Not to go against the Borg known as Slashdotters... but here you go..
Music today is no better nor worse than yesterday. You remember the good stuff and forget the crap, the same way I remember the good 90s music and not the crap.. That is how things work. You remember the good and discard the crap.
As you get older you learn about music and what's good and bad.. You learn yourself and your tastes, I'm sure you can understand that.. but when you're 15 you're still a young guy who will follow groups a bit more.. learn a bit more and such..
I don't think it does purely for the story I'm about to tell.
Three days ago I had no intrest in Pokemon Mysterious Dungeon, but a friend had the rom so I went "WTF, I'll give it a try".. I found out it played just like nethack, some minor changes, but in my head it became "Pokemon Nethack". I played it for a couple of hours and decided that this was a game I'd want to play on my DS rather than on the PC. So today I ordered the game and it should be here in a few days.
Did I hurt the game industry by using a rom before I bought the full copy or buy a game I didn't have an intrest before I played it? Roms and P2P music has become the new demos, people will buy games they think are worth the money or they'll download games they didn't think were worth the money. You could even argument because of the rom I've now told Slashdot that they can get a Nethack like game on the DS now and may have even sold more GBA/DS consoles/games, but that maybe going too far.
So it's basicly a company giving away a free low quality Dell PC.. not a bad deal but I expect they'll wan tyou ro return it when you end the service as is the deal with my "free" router.
My girlfriend was in that school shooting. What right did that guy have to make her think she was going to die and run for her life?
Just because some asshole picks on you, don't mean you go and put the fear of god in thousands of people. Maybe some people will mod you up, but you're a patheticly immoral person if you think it's okay to "fight back" against innocent people. Guns don't solve any problem when in the hands of the general public, they cause problems like these. If you have a problem with a bully at a COLLEGE you get the police involved and they fix it, you don't go and shoot 20 people while making the rest have a terrible memory for the rest of their life!
Side note : My girlfriends fine, she's getting over it and the college is giving a lot of support to all the students.
You assume the process won't nuke the equipment. If it doesn't you also assume others won't do it.. or that they would LET you carry that crap into what I assume is very delicate equipment.
Sorry but no dice buddy, if a simpleton can think of it, then anyone can and will.
I just switched to Ubuntu from Windows 98. Not because of support dropping (I never used it), but because my wireless card just outright refused to work on 98. All the software nuked the PC on the spot... In the end I used a live CD to config my router and then went "screw this, I'm off" and installed Ubuntu.
While I still feel rather lost in places I feel almost at home with it and can use it nicely. At the same time I'm teaching my parents to use their new PC running windows XP. After 3 days of trouble shooting I got their wireless card working and now I'm having the fun of "this program requires you to run as Admin KEKEKE" type warnings, 5 extra programs needed (virus/spyware scanners etc.) and still it feels the XP box is unsafe..
Now I'm not saying Linux is for everyone (it has it's ups and downs, but it's not laid out as well as Windows is IMO), but right now I'm glad I switched and I'm enjoying learning the quirks of my new OS. It's something I think everyone who's into IT should try if only to get them out of their little windows-box "expert" attitude. It's really funny to forget where something simple is and spend an hour looking for it, but then it also reminds you that others have to do the same on Windows, so it makes you a better teacher in the long run too.
So in short : Linux is cool, but if you're happy with your box you won't change it untill you're unhappy. Microsoft can piss rainbows and give out candy, but if it works it works.
Not to dispute your theory because I do believe what you said is correct in ways.
Numbers and maths can be manipulated though. So a lot of geeks won't trust the maths unless they come from a source they trust.. hence we're going round in circles again. Some geeks are also hardcore zealots and you can throw any numbers at them and they will find some way to distort them to ehrie bidding (the old "Security fixs debate" comes to mind).
Also I think we're just as easy to control as anyone else. It just takes the right triggers and you can make any puppet dance. If you found a geek's buttons they could be pressed as easy as anyone else, and the ego most of us have would only make us more likely to keep being fooled rather than seeing we're wrong.
But you forget, in this day and age you ARE a criminal. If you own a map of Afganistan you're a terrorist, if you rush to catch a train you're a terrorist. If you upset a neighbour you get an ASBO.
We live in an age where they don't need to convict you to be a criminal any more.
I have the original lego star wars, so I know how it works. Yea I like the system, but it's a 1 off system and would ruin a lot of games.
