I once read that the only original employee from Atari (a few years ago) that still worked for the company was some lady that started off originally as the owner's babysitter.
She was paid extra to sit around even while not babysitting and answer the phone, pretending to be a secretary. It was done to give the illusion that Atari was more than a small time operation.
When I read this, a few years back, she was still with the company as it was then though it didn't mention what she did. Perhaps she still answered phones?
Some homeless person had actualy built themselves a shelter there complete with a crank radio. Rather elaberate, stairs and all. Cloths line and such as well.
Doesn't that qualify as a home?
So what if they say he doesn't own it? So what if they say he doesn't have a right to be there? His home was, as you say, complete with a crank radio.
Perhaps, just perhaps, that person lived a life of much less stress than there rest of us, even if they didn't have running water or a microwave.
The way I see it, they had a home. They call it Earth.
You go right ahead and copy the data-files off of someone else, as long as you bought the original you are complying with fair use.
The problem however, is that CHITIN.KEY -- Assuming that of course IS the Keyfile. You see, every copy of Neverwinter Nights has a unique Key associated with the user who registered at Bioware for multiplayer gaming.
I sure as heck wouldn't want to be the person whose key is tagged as "pirated", since I paid enough for this game I'd actually like to play it.
Oh, and since I fully intend to host a dedicated server running the MUD-LIKE opened-ended module I'm writing, I'd also like to have my friends to be able to actually log into my server and play.
Assuming the Linux people play fair and don't take Bioware's generosity as an opprotunity to "stick it to the man", I think the Linux client is an absolutely awesome thing. Unfortunately, I fully expect warezed copies of NWN to ruin things for a whole lot of people.
One of the things industry needs to do is figure out how to track popularity via something other than album sales.
This would be a whole lot easier to truely do if the top-10 lists weren't manipulated. "Most requested" charts, sales charts, and the like are all rating numbers other than the ones that really matter. They're simply there to make more money for the industry and they don't reflect the musical tastes of the population, but rather they direct it.
So what you're saying is, in order for future robots to truely base their actions on feelings, we need to fit them with hydrochloric acid based digestive systems?
Oh this is not really a big deal. Star Trek showed us years ago that you could make a blinde man see just by putting a hair-clip over the front of his face.
I spent about three hours playing Yoshi's Island on the SNES this morning, and I had just popped it in to make sure my SNES was still working and to see what my save games were like.
I can honestly say the game still plays wonderfully, and dispite the fact that Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island was largely ignored because of it's poorly timed release (just around the end of the SNES lifespan) I can honestly say this game in every way is classic Mario fun.
As for even older games, I have recently had quite a bit of fun with the original Legend of Zelda, and a few really obscure titles such as Snake Rattle and Roll, Life-Force, and Blaster Master.
So yes, some of the older games are STILL great fun today. This doesn't go for all of the games, but there are some gems that even though they don't live up to what we expect from games today, they're still classics.
On another topic -- have you noticed that if something is done artistically, it continues to look good even when it's medium becomes obsolete?
A great example of this is the original Super Mario Brothers game. The music is just barely polyphonic and there aren't any more than 8 colors on the whole screen at any given time but hte game is still presentable and playable. It just LOOKS good, even given the limitations of the platform.
It just goes back to the simple rules of art. Video games are, after all, just art. Interactive Art.
If, he thought to himself, finding an electron in a given place is a virtual impossibility, then it must logically be a finite improbability. So all I have to do in order to find one is to work out exactly how improbable it is, feed that figure into the finite improbability generator, give it a fresh cup of really hot tea... and turn it on!
So no need to worry about DDoS or lost savegames. This is about playing unauthorized games, making a DiVX player etc.
Oh, good. Because I thought this meant that something like Gator was going to somehow make it onto my XBox and report back which Porn DVDs I've been watching.
But no, seriously. This may be a "security flaw" that won't keep serious hackers from busting opened the XBox and using it for uses Microsoft never intended, but that's fine. Unless the average user can get around it without so much as opening up the XBox it'll be enough to prevent MOST tinkering. Not all - but...
BTW - Wanted to read the article -- but it has been Slashdotted. UGH.
Anyone who stands with the props of such things as the DMCA stands against free speech and fair use.
They ARE murderers. They're killing our civil liberties.
Re:Katz is even more pathetic than usual
on
The Empire Stumbles
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· Score: 1
2. Who told you we were dis/un-interested? It hasn't even been released here yet!
I wouldn't even pretend to be able to speak for the british. I was replying to someone else who said that he was absolutely not interested in Spiderman and he doesn't know anybody that is.
