One would think that a right-wing government such as the conservatives would be against over-control in the marketplace. The only reason that the Republicans in the US have such a hardon for the DMCA is that some of their contributors would benefit from it. There is no such thing in Canada, as far as I know.
This article give more reasons (not that they are needed) to not vote NDP! (In Soviet Russia, Jack Layton doesn't vote for YOU)
Although I don't see anything ethically wrong with buying and selling game currency, I do wonder why people would spend REAL MONEY on money for the game. Do these people realize that you can get game money for free? Yeah, just play the game! I guess this just goes to show that, once again, a fool and his money are soon parted.
Re:At least it's not a "For Dummies" book
on
Linux for Non-Geeks
·
· Score: 0
Get over yourself. You, I imagine, like most other people, are not born possessing all the knowledge in the universe. If you are worried that it will make you look non-1337, or whatever the hell else, then I wouldn't suggest any thing "for smart people".
That's exactly what I was thinking! Binaries have a short lifespan compared to source. Another reason why open-source beats closed-source (like we needed any more)!
Why is it necessary for Linux to play Windows games? Linux games will come out when people are good and ready for them. In the meantime, frustrated linux users can use one of the many fine gaming consoles (PS2, XBOX, GameCube, even PSOne to some degree).
If computer gaming is something you can't do without, use Windows. Unless you build your own computer (yes, I know this is/. this probably sounds stupid), Windows comes pre-loaded. Why not devote a small partition to Windows/games, and use the rest for linux? I chose to purchase a whole new computer for linux. It was pretty cheap, because I wasn't planning on doing any gaming with it, ergo I didn't need a good graphics card or those millions of other upgrades.
Another point to consider: do you think tech support will help you, in the eventuality that the game has random problems? They have enough trouble with Windows!
I might consider this product if it were open-source, but if I have to pay for it (or at least not use it with Portage), then I will keep with windows for gaming.
To those people who say "they will piss off the customers!": if people still buy the CDs, they don't give a flying fuck what we think... The problem with fighting DRM is that most people who get pissed off at it wouldn't pay for the CD anyway.
As soon as the mainstream consumer gets pissed for whatever reason (probably about 20 years from now, when standalone CD players are a thing of the past), the RIAA will say "oh shit, perhaps we should stop."
The RIAA, like everyone else, follows the money. If the/. backlash doesn't impact their wallet, why should they care what a bunch of geeks think? We're the evil ones, remember?
Let's face it: DRM's bark is worse than its bite. Assuming DRM'ed media becomes the standard (not counting DVDs, which are already locked), it will be easy to circumvent. CSS (DVD locking system) isn't robust; look at how easy it is to decode. Remember that "locked" CDs must be able to be decoded by standard CD players, offering two logical possibilities:
1. The RIAA will alienate many customers by switching to a new CD format, requiring a new CD player. Further, because CD players don't have extensive computing capabilities (far less than DVD players, I would imagine), the locking scheme will be *simple* to decode.
2. The RIAA will lock the CD in a way that doesn't affect the track data, as to maintain compliency with all current CD players. Thus, all non-industry sanctioned players/OS's (think open-source) will be able to ignore the "extra data" (as described here
) altogether.
Let's face it: the RIAA just wants to shut down the average user. Whether right or wrong, ethically speaking, I don't think it will cause problems for most/. readers.
Of all the bad things associated with the DCMA, this is the lightest. I have had games for over 6 years (Final Fantasy VII) that are still in as good condition as the day I bought them. I think CDs get scratched by people who pick them up wrong, and generally mishandle them. I try to avoid letting my friend touch my game discs for this reason. I treat all my discs properly, and I have never had a problem. Furthermore, I was first allowed to use the CD player at approximately age 4. Sure I might have scratched one or two, but I haven't scratched any more in the past ten years.
Saying you're a clumsy idiot (or you haven't taught your children to handle CDs properly; it's not that hard) is no reason to want legal copying software. I was looking for such software once. Why? Because I wanted to copy a game for my friend of course. It was illegal, and I knew it was. I don't see how people can argue that copying games isn't illegal.
I've noticed that whenever something like this is discussed, the "I copy games for my children's use!" people come out of the woodwork. Whether they actually do this or not, I think it seems proportionately higher than the actual pirates because the pirates have the good sense to keep their mouth shut.