So in some places it's good, but lego star wars isn't about the gameplay, it's about awesome lego men and loads of little jokes and secrets.. Hence it doesn't matter if you die or not unless you're trying to unlock everything.
Plus you forgot to mention the "tap button, block everything" jedi god mode:P
Then would you care to tell me how you punish death and reward life if there is no punishment for it?
Games where you continue from the spot just arn't hard enough to enjoy IMO. I can more or less God mode my way through it. Where as if we turn the tables and make it so I can only quick save or have to use check points, then I'll fight that little bit harder to survive and hence I'll get more of a thrill when it goes well and "punished" more when it goes poorly.
Remember games are by their nature a carrot and stick afair. They reward hard work and smack you on the ass for playing poorly. If you don't like games like this then don't buy them. I'm sure you can find games which will babysit you or help you any way you like, just don't expect everyone to want that. Some of us would rather have a game come right out and go "I hate you, I don't care how you feel about me, because I'm going to screw you over any way" (think Dante must die mode), because it gives me something to sink my teeth into and I get pushed to my limits. The only problem is where games are based on luck. That is frustrating because you can't go "I screwed up, it's my own fault" like you can with just a hard game.
Got to sort of disagree here. RE4 has a lot of little tricks which can allow you to finish the game much easier (witht he except of one or two fights which is a bit of luck in places). But as long as you don't make any mistakes hard mode isn't really "that" hard. The hardest bit of the Krauser fight because of the time limit (hence you have to rush which makes you make more mistakes).
While I'm not saying "ZOMG YOUR WRONG TO PLAY THIS WAY!!", don't assume the game is trying to screw you over. It's just punishing you for mistakes which it's up to you not to make.
But hey if you enjoy easy mode keep playing it, I don't think anythings missing from the game, but myself I can't resist the uber hard modes just to see how far I can push the boat out.
Intresting post, but may I point out that Slashdot doesn't need to pander to people any more? They can post more or less anything they want and they'll find it very difficult to drive the fanbase off. Slashdot is just a really large forum to most people, we come here for the latest (ahem) news/waste a bit of time and take part in the commenting. Slashdot isn't a news site in the traditional sense, it's a blog with thousands of people reading it.
Does all this matter in all honesty? To most people probably not. We're a bunch of nerds discussing things from America's movement into a police state like society to the latest gimmick software. Both cannot be "news for nerds" and "stuff that matters" in all cases.
As for addressing the article it's self. OSS does have 3 sides and we have to remember this. As long as we keep everyones goal in sight (good free software with the freedom to do whatever we like to it) then our paths may cross at times but we'll work together for the greater good. My biggest worry for OSS is when it gets too big and it's flooded by people who think they can make money out of it instead of the love of good software as we have now.
I post this every time a HL2 story comes up and every time 2 people reply going "works fine for me" and another 2 say "yes, it's broke for me to".
I don't give a toss what Valve are working on. I've had nothing but problems from Episode 1, from the CD trying to install to an invalid location (\ and / are not the same Valve) to the fact that when ingame none of the scripts run. So in effect I've got an expensive AOL CD and yet Valve arn't doing anything to fix it.
Ep 1 has been out months now and the only patch has been to fix a "too hard" Zombie fight. Which *GASP* I can't get to because no scripts will run for me to even get in game.
Valve tech support is a joke. You have to jump through hoops to contact them and then they just parrot what you already read on the support page or tell you to reformat and try again..
To add to this pleasure, I found out the problem is also the same problem the torrented version had, within a week the pirated version had a fix, so whenever I ask for help on any form I get help from pirates which I refuse to use as I don't feel like getting banned from playing TFC because Valve can't patch shit.
So yea, Ep 2, great. TF2, weee not like you didn't promise that 5 years ago and Portal.. Yep couldn't careless either. FIX YOUR BROKEN SHIT VALVE.
Now 5 guys will mod me as flamebait because I expect a game I buy to run if the original ran without a hiccup.
Crossed wires. I'm saying you shouldn't restrict the internet untill they really do go out of line. Chatting on mysapce or yahoo or whatever is fine. But porn, buying illegal drugs and trying to meet someone in person is a no no.
How come telemarketers who really disturb your life in some way get jackshit yet spammers get all hell let loose on them? Maybe it's just me but does anyone else find spam is a non-issue when you have a good spam filter kept up to date and get to laugh at the odd one or two a week that do get through?
Also what are these "damages" for exactly? Having to use 10 seconds of your time to delete an e-mail and use up a tiny bit of extra bandwidth?
