I don't understand... How is this different from WAP?
WAP failed because users couldn't chose their content: their phone operator chose it for them and put it "online". This is the exact same thing, as far as I understand.
Mayas used a 20-number basis and could perform any operation using a grid similar to a chess board. They could predict solar eclipses using the grid, beans and sticks... Impressive. Maybe they called it "grid computing"... [insert beowulf cluster joke here].
Yup... And even for the suits, everything ends up "automatizing" by itself... You can have a yearly train ticket, the guy at the restaurant sees you everyday and knows that you're coming, so he's saving a table for you, etc...
All iBooks have VGA / S-Video, so hooking up a monitor is simple. But it only *mirrors* what's on your screen (stupid software limitation by Apple, there are workarounds, like shown here); whereas the Powerbooks do real multi-head display (your palettes on one screen, the windows on the other one, for example)
If you're going to use VPC on a regular basis, I'd say to go for a G4-based system, as VPC is G4/multiproceesor/Altivec-optimized (though I've never really tried VPC on a G3, maybe it runs just fine... Max out the RAM, install Windows 98 / 2000 rather than XP, which is a CPU/RAM hog).
A couple of things I haven't found out: (1) You mention people sell CPU upgrades... does the single-CPU PowerMac have a 2nd empty slot? Hmmm, probably not, but I'm not 100% sure. As I understand it (but i could be wrong), the processors are on daughter cards, so you can install a daughter card with two processors to replace a daughter card with only one processor. Check with an Apple store or a CPU upgrade manufacturer (Giga designs, Sonnet...)
I'm not sure Powerbooks will get cheaper anytime soon: the prices have just dropped, and WWDC will probably only bring an updated Powermac line. I suppose the Best Thing To Do is have a "hands on" test, at your favorite computer shop or at an Apple store.
For example, if I don't buy a SuperDrive-equipped box now, can I add one later? Yes: internal or external. Careful about support though: go to Apple's search page and look for DVD-RW. These are supported officially, others are not.
Are there any other things like this I need to be careful for that are "missing" from lower models?
The bottom of the PowerMac line is missing, well, nothing. All PowerMacs have an AGP 4X slot, plus 3 (or four?) PCI slots, so you basically can add what you want.
Connectivity: an airport extreme slot, bluetooth-ready, FireWire 800, USB 2 (the OS doesn't support it yet, but apparently there are some hacks that work), Gigabit ethernet. You can add Fiber Channel (2 Gb/sec) too.
Expandability: you can add 3 more hard disks (RAID support - I think), a second optical drive, go up to 2 GB RAM (maybe 4 GB with 1 GB sticks?). Some vendors sell G4 upgrades (some currently manage to get their Cube at 1,42 GhZ), but at a price. You can change the video card; all Powermacs come with either Radeon 9000 (dual display, one ADC, one VGA/DVI, adaptor included), 9700, or GeForce 4 Titanium.
What is good about Powermacs (in my opinion) is not that you can upgrade like you would on any PC, but that even without upgrading, well, it still works after 15 years (I have relatives that type text on a Mac Classic / Apple printer). When I replace my G4 (in 3/4 years), it still will do a very sweet SSH / web / email server (maybe Darwin or Linux)
What are the architectural differences between the iMac/PowerMac and iBook/PowerBook?
iMac still has no DDR (!), its SDRAM. You can upgrade to 1 GB. It comes with a SOLDERED video card (GeForce 4 MX). Don't ever think of upgrading anything on an iMac (except RAM and hard disk). You can have airport or airport extreme (depending on the models). But my 3-year old iMac (g3 400 MhZ) runs Mac OS X fine, does Word, internet and email jobs for my dad.
iBook is still G3, maxes out at 640 MB of RAM. I consider it to be a cheap laptop, made for students (well, it manages to do serious DV video editing, so I presume it's powerful enough). I never really used a powerbook, but they look like sweet machines. DDR, Radeon Mobility 9000, VGA and SVideo out.
As for speed: I have a dual 1 GhZ, it's fast enough. I don't know about your business-type apps (if this means word-processor, well, any mac is enough; if it means Oracle database, well, I just don't know:). It runs virtual PC quite well (emulates a 667 MhZ P III), only concern is RAM (i have only 256 which is really not enough when switching back and forth OS X and Windows XP). 1 GB RAM should do. RAM is dirt cheap these days.
Quartz Extreme: it's not about the processor (only iBook still has G3 anyways.), but about the graphic cards: you need more than 16 MB VRAM to enable Quartz Extreme (so all the current line, including iBooks, support it).
