If I'm going to buy a whole album off iTunes at a dollar a song, an average of 12 songs would cost me $12 bucks... I pretty much only buy music that's not on the radio, so the cd's I usually look at are between $10-$12... so, for the same price of downloading an album I could have it in physical form (adding the ability to use it in a CD player and to look at pretty album art)... definitely not worth it for me to use iTunes to download all the music I want.
Furthermore, it doesn't help that I don't own and iPod (go Creative Zen, woo!) so iTunes songs are useless to me.
Given what you said, you really should consider emusic. $0.22 per track for mp3 (no drm) files, that's $2.64 for a 12-song album. Do yourself a favor, do the free trial, browse the collection, and see how you feel. It sounds like it might be good fit for you...
Of course the picky among us will still refuse for dubious reasons (30 second previews, don't like the way files are tagged, no Brittney, etc., ad nauseum).
But I, for one, support the things they are doing right (great selection, no DRM, you bought it - you own it) by subscribing. Get your 15 free tracks, browse the collection, see if you don't feel the same...
It's a chance to put your money where your mouth is.
Re:What's the big deal about Nethack?
on
Time-Tested Gaming
·
· Score: 1
Others have mentioned depth, I think a lot of that comes from the random/polymorphic nature of NH.
Every time you play, a new dungeon is generated. While there are similarities as you replay, it is always different enough to stay challenging and interesting.
So you have to do a fair bit of dying before you get the hang of it, but it's not like you have to repeat the same thing over and over as you improve. Each trip into the dungeon is different.
It's great because a lot of the energy that typically goes into flashy graphics development is redirected into making the game interesting and (re-)playable over the long term.
Packages don't install if their dependent packages aren't installed. That's how things are supposed to work.
So far, so good...
You can use yum on top of that to have it automatically pull down the dependencies.
That's the problem. On its own, rpm eventually drives you into dependency hell.
Package A depends on Package B. Fine, install Package B. Nope, Package B depends on Packages X, Y, and Z, each with their own dependencies, and rpm does not provide any way to trace the chain of dependencies to its end.
RPM is fundamentally broken.
I used RH for about 2 years, back before they added yum, and eventually I just had to give up and move to an apt-based system that could handle the full chain of dependencies.
And then there are those who would say that this is right on the money. YMMV. Many people here are focusing on content, which arguably is not the point (although "The Right to Read" does make some good points). But fighting DRM as it is used to further restrict software is exactly in line with the FSF's charter.
I know, the market this, the market that, blah blah.
I agree, an informed consumer base is important.
Recent events show that the consumer responds quite well to fear, so maybe so-called "fear-mongering" is an effective way to go. I guess the "market" will sort that particular question out.
Funny, I had the opposite problem with Ubuntu. XP installed my (dirt common) PCI wireless networking card just fine, but Ubuntu couldn't figure the darn thing out.
You make a good point, everyone's experience differs, based on what hardware/OS combination they have.
But when you strip that away, and just look at ideal, stock-media install experience, the current Linux (and *BSD) installs are much less painful to do and more likely to be functional without trips to numerous web sites than MS installs, in my experience. In addition, a typical installation on the *nix side leaves you with a full set of applications, from compiler to word processor, vs. well, just Windows on the MS side.
As someone else pointed out, practicing the philosophy of Free Software can have its advantages
Am I the only one who's sitting here and wondering, "What was this guy thinking?!" Laptops have so much custom hardware these days that it's a Bad Idea(TM) to attempt an OS installation from anything but restore CDs. This guy not only tried to install from new media, but he tried to install a cutting-edge operating system that isn't even out of beta!
Funny this should come up at this time.
I was able to get a -great- deal on a ThinkPad just last week (R50e - $600). I took a Knoppix CD with me to the store, and it appeared to boot fine, so I went ahead and bought it.
Brought it home, burned a Debian Testing Netinstall CD on my desktop, popped it into the laptop and booted.
I had just the opposite experience as this guy had with Vista.
The only issue I had in the whole process was that I had to use the wired NIC instead of the wireless for the actual network installation. But once the install completed (about an hour), I had a -very- functional system.
