HL2 is a good game, but it is by no means great. The enemy AI is not outstanding, the graphics are not ground breaking, and the multiplayer is your standard "spawn, grab weapon, kill, die, repeat as fast as possible" bloodfest. I have beat the single player and put in many hours of HL2:DM because I do think it is better than Doom3, but I'm glad that I didn't pay for it (no piracy here - I bought a new ATI card and it included HL2 free).
It is meaningless to make a comparison considering only the CPU; you must look at more of the platform. Sure, those games do not look like they are running on a 733 Celeron and a bloated, general purpose, desktop OS. Being liberated from APIs is not the big difference. You can be sure that running on a small and specialized OS, not running other background applications (like antivirus or any of the MS Office, Adobe Reader, Quicktime, Quicken, or other mostly hidden helpers), and being able to develop for a known hardware/software configuration are much more important.
For the record, I have never recompiled a linux kernel and I use Windows 1000x more than any *nix or BSD OS.
I guess it's just easier to attack someone who disagrees with you than address their arguments? You claim to have limited resources but fail to explain how paying for Windows Server and Virtual Server licenses is saving money over using already purchased older hardware (or even buying lower-end hardware cheaper than the Microsoft licenses). You also ignored the VM likley will not work just like the real thing so you might not even get a valid test. Virtual PC allows me to run Windows on a Mac, but it does not offer the same functionality as a Windows PC.
I didn't say that Virtual Server is worthless or will have no value to anyone; I simply pointed out some issues. Perhaps I should apologize for introducing a little critical thought into your day?
Most linux and BSD distros can run effectively on one-third the level of hardware required for Windows 2003. So, you could test FreeBSD on retired servers that no longer run the current Windows OS, and probably get better performance since nearly any VM is limited compared to a native install.
Virtual Server introduces two levels of Microsoft unknowns into the equation, which makes for a poor comparison/testing platform.
Hardware for Gentoo or FreeBSD probably could be purchased for less than the license cost of Windows 2003 Server and Virtual Server.
So when it is unstable, the finger can be pointed at linux rather than the wobbly platform?
It is good to see Microsoft moving toward increased interoperability, but this is hardly a baby step. This still requires Windows licensing, licensing of another Microsoft app, and relies on the stability of Microsoft's OS and server application. If you want real interoperability, how about better tools to integrate *nix platforms with separate Windows platforms? Make it simple for apache to authenticate to Active Directory. Make it easy for Exchange to use OpenLDAP instead of Active Directory.
If the Prototype is
accompanied by a separate license agreement, you agree that the license agreement accompanying the
Prototype in addition to sections 2, 3, and 4 of this PLCA shall govern your use of the Prototype. Any
inconsistencies between the provisions of the license agreement accompanying the Prototype and
Sections 2, 3, and 4 of this PLCA shall be governed by this PLCA.
I guess you're right. Although, page two does mention:
You certify that pre-release software will only be used for testing and
development purposes, and will not be rented, sold, leased, sublicensed, assigned, or otherwise
transferred (except as provided in Section 3 above).
But, I guess that one clause doesn't mean much. I wonder if:
Your use of pre-release Apple software and related
documentation and information (collectively the "Prototype") is subject to the terms and conditions
set forth in this Prototype License and Confidentiality Agreement ("PLCA").
is important? I also remember something about
Subject to your compliance with the terms and conditions of this
PLCA, Apple hereby grants you a nonexclusive, nontransferable right and license to use the Prototype
only for the limited purposes set forth in this Section 2.
It even mentions "end users" in relation to the provided software on page six.
I guess you aren't completely wrong - it is a membership agreement, but it also contains an NDA and a generic EULA for the pre-release software that the user will be able to access.
1. You do not need a hard drive for backwards compatability. A flash memory card can spoof a hard drive just fine. (In fact, there are several on the market which do exactly that on the current X-Box in order to offer game portability.)
I was not assuming the need for a hard drive.
2. The current X-Box is an Intel x86 chip and an nVidia graphics card which most X-Box games were specifically optimized for. The new one will use a PowerPC chip with an ATI graphics card. Not just different chipsets and motherboards, but different instruction sets, different endian orders, and completely different video card.
x86 is little endian but the PowerPC is bi-endian, meaning it can work either way. The differences between desktop RISC and CISC instruction sets are not what they used to be, especially thanks to the work of NextGen (purchased by AMD in '96). However, I agree that these would be challenging, hard drive or not.
Sources within Microsoft were reporting last summer that backwards compatibility would not be included in the 360. However, the rumors have persisted. J Allard refused to comment either way just two weeks ago.
