Its a pretty big stretch to say that democracy depends on a healthy middle class, I suppose an argument could be made either way. However, I think the parent poster meant to say capitalism depends on a healthy middle class. So many people seem to mix democracy and capitalism up these days wonder why?:)
However, if that was the parents intentions, I agree one hundred percent. If you do not have a heavy base of middle class people money doesnt flow properly through the system. You will end up with a weird trickle down effect where if the middle class shrinks, the number of people with disposable income buying products from Fortune 500 companies will also shrink. However the symbiotic relationship ( parasitic? ) between employer and employee needs to be balanced. If a company doesnt pay its workers well, then its workers in turn cannot afford to purchase it or other large poorly paying companies, so big companies profits fall forcing it to make cutbacks, which in turn lessons the market for the products it sells.
Therefore, it is a healthy middle class that keeps this system flowing. Money going into the top few percentage of people is not a good pump primer, as these people tend to take more money out of the system, then they put back into it. Economic success at a macro level, is based more off the movement of money than it is the quantity. 100 x $1000 dollar transactions does more for the economy then a single million dollar transaction. Its the same principal here, just on a much higher scale.
Yes, but the Pocket PC video chipsets are pure arse compared. I have a HP3950 iPaq ( 400 mhz arm 64 ram ), and it cant run MAME or any other emulators worth a damn. I also have a PSP, and from what ive seen sofar, it will easily be capable of running most older emu's ( SNes, gameboy, earlier mame, etc... ). You really cant compare the two devices, they have different purposes. When it comes to graphics and sound, the PSP blows the PPC out of the water.
But thats not the worst part. The controls for a Pocket PC are absolutely horrid for gaming! First off, the placement sucks... and secondly most units cant support multiple button presses concurrently.
In summary, when it comes to gaming you just cant compare the two devices. The PSP way out performs the PPC, but it damn well better, seeing as it was designed for gaming. That said, it rather sucks at reading Excel spreadsheets:)
Farble, first off, I mostly agree with what you have said, although why the hell I bothered reading this thread this deeply is way beyond me!:)
That said... first off... damnit man, capitalize some words.... please... granted, not as bad as reading an all capslock post, but damned close.
Secondly, the beginning comment about 10s of thousands of dollars, is going to extremes, regardless to station. I understand the concept of keeping you girl happy, even if you personally dont agree, but their does hit a point of gaudiness.
I also understand the opposition to the diamond trade. There are decades of history of abuse and human rights violations tied to it ( sorta like nike, but thats a different story. If I had the energy and desire to be such a noble citizen, I would probrably fight my wife on the same matter, but like you, I pick my causes. And frankly, to the origonal poster almost every cause, and therefore effect, will offend someones morals... get over it.
But I think you missed the biggest point in this argument thread... your opponent was unable to vote in the last election. That places his/her age ( im assuming his ) under 22. Thats the key, hell, thats the slashdot effect.
The zealotry of youth... hell its easy to make blanket statements when you have never been faced with the reality of the outcome of which your proclaiming. Much the same that most people that say "All software should be free!!!" (in a subtle nod back to trying to stay on topic), normally come from people that not only dont make money off developing software... they most likely are still living off mommy and dads dime. You should know better by now then to argue with such people!
On last observation... jarble's argument to this point, is not about buying sex as so many anti-social types seem to have misplaced it. Its about fulfilling the fantasies ( no matter how misguided ) of someone you love. Their is a huge difference. Yes, girls being brought up from pre-pubescent ages to covet diamonds and a grand wedding, disturbs me greatly. Its one of the downsides of western soceity ( and probrably others ). That said... are you willing to hurt the one you love over some moralistic bs? Im not...
So I guess im an evil bastard to without morals... go figure. Get back to me in 10 years, and give me your viewpoint then. Im guessing it is going to be massively different. Realities a bitch. Pick your fights carefully or die alone.
