You just have to pop the device in, let it run for 10-30 seconds, and your teeth are clean, and it could even floss for you.
That doesn't really sound better than something that you use for 4-24 seconds less, doesn't have any moving parts, and doesn't require a power source. The device from TFA already reaches the interstices of your teeth, so it should have the same effects as flossing anyhow.
I never said that SteamOS (as installed by an individual on their own hardware) would be the most common usage. "Tinkering DIYers" are a small minority of users of current systems, and I don't expect that to change. The guy I was responding to said that asking most gamers to do their own dual-boot install would be unrealistic, and I agreed with that. Valve needs a way to make SteamOS popular, and the most viable way to do that is to keep things simple. Thus: SteamBox. I think they're already fragmenting their market by going Win-Mac-Lin-SteamBox though. They don't need to add in a completely separate architecture to complicate things further; I don't really see a move to ARM in the near future (although, who knows about a couple years down the road...)
I've got 2 24-inch 16:10s in portrait mode next to each other. A single 16:9/16:10 screen is difficult to use for code. In contrast, using dual wide screens in portrait mode is very pleasant (and gives me 4.6MP of display area).
I agree, Valve isn't likely to make it a SteamOS-only game...unless they're planning on using it as an incentive to get a SteamBox. As you said, ease of use is Valve's lifeblood. SteamBox satisfies that condition; SteamOS alone will always be for the tinkering DIYers, I think. As a further incentive, hey, there are already a bunch of Steam games that run under Linux, so it's less likely that they'd be buying the "console" "just for one game".
American *bottles* of beer are about 12 ounces. American beer *glasses* are usually liquid pints (~473mL), if you're drinking draught/draft beer. British pints *are* larger (by almost exactly 20%), but it's because of standardization of imperial units after the US split away. A standard German beer mug would be 1/2 liter (larger than an American pint, smaller than a British one). Of course, a full liter of beer would be larger than any of those three. "German Literstein" is somewhat of a misnomer, since "Stein" isn't generally used alone in German to refer to a container.
In theory, you knew the limitations that Steam's DRM would impose before you bought the game. They publish them in their EULA, likely in an FAQ on their site (I haven't looked), and the restrictions that you put up with are common knowledge online. In return, you gain a free disk backup service, friends system, and generally a significantly lower price than you'd get buying the game as a stand-alone product.
If you went into the purchase as an informed customer and made the choice to put down the money anyhow, then you got what you paid for, whether you decide that you want something else after the fact or not. Steam comes down to two things: Caveat emptor and TANSTAAFL. DRM sucks more than no-DRM, and paying more sucks more than paying less does. It's a trade-off, and one that many gamers gladly accept.
It annoys me when people are all roses and unicorns about Steam, but I don't see the point in complaining when there are other venues to get games without Steam's trade-offs, and when Valve isn't exactly secretive about the nature of their platform.
Right...but it does something similar if you have the disk version and bothered to update it (which forces you into using Origin, if I remember correctly), or if you directly purchase it through Origin. I don't remember if I've tried to play the disk version of DA:O unpatched and offline, but I *do* remember that it has a login and that it checks the authentication of whatever DLC packs you have. DA's not a good choice of game if you're trying to point out Steam's shortcomings; I don't think there's a single release of that game that will work offline 100% the same as it does with an internet connection.
My memories on this are a couple years old, though. If I'm wrong, I'd like to know.
Exciting? No. More interesting (IMO) than most games that I'd describe as "exciting"? Hell yes. Easier to play when I feel like just chilling out, too.
Myst was a tedious exercise in figuring out exactly in what order to do what the designers wanted you to do.
I'd say that it was more an exercise in finding the clues spread around the world about how to solve the puzzles, making the connections, and getting it done. The information was all there, you just had to pay attention to find it. You've got a point that each of the games is (on the whole) only really good for one play-through, though. I can't argue with that.
What I provided is a work-around while other people try to permanently solve the issue through other venues. Is it the optimal solution? No, but it's legal (for now), and it's a work-around for something that shouldn't be broken in the first place.
