This is not something Python got wrong. It's superior for the simple fact that any programmer worth their salary will indent anyway and leveraging that makes more sense. Why force a programmer to type in a brain dead curly brace or 'Next' on a 'for' loop (C and VB respectively), when your indenting has already specified what you intend?
Truly, you do not miss typing the explicit block delimiters after trying it. As far as anyone who argues that indenting code is bad goes... well get with it. Really.
IANAL and I don't have specific knowledge of this occurring, but really, what's to stop it from happening?
My suggestion to anyone is that they develop three good domain names that they would be happy with. But for god's sake, do it *offline*! Don't search for them, don't try them in your browser, and don't tell anyone what they are. *Then* just go register one or all of them. Don't wait, don't search, and don't even breathe until they're yours.
Oh, and don't forget to trademark the language in those URLs (can't be plain English remember). If someone sees your new URL and likes it, they could register the TM if you don't. Then they can sue you for ownership of the domain, since you're clearly infringing on their TM; and they'll probably get the domain in the end.
You are disrespecting a very large portion of the business world. I will agree that there's not much pleasure to be had in using (most) COBOL environments. However, COBOL fills a niche that, until very recently, nothing else out there could fill. What's that niche? Specifically, it's the niche of very high volume processing systems that must be flexible and undergo change on a regular basis (in other words, must be maintainable).
It's not a given that COBOL is a scalable language. However, the best implementations of COBOL have always been the ones that reside on highly scalable architectures, i.e. mainframes (usually IBM's). It's also been true that the best language on those scalable architectures for business problems has almost always been COBOL. Therefore, businesses with very high volume needs have used COBOL. It's not difficult to understand.
Now, I'm sure IBM looked at public perception and said something like "Hey, everyone seems to despise COBOL. Maybe we should do something to get a new language in the works so we don't lose our shirts." And then was born their support for Java. I think you should expect to see Java take over tasks that COBOL would previously have been used.
Also, I think you're absolutely right. Mostly non-IT related companies probably are using COBOL. But who really pays the bills anyway? You think IT companies pay the bills? Really?! Despite our over-inflated self-opinion, IT will always be a derivative industry. Just like accountants, HR folks, etc. we will only ever have jobs where other industries already exist. IT has no value in a vacuum.
My last point is this: Every programming language out there that actually gets used, gets used by a community. Every community has a culture. And every programming language serves that culture. Don't think this is true? Try using VB in a Unix shop. The culture clash will be immediately apparent.
So, people still do program in COBOL; because it works and because that's how they and their peers think. End of story. It would be stupid to deny the reality of that. But those people aren't necessarily stupid for being the product of their local culture. Just like we're not stupid for being (at least in part) the product of the/. culture.
Considering IBM gave RPG away on AS/400 on many versions of that OS, it was the bread and butter of many, many businesses; many of which still use it. It was butt-ugly, but it got the job done. I remember getting back to Cobol after RPG and being relieved about it.
I tried those games on the N64 and I found all FPS games except Goldeneye to be virtually unplayable. I simply could not get the thing to respond quickly enough. Doom would've played nice since there's no need for a Z-axis there, but come on already. Goldeneye handled this by controlling the Z-axis for you; the others didn't. Wasn't really that great though. Want to jump off a catwalk in Goldeneye to surprise someone? Forget it, use the ramp. It just couldn't handle it.
GoldenEye was a good game, to a point. After killing about 900 anonymous soldiers though, it got a bit tedious and started to become a huge pain in the ass.
Multiplayer was better, but I never figured out why Nintendo didn't hack in a simple Appletalk-like protocol with USB ports or something so you could network the boxes. Put some of those together with some smallish TV sets, and multiplayer would have been a whole lot better. I'm not a big believer in the multiplayer+single screen thing anymore; unless you're talking about Tetris or Mario Party or something like that.
Also, Goldeneye made me motion sick far quicker than any FPS I played before or since, and I won't touch it anymore.
In short, the best games we played on the N64 have been Tetris (my wife's preference), Zelda64 (with the walkthrough of course, and I won't touch Majora's Mask as I'm afraid of the time suckage), and Diddy Kong.
FWIW though, I did like the N64 controller. It was especially natural to use during Mario64 and Diddy Kong.
