>>The article isn't about demanding fewer cut-scenes included with a game. It's about demanding a fast forward button.
No, actually, it wants less cut-scenes and the ability to pause and replay them.
See The Right to Play:
Non-interactive elements are not forbidden, but they should not take up more than 50% of the playing time of the game.
See also The Right to Control Cut Scenes:
This means the right to pause them, to interrupt them, and to replay them again later.... ome people want a full set of VCR controls in the game, but I think that's overkill
So, interactive elements (including cut-scenes) shouldn't be more than 50%, and some people want "VCR controls" (fast-foward and rewind), but the article writer thinks that's overkill.
Also, most newer Final Fantasies have shortened battle-cutscenes once you've seen it once. I don't remember being annoyed at battle cut-scenes since FFVIII, and that game pretty much sucked all around.
>>When writers say 'he' for generic people, do they mean that men need the things and women don't?
>No, becase 'he' is both used for masculine and gender unspecified/unknown in English.
Which I find very annoying. Whenever I see 'he' for a generic person, I don't know if the writer means women too or not. Usually I used 'they' for unspecified, gender-neutral people, though grammer-nazis tend to yell at me for that. While alternating between 'he' and 'she' can be confusing as well, it's grammarically correct and less stilted than saying 'he/she' every time. Why couldn't 'she' be used for gender unspecified as 'he' is used?
From the first right:
>>The majority of the time a player spends in a game, he should be making decisions, exploring, creating, overcoming challenges, or otherwise acting upon the game world in some way. Players come to play, not to watch cut-scenes. Notice that I say the majority of the time. Non-interactive elements are not forbidden, but they should not take up more than 50% of the playing time of the game.
Maybe I'm the minority, but I like cut-scenes. I play games instead of watching movies or TV. While I enjoy action games, I love JRPGs that have hours and hours of cut-scenes, and I really wouldn't notice if the cut-scenes took up more than the 50% of the game (though I usually do all the sidequests, so I highly doubt even close to the time I spend is half cutscenes). I could even imagine a developer making a RPG-like game that didn't have battles, just exploring and cut-scenes for non-gamers. My point is that people like different things, and that as a group demanding that games have a limit to cut-scenes is about as pointless as demanding no more Ecco the Dolphin games. If you don't like it, don't buy it, but trying to stop if from being made makes no sense at all.
Of course, it's not like this matters as all, this article will be forgetten by the time the next thing is posted on slashdot (or it will be the next thing posted on slashdot), but I just felt like giving out my two cents.
>>>Perhaps Nintendo have merely made wireless controllers with a good response time. That would be nice.
That would be a wavebird.
I do think that it's probably something simple and user-friendly, though I can't see something that would be simple yet be hailed as their major inovation. Oh well, we'll see it soon enough. I hope to be surprised.
>>I'm not so sure about this. The DS has been out for what... nearly a year now? And the only title worth buying is a dog simulator?
I depends on what games you like, but other good ones are WarioWare Touched, Super Mario 64, Meteos, Kirby, and I hear Advance Wars is good, though I haven't tried it. It's also got some really good games coming out, like Lunar Dragon Song (the first new Lunar in like 10 years). Granted, that's not a lot of games, but there's exactly 0 games I'm interested in on the PSP, whether out or that I've seen coming. "Better" is completely subjective, but for me, the DS wins by a longshot.
The cost of two XBOX is relevant because my PC I bought circa XBOX 1 will play the XBOX 2 games.
First of all, it won't play all the games. It won't play DOA4, which would be my reason to buy a 360. Second, you bought your PC in the middle of the Xbox's lifecycle, when you could have picked one up for probably $150 used. Could you have bought a used PC for $150 that would have played new games for the next 2 and a half years? Granted, Xboxs can't be upgraded and won't be playing new games for much longer, but you would have spent a quarter of the money. Assuming your new video card will let you play games to the end of the 360's probable lifecycle (2010) you would have spent ~$750 to game for the same period of time that $550 in Xboxs would have got you. Now consider how likely it is that you won't have to upgrade before 2010 and you'll see why consoles are cheaper, even though you can spread the cost of a PC out more.
Granted, PCs can do a lot of things consoles can't, and they do play games that don't play well on a console. If you like your PC because it does those things, that's great, but if you like your PC because you think it's cheaper than a console, then you're just wrong.
