I read some of these books when I was 6 years old. It was my formal introduction to the English language. I managed to understand about 40% of the words, however, since the stories were so compelling to me as a child I, armed myself with a dictionary and devoured those books.
Those books were not great pieces of literature, they were cheesy. They were pulp fiction. However, they were empowering and fascinating. They marked the beginning of an enduring love of reading.
It makes me happy to know that these books are making a comeback. I hope that they sell well. When the first one comes out I'll get a copy for my nephews. Perhaps a non multiple choice adventure story will motivate them to read more in the future.
I am sorry, but I don't believe that the rest of us should suffer just because of your failures in parenting. When one of my nephews plays too many video games I just pull the plug.
I played some of those games and was deeply disappointed. (I haven't played Dreamfall or Syberia 2 yet.) The graphic adventure games of today are few and most of them are worthless.
Last week I finally got to play "The Longest Journey". The game was not moved by the character's actions, it was moved by the dialogue. It felt more like a movie than a game, a very long and boring movie to be more precise. It was beautiful, but its gameplay was horrendous. That seems to be the current trend of today.
As long as the new graphic adventures are few and awful I will remember fondly the graphic adventure games of the golden era. I haven't played any good graphic adventure games since Grim Fandango. Syberia and The longest journeys are a joke in comparison to the games of yesterday. If they win awards it is because they have no real competition.
Graphic adventure games were replaced by first person shooters because first person shooters were the summer blockbuster movies of the game universe. They don't need a compelling story, just a lot of explosions and special effects.
The other day I challenged my nephews to play and finish the old Monkey Island games. They have Game Cube and Playstation 2 consoles at home.
They got hooked immediately. 15 year old games with outdated VGA graphics got the attention of my nephews. They have now moved on to the Quest for Glory series. (Hooray for dosbox and scummvm)
There needs to be a graphic adventure game revival. The games don't need to be the summer blockbusters of the game industry. They will make enough money just by filling a gap that exists in the computer game section.
I rather like it! I find it very clean and unobtrusive. I was afraid that slashdot would pick a design that was encumbered by a lot of noise or trinkets.:-)
This is slightly off topic, but it might be usefull info:
XP supports skins withouth the need for third party apps like window blinds. The problem is that it only accepts signed skins. You can download a patch that allows you to use unsigned skins on windows at native speed. These skins are called Visual Styles.
I use Windows XP, Ubuntu 5.10, and SuSE 10.1. I develop software for a living.
There are many things that I don't like of the three operating systems. In theory, I could modify Ubuntu and SuSE to my liking. The reality is that I couldn't do that if I tried, and if I tried, I wouldn't have the time to achieve anything significant.
The idea that Open Source software is needed because it allows the end user to modify its own system is utopic at best. Most people can't use a command line to change a configuration file. Most people want their software to work. Windows Vista and OS X was designed for most people.
I drive a car. I do it every day. The fact that I can't or don't wish to tweak it doesn't take away from its utility or value.
Windows 2K brought stability to the windows platform. Windows Vista should bring enhanced security through its pseudo sudo strategy.
Although win 2k and xp had limited user accounts it did nothing to enforce their usage because it would alienate novice users who wanted to install their shinny new Easy Birthday Card Creator software. Now the process that grants admin rights will be simpler to use but I can bet that many people will complain about the extra "hassle" that they will encounter when installing software.
Of course, you can only do so much to secure an operating system that is geared towards users. It is only a matter of time before Joe User decides that it is a good idea to provide the admin password to install the latest malware ridden "Fun Emoticon" package.
The best strategy that MS could do to improve security would be to bundle an intro into the OS that explained the basics of its new security features.
Hardware vendors don't want to open source their drivers. Why should they? It is their choice. GPL people don't want to taint their open source code with propietary software. Why should they? It is their choice.
In the end, the victim of this discussion of politics is the consumer. If the consumer doesn't switch to Linux, Linux gets no corporate support and it remains stagnant.
I don't pretend to try to change the views of the GPL supporters, after all, they are giving their creations away for free.
But, if you want more freedom to choose, switch to BSD.
I followed your advice and downloaded a 30 day trial. I must admit that I was impressed with its performance and memory footprint. I decided to compared it with Visual Studio 2003 Enterprise Edition in terms of memory and loading time.
IntelliJ: 65 MB 10 seconds
Visual Studio: 14 MB 4 seconds
I didn't mind its memory footprint and loading time. You are right in suggesting that Swing is competitive in that area if used correctly.
