Uhm we will see if this entry will make into the incredibly bad or the at-least-somewhat-faithful-to-some-aspect-of-gamin g category.:-)
"DIRECT CONVERSIONS":
. Super Mario Bros. . Street Fighter . Mortal Kombat . Mortal Kombat Annihilation . Dungeons & Dragons (ok, it's a table RPG, but still...) . Wing Commander . Resident Evil . Tomb Raider . Final Fantasy . Double Dragon . Clue (table game, see D&D) . Last Bronx
(MISTAKENLY THOUGHT AS CONVERSIONS) Parasite Eve (not really, book and movie released first)
"INSPIRED FROM VIDEOGAMES":
. Avalon . Arcade . Brainscan . Brainstorm . Cloak and Dagger . eXistenZ . Joysticks . Jumanji . The Last Starfighter . Lawnmower Man . Matrix . Mazes and Monsters . Nightmares - Bishop of Battle sequence . Strange Days . Tron . Virtuosity . War Games . The Wizard
-BORDERLINE- Video-game "feeling" but comes from other source.
. The 13th Floor [actually inspired from a book, Simulacron-3 by Daniel F. Galouye, 1964]
. Starship Troopers [looks like Starcraft but actually from Robert Heinlen's book of the same title, 1987]
During my high school years, I had been banned for a time from using computers at the school library, only because of my programming knowledge was superior to that of the teacher of Computer class (this was 1994 - the guy even thought the Net was an useless fad!). Rumor must have spread that I could hack a machine by looking at it, or something of the sort, since they didn't want me near a two-meter radius of any terminal. At first I didn't give a damn since I limited my computer stuff to home and that class...
However at some point the professor hired some "security expert" consultant to assess threats to the network, and my name appeared on top of a list of people who allegedly had "hacking tools" in their network space. This was too much (I only used it for school papers, and I could prove it) and I had to go to the professor and threaten to sue for libel. Of course I didn't had to go so far, since the professor apologized, removed my name for the list, and restored my normal access to the library computers. Since then I didn't have any problems (even the librarians asked for help afterwards).
What the moral of this story? Ignorant professors == bad news. If kids are smart enough to want to learn hacking, or programming, then they should allow their creativity to be expressed. Or else you will fall into idiotic situations like what I have lived.
PS: As a matter the fact the professor, much to his credit, at some point offered to create a "Linux club" (1995). However, the college grad supposed to sponsor the club dissapeared after the first meeting... so we never had anything...:-( [we theorized that he learned afterwards that Linux was Haxx0r material, so he banned it, but we'll never know for sure:-) ].
...a book I read long ago, that was supposedly a novelized true story about how a network administrator "catched" a hacker. Unfortunately I don't remember its title nor the author, but I expect somebody here will remember the scene where the guy melts his sneakers in the microwave, because he wanted to quick dry them...:-)
What kind of super-secret things do you have in your PDA that somebody would want desparately enough to hack into your phone for?
The point is not what there IS, but the potential damage/loss because of the open availability of that information.
I can use the metaphor of an open house, "why lock your home, what do you have that is valuable?". Or furthermore, why don't you live in a completely transparent house where passer-bys can see what you are doing? What can be so interesting about your life that people would want to see?
Now in light of those questions consider why webcams are so popular. People like to sneak around, look where they are not supposed to. Voyeuristic tendencies are natural just because of the human curiosity (the difference is, some place their curiosity in "clean" areas, while others don't)...
In other words, it's mainly a matter of choice. If you want to leave yourself open, then do so. But some technologies (e.g. DRM) are potentially limiting in the sense that they remove the option of keeping your privacy if so you wish. But even the most boring person has something worth checking out, or else TV would be much smarter.:-)
I wouldn't say pitiful (...) You probably lose out somewhat for gaming, but for desktop use it's entirely acceptable.
even my integrated Mini-ITX video chipset is "entirely acceptable" for desktop. And the whole motherboard is cheaper than one of those 3D cards.:-) So any driver that gives a similar performance for a "real" (non-integrated) 3D chipset is indeed pitiful...
Future versions of these games will be able to access the Game Boy Player hardware, just as they accessed the Transfer Pak back on the N64. For now, you can link a GCN with a game to a GCN with a GB Player. [if I had mod points, you'd have +1 informative from me:-( ]
Given this fact, if there was a cheaper GB Player, I might consider it, but I prefer to use those $50 to partly finance a Gameboy Instead. I might not have fullscreen, but I can use the "double screen" feature from some games without worrying too much about money spent in batteries.:)
[Note: I already have a GBA, but the screen is driving my nuts and I don't want to attempt the Afterburner mod].
