Porting device drivers isn't just a recompile, of course. There is sufficient work involved in using the Linux device drivers with the Solaris kernel that the idea, even if considered by Sun, was never really a deciding factor.
That said, Solaris 9's hardware support is, while not extensive as Linux, pretty good. People forget that most uses of Solaris are obviously in the server space, and in systems like I that I don't usually use the crappy "local computer store" hardware that Linux so ably supports. When you consider what you already want to build your server with given the application, Solaris tends to support that hardware fairly well.
We just built a dual opteron server with a SCSI RAID controller.. all fairly new and bleeding edge hardware. Solaris 9 installs just fine and supports all the hardware properly.
That said, do I really care that it doesn't support the $35 AC97 based sound card I have in a box somewhere in my storage closet?
No... and neither do the vast majority of Solaris users.
I'd also like to comment on all those aguments saying "Steam just keeps pirates from stealing the game". Bullshit. Copyright violation is not stealing. It's Copyright violation. Depriving someone of a sale is not necessarily depriving them of property. Neither is illegal copying piracy. No vehicles were hijacked, no planks walked, noone murdered or raped. You can call copying stealing and piracy all you want, but it doesn't make it so. If you get caught illegally copying, you won't get charged with either theft, or piracy, you'll get charged for illegal copying.
And this is the very logic that lead to the origin of the activation system. You can't advocate for the problem, then bitch about someone elses solution.
Valve/MS/Sun/Whoever don't care how you try to justify NOT paying them for what you should morally be obligated to pay them for. All they know is that they sold one copy of a product, and suddenly, 3 copies are in use.
Since you seem so thoughtful, why not spend time devising a system that allows everyone in the process to be fairly involved, be it vendor, distributor or consumer? The violator of copy law really shouldn't have a place in the transaction, should (s)he?
It's always easier to complain.
Or, you could just be a crackpot advocating that nobody make software for money. It's not like there aren't a few of those around.
Is it MS's fault that NT4 pre-SP3 was a little flakey. Of course.
Is it this guys fault for not having an exit strategy in case a whole-sale OS upgrade didn't work as expected? You bet your ass, it is.
Sounds like he got away with a doozy.
That said, the fact that MS settled only proves that they determined it would be cheaper to fix his machine and give him a refund then pay their lawyers. Lawyers are probably just as expensive in London as they are here in Toronto.
There's another option here too. You're pissed because their activation requirement, which is not mentioned anywhere on the box, took 4 hours to authorize you to play the damn game in the first place. I don't think it's irrational to be upset about having your time wasted.
Agreed, and if you read through the posting instead of just reacting, you'd notice that I grant that if an activation scheme is clearly inconvenient (such as Steam's current crap-shoot reliability), then clearly there is an issue.
The problem is, the average/. reader has been told by so-called visionaries like LT that an activation scheme is evil, no matter it's form. If an activation scheme is convenient, assures the developer is paid for their work and allows you to play your game when you want, then what's the problem?
The problem, is that all to often, one license per machine turns into "meh, I'll just install it on every machine I own... oh, and my friend wants to play too.". Suddenly, the vendor is saying "Hey, our activation system isn't going to let you copy that single purchase to all your friends and every machine you own." and next thing you know, someone is up on their horse on/. crying bloody murder that evil corporations should be punished for, you know, making great products and expecting to be compensated fairly for their work.
If my employer decided to pay me for an hour a day and then just sort of expected me to put in the other 7, I'd be pretty pissed... wouldn't you? Would you be confused if your employer couldn't understand your problem? Would be you even more pissed if they then called up all their friends and bitched about their evil employee who demands compensation for his time?
If you poke a dog with a stick, it'll eventually bite you, no matter how good natured it is. People can't swap CD's with their friends willy-nilly and not eventually expect the people who make the content on those CD's to try to prevent you. I'm not at all suggesting that you (either the reader or the parent) do this, but enough people do that clearly, the industry has felt the need to retaliate. Then suddenly it's the evil Valve and evil Microsoft and evil "insert-other-whipping-boy-of-the-month" for daring to make a product and have the nerve to try to charge for it.