I have to say 'thank you' for the reference to the work of Gregory Chaitin. Having been in the trenches way too long and being highly subject to the programming languages network effect, it seems I hardly ever drink of the nectar which fuels deep thinking on topics important to CS. I guess there's a significant difference between CS and IT in general and I appreciate the peeks behind the conceptual curtain more now.
Anyway, I'll find some way to let my wife order those books.;)
This is exactly the path we'll be adopting. We bought a Nintendo 64 which my wife is perfectly happy with (when she gets the time to play it anyway). I would have to talk her into buying a new console. But, why the hell would I buy one? The PC *is* a better gaming platform (expecially with my Athlon 1.2Ghz + GeForce 2 GTS rig + CABLE connection + ad nauseum). So that means I don't want a new console, my wife isn't ready for one, and our children are too young still to even care (if they ever do).
I love the look of Halo and other games coming out, but they're just not worth the $$$ of new hardware. Also, it seems wasteful to buy yet another console while we've still got a perfectly good and under-utilized one already. Combine that with a decent PC and no console for us.
Also - Is is just me, or are there just too many damn games coming out (PC and otherwise)???!!! I mean, I barely have time to finish the games I already have. I can ill afford the time spent on new ones. Maybe I should just crawl under a rock until I finish the ones I have. When I come out again, there should be a whole new lineup about 2 generations in quality further along.
Now, if Halo comes out in regular PC format, I may just jump at that. But that's the last one. Really..
Seriously, what's stopping you? I'm using Netscape 6.2 all the time at work. I use it simply because I'm just a little tired of IE, no other reason. It works great though. I have to use MS stuff too, and I don't know that I mind that. But a little variety is nice.
Besides allowing the J++ developers to port their code to.Net, this leaves the doors wide open and make it easy (easier anyway, they are massive) for a third party to implement the Java APIs (e.g. the J2EE family on top of.Net. To my way of thinking, that could have a lot of value.
To use a hockey analogy:
So Microsoft isn't allowed to score with the Java puck on the Sun goal anymore. But are they prohibited from making an assist? Nope.
Also, there is the idea that they may simply be trying to lure Java developers as a whole into.Net by making sure the language syntax isn't a barrier. Sure C# isn't all that far from Java, but now the language is no excuse at all. (The API learning curve may be a barrier but Microsoft has made that easy to get into through Intellisense, wizards, etc.)
You know it's funny.. I just went to the MS DevDays conference this last week and no mention was made of J#. Hmm....
Hell, I do that all the time on surveys. I do it for bandwidth, processor, memory and any other spec that costs me money personally.
I think it actually works.. there's very few new games out that my Pentium II 350 machine can't run, and there's absolutely nothing my AMD 1.2Ghz can't run. I won't be telling them about that machine on surveys though.;)
You know, I would rather they spend the time on performance instead of adding yet another great cut-scene that costs $1 million to produce and you only ever see once. I just help them keep their priorities straight.
I have considered dumping my cable modem too, and here's why (and they're not your given reasons):
1. It's spendy. I could use the $46/month on something else. And it's going up. They're going to keep jacking prices until a considerable number of people drop off, then they might back down a bit. But if no one drops off, they'll just keep raising it.
2. You don't *really* need it. I use my cable modem extensively, and about 50% of what I do could be accomplished with dialup. Well what about the other 50% you ask? Most of that is stuff I don't need to do. Downloading various types of multimedia, game demos, etc. are not things that I require professionally or otherwise; I could live without them. I can also live without internet newscasts, etc. I don't need those either. I can read the AP or Reuters off of Yahoo! instead.
That about sums it up. I haven't had any hassles at all compared to a lot of the horror stories I've heard, but most of those seem related to DSL issues (which is apparently the real quality culprit most of the time).
BTW - Getting rid of cars would severely cripple our economy. By comparison, very few people would notice if broadband went away.
But the snafu you're witnessing is due largely to our devotion to competition and the corporate tendency towards greed. It'll probably take the government to straighten things out so it can flourish enough to become a common service.
On that note...
Isn't broadband in Canada government subsidized? I forget where I heard that, but if it is, then Canada really is in the same boat with the difference of having our mistakes to learn from before doing their own broadband.
For every story like the above one, there's at least 10 more that tell a miserable tale of being fucked with constantly, being close to death, being bored out of your fricking mind, and constantly being in attendance to shit no one cares about.