XBOX is pricier when you put together the cost of the last XBox, and the cost of the current XBox, and the inherent issue that games will STOP WORKING on it in 3 years (i.e. new games).
I don't know why you're counting both systems against the price of one PC. And games don't STOP WOrKING on it in 3 years. A console's lifespan is usually 5 years, though the PS1 had new games coming out for it as late as 2003, 8 years after its release. If you spend $400 on a console when it first comes out, you know you have about 5 years from then that it will continue to play new games. Is it possible to spend $400 on a PC that will play new games for the next 5 years?
Granted, the PC can do many more things besides play games, however, you have to keep upgrading them to keep playing new games. I'm not quite sure what it costs to keep a system up-to-date, since i don't bother with that. You like flexiblity? Good. I like not having to upgrade every year or two, and not having to worry if my hardware is good enough or not when I spend $50 on a game. Consoles aren't crappy because you don't like them, they're just useful in different ways than a PC.
>>>The fact you can buy blank CDs in record stores is an acceptance that ordinary people copy CDs all the time. Christ, you can buy blank media and breakfast cereal in the same store these days - it's a defacto part of society now.
I hate the assumtion that people buy blank cds so they can pirate music. First of all, copying a cd so you have a backup in case it gets scratched (or better yet, so you can use the copy so the one you paid for doesn't get scratched) is legal, is fair-use, and not piracy. Second, there are thousands on things I have done with blank cds that have nothing to do with music. I buy cd-rs by the hundreds and I don't think one in a hundred of them gets music on it. I read some stupid article the other day that had some quote from some crying music store owner about how people only come in for blank cds anymore, not for music, and I just wanted to say "HELLO!" blank cds are not just for music. If your store sells cd-rs for cheaper then other stores, I'll buy hundreds of cd-rs from you, but that indicates I'm stealing music about as much as it indicates I'm stealing breakfast cereal.
>>>If I've learn't one thing over the last few years: wireless controllers were invented for men who live with women. Women hate wires. They see them as mess.
I hate generalizations, especially about women, because even though I am a woman, I have many women friends, I have lived with women, I have dated women, etc, I almost never hear a generalization about women (especially on slashdot) that applies to me or any of the women I have ever known. I have never heard a woman complain about wires because they're "a mess". I've heard them complain about wires because they don't reach the couch/bed/chair/whatever and they have to sit on the floor, or because someone tripped over the wire and messed up their game. But, usually we just get a big fluffy pillow to sit on and yell at people who come between us and our games. Though my husband has been on a kick recently that we need to replace all our controllers with wireless because the way I wrap up the cords "hurts" them. I think he's insane.
Needless to say, I think all the other generalizations you make are crap too, but I don't feel like getting ranty about them. Just remember in the future that what is true for the woman you're with is not true for every woman.
>> how many people actually use the ps2 as their primary dvd player?
Me!
Seriously, if either HD-DVD or Blu-Ray is going to succeed, do you think it will be the one that will be in millions of gamers' homes, or the one that won't? If you had a PS3, might you not buy or rent a Blu-Ray movie on a a whim or out of curiousity? Even if only every third PS3 owner bought or rented a blu-ray disk that's still a lot of sales that HD-DVD can't even touch. I don't think people are really ready for a new movie format, but plenty are certainly ready for a new game system. You make a good point that Sony might not actually put Blu-Ray in, but if they do, HD-DVD is dead in the water.
>>>Oh, and who else is hates the fact that DVD players generally suck for fast-forward/rewind?
My DVD Player (ok, my PS2) fast-fowards/rewinds better than VHS. Tap L1/R1 to go back/forward a scene, hold L2/R2 to fast-foward/rewind. VHS doesn't go by scene, and when you stop it there's usually a delay, and then it's slightly off from where you wanted it. My PS2 doesn't do that.
I've been hoping something like this would come along, as it will sort out those who support the freedom of open platforms from those who support their own freedom to steal copyright material.