You seem have a strange definition of "open-minded," which apparently enatails reaching certain conclusions...do you not recognize the fallacy here?
No actually I dont... I honestly *dont* believe the majority of people are open minded... to some degree myself included. That point was meant to illustrate exactly that fact
That is why we have jury selection in the US. In the US it is assumed that the majority of people are smart enough to keep an open mind regardless of what has passed in the media. Those who cannot are interviewed and weeded out
Ummm... bullshit!
Yes, canada has jury selection too... but assuming the majority of people are open minded is a laugh, in any country especially the United States!!! The land of freedom fries??? The home of FOX??
Admit it, you know your lying to yourself when you make such a profoundly wrong statement, dont you?
How would you feel if you were the person with your reputation, career and possibly life on the line? Would you want a media ban... or would you trust "the majority" of Americans to be unbaised?
The arguments we are hearing today, are basically identical to five or six years ago, about assembly language vs C or C++. Yes, you could squeeze between 5 and 200% more performance out of tightly written assembly, but in the long run, productivity gains from a higher level language won out.
We are going to see the same thing here again. People will continue to use C and C++, especially API and framework providers. However, more and more people are going to do the majority of their development in a higher level language ( aka, Java or C# ).
One of the big selling points of C or C++ was the ability to inline assembly. You are going to see much the same migration with new languages. pInvoke for C# allows you to still make use of lower level languages, where speed is critical. Ditto for JNI(? not a java developer... hope im right here) in the java world. Speed isnt much of an argument, although C zealots like to make it one. My understanding is, JNI used to be slow, and perhaps still is, but I know first hand pInvoke is not slow, and now that double thunking has been removed, its almost a non factor.
So naturally as machines get faster and faster, the languages will move higher and higher in abstraction. The only real hits against Java or C# these days, ignoring speed which as mentioned above can be fixed, is the runtime. Having to host a VM has a memory hit no doubt. Also, having to ship 20 megs of files to support your 1 meg application seems like massive overkill, but in a few years, I believe this too will be a non issue.
Actually, this is an area im suprised I havent seen explored yet, outside of mobile devices. Why isnt Microsoft or Sun, pushing to get a VM embeded at the bios level? If you could have a low level implementation of the VM, so many of todays problems go away.
First off... most websites arent Google, or Amazon... they are more or less the pinnacles of "web development". Not to say that what they do isnt valid to the rest of the world... but frankly, most companies dont have the same resources that these types of companies do... atleast not the resources allocated towards the web. Concessions need to be made at most other places, where things like "cost benefits analysis" and other jargon apply.
Secondly, these companies biggest concern is scaling to the volume of requests... not the complexity or time of a request.
I agree to some degree with what you are saying, *but*, I hold true to my origonal argument. To the typical end user, all the optimisations you make on the back end will be pretty much un-noticed. Unless you are returning obscenely large or complex data sets, the time spent on the database is overwhelmingly trivial compared to the latency from the network.
I agree with you, the process is a serial one, but when optimizing anything, you spend the time where you get the biggest bang for your buck. Right now, the first big bottleneck is going to be the wire. You can control this to some degree buy buying a really big pipe, but thats it. You have no control over if your viewer is on a t3 or a 14.4 modem. The next big gain would probrably come from some form of caching system, or accelerator. After that, your biggest performance gain would probrably come from cleaning up the code size of whats being returned to the client( which sadly, most people still dont seem to do:( ). Lastly, you probrably get the next biggest bang optimizing your server side code to work quicker. Then, the databases performance comes into question
The type of queries being done on most websites, just arent that intensive. Normally its straight out lookups, maybe a few cross table joins, etc. Very little analysis type operations happen in most sites, although granted, I imagine there are exceptions. We are talking minimal fractions of a second here.
