Some buyout from ZDNet or Vice Versa (or partnership or whatever. Gamespot was picked to close down because 90% of the pages were hard-coded HTML where as GameSpot used FrontPage or whatever WYSIWYG Editor. Factor in better marketing support for GameSpot at the time, and it wasn't too tough of a decision for ZDNet/C-Net to make. Shame too, 'cause Gamecenter was the premier site out there for Gaming News. (They had articles like this constantly and had a great hardware feature as well--something Gamespot is lacking).
If anyone doesn't believe me, check out some of their pages here. The newest ones (from Late Feb 2001/Early March 2001 will probably redirect you to GameSpot, so don't bother.)
If you want the very last page they made, then you want to check here here (Gotta love Archive.org)
Granted it has its shortcomings, but I'm pretty sure I've never played a game (this is including every one of the Final Fantasy and Madden games) more than I played Starcraft (and the Brood Wars expansion). For a good year and a half of my life I pretty much played nothing else.
The games greatness didn't necessarily lie in its features, (TA was much better looking; still had the build-gather-amass troops-rush problem in a lot of cases) but in its storyline and multiplayer modes. It was really the first RTS game to have Internet play planned for the start. Sure there were problems with kidiez running out on games on you and other issues, but for the most part, the Blizzard Ladder system provided a great way to compete for both fun and competition. (Still remember reading writeups of every match in the tournaments on starcraft.org--too bad the damned site is unviewable now in Mozilla).
As far as the storyline goes, who doesn't remember Kerrigan's infestation or the Protoss Hero's (can't remember his name now--kinda killing my argument here) sacrifice. The Brood War expansion was a masterpiece as well--bringing back Kerrigan as the Zerg Hero, showing the uneasy alliance between the Dark Brethren of the Protoss, and of course the UED, who you just grew to hate. The storyline of the games were so great, that at several points I didn't care about the gameplay, I just wanted to see the Cinematics and the Mission Briefings.
I'll admit that I haven't been as active in the genre as I once was, and could have had as much fun with another game, but it was Starcraft that really won me over.
Looking foward to Warcraft III to provide the same level of greatness in 'net play and in the storyline.
Re:When will the real evolution of RTS arive?
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HIstory of RTS Games
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Keep in mind, this is only the third day of beta testing. Therefore, it's most likely WAY to early for me to be making such judgements. But these are my first impressions. Expect the game to change greatly from now until it's eventual release. As Blizzard will be releasing a lot of game balance patches during the beta to see what happens.
Oh yeah, to be expected, I followed starcraft.org during the Brood Wars beta and they made change after change to play balancing.
'preciate the feedback though, kinda disappointed in the initial impression, but I'll keep following the news on it. Not like it'll matter though, I've bought every damned game from them as it is (more than once in several cases when my CD collection got stolen), and I doubt I'll stop now.
Turn Based Strategy Games Artcile at Gamespot
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HIstory of RTS Games
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Check here for another excellent synopsis of Turn Based Strategy Games from Gamespot (and to think I hated this site when Gamecenter closed and began redirecting to it)
Read the Second Part of the Article
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HIstory of RTS Games
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· Score: 5, Informative
[Repost from some of my Replies to other Comments]
My fault for not posting it in the first place (hopefully they'll update it when they get a chance).
It will clear up a lot of the posts I am seeing about "They missed xxx!!"
Re:When will the real evolution of RTS arive?
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HIstory of RTS Games
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How is Warcraft III looking? All the reviews give it nothing, but praise, but I've come to expect that from pretty much any Blizzard game being reviewed (They take forever to make a game, but they usually do it right). I'd be interested to know how the Hero and RP aspect of it came out from an actual beta tester.
Re:Windows Update has ALWAYS included other vendor
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Read the Fine Print
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Actually, "other Vendors" are already part of Windows Update. For example, if you have a 3Com 905-C and you are running an old driver, Windows Update will get the driver from 3Com for you.
