Apparently, the particular patent involved in this case was originally filed in 1992, and then got a long series of "continuations".
Now, I haven't gone and looked at it, but I rather doubt that the patent filed in 1992, before what we know as the Internet existed, bore much resemblance to what is being claimed today...but that's the patent system for you. Anything that was created after the original filing date cannot count as prior art, so they can claim they thought of it all, even if they added various claims a decade later based on stuff they saw people already doing, by more "continuations."
Aren't submarine patents illegal at the US Federal level, due to Symbol Technologies, Inc. et al. v. Lemelson Medical, Education & Research Foundation, LP (PDF)?
Have you ever played PC games online? Are you aware that PCs aren't locked down at all and a lot of people still play a lot of fun multiplayer games on them? Stop bitching about potential hackers. Its not that big of a deal. In reality, a good banhammer will go a long way.
And people wonder why so many PC games have DRM?
Oh well, at least the games I play use unobtrusive forms of DRM (Steam, WoW's Warden).
Can applications actually use the windows logging facility? I'd be surprised if after all these years of doing windows administration that I hadn't come across a single application that does. As far as I know windows doesn't allow scripts to access the logging facility either. This has always been a big point in my preference to unix, because I can usually dig into problems as the logs give me a starting point to resolve things.
I don't know... I don't do Windows programming.
However, I assume the Application Log is in the Event Viewer for a reason.
Also, linux setup seems far more logical since it actually reflects the under-lying file system - no putting desktop at the top level etc.
I'm assuming when you say "setup" you actually mean how things are set up in the Windows Explorer file browser, since actually install/setup filesystem selection doesn't involve the Desktop in any way...
I never thought I'd be arguing this but...
It's better for non-technical users. The ones that don't know that their home directory is/home/username (C:\Users\username in Windows 7).
For those of us who actually know more, the root of each partition is sitting over there in the left column of the file browser, as are the root of each optical drive that currently has media in it and currently connected removable drive.
Having said that, I could argue that UNIX/Linux/BSD makes it confusing by mounting drives under one another. For example, on my Linux servers, / is on one partition, but both/boot and/home are two completely different partitions which may or may not have different filesystem types. How is that not counter-intuitive? But it isn't counter-intuitive if you expect your filesystems to be mounted that way.
Windows can't seem to understand that I'm working on something, even though Microsoft made both the OS and the word processing program I'm using. the OS blits things at me from the taskbar that I don't care about: your AV hasn't been updated recently, updates are available, three or four distinct messages just for plugging in a USB drive, it can't see my wireless network, etc etc. Then you have all the 3rd party crap doing the same thing, which I can't blame Microsoft for directly but can be unhappy that they've enabled that kind of behavior by their ridiculous security model that gives installations free reign over the entire OS.
Um... I'm surprised you're seeing anything about AV updates and Windows updates in a work environment. Those are all centrally managed where I work and iirc I'm not allowed to change them. Periodically, when I come back to my computer, I'll get a "Windows was rebooted to install updates" message when I log on (oh yeah, I'm required to log off before leaving)
The wireless network thing is the kind of notification I actually want.
The USB thing is kind of redundant. I seem to recall Win Vista/7 actually address this and don't go through the whole "Found device", "Found Removeable Drive.", "Device is ready to use" rigmarole, opting only to show you one message.
Windows are terrible to troubleshoot: the norm is "in case of any error, silently terminate program, never ever log anything, don't even have an option to do so." It wasn't until I've been using various Linux workstations for a few years and then had to troubleshoot a Win7 box that I realized this. ("[warn] cannot open/foo/bar/baz.xyzzy" is not massively helpful, but it's much better than the "" you'll get from Windows and most programs for Windows.)
Isn't that actually a problem with the mindset of the people who write the applications.
If it's a system error, you can always look in the system log.
don't have access to an XP system at the moment to test it. I guess you were referring to that version.
I have access to an XP system:
When you go to Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> Backup, it brings up a wizard... and the second page has radio buttons labeled "Back up files and settings" and "Restore files and settings" so I have no idea what the GP is talking about.
In case you're wondering, the first page of the wizard basically asks you if you want to use the wizard or go to Advanced mode.
Yeah, I screwed up my math on the USDs per point (which is not the same as points per USD). It's $0.0125 USD per point. The chart in the lower part of the post is correct, though.
All their iTMS and App Store purchases are done with actual money.
What have Valve (mentioned in the summary) got to do with this?
All their Steam purchases are done with actual money.
Except that there's a $5/4 euro minimum when adding money to a Steam Wallet. Strangely, you can buy individual games for less than that with a credit card...
Also, what is it that I need to do to keep/. from changing my Euro symbol to â?
This is why you buy points in bundles of 1000, but games are in multiples of 600
Actually, this is wrong. You buy points in multiples of 400 (800, 1200, 1600, 2000), while games are priced in multiples of 80.