I guess my argument is, with all the other problems/bottlenecks, etc in the loop... the database backend is really quite far down the list. Im not saying there is no advantage to optimizing the database... im just saying its minimal compared to everything else. Granted, this argument applies to *most* sites. There are exceptions again... the googles and amazons of the world. Even then, its not so much the performance cost of the queries that comes into question, is purely site traffic volumes. With that massive amount of traffic, you need a highly scalable system at every level. But, most sites, arent google!
As an asside, I have a similar background to you. In the mid 90's I worked for a company that made a product called Tango, which was a Cold Fusion-esque, web application server. It was slow... for the most part, the databases of the day... well... they were slow... Everything was basically just slow. Yet, in the end, where did we get our biggest bang to the buck for optimization? By minimizing the size of the HTML and images returned. By a huge margin. All the optimization in the world on the back and, and frankly, the end users still most likely wouldnt have noticed because... well, they still spent just as long waiting for the crap to download in the first place. This isnt in regards to small sites either... im talking fairly major Canadian online banks (mBanx) and such.
No offence meant, but frankly, your argument makes no sense whatsoever.
If there is an area where slow data performance is acceptible, its web development, for exactly the reasons you gave. The bottleneck is often the wire... not the database, not the browser or CPU behind the browser. Having a faster database, just means that your users get to wait faster!
I'm sorry for the guys at Nero, if they are doing this to help the extravagant costs of Windows development tools, then that's a shame.
HAHAHAHAHA, your @$@#ing kidding right? Have you ever looked at Microsofts ISV program? Im guessing no. Hell, you probrably think that the 1000$ they charge for VS is high ( it isnt ). Hell, nobody but a complete moron pays full price anyways. Hell, microsoft would LOVE to give away their development software, but given anti trust and all that jazz, they cant.
Oh wait... they can... You can get C#, um... free. C++, um... free. "Express" editions of everything... free. Hell, you can get an MSDN subscription in like the 2 grand range, which gives you liscenses to basically every piece of software MS makes that isnt a game.
Really... educate yourself a bit more on the subject before posting such a stupid statement. Oh, and if you want to have something to compare VS against... check out the cost of Borland Enterprise suite... somewhere in the range of 6K, and its pretty much a piece of shit.
IMHO, of all products Microsoft makes, Visual Studio is the best. No other platform, anywhere comes close to matching it.
The person who runs something as root, is the same user that doesnt understand what root is. AKA, the typical windows user. If the linux on the desktop dream ever comes true, you would be AMAZED at how many users are going to just user the first username/password in the system.
Not to mention, how long until they run into a problem ( like say... trying to play certain games ) that says... "You must be root to do blah blah." From that momment on, Joe user uses root for everything.
If we could ship every copy of XP, with a few years of technical competency, there would be a hell of alot less spyware/virii/worms and trojans floating around out there!
One thing to keep in mind, is this is a software based update, that checks if you are running a genuine version of windows. In all reality, it is doing its job perfectly.
That said, what hasnt been addressed is, is there a way for people running under wine to get updates. I should imagine there are, even if it requires mailing Microsoft with a proof of purchase, and waiting for updated Media to arrive via snail mail. If no such options exist, then yes this is wrong. However, it is NO worse, then what all those poor non-internet connected people face today.
Finally, one final defence on Microsoft's part, is I believe part of the Genuine windows cert, is to insure the highest calibre of support, blah blah blah. If they acknowledge Wine as being genuine at this point, could they be stuck supporting it?
To allow himself as an MS employee, to be questioned by the people that hang out on slashdot!
Personally, I would rather go door to door in a Jehovah witness community and introduce them to the wonder that is Budism! It would probrably lead to a bit less realigous zealotry doing that...
Other then commiting the sin of mentioning Microsoft in a position light... the origional poster has a point. I dont think it should have been modded down as a troll.
First off, the MS console fosters more North American jobs. The console is supported by Western developers, with Western style games. Sony is almost exactly the opposite. Yes, I know there are exceptions on both sides, but predominatly the majority of developers for the Xbox are Western, the majority on the PS2 are Japanese. So, beyond the chips and bits inside, there is a very big reason for supporting a console from your area. The japanese do it, the North Americans dont, for the most part.