What I consider to be unnacceptable is its fonts. They are terrible. It looks like a 5 year old application. Lets hope that "mustang" does a better job. Even if it does, it would have only succeded in catching up 5 years late.
Sorry, but this appears to be FUD. If you want a native look and feel you need to put in one line of code to tell the UIManager to use it. A few more lines can give the user control of the L&F.
No it doesn't. Every app in my system uses font anti aliasing. Every Swing app in my system doesn't. The Swing fonts will look awfull when compared to the fonts of everything else.
Using themes doesn't work that great with Swing either (Not Swing themes but Gnome, KDE, Windows global themes). Swing apps will stick out like a sore thumb.
Swing is a joke. It doesn't look native, it is a resource hog, it doesn't even have clear type. Swing has only been complete in its next version that is always yet to come.
Java's language features were updated only when it got some competition from C#. The only harm that SWT has done it keeping the Swing development team on its toes.
I love PC-BSD's self contained software installer above all. It brings the simplicity and elegance of Windows and Mac software installation to the nix world.
Package managers like Synaptic don't make too much sense to me. They are great as long as every computer that you manage has a broadband connection. There are many people in the world, especially in developing nations, that can not afford that luxury. I'd much rather keep copies of software on CDs to distribute instead of having to connect every computer to a fat pipe whenever I want to install a software package. Yes, I understand that you can configure removable media as a source, but the process in not intuitive and you have to make sure that every dependency is available on the CD to begin with.
If PC-BSD were to release a GNOME centric version of its software I would switch all of my machines in a heartbeat.
Slashdot Mirror
Remember kids: Always preview before posting.
I read some of these books when I was 6 years old. It was my formal introduction to the English language. I managed to understand about 40% of the words, however, since the stories were so compelling to me as a child I, armed myself with a dictionary and devoured those books.
Those books were not great pieces of literature, they were cheesy. They were pulp fiction. However, they were empowering and fascinating. They marked the beginning of an enduring love of reading.
It makes me happy to know that these books are making a comeback. I hope that they sell well. When the first one comes out I'll get a copy for my nephews. Perhaps a non multiple choice adventure story will motivate them to read more in the future.
In related news:
A scientific organization named GHERIN has established a base in Antartica to study the phenomenom that they call "the first impact".
I agree with you wholeheartedly, however, uncle Steve has never been too fond of having his customers opening their Macs.
Hard core Mac fans want their computers to just work. They don't care much for tweaking their hardware or for building their own computers.
Because of that reason I am sticking to Windows/nix and to off the shelf interchangeable hardware components.
I am sorry, but I don't believe that the rest of us should suffer just because of your failures in parenting. When one of my nephews plays too many video games I just pull the plug.
-1 Dumbass
I played some of those games and was deeply disappointed. (I haven't played Dreamfall or Syberia 2 yet.) The graphic adventure games of today are few and most of them are worthless.
Last week I finally got to play "The Longest Journey". The game was not moved by the character's actions, it was moved by the dialogue. It felt more like a movie than a game, a very long and boring movie to be more precise. It was beautiful, but its gameplay was horrendous. That seems to be the current trend of today.
As long as the new graphic adventures are few and awful I will remember fondly the graphic adventure games of the golden era. I haven't played any good graphic adventure games since Grim Fandango. Syberia and The longest journeys are a joke in comparison to the games of yesterday. If they win awards it is because they have no real competition.
Graphic adventure games were replaced by first person shooters because first person shooters were the summer blockbuster movies of the game universe. They don't need a compelling story, just a lot of explosions and special effects.
The other day I challenged my nephews to play and finish the old Monkey Island games. They have Game Cube and Playstation 2 consoles at home.
They got hooked immediately. 15 year old games with outdated VGA graphics got the attention of my nephews. They have now moved on to the Quest for Glory series. (Hooray for dosbox and scummvm)
There needs to be a graphic adventure game revival. The games don't need to be the summer blockbusters of the game industry. They will make enough money just by filling a gap that exists in the computer game section.
I love PC-BSD's Mac like software installer. If it had better Gnome support I would switch in a heartbeat.
I rather like it! I find it very clean and unobtrusive. I was afraid that slashdot would pick a design that was encumbered by a lot of noise or trinkets. :-)
You make an interesting and valid point.