You purchased media and data for a nominal cost (a fraction of the sticker price).
Minus that nominal cost, the bulk of the sticker price was the fee to license, for personal use, the contained software. This isn't a mystery and isn't anything new... the whole software industry works like this.
No, you can't read the EULA before you buy in most circumstances, and maybe that is a problem, but it doesn't change the fact that you still have a full and legal recourse to have your funds returned to you if you do not agree to the license terms.
No, you didn't pay to own it... you paid to license it. You could argue that you own the media and yes, you could indeed use it as a coaster... and fair enough. But who cares about the media? In the case of Steam, you don't even get media. Media does not the included software product make.
So, to say "I am NOT "told the terms and conditions of usage by the company" until after the sale transaction is completed." is actually true, because there is -no- sale transaction for the software itself. It's a licensing transaction, and in that case, you do indeed get an opportunity to read the EULA before you invoke the license.
That said, I am constantly confused by people who get irrationally worked up over internet activation schemes. Frankly, how many people have tried to steal the game? Lots. That said, Valve has every right to protect their creations. They've been working on this game for half a decade, and if some whining/.'rs want to feel like they're part of some cool, new fangled movement for summarily dismissing any product that requires them to *gasp* prove *grasp* that they actually didn't steal it, then don't buy the game, and even better, don't complain about it. Nobody gives a fuck that you think you're too cool for activation systems.
If you really have a problem with the activation scheme, you're either irrational or you've stolen the product. In either case, don't talk about it in public, because nobody cares.
Sure... sometimes the activation technique can be annoying, and that's a fair argument. Valve will surely fix the Steam system so that once you've activated you're golden... but Windows XP?? You activate it once and then it's done... no hassles. If you need to re-install, it generally works. If it doesn't, call them and they'll sort you out. 99% of people don't re-install Windows every week, so 99% of people won't notice any inconvenience with the activation system... unless they've stolen their copy of Windows.
Why do I defend Windows XP? I don't... I can't stand it. I'm writing this from my PowerMac, and I wouldn't use XP if you paid me... but I know a bullshit argument when I hear one.
I'm being responsible... I refuse to comment on this story.
The story may have some merit, it may not.
However, I simply refuse to enter into a conversation that has clearly, despite the ignorant "I don't want to start a flame war" prefix, turned into a flamewar.
Everyone, be responsible. Move on... nothing to see here.
The one thing I really should point out is that QuickTime is a pretty misunderstood technology. Way back when, I used to run Windows and like the parent, I never really liked QuickTime. It was a whole bunch of crap to install and it didn't even really work that well. It was bloated and it was a little slow. Same, same.
That said, when I switched to the Macintosh several years ago, I was quite shocked to find that not only was Quicktime -worlds- better on the Macintosh (as you would imagine), but that unlike it's Windows implementation, it's pretty much the swiss army knife of media playback tools. It opens every media file you can imagine, is massivly extendable via a well documented plugin architecture, and is very fast. Add to this it's pretty much part and parcel to the MacOS proper nowadays in the form of the QuickTime engine, which is behind pretty much any media playback on the system.
My point, though meandering, is that QuickTime has a pretty bad repuation amongst the unwashed due to it's poor showing on Windows, but on the Macintosh, it's quite venerable.
As an aside, I never thought of it was "nag ware", even in "non pro" mode. I'm missing the parents point with that one, I guess.
As for iTunes on WIndows... pretty much the same deal as QuickTime, as far as I've seen. A co-worker who uses XP uses iTunes on his machine, and me and our web guy were in his office one day bugging out at it. Compared to the MacOS version, it's just.. well, underperforming. It's hard to explain just what's wrong with it... but it just doesn't have the "feel" of the OS X version, which is, IMO, one hell of a well designed piece of software.
Does anyone else notice the majority of people who are saying "Halo 2 isn't a GREAT game, it's just a good game" or something in that vein generally follow it up with some comment about how they have equal respect for Bioware and Square games.
Note to self... I couldn't give a fuck what an RPG nerd thinks about an FPS title.
