Do you really think that the games market is bigger than the movie/television market? I don't think so!! A hell of a lot more people watch TV and go to movies that have computers. Not to mention the fact that not all computer users are gamers.
The gaming industry is a small fart by comparison to Hollywood.
Put simply, because they drive the games market! FPS games are all about hardware the latest, most flashy graphics, etc. It is the triumph, as usual, of style over substance. Everyone likes to show off (and its not just 14 year olds). You are supposed to be entranced with the flashy graphics, not with the game play.
Personally, FPS games bore the hell out of me. Why? Because I have fast reflexes and get bored very easily. Unfortunately, there are few games out there these days that engage the mind as well as challenge the reflexes. I hope that this will change eventually (though I'm not holding my breath) and we can get past the latest, greatest FPS knockoff. . .
Obviously, you have never been lost in the woods before. Even with a compass and maps (I don't know what they used in the movie, I haven't seen it) it is very easy to get confused. Why? Because it all looks the same after a while and you end up going around in circles.
Jeez, haven't you ever heard of suspension of disbelief? You must not ever have much fun at the movies. . .
Yea, but I bet you wouldn't trade your 75+ year lifespan if we hadn't cured all of the diseases they we already have. Don't forget how damn lucky you are to live in a first world nation.
Did you actually think about what you were saying, or was this just your opportunity to slag Gates?
I know Gates is no saint in the business world, but I applaud him for his charitable contributions.
The Apollo 1 fire took place during a test in which the capsule was presurised with pure O2. The door could only be opened by swinging it inward. Since the O2 pressure was pushing outward there was probably no way that the they could open the door against the O2 pressure even without the fire. They probably would have died from the fire anyway even if the door had been opened since a fire fed by pure oxygen would burn everything very quickly.
I never understood why they couldn't have done testing with compressed air, or why the astronauts needed to be in the capsule at all. It was a terrible tragedy, but a lot was learned from it.
Highrise buildings are very, very expensive (unless you want to build low income housing projects that no one wants to live in), that is why you only see them in areas that have no unoccupied land. I don't know if it is true, but I once had a architect friend tell me that past a few stories high, each additional story doubles the cost of the building!
I don't think the Silicon Valley / Bay Area housing prices will ever be reasonable. People who are selling / renting housing are going to charge whatever the market will bear because they can. Like it or not, that is how capitalism works! If you can't take the prices you might want to move somewhere else (just don't move to NC; there are too many people here already!).
A excellent book which covers the design and implementation of the SR-71 is "Skunk Works" by Ben Rich. He ran the Skunk Works for about 20 years after Kelly Johnson and designed the F117-A and worked extensively on the SR-71, D-21 and U-2 projects.
The most interesting thing about the SR-71 project is that it was largely a exercise in theromodynamics. The biggest problems were keeping the plane from melting due to air friction and keeping the pilot from being roasted alive from all that heat!
I am interested in alternative operating systems but one the reasons that I haven't made much of a attempt to learn it is that I have seen so many Linux newbies get flamed on newsgroups and mesage boards. It not worth it to get a bunch of nasty e-mails, or worse yet, mailbombs or virus attachments.
At this point, I think the Linux community is coming off very badly because a minority of poorly mannered zealots are ruining the reputation of the community as a whole. A lot of people seem to scoff at concern over flaming, but Linux needs reasonable, helpful people in order to grow its user base.
I'm with you RatBastard. At this point I'm more interested in BeOS than in Linux. Why bother going to the trouble of learning Linux if I'm going to be flamed to a crisp for even making an attempt?
In the US something like 95% of people use dial up access. Where I live, there are no cable modems (nor are they likely to be anytime soon as this is not a high tech or affluent area) and ADSL is far too expensive for the average user.
Like you said, you get what you pay for and anyone who knows anything about shared bandwidth on cable modem systems should have seen this coming.
Is hard for all us 56k dial up users to get all teary-eyed just because your upload rate has been cut back to a mere 128k. Consider yourself very, very lucky to even have a cable modem.
Contrary to popular opinion, universal broadband internet access is a loooooong way off. . .
Slashdot Mirror
Do you really think that the games market is bigger than the movie/television market? I don't think so!! A hell of a lot more people watch TV and go to movies that have computers. Not to mention the fact that not all computer users are gamers.
The gaming industry is a small fart by comparison to Hollywood.
