do you have? So how many shots per minute/hour or rate of fire and what is the total # of shots per energy source. Any guesses??
I am not a Nvidia or ATI homer. I do have 2 GeForce cards that have performed well. It is too bad that the GFFX Ultra is a bust but I am very glad that we have competition in the video market. That is what we the customers want. Good products at fair market prices. Imagine what the press would be on the GFFX if the Radeon 9000 family had been a bust??? Not to mention the price.
I wasn't even gonna read this article but was using the electric shaver, (did it beat the blade?!?! not sure but blade shaving everyday is murder on my skin) and thought I would read this drivel.
I read a case Study of this in Grad School, the case study was done by the Harvard Business School.
The basic conclusion is that the reason Sony lost is because they would not license Beta at a reasonable cost. So JVC made their own, VHS, and licensed to anyone who was interested. Beta was far superior in quality, but not enough to justify the cost difference, not to mention the "percieved" choices the consumer had when buying VHS (multiple brands) or Beta (Sony). If your still not sure that Beta was better than VHS in quality ask anyone who worked in a business that used Visual media what format they used in the 80's and 90's.
Recap - Superior Quality, Unwilling to license, Arrogant company = lost the market. Hmm... I have heard of this combination before... oh yea Apple Computer!!!
Errors, Cheating, Good Investment, and Old Age
on
PC Baangs In America
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
The article was rife with errors, "Valve created Counter-Strike", wrong, it bought Counter-Strike a Mod created mostly by two guys. I would give the creation date at the earliest as '99, it really began to take off in 2000. Ricky did not create the term "Deagle" for the Desert Eagle, commonly used in the community for years. I could go on.
I stopped playing CS long ago due to the rampant cheating. I know steps have been taken to help stop some of it but I am sure it still exists. The Cybercafe/PC Baang (which btw is nothing new in the US) would be good to make sure that your opponents are not cheating, which is impossible to truly verify playing online.
That $50 I spent on Half-Life is the best money I ever spent. HL was a great game and well worth the $ all by itself, then throw in Team Fortress Classis, Counter-Strike, Day of Defeat, Front Line Force, to name but just a few.
It is difficult to keep with the young 'ins though. I am 34 and I just don't have the reflexes anymore. I can no longer keep up in UT2003, however I find America's Army to be a game for me as it is more realistic, therefore it moves at a slower speed, and rewards patience and stealth well.
Couple years ago I bought a custom PC from GamePC.com I bought it from them because I was not yet ready to build my own but I knew the components I wanted for my PC. I got exactly what I wanted at a fair price, imo. I also got excellent customer service from them as well. I know several persons from an online game club I belong too that bought from Alienware for really the same reasons. They wanted a fast rig with specific components but did not want to build their own.
I would say there is a decent market for these quasi-custom PC makers, the fact that 3 I can think of seem to be all doing well (Alienware, FalconNW, and GamePC) would seem to further that fact.
I think there is a market of relatively saavy computers users who probably do not work in the "computer" field but do know their hardware and are willing to spend a little more to get a fast rig. You also have the group, as has been mentioned, who just want the "fastest" and want to be "cool". Like young single yuppie males, just another toy in the collection.
ps. I have built my last 2 rigs but I could see a day when I don't want to build my next one but still want a cutting edge rig. I know where I can go to find it.
If you want an Oustanding Strategy/Tactical games check out
www.battlefront.com
and their just released Combat Mission: Barbarossa to Berlin WWII game. It is the best Strategy game I have ever found. It uses a WEGO system where you plot your moves the computer or other human oppenent plots theirs then the AI takes these movement orders and calculates the outcome and you then watch the outcome. Each "turn" is 60 seconds. This game was created by Grognards and is a serious WWII combat simulation, including extremely detailed armor penetration tables.
Did I mention this game is available for both PCs and Macs!!
Slashdot Mirror
Naa... 'Chinaut' is best one!
I am going to begin testing results with some of these new search Engines against Google see if I find one that works better. Google was great but I would say for the past several months it's results have been subpar.
However, no Search Engine will ever have as good a name as Google!!
Talk about invasion of privacy. To me this just like a cable guy coming into your house to install cable tv/broadband and just happens to drop a couple of hidden cameras in your house as well.
Yes I agree users should be more careful what they install, I ran Spybot on my system just to see, it found a few cookies that was it, but I am very careful of what I install on my system.
Nonetheless it should still be illegal for any software to be installed without the users express consent. And this should be specific, not some read the license agreement loophole. When installing software the installer should plainly and clearly explain what is being installed. Anything installed in addition or code that is beyond the scope of what the software is suppose to do should be illegal.
