Also you don't even need to encrypt the whole package. Hefty encryption on a few key game files will keep you out of the game just as well as encrypting the graphics, models, and maps. Actually it seems to me like it would improve things since there would be less of a chance that you could compare a possible decryption to known media from the game (like the leaked beta)
Endless games being....one, two with counter-strike:source? Name something else that they had for download which was not instantly available for play the moment the download finished. For that matter name something that steam FORCED you to download which you were unable to play because the game was still locked.
There is an easy way to keep any problems from arising with the encryption, don't give people enough to run the game. It would be pretty easy to give out 99% of hl2, but hold on to one or two key dlls or exes to keep the game from being playable until release. Then its just a quick update when you launch the game for the first time and you are all set.
The main reason I would want to download a game I can't play is to I have it when I want to play it and am able to do so(duh). Download it now, play it when its available. No waiting impatiently while an install or download eats up valuable game time. Its the same reason anything else is done in advance, so it is finished and available when it is wanted/needed.
How is valve throttling bandwidth automatically a sign that they are having trouble offering a pre-download service? Maybe they are attempting to load test their systems. Between this preload with the millions of refresh monkeys trying to get it to preload now so they can hurry up and wait, and all of the distribution going on for counter-strike:source, they may just be testing out their network. It could be that they are sending all of this throttled load to each content server in turn, to ensure that it can handle all the traffic it will be getting at release.
Its all fine and good to say you don't like a company, but that does not make them idiots simply because they have earned your displeasure.
You got it - they'll just post a link to the dns root servers on slashdot...
Then say that a gmail address is handed out every hundred thousand pageloads, but only if you've pinged the site and attempted to ftp into it within the last minute and a half.
Can someone seriously tell me what a "cyber terrorist" is?
Its that jackass that won't get off the mic in counter-strike, unreal tournament, and any other game in which they can spam endless chatter without a chance of retribution.
In a way that actually makes it even easier. For one my comment about certain non-alphanumeric characters still applies. You also have a word whitelist too, so you can check against a list of some of the more common chemical names and automatically approve those emails. (from memory things like amine, ethyl, etc seem like a likely choice)
In addition you could evaluate it by length. maybe a word that meets the spam criteria but it 15+ characters long is excluded.
Although I understand what you are saying here I am just trying to say that this kind of idea could still be viable in your situation, it just involves having someone tweak the setup a bit.
You could still come up with a modified dictionary that is helpful. For instance since there is no element (that I can remember....from chem 101) with a V as a symbol you can safely filter against all instances of V and any number. Or you can turn off filtering against letter-number combinations entirely but leave it on for letter/number and certain special characters. For some reason I don't see !$^;" coming into a chemical formula. Then again maybe I just don't know enough chemistry. My point is that there are ways to work around that, and if nothing else you can always have the filter just pass through those items that may be legitimate email
Its exactly the same thing. Extortion, pure and simple.
No, its not. Your neighbors dog barks in the public domain. He (being your neighbor or the dog) has not copyrighted the IP of said dog. Although legally you could argue that the dog has certain rights to the content he is producing the fact that he publicly displays it means that anyone nearby cannot be sued simply for hearing it.
The music being distributed by the RIAA on the other hand is not being publicly displayed in that form. Any right to listen that you are charged for by them involves some form of replayable copy of the media. In other words if you want to charge for your neighbor's dog's barking you will have to:
1) Consult the dog's legal council and ensure that you are not infringing on any copyrights the dog may hold to his IP. 2) Settle on a contract for said IP if the dog does have a copyright. 3) Produce either a recorded version of the dog barking, or a distribution service.
If you are going to try and make an argument against colleges doing blanket enrollments in these kinds of services go ahead. Personally I tend to support these kinds of things because it either A) Allows me to use a service I would like to use, B) Prevents my university from being in a lawsuit, which helps keep my tuition lower, and C) Allows my university to provide more services, which makes it more desireable, bringing more students and more money. Eventually all that should trickle down into better instructors, which also benefit me.
Wouldn't "letting you do them if you give us money" constitute a sale of some kind? Maybe that sale would make this particular form of use legal? I mean, IANAL but to me allowing someone to pay money for the right to download and watch/listen to content you provide sounds like that content is being sold to me.
Honestly I don't understand what everyone is flipping out over here. A university found what seems to be a fairly cheap solution to a serious legal issue. Doing things this way protects the university and students from a lawsuit. Even if suing downloaders doesn't make much business sense, and the methods through which those suits are executed are questionable, the lawsuit itself is well within the RIAA's rights to conduct.
