So what? Give it another 10 years and iTunes won't need the record company any more. Hell, artists hardly do. Now of days record companies = promotion/popularity. Rapidly decreasing recording and distribution costs mean, well, you get the picture.
Its unfortunate that you can legitamantly purchase a license and the company could care less. It seems about as pointless as paying $50 for a pirated version of a $500 software title.
The more convoluted a copy protection scheme becomes, the more disincentive there is for an otherwise legitimate user to follow the law. Break one law, why not break another, and so there is a cascading effect.
It *really* shouldn't be easier to obtain and use cracked software than it is to purchase and use legitimate software. This is the exact reason the music industry is fucked right now. Napster was way easier to use than going to a CD store. Non-compliant CD copy protection scheme? Suddenly MP3s become alot more than convenient -- they become the only option. When the software industry does this, its more than just shooting themselves in the foot -- its shooting themselves in the head.
Sure DRM might get cracked in a week, but that doesn't mean Microsoft can't make a killing off it. As I've pointed out before, copy protection = snake oil. Sure, you can contrive something simple to prevent Joe Schmoe from copying UT2003 and giving it to his friends, but if Joe Schmoe has an ounce of knowlege he's going to have that program copied in 3 minutes whether its UT2003 or 3DSMax.
And in the meantime companies are raking in the cash from their elaborate copy protection schemes, even if they require a single key (shift) to crack.
DRM is kind of like internet filters, or facial recognition cameras, hell even cold fusion. Theoretically maybe, but I have yet to see it work.
Re:Keep putting it off. Please !
on
Longhorn in 2006
·
· Score: 1
Apparently they do a pretty good job at their own security too. Thus far they've managed on keep their source code from being "leaked" half life style.
If people just stopped using Outlook and only used plain text email there'd be much less of a security problem... I doubt Gabe over at Valve is going to be using it again any time soon.
There are some really excellant games there. I'm kinda wondering what system shock is doing on there, sure it might not have had record breaking sales, but underrated? That thing was practically the holy grail of gaming.. for a while at least.
Of course the list is far from complete. The Underdogs have actually made a pretty good list of underrated games.
Alot of old games would completely own new releases if the graphics engines and sound could be updated. Imagine Magic Carpet running off the HL2 engine (shit, that doesn't sound so far fetched anymore.) Ok I'm ranting. But, is it just me or does it seem that the older and more underated a game is the more it fucking rocks?
I was reading a PC magazine a little while back and they actually had a cost comparison. I wish I knew what issue that was, but basically they compared a cheap sub-$100 printer to a more expensive, which might have been a laser printer. In the end, over two or three years, the cost of the printer plus ink made the cheap one almost double the cost of the expensive one.
This is another case of bullshit marketting where the consumer needs to take a proactive stance to be informed.
Apparently the source code was stolen in some type of hacking attack as opposed to being leaked. Stolen passwords, DoS, outlook exploit, I guess we'll only know for sure in the coming days.
I think that the implications for this are larger than many people realise. Back in the Doom days, I strongly believe a pre-release leak of the Doom or Build engine could have been a complete disaster. The question is now, how much will this financially hurt, or even benefit valve? Valve has been very supportive of the Mod community, and its practically an axiom that mods made HL the success that it is today.
So.. if a game that is open to modding is far more beneficial to everyone ( long-term sales, a *really* big bang for your buck, creation of hobbies that build careers for others (CS, DOD), can a leaked source code be even more beneficial? I really hope so.
About two weeks ago my Cable connection jumped up to 3mbps, sometimes pushing 4. There were alot of reports of this all over the country on broadbandreports. One guy on the Roadrunner forum apparently had talked to a bunch of people, and couldn't get a straight answer from anyone concerning the increased speed. I guess now we know why.
No kidding, whenever I go to GenCon there are all these scantily clad hot chicks everywhere. There was this one at the Everquest booth... Oh, you say they pay them to be there? Damn it, and all this time I thought they wanted me!
I hear they have something like this in Cuba and other totalitarian states. It seems like its working for them, the US government should really look into this!
If you never were into wargames in the past, I'd highly recommend you check out Battlefront's Combat Mission. You get impressive (ok, it aint Doom3) 3D graphics, and turn-based WWII play.
