The only good thing about the U.N. is that it's relatively powerless. Conglomeration of government power (whether nationalization or internationalization) is a monopoly; and monopolies in government are even worse than monopolies in economics.
Businesses compete on product features, prices, service, and goodwill (with certain customers, at least). Governments compete on favorable laws and regulations (or lack thereof). The more we centralize governments, the less choice you and I have in the kind of government we will live under.
People do this all the time in the U.S. Don't like the local laws and moral atmosphere? Move somewhere that fits you better! But increasing nationalization in the name of "consistency" has already decreased our options; and the signs point to this trend continuing.
Devotion to international law has given the U.S. that wonderful example of clean legislation, the DMCA. And now people in Europe are looking at the DMCA and saying, "Y'know, we really should be doing the same thing the Americans are doing. After all, we must have consistent laws!"
If Apple wanted to prove they were serious about being in the server room, they could purchase Novell and incorporate the directory stuff into OS X. But they're probably not ready for such a thing.
And what other companies would bid for that opportunity? As I understand it, the only other companies that do the kind of projects Haliburton does are French. Now, don't you think the Democrats would scream bloody murder if the contract went to a non-American company? They say that it's just another example of Bush sending jobs overseas.
Usually, if I hear another stupid pop song on the radio that happens to have something interesting in it somewhere (like a neat synth patch or the like) I'll download it off a P2P network and listen to it until I think I've got a grasp on what they did. This is for my own personal "library" of interesting techniques and ideas.
But when it comes to something really good, like Sgt. Pepper, or Abbey Road, or Dark Side of the Moon, I buy the CD. If it's something I know I really want to work with (like ripping tracks and slowing down solos), I just prefer having the CD around. Plus, you don't get those annoying blips or low quality files from crappy encoders.
Travel from beyond those distances is an engineering marvel evidencing a vastly superior life form.
Sorry to go off on a tangent, but statements like this have always gotten under my skin. Why should we assume that they would be a "vastly superior life form"? Maybe they just have really long legs.
And what do you recommend for independent MUSICIANS? And no, I'm not talking about some 17 year old dork recording a rap track in his bedroom and sticking it out on the net. I'm talking about high quality, well recorded musical compositions.
I doubt it. I think it means you can't sue them if it doesn't play in your computer. Heh, you didn't really think they paid high-priced lawyers to protect you from them, did you?:-)
On the same hardware, why should I lose 1/2 of my framerate (FPS) just to use a different OS than Windows?
Not that you could tell the difference between 90 FPS and 90.5 FPS anyway. But using an operating system that frustrates me, from a company with business practices I despise, is more distasteful to me than losing half a frame-per-second. So I'll go on playing iD titles and BZFlag on Linux. But as somebody else here said, to each his own. It's just a matter of preferences and what irritates you more.
In fact, I'd say what sucks in Linux gaming is audio. OSS/Alsa/esd/artsd/jack... too many different solutions and, guess what, for example the ID games only support OSS, afaik.
ALSA has an OSS compatibility layer. I routinely play RtCW (and RtCW:ET) in Linux and the sound is great. Haven't used OSS in *years*. And ESD and aRTs are just sound mixers/managers, use one or the other, or neither. It doesn't really matter. JACK is a special callback-based API for music applications. You don't really need it for games. I think they've got an ESD plugin though, so....
Same situation here. I buy iD games when they come out because they have native Mac and Linux support, Carmack is a decent guy, and they're FUN! I also play BZFlag a lot. It's not as "razzle-dazzle" as some more current FPS games but it's pretty addictive.
Like you, I also haven't had any trouble getting these games to function correctly without fiddling. *shrug* As you say, to each his own.
The fact is that Carbon is around for the duration, and isn't a "transitional API".Which, as a lover of Objective-C and GNUstep, really pisses me off. We could have had EASY source-level compatibility if they hadn't started pushing all that Carbon/CF shit. Now, every time somebody comes along and asks how they can write software to compile on both GNUstep and OS X, they find out they can't use some hacked up Mac crap and say, "Oh. Never mind then." The ex-NeXT people at Apple gave up and we lost a great API and OO language *again*.
What's happening with ColdFusion/FuseBox? I'm not a web developer, so I don't have the insights that you would have, but it always looked like a nice technology.
