Actually, the 1970's were over 25 years ago, mathematician. 2004 - 1979 = 25.
You have a number of flawed assumptions, such as that foriegn cars aren't serviceable and don't have replaceable parts (absolute rubbish), and that I don't work on cars or buy used vehicles (again, absolute rubbish).
The vast majority of safety, efficiency, and performance innovations on vehicles have come from overseas. This, too, is while they are penalized up to 25% by import tarrif's (giving the U.S. car manufacturers an extra 33% head start in designing a competitively priced vehicle of the same quality and value, which until the last few years they have failed miserably at).
Overall I have far more respect for and confidence in Nissan, Honda, Toyota then I do Ford, Chevy, etc.
When Ford wanted to release a hybrid vehicle, who did they turn to for the technology? Toyota. Honda is the only other company with a viable hybrid platform.
Yes, American car companies are catching up, but it has been a long slow road, and they aren't there yet.
1. Your 1990 Honda Accord wasn't made in America. The American car companies are the masters of planned obsolescence. Many of the U.S. made cars aren't reliable past 80k to 100k miles. Most Hondas and Toyotas are good for double that, or more.
2. Car companies most certainly do NOT get "all of their parts from suppliers". Other than wheels and tires and a few filters, etc, almost the entire car is designed and built from scratch in factories unique to that car company. The parts that makes the car the car, ie. engine, tranny, chassis, dash, are unique to the car company.
My point was in response to the risk of losing your Steam password, ie. the equivelant of the serial number.
My point was that if you buy movie tickets and lose them, you are out the dough. If you lose cash, you are out the dough.
Losing a Steam password or any other serial number is the same way.
My internet, satellite TV, electricity, phone service, cable TV, and cell phone have all had extended outages in their service for various reasons. I've never been given a credit to my account or a refund for any of these delays.
None of the delays with Steam have been any longer, and I don't expect a refund. There hasn't even been any real delay at all.
Nobody would have the right to destroy the tool, but Ford would have the right to prevent you from using it to commercially duplicate and sell or even give away Ford vehicles.
To my knowledge the Valve authentication servers haven't ever been cracked or duplicated. The serials and keygens for the original Half-Life didn't work for online multiplayer.
A) You aren't stealing physical property, you are stealing $50. Otherwise it would be perfectly fine to break into someones house and sleep in their bed if you didn't damage anything. They're not hurt at all, they weren't home, and no physical damage was done. But it's still illegal and still dishonest.
And how, exactly, am I "hurt" by the authentication. One of the system requirements, right on the box, is an internet connection. I'm not hurt. I'm barely even inconvenienced under the worst case scenario.
B) I'm not saying it can't be done, just that it hasn't been done, and my bet is that it won't be done. The original Half Life authentication for multiplayer was never cracked.
C) That's life. I just got back from a week in Disneyland with my family. If I would have lost our tickets, I'm out the entire cost. No replacement under any circumstances. Same way with movie tickets and cash.
I don't think price has anything to do with piracy.
Songs are $0.99 and people still pirate them.
There are only 3 deterrents to piracy:
1) Technology
2) Morals, religion, etc.
3) Threat of punishment
Only 1 and 2 are sufficiently effective, but Valve et al have no control over #2.
I'm most deterred by #2, followed by #1 insomuch as it makes piracy more difficult than the perceived value of what I'm pirating.
Almost nobody feels any real risk of being caught and punished when pirating something off of the internet, a largely anonymous place (at least it feels that way to most people), so they are undeterred by #3, the least effective of them all.
Most companies, being advised by their legal team that either gets paid on commission (as it were) or likes job security, is more than happy to pursue #3 until the cows come home. The lawyers get paid whether it works or not.
#1 is the only real option, and I don't blame Valve for putting in their efforts there, and doing a really good job of it.
The vast majority of people pirate software and music because its easy. If you take away the ease, you take away 80% - 90% of piracy.
$50 is the going rate right now for a game, and I think its reasonable. Most 12 - 14 year olds with good enough computers to play HL2 can afford $50 if they want the game (either by earning it, as a gift, or as a gimme).
I bought 2 copies of the original Half Life specifically to play it online, after I'd already beaten the single player on a pirated copy (because it was easy). If people see the value (best FPS ever, play it over and over again), they'll spend the dough.
