Deep Freeze is nice and all, but it is limited in that it can't stop any app from being installed and used for that boot session. Windows system policies (locking down the desktop) should be the thing to use to stop anyone from installing any apps.
Personally I think this guy is trying way too hard on locking down the systems. The whole idea of the procedure is to make it as difficult as possible to do anything. It's IMPOSSIBLE to stop a determined person.
While it's quite nice that Sony will be including a battery consumption utility with the PSP devkits, doesn't the whole disc thing add a whole new level of complexity. Isn't the idea for a video game system (to developers) is to make it as easy and efficient as possible to make games?
The problem is that it could prove to be difficult to prove what "willingly" is. Now thats good and all if you want to jail the people willingly profiting on a mass scale of piracy, but you can't easily say that some 13 year old sharing some movies & some games is willingly aware that they are committing piracy.
The problem is as soon as that happens you get corporations to ban the devices outright, just like many do for USB flash drives. On the other hand, you should probably be getting actual work done anyways, so I'd be surprised if they aren't already "frowned upon" (atleast the GBA anyhow).
The high pricepoint distinctly reminds me of the Neo Geo AES home console. The system and specs were nice compared to the competition, but the system had an incredibly high price point (though also for carts too, but hopefully the PSP shouldn't). Needless to say the Neo Geo AES never sold well, though it did have quite a nice cult following. $350 for a portable is way to much for anyone other than some die hard Sony fans. I'd guess that the price would have to be around or below $200 for it to sell like hotcakes (and be out before Christmas like the DS will).
Why did they even bother mapping out Simi Valley, it's probably the most boring (though nearly crime free) city in the entire world? And I should know, I live here after all;-)
It seems to me that it was more of a nonessential feature getting cut in order to ship ontime. They do have a point though that WAPs are cheap, but more often than not they suck. Why else would people turn certain WiFi network cards into WAPs (perhaps on a Linux server)? If there was some sort of awesome "do everything" WAP and for cheap, maybe then you'd have a valid excuse to cut this feature out.
When you have a license that restrictive, though it would be benefitial in maintaining compatibility with Java VMs & apps, wouldn't this basically restrict you from doing much with Java other than perhaps speed hacks and porting to some obscure OS?
Do the "do every format" DVD writers like this just mean that there will be no single DVD format, or will one format eventually win out? Then again, with DVD writers becoming almost, if not as cheap as CD burners, is there really any point in waiting to get a DVD burner?
Frankly, from what I've found, most people either get new computers so that they can have more than one in the house, or they do it because their old one gets a virus, lots of spyware, Windows crashes, etc.
Getting a new computer to increase the number of them in the house seems perfectly fine, since afterall, they get used more and more, especially with the advent of easy home networking. Now as for those who get new ones to "fix" the old ones, you have to consider that these days, with computer repairs still being relatively expensive, it can often be cheaper to just buy a new computer than to have to deal with an old one that's warranty has run out.
As many others have pointed out, this will probably be as effective as a law as CAN-SPAM was. What they really need to do is to make it illegal for companies to profit from the selling of the data that these spyware/adware programs collect.
I honestly wonder if it's even possible to effectively determine whether or not a user is using a pirated copy of Windows. Unlike an online game or something where no two users can share a CD-Key and be online at the same time, Windows is just on operating system, and can't always have internet access. Also, many OEM and corporate PCs share CD Keys, and there's really no way Microsoft can tell how many PCs the software is licensend on.
Besides, the time Microsoft gets their copy protection working 100% is the time many people decide weather to spend $300 on Windows or $0 on Linux.
Windows XP SP2, on one hand, does indeed break LOTS of things, but from what I've found, if it was atleast designed for Windows 2000/XP it should work flawlessly, but otherwise maybe. I've had some old (NT4 and Win95) apps break, but thats about it. On the other hand, there are tons of security bugfixes and to top it off, it makes IE more useable (though I perfer Firefox;-). Some of these security things can be annoying (security center), others good (IE warns before running downloaded files), and others bad (SP2 breaks NMap and other port scanners).