Just my $0.02
You bet. I'm not talking ONLY about the Linux vs. BSD, but also such holy wars as GNOME vs. KDE, emacs vs. vim, I'm sure you get the point.
I think the difference is that linux is a bit too easy to install at the moment, but hasn't lost its image of being a "hardcore hacker" system. So all these wannabe computer geeks install linux, which they think instantly makes them smart about computers.
I must admit that I first installed linux to see what the buzz was about, but it's working out better than I ever would have expected. For a direct competitor to WinXP, Linux is coming close. I would, however, probably use OpenBSD if I needed a secure environment (not to say that my linux system is running unprotected).
Remember that the BSD crowd now includes the noisy idiots that say "My Macintosh runs UNIX!". That should change the sterotype a bit:)
Finally no more wimpy 40GB iPod...
I would honestly like to see a non-server with 400GB of anything to fill up. Unless you demand loseless audio quality, and rip your entire DVD collection to disk, it would be quite a challenge. I got a 160GB disk, and it's only 10% full. And it has all my music, some assorted iso's, lots of software, etc...
Why not use several smaller SCSI drives? I wouldn't like the idea of my 400GB of anything being corrupted for whatever reason all at once.
The only big single drive I would buy would be a 1TB drive, just so I can say I have one.
By that logic, Windows does something well too: crashing often. Doing a bad thing well doesn't mean it's to be done.
But for some things, I don't mind Windows (gaming, mostly).
Let me say that I'm a happy Linux user, with 3 systems, each working fairly well (only one is in constant use; the others I use for fun).
In my experience Linux is a very robust system (I've tried Gentoo and Red Hat, with Gentoo being my favorite), but I also tried OpenBSD. It gave me the feeling that if I got to know it better, then it would be great. But I wasn't into running a big server, so I left it alone.
At some point, I would like to try FreeBSD, because it has a great reputation. I don't have the hardware right now, but I heard about a FreeBSD LiveCD that I would like to know more about. Why do open-source projects bicker among each other so much?
Think "Life of Brian":
Brian: "People, people, we should be fighting the common enemy."
Fighters: "The Judean People's Front!"
Brian: "No! The Romans!"
Until Windows is brought down to an equal level, there is no reason to compete among Open OSs. After all, the *NIX (or *BSD) motto is: do one thing, do it well.
They are 32-bit in the way that computers are spoken of, but game marketeers decided that it would be good for business if they could find a large number that isn't so hard to change. I believe it has something to do with gfx capability, but I'm not sure.
The first (truly) 64-bit machine will be quite something.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but a CD costs approximately $16 dollars in most cases. Factor out the cost for packaging and the CD itself, and that leaves approximately $14.50. New per-track online stores have been selling songs for 99 cents apiece. Thus, I should be legally allowed to share 14 songs off that CD once (or one track 14 times, or anything in between).
Also, I am willing to pay that much for a CD IF THE MUSIC IS GOOD. For example:
Today I downloaded four songs off a CD. All were good, so I went to the store and bought the CD. There were many other good songs as well. I am also willing to pay for movies. I recently saw Kill Bill Vol. 2. It was worth the $7.00, and it will be worth another $7.00 whenever I get some more free time:)
I mainly object to paying for overpriced things, like Photoshop, Flash, etc... There is no reason why these programs should cost more than $50 IMO. They would probably get more sales, so the overall profit would be similar. I, for one, would be willing to pay for this software if the price were slightly more reasonable.
This sounds like the open source version of space travel to me... Linux has already proven that an intricate piece of software can be produced for next to nothing (compared to similar projects, of course. Free (as in beer) space vehicles wouldn't work).
The US feels like everyone needs to be safe, even if they would prefer not to be. Why don't dying cancer patients get experimental medicine? Why, it might kill them! Better the cancer does that...
Russia (and I'm sure many other countries) lets people do more what they want with less regulation. If a group of six people want to possibly kill themselves in hope of maybe stepping on to the surface of another planet, why not let them?