"Sarge, why am I doing this?"
"Because you were ordered to. Now shut the fuck up."
It's about that glamorous most of the time.
And yes, it makes one appreciate civilian life and IT jobs in particular.
Quitchyerbitchin.
Or don't. But at least do the rest of us the service of being miserable in the military for a while. *Then* you'll quit bitching.
I don't agree that human history is way more interesting. I personally usually find it depressing to think about the past. I found that the factions in SMAC provided some interesting thinking about idealogies. I won't bore people to tears in an attempt to describe that to people, it was more of an experience than an overt mental process.
Overall, I play games to explore new ways of thinking or to have new experiences. I don't play them to re-live history. I do have to admit though that games like CivX, if they're historically accurate could be a valuable learning tool for real students of history. I certainly would have found history to be a much more interesting topic with the sorts of presentation that are possible in a simulation like CivX. But that's the crux of it for me: I don't consider realistic games to be games. They're simulations.
Now, I suppose I present an internal conflict here. Since "I play games to explore new ways of thinking or to have new experiences" and since I could not have possibly lived through all historical episodes (even with the possibility of literal re-incarnation), I might have to conceed that playing simulations might lead me to new ways of thinking and new experiences.
In this sort of introspection is why I hardly ever think out loud.
Only the fact that this relates to XP keeps it from being completely irrelevant (and it's still not relevant). Also Road Runner is being very irresponsible in publishing their opinion about an OS they've admitted to barely touching.
Still think this is news? OK.. Then does Road Runner support BeOS, *BSD, etc? I very much doubt it. But can customers still use those OS'es in using their service? I very much think so. All it takes is a DHCP client and the network card they give you (to which you're typically tied to the MAC address and usually can not swap out; at least in my case that's true). But did Road Runner come forward with a bold announcement about not supporting those? Nope.
As usual, the early adopters will respond with a quiet sigh of tolerance and do whatever the hell they feel like doing anyway.
The key is producing a game with a symbolic system (which may or may not reflect reality in some sense, or may simple choose to abstract it) that is fun to interact with, provides a challenge of some sort, is consistent, and may even be educational.
Stretch the gamer a bit, give them some fun, and give them some reason to replay the game.
Is the goal to become ever more realistic? Only if you're writing simulations. Was Pac-man realistic? Nope. Was it successful? Damn straight it was. How about Tetris?
Etc....
These are games folks; let's not forget the mission here.
You're absolutely correct. Not only do they have a captive audience, but they have an audience about whom they know a lot about.
So, if the problem is "we can't use AOL from Linux, etc", then why don't they fix it? What's really stopping them from putting together a cross-platform Java (heck, or even C-based) GUI? That way, at least no one has an excuse to work around them.
I do think they'll be forced to stomp on anyone producing other implementations of their client. Long-term though, it's not a battle they can win (especially if Linux does start getting used more by average/non-technical users).
I have to agree. It's also bad when a big event occurs, like the 9/11 attack and like the Lewinsky/Clinton case. I suppose they beat dead horses like that because they should. In the case of the 9/11 attack, at least it's warranted. With things like the Lewinsky case? I don't want to hear it anymore after a couple days.
I will say though that their fund-raising has gotten a lot less intrusive (at least in MN) since they started encouraging "pre-funding" over the Internet. They're able to reduce the cuts to air-time by simply starting collections online before the actual drive. Then they don't have to go nearly as long as they used to. I've noticed some difference personally and I would guess that it takes them about 2-3 days less to wrap up now than it used to.
Why support Linux vendors when you can just bleed them dry?
Why be nice to people?
Why shouldn't you lie, cheat, and steal at every opportunity when you won't be caught?
Why not cheat on your taxes?
Why help your neighbor?
I do hope you're just trolling. If you can't understand the "Golden Rule" as a simple equation for self-interest, if nothing else, then you truly are a loser.
I do know people who think the presence of law enforcement is the only reason you should respect other people. They are sad people who really have no hope for happiness until they change their attitude.
Obviously, I'm not able to speak to the VA public stations (I'm in MN), but I do find that public radio here (91.1 FM and probably others in this area) contain so little commercialism that I experience no dilemma of conscience in describing them as non-commercial. Many public radio stations will license the National Public Radio and follow their guidelines, so beyond that, YMMV. In MN (MPR), they point out key sponsorships with a little phrase behind it probably every 15 minutes. Apart from that, it's just content. Maybe I should've promoted MPR specifically, but I'm guessing that public radio practices nationwide are probably good enough to warrant a blanket endorsement.
