> Realistically, the client has to do some of the computation and storing itself > (and with WoW being some huge multi-gigabyte client, there's a lot to investigate). > Obvious, you want to reduce network traffic and give your servers a break so you > design this to have minimal communication.
No. That is NOT how you write network applications. Clients should not be trusted any more than absolutely necessary. This really isn't hard to implement, nor would it place that much extra load on the WoW servers, anyway.
If I were implementing a network based game, I would: a) only transmit data actually inputted by the user; b) have the server do all the processing regarding battles, movement of the character and so on; c) have the server the necessary changes to the environment for the client application to display, and finally d) have the client do some of the processing in PARALLEL, so as to minimize visible lag artifacts.
In fact, I probably suspect that Blizzard did in fact implement WoW in this way (but since the entire system is undocumented, I can't really confirm that easily). I suspect that the only thing the so-called 'cheating programs' did was automate certain tasks, not actually transmit invalid values.
I've noticed that on build 5744 of Windows Vista for x86_64, that there are actually two copies of IE7 installed, a 32-bit version and 64-bit version. This is great in that a 32-bit version is conveniently available so that legacy proprietary plugins can still be used without problems. However, it appears that the 32-bit build is the default.
Is Microsoft pushing for plugin vendors such as Sun and Adobe to release 64-bit builds of their plugins so you can switch the default IE build to the x86_64 version? These vendors really appear to be dragging their feet on x86_64 support for all platforms.
If you heat your house with electric (as in electric elements, not a heat pump) power, then yes, your computers will heat your house with an *amazing* 100% efficiency.
But before you run out and buy that Itanic, you should probably also take into account that your computers are more sophisticated (and expensive) hardware than a heating element is, so that means that the MTBF will be different and the cost of replacement components will probably be higher as well.
Who knows what the ecological reprocussions of this would be. At the very least, it would do more than just stymie global warming; it would compromise photosynthesis on a global scale.
Two wrongs don't make a right.
It doesn't really matter anymore. All modern games just used the 3D controller to render to what is ultimately a dumb framebuffer. The only TV-standard related function here might be vsync, and that functionality is almost always abstracted in some way.
Back in the day, older game consoles like the Genesis and Super Nintendo (and even older than that, like the NES or Commodore 64) used things called raster effects, in which the game could manipulate the path of the pixels to the display on a scanline basis. This allowed developers to produce some nifty effects at minimal CPU time expense.
Also, the TV standard refresh frequency (vsync did not exist back then, of course) also dictated the speed of the game, so the PAL version of Super Mario Bros. would run more quickly on an NTSC machine. Today the timing is completely unrelated to the display system.
Nowadays those methods are obsolete, and most games are completely TV-standard agnostic, and all "region-coding" is purely for 'business' reasons, like price fixing.
Singularity is an awesome concept, but writing about it almost always makes one look like a crackpot.... Especially these wanktastic "future predictors."
Secret algorithms or data that the consumer is not "meant" to see are still stored locally inside that little black player box you bought from wal-mart. And, more usefully, inside player software intended for a personal computer. This information is kept hidden only by security-by-obscurity mechanisms. There is a long history of people successfully extracting such information from executables or ROM firmware dumps.
It really is only a matter of time until this is cracked, just the same as CSS was.
Apparently Johansen, one of the people to originally break CSS, is already working on AACS circumvention.
um, "Does it work with Linux?" is a perfectly reasonable question to ask a salesperson.
This is not only because GNU/Linux has about the same market share as Apple does, I need to know $30 NIC I'm purchasing from this fellow will work my personal computer/server/whatever. I shouldn't have to go the shop, look at their stock, go back to the office and google it, and then return. Especially for commodity items like NICs and printers.
If the store really wants your business, they'll go through that extra bit of effort to help you determine whether or not the product will meet your requirements.
At the store I shop at, they always do their very best at answering that question for me honsetly (even if it involes a bit of googling).
um, this is news how? Windows Live Messenger's forerunner, MSN Messenger, has had this feature for years.