A quick Google and a couple of tweaks later, I had a -completely- functional system.
It was definitely one of the easiest OS install experiences I have had since the days of DOS!
If a bunch of dirty hippies can make it this easy for free, why can't a corporation with the resources of MS do it for their proprietary OS?
"File sharing is no different than what many people did in the 80's when they made tapes of music and shared it."
I beg to differ here. Making a copy of a tape or record and giving it to a friend is "sharing". Making 10,000 copies and giving them to 10,000 friends [sic] is "publishing".
I guess you don't understand how P2P really works. Nobody is giving out 10,000 copies of a song. Typically, they are "giving out" one or maybe two complete copies of a file.
Also, the file is typically not a "perfect copy" of the original, it is downsampled in some way.
I'm not necessarily advocating either side of this argument, but please, keep to the facts.
You can eliminate the guess work by using Regmon and Filemon from here.
These utilities log all file and registry access attempts, successful or unsuccessful.
Most applications that "need" admin rights, actually only need the correct rights on a specific reg key or directory. Granting only the needed rights gets the app working without adding unnecessary rights/risks.
Yes, Bush & Co. tried playing by Democrats rules and didn't do all that well. Good thing I wasn't President though, you really wouldn't have liked my solution to Idiot Joe "My wife is a secret agent!" Wilson and his traitorous bitch wife.
So, back to the topic at hand, since you weren't/aren't president, what does Novak and his source get? Medal of Freedom? Pound-me-in-the-ass prison?
Sounds like you have a pretty strong double-standard going.
Regardless of what tawdry spin you want to put on this, the fact is that Novak reported classified information that was leaked to him by the White House. You cannot legally differentiate between the leakers you favor and the leakers you don't favor.
...one must question the motives for making the leaks in the first place and whether it was for the express purpose of lending aid and comfort to an enemy in time of war is certainly a question worthy of asking. Because from where I sit it is either that or something that to my mind is even worse. That it was leaked in a base political effort to discredit the current administration.
So Robert Novak reporting leaked (by yet unnamed White House staff) information about Valerie Plame's identity as a CIA agent fits into which category?
What you dismiss so readily has been done over and over again.
I have researched it, and it is possible.
You have no clue what you are talking about. There are valid, plausible scenarios that argue strongly against sourcing Chinese manufactured hardware for constructing U.S. Government secure networks.
Give me a strong argument why this is absolutely -not- possible (other than your limited imagination), and I'll concede your point.
Last Word! Say something (besides "is not!") or admit defeat. I proclaim LAST WORD!!!! HA HA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Unless you're presuming that the code responsible for your leak is sophisticated enough to tell what might be useful data and what isn't, then you should be able to detect traffic leaving your system before you start doing anything important on it.
I'm hope you're not in charge of setting up any secure networks. You just are not paranoid enough.
The scenario you dismiss is exactly one to worry about. It's like putting a bunch of heavy-duty deadbolt locks on the doors, but leaving the windows alone because you'll be able to detect when one of them gets broken.
Building a secure network is an end-to-end process. You can't just dismiss the issue of sourcing hardware with a wave of the phrase "ain't likely to happen", otherwise it -is- going to happen at some point, with possibly disasterous results.
In this realm, "practical concerns" have a much different meaning and priority than they normally do.
...you can install traffic monitors on a network and I'm pretty sure any weird traffic going out wouldn't be too hard to pick up on.
Um, it's pretty hard to sniff an SSL connection.
There are any number of ways to send the information that are not easy to catch. Sure, if it is on a secure network, it's a little bit harder, but not as hard as you might think. One lapse in physical security can be leveraged to huge degree.
The Chinese have demonstrated a strong desire to penetrate our classified networks, and they are very patient and taking the long view in their attacks.
Aside from the Chinese in particular, a comprehensive security policy definitely needs to take all elements of the IT process into account.
I see a lot of people crying "hysteria" and "protectionism" here, but if you are trying to set up a truely secure network, one important piece is to have a trusted source for your hardware.
I may experiment with my Nikon D50 and see what happens with clear plastic blocking the lense (not sure if this even relates).
