I'm *gasp* 35, and for as long as I can remember music has been freely copyable. Radios with built-in cassette players could often record "free" [1] music directly from the radio, without any external microphone. One radio station even spent Sunday nights playing entire sides of LPs.
The CD era made it even easier to make high quality tapes. It was easy to record, and in some cases the quality was better than a mastered cassette. Some of the "portable systems" [2] could actually calculate optimal song orders to put as many tracks on a tape as possible.
My point is that at least two generations have grown up with the ideas of "free music" and "freely copying music". Right or wrong, it's a part of the American culture. The sudden appearance of DRM when freely copied/format shifted music has been permitted for decades is a culture shock, and is only turning people away from the big labels.
1: Sure, someone was paying for it, but to the end user the only costs were electricity and cassettes. 2: aka boom boxes. I'm a child of the 80's.
I rented a house a few years back that went. All of the "work" was handled by a rental agency -- payments went to them, they handled maintenance, etc.
Just don't go for the cheapest one; I could tell stories about the poor service we received. (And in a couple of cases the lack of response damaged the house.)
I read the original article that started the whole topic.
The cellphone bugging wasn't the FBI's first option to gather evidence. They had exhausted all other possibilities (physical bugs, etc), and went with a wiretap. Go find TF(Original)A for the info.
I despise the current presidential administration's abuses of power. I value my freedoms more than the average person.
But I have no problems with properly sanctioned and implemented evidence gathering. As long as the proper checks and balances are in place, freedom isn't being lost -- it's being preserved.
1. If the security system can detect the chip, so can the bad guys.
2. RFID tags can be duplicated
I don't have a problem with the way you're parenting -- it's your job to keep an eye on your child! The problem I have is with the parents who assume the magical tracker will work just like in the movies, and ignore their kids. (But when something bad happens, it's never their fault.)
I understand wanted to push free software and get people away from Windows. Giving them an install CD is not the way to do it.
Are you willing to be tech support 24x7 when WoW, MS Office, or Photoshop doesn't "just work"? If not, stick to the basics... Give out Knoppix DVDs, the Free Software windows CDs, or something similar.
Or maybe do something personal. Scan in old family photos and put give DVDs of them. If you have digital photographs of the family already, give out CDs/DVDs of them. There are a number of places that will make inexpensive 4x6 prints for the folks without computers or DVD players.
You've got to weigh your options... A lot of people have made excellent points, but I wanted to mention a few other things.
* Do you have family or close friends in the area? If something happens, is your wife going to be on her own, or will she have support?
* Who's paying for the commute? Are you paying out-of-pocket and getting reimbursed, or do you just show up and get flown off? If you're getting reimbursed... well, everyone's heard the horror stories.
* Will you be getting a security clearance out of the deal? In the Northeast US, that gives you the ability to name your own salary. Or so I hear...
* What is the likelihood of unusually extended stays or being "on call"? If you can guarantee that your weekends won't be interrupted, you'll be one step ahead of a lot of IT folks.
1. We're providing you with a computer to work on. It's not a toy, or your own personal PC. If users didn't go installing every application they felt like [1] probably 25% of support calls would go away. Besides the obvious malware, IE toolbars [2] cause many of our applications to become unstable.
2. Waiting until the last minute. The IT dept can't resolve all issues immediately -- even if that means a new hire sits without a computer because it never got ordered, or someone's job is on the line.
3. If it's important, store it on the network drive -- where it gets backed up. IT can't restore data from stolen PCs.
[1] Everyone is admin on their PCs. Yeah, I know. [2] Non IE browsers don't work for our apps. Again, I know. But it pays the bills. [3] [3] Yes, the job market here is that bad for people without security clearances.
All of the benchmarks in TFA are run at 1600x1200.
I understand that maximum resolution is the best way to highlight the limitations of the cards. But how many "budget" gamers are going to have monitors capable of running at those resolutions?
All of these cards produce "acceptable" results at 1600x1200. I read the article as "the cards are identical at lower resolutions, but reporting you need to spend more money makes our advertisers happy." Or maybe I'm just cynical.
From TFA, only two of his points had anything to do with mechanics.
My take on the article was "Every game has to be kewl and over-the-top, because if everyone isn't raving when they leave, your campaign sucks." That's great if you're running a ton of combat encounters stitched together with the occasional NPC interaction. Not so good if you're actually trying to tell a story.
1. Everything should be fun I don't disagree with this in principle, but one player's fun is another's tedium. I know a player who loves big soap operas focused on her character... not fun for the rest of us. OTOH, I don't mind combat, but the soap opera doesn't have fun -- she thinks it's boring.
