Where does that leave toll violations that are labeled as 'civil' and therefore change the burden of proof, deny the right to a court appointed attorney, no reading of miranda rights, etc?
'I think that congress is within its rights to set specific damages to things that are hard to place a value on.'
Yes, for the penalty of a crime congress is within its rights. Although if we are being picky criminal law should be written by states not congress. And the proceeds of those penalties go to the government to relieve the burden of taxpayers or to pay for social programs. NOT to a private entity.
Damages for civil lawsuits should generally be determined by the court on a case by case basis.
'I think another analogy would be that of the Do Not Call registry.'
That is a good example. When a company is busted for violating the Do Not Call registry the fines don't go to the person called. And the alleged offender isn't prosecuted by a private team of million dollar legal eagles.
Nah, that effect was lost when McCain had the audacity to choose an ATTRACTIVE female for the white house.
Women will unite to see someone with the same sex organs do well unless they believe the someone is more attractive than they are. Women will vote for a man who says they all belong in the kitchen before another woman they fear to be more attractive.
Sounds like a decent enough device (though the email thing sounds a bit annoying as a file transfer mech) but the price certainly doesn't sound decent.
You are saving about $4 a book. A generally good price for something like this would be more like $50 so to make up the difference you need to buy and read 63 books.
That means microsoft hasn't released a decent operating system with updated technology since 2002. That is six years already and now they are saying they don't intend to release anything decent until 2010 (and based on Microsoft's previous timelines that really means 2012 at the earliest).
If by the release of windows 7 Linux hasn't made a real dent into the desktop market share then I will change platform. Dear god, don't make me use windows.
'Your first point makes it very clearly you don't know what drives most people.'
On the contrary. What drives people is something to strive for an achieve. They need to keep the carrot moving and my first suggestion gives them that. But at the end game a big part of what keeps people from moving to another game is their investment in the current game. Raising the level cap and making gear worthless means they have instantly lost all that investment. Other games have done the same thing and ruined their games.
'Linux coems with it's own set of problems.'
Problems which have already been resolved by Loki and other commercial software vendors.
'Whcih distro do you use? In order to be distro agnostic do you need to write a bunch of things you wouldn't have to for Windows or OSX?'
Not really, the distros are binary compatible. You might have to package in binaries in both RPM and Deb package formats but there are tools to convert between one and the other automagically.
'Do you develop on a game where the graphics card drivers are 2 years behind?'
If you aren't you're a fool, you are shrinking your user base to nearly nothing. A few games make that mistake but traditionally Blizzard as a company has not. A good game outsells cutting edge graphics every time.
That said, if they are coding for OpenGL instead of directx they only need to target a specification version to have cross platform support. Currently they code for both directx and opengl.
You sir are an arrogant asshole. Time and again, you post a large response that is facetious and rude. Apparently you think debates are won by berating and belittling the opponent.
I'm not going to take the bait again and respond to the tiny little bit of content that is buried in your unmerited condescension. I suppose in that sense, you win. Go you.
'What on earth has it got to do with being elderly or not? I'm not talking about regularly re-testing the elderly drivers. I'm talking about regularly re-testing EVERYONE with a driving license. No discrimination, no argument, a fixed duration for everyone's license.'
But I'm talking about the elderly. By and large they are extremely dangerous and shouldn't be on the roads.
'Spending an hour a day in a car sounds a pretty hellish way to spend your life.'
It seems like a pretty fair trade-off for not being cramped together like sardines in a can.
1. Either stop releasing updates that raise the level limit in your MMO (and this really goes for any MMORPG) in a way that obsoletes the most elite epic gear.
You got away with it because you are still early enough into the lifecycle of the game and because there really weren't any viable game alternatives.
There are a lot of things that could be done with expansions besides raising the level limit to tack on content but if you insist on doing it then don't obsolete the existing epic gear.
In fact, make an addition that REQUIRES the old epic gear to be of benefit. Instead of making a lvl 80 trash drop that trumps the lvl 70 epic make enhancements that can only be applied to epic gear that upgrades it. Make lvl restricted instances, like 71-73 and so on where you get the gear upgrades.