This is complete and utter stupidity on so many levels. Those who say "it's to better mark the games" are full of shit, or they don't know what they're talking about. I'm 14, and my mom KNOWS what M-rated means. Can't get it past her. That being said, I do have GTA3/VC and several other violent games. Do I wanna go out and whack people? NO! I think anyone who says that 12-year-olds and older can't tell the difference between games and reality has their head up their ass. In a way, I think these people are to blame for some of the school shootings and whatnot because they have offered these stupid fucks a cozy excuse for being insane. Am I the only one who thinks that most violent people have played violent videogames BECAUSE they are attracted to violence in the first place? Also, in many ways I think that T-rated games are worse than M-rated games. In T-rated games, people get shot and fall down or disappear. In M-rated games, it shows (more or less) what actually happens. I would also be more likely to support this if the line between M-rated and T-rated games were higher. What's wrong with seeing red pixels?
How is this different from several newspapers showing burned bodies in Iraq? I think what some people miss is that seeing REAL death (ie not in GTA) will do the OPPOSITE of desensitizing people from violence. Unless you really are a sick fuck...
Have these people ever watched an R-rated movie on TV. They come up with bullshit lines just to appease people who whine about stupid things (like the wardrobe malfunction: grow up, America). That is censorship, and nobody complains. But yeah, it still sucks. Kind of like the "D-chip" or whatever we heard so much about a few years back...
I'm so glad to be Canadian. A court judgement north o' the border makes FREE music sharing legal. Goodbye napster! Goodbye iTunes!
One of many reasons why I'm happy to be Canadian. Maybe the Americans will catch up at some point...
Calgary leading the way again
on
Linux in Canada
·
· Score: 1
I think it is great, as a Calgarian, that our city is adopting Linux. I hope this extends to the f***ing school board! It's like hell, having to use Win2K or OSX when both are hobbled by paranoid-schitzophrenic techs! I guess I need a reminder why I hate windows so much...
About the viruses: don't run as root! Quite simple, really. Anyone who does daily work as root DESERVES to get a virus, in my opinion.
Slashdot Mirror
One would think that a right-wing government such as the conservatives would be against over-control in the marketplace. The only reason that the Republicans in the US have such a hardon for the DMCA is that some of their contributors would benefit from it. There is no such thing in Canada, as far as I know. This article give more reasons (not that they are needed) to not vote NDP! (In Soviet Russia, Jack Layton doesn't vote for YOU)
Although I don't see anything ethically wrong with buying and selling game currency, I do wonder why people would spend REAL MONEY on money for the game. Do these people realize that you can get game money for free? Yeah, just play the game! I guess this just goes to show that, once again, a fool and his money are soon parted.
Get over yourself. You, I imagine, like most other people, are not born possessing all the knowledge in the universe. If you are worried that it will make you look non-1337, or whatever the hell else, then I wouldn't suggest any thing "for smart people".
That's exactly what I was thinking! Binaries have a short lifespan compared to source. Another reason why open-source beats closed-source (like we needed any more)!
I'm being defeated here... I'm just saying that I'm not going to install this, considering it ISN'T GUARANTEED to work.
Just to be clear: I have no qualms with playing games for Linux, like NWN which has been ported AFAIK.
No, I said you COULD buy two different pieces of hardware. The other option is dual-booting Windows and Linux!
Why is it necessary for Linux to play Windows games? Linux games will come out when people are good and ready for them. In the meantime, frustrated linux users can use one of the many fine gaming consoles (PS2, XBOX, GameCube, even PSOne to some degree).
/. this probably sounds stupid), Windows comes pre-loaded. Why not devote a small partition to Windows/games, and use the rest for linux? I chose to purchase a whole new computer for linux. It was pretty cheap, because I wasn't planning on doing any gaming with it, ergo I didn't need a good graphics card or those millions of other upgrades.
If computer gaming is something you can't do without, use Windows. Unless you build your own computer (yes, I know this is
Another point to consider: do you think tech support will help you, in the eventuality that the game has random problems? They have enough trouble with Windows!
I might consider this product if it were open-source, but if I have to pay for it (or at least not use it with Portage), then I will keep with windows for gaming.