Sorry but this just doesn't make sense to me. Yes I hate spam, yes I think it should be stopped but this is like claiming someone poked you and it shattered 3 ribs and put you in hospital for a month.
I grew up in a house with firearms, large knives and as much drink as I could of wanted to drink.
I know guns arn't play things so I didn't touch them. I know knives are dangerous unless used correctly and never had a use for them. I had no intrest in drink, so I never touched it.
People always assume the worst with kids and then wonder why they don't trust their parents.
I'm guessing your a troll because you clearly are insane or stupid. It's like going "Hey it was your fault you got raped, I mean why didn't you tie your vagina shut or something?"
The whole Slashdot stance on "No puter untill you're 18" thing makes me laugh.. Most of us grew up on them, yet we wish to restrict our kids doing the same thing.. how does that work?
And again I shall point out "Kids tell their parents jackshit". I don't care how close you are to your kids very rarely will a kid tell the truth to the point of getitng in trouble unless he really really must. Sorry if you can't remember your childhood but I can and I know that no kid is ever going to stick to the rules they find unjust or care for your rules the second they are outside your ability to track/punish.
Okay this is getting on my nerves.. It really is because Slashdot makes no bloody sense!
We act like we weren't children and we'll be the ultimate parents. We'll know where our kids are 24/7 and have RFID tags in their penis to stop them getting anyone pregnant or whatever magic pixie dust solution it is.
50 years ago kids did stuff they shouldn't, 1000 years ago they did, even today they do. That's because it's what kids do. If they can't get on Xanga/MySpace/whatever at home they will find a way to do it. Beg, borrow or steal you'll not stop a kid who desires something you try to keep out of his hands.
We bitch about over-protective soccer mums and then act like every bad kid is bad because the parents didn't do "the right thing". SHUT UP ABOUT IT! Some kids are just bad, some kids are just nerds, some kids want to screw their mother. That is how life is, everyone is different and while on mass people are generally okay that does not mean there are no bad apples and "parenting" can fix the ones that are.
Some times it's not possible to babysit your kids every second of the day. You have other things to do and hope for the best, most of the time it works out and you get away with it but once in a while it doesn't. This is not bad parenting, this is being a HUMAN BEING. Maybe we should hand-cuff parents and kids together, after all it's not like mothers and fathers need to pee any more, so it's fine if their kids follow them every where right?
I know this is rather trollish but damn it, you guys need to get off your high horses and accept that parents are meer mortals just like us! They can't be in 6 places at once and some times the greater evil comes before going Big brother on their 12 year old reading e-mails from their friends about how awesomely cool Ninja turtles was this week.
Care to tell me where I can buy new NES/SNES/Master system/Mega drive/whatever here then please? I don't trust places like Ebay and my local game shops no longer stock them. How about rare Japanese imports?
Roms provide a service for people who can't get them any other way, if they set up a legal site than I see no reason it couldn't become the next iTunes.
Would you believe me if I said I was such a person? I see no point in life, have no goals in life and just want to do whatever I feel like and die. I don't have a religion, I don't care for gender and have no loyality to any place except the planet on the whole (which I could easily push onto any place I could live).
It's quirky and has it's ups and downs, but I fit most of the above:)
This just gets on my nerves. They must of spent ages planning and coding this not to mention funding.. Why the hell didn't thy put these resources into IE7 instead? Screw this "We'll protect you from the exploits", make it to the exploits are oh.. I don't know.. FIXED
And then you punish that guy who comes from a poor background and has to work 3 jobs while doing classes. Some times you've just got to accept that no matter what you do you're going to piss on someone's shoes. So why not make it so everyone gets the same treatment and let them decide how they go about things?
Yes some students will "cram" these lectures into a weekend before the test, but others maybe ill and miss a lecture and need to catch up on it, or lose their notes. The people who watch all the lectures in 1 go won't remember most of it and if the professor is any good (IMO), he will also say things like "and you can further expand your knowledge by reading parts X Y Z in book Q", that way the podcasts will give you 90% of the work, but that last 10% will take some real investment by the students instead of just parroting.
As for the question. Put them online and leave them there untill a month after the course ends. Then take them down and archive them. Students should still be able to request the lectures but it wouldn't be "free college for all kekeke" podcasts.
Slashdot Mirror
Not to go against the Borg known as Slashdotters... but here you go..
Music today is no better nor worse than yesterday. You remember the good stuff and forget the crap, the same way I remember the good 90s music and not the crap.. That is how things work. You remember the good and discard the crap.
