I call them RPGs. It may be noteworthy when an FPS-type game like Max Payne has a good story line (beyond something like: evil monsters have wiped out pretty much everyone but you. Kill them all!), but storytelling in video games is far from dead.
Screw that. If Apple fits a 100 gig drive into something like that, why not make a portable video player out of it too? Throw on mpeg, quicktime and divx support and you could put whole DVDs on there.
The problem here is that most people wouldn't need something like this: people can listen to music and do a million things. You can't do much but watch video while it's on.
Then again, the video for portable entertainment on long plane flights is appealing.
Mandrake uses URPMI, or for the graphically oriented, RPMDrake. It's a hell of a lot cleaner than dselect, which is like torture but with extra meanness.
Which is why most major OSS distributions regularly release patches and updates. Most OSS projects also release bugfixes and patches whenever a problem is discovered. The difference usually is that when an OSS bug is discovered, the world is told about right away, so that if mission-critical systems are exposed, they can be watched constantly or removed from vulnerable networks until the patch is released, which is usually in short supply. Contrast that to closed-source vendors, who may never release the news of the exploit and quietly patch it one day, hoping no one noticed or was compromised in the interval.
This seems like the ultimate bad idea; for every annoying twit who abuses their cell phone, there are 5 responsible, sane people who need it for good purposes. Say I'm out eating at a restaurant and my boss needs to get ahold of me ASAP; if the cell phone signal is blocked, he's not going to be able to. It gets even worse -- what if the person next to me is an ER surgeon, and he needs to be called in? Cell phones provide both a convenience and a distraction -- if you want the positive benefits, you have to take the negative ones as well.
In 10.3 (Panther) BASH is already set up, but it's not like the tcsh in 10.2 is bad either.
Re:The REAL security problem in '04
on
Gates on Winsecurity
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· Score: 5, Insightful
When's the last time you used an Apple computer? OS X is able to do so much automatically because hardware parameters are generally known when using Apple or Apple-trusted hardware. Configurations are a snap because there's no gamut of odd brands with odd settings floating around out there. The only things that one takes the time to configure are things like non-Apple mice, wireless cards or printers. Everything else is pretty much a simple set-up operation. This isn't because Apple is trying to make stupid users, but rather because it allows intelligent users to manage their systems easier.
I KNOW how to spend all day trying to configure various things and optimize them for security and use. However, sometimes, I don't feel like reading through piles of security docs just to make sure I can feel safe plugging my computer into a cable line. It's nice to have things just work, and work securely, right out of the box. Apple, however, has provided an operating system whereby I can spend endless hours tinkering with settings, in both a CLI and GUI environment; but by no means do I have to do this in order to get my computer working securely. The best thing you can do for a clueless user who just wants to check e-mail is get them an eMac or iMac. No fancy cables to plug in, no massive suite of security software to install -- just turn on OS X's firewall (built on that rock solid BSD standard ipfw), set up mail.app for their e-mail and get Safari or Mozilla Firebird to start blocking popups. Instantly, they're secured against anything except a direct, targeted attack against their computer. Worms, trojans, spyware... not a problem.
When I was first learning to use Linux (back in the Mandrake 7.2 days) the club was indispensible to me; even though I no longer use Linux as my main platform (OS X), I still keep my Mandrake box around and updated regularly. The club is still the best place to get support for Linux-related issues IMO. Plus, their club-only FTP and package directories are great ways for using urpmi to manage the packages on a system.
Re:Let's have a little poll.
on
Testing Relativity
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· Score: 3, Insightful
String theory, man... I'm taking a class on it this year as it pertains to astronomy and wow... it's good stuff. Plus, the whole part where general relativity breaks down is the black hole -- string theory and quantum gravity, however, fill in those gaps quite nicely, and I've seen the math that leads me to believe it's going to come out in favor of string theory.
How easy is it to get G4 or G5 machines without OS-X?
Real easy. Both BSD and Linux have PPC distros.
Of course, by the time you bought a G4 or G5, why the hell would you want to put Linux or BSD on there? I can't think of an app that I can't compile on OS X that I could compile on Linux.
Yeah, but in this case, we'd have the source code and could see what was going on, modify it if we needed to, and because of this, it couldn't be used to lock other OS's out.
