"This is something that's been happening for years before I got paid to play games."
Kristan, you dolt, the only thing that's been 'happening' in the years before you got paid to play games is that the attention span of the young is faltering, imagination is dwindling. People are fine with -literally- throwing away 10 hours a day infront of the television, of which a solid 1/3 is simply to be prostheletized by comercial after commercial.
What I'm reading is "Whine Whine, I don't have time to finish all these games I have to review". I'm willing to bet that you have something else soaking up gobs of your time? Perhaps a certain game even, that's caught you up in it?
When I was younger, in the quiet roar of the SNES' struggle with Sega, when the -real- RPG's started hitting the shelves. We would take a look at those suggested times on the box right after we read the back, guess what, anything under about 20 or 30 hours went right back onto the shelf...
Why?
Because it was a sure sign that some company had thrown something together, fleshed out a back story as quickly and raggedly as possible, and had flunked miserably. There are a few exceptions, and even those seem to take a long time to beat the first time, longer than one might 'require', because you're busy soaking up the storyline.
I have -no- regrets in finishing FF II (FF4 In Japan) three or four times, a few for the english release, a few for a translated japanese version. At about 60-80 hours of play a shot.
Nor do I have reservations with other wonderful games, most of Square's games from that period (both english and japanese), nor other stellar titles.
And I have a stack of useless, idiotic games that might last 80 hours, do I feel sorry for not finishing them? Not one bit...
A game is as long as it needs to be, just like a novel, or a really good movie (before they slice and dice it for the public). Some games are just that good, good enough that you're willing to invest your 80 hours to -really- enjoy something. And some games will never be good, whether it takes you 5 hours or 50 hours. And it is that, nearly exclusively, that will determine what lures you back to the computer or the console, and what gets filed under G, for garbage.
Asking them to remove content is like asking for a hole in the head. FF 2, 3, and even seven were wonderful games (even if I didn't perticularily care for seven's storyline).
But Eight? Nine? They weren't bad...
Final Fantasy X? was SUB-PAR. Yes, you've heard me right, everyone I know who has played the older FF games as much as I, or has seen much of their overseas work has said they graphics were wonderful, but it lacked substance. Would you like to have a row of games you've finished, that look great, sound great, but leave you feeling empty?
Or would you like to have something you can feel proud of finishing, absorbing into yourself, a true classic...
Shame on you, asking them to strip away what in some games is one of their most precious, endearing features.
Have you any idea how long it takes plastic to break down in the soil?
"Depending on the formulation, the actual breakdown into different compounds may take several thousand years." virtualrecycling.com
Let alone the fact that plastic doesn't break down into oil, please at least have 'some' idea what you're talking about before posting. Use google! Its that damn good.
There's a few serious problems there, there are some that technology won't solve, and some that have the feeling of being. "We asked the engineers and these are the things they want".
The bottom line is this: If they get what they desire, your network will 'never' be secure.
Sollutions, or critisicm as follows:
#1 > Get onboard with your IT department, if these people stay hostile to your intentions you'll be looking over your shoulder constantly. These folks probably have some, if not all of the skills necessary to break into the network. The most common flaw of any network is that it is exponentially easier to attack it from inside. Talk to them, don't alienate the people that could most easily thwart your plans for security.
#2 Get control, if your information is as valuable as you suggest, you need to draft a budget for physical security, someone leaving with a hardcopy of your information will circumvent nearly anything you can impose electronically. Video survailence, locking down printers, removing hard copy drives and unsecure ports (CD Writers, FDD's and securing information ports, USB for instance, is an oft overlooked hole in some small/security impoverished businesses)
#3 Just how would you like to have it compartmentalized? Would you like certain teams to have access to sertain sets of information? Such shouldn't be hard at all in a properly secured network. But there are also issues with your employees here, if information is shared behind the scenes it will fall appart, they must know things are top secret, and that heads -will roll- if information is leaked around...