Nevermind all of the other alternatives, Free Software or otherwise...
I decided to quickly grep through the document for copyright, and I came cross this:
Article 1
Relation to Other Conventions and Treaties (1) Nothing in this Treaty shall derogate from existing obligations that Contracting Parties have to each other under any international, regional or bilateral treaties addressing copyright or related rights. (2) Protection granted under this Treaty shall leave intact and shall in no way affect the protection of copyright or related rights in program material incorporated in broadcasts. Consequently, no provision of this Treaty may be interpreted as prejudicing such protection. (3) This Treaty shall not have any connection with, nor shall it prejudice any rights and obligations under, any other treaties.
Taking a leap of faith here, isn't Copyright embodied within the WCT and Berne Convention (I've only done a few moments' research on this, so I may have that wrong)?
Therefore, this new "Broadcast Orgnisation Protection Treaty" might not actually cause the creative-commons-but-wait-oh-shit nightmare scenario in TFA.
IANAL, of course, so perhaps the interaction between this and the Copyright treaty is more sinister than it seems above.
DRM is an example of keyed authentication used incorrectly.
It's really just security by obscurity.
Re:Non story, this is a technical issue.
on
AMD Subpoenas Skype
·
· Score: 1
Then Skype should check for performance, not favour one brand over the other.
The very idea that virtually any modern non-Intel processor couldn't actually handle a 10-way skype conversation is absurd.
Skype is very proprietary in both its implementation and protocol, and also spams networks with unneccessary traffic. Don't use it.
Slashdot Mirror
> Realistically, the client has to do some of the computation and storing itself
> (and with WoW being some huge multi-gigabyte client, there's a lot to investigate).
> Obvious, you want to reduce network traffic and give your servers a break so you
> design this to have minimal communication.
No. That is NOT how you write network applications. Clients should not be trusted
any more than absolutely necessary. This really isn't hard to implement, nor would
it place that much extra load on the WoW servers, anyway.
If I were implementing a network based game, I would: a) only transmit data actually
inputted by the user; b) have the server do all the processing regarding battles,
movement of the character and so on; c) have the server the necessary changes to
the environment for the client application to display, and finally d) have the client
do some of the processing in PARALLEL, so as to minimize visible lag artifacts.
In fact, I probably suspect that Blizzard did in fact implement WoW in this way (but
since the entire system is undocumented, I can't really confirm that easily). I
suspect that the only thing the so-called 'cheating programs' did was automate certain
tasks, not actually transmit invalid values.
I've noticed that on build 5744 of Windows Vista for x86_64, that there are actually two copies of IE7 installed, a 32-bit version and 64-bit version. This is great in that a 32-bit version is conveniently available so that legacy proprietary plugins can still be used without problems. However, it appears that the 32-bit build is the default.
Is Microsoft pushing for plugin vendors such as Sun and Adobe to release 64-bit builds of their plugins so you can switch the default IE build to the x86_64 version? These vendors really appear to be dragging their feet on x86_64 support for all platforms.
Good work on the new release.
It depends.
If you heat your house with electric (as in electric elements, not a heat pump) power, then yes, your computers will heat your house with an *amazing* 100% efficiency.
But before you run out and buy that Itanic, you should probably also take into account that your computers are more sophisticated (and expensive) hardware than a heating element is, so that means that the MTBF will be different and the cost of replacement components will probably be higher as well.
What exactly stops the players from reading that file as 0 bytes long, exactly?
My pocket does not have an SLA.
The very idea of running software on my own equipment that considers me an enemy just doesn't sit at all well.
That, and I really like the Free Software TUN/TAP driver for Windows.
Who knows what the ecological reprocussions of this would be. At the very least, it would do more than just stymie global warming; it would compromise photosynthesis on a global scale. Two wrongs don't make a right.