Are you kidding? Adobe may release their programs from Windows as well, but let's not forget that Macs are still the standard in design. Even many businesses, big and small, choose to use Macs because a network of Macs is a hell of a lot more stable and secure than a Windows set up. When's the last time you heard of a Mac-based business getting hammered by a virus? When I was a sysadmin for a small business (25 Macs) I didn't even allow our one Windows box near a network drop, just to avoid the temptation someone might have to plug it in. Apple's desktop business is highly profitable to them, because many people will pay that extra money for the inherent bonuses that come in using Macs. Everything is not "equally good" on Windows. Trust me.
The G5 should mark the entry of Apple into the computer game market. I absolutely love my G5 for gaming quality -- dual processors and rock-solid stability are very nice things when playing games.
Plus, most new games are coming out for the Mac platform when they come out for PC (like UT 2004). Now, people shiver in righteous ph34r when I lug my G5 to LAN parties.
The angle you need to take with this is an RPG/RTS type of combination. You play a hacker in the RPG-style part who must write his or her own code (cheats) for RTS games that he or she plays against opponents (AIs in single-player mode, other PCs in multi-player) in the virtual world. The inner-RTS games could then be any number of highly engaging games, each having its own particular limitations and strengths.
You would either then have to create a stupidly simple "cheat-authoring" interface for the "I bought it at Best Buy" end-user, or else your target market is only going to be those with enough know-how to write cheats and mess with the source code of the game.
An interesting idea, and maybe a good OSS project, but not a viable commercial idea.
Slashdot Mirror
Rule 5 or so: Homemade Stun Guns are over when some idiot trys to bring one onto a plane.
The problem here is that most people wouldn't need something like this: people can listen to music and do a million things. You can't do much but watch video while it's on.
Then again, the video for portable entertainment on long plane flights is appealing.
MST3K just did Overdrawn at the Memory Bank. Priceless.
In 10.3 (Panther) BASH is already set up, but it's not like the tcsh in 10.2 is bad either.
I KNOW how to spend all day trying to configure various things and optimize them for security and use. However, sometimes, I don't feel like reading through piles of security docs just to make sure I can feel safe plugging my computer into a cable line. It's nice to have things just work, and work securely, right out of the box. Apple, however, has provided an operating system whereby I can spend endless hours tinkering with settings, in both a CLI and GUI environment; but by no means do I have to do this in order to get my computer working securely. The best thing you can do for a clueless user who just wants to check e-mail is get them an eMac or iMac. No fancy cables to plug in, no massive suite of security software to install -- just turn on OS X's firewall (built on that rock solid BSD standard ipfw), set up mail.app for their e-mail and get Safari or Mozilla Firebird to start blocking popups. Instantly, they're secured against anything except a direct, targeted attack against their computer. Worms, trojans, spyware... not a problem.
10 bucks says when they open the door, it's a pair of spacewalking Jehovah's Witnesses.
String theory, man... I'm taking a class on it this year as it pertains to astronomy and wow... it's good stuff. Plus, the whole part where general relativity breaks down is the black hole -- string theory and quantum gravity, however, fill in those gaps quite nicely, and I've seen the math that leads me to believe it's going to come out in favor of string theory.
Real easy. Both BSD and Linux have PPC distros. Of course, by the time you bought a G4 or G5, why the hell would you want to put Linux or BSD on there? I can't think of an app that I can't compile on OS X that I could compile on Linux.
Are you kidding? Adobe may release their programs from Windows as well, but let's not forget that Macs are still the standard in design. Even many businesses, big and small, choose to use Macs because a network of Macs is a hell of a lot more stable and secure than a Windows set up. When's the last time you heard of a Mac-based business getting hammered by a virus? When I was a sysadmin for a small business (25 Macs) I didn't even allow our one Windows box near a network drop, just to avoid the temptation someone might have to plug it in. Apple's desktop business is highly profitable to them, because many people will pay that extra money for the inherent bonuses that come in using Macs. Everything is not "equally good" on Windows. Trust me.
Plus, most new games are coming out for the Mac platform when they come out for PC (like UT 2004). Now, people shiver in righteous ph34r when I lug my G5 to LAN parties.
You would either then have to create a stupidly simple "cheat-authoring" interface for the "I bought it at Best Buy" end-user, or else your target market is only going to be those with enough know-how to write cheats and mess with the source code of the game.
An interesting idea, and maybe a good OSS project, but not a viable commercial idea.