Is this still the gmail that you don't pay for btw?
Schools get Google Apps for free (that is to say, they don't pay for the licenses) but it's the full-fledged Google Apps that normally costs $50/user/year. It's effectively the same as the enterprise version.
I think you'd better read your linked page more carefully. A thousand million is one billion. A quintillion is a thousand thousand thousand thousand million.
I watched a riveting documentary called McLibel a few weeks ago about activists who fought a McDonalds libel lawsuit to quell their inflammatory leaflet. Next to the harassment of photographers and the public security cameras it's yet another example of Britain's hostility toward those who exercise their individual rights.
Take the time to watch this important and humble film. It shows how capitalism unabashedly exploits plaintiff-friendly British laws to its own ends.
The game is actually remarkably attractive, and the cel shading makes faraway objects very recognizable. Screenshots never do justice to games these days - you need to see it in action.
The third-person perspective is about the only similarity. MDK gives you a static character who can use items, while Champions Online lets you create your own character that levels up and improves over time.
In terms of art style, MDK is totally oozing with personality and quirkiness while Champions Online is really very bland. The only really creative stuff comes from the players' own character designs.
MDK is one of my favourite games ever, and I see pretty much zero resemblance between this MMO and that single player third-person shooter. What correlations did you notice?
someone who hasn't used Windows since version 3.1 could still get around pretty well in Vista or 7.
Try replacing 3.1 with 95. I'd argue that there was a big leap from 3.1 to 95 - namely, the start menu and taskbar - so I doubt you'd find someone who could do that. Things have remained relatively static since then though.
You're not giving 3.1 enough credit. There's still many conventions from 3.1 that they use today in 7. For instance, dragging by title bar, double clicking title bar to resize the window, double clicking the icon at the top left-hand corner to close the window, tiling and cascading onscreen windows, etc. Even Notepad is pretty much the same.
Maybe windows should provide a better way to move windows then. In ubuntu, I hold the super key, and then I can drag the window around by clicking and dragging any part of it.
That sounds like a very good feature, but I don't think Windows needs to consider adding it just because some developers break their existing UI standards. They should add a convenient feature like that for its own merits, not because they're being provoked.
What has Apple done like this? The biggest annoyance like that I had was when I switched to OSX and the switched CMD-N from creating a new directory in Finder to creating a new Finder window. Microsoft has been doing this non-standard GUI crap for ages in their media players and the Office ribbon crap annoys the crap out of me...
To be fair to Apple, their deviations from UI standards apply to their software on Windows OSes. Obviously they're the ones who create the standards for their own OSes.
I do agree with you 100% about Windows Media Player. I think the last time they used the ordinary Windows UI was around version 6 or so, and they're up to 11 or 12 now. I can't agree with you on Office though because I love the ribbon. That's just my opinion though - doesn't mean you're wrong.
If you were a Chrome user you wouldn't be so quick to call foul. Press ctrl-T a few times and you'll instantly see what I mean. The title bar gets filled with tabs and the draggable/clickable part is razor thin and has no textual title at all. That's a far cry from the way 99.9% of Windows software operates.
Despite the UI changes, someone who hasn't used Windows since version 3.1 could still get around pretty well in Vista or 7. That's what I'm talking about - the overarching similarities used throughout the Windows brand. In my opinion the only developers who ignore these standards are either egotistical or hostile toward Microsoft.
Chrome is better optimised for small screens and maximising window real estate
That's a fantastic point. I've got a 22" monitor at home and use a fairly high resolution laptop at work so I'm sure I'm out of touch with those with small monitors and netbooks. I still argue that disposing windows UI/UX standards is not the best way to accomplish this task, though.
If there's one thing I hate about Chrome it's the way the tabs replace the normal title bar functionality. It makes the window harder to drag, harder to maximize, and basically throws 25 years of Windows usability standards out the window. I expect something like this from Apple but not from Firefox (or Google for that matter).
A nonstandard UI is the epitome of developer arrogance. The tabs-on-bottom mockup is excellent, but the tabs-on-top concept needs to die on the drawing board.
On the flip side, if Firefox 4.0 supports some of the new Windows 7 standards like Aero Peek controls I will be very pleased!
There is no longer any company named Maxis. EA published their games for many years but has completely absorbed the company now. Will Wright, the founder of Maxis, doesn't even work there anymore. The Sims 3 is now a first-party EA game by all definitions and, for the record, it is a really fantastic game.