Wait a minute... I couldn't give a fuck what -anyone- thinks about the XBox or Halo 2. It's a damn fun game and there are quite a few damn fun games for the XBox... fuck this "lack of quality titles" stupidity. If you're too "cool" to like it, then don't weigh in with your two cents... because those of us who do like it aren't exactly going to be all "oh no, some loser on/. doesn't think this new game is very good... might as well trade it in for Crystal Chronicles".
What i'm quite surprised about is that nobody has mentioned the XBox in all of this. If rumors hold true, Microsoft intends to ship the XBox Next (err, XBox 2, err XBox: Reloaded, whatever you want to call it) with a PowerPC 970 CPU and a GPU and chipset provided by ATI.
That said, this may be a relatively decent look at what is to come in the form of the next XBox product.
I know that this chipset is for Athlon 64. Don't point that out in a reply. I said "look at what is to come", not, "this is clearly the Xbox 2 chipset".
At any rate, if I -was- the kind of person who bought PC hardware (which I'm not), I'd be likely to check out this ATI offering. The performance will probably be more than acceptable, and I do think it's important to support companies who have their headquarters within eye sight of your office.:)
While I'm personally hoping that 10.5 will be "Cougar" (nothing like firing up an ol' cougar for little point and clicking), I'd be perfectly happy using 10.5 "Panzer".
Socialism and Liberalism have somehow been turned into derogatory terms in the Divided States of America.
Amusingly, I doubt most Americans can explain -why- they feel these concepts are bad. They simply hear Tucker Carlson or the idiot king himself use the world "liberal" the way I use the word "moron" doesn't and assume that it -must- mean something bad.
I pitty the sensible people living in the DSA tonight.
1) Meandering points need not be commented on.
2) Well, it's amusing, because my receiver, which pretty clearly shows how many channels are in use and clearly distinguishes between DD 5.1, 2.1, 2.0, and Pro Logic 2 is quite adamant about the fact that every game I've ever had, rented or borrowed has been in DD 5.1. A listen test confirms that it's 5.1, and the rear channels are clearly in use. That said, 6 channels of 48 khz audio is pretty insignificant, bandwidth wise, so your arguments about bus saturation are really misguided. I really have no idea where you're getting your information from, but your outright, flat out, wrong.
3) I live in Toronto, under the smog of the big city. There are few parts of Canada hotter than a Toronto summer. Xbox has never crashed from overheating. Once again, I have no idea what "experiences" you have with XBoxs overheating (since you say you don't actually own one) and I've not heard of this from friends or others I know who own Xboxen.
4) Well, we can argue this all day, but bottom line is that the XBox is technically faster at loads and implementations mirror this most of the time.
5) You missed the point. Having seen both RS3 and Halo 2, the assertion that there are "more polygons" being rendered in RS3 is wrong. Deal with it.
As for the game library... the GameCube is the only console I have gathering dust right now as it waits for the elusive Mario 128 or new LoZ game. The game selection for GC, while offering a few exclusives that are very good, is also very limited. Besides the first party titles a la Mario, Zelda or Metroid, there isn't much reason to buy a GameCube as most games are shipping on all 3 current-gen systems. The sales numbers do indeed reflect this. Nintendo may have outsold Microsoft last quarter, but they still trail in total units moved.... and for a reason.
Slashdot Mirror
Not really.
Porting device drivers isn't just a recompile, of course. There is sufficient work involved in using the Linux device drivers with the Solaris kernel that the idea, even if considered by Sun, was never really a deciding factor.
That said, Solaris 9's hardware support is, while not extensive as Linux, pretty good. People forget that most uses of Solaris are obviously in the server space, and in systems like I that I don't usually use the crappy "local computer store" hardware that Linux so ably supports. When you consider what you already want to build your server with given the application, Solaris tends to support that hardware fairly well.
We just built a dual opteron server with a SCSI RAID controller.. all fairly new and bleeding edge hardware. Solaris 9 installs just fine and supports all the hardware properly.
That said, do I really care that it doesn't support the $35 AC97 based sound card I have in a box somewhere in my storage closet?
No... and neither do the vast majority of Solaris users.
Taxes are included in the $0.99 price.
Why do people keep forgetting "Cougar".
I want to take my Cougar home, damnit.