2. Implement a real, solid, and structured large scale PvP gameplay. Something akin to Dark Ages of Camelot with actual fortresses that players lay siege to and large scale battles over these structures and PvE content is unlocked for the side that controls the PvP in some fashion.
3. GPL your older games. Let your fans have their way with them. While the current player base of WoW may not be majorly composed of blizzard's oldschool fans, it is those fans that attested to blizzard's talent with gamecrafting and drew the crowd to look at WoW in the first place. They are your single most valuable asset.
Right now you are extremely popular and in the spotlight, anything you do will garner large interest. Historically, that flame dies for every company that gets it. When they get that big spotlight they ignore their cult fans and when the light goes out they have nothing left and die. Don't make that mistake. Think about what your company will need to find a new big hit in 10yrs when the bulk crowd of gamers have never heard of World of Warcraft.
3. DRM and technical copy protection measures... it sounds like in some games you are even crippling actual game function (excluding LAN play). This stuff doesn't work. It's never worked, for anyone, ever. EVERY copy protection scheme used for any form of entertainment media has been cracked and more often then not is cracked before the official release! Make a profit from selling first copies of awesome games. People will use your server for multi-player as long as your server is BETTER. Parents will buy your game because their kids want it. Kids will want your game because their friends pirated it.
4. Linux version. This is a no brainer, you are practically there already. If you don't want to handle the tech support, I don't blame you. Just release free binaries to those who buy your game. I don't play world of warcraft anymore because I found the Linux experience to be subpar to the windows experience and I refuse to reboot. That said, I don't play warhammer online either (despite vastly superior pvp) because of a lack of windows support.
I promise you I am not alone in this. While linux is probably still in the hands of techs more than anyone else on the desktop for now it is techs who everyone else looks to when it comes to what they should buy. The linux and open source crowd are very very vocal.
'And if I had to hazard a guess, I'd say that the number of people who legitimately NEED LAN play is quite small, particularly in comparison to the number of sales that would be made up from potential piracy (which isn't a 1:1 ratio, I know).'
On the contrary, since piracy actually amounts to free advertising that results in increased sales any reduced piracy would only cost them additional sales beyond what they lose from not supporting LAN play. Not to mention the money they waste implementing whatever protection scheme they have in mind.
It isn't as if they protection won't be beat, every protection ever devised has been beaten.
If they don't they are morons. Its like a roach, if there is one person saying it where they can see there are hundreds doing it without them ever knowing it.
'Ah, I deduce that you don't drive on a full license ; you only have an automatic licence. '
No, shifting just isn't anymore physically demanding than pushing the pedal. I am talking about decreased physical capacity because trying to make the elderly retake their tests due to reduced mental capacity would incite the unrestrained fury of the gray panthers. They are a political organization that represents seniors.
'New England. The roundabout (what did Jim call it - a "rotary"?) might give you a better clue. I went up the original monadnock (it's a geological term, named after a New England mountain), and did some hill-walking in the White Mountains and a little tourism in Boston. Getting between my friend's house and anywhere started with a 5 minute walk to the station, then train into Boston, then the mass-transit system (whose name I've forgotten).'
That explains a great deal. That is the most densely populated portion of the United States, along with somewhere between a half dozen and a dozen cities with populations of 150K plus (the largest of which are along the coastlines) that is all of the heavily populated area of the United States. From what I had heard of the UK, almost the entire United States, along with about 2/3rd's of its population lives in areas you'd call 'the country'.
'As controllers of a ton or so of machinery moving at speed amongst unpredictable civilians, I see no reason for car drivers to be allowed slacker standards of proof-of-competence. I don't think it's important that there are more car drivers than there are aircraft drivers, they still need to prove that they retain their competence.'
There are no shortage of people operating over a ton of heavy machinery who require no licensing at all or who never have to retest.
A car has the potential to kill someone at high speeds. An aircraft has the potential to kill thousands, as demonstrated in 9/11. Lets not pretend we are talking about something comparable here.
Additionally, there is limited need to fly an aircraft. There is daily individual need to drive a car in the United States. In countries like yours it sounds like people drive less and inexperience is the norm.
