Sometimes you want to play a game, sometimes you want to be told a story.
They are different and complementary. One form does not have to defeat the other.
"MMORPG games such as World of Warcraft [worldofwarcraft.com] get a hit of cash up front and then involve monthly revenue. Hollywood has nothing like that."
People don't buy movie tickets months in advance for an opening weekend
"Normal" people don't buy the video games that way either.
However the more Fanatical bought tickets weeks ahead for movies like Lord of the Rings, The Matrix, and the Star Wars Prequels.
It makes sense to me.
The IT folks need to be able to mess heavily with their machines. And heck your PC is the tool of your trade... you should know how it operates and what processes are running on it. (Nothing more pathetic that a Programmer who doesn't understand his computer. "How do you install a printer?" *slap* *slap*)
But the Admin, the PR guys, the mere users, they get more restrictions.
... plugins in IE are merely an offshoot of the system developed for Netscape all those years ago.... applets are of course inventions of Sun.
So is the lawsuit to do with some technical detail in ActiveX?
Surely if can't be for something as vague as "applets and plugins".
I've had a DVD player for THREE YEARS.
It's outlasted several computers, digital cameras, portable music playing devices.
Three years makes things old tech now.
Despite what folks above said, from what I've seen on nice big Plasma screens HD video is much prettier.
It's too early now, but in a couple of years when Plasma and LCD screens cost bugger all, then I for one will welcome our new....
I'll say the reverse.
ISPs should be pro-active in protecting their customers, who they cheerfully sign up no matter what their hardware and software, no matter what their proficiency. The Internet is for Everyone nowdays.
There shuld be ISP Server side firewalling, and virus & spyware scanning, by default on all users.
If you are proficient enough, you go turn off the protection you don't want, otherwise you operate in a controlled environment.
I've seen a number of ISPs offer such protection, for a fee. Which I think is criminal.
Re:They're still cost effective.
on
The VHS is Dead
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
I still use my VCR for recording.
It's cheap and it works.
One day it will break down, and then I'll consider recordable DVDs or some Hard disk gadget. But for now it does the job.
Just chuck this in...
Final Fantasy. What you are talking about hit me so hard while watching that movie. The characters looks so human, but just minor movements or expressions wouldn't be quite right. And that really got under my skin for some reason.
It was quite a technical achievement to make humans so close to reality, but that article is right... human copies have to be Perfect or Cartoonish. Almost Perfect is creepy for some reason.
Tabbed Browsing is such a simple feature.
It probably took a single programmer a day or two to implement, then a couple more to debug and neaten up.
It's not like it's some world shatteringly difficult thing to put in a program.
Anyway, the whole idea of a "Browser War" is just silly. Users take the default offerings in the OS, and either use them or aquire something else.
People manage to use browsers other than Safari on the Mac without going to War.
To be honest, I always found sites that declared themselves to be "IE Only" to be a real turn off. It seemed rude and arrogant.
If sites start saying "Firefox Only" or "Optimized for Firefox", I'll feel the same way.
If you believe in Open Standards then your site should stick to the Standards and be equally accessable to Any Browser.
The old DOS WordPerfect 5.1 was based around remembering complex combinations of Function keys.
Very powerful if you had the right kind of mind to remember the Secret Codes. Or had that nifty template. Hell to teach to Beginners though.
Anyway, with that in mind, I could understand it would have been popular to Linux users.
When I first saw the story that's what I thought the new iPod could do. Be an Image Bank. Plug the USB cable from your camera, or slot in the Compact Flash, and download the images.
Very useful on Holidays. There's a bunch of iPod-like things out there that do it already.
If it could do that, I might buy one.
But just being a digital photo album is a bit dissapointing and useless to me.
I am indeed a new guy.
I guess I should have a look at Dancin Santa's history.
From what I read, MS's plan might be worthy, or it might be part of some Evil Plan to Take Over Email. Buggered if I know.
Well, there was something rather pure and simple about life with DOS.
In all seriousness PCs, whatever OS they run, are too complex and too fragile for non-geeks. Too Flexible, if you like. I really beleive they should be heavily trimmed back for many users.
I dont know why they dont do it.
A USB keyboard, mouse, printer attached.
Drop in your Office for XBox DVD when you want to write a letter. Or your Explorer DVD when you want the Web.
Keep it video game simple... save your letters like you save games.
Forget about any OS at all. No Windows or Linux or anything else visible. Forget multitasking.... I've found users quite suprised to discover it's even possible.
A super simple productive machine for the home user. No viruses or complicated installations. No obscure problems with the OS. Nothing much to break.