#4 Employ a security consultant, someone who's task is -only- security, someone who is bound by contract to keep -everything- confidential, who is trustworthy, careful and honest. (And good luck finding one, a really good security person can be a nightmare to find)
#5 ABSOLUTELY NOT - NEVER Allow anyone to take work home with them, the entire concept of doing so is flawed, you can't be certain of the security of their home system, and if you are concerned with someone pirating information from within your company, this is like painting a target on sensitive places on your anatomy, and offering free shots.
#6 Into the GBs? That's fine on a network, let me say once again, DON'T LET INFO LEAVE THE BUILDING. If you install one single DVD-R drive, someone could walk away with 4.5 - 9GB of your data. Chances are, that's enough of it to make selling it to your competitors and moving to somewhere far far away, much more profitable, then trying to do it one floppy at a time?
#7 What can't? The network itself shouldn't get in the way of 'real' work getting done, but once you lock things down they will never be as smooth and free as when your security was lackluster. Tough security comes at the small price of the odd pain in the neck
#8 Physical Tools? One thing you may with to look into is having a small, trustworthy business design software for use with some of them to better integrate into most common OS'es
#9 Ouch. As I'm sure a dozen people on this board had pointed out, working with windows clients complicates things, it puts buick sized loopholes into some of the best security procedures, be careful here.
#10 In terms of, if you mean the ability to contact them, to speak with them or exchange notes, then you either go with the old fashioned telephone, or a relatively secure program that will work internally only, read into software like Lotus Notes.
#11 There are a variety of devices out now that can store either a portion of an encryption string or a portion of a passcode. But the idea of physical hardware, brings up issues like 'what if someone forgets their '. You -cannot- allow forgetfulness to undermine this security procedure, that means no exceptions, everyone has -one-. Giving them another should NOT be taken lightly, and should be a task of the security advisor only.
#12 See # 11
#13 There are unfortunately to little open source things around, usually they're being tested, being tinkered with, and once they're refined, they suddenly become closed source. Often you will need to do the research and find someone you can trust in the world of proprietary information, sometimes this even means having someone engineer software -specifically- for you.
Hope some of this helps...
Kirzen
Slashdot Mirror
"This is something that's been happening for years before I got paid to play games."
Kristan, you dolt, the only thing that's been 'happening' in the years before you got paid to play games is that the attention span of the young is faltering, imagination is dwindling. People are fine with -literally- throwing away 10 hours a day infront of the television, of which a solid 1/3 is simply to be prostheletized by comercial after commercial.
What I'm reading is "Whine Whine, I don't have time to finish all these games I have to review". I'm willing to bet that you have something else soaking up gobs of your time? Perhaps a certain game even, that's caught you up in it?
When I was younger, in the quiet roar of the SNES' struggle with Sega, when the -real- RPG's started hitting the shelves. We would take a look at those suggested times on the box right after we read the back, guess what, anything under about 20 or 30 hours went right back onto the shelf...
Why?
Because it was a sure sign that some company had thrown something together, fleshed out a back story as quickly and raggedly as possible, and had flunked miserably. There are a few exceptions, and even those seem to take a long time to beat the first time, longer than one might 'require', because you're busy soaking up the storyline.
I have -no- regrets in finishing FF II (FF4 In Japan) three or four times, a few for the english release, a few for a translated japanese version. At about 60-80 hours of play a shot.
Nor do I have reservations with other wonderful games, most of Square's games from that period (both english and japanese), nor other stellar titles.
And I have a stack of useless, idiotic games that might last 80 hours, do I feel sorry for not finishing them? Not one bit...
A game is as long as it needs to be, just like a novel, or a really good movie (before they slice and dice it for the public). Some games are just that good, good enough that you're willing to invest your 80 hours to -really- enjoy something. And some games will never be good, whether it takes you 5 hours or 50 hours. And it is that, nearly exclusively, that will determine what lures you back to the computer or the console, and what gets filed under G, for garbage.
Asking them to remove content is like asking for a hole in the head. FF 2, 3, and even seven were wonderful games (even if I didn't perticularily care for seven's storyline).
But Eight? Nine? They weren't bad...
