Learning to work with our neighbors would go a lot farther to securing our future than bickering with them over who gets the right to exhaust our final oil supplies.
Beliefs like yours would find your civilization wiped out and taken over. Just like France was taken over by Germany, it required the force of the US to liberate them.
How come people keep forgetting that we were attacked on 9/11? You don't see us invading Canada trying to take their tar sands. You don't see us invading Mexico trying to take their oil fields. Why not? Because Canada and Mexico have not attacked us and trade with us.
Those people in the Middle East do not like our culture, our Western civilization. They have done and will do anything they can to destroy us. It is times like this we need a strong, forceful leader in the White House. One who is not afraid to kill those who threaten us. George W. Bush & Dick Cheney both have those qualities.
There is increasing evidence that politicians believe (perhaps rightly) that we cannot discuss things such as the US's utter dependence on oil
The world's population surged with all of the inventions and machines and food that are powered by oil & gas. Now China and India - 2.5 billion people - are moving up economically and need oil & gas for their growth. However, there is a very limited supply of oil & gas in the world. This can mean only 1 set of events: war for oil and mass starvation. I'm not "fearmongering" but calling it as it is. The US must do whatever is necessary to keep the supply of oil online until we can switch over other sources of energy. Even then, we still need natural gas for fertilizers to grow crops for our population. Do not hesitate for a moment and think that the Chinese (and Russians, etc.) are not thinking the same thing. It's a shame that so many people can only see events on the surface and not the bigger picture.
To whoever modded me down as troll, you exemplify exactly what the liberal media does - squash all those who disagree with their viewpoint. There are many others who share my views. Just take a look at the electoral vote map. Except for the liberal coasts, the rest of the country and Alaska is voting conservative.
#1 - Iraq is a strategic location flanking Iran on the west. We are also in Afghanistan flaking Iran on the east. WMD's were just a floater to get us into Iraq and prepare for the next targets. The Pentagon and CIA know much more than we do and know that all of our media is watched by the enemies. So due to national security, they cannot disclose all information.
#2 - Peak Oil (and natural gas). Just Google for Peak Oil. China is now the #2 importer of oil behind the US. Our entire economy and way of living depends on oil. There is no way at all we can just switch to solar, wind, hydro, and nuclear power in a decade. Further, we use natural gas for fertilizers for food. We use oil to power the machines which harvest and transport food. Without oil, the US economy and population will die. So you liberals can cry me a farking river about Iraq. We are better off now and in the future by securing oil in the Middle East. That is, unless you want to starve and die.
#3 - US Dollar. If oil is allowed to trade in a currency other than the US Dollar such as the Euro or Gold, the US Dollar will collapse, our economy will grind to a halt, and we will be in a Greater Depression. We must ensure that oil transactions will continue to take place in the US Dollar currency.
Cheney
#1 - I really like this guy. He's a no-nonsense guy who won't take BS from anyone. Just watch the VP debate on Tuesday. Cheney is a great business leader and enhances the Bush ticket.
#2 - He worked his way up from nothing. That, my fellow Patriots, is the American dream. You start out with nothing and build yourself a fortune! Only in America is that possible.
Guns & Lower Taxes
#1 - Clinton's "Assault" Weapon Control Act expired! You liberals can take my guns from my cold, dead hands. If you really want it, I'll give it to you, one bullet at a time.
#2 - My money is exactly that - my money. I am now paying less taxes due to Bush's tax cuts. I don't give a damn about the lazy people (or as the liberal media calls them: poor). They can get a job and work hard just like I and Dick Cheney did.
And lastly, Pax Americana. There is nothing wrong with being an empire. Someone has to be an empire, so why not us? I fully embrace it. Those who threaten us and our allies (Poland, etc.) will suffer missile strikes and death. I honestly do not have any problem at all with that and am voting for Bush this November. It's either us or them, kill or be killed. We were attacked on 9/11 and now it's time to kill everyone involved. Only Bush is man enough to attack other nations who support terrorists and give the UN, an evil socialist organization, the finger.
Now, you can mod me down at -1 Troll, but I am not trolling - I am telling you my reasons for voting for Bush, though some of you may disagree with them.
Try international copyright laws. Iceland doesn't, and shouldn't follow our Constitution. But if they have agreed to trade with the US, then they must follow the agreement which, I assume, includes arrangements on copyright protection.
The Congress shall have Power To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries
Our Constitution protects the authors and inventors from theft via the "exclusive right" clause. That means the authors and investors can say how much they will charge for their works, and how their works will be distributed.