Drive-wise, and only through Windows-Approved Drivers AFAIK (ie. They won't update with a 3Com Driver that has not gone through Windows testing)
I'm referring to changing functionability of the software per a Third-Party's Request
[ From Part 1 of the article:
It's worth noting here because it has the distinction of being the predecessor of a game that will figure heavily in our next segment. We'll also take a look at some of the big RTS games currently under development, as well as how the genre has continued to evolve and influence other types of games. ]
Granted my fault for not posting the second link as well, but at least read the article before you whine.
The article does an excellent job of addressing this, especially in part 2. Read the article and you'll see why this genre is evolving past that point and will most likely wind up turning into a new genre (either Role-Playing Strategy like Warlords Battlecry and Warcraft III, or God Strategy games like Black and White).
FYI, I should have submitted this with the article, but here is Part 2. Also here is a feature on Turn Based Strategy (ie. Civilization) which might be of interest.
[From a post by Derekg99 in the story (take it for what it's worth, the equivalent of a/. post):
You should be happy to know they have recently started distribution center in worcester ma. I think that\'s where it is, if not, it\'s somewhere in MA so it makes the delay almost non-existant...]
Might make the service more feasible for us East-Coasters.
Good point, it is far too quick to expect any deep and meaningful releases based on the 9/11 attacks (both psychologically--would be offensive to victims this quick, and pyhsically--if someone is working on something that is going to be that great, it's going to take longer than 5 months to do).
If you're looking for non-action and more of a documentary isn't looking for it in the movie theater, but on CNN, A&E, or The History Channel (The Special on the World Trade Center released in the weeks after 9/11 on The History Channel was an excellent documentary--it was made before 9/11, but had added commentary where the commercials would normally go)
And yeah, right now any US Military Movie is going to do fantastic considering the Patriotism/Natoinalism abundant in the US right now--the same reason Bush has an 85% approval rating right now; you think he would even be over 60% or even 50% at this point in his term without the 9/11 disasters, when even the most popular presidents in our history were lucky to have 55% after their first year? (This is not an attack or support of him, that's for another discussion altogether)
The same has been true after any successful military campaign. Fickle to say, but it'll die off--it might take a few more years, but soon enough there will be another government scandal or more Enron fiascos to bring to light the negatives of the country once again. And then the normal military movies' popularity will die down and a 9/11 movie will be worthwhile and popular--if nothing else to remember and mourn.
[OT] This was and is the defining moment of the 15-30 year old generation. It is the first truly remarkable event that impacted so many that has happened in years (aside from various government scandals of course). And yes, we had the Gulf War, but for the most part, that was a campaign in which we measured American casualties in the 100's, not thousands.
[/OT]
Pretty much what everyone else is saying here. You gotta be watching 6+ movies a month (more than I usually rent as it is--I'd almost feel obligated to watch bad movies) and live on the West Coast. And it seems to me that if you watch 10+ movies a month, you're much better off getting a pass at one of your local Video Rental Stores (ie. I know Blockbuster had a $20 DVD pass that let you get one DVD a night for a month) As long as you return the movies on time (granted a pain and definitly the bane of Brick & Mortar stores), you can rent 30 movies a month. Sure you might have some difficulty getting the latest releases, but from what everyone else has posted this is just as big a problem with NetFlix as any other place. (Actually worse, because at least you can call up a store and nag them to see if its in, or just keep checking and hope you get lucky--I know Blockbuster, Hollywood Video, and the local chains (Giant Eagle Video and Instant Reply) stock 50+ VHS copies and 20+ DVD copies of latest releases) NetFlix will suffer from discount pricing too, because they're really only buying for one distribution center--maybe the equivalent of 20-50 Brick & Mortar Centers; would be interested to see exact numbers. God knows how many Blockbusters there are out there and discounts they probably get from basically buying through one account.
So basically the service is great if:
1) You live on the West Coast
2) You rent more than 5+ movies, but less than 15 per month
3) You're basically looking for more obscure releases and aren't counting on getting the latest releases immediately.
Re:MS didn't think anyone would notice ANYTHING
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Read the Fine Print
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>> Someone needs to dope slap the folks who Ok these little things.
