1. There are many different versions of programs on Pricelessware. At least six text editors, for example. Basically if it comes up to an acceptable level of usability and isn't spyware/shareware/nagware/adware, it will get in. Not just one text editor they think is best.
2. The whole list is up for review each year, but the list is updated throughout the year. In most cases programs aren't voted off, only new programs are voted in.
3. Linux is in fact included on Pricelessware.
(longtime user of Pricelessware since back when it was just a newsgroup)
I don't see an asterisk after your name. I don't have one either, and I don't believe I have a leg to stand on in order to make the request you just did.
Guess what, I don't have the time or skill to do so. However, I do give back to the Open Source community by donating to some of my favorite useful projects, and promoting Open Source projects to many, many people, making sure to explain the principle of Open Source. The only thing as important as programmers and users, to an Open Source project, is attention. With attention, you attract more users and testers and programmers.
That being said, I don't feel Planeshift is at the point where it should be advertised on Slashdot as a game. It isn't yet. As you said yourself a few comments below here, it is a tech demo. As a user, I feel that drawing people into it now will have a negative effect. "Beta" implied a game that was nearly working. You will get people who try it, are disappointed, and then tune out from that point on.
And given your attitude as a member of the Planeshift team, I will probably stay tuned out. Without users, any Open Source project is worthless crap. Copping an attitude with users makes people feel reluctant to invest any time into something run by easily pissed-off developers.
I tried Planeshift a few months ago, and seriously it's just not something that should even be out there yet. Lots of bugs, limited map, the only thing you could do was run around to all the same places and pick up crystals. To get enough crystals to buy a weapon (though all you could do was hold it) would have taken about 20 hours of playtime. That was an awfully long time to stand in the middle of a room waiting for crystals to grow back, so I uninstalled it. I'll pay attention to these guys when they reach 1.0 release. Just because it's free doesn't mean it's any good.
You can turn that around: the mom-and-pop businesses aren't getting many customers, so their tax revenue is far less than Wal-Mart's, so the yuppies ARE paying for the roadway.
I knew about this an hour before the content actually appeared on Steam. I tried to install it: nothing. Not only did Deathmatch not work, but single-player and CS:Source would not load. Their patch broke everything. I hit the forums and nearly everyone else was having the same problem. I don't know if they've fixed it since last night, I was up until 3am trying to get it to run.
I never had problems with Steam before, but now those complaints from two weeks ago hold a lot more weight. I couldn't even play single-player or Counterstrike.
I've used this quite frequently. By no means do I attempt using it as a primary connection, but it's proven useful for checking email on the road or in hotels, and especially handy for grabbing road maps and finding Wi-Fi hotspots via Yahoo's service.
As technology changes, we start off learning about it at a higher level. Nobody learns to use electron tubes these days, though they are used in some applications.
Take a similar approach. Provide some basic understanding of the transistor, but don't make a circuit that simply blinks. Instead set them up about 10 years behind the curve rather than 20: throw together a small microcontroller board and a breadboard with some components. Maybe just give them a bare microcontroller to insert into the board.
Start with a few basic circuits, light an LED, amplify a light or sound source, make a touch sensor. Then get them to write a small program for the microcontroller, to blink a light. After that, try something a little more interactive like a who-pressed-the-button-first game.
A mess of transistors and wires isn't inspiring, and most of the kids won't have any idea how to come up with useful circuits on their own. But when they realize how much they can do with a microcontroller, watch their eyes light up. Well, maybe some of the geekier ones will. But use the microcontroller as the core, and introduce analog concepts as they relate, for example doing R/C calculations for a smooth PWM signal.
A single programmable component can often replace or exceed the function of dozens of discrete components. That's where things are heading these days, though analog designers are still needed. I just think you should introduce some technology of our generation so they won't blow off electronics as a lot of work to get a result a thousand times less exciting than what their cell phone can do.
That won't make you entirely safe. If someone has physical access to the keyboard or computer, it's not difficult to install the keylogger inside either. And keyboards often use common microcontrollers: my Logitech Internet Navigator, for example, uses the 68HC08JB8. It could be possible to replace the microcontroller with one that has altered firmware, to log keystrokes pretty much invisibly. Build in a long passphrase to trigger dumping the logged keystrokes, and you're in business.
It would interesting if this was extended to create an actual online university, where you'd actually have to learn the stuff to progress your character. Edutainment back from the dead!
Surplus is great...lots of good parts available, can really reduce the cost of a project, or even inspire a new one. My favorite surplus electronics store these past 6 years is the Electronic Goldmine. They recently fixed up their website, and always have lots of standard parts as well as great deals on unique stuff.
The original Halo would have been revolutionary, the graphics and gameplay would have been advanced well beyond what anyone else had, if it had been released back when it was supposed to. On the Macintosh. Way, way, WAY before Microsoft bought Bungie, came up with the X-box idea, made the X-box, and then forced Bungie to port Halo to the X-box. Microsoft merely saw something that would cause people to buy Macintoshes, and Mac OS, so it merely bought what might hurt it. It's not "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" it's "if you might have a tiny bit less of a monopoly because of 'em, absorb them."