As you get older you learn about music and what's good and bad.. You learn yourself and your tastes, I'm sure you can understand that.. but when you're 15 you're still a young guy who will follow groups a bit more.. learn a bit more and such..
Music didn't change my friend, YOU changed.
I don't think it does purely for the story I'm about to tell.
Three days ago I had no intrest in Pokemon Mysterious Dungeon, but a friend had the rom so I went "WTF, I'll give it a try".. I found out it played just like nethack, some minor changes, but in my head it became "Pokemon Nethack". I played it for a couple of hours and decided that this was a game I'd want to play on my DS rather than on the PC. So today I ordered the game and it should be here in a few days.
Did I hurt the game industry by using a rom before I bought the full copy or buy a game I didn't have an intrest before I played it? Roms and P2P music has become the new demos, people will buy games they think are worth the money or they'll download games they didn't think were worth the money. You could even argument because of the rom I've now told Slashdot that they can get a Nethack like game on the DS now and may have even sold more GBA/DS consoles/games, but that maybe going too far.
Quality will always sell.
So it's basicly a company giving away a free low quality Dell PC.. not a bad deal but I expect they'll wan tyou ro return it when you end the service as is the deal with my "free" router.
I don't assume he was a student. My comments were on the posters attitude to events, not the killers.
My girlfriend was in that school shooting. What right did that guy have to make her think she was going to die and run for her life?
Just because some asshole picks on you, don't mean you go and put the fear of god in thousands of people. Maybe some people will mod you up, but you're a patheticly immoral person if you think it's okay to "fight back" against innocent people. Guns don't solve any problem when in the hands of the general public, they cause problems like these. If you have a problem with a bully at a COLLEGE you get the police involved and they fix it, you don't go and shoot 20 people while making the rest have a terrible memory for the rest of their life!
Side note : My girlfriends fine, she's getting over it and the college is giving a lot of support to all the students.
You assume the process won't nuke the equipment. If it doesn't you also assume others won't do it.. or that they would LET you carry that crap into what I assume is very delicate equipment.
Sorry but no dice buddy, if a simpleton can think of it, then anyone can and will.
I just switched to Ubuntu from Windows 98. Not because of support dropping (I never used it), but because my wireless card just outright refused to work on 98. All the software nuked the PC on the spot... In the end I used a live CD to config my router and then went "screw this, I'm off" and installed Ubuntu.
While I still feel rather lost in places I feel almost at home with it and can use it nicely. At the same time I'm teaching my parents to use their new PC running windows XP. After 3 days of trouble shooting I got their wireless card working and now I'm having the fun of "this program requires you to run as Admin KEKEKE" type warnings, 5 extra programs needed (virus/spyware scanners etc.) and still it feels the XP box is unsafe..
Now I'm not saying Linux is for everyone (it has it's ups and downs, but it's not laid out as well as Windows is IMO), but right now I'm glad I switched and I'm enjoying learning the quirks of my new OS. It's something I think everyone who's into IT should try if only to get them out of their little windows-box "expert" attitude. It's really funny to forget where something simple is and spend an hour looking for it, but then it also reminds you that others have to do the same on Windows, so it makes you a better teacher in the long run too.
So in short : Linux is cool, but if you're happy with your box you won't change it untill you're unhappy. Microsoft can piss rainbows and give out candy, but if it works it works.
Not to dispute your theory because I do believe what you said is correct in ways.
:)
Numbers and maths can be manipulated though. So a lot of geeks won't trust the maths unless they come from a source they trust.. hence we're going round in circles again. Some geeks are also hardcore zealots and you can throw any numbers at them and they will find some way to distort them to ehrie bidding (the old "Security fixs debate" comes to mind).
Also I think we're just as easy to control as anyone else. It just takes the right triggers and you can make any puppet dance. If you found a geek's buttons they could be pressed as easy as anyone else, and the ego most of us have would only make us more likely to keep being fooled rather than seeing we're wrong.
Just a thought
But you forget, in this day and age you ARE a criminal. If you own a map of Afganistan you're a terrorist, if you rush to catch a train you're a terrorist. If you upset a neighbour you get an ASBO.
We live in an age where they don't need to convict you to be a criminal any more.
I have the original lego star wars, so I know how it works. Yea I like the system, but it's a 1 off system and would ruin a lot of games.
:P
So in some places it's good, but lego star wars isn't about the gameplay, it's about awesome lego men and loads of little jokes and secrets.. Hence it doesn't matter if you die or not unless you're trying to unlock everything.