Also interesting is his comment regarding something for those kick ass Halo 2 players. This fits with the rumor that Halo 2 will come preloaded on the hard drive of the more expensive model.
What is it with Zonk considering anonymous sources as confirmation of something?
I believe that ending the subject line with a question mark indicates that it is a question more than a declaration.
Until Microsoft says it, nothing is confirmed.
Official announcements are scooped all the time. Unless Microsoft is working in the Sistine Chapel with cell phone blockers installed under the floor, I am confident that enough details will leak out to get the picture before the MTV infomercial.
And how come these anonymous sources never bother to mention for certain whether the HD version will have backwards compatibility?
Backwards compatibility is a given for most who follow this. Specifying that the economy model likely will not included it also goes to this assumption.
The current XBox has a hard drive in it, why wouldn't every XBox 360?
Because it isn't needed? Rumor is that most games will not use the hard drive (instead using a some flash RAM). I believe that the hard drive will be required to play LIVE games, but to play a single player (or local multiplayer) will not require one on the 360. This will allow Microsoft to drop the price on their basic model, perhaps hitting $150 out of the gate. You want to bet they won't sell millions of these plus the LIVE kit?
According to Sunny, he did not pay for the ADC account:
Some time back I met a developer who implied he had a friend who didn't mind sending me a copy of Tiger, so long as I signed up for an ADC account. From what I understood about the ADC, you had to pay $500 to become a member to get Tiger. As a student, $500 is a lot of money. I barely have enough to pay for college expenses that aren't covered by my scholarship. I was then informed that it was possible to obtain a "free online ADC account". I figured that there couldn't be any harm in signing up for one, so I did. I later found a seed-key sitting in my ADC account, sent by that individuals friend. I used it to download the Tiger build 8A323.
According to the PDF linked from TFA, a judgment was entered in favor of Apple. Sunny was permanently barred from possessing, controlling, copying, sharing, etc, any information or property belonging to Apple, and he had to return all information gained via his ADC account. BTW, the limitations do not apply to any Apple hardware or software purchased in a retail setting, so this doesn't limit him from remaining a Mac fanboy. It just means that he can't be in the early adopter club. It also means that he didn't have to pay anything, which is a big win for Sunny.
Short for End-User License Agreement, the type of license used for most software. An EULA is a legal contract between the manufacturer and/or the author and the end user of an application. The EULA details how the software can and cannot be used and any restrictions that the manufacturer imposes (e.g., most EULA's of proprietary software prohibit the user from sharing the software with anyone else).
Have you looked at the ADC agreement? It is exactly a EULA. The NDA portion begins on page four of ten.
I agree that he was wrong in what he did and he clearly broke the licensing agreement. I'm just pointing out the details for the "He signed a contract and needs put under the jail" crowd. He failed to fully read and comprehend the detailed click-through license agreement. He made a mistake and Apple dealt with it appropriately.
While I'm not sure why I'm wasting my time on this piece of flamebait (I guess it's because I have no mod points to use), here I go.
Relevant point 1: He signed an NDA which legally bound him to Non Disclosure.
He "signed" an NDA by clicking okay on an electronic license. This is hardly the same as physically signing your name to a mortgage or any other legal contract.
Relevant point 2: Apple are well within their rights, morally and legally, to uphold their contracts.
Yes, but it would be neither moral nor logical to sue this guy into dust. He is an unwealthy college student and a Mac fanboy. He just did something stupid. Apple made their point and he learned a lesson.
I must say that it was a complete surprise to check out your posting history and see as many Flamebait, Redundant, and Troll modifiers as anything else. It seems that after 244 posts you are getting better only at being an ass.
If he didn't fully understand what it means to have an ADC account, didn't completely read the full electronic agreement, and had never uploaded anything to a Torrent site, why is this worrisome? Sure, he is med student, but how many of us top geeks actually read the contents of the EULAs we accept when installing HL2 or Adobe Acrobat Reader? When was the last time you made it through Clause 14-A-ii in the click-through license?
To be fair, he didn't sit down with Apple Legal, his parents, and an attorney, then sign a clear NDA. As I understand, he signed up for an ADC account and had to click an electronic agreement before proceeding. He admits that sharing it on an invite-only torrent site was wrong, but he claims that he didn't have a full grasp of the ramifications at the time. I have no trouble believing this
What I do have trouble with is you equating this with drunken driving. Breach of contract is a whole different ball game than a dangerous criminal activity. Yes, what he did was wrong (both legally and ethically) and he admits it. He is a Mac fan and claims to feel terrible about doing something to damage Apple. It looks to me that Apple did the right thing in suing him and in taking it easy on him once the details came out. He learned something from the event and didn't lose his future in the process.