You mean the users who just install it blindly and don't bother reading the Fine Print? I can understand people not reading the License for every little Internet Download they install, but for as often as you install an Operating System and especially a new one, the user is at fault for this just as much as MS. (Granted I can't really see anyone, myself included seeing something like this and just refusing the OS install--they do tend to screw you over like that in the licenses).
You are right though, MS is heading back in the wrong direction after (dare I say it) something of an improvement (albeit small)
[From the Article:It says Microsoft may "download onto your computer such security updates that a secure content owner has requested that MS, Microsoft Corporation, or their subsidiaries distribute."]
Does this mean that if say a music distributor reaches an agreement with MS to send music over WMA that they can request MS to check for non-licensed files? Or can they request MS to implemented some form of CrippleWare into Media Player? (granted your own fault if you're listening to music on it with all the published concerns regarding privacy and the software)
Like everyone else has pretty much said, the Windows Update Feature doesn't really bother me much, but allowing updates requested from other Vendors kind of does--especially if it is a background process that I don't know about.
Re:You didn't sign a contract to give back true ID
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Sun Joins RFID Program
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Whelp, missed one of the whole points of this. Not sure how I got so focused on the security aspect. Feel free to mod the previous post down due to stupidity.
It'd be useful, but again can't see it becoming mainstream, be kind of convenient in the whole (SpeedPass concept of the NY/PA/etc turnpike. Load up your basket and drive.
I need caffeine
Re:You didn't sign a contract to give back true ID
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Sun Joins RFID Program
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Good point. What's to really stop a terrorist from changing the tag on a real gun to that of a novelty gun or a pager? Okay...that's an extreme example, but hell somebody got on a plane with a shoe bomb for crying out loud. (Better yet, what about those jokers changing tags to something that would be of a concern to security personnel? If it's that easy to ping the things in the first place, it's probably that easy to change what it replies as well--at least for somebody bored enough--and unless there is some type of recourse/law against changing it, there's not much you can do to people that do this...are they going to make you sign a contract before you buy something? or do you know agree to a license for just walking into a store now? like a store-entrance license (if you do not agree to the terms of this store, exit from the store immediately)
I just can't see this actually helping security at all. It would be too expensive to implement, (not to mention all the old products that don't have them), and would really have no great benefits in terms of security other than to lull naive people into a falser sense of it than we already have. This just seems like another stupid scheme to invade our privacy further, while not really providing any benefits to security personnel or consumers.
The only way I could see this working is if they don't notify consumers about it. I could see them attempting this, but the way the manufacturing process is described (replace the bar-code) I wouldn't think it'd take that long for somebody to figure it out. (How long did those copy-protected CD's go before word was out? Oh yeah that's right.)
Hell even if it does what its supposed to, what good does that do? Uhh...sir, we see that you have a cell phone on you...well...umm...carry on I guess. (and if they actually got the point of putting it on handguns or weapons, then god help us if we need RF barcodes to detect them).
Maybe I'm just missing something really obvious here...please correct me if I'm wrong.
Thanks for the response, helps me get a better grasp on this--especially with the International Aspect. Sounds like you guys have much better legislation for consumer advocacy and privacy than in the US. Too many people think the Internet is US-only, while it turns out, we have by far one of the lowest political understandings of technology: including the Internet (Why else would we have the DMCA).
Although I guess I could live in China and be stuck behind a country-wide firewall (then again, who knows where the FBIs sniffing program (Carnivore?) is leading us to--probably a false sense of privacy, which is even worse than not having one in the first place). Ah well, been hearing it for years now that privacy doesn't exist anymore; guess it was only a matter of time before its completely shot.
Obviously you are much more informed than the average Internet user who just throws their information out to everyone, but you definitely have the right idea. I find for the most part when I have to fill out forms for US companies, that I just make up the addresses or send them to a junk-Email account somewhere that I never check. Too many times now I somehow end up getting solicitations from a site who claimed I would not receive any and strangely from 5 other companies I've never heard of.
Obviously this will be a huge victory for consumers and their privacy rights and not entirely that unfair to businesses. IANAL, but as near as I can tell, this does not block corporations from sending Snail Mail or Email solicitations, but only blocks them from sharing your information (without your knowledge) to a third-party.