And there's a difference between working with your players, and catering to them. Sometimes the lows make the highs stand out more.
3. Travel should be easy Not necessarily. Being able to easily go from point A to point B in a fantasy game robs both places of their uniqueness.
The inability to move quickly also sets up tension. One campaign I DM'd had the players encountering a cursed artifact, which had to be hand-carried to its destination. (Teleports were randomized.) It made the game a lot easier than "OK, we take the sky cab to the big city"
5. Every class should have lots of things to do Again, it comes back to working with players, versus catering to them. If a player is told that the game is going to be mostly role-playing, but creates an undead-slaying machine, I don't see the DM as being responsible for throwing in numerous combat encounters with skeletons.
8. It's okay to make changes after the campaign begins 9. Err on the side of being over-the-top It really depends on the campaign, setting, and style. I definitely wouldn't say these are "hard and fast rules".
Just to play devil's advocate, Enterprise-level IT has a lot of responsibilities. They have to manage physical assets, licenses, warranties/service agreements, as well as the "usual suspects" of keeping the network and PCs up and running.
My suggestions...
* Document it all. Yes, you've got a mountain of paperwork, but if you can make a business case for change, you have a better shot. If you can show lost productivity (due to server issues) so much the better. Documentation is also a CYA in case something rolls back your way.
* Get to know the IT folks. For all you know, they could be seriously understaffed and simply unable to process requests in a timely manner. At the very least, buying lunch, dinner, or even a round of beers may help get you some name recognition.
* Think twice about rolling your own solutions. Being out of compliance with licenses can cost the company major money. Even if you're using a fully licensed "spare" PC from an empty office, there's no guarantee that IT won't be taking it away at some point. Just because your current management approves of an "in house" solution doesn't mean the next managers will. Quick and dirty solutions can find their way into production...
* Leave. There's a lot of CYA paperwork going on, and you're not going to be able to fix it.
Re:And they don't even mention LARPing...
on
Masks in the Woods
·
· Score: 1
Good RP is actually feeling a lump in your throat as you see a zombie (actually a player in makeup) shamble towards you, knowing it won't stop just because you ran out of it's spawn range. And truly memorable is when your S.O. scares the holy crap out of you by simply smiling on a dimly lit woodland path.
What does that have to do with playing a ROLE? Being scared or intimidated as a player should have nothing to do with how your character reacts.
Maybe it's my tabletop prejudice coming out, nothing about your descriptions have anything to do with "roleplaying". I've seen players jump as a zombie howls in hunger, melt when a beloved NPC comes into the scene, and shudder when a loathesome NPC makes his return.
All without makeup, masks, romps in the woods... or even rolling dice. That's roleplaying.
"Brainstorm. How about people sending the patches under an incompatible license to MS. What would they do then?"
That assumes that the terms of the MS agreement allow for different licenses. MS could very easily (and most likely will) only release code with the agreement that all persons looking at it sign NDAs, agree to the existing license, etc, etc.
And MS is free to refuse patches, much the same way Linus is.
Gaming isn't the only thing that fast processors are good for. I'd love to have a fast dual-core system, just to eliminate delays and interface slowdowns when my system is compiling*, running spamassassin, etc.
While that kind of load is easily split among multiple machines, that increases the chance of mechanical failure (fans or drives), the cost of electricity, the need for cooling in summertime, and reduces the space I have in my apartment.
For the majority of people, a slower processor will suffice. If I used my home PC for work, I wouldn't hesitate to put in a much faster processor.
If that answer doesn't work for you, look at it this way: faster processors push down the price of slower ones.
Rude people will find a way to be rude, technology or no. The people on cellphones would just be having loud conversations with someone in their company. Some of the folks using PDAs would have their little black books, or planners, or folios with them. Teens always find a way to be loud (been there, done that:).
Sure, there's bad with the good. Technology hasn't changed human nature, it's just a visible scapegoat.
It doesn't matter how many backups you have, retrieval is crucial. How quickly and reliably will you be able to replace all 60 GB? Yes, it's only MP3s, but they must have some value, or there'd be no point in your "backup" plan.
Relying on someone else's willingness to retain physical media, or let you utilize their bandwidth on the chance they kept what you value isn't much of a backup. Like others said, RAID 1 plus a set of backups would be cheaper.
I'm running KDE as well. I changed the color of my desktop, and the GAIM system tray icon retained its previous color. I closed GAIM and restarted, and the icon background was properly colored.