Well, someone might have noticed that tree bark heals around wounds, and made some kind of connection. Or maybe they just wanted something absorbent and didn't have a cloth handy.
Correct. It's easy enough to overpower someone or make them unconscious, even if they would not put their hand on the reader voluntarily. It's a little more involved to retrieve the contents of their mind, though with the right drugs and a skilled questioner it's possible. Again...just like with computers, the final line of security is physical security. If someone can get to the computer or a person who knows something, there isn't much stopping them.
Which is as it should be. However, I have been known to access cPanel very easily through a company firewall, it's simple to bounce it through SSH port forwarding. If you run the whole server or if your host allows SSH access, you're golden. Additional benefit is even better security.
Ensim is the worst piece of malformed crap I've ever had the displeasure of using. It's virtually impossible to upgrade anything on the server using normal packages, and their version of Apache has some of their own crap inserted into it that leaks memory like a sieve, eventually leading to a complete halt. It comes with a cron script to restart Apache once a day! On top of that, the user interface is not very intuitive and things like webmail and user authentication are easily broken. Then they want you to buy an upgraded version of their product so you can install free software like phpBB and Gallery.
Cpanel is 100 times better IMHO, and provides a clean interface for both the admin and the user.
Illusion...hey..simulation, you got something! Combine this product with a VR headset and augmented reality system, so they can blow their virtual smoke all over the place and no one is the wiser.
I think you have a very slightly skewed understanding of this right. It is not only a right to vote; it is a right to *not* vote as well. Some countries have had forced elections where every person is required to vote, which also came along with the understanding of who they should vote for if they wished to keep whatever liberty they still had.
This country allows you to completely ignore the bigger picture, if you so desire. You can be happily oblivious to politics for the most part. And since you don't have to vote, you can choose to trust the judgement of those masochists who do care. You have the freedom not to vote. Voting without knowing anything is worse than not voting at all.
Slashdot Mirror
Everything you just said was wrong.
1. There are many different versions of programs on Pricelessware. At least six text editors, for example. Basically if it comes up to an acceptable level of usability and isn't spyware/shareware/nagware/adware, it will get in. Not just one text editor they think is best.
2. The whole list is up for review each year, but the list is updated throughout the year. In most cases programs aren't voted off, only new programs are voted in.
3. Linux is in fact included on Pricelessware.
(longtime user of Pricelessware since back when it was just a newsgroup)
I don't see an asterisk after your name. I don't have one either, and I don't believe I have a leg to stand on in order to make the request you just did.
Nice.
Guess what, I don't have the time or skill to do so. However, I do give back to the Open Source community by donating to some of my favorite useful projects, and promoting Open Source projects to many, many people, making sure to explain the principle of Open Source. The only thing as important as programmers and users, to an Open Source project, is attention. With attention, you attract more users and testers and programmers.
That being said, I don't feel Planeshift is at the point where it should be advertised on Slashdot as a game. It isn't yet. As you said yourself a few comments below here, it is a tech demo. As a user, I feel that drawing people into it now will have a negative effect. "Beta" implied a game that was nearly working. You will get people who try it, are disappointed, and then tune out from that point on.
And given your attitude as a member of the Planeshift team, I will probably stay tuned out. Without users, any Open Source project is worthless crap. Copping an attitude with users makes people feel reluctant to invest any time into something run by easily pissed-off developers.
I tried Planeshift a few months ago, and seriously it's just not something that should even be out there yet. Lots of bugs, limited map, the only thing you could do was run around to all the same places and pick up crystals. To get enough crystals to buy a weapon (though all you could do was hold it) would have taken about 20 hours of playtime. That was an awfully long time to stand in the middle of a room waiting for crystals to grow back, so I uninstalled it. I'll pay attention to these guys when they reach 1.0 release. Just because it's free doesn't mean it's any good.
You can turn that around: the mom-and-pop businesses aren't getting many customers, so their tax revenue is far less than Wal-Mart's, so the yuppies ARE paying for the roadway.
I knew about this an hour before the content actually appeared on Steam. I tried to install it: nothing. Not only did Deathmatch not work, but single-player and CS:Source would not load. Their patch broke everything. I hit the forums and nearly everyone else was having the same problem. I don't know if they've fixed it since last night, I was up until 3am trying to get it to run.
I never had problems with Steam before, but now those complaints from two weeks ago hold a lot more weight. I couldn't even play single-player or Counterstrike.
Fortunately, it happens rarely enough that you can just pass it off as an overflowing of company spirit.
I don't know what's more disappointing:
Running in here to make a Zergling Rush joke and being beaten to the punch multiple times, or
He obviously wasted too much time building SCV's and didn't get some Marines on the ground early enough.
I've used this quite frequently. By no means do I attempt using it as a primary connection, but it's proven useful for checking email on the road or in hotels, and especially handy for grabbing road maps and finding Wi-Fi hotspots via Yahoo's service.