Anyway: WWDC is REALLY close now, you should wait for the event and decide wether you can wait for the 64 bit processors and huge FSB, or pick up the discounted G4's Apple is sure to sell right before introducing the 970's to the market.
Here, hope it helped. Applestore / Knowledge base webpages should help, or you could check www.xlr8yourmac.com
Apple will do something with video. They've got all the components, now they'll do something different and dramatic like they did with audio.
There's word of an Apple webcam + iChat 2.0, with videoconferencing. Good.
But it gets better when you know that quicktime 6.3 supports 3GPP (video on 3G mobile phones). Could it be that they would offer iChat mobile phone video conferencing? That would be an instant killer app. 2 years before anybody else (I don't know about Japan, though)
A remote client for MacOS X.
I want that. I hate using ssh/scp when I'm tired/drunk/whatever, I always end up doing some big CLI mistake and screwing everything up:-)
Longshot - A built-in phone management system including universal inbox, menu options programmed graphically, fax management, etc.
Longshot
They should, but probably won't. You should code one:-)
Bah, "qui vivra verra". Let's wait for WWDC now...
Yep, that exactly what's happening... I mean, had someone shown me an Xterm on linux three years ago, I would probably have phreaked out; but OS X is really, well, "reassuring": you go step by step, from the Finder (same as OS 9, plain and simple) to C++ programming. Currently I'm at the "make your own CLI aliases and tinker with SSH / SCP / Screencapture" level, it's kind of cool:) (my studies have nothing to do with computers, so I progress rather slowly).
Cool, nonetheless... But you have to install XFree86 and run a terminal, GIMP and xEyes next to iTunes and, say, Microsoft office to really understand how much this platform is good: best of ALL worlds (except the prices off x86 hardware?), in one.
Hmmm... Interesting... Would that mean accessing some content provided by Apple? I'm thinking trailers here, or maybe AAC music files from the Music Store (buy directly from your mobile, and/or sync with iTunes).
Maybe Apple is trying to become some kind of content provider for mobile phone companies?
2) License SCO IP and/or buy out beleaguered company
Ah, but no! The "beleaguered company" is Apple! Everyone knows that. You're new here, right? And, you should have added, too: 6) Wait for *BSD to die 7) Build a beowulf cluster
I think they also didn't release the new feature set in order to make the new iPods more appealing to the old iPod's users... I mean, they implemented what we had been asking for a year through feedback (particularly on the go playlists)...
I'm eagerly waiting for some über-hacker to hack the new iPod's firmware (2.0) in order to install it on the old iPods... I want to play with notes, and, especially, I want "playlists on the go".
I *think* (I'm taking a wild-assed guess here, so you can't tell I didn't warn you) the hardware is basically the same (except for that strange dock connector, but this is just firewire + line out with a strange form factor, isn't it?) so I think it must be quite easy to install 2.0 on older iPods (???).
Would someone be kind enough to upload the 2.0 firmware on some server? Google can't find anything...
The "Alias" series on TV also features quite realistic computer manipulation. SSH, "ping -f", traceroutes, recompiles, etc...
They pushed realism quite far: in one particular episode (can't remember the name, but this scene takes place in Mexico), one of the agents goes undercover as a DJ, and uses an iBook (macs are popular among musicians and DJ's) instead of his PC laptop, for more realism... Cool:)
Okay, send a 14 year old to WalMart and see if he can buy ammo. Nope. They won't sell it to a minor. See, the laws actually work.
Somehow, those kids in Columbine managed to. The rounds used to fire at their classmates were bought at Walmart. Both were minor. And even admitting laws work and they won't sell it to a minor: nothing stops an adult to buy the ammo and sell it back to minors. (we do this all the time with cigarettes and alcohol after all).
As for "freedoms" and the "right to keep arms", I'm still trying hard to connect the dots here, but I'm afraid I can't make it. Virtually nobody has guns in Europe, yet all european countries are free countries. How come? What to you mean by "freedom"? You mean that if people had no guns, the government would abuse its powers? Do you really think that all these people with guns are a match to, say, the U.S. army, or even the police? I'm not sure anybody could resist the government, with or without guns.
It?s always the same story? Troubled youth plays doom or quake, he arms himself to the teeth, he kills his classmates. This has happened hundreds of times in the US alone.