Apple would be stupid to let the issue go completely and Sunny was clearly in the wrong. Apple got an admission of guilt and any of their property he still had, and he got off with a slap on the wrist. Considering the situation, it looks like it turned out relatively good for everyone. Pushing it further would only bring more negative press to Apple and what's the point of getting a big court judgment against a college student?
Thanks for the information, but our department is (unfortunately) not blessed with strong *nix support. Our sysadmin is a Windows guy and I have to go with the resources available. Email is too important for us to rely on AV/spam control solutions that we can't support well.
I am the IT director for a private university and we currently use Symantec's AV (enterprise edition) for desktop, server, and email protection. When I arrived in 2001, I inherited Command AV and it was a complete POS. My department spent more time cleaning viruses than anything else. Moving to Norton made an unbelievable improvement. We went from daily virus outbreaks to no virus problems for months. The administration console was great and it has been a mostly hands-off solution.
That said, I'm now looking for a new answer. As others have said, I've found a few machines infected in the past few months despite updated def files. The client is unable to clean most new viruses, instead only notifying us (so that we can download Stinger and fix it for real). The types of threats have changed and their product has failed to adequately keep up. We have more problems with spyware, adware, and other malware than viruses (and no, I'm not overlooking that our great AV product hides the actual level of viral threat) and Symantec's attempts to address this have been horrible. We finally purchased another product that has helped this problem. Symantec's Mail Security for Exchange has caused us numerous problems on our Exchange server and is noticeably resource intensive, plus it offers very little to combat spam, so we are in the process of moving to a Barracuda spam and AV firewall device.
Norton/Symantec's AV product was great when we moved to it almost four years ago, but it just isn't as impressive these days. Given other options available now, I do not intend to renew my licensing when it expires next year. I hope AVG's enterprise product continues to mature between now and then.
A MUD I played for years had a system that seemed to work well for those who like some risk but isn't too tough on the average player. A death resulted in a loss of credits (miniscule for a low-level player but significant for someone of a higher level). There was no chance of permanent death as long as you still had credits. However, any death that caused a player to drop into negative credits generated a roll (I don't recall the probability) to see if the death was permanent.
As long as you had a reasonable buffer of credits, you didn't worry about death. However, too many cowboy stunts meant that you were cred running for a while. I found this to be a reasonable balance that introduced some risk into the game but wasn't hardcore Diablo II.
If a commercial website can't support itself via its audience, that website should die.
While I don't buy the whole "social contract" argument in TFA (and I use both Adblock and Flashblock), I have some problems with your comment.
How is this any different than broadcast television? You pay nothing to watch Full House reruns - the broadcasters make their money from advertisements (which are now often more than 50% of a half-hour show). You do pay for cable/satellite and yet the commercials are still there. Or, how about magazines? When you pick up Wired or your favorite gaming rag, it is more advertisements than content and you are willing to pay for it. Ever notice that a subscription (which allows them to sell your name and address to others) is much cheaper than anonymous purchases off the rack at Wal-Mart?
However, just as channel surfing to avoid commercials or trashing all the little magazine insert cards is not immoral or unethical, ignoring ads on web pages breaks no "social contract". If the website doesn't generate enough revenue from advertising, they will go away or find other ways to make up the difference. If they do not, then you can rest assured that it is financially beneficial even with geekdom never seeing the ads.
I actually do agree with your sentiment. I hate all the Hollywood massacres of actual events (e.g. Pearl Harbor, Titanic, JFK). However, I tend to draw the line at games, especially those not built on a foundation of reality. If EA shipped Madden with inaccurate rosters, there would be mass protests from fans because they expect the rosters to be accurate (with the exception of late trades and late signees). AoE players should have no expectation of historical accuracy.
Slashdot Mirror
HL2 is a good game, but it is by no means great. The enemy AI is not outstanding, the graphics are not ground breaking, and the multiplayer is your standard "spawn, grab weapon, kill, die, repeat as fast as possible" bloodfest. I have beat the single player and put in many hours of HL2:DM because I do think it is better than Doom3, but I'm glad that I didn't pay for it (no piracy here - I bought a new ATI card and it included HL2 free).
It is meaningless to make a comparison considering only the CPU; you must look at more of the platform. Sure, those games do not look like they are running on a 733 Celeron and a bloated, general purpose, desktop OS. Being liberated from APIs is not the big difference. You can be sure that running on a small and specialized OS, not running other background applications (like antivirus or any of the MS Office, Adobe Reader, Quicktime, Quicken, or other mostly hidden helpers), and being able to develop for a known hardware/software configuration are much more important.