What type of enforcement does this provide against International Agencies? (ie. A corporation with off-shore facilities for the computers and either US housed facilities) IMHO it just seems as though there would be too many loopholes for corporations to be able to get through this (What if a company sells information to non-US-based Advertising Agency?)
In theory this would be great legislation, but unless something like this becomes Federal Law with provisions for enforcement outside the US (Through the WTO or whatever--not very likely) I doubt it will deter corporations as much as the bill originally intended.
One of the suggestions for companies in file-sharing businesses has always been to move off-shore. I might be mistaken, but I thought I had read how they have been cracking down in this as well. If not, than what prevents a business from doing the same thing? What would stop an off-shore company from collecting our information from businesses around the world and nailing us with solicitations anyway?
Just my $.02 on the issue, I could be blatantly misinformed with my understanding of this.
I used to work for a Giant Eagle Video Department store. After doing a little research and having a discussion with my manager, it became evident that a large percentage of profits comes from late fees. Even more so with DVD's, because stores do not have to buy special rental edition DVDs like they do for VHS (Rental Copy VHS ~ $80 - $100, not assuming bulk discounts, the only difference between this VHS release and one you buy from BestBuy or Circuit City is that the Rental Copy's are available at least several weeks before Customer Copy's; DVD's are released to the store and consumer at the same time and cost only~$15 - $30). Thus stores, can tack on higher late fees for DVDs (despite the fact that they pay much less for them than VHS) under the guise that DVD is the better and rarer medium.
So in short, if stores eliiminate the means for receiving late fees from customers, they are effectively killing a good portion of their profits. This idea may work for Mail-Order rentals, but I have not really seen their popularity take off as much as initially expected (anyone have specific numbers to prove/disprove this?)
Can't agree with you more about blocking pop-ups. That alone is worth switching my browser over to Mozilla for, let alone all the other features it contains now.
I did use the Opera 5.0 release, but I just wasn't that Impressed with it. People touted how streamlined it is and the smaller binary size, but figure in Java and you're already back up over 10 megs. Besides, with memory as cheap as it is now (I got 512M for $25 during early summer), I just can't see many other Developers taking the time to work on their browsers performance (Obviously there are those that do--I don't want to make this a troll post)
Using Mozilla Build 2002020208 to post this. Just gotta mention that the project is looking better and better by the day. Tabbed browsing is really one of the best features I've seen in a browser (at least on the Netscape or IE front--not sure what Opera or any other browsers have been up to). After suffering through Netscape 4.7, 6.0 (the newer releases are a lot better) and IE 5.5 at work, it's great to see that the Mozilla Builds are reaching an everyday usability level (I've found it be more stable that all of the aforementioned browsers)
For those who are complaining about the amount of time Mozilla is taking to reach 1.0.0, all I have to say is take a look at the original Netscape 6 release (gag).
On a side note, is anyone else planning to attend the Developer's Conference at CMU mentioned on the (mozilla.org) page? More info located here
As a undergrad student in Information Sciences (my shitty school doesn't offer Computer Science, so we're more oriented to management), I really couldn't agree with this article more.
Most of the people I have had the experience with don't really know why they're in the field. Very few of them would be able to do anything in Linux, let alone run an installation and configure the sucker. They're just in it for the money; they're going to get a rude awakening once they find out how much the job market in this area (Pittsburgh) has really tightened up for a good-paying entry-level position.
It's not completely their fault. Sure they could do a lot of hobbiest work and research, but most of them just aren't that interested in computers. The school is to blame too, they give us our rudimentry MS Suite classes, a lousy crop of programming classes, and a slew of management courses. Unix isn't even covered in any of the classes at the school, C is *just* beginning to be taught, while Visual Basic and Desktop Publishing using MS Office have been around for ages.
Just a point of view from somebody actually at college right now. You hate to admit it, but it's the facts--I know 1 other student at this school who is capable of running a Linux box; and that's not very likely to change any time soon unless the demand for this type of knowledge increases.
But hell, I'm happy--makes it a lot easier for me to get a job out in the market.
that whole thing with Microsoft claiming it patented streaming music (or music content) on the Internet. (If I remember correctly) They were granted a patent for something like this and everybody had pretty much the same reaction then.