I can't say that pirating media is "honorable", per se, but in a situation where there isn't a realistic way to legally get your hands on something, I don't have serious qualms with it.
You *can* run without an OS. For example, consider older computers where the software is usually run directly on the hardware. "Drivers" for the hardware aren't always separate enough to be identified (register manipulations being directly coded in the binary), there isn't necessarily a file system implemented, there's no process scheduling, no memory management beyond directly accessing areas of the memory map, etc. Basically, you can run a program that doesn't have any of the common features of an OS. Granted, I don't know the details of this specific program, but the possibility exists that it's just running on the bare hardware.
As an example, this "OS" just prints out "Hello world" by writing directly to the video hardware on a PC. I wouldn't really call it an "OS", though, even though it can run as the sole software on a modern computer.
In the various U.S. states that I grew up in, we generally had a "social science" class, which was kind of a mixture of geography, sociology, and anthropology.
there's no justification for running applications in a document viewer.
Except that most of the world finds it pretty convenient, and anything we've called a web browser in the last 15 years or so has been much more than a document viewer.
If Google is so concerned with serving up cross platform applications, they can package a VM and an App Store along with their browser.
They do. The V8 Javascript Engine is implemented as a VM. They include the Chrome Web Store in the desktop version of their browser as well. That doesn't mean that it's not beneficial to run apps delivered over the web in the browser, the way that every other vendor does.
Is it really too much to expect something better then serving GUIs the likes of Facebook and Gmail inside the browser?
And what's wrong with it? A sandboxed plugin API and Javascript VM makes more sense to me than downloading a native app to handle the same thing, and I down see a benefit to having a some kind of Net-VM app, separate from the browser, to run web apps in. Either way, you're still talking about running someone else's code. From that perspective, keeping the browser integrated with a sandboxed scripting and plugin environment makes more sense than any alternatives I've heard anyone propose.
Replace "3D printers" with "computers", "PC" with "car", and change around the appropriate terms, and you'll match most people's expectations even going into the '80s. A home computer is a flexible piece of machinery, but we've had to discover its uses over time. I see 3D printers in the same way: their use to most individuals isn't very clear now, and our current arguments will sound quaint 20 years down the road. In comparison, a screw driver or router are tools with limited, specific uses. Owning a screwdriver is common because it has high utility for its size and cost. Owning a router is less common because of size, cost, and limited utility to most people.
If we come up with uses for desktop 3D printers that most people are interested in and make them a tool that can be used without professional-level knowledge, then I don't see why they wouldn't become very common for individuals to own.
Only an idiot that didn't play any third party franchises would say the N64 was wonderful.
Or a kid that was having too much fun with the system and games that they had to care that someone else was having fun with different games on a different system. Only an idiot fanboy asshole would begrudge someone else their opinion of a wonderful console.
"Let's tax everyone who works so we can pay farmers to not work, so we'll have less food.[...so that when we already have enough food to supply for the populace, farmers aren't overproducing, causing a glut in the market, and sabotaging their own prices]"
"It should be our job to attack every small country with WMDs, but build the world's biggest arsenal for ourselves."
Hypocritical? Yes. Nonsensical? No. It's in the entire world's interest to reduce the numbers of WMDs out there, but it's in the US's interests to keep the ones we have (at least by some schools of thought).
"Prohibit everyone from buying cheap medicine unless an exclusive guild of physicians gives it the OK."
Slashdot Mirror
You just have to pop the device in, let it run for 10-30 seconds, and your teeth are clean, and it could even floss for you.
That doesn't really sound better than something that you use for 4-24 seconds less, doesn't have any moving parts, and doesn't require a power source. The device from TFA already reaches the interstices of your teeth, so it should have the same effects as flossing anyhow.
I suppose I'll never understand it, then. All well.
Good point. I actually hadn't thought of that.
Oh, I see. Just like launch exclusives have been non-starters for every other console launch in history. Thanks, AC!