We have traffic like you speak of in the large cities and driving in that traffic is stressful. Being able to drive in that traffic has nothing to do with capacity and everything to do with experience. Unfortunately, you can't restrict driving in heavy traffic to the experienced because only heavy traffic experience counts. Yes we have multi-lane roads but we have lane changes in the same manner to which you are referring.
Honestly, with the driving scenerio you explained I would be deathly afraid to drive on UK roads myself. Drivers are bad enough without people who don't have an hour or more daily experience behind the wheel on the roads!
'Well, you've only had a century or so of making these accommodations ; most of the rest of the world has had millennia of road plans and conflicting land ownership to deal with. Taking out that "design cruft" would cost trillions of any currency, and employ legions of lawyers for generations to sort out the land ownership problems.'
Sounds like a relatively minor issue compared to restructuring all of the United States as you propose. Every parcel of land is owned. While the government can always take the land and pay what it deems 'fair' for it without the owner's consent that won't make anyone very popular.
'I do agree that, for the limited case of orthogonal 4-way junctions, traffic lights are better than roundabouts. But for the more common (and more difficult) cases of non-orthogonal junctions, roundabouts are a more generally workable solution.'
*shudders*
'How come you've never travelled? You sound like a well-educated, intelligent guy. You're what - 28? By that age, I'd lived in three countries (Holland, Scotland and England), travelled to 4 countries for pleasure and another 4 or so (I forget exactly) for work.'
The economy has been shit for a long time now. Don't be fooled into thinking it is about mortgage securities or the bubbles that are just starting to pop now.
It used to be 'experience preferred but will train the right candidate'.
This has nothing to do with disliking microsoft, this has to do with technical accuracy. The fact that its Microsoft being inaccurate just ads fuel to the fire.
They could have called it bobofett if they wanted, but they just had to give an inaccurate version number.
The problem isn't really that there was a powerful CLI. There's nothing wrong with a CLI.
The problem is that Microsoft tried to pretend there wasn't. It was cool in the day to be a 'true' GUI system because the Macites touted that as one of the sacred virtues of the Mac. Of course when the Mac finally got a decent shell they started Macing fun of Windows for only having DOS.
The other problem is that the CLI in question was DOS and DOS was a nightmare.
Everyone wants 2-5yrs for entry level because the economy is shit and there are millions of people out of work.
If you have work now then hold on to it and hold onto it tight. If you can advance at employer you have now then great. If you lose that position you aren't even going to be able to find a job at a gas station without experience. It doesn't matter if a trained monkey could do the job, when there are people with 10-20yrs of experience doing that job are desperate enough to take entry level, you are screwed.
'That brings up an interesting question. Have you ever wondered that maybe you're a lesbian trapped in a man's body?'
Oh yeah. But I have fashion sense and I'm a disgusting slob (just ask my wife) so I think nature might have made the right call.
For example, my wife insists there are colors named turquoise and lavender. I keep explaining that one is blue and the other is sometimes purple and sometimes pink (apparently they can't agree on which lavender should be because they call several different shades lavender).
Slashdot Mirror
Where does that leave toll violations that are labeled as 'civil' and therefore change the burden of proof, deny the right to a court appointed attorney, no reading of miranda rights, etc?
'I think that congress is within its rights to set specific damages to things that are hard to place a value on.'
Yes, for the penalty of a crime congress is within its rights. Although if we are being picky criminal law should be written by states not congress. And the proceeds of those penalties go to the government to relieve the burden of taxpayers or to pay for social programs. NOT to a private entity.
Damages for civil lawsuits should generally be determined by the court on a case by case basis.
'I think another analogy would be that of the Do Not Call registry.'
That is a good example. When a company is busted for violating the Do Not Call registry the fines don't go to the person called. And the alleged offender isn't prosecuted by a private team of million dollar legal eagles.
Nah, that effect was lost when McCain had the audacity to choose an ATTRACTIVE female for the white house.
Women will unite to see someone with the same sex organs do well unless they believe the someone is more attractive than they are. Women will vote for a man who says they all belong in the kitchen before another woman they fear to be more attractive.