I read over and over again how socialists try to justify "copying" files saying that nothing is really stolen. Wrong! The author's exclusive right is stolen. This all goes back to property rights - which is something socialists and communists do not understand. Property rights enables capitalism which is what makes America great.
It still surprises me how/.'s, a lot of whom do programming for a living, can support theft of digital media.
So if you're going to mod be down, you better have a good arguments against our Constitution and exclusive right.
Because when you steal something, you're taking something away from another person. What is stolen when you download a song off the Internet?
There you people go again with this faulty claim that "nothing is stolen." Yes, something is stolen - see my post above to the other who responded. What is stolen is the exclusive right of the author over his material. America is not socialist or communist! It is very clear in our Constitution that the author retains exclusive rights which means he can charge however much he wants to for others to use it.
Money is not the issue. Don't try to justify your criminal actions by saying that someone else has too much money. That's socialism, not capitalism. If you steal, you deserve punishment. If you provide stolen items to others, then you deserve jail time at a federal "pound-me-in-the-ass" prison just like anyone one who commits grand theft crimes. It is about time our government got serious on these crimes and punish those who steal.
the original intent of copyright protection as spelled out in the Constitution was to benefit the public not imprison it and it was never intended to cover mere use of a work, only distribution.
Article 1, Section 8, Clause 8:
Congress shall have the power To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries
Copyright protection was to benefit the author and/or inventor, not the public. And what part of exclusive rights don't you get? It covers more than distribution, but also the mere use of a work.
And why wasn't illegally "sharing" files a crime to begin with? The basic principle of a government is to be a referee, if you will, between the people. This means enforcement of a (limited) set of laws. If shoplifting a CD from a music store is a crime, then why wasn't stealing a copy of that CD off the internet not a crime?
However, I do not want to see draconian punishments, etc. for first-time offenders. But repeat offenders should face charges similar to someone who has a history of petty theft. And those that make those files available on their servers should be charged with grand theft.
But I also want the DMCA and other overzealous laws rolled back. Only target the criminal activity, not "fair use" of legally acquired products.
Before you mod a dissenting voice to -1, Troll, hear me out.
Why is this a problem? Our copyright laws protect the property of the creator. Illegally "sharing" files is a crime. The only people concerned and complaining about this are the criminals who violate our copyright laws. Sadly, our world is heading towards more and more socialism where people somehow believe they are "entitled" to other's property.
When the basic respect for one's property no longer exists in society, that society breaks down. Stealing music, movies, and software is no different than shoplifting. Both are crimes and both contribute to the decline of society.
Waiting until you have enough money to legally purchase music, movies, and software instills discipline, patience, and hard work. These are all essential values for a successful society.
With that said, however, I do not like some of the ways copy-protection laws have been implented such as the DMCA. They are too draconian.
Parking: $8
2 Movie Tickets: $10 x 2 = $20
Popcorn, Soda, Pretzel, etc: $12
Dinner (Steak, Beer): $30 per person = $60
I live in a major city and everything is expensive out here. And I could easily spend more so $100 is a bit conservative for a date. Besides, cheap date = cheap girl. Like my buddy says, "You get what you pay for.":-)
Sheesh, it's just $200 folks. That's like going out on a date for dinner and movie for 2 Fridays. Surely you can give up going out with a girl for two weeks to get this card. Oh wait, who am I kidding? This is/. We never go on dates anyways...:P
Yeah, I just dug out my XP OEM and it says the same thing.
For product support, contact the manufacturer of your PC.
Um, that would be me! Since I'm the "manufacturer" of my custom-built PC, I'll say that it is a new PC when I present it to the customer, who is also me.
Well in that case, screw Microsoft. I build my own PCs, not buy some Dell or Gateway crap. But then why would MS even allow vendors to sell OEM copies if they are only to be distributed with new computers?
And what is the definition of a new computer? If I get a new case and everything new inside of it, but use my existing monitor, keyboard, and mouse, is that a new computer? What if I replace the MB or CPU? I guarantee you it feels like a new computer. IMNSHO, it's the spirit of the license agreement that allows us to legally install MS OEM on a PC that has new hardware that would require a new Windows Activation.
I just feel that the tighter Microsoft squeezes their grip, the more desktop systems will slip through their fingers.
And be replaced with what? That's like saying the more governors, pollution-control devices, motion-sensors, On-Star, etc. that Ford/GM/Toyota/Honda/etc put on their cars, the more cars will slip throught their fingers. How? People are going to buid their own vehicles? If you're Jesse James or Indian Larry (RIP) or have tons of time and lots of talent, then maybe you, too. But if you're the average, or even above-average Joe, you will buy your car.