That's a bit harsh, I think. It really was a good movie.
How much do you want to bet that 45 percent gap is freeware and/or open source?
None at all. That's a bet I simply won't take.
You're not only being unrealistic, you're being naive.
Most people don't even know what opened source is, and in those same people's eyes, freeware is a mythical thing that you only chance upon once in a blue moon. Or worse, freeware is anything you can get away with copying and not paying for.
To recap a conversation I recently had with a friend of mine, paraphrased of course...
Him: I need to burn a copy of Office. Me: Why? Just get Star Office, it's free. Him: Uh, I'd rather just have the real thing.
I tried to explain to him the advantages of just using free software, but he wouldn't have any of it. He sadly represents the vast majority; The same type that will pirate Windows instead of using Linux or FreeBSD.
When people pirate commercial software, It's also a loss to the free software cause!
I never once said the PC couldn't be more powerful than the XBox, I simply pointing out that the XBox does more with the power it has. That is a pure and simple fact. You are, however, seriously kidding yourself if you think even a 2ghz PC of today has a huge advantage over the XBox. There is a whole lot to be said about directly coding for hardware. That's a concept that PC users never could quite seem to come to terms with, and that's why software bloat is so common place now days. The biggest advantages modern PCs have over the XBox isn't from CPU power at all, but rather from the extra ram, and increasingly more advanced video processors (and of course extra video ram). Not a moot point at all, but given how most games will run on even modest (and I dare say shitty) video hardware, it's nothing one should worry about too much unless the intent is to play, say, DOOM III.
You can't show me a single Pentium III 733 with only 64 megabytes of ram that will do ANYTHING close to what the XBox is doing, and most games coming out will still run on a Pentium II 400, so whatever super-beefed k-rad system you've got probably isn't getting pushed very hard since most games just aren't taking advantage of it, and by the time they are they'll be running choppy and it'll be time for an upgrade.
I was horribly disappointed by Grand Theft Auto 3 on the PC, anybody who thinks it's a vast improvement over the PS2 version is seriously delusional. It's the exact same game at a higher resolution. And using a mouse and keyboard with that game is just plain stupid. Fortunately, there are PS2 Dual-Shock work-alikes for the PC.
There isn't any reason why any of the current consoles won't be able to play Doom III, though the odds are best for the Gamecube and XBox, and probably more likely the XBox.
Nevermind the fact that the console versions would be running at a lower resolution and thus require much less video capabilities to render the scenes, but the fact that the game will be coded closer to the metal will take off a huge percentage of the required system specs.
I personally would be very amazed if Doom III didn't at least make it to the XBox. Kid yourself all you want, but by about this time TWO YEARS FROM NOW, PCs will JUST be catching up to the XBox. This is of course based purely on the assumption that Xbox/Gamecube developers don't continue to outdo themselves well on into that time frame and show us stuff we assumed the machines simply wouldn't do.
Simple Case and Point. Quake III on the Dreamcast outperforms Quake III on a Pentium II 400 with an 8 megabyte video card and 24 megs of system memory. In fact, I'm not sure Quake III would play on a PC with those specs at all, yet it kicks much ass on a Dreamcast.
USB2 fails in many areas compared to Firewire, however some items just naturally don't need to be Firewire at all. In fact, not only do they not need to be, but it doesn't make any sense for them to be. A Firewire Keyboard, Mouse, or GamePad is just a plain stupid idea (not to mention quite probably much more expensive).
Some things are just naturally better suited for USB, others Firewire.
Re:One argument for the GPL and against "look alik
on
Debian And WineX
·
· Score: 1
BSDL
Baby Slaugher Device Liscense.
Suddenly, I'm proud to use BSD. Oh, wait, I was before. Nevermind.
Slashdot Mirror
I once read that the only original employee from Atari (a few years ago) that still worked for the company was some lady that started off originally as the owner's babysitter.
She was paid extra to sit around even while not babysitting and answer the phone, pretending to be a secretary. It was done to give the illusion that Atari was more than a small time operation.
When I read this, a few years back, she was still with the company as it was then though it didn't mention what she did. Perhaps she still answered phones?
MS has a monopoly. That is a judicial fact.
Our courts are flawless. And Microsoft has a Monopoly.
That's why nobody can use Apache or Linux.
Some homeless person had actualy built themselves a shelter there complete with a crank radio. Rather elaberate, stairs and all. Cloths line and such as well.
