I would think that the average person would look at this and say "Wow, that company values their product so little that they're going to give it away"... Open sourcing Solaris, while good for the community, doesn't seem like the kind of move that would look good to potential business's which chould be in the market for Solaris over another nix type OS.
The NForce boards were really one of the best things about AMD's chips for people who wanted a good all in one mobo for a basic system (esp. the NForce2 with the onboard GF4mx which totally rocked Intel's "extreme" garbage). While AMD rigs will still probably be cheaper, this is quite a low blow. However, maybe it won't make much difference with ATI's XPress chipsets coming out. They like they will be the ultimate solution for a while, at least until newer things come.
Really... The only noticable thing that SP2 does is add the whole "Security Center" thing, but for anyone who already runs a firewall it's pretty useless. Downloading Zone Alarm and Antivir Guard (or AVG, etc, what have you) does as a good a job of keeping the nasties out, and it's a much smaller download. Granted you can have them mail you SP2, but I for one don't welcome my Microsoft offline mailbox spamming overlords...
Slackware junkies should give BSD a try..
on
FreeBSD 5.3 Released
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
I gave BSD a try for the first time a couple months ago, and as an intermediate Linux user who favors Slackware, I felt right at home with FreeBSD 4.9. I would definitely recommend anyone who is a *nix junkie to give it a try, you might be pleasantly suprised. I know that BSD typically isn't as good with compatibility as Linux, but I haven't had any issues. Long live BSD
Could have been the next Dungeon Keeper...
on
Review: Evil Genius
·
· Score: 1
I was really hoping that this game would live up to the awesomeness that was Dungeon Keeper 1 & 2. However, the game is just flat out boring. Yeah, it's cool to build a lair, but there is no real individuality, as it all boils down to buying the most expensive things... Same with the games other concepts. If it were more open ended it might have been cool, and if there was more actual user interaction needed, but as is it's not up to snuff.
My guess would be that with the cost of the model already looking pretty high from a feature standpoint (4GB hd, built in keypad 64mb ram) that they left it out to keep the cost somewhat lower. That way, people who would pay extra for wireless still can, but it's not mandatory.
"The 800 terabyte storage system was developed by Microsoft and EDS."
I've always wondered what a BSOD looked liked on a system with 800 terrabytes... I wonder what OS they will be using for their systems.
Whenever I have to do a fresh Windows install, I keep a cd with Zone Alarm (along with AVG, Adaware and a few other useful tools) handy. I just install Windows, pop in the Zone Alarm cd, install, setup my internet connection and start the updates. I've never had problems updating with my ZA turned on, and it keeps my computer squeaky clean from worms. This has been my standard practice since blaster came out and has never failed me.
Another advantage that Sony had with the PS2 that helped people justify the higher price ($300 vs $200) is that DVD players where just starting to become THE way to watch movies. People finally felt that it was safe to ditch their VHS and move on to the new format. With the PS2 people could do this and get a nice shiny new game console. With the Xbox there really was no reason for the higher price as far as extra features. Yes, it can play dvd's, but only if you fork out more cash for the needed accessories. The main reason I didn't/haven't bought an Xbox is because the majority of good games are on PC, and I have a good gaming PC. Fortunately (or not) it looks like Microsoft changing to the PowerPC architecture, and their desire to make it less PC like change this. If Microsoft gets quality, NON-PC titles, then it may have a chance, regardless of when it launches.
Not only is this a good idea because it helps to spread Linux as a whole, but it gives a nice taste of the various distros, and gives those who feel they are ready to dive a little deeper two solid distros to try out. I can see a user purchasing the set, starting with Lindows for a while, then eventually switching to Fedora or Mandrake once they are a little more comfortable with their environement... However, both Fedora and Mandrake are fairly easy to use on their own (and Mandrake 10 is just flat out awesome, made the switch from Slack, for now at least), so maybe it really won't matter in that aspect.