Valve spent 5 years and $40M developing it, they deserve to get paid for it.
A) So as long as Ford sells enough cars to "be successful", they shouldn't make attempts to keep cars from being stolen off their lots or from their factories?
Valve does have the right to be paid for all of their software usage, not just enough to "be successful".
B) Of course it will be cracked. Almost everything gets cracked. But for online gaming, what percentage of those playing the original Half-Life multiplayer were doing so on pirated software? 0%. Authentication works. I personally bought 2 copies of Half-Life just to play it online, after playing it single player on a pirated copy. The vast majority of those playing warez games are doing so because it's easy. If it were less easy they would either buy it or not play.
C) No, I don't. $50 is the going rate for a game, Half-Life 2 is widely regarded as the best FPS ever made, and everyone who bought the game can use it exactly as the system requirements say they can. Nothing about this makes it unplayable.
Are you sure you didn't start playing the game before it had completely downloaded? You can start playing at about 40%.
600M is a LOT of traffic and data. I don't see them even wanting anywhere near that much data just for normal gameplay, not to mention the degredation in the multiplayer experience and making it pointless to even try on a modem.
I'd be surprised if even 6 MB were transferred the entire time you were playing single player (that wasn't related to updates or initial content downloading).
And on the same note, why should Valve go through 5 years of cost and trouble to design the best game ever made (my own opinion after playing it) only to have it widely stolen and pirated?
I'd much rather have Valve protect their creation via technology than in the courts.
Compare Valve's approach to that of the RIAA / MPAA. I'll take Valve's any day of the week.
Given the choice between an unlimited source of oil and an effective means of eliminating nuclear waste I'd take the latter any day.
Oil is and always will be polluting. Given an effective way to eliminate or deal with nuclear waste and cheap, efficient, safe nuclear reactors nuclear is definitely the way to go in the long run.
Drainage issues such as breaking a water pipe that quickly washes away the dirt under the asphault resulting in the collapse of the asphault?
Charter was just brought to my rural neighborhood and when they ran it past my house they installed a junction box, backfilled, then drove a 1/2 inch copper grounding line right through the water main, skewering it and flooding 3 different yards and disrupting water service to about 400 houses.
I have a Cornea MP704, 17". I'm very pleased with it. I've had it about 1.5 or 2 years and don't have a single dead pixel.
I never notice any ghosting or problems in games. I play Unreal Tournament, UT2K4, HL, HL2, Enemy Territory, etc. I've never felt that it adversely affected gameplay at all.
I'd love this 19" LCD: http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.as p?desc ription=24-002-082&depa=0
But $714 is a lot to spend on a monitor.
Anyway, I'm happy as a clam.
The only downside to LCD's is that they do best in their native resolution, and some resolutions and refresh rates are outside their range, but it's never really been a problem.
But just because it doesn't happen to you, doesn't mean it doesn't happen and isn't the cause or contributing factor.
Consider how many people smoke their entire lives and never get cancer, or drink and drive their entire lives and never get a DUI or kill someone.
My personal experience has been far better with LCD's than with CRT's, and that alone is enough to get me to switch. But I am convinced my CRT played a role in the degredation of my eyesight.
Slashdot Mirror
The Bourne Identity was a great story, and a great movie. The Bourne Supremacy was a great story, and perhaps the worst movie I ever saw.
Nearly everyone I talked to had the same experience I did: got dizzy and a headache from all the flash photography and quick cut scenes.
You couldn't even tell what was going on in the action sequences and car chases.
This director shouldn't be given another film, he should be flogged. That wasn't artistic, it was annoying and counterproductive.
Actually, the 1970's were over 25 years ago, mathematician. 2004 - 1979 = 25.
You have a number of flawed assumptions, such as that foriegn cars aren't serviceable and don't have replaceable parts (absolute rubbish), and that I don't work on cars or buy used vehicles (again, absolute rubbish).
The vast majority of safety, efficiency, and performance innovations on vehicles have come from overseas. This, too, is while they are penalized up to 25% by import tarrif's (giving the U.S. car manufacturers an extra 33% head start in designing a competitively priced vehicle of the same quality and value, which until the last few years they have failed miserably at).