So by waiting 6-9 months video cards that will run the games well should be around $200 not at the $400-500 they are now. They can also continue quashing bugs and adding content/levels to the game to extend it's play life and therefore perceived value. Lastly it gives Nvidia and ATI more time to tweak their drivers for the games.
Seriously though, I also think this is sad news. And I also agree that it is not simply... "2D animation is dead." Disney has not produced a 2D animated smash hit since the Lion King (1994), which is currenty the 10th ranked Domestic movie of all time in terms of ticket sales. The next Disney movie on the list (not including Pixar) is Aladdin at 43rd (1992), Snow White (1937 - Re-release) at 60th, Beauty and the Beast (1991) at 84th, then we have Tarzan (1999) at 85th which did 171 Million which is good. The other Disney animation movies to break 100 million since the Lion King are Lilo & Stich (2002) 145 Million, Mulan (1998) 120 Million, Pochahontas (1995) 141 Million and Hunchback (1996) 100 Million.
Mixed in there are some money losers, Hercules, Atlantis, Treasure Planet, Emperor's New Groove, Fantasia 2000, and Country Bears. In particular Treasure and Atlantis were BIG money losers.
The 1 large strike that traditional hand drawn animation has against it is that it is more time consuming and expensive to do hand drawn today than computer generated. Ultimately this is what will kill it.
I suppose if Disney is gonna keep cranking out the sub-par fare it is better if it cost significantly less and takes less time to make!
NOTE: All Ticket Sales figures from BoxOfficeMojo.com
Exactly, "Control" is a huge part of why on-line games will continue to eat away at TV ratings.
This is old news imo, and if you don't believe it then I have a simple question for you.
If you had to give up your TV or your On-Line PC which would you choose? (Alternate: Give up Cable TV or Cable modem?)
I don't even have to think about it, I can just see that TV flying out the door... actually I'd be struggling to push it out the door but that is not the point!
But don't use your answer, ask people at work, as kids and adults. I think you'd be surprised at how many Today would choose the PC, now just look down the road 10 years.
This is a Major societal change. I am just curious to see what the companies involved in bringing TV programming are gonna do...
I would say at least 50% of the calls and problems were user error, this is probably higher but this was 10 years ago so I am not sure. The real joy was trying to troubleshoot what the person did, this was made even more exciting by doing it over the phone (now click on the Icon that looks like a Computer, long pause... where?, try the top left corner, under breath (Moron)) AND the user not being honest about what they did to screw it up! I do remember thinking how much time I could save if the user would just fess up to what they did.
There is no reason why any sane/intelligent person would work in support for any length of time. It is the worst IT job and surely competing for worst job period. Therefore what is the typical support person going to be like? I'll let you figure that one out.
Scripts are used to deal with dumb customers and dumb tech employees. I hate 'em, I understand why they use them but it drives me nuts.
I think the typical Slashdot reader is frustrated with support because we usually know more about the problem, and software than the tech support person we talk too! This is frustrating! It is also frustrating when you can only understand about 50% of what the support person is saying, I will not identify any ethnicity but I think many people know what I am talking about. I can't tell you how many times I have wanted to say, "listen I know what the hell I am doing can you put someone on the phone who knows what the hell they are doing too!". I call support as my last option, and when I do I expect the person to not understand or care.
When I did tech support it was always a pleasure to deal with an intelligent user, being intelligent myself it was usually a quick or easy process to help. Dealing with average users was difficult and dumb users was simply an exercise in frustration. I can only imagine what a dumb user, dumb tech interchange must be like... oh yea...
Paradise!
I get the same feeling while using Microsoft OS's, but my on-line sign says... "Exploit Me"!
You forgot to mention he was also eating and talking on his cellphone too! I wonder if this guy is the same one who turns on his blinker right when he makes his turn...
Any serious hardware geek abandoned THG many moons ago. At the least you should take anything you read there with a grain of salt. IMO they have some serious integrity issues.
I know many here at /. think MDK is for wimps, real Linux users use(name your favorite distro) so on and so on, but I wanted to "try" it out first before I decided to jump in and get dirty. I'm very glad I choose MDK as it has made my "first" Linux experience a generally positive and painless one.
If you want Linux to supplant or at least give Windows a run for it's money then installing does need to be painless. I get the feeling some hard core geeks don't understand this, I guess they come from the "pain is good" camp?!?! Or maybe there are some who really don't want Linux to become popular or dare I say mainstream because that would force them to move to a different OS because using Linux would no longer be geeky or unique enough!
Now that I have tried MDK 9.1 I am sure I will try other distros in the future, in fact I will probably buy another HD to do just that! I know I could have handled installing the more challenging distros as I am a developer and also a hardware geek. But it was "refreshing" that installing MDK 9.1 was so fast and easy. For the "average" user this is exactly what they need. I hope MDK has a long and prosperous life.