You can think all you want that DRM will just prevent pirating, but that's not the case. If the big companies get what they want, you won't be able to open up Word documents in OpenOffice anymore, you won't be able to rip a cd and then transfer it to a second computer. Your computer might randomly decide to delete anything it thinks is pirated. If your computer isn't DRMed, you won't be able to watch DVDs on it or do internet banking or anything else that you can possibly be prevented from doing. They're even trying to make hardware that will not allow nonDRMed OSs to run on it. While there will be a DRMed Linux (unfortunetly) whether through Sun's initiative or someone elses, if DRM hardware is too widespread then say goodbye to small groups coming out of nowhere to make kick-ass distros like Ubuntu. Hell, you'll probably have to say goodbye to Ubuntu itself. There's probably a lot more that DRM could or will do, but the point is that it is not compatible at all with the idea of Free/Open Source Software. DRM is about putting into practice the crazy idea that you don't own music, software, movies, you just license it and they can take it away from you anytime they want. To think that it will just hurt the pirates is being naive.
I run Linux though, so I couldn't use MS office anyways. Also, as I said before, I'ld rather not help them with their monopoly, and OpenOffice and Abiword are sufficiant for me, so I can't see spending more money on a program I don't need, even if I could run it.
$279 for just the upgrade!? Eek. When you compare the alternatives, StarOffice - $85, OpenOffice - free, and even WordPerfect (on Amazon) if $179 for the full version. Which I still think is high, because I'm used to not paying for an office suite, but the MS prices are insane. I use MS Office at school, and I really don't see why it's worth that much.
>>>Another way that has worked for me without any problems so far is to NOT save the files as Word documents. Use Rich Text Format instead. In my experience this results in much smaller file sizes (I am guessing by not using the OLE standard. Which YUCK if you have ever read up on how that works internally its ugly) as well as being very compatible. Using RTF is a few extra clicks and then the compatibility issue is gone.
Using RTF would probably also be a good idea when going between MS Office and OpenOffice. Even though OO reads.doc, it would probably read RTF easier. I'll have to try that.
I do not mind paying money for a product that I know will be compatible with everyone I interact with (such as MS Word).
Everyone? Last I checked, MS Word even had compatiblity issues with previous versions of itself, as well as constantly trying to be as incompatible as possible with everything else. I use AbiWord. It's mostly compatible with MS word, though like Open Office, not completely. Not everyone can afford to buy MS Word, nor does everyone want to, nor does everyone have a system it can run on(BSD, Linux, etc), but people like you assuming everyone has or should have it makes it that much harder. If MS didn't have such a strong almost-monopoly, then all word-processesors would be compatible with eachother (the only reason they aren't is because MS keeps trying harder and harder to be incompatible), would be cheaper (even the ones that cost money. Star Office costs $85.), and everyone could choose the one they like the best without worrying about being like everyone else. Everytime you pay for MS Office, you are giving money to make the word processesing and office suite industries worse for you, everyone else who uses them, and pretty much everyone else but MicroSoft. Even if you pirate it, you are still helping their monopoly by being one more person who uses them instead of an alternative. I personally, will have none of that.
With the Revolution, PS3, and Xbox 360 coming out soon, won't this disappear without a trace?
I am SO buying this. I think there's enough people who are too poor for the new generation or are pissed off at modern games/game companies in general that this thing will make some money.
I've tried a number of different distros, and the two I like the best are Ubuntu and ELX. ELX is more Windows-like, it even has wine (windows emulator) already set up so you can run most windows programs, but it's not as popular, so if you run into problems, it'll be rather hard to find to find help for it. I use Ubuntu as my main OS. It's pretty simple to use, and there are some good websites to get you going on it.
As for games, it depends on what kind of games you like to play. If you like puzzle games, you'll find 8 gazillion of them for linux. If you like FPSs, UT2004 runs on linux. Many other games will also run under wine. I'm a gamer too, but I tend to stick to consoles so I haven't tried many games under linux.
Pretty much all files that work with windows will work in linux, as long as you have a program that reads them. MP3s are rather universal, and almost every linux distro comes with an MP3 player, usually XMMS, which is a lot like winamp. The default office program in most distros is Open Office, which also runs under windows and works with MS Office files. As for compression, well, I'm still a little bit of a n00b myself, so I'm not quite sure. I know in Ubuntu I can easily compress stuff to tar.gz format in the file manager, and I can open.rar and.zip files. I'm sure I could install a more elaborate compression program, but I haven't really found a need for that yet.