Instead of supporting this form of broadcast, why not send some money to your local public radio organizations instead? (Sorry to everyone else if this is largely a US idea.) They insulate you from the blatant and sickening commericialism. They don't ask you to install special equipment. They (usually) broadcast things which expand your mind and make you more informed. They do not just allows themselves to be swept along in every popular culture movement you can think of, etc.
In short, they don't ask for much, and they deliver quite a lot in return. It's an excellent investment. Please consider sending them the $420 instead.
Yes, you had to misquote me and post anonymously to post that little jab.
The entire quote is "A Microsoft Certified Solutions Developer rooting for Open Source". I suppose that you think I'm stupid because I bothered to get the MCSD? Ok fine. That could mean that anything I bother to associate with is also stupid, no?
What goes around comes around...
Re:Your tolerance
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Would the real "atrowe" instead of Anonymous Coward come forward?
I can not believe that anyone with even a shred of intelligence would care one shit for karma points on a forum which is so *obviously* infested with imbeciles. (Yes, I'm being sarcastic.)
Therefore, I do not believe that the above post is actually from atrowe. If it is though...
If you had bothered to look, dictionary.com does indeed contain British variants of words. Look at www.dictionary.com/cgi-bin/dict.pl?term=colour for proof.
Just because you chose to use 'anse' as the suffix instead of 'ance' doesn't make you a proper Brit. It makes you a wanna-be-elite-Brit-loser who like to lord what little education they have over other people.
Membership in Mensa means you've got a nice brain. It doesn't mean you have the wisdom to use it properly. Should you actually manage to temper your intelligence with wisdom, you will indeed be a respectable force (hopefully for the better).
Re:OK there Mr. High & Mighty
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Slashdot Mirror
This is not something Python got wrong. It's superior for the simple fact that any programmer worth their salary will indent anyway and leveraging that makes more sense. Why force a programmer to type in a brain dead curly brace or 'Next' on a 'for' loop (C and VB respectively), when your indenting has already specified what you intend?
Truly, you do not miss typing the explicit block delimiters after trying it. As far as anyone who argues that indenting code is bad goes... well get with it. Really.
IANAL and I don't have specific knowledge of this occurring, but really, what's to stop it from happening?
My suggestion to anyone is that they develop three good domain names that they would be happy with. But for god's sake, do it *offline*! Don't search for them, don't try them in your browser, and don't tell anyone what they are. *Then* just go register one or all of them. Don't wait, don't search, and don't even breathe until they're yours.
Oh, and don't forget to trademark the language in those URLs (can't be plain English remember). If someone sees your new URL and likes it, they could register the TM if you don't. Then they can sue you for ownership of the domain, since you're clearly infringing on their TM; and they'll probably get the domain in the end.
Hey, I don't make the rules...
And my favorite word today is don't.
You are disrespecting a very large portion of the business world. I will agree that there's not much pleasure to be had in using (most) COBOL environments. However, COBOL fills a niche that, until very recently, nothing else out there could fill. What's that niche? Specifically, it's the niche of very high volume processing systems that must be flexible and undergo change on a regular basis (in other words, must be maintainable).
/. culture.
It's not a given that COBOL is a scalable language. However, the best implementations of COBOL have always been the ones that reside on highly scalable architectures, i.e. mainframes (usually IBM's). It's also been true that the best language on those scalable architectures for business problems has almost always been COBOL. Therefore, businesses with very high volume needs have used COBOL. It's not difficult to understand.
Now, I'm sure IBM looked at public perception and said something like "Hey, everyone seems to despise COBOL. Maybe we should do something to get a new language in the works so we don't lose our shirts." And then was born their support for Java. I think you should expect to see Java take over tasks that COBOL would previously have been used.
Also, I think you're absolutely right. Mostly non-IT related companies probably are using COBOL. But who really pays the bills anyway? You think IT companies pay the bills? Really?! Despite our over-inflated self-opinion, IT will always be a derivative industry. Just like accountants, HR folks, etc. we will only ever have jobs where other industries already exist. IT has no value in a vacuum.