You just go ahead and build that for us, let us know how it works out.
*mutters something about today's third-year electronics students, glad it's "systems" and not an actual electrical engineerin degree*
Or someone else. It'd take two seconds to swap out your keyboard with an identical one, already bugged.
As technology changes, we start off learning about it at a higher level. Nobody learns to use electron tubes these days, though they are used in some applications.
Take a similar approach. Provide some basic understanding of the transistor, but don't make a circuit that simply blinks. Instead set them up about 10 years behind the curve rather than 20: throw together a small microcontroller board and a breadboard with some components. Maybe just give them a bare microcontroller to insert into the board.
Start with a few basic circuits, light an LED, amplify a light or sound source, make a touch sensor. Then get them to write a small program for the microcontroller, to blink a light. After that, try something a little more interactive like a who-pressed-the-button-first game.
A mess of transistors and wires isn't inspiring, and most of the kids won't have any idea how to come up with useful circuits on their own. But when they realize how much they can do with a microcontroller, watch their eyes light up. Well, maybe some of the geekier ones will. But use the microcontroller as the core, and introduce analog concepts as they relate, for example doing R/C calculations for a smooth PWM signal.
A single programmable component can often replace or exceed the function of dozens of discrete components. That's where things are heading these days, though analog designers are still needed. I just think you should introduce some technology of our generation so they won't blow off electronics as a lot of work to get a result a thousand times less exciting than what their cell phone can do.
That won't make you entirely safe. If someone has physical access to the keyboard or computer, it's not difficult to install the keylogger inside either. And keyboards often use common microcontrollers: my Logitech Internet Navigator, for example, uses the 68HC08JB8. It could be possible to replace the microcontroller with one that has altered firmware, to log keystrokes pretty much invisibly. Build in a long passphrase to trigger dumping the logged keystrokes, and you're in business.
You'll get the gravity gun after you're done with the airboat.
What's your problem with the ramp? I see you figured out how to push the washing machine down, so just jump the boat up the ramp!
It would interesting if this was extended to create an actual online university, where you'd actually have to learn the stuff to progress your character. Edutainment back from the dead!
It's interesting for offtopic reasons. It's a great example of the amazing things the guys over at Worth1000 have been doing for a few years.
Surplus is great...lots of good parts available, can really reduce the cost of a project, or even inspire a new one. My favorite surplus electronics store these past 6 years is the Electronic Goldmine. They recently fixed up their website, and always have lots of standard parts as well as great deals on unique stuff.
The original Halo would have been revolutionary, the graphics and gameplay would have been advanced well beyond what anyone else had, if it had been released back when it was supposed to. On the Macintosh. Way, way, WAY before Microsoft bought Bungie, came up with the X-box idea, made the X-box, and then forced Bungie to port Halo to the X-box. Microsoft merely saw something that would cause people to buy Macintoshes, and Mac OS, so it merely bought what might hurt it. It's not "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" it's "if you might have a tiny bit less of a monopoly because of 'em, absorb them."
Well, someone might have noticed that tree bark heals around wounds, and made some kind of connection. Or maybe they just wanted something absorbent and didn't have a cloth handy.
Correct. It's easy enough to overpower someone or make them unconscious, even if they would not put their hand on the reader voluntarily. It's a little more involved to retrieve the contents of their mind, though with the right drugs and a skilled questioner it's possible. Again...just like with computers, the final line of security is physical security. If someone can get to the computer or a person who knows something, there isn't much stopping them.
Which is as it should be. However, I have been known to access cPanel very easily through a company firewall, it's simple to bounce it through SSH port forwarding. If you run the whole server or if your host allows SSH access, you're golden. Additional benefit is even better security.
Ensim is the worst piece of malformed crap I've ever had the displeasure of using. It's virtually impossible to upgrade anything on the server using normal packages, and their version of Apache has some of their own crap inserted into it that leaks memory like a sieve, eventually leading to a complete halt. It comes with a cron script to restart Apache once a day! On top of that, the user interface is not very intuitive and things like webmail and user authentication are easily broken. Then they want you to buy an upgraded version of their product so you can install free software like phpBB and Gallery.
Cpanel is 100 times better IMHO, and provides a clean interface for both the admin and the user.
Illusion...hey..simulation, you got something! Combine this product with a VR headset and augmented reality system, so they can blow their virtual smoke all over the place and no one is the wiser.
Actually, the free oxygen component of air that we require comes in the form of O2.
I think you have a very slightly skewed understanding of this right. It is not only a right to vote; it is a right to *not* vote as well. Some countries have had forced elections where every person is required to vote, which also came along with the understanding of who they should vote for if they wished to keep whatever liberty they still had.
This country allows you to completely ignore the bigger picture, if you so desire. You can be happily oblivious to politics for the most part. And since you don't have to vote, you can choose to trust the judgement of those masochists who do care. You have the freedom not to vote. Voting without knowing anything is worse than not voting at all.