It doesn't. The difference between plastic and glass won't show up if you just use a flat sheet, because the light isn't being refracted (bent) by the flat sheet.
Chromatic abberation shows up when a lens bends different wavelengths by different amounts, resulting in a band of color along the edge of bright objects.
This is easy to see if you compare a cheap zoom lens with a big zoom range (ie., 50-300mm) with an expensive fixed focal length lens on a brightly-lit scene with white areas.
...are there any laptops out there with a true middle-click button?
Thinkpads, although I modified mine to work as a scroller instead, I don't have a problem with left+right==middle. But yes, out of the box, Thinkpads have a real middle button that works.
And the alternative is what, exactly? If I want to change ISPs I have to get a fucking phone line even though I don't need one. My ISP knows I don't have anywhere to go and if it wanted to screw me, it could. No, block 'em, They won't have anyone to run to.
And your situation is the general case? I don't think so.
It is bad business to piss off your customers.
Look, I would love to see the bot problem knocked on the head, but the fact that it hasn't happened suggests to me that it just isn't worth it for the ISPs. I think the OP seriously underestimates the cost/benefit ratio from the ISP's point of view.
Your suggestion is noble, but what's in it for the ISP?
Shutting down someone who isn't aware that they are pwned is just going to piss them off, and they'll go with someone who doesn't have such a policy. Especially if you do this to them multiple times.
Also, at least some of the bots are on connections that are charged by usage (vs. flat-rate).
Seems to me that it is not in the ISP's interest to shut down bots.
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If I'm going to buy a whole album off iTunes at a dollar a song, an average of 12 songs would cost me $12 bucks... I pretty much only buy music that's not on the radio, so the cd's I usually look at are between $10-$12... so, for the same price of downloading an album I could have it in physical form (adding the ability to use it in a CD player and to look at pretty album art)... definitely not worth it for me to use iTunes to download all the music I want.
Given what you said, you really should consider emusic. $0.22 per track for mp3 (no drm) files, that's $2.64 for a 12-song album. Do yourself a favor, do the free trial, browse the collection, and see how you feel. It sounds like it might be good fit for you...Furthermore, it doesn't help that I don't own and iPod (go Creative Zen, woo!) so iTunes songs are useless to me.
At $.22 per track, decent VBR MP3 files with no DRM, over 600,000 tracks to choose from, HELL YEAH!
Of course the picky among us will still refuse for dubious reasons (30 second previews, don't like the way files are tagged, no Brittney, etc., ad nauseum).
But I, for one, support the things they are doing right (great selection, no DRM, you bought it - you own it) by subscribing. Get your 15 free tracks, browse the collection, see if you don't feel the same...
It's a chance to put your money where your mouth is.
Others have mentioned depth, I think a lot of that comes from the random/polymorphic nature of NH.
Every time you play, a new dungeon is generated. While there are similarities as you replay, it is always different enough to stay challenging and interesting.
So you have to do a fair bit of dying before you get the hang of it, but it's not like you have to repeat the same thing over and over as you improve. Each trip into the dungeon is different.
It's great because a lot of the energy that typically goes into flashy graphics development is redirected into making the game interesting and (re-)playable over the long term.
My point is that, either because the tools weren't there yet, or I was just ignorant, I ended up in dependency hell with no way out at the time.
The relevant part of my post is "I never looked back".
RedHat had me, and then lost me...
That was the point of the OP, that RH's one-time dominance of desktop Linux has evaporated.
For me, it was rpm that drove me away.
Packages don't install if their dependent packages aren't installed. That's how things are supposed to work.
So far, so good...
You can use yum on top of that to have it automatically pull down the dependencies.
That's the problem. On its own, rpm eventually drives you into dependency hell.
Package A depends on Package B. Fine, install Package B. Nope, Package B depends on Packages X, Y, and Z, each with their own dependencies, and rpm does not provide any way to trace the chain of dependencies to its end.
RPM is fundamentally broken.
I used RH for about 2 years, back before they added yum, and eventually I just had to give up and move to an apt-based system that could handle the full chain of dependencies.
I've never looked back....