My last point is this: Every programming language out there that actually gets used, gets used by a community. Every community has a culture. And every programming language serves that culture. Don't think this is true? Try using VB in a Unix shop. The culture clash will be immediately apparent.
So, people still do program in COBOL; because it works and because that's how they and their peers think. End of story. It would be stupid to deny the reality of that. But those people aren't necessarily stupid for being the product of their local culture. Just like we're not stupid for being (at least in part) the product of the
Considering IBM gave RPG away on AS/400 on many versions of that OS, it was the bread and butter of many, many businesses; many of which still use it. It was butt-ugly, but it got the job done. I remember getting back to Cobol after RPG and being relieved about it.
I tried those games on the N64 and I found all FPS games except Goldeneye to be virtually unplayable. I simply could not get the thing to respond quickly enough. Doom would've played nice since there's no need for a Z-axis there, but come on already. Goldeneye handled this by controlling the Z-axis for you; the others didn't. Wasn't really that great though. Want to jump off a catwalk in Goldeneye to surprise someone? Forget it, use the ramp. It just couldn't handle it.
GoldenEye was a good game, to a point. After killing about 900 anonymous soldiers though, it got a bit tedious and started to become a huge pain in the ass.
Multiplayer was better, but I never figured out why Nintendo didn't hack in a simple Appletalk-like protocol with USB ports or something so you could network the boxes. Put some of those together with some smallish TV sets, and multiplayer would have been a whole lot better. I'm not a big believer in the multiplayer+single screen thing anymore; unless you're talking about Tetris or Mario Party or something like that.
Also, Goldeneye made me motion sick far quicker than any FPS I played before or since, and I won't touch it anymore.
In short, the best games we played on the N64 have been Tetris (my wife's preference), Zelda64 (with the walkthrough of course, and I won't touch Majora's Mask as I'm afraid of the time suckage), and Diddy Kong.
FWIW though, I did like the N64 controller. It was especially natural to use during Mario64 and Diddy Kong.
I have to say 'thank you' for the reference to the work of Gregory Chaitin. Having been in the trenches way too long and being highly subject to the programming languages network effect, it seems I hardly ever drink of the nectar which fuels deep thinking on topics important to CS. I guess there's a significant difference between CS and IT in general and I appreciate the peeks behind the conceptual curtain more now.
;)
Anyway, I'll find some way to let my wife order those books.
Thanks again.
I wish I could mod you up instead.
This is exactly the path we'll be adopting. We bought a Nintendo 64 which my wife is perfectly happy with (when she gets the time to play it anyway). I would have to talk her into buying a new console. But, why the hell would I buy one? The PC *is* a better gaming platform (expecially with my Athlon 1.2Ghz + GeForce 2 GTS rig + CABLE connection + ad nauseum). So that means I don't want a new console, my wife isn't ready for one, and our children are too young still to even care (if they ever do).
I love the look of Halo and other games coming out, but they're just not worth the $$$ of new hardware. Also, it seems wasteful to buy yet another console while we've still got a perfectly good and under-utilized one already. Combine that with a decent PC and no console for us.
Also - Is is just me, or are there just too many damn games coming out (PC and otherwise)???!!! I mean, I barely have time to finish the games I already have. I can ill afford the time spent on new ones. Maybe I should just crawl under a rock until I finish the ones I have. When I come out again, there should be a whole new lineup about 2 generations in quality further along.
Now, if Halo comes out in regular PC format, I may just jump at that. But that's the last one. Really..
I'm serious.
Really.
>Yes. I could use Mozilla.
Seriously, what's stopping you? I'm using Netscape 6.2 all the time at work. I use it simply because I'm just a little tired of IE, no other reason. It works great though. I have to use MS stuff too, and I don't know that I mind that. But a little variety is nice.
Besides allowing the J++ developers to port their code to .Net, this leaves the doors wide open and make it easy (easier anyway, they are massive) for a third party to implement the Java APIs (e.g. the J2EE family on top of .Net. To my way of thinking, that could have a lot of value.
.Net by making sure the language syntax isn't a barrier. Sure C# isn't all that far from Java, but now the language is no excuse at all. (The API learning curve may be a barrier but Microsoft has made that easy to get into through Intellisense, wizards, etc.)
To use a hockey analogy:
So Microsoft isn't allowed to score with the Java puck on the Sun goal anymore. But are they prohibited from making an assist? Nope.
