Actually, I was on the giving end. I just no longer had feelings or interest for the woman and felt pain because of it--because I was at the point I was leading her on. I've been led on before, and I know it's not fun. It's not simple guilt. When I realize I've become a hypocrite it doesn't just spawn guilt, it spawns pain too because I automatically put myself in the other person's shoes. Call me crazy if you will, or even a liar, but it did happen.
I would bet it's because most people here don't realize that's happening. If the TLD was more common, more people here would know it's happening and bitch and whine and moan just like we're doing over VeriSign SiteFinder.
will be happy to see VeriSign blasted on this one. This is one of the stupidest ideas I've ever seen, and is a pain in the ass. I also wouldn't mind seeing someone else have control over the TLDs VeriSign currently controls.
What I've always wondered about the Doom series is what is it about the series that appeals to so many people? I admit I haven't given the game a chance, but every time I see an article on Doom or Duke Nukem or several other titles, I always have to wonder what people see in the games. Are they really unique (as in different from other games in the genre instead of being cookie-cutter titles)? Or do they retain popularity because they were unique to begin with and just have a loyal fan base? Am I entirely missing the point?
My intention is not to be a troll or to start a flame war--I am geniunely curious as to what makes a game/series like Doom so popular.
You have to consider something though. What if these people aren't capable of cleaning up their mess--what if they screwed it up so bad they can't possibly fix it? It's not entirely impossible to do, after all.
You have an excellent idea. Beyond plumbers, electricians, contractors, and even grocery stores and pharmacies could advertise like this if it wasn't too expensive. But asking for an idea fee...well, I think there'll be some outdoor ice skating in the middle of the rain forest before we see the fee paid.
That's because you rely on the pretty eye-candy junk MS provides for idiots. Dump XP Home in favor of XP Professional. Disable that stupidass welcome screen and use the Computer Management console to create your new users. Hell, forget disabling the welcome screen, just use the damn console and you can create users that AREN'T Administrators by default.
Probably something that will take all of 50 seconds to defeat once the trick is learned. Something as stupid as digital media protection will have a bunch of people wanting to take it out, and when you have a bunch of people with a common goal it won't take long to accomplish it.
I don't think Sony would try something like iTunes, though. One of their business units is part of the RIAA after all, and we know how opposed RIAA is to anything that makes sense.
I agree with you totally. I hate being limited arbitrarily in games. This is why I loved the Game Genie (GG) for the NES and SNES. I would play the game through normally until it got too frustrating to keep losing (although I actually won about 2/3 of my games without the GG), then use the GG codes to make it easier. Games like Super Mario Bros. and the like I would actually make harder with the GG (only 1 life, extra lives worthless, faster timer, etc.). Doing that actually improved my gaming skills in those areas. I got to the point that when using the GG to make the game harder, I could play SMB five times through without ever losing a life, and when I did lose a life it was because of fatigue. Take away the GG and I could slaughter the competition score-wise.
When I got into PC gaming, one of the first games I was given for it was Frogger. This was back in 1998 or 1999. Until I figured out how to play each level, I used the infinite lives cheat to make sure I could figure each level out. Unfortunately, I never did get good enough that I could beat every level without the cheat. Games like SimCity, on the other hand, are impossible for me without cheat codes. I have no clue how *anyone* can build a city in SimCity without running out of money within the first 10 years.
So to summarize, I think cheats in single player games, whether in the game or provided by external devices (for consoles) are good. But not having played an online game, I can't form an opinion there.
I made a small error here--it's not just Microsoft applications. Windows 98SE/ME/2000/XP/2003 are available through MSDNAA, as well as Visual Studio (currently my college offers VS6 and VS.net) and more things than I care to count. This is the method through which I obtained licenses to Win2k3 (Web/Standard/Enterprise), Win2k (Pro/Server/Adv. Server), and WinXP Pro. And I'm lucky--I was allowed to get a license for XP Pro Volume License, so I never had to activate.
I'll grant you that much--Windows 2000 is a bitch and a half to keep patched without needing two thousand reboots. XP requires reboots as well, but generally you can get more things at once without needing reboots in between--the ONLY two updates so far (besides service packs, which almost always alter the kernel in some way) that had to be installed separately were DirectX9 and Windows Media Player 9, but even then reboots weren't necessary for those if you had the redistributable version.