Under normal usage, it's never been an issue for me.
"It instead competed by traditional means, and made the Xbox a success through its smart business practices, games, and focus on offering a central unified online gaming service."
Having effectively unlimited funds doesn't hurt either. Unlike other companies, Microsoft had no exit strategy if the XBox tanked -- other than pouring more money into it.
I once told a friend that with Microsoft's cash reserves, they could pretty much afford to give away 10-12 million XBox bundles and still have a ton of play money left over. Even if each giveaway cost the company $500-$1000, it wouldn't deplete their cash reserves. What other companies could afford to do that??
I switched to Linux because my Windows 98 SE was unstable. I knew a fair bit of what I was doing, was careful, but the system was just "delicate". Worse, every time IE crashed the operating system would become unstable. After having to reboot 2-3 times a night (with the obligatory checkdisk), I switched to RedHat 7.2.
Mozilla, OpenOffice and KDE lacked the features and polish they currently possess, but it was a major improvement. Mozilla crashed (only occasionally), but the system remained stable. KDE might lock, but Ctrl-Alt-Backspace usually fixed that.
What else I've gotten out of my switch:
Stability. I have the occasional lockups, but nothing compared to 98 or 2000.
Security. I don't have to worry as much about my PC getting pwned
Cost. My current distro (Gentoo) is "free as in beer". The software I use is almost exclusively Free as well (Crossover Office being the exception). Not having to deal with Windows beg-ware or cripple-ware is a nice change.
Ease of upgrades. I started with Gentoo 1.1 several years ago. Barring one exception (and that was my own fault -- deleting the toolchain is bad, m'kay) I've been able to keep my OS current without having to reformat and reinstall. That's the equivalent of starting with Windows 2000 and eventually moving to Vista Beta, without having to reinstall the whole system. Not only that, but the "cutting edge" packages are usually very stable.
Control. I know enough to dig down into the nitty gritty of init files, runlevels, etc to know exactly what my PC is loading. With Windows, I'd have to traverse the Registry; is there anyone who fully understands that?
Slashdot Mirror
I agree with your point, but not your rationale.
I'm *gasp* 35, and for as long as I can remember music has been freely copyable. Radios with built-in cassette players could often record "free" [1] music directly from the radio, without any external microphone. One radio station even spent Sunday nights playing entire sides of LPs.
The CD era made it even easier to make high quality tapes. It was easy to record, and in some cases the quality was better than a mastered cassette. Some of the "portable systems" [2] could actually calculate optimal song orders to put as many tracks on a tape as possible.
My point is that at least two generations have grown up with the ideas of "free music" and "freely copying music". Right or wrong, it's a part of the American culture. The sudden appearance of DRM when freely copied/format shifted music has been permitted for decades is a culture shock, and is only turning people away from the big labels.
1: Sure, someone was paying for it, but to the end user the only costs were electricity and cassettes.
2: aka boom boxes. I'm a child of the 80's.
I rented a house a few years back that went. All of the "work" was handled by a rental agency -- payments went to them, they handled maintenance, etc.
Just don't go for the cheapest one; I could tell stories about the poor service we received. (And in a couple of cases the lack of response damaged the house.)
I read the original article that started the whole topic.
The cellphone bugging wasn't the FBI's first option to gather evidence. They had exhausted all other possibilities (physical bugs, etc), and went with a wiretap. Go find TF(Original)A for the info.
I despise the current presidential administration's abuses of power. I value my freedoms more than the average person.
But I have no problems with properly sanctioned and implemented evidence gathering. As long as the proper checks and balances are in place, freedom isn't being lost -- it's being preserved.
There are two things to keep in mind:
1. If the security system can detect the chip, so can the bad guys.
2. RFID tags can be duplicated
I don't have a problem with the way you're parenting -- it's your job to keep an eye on your child! The problem I have is with the parents who assume the magical tracker will work just like in the movies, and ignore their kids. (But when something bad happens, it's never their fault.)
I understand wanted to push free software and get people away from Windows. Giving them an install CD is not the way to do it.
Are you willing to be tech support 24x7 when WoW, MS Office, or Photoshop doesn't "just work"? If not, stick to the basics... Give out Knoppix DVDs, the Free Software windows CDs, or something similar.
Or maybe do something personal. Scan in old family photos and put give DVDs of them. If you have digital photographs of the family already, give out CDs/DVDs of them. There are a number of places that will make inexpensive 4x6 prints for the folks without computers or DVD players.