'It's just a decent device at a decent price.'
Sounds like a decent enough device (though the email thing sounds a bit annoying as a file transfer mech) but the price certainly doesn't sound decent.
You are saving about $4 a book. A generally good price for something like this would be more like $50 so to make up the difference you need to buy and read 63 books.
That means microsoft hasn't released a decent operating system with updated technology since 2002. That is six years already and now they are saying they don't intend to release anything decent until 2010 (and based on Microsoft's previous timelines that really means 2012 at the earliest).
If by the release of windows 7 Linux hasn't made a real dent into the desktop market share then I will change platform. Dear god, don't make me use windows.
'Your first point makes it very clearly you don't know what drives most people.'
On the contrary. What drives people is something to strive for an achieve. They need to keep the carrot moving and my first suggestion gives them that. But at the end game a big part of what keeps people from moving to another game is their investment in the current game. Raising the level cap and making gear worthless means they have instantly lost all that investment. Other games have done the same thing and ruined their games.
'Linux coems with it's own set of problems.'
Problems which have already been resolved by Loki and other commercial software vendors.
'Whcih distro do you use? In order to be distro agnostic do you need to write a bunch of things you wouldn't have to for Windows or OSX?'
Not really, the distros are binary compatible. You might have to package in binaries in both RPM and Deb package formats but there are tools to convert between one and the other automagically.
'Do you develop on a game where the graphics card drivers are 2 years behind?'
If you aren't you're a fool, you are shrinking your user base to nearly nothing. A few games make that mistake but traditionally Blizzard as a company has not. A good game outsells cutting edge graphics every time.
That said, if they are coding for OpenGL instead of directx they only need to target a specification version to have cross platform support. Currently they code for both directx and opengl.
You sir are an arrogant asshole. Time and again, you post a large response that is facetious and rude. Apparently you think debates are won by berating and belittling the opponent.
I'm not going to take the bait again and respond to the tiny little bit of content that is buried in your unmerited condescension. I suppose in that sense, you win. Go you.
No, I am not suggesting anything. I am saying that piracy increases sales.
It doesn't matter how many times you've heard it, if you keep spouting content industry nonsense you need to hear it again.
'What on earth has it got to do with being elderly or not? I'm not talking about regularly re-testing the elderly drivers. I'm talking about regularly re-testing EVERYONE with a driving license. No discrimination, no argument, a fixed duration for everyone's license.'
But I'm talking about the elderly. By and large they are extremely dangerous and shouldn't be on the roads.
'Spending an hour a day in a car sounds a pretty hellish way to spend your life.'
It seems like a pretty fair trade-off for not being cramped together like sardines in a can.
A few of these are about WoW, others are not.
1. Either stop releasing updates that raise the level limit in your MMO (and this really goes for any MMORPG) in a way that obsoletes the most elite epic gear.
You got away with it because you are still early enough into the lifecycle of the game and because there really weren't any viable game alternatives.
There are a lot of things that could be done with expansions besides raising the level limit to tack on content but if you insist on doing it then don't obsolete the existing epic gear.
In fact, make an addition that REQUIRES the old epic gear to be of benefit. Instead of making a lvl 80 trash drop that trumps the lvl 70 epic make enhancements that can only be applied to epic gear that upgrades it. Make lvl restricted instances, like 71-73 and so on where you get the gear upgrades.
2. Implement a real, solid, and structured large scale PvP gameplay. Something akin to Dark Ages of Camelot with actual fortresses that players lay siege to and large scale battles over these structures and PvE content is unlocked for the side that controls the PvP in some fashion.
3. GPL your older games. Let your fans have their way with them. While the current player base of WoW may not be majorly composed of blizzard's oldschool fans, it is those fans that attested to blizzard's talent with gamecrafting and drew the crowd to look at WoW in the first place. They are your single most valuable asset.
Right now you are extremely popular and in the spotlight, anything you do will garner large interest. Historically, that flame dies for every company that gets it. When they get that big spotlight they ignore their cult fans and when the light goes out they have nothing left and die. Don't make that mistake. Think about what your company will need to find a new big hit in 10yrs when the bulk crowd of gamers have never heard of World of Warcraft.