I did C/++ development work on DOS/Unix in the early 90's, but our desktops were primarily all Macs, I loved Macs then and it was a FAR superior OS till Win3.11 rolled out, that is when I made the switch. I remember laughing at a co-worker playing with Win2.0!
Course it will be awhile till I switch to Linux, I currently develop Access Apps for a living. Don't laugh, it's a decent living. Maybe it's time to learn MySQL, Python, and Java?!?!
CrossOver Office does not support Access XP...
Something about the tactile feel I guess... or knob envy... ;)
Sadly we did find out that you cannot hold the world hostage with a computer, 300 baud modem, and a cool voice syntheziser!! But damnit if we did not try!!
2 Classic and ground breaking games that get very little mention. Descent for the 1st truly 3D world, and some amazing levels. Outlaws, imho, a top 10 FPS of all time. Great story, great music, solid levels, and the first game to introduce the rifle with a scope where you could "zoom" in!
Very few companies can create a great engine and a great game at the same time, the only real exception is ID Software. I have no problem with that. The skill set needed to create a great engine is very different than that needed to create a great game. I have no doubt we will continue to see Many good games using the Unreal engine(s) in the next few years.
What is the recharge time of these lasers and how many shots do you have? So how many shots per minute/hour or rate of fire and what is the total # of shots per energy source. Any guesses??
Kick ass space ships, evil robots, cool guys, and Hot Chicks! What more good a 12yo boy ask for!! :)
I am not a Nvidia or ATI homer. I do have 2 GeForce cards that have performed well. It is too bad that the GFFX Ultra is a bust but I am very glad that we have competition in the video market. That is what we the customers want. Good products at fair market prices. Imagine what the press would be on the GFFX if the Radeon 9000 family had been a bust??? Not to mention the price.
I wasn't even gonna read this article but was using the electric shaver, (did it beat the blade?!?! not sure but blade shaving everyday is murder on my skin) and thought I would read this drivel. I read a case Study of this in Grad School, the case study was done by the Harvard Business School. The basic conclusion is that the reason Sony lost is because they would not license Beta at a reasonable cost. So JVC made their own, VHS, and licensed to anyone who was interested. Beta was far superior in quality, but not enough to justify the cost difference, not to mention the "percieved" choices the consumer had when buying VHS (multiple brands) or Beta (Sony). If your still not sure that Beta was better than VHS in quality ask anyone who worked in a business that used Visual media what format they used in the 80's and 90's. Recap - Superior Quality, Unwilling to license, Arrogant company = lost the market. Hmm... I have heard of this combination before... oh yea Apple Computer!!!
The article was rife with errors, "Valve created Counter-Strike", wrong, it bought Counter-Strike a Mod created mostly by two guys. I would give the creation date at the earliest as '99, it really began to take off in 2000. Ricky did not create the term "Deagle" for the Desert Eagle, commonly used in the community for years. I could go on. I stopped playing CS long ago due to the rampant cheating. I know steps have been taken to help stop some of it but I am sure it still exists. The Cybercafe/PC Baang (which btw is nothing new in the US) would be good to make sure that your opponents are not cheating, which is impossible to truly verify playing online. That $50 I spent on Half-Life is the best money I ever spent. HL was a great game and well worth the $ all by itself, then throw in Team Fortress Classis, Counter-Strike, Day of Defeat, Front Line Force, to name but just a few. It is difficult to keep with the young 'ins though. I am 34 and I just don't have the reflexes anymore. I can no longer keep up in UT2003, however I find America's Army to be a game for me as it is more realistic, therefore it moves at a slower speed, and rewards patience and stealth well.
So I guess I need to stock up on Super Soakers then?!?!
Couple years ago I bought a custom PC from GamePC.com I bought it from them because I was not yet ready to build my own but I knew the components I wanted for my PC. I got exactly what I wanted at a fair price, imo. I also got excellent customer service from them as well. I know several persons from an online game club I belong too that bought from Alienware for really the same reasons. They wanted a fast rig with specific components but did not want to build their own. I would say there is a decent market for these quasi-custom PC makers, the fact that 3 I can think of seem to be all doing well (Alienware, FalconNW, and GamePC) would seem to further that fact. I think there is a market of relatively saavy computers users who probably do not work in the "computer" field but do know their hardware and are willing to spend a little more to get a fast rig. You also have the group, as has been mentioned, who just want the "fastest" and want to be "cool". Like young single yuppie males, just another toy in the collection. ps. I have built my last 2 rigs but I could see a day when I don't want to build my next one but still want a cutting edge rig. I know where I can go to find it.