Does the GB Player allow for GC/GB connectivity? For example, if I have Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic Advance, can I transfer my Chao (tamagotchi raisable thingy) from a GB cartridge to the Gamecube game and vice-versa?
I think you can't, since apparently you need to boot up the GB Player with a special disk, so you couldn't swap to a GC game for transfer.
Can anybody who owns one of the Players confirm or reject this impression?
Your "robomoster" with that bare keyboard is easily defeated by any "three-finger salutebot", or, if you're running a decent OS, any "power button zeroing mecha".:-)
Considering that the Internet has been designed to withstand atomic holocaust, it would be ludicrous to predict its death just because of some media control on the ISPs. The points made to support the claim fall down under scrutiny. They seem to apply only to a a very limited range of ignorant users (I'm not being elitist, I'm talking the "I broke my cup holder" kind):
1 - "email unusable because of spammers" A point which ignores the simple possibility of creating filters in any modern mailer to move your "trusted" sources to a specific directory, and ignore the rest. Of course, if you keep your modem connection your downloads will be slow. Time to upgrade.
2 - Google has problems with crap content Time to stop clicking the "I'm feeling lucky" button and browse through results. Also, it would help to use advanced tools to refine your search. Site is bad? Click back on your 4th mouse button and keep looking.
3 - Popup blocking:the vast majority of IE users don't have that luxury, and their patience has already been tested to the limit So, they are saying that because users don't have a clue, they will stop using the Internet? Suddenly this reminds me of the survey made in the US some weeks ago...
4 - Internet means sitting at noisy and unreliable machines Mini-ITX 500Mhz fanless motherboards, customized linux distro (locked) for reliability. Voila, safe, noiseless, reliable netbox!
And finally:
5 - What's dying is the idea that the Internet would be a tool of universal liberation Freedom requires a minimum of effort and knowledge. You have to program that VCR to be free to see the show at a specific time.
So, in short, this article is predicting the death of the Internet for people who doesn't have a clue on how to turn on a computer and have no intention to learn it (reference to the US survey done a while back, obviously)... I'll let you draw your own conclusions.
Bonus: map of the internet:-) The Internet could live without the US. And at worst, some underground ISPs will still remain. It would be slow maybe, but it would work.
Now, cards are tweaked towards improved performance within a particular benchmark
This is always the case with any chosen performance measurement. Look at managers asked to bring quarterly profits. They tend to be extremely shortsighted...
Moral of the story: be very wary on how you measure and always add a qualitative side to your review (e.g. in this case, "driver readiness/completedness").
Re:Reminds me of Linux circa 1994
on
OS X Hacks
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
how is this brilliant user going to write code that utilizes said database?
He(she) won't. Sometimes you need to install a database to run something else, which, if scripted properly, doesn't need much hassle. I should not need to tamper with script files when the only thing I want to do is install a printer driver (unfortunately I had to, and under OS X!).
A good "ergonomic" program should not require documentation, except a reference for the advanced technical savvy user. Every computer user is not a programmer... so if there was more "exploratory" software, computers would be easier to use and more people would be on them.
But a good interface designer is very expensive, because he/she does not output code you can recompile and copy, but rather an "experience" (I'm not talking just making a skin here, but rather designing how all interactions works) that you can patent. Of course, that doesn't prevent MS from copying you... (see Apple, or Xerox).
is how companies get patents on things that everybody is already doing. Shouldn't a patent be done *first* (or at least, be pending),before they start doing/producing something? As it stands, IMHO it seems to be something else: i.e. "let's see what's not patented yet and patent it". Insane...
You're absolutely right. I have forgotten how slow the thing was. I browsed around for new offerings, and it seems that now it is updated ("i-minitel", maybe to suggest it's like the internet). However, it still has the same pricing and is only accessible via modem. Thus no international use is possible (I tried, but FT's network won't allow it).:-(
can somebody recommend a good free antivirus for Win machines?
if there is such thing...
Mainstream media seems to report that the virus comes out of Outlook attachments ONLY, which shows how ignorance can be dangerous if this worm is effectively spread through filesharing networks...:-/
The "pop-ups" were posters that popped up in almost every streetcorner in France. Minitel access was obtained by dialing "361x" and a code (x, ranging from cheaper to more expensive, went usually from 2 to 8).