The same is with Windows. What's the average and above-average Joe going to do? Install Red Hat and keep up-to-date with RPMs, try to get their software to work with Wine, etc.? Are you kidding? No! They will keep using Windows.
All the software I write at work runs on Linux, AIX, and Solaris. Yet, not one of my co-workers or I use Linux or BSD as our development PC or our home PC. Why? The former is due to corporate policy and the latter is that we just want a PC that is as simple as possible and works the very first time with every piece of software we install and every device that we plug into it. Talk dirty about Win XP all you want, but I've never had a problem with it.
If you purchased MS's product, then you have nothing to hide - everything is legal. The only ones who be worrying about this are those who pirated Windows.
I've purchased 2 Win XP Pro licenses for my 2 PCs and will purchase another when I get my 3rd PC. I have no problem making Bill Gates a few hundred dollars richer - it's called Capitalism. And Win XP is a great OS, far superior for my desktop needs compared to BSD or Linux. Besides, I always purchase the OEM versions which are only $140 if you also buy a qualified hardware item such as CPU, RAM, HD, Video, or MB (and maybe more items as well).
The McCorp that I work for requires us to have a different alphanumeric password for each different machine we long into AND it expires every 30 days. Management says it is for "security" purposes due to the PATRIOT Act. (I work for a financial firm.) So I just end up using the names of beers I like to drink along with "69" for the numeric part. As long as I remember which "beer of the month" it is, I don't need to write down my passwords unlike my other co-workers. I just slide over their keyboards and voila, a list of passwords for each machine we log into.:-)
I don't know about you guys, but I could care less about about company "perks." All I care about is that after my 8 hours + 1 for lunch are over, I'm out the door. The current IT shop that I work for is like that since we are a satellite office a thousand miles away from the main corporate office.
Besides, what's the point of a gym membership "perk" if you are too tired to go after a 10+ hour day coding, +2 hours commuting?
at least for electronic equipment. Why pay extra $$$ at a retail store so they can have salesmen, flashy color advertising, a physical store, etc.? Unless it is an emergency, or small stuff where S&H would cost more, I buy everything online and out of state. No tax and practically nothing for S&H. This always saves me at least 10% or more compared to retail prices. The only downside is having patience waiting for it to arrive, but so what? I cut my costs.
A big, potential client was coming to visit us on Monday and I was tasked with cleaning our datacenter to make it look spotless. Did I mention that management decided to tell me at 4 PM on Friday? The only mess really was all of the small wires and plaster on the floor from where we installed the racks. So, being in a rush, I plugged the vacuum (the kind with the big headlight) into the wall and started walking down the rows of racks. A moment later the vacuum dies. While I'm fretting over how I can clean the rest of our datacenter in half-an-hour, the other programmers and client services runs into the computer room. Turns out I accidentally plugged the vacuum into the UPS and not a regular wall socket. Oops, blew a fuse and took out our entire datacenter.:-) Hehehe, management decided to let someone else be in charge of cleaning the datacenter before clients visit. To this day, I still get shit from my co-workers everytime someone starts talking about our old datacenter!
Have you ever gone out paintball shooting with your friends / co-workers? It's far more realistic than the most advanced game on the market today. Why? There are more ways to interact with your environment. Right now, we just interact with the games via our two hands and eyes. Maybe some foot action for driving games and a headset for talking to your teammates. But that's it. In order to have a truly realistic gaming experience, we need to be able to interact more physically with the game.
And that would be Star Trek's Holodeck! Okay, we're not there yet, but what about a VR headset, a DDR footpad, and some handheld devices to simulate weapons? Instead of pressing ASDW to move, you need to shuffle your feet on the DDR pad. Instead of pressing or or you point your handheld device in the direction and either swing it (blunt weapon) or pull the trigger. And the rumble-pad technology could be implemented into a body suit so vibrate at the location you would get hit/shot/run over/etc.
In the company that I work for, we have been running our CGI "legacy" financial application for the past 8 years. After the first 4 years, it worked fine with no more problems! Scalability, memory leaks, etc., etc. were all found. The application just hums along doing its job and the users are happy.
But 4 years ago management had to jump on the J2EE bandwagon and introduce the "Java" version of our financial product. Here it is FOUR years later and our "new" Java app is still not in production because of spec changes, clustering issues, etc., etc., etc.