Why is it a big deal to buy books from amazon without visiting thier website anyway?
What's so terrible about their web site?
Or are we talking Power-Buyers here who just don't have time to look at a web page? Just buy the book NOW!
As for writing applications that are crossplatform compatible and accessable over the net? Ummm... me and thousands of others have been writing JSPs and PHP and Cold Fusion and so on for years.
In many cases serverside apps, rather than applets or plugins, are the way to go to avoid OS, Java or Browser compatibility issues.
It might sound simplistic, but I think we all are in no rush to die. We all look for little signs that we are going to live a long life, or maybe luck out with Immortality.
So, Religion in the past offered one such escape. Pray hard and you'll live forever.
But if you can't use religion to comfort you, then Science may be the answer. Diets and supliments based on obscure sources, Nanobots, Brain Implants, whatever. The Spike. The hope that Science will progress forward to some breakthrough in the next 20-50 years before My Time is up, and I will Live Forever.
Anyway, just waffling.
Way back when Apple first bought Next, I was a developer on the Classic MacOS. Times were tough. You couldn't write a Tender that included Macs.... it had to be Windows, Linux, or Unix. And in hindsight, fair enough.
Then we got the beta CDs for Rhapsody. There was a version for PowerPCs, of course, but also a full OS for Intel, which installed fine on my old Pentium 90. It has a fairly minimal MacOS 8.0 interface.
There was also Yellow Box, which was a set of DLLs which you installed on your Windows Box, allowing you to run Rhapsody for Intel programs.
It seemed a BRILLIANT solution! Compile for Mac and Windows (and perhaps Solaris at the time). All customers happy. Mac Addicts happy too.
But then Apple cut out the Intel versions. The Iron Curtain went back up. Opportunity lost.
Now we mainly write Java on Windows, testing it on Linux, and perhaps giving it a quick lookover on MacOS X.
Slashdot Mirror
Sometimes you want to play a game, sometimes you want to be told a story.
They are different and complementary. One form does not have to defeat the other.
"MMORPG games such as World of Warcraft [worldofwarcraft.com] get a hit of cash up front and then involve monthly revenue. Hollywood has nothing like that."
Cable TV. Blockbuster.
However the more Fanatical bought tickets weeks ahead for movies like Lord of the Rings, The Matrix, and the Star Wars Prequels.
It makes sense to me.
The IT folks need to be able to mess heavily with their machines. And heck your PC is the tool of your trade... you should know how it operates and what processes are running on it.
(Nothing more pathetic that a Programmer who doesn't understand his computer. "How do you install a printer?" *slap* *slap*)
But the Admin, the PR guys, the mere users, they get more restrictions.
... plugins in IE are merely an offshoot of the system developed for Netscape all those years ago. ... applets are of course inventions of Sun.
So is the lawsuit to do with some technical detail in ActiveX?
Surely if can't be for something as vague as "applets and plugins".
It's just a cooler name than HD-DVD.
HD-DVD is such an ugly, uncomfortable acronym. And it reminds me of these Hard Disk recording gadgets.
Blu-Ray.... it just rolls off the tongue. Sounds so sleek and cool. Something you'd name a 1950's car with big fins.
I've had a DVD player for THREE YEARS.
It's outlasted several computers, digital cameras, portable music playing devices.
Three years makes things old tech now.
Despite what folks above said, from what I've seen on nice big Plasma screens HD video is much prettier.
It's too early now, but in a couple of years when Plasma and LCD screens cost bugger all, then I for one will welcome our new....
I'll say the reverse.
ISPs should be pro-active in protecting their customers, who they cheerfully sign up no matter what their hardware and software, no matter what their proficiency. The Internet is for Everyone nowdays.
There shuld be ISP Server side firewalling, and virus & spyware scanning, by default on all users.
If you are proficient enough, you go turn off the protection you don't want, otherwise you operate in a controlled environment.
I've seen a number of ISPs offer such protection, for a fee. Which I think is criminal.
I still use my VCR for recording.
It's cheap and it works.
One day it will break down, and then I'll consider recordable DVDs or some Hard disk gadget. But for now it does the job.
But I wouldnt buy a new one.
... "It's Christmas already! Turn the damn computer off and come out of your bedroom!"
"What good is a textbook without a goddamn search function?" It's called the Index.
Just chuck this in...
Final Fantasy. What you are talking about hit me so hard while watching that movie. The characters looks so human, but just minor movements or expressions wouldn't be quite right. And that really got under my skin for some reason.
