Gotta love the OSS trolls. Amazing how on this dual boot box, Vista64 completes scene renders in Blender much quicker than it does in Ubuntu. The viewport is also quite a bit snappier in Windows. Sometimes mixing the two in various ways works better than claiming to be any sort of "purist".
Plus, Gimp + random assortment of graphical apps don't really hold a candle to Adobe's CS4 right now. With the additions of CUDA/PhysX accelerated plugins and OpenGl accelerated viewport, it's a whole different world editting large images while Gimp, well, gimps along doing the best it can. It's still a superior choice for a cost concious person, but not really in the same level of application nowadays.
Oh he's just trolling. I've got a KDE box sitting next to this one with 1GB in it and it would be hard pressed to have all that crap open without being swap city, even painful with a set of Raptor drives.
If, he's actually being honest, he really doesn't have any clue what it's actually like to sit at a workstation with 6-12gb of ram, superfetch enabled with an intel SSD holding the OS and swap. Lightyears of a difference.
Amen to that. Every crazy Vista issue I've heard about in the last year or so is due to hardware vendors dumping garbage products into the market and not writing proper drivers.
Honestly, I shop for my Windows hardware the same I shop for Linux hardware. Get a list of potential parts, google their part numbers with common key words like "supported", "drivers", etc. Hit the manufacturers forums and look for patterns, and if there's something noteworthy, like "doesnt work on computers with more than 3GB of RAM", I take it off my list.
There's just too many hardware/software vendors out there who will slap an unauthorized "Vista Certified" sticker on the box of random trash to make money. In the end, responsibility of being a smart consumer lies with the end user. I know it sucks, but people are mean.
I'm getting more proffessional support for Liunux from the Linux community and from paid Linux proffessionals than you can get for Windows from anyone!...and Linux proffessionals do not tell you that you are using wrong hardware or running the wrong kind of Linux.
Oh yes they will. I've seen more than one flip out over package management and break the company mold by putting their preferred distribution on a system to quickly solve a problem rather than spend the time carving up the currently installed distro to fit a need.
Well, that's what happens when you call consumer level support. They are for helping granny make that big E icon open to get to the interwebs. Now, if you have a problem with Windows 2008 Adv Server, it's a bit of a different story, but like getting REAL support for Linux, it's not free. Most companies don't have the time or money for some geeks to sit around spitballing on forums while their database server is offline. They usually pay someone to help when productivity is on the line.
I don't know why this sort of thing is such a topic. It's well-known people do not call support for their operating system for home systems. They usually bug a geek in the family, drag it down to microcenter/compusa/etc to have Windows reinstalled, or just buy another cheap computer. On a personal level, I've never known a single Win95/98/XP/Vista user who actually called Microsoft unless they needed a new activation code.
Anyway, the whole point of them pushing up the requirements for "Windows 7 Compatible" is to reduce the need for support to begin with. Look, I remember when Vista came around. I installed it on a once fancy AMD box with all the bells and whistles for 2005 and it ran like garbage. Now, I've got an i7 with all the current-day bells and whistles and have not had as much as one driver or compatibility issue while running 64 bit. Don't get me started on the lack of joy running Debian or Ubuntu desktops 64-bit. That'll head me down troll avenue as far as mods are concerned, but it's honestly more effort than joy regarding apps just working out of the box, or trying to run older 32-bit games without trouble. Usually if it isn't in the package tree, I just leave it alone at this point.
Well, it's not like nvidia just found out ATI was about to release a DX11 card. They are both sticking to long-standing roadmaps and there's not really anything to be surprised about.
I don't think anyone is in a panic. Nvidia's GT200 line is still viable and there's no reason to rush out and upgrade until there are at least two manufacturers selling DX11 cards. Hell, there's no reason to buy DX11 support prior to DX11 actually being supported by anything. I recall rushing out to buy a DX9 card to get it early and, man, that was disappointing as it didn't perform very well once DX9 came out.