In the US alone, or, more exactly, in the U.S. only. (well, it happened in Europe. Once.) The problem is NOT Quake, Doom, violent video games, or even Marilyn Manson. Consider this: ONLY in the U.S. are guns so easily available. If there is a problem here, I'd argue that it is NOT John Carmack; the problem here is N.R.A., and the fact that anybody out there can arm himself/herself to its teeth.
Jon has wasted his intelligence, caused the deaths of innocent children, and warped this country forever. John Carmack didn't kill anybody. The kids did. Kids are stupid, mostly angry 14 year-old boys. But, would they have killed anybody, hadn't they been able to go and fetch 6 pounds of ammo at Walmart without anybody caring about it? Uh?
You are basically saying that those kids are fragile and got influenced by Jon Carmark's works. All right. Now, let's get rid of computer games, consoles, thai kick-boxing and WWF, who promote violence in similar ways. Let's educate those kids; they should be watching CNN, or something similar, to learn about the world surrounding them, instead of playing stupid games.
What do they see? Assholes blowing up towers by crashing planes into them. (9/11). Oh, shit. Other assholes bombing places flat out and killing everybody in the place, sometimes with no apparent reason (Iraq, but also applies to almost any other war; Chechnya comes to mind). Still more assholes fighting for more or less desperate causes (basque terrorism, corsica, religious fundamentalists) or even for emty pieces of desert land (Israel / Palestine), blowing themselves up in buses, marketplaces, schools, etc. OK. The world nowadays is sick. Let's turn to... history! After all, history is harmless and taught in the safety of classrooms and libraries.
What do they see? World wars with 50 millions + casualties, entire cities destroyed through conventional or atomic bombings. Genocides, ethnic cleansing, mass rape and mutilation as warfare strategies (Rwanda). Alright, alright, history sucks.
So, let's study, say, technology instead! After all, technology is "neutral", isn't it? Oh, every single new technological achievement in the last 200 years was primarily intended for use in warfare . Gunpowder. Steel. Computers. Jet reaction. Even automobile (primary planned use: drag howitzers around). Planes. Nuclear energy. (The automatic machine gun was actually invented a couple of years before... typewriters). Oh, never mind. It's evolution, baby!
I believe there is something morally wrong when millions of people have computerized murder fantasies There is nothing wrong about having fantasies. We could debate forever if having a "fantasy" is wrong or not. (I dreamt about raping/killing somebody, but I didn't commit anything: would I be to blame? Can individuals be held responsible for their subconscious and half-subconscious feelings?). Still, let's admit, for the sake of argumentation, that having murder fantasies is wrong. Yes, but face it: it's not Jon Carmack's fault. People had murder fantasies long before computers existed; and not only fantasies, mind you, but they put it into actual practice. (genocide: the annihilation of millions of people by an *at least* equally large number of people: it took the collective work of millions of nazis to kill the 6 millions jews of the holocaust; the hutu/tutsi massacres (800 000 dead in 5 to 6 weeks) were the results of carefully crafted, planned, policies and decisions).
So, you see, the whole world is fascinated by violence and war. Not just computer players. Mankind cares about two things: 1/ surviving, and 2/, making sure it can annihilate itself as fast as possible. (think about the NUMBER of nukes stored in Russia / USA / France / China during the Cold war: more than enough to eradic
Actually, there was a lot of "porn"-related stuff on the minitel: some commercial services (any frenchman can tell you what "36-15 ULLA" is about) that would work just like phone-sex, or "forums" where you meet other people, according to your interests (gay, lesbian, straight, etc...). Damn expensive, it was!
I think these kinds of service lured many into the minitel: porn driving technology (as usual...)
I've already read quite a lot of stories about this 7-series acting erraticaly (including dangerous "behaviours", assuming a car has a "behaviour"). Is Windows CE really to blame here? (I'd love it: one more reason to bash Microsoft, yeah!)
Slashdot Mirror
I don't understand... How is this different from WAP?
WAP failed because users couldn't chose their content: their phone operator chose it for them and put it "online". This is the exact same thing, as far as I understand.
Azteques: Northern Mexico
Maya: Southern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Salvador... etc.
Incas: Perou, Chili, Bolivia (Andine mountains)
Mayas used a 20-number basis and could perform any operation using a grid similar to a chess board. They could predict solar eclipses using the grid, beans and sticks... Impressive. Maybe they called it "grid computing"... [insert beowulf cluster joke here].
Yup... And even for the suits, everything ends up "automatizing" by itself... You can have a yearly train ticket, the guy at the restaurant sees you everyday and knows that you're coming, so he's saving a table for you, etc...
No need for a phone that does it for you...