Of course, I do have a luxury many don't--many of the patches routinely get sent to schools participating in the MSDN Academic Alliance (a program that schools pay $1000 annually to participate in and students get Microsoft applications for free, excluding Office bundles but including Project and Visio) on CDs or DVDs, so I was able to obtain those patches without needing to eat away at my bandwidth.
I will agree with you on the IE install--I have a CD with IE6 (original IE6) on it...using the CD it takes 25 minutes or so to install IE on a Duron 700MHz system with an ATA66 drive and 192M RAM, and the little activity LED on the drive bay (I use a swappable drive rack on that system, its status light indicates activity only on the drive in that rack) NEVER went out during that time. On XP, however, updating to IE6SP1 was trivial and took less than 15 minutes on the same hardware (second NTFS partition).
I think this is a perfect example of "Your Mileage May Vary."
Look, if you can't trust the software you run, then you can't run any software. Sure in OSS you can look at the source, but until you've reviewed every line of every single thing you're running, and understand it all, you still can't fully trust the software! If someone else/community reviews it, you're still trusting their word. Somewhere there is always a level of trust that you're going to have to apply.
I trust software enough to run it. I just don't trust that anyone, OSS developers included, can develop any sort of complex software that is 100% bug free and 100% secure.
I write programs, and have profited from that on a few occasions, and even with others looking at my code, there have been bugs that weren't caught. And of course the more complex the project, the harder it is to find and cure bugs or security vulnerabilities. I know this, as do most people who've written a program or two, and I accept it. I don't like the fact, but no one's perfect. When there's a bug in something I use, I grab the newest version as soon as it's available. With Windows and Office, I regularly (at least once weekly) check Windows Update and Office Update to make sure I'm up to date. And even though Norton Antivirus has an automatic update, I still run LiveUpdate manually at least every two weeks to make sure the autoupdate got everything.
This "stat", and your other anecdotes, are pulled from nowhere so I see no reason to continue the discussion.
You're right, my guess of less than 10% was a guess. I made the guess in an attempt to illustrate a point, which was one of the main issues the author of the article (yes, I did RTFA) had--not enough Windows users use Windows Update. I will agree with you, however, on this issue--there is no need to continue the discussion.
I had forgotten about the competitors you mentioned and how Microsoft integrated that functionality into the OS. That even brought back some memories of things you hadn't mentioned. There was a freeware app back in the days when Win9x was new and thriving that let you change the icons for folders on a folder-by-folder basis. To an extent Microsoft has included that functionality in XP.
Novell hadn't even ocurred to me as having functionality that was later integrated into Windows, until I thought about Active Directory and its predecessor from the NT4 and NT3.51 days and how different things would be if the directory service hadn't become integrated into Windows.
All this thought makes me wonder something though. What does Microsoft do when they shove all their non-OSS competitors out of the market? In that event, would there there really be any new ground left for Microsoft to break, aside from better security?
The thing here is that if antivirus became part of Windows, how many users would actually update it? I mean think about it, probably less than 10% of Windows users actually use Windows Update. An integrated Antivirus suite would need the same kind of update attention, something users who don't use Windows Update won't do. Sure, Microsoft could force autoupdate on the AV clients, but the crowd that doesn't want Windows Updates downloaded automatically is going to complain about the AV subsystem autoupdating.
Funny part is that a good portion of the people who don't use Windows Update use Norton's LiveUpdate or the McAfee counterpart almost religiously, and just about every Norton user has an autoupdater that runs transparently. Very few complain about THAT autoupdate.
By that token, I see no reason to trust any Antivirus maker more about producing bug-free, secure software than I see to trust Microsoft to do the same. There are security updates and bug fixes for Norton products released periodically, and I'm sure McAfee and others do the same.
The fact of the matter is it doesn't matter whether or not antivirus becomes integrated with Windows--someone will complain about it, no matter what the update or usage situation may be. And if someone complains to the right people we have DOJ vs Microsoft again, and DOJ may get real actions in that next settlement.
Microsoft already bought an antivirus maker a few months back. Read about it here.
I think Microsoft would find itself in an undefendable position were it to integrate a feature such as antivirus directly into Windows. That would be using monopoly powers to stifle competition, and I think DOJ would throw a fit over it. Many OEMs already bundle antivirus software. HP and Compaq bundle both Norton and McAffee, I seem to recall Dell bundling Norton, and I know eMachines bundles McAfee (not installed by default, though).