I know alot of wargames can be visually very boring, this one is not. In Combat Mission you issue commands to all your units and then for 60 seconds they play out their commands. In this period you can't control them. Basically this means you get to watch all the action -- and cringe -- as one of your tanks gets hit (plenty of detail.)
Our network was completely offline for two days last week (first week of school.) Apparently they implemented some patch, and not everyone reset thier systems, and thus the next day the virus just started spreading itself again. Ultimately they went to each computer and scanned it individually.
Outlook sure seems like a major pain in the ass (unless your getting paid overtime to deal with it.)
Most lawyers don't know a whole lot about marketting, apparently. (Same goes for all those fansites which have been sent cease and desist letters.)
Companies would be alot better of if they treated their lawyers like dogs on a chain. The company should be telling the lawyer what to do, not vice versa.
This will probably help you understand things a bit.
Government intervention, just like the mega-scandals on Enron and Worldcom of the last few years, tend to make things look really great in the short-term, but are devastating and painful in the long run. The more power you give the government, the more corruption your going to get.
I think that the Blue Screen of Death (tm) should stay the same, except that subliminal messaging should be integrated into it. That way when people experiance, they have feelings of peacefulness and euphoria. People might actually try to crash their computers.
For many consumers, upgrading to a new version of Windows not only won't do them any good (cost to performance increase), they don't have a clue what different (well most people seem to notice XP was alot more stabler than ME.) Thus, changing the UI makes them think they are somehow getting this whole new product. Take a car for example. Plenty of people will purchase a car with a sleak design over one that looks the same as cars rolling off the assembly line 5+ years ago, yet that sleak car may be a complete piece of shit.
Me? I use Litestep, and it serves me very well. I don't need Microsoft to design my UI.
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I demand you stop calling the Patriot Act UNPatriotic!!! And if you don't my lawyer will!!!
So what? Give it another 10 years and iTunes won't need the record company any more. Hell, artists hardly do. Now of days record companies = promotion/popularity. Rapidly decreasing recording and distribution costs mean, well, you get the picture.
Its unfortunate that you can legitamantly purchase a license and the company could care less. It seems about as pointless as paying $50 for a pirated version of a $500 software title.
The more convoluted a copy protection scheme becomes, the more disincentive there is for an otherwise legitimate user to follow the law. Break one law, why not break another, and so there is a cascading effect.
It *really* shouldn't be easier to obtain and use cracked software than it is to purchase and use legitimate software. This is the exact reason the music industry is fucked right now. Napster was way easier to use than going to a CD store. Non-compliant CD copy protection scheme? Suddenly MP3s become alot more than convenient -- they become the only option. When the software industry does this, its more than just shooting themselves in the foot -- its shooting themselves in the head.
Just what I've always wanted, 1600x AA. Nevermind Seti@home, I can use all my extra cycles giving graphic designers jobs over at M$!
Sure DRM might get cracked in a week, but that doesn't mean Microsoft can't make a killing off it. As I've pointed out before, copy protection = snake oil. Sure, you can contrive something simple to prevent Joe Schmoe from copying UT2003 and giving it to his friends, but if Joe Schmoe has an ounce of knowlege he's going to have that program copied in 3 minutes whether its UT2003 or 3DSMax.
And in the meantime companies are raking in the cash from their elaborate copy protection schemes, even if they require a single key (shift) to crack.
DRM is kind of like internet filters, or facial recognition cameras, hell even cold fusion. Theoretically maybe, but I have yet to see it work.
Apparently they do a pretty good job at their own security too. Thus far they've managed on keep their source code from being "leaked" half life style.
If people just stopped using Outlook and only used plain text email there'd be much less of a security problem... I doubt Gabe over at Valve is going to be using it again any time soon.
goatse.cx nuf said.
There are some really excellant games there. I'm kinda wondering what system shock is doing on there, sure it might not have had record breaking sales, but underrated? That thing was practically the holy grail of gaming.. for a while at least.
Of course the list is far from complete. The Underdogs have actually made a pretty good list of underrated games.
Alot of old games would completely own new releases if the graphics engines and sound could be updated. Imagine Magic Carpet running off the HL2 engine (shit, that doesn't sound so far fetched anymore.) Ok I'm ranting. But, is it just me or does it seem that the older and more underated a game is the more it fucking rocks?