But I'm not surprised at the lack of ethics in the Asian Consumer market, it's an ugly business world over there.
As opposed to what? The West's ethical and customer-respectful consumer market??? Come on...
Nah... They wouldn't bite the hand that feeds them.
I'm running a leaked beta right now (v.0.80). You can group bookmarks in "buttons" on the adress bar, and have them all opened in tabs. Cool.
All iBooks have VGA / S-Video, so hooking up a monitor is simple. But it only *mirrors* what's on your screen (stupid software limitation by Apple, there are workarounds, like shown here); whereas the Powerbooks do real multi-head display (your palettes on one screen, the windows on the other one, for example)
If you're going to use VPC on a regular basis, I'd say to go for a G4-based system, as VPC is G4/multiproceesor/Altivec-optimized (though I've never really tried VPC on a G3, maybe it runs just fine... Max out the RAM, install Windows 98 / 2000 rather than XP, which is a CPU/RAM hog).
A couple of things I haven't found out: (1) You mention people sell CPU upgrades... does the single-CPU PowerMac have a 2nd empty slot?
Hmmm, probably not, but I'm not 100% sure. As I understand it (but i could be wrong), the processors are on daughter cards, so you can install a daughter card with two processors to replace a daughter card with only one processor. Check with an Apple store or a CPU upgrade manufacturer (Giga designs, Sonnet...)
I'm not sure Powerbooks will get cheaper anytime soon: the prices have just dropped, and WWDC will probably only bring an updated Powermac line.
I suppose the Best Thing To Do is have a "hands on" test, at your favorite computer shop or at an Apple store.
I hope that helped!
For example, if I don't buy a SuperDrive-equipped box now, can I add one later?
:). It runs virtual PC quite well (emulates a 667 MhZ P III), only concern is RAM (i have only 256 which is really not enough when switching back and forth OS X and Windows XP). 1 GB RAM should do. RAM is dirt cheap these days.
Yes: internal or external. Careful about support though: go to Apple's search page and look for DVD-RW. These are supported officially, others are not.
Are there any other things like this I need to be careful for that are "missing" from lower models?
The bottom of the PowerMac line is missing, well, nothing. All PowerMacs have an AGP 4X slot, plus 3 (or four?) PCI slots, so you basically can add what you want.
Connectivity: an airport extreme slot, bluetooth-ready, FireWire 800, USB 2 (the OS doesn't support it yet, but apparently there are some hacks that work), Gigabit ethernet. You can add Fiber Channel (2 Gb/sec) too.
Expandability: you can add 3 more hard disks (RAID support - I think), a second optical drive, go up to 2 GB RAM (maybe 4 GB with 1 GB sticks?). Some vendors sell G4 upgrades (some currently manage to get their Cube at 1,42 GhZ), but at a price.
You can change the video card; all Powermacs come with either Radeon 9000 (dual display, one ADC, one VGA/DVI, adaptor included), 9700, or GeForce 4 Titanium.
What is good about Powermacs (in my opinion) is not that you can upgrade like you would on any PC, but that even without upgrading, well, it still works after 15 years (I have relatives that type text on a Mac Classic / Apple printer). When I replace my G4 (in 3/4 years), it still will do a very sweet SSH / web / email server (maybe Darwin or Linux)
What are the architectural differences between the iMac/PowerMac and iBook/PowerBook?
iMac still has no DDR (!), its SDRAM. You can upgrade to 1 GB. It comes with a SOLDERED video card (GeForce 4 MX). Don't ever think of upgrading anything on an iMac (except RAM and hard disk). You can have airport or airport extreme (depending on the models). But my 3-year old iMac (g3 400 MhZ) runs Mac OS X fine, does Word, internet and email jobs for my dad.
iBook is still G3, maxes out at 640 MB of RAM. I consider it to be a cheap laptop, made for students (well, it manages to do serious DV video editing, so I presume it's powerful enough).
I never really used a powerbook, but they look like sweet machines. DDR, Radeon Mobility 9000, VGA and SVideo out.
As for speed: I have a dual 1 GhZ, it's fast enough. I don't know about your business-type apps (if this means word-processor, well, any mac is enough; if it means Oracle database, well, I just don't know
Quartz Extreme: it's not about the processor (only iBook still has G3 anyways.), but about the graphic cards: you need more than 16 MB VRAM to enable Quartz Extreme (so all the current line, including iBooks, support it).
Anyway: WWDC is REALLY close now, you should wait for the event and decide wether you can wait for the 64 bit processors and huge FSB, or pick up the discounted G4's Apple is sure to sell right before introducing the 970's to the market.