Doesn't that qualify as a home?
So what if they say he doesn't own it? So what if they say he doesn't have a right to be there? His home was, as you say, complete with a crank radio.
Perhaps, just perhaps, that person lived a life of much less stress than there rest of us, even if they didn't have running water or a microwave.
The way I see it, they had a home. They call it Earth.
I run FreeBSD --
I'm very seriously considering hosting a dedicated server on my BSD box...
...
My question is, does anybody know if FreeBSD's Linux Compatibility will actually run the NWN Dedicated Server?
If nobody can tell me, I'm sure I'll find out here shortly.
...
You go right ahead and copy the data-files off of someone else, as long as you bought the original you are complying with fair use.
The problem however, is that CHITIN.KEY -- Assuming that of course IS the Keyfile. You see, every copy of Neverwinter Nights has a unique Key associated with the user who registered at Bioware for multiplayer gaming.
I sure as heck wouldn't want to be the person whose key is tagged as "pirated", since I paid enough for this game I'd actually like to play it.
Oh, and since I fully intend to host a dedicated server running the MUD-LIKE opened-ended module I'm writing, I'd also like to have my friends to be able to actually log into my server and play.
Assuming the Linux people play fair and don't take Bioware's generosity as an opprotunity to "stick it to the man", I think the Linux client is an absolutely awesome thing. Unfortunately, I fully expect warezed copies of NWN to ruin things for a whole lot of people.
It has more than three buttons, though.
0-9, # and * not to mention TALK, END, and no telling what other buttons they put on it.
Of course, the MAC has a Keyboard, but....
I think the fact that it even exists is a bit of a stretch. I mean, how many clothes manufacturers in 1950 are still popular today?
Fruit of the Loom?
Science is the search for truth.
Religion is the belief that you have the truth.
Law is the enforcement of what you believe to be the truth onto other people.
...
One of the things industry needs to do is figure out how to track popularity via something other than album sales.
This would be a whole lot easier to truely do if the top-10 lists weren't manipulated. "Most requested" charts, sales charts, and the like are all rating numbers other than the ones that really matter. They're simply there to make more money for the industry and they don't reflect the musical tastes of the population, but rather they direct it.
not to mention the 'gut' whatever that is...
So what you're saying is, in order for future robots to truely base their actions on feelings, we need to fit them with hydrochloric acid based digestive systems?
Oh this is not really a big deal. Star Trek showed us years ago that you could make a blinde man see just by putting a hair-clip over the front of his face.
I spent about three hours playing Yoshi's Island on the SNES this morning, and I had just popped it in to make sure my SNES was still working and to see what my save games were like.
I can honestly say the game still plays wonderfully, and dispite the fact that Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island was largely ignored because of it's poorly timed release (just around the end of the SNES lifespan) I can honestly say this game in every way is classic Mario fun.
As for even older games, I have recently had quite a bit of fun with the original Legend of Zelda, and a few really obscure titles such as Snake Rattle and Roll, Life-Force, and Blaster Master.
So yes, some of the older games are STILL great fun today. This doesn't go for all of the games, but there are some gems that even though they don't live up to what we expect from games today, they're still classics.
On another topic -- have you noticed that if something is done artistically, it continues to look good even when it's medium becomes obsolete?
A great example of this is the original Super Mario Brothers game. The music is just barely polyphonic and there aren't any more than 8 colors on the whole screen at any given time but hte game is still presentable and playable. It just LOOKS good, even given the limitations of the platform.
It just goes back to the simple rules of art. Video games are, after all, just art. Interactive Art.
I want poseable porn! That's surely within our technological grasp.
Try Poser from Metacreations.
http://www.metacreations.com/
When red necks and trailer trash start writing their own software at home, and parking rusty PC's out side their front door I'll get worried.
I live in Tennessee. I've seen rednecks write programs, both at work and at home.
Yes, they have rusty PC cases out in the lawn.
You better worry.
it says that it's improbable but not impossible.
... and turn it on!
If, he thought to himself, finding an electron in a given place is a virtual impossibility, then it must logically be a finite improbability. So all I have to do in order to find one is to work out exactly how improbable it is, feed that figure into the finite improbability generator, give it a fresh cup of really hot tea
I crack me up.
So no need to worry about DDoS or lost savegames. This is about playing unauthorized games, making a DiVX player etc.
Oh, good. Because I thought this meant that something like Gator was going to somehow make it onto my XBox and report back which Porn DVDs I've been watching.