I never said that SteamOS (as installed by an individual on their own hardware) would be the most common usage. "Tinkering DIYers" are a small minority of users of current systems, and I don't expect that to change. The guy I was responding to said that asking most gamers to do their own dual-boot install would be unrealistic, and I agreed with that. Valve needs a way to make SteamOS popular, and the most viable way to do that is to keep things simple. Thus: SteamBox. I think they're already fragmenting their market by going Win-Mac-Lin-SteamBox though. They don't need to add in a completely separate architecture to complicate things further; I don't really see a move to ARM in the near future (although, who knows about a couple years down the road...)
I've got 2 24-inch 16:10s in portrait mode next to each other. A single 16:9/16:10 screen is difficult to use for code. In contrast, using dual wide screens in portrait mode is very pleasant (and gives me 4.6MP of display area).
I agree, Valve isn't likely to make it a SteamOS-only game...unless they're planning on using it as an incentive to get a SteamBox. As you said, ease of use is Valve's lifeblood. SteamBox satisfies that condition; SteamOS alone will always be for the tinkering DIYers, I think. As a further incentive, hey, there are already a bunch of Steam games that run under Linux, so it's less likely that they'd be buying the "console" "just for one game".
American *bottles* of beer are about 12 ounces. American beer *glasses* are usually liquid pints (~473mL), if you're drinking draught/draft beer. British pints *are* larger (by almost exactly 20%), but it's because of standardization of imperial units after the US split away. A standard German beer mug would be 1/2 liter (larger than an American pint, smaller than a British one). Of course, a full liter of beer would be larger than any of those three. "German Literstein" is somewhat of a misnomer, since "Stein" isn't generally used alone in German to refer to a container.
Ah, thank you for the clarification. Without a reference to another story, I assumed that /. was presenting it as new news, instead of a follow-up.
A little deja vu.
In theory, you knew the limitations that Steam's DRM would impose before you bought the game. They publish them in their EULA, likely in an FAQ on their site (I haven't looked), and the restrictions that you put up with are common knowledge online. In return, you gain a free disk backup service, friends system, and generally a significantly lower price than you'd get buying the game as a stand-alone product.
If you went into the purchase as an informed customer and made the choice to put down the money anyhow, then you got what you paid for, whether you decide that you want something else after the fact or not. Steam comes down to two things: Caveat emptor and TANSTAAFL. DRM sucks more than no-DRM, and paying more sucks more than paying less does. It's a trade-off, and one that many gamers gladly accept.
It annoys me when people are all roses and unicorns about Steam, but I don't see the point in complaining when there are other venues to get games without Steam's trade-offs, and when Valve isn't exactly secretive about the nature of their platform.
Right...but it does something similar if you have the disk version and bothered to update it (which forces you into using Origin, if I remember correctly), or if you directly purchase it through Origin. I don't remember if I've tried to play the disk version of DA:O unpatched and offline, but I *do* remember that it has a login and that it checks the authentication of whatever DLC packs you have. DA's not a good choice of game if you're trying to point out Steam's shortcomings; I don't think there's a single release of that game that will work offline 100% the same as it does with an internet connection.
My memories on this are a couple years old, though. If I'm wrong, I'd like to know.
I've never sold a game. The inability to resell a game that I wouldn't resell anyhow only bothers me in a very distant, disconnected way.
Exciting? No. More interesting (IMO) than most games that I'd describe as "exciting"? Hell yes. Easier to play when I feel like just chilling out, too.
Myst was a tedious exercise in figuring out exactly in what order to do what the designers wanted you to do.
I'd say that it was more an exercise in finding the clues spread around the world about how to solve the puzzles, making the connections, and getting it done. The information was all there, you just had to pay attention to find it. You've got a point that each of the games is (on the whole) only really good for one play-through, though. I can't argue with that.
What I provided is a work-around while other people try to permanently solve the issue through other venues. Is it the optimal solution? No, but it's legal (for now), and it's a work-around for something that shouldn't be broken in the first place.