Here, hope it helped. Applestore / Knowledge base webpages should help, or you could check www.xlr8yourmac.com
Basically Apple could buy SGI for a song right now.
So that means that Apple could buy SGI more than 200 000 times
Okay. Worst pun ever. Mod me down!
Apple will do something with video. They've got all the components, now they'll do something different and dramatic like they did with audio. There's word of an Apple webcam + iChat 2.0, with videoconferencing. Good. But it gets better when you know that quicktime 6.3 supports 3GPP (video on 3G mobile phones). Could it be that they would offer iChat mobile phone video conferencing? That would be an instant killer app. 2 years before anybody else (I don't know about Japan, though) A remote client for MacOS X. I want that. I hate using ssh/scp when I'm tired/drunk/whatever, I always end up doing some big CLI mistake and screwing everything up :-)
Longshot - A built-in phone management system including universal inbox, menu options programmed graphically, fax management, etc.
Longshot
They should, but probably won't. You should code one :-)
Bah, "qui vivra verra". Let's wait for WWDC now...
I know a few people who have lost a hand or two in one way or another and they have often found it difficult to use a regular reybaord...>
Well, duh...
Yep, that exactly what's happening... :) (my studies have nothing to do with computers, so I progress rather slowly).
I mean, had someone shown me an Xterm on linux three years ago, I would probably have phreaked out; but OS X is really, well, "reassuring": you go step by step, from the Finder (same as OS 9, plain and simple) to C++ programming. Currently I'm at the "make your own CLI aliases and tinker with SSH / SCP / Screencapture" level, it's kind of cool
Cool, nonetheless... But you have to install XFree86 and run a terminal, GIMP and xEyes next to iTunes and, say, Microsoft office to really understand how much this platform is good: best of ALL worlds (except the prices off x86 hardware?), in one.
Palm Desktop does that, easily. OR, (as another reply mentions) you should have two different accounts on your OS X computer.
Hmmm... Interesting... Would that mean accessing some content provided by Apple? I'm thinking trailers here, or maybe AAC music files from the Music Store (buy directly from your mobile, and/or sync with iTunes).
Maybe Apple is trying to become some kind of content provider for mobile phone companies?
For example, NAC Geographic Products' address in Toronto would be 8CNB5 Q8Z4R. Hmmmm... Great, really. Now, how do I drive there? :-)
... big clunky rovers that have a 50/50 chance of surviving Nasa's re-entry math.
You mean, like, math involving metric system and feet and inches?
2) License SCO IP and/or buy out beleaguered company
Ah, but no! The "beleaguered company" is Apple! Everyone knows that. You're new here, right?
And, you should have added, too:
6) Wait for *BSD to die
7) Build a beowulf cluster
___
OK, end of story then... Thanks for the reply.
I think they also didn't release the new feature set in order to make the new iPods more appealing to the old iPod's users... I mean, they implemented what we had been asking for a year through feedback (particularly on the go playlists)...
Bah.
I'm eagerly waiting for some über-hacker to hack the new iPod's firmware (2.0) in order to install it on the old iPods... I want to play with notes, and, especially, I want "playlists on the go".
I *think* (I'm taking a wild-assed guess here, so you can't tell I didn't warn you) the hardware is basically the same (except for that strange dock connector, but this is just firewire + line out with a strange form factor, isn't it?) so I think it must be quite easy to install 2.0 on older iPods (???).
Would someone be kind enough to upload the 2.0 firmware on some server? Google can't find anything...
The "Alias" series on TV also features quite realistic computer manipulation. SSH, "ping -f", traceroutes, recompiles, etc...
:)
They pushed realism quite far: in one particular episode (can't remember the name, but this scene takes place in Mexico), one of the agents goes undercover as a DJ, and uses an iBook (macs are popular among musicians and DJ's) instead of his PC laptop, for more realism... Cool
Okay, send a 14 year old to WalMart and see if he can buy ammo. Nope. They won't sell it to a minor. See, the laws actually work.
Somehow, those kids in Columbine managed to. The rounds used to fire at their classmates were bought at Walmart. Both were minor. And even admitting laws work and they won't sell it to a minor: nothing stops an adult to buy the ammo and sell it back to minors. (we do this all the time with cigarettes and alcohol after all).
As for "freedoms" and the "right to keep arms", I'm still trying hard to connect the dots here, but I'm afraid I can't make it. Virtually nobody has guns in Europe, yet all european countries are free countries. How come?