But no, seriously. This may be a "security flaw" that won't keep serious hackers from busting opened the XBox and using it for uses Microsoft never intended, but that's fine. Unless the average user can get around it without so much as opening up the XBox it'll be enough to prevent MOST tinkering. Not all - but...
BTW - Wanted to read the article -- but it has been Slashdotted. UGH.
within the law
Anyone who stands with the props of such things as the DMCA stands against free speech and fair use.
They ARE murderers. They're killing our civil liberties.
2. Who told you we were dis/un-interested? It hasn't even been released here yet!
I wouldn't even pretend to be able to speak for the british. I was replying to someone else who said that he was absolutely not interested in Spiderman and he doesn't know anybody that is.
That's a bit harsh, I think. It really was a good movie.
How much do you want to bet that 45 percent gap is freeware and/or open source?
None at all. That's a bet I simply won't take.
You're not only being unrealistic, you're being naive.
Most people don't even know what opened source is, and in those same people's eyes, freeware is a mythical thing that you only chance upon once in a blue moon. Or worse, freeware is anything you can get away with copying and not paying for.
To recap a conversation I recently had with a friend of mine, paraphrased of course...
Him: I need to burn a copy of Office.
Me: Why? Just get Star Office, it's free.
Him: Uh, I'd rather just have the real thing.
I tried to explain to him the advantages of just using free software, but he wouldn't have any of it. He sadly represents the vast majority; The same type that will pirate Windows instead of using Linux or FreeBSD.
When people pirate commercial software, It's also a loss to the free software cause!
I never once said the PC couldn't be more powerful than the XBox, I simply pointing out that the XBox does more with the power it has. That is a pure and simple fact. You are, however, seriously kidding yourself if you think even a 2ghz PC of today has a huge advantage over the XBox. There is a whole lot to be said about directly coding for hardware. That's a concept that PC users never could quite seem to come to terms with, and that's why software bloat is so common place now days. The biggest advantages modern PCs have over the XBox isn't from CPU power at all, but rather from the extra ram, and increasingly more advanced video processors (and of course extra video ram). Not a moot point at all, but given how most games will run on even modest (and I dare say shitty) video hardware, it's nothing one should worry about too much unless the intent is to play, say, DOOM III.
You can't show me a single Pentium III 733 with only 64 megabytes of ram that will do ANYTHING close to what the XBox is doing, and most games coming out will still run on a Pentium II 400, so whatever super-beefed k-rad system you've got probably isn't getting pushed very hard since most games just aren't taking advantage of it, and by the time they are they'll be running choppy and it'll be time for an upgrade.
I was horribly disappointed by Grand Theft Auto 3 on the PC, anybody who thinks it's a vast improvement over the PS2 version is seriously delusional. It's the exact same game at a higher resolution. And using a mouse and keyboard with that game is just plain stupid. Fortunately, there are PS2 Dual-Shock work-alikes for the PC.
Do you have a mouse on your precious console?
Which one? The Dreamcast has a mouse and it works quite well with Quake III, as does the Keyboard.
Isn't that what is going to happen anyway?
There isn't any reason why any of the current consoles won't be able to play Doom III, though the odds are best for the Gamecube and XBox, and probably more likely the XBox.
Nevermind the fact that the console versions would be running at a lower resolution and thus require much less video capabilities to render the scenes, but the fact that the game will be coded closer to the metal will take off a huge percentage of the required system specs.
I personally would be very amazed if Doom III didn't at least make it to the XBox. Kid yourself all you want, but by about this time TWO YEARS FROM NOW, PCs will JUST be catching up to the XBox. This is of course based purely on the assumption that Xbox/Gamecube developers don't continue to outdo themselves well on into that time frame and show us stuff we assumed the machines simply wouldn't do.
Simple Case and Point. Quake III on the Dreamcast outperforms Quake III on a Pentium II 400 with an 8 megabyte video card and 24 megs of system memory. In fact, I'm not sure Quake III would play on a PC with those specs at all, yet it kicks much ass on a Dreamcast.
Expect to be blown away.
USB2 fails in many areas compared to Firewire, however some items just naturally don't need to be Firewire at all. In fact, not only do they not need to be, but it doesn't make any sense for them to be. A Firewire Keyboard, Mouse, or GamePad is just a plain stupid idea (not to mention quite probably much more expensive).
Some things are just naturally better suited for USB, others Firewire.
BSDL
Baby Slaugher Device Liscense.
Suddenly, I'm proud to use BSD. Oh, wait, I was before. Nevermind.