Put simply, because they drive the games market! FPS games are all about hardware the latest, most flashy graphics, etc. It is the triumph, as usual, of style over substance. Everyone likes to show off (and its not just 14 year olds). You are supposed to be entranced with the flashy graphics, not with the game play.
Personally, FPS games bore the hell out of me. Why? Because I have fast reflexes and get bored very easily. Unfortunately, there are few games out there these days that engage the mind as well as challenge the reflexes. I hope that this will change eventually (though I'm not holding my breath) and we can get past the latest, greatest FPS knockoff. . .
Obviously, you have never been lost in the woods before. Even with a compass and maps (I don't know what they used in the movie, I haven't seen it) it is very easy to get confused. Why? Because it all looks the same after a while and you end up going around in circles.
Jeez, haven't you ever heard of suspension of disbelief? You must not ever have much fun at the movies. . .
Yea, but I bet you wouldn't trade your 75+ year lifespan if we hadn't cured all of the diseases they we already have. Don't forget how damn lucky you are to live in a first world nation.
Did you actually think about what you were saying, or was this just your opportunity to slag Gates?
I know Gates is no saint in the business world, but I applaud him for his charitable contributions.
The Apollo 1 fire took place during a test in which the capsule was presurised with pure O2. The door could only be opened by swinging it inward. Since the O2 pressure was pushing outward there was probably no way that the they could open the door against the O2 pressure even without the fire. They probably would have died from the fire anyway even if the door had been opened since a fire fed by pure oxygen would burn everything very quickly.
I never understood why they couldn't have done testing with compressed air, or why the astronauts needed to be in the capsule at all. It was a terrible tragedy, but a lot was learned from it.
Highrise buildings are very, very expensive (unless you want to build low income housing projects that no one wants to live in), that is why you only see them in areas that have no unoccupied land. I don't know if it is true, but I once had a architect friend tell me that past a few stories high, each additional story doubles the cost of the building!
I don't think the Silicon Valley / Bay Area housing prices will ever be reasonable. People who are selling / renting housing are going to charge whatever the market will bear because they can. Like it or not, that is how capitalism works! If you can't take the prices you might want to move somewhere else (just don't move to NC; there are too many people here already!).
A excellent book which covers the design and implementation of the SR-71 is "Skunk Works" by Ben Rich. He ran the Skunk Works for about 20 years after Kelly Johnson and designed the F117-A and worked extensively on the SR-71, D-21 and U-2 projects.
The most interesting thing about the SR-71 project is that it was largely a exercise in theromodynamics. The biggest problems were keeping the plane from melting due to air friction and keeping the pilot from being roasted alive from all that heat!
Guess what? The days of the garage startup turning around and selling for billions of $$$ are OVER.
/. content? I think not. That is what it takes today to remain independent.
/. gets some more bandwidth, an even wider audience and that Rob and company won't have to work so damn hard!
Let me ask you something would you PAY for
I think this is a good thing. I hope
I am interested in alternative operating systems but one the reasons that I haven't made much of a attempt to learn it is that I have seen so many Linux newbies get flamed on newsgroups and mesage boards. It not worth it to get a bunch of nasty e-mails, or worse yet, mailbombs or virus attachments.
At this point, I think the Linux community is coming off very badly because a minority of poorly mannered zealots are ruining the reputation of the community as a whole. A lot of people seem to scoff at concern over flaming, but Linux needs reasonable, helpful people in order to grow its user base.
I'm with you RatBastard. At this point I'm more interested in BeOS than in Linux. Why bother going to the trouble of learning Linux if I'm going to be flamed to a crisp for even making an attempt?
In the US something like 95% of people use dial up access. Where I live, there are no cable modems (nor are they likely to be anytime soon as this is not a high tech or affluent area) and ADSL is far too expensive for the average user.
Like you said, you get what you pay for and anyone who knows anything about shared bandwidth on cable modem systems should have seen this coming.
Is hard for all us 56k dial up users to get all teary-eyed just because your upload rate has been cut back to a mere 128k. Consider yourself very, very lucky to even have a cable modem.
Contrary to popular opinion, universal broadband internet access is a loooooong way off. . .
I long for the day when a person can use whatever OS that he or she feels like without being bashed over the head by the OS fanatics.
I long for a world in which users spent as much time on software design and development as they do flaming people for not using their pet OS.
Yes, I know it is a crazy dream. . .
Freedom is about choice and I'll damn well use the OS that works best for me! Feel free to use what works best for you, I won't hate you for it!