Overall I have far more respect for and confidence in Nissan, Honda, Toyota then I do Ford, Chevy, etc.
When Ford wanted to release a hybrid vehicle, who did they turn to for the technology? Toyota. Honda is the only other company with a viable hybrid platform.
Yes, American car companies are catching up, but it has been a long slow road, and they aren't there yet.
1. Your 1990 Honda Accord wasn't made in America. The American car companies are the masters of planned obsolescence. Many of the U.S. made cars aren't reliable past 80k to 100k miles. Most Hondas and Toyotas are good for double that, or more.
2. Car companies most certainly do NOT get "all of their parts from suppliers". Other than wheels and tires and a few filters, etc, almost the entire car is designed and built from scratch in factories unique to that car company. The parts that makes the car the car, ie. engine, tranny, chassis, dash, are unique to the car company.
My point was in response to the risk of losing your Steam password, ie. the equivelant of the serial number.
My point was that if you buy movie tickets and lose them, you are out the dough. If you lose cash, you are out the dough.
Losing a Steam password or any other serial number is the same way.
My internet, satellite TV, electricity, phone service, cable TV, and cell phone have all had extended outages in their service for various reasons. I've never been given a credit to my account or a refund for any of these delays.
None of the delays with Steam have been any longer, and I don't expect a refund. There hasn't even been any real delay at all.
Slashdotters just want something to gripe about.
You have a right to play Half-Life 2 without authentication?
That's incredible. Was that in the Constitution or the Bill of Rights?
I wholeheartedly agree that only actual lost sales count, but they do count, and that is what Valve is protecting.
Nobody would have the right to destroy the tool, but Ford would have the right to prevent you from using it to commercially duplicate and sell or even give away Ford vehicles.
To my knowledge the Valve authentication servers haven't ever been cracked or duplicated. The serials and keygens for the original Half-Life didn't work for online multiplayer.
A) You aren't stealing physical property, you are stealing $50. Otherwise it would be perfectly fine to break into someones house and sleep in their bed if you didn't damage anything. They're not hurt at all, they weren't home, and no physical damage was done. But it's still illegal and still dishonest.
And how, exactly, am I "hurt" by the authentication. One of the system requirements, right on the box, is an internet connection. I'm not hurt. I'm barely even inconvenienced under the worst case scenario.
B) I'm not saying it can't be done, just that it hasn't been done, and my bet is that it won't be done. The original Half Life authentication for multiplayer was never cracked.
C) That's life. I just got back from a week in Disneyland with my family. If I would have lost our tickets, I'm out the entire cost. No replacement under any circumstances. Same way with movie tickets and cash.
I don't think price has anything to do with piracy.
Songs are $0.99 and people still pirate them.
There are only 3 deterrents to piracy:
1) Technology
2) Morals, religion, etc.
3) Threat of punishment
Only 1 and 2 are sufficiently effective, but Valve et al have no control over #2.
I'm most deterred by #2, followed by #1 insomuch as it makes piracy more difficult than the perceived value of what I'm pirating.
Almost nobody feels any real risk of being caught and punished when pirating something off of the internet, a largely anonymous place (at least it feels that way to most people), so they are undeterred by #3, the least effective of them all.
Most companies, being advised by their legal team that either gets paid on commission (as it were) or likes job security, is more than happy to pursue #3 until the cows come home. The lawyers get paid whether it works or not.
#1 is the only real option, and I don't blame Valve for putting in their efforts there, and doing a really good job of it.
The single player mode has already been cracked. Multiplayer hasn't and won't be, just like with the original Half Life.
I'm with you, I use cracked versions of software for an extended demo all the time. If I like the program and find value in it, I buy it.
I bought HL2 specifically to support Valve for making such a great game. HL was amazing, and HL2 is even more amazing.
I can't fault Valve for protecting what is theirs, and doing so in a way that has minimal inconvenience to customers.
People pirate software and music because it's easy to do, and easy to justify.
Valve is simply removing some of the ease, and not crossing any lines to do so.
The vast majority of people pirate software and music because its easy. If you take away the ease, you take away 80% - 90% of piracy.
$50 is the going rate right now for a game, and I think its reasonable. Most 12 - 14 year olds with good enough computers to play HL2 can afford $50 if they want the game (either by earning it, as a gift, or as a gimme).