I've always skipped that wizard. I like manually specifying my settings because the wizards for previous Windows versions always enabled IPX/SPX and NetBEUI as well as authentication methods that my ISP doesn't use, which in turn makes authentication take MUCH longer (2 min compared to 2 sec), so I didn't even know that that wizard did something useful.
However, now that I've attached my modem to a linux box using iptables and dictatorially paranoid rules, I no longer have to worry about this--set the clients to use the linux box as gateway, mail server, DNS server, etc. and XP's firewall is of no use to me.
The problems with Windows are largely what was pointed out in the article:
Users complain they don't trust Microsoft and don't apply Critical Updates
XP's firewall is off by default and takes at least five steps to turn on
XP leaves five ports open by default--three of them are 137, 138, and 139, the NetBIOS over TCP/IP ports
I have the following to say on those issues, however:
If users don't trust that Microsoft can patch a hole, they shouldn't use Windows and shouldn't buy PCs preconfigured with Windows, no matter how crappy the software availability and quality for the alternatives
For the XP Home software, all dialup interfaces should have the firewall on by default. XP can automatically detect broadband connections as well, so on broadband internet connections the firewall should also be on by default
Ports 137 through 139 should be disabled by default until file sharing is turned on. And even then, those ports should be specifically closed on all internet-facing interfaces. The port that console messages are sent on should be closed to the internet-facing interfaces as well, and probably just closed period on Home since console messages are supposed to be used by administrators in domain environments
These are not the only problems with Windows, nor are these solutions I propose going to be 100% fool-proof. But most of the problem comes to users' carelessness or naivete. By turning off all the unimportant messages in XP such as
Get a Passport
Take a tour of Windows XP
should wait until after more important, security-related messages such as
If you choose to use Windows Automatic Updates, your computer will automatically update itself with the latest security patches. This will ensure fewer problems and enhanced reliability while your computer is connected to the Internet. Click here to learn more.
If this computer will be directly attached to the Internet through either a dial-up modem, a cable modem, or a DSL modem, you should enable the Internet Connection Firewall by clicking here and following the instructions. The firewall will help protect your computer from hackers and self-spreading worms on the Internet, keeping your computer working properly much longer.
It's simple steps like these that, on top of proper security considerations and testing when designing and writing the code, will help protect users and the net in general from what we suffer right now.
I was trying to make a joke because of how much Microsoft bashing I see on Slashdot. I wasn't trying to imply that Slashdot reaedrship is mandatory to be a Microsoft basher.
makes me a firm believer in the fact that Microsoft is not objective in any way. Then again, neither is any company, but hey, it's Slashdot, where Microsoft bashing is almost a national pastime:)
As does Mandrake. I haven't bought RH myself so I can't comment on it. But you're right, shops should make an effort to offer boxed products of Linux. Currently the only stores I know of that sell Linux are BestBuy. Circuit City used to sell Mandrake, Slackware, and I think Corel, but they stopped right around Mandrake 7.2 Powerpack, and they never carried the $30 version of Mandrake. There currently aren't any actual computer-only shops within reasonable driving distance of my location, but when there were, I know there weren't any boxed Linux sets for sale. Seriously, if I owned a computer shop I'd be offering sets of RH, Mandrake, SuSE, Slackware, etc. And above the shelf with them I'd have a sign reading something along the lines of "Linux--More reliable than Windows for a fraction of the cost!" to see if I could lure in any users. So overall I agree with you.
Slashdot Mirror
Actually, I was on the giving end. I just no longer had feelings or interest for the woman and felt pain because of it--because I was at the point I was leading her on. I've been led on before, and I know it's not fun. It's not simple guilt. When I realize I've become a hypocrite it doesn't just spawn guilt, it spawns pain too because I automatically put myself in the other person's shoes. Call me crazy if you will, or even a liar, but it did happen.
That depends, actually. Every once in a while the one doing the dumping has enough of a conscience to feel some pain as well.
I agree. That's the biggest problem with online games, you're screwed when the company decides it's not worth running anymore.
I would bet it's because most people here don't realize that's happening. If the TLD was more common, more people here would know it's happening and bitch and whine and moan just like we're doing over VeriSign SiteFinder.
will be happy to see VeriSign blasted on this one. This is one of the stupidest ideas I've ever seen, and is a pain in the ass. I also wouldn't mind seeing someone else have control over the TLDs VeriSign currently controls.