It doesn't really matter anymore. All modern games just used the 3D controller to render to what is ultimately a dumb framebuffer. The only TV-standard related function here might be vsync, and that functionality is almost always abstracted in some way. Back in the day, older game consoles like the Genesis and Super Nintendo (and even older than that, like the NES or Commodore 64) used things called raster effects, in which the game could manipulate the path of the pixels to the display on a scanline basis. This allowed developers to produce some nifty effects at minimal CPU time expense. Also, the TV standard refresh frequency (vsync did not exist back then, of course) also dictated the speed of the game, so the PAL version of Super Mario Bros. would run more quickly on an NTSC machine. Today the timing is completely unrelated to the display system. Nowadays those methods are obsolete, and most games are completely TV-standard agnostic, and all "region-coding" is purely for 'business' reasons, like price fixing.
There are more than 100 games for the PSP. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_PlayStation_P ortable_games
LocoRoco and homebrew.
It's called an asymptote.
Singularity is an awesome concept, but writing about it almost always makes one look like a crackpot. ... Especially these wanktastic "future predictors."
AACS still suffers from the same critical flaw as CSS did, and indeed most other forms of DRM.
e
It violates Kerckhoffs' principle. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerckhoffs'_principl
Secret algorithms or data that the consumer is not "meant" to see are still stored locally inside that little black player box you bought from wal-mart. And, more usefully, inside player software intended for a personal computer. This information is kept hidden only by security-by-obscurity mechanisms. There is a long history of people successfully extracting such information from executables or ROM firmware dumps.
It really is only a matter of time until this is cracked, just the same as CSS was.
Apparently Johansen, one of the people to originally break CSS, is already working on AACS circumvention.
um, "Does it work with Linux?" is a perfectly reasonable question to ask a salesperson.
This is not only because GNU/Linux has about the same market share as Apple does, I need to know $30 NIC I'm purchasing from this fellow will work my personal computer/server/whatever. I shouldn't have to go the shop, look at their stock, go back to the office and google it, and then return. Especially for commodity items like NICs and printers.
If the store really wants your business, they'll go through that extra bit of effort to help you determine whether or not the product will meet your requirements.
At the store I shop at, they always do their very best at answering that question for me honsetly (even if it involes a bit of googling).
um, this is news how? Windows Live Messenger's forerunner, MSN Messenger, has had this feature for years. Nevermind all of the other alternatives, Free Software or otherwise...
A native code exploit in kernel space?! GASP! Nobody saw that coming!
I think I've managed to find a draft copy of the treaty proposal (the article was rather light on information in that regard):
http://www.cptech.org/ip/wipo/bt/
I decided to quickly grep through the document for copyright, and I came cross this:
Article 1
Relation to Other Conventions and Treaties
(1) Nothing in this Treaty shall derogate from existing obligations that Contracting Parties
have to each other under any international, regional or bilateral treaties addressing copyright
or related rights.
(2) Protection granted under this Treaty shall leave intact and shall in no way affect the
protection of copyright or related rights in program material incorporated in broadcasts.
Consequently, no provision of this Treaty may be interpreted as prejudicing such protection.
(3) This Treaty shall not have any connection with, nor shall it prejudice any rights and
obligations under, any other treaties.
Taking a leap of faith here, isn't Copyright embodied within the WCT and Berne Convention (I've only done a few moments' research on this, so I may have that wrong)?
Therefore, this new "Broadcast Orgnisation Protection Treaty" might not actually cause the creative-commons-but-wait-oh-shit nightmare scenario in TFA.
IANAL, of course, so perhaps the interaction between this and the Copyright treaty is more sinister than it seems above.
Thoughts?
DRM is an example of keyed authentication used incorrectly.
It's really just security by obscurity.
Then Skype should check for performance, not favour one brand over the other. The very idea that virtually any modern non-Intel processor couldn't actually handle a 10-way skype conversation is absurd. Skype is very proprietary in both its implementation and protocol, and also spams networks with unneccessary traffic. Don't use it.
Carl Sagan never said "Billions and billions".