Nothing has happened to music on the internet since then, and I wouldn't expect anything to portable players either.
Slashdot Mirror
Some buyout from ZDNet or Vice Versa (or partnership or whatever. Gamespot was picked to close down because 90% of the pages were hard-coded HTML where as GameSpot used FrontPage or whatever WYSIWYG Editor. Factor in better marketing support for GameSpot at the time, and it wasn't too tough of a decision for ZDNet/C-Net to make. Shame too, 'cause Gamecenter was the premier site out there for Gaming News. (They had articles like this constantly and had a great hardware feature as well--something Gamespot is lacking).
If anyone doesn't believe me, check out some of their pages here. The newest ones (from Late Feb 2001/Early March 2001 will probably redirect you to GameSpot, so don't bother.)
If you want the very last page they made, then you want to check here here (Gotta love Archive.org)
Granted it has its shortcomings, but I'm pretty sure I've never played a game (this is including every one of the Final Fantasy and Madden games) more than I played Starcraft (and the Brood Wars expansion). For a good year and a half of my life I pretty much played nothing else.
The games greatness didn't necessarily lie in its features, (TA was much better looking; still had the build-gather-amass troops-rush problem in a lot of cases) but in its storyline and multiplayer modes. It was really the first RTS game to have Internet play planned for the start. Sure there were problems with kidiez running out on games on you and other issues, but for the most part, the Blizzard Ladder system provided a great way to compete for both fun and competition. (Still remember reading writeups of every match in the tournaments on starcraft.org--too bad the damned site is unviewable now in Mozilla).
As far as the storyline goes, who doesn't remember Kerrigan's infestation or the Protoss Hero's (can't remember his name now--kinda killing my argument here) sacrifice. The Brood War expansion was a masterpiece as well--bringing back Kerrigan as the Zerg Hero, showing the uneasy alliance between the Dark Brethren of the Protoss, and of course the UED, who you just grew to hate. The storyline of the games were so great, that at several points I didn't care about the gameplay, I just wanted to see the Cinematics and the Mission Briefings.
I'll admit that I haven't been as active in the genre as I once was, and could have had as much fun with another game, but it was Starcraft that really won me over.
Looking foward to Warcraft III to provide the same level of greatness in 'net play and in the storyline.
Keep in mind, this is only the third day of beta testing. Therefore, it's most likely WAY to early for me to be making such judgements. But these are my first impressions. Expect the game to change greatly from now until it's eventual release. As Blizzard will be releasing a lot of game balance patches during the beta to see what happens.
Oh yeah, to be expected, I followed starcraft.org during the Brood Wars beta and they made change after change to play balancing.
'preciate the feedback though, kinda disappointed in the initial impression, but I'll keep following the news on it. Not like it'll matter though, I've bought every damned game from them as it is (more than once in several cases when my CD collection got stolen), and I doubt I'll stop now.
Check here for another excellent synopsis of Turn Based Strategy Games from Gamespot (and to think I hated this site when Gamecenter closed and began redirecting to it)
[Repost from some of my Replies to other Comments]
Part 2 located here.
My fault for not posting it in the first place (hopefully they'll update it when they get a chance).
It will clear up a lot of the posts I am seeing about "They missed xxx!!"
How is Warcraft III looking? All the reviews give it nothing, but praise, but I've come to expect that from pretty much any Blizzard game being reviewed (They take forever to make a game, but they usually do it right). I'd be interested to know how the Hero and RP aspect of it came out from an actual beta tester.
Actually, "other Vendors" are already part of Windows Update. For example, if you have a 3Com 905-C and you are running an old driver, Windows Update will get the driver from 3Com for you.
Drive-wise, and only through Windows-Approved Drivers AFAIK (ie. They won't update with a 3Com Driver that has not gone through Windows testing)
I'm referring to changing functionability of the software per a Third-Party's Request
Two Parts to the article:
Gamespot has got an excellent article (in Two Parts)
Part 2
They are all covered in that section.