This is not a protection racket its business, and to be honest I would rather see the RIAA/MPAA doing things this way than suing twelve year olds.
Actually I meant important as in reciepts from online purchases, time-sensitive things like friends/family travel plans, or maybe work-related correspondence for which you would appear unprofessional asking for a resend, especially to a different email address. I'm not talking about backing these things up. Obviously with any of these services if you want to be sure the information is there you print it. My point is that if gmail goes through some kind of server hiccup related to it being in beta and you never recieve Aunt Irene's flight info you would just be SOL wouldn't you?
There are forms of email correspondence that are important.
Thinking: Free Posting an intelligent response: Free Not having to post as AC so people can't laugh at you directly: Priceless
....and then google will have to write something to ensure that you are following the TOS for your account. The point of the service is to give you a gig of email, not backup space. This is not gsave or gbackup it is gmail.
My message to the parent and anyone else of like mind: Don't screw around and risk ruining a good thing for the rest of us.
More than likely he just does not want to keep anything important on an email system that is in beta status. Granted according to the EULA none of the web email providers are responsible for their systems losing your mail. If I had a gmail account I wouldn't trust it with anything important either. Until its finalized I would treat it as any other piece of beta software, test it as much as possible but don't depend on it for anything.
Although I don't believe he meant it in that sense, I think his statement does still hold some truth. If you go by a definition of "died out" meaning that it has gone outside the realm of popular use, knowledge, or understanding then witchcraft has died out. Note that I said popular in that sentance. Never said that it has fallen so completely off the face of the earth that no living soul practices or knows about it anymore.
If you would like to use an alternate definition to avoid a term such as "died out" being used to describe your particular religious affiliation then we will have to proclaim that OS/2 and the DEC chips have not died out either, as i'm sure both are still in use somewhere in the world.
Re:First Bug... They never tested it with win2k ?
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· Score: 2, Interesting
So you're saying you can make use of all the new features of a brand new linux desktoop on a linux server that is four years out of date? Sure win2k server has been patched, but my point is that you are trying to use a win2k3 domain feature in a win2k domain. Of course you'll have problems.
Funny thing is if this was brought up in a comparable linux situation the solution would be "Go download kernel version xxx and install it." Yet somehow upgrading to win2k3 is not seen as the same solution to the problem. Yes it costs you money to do the windows upgrade, probably lots of money, but that's the cost of doing business with microsoft.
Re:People aren't keeping up with the news, so...
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How about proof that everything I currently do in windows is possible in linux? Or proof that all of my files from windows will at least open, if not function exactly the same as they do in linux? Convincing someone to make a change usually involves two parts: at least one reason to leave the current state, and at least one reason to accept the new state. Until linux can play people's games, open their proprietary word/excel/whatever documents, and do anything else they need to most people won't switch.
I know that's where I am. I like linux, but I would rather go through the hassle of attempting to secure my windows box than give up my games for a more secure system. It's called acceptable risk.
Someone get on this immediately. I suggest we integrate the already implemented Bill Engval system for demarking those lacking in mental competence. All we would need is a camera connected to each computer that checks for their "sign"
Honestly I think they are right in this as well. The point of the command prompt is to be available for system administrators. Your normal computer-stupid user shouldn't have it. They shouldn't need it. If they do need it then more than likely they are smart enough to use it well.
Linux is different. It was built around the terminal. When linux became more GUI enabled it did not ditch the terminal environment the way microsoft ditched the dos box for windows. Trying to compare the linux terminal to the windows console, and that is the implicit comparison here, is really comparing two environments designed around distinctly seperate purposes. For what the command prompt is supposed to do it currently does fall in line security-wise with microsoft's plan. The real issue is not security of the command prompt, its access to the command prompt.
That said i'm really not a microsoft fanboy. I don't like the idea of having to ensure that a computer is not connected to the internet just to install an os. I hate having to go through tons of GUIs just to get something done that in linux takes a few console commands.... in a script.... with a loop. I'm just saying that these "flaws" are in line with the design philosophy of windows, i'm not saying that I agree with that philosophy in any way.
Re:'Flaws' Not that big of a deal
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"Computer in the 'on' state runs code"
They do? I better shut down the work servers before someone puts some code on there. I'd hate for our systems to be hacked by some mali
Re:'Flaws' Not that big of a deal
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So suddenly having information that semi backs up a point on a slashdot discussion is something important? In that case why is the poll even posted, I can think of few things of less impact on my life than slashdot.