It was quite a technical achievement to make humans so close to reality, but that article is right... human copies have to be Perfect or Cartoonish. Almost Perfect is creepy for some reason.
Tabbed Browsing is such a simple feature. It probably took a single programmer a day or two to implement, then a couple more to debug and neaten up.
It's not like it's some world shatteringly difficult thing to put in a program.
Anyway, the whole idea of a "Browser War" is just silly. Users take the default offerings in the OS, and either use them or aquire something else. People manage to use browsers other than Safari on the Mac without going to War.
Themes an issue? I use the Default Theme, with small icons / no text, and all the buttons and the URL all fit on one nice skinny line.
It was an issue in early versions of Netscape/Mozilla where you were stuck with Huge Clunky buttons, but they've fixed problem very thoroughly.
To be honest, I always found sites that declared themselves to be "IE Only" to be a real turn off. It seemed rude and arrogant. If sites start saying "Firefox Only" or "Optimized for Firefox", I'll feel the same way. If you believe in Open Standards then your site should stick to the Standards and be equally accessable to Any Browser.
The old DOS WordPerfect 5.1 was based around remembering complex combinations of Function keys. Very powerful if you had the right kind of mind to remember the Secret Codes. Or had that nifty template. Hell to teach to Beginners though. Anyway, with that in mind, I could understand it would have been popular to Linux users.
Yes! The Yub Yub Song! You know the replacement ending is really bad when it makes you nostalgic for the Yub Yub song.
When I first saw the story that's what I thought the new iPod could do. Be an Image Bank. Plug the USB cable from your camera, or slot in the Compact Flash, and download the images. Very useful on Holidays. There's a bunch of iPod-like things out there that do it already. If it could do that, I might buy one. But just being a digital photo album is a bit dissapointing and useless to me.
I am indeed a new guy. I guess I should have a look at Dancin Santa's history. From what I read, MS's plan might be worthy, or it might be part of some Evil Plan to Take Over Email. Buggered if I know.
Well, there was something rather pure and simple about life with DOS. In all seriousness PCs, whatever OS they run, are too complex and too fragile for non-geeks. Too Flexible, if you like. I really beleive they should be heavily trimmed back for many users.
I dont know why they dont do it. A USB keyboard, mouse, printer attached. Drop in your Office for XBox DVD when you want to write a letter. Or your Explorer DVD when you want the Web. Keep it video game simple... save your letters like you save games. Forget about any OS at all. No Windows or Linux or anything else visible. Forget multitasking.... I've found users quite suprised to discover it's even possible. A super simple productive machine for the home user. No viruses or complicated installations. No obscure problems with the OS. Nothing much to break.
Dancing Santa got a -1 Score for suggesting Microsoft is doing a good thing?
Why is it a big deal to buy books from amazon without visiting thier website anyway? What's so terrible about their web site? Or are we talking Power-Buyers here who just don't have time to look at a web page? Just buy the book NOW! As for writing applications that are crossplatform compatible and accessable over the net? Ummm... me and thousands of others have been writing JSPs and PHP and Cold Fusion and so on for years. In many cases serverside apps, rather than applets or plugins, are the way to go to avoid OS, Java or Browser compatibility issues.
It might sound simplistic, but I think we all are in no rush to die. We all look for little signs that we are going to live a long life, or maybe luck out with Immortality. So, Religion in the past offered one such escape. Pray hard and you'll live forever. But if you can't use religion to comfort you, then Science may be the answer. Diets and supliments based on obscure sources, Nanobots, Brain Implants, whatever. The Spike. The hope that Science will progress forward to some breakthrough in the next 20-50 years before My Time is up, and I will Live Forever. Anyway, just waffling.
Way back when Apple first bought Next, I was a developer on the Classic MacOS. Times were tough. You couldn't write a Tender that included Macs.... it had to be Windows, Linux, or Unix. And in hindsight, fair enough. Then we got the beta CDs for Rhapsody. There was a version for PowerPCs, of course, but also a full OS for Intel, which installed fine on my old Pentium 90. It has a fairly minimal MacOS 8.0 interface. There was also Yellow Box, which was a set of DLLs which you installed on your Windows Box, allowing you to run Rhapsody for Intel programs. It seemed a BRILLIANT solution! Compile for Mac and Windows (and perhaps Solaris at the time). All customers happy. Mac Addicts happy too. But then Apple cut out the Intel versions. The Iron Curtain went back up. Opportunity lost. Now we mainly write Java on Windows, testing it on Linux, and perhaps giving it a quick lookover on MacOS X.