A single innovation from Microsoft? You're joking.
Microsoft BOB! Duh.
I'd also like to comment on all those aguments saying "Steam just keeps pirates from stealing the game". Bullshit. Copyright violation is not stealing. It's Copyright violation. Depriving someone of a sale is not necessarily depriving them of property. Neither is illegal copying piracy. No vehicles were hijacked, no planks walked, noone murdered or raped. You can call copying stealing and piracy all you want, but it doesn't make it so. If you get caught illegally copying, you won't get charged with either theft, or piracy, you'll get charged for illegal copying.
And this is the very logic that lead to the origin of the activation system. You can't advocate for the problem, then bitch about someone elses solution.
Valve/MS/Sun/Whoever don't care how you try to justify NOT paying them for what you should morally be obligated to pay them for. All they know is that they sold one copy of a product, and suddenly, 3 copies are in use.Since you seem so thoughtful, why not spend time devising a system that allows everyone in the process to be fairly involved, be it vendor, distributor or consumer? The violator of copy law really shouldn't have a place in the transaction, should (s)he?
It's always easier to complain.
Or, you could just be a crackpot advocating that nobody make software for money. It's not like there aren't a few of those around.
"caveat emptor".
Is it MS's fault that NT4 pre-SP3 was a little flakey. Of course.
Is it this guys fault for not having an exit strategy in case a whole-sale OS upgrade didn't work as expected? You bet your ass, it is.
Sounds like he got away with a doozy.
That said, the fact that MS settled only proves that they determined it would be cheaper to fix his machine and give him a refund then pay their lawyers. Lawyers are probably just as expensive in London as they are here in Toronto.
I wouldn't read into this too much.
There's another option here too. You're pissed because their activation requirement, which is not mentioned anywhere on the box, took 4 hours to authorize you to play the damn game in the first place. I don't think it's irrational to be upset about having your time wasted.
Agreed, and if you read through the posting instead of just reacting, you'd notice that I grant that if an activation scheme is clearly inconvenient (such as Steam's current crap-shoot reliability), then clearly there is an issue.
The problem is, the average /. reader has been told by so-called visionaries like LT that an activation scheme is evil, no matter it's form. If an activation scheme is convenient, assures the developer is paid for their work and allows you to play your game when you want, then what's the problem?
The problem, is that all to often, one license per machine turns into "meh, I'll just install it on every machine I own... oh, and my friend wants to play too.". Suddenly, the vendor is saying "Hey, our activation system isn't going to let you copy that single purchase to all your friends and every machine you own." and next thing you know, someone is up on their horse on /. crying bloody murder that evil corporations should be punished for, you know, making great products and expecting to be compensated fairly for their work.
If my employer decided to pay me for an hour a day and then just sort of expected me to put in the other 7, I'd be pretty pissed... wouldn't you? Would you be confused if your employer couldn't understand your problem? Would be you even more pissed if they then called up all their friends and bitched about their evil employee who demands compensation for his time?
If you poke a dog with a stick, it'll eventually bite you, no matter how good natured it is. People can't swap CD's with their friends willy-nilly and not eventually expect the people who make the content on those CD's to try to prevent you. I'm not at all suggesting that you (either the reader or the parent) do this, but enough people do that clearly, the industry has felt the need to retaliate. Then suddenly it's the evil Valve and evil Microsoft and evil "insert-other-whipping-boy-of-the-month" for daring to make a product and have the nerve to try to charge for it.
Nope, -you're- definately wrong.
/.'rs want to feel like they're part of some cool, new fangled movement for summarily dismissing any product that requires them to *gasp* prove *grasp* that they actually didn't steal it, then don't buy the game, and even better, don't complain about it. Nobody gives a fuck that you think you're too cool for activation systems.
... -Pierre Trudeau.
You purchased media and data for a nominal cost (a fraction of the sticker price).
Minus that nominal cost, the bulk of the sticker price was the fee to license, for personal use, the contained software. This isn't a mystery and isn't anything new... the whole software industry works like this.
No, you can't read the EULA before you buy in most circumstances, and maybe that is a problem, but it doesn't change the fact that you still have a full and legal recourse to have your funds returned to you if you do not agree to the license terms.