Secondly, and this one is huge! Japenese culture is massively bigoted. The XBox was doomed to failure there because it wasnt japanese. They have an odd culture that way... they assimilate the hell out of foreign culture, but they have there core values, that they hold to in a fierce pride most Americans wouldnt understand. And yes, XBox 2 is going to do probrably just as poorly in Japan.
Oh... and if you dont believe me about the culture bigotry in Japan... ask a Chinese person what Japanese think of them. Or, what most Japanese think of the chinese, vietness, or even Americans.
** note. Im talking about the society as a whole, not the individual. I am not saying that all Japanese people are bigots.
Valve and their ridiculous Steam system can take their business elsewhere.
Um... actually, no, its you who can take your business elsewhere... and since from the sounds of things, you've already bought the game... or atleast your family member did... guess that part aint true either.
Not to mention he was too young to be party to any such agreement
Hmmm... if thats the case, he wasnt old enough to buy the game in the first place ( it is rated M ).
Actually, it should be much quicker then the time frame you specified, as one of the limits of the competition is that you much use only their textures.
Texture's actually take up a much larger chunk of time, atleast in "pro" level mods.
Well, if you think about it, nobody would want to advertise it. HDCP has absolutely ZERO advantage to the end consumer, and frankly limits their ability... that doesnt exactly make for good advertisement:)
I have a feeling this is where the RIAA and MPAA are going to try to fight piracy. It leads into DRM products pretty well, but if you seal out the origional device/transmission from being copied, you are all but screwed of trying to make stand alone copies ( sorta why this whole thread exists, they make it hard enough now ).
It would go a long way towards explaining why older PVR devices, such as Dishnets HD PVR have been pulled from the market. They had the ability to copy out via firewire, un-encrypted. The more ways they can close off access, the harder is is for people to copy. However, for that to be true, it basically means that device makers are being mandated to support the new interfaces, but that wouldnt shock me in the slightest.
Well, unfortunatly, HDMI.org requires you to register to get the specifications, which is kinda cheese... anyways...
Does HDMI provide a secure interface?
While no security system is one hundred percent secure, HDMI, when used in combination with HDCP, provides an audio/video interface that meets the security requirements of content providers and systems operators.
Im not really sure how to read that... is that saying that HDMI is compatible with HDCP, or that HDMI implements HDCP?
Thanks for the link... sadly, its US only. Canada was supposed to be HDTV everywhere by 2006, but I think that dates been pushed back by the slow rate of adoption.
As to DVI, your right, my mistake, DVI is not encrypted ( although it is compressed ), its HDMI, which is replacing DVI on newer HDTV's. So far as I know, HDMI = dvi + sound + encryption.
I have been asking the exact same question... without much luck
The way I understand it, DVI is encrypted, so your odds of finding anything in that regard are very low. Composit seems to be your best chance, but as of yet, I havent seen an affordable video capture card.
ATI however, does make a HDTV card, but the problem with it is it only does broadcast free to air type HD, which is basically non existant in my area. If you are in New York, or a similar area, it may be feasible. The ATI card was about 400$ and included an antenna.
Other then that, I think your SOL. Expressvu, rumour has it, is coming out with a 600 HDTV/PVR next year, but Ill believe it when I see it. Also, due to storage requirements, it will only record something in the neighbourhood of 8 hours at HD resolutions.
Guess this is an area we have to agree to disagree on:)
Its my belief the overhead of dealing with hundreds or thousands of sub projects with different teams is a hell of alot higher then if its one team working across hundreds of projects.