What to you mean by "freedom"? You mean that if people had no guns, the government would abuse its powers? Do you really think that all these people with guns are a match to, say, the U.S. army, or even the police? I'm not sure anybody could resist the government, with or without guns.
(No trolling intended, just wondering... )
My personal favorite from this article:
:-)
nVidia believes that the GeForceFX 5900 Ultra is trying to do intelligent culling and clipping to reduce its rendering workload
It's alive !
It?s always the same story? Troubled youth plays doom or quake, he arms himself to the teeth, he kills his classmates. This has happened hundreds of times in the US alone.
In the US alone, or, more exactly, in the U.S. only. (well, it happened in Europe. Once.) The problem is NOT Quake, Doom, violent video games, or even Marilyn Manson. Consider this: ONLY in the U.S. are guns so easily available. If there is a problem here, I'd argue that it is NOT John Carmack; the problem here is N.R.A., and the fact that anybody out there can arm himself/herself to its teeth.
Jon has wasted his intelligence, caused the deaths of innocent children, and warped this country forever.
John Carmack didn't kill anybody. The kids did. Kids are stupid, mostly angry 14 year-old boys. But, would they have killed anybody, hadn't they been able to go and fetch 6 pounds of ammo at Walmart without anybody caring about it? Uh?
You are basically saying that those kids are fragile and got influenced by Jon Carmark's works. All right. Now, let's get rid of computer games, consoles, thai kick-boxing and WWF, who promote violence in similar ways. Let's educate those kids; they should be watching CNN, or something similar, to learn about the world surrounding them, instead of playing stupid games.
What do they see? Assholes blowing up towers by crashing planes into them. (9/11). Oh, shit. Other assholes bombing places flat out and killing everybody in the place, sometimes with no apparent reason (Iraq, but also applies to almost any other war; Chechnya comes to mind). Still more assholes fighting for more or less desperate causes (basque terrorism, corsica, religious fundamentalists) or even for emty pieces of desert land (Israel / Palestine), blowing themselves up in buses, marketplaces, schools, etc.
OK. The world nowadays is sick. Let's turn to... history! After all, history is harmless and taught in the safety of classrooms and libraries.
What do they see? World wars with 50 millions + casualties, entire cities destroyed through conventional or atomic bombings. Genocides, ethnic cleansing, mass rape and mutilation as warfare strategies (Rwanda).
Alright, alright, history sucks.
So, let's study, say, technology instead! After all, technology is "neutral", isn't it?
Oh, every single new technological achievement in the last 200 years was primarily intended for use in warfare . Gunpowder. Steel. Computers. Jet reaction. Even automobile (primary planned use: drag howitzers around). Planes. Nuclear energy. (The automatic machine gun was actually invented a couple of years before... typewriters). Oh, never mind. It's evolution, baby!
I believe there is something morally wrong when millions of people have computerized murder fantasies
There is nothing wrong about having fantasies. We could debate forever if having a "fantasy" is wrong or not. (I dreamt about raping/killing somebody, but I didn't commit anything: would I be to blame? Can individuals be held responsible for their subconscious and half-subconscious feelings?).
Still, let's admit, for the sake of argumentation, that having murder fantasies is wrong. Yes, but face it: it's not Jon Carmack's fault. People had murder fantasies long before computers existed; and not only fantasies, mind you, but they put it into actual practice. (genocide: the annihilation of millions of people by an *at least* equally large number of people: it took the collective work of millions of nazis to kill the 6 millions jews of the holocaust; the hutu/tutsi massacres (800 000 dead in 5 to 6 weeks) were the results of carefully crafted, planned, policies and decisions).
So, you see, the whole world is fascinated by violence and war. Not just computer players. Mankind cares about two things: 1/ surviving, and 2/, making sure it can annihilate itself as fast as possible. (think about the NUMBER of nukes stored in Russia / USA / France / China during the Cold war: more than enough to eradic
Actually, there was a lot of "porn"-related stuff on the minitel: some commercial services (any frenchman can tell you what "36-15 ULLA" is about) that would work just like phone-sex, or "forums" where you meet other people, according to your interests (gay, lesbian, straight, etc...). Damn expensive, it was! I think these kinds of service lured many into the minitel: porn driving technology (as usual...)
I've already read quite a lot of stories about this 7-series acting erraticaly (including dangerous "behaviours", assuming a car has a "behaviour"). Is Windows CE really to blame here? (I'd love it: one more reason to bash Microsoft, yeah!)