I'ld recommend you look around at other websites too, and find out more about linux in general. TuXfiles has some pretty good articles and guides, and I;m sure you can google around for more stuff. Or you can just email me. Good luck.
An automatic program downloader in linux isn't like windows update, it installs other useful programs (AbiWord, Frozen Bubble) in a way that would redefine your definition of easy. When I first installed Ubuntu, it didn't have my favorite word processor, AbiWord. So, I pulled up a command prompt and typed "sudo apt-get install abiword" (there's a gui program that does that too if you don't like the command prompt). Within a few minutes, AbiWord was in the Applications menu of the taskbar, under office. If I was running windows, I would have had to find abiword online, download it, find the install file that I downloaded and run that. While I didn't think of that as hard when I used Windows, it is so much more time-consuming than it is in Ubuntu.
>>DRM is coming (Or is already here), one way or another, and is better to work on creating something done right, or to object to it on moral grounds?
DRM cannot be done right, because it is about removing freedom and fair-use, and allowing big companies the ability to excercise "rights" they never should have been given in the first place. Supporting it will just encourage it to come, and sooner. I'ld still like to hold on to my idealism that we can keep DRM from coming. If people as a whole decide they don't want DRM, it won't happen (the problem is getting people to care, but joining the other side certainly won't get them to).
Re:Why isn't this more popular already?
on
MS & Game Rentals
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· Score: 1
They don't only have old movies in the rental store, they get movies in the day they come out on DVD. They also have new games in most rental stores too, and some even charge monthly fees instead of a per-game or movie fee. I don't even watch movies and appearently I know more about movie renting than you do.
Slashdot Mirror
>>The article isn't about demanding fewer cut-scenes included with a game. It's about demanding a fast forward button.
No, actually, it wants less cut-scenes and the ability to pause and replay them.
See The Right to Play: Non-interactive elements are not forbidden, but they should not take up more than 50% of the playing time of the game.
See also The Right to Control Cut Scenes: This means the right to pause them, to interrupt them, and to replay them again later.... ome people want a full set of VCR controls in the game, but I think that's overkill
So, interactive elements (including cut-scenes) shouldn't be more than 50%, and some people want "VCR controls" (fast-foward and rewind), but the article writer thinks that's overkill.
Also, most newer Final Fantasies have shortened battle-cutscenes once you've seen it once. I don't remember being annoyed at battle cut-scenes since FFVIII, and that game pretty much sucked all around.
>>When writers say 'he' for generic people, do they mean that men need the things and women don't? >No, becase 'he' is both used for masculine and gender unspecified/unknown in English.
Which I find very annoying. Whenever I see 'he' for a generic person, I don't know if the writer means women too or not. Usually I used 'they' for unspecified, gender-neutral people, though grammer-nazis tend to yell at me for that. While alternating between 'he' and 'she' can be confusing as well, it's grammarically correct and less stilted than saying 'he/she' every time. Why couldn't 'she' be used for gender unspecified as 'he' is used?
From the first right: >>The majority of the time a player spends in a game, he should be making decisions, exploring, creating, overcoming challenges, or otherwise acting upon the game world in some way. Players come to play, not to watch cut-scenes. Notice that I say the majority of the time. Non-interactive elements are not forbidden, but they should not take up more than 50% of the playing time of the game.
Maybe I'm the minority, but I like cut-scenes. I play games instead of watching movies or TV. While I enjoy action games, I love JRPGs that have hours and hours of cut-scenes, and I really wouldn't notice if the cut-scenes took up more than the 50% of the game (though I usually do all the sidequests, so I highly doubt even close to the time I spend is half cutscenes). I could even imagine a developer making a RPG-like game that didn't have battles, just exploring and cut-scenes for non-gamers. My point is that people like different things, and that as a group demanding that games have a limit to cut-scenes is about as pointless as demanding no more Ecco the Dolphin games. If you don't like it, don't buy it, but trying to stop if from being made makes no sense at all.
Of course, it's not like this matters as all, this article will be forgetten by the time the next thing is posted on slashdot (or it will be the next thing posted on slashdot), but I just felt like giving out my two cents.
>>Why can there not be an equally balanced game, where at the very least both "sides" of a storyline are playable
Sonic Adventure 2
>>let alone a game where the entire goal is to play as the villain until you actually succeed?