Plus you forgot to mention the "tap button, block everything" jedi god mode
Then would you care to tell me how you punish death and reward life if there is no punishment for it?
Games where you continue from the spot just arn't hard enough to enjoy IMO. I can more or less God mode my way through it. Where as if we turn the tables and make it so I can only quick save or have to use check points, then I'll fight that little bit harder to survive and hence I'll get more of a thrill when it goes well and "punished" more when it goes poorly.
Remember games are by their nature a carrot and stick afair. They reward hard work and smack you on the ass for playing poorly. If you don't like games like this then don't buy them. I'm sure you can find games which will babysit you or help you any way you like, just don't expect everyone to want that. Some of us would rather have a game come right out and go "I hate you, I don't care how you feel about me, because I'm going to screw you over any way" (think Dante must die mode), because it gives me something to sink my teeth into and I get pushed to my limits. The only problem is where games are based on luck. That is frustrating because you can't go "I screwed up, it's my own fault" like you can with just a hard game.
Got to sort of disagree here. RE4 has a lot of little tricks which can allow you to finish the game much easier (witht he except of one or two fights which is a bit of luck in places). But as long as you don't make any mistakes hard mode isn't really "that" hard. The hardest bit of the Krauser fight because of the time limit (hence you have to rush which makes you make more mistakes).
While I'm not saying "ZOMG YOUR WRONG TO PLAY THIS WAY!!", don't assume the game is trying to screw you over. It's just punishing you for mistakes which it's up to you not to make.
But hey if you enjoy easy mode keep playing it, I don't think anythings missing from the game, but myself I can't resist the uber hard modes just to see how far I can push the boat out.
Intresting post, but may I point out that Slashdot doesn't need to pander to people any more? They can post more or less anything they want and they'll find it very difficult to drive the fanbase off. Slashdot is just a really large forum to most people, we come here for the latest (ahem) news/waste a bit of time and take part in the commenting. Slashdot isn't a news site in the traditional sense, it's a blog with thousands of people reading it.
Does all this matter in all honesty? To most people probably not. We're a bunch of nerds discussing things from America's movement into a police state like society to the latest gimmick software. Both cannot be "news for nerds" and "stuff that matters" in all cases.
As for addressing the article it's self. OSS does have 3 sides and we have to remember this. As long as we keep everyones goal in sight (good free software with the freedom to do whatever we like to it) then our paths may cross at times but we'll work together for the greater good. My biggest worry for OSS is when it gets too big and it's flooded by people who think they can make money out of it instead of the love of good software as we have now.
Note to anyone replying.
Original as in HL2, not HL1.
I post this every time a HL2 story comes up and every time 2 people reply going "works fine for me" and another 2 say "yes, it's broke for me to".
I don't give a toss what Valve are working on. I've had nothing but problems from Episode 1, from the CD trying to install to an invalid location (\ and / are not the same Valve) to the fact that when ingame none of the scripts run. So in effect I've got an expensive AOL CD and yet Valve arn't doing anything to fix it.
Ep 1 has been out months now and the only patch has been to fix a "too hard" Zombie fight. Which *GASP* I can't get to because no scripts will run for me to even get in game.
Valve tech support is a joke. You have to jump through hoops to contact them and then they just parrot what you already read on the support page or tell you to reformat and try again..
To add to this pleasure, I found out the problem is also the same problem the torrented version had, within a week the pirated version had a fix, so whenever I ask for help on any form I get help from pirates which I refuse to use as I don't feel like getting banned from playing TFC because Valve can't patch shit.
So yea, Ep 2, great. TF2, weee not like you didn't promise that 5 years ago and Portal.. Yep couldn't careless either. FIX YOUR BROKEN SHIT VALVE.
Now 5 guys will mod me as flamebait because I expect a game I buy to run if the original ran without a hiccup.
Crossed wires. I'm saying you shouldn't restrict the internet untill they really do go out of line. Chatting on mysapce or yahoo or whatever is fine. But porn, buying illegal drugs and trying to meet someone in person is a no no.
That sort of thing basicly.
How come telemarketers who really disturb your life in some way get jackshit yet spammers get all hell let loose on them? Maybe it's just me but does anyone else find spam is a non-issue when you have a good spam filter kept up to date and get to laugh at the odd one or two a week that do get through?
Also what are these "damages" for exactly? Having to use 10 seconds of your time to delete an e-mail and use up a tiny bit of extra bandwidth?