Slashdot Mirror
Its a pretty big stretch to say that democracy depends on a healthy middle class, I suppose an argument could be made either way. However, I think the parent poster meant to say capitalism depends on a healthy middle class. So many people seem to mix democracy and capitalism up these days wonder why? :)
However, if that was the parents intentions, I agree one hundred percent. If you do not have a heavy base of middle class people money doesnt flow properly through the system. You will end up with a weird trickle down effect where if the middle class shrinks, the number of people with disposable income buying products from Fortune 500 companies will also shrink. However the symbiotic relationship ( parasitic? ) between employer and employee needs to be balanced. If a company doesnt pay its workers well, then its workers in turn cannot afford to purchase it or other large poorly paying companies, so big companies profits fall forcing it to make cutbacks, which in turn lessons the market for the products it sells.
Therefore, it is a healthy middle class that keeps this system flowing. Money going into the top few percentage of people is not a good pump primer, as these people tend to take more money out of the system, then they put back into it. Economic success at a macro level, is based more off the movement of money than it is the quantity. 100 x $1000 dollar transactions does more for the economy then a single million dollar transaction. Its the same principal here, just on a much higher scale.
Yes, but the Pocket PC video chipsets are pure arse compared. I have a HP3950 iPaq ( 400 mhz arm 64 ram ), and it cant run MAME or any other emulators worth a damn. I also have a PSP, and from what ive seen sofar, it will easily be capable of running most older emu's ( SNes, gameboy, earlier mame, etc... ). You really cant compare the two devices, they have different purposes. When it comes to graphics and sound, the PSP blows the PPC out of the water.
:)
But thats not the worst part. The controls for a Pocket PC are absolutely horrid for gaming! First off, the placement sucks... and secondly most units cant support multiple button presses concurrently.
In summary, when it comes to gaming you just cant compare the two devices. The PSP way out performs the PPC, but it damn well better, seeing as it was designed for gaming. That said, it rather sucks at reading Excel spreadsheets
Farble, first off, I mostly agree with what you have said, although why the hell I bothered reading this thread this deeply is way beyond me!:)
That said... first off... damnit man, capitalize some words.... please... granted, not as bad as reading an all capslock post, but damned close.
Secondly, the beginning comment about 10s of thousands of dollars, is going to extremes, regardless to station. I understand the concept of keeping you girl happy, even if you personally dont agree, but their does hit a point of gaudiness.
I also understand the opposition to the diamond trade. There are decades of history of abuse and human rights violations tied to it ( sorta like nike, but thats a different story. If I had the energy and desire to be such a noble citizen, I would probrably fight my wife on the same matter, but like you, I pick my causes. And frankly, to the origonal poster almost every cause, and therefore effect, will offend someones morals... get over it.
But I think you missed the biggest point in this argument thread... your opponent was unable to vote in the last election. That places his/her age ( im assuming his ) under 22. Thats the key, hell, thats the slashdot effect.
The zealotry of youth... hell its easy to make blanket statements when you have never been faced with the reality of the outcome of which your proclaiming. Much the same that most people that say "All software should be free!!!" (in a subtle nod back to trying to stay on topic), normally come from people that not only dont make money off developing software... they most likely are still living off mommy and dads dime. You should know better by now then to argue with such people!
On last observation... jarble's argument to this point, is not about buying sex as so many anti-social types seem to have misplaced it. Its about fulfilling the fantasies ( no matter how misguided ) of someone you love. Their is a huge difference. Yes, girls being brought up from pre-pubescent ages to covet diamonds and a grand wedding, disturbs me greatly. Its one of the downsides of western soceity ( and probrably others ). That said... are you willing to hurt the one you love over some moralistic bs? Im not...
So I guess im an evil bastard to without morals... go figure. Get back to me in 10 years, and give me your viewpoint then. Im guessing it is going to be massively different. Realities a bitch. Pick your fights carefully or die alone.
No, but the term pack mentality sure does!
You seem have a strange definition of "open-minded," which apparently enatails reaching certain conclusions...do you not recognize the fallacy here?