3. DRM and technical copy protection measures... it sounds like in some games you are even crippling actual game function (excluding LAN play). This stuff doesn't work. It's never worked, for anyone, ever. EVERY copy protection scheme used for any form of entertainment media has been cracked and more often then not is cracked before the official release! Make a profit from selling first copies of awesome games. People will use your server for multi-player as long as your server is BETTER. Parents will buy your game because their kids want it. Kids will want your game because their friends pirated it.
4. Linux version. This is a no brainer, you are practically there already. If you don't want to handle the tech support, I don't blame you. Just release free binaries to those who buy your game. I don't play world of warcraft anymore because I found the Linux experience to be subpar to the windows experience and I refuse to reboot. That said, I don't play warhammer online either (despite vastly superior pvp) because of a lack of windows support.
I promise you I am not alone in this. While linux is probably still in the hands of techs more than anyone else on the desktop for now it is techs who everyone else looks to when it comes to what they should buy. The linux and open source crowd are very very vocal.
On the contrary, when he said internally I'm fairly sure he was referring to the technical implementation of the game internals.
They build the game to use cross platform API's so that they could support Macs. Torrents for the patcher, OpenGL for the graphics, etc.
'And if I had to hazard a guess, I'd say that the number of people who legitimately NEED LAN play is quite small, particularly in comparison to the number of sales that would be made up from potential piracy (which isn't a 1:1 ratio, I know).'
On the contrary, since piracy actually amounts to free advertising that results in increased sales any reduced piracy would only cost them additional sales beyond what they lose from not supporting LAN play. Not to mention the money they waste implementing whatever protection scheme they have in mind.
It isn't as if they protection won't be beat, every protection ever devised has been beaten.
If they don't they are morons. Its like a roach, if there is one person saying it where they can see there are hundreds doing it without them ever knowing it.
That makes the assumption that people willing to play a game for the cost of a download are willing to play it for the price of the title.
Just because I'd pirate and consume content doesn't mean I'd ever buy that content in a piracy free world.
Piracy != Lost Sales
Piracy == Free Advertising
Piracy is not something that hurts the game industry, piracy is something game developers blame when a game flops or the industry is lackluster.
'Ah, I deduce that you don't drive on a full license ; you only have an automatic licence. '
No, shifting just isn't anymore physically demanding than pushing the pedal. I am talking about decreased physical capacity because trying to make the elderly retake their tests due to reduced mental capacity would incite the unrestrained fury of the gray panthers. They are a political organization that represents seniors.
'New England. The roundabout (what did Jim call it - a "rotary"?) might give you a better clue. I went up the original monadnock (it's a geological term, named after a New England mountain), and did some hill-walking in the White Mountains and a little tourism in Boston. Getting between my friend's house and anywhere started with a 5 minute walk to the station, then train into Boston, then the mass-transit system (whose name I've forgotten).'
That explains a great deal. That is the most densely populated portion of the United States, along with somewhere between a half dozen and a dozen cities with populations of 150K plus (the largest of which are along the coastlines) that is all of the heavily populated area of the United States. From what I had heard of the UK, almost the entire United States, along with about 2/3rd's of its population lives in areas you'd call 'the country'.
'As controllers of a ton or so of machinery moving at speed amongst unpredictable civilians, I see no reason for car drivers to be allowed slacker standards of proof-of-competence. I don't think it's important that there are more car drivers than there are aircraft drivers, they still need to prove that they retain their competence.'
There are no shortage of people operating over a ton of heavy machinery who require no licensing at all or who never have to retest.
A car has the potential to kill someone at high speeds. An aircraft has the potential to kill thousands, as demonstrated in 9/11. Lets not pretend we are talking about something comparable here.
Additionally, there is limited need to fly an aircraft. There is daily individual need to drive a car in the United States. In countries like yours it sounds like people drive less and inexperience is the norm.