I guess it's just easier to attack someone who disagrees with you than address their arguments? You claim to have limited resources but fail to explain how paying for Windows Server and Virtual Server licenses is saving money over using already purchased older hardware (or even buying lower-end hardware cheaper than the Microsoft licenses). You also ignored the VM likley will not work just like the real thing so you might not even get a valid test. Virtual PC allows me to run Windows on a Mac, but it does not offer the same functionality as a Windows PC.
I didn't say that Virtual Server is worthless or will have no value to anyone; I simply pointed out some issues. Perhaps I should apologize for introducing a little critical thought into your day?
It is good to see Microsoft moving toward increased interoperability, but this is hardly a baby step. This still requires Windows licensing, licensing of another Microsoft app, and relies on the stability of Microsoft's OS and server application. If you want real interoperability, how about better tools to integrate *nix platforms with separate Windows platforms? Make it simple for apache to authenticate to Active Directory. Make it easy for Exchange to use OpenLDAP instead of Active Directory.
If the Prototype is accompanied by a separate license agreement, you agree that the license agreement accompanying the Prototype in addition to sections 2, 3, and 4 of this PLCA shall govern your use of the Prototype. Any inconsistencies between the provisions of the license agreement accompanying the Prototype and Sections 2, 3, and 4 of this PLCA shall be governed by this PLCA.
You certify that pre-release software will only be used for testing and development purposes, and will not be rented, sold, leased, sublicensed, assigned, or otherwise transferred (except as provided in Section 3 above).
But, I guess that one clause doesn't mean much. I wonder if:
Your use of pre-release Apple software and related documentation and information (collectively the "Prototype") is subject to the terms and conditions set forth in this Prototype License and Confidentiality Agreement ("PLCA").
is important? I also remember something about
Subject to your compliance with the terms and conditions of this PLCA, Apple hereby grants you a nonexclusive, nontransferable right and license to use the Prototype only for the limited purposes set forth in this Section 2.
It even mentions "end users" in relation to the provided software on page six.
I guess you aren't completely wrong - it is a membership agreement, but it also contains an NDA and a generic EULA for the pre-release software that the user will be able to access.
I was not assuming the need for a hard drive.
2. The current X-Box is an Intel x86 chip and an nVidia graphics card which most X-Box games were specifically optimized for. The new one will use a PowerPC chip with an ATI graphics card. Not just different chipsets and motherboards, but different instruction sets, different endian orders, and completely different video card.
x86 is little endian but the PowerPC is bi-endian, meaning it can work either way. The differences between desktop RISC and CISC instruction sets are not what they used to be, especially thanks to the work of NextGen (purchased by AMD in '96). However, I agree that these would be challenging, hard drive or not.
Sources within Microsoft were reporting last summer that backwards compatibility would not be included in the 360. However, the rumors have persisted. J Allard refused to comment either way just two weeks ago.
Also interesting is his comment regarding something for those kick ass Halo 2 players. This fits with the rumor that Halo 2 will come preloaded on the hard drive of the more expensive model.
For anyone interested in more information on ARG, check out the ARG Network.
This would be aweseom if we could get this to work on our pile of IIe boxes. The amazing thing is just how many still work after 15+ years.
I believe that ending the subject line with a question mark indicates that it is a question more than a declaration.
Until Microsoft says it, nothing is confirmed.
Official announcements are scooped all the time. Unless Microsoft is working in the Sistine Chapel with cell phone blockers installed under the floor, I am confident that enough details will leak out to get the picture before the MTV infomercial.
And how come these anonymous sources never bother to mention for certain whether the HD version will have backwards compatibility?
Backwards compatibility is a given for most who follow this. Specifying that the economy model likely will not included it also goes to this assumption.
Because it isn't needed? Rumor is that most games will not use the hard drive (instead using a some flash RAM). I believe that the hard drive will be required to play LIVE games, but to play a single player (or local multiplayer) will not require one on the 360. This will allow Microsoft to drop the price on their basic model, perhaps hitting $150 out of the gate. You want to bet they won't sell millions of these plus the LIVE kit?
Some time back I met a developer who implied he had a friend who didn't mind sending me a copy of Tiger, so long as I signed up for an ADC account. From what I understood about the ADC, you had to pay $500 to become a member to get Tiger. As a student, $500 is a lot of money. I barely have enough to pay for college expenses that aren't covered by my scholarship. I was then informed that it was possible to obtain a "free online ADC account". I figured that there couldn't be any harm in signing up for one, so I did. I later found a seed-key sitting in my ADC account, sent by that individuals friend. I used it to download the Tiger build 8A323.