If they changed the default theme to brown and sent out free CDs would it make you feel better about it?
Only if they dropped their broke-ass RPM and got with something that actually handles dependencies sanely.There are those who'd call this FUD.
And then there are those who would say that this is right on the money. YMMV. Many people here are focusing on content, which arguably is not the point (although "The Right to Read" does make some good points). But fighting DRM as it is used to further restrict software is exactly in line with the FSF's charter.
I know, the market this, the market that, blah blah.
I agree, an informed consumer base is important.
Recent events show that the consumer responds quite well to fear, so maybe so-called "fear-mongering" is an effective way to go. I guess the "market" will sort that particular question out.
Funny, I had the opposite problem with Ubuntu. XP installed my (dirt common) PCI wireless networking card just fine, but Ubuntu couldn't figure the darn thing out.
You make a good point, everyone's experience differs, based on what hardware/OS combination they have.
But when you strip that away, and just look at ideal, stock-media install experience, the current Linux (and *BSD) installs are much less painful to do and more likely to be functional without trips to numerous web sites than MS installs, in my experience. In addition, a typical installation on the *nix side leaves you with a full set of applications, from compiler to word processor, vs. well, just Windows on the MS side.
As someone else pointed out, practicing the philosophy of Free Software can have its advantages
Since there's no comparison like this, there's no useful information.
Here you go!
Am I the only one who's sitting here and wondering, "What was this guy thinking?!" Laptops have so much custom hardware these days that it's a Bad Idea(TM) to attempt an OS installation from anything but restore CDs. This guy not only tried to install from new media, but he tried to install a cutting-edge operating system that isn't even out of beta!
Funny this should come up at this time.
I was able to get a -great- deal on a ThinkPad just last week (R50e - $600). I took a Knoppix CD with me to the store, and it appeared to boot fine, so I went ahead and bought it.
Brought it home, burned a Debian Testing Netinstall CD on my desktop, popped it into the laptop and booted.
I had just the opposite experience as this guy had with Vista.
The only issue I had in the whole process was that I had to use the wired NIC instead of the wireless for the actual network installation. But once the install completed (about an hour), I had a -very- functional system.
A quick Google and a couple of tweaks later, I had a -completely- functional system.
It was definitely one of the easiest OS install experiences I have had since the days of DOS!
If a bunch of dirty hippies can make it this easy for free, why can't a corporation with the resources of MS do it for their proprietary OS?
"File sharing is no different than what many people did in the 80's when they made tapes of music and shared it."
I beg to differ here. Making a copy of a tape or record and giving it to a friend is "sharing". Making 10,000 copies and giving them to 10,000 friends [sic] is "publishing".
I guess you don't understand how P2P really works. Nobody is giving out 10,000 copies of a song. Typically, they are "giving out" one or maybe two complete copies of a file.
Also, the file is typically not a "perfect copy" of the original, it is downsampled in some way.
I'm not necessarily advocating either side of this argument, but please, keep to the facts.
Perl Jam tried this and failed.
You can eliminate the guess work by using Regmon and Filemon from here.
These utilities log all file and registry access attempts, successful or unsuccessful.
Most applications that "need" admin rights, actually only need the correct rights on a specific reg key or directory. Granting only the needed rights gets the app working without adding unnecessary rights/risks.
Yes, Bush & Co. tried playing by Democrats rules and didn't do all that well. Good thing I wasn't President though, you really wouldn't have liked my solution to Idiot Joe "My wife is a secret agent!" Wilson and his traitorous bitch wife.
So, back to the topic at hand, since you weren't/aren't president, what does Novak and his source get? Medal of Freedom? Pound-me-in-the-ass prison?
Sounds like you have a pretty strong double-standard going.
Regardless of what tawdry spin you want to put on this, the fact is that Novak reported classified information that was leaked to him by the White House. You cannot legally differentiate between the leakers you favor and the leakers you don't favor.
So Robert Novak reporting leaked (by yet unnamed White House staff) information about Valerie Plame's identity as a CIA agent fits into which category?
What you dismiss so readily has been done over and over again.
I have researched it, and it is possible.