Also, there is the idea that they may simply be trying to lure Java developers as a whole into
You know it's funny.. I just went to the MS DevDays conference this last week and no mention was made of J#. Hmm....
Hell, I do that all the time on surveys. I do it for bandwidth, processor, memory and any other spec that costs me money personally.
;)
I think it actually works.. there's very few new games out that my Pentium II 350 machine can't run, and there's absolutely nothing my AMD 1.2Ghz can't run. I won't be telling them about that machine on surveys though.
You know, I would rather they spend the time on performance instead of adding yet another great cut-scene that costs $1 million to produce and you only ever see once. I just help them keep their priorities straight.
I have considered dumping my cable modem too, and here's why (and they're not your given reasons):
1. It's spendy. I could use the $46/month on something else. And it's going up. They're going to keep jacking prices until a considerable number of people drop off, then they might back down a bit. But if no one drops off, they'll just keep raising it.
2. You don't *really* need it. I use my cable modem extensively, and about 50% of what I do could be accomplished with dialup. Well what about the other 50% you ask? Most of that is stuff I don't need to do. Downloading various types of multimedia, game demos, etc. are not things that I require professionally or otherwise; I could live without them. I can also live without internet newscasts, etc. I don't need those either. I can read the AP or Reuters off of Yahoo! instead.
That about sums it up. I haven't had any hassles at all compared to a lot of the horror stories I've heard, but most of those seem related to DSL issues (which is apparently the real quality culprit most of the time).
BTW - Getting rid of cars would severely cripple our economy. By comparison, very few people would notice if broadband went away.
But the snafu you're witnessing is due largely to our devotion to competition and the corporate tendency towards greed. It'll probably take the government to straighten things out so it can flourish enough to become a common service.
On that note...
Isn't broadband in Canada government subsidized? I forget where I heard that, but if it is, then Canada really is in the same boat with the difference of having our mistakes to learn from before doing their own broadband.
For every story like the above one, there's at least 10 more that tell a miserable tale of being fucked with constantly, being close to death, being bored out of your fricking mind, and constantly being in attendance to shit no one cares about.
"Sarge, why am I doing this?"
"Because you were ordered to. Now shut the fuck up."
It's about that glamorous most of the time.
And yes, it makes one appreciate civilian life and IT jobs in particular.
Quitchyerbitchin.
Or don't. But at least do the rest of us the service of being miserable in the military for a while. *Then* you'll quit bitching.
I don't agree that human history is way more interesting. I personally usually find it depressing to think about the past. I found that the factions in SMAC provided some interesting thinking about idealogies. I won't bore people to tears in an attempt to describe that to people, it was more of an experience than an overt mental process.
Overall, I play games to explore new ways of thinking or to have new experiences. I don't play them to re-live history. I do have to admit though that games like CivX, if they're historically accurate could be a valuable learning tool for real students of history. I certainly would have found history to be a much more interesting topic with the sorts of presentation that are possible in a simulation like CivX. But that's the crux of it for me: I don't consider realistic games to be games. They're simulations.
Now, I suppose I present an internal conflict here. Since "I play games to explore new ways of thinking or to have new experiences" and since I could not have possibly lived through all historical episodes (even with the possibility of literal re-incarnation), I might have to conceed that playing simulations might lead me to new ways of thinking and new experiences.
In this sort of introspection is why I hardly ever think out loud.
*sigh*
Only the fact that this relates to XP keeps it from being completely irrelevant (and it's still not relevant). Also Road Runner is being very irresponsible in publishing their opinion about an OS they've admitted to barely touching.
Still think this is news? OK.. Then does Road Runner support BeOS, *BSD, etc? I very much doubt it. But can customers still use those OS'es in using their service? I very much think so. All it takes is a DHCP client and the network card they give you (to which you're typically tied to the MAC address and usually can not swap out; at least in my case that's true). But did Road Runner come forward with a bold announcement about not supporting those? Nope.
As usual, the early adopters will respond with a quiet sigh of tolerance and do whatever the hell they feel like doing anyway.
Good grief...
The key is producing a game with a symbolic system (which may or may not reflect reality in some sense, or may simple choose to abstract it) that is fun to interact with, provides a challenge of some sort, is consistent, and may even be educational.
Stretch the gamer a bit, give them some fun, and give them some reason to replay the game.