No actually I dont... I honestly *dont* believe the majority of people are open minded... to some degree myself included. That point was meant to illustrate exactly that fact
That is why we have jury selection in the US. In the US it is assumed that the majority of people are smart enough to keep an open mind regardless of what has passed in the media. Those who cannot are interviewed and weeded out
Ummm... bullshit!
Yes, canada has jury selection too... but assuming the majority of people are open minded is a laugh, in any country especially the United States!!! The land of freedom fries??? The home of FOX??
Admit it, you know your lying to yourself when you make such a profoundly wrong statement, dont you?
How would you feel if you were the person with your reputation, career and possibly life on the line? Would you want a media ban... or would you trust "the majority" of Americans to be unbaised?
HA!
The future here should be fairly obvious.
The arguments we are hearing today, are basically identical to five or six years ago, about assembly language vs C or C++. Yes, you could squeeze between 5 and 200% more performance out of tightly written assembly, but in the long run, productivity gains from a higher level language won out.
We are going to see the same thing here again. People will continue to use C and C++, especially API and framework providers. However, more and more people are going to do the majority of their development in a higher level language ( aka, Java or C# ).
One of the big selling points of C or C++ was the ability to inline assembly. You are going to see much the same migration with new languages. pInvoke for C# allows you to still make use of lower level languages, where speed is critical. Ditto for JNI(? not a java developer... hope im right here) in the java world. Speed isnt much of an argument, although C zealots like to make it one. My understanding is, JNI used to be slow, and perhaps still is, but I know first hand pInvoke is not slow, and now that double thunking has been removed, its almost a non factor.
So naturally as machines get faster and faster, the languages will move higher and higher in abstraction. The only real hits against Java or C# these days, ignoring speed which as mentioned above can be fixed, is the runtime. Having to host a VM has a memory hit no doubt. Also, having to ship 20 megs of files to support your 1 meg application seems like massive overkill, but in a few years, I believe this too will be a non issue.
Actually, this is an area im suprised I havent seen explored yet, outside of mobile devices. Why isnt Microsoft or Sun, pushing to get a VM embeded at the bios level? If you could have a low level implementation of the VM, so many of todays problems go away.
First off... most websites arent Google, or Amazon... they are more or less the pinnacles of "web development". Not to say that what they do isnt valid to the rest of the world... but frankly, most companies dont have the same resources that these types of companies do... atleast not the resources allocated towards the web. Concessions need to be made at most other places, where things like "cost benefits analysis" and other jargon apply.
Secondly, these companies biggest concern is scaling to the volume of requests... not the complexity or time of a request.
I agree to some degree with what you are saying, *but*, I hold true to my origonal argument. To the typical end user, all the optimisations you make on the back end will be pretty much un-noticed. Unless you are returning obscenely large or complex data sets, the time spent on the database is overwhelmingly trivial compared to the latency from the network.
:( ). Lastly, you probrably get the next biggest bang optimizing your server side code to work quicker. Then, the databases performance comes into question
I agree with you, the process is a serial one, but when optimizing anything, you spend the time where you get the biggest bang for your buck. Right now, the first big bottleneck is going to be the wire. You can control this to some degree buy buying a really big pipe, but thats it. You have no control over if your viewer is on a t3 or a 14.4 modem. The next big gain would probrably come from some form of caching system, or accelerator. After that, your biggest performance gain would probrably come from cleaning up the code size of whats being returned to the client( which sadly, most people still dont seem to do
The type of queries being done on most websites, just arent that intensive. Normally its straight out lookups, maybe a few cross table joins, etc. Very little analysis type operations happen in most sites, although granted, I imagine there are exceptions. We are talking minimal fractions of a second here.
I guess my argument is, with all the other problems/bottlenecks, etc in the loop... the database backend is really quite far down the list. Im not saying there is no advantage to optimizing the database... im just saying its minimal compared to everything else. Granted, this argument applies to *most* sites. There are exceptions again... the googles and amazons of the world. Even then, its not so much the performance cost of the queries that comes into question, is purely site traffic volumes. With that massive amount of traffic, you need a highly scalable system at every level. But, most sites, arent google!