[ From Part 1 of the article:
It's worth noting here because it has the distinction of being the predecessor of a game that will figure heavily in our next segment. We'll also take a look at some of the big RTS games currently under development, as well as how the genre has continued to evolve and influence other types of games. ]
Granted my fault for not posting the second link as well, but at least read the article before you whine.
The article does an excellent job of addressing this, especially in part 2. Read the article and you'll see why this genre is evolving past that point and will most likely wind up turning into a new genre (either Role-Playing Strategy like Warlords Battlecry and Warcraft III, or God Strategy games like Black and White).
FYI, I should have submitted this with the article, but here is Part 2. Also here is a feature on Turn Based Strategy (ie. Civilization) which might be of interest.
[From a post by Derekg99 in the story (take it for what it's worth, the equivalent of a /. post):
You should be happy to know they have recently started distribution center in worcester ma. I think that\'s where it is, if not, it\'s somewhere in MA so it makes the delay almost non-existant...]
Might make the service more feasible for us East-Coasters.
Good point, it is far too quick to expect any deep and meaningful releases based on the 9/11 attacks (both psychologically--would be offensive to victims this quick, and pyhsically--if someone is working on something that is going to be that great, it's going to take longer than 5 months to do).
If you're looking for non-action and more of a documentary isn't looking for it in the movie theater, but on CNN, A&E, or The History Channel (The Special on the World Trade Center released in the weeks after 9/11 on The History Channel was an excellent documentary--it was made before 9/11, but had added commentary where the commercials would normally go)
And yeah, right now any US Military Movie is going to do fantastic considering the Patriotism/Natoinalism abundant in the US right now--the same reason Bush has an 85% approval rating right now; you think he would even be over 60% or even 50% at this point in his term without the 9/11 disasters, when even the most popular presidents in our history were lucky to have 55% after their first year? (This is not an attack or support of him, that's for another discussion altogether)
The same has been true after any successful military campaign. Fickle to say, but it'll die off--it might take a few more years, but soon enough there will be another government scandal or more Enron fiascos to bring to light the negatives of the country once again. And then the normal military movies' popularity will die down and a 9/11 movie will be worthwhile and popular--if nothing else to remember and mourn.
[OT] This was and is the defining moment of the 15-30 year old generation. It is the first truly remarkable event that impacted so many that has happened in years (aside from various government scandals of course). And yes, we had the Gulf War, but for the most part, that was a campaign in which we measured American casualties in the 100's, not thousands.
[/OT]
Pretty much what everyone else is saying here. You gotta be watching 6+ movies a month (more than I usually rent as it is--I'd almost feel obligated to watch bad movies) and live on the West Coast. And it seems to me that if you watch 10+ movies a month, you're much better off getting a pass at one of your local Video Rental Stores (ie. I know Blockbuster had a $20 DVD pass that let you get one DVD a night for a month) As long as you return the movies on time (granted a pain and definitly the bane of Brick & Mortar stores), you can rent 30 movies a month. Sure you might have some difficulty getting the latest releases, but from what everyone else has posted this is just as big a problem with NetFlix as any other place. (Actually worse, because at least you can call up a store and nag them to see if its in, or just keep checking and hope you get lucky--I know Blockbuster, Hollywood Video, and the local chains (Giant Eagle Video and Instant Reply) stock 50+ VHS copies and 20+ DVD copies of latest releases) NetFlix will suffer from discount pricing too, because they're really only buying for one distribution center--maybe the equivalent of 20-50 Brick & Mortar Centers; would be interested to see exact numbers. God knows how many Blockbusters there are out there and discounts they probably get from basically buying through one account.
So basically the service is great if:
1) You live on the West Coast
2) You rent more than 5+ movies, but less than 15 per month
3) You're basically looking for more obscure releases and aren't counting on getting the latest releases immediately.
>> Someone needs to dope slap the folks who Ok these little things.
You mean the users who just install it blindly and don't bother reading the Fine Print? I can understand people not reading the License for every little Internet Download they install, but for as often as you install an Operating System and especially a new one, the user is at fault for this just as much as MS. (Granted I can't really see anyone, myself included seeing something like this and just refusing the OS install--they do tend to screw you over like that in the licenses).