I kept telling them K.I.S.S., but sales said that we need the new buzzwords to get clients and everyone knows about "Java". Hell, the way I see it, every time management changes their mind, it just adds to my job security since we need to make more changes.
It's a deterrence for the politicians more than anything else. Look at what happened in Tennessee last year. The politicians wanted to raise taxes, but the people stormed the capital, put fear in the bureaucrats, and won. Tennessee did NOT raises taxes.
In the UK, what do politicians have to be fearful of? Nothing! In the US, politicians are afraid of us gun-owners and try to ban our weapons. It is that FEAR that our politicians have which is the only thing keeping us free, for now...
Slashdot Mirror
How come people keep forgetting that we were attacked on 9/11? You don't see us invading Canada trying to take their tar sands. You don't see us invading Mexico trying to take their oil fields. Why not? Because Canada and Mexico have not attacked us and trade with us.
Those people in the Middle East do not like our culture, our Western civilization. They have done and will do anything they can to destroy us. It is times like this we need a strong, forceful leader in the White House. One who is not afraid to kill those who threaten us. George W. Bush & Dick Cheney both have those qualities.
To whoever modded me down as troll, you exemplify exactly what the liberal media does - squash all those who disagree with their viewpoint. There are many others who share my views. Just take a look at the electoral vote map. Except for the liberal coasts, the rest of the country and Alaska is voting conservative.
Iraq - I don't care if there were WMD's or not
#1 - Iraq is a strategic location flanking Iran on the west. We are also in Afghanistan flaking Iran on the east. WMD's were just a floater to get us into Iraq and prepare for the next targets. The Pentagon and CIA know much more than we do and know that all of our media is watched by the enemies. So due to national security, they cannot disclose all information.
#2 - Peak Oil (and natural gas). Just Google for Peak Oil. China is now the #2 importer of oil behind the US. Our entire economy and way of living depends on oil. There is no way at all we can just switch to solar, wind, hydro, and nuclear power in a decade. Further, we use natural gas for fertilizers for food. We use oil to power the machines which harvest and transport food. Without oil, the US economy and population will die. So you liberals can cry me a farking river about Iraq. We are better off now and in the future by securing oil in the Middle East. That is, unless you want to starve and die.
#3 - US Dollar. If oil is allowed to trade in a currency other than the US Dollar such as the Euro or Gold, the US Dollar will collapse, our economy will grind to a halt, and we will be in a Greater Depression. We must ensure that oil transactions will continue to take place in the US Dollar currency.
Cheney
#1 - I really like this guy. He's a no-nonsense guy who won't take BS from anyone. Just watch the VP debate on Tuesday. Cheney is a great business leader and enhances the Bush ticket.
#2 - He worked his way up from nothing. That, my fellow Patriots, is the American dream. You start out with nothing and build yourself a fortune! Only in America is that possible.
Guns & Lower Taxes
#1 - Clinton's "Assault" Weapon Control Act expired! You liberals can take my guns from my cold, dead hands. If you really want it, I'll give it to you, one bullet at a time.
#2 - My money is exactly that - my money. I am now paying less taxes due to Bush's tax cuts. I don't give a damn about the lazy people (or as the liberal media calls them: poor). They can get a job and work hard just like I and Dick Cheney did.
And lastly, Pax Americana. There is nothing wrong with being an empire. Someone has to be an empire, so why not us? I fully embrace it. Those who threaten us and our allies (Poland, etc.) will suffer missile strikes and death. I honestly do not have any problem at all with that and am voting for Bush this November. It's either us or them, kill or be killed. We were attacked on 9/11 and now it's time to kill everyone involved. Only Bush is man enough to attack other nations who support terrorists and give the UN, an evil socialist organization, the finger.
Now, you can mod me down at -1 Troll, but I am not trolling - I am telling you my reasons for voting for Bush, though some of you may disagree with them.
Try international copyright laws. Iceland doesn't, and shouldn't follow our Constitution. But if they have agreed to trade with the US, then they must follow the agreement which, I assume, includes arrangements on copyright protection.
Once again, let me post our Constitution: Article 8, Section 8, Clause 8:
/.'s, a lot of whom do programming for a living, can support theft of digital media.
The Congress shall have Power To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries
Our Constitution protects the authors and inventors from theft via the "exclusive right" clause. That means the authors and investors can say how much they will charge for their works, and how their works will be distributed.
I read over and over again how socialists try to justify "copying" files saying that nothing is really stolen. Wrong! The author's exclusive right is stolen. This all goes back to property rights - which is something socialists and communists do not understand. Property rights enables capitalism which is what makes America great.