We have traffic like you speak of in the large cities and driving in that traffic is stressful. Being able to drive in that traffic has nothing to do with capacity and everything to do with experience. Unfortunately, you can't restrict driving in heavy traffic to the experienced because only heavy traffic experience counts. Yes we have multi-lane roads but we have lane changes in the same manner to which you are referring.
Honestly, with the driving scenerio you explained I would be deathly afraid to drive on UK roads myself. Drivers are bad enough without people who don't have an hour or more daily experience behind the wheel on the roads!
'Well, you've only had a century or so of making these accommodations ; most of the rest of the world has had millennia of road plans and conflicting land ownership to deal with.
Taking out that "design cruft" would cost trillions of any currency, and employ legions of lawyers for generations to sort out the land ownership problems.'
Sounds like a relatively minor issue compared to restructuring all of the United States as you propose. Every parcel of land is owned. While the government can always take the land and pay what it deems 'fair' for it without the owner's consent that won't make anyone very popular.
'I do agree that, for the limited case of orthogonal 4-way junctions, traffic lights are better than roundabouts. But for the more common (and more difficult) cases of non-orthogonal junctions, roundabouts are a more generally workable solution.'
*shudders*
'How come you've never travelled? You sound like a well-educated, intelligent guy. You're what - 28? By that age, I'd lived in three countries (Holland, Scotland and England), travelled to 4 countries for pleasure and another 4 or so (I forget exactly) for work.'
I have traveled. I've jus
'much less getting enough publicity to be duped on slashdot'
Which is still no indication that anyone mainstream will ever hear about it.
'However, both Presidential candidates, Senator Barack Obama and Senator John McCain, have said they support expanding the program.'
Along with every other significant abuse.
The economy has been shit for a long time now. Don't be fooled into thinking it is about mortgage securities or the bubbles that are just starting to pop now.
It used to be 'experience preferred but will train the right candidate'.
This has nothing to do with disliking microsoft, this has to do with technical accuracy. The fact that its Microsoft being inaccurate just ads fuel to the fire.
They could have called it bobofett if they wanted, but they just had to give an inaccurate version number.
Microsoft falsely twisting the version number to be seven is something Hitler and the Nazi's might have done!!!!
okay, discussion is now finished. Nothing to see here, move along.
'cat, fsck, vi, nice, apt, sudo, etc'
Those might be horrible names in your mind but many of them represent a very simple and mind sticking system.
fsck, file system check. Kinda fits
nice, as in be nice to other processes. Fits.
sudo, super user do. Fits.
du, disk usage
df, disk free
ls, list
These names not only make sense, they are easy to type and very easy to remember because they make sense.
The problem isn't really that there was a powerful CLI. There's nothing wrong with a CLI.
The problem is that Microsoft tried to pretend there wasn't. It was cool in the day to be a 'true' GUI system because the Macites touted that as one of the sacred virtues of the Mac. Of course when the Mac finally got a decent shell they started Macing fun of Windows for only having DOS.
The other problem is that the CLI in question was DOS and DOS was a nightmare.
Everyone wants 2-5yrs for entry level because the economy is shit and there are millions of people out of work.
If you have work now then hold on to it and hold onto it tight. If you can advance at employer you have now then great. If you lose that position you aren't even going to be able to find a job at a gas station without experience. It doesn't matter if a trained monkey could do the job, when there are people with 10-20yrs of experience doing that job are desperate enough to take entry level, you are screwed.
I actually posted hoping someone else would chime in with that info but after poking around I found it.
Apparently the company is named "Artificial Intelligence" and they call the program "Hal" which doesn't make it easy to google them.
Here is a link to an old story:
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/hardware/0,1000000091,2085638,00.htm
http://www.taborcommunications.com/archives/100855.html
'That brings up an interesting question. Have you ever wondered that maybe you're a lesbian trapped in a man's body?'
Oh yeah. But I have fashion sense and I'm a disgusting slob (just ask my wife) so I think nature might have made the right call.
For example, my wife insists there are colors named turquoise and lavender. I keep explaining that one is blue and the other is sometimes purple and sometimes pink (apparently they can't agree on which lavender should be because they call several different shades lavender).