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The only good thing about the U.N. is that it's relatively powerless. Conglomeration of government power (whether nationalization or internationalization) is a monopoly; and monopolies in government are even worse than monopolies in economics.
Businesses compete on product features, prices, service, and goodwill (with certain customers, at least). Governments compete on favorable laws and regulations (or lack thereof). The more we centralize governments, the less choice you and I have in the kind of government we will live under.
People do this all the time in the U.S. Don't like the local laws and moral atmosphere? Move somewhere that fits you better! But increasing nationalization in the name of "consistency" has already decreased our options; and the signs point to this trend continuing.
Devotion to international law has given the U.S. that wonderful example of clean legislation, the DMCA. And now people in Europe are looking at the DMCA and saying, "Y'know, we really should be doing the same thing the Americans are doing. After all, we must have consistent laws!"
If Apple wanted to prove they were serious about being in the server room, they could purchase Novell and incorporate the directory stuff into OS X. But they're probably not ready for such a thing.
I don't know, he probably wouldn't mind the heat for a while, though.
Yeah, but the ranger's not gonna like it.
And what other companies would bid for that opportunity? As I understand it, the only other companies that do the kind of projects Haliburton does are French. Now, don't you think the Democrats would scream bloody murder if the contract went to a non-American company? They say that it's just another example of Bush sending jobs overseas.
And bad writing. You forgot the bad writing.
Of course, the cat hasn't decided how fast they were going...
Did you give him a lap dance?
It's George Bush's fault. There, I've said it, saving 99.9% of the readers from having to waste time commenting. I'm generous like that.
But when it comes to something really good, like Sgt. Pepper, or Abbey Road, or Dark Side of the Moon, I buy the CD. If it's something I know I really want to work with (like ripping tracks and slowing down solos), I just prefer having the CD around. Plus, you don't get those annoying blips or low quality files from crappy encoders.
Sorry to go off on a tangent, but statements like this have always gotten under my skin. Why should we assume that they would be a "vastly superior life form"? Maybe they just have really long legs.
Why are you so adamant about this? Could it be because you have something to hide? Who do you work for? :-)
Seriously, that's the problem with these people. Anything you say to counter their suspicion is seen as a desperate attempt to "cover it up."
Do you have a degenerative bone disease that prevents you from pronouncing the 't' in town?
And what do you recommend for independent MUSICIANS? And no, I'm not talking about some 17 year old dork recording a rap track in his bedroom and sticking it out on the net. I'm talking about high quality, well recorded musical compositions.
So long as you can find a way to evangelize for Objective-C and Cocoa, you're OK in my book no matter which OS you run. :-)
Come on, the cats enjoy it!
I doubt it. I think it means you can't sue them if it doesn't play in your computer. Heh, you didn't really think they paid high-priced lawyers to protect you from them, did you? :-)
Who the hell is Anthony Hamilton?
Not as far as I can tell. Go for it.
Not that you could tell the difference between 90 FPS and 90.5 FPS anyway. But using an operating system that frustrates me, from a company with business practices I despise, is more distasteful to me than losing half a frame-per-second. So I'll go on playing iD titles and BZFlag on Linux. But as somebody else here said, to each his own. It's just a matter of preferences and what irritates you more.
ALSA has an OSS compatibility layer. I routinely play RtCW (and RtCW:ET) in Linux and the sound is great. Haven't used OSS in *years*. And ESD and aRTs are just sound mixers/managers, use one or the other, or neither. It doesn't really matter. JACK is a special callback-based API for music applications. You don't really need it for games. I think they've got an ESD plugin though, so....
Like you, I also haven't had any trouble getting these games to function correctly without fiddling. *shrug* As you say, to each his own.
The fact is that Carbon is around for the duration, and isn't a "transitional API".Which, as a lover of Objective-C and GNUstep, really pisses me off. We could have had EASY source-level compatibility if they hadn't started pushing all that Carbon/CF shit. Now, every time somebody comes along and asks how they can write software to compile on both GNUstep and OS X, they find out they can't use some hacked up Mac crap and say, "Oh. Never mind then." The ex-NeXT people at Apple gave up and we lost a great API and OO language *again*.
Nobody reads the EULAs onscreen either but we're still bound by them (at least, according to the lawyer types that write them).
What's happening with ColdFusion/FuseBox? I'm not a web developer, so I don't have the insights that you would have, but it always looked like a nice technology.