I've been looking forward to an expansion for a while. AoC is a great game that has completely shed the shackles of its lousy launch, but could certainly benefit from an injection of new content. However, I was very disappointed to read this in the press release:
No matter what the choice may be, adventurers will find a wealth of new high-level content, but also low-level content in Khitai available immediately after leaving Tortage Island.
Aw man.. we still have to endure 8 hours of Tortage every time we create a new character? It's a beautiful area with great quests, but every AoC player has played through that entire area about 12 times. It's time to introduce a new starting area. I don't care how they rationalize it in the story but it must be done.
Your examples are really fun for single player RPGs, but in an MMO the balance is very important in PVE and in PVP. My wife and I played Age of Conan for several months with her playing a ranger and me playing a melee guy. This was a great combo for about 2 months until our guys were pretty high level, at which point the ranger became unbelievably powerful and my melee guy couldn't even get a hit in. I'd spent months on my character and it gradually became less and less fun. If I were controlling all characters in my party it wouldn't matter if one was overpowered, but when you're stuck with a dud it's pretty tedious.
It does sound like Digsby is a good fit for you. I don't really consider social networking messages to be "instant messages" per se, but if they're important to you then that's something you need to account for.
In other comments people have stated that the negative press has prompted the Digsby staff to be more clear about the implications of the adware and how to avoid installing it, so you're probably safe to continue using it.
I actually have 2 TRS-80s under my desk, but I'm talking about modern hardware. Motherboards, CPUs, and GPUs run hotter and are more tightly packed with microscopic components than ever before.
I heard this a long time ago and thought it was an old wife's tale, but I've asked two electrical engineers and they both say it's absolutely true. With CPUs exceeding one trillion transistors in an area the size of a thumbnail it's obvious how sensitive the components are and how precise they must be.
If you use Windows you should try Miranda. It's got a low footprint, it has all the great features you could wish for from an IM client (except video chat), and it's free. Plus it supports Jabber and Gtalk whereas the free version of Trlilian does not.
It's really bad to turn your PC off when you're done with it unless you don't use it very often. While power is coursing through your PC the components heat up and expand slightly. When you cut the power it cools back down and shrinks again. If you do this enough the microscopic connections start to fail and your computer either stops working or starts sparking.
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Is this still the gmail that you don't pay for btw?
Schools get Google Apps for free (that is to say, they don't pay for the licenses) but it's the full-fledged Google Apps that normally costs $50/user/year. It's effectively the same as the enterprise version.
I think I'd better read your link more carefully too because I was wrong. A quintillion is actually ten thousand thousand million.
I think you'd better read your linked page more carefully. A thousand million is one billion. A quintillion is a thousand thousand thousand thousand million.
I watched a riveting documentary called McLibel a few weeks ago about activists who fought a McDonalds libel lawsuit to quell their inflammatory leaflet. Next to the harassment of photographers and the public security cameras it's yet another example of Britain's hostility toward those who exercise their individual rights.
Take the time to watch this important and humble film. It shows how capitalism unabashedly exploits plaintiff-friendly British laws to its own ends.
The game is actually remarkably attractive, and the cel shading makes faraway objects very recognizable. Screenshots never do justice to games these days - you need to see it in action.
The third-person perspective is about the only similarity. MDK gives you a static character who can use items, while Champions Online lets you create your own character that levels up and improves over time.
In terms of art style, MDK is totally oozing with personality and quirkiness while Champions Online is really very bland. The only really creative stuff comes from the players' own character designs.
MDK is one of my favourite games ever, and I see pretty much zero resemblance between this MMO and that single player third-person shooter. What correlations did you notice?
In Soviet Russia is "Cell Phone Cost Calculator" a common name? For boys or girls?
I agree with you completely. Google did this with hostile intent to Microsoft.
someone who hasn't used Windows since version 3.1 could still get around pretty well in Vista or 7.
Try replacing 3.1 with 95. I'd argue that there was a big leap from 3.1 to 95 - namely, the start menu and taskbar - so I doubt you'd find someone who could do that. Things have remained relatively static since then though.
You're not giving 3.1 enough credit. There's still many conventions from 3.1 that they use today in 7. For instance, dragging by title bar, double clicking title bar to resize the window, double clicking the icon at the top left-hand corner to close the window, tiling and cascading onscreen windows, etc. Even Notepad is pretty much the same.
Maybe windows should provide a better way to move windows then. In ubuntu, I hold the super key, and then I can drag the window around by clicking and dragging any part of it.
That sounds like a very good feature, but I don't think Windows needs to consider adding it just because some developers break their existing UI standards. They should add a convenient feature like that for its own merits, not because they're being provoked.