Sorry but this just doesn't make sense to me. Yes I hate spam, yes I think it should be stopped but this is like claiming someone poked you and it shattered 3 ribs and put you in hospital for a month.
I used to know a 13 year old girl who had the same rule. She'd sneak down at like 2am and log on AIM for a few hours.
Like I said, can't stop a kid who really wants it.
I grew up in a house with firearms, large knives and as much drink as I could of wanted to drink.
I know guns arn't play things so I didn't touch them.
I know knives are dangerous unless used correctly and never had a use for them.
I had no intrest in drink, so I never touched it.
People always assume the worst with kids and then wonder why they don't trust their parents.
I'm guessing your a troll because you clearly are insane or stupid. It's like going "Hey it was your fault you got raped, I mean why didn't you tie your vagina shut or something?"
The whole Slashdot stance on "No puter untill you're 18" thing makes me laugh.. Most of us grew up on them, yet we wish to restrict our kids doing the same thing.. how does that work?
And again I shall point out "Kids tell their parents jackshit". I don't care how close you are to your kids very rarely will a kid tell the truth to the point of getitng in trouble unless he really really must. Sorry if you can't remember your childhood but I can and I know that no kid is ever going to stick to the rules they find unjust or care for your rules the second they are outside your ability to track/punish.
Okay this is getting on my nerves.. It really is because Slashdot makes no bloody sense!
We act like we weren't children and we'll be the ultimate parents. We'll know where our kids are 24/7 and have RFID tags in their penis to stop them getting anyone pregnant or whatever magic pixie dust solution it is.
50 years ago kids did stuff they shouldn't, 1000 years ago they did, even today they do. That's because it's what kids do. If they can't get on Xanga/MySpace/whatever at home they will find a way to do it. Beg, borrow or steal you'll not stop a kid who desires something you try to keep out of his hands.
We bitch about over-protective soccer mums and then act like every bad kid is bad because the parents didn't do "the right thing". SHUT UP ABOUT IT! Some kids are just bad, some kids are just nerds, some kids want to screw their mother. That is how life is, everyone is different and while on mass people are generally okay that does not mean there are no bad apples and "parenting" can fix the ones that are.
Some times it's not possible to babysit your kids every second of the day. You have other things to do and hope for the best, most of the time it works out and you get away with it but once in a while it doesn't. This is not bad parenting, this is being a HUMAN BEING. Maybe we should hand-cuff parents and kids together, after all it's not like mothers and fathers need to pee any more, so it's fine if their kids follow them every where right?
I know this is rather trollish but damn it, you guys need to get off your high horses and accept that parents are meer mortals just like us! They can't be in 6 places at once and some times the greater evil comes before going Big brother on their 12 year old reading e-mails from their friends about how awesomely cool Ninja turtles was this week.
Care to tell me where I can buy new NES/SNES/Master system/Mega drive/whatever here then please? I don't trust places like Ebay and my local game shops no longer stock them. How about rare Japanese imports?
Roms provide a service for people who can't get them any other way, if they set up a legal site than I see no reason it couldn't become the next iTunes.
Would you believe me if I said I was such a person? I see no point in life, have no goals in life and just want to do whatever I feel like and die. I don't have a religion, I don't care for gender and have no loyality to any place except the planet on the whole (which I could easily push onto any place I could live).
:)
It's quirky and has it's ups and downs, but I fit most of the above
This just gets on my nerves. They must of spent ages planning and coding this not to mention funding.. Why the hell didn't thy put these resources into IE7 instead? Screw this "We'll protect you from the exploits", make it to the exploits are oh.. I don't know.. FIXED
And then you punish that guy who comes from a poor background and has to work 3 jobs while doing classes. Some times you've just got to accept that no matter what you do you're going to piss on someone's shoes. So why not make it so everyone gets the same treatment and let them decide how they go about things?
Yes some students will "cram" these lectures into a weekend before the test, but others maybe ill and miss a lecture and need to catch up on it, or lose their notes. The people who watch all the lectures in 1 go won't remember most of it and if the professor is any good (IMO), he will also say things like "and you can further expand your knowledge by reading parts X Y Z in book Q", that way the podcasts will give you 90% of the work, but that last 10% will take some real investment by the students instead of just parroting.
As for the question. Put them online and leave them there untill a month after the course ends. Then take them down and archive them. Students should still be able to request the lectures but it wouldn't be "free college for all kekeke" podcasts.