Just keep in mind, Internet "journalism" thrives on fanboi-ism when it comes to competing companies. It's always worded to sound like there's some epic battle where the loser goes home with knots on their head. In reality, they'll end up making more money off whatever big whitebox maker picks their low-end business class cards for their cheap desktops than their cutting edge products.
Yeah, I never saw wood screws with a rounded head on them like that. Not to mention chrom dipped. I mean, if you were going to go to the trouble of chrome dipping some wood screws you sanded down to look like machine screws, you really have to be diabolical in all the wrong ways.
As soon as I saw 'Fudzilla' and 'nVidia' in the same sentence, I knew it was going to be a bucket of accusations. From the moment nVidia released the GTX295, I've noticed their articles always have a tag about nVidia being shitty or deceptive in some manner.
At first, I thought he was an ATI fanboy, but from other comments I've seen, I don't think he cares all that much about hardware performance as attempting to stick it to companies he doesn't exactly care for.
That said, I read his site daily since it often does have articles that end up being accurate and give a teenie peek at what's around the corner.
Because probably 5% of Slashdot users have ever bothered to look up the definition of trolling, thus are doomed to just mark anything they don't like with arbitrary tags. Once one person does it, another person with no idea what a troll really is comes along and goes "oh yeah, that's a troll, for sure!"
Sort of. WoW's PvP servers have been a success for people who like the freedom to chop up noobs or start fights in opposite faction towns.
I got two characters to 60 on a PVP server, and quite honestly, didn't mind the occasional visit from a ganker. It also made going fishing with someone of the opposite faction a real matter of trust. More often than not, people would just be chill. But, by all lore in the game, you are at war with them and should be able to attack if you want.
People who get their panties in a bunch over a gank are best off sticking with the care bear servers.
don't worry, they don't run much better with a GMA950 under Windows, either. Blame it being a Mac, since Mac picked a sucky video chipset for your system.
Owning both, I can safely say, for the same money you could have given up a little case polish and OSX for much more powerful hardware.
Re:It gives you something just as bad...
on
Review: Spore
·
· Score: 1
You might not give a shit, but a lot of people do.
It's the nature of micro-payment software on consoles. As you say in your own post, things are going this direction all over. Yes, industries like gaming like to control their content.
As I said, you have the option to vote with your dollars, and as I said, I don't care and will continue to drop a few dollars here and there for games I like. Will I be sad at some point in the future when I want to go play a classic game Geometry Wars? Maybe, but there'll be enough stuff to get via micropayment on future systems to keep me distracted.
By the looks of the success of micropayment style games with DRM, I'd argue with "many people" who give a shit. Outside of/., where people repeatedly post about deciding on a console for three years (always "about to buy..") and is known for tin-foil hat overload, no, I've never met someone who cared. Maybe someday they will, and if enough people do, things might change (even retroactively). Until then, happy gaming!
We have a generation or two already who grew up on a distorted view where everything is a controversy, and any opinion about science is equal to all other opinions
Just teach your kids the broadcast and cable news are evil entities full of political propaganda and outright lies.
IRL our day to day is filled with very little controversy, it's only if you get sucked into media under the false hope of being "plugged in".
Tune out and let the politicians and CEOs have their hypertension.
Re:It gives you something just as bad...
on
Review: Spore
·
· Score: 1
Read carefully. If it's not connected to the Internet this is a problem. If connected to the Internet, it simply does as I stated and just auths the game against your XBL account.
Also as far as people who have a 360 goes, how many of them download games from the Internet then disconnect the console from the network? Nobody I know. That tool is to fix a problem with offline play of Arcade titles that only happens sometimes.
If we can't copy them until they expire and enter the public domain, that means to do things legally: 1) we have to preserve the originals and the technology to access them for a hundred years. 2) 100 years from now, not only are we coping with rare antiquated technology, deteriorated originals, but we have to break the DRM too. 3) And its not clear that even if we did all that would we be clear of a DMCA violation, because it doesn't actually require that the drm being circumvented apply to a work actually still protected by copyright. On the upside, since its out of copyright, no one should have standing to sue... unless violating the DMCA is criminal (or is criminal 100 years from now).