You've got to weigh your options... A lot of people have made excellent points, but I wanted to mention a few other things.
* Do you have family or close friends in the area? If something happens, is your wife going to be on her own, or will she have support?
* Who's paying for the commute? Are you paying out-of-pocket and getting reimbursed, or do you just show up and get flown off? If you're getting reimbursed... well, everyone's heard the horror stories.
* Will you be getting a security clearance out of the deal? In the Northeast US, that gives you the ability to name your own salary. Or so I hear...
* What is the likelihood of unusually extended stays or being "on call"? If you can guarantee that your weekends won't be interrupted, you'll be one step ahead of a lot of IT folks.
Three things get the users I support in trouble:
1. We're providing you with a computer to work on. It's not a toy, or your own personal PC. If users didn't go installing every application they felt like [1] probably 25% of support calls would go away. Besides the obvious malware, IE toolbars [2] cause many of our applications to become unstable.
2. Waiting until the last minute. The IT dept can't resolve all issues immediately -- even if that means a new hire sits without a computer because it never got ordered, or someone's job is on the line.
3. If it's important, store it on the network drive -- where it gets backed up. IT can't restore data from stolen PCs.
[1] Everyone is admin on their PCs. Yeah, I know.
[2] Non IE browsers don't work for our apps. Again, I know. But it pays the bills. [3]
[3] Yes, the job market here is that bad for people without security clearances.
All of the benchmarks in TFA are run at 1600x1200.
I understand that maximum resolution is the best way to highlight the limitations of the cards. But how many "budget" gamers are going to have monitors capable of running at those resolutions?
All of these cards produce "acceptable" results at 1600x1200. I read the article as "the cards are identical at lower resolutions, but reporting you need to spend more money makes our advertisers happy." Or maybe I'm just cynical.
"Quick math: 49 days this year means this guy has played 4ish hours a day."
:)
Either he has no life, or he has a great job.
From TFA, only two of his points had anything to do with mechanics.
My take on the article was "Every game has to be kewl and over-the-top, because if everyone isn't raving when they leave, your campaign sucks." That's great if you're running a ton of combat encounters stitched together with the occasional NPC interaction. Not so good if you're actually trying to tell a story.
1. Everything should be fun
I don't disagree with this in principle, but one player's fun is another's tedium. I know a player who loves big soap operas focused on her character... not fun for the rest of us. OTOH, I don't mind combat, but the soap opera doesn't have fun -- she thinks it's boring.
And there's a difference between working with your players, and catering to them. Sometimes the lows make the highs stand out more.
3. Travel should be easy
Not necessarily. Being able to easily go from point A to point B in a fantasy game robs both places of their uniqueness.
The inability to move quickly also sets up tension. One campaign I DM'd had the players encountering a cursed artifact, which had to be hand-carried to its destination. (Teleports were randomized.) It made the game a lot easier than "OK, we take the sky cab to the big city"
5. Every class should have lots of things to do
Again, it comes back to working with players, versus catering to them. If a player is told that the game is going to be mostly role-playing, but creates an undead-slaying machine, I don't see the DM as being responsible for throwing in numerous combat encounters with skeletons.
8. It's okay to make changes after the campaign begins
9. Err on the side of being over-the-top
It really depends on the campaign, setting, and style. I definitely wouldn't say these are "hard and fast rules".
I agree 100%. Although I'm not offended by the "gimp" name, it's hard to take it seriously after watching Pulp Fiction.
The worst part is that someone tried to fix the Gimp interface, but was told to keep his changes to himself. (It's been posted and duped on Slasdot as well.)
Just to play devil's advocate, Enterprise-level IT has a lot of responsibilities. They have to manage physical assets, licenses, warranties/service agreements, as well as the "usual suspects" of keeping the network and PCs up and running.
My suggestions...
* Document it all. Yes, you've got a mountain of paperwork, but if you can make a business case for change, you have a better shot. If you can show lost productivity (due to server issues) so much the better.
Documentation is also a CYA in case something rolls back your way.
* Get to know the IT folks. For all you know, they could be seriously understaffed and simply unable to process requests in a timely manner. At the very least, buying lunch, dinner, or even a round of beers may help get you some name recognition.
* Think twice about rolling your own solutions. Being out of compliance with licenses can cost the company major money. Even if you're using a fully licensed "spare" PC from an empty office, there's no guarantee that IT won't be taking it away at some point.
Just because your current management approves of an "in house" solution doesn't mean the next managers will. Quick and dirty solutions can find their way into production...