And I third that--both parts, as well. I bet the rest of the geek community is right behind us, too.
My intention is not to be a troll or to start a flame war--I am geniunely curious as to what makes a game/series like Doom so popular.
You have to consider something though. What if these people aren't capable of cleaning up their mess--what if they screwed it up so bad they can't possibly fix it? It's not entirely impossible to do, after all.
You have an excellent idea. Beyond plumbers, electricians, contractors, and even grocery stores and pharmacies could advertise like this if it wasn't too expensive. But asking for an idea fee...well, I think there'll be some outdoor ice skating in the middle of the rain forest before we see the fee paid.
That's because you rely on the pretty eye-candy junk MS provides for idiots. Dump XP Home in favor of XP Professional. Disable that stupidass welcome screen and use the Computer Management console to create your new users. Hell, forget disabling the welcome screen, just use the damn console and you can create users that AREN'T Administrators by default.
I don't think Sony would try something like iTunes, though. One of their business units is part of the RIAA after all, and we know how opposed RIAA is to anything that makes sense.
There's always the chance of having it presented again to get that 2/3 majority to make it override the veto.
When I got into PC gaming, one of the first games I was given for it was Frogger. This was back in 1998 or 1999. Until I figured out how to play each level, I used the infinite lives cheat to make sure I could figure each level out. Unfortunately, I never did get good enough that I could beat every level without the cheat. Games like SimCity, on the other hand, are impossible for me without cheat codes. I have no clue how *anyone* can build a city in SimCity without running out of money within the first 10 years.
So to summarize, I think cheats in single player games, whether in the game or provided by external devices (for consoles) are good. But not having played an online game, I can't form an opinion there.
I made a small error here--it's not just Microsoft applications. Windows 98SE/ME/2000/XP/2003 are available through MSDNAA, as well as Visual Studio (currently my college offers VS6 and VS.net) and more things than I care to count. This is the method through which I obtained licenses to Win2k3 (Web/Standard/Enterprise), Win2k (Pro/Server/Adv. Server), and WinXP Pro. And I'm lucky--I was allowed to get a license for XP Pro Volume License, so I never had to activate.
Of course, I do have a luxury many don't--many of the patches routinely get sent to schools participating in the MSDN Academic Alliance (a program that schools pay $1000 annually to participate in and students get Microsoft applications for free, excluding Office bundles but including Project and Visio) on CDs or DVDs, so I was able to obtain those patches without needing to eat away at my bandwidth.
I will agree with you on the IE install--I have a CD with IE6 (original IE6) on it...using the CD it takes 25 minutes or so to install IE on a Duron 700MHz system with an ATA66 drive and 192M RAM, and the little activity LED on the drive bay (I use a swappable drive rack on that system, its status light indicates activity only on the drive in that rack) NEVER went out during that time. On XP, however, updating to IE6SP1 was trivial and took less than 15 minutes on the same hardware (second NTFS partition).
I think this is a perfect example of "Your Mileage May Vary."
I write programs, and have profited from that on a few occasions, and even with others looking at my code, there have been bugs that weren't caught. And of course the more complex the project, the harder it is to find and cure bugs or security vulnerabilities. I know this, as do most people who've written a program or two, and I accept it. I don't like the fact, but no one's perfect. When there's a bug in something I use, I grab the newest version as soon as it's available. With Windows and Office, I regularly (at least once weekly) check Windows Update and Office Update to make sure I'm up to date. And even though Norton Antivirus has an automatic update, I still run LiveUpdate manually at least every two weeks to make sure the autoupdate got everything.
You're right, my guess of less than 10% was a guess. I made the guess in an attempt to illustrate a point, which was one of the main issues the author of the article (yes, I did RTFA) had--not enough Windows users use Windows Update. I will agree with you, however, on this issue--there is no need to continue the discussion.Novell hadn't even ocurred to me as having functionality that was later integrated into Windows, until I thought about Active Directory and its predecessor from the NT4 and NT3.51 days and how different things would be if the directory service hadn't become integrated into Windows.
All this thought makes me wonder something though. What does Microsoft do when they shove all their non-OSS competitors out of the market? In that event, would there there really be any new ground left for Microsoft to break, aside from better security?