All in all, I'd suggest installing it on a nonessential computer (or VMWare machine) and see if you like/need it. But remember, either you adopt it now, or you adopt it later, but you will eventually have to run it!
I find it quite amusing on how AOL is sometimes caught sleeping with Microsoft (like IE in AOL) yet other times it pretty much pretends like they want nothing to do with them. You'd think that AOL is big enough to where they can honestly tell Microsoft to "Shove It" without any big consequences.
Now I like BSOD jokes as much as the next person but seriously I think that's one area we can atleast applaud Microsoft at. It's really quite a rare date (or an indication of hardware failure) to see a BSOD in Windows XP. Now those damned security issues on the other hand...
That's nice and all (though personally I prefer F-Prot AV ), but there are very few Antivirus software products that have Chinese versions, probably because of the rampant piracy there. The real problem with Symantec's move is that I'll bet they have a monopoly over there and that it shows they have their hand in China's pants.
While it's true that MS can do x86 on PPC, I doubt they bought Virtual PC for the XBox, as it was more of a move to get Mac users to pony up for a Windows XP license to run Windows apps.
Now then there's one more thing to consider: the XBox GPU. I really don't think ATI can be bothered to (or can legally) make a NVidia compatible GPU. Remember, CPU isn't everything!
While this product does sounds pretty nice, there do seem to be quite a few things lacking. First is that many NES games are over the 192k limit. Second is that from what I hear, the MP3 sound quality isn't the greatest. Last is that I really don't think the GBA can do video that well, atleast not better than those GBA Video carts they sell here in the US.
On the other hand, if you already have a compact flash reader and media, $25 isn't that bad a price to play a few of the older NES games and some pixely movies.
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Perhaps this is nature's way of saying "I hate you."
Deep Freeze is nice and all, but it is limited in that it can't stop any app from being installed and used for that boot session. Windows system policies (locking down the desktop) should be the thing to use to stop anyone from installing any apps. Personally I think this guy is trying way too hard on locking down the systems. The whole idea of the procedure is to make it as difficult as possible to do anything. It's IMPOSSIBLE to stop a determined person.
While it's quite nice that Sony will be including a battery consumption utility with the PSP devkits, doesn't the whole disc thing add a whole new level of complexity. Isn't the idea for a video game system (to developers) is to make it as easy and efficient as possible to make games?
The problem is that it could prove to be difficult to prove what "willingly" is. Now thats good and all if you want to jail the people willingly profiting on a mass scale of piracy, but you can't easily say that some 13 year old sharing some movies & some games is willingly aware that they are committing piracy.
I wouldn't say it was never intended to sell well, as can be found in these Neo Geo ads.
The problem is as soon as that happens you get corporations to ban the devices outright, just like many do for USB flash drives. On the other hand, you should probably be getting actual work done anyways, so I'd be surprised if they aren't already "frowned upon" (atleast the GBA anyhow).
The high pricepoint distinctly reminds me of the Neo Geo AES home console. The system and specs were nice compared to the competition, but the system had an incredibly high price point (though also for carts too, but hopefully the PSP shouldn't). Needless to say the Neo Geo AES never sold well, though it did have quite a nice cult following. $350 for a portable is way to much for anyone other than some die hard Sony fans. I'd guess that the price would have to be around or below $200 for it to sell like hotcakes (and be out before Christmas like the DS will).
I'm still waiting for them to figure out that Stop & Swap feature Rareware kept teasing us with. On the other hand, that's quite a nifty easter egg!
So that's one Slashdot reader whose on crack ;-)
Seriously though, one can't beat the prices of Mann Theaters!
Why did they even bother mapping out Simi Valley, it's probably the most boring (though nearly crime free) city in the entire world? And I should know, I live here after all ;-)
It seems to me that it was more of a nonessential feature getting cut in order to ship ontime. They do have a point though that WAPs are cheap, but more often than not they suck. Why else would people turn certain WiFi network cards into WAPs (perhaps on a Linux server)? If there was some sort of awesome "do everything" WAP and for cheap, maybe then you'd have a valid excuse to cut this feature out.