Most of these posters were for dating chat rooms. One of the most famous was even named "3615 cum". And that's not even a "porn" chatroom (there were, but usually were "3617").
As for spam, it was in form of "snail" mail. Fortunately, there is in France regulation that allows consumers to opt-out from *all* mail spam *at once* by writing to a special organization (I even learned the address for it in one of the "spammy" ads!). You won't receive any mail advertisement after that!
The Minitel was not archaic *back then*. It was progress, and an interesting social experiment.
For example it shows that whoever says that "maturing people have difficulty grasping new technology" is speaking out of his/her ass, since the Minitel was used by senior citizens, and they loved it (still today!), showing that it's not the technology itself that is the problem, but the required learning curve.
However, the thing is that 20 years later companies/organizations/government offer some services via Minitel *only*. A service, by the way, that could perfectly well given over the Internet (for example, getting your own grades from school).
Holding to a previous outdated innovation (outdated precisely because better technology was created from it), in a clear attempt to make money, is nothing more than the RIAA business model. Seriously.
Web was impossible because the Minitel was essentially a text terminal (VT100 IIRC). Graphics were achieved by combining special characters into shapes... and downloads were very slow. Even typing had delays!
However, e-mails were perfectly possible. But it was up to the company/BBS to provide the service. Some did, although at that time it was cheaper (for somebody in the know:) to dial a regular PC BBS and have the same feature with many improvements, In fact, unlike in the US, in France you have to pay for all local calls. So BBSes that allowed you to download your mail and reply offline were a great life-saving service (for the life of your wallet:) ).
Argh!!! I pushed Post instead of Preview... please indulge me for all the typos...
Minital was truly a mixed blessing
on
Minitel Hits Twenty
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
Having lived in France during the introduction of the Internet, I remember many details:
The Minitel is liek a BBS system, except that you got the terminal (screen and keyboard) from the phone company for cheap. There were (now it's declining due to the net) any kind of service that you could image. You thing pop-ups are bad? You haven't seen anything until you've seen a street of Paris filled with posters showing a barely clad woman and advertising some Minitel dating service.
For me the Minitel shows how even old people can embrace new technology if you make it easy for them. EVERYONE used the minitel, and companies set up Minitel servers before the concept of website was even imagined. We had chatrooms, forums (a la Slashdot) etc. Considering these were billed per minute, and billings varied from $0.2 to $1, it can get very expensive.
However having the machine at home costed you about $3-4 per month, not much considering what you could get. Most families that I know over there had a minitel, at least for using as a phone book (first 3 minutes of phone book browsing service were free).
However, it was (is) a real cash cow, so of course when the Net came along France Telecom was very reluctant to move away from this service. Which is a damn shame, because I'm sure they could have made a profit selling "Internet minitels", the same thing except with Internet access... however, with these no company can charge $1/minute, so, the move was not popular with companies either. There were some Internet phones, but at $500, they failed miserably.
Today I wish the service a quick death, because there's really nothing left there that cannot be done faster and more comfortably through the Internet (max connection speed for the minitel was, IIRC, 9600 bps, and only for some servers!). And you can recycle the devices: there's a lot of documentation of how the teletext terminal work, so you can easily hook up a network of those for whatever you want.
France was an innovator back then, but because they latched on their own system and failed to adapt, they were slow in adopting the Internet. The new generation, however, having grown up with minitel technology, was very quick to jump into the Net train. As a matter of fact, many French free webhosting services were created by guys who ran free BBS or inexpensive (the phone company always made money) Minitel servers back in the day!:)
1. e-mails with "EARN $$$ DOING NOTHING" 2. spyware that not only spies but also hijacks your CPU cycles for remote computation 3. dubious companies selling "grid computing" service pop up all over the place 4.... 5. Profit?
It may look funny, but what if the next version of Windows comes embedded with this kind of thing? All it would take would be some marketing genius to convince enough people. (disclaimer: yes this is slightly paranoid, it's not intended to be MS bashing, just an example on how this technology could be misused).
Slashdot Mirror
Uhm we will see if this entry will make into the incredibly bad or the at-least-somewhat-faithful-to-some-aspect-of-gamin g category. :-)
"DIRECT CONVERSIONS":
. Super Mario Bros.
. Street Fighter
. Mortal Kombat
. Mortal Kombat Annihilation
. Dungeons & Dragons (ok, it's a table RPG, but still...)