Funny part is that a good portion of the people who don't use Windows Update use Norton's LiveUpdate or the McAfee counterpart almost religiously, and just about every Norton user has an autoupdater that runs transparently. Very few complain about THAT autoupdate.
By that token, I see no reason to trust any Antivirus maker more about producing bug-free, secure software than I see to trust Microsoft to do the same. There are security updates and bug fixes for Norton products released periodically, and I'm sure McAfee and others do the same.
The fact of the matter is it doesn't matter whether or not antivirus becomes integrated with Windows--someone will complain about it, no matter what the update or usage situation may be. And if someone complains to the right people we have DOJ vs Microsoft again, and DOJ may get real actions in that next settlement.
I think Microsoft would find itself in an undefendable position were it to integrate a feature such as antivirus directly into Windows. That would be using monopoly powers to stifle competition, and I think DOJ would throw a fit over it. Many OEMs already bundle antivirus software. HP and Compaq bundle both Norton and McAffee, I seem to recall Dell bundling Norton, and I know eMachines bundles McAfee (not installed by default, though).
However, now that I've attached my modem to a linux box using iptables and dictatorially paranoid rules, I no longer have to worry about this--set the clients to use the linux box as gateway, mail server, DNS server, etc. and XP's firewall is of no use to me.
- Users complain they don't trust Microsoft and don't apply Critical Updates
- XP's firewall is off by default and takes at least five steps to turn on
- XP leaves five ports open by default--three of them are 137, 138, and 139, the NetBIOS over TCP/IP ports
I have the following to say on those issues, however:- If users don't trust that Microsoft can patch a hole, they shouldn't use Windows and shouldn't buy PCs preconfigured with Windows, no matter how crappy the software availability and quality for the alternatives
- For the XP Home software, all dialup interfaces should have the firewall on by default. XP can automatically detect broadband connections as well, so on broadband internet connections the firewall should also be on by default
- Ports 137 through 139 should be disabled by default until file sharing is turned on. And even then, those ports should be specifically closed on all internet-facing interfaces. The port that console messages are sent on should be closed to the internet-facing interfaces as well, and probably just closed period on Home since console messages are supposed to be used by administrators in domain environments
These are not the only problems with Windows, nor are these solutions I propose going to be 100% fool-proof. But most of the problem comes to users' carelessness or naivete. By turning off all the unimportant messages in XP such as- Get a Passport
- Take a tour of Windows XP
should wait until after more important, security-related messages such as- If you choose to use Windows Automatic Updates, your computer will automatically update itself with the latest security patches. This will ensure fewer problems and enhanced reliability while your computer is connected to the Internet. Click here to learn more.
- If this computer will be directly attached to the Internet through either a dial-up modem, a cable modem, or a DSL modem, you should enable the Internet Connection Firewall by clicking here and following the instructions. The firewall will help protect your computer from hackers and self-spreading worms on the Internet, keeping your computer working properly much longer.
It's simple steps like these that, on top of proper security considerations and testing when designing and writing the code, will help protect users and the net in general from what we suffer right now.Tabbed browsing is NOT unique to Mozilla/Netscape. Opera had it before Mozilla.
I was trying to make a joke because of how much Microsoft bashing I see on Slashdot. I wasn't trying to imply that Slashdot reaedrship is mandatory to be a Microsoft basher.
makes me a firm believer in the fact that Microsoft is not objective in any way. Then again, neither is any company, but hey, it's Slashdot, where Microsoft bashing is almost a national pastime :)
As does Mandrake. I haven't bought RH myself so I can't comment on it. But you're right, shops should make an effort to offer boxed products of Linux. Currently the only stores I know of that sell Linux are BestBuy. Circuit City used to sell Mandrake, Slackware, and I think Corel, but they stopped right around Mandrake 7.2 Powerpack, and they never carried the $30 version of Mandrake. There currently aren't any actual computer-only shops within reasonable driving distance of my location, but when there were, I know there weren't any boxed Linux sets for sale. Seriously, if I owned a computer shop I'd be offering sets of RH, Mandrake, SuSE, Slackware, etc. And above the shelf with them I'd have a sign reading something along the lines of "Linux--More reliable than Windows for a fraction of the cost!" to see if I could lure in any users. So overall I agree with you.