I was reading a PC magazine a little while back and they actually had a cost comparison. I wish I knew what issue that was, but basically they compared a cheap sub-$100 printer to a more expensive, which might have been a laser printer. In the end, over two or three years, the cost of the printer plus ink made the cheap one almost double the cost of the expensive one.
This is another case of bullshit marketting where the consumer needs to take a proactive stance to be informed.
Apparently the source code was stolen in some type of hacking attack as opposed to being leaked. Stolen passwords, DoS, outlook exploit, I guess we'll only know for sure in the coming days. I think that the implications for this are larger than many people realise. Back in the Doom days, I strongly believe a pre-release leak of the Doom or Build engine could have been a complete disaster. The question is now, how much will this financially hurt, or even benefit valve? Valve has been very supportive of the Mod community, and its practically an axiom that mods made HL the success that it is today. So.. if a game that is open to modding is far more beneficial to everyone ( long-term sales, a *really* big bang for your buck, creation of hobbies that build careers for others (CS, DOD), can a leaked source code be even more beneficial? I really hope so.
About two weeks ago my Cable connection jumped up to 3mbps, sometimes pushing 4. There were alot of reports of this all over the country on broadbandreports. One guy on the Roadrunner forum apparently had talked to a bunch of people, and couldn't get a straight answer from anyone concerning the increased speed. I guess now we know why.
Oh shit, someone dropped Morpheus in a vat of acid.
Forget DDoS, just "share" a zip file of 48 DVDs on Kazaa!
Well let me offer you our extensive selection of slashdot tattoos! There is nothing more stylish that a . on one check and a / on the other!
No kidding, whenever I go to GenCon there are all these scantily clad hot chicks everywhere. There was this one at the Everquest booth... Oh, you say they pay them to be there? Damn it, and all this time I thought they wanted me!
I hear they have something like this in Cuba and other totalitarian states. It seems like its working for them, the US government should really look into this!
Oh really? Enron sure had lots of money. Granted, that money helped them avoid the law for a while, but not forever.
If you never were into wargames in the past, I'd highly recommend you check out Battlefront's Combat Mission. You get impressive (ok, it aint Doom3) 3D graphics, and turn-based WWII play.
I know alot of wargames can be visually very boring, this one is not. In Combat Mission you issue commands to all your units and then for 60 seconds they play out their commands. In this period you can't control them. Basically this means you get to watch all the action -- and cringe -- as one of your tanks gets hit (plenty of detail.)
What am I saying, go download the demo.
Our network was completely offline for two days last week (first week of school.) Apparently they implemented some patch, and not everyone reset thier systems, and thus the next day the virus just started spreading itself again. Ultimately they went to each computer and scanned it individually.
Outlook sure seems like a major pain in the ass (unless your getting paid overtime to deal with it.)
Most lawyers don't know a whole lot about marketting, apparently. (Same goes for all those fansites which have been sent cease and desist letters.)
Companies would be alot better of if they treated their lawyers like dogs on a chain. The company should be telling the lawyer what to do, not vice versa.
This will probably help you understand things a bit.
Government intervention, just like the mega-scandals on Enron and Worldcom of the last few years, tend to make things look really great in the short-term, but are devastating and painful in the long run. The more power you give the government, the more corruption your going to get.
I wonder about that story. The Sims sure lets you have guys in swimsuits kiss each other. Games certainly say much culturally.
I think that the Blue Screen of Death (tm) should stay the same, except that subliminal messaging should be integrated into it. That way when people experiance, they have feelings of peacefulness and euphoria. People might actually try to crash their computers.
For many consumers, upgrading to a new version of Windows not only won't do them any good (cost to performance increase), they don't have a clue what different (well most people seem to notice XP was alot more stabler than ME.) Thus, changing the UI makes them think they are somehow getting this whole new product. Take a car for example. Plenty of people will purchase a car with a sleak design over one that looks the same as cars rolling off the assembly line 5+ years ago, yet that sleak car may be a complete piece of shit.
Me? I use Litestep, and it serves me very well. I don't need Microsoft to design my UI.