You are right though, MS is heading back in the wrong direction after (dare I say it) something of an improvement (albeit small)
[From the Article:It says Microsoft may "download onto your computer such security updates that a secure content owner has requested that MS, Microsoft Corporation, or their subsidiaries distribute."]
Does this mean that if say a music distributor reaches an agreement with MS to send music over WMA that they can request MS to check for non-licensed files? Or can they request MS to implemented some form of CrippleWare into Media Player? (granted your own fault if you're listening to music on it with all the published concerns regarding privacy and the software)
Like everyone else has pretty much said, the Windows Update Feature doesn't really bother me much, but allowing updates requested from other Vendors kind of does--especially if it is a background process that I don't know about.
Whelp, missed one of the whole points of this. Not sure how I got so focused on the security aspect. Feel free to mod the previous post down due to stupidity.
It'd be useful, but again can't see it becoming mainstream, be kind of convenient in the whole (SpeedPass concept of the NY/PA/etc turnpike. Load up your basket and drive.
I need caffeine
Good point. What's to really stop a terrorist from changing the tag on a real gun to that of a novelty gun or a pager? Okay...that's an extreme example, but hell somebody got on a plane with a shoe bomb for crying out loud. (Better yet, what about those jokers changing tags to something that would be of a concern to security personnel? If it's that easy to ping the things in the first place, it's probably that easy to change what it replies as well--at least for somebody bored enough--and unless there is some type of recourse/law against changing it, there's not much you can do to people that do this...are they going to make you sign a contract before you buy something? or do you know agree to a license for just walking into a store now? like a store-entrance license (if you do not agree to the terms of this store, exit from the store immediately)
I just can't see this actually helping security at all. It would be too expensive to implement, (not to mention all the old products that don't have them), and would really have no great benefits in terms of security other than to lull naive people into a falser sense of it than we already have. This just seems like another stupid scheme to invade our privacy further, while not really providing any benefits to security personnel or consumers.
The only way I could see this working is if they don't notify consumers about it. I could see them attempting this, but the way the manufacturing process is described (replace the bar-code) I wouldn't think it'd take that long for somebody to figure it out. (How long did those copy-protected CD's go before word was out? Oh yeah that's right.)
Hell even if it does what its supposed to, what good does that do? Uhh...sir, we see that you have a cell phone on you...well...umm...carry on I guess. (and if they actually got the point of putting it on handguns or weapons, then god help us if we need RF barcodes to detect them).
Maybe I'm just missing something really obvious here...please correct me if I'm wrong.
Thanks for the response, helps me get a better grasp on this--especially with the International Aspect. Sounds like you guys have much better legislation for consumer advocacy and privacy than in the US. Too many people think the Internet is US-only, while it turns out, we have by far one of the lowest political understandings of technology: including the Internet (Why else would we have the DMCA).
Although I guess I could live in China and be stuck behind a country-wide firewall (then again, who knows where the FBIs sniffing program (Carnivore?) is leading us to--probably a false sense of privacy, which is even worse than not having one in the first place). Ah well, been hearing it for years now that privacy doesn't exist anymore; guess it was only a matter of time before its completely shot.
Obviously you are much more informed than the average Internet user who just throws their information out to everyone, but you definitely have the right idea. I find for the most part when I have to fill out forms for US companies, that I just make up the addresses or send them to a junk-Email account somewhere that I never check. Too many times now I somehow end up getting solicitations from a site who claimed I would not receive any and strangely from 5 other companies I've never heard of.
Obviously this will be a huge victory for consumers and their privacy rights and not entirely that unfair to businesses. IANAL, but as near as I can tell, this does not block corporations from sending Snail Mail or Email solicitations, but only blocks them from sharing your information (without your knowledge) to a third-party.
What type of enforcement does this provide against International Agencies? (ie. A corporation with off-shore facilities for the computers and either US housed facilities) IMHO it just seems as though there would be too many loopholes for corporations to be able to get through this (What if a company sells information to non-US-based Advertising Agency?)
In theory this would be great legislation, but unless something like this becomes Federal Law with provisions for enforcement outside the US (Through the WTO or whatever--not very likely) I doubt it will deter corporations as much as the bill originally intended.