You have no clue what you are talking about. There are valid, plausible scenarios that argue strongly against sourcing Chinese manufactured hardware for constructing U.S. Government secure networks.
Give me a strong argument why this is absolutely -not- possible (other than your limited imagination), and I'll concede your point.
Last Word! Say something (besides "is not!") or admit defeat. I proclaim LAST WORD!!!! HA HA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Unless you're presuming that the code responsible for your leak is sophisticated enough to tell what might be useful data and what isn't, then you should be able to detect traffic leaving your system before you start doing anything important on it.
I'm hope you're not in charge of setting up any secure networks. You just are not paranoid enough.
The scenario you dismiss is exactly one to worry about. It's like putting a bunch of heavy-duty deadbolt locks on the doors, but leaving the windows alone because you'll be able to detect when one of them gets broken.
Building a secure network is an end-to-end process. You can't just dismiss the issue of sourcing hardware with a wave of the phrase "ain't likely to happen", otherwise it -is- going to happen at some point, with possibly disasterous results.
In this realm, "practical concerns" have a much different meaning and priority than they normally do.
Um, it's pretty hard to sniff an SSL connection.
There are any number of ways to send the information that are not easy to catch. Sure, if it is on a secure network, it's a little bit harder, but not as hard as you might think. One lapse in physical security can be leveraged to huge degree.
The Chinese have demonstrated a strong desire to penetrate our classified networks, and they are very patient and taking the long view in their attacks.
Aside from the Chinese in particular, a comprehensive security policy definitely needs to take all elements of the IT process into account.
I see a lot of people crying "hysteria" and "protectionism" here, but if you are trying to set up a truely secure network, one important piece is to have a trusted source for your hardware.
In /etc/X11/xorg.conf, adjust your pointing device so that it looks like this:
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Configured Mouse"
Driver "mouse"
Option "CorePointer"
Option "Protocol" "PS/2"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mouse0"
Option "YAxisMapping" "4 5"
Option "XAxisMapping" "6 7"
Option "Emulate3Buttons"
Option "EmulateWheelButton" "2"
Option "EmulateWheel" "true"
EndSection
If you use Firefox, you also might want to disable the "scroll through history" function (see link below).
There is some real good documentation on the R50e (the model I have) here, but a lot of it is applicable to all Thinkpads...
I may experiment with my Nikon D50 and see what happens with clear plastic blocking the lense (not sure if this even relates).
It doesn't. The difference between plastic and glass won't show up if you just use a flat sheet, because the light isn't being refracted (bent) by the flat sheet.
Chromatic abberation shows up when a lens bends different wavelengths by different amounts, resulting in a band of color along the edge of bright objects.
This is easy to see if you compare a cheap zoom lens with a big zoom range (ie., 50-300mm) with an expensive fixed focal length lens on a brightly-lit scene with white areas.
Thinkpads, although I modified mine to work as a scroller instead, I don't have a problem with left+right==middle. But yes, out of the box, Thinkpads have a real middle button that works.
And the alternative is what, exactly? If I want to change ISPs I have to get a fucking phone line even though I don't need one. My ISP knows I don't have anywhere to go and if it wanted to screw me, it could. No, block 'em, They won't have anyone to run to.
And your situation is the general case? I don't think so.
It is bad business to piss off your customers.
Look, I would love to see the bot problem knocked on the head, but the fact that it hasn't happened suggests to me that it just isn't worth it for the ISPs. I think the OP seriously underestimates the cost/benefit ratio from the ISP's point of view.
Your suggestion is noble, but what's in it for the ISP?
Shutting down someone who isn't aware that they are pwned is just going to piss them off, and they'll go with someone who doesn't have such a policy. Especially if you do this to them multiple times.
Also, at least some of the bots are on connections that are charged by usage (vs. flat-rate).
Seems to me that it is not in the ISP's interest to shut down bots.
Business is business.
Bash now comes with Solaris. Not just 10, but recent disk sets of 8 include it as well.
Buy CDs, but buy them used, rip them, and (optionally) sell them. Don't deprive yourself because the system is broken, stick it to the man!