When you have a license that restrictive, though it would be benefitial in maintaining compatibility with Java VMs & apps, wouldn't this basically restrict you from doing much with Java other than perhaps speed hacks and porting to some obscure OS?
Do the "do every format" DVD writers like this just mean that there will be no single DVD format, or will one format eventually win out? Then again, with DVD writers becoming almost, if not as cheap as CD burners, is there really any point in waiting to get a DVD burner?
Incase of the enevitable slashdotting, here's the movie of the chimp hacking the vote.
Frankly, from what I've found, most people either get new computers so that they can have more than one in the house, or they do it because their old one gets a virus, lots of spyware, Windows crashes, etc.
Getting a new computer to increase the number of them in the house seems perfectly fine, since afterall, they get used more and more, especially with the advent of easy home networking. Now as for those who get new ones to "fix" the old ones, you have to consider that these days, with computer repairs still being relatively expensive, it can often be cheaper to just buy a new computer than to have to deal with an old one that's warranty has run out.
As many others have pointed out, this will probably be as effective as a law as CAN-SPAM was. What they really need to do is to make it illegal for companies to profit from the selling of the data that these spyware/adware programs collect.
Incase of a slashdotting, here's a link to the movie of Mechanical Pong in action!
Well ofcourse they're well liked, I mean they fight off the evil SCOmonsters that try and terrorize the city everyday.
I honestly wonder if it's even possible to effectively determine whether or not a user is using a pirated copy of Windows. Unlike an online game or something where no two users can share a CD-Key and be online at the same time, Windows is just on operating system, and can't always have internet access. Also, many OEM and corporate PCs share CD Keys, and there's really no way Microsoft can tell how many PCs the software is licensend on. Besides, the time Microsoft gets their copy protection working 100% is the time many people decide weather to spend $300 on Windows or $0 on Linux.
Windows XP SP2, on one hand, does indeed break LOTS of things, but from what I've found, if it was atleast designed for Windows 2000/XP it should work flawlessly, but otherwise maybe. I've had some old (NT4 and Win95) apps break, but thats about it. On the other hand, there are tons of security bugfixes and to top it off, it makes IE more useable (though I perfer Firefox ;-). Some of these security things can be annoying (security center), others good (IE warns before running downloaded files), and others bad (SP2 breaks NMap and other port scanners).
All in all, I'd suggest installing it on a nonessential computer (or VMWare machine) and see if you like/need it. But remember, either you adopt it now, or you adopt it later, but you will eventually have to run it!
I find it quite amusing on how AOL is sometimes caught sleeping with Microsoft (like IE in AOL) yet other times it pretty much pretends like they want nothing to do with them. You'd think that AOL is big enough to where they can honestly tell Microsoft to "Shove It" without any big consequences.
Now I like BSOD jokes as much as the next person but seriously I think that's one area we can atleast applaud Microsoft at. It's really quite a rare date (or an indication of hardware failure) to see a BSOD in Windows XP. Now those damned security issues on the other hand...
That's nice and all (though personally I prefer F-Prot AV ), but there are very few Antivirus software products that have Chinese versions, probably because of the rampant piracy there. The real problem with Symantec's move is that I'll bet they have a monopoly over there and that it shows they have their hand in China's pants.
While it's true that MS can do x86 on PPC, I doubt they bought Virtual PC for the XBox, as it was more of a move to get Mac users to pony up for a Windows XP license to run Windows apps. Now then there's one more thing to consider: the XBox GPU. I really don't think ATI can be bothered to (or can legally) make a NVidia compatible GPU. Remember, CPU isn't everything!
While this product does sounds pretty nice, there do seem to be quite a few things lacking. First is that many NES games are over the 192k limit. Second is that from what I hear, the MP3 sound quality isn't the greatest. Last is that I really don't think the GBA can do video that well, atleast not better than those GBA Video carts they sell here in the US. On the other hand, if you already have a compact flash reader and media, $25 isn't that bad a price to play a few of the older NES games and some pixely movies.