One of the suggestions for companies in file-sharing businesses has always been to move off-shore. I might be mistaken, but I thought I had read how they have been cracking down in this as well. If not, than what prevents a business from doing the same thing? What would stop an off-shore company from collecting our information from businesses around the world and nailing us with solicitations anyway?
Just my $.02 on the issue, I could be blatantly misinformed with my understanding of this.
I used to work for a Giant Eagle Video Department store. After doing a little research and having a discussion with my manager, it became evident that a large percentage of profits comes from late fees. Even more so with DVD's, because stores do not have to buy special rental edition DVDs like they do for VHS (Rental Copy VHS ~ $80 - $100, not assuming bulk discounts, the only difference between this VHS release and one you buy from BestBuy or Circuit City is that the Rental Copy's are available at least several weeks before Customer Copy's; DVD's are released to the store and consumer at the same time and cost only~$15 - $30). Thus stores, can tack on higher late fees for DVDs (despite the fact that they pay much less for them than VHS) under the guise that DVD is the better and rarer medium.
So in short, if stores eliiminate the means for receiving late fees from customers, they are effectively killing a good portion of their profits. This idea may work for Mail-Order rentals, but I have not really seen their popularity take off as much as initially expected (anyone have specific numbers to prove/disprove this?)
Can't agree with you more about blocking pop-ups. That alone is worth switching my browser over to Mozilla for, let alone all the other features it contains now.
I did use the Opera 5.0 release, but I just wasn't that Impressed with it. People touted how streamlined it is and the smaller binary size, but figure in Java and you're already back up over 10 megs. Besides, with memory as cheap as it is now (I got 512M for $25 during early summer), I just can't see many other Developers taking the time to work on their browsers performance (Obviously there are those that do--I don't want to make this a troll post)
Using Mozilla Build 2002020208 to post this. Just gotta mention that the project is looking better and better by the day. Tabbed browsing is really one of the best features I've seen in a browser (at least on the Netscape or IE front--not sure what Opera or any other browsers have been up to). After suffering through Netscape 4.7, 6.0 (the newer releases are a lot better) and IE 5.5 at work, it's great to see that the Mozilla Builds are reaching an everyday usability level (I've found it be more stable that all of the aforementioned browsers)
For those who are complaining about the amount of time Mozilla is taking to reach 1.0.0, all I have to say is take a look at the original Netscape 6 release (gag).
On a side note, is anyone else planning to attend the Developer's Conference at CMU mentioned on the (mozilla.org) page? More info located here
I've only got a semester left, but I'm going to Carnegie Mellon for a graduate degree this fall.
Thanks for the advice though, always nice to hear from somebody who's obviously more experienced than I am.
As a undergrad student in Information Sciences (my shitty school doesn't offer Computer Science, so we're more oriented to management), I really couldn't agree with this article more.
Most of the people I have had the experience with don't really know why they're in the field. Very few of them would be able to do anything in Linux, let alone run an installation and configure the sucker. They're just in it for the money; they're going to get a rude awakening once they find out how much the job market in this area (Pittsburgh) has really tightened up for a good-paying entry-level position.
It's not completely their fault. Sure they could do a lot of hobbiest work and research, but most of them just aren't that interested in computers. The school is to blame too, they give us our rudimentry MS Suite classes, a lousy crop of programming classes, and a slew of management courses. Unix isn't even covered in any of the classes at the school, C is *just* beginning to be taught, while Visual Basic and Desktop Publishing using MS Office have been around for ages.
Just a point of view from somebody actually at college right now. You hate to admit it, but it's the facts--I know 1 other student at this school who is capable of running a Linux box; and that's not very likely to change any time soon unless the demand for this type of knowledge increases.
But hell, I'm happy--makes it a lot easier for me to get a job out in the market.
that whole thing with Microsoft claiming it patented streaming music (or music content) on the Internet. (If I remember correctly) They were granted a patent for something like this and everybody had pretty much the same reaction then.
Nothing has happened to music on the internet since then, and I wouldn't expect anything to portable players either.