Again, I don't see any need to grand stand about copyrights on this. If I pay $5 for a copy of Galaga, I'm not going to whine about it not being around forever. If you don't like it, don't buy it, but really. Nobody really gives a shit. These are cheapass ports of classics and PC shareware. You can buy most titles on different platforms and if preservation is your goal, get the original arcade roms and PC versions. If just interested in sitting on the sofa with friends to hoot and hollar while playing some XBL title, then this is fine too.
Nice numbered list, though.
Re:It gives you something just as bad...
on
Review: Spore
·
· Score: 2, Informative
I've been hearing the same thing about "3 years" being the life cycle on a console, but I bought mine and three years are almost up and it's still going strong. According to your post, I've got another three years to go!:)
Yes, it just works. In a way the average geek doesn't understand. It just works in a way you pull it out of the packaging, plug it in, and anyone from a 4 year old to Grandpa can be playing games in a few minutes. Games don't lock up or crash because your video drivers are out of date, you don't have IMs popping up to knock your game back down to the taskbar the very moment you almost slayed the dragon, etc. There's a whole different level of simplicity when it comes to consoles.
The 360 is also $199 at Walmart. Sure, you can drop a lot more, but that's just like with the games themselves. So what? This has always been the case. With legacy support, it's not a very big deal (all my xbox1 stuff works fine on the 360).
Re:It gives you something just as bad...
on
Review: Spore
·
· Score: 1
I'm not entirely sure what the restrictions are on the PS3 or Xbox360, but you can bet your ass they are there too in some form or other.
And "I'll bet your ass" (whatever that means) micropayment titles are easily moved from one Xbox to the next because it's tied to your XBox Live information. If you go over to a friend's house, you can simply log in your controller manually, download the game again (free), and everyone can enjoy that title. Then when you want to go home, you log the controller out and the game will simply show as inactive if your friend tries to launch it while you aren't there.
Also, if you xbox dies, just keep the hard drive and slap it into a new xbox. Everything should work.
If the drive itself dies, get a new one and log in with your account. Again, go download whatever you bought before and it'll work.
Of course, the problems will crop up some day when the games are no longer available for download. But 99% of the general public isn't in this for a permanent investment to begin with, they are dropping 5-10 bucks for an indefinite amount of time being entertained.
Re:It gives you something just as bad...
on
Review: Spore
·
· Score: 1
Way to put the work of bug fixing and updating things like Dashboard on the 360 into a questionable light with all the "quotes".;-)
A note on the parent, on the 360, it's forever changed the moment you insert a new game into the drive. Save game content, expansions and updates, etc gets stored on the drive and your game achievements get fired off to Xbox Live.
Because some people might want to buy them who already own set top boxes? Or maybe they want to use them as paperweights. Who cares, it's not up to the government to stop people buying obsolete things.
Just like the government shouldn't be flipping the bill on wiring up neighborhoods for broadband Internet?
I think he should offer refunds if you "don't like it", but your logic doesn't support anything. Personally, I would be more willing to buy games if I knew I could get my money back for the bad ones. If I get bad food at a restaurant, I can get my money back. Even if I've eaten part of it! (Well, the decent ones. The rest aren't worth eating at anyhow.)
Bingo. Clothing stores take 'no questions asked' returns knowing a percentage of people bought an outfit simply to wear it once and return it.
Books sometimes (depending on retailer) get read, then returned.
And let's face it, anyone who wants to burn a non-DRM company can do it simply by posting a copy of their software on usenet or seeding a torrent.