Final Fantasy X? was SUB-PAR. Yes, you've heard me right, everyone I know who has played the older FF games as much as I, or has seen much of their overseas work has said they graphics were wonderful, but it lacked substance. Would you like to have a row of games you've finished, that look great, sound great, but leave you feeling empty?
Or would you like to have something you can feel proud of finishing, absorbing into yourself, a true classic...
Shame on you, asking them to strip away what in some games is one of their most precious, endearing features.
Have you any idea how long it takes plastic to break down in the soil?
"Depending on the formulation, the actual breakdown into different compounds may take several thousand years." virtualrecycling.com
Let alone the fact that plastic doesn't break down into oil, please at least have 'some' idea what you're talking about before posting. Use google! Its that damn good.
There's a few serious problems there, there are some that technology won't solve, and some that have the feeling of being. "We asked the engineers and these are the things they want". The bottom line is this: If they get what they desire, your network will 'never' be secure. Sollutions, or critisicm as follows: #1 > Get onboard with your IT department, if these people stay hostile to your intentions you'll be looking over your shoulder constantly. These folks probably have some, if not all of the skills necessary to break into the network. The most common flaw of any network is that it is exponentially easier to attack it from inside. Talk to them, don't alienate the people that could most easily thwart your plans for security. #2 Get control, if your information is as valuable as you suggest, you need to draft a budget for physical security, someone leaving with a hardcopy of your information will circumvent nearly anything you can impose electronically. Video survailence, locking down printers, removing hard copy drives and unsecure ports (CD Writers, FDD's and securing information ports, USB for instance, is an oft overlooked hole in some small/security impoverished businesses) #3 Just how would you like to have it compartmentalized? Would you like certain teams to have access to sertain sets of information? Such shouldn't be hard at all in a properly secured network. But there are also issues with your employees here, if information is shared behind the scenes it will fall appart, they must know things are top secret, and that heads -will roll- if information is leaked around... #4 Employ a security consultant, someone who's task is -only- security, someone who is bound by contract to keep -everything- confidential, who is trustworthy, careful and honest. (And good luck finding one, a really good security person can be a nightmare to find) #5 ABSOLUTELY NOT - NEVER Allow anyone to take work home with them, the entire concept of doing so is flawed, you can't be certain of the security of their home system, and if you are concerned with someone pirating information from within your company, this is like painting a target on sensitive places on your anatomy, and offering free shots. #6 Into the GBs? That's fine on a network, let me say once again, DON'T LET INFO LEAVE THE BUILDING. If you install one single DVD-R drive, someone could walk away with 4.5 - 9GB of your data. Chances are, that's enough of it to make selling it to your competitors and moving to somewhere far far away, much more profitable, then trying to do it one floppy at a time? #7 What can't? The network itself shouldn't get in the way of 'real' work getting done, but once you lock things down they will never be as smooth and free as when your security was lackluster. Tough security comes at the small price of the odd pain in the neck #8 Physical Tools? One thing you may with to look into is having a small, trustworthy business design software for use with some of them to better integrate into most common OS'es #9 Ouch. As I'm sure a dozen people on this board had pointed out, working with windows clients complicates things, it puts buick sized loopholes into some of the best security procedures, be careful here. #10 In terms of, if you mean the ability to contact them, to speak with them or exchange notes, then you either go with the old fashioned telephone, or a relatively secure program that will work internally only, read into software like Lotus Notes. #11 There are a variety of devices out now that can store either a portion of an encryption string or a portion of a passcode. But the idea of physical hardware, brings up issues like 'what if someone forgets their '. You -cannot- allow forgetfulness to undermine this security procedure, that means no exceptions, everyone has -one-. Giving them another should NOT be taken lightly, and should be a task of the security advisor only. #12 See # 11 #13 There are unfortunately to little open source things around, usually they're being tested, being tinkered with, and once they're refined, they suddenly become closed source. Often you will need to do the research and find someone you can trust in the world of proprietary information, sometimes this even means having someone engineer software -specifically- for you. Hope some of this helps... Kirzen