I'm not saying that you don't end up with excess points, but if you find enough 80-point things (indie games, cosmetic crud like avatar stuff and themes), you can zero it out.
However, there are also promotions that give out strange numbers of points... I had Visa give me 300 MS Points just because I bought 1600 MSP during some event thingy they were doing a few years back.
I'm not sure it works that way. I don't think XBL points are like the gold standard. I mean, you pay $20USD for 1600 points ($0.80 USD per point). The transaction is done at that point, and Microsoft banks the cash, even if you don't spend your points for six months. It's not like you buy your premium horse armor for 200 points, but Microsoft still has to keep $17.50 in escrow to cover the "value" of your unspent points.
In my opinion the number one reason to do this is to decouple the idea of physical value from points. You don't have $17.50 in your XBL wallet, you have 1400 points, and when you spend those 1400 points to buy some pretty pixels on your screen you're not thinking about the fact that it was once $17.50. The second reason is exactly so they DON'T have to do what you're saying-- have fractional portions of a customer's unspent money laying around. If you still have $17.50 in your account at some point and you stop playing XBL, you're going to try to finagle a refund. When you have 1400 Points it's easier for you to let go, because you're already been separated from the idea of it having physical value. The third big reason is that it allows a microtransaction model without paying tons of credit car processing fees. They'd rather sell you 1000 points up front even if you only spend them 100 at a time, rather than pay 10 times the processing fees using credit cards up front for every purchase.
FTFY
However, the problem is also that the point values that games and things aren't always round amounts. Some amounts are easy to figure out how they map to real world money, such as: 80 - $1.00 200 - $2.50 400 - $5 800 - $10 1200 - $15 1600 - $20 2000 - $25
But then, every so often, you have something thrown in at some in-between price.
However, there's one other significant niggle here:
The more expensive items on Xbox Live (the "Games on Demand" store section) are listed in dollars, and you cannot spend MS Points on them*.
In case you're wondering, Games on Demand is not a digital rental service, but the part of XBLA that sells big-budget retail games (that also have disc versions).
* Unless this changed since I checked it last year. I'm not going to buy Games on Demand when the disc versions are the same price or cheaper for a system that I can sell my used games if I no longer want them.
While I generally agree with the points you're trying to make, this is wrong:
PSN has 75 million *paying* customers. That's the difference.
PSN account are free. That 75 million total included anyone who ever signed up for a PSN account, which is required to play PS3 games online or use NetFlix through the PS3.
However, that doesn't mean they were either PSN Plus subscribers or bought games through the PSN Store.
Although I'm sure some non-NC people think that Charlotte is the only city in NC.
You mean Florida has cities outside of Orlando? Nevada has cities outside of Las Vegas? New York has cities outside of New York City? Michigan has cities outside of Detroit?
It happens with most states, with the possible exception of California (because it has several well known cities).
Isn't it time to get a new leader at MS? MS needs an engineer, not a marketing suit who understands where things could go.
Funny, having a marketing suit seems to be working for Apple. However, Microsoft's marketing suit doesn't seem to have the charisma that Apple's marketing turtleneck...er... suit does.
AT&T didn't do DSL out here until just recently. I used to only have one choice. As it is, the fastest DSL speed I can get from them is 1.5Mbit/s down, 384kbit/s up.
You have Comcast? My choices are: #1) AT&T #2) Broadstripe (one of the worst rated ISPs on Broadband Reports)
I currently have Broadstripe and am seriously considering switch to AT&T because Broadstripe seems to think 150+ms ping times that wildly fluctuate up and down following their last upstream provider change is perfectly normal. They also consider random 15 second upstream dropouts to be perfectly normal. Did I mention I called techs out twice to fix this issue?
Sure, it's not, but why be an asshole? Nobody's asking you to drop everything and bust your balls for the guy who needs a map, just let him use a bit of bandwidth for 5 minutes or so.
I have this wonderful device in my car called a "map." It's made of paper and fits in my "glove box."
Heck, if he was in area where people lived, he could stop and... GASP... ask for directions.
Or hell, he could even use this fancy device called a "GPS" which is a convenient mapping device that fits in your car.
Slashdot Mirror
Apparently, the particular patent involved in this case was originally filed in 1992, and then got a long series of "continuations".
Now, I haven't gone and looked at it, but I rather doubt that the patent filed in 1992, before what we know as the Internet existed, bore much resemblance to what is being claimed today...but that's the patent system for you. Anything that was created after the original filing date cannot count as prior art, so they can claim they thought of it all, even if they added various claims a decade later based on stuff they saw people already doing, by more "continuations."
Aren't submarine patents illegal at the US Federal level, due to Symbol Technologies, Inc. et al. v. Lemelson Medical, Education & Research Foundation, LP (PDF)?