I disagree. See, I've worked at a company which often sold their "retail" product, then would offer enrollment into a "beta" plan if the retail package was giving them trouble. We intentionally kept "beta" status on a particular project to ensure nobody would ever be able to hold us responsible for the package, but had glorious websites, heavy pressure from sales people, etc all urging paying clients this direction.
I find it more "duh" for people to actively market and sell "beta" status software.
But in either case, it helps to know that if it's completely DOA, I can return it.
But only if you've sat there working with technical support until the company is satisfied they've done all they can to get the software working. What if I don't have hours to waste and would simply like a refund? Then I have to pay an unknown return fee.
This is also only stating what many software companies state internally. I've even gotten money back on Xbox Live Arcade games due to bugs by simply pestering Microsoft. This is after pressing 'A' through many screens telling me how there are no refunds.
If anyone wander's on over to Stardock's website, you will find they have a return policy, but it's got all kinds of ugly exceptions.
I think they should really consider having the same policies as he is demanding of the gaming industry.
Pot.. Kettle.. Black..
Honestly, I really do not like to say it, but I am thinking if any anti-DRM movement sprung up effective enough to get traction, companies would likely consider console-only release, rather than face the "risk" associated with releasing for a PC-- no matter the real costs vs unreasonable fear.. Regardless of who says they are "interested" in front of the press.
I agree. There's no way on earth the number of people who would have to know would be kept quiet. Let's face it, regardless of how potent the NSA is in some aspects, when they work with private companies the hearsay and rumors of what's going on will get out very quickly. Especially for anything "large scale".
Quite honestly, I feel stories like this are propaganda. If you can trick some guy considering joining some organization meant to harm the US, then it's probably not so bad of a thing to make him think he's always being watched.
Based on the above, I don't feel much reason to slap a tinfoil hat on myself and act like I care. Wow, they'll know where I buy groceries and maybe learn my super secret fishing spot.
Slashdot Mirror
Gotta love the OSS trolls. Amazing how on this dual boot box, Vista64 completes scene renders in Blender much quicker than it does in Ubuntu. The viewport is also quite a bit snappier in Windows. Sometimes mixing the two in various ways works better than claiming to be any sort of "purist".
Plus, Gimp + random assortment of graphical apps don't really hold a candle to Adobe's CS4 right now. With the additions of CUDA/PhysX accelerated plugins and OpenGl accelerated viewport, it's a whole different world editting large images while Gimp, well, gimps along doing the best it can. It's still a superior choice for a cost concious person, but not really in the same level of application nowadays.
Oh he's just trolling. I've got a KDE box sitting next to this one with 1GB in it and it would be hard pressed to have all that crap open without being swap city, even painful with a set of Raptor drives.
If, he's actually being honest, he really doesn't have any clue what it's actually like to sit at a workstation with 6-12gb of ram, superfetch enabled with an intel SSD holding the OS and swap. Lightyears of a difference.
Amen to that. Every crazy Vista issue I've heard about in the last year or so is due to hardware vendors dumping garbage products into the market and not writing proper drivers.
Honestly, I shop for my Windows hardware the same I shop for Linux hardware. Get a list of potential parts, google their part numbers with common key words like "supported", "drivers", etc. Hit the manufacturers forums and look for patterns, and if there's something noteworthy, like "doesnt work on computers with more than 3GB of RAM", I take it off my list.
There's just too many hardware/software vendors out there who will slap an unauthorized "Vista Certified" sticker on the box of random trash to make money. In the end, responsibility of being a smart consumer lies with the end user. I know it sucks, but people are mean.
I'm getting more proffessional support for Liunux from the Linux community and from paid Linux proffessionals than you can get for Windows from anyone! ...and Linux proffessionals do not tell you that you are using wrong hardware or running the wrong kind of Linux.
Oh yes they will. I've seen more than one flip out over package management and break the company mold by putting their preferred distribution on a system to quickly solve a problem rather than spend the time carving up the currently installed distro to fit a need.
Think database servers and Redhat.