"As for the original post on the subject, XFCE is great if you want the look and features of a 20-year old UNIX interface... That's exactly what it is, which is why it runs so well on older hardware. Gnome is carefully written and runs fast for what it does, so it's not fair to complain about it if you are on hardware that is half a decade old and are trying to use a desktop of 2004."
That is complete BS, and that's really all I can say. XFCE is very attractive, runs fast, and is light. It works at least as well as KDE and Gnome do, hell, it even looks a lot like KDE from an UI point of view. It does not look a "20 year old Unix interface"... If any anything, like I said, it kinda looks like KDE.
I was aware of this program, and several others that add these features. However, until Billy boy patches in/ships these features, a lot of the less computer litereate users will probably miss out on these features. But then again, the less savy may not really care about browsing multiple tabs, or windows for that matter.
Personally, I think that if MSIE had tabbed browsing like the Mozilla, Netscape, and Opera that many people using Mozilla/Firefox wouldn't have made the switch to begin with. While I'm sure that MS will add this feature in Longhorn, you have to wonder why they haven't just patched it into XP with some flashy description and a twenty-some meg download by now. Geeks will be geeks, and I will always use Mozilla (FireFox and Thunderbird as of now) as long as they are around to use, as I'm sure many of you will too, but for the non-geeks out there, all MS really has to do is add tabbed browsing, TRY to fix Outlook security flaws, and (maybe)optimize the rendering engine, although I've never had a problem with IE being overly slow.
Is how massive Alienware's markup on this technology will be? I'm sure that constructive modders, or mobo manufacturers will have this out to the general public (read people who don't want to pay 5k for a pretty case) as soon as it ships.
Call For Help finally done for!
on
G4TechTV Announced
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
Finally, they're going to cut Call for Help... All Call for Help really was is a rehashed/dumbed down version of the Screen Savers. Admittedly, Leo does/did a great job at running the show, and he is the perfect person to run a show for the less experienced crowd, I just think that if they do have a show of the Call for Help "nature" that they should either make it completely for beginners, or just make the Screen Savers slightly more newbie friendly.
Slashdot Mirror
I would think that the average person would look at this and say "Wow, that company values their product so little that they're going to give it away"... Open sourcing Solaris, while good for the community, doesn't seem like the kind of move that would look good to potential business's which chould be in the market for Solaris over another nix type OS.
The NForce boards were really one of the best things about AMD's chips for people who wanted a good all in one mobo for a basic system (esp. the NForce2 with the onboard GF4mx which totally rocked Intel's "extreme" garbage). While AMD rigs will still probably be cheaper, this is quite a low blow. However, maybe it won't make much difference with ATI's XPress chipsets coming out. They like they will be the ultimate solution for a while, at least until newer things come.
Really... The only noticable thing that SP2 does is add the whole "Security Center" thing, but for anyone who already runs a firewall it's pretty useless. Downloading Zone Alarm and Antivir Guard (or AVG, etc, what have you) does as a good a job of keeping the nasties out, and it's a much smaller download. Granted you can have them mail you SP2, but I for one don't welcome my Microsoft offline mailbox spamming overlords...
I gave BSD a try for the first time a couple months ago, and as an intermediate Linux user who favors Slackware, I felt right at home with FreeBSD 4.9. I would definitely recommend anyone who is a *nix junkie to give it a try, you might be pleasantly suprised. I know that BSD typically isn't as good with compatibility as Linux, but I haven't had any issues. Long live BSD
I was really hoping that this game would live up to the awesomeness that was Dungeon Keeper 1 & 2. However, the game is just flat out boring. Yeah, it's cool to build a lair, but there is no real individuality, as it all boils down to buying the most expensive things... Same with the games other concepts. If it were more open ended it might have been cool, and if there was more actual user interaction needed, but as is it's not up to snuff.
My guess would be that with the cost of the model already looking pretty high from a feature standpoint (4GB hd, built in keypad 64mb ram) that they left it out to keep the cost somewhat lower. That way, people who would pay extra for wireless still can, but it's not mandatory.