Blood Omen
>>>Perhaps Nintendo have merely made wireless controllers with a good response time. That would be nice.
That would be a wavebird.
I do think that it's probably something simple and user-friendly, though I can't see something that would be simple yet be hailed as their major inovation. Oh well, we'll see it soon enough. I hope to be surprised.
>>I'm also planning on picking up Bomberman DS when I get some money. 9 player versus mode from one card? That's awesome.
Nine player?! NINE PLAYER?!? Wow. If I could just find 8 people with DSs.....
>>f I'm not mistaken, the DS's wireless functionality is intended mainly for DS-to-DS communication, not for connecting to the internet.
That's the way it is now, though in the future, it will be through to internet as well.
>>I'm not so sure about this. The DS has been out for what... nearly a year now? And the only title worth buying is a dog simulator?
I depends on what games you like, but other good ones are WarioWare Touched, Super Mario 64, Meteos, Kirby, and I hear Advance Wars is good, though I haven't tried it. It's also got some really good games coming out, like Lunar Dragon Song (the first new Lunar in like 10 years). Granted, that's not a lot of games, but there's exactly 0 games I'm interested in on the PSP, whether out or that I've seen coming. "Better" is completely subjective, but for me, the DS wins by a longshot.
The cost of two XBOX is relevant because my PC I bought circa XBOX 1 will play the XBOX 2 games.
First of all, it won't play all the games. It won't play DOA4, which would be my reason to buy a 360. Second, you bought your PC in the middle of the Xbox's lifecycle, when you could have picked one up for probably $150 used. Could you have bought a used PC for $150 that would have played new games for the next 2 and a half years? Granted, Xboxs can't be upgraded and won't be playing new games for much longer, but you would have spent a quarter of the money. Assuming your new video card will let you play games to the end of the 360's probable lifecycle (2010) you would have spent ~$750 to game for the same period of time that $550 in Xboxs would have got you. Now consider how likely it is that you won't have to upgrade before 2010 and you'll see why consoles are cheaper, even though you can spread the cost of a PC out more.
Granted, PCs can do a lot of things consoles can't, and they do play games that don't play well on a console. If you like your PC because it does those things, that's great, but if you like your PC because you think it's cheaper than a console, then you're just wrong.
XBOX is pricier when you put together the cost of the last XBox, and the cost of the current XBox, and the inherent issue that games will STOP WORKING on it in 3 years (i.e. new games).
I don't know why you're counting both systems against the price of one PC. And games don't STOP WOrKING on it in 3 years. A console's lifespan is usually 5 years, though the PS1 had new games coming out for it as late as 2003, 8 years after its release. If you spend $400 on a console when it first comes out, you know you have about 5 years from then that it will continue to play new games. Is it possible to spend $400 on a PC that will play new games for the next 5 years?
Granted, the PC can do many more things besides play games, however, you have to keep upgrading them to keep playing new games. I'm not quite sure what it costs to keep a system up-to-date, since i don't bother with that. You like flexiblity? Good. I like not having to upgrade every year or two, and not having to worry if my hardware is good enough or not when I spend $50 on a game. Consoles aren't crappy because you don't like them, they're just useful in different ways than a PC.
I wasn't offended, though it is good to know that you were joking. Sometimes it's hard to know online whether or not someone is serious.
:)
PS: No, I'm not sending you pictures.
>>>The fact you can buy blank CDs in record stores is an acceptance that ordinary people copy CDs all the time. Christ, you can buy blank media and breakfast cereal in the same store these days - it's a defacto part of society now.
I hate the assumtion that people buy blank cds so they can pirate music. First of all, copying a cd so you have a backup in case it gets scratched (or better yet, so you can use the copy so the one you paid for doesn't get scratched) is legal, is fair-use, and not piracy. Second, there are thousands on things I have done with blank cds that have nothing to do with music. I buy cd-rs by the hundreds and I don't think one in a hundred of them gets music on it. I read some stupid article the other day that had some quote from some crying music store owner about how people only come in for blank cds anymore, not for music, and I just wanted to say "HELLO!" blank cds are not just for music. If your store sells cd-rs for cheaper then other stores, I'll buy hundreds of cd-rs from you, but that indicates I'm stealing music about as much as it indicates I'm stealing breakfast cereal.