No, you didn't pay to own it... you paid to license it. You could argue that you own the media and yes, you could indeed use it as a coaster... and fair enough. But who cares about the media? In the case of Steam, you don't even get media. Media does not the included software product make.
So, to say "I am NOT "told the terms and conditions of usage by the company" until after the sale transaction is completed." is actually true, because there is -no- sale transaction for the software itself. It's a licensing transaction, and in that case, you do indeed get an opportunity to read the EULA before you invoke the license.
That said, I am constantly confused by people who get irrationally worked up over internet activation schemes. Frankly, how many people have tried to steal the game? Lots. That said, Valve has every right to protect their creations. They've been working on this game for half a decade, and if some whining
If you really have a problem with the activation scheme, you're either irrational or you've stolen the product. In either case, don't talk about it in public, because nobody cares.
Sure... sometimes the activation technique can be annoying, and that's a fair argument. Valve will surely fix the Steam system so that once you've activated you're golden... but Windows XP?? You activate it once and then it's done... no hassles. If you need to re-install, it generally works. If it doesn't, call them and they'll sort you out. 99% of people don't re-install Windows every week, so 99% of people won't notice any inconvenience with the activation system... unless they've stolen their copy of Windows.
Why do I defend Windows XP? I don't... I can't stand it. I'm writing this from my PowerMac, and I wouldn't use XP if you paid me... but I know a bullshit argument when I hear one.
"Just watch me"
Hurray for typos...
"MGS3, GTA:SA and Halo 2" that is.
"That said, with MGS3 coming out this week" that is.
Hate to burst your bubble, but MGS3, GTA: SA and San Andreas will all probably out-sell HL2.
I love FPS games, but all things considered, HL2 isn't near the top of mine (nor the majority of peoples) "to play" list.
That said, width MGS3 come out.. wouldn't it have been better for Valve to release HL2 next week?
I'm being responsible... I refuse to comment on this story.
The story may have some merit, it may not.
However, I simply refuse to enter into a conversation that has clearly, despite the ignorant "I don't want to start a flame war" prefix, turned into a flamewar.
Everyone, be responsible. Move on... nothing to see here.
Well, I've seen much more obnoxious things from a certain west-cost OS vendor.. but I hey.
The one thing I really should point out is that QuickTime is a pretty misunderstood technology. Way back when, I used to run Windows and like the parent, I never really liked QuickTime. It was a whole bunch of crap to install and it didn't even really work that well. It was bloated and it was a little slow. Same, same.
.. well, underperforming. It's hard to explain just what's wrong with it... but it just doesn't have the "feel" of the OS X version, which is, IMO, one hell of a well designed piece of software.
That said, when I switched to the Macintosh several years ago, I was quite shocked to find that not only was Quicktime -worlds- better on the Macintosh (as you would imagine), but that unlike it's Windows implementation, it's pretty much the swiss army knife of media playback tools. It opens every media file you can imagine, is massivly extendable via a well documented plugin architecture, and is very fast. Add to this it's pretty much part and parcel to the MacOS proper nowadays in the form of the QuickTime engine, which is behind pretty much any media playback on the system.
My point, though meandering, is that QuickTime has a pretty bad repuation amongst the unwashed due to it's poor showing on Windows, but on the Macintosh, it's quite venerable.
As an aside, I never thought of it was "nag ware", even in "non pro" mode. I'm missing the parents point with that one, I guess.
As for iTunes on WIndows... pretty much the same deal as QuickTime, as far as I've seen. A co-worker who uses XP uses iTunes on his machine, and me and our web guy were in his office one day bugging out at it. Compared to the MacOS version, it's just
Webcrawler? Bah. N00b. :P
If you didn't cut your teeth on Gopher, you're still an NFG.
Free because you're such an idiot I don't know where to start with what is wrong with all you've said.
Free because I don't have mod points to assign you "Troll".
Why do fanboys have to talk about things they are obviously clueless about?
Then that hash I just smoked must have been -really- good, because I have a GeForce 3 for Macintosh (shipped by Apple) in my hand right now.
Yes... there was a GeForce 3 for the Mac.