. Wing Commander
. Resident Evil
. Tomb Raider
. Final Fantasy
. Double Dragon
. Clue (table game, see D&D)
. Last Bronx
(MISTAKENLY THOUGHT AS CONVERSIONS)
Parasite Eve (not really, book and movie released first)
"INSPIRED FROM VIDEOGAMES":
. Avalon
. Arcade
. Brainscan
. Brainstorm
. Cloak and Dagger
. eXistenZ
. Joysticks
. Jumanji
. The Last Starfighter
. Lawnmower Man
. Matrix
. Mazes and Monsters
. Nightmares - Bishop of Battle sequence
. Strange Days
. Tron
. Virtuosity
. War Games
. The Wizard
-BORDERLINE-
Video-game "feeling" but comes from other source.
. The 13th Floor [actually inspired from a book, Simulacron-3 by Daniel F. Galouye, 1964]
. Starship Troopers [looks like Starcraft but actually from Robert Heinlen's book of the same title, 1987]
> I improve my English through /.
:-)
Sweet Jesus! That's like improving your health through heroin.
Of course! What else do you expect from addicts?
I can relate to this from personal experience.
:-( [we theorized that he learned afterwards that Linux was Haxx0r material, so he banned it, but we'll never know for sure :-) ].
During my high school years, I had been banned for a time from using computers at the school library, only because of my programming knowledge was superior to that of the teacher of Computer class (this was 1994 - the guy even thought the Net was an useless fad!). Rumor must have spread that I could hack a machine by looking at it, or something of the sort, since they didn't want me near a two-meter radius of any terminal. At first I didn't give a damn since I limited my computer stuff to home and that class...
However at some point the professor hired some "security expert" consultant to assess threats to the network, and my name appeared on top of a list of people who allegedly had "hacking tools" in their network space. This was too much (I only used it for school papers, and I could prove it) and I had to go to the professor and threaten to sue for libel. Of course I didn't had to go so far, since the professor apologized, removed my name for the list, and restored my normal access to the library computers. Since then I didn't have any problems (even the librarians asked for help afterwards).
What the moral of this story? Ignorant professors == bad news. If kids are smart enough to want to learn hacking, or programming, then they should allow their creativity to be expressed. Or else you will fall into idiotic situations like what I have lived.
PS: As a matter the fact the professor, much to his credit, at some point offered to create a "Linux club" (1995). However, the college grad supposed to sponsor the club dissapeared after the first meeting... so we never had anything...
and thanks for the sp correction. I improve my English through /. :-)
...a book I read long ago, that was supposedly a novelized true story about how a network administrator "catched" a hacker. Unfortunately I don't remember its title nor the author, but I expect somebody here will remember the scene where the guy melts his sneakers in the microwave, because he wanted to quick dry them... :-)
Does it ring a bell?
What kind of super-secret things do you have in your PDA that somebody would want desparately enough to hack into your phone for?
:-)
The point is not what there IS, but the potential damage/loss because of the open availability of that information.
I can use the metaphor of an open house, "why lock your home, what do you have that is valuable?". Or furthermore, why don't you live in a completely transparent house where passer-bys can see what you are doing? What can be so interesting about your life that people would want to see?
Now in light of those questions consider why webcams are so popular. People like to sneak around, look where they are not supposed to. Voyeuristic tendencies are natural just because of the human curiosity (the difference is, some place their curiosity in "clean" areas, while others don't)...
In other words, it's mainly a matter of choice. If you want to leave yourself open, then do so. But some technologies (e.g. DRM) are potentially limiting in the sense that they remove the option of keeping your privacy if so you wish. But even the most boring person has something worth checking out, or else TV would be much smarter.
I wouldn't say pitiful (...) You probably lose out somewhat for gaming, but for desktop use it's entirely acceptable.
:-) So any driver that gives a similar performance for a "real" (non-integrated) 3D chipset is indeed pitiful...
even my integrated Mini-ITX video chipset is "entirely acceptable" for desktop. And the whole motherboard is cheaper than one of those 3D cards.
you'd need tropical fish
:-)
The Piranha PC would indeed be a neat mod.