>>>If I've learn't one thing over the last few years: wireless controllers were invented for men who live with women. Women hate wires. They see them as mess.
I hate generalizations, especially about women, because even though I am a woman, I have many women friends, I have lived with women, I have dated women, etc, I almost never hear a generalization about women (especially on slashdot) that applies to me or any of the women I have ever known. I have never heard a woman complain about wires because they're "a mess". I've heard them complain about wires because they don't reach the couch/bed/chair/whatever and they have to sit on the floor, or because someone tripped over the wire and messed up their game. But, usually we just get a big fluffy pillow to sit on and yell at people who come between us and our games. Though my husband has been on a kick recently that we need to replace all our controllers with wireless because the way I wrap up the cords "hurts" them. I think he's insane.
Needless to say, I think all the other generalizations you make are crap too, but I don't feel like getting ranty about them. Just remember in the future that what is true for the woman you're with is not true for every woman.
>> how many people actually use the ps2 as their primary dvd player?
Me!
Seriously, if either HD-DVD or Blu-Ray is going to succeed, do you think it will be the one that will be in millions of gamers' homes, or the one that won't? If you had a PS3, might you not buy or rent a Blu-Ray movie on a a whim or out of curiousity? Even if only every third PS3 owner bought or rented a blu-ray disk that's still a lot of sales that HD-DVD can't even touch. I don't think people are really ready for a new movie format, but plenty are certainly ready for a new game system. You make a good point that Sony might not actually put Blu-Ray in, but if they do, HD-DVD is dead in the water.
>>>Oh, and who else is hates the fact that DVD players generally suck for fast-forward/rewind?
My DVD Player (ok, my PS2) fast-fowards/rewinds better than VHS. Tap L1/R1 to go back/forward a scene, hold L2/R2 to fast-foward/rewind. VHS doesn't go by scene, and when you stop it there's usually a delay, and then it's slightly off from where you wanted it. My PS2 doesn't do that.
I've been hoping something like this would come along, as it will sort out those who support the freedom of open platforms from those who support their own freedom to steal copyright material.
e ment
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/can-you-trust.html
http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~rja14/tcpa-faq.html
You can think all you want that DRM will just prevent pirating, but that's not the case. If the big companies get what they want, you won't be able to open up Word documents in OpenOffice anymore, you won't be able to rip a cd and then transfer it to a second computer. Your computer might randomly decide to delete anything it thinks is pirated. If your computer isn't DRMed, you won't be able to watch DVDs on it or do internet banking or anything else that you can possibly be prevented from doing. They're even trying to make hardware that will not allow nonDRMed OSs to run on it. While there will be a DRMed Linux (unfortunetly) whether through Sun's initiative or someone elses, if DRM hardware is too widespread then say goodbye to small groups coming out of nowhere to make kick-ass distros like Ubuntu. Hell, you'll probably have to say goodbye to Ubuntu itself. There's probably a lot more that DRM could or will do, but the point is that it is not compatible at all with the idea of Free/Open Source Software. DRM is about putting into practice the crazy idea that you don't own music, software, movies, you just license it and they can take it away from you anytime they want. To think that it will just hurt the pirates is being naive.
More information on DRM and its newest form, "Trusted Computing": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_rights_manag
I run Linux though, so I couldn't use MS office anyways. Also, as I said before, I'ld rather not help them with their monopoly, and OpenOffice and Abiword are sufficiant for me, so I can't see spending more money on a program I don't need, even if I could run it.
$279 for just the upgrade!? Eek. When you compare the alternatives, StarOffice - $85, OpenOffice - free, and even WordPerfect (on Amazon) if $179 for the full version. Which I still think is high, because I'm used to not paying for an office suite, but the MS prices are insane. I use MS Office at school, and I really don't see why it's worth that much.
.doc, it would probably read RTF easier. I'll have to try that.
>>>Another way that has worked for me without any problems so far is to NOT save the files as Word documents. Use Rich Text Format instead. In my experience this results in much smaller file sizes (I am guessing by not using the OLE standard. Which YUCK if you have ever read up on how that works internally its ugly) as well as being very compatible. Using RTF is a few extra clicks and then the compatibility issue is gone.