It still surprises me how
So if you're going to mod be down, you better have a good arguments against our Constitution and exclusive right.
Because when you steal something, you're taking something away from another person. What is stolen when you download a song off the Internet?
There you people go again with this faulty claim that "nothing is stolen." Yes, something is stolen - see my post above to the other who responded. What is stolen is the exclusive right of the author over his material. America is not socialist or communist! It is very clear in our Constitution that the author retains exclusive rights which means he can charge however much he wants to for others to use it.
Money is not the issue. Don't try to justify your criminal actions by saying that someone else has too much money. That's socialism, not capitalism. If you steal, you deserve punishment. If you provide stolen items to others, then you deserve jail time at a federal "pound-me-in-the-ass" prison just like anyone one who commits grand theft crimes. It is about time our government got serious on these crimes and punish those who steal.
the original intent of copyright protection as spelled out in the Constitution was to benefit the public not imprison it and it was never intended to cover mere use of a work, only distribution.
Try reading the Constitution some time.
Article 1, Section 8, Clause 8:
Congress shall have the power To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries
Copyright protection was to benefit the author and/or inventor, not the public. And what part of exclusive rights don't you get? It covers more than distribution, but also the mere use of a work.
And why wasn't illegally "sharing" files a crime to begin with? The basic principle of a government is to be a referee, if you will, between the people. This means enforcement of a (limited) set of laws. If shoplifting a CD from a music store is a crime, then why wasn't stealing a copy of that CD off the internet not a crime?
However, I do not want to see draconian punishments, etc. for first-time offenders. But repeat offenders should face charges similar to someone who has a history of petty theft. And those that make those files available on their servers should be charged with grand theft.
But I also want the DMCA and other overzealous laws rolled back. Only target the criminal activity, not "fair use" of legally acquired products.
Before you mod a dissenting voice to -1, Troll, hear me out.
Why is this a problem? Our copyright laws protect the property of the creator. Illegally "sharing" files is a crime. The only people concerned and complaining about this are the criminals who violate our copyright laws. Sadly, our world is heading towards more and more socialism where people somehow believe they are "entitled" to other's property.
When the basic respect for one's property no longer exists in society, that society breaks down. Stealing music, movies, and software is no different than shoplifting. Both are crimes and both contribute to the decline of society.
Waiting until you have enough money to legally purchase music, movies, and software instills discipline, patience, and hard work. These are all essential values for a successful society.
With that said, however, I do not like some of the ways copy-protection laws have been implented such as the DMCA. They are too draconian.
Parking: $8
:-)
2 Movie Tickets: $10 x 2 = $20
Popcorn, Soda, Pretzel, etc: $12
Dinner (Steak, Beer): $30 per person = $60
I live in a major city and everything is expensive out here. And I could easily spend more so $100 is a bit conservative for a date. Besides, cheap date = cheap girl. Like my buddy says, "You get what you pay for."
Sheesh, it's just $200 folks. That's like going out on a date for dinner and movie for 2 Fridays. Surely you can give up going out with a girl for two weeks to get this card. Oh wait, who am I kidding? This is /. We never go on dates anyways... :P
Yeah, I just dug out my XP OEM and it says the same thing.
For product support, contact the manufacturer of your PC.
Um, that would be me! Since I'm the "manufacturer" of my custom-built PC, I'll say that it is a new PC when I present it to the customer, who is also me.
Well in that case, screw Microsoft. I build my own PCs, not buy some Dell or Gateway crap. But then why would MS even allow vendors to sell OEM copies if they are only to be distributed with new computers?
And what is the definition of a new computer? If I get a new case and everything new inside of it, but use my existing monitor, keyboard, and mouse, is that a new computer? What if I replace the MB or CPU? I guarantee you it feels like a new computer. IMNSHO, it's the spirit of the license agreement that allows us to legally install MS OEM on a PC that has new hardware that would require a new Windows Activation.
The same is with Windows. What's the average and above-average Joe going to do? Install Red Hat and keep up-to-date with RPMs, try to get their software to work with Wine, etc.? Are you kidding? No! They will keep using Windows.
All the software I write at work runs on Linux, AIX, and Solaris. Yet, not one of my co-workers or I use Linux or BSD as our development PC or our home PC. Why? The former is due to corporate policy and the latter is that we just want a PC that is as simple as possible and works the very first time with every piece of software we install and every device that we plug into it. Talk dirty about Win XP all you want, but I've never had a problem with it.