This is slightly off topic, but it might be usefull info:
XP supports skins withouth the need for third party apps like window blinds. The problem is that it only accepts signed skins. You can download a patch that allows you to use unsigned skins on windows at native speed. These skins are called Visual Styles.
The patch
My favorite skin (Industry compact)
A couple of others
I use Windows XP, Ubuntu 5.10, and SuSE 10.1. I develop software for a living.
There are many things that I don't like of the three operating systems. In theory, I could modify Ubuntu and SuSE to my liking. The reality is that I couldn't do that if I tried, and if I tried, I wouldn't have the time to achieve anything significant.
The idea that Open Source software is needed because it allows the end user to modify its own system is utopic at best. Most people can't use a command line to change a configuration file. Most people want their software to work. Windows Vista and OS X was designed for most people.
I drive a car. I do it every day. The fact that I can't or don't wish to tweak it doesn't take away from its utility or value.
Windows 2K brought stability to the windows platform. Windows Vista should bring enhanced security through its pseudo sudo strategy.
Although win 2k and xp had limited user accounts it did nothing to enforce their usage because it would alienate novice users who wanted to install their shinny new Easy Birthday Card Creator software. Now the process that grants admin rights will be simpler to use but I can bet that many people will complain about the extra "hassle" that they will encounter when installing software.
Of course, you can only do so much to secure an operating system that is geared towards users. It is only a matter of time before Joe User decides that it is a good idea to provide the admin password to install the latest malware ridden "Fun Emoticon" package.
The best strategy that MS could do to improve security would be to bundle an intro into the OS that explained the basics of its new security features.
Thanks! That is a great find!
I use C# with GTK# on Mono on Linux because its applications look and behave like native applications.
If Java could release supported GTK bindings instead of having to rely on Swing It would be a dream come true.
Did you just compare a piece of software to a human being?
Does it also apply to chickens? I ate chicken today and after your comment I am feeling kind of guilty.
Things like this make me want to switch to BSD.
Hardware vendors don't want to open source their drivers. Why should they? It is their choice. GPL people don't want to taint their open source code with propietary software. Why should they? It is their choice.
In the end, the victim of this discussion of politics is the consumer. If the consumer doesn't switch to Linux, Linux gets no corporate support and it remains stagnant.
I don't pretend to try to change the views of the GPL supporters, after all, they are giving their creations away for free.
But, if you want more freedom to choose, switch to BSD.
"I'm sure the biggest result of magnetic field reversal will be the number of PhDs granted."
Sir, you win the prize for the best quote of the day!
If this slow reversal is happening as we speak; what effect could it have on bird migration and magnetotactic bacteria?
I followed your advice and downloaded a 30 day trial. I must admit that I was impressed with its performance and memory footprint. I decided to compared it with Visual Studio 2003 Enterprise Edition in terms of memory and loading time.
IntelliJ: 65 MB 10 seconds
Visual Studio: 14 MB 4 seconds
I didn't mind its memory footprint and loading time. You are right in suggesting that Swing is competitive in that area if used correctly.
What I consider to be unnacceptable is its fonts. They are terrible. It looks like a 5 year old application. Lets hope that "mustang" does a better job. Even if it does, it would have only succeded in catching up 5 years late.
Using themes doesn't work that great with Swing either (Not Swing themes but Gnome, KDE, Windows global themes). Swing apps will stick out like a sore thumb.
Java is great. Java is fast. I agree with your post.
That doesn't mean that SWING is not slow and bloated.
Ive used Java apps with SWT and OpenGL that work great.
I have yet to see or use a SWING app that behaves decently.
Swing is a joke. It doesn't look native, it is a resource hog, it doesn't even have clear type. Swing has only been complete in its next version that is always yet to come.
Java's language features were updated only when it got some competition from C#. The only harm that SWT has done it keeping the Swing development team on its toes.
. . . "This exact comment has already been posted. Try to be more original..." WTF?
I love PC-BSD's self contained software installer above all. It brings the simplicity and elegance of Windows and Mac software installation to the nix world.
Package managers like Synaptic don't make too much sense to me. They are great as long as every computer that you manage has a broadband connection. There are many people in the world, especially in developing nations, that can not afford that luxury. I'd much rather keep copies of software on CDs to distribute instead of having to connect every computer to a fat pipe whenever I want to install a software package. Yes, I understand that you can configure removable media as a source, but the process in not intuitive and you have to make sure that every dependency is available on the CD to begin with.
If PC-BSD were to release a GNOME centric version of its software I would switch all of my machines in a heartbeat.