Well, that's what happens when you call consumer level support. They are for helping granny make that big E icon open to get to the interwebs. Now, if you have a problem with Windows 2008 Adv Server, it's a bit of a different story, but like getting REAL support for Linux, it's not free. Most companies don't have the time or money for some geeks to sit around spitballing on forums while their database server is offline. They usually pay someone to help when productivity is on the line.
I don't know why this sort of thing is such a topic. It's well-known people do not call support for their operating system for home systems. They usually bug a geek in the family, drag it down to microcenter/compusa/etc to have Windows reinstalled, or just buy another cheap computer. On a personal level, I've never known a single Win95/98/XP/Vista user who actually called Microsoft unless they needed a new activation code.
Anyway, the whole point of them pushing up the requirements for "Windows 7 Compatible" is to reduce the need for support to begin with. Look, I remember when Vista came around. I installed it on a once fancy AMD box with all the bells and whistles for 2005 and it ran like garbage. Now, I've got an i7 with all the current-day bells and whistles and have not had as much as one driver or compatibility issue while running 64 bit. Don't get me started on the lack of joy running Debian or Ubuntu desktops 64-bit. That'll head me down troll avenue as far as mods are concerned, but it's honestly more effort than joy regarding apps just working out of the box, or trying to run older 32-bit games without trouble. Usually if it isn't in the package tree, I just leave it alone at this point.
Well, it's not like nvidia just found out ATI was about to release a DX11 card. They are both sticking to long-standing roadmaps and there's not really anything to be surprised about.
I don't think anyone is in a panic. Nvidia's GT200 line is still viable and there's no reason to rush out and upgrade until there are at least two manufacturers selling DX11 cards. Hell, there's no reason to buy DX11 support prior to DX11 actually being supported by anything. I recall rushing out to buy a DX9 card to get it early and, man, that was disappointing as it didn't perform very well once DX9 came out.
Just keep in mind, Internet "journalism" thrives on fanboi-ism when it comes to competing companies. It's always worded to sound like there's some epic battle where the loser goes home with knots on their head. In reality, they'll end up making more money off whatever big whitebox maker picks their low-end business class cards for their cheap desktops than their cutting edge products.
Yeah, I never saw wood screws with a rounded head on them like that. Not to mention chrom dipped. I mean, if you were going to go to the trouble of chrome dipping some wood screws you sanded down to look like machine screws, you really have to be diabolical in all the wrong ways.
Agreed.
As soon as I saw 'Fudzilla' and 'nVidia' in the same sentence, I knew it was going to be a bucket of accusations. From the moment nVidia released the GTX295, I've noticed their articles always have a tag about nVidia being shitty or deceptive in some manner.
At first, I thought he was an ATI fanboy, but from other comments I've seen, I don't think he cares all that much about hardware performance as attempting to stick it to companies he doesn't exactly care for.
That said, I read his site daily since it often does have articles that end up being accurate and give a teenie peek at what's around the corner.
How about paying someone to fix Flash? It's what made me go back to Windows.
killall -9 pulseaudio
then install the flash10 beta for Linux.
It's pretty nice in comparison to what we've been dealing with in the past. Still not open source, but a lot better than before!
I don't really see it happening. Business depends too much on data security, many devices have encryption built in, https, ssh, etc, etc.
That stuff's not going away because some monkey cops think encryption is bad.
Because probably 5% of Slashdot users have ever bothered to look up the definition of trolling, thus are doomed to just mark anything they don't like with arbitrary tags. Once one person does it, another person with no idea what a troll really is comes along and goes "oh yeah, that's a troll, for sure!"
For those who don't know:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_troll
Sort of. WoW's PvP servers have been a success for people who like the freedom to chop up noobs or start fights in opposite faction towns.
I got two characters to 60 on a PVP server, and quite honestly, didn't mind the occasional visit from a ganker. It also made going fishing with someone of the opposite faction a real matter of trust. More often than not, people would just be chill. But, by all lore in the game, you are at war with them and should be able to attack if you want.