Using RTF would probably also be a good idea when going between MS Office and OpenOffice. Even though OO reads
I do not mind paying money for a product that I know will be compatible with everyone I interact with (such as MS Word).
Everyone? Last I checked, MS Word even had compatiblity issues with previous versions of itself, as well as constantly trying to be as incompatible as possible with everything else. I use AbiWord. It's mostly compatible with MS word, though like Open Office, not completely. Not everyone can afford to buy MS Word, nor does everyone want to, nor does everyone have a system it can run on(BSD, Linux, etc), but people like you assuming everyone has or should have it makes it that much harder. If MS didn't have such a strong almost-monopoly, then all word-processesors would be compatible with eachother (the only reason they aren't is because MS keeps trying harder and harder to be incompatible), would be cheaper (even the ones that cost money. Star Office costs $85.), and everyone could choose the one they like the best without worrying about being like everyone else. Everytime you pay for MS Office, you are giving money to make the word processesing and office suite industries worse for you, everyone else who uses them, and pretty much everyone else but MicroSoft. Even if you pirate it, you are still helping their monopoly by being one more person who uses them instead of an alternative. I personally, will have none of that.
With the Revolution, PS3, and Xbox 360 coming out soon, won't this disappear without a trace?
I am SO buying this. I think there's enough people who are too poor for the new generation or are pissed off at modern games/game companies in general that this thing will make some money.
I've tried a number of different distros, and the two I like the best are Ubuntu and ELX. ELX is more Windows-like, it even has wine (windows emulator) already set up so you can run most windows programs, but it's not as popular, so if you run into problems, it'll be rather hard to find to find help for it. I use Ubuntu as my main OS. It's pretty simple to use, and there are some good websites to get you going on it.
.rar and .zip files. I'm sure I could install a more elaborate compression program, but I haven't really found a need for that yet.
As for games, it depends on what kind of games you like to play. If you like puzzle games, you'll find 8 gazillion of them for linux. If you like FPSs, UT2004 runs on linux. Many other games will also run under wine. I'm a gamer too, but I tend to stick to consoles so I haven't tried many games under linux.
Pretty much all files that work with windows will work in linux, as long as you have a program that reads them. MP3s are rather universal, and almost every linux distro comes with an MP3 player, usually XMMS, which is a lot like winamp. The default office program in most distros is Open Office, which also runs under windows and works with MS Office files. As for compression, well, I'm still a little bit of a n00b myself, so I'm not quite sure. I know in Ubuntu I can easily compress stuff to tar.gz format in the file manager, and I can open
I'ld recommend you look around at other websites too, and find out more about linux in general. TuXfiles has some pretty good articles and guides, and I;m sure you can google around for more stuff. Or you can just email me. Good luck.
An automatic program downloader in linux isn't like windows update, it installs other useful programs (AbiWord, Frozen Bubble) in a way that would redefine your definition of easy. When I first installed Ubuntu, it didn't have my favorite word processor, AbiWord. So, I pulled up a command prompt and typed "sudo apt-get install abiword" (there's a gui program that does that too if you don't like the command prompt). Within a few minutes, AbiWord was in the Applications menu of the taskbar, under office. If I was running windows, I would have had to find abiword online, download it, find the install file that I downloaded and run that. While I didn't think of that as hard when I used Windows, it is so much more time-consuming than it is in Ubuntu.
>>DRM is coming (Or is already here), one way or another, and is better to work on creating something done right, or to object to it on moral grounds?
DRM cannot be done right, because it is about removing freedom and fair-use, and allowing big companies the ability to excercise "rights" they never should have been given in the first place. Supporting it will just encourage it to come, and sooner. I'ld still like to hold on to my idealism that we can keep DRM from coming. If people as a whole decide they don't want DRM, it won't happen (the problem is getting people to care, but joining the other side certainly won't get them to).
They don't only have old movies in the rental store, they get movies in the day they come out on DVD. They also have new games in most rental stores too, and some even charge monthly fees instead of a per-game or movie fee. I don't even watch movies and appearently I know more about movie renting than you do.
>> If the Train Simulator was a complete flop, how do you explain this?
Explain that it's the best selling game with the words "train simulator" on german Amazon? What?