What has Apple done like this? The biggest annoyance like that I had was when I switched to OSX and the switched CMD-N from creating a new directory in Finder to creating a new Finder window. Microsoft has been doing this non-standard GUI crap for ages in their media players and the Office ribbon crap annoys the crap out of me...
To be fair to Apple, their deviations from UI standards apply to their software on Windows OSes. Obviously they're the ones who create the standards for their own OSes.
I do agree with you 100% about Windows Media Player. I think the last time they used the ordinary Windows UI was around version 6 or so, and they're up to 11 or 12 now. I can't agree with you on Office though because I love the ribbon. That's just my opinion though - doesn't mean you're wrong.
If you were a Chrome user you wouldn't be so quick to call foul. Press ctrl-T a few times and you'll instantly see what I mean. The title bar gets filled with tabs and the draggable/clickable part is razor thin and has no textual title at all. That's a far cry from the way 99.9% of Windows software operates.
Despite the UI changes, someone who hasn't used Windows since version 3.1 could still get around pretty well in Vista or 7. That's what I'm talking about - the overarching similarities used throughout the Windows brand. In my opinion the only developers who ignore these standards are either egotistical or hostile toward Microsoft.
Chrome is better optimised for small screens and maximising window real estate
That's a fantastic point. I've got a 22" monitor at home and use a fairly high resolution laptop at work so I'm sure I'm out of touch with those with small monitors and netbooks. I still argue that disposing windows UI/UX standards is not the best way to accomplish this task, though.
If there's one thing I hate about Chrome it's the way the tabs replace the normal title bar functionality. It makes the window harder to drag, harder to maximize, and basically throws 25 years of Windows usability standards out the window. I expect something like this from Apple but not from Firefox (or Google for that matter).
A nonstandard UI is the epitome of developer arrogance. The tabs-on-bottom mockup is excellent, but the tabs-on-top concept needs to die on the drawing board.
On the flip side, if Firefox 4.0 supports some of the new Windows 7 standards like Aero Peek controls I will be very pleased!
There is no longer any company named Maxis. EA published their games for many years but has completely absorbed the company now. Will Wright, the founder of Maxis, doesn't even work there anymore. The Sims 3 is now a first-party EA game by all definitions and, for the record, it is a really fantastic game.
Business and pleasure don't mix. Have your boss buy you a laptop which you only use for work-related purposes.
I've been looking forward to an expansion for a while. AoC is a great game that has completely shed the shackles of its lousy launch, but could certainly benefit from an injection of new content. However, I was very disappointed to read this in the press release:
Aw man.. we still have to endure 8 hours of Tortage every time we create a new character? It's a beautiful area with great quests, but every AoC player has played through that entire area about 12 times. It's time to introduce a new starting area. I don't care how they rationalize it in the story but it must be done.
Your examples are really fun for single player RPGs, but in an MMO the balance is very important in PVE and in PVP. My wife and I played Age of Conan for several months with her playing a ranger and me playing a melee guy. This was a great combo for about 2 months until our guys were pretty high level, at which point the ranger became unbelievably powerful and my melee guy couldn't even get a hit in. I'd spent months on my character and it gradually became less and less fun. If I were controlling all characters in my party it wouldn't matter if one was overpowered, but when you're stuck with a dud it's pretty tedious.
It does sound like Digsby is a good fit for you. I don't really consider social networking messages to be "instant messages" per se, but if they're important to you then that's something you need to account for.
In other comments people have stated that the negative press has prompted the Digsby staff to be more clear about the implications of the adware and how to avoid installing it, so you're probably safe to continue using it.
I actually have 2 TRS-80s under my desk, but I'm talking about modern hardware. Motherboards, CPUs, and GPUs run hotter and are more tightly packed with microscopic components than ever before.
I heard this a long time ago and thought it was an old wife's tale, but I've asked two electrical engineers and they both say it's absolutely true. With CPUs exceeding one trillion transistors in an area the size of a thumbnail it's obvious how sensitive the components are and how precise they must be.
If you use Windows you should try Miranda. It's got a low footprint, it has all the great features you could wish for from an IM client (except video chat), and it's free. Plus it supports Jabber and Gtalk whereas the free version of Trlilian does not.
It's really bad to turn your PC off when you're done with it unless you don't use it very often. While power is coursing through your PC the components heat up and expand slightly. When you cut the power it cools back down and shrinks again. If you do this enough the microscopic connections start to fail and your computer either stops working or starts sparking.