People who get their panties in a bunch over a gank are best off sticking with the care bear servers.
No more "we don't need a tank, we need a healer" rejections.
We always just said that because you were a sucky tank and couldn't keep mobs off the casters.
don't worry, they don't run much better with a GMA950 under Windows, either. Blame it being a Mac, since Mac picked a sucky video chipset for your system.
Owning both, I can safely say, for the same money you could have given up a little case polish and OSX for much more powerful hardware.
You might not give a shit, but a lot of people do.
It's the nature of micro-payment software on consoles. As you say in your own post, things are going this direction all over. Yes, industries like gaming like to control their content.
As I said, you have the option to vote with your dollars, and as I said, I don't care and will continue to drop a few dollars here and there for games I like. Will I be sad at some point in the future when I want to go play a classic game Geometry Wars? Maybe, but there'll be enough stuff to get via micropayment on future systems to keep me distracted.
By the looks of the success of micropayment style games with DRM, I'd argue with "many people" who give a shit. Outside of /., where people repeatedly post about deciding on a console for three years (always "about to buy..") and is known for tin-foil hat overload, no, I've never met someone who cared. Maybe someday they will, and if enough people do, things might change (even retroactively). Until then, happy gaming!
We have a generation or two already who grew up on a distorted view where everything is a controversy, and any opinion about science is equal to all other opinions
Just teach your kids the broadcast and cable news are evil entities full of political propaganda and outright lies.
IRL our day to day is filled with very little controversy, it's only if you get sucked into media under the false hope of being "plugged in".
Tune out and let the politicians and CEOs have their hypertension.
You'd be wrong.
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080627-more-than-a-year-too-late-microsoft-fixes-360-drm-with-license-tool.html [arstechnica.com]
Read carefully. If it's not connected to the Internet this is a problem. If connected to the Internet, it simply does as I stated and just auths the game against your XBL account.
Also as far as people who have a 360 goes, how many of them download games from the Internet then disconnect the console from the network? Nobody I know. That tool is to fix a problem with offline play of Arcade titles that only happens sometimes.
If we can't copy them until they expire and enter the public domain, that means to do things legally:
1) we have to preserve the originals and the technology to access them for a hundred years.
2) 100 years from now, not only are we coping with rare antiquated technology, deteriorated originals, but we have to break the DRM too.
3) And its not clear that even if we did all that would we be clear of a DMCA violation, because it doesn't actually require that the drm being circumvented apply to a work actually still protected by copyright. On the upside, since its out of copyright, no one should have standing to sue... unless violating the DMCA is criminal (or is criminal 100 years from now).
Again, I don't see any need to grand stand about copyrights on this. If I pay $5 for a copy of Galaga, I'm not going to whine about it not being around forever. If you don't like it, don't buy it, but really. Nobody really gives a shit. These are cheapass ports of classics and PC shareware. You can buy most titles on different platforms and if preservation is your goal, get the original arcade roms and PC versions. If just interested in sitting on the sofa with friends to hoot and hollar while playing some XBL title, then this is fine too.
Nice numbered list, though.
I've been hearing the same thing about "3 years" being the life cycle on a console, but I bought mine and three years are almost up and it's still going strong. According to your post, I've got another three years to go! :)
Yes, it just works. In a way the average geek doesn't understand. It just works in a way you pull it out of the packaging, plug it in, and anyone from a 4 year old to Grandpa can be playing games in a few minutes. Games don't lock up or crash because your video drivers are out of date, you don't have IMs popping up to knock your game back down to the taskbar the very moment you almost slayed the dragon, etc. There's a whole different level of simplicity when it comes to consoles.
The 360 is also $199 at Walmart. Sure, you can drop a lot more, but that's just like with the games themselves. So what? This has always been the case. With legacy support, it's not a very big deal (all my xbox1 stuff works fine on the 360).