Have you ever played PC games online? Are you aware that PCs aren't locked down at all and a lot of people still play a lot of fun multiplayer games on them? Stop bitching about potential hackers. Its not that big of a deal. In reality, a good banhammer will go a long way.
And people wonder why so many PC games have DRM?
Oh well, at least the games I play use unobtrusive forms of DRM (Steam, WoW's Warden).
Can applications actually use the windows logging facility? I'd be surprised if after all these years of doing windows administration that I hadn't come across a single application that does. As far as I know windows doesn't allow scripts to access the logging facility either. This has always been a big point in my preference to unix, because I can usually dig into problems as the logs give me a starting point to resolve things.
I don't know... I don't do Windows programming.
However, I assume the Application Log is in the Event Viewer for a reason.
Also, linux setup seems far more logical since it actually reflects the under-lying file system - no putting desktop at the top level etc.
I'm assuming when you say "setup" you actually mean how things are set up in the Windows Explorer file browser, since actually install/setup filesystem selection doesn't involve the Desktop in any way...
I never thought I'd be arguing this but...
It's better for non-technical users. The ones that don't know that their home directory is /home/username (C:\Users\username in Windows 7).
For those of us who actually know more, the root of each partition is sitting over there in the left column of the file browser, as are the root of each optical drive that currently has media in it and currently connected removable drive.
Having said that, I could argue that UNIX/Linux/BSD makes it confusing by mounting drives under one another. For example, on my Linux servers, / is on one partition, but both /boot and /home are two completely different partitions which may or may not have different filesystem types. How is that not counter-intuitive? But it isn't counter-intuitive if you expect your filesystems to be mounted that way.
BTW, the new Slashdot interface is definitely 'torturing users'. How can they keep screwing it up more and more with every update?
There's a reason I stick with D1 in my settings. :)
Windows can't seem to understand that I'm working on something, even though Microsoft made both the OS and the word processing program I'm using. the OS blits things at me from the taskbar that I don't care about: your AV hasn't been updated recently, updates are available, three or four distinct messages just for plugging in a USB drive, it can't see my wireless network, etc etc. Then you have all the 3rd party crap doing the same thing, which I can't blame Microsoft for directly but can be unhappy that they've enabled that kind of behavior by their ridiculous security model that gives installations free reign over the entire OS.
Um... I'm surprised you're seeing anything about AV updates and Windows updates in a work environment. Those are all centrally managed where I work and iirc I'm not allowed to change them. Periodically, when I come back to my computer, I'll get a "Windows was rebooted to install updates" message when I log on (oh yeah, I'm required to log off before leaving)
The wireless network thing is the kind of notification I actually want.
The USB thing is kind of redundant. I seem to recall Win Vista/7 actually address this and don't go through the whole "Found device", "Found Removeable Drive.", "Device is ready to use" rigmarole, opting only to show you one message.
Windows are terrible to troubleshoot: the norm is "in case of any error, silently terminate program, never ever log anything, don't even have an option to do so." It wasn't until I've been using various Linux workstations for a few years and then had to troubleshoot a Win7 box that I realized this. ("[warn] cannot open /foo/bar/baz.xyzzy" is not massively helpful, but it's much better than the "" you'll get from Windows and most programs for Windows.)
Isn't that actually a problem with the mindset of the people who write the applications.
If it's a system error, you can always look in the system log.
don't have access to an XP system at the moment to test it. I guess you were referring to that version.
I have access to an XP system:
When you go to Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> Backup, it brings up a wizard... and the second page has radio buttons labeled "Back up files and settings" and "Restore files and settings" so I have no idea what the GP is talking about.
In case you're wondering, the first page of the wizard basically asks you if you want to use the wizard or go to Advanced mode.
Yeah, I screwed up my math on the USDs per point (which is not the same as points per USD). It's $0.0125 USD per point. The chart in the lower part of the post is correct, though.
What have Valve (mentioned in the summary) got to do with this?
All their Steam purchases are done with actual money.
Except that there's a $5/4 euro minimum when adding money to a Steam Wallet. Strangely, you can buy individual games for less than that with a credit card...
Also, what is it that I need to do to keep /. from changing my Euro symbol to â?
Actually, this is wrong. You buy points in multiples of 400 (800, 1200, 1600, 2000), while games are priced in multiples of 80.
I'm not saying that you don't end up with excess points, but if you find enough 80-point things (indie games, cosmetic crud like avatar stuff and themes), you can zero it out.
However, there are also promotions that give out strange numbers of points... I had Visa give me 300 MS Points just because I bought 1600 MSP during some event thingy they were doing a few years back.
I heard Microsoft is buying Canonical for $6 billion!