To those people who say "they will piss off the customers!": if people still buy the CDs, they don't give a flying fuck what we think... The problem with fighting DRM is that most people who get pissed off at it wouldn't pay for the CD anyway. As soon as the mainstream consumer gets pissed for whatever reason (probably about 20 years from now, when standalone CD players are a thing of the past), the RIAA will say "oh shit, perhaps we should stop." The RIAA, like everyone else, follows the money. If the /. backlash doesn't impact their wallet, why should they care what a bunch of geeks think? We're the evil ones, remember?
Let's face it: DRM's bark is worse than its bite. Assuming DRM'ed media becomes the standard (not counting DVDs, which are already locked), it will be easy to circumvent. CSS (DVD locking system) isn't robust; look at how easy it is to decode. Remember that "locked" CDs must be able to be decoded by standard CD players, offering two logical possibilities: 1. The RIAA will alienate many customers by switching to a new CD format, requiring a new CD player. Further, because CD players don't have extensive computing capabilities (far less than DVD players, I would imagine), the locking scheme will be *simple* to decode. 2. The RIAA will lock the CD in a way that doesn't affect the track data, as to maintain compliency with all current CD players. Thus, all non-industry sanctioned players/OS's (think open-source) will be able to ignore the "extra data" (as described here ) altogether. Let's face it: the RIAA just wants to shut down the average user. Whether right or wrong, ethically speaking, I don't think it will cause problems for most /. readers.
Of all the bad things associated with the DCMA, this is the lightest. I have had games for over 6 years (Final Fantasy VII) that are still in as good condition as the day I bought them. I think CDs get scratched by people who pick them up wrong, and generally mishandle them. I try to avoid letting my friend touch my game discs for this reason. I treat all my discs properly, and I have never had a problem. Furthermore, I was first allowed to use the CD player at approximately age 4. Sure I might have scratched one or two, but I haven't scratched any more in the past ten years. Saying you're a clumsy idiot (or you haven't taught your children to handle CDs properly; it's not that hard) is no reason to want legal copying software. I was looking for such software once. Why? Because I wanted to copy a game for my friend of course. It was illegal, and I knew it was. I don't see how people can argue that copying games isn't illegal. I've noticed that whenever something like this is discussed, the "I copy games for my children's use!" people come out of the woodwork. Whether they actually do this or not, I think it seems proportionately higher than the actual pirates because the pirates have the good sense to keep their mouth shut. Just my $0.02
You bet. I'm not talking ONLY about the Linux vs. BSD, but also such holy wars as GNOME vs. KDE, emacs vs. vim, I'm sure you get the point. I think the difference is that linux is a bit too easy to install at the moment, but hasn't lost its image of being a "hardcore hacker" system. So all these wannabe computer geeks install linux, which they think instantly makes them smart about computers. I must admit that I first installed linux to see what the buzz was about, but it's working out better than I ever would have expected. For a direct competitor to WinXP, Linux is coming close. I would, however, probably use OpenBSD if I needed a secure environment (not to say that my linux system is running unprotected). Remember that the BSD crowd now includes the noisy idiots that say "My Macintosh runs UNIX!". That should change the sterotype a bit :)
Finally no more wimpy 40GB iPod... I would honestly like to see a non-server with 400GB of anything to fill up. Unless you demand loseless audio quality, and rip your entire DVD collection to disk, it would be quite a challenge. I got a 160GB disk, and it's only 10% full. And it has all my music, some assorted iso's, lots of software, etc... Why not use several smaller SCSI drives? I wouldn't like the idea of my 400GB of anything being corrupted for whatever reason all at once. The only big single drive I would buy would be a 1TB drive, just so I can say I have one.
By that logic, Windows does something well too: crashing often. Doing a bad thing well doesn't mean it's to be done. But for some things, I don't mind Windows (gaming, mostly).
Let me say that I'm a happy Linux user, with 3 systems, each working fairly well (only one is in constant use; the others I use for fun). In my experience Linux is a very robust system (I've tried Gentoo and Red Hat, with Gentoo being my favorite), but I also tried OpenBSD. It gave me the feeling that if I got to know it better, then it would be great. But I wasn't into running a big server, so I left it alone. At some point, I would like to try FreeBSD, because it has a great reputation. I don't have the hardware right now, but I heard about a FreeBSD LiveCD that I would like to know more about. Why do open-source projects bicker among each other so much? Think "Life of Brian": Brian: "People, people, we should be fighting the common enemy." Fighters: "The Judean People's Front!" Brian: "No! The Romans!" Until Windows is brought down to an equal level, there is no reason to compete among Open OSs. After all, the *NIX (or *BSD) motto is: do one thing, do it well.
you had a Beowulf cluster of PDAs?