That would look really cool if it was a small widget-type zen thing, so I can have one on my desk to contemplate while trying to be inspired. :-)
Future versions of these games will be able to access the Game Boy Player hardware, just as they accessed the Transfer Pak back on the N64. For now, you can link a GCN with a game to a GCN with a GB Player. :-( ]
:)
[if I had mod points, you'd have +1 informative from me
Given this fact, if there was a cheaper GB Player, I might consider it, but I prefer to use those $50 to partly finance a Gameboy Instead. I might not have fullscreen, but I can use the "double screen" feature from some games without worrying too much about money spent in batteries.
[Note: I already have a GBA, but the screen is driving my nuts and I don't want to attempt the Afterburner mod].
Does the GB Player allow for GC/GB connectivity? For example, if I have Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic Advance, can I transfer my Chao (tamagotchi raisable thingy) from a GB cartridge to the Gamecube game and vice-versa?
I think you can't, since apparently you need to boot up the GB Player with a special disk, so you couldn't swap to a GC game for transfer.
Can anybody who owns one of the Players confirm or reject this impression?
Your "robomoster" with that bare keyboard is easily defeated by any "three-finger salutebot", or, if you're running a decent OS, any "power button zeroing mecha". :-)
In the near future: a PDA that follows you around and carries all those electronics that doesn't fit in your pocket anymore. :-)
:-)
You just will have to watch out for water, and thieves.
Considering that the Internet has been designed to withstand atomic holocaust, it would be ludicrous to predict its death just because of some media control on the ISPs. The points made to support the claim fall down under scrutiny. They seem to apply only to a a very limited range of ignorant users (I'm not being elitist, I'm talking the "I broke my cup holder" kind):
:-) The Internet could live without the US. And at worst, some underground ISPs will still remain. It would be slow maybe, but it would work.
1 - "email unusable because of spammers"
A point which ignores the simple possibility of creating filters in any modern mailer to move your "trusted" sources to a specific directory, and ignore the rest. Of course, if you keep your modem connection your downloads will be slow. Time to upgrade.
2 - Google has problems with crap content
Time to stop clicking the "I'm feeling lucky" button and browse through results. Also, it would help to use advanced tools to refine your search. Site is bad? Click back on your 4th mouse button and keep looking.
3 - Popup blocking:the vast majority of IE users don't have that luxury, and their patience has already been tested to the limit
So, they are saying that because users don't have a clue, they will stop using the Internet? Suddenly this reminds me of the survey made in the US some weeks ago...
4 - Internet means sitting at noisy and unreliable machines
Mini-ITX 500Mhz fanless motherboards, customized linux distro (locked) for reliability. Voila, safe, noiseless, reliable netbox!
And finally:
5 - What's dying is the idea that the Internet would be a tool of universal liberation
Freedom requires a minimum of effort and knowledge. You have to program that VCR to be free to see the show at a specific time.
So, in short, this article is predicting the death of the Internet for people who doesn't have a clue on how to turn on a computer and have no intention to learn it (reference to the US survey done a while back, obviously)... I'll let you draw your own conclusions.
Bonus: map of the internet
Now, cards are tweaked towards improved performance within a particular benchmark
This is always the case with any chosen performance measurement. Look at managers asked to bring quarterly profits. They tend to be extremely shortsighted...
Moral of the story: be very wary on how you measure and always add a qualitative side to your review (e.g. in this case, "driver readiness/completedness").
how is this brilliant user going to write code that utilizes said database?
He(she) won't. Sometimes you need to install a database to run something else, which, if scripted properly, doesn't need much hassle. I should not need to tamper with script files when the only thing I want to do is install a printer driver (unfortunately I had to, and under OS X!).
A good "ergonomic" program should not require documentation, except a reference for the advanced technical savvy user. Every computer user is not a programmer... so if there was more "exploratory" software, computers would be easier to use and more people would be on them.
But a good interface designer is very expensive, because he/she does not output code you can recompile and copy, but rather an "experience" (I'm not talking just making a skin here, but rather designing how all interactions works) that you can patent. Of course, that doesn't prevent MS from copying you... (see Apple, or Xerox).
is how companies get patents on things that everybody is already doing. Shouldn't a patent be done *first* (or at least, be pending),before they start doing/producing something? As it stands, IMHO it seems to be something else: i.e. "let's see what's not patented yet and patent it". Insane...
You're absolutely right. I have forgotten how slow the thing was. I browsed around for new offerings, and it seems that now it is updated ("i-minitel", maybe to suggest it's like the internet). However, it still has the same pricing and is only accessible via modem. Thus no international use is possible (I tried, but FT's network won't allow it). :-(
can somebody recommend a good free antivirus for Win machines?