Does anyone else notice the majority of people who are saying "Halo 2 isn't a GREAT game, it's just a good game" or something in that vein generally follow it up with some comment about how they have equal respect for Bioware and Square games.
/. doesn't think this new game is very good... might as well trade it in for Crystal Chronicles".
Note to self... I couldn't give a fuck what an RPG nerd thinks about an FPS title.
Wait a minute... I couldn't give a fuck what -anyone- thinks about the XBox or Halo 2. It's a damn fun game and there are quite a few damn fun games for the XBox... fuck this "lack of quality titles" stupidity. If you're too "cool" to like it, then don't weigh in with your two cents... because those of us who do like it aren't exactly going to be all "oh no, some loser on
Assholes.
Metroid Prime is, indeed, American made (Retro Studios). That said, there -will- indeed be a Shenmue III. It's already been announced.
So you are also waaaaay off man.
Does anyone know what this guy is talking about? Who is the wise prince? What is happening?
What i'm quite surprised about is that nobody has mentioned the XBox in all of this. If rumors hold true, Microsoft intends to ship the XBox Next (err, XBox 2, err XBox: Reloaded, whatever you want to call it) with a PowerPC 970 CPU and a GPU and chipset provided by ATI.
:)
That said, this may be a relatively decent look at what is to come in the form of the next XBox product.
I know that this chipset is for Athlon 64. Don't point that out in a reply. I said "look at what is to come", not, "this is clearly the Xbox 2 chipset".
At any rate, if I -was- the kind of person who bought PC hardware (which I'm not), I'd be likely to check out this ATI offering. The performance will probably be more than acceptable, and I do think it's important to support companies who have their headquarters within eye sight of your office.
While I'm personally hoping that 10.5 will be "Cougar" (nothing like firing up an ol' cougar for little point and clicking), I'd be perfectly happy using 10.5 "Panzer".
Umm... the iMac G5's have GeForce FX cards in them.. a furhter 2 generations ahead of the GeForce 3.
Am I missing something here?
At this point, I call you a moron.
If you looked, we were talking about Canada, the Liberal government of which just announced a large budget surplus.
Read before you write.
Actually, we had an enormous surplus.
Socialism and Liberalism have somehow been turned into derogatory terms in the Divided States of America.
Amusingly, I doubt most Americans can explain -why- they feel these concepts are bad. They simply hear Tucker Carlson or the idiot king himself use the world "liberal" the way I use the word "moron" doesn't and assume that it -must- mean something bad.
I pitty the sensible people living in the DSA tonight.
1) Meandering points need not be commented on. 2) Well, it's amusing, because my receiver, which pretty clearly shows how many channels are in use and clearly distinguishes between DD 5.1, 2.1, 2.0, and Pro Logic 2 is quite adamant about the fact that every game I've ever had, rented or borrowed has been in DD 5.1. A listen test confirms that it's 5.1, and the rear channels are clearly in use. That said, 6 channels of 48 khz audio is pretty insignificant, bandwidth wise, so your arguments about bus saturation are really misguided. I really have no idea where you're getting your information from, but your outright, flat out, wrong. 3) I live in Toronto, under the smog of the big city. There are few parts of Canada hotter than a Toronto summer. Xbox has never crashed from overheating. Once again, I have no idea what "experiences" you have with XBoxs overheating (since you say you don't actually own one) and I've not heard of this from friends or others I know who own Xboxen. 4) Well, we can argue this all day, but bottom line is that the XBox is technically faster at loads and implementations mirror this most of the time. 5) You missed the point. Having seen both RS3 and Halo 2, the assertion that there are "more polygons" being rendered in RS3 is wrong. Deal with it. As for the game library... the GameCube is the only console I have gathering dust right now as it waits for the elusive Mario 128 or new LoZ game. The game selection for GC, while offering a few exclusives that are very good, is also very limited. Besides the first party titles a la Mario, Zelda or Metroid, there isn't much reason to buy a GameCube as most games are shipping on all 3 current-gen systems. The sales numbers do indeed reflect this. Nintendo may have outsold Microsoft last quarter, but they still trail in total units moved.... and for a reason.