If you purchased MS's product, then you have nothing to hide - everything is legal. The only ones who be worrying about this are those who pirated Windows.
I've purchased 2 Win XP Pro licenses for my 2 PCs and will purchase another when I get my 3rd PC. I have no problem making Bill Gates a few hundred dollars richer - it's called Capitalism. And Win XP is a great OS, far superior for my desktop needs compared to BSD or Linux. Besides, I always purchase the OEM versions which are only $140 if you also buy a qualified hardware item such as CPU, RAM, HD, Video, or MB (and maybe more items as well).
The McCorp that I work for requires us to have a different alphanumeric password for each different machine we long into AND it expires every 30 days. Management says it is for "security" purposes due to the PATRIOT Act. (I work for a financial firm.) So I just end up using the names of beers I like to drink along with "69" for the numeric part. As long as I remember which "beer of the month" it is, I don't need to write down my passwords unlike my other co-workers. I just slide over their keyboards and voila, a list of passwords for each machine we log into. :-)
I don't know about you guys, but I could care less about about company "perks." All I care about is that after my 8 hours + 1 for lunch are over, I'm out the door. The current IT shop that I work for is like that since we are a satellite office a thousand miles away from the main corporate office.
Besides, what's the point of a gym membership "perk" if you are too tired to go after a 10+ hour day coding, +2 hours commuting?
I for one welcome our new bi-pedal Macaque Monkey overlords!
at least for electronic equipment. Why pay extra $$$ at a retail store so they can have salesmen, flashy color advertising, a physical store, etc.? Unless it is an emergency, or small stuff where S&H would cost more, I buy everything online and out of state. No tax and practically nothing for S&H. This always saves me at least 10% or more compared to retail prices. The only downside is having patience waiting for it to arrive, but so what? I cut my costs.
A big, potential client was coming to visit us on Monday and I was tasked with cleaning our datacenter to make it look spotless. Did I mention that management decided to tell me at 4 PM on Friday? The only mess really was all of the small wires and plaster on the floor from where we installed the racks. So, being in a rush, I plugged the vacuum (the kind with the big headlight) into the wall and started walking down the rows of racks. A moment later the vacuum dies. While I'm fretting over how I can clean the rest of our datacenter in half-an-hour, the other programmers and client services runs into the computer room. Turns out I accidentally plugged the vacuum into the UPS and not a regular wall socket. Oops, blew a fuse and took out our entire datacenter. :-) Hehehe, management decided to let someone else be in charge of cleaning the datacenter before clients visit. To this day, I still get shit from my co-workers everytime someone starts talking about our old datacenter!
Have you ever gone out paintball shooting with your friends / co-workers? It's far more realistic than the most advanced game on the market today. Why? There are more ways to interact with your environment. Right now, we just interact with the games via our two hands and eyes. Maybe some foot action for driving games and a headset for talking to your teammates. But that's it. In order to have a truly realistic gaming experience, we need to be able to interact more physically with the game.
And that would be Star Trek's Holodeck! Okay, we're not there yet, but what about a VR headset, a DDR footpad, and some handheld devices to simulate weapons? Instead of pressing ASDW to move, you need to shuffle your feet on the DDR pad. Instead of pressing or or you point your handheld device in the direction and either swing it (blunt weapon) or pull the trigger. And the rumble-pad technology could be implemented into a body suit so vibrate at the location you would get hit/shot/run over/etc.
In the company that I work for, we have been running our CGI "legacy" financial application for the past 8 years. After the first 4 years, it worked fine with no more problems! Scalability, memory leaks, etc., etc. were all found. The application just hums along doing its job and the users are happy.
But 4 years ago management had to jump on the J2EE bandwagon and introduce the "Java" version of our financial product. Here it is FOUR years later and our "new" Java app is still not in production because of spec changes, clustering issues, etc., etc., etc.
I kept telling them K.I.S.S., but sales said that we need the new buzzwords to get clients and everyone knows about "Java". Hell, the way I see it, every time management changes their mind, it just adds to my job security since we need to make more changes.
It's a deterrence for the politicians more than anything else. Look at what happened in Tennessee last year. The politicians wanted to raise taxes, but the people stormed the capital, put fear in the bureaucrats, and won. Tennessee did NOT raises taxes.
In the UK, what do politicians have to be fearful of? Nothing! In the US, politicians are afraid of us gun-owners and try to ban our weapons. It is that FEAR that our politicians have which is the only thing keeping us free, for now...