Michael Moore? Is that you!?! ;)...
"The 800 terabyte storage system was developed by Microsoft and EDS." I've always wondered what a BSOD looked liked on a system with 800 terrabytes... I wonder what OS they will be using for their systems.
Just google for "wars the french have won" and you will see why Americans feel that way.
Whenever I have to do a fresh Windows install, I keep a cd with Zone Alarm (along with AVG, Adaware and a few other useful tools) handy. I just install Windows, pop in the Zone Alarm cd, install, setup my internet connection and start the updates. I've never had problems updating with my ZA turned on, and it keeps my computer squeaky clean from worms. This has been my standard practice since blaster came out and has never failed me.
Another advantage that Sony had with the PS2 that helped people justify the higher price ($300 vs $200) is that DVD players where just starting to become THE way to watch movies. People finally felt that it was safe to ditch their VHS and move on to the new format. With the PS2 people could do this and get a nice shiny new game console. With the Xbox there really was no reason for the higher price as far as extra features. Yes, it can play dvd's, but only if you fork out more cash for the needed accessories. The main reason I didn't/haven't bought an Xbox is because the majority of good games are on PC, and I have a good gaming PC. Fortunately (or not) it looks like Microsoft changing to the PowerPC architecture, and their desire to make it less PC like change this. If Microsoft gets quality, NON-PC titles, then it may have a chance, regardless of when it launches.
Not only is this a good idea because it helps to spread Linux as a whole, but it gives a nice taste of the various distros, and gives those who feel they are ready to dive a little deeper two solid distros to try out. I can see a user purchasing the set, starting with Lindows for a while, then eventually switching to Fedora or Mandrake once they are a little more comfortable with their environement... However, both Fedora and Mandrake are fairly easy to use on their own (and Mandrake 10 is just flat out awesome, made the switch from Slack, for now at least), so maybe it really won't matter in that aspect.
"As for the original post on the subject, XFCE is great if you want the look and features of a 20-year old UNIX interface... That's exactly what it is, which is why it runs so well on older hardware. Gnome is carefully written and runs fast for what it does, so it's not fair to complain about it if you are on hardware that is half a decade old and are trying to use a desktop of 2004." That is complete BS, and that's really all I can say. XFCE is very attractive, runs fast, and is light. It works at least as well as KDE and Gnome do, hell, it even looks a lot like KDE from an UI point of view. It does not look a "20 year old Unix interface"... If any anything, like I said, it kinda looks like KDE.
I was aware of this program, and several others that add these features. However, until Billy boy patches in/ships these features, a lot of the less computer litereate users will probably miss out on these features. But then again, the less savy may not really care about browsing multiple tabs, or windows for that matter.
Personally, I think that if MSIE had tabbed browsing like the Mozilla, Netscape, and Opera that many people using Mozilla/Firefox wouldn't have made the switch to begin with. While I'm sure that MS will add this feature in Longhorn, you have to wonder why they haven't just patched it into XP with some flashy description and a twenty-some meg download by now. Geeks will be geeks, and I will always use Mozilla (FireFox and Thunderbird as of now) as long as they are around to use, as I'm sure many of you will too, but for the non-geeks out there, all MS really has to do is add tabbed browsing, TRY to fix Outlook security flaws, and (maybe)optimize the rendering engine, although I've never had a problem with IE being overly slow.
Is how massive Alienware's markup on this technology will be? I'm sure that constructive modders, or mobo manufacturers will have this out to the general public (read people who don't want to pay 5k for a pretty case) as soon as it ships.
Finally, they're going to cut Call for Help... All Call for Help really was is a rehashed/dumbed down version of the Screen Savers. Admittedly, Leo does/did a great job at running the show, and he is the perfect person to run a show for the less experienced crowd, I just think that if they do have a show of the Call for Help "nature" that they should either make it completely for beginners, or just make the Screen Savers slightly more newbie friendly.