:-/
if there is such thing...
Mainstream media seems to report that the virus comes out of Outlook attachments ONLY, which shows how ignorance can be dangerous if this worm is effectively spread through filesharing networks...
The "pop-ups" were posters that popped up in almost every streetcorner in France. Minitel access was obtained by dialing "361x" and a code (x, ranging from cheaper to more expensive, went usually from 2 to 8).
Most of these posters were for dating chat rooms. One of the most famous was even named "3615 cum". And that's not even a "porn" chatroom (there were, but usually were "3617").
As for spam, it was in form of "snail" mail. Fortunately, there is in France regulation that allows consumers to opt-out from *all* mail spam *at once* by writing to a special organization (I even learned the address for it in one of the "spammy" ads!). You won't receive any mail advertisement after that!
By the way, here's a Java minitel emulator.
The Minitel was not archaic *back then*. It was progress, and an interesting social experiment.
For example it shows that whoever says that "maturing people have difficulty grasping new technology" is speaking out of his/her ass, since the Minitel was used by senior citizens, and they loved it (still today!), showing that it's not the technology itself that is the problem, but the required learning curve.
However, the thing is that 20 years later companies/organizations/government offer some services via Minitel *only*. A service, by the way, that could perfectly well given over the Internet (for example, getting your own grades from school).
Holding to a previous outdated innovation (outdated precisely because better technology was created from it), in a clear attempt to make money, is nothing more than the RIAA business model. Seriously.
Why not offer web and email access via Minitel
:) to dial a regular PC BBS and have the same feature with many improvements, In fact, unlike in the US, in France you have to pay for all local calls. So BBSes that allowed you to download your mail and reply offline were a great life-saving service (for the life of your wallet :) ).
Web was impossible because the Minitel was essentially a text terminal (VT100 IIRC). Graphics were achieved by combining special characters into shapes... and downloads were very slow. Even typing had delays!
However, e-mails were perfectly possible. But it was up to the company/BBS to provide the service. Some did, although at that time it was cheaper (for somebody in the know
Argh!!! I pushed Post instead of Preview... please indulge me for all the typos...
Having lived in France during the introduction of the Internet, I remember many details:
:)
The Minitel is liek a BBS system, except that you got the terminal (screen and keyboard) from the phone company for cheap. There were (now it's declining due to the net) any kind of service that you could image. You thing pop-ups are bad? You haven't seen anything until you've seen a street of Paris filled with posters showing a barely clad woman and advertising some Minitel dating service.
For me the Minitel shows how even old people can embrace new technology if you make it easy for them. EVERYONE used the minitel, and companies set up Minitel servers before the concept of website was even imagined. We had chatrooms, forums (a la Slashdot) etc. Considering these were billed per minute, and billings varied from $0.2 to $1, it can get very expensive.
However having the machine at home costed you about $3-4 per month, not much considering what you could get. Most families that I know over there had a minitel, at least for using as a phone book (first 3 minutes of phone book browsing service were free).
However, it was (is) a real cash cow, so of course when the Net came along France Telecom was very reluctant to move away from this service. Which is a damn shame, because I'm sure they could have made a profit selling "Internet minitels", the same thing except with Internet access... however, with these no company can charge $1/minute, so, the move was not popular with companies either. There were some Internet phones, but at $500, they failed miserably.
Today I wish the service a quick death, because there's really nothing left there that cannot be done faster and more comfortably through the Internet (max connection speed for the minitel was, IIRC, 9600 bps, and only for some servers!). And you can recycle the devices: there's a lot of documentation of how the teletext terminal work, so you can easily hook up a network of those for whatever you want.
France was an innovator back then, but because they latched on their own system and failed to adapt, they were slow in adopting the Internet. The new generation, however, having grown up with minitel technology, was very quick to jump into the Net train. As a matter of fact, many French free webhosting services were created by guys who ran free BBS or inexpensive (the phone company always made money) Minitel servers back in the day!
1. e-mails with "EARN $$$ DOING NOTHING" ...
2. spyware that not only spies but also hijacks your CPU cycles for remote computation
3. dubious companies selling "grid computing" service pop up all over the place
4.
5. Profit?
It may look funny, but what if the next version of Windows comes embedded with this kind of thing? All it would take would be some marketing genius to convince enough people. (disclaimer: yes this is slightly paranoid, it's not intended to be MS bashing, just an example on how this technology could be misused).