I can't say that pirating media is "honorable", per se, but in a situation where there isn't a realistic way to legally get your hands on something, I don't have serious qualms with it.
You *can* run without an OS. For example, consider older computers where the software is usually run directly on the hardware. "Drivers" for the hardware aren't always separate enough to be identified (register manipulations being directly coded in the binary), there isn't necessarily a file system implemented, there's no process scheduling, no memory management beyond directly accessing areas of the memory map, etc. Basically, you can run a program that doesn't have any of the common features of an OS. Granted, I don't know the details of this specific program, but the possibility exists that it's just running on the bare hardware.
As an example, this "OS" just prints out "Hello world" by writing directly to the video hardware on a PC. I wouldn't really call it an "OS", though, even though it can run as the sole software on a modern computer.
There are ways to get around region blocking. You just have to find one that's appropriate for wherever you live.
In the various U.S. states that I grew up in, we generally had a "social science" class, which was kind of a mixture of geography, sociology, and anthropology.
there's no justification for running applications in a document viewer.
Except that most of the world finds it pretty convenient, and anything we've called a web browser in the last 15 years or so has been much more than a document viewer.
If Google is so concerned with serving up cross platform applications, they can package a VM and an App Store along with their browser.
They do. The V8 Javascript Engine is implemented as a VM. They include the Chrome Web Store in the desktop version of their browser as well. That doesn't mean that it's not beneficial to run apps delivered over the web in the browser, the way that every other vendor does.
Is it really too much to expect something better then serving GUIs the likes of Facebook and Gmail inside the browser?
And what's wrong with it? A sandboxed plugin API and Javascript VM makes more sense to me than downloading a native app to handle the same thing, and I down see a benefit to having a some kind of Net-VM app, separate from the browser, to run web apps in. Either way, you're still talking about running someone else's code. From that perspective, keeping the browser integrated with a sandboxed scripting and plugin environment makes more sense than any alternatives I've heard anyone propose.
Hearing the sonic boom of the B-52s
How does an aircraft with a max speed around mach 0.86 make a sonic boom?
Replace "3D printers" with "computers", "PC" with "car", and change around the appropriate terms, and you'll match most people's expectations even going into the '80s. A home computer is a flexible piece of machinery, but we've had to discover its uses over time. I see 3D printers in the same way: their use to most individuals isn't very clear now, and our current arguments will sound quaint 20 years down the road. In comparison, a screw driver or router are tools with limited, specific uses. Owning a screwdriver is common because it has high utility for its size and cost. Owning a router is less common because of size, cost, and limited utility to most people.
If we come up with uses for desktop 3D printers that most people are interested in and make them a tool that can be used without professional-level knowledge, then I don't see why they wouldn't become very common for individuals to own.
"Hell-bent" was maybe an unfortunate choice of word when "fanatically determined" would be just as clear.
Only an idiot that didn't play any third party franchises would say the N64 was wonderful.
Or a kid that was having too much fun with the system and games that they had to care that someone else was having fun with different games on a different system. Only an idiot fanboy asshole would begrudge someone else their opinion of a wonderful console.
"Let's tax everyone who works so we can pay farmers to not work, so we'll have less food.[...so that when we already have enough food to supply for the populace, farmers aren't overproducing, causing a glut in the market, and sabotaging their own prices]"
"It should be our job to attack every small country with WMDs, but build the world's biggest arsenal for ourselves."
Hypocritical? Yes. Nonsensical? No. It's in the entire world's interest to reduce the numbers of WMDs out there, but it's in the US's interests to keep the ones we have (at least by some schools of thought).
"Prohibit everyone from buying cheap medicine unless an exclusive guild of physicians gives it the OK."
There isn't anything inherently bad about this (unless you're a fan of Clark Stanley's Liniment). The US has the FDA. Germany has the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment, France has the Agence FranÃaise de Sécurité Sanitaire des Produits de Santé, the UK has the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, etc. Government regulation of medicine is accepted as a good thing by most people. That's not saying that it shouldn't be reformed now and again, but your comment makes it sound like the whole general approach is flawed.