* Leave. There's a lot of CYA paperwork going on, and you're not going to be able to fix it.
Good RP is actually feeling a lump in your throat as you see a zombie (actually a player in makeup) shamble towards you, knowing it won't stop just because you ran out of it's spawn range. And truly memorable is when your S.O. scares the holy crap out of you by simply smiling on a dimly lit woodland path.
What does that have to do with playing a ROLE? Being scared or intimidated as a player should have nothing to do with how your character reacts.
Maybe it's my tabletop prejudice coming out, nothing about your descriptions have anything to do with "roleplaying". I've seen players jump as a zombie howls in hunger, melt when a beloved NPC comes into the scene, and shudder when a loathesome NPC makes his return.
All without makeup, masks, romps in the woods... or even rolling dice. That's roleplaying.
"Brainstorm. How about people sending the patches under an incompatible license to MS. What would they do then?"
That assumes that the terms of the MS agreement allow for different licenses. MS could very easily (and most likely will) only release code with the agreement that all persons looking at it sign NDAs, agree to the existing license, etc, etc.
And MS is free to refuse patches, much the same way Linus is.
This has been known for a while in the user community. In fact, this tutorial is 18 months old, and demonstrates the "feature".
I definitely like this idea. Users still get recognition, and link-whoring is reduced.
The downside is that the "spammer" can just put the link to his site in the body of the article, and we're back to where we began.
Gaming isn't the only thing that fast processors are good for. I'd love to have a fast dual-core system, just to eliminate delays and interface slowdowns when my system is compiling*, running spamassassin, etc.
While that kind of load is easily split among multiple machines, that increases the chance of mechanical failure (fans or drives), the cost of electricity, the need for cooling in summertime, and reduces the space I have in my apartment.
For the majority of people, a slower processor will suffice. If I used my home PC for work, I wouldn't hesitate to put in a much faster processor.
If that answer doesn't work for you, look at it this way: faster processors push down the price of slower ones.
* Yes, I'm running Gentoo
Rude people will find a way to be rude, technology or no. The people on cellphones would just be having loud conversations with someone in their company. Some of the folks using PDAs would have their little black books, or planners, or folios with them. Teens always find a way to be loud (been there, done that :).
Sure, there's bad with the good. Technology hasn't changed human nature, it's just a visible scapegoat.
It doesn't matter how many backups you have, retrieval is crucial. How quickly and reliably will you be able to replace all 60 GB? Yes, it's only MP3s, but they must have some value, or there'd be no point in your "backup" plan.
Relying on someone else's willingness to retain physical media, or let you utilize their bandwidth on the chance they kept what you value isn't much of a backup. Like others said, RAID 1 plus a set of backups would be cheaper.
"it doesnt follow the gnome HIG"
:)
For some of us, that's a feature, not a bug.
That said, hopefully there is some improvement. The "Tools -> Account Actions" submenu in particular is a pain to deal with.
Are you using the latest version (1.5)?
I'm running KDE as well. I changed the color of my desktop, and the GAIM system tray icon retained its previous color. I closed GAIM and restarted, and the icon background was properly colored.
Under normal usage, it's never been an issue for me.
After Pepsi Blue, I'd be reluctant to try any "new" Pepsi flavors... well, without using my friends as guinea pigs.
(OTOH, I love Diet Pepsi -- but only the Vanilla, Lime, and Cherry flavors. Go figure.)
But I'd give a coffee flavored cola a try. IIRC Coke already uses tea as a "base" flavor, so it's not that much of a mental readjustment.
"It instead competed by traditional means, and made the Xbox a success through its smart business practices, games, and focus on offering a central unified online gaming service."
Having effectively unlimited funds doesn't hurt either. Unlike other companies, Microsoft had no exit strategy if the XBox tanked -- other than pouring more money into it.
I once told a friend that with Microsoft's cash reserves, they could pretty much afford to give away 10-12 million XBox bundles and still have a ton of play money left over. Even if each giveaway cost the company $500-$1000, it wouldn't deplete their cash reserves. What other companies could afford to do that??
Mozilla, OpenOffice and KDE lacked the features and polish they currently possess, but it was a major improvement. Mozilla crashed (only occasionally), but the system remained stable. KDE might lock, but Ctrl-Alt-Backspace usually fixed that.
What else I've gotten out of my switch:
That's the equivalent of starting with Windows 2000 and eventually moving to Vista Beta, without having to reinstall the whole system. Not only that, but the "cutting edge" packages are usually very stable.