Now back to the slashdot article that is serving as my current distraction from work.
And what you would get is a few groups creating some fairly good AI, with everyone else leasing/borrowing from it. Innovation would be accomplished on a more marginal "1.7% improvement in ability X" level. No one builds from scratch unless they have to. In the end we would have a bunch of kids spending tons of money on AI software with a few of them even capable of understanding the rudiments of it, much less expanding on the design, and the vast majority simply throwing it in and going from there.
1) Connect to windows update
2) Click Personalize windows update
3) select and save settings for "show windows update catalog"
4) Go to windows update catalog
5) Get hotfixes/sp/whatever
6) burn to cd
7) install windows... with network unplugged
8) install hotfixes from cd
9) ???
10 profit.
All that said, even though they're easy that's a lot of steps to take just to clean up a newly installed box.
If you were not driving with everyone else why did you need to match speed with them? The whole point of driving with the flow of traffic is that you don't impede the flow of traffic. If you are far enough behind to be by yourself then you shouldn't be driving with anyone else now should you?
We complain loudly about conflict of interest by legislators and regulators, while ignoring the biggest one of all: that lawyers write laws.
Next we'll be complaining about the fact that doctors have the upper hand on maintaining personal health, accountants seem to be better at doing taxes, and pro athletes are better at sports than Joe Sixpack.
Lawyers deal with laws. The write them, they read them, and they use them to do their job. The conflict of interest is NOT that lawyers write laws, it is that lawmakers pass laws on topics and recieve contributions from parties interested in those topics.
That said I am still upset that my accountant friend did a better job on his taxes than I did.
Slashdot Mirror
Also you don't even need to encrypt the whole package. Hefty encryption on a few key game files will keep you out of the game just as well as encrypting the graphics, models, and maps. Actually it seems to me like it would improve things since there would be less of a chance that you could compare a possible decryption to known media from the game (like the leaked beta)
There is an easy way to keep any problems from arising with the encryption, don't give people enough to run the game. It would be pretty easy to give out 99% of hl2, but hold on to one or two key dlls or exes to keep the game from being playable until release. Then its just a quick update when you launch the game for the first time and you are all set.
The main reason I would want to download a game I can't play is to I have it when I want to play it and am able to do so(duh). Download it now, play it when its available. No waiting impatiently while an install or download eats up valuable game time. Its the same reason anything else is done in advance, so it is finished and available when it is wanted/needed.
Its all fine and good to say you don't like a company, but that does not make them idiots simply because they have earned your displeasure.
Then say that a gmail address is handed out every hundred thousand pageloads, but only if you've pinged the site and attempted to ftp into it within the last minute and a half.
Its that jackass that won't get off the mic in counter-strike, unreal tournament, and any other game in which they can spam endless chatter without a chance of retribution.
In addition you could evaluate it by length. maybe a word that meets the spam criteria but it 15+ characters long is excluded.
Although I understand what you are saying here I am just trying to say that this kind of idea could still be viable in your situation, it just involves having someone tweak the setup a bit.
You could still come up with a modified dictionary that is helpful. For instance since there is no element (that I can remember....from chem 101) with a V as a symbol you can safely filter against all instances of V and any number. Or you can turn off filtering against letter-number combinations entirely but leave it on for letter/number and certain special characters. For some reason I don't see !$^;" coming into a chemical formula. Then again maybe I just don't know enough chemistry. My point is that there are ways to work around that, and if nothing else you can always have the filter just pass through those items that may be legitimate email
Extortion, pure and simple.
No, its not. Your neighbors dog barks in the public domain. He (being your neighbor or the dog) has not copyrighted the IP of said dog. Although legally you could argue that the dog has certain rights to the content he is producing the fact that he publicly displays it means that anyone nearby cannot be sued simply for hearing it.
The music being distributed by the RIAA on the other hand is not being publicly displayed in that form. Any right to listen that you are charged for by them involves some form of replayable copy of the media. In other words if you want to charge for your neighbor's dog's barking you will have to:
1) Consult the dog's legal council and ensure that you are not infringing on any copyrights the dog may hold to his IP.
2) Settle on a contract for said IP if the dog does have a copyright.
3) Produce either a recorded version of the dog barking, or a distribution service.
If you are going to try and make an argument against colleges doing blanket enrollments in these kinds of services go ahead. Personally I tend to support these kinds of things because it either A) Allows me to use a service I would like to use, B) Prevents my university from being in a lawsuit, which helps keep my tuition lower, and C) Allows my university to provide more services, which makes it more desireable, bringing more students and more money. Eventually all that should trickle down into better instructors, which also benefit me.