Is the goal to become ever more realistic? Only if you're writing simulations. Was Pac-man realistic? Nope. Was it successful? Damn straight it was. How about Tetris?
Etc....
These are games folks; let's not forget the mission here.
You're absolutely correct. Not only do they have a captive audience, but they have an audience about whom they know a lot about.
So, if the problem is "we can't use AOL from Linux, etc", then why don't they fix it? What's really stopping them from putting together a cross-platform Java (heck, or even C-based) GUI? That way, at least no one has an excuse to work around them.
I do think they'll be forced to stomp on anyone producing other implementations of their client. Long-term though, it's not a battle they can win (especially if Linux does start getting used more by average/non-technical users).
I have to agree. It's also bad when a big event occurs, like the 9/11 attack and like the Lewinsky/Clinton case. I suppose they beat dead horses like that because they should. In the case of the 9/11 attack, at least it's warranted. With things like the Lewinsky case? I don't want to hear it anymore after a couple days.
I will say though that their fund-raising has gotten a lot less intrusive (at least in MN) since they started encouraging "pre-funding" over the Internet. They're able to reduce the cuts to air-time by simply starting collections online before the actual drive. Then they don't have to go nearly as long as they used to. I've noticed some difference personally and I would guess that it takes them about 2-3 days less to wrap up now than it used to.
Why support Linux vendors when you can just bleed them dry?
Why be nice to people?
Why shouldn't you lie, cheat, and steal at every opportunity when you won't be caught?
Why not cheat on your taxes?
Why help your neighbor?
I do hope you're just trolling. If you can't understand the "Golden Rule" as a simple equation for self-interest, if nothing else, then you truly are a loser.
I do know people who think the presence of law enforcement is the only reason you should respect other people. They are sad people who really have no hope for happiness until they change their attitude.
Obviously, I'm not able to speak to the VA public stations (I'm in MN), but I do find that public radio here (91.1 FM and probably others in this area) contain so little commercialism that I experience no dilemma of conscience in describing them as non-commercial. Many public radio stations will license the National Public Radio and follow their guidelines, so beyond that, YMMV. In MN (MPR), they point out key sponsorships with a little phrase behind it probably every 15 minutes. Apart from that, it's just content. Maybe I should've promoted MPR specifically, but I'm guessing that public radio practices nationwide are probably good enough to warrant a blanket endorsement.
Instead of supporting this form of broadcast, why not send some money to your local public radio organizations instead? (Sorry to everyone else if this is largely a US idea.) They insulate you from the blatant and sickening commericialism. They don't ask you to install special equipment. They (usually) broadcast things which expand your mind and make you more informed. They do not just allows themselves to be swept along in every popular culture movement you can think of, etc.
In short, they don't ask for much, and they deliver quite a lot in return. It's an excellent investment. Please consider sending them the $420 instead.
Yes, you had to misquote me and post anonymously to post that little jab.
The entire quote is "A Microsoft Certified Solutions Developer rooting for Open Source". I suppose that you think I'm stupid because I bothered to get the MCSD? Ok fine. That could mean that anything I bother to associate with is also stupid, no?
What goes around comes around...
Would the real "atrowe" instead of Anonymous Coward come forward?
I can not believe that anyone with even a shred of intelligence would care one shit for karma points on a forum which is so *obviously* infested with imbeciles. (Yes, I'm being sarcastic.)
Therefore, I do not believe that the above post is actually from atrowe. If it is though...
If you had bothered to look, dictionary.com does indeed contain British variants of words. Look at www.dictionary.com/cgi-bin/dict.pl?term=colour for proof.
Just because you chose to use 'anse' as the suffix instead of 'ance' doesn't make you a proper Brit. It makes you a wanna-be-elite-Brit-loser who like to lord what little education they have over other people.
Membership in Mensa means you've got a nice brain. It doesn't mean you have the wisdom to use it properly. Should you actually manage to temper your intelligence with wisdom, you will indeed be a respectable force (hopefully for the better).
See you there.
I do hope your sig file is supposed to be ironic.
-atrowe: Card-carrying Mensa member. I have no toleranse for stupidity.
For your edification please see www.dictionary.com/cgi-bin/dict.pl?term=toleranse
If you didn't mean it ironically, then I suggest you be more tolerant. A lifetime of self-hate really sucks.