But, seriously...
I used to love my Dell Axim. It was great for note taking, and it could also play music, and movies (DCMA be screwed!).
It's been a few months since then. I might need it again at some point, but I'm NOT gonna upgrade.
They are 32-bit in the way that computers are spoken of, but game marketeers decided that it would be good for business if they could find a large number that isn't so hard to change. I believe it has something to do with gfx capability, but I'm not sure.
The first (truly) 64-bit machine will be quite something.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but a CD costs approximately $16 dollars in most cases. Factor out the cost for packaging and the CD itself, and that leaves approximately $14.50. New per-track online stores have been selling songs for 99 cents apiece. Thus, I should be legally allowed to share 14 songs off that CD once (or one track 14 times, or anything in between).
:)
Also, I am willing to pay that much for a CD IF THE MUSIC IS GOOD. For example:
Today I downloaded four songs off a CD. All were good, so I went to the store and bought the CD. There were many other good songs as well. I am also willing to pay for movies. I recently saw Kill Bill Vol. 2. It was worth the $7.00, and it will be worth another $7.00 whenever I get some more free time
I mainly object to paying for overpriced things, like Photoshop, Flash, etc... There is no reason why these programs should cost more than $50 IMO. They would probably get more sales, so the overall profit would be similar. I, for one, would be willing to pay for this software if the price were slightly more reasonable.
This sounds like the open source version of space travel to me... Linux has already proven that an intricate piece of software can be produced for next to nothing (compared to similar projects, of course. Free (as in beer) space vehicles wouldn't work).
The US feels like everyone needs to be safe, even if they would prefer not to be. Why don't dying cancer patients get experimental medicine? Why, it might kill them! Better the cancer does that...
Russia (and I'm sure many other countries) lets people do more what they want with less regulation. If a group of six people want to possibly kill themselves in hope of maybe stepping on to the surface of another planet, why not let them?
This is complete and utter stupidity on so many levels. Those who say "it's to better mark the games" are full of shit, or they don't know what they're talking about. I'm 14, and my mom KNOWS what M-rated means. Can't get it past her. That being said, I do have GTA3/VC and several other violent games. Do I wanna go out and whack people? NO! I think anyone who says that 12-year-olds and older can't tell the difference between games and reality has their head up their ass. In a way, I think these people are to blame for some of the school shootings and whatnot because they have offered these stupid fucks a cozy excuse for being insane. Am I the only one who thinks that most violent people have played violent videogames BECAUSE they are attracted to violence in the first place? Also, in many ways I think that T-rated games are worse than M-rated games. In T-rated games, people get shot and fall down or disappear. In M-rated games, it shows (more or less) what actually happens. I would also be more likely to support this if the line between M-rated and T-rated games were higher. What's wrong with seeing red pixels?
How is this different from several newspapers showing burned bodies in Iraq? I think what some people miss is that seeing REAL death (ie not in GTA) will do the OPPOSITE of desensitizing people from violence. Unless you really are a sick fuck...
Have these people ever watched an R-rated movie on TV. They come up with bullshit lines just to appease people who whine about stupid things (like the wardrobe malfunction: grow up, America). That is censorship, and nobody complains. But yeah, it still sucks. Kind of like the "D-chip" or whatever we heard so much about a few years back...
I'm so glad to be Canadian. A court judgement north o' the border makes FREE music sharing legal. Goodbye napster! Goodbye iTunes! One of many reasons why I'm happy to be Canadian. Maybe the Americans will catch up at some point...
I think it is great, as a Calgarian, that our city is adopting Linux. I hope this extends to the f***ing school board! It's like hell, having to use Win2K or OSX when both are hobbled by paranoid-schitzophrenic techs! I guess I need a reminder why I hate windows so much... About the viruses: don't run as root! Quite simple, really. Anyone who does daily work as root DESERVES to get a virus, in my opinion.