I bought 2 copies of the original Half Life specifically to play it online, after I'd already beaten the single player on a pirated copy (because it was easy). If people see the value (best FPS ever, play it over and over again), they'll spend the dough.
Valve spent 5 years and $40M developing it, they deserve to get paid for it.
A) So as long as Ford sells enough cars to "be successful", they shouldn't make attempts to keep cars from being stolen off their lots or from their factories?
Valve does have the right to be paid for all of their software usage, not just enough to "be successful".
B) Of course it will be cracked. Almost everything gets cracked. But for online gaming, what percentage of those playing the original Half-Life multiplayer were doing so on pirated software? 0%. Authentication works. I personally bought 2 copies of Half-Life just to play it online, after playing it single player on a pirated copy. The vast majority of those playing warez games are doing so because it's easy. If it were less easy they would either buy it or not play.
C) No, I don't. $50 is the going rate for a game, Half-Life 2 is widely regarded as the best FPS ever made, and everyone who bought the game can use it exactly as the system requirements say they can. Nothing about this makes it unplayable.
I doubt this very highly.
Are you sure you didn't start playing the game before it had completely downloaded? You can start playing at about 40%.
600M is a LOT of traffic and data. I don't see them even wanting anywhere near that much data just for normal gameplay, not to mention the degredation in the multiplayer experience and making it pointless to even try on a modem.
I'd be surprised if even 6 MB were transferred the entire time you were playing single player (that wasn't related to updates or initial content downloading).
And on the same note, why should Valve go through 5 years of cost and trouble to design the best game ever made (my own opinion after playing it) only to have it widely stolen and pirated?
I'd much rather have Valve protect their creation via technology than in the courts.
Compare Valve's approach to that of the RIAA / MPAA. I'll take Valve's any day of the week.
Given the choice between an unlimited source of oil and an effective means of eliminating nuclear waste I'd take the latter any day.
Oil is and always will be polluting. Given an effective way to eliminate or deal with nuclear waste and cheap, efficient, safe nuclear reactors nuclear is definitely the way to go in the long run.
Too bad there isn't some way to send it to the core of the earth and let it burn up...
But drilling holes that release hot magma generally isn't a good idea.
Once we have a working space elevator this is a great idea. Unfortunately, until then...
Drainage issues such as breaking a water pipe that quickly washes away the dirt under the asphault resulting in the collapse of the asphault?
Charter was just brought to my rural neighborhood and when they ran it past my house they installed a junction box, backfilled, then drove a 1/2 inch copper grounding line right through the water main, skewering it and flooding 3 different yards and disrupting water service to about 400 houses.
I have a Cornea MP704, 17". I'm very pleased with it. I've had it about 1.5 or 2 years and don't have a single dead pixel.
s p?desc ription=24-002-082&depa=0
I never notice any ghosting or problems in games. I play Unreal Tournament, UT2K4, HL, HL2, Enemy Territory, etc. I've never felt that it adversely affected gameplay at all.
I'd love this 19" LCD:
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.a
But $714 is a lot to spend on a monitor.
Anyway, I'm happy as a clam.
The only downside to LCD's is that they do best in their native resolution, and some resolutions and refresh rates are outside their range, but it's never really been a problem.
I would consider you lucky.
But just because it doesn't happen to you, doesn't mean it doesn't happen and isn't the cause or contributing factor.
Consider how many people smoke their entire lives and never get cancer, or drink and drive their entire lives and never get a DUI or kill someone.
My personal experience has been far better with LCD's than with CRT's, and that alone is enough to get me to switch. But I am convinced my CRT played a role in the degredation of my eyesight.
There are plenty of people that smoke all their lives and never get cancer. That doesn't mean smoking doesn't increase the risk or severity of cancer.
Just because your eyes haven't been affected by CRT's, doesn't mean that CRT's aren't a contributing factor in the degredation of eyesight.
Once source of radiation can be turned off or replaced, the other can't.
But we definitely agree on HL2! And it looks great on my LCD.
Let me guess, your right palm is hairy?
There are plenty of things to damage eyesight, from genetic predisposition to plenty of environmental factors.
I happen to consider extended CRT use to be one environmental factor that increased the speed and severity of the degredation of eyesight.