I'm not entirely sure what the restrictions are on the PS3 or Xbox360, but you can bet your ass they are there too in some form or other.
And "I'll bet your ass" (whatever that means) micropayment titles are easily moved from one Xbox to the next because it's tied to your XBox Live information. If you go over to a friend's house, you can simply log in your controller manually, download the game again (free), and everyone can enjoy that title. Then when you want to go home, you log the controller out and the game will simply show as inactive if your friend tries to launch it while you aren't there.
Also, if you xbox dies, just keep the hard drive and slap it into a new xbox. Everything should work.
If the drive itself dies, get a new one and log in with your account. Again, go download whatever you bought before and it'll work.
Of course, the problems will crop up some day when the games are no longer available for download. But 99% of the general public isn't in this for a permanent investment to begin with, they are dropping 5-10 bucks for an indefinite amount of time being entertained.
Way to put the work of bug fixing and updating things like Dashboard on the 360 into a questionable light with all the "quotes". ;-)
A note on the parent, on the 360, it's forever changed the moment you insert a new game into the drive. Save game content, expansions and updates, etc gets stored on the drive and your game achievements get fired off to Xbox Live.
Because some people might want to buy them who already own set top boxes? Or maybe they want to use them as paperweights. Who cares, it's not up to the government to stop people buying obsolete things.
Just like the government shouldn't be flipping the bill on wiring up neighborhoods for broadband Internet?
I think he should offer refunds if you "don't like it", but your logic doesn't support anything. Personally, I would be more willing to buy games if I knew I could get my money back for the bad ones. If I get bad food at a restaurant, I can get my money back. Even if I've eaten part of it! (Well, the decent ones. The rest aren't worth eating at anyhow.)
Bingo. Clothing stores take 'no questions asked' returns knowing a percentage of people bought an outfit simply to wear it once and return it.
Books sometimes (depending on retailer) get read, then returned.
And let's face it, anyone who wants to burn a non-DRM company can do it simply by posting a copy of their software on usenet or seeding a torrent.
Kind of a "duh" moment there.
I disagree. See, I've worked at a company which often sold their "retail" product, then would offer enrollment into a "beta" plan if the retail package was giving them trouble. We intentionally kept "beta" status on a particular project to ensure nobody would ever be able to hold us responsible for the package, but had glorious websites, heavy pressure from sales people, etc all urging paying clients this direction.
I find it more "duh" for people to actively market and sell "beta" status software.
But in either case, it helps to know that if it's completely DOA, I can return it.
But only if you've sat there working with technical support until the company is satisfied they've done all they can to get the software working. What if I don't have hours to waste and would simply like a refund? Then I have to pay an unknown return fee.
This is also only stating what many software companies state internally. I've even gotten money back on Xbox Live Arcade games due to bugs by simply pestering Microsoft. This is after pressing 'A' through many screens telling me how there are no refunds.
If anyone wander's on over to Stardock's website, you will find they have a return policy, but it's got all kinds of ugly exceptions.
I think they should really consider having the same policies as he is demanding of the gaming industry.
Pot.. Kettle.. Black..
Honestly, I really do not like to say it, but I am thinking if any anti-DRM movement sprung up effective enough to get traction, companies would likely consider console-only release, rather than face the "risk" associated with releasing for a PC-- no matter the real costs vs unreasonable fear.. Regardless of who says they are "interested" in front of the press.
I agree. There's no way on earth the number of people who would have to know would be kept quiet. Let's face it, regardless of how potent the NSA is in some aspects, when they work with private companies the hearsay and rumors of what's going on will get out very quickly. Especially for anything "large scale".
Quite honestly, I feel stories like this are propaganda. If you can trick some guy considering joining some organization meant to harm the US, then it's probably not so bad of a thing to make him think he's always being watched.
Based on the above, I don't feel much reason to slap a tinfoil hat on myself and act like I care. Wow, they'll know where I buy groceries and maybe learn my super secret fishing spot.