I'm not sure it works that way. I don't think XBL points are like the gold standard. I mean, you pay $20USD for 1600 points ($0.80 USD per point). The transaction is done at that point, and Microsoft banks the cash, even if you don't spend your points for six months. It's not like you buy your premium horse armor for 200 points, but Microsoft still has to keep $17.50 in escrow to cover the "value" of your unspent points.
In my opinion the number one reason to do this is to decouple the idea of physical value from points. You don't have $17.50 in your XBL wallet, you have 1400 points, and when you spend those 1400 points to buy some pretty pixels on your screen you're not thinking about the fact that it was once $17.50. The second reason is exactly so they DON'T have to do what you're saying-- have fractional portions of a customer's unspent money laying around. If you still have $17.50 in your account at some point and you stop playing XBL, you're going to try to finagle a refund. When you have 1400 Points it's easier for you to let go, because you're already been separated from the idea of it having physical value. The third big reason is that it allows a microtransaction model without paying tons of credit car processing fees. They'd rather sell you 1000 points up front even if you only spend them 100 at a time, rather than pay 10 times the processing fees using credit cards up front for every purchase.
FTFY
However, the problem is also that the point values that games and things aren't always round amounts. Some amounts are easy to figure out how they map to real world money, such as:
80 - $1.00
200 - $2.50
400 - $5
800 - $10
1200 - $15
1600 - $20
2000 - $25
But then, every so often, you have something thrown in at some in-between price.
However, there's one other significant niggle here:
The more expensive items on Xbox Live (the "Games on Demand" store section) are listed in dollars, and you cannot spend MS Points on them*.
In case you're wondering, Games on Demand is not a digital rental service, but the part of XBLA that sells big-budget retail games (that also have disc versions).
* Unless this changed since I checked it last year. I'm not going to buy Games on Demand when the disc versions are the same price or cheaper for a system that I can sell my used games if I no longer want them.
While I generally agree with the points you're trying to make, this is wrong:
PSN has 75 million *paying* customers. That's the difference.
PSN account are free. That 75 million total included anyone who ever signed up for a PSN account, which is required to play PS3 games online or use NetFlix through the PS3.
However, that doesn't mean they were either PSN Plus subscribers or bought games through the PSN Store.
You're joking right? More like instability of Ubuntu & the insecurity of Windows. Only reason to run Windows as the host is for graphics/games.
*whoosh*
You mean Florida has cities outside of Orlando? Nevada has cities outside of Las Vegas? New York has cities outside of New York City? Michigan has cities outside of Detroit?
It happens with most states, with the possible exception of California (because it has several well known cities).
Doesn't SOE offer some kind of security token like Blizzard does?
Hell, Blizzard only has two games that require an online presence... SOE's entire business model is based around it!
Isn't it time to get a new leader at MS?
MS needs an engineer, not a marketing suit who understands where things could go.
Funny, having a marketing suit seems to be working for Apple. However, Microsoft's marketing suit doesn't seem to have the charisma that Apple's marketing turtleneck...er... suit does.
You have choices? My choices are:
#1) Time Warner
AT&T didn't do DSL out here until just recently. I used to only have one choice. As it is, the fastest DSL speed I can get from them is 1.5Mbit/s down, 384kbit/s up.
You have Comcast? My choices are:
#1) AT&T
#2) Broadstripe (one of the worst rated ISPs on Broadband Reports)
I currently have Broadstripe and am seriously considering switch to AT&T because Broadstripe seems to think 150+ms ping times that wildly fluctuate up and down following their last upstream provider change is perfectly normal. They also consider random 15 second upstream dropouts to be perfectly normal. Did I mention I called techs out twice to fix this issue?
Lots of people just love tabs in web browsers, but not everyone.
I'll bet your mouse only has one button, too.
I use a Mac, you insensitive clod!
I hate MMORPGs but I hear FF11 is far better designed than WoW.
Having played both, I can safely say you heard wrong... and there are a few million other people that are likely to agree,
Sure, it's not, but why be an asshole? Nobody's asking you to drop everything and bust your balls for the guy who needs a map, just let him use a bit of bandwidth for 5 minutes or so.
I have this wonderful device in my car called a "map." It's made of paper and fits in my "glove box."
Heck, if he was in area where people lived, he could stop and... GASP... ask for directions.
Or hell, he could even use this fancy device called a "GPS" which is a convenient mapping device that fits in your car.
Microsoft used to pay a lot of people to sit in a tiny office for years and work on personal projects. Don't know if the still do
Yeah, I believe one of them is called Bob.
Nah, the project manager for Bob decided to quit Microsoft to make a game.
Turns out that's what he still does 15 years later.
If you don't exercise your rights, you lose them. Simples.
Yes, because the right to free wireless Internet is a basic human right...
In other words, I do exercise my rights... to secure my person and my belongings. Hence why my wireless network is encrypted.