As an asside, I have a similar background to you. In the mid 90's I worked for a company that made a product called Tango, which was a Cold Fusion-esque, web application server. It was slow... for the most part, the databases of the day... well... they were slow... Everything was basically just slow. Yet, in the end, where did we get our biggest bang to the buck for optimization? By minimizing the size of the HTML and images returned. By a huge margin. All the optimization in the world on the back and, and frankly, the end users still most likely wouldnt have noticed because... well, they still spent just as long waiting for the crap to download in the first place. This isnt in regards to small sites either... im talking fairly major Canadian online banks (mBanx) and such.
No offence meant, but frankly, your argument makes no sense whatsoever.
If there is an area where slow data performance is acceptible, its web development, for exactly the reasons you gave. The bottleneck is often the wire... not the database, not the browser or CPU behind the browser. Having a faster database, just means that your users get to wait faster!
I'm sorry for the guys at Nero, if they are doing this to help the extravagant costs of Windows development tools, then that's a shame.
HAHAHAHAHA, your @$@#ing kidding right? Have you ever looked at Microsofts ISV program? Im guessing no. Hell, you probrably think that the 1000$ they charge for VS is high ( it isnt ). Hell, nobody but a complete moron pays full price anyways. Hell, microsoft would LOVE to give away their development software, but given anti trust and all that jazz, they cant.
Oh wait... they can... You can get C#, um... free. C++, um... free. "Express" editions of everything... free. Hell, you can get an MSDN subscription in like the 2 grand range, which gives you liscenses to basically every piece of software MS makes that isnt a game.
Really... educate yourself a bit more on the subject before posting such a stupid statement. Oh, and if you want to have something to compare VS against... check out the cost of Borland Enterprise suite... somewhere in the range of 6K, and its pretty much a piece of shit.
IMHO, of all products Microsoft makes, Visual Studio is the best. No other platform, anywhere comes close to matching it.
I knew someone was going to say this :)
The person who runs something as root, is the same user that doesnt understand what root is. AKA, the typical windows user. If the linux on the desktop dream ever comes true, you would be AMAZED at how many users are going to just user the first username/password in the system.
Not to mention, how long until they run into a problem ( like say... trying to play certain games ) that says... "You must be root to do blah blah." From that momment on, Joe user uses root for everything.
If we could ship every copy of XP, with a few years of technical competency, there would be a hell of alot less spyware/virii/worms and trojans floating around out there!
I, like, my, comma's, damn, it!!!
One thing to keep in mind, is this is a software based update, that checks if you are running a genuine version of windows. In all reality, it is doing its job perfectly.
That said, what hasnt been addressed is, is there a way for people running under wine to get updates. I should imagine there are, even if it requires mailing Microsoft with a proof of purchase, and waiting for updated Media to arrive via snail mail. If no such options exist, then yes this is wrong. However, it is NO worse, then what all those poor non-internet connected people face today.
Finally, one final defence on Microsoft's part, is I believe part of the Genuine windows cert, is to insure the highest calibre of support, blah blah blah. If they acknowledge Wine as being genuine at this point, could they be stuck supporting it?
which I'd consider high: something like 40% don't know what town Jesus was born in
Come on! Since the movie came out, EVERYONE knows it was Montreal!
To allow himself as an MS employee, to be questioned by the people that hang out on slashdot!
Personally, I would rather go door to door in a Jehovah witness community and introduce them to the wonder that is Budism! It would probrably lead to a bit less realigous zealotry doing that...
Other then commiting the sin of mentioning Microsoft in a position light... the origional poster has a point. I dont think it should have been modded down as a troll.