Honestly I don't understand what everyone is flipping out over here. A university found what seems to be a fairly cheap solution to a serious legal issue. Doing things this way protects the university and students from a lawsuit. Even if suing downloaders doesn't make much business sense, and the methods through which those suits are executed are questionable, the lawsuit itself is well within the RIAA's rights to conduct.
This is not a protection racket its business, and to be honest I would rather see the RIAA/MPAA doing things this way than suing twelve year olds.
There are forms of email correspondence that are important.
Thinking: Free
Posting an intelligent response: Free
Not having to post as AC so people can't laugh at you directly: Priceless
WTF my email has been downloading for SIX DAYS!
My message to the parent and anyone else of like mind: Don't screw around and risk ruining a good thing for the rest of us.
More than likely he just does not want to keep anything important on an email system that is in beta status. Granted according to the EULA none of the web email providers are responsible for their systems losing your mail. If I had a gmail account I wouldn't trust it with anything important either. Until its finalized I would treat it as any other piece of beta software, test it as much as possible but don't depend on it for anything.
If you would like to use an alternate definition to avoid a term such as "died out" being used to describe your particular religious affiliation then we will have to proclaim that OS/2 and the DEC chips have not died out either, as i'm sure both are still in use somewhere in the world.
Funny thing is if this was brought up in a comparable linux situation the solution would be "Go download kernel version xxx and install it." Yet somehow upgrading to win2k3 is not seen as the same solution to the problem. Yes it costs you money to do the windows upgrade, probably lots of money, but that's the cost of doing business with microsoft.
I know that's where I am. I like linux, but I would rather go through the hassle of attempting to secure my windows box than give up my games for a more secure system. It's called acceptable risk.
Someone get on this immediately. I suggest we integrate the already implemented Bill Engval system for demarking those lacking in mental competence. All we would need is a camera connected to each computer that checks for their "sign"
Linux is different. It was built around the terminal. When linux became more GUI enabled it did not ditch the terminal environment the way microsoft ditched the dos box for windows. Trying to compare the linux terminal to the windows console, and that is the implicit comparison here, is really comparing two environments designed around distinctly seperate purposes. For what the command prompt is supposed to do it currently does fall in line security-wise with microsoft's plan. The real issue is not security of the command prompt, its access to the command prompt.
That said i'm really not a microsoft fanboy. I don't like the idea of having to ensure that a computer is not connected to the internet just to install an os. I hate having to go through tons of GUIs just to get something done that in linux takes a few console commands .... in a script .... with a loop. I'm just saying that these "flaws" are in line with the design philosophy of windows, i'm not saying that I agree with that philosophy in any way.
They do? I better shut down the work servers before someone puts some code on there. I'd hate for our systems to be hacked by some mali
Now back to the slashdot article that is serving as my current distraction from work.
A deserted desert island? Are those are sold by the redundancy department of redundancy?
And what you would get is a few groups creating some fairly good AI, with everyone else leasing/borrowing from it. Innovation would be accomplished on a more marginal "1.7% improvement in ability X" level. No one builds from scratch unless they have to. In the end we would have a bunch of kids spending tons of money on AI software with a few of them even capable of understanding the rudiments of it, much less expanding on the design, and the vast majority simply throwing it in and going from there.
1) Connect to windows update 2) Click Personalize windows update 3) select and save settings for "show windows update catalog" 4) Go to windows update catalog 5) Get hotfixes/sp/whatever 6) burn to cd 7) install windows... with network unplugged 8) install hotfixes from cd 9) ??? 10 profit. All that said, even though they're easy that's a lot of steps to take just to clean up a newly installed box.
If you were not driving with everyone else why did you need to match speed with them? The whole point of driving with the flow of traffic is that you don't impede the flow of traffic. If you are far enough behind to be by yourself then you shouldn't be driving with anyone else now should you?
We complain loudly about conflict of interest by legislators and regulators, while ignoring the biggest one of all: that lawyers write laws. Next we'll be complaining about the fact that doctors have the upper hand on maintaining personal health, accountants seem to be better at doing taxes, and pro athletes are better at sports than Joe Sixpack. Lawyers deal with laws. The write them, they read them, and they use them to do their job. The conflict of interest is NOT that lawyers write laws, it is that lawmakers pass laws on topics and recieve contributions from parties interested in those topics. That said I am still upset that my accountant friend did a better job on his taxes than I did.