First off, the MS console fosters more North American jobs. The console is supported by Western developers, with Western style games. Sony is almost exactly the opposite. Yes, I know there are exceptions on both sides, but predominatly the majority of developers for the Xbox are Western, the majority on the PS2 are Japanese. So, beyond the chips and bits inside, there is a very big reason for supporting a console from your area. The japanese do it, the North Americans dont, for the most part.
Secondly, and this one is huge! Japenese culture is massively bigoted. The XBox was doomed to failure there because it wasnt japanese. They have an odd culture that way... they assimilate the hell out of foreign culture, but they have there core values, that they hold to in a fierce pride most Americans wouldnt understand. And yes, XBox 2 is going to do probrably just as poorly in Japan.
Oh... and if you dont believe me about the culture bigotry in Japan... ask a Chinese person what Japanese think of them. Or, what most Japanese think of the chinese, vietness, or even Americans.
** note. Im talking about the society as a whole, not the individual. I am not saying that all Japanese people are bigots.
Two major flaws in what you just said...
Valve and their ridiculous Steam system can take their business elsewhere.
Um... actually, no, its you who can take your business elsewhere... and since from the sounds of things, you've already bought the game... or atleast your family member did... guess that part aint true either.
Not to mention he was too young to be party to any such agreement
Hmmm... if thats the case, he wasnt old enough to buy the game in the first place ( it is rated M ).
Actually, it should be much quicker then the time frame you specified, as one of the limits of the competition is that you much use only their textures.
Texture's actually take up a much larger chunk of time, atleast in "pro" level mods.
Well... you can order whatever you want... they dont need to have stock to take your money! ;)
Once its in your hands, then you can easily say they are out of stock.
Well, if you think about it, nobody would want to advertise it. HDCP has absolutely ZERO advantage to the end consumer, and frankly limits their ability... that doesnt exactly make for good advertisement :)
I have a feeling this is where the RIAA and MPAA are going to try to fight piracy. It leads into DRM products pretty well, but if you seal out the origional device/transmission from being copied, you are all but screwed of trying to make stand alone copies ( sorta why this whole thread exists, they make it hard enough now ).
It would go a long way towards explaining why older PVR devices, such as Dishnets HD PVR have been pulled from the market. They had the ability to copy out via firewire, un-encrypted. The more ways they can close off access, the harder is is for people to copy. However, for that to be true, it basically means that device makers are being mandated to support the new interfaces, but that wouldnt shock me in the slightest.
Well, unfortunatly, HDMI.org requires you to register to get the specifications, which is kinda cheese... anyways...
Does HDMI provide a secure interface? While no security system is one hundred percent secure, HDMI, when used in combination with HDCP, provides an audio/video interface that meets the security requirements of content providers and systems operators.
Im not really sure how to read that... is that saying that HDMI is compatible with HDCP, or that HDMI implements HDCP?
Thanks for the link... sadly, its US only. Canada was supposed to be HDTV everywhere by 2006, but I think that dates been pushed back by the slow rate of adoption.
As to DVI, your right, my mistake, DVI is not encrypted ( although it is compressed ), its HDMI, which is replacing DVI on newer HDTV's. So far as I know, HDMI = dvi + sound + encryption.
I have been asking the exact same question... without much luck
The way I understand it, DVI is encrypted, so your odds of finding anything in that regard are very low. Composit seems to be your best chance, but as of yet, I havent seen an affordable video capture card.
ATI however, does make a HDTV card, but the problem with it is it only does broadcast free to air type HD, which is basically non existant in my area. If you are in New York, or a similar area, it may be feasible. The ATI card was about 400$ and included an antenna.
Other then that, I think your SOL. Expressvu, rumour has it, is coming out with a 600 HDTV/PVR next year, but Ill believe it when I see it. Also, due to storage requirements, it will only record something in the neighbourhood of 8 hours at HD resolutions.
Guess this is an area we have to agree to disagree on :)
Its my belief the overhead of dealing with hundreds or thousands of sub projects with different teams is a hell of alot higher then if its one team working across hundreds of projects.
To each their own.