According to the PDF linked from TFA, a judgment was entered in favor of Apple. Sunny was permanently barred from possessing, controlling, copying, sharing, etc, any information or property belonging to Apple, and he had to return all information gained via his ADC account. BTW, the limitations do not apply to any Apple hardware or software purchased in a retail setting, so this doesn't limit him from remaining a Mac fanboy. It just means that he can't be in the early adopter club. It also means that he didn't have to pay anything, which is a big win for Sunny.
Short for End-User License Agreement, the type of license used for most software. An EULA is a legal contract between the manufacturer and/or the author and the end user of an application. The EULA details how the software can and cannot be used and any restrictions that the manufacturer imposes (e.g., most EULA's of proprietary software prohibit the user from sharing the software with anyone else).
Have you looked at the ADC agreement? It is exactly a EULA. The NDA portion begins on page four of ten.
I agree that he was wrong in what he did and he clearly broke the licensing agreement. I'm just pointing out the details for the "He signed a contract and needs put under the jail" crowd. He failed to fully read and comprehend the detailed click-through license agreement. He made a mistake and Apple dealt with it appropriately.
Relevant point 1: He signed an NDA which legally bound him to Non Disclosure.
He "signed" an NDA by clicking okay on an electronic license. This is hardly the same as physically signing your name to a mortgage or any other legal contract.
Relevant point 2: Apple are well within their rights, morally and legally, to uphold their contracts.
Yes, but it would be neither moral nor logical to sue this guy into dust. He is an unwealthy college student and a Mac fanboy. He just did something stupid. Apple made their point and he learned a lesson.
I must say that it was a complete surprise to check out your posting history and see as many Flamebait, Redundant, and Troll modifiers as anything else. It seems that after 244 posts you are getting better only at being an ass.
If he didn't fully understand what it means to have an ADC account, didn't completely read the full electronic agreement, and had never uploaded anything to a Torrent site, why is this worrisome? Sure, he is med student, but how many of us top geeks actually read the contents of the EULAs we accept when installing HL2 or Adobe Acrobat Reader? When was the last time you made it through Clause 14-A-ii in the click-through license?
Perhaps he wet himself when Apple's legal folks first called him?
What I do have trouble with is you equating this with drunken driving. Breach of contract is a whole different ball game than a dangerous criminal activity. Yes, what he did was wrong (both legally and ethically) and he admits it. He is a Mac fan and claims to feel terrible about doing something to damage Apple. It looks to me that Apple did the right thing in suing him and in taking it easy on him once the details came out. He learned something from the event and didn't lose his future in the process.
Apple would be stupid to let the issue go completely and Sunny was clearly in the wrong. Apple got an admission of guilt and any of their property he still had, and he got off with a slap on the wrist. Considering the situation, it looks like it turned out relatively good for everyone. Pushing it further would only bring more negative press to Apple and what's the point of getting a big court judgment against a college student?
Thanks for the information, but our department is (unfortunately) not blessed with strong *nix support. Our sysadmin is a Windows guy and I have to go with the resources available. Email is too important for us to rely on AV/spam control solutions that we can't support well.
I am the IT director for a private university and we currently use Symantec's AV (enterprise edition) for desktop, server, and email protection. When I arrived in 2001, I inherited Command AV and it was a complete POS. My department spent more time cleaning viruses than anything else. Moving to Norton made an unbelievable improvement. We went from daily virus outbreaks to no virus problems for months. The administration console was great and it has been a mostly hands-off solution.
That said, I'm now looking for a new answer. As others have said, I've found a few machines infected in the past few months despite updated def files. The client is unable to clean most new viruses, instead only notifying us (so that we can download Stinger and fix it for real). The types of threats have changed and their product has failed to adequately keep up. We have more problems with spyware, adware, and other malware than viruses (and no, I'm not overlooking that our great AV product hides the actual level of viral threat) and Symantec's attempts to address this have been horrible. We finally purchased another product that has helped this problem. Symantec's Mail Security for Exchange has caused us numerous problems on our Exchange server and is noticeably resource intensive, plus it offers very little to combat spam, so we are in the process of moving to a Barracuda spam and AV firewall device.
Norton/Symantec's AV product was great when we moved to it almost four years ago, but it just isn't as impressive these days. Given other options available now, I do not intend to renew my licensing when it expires next year. I hope AVG's enterprise product continues to mature between now and then.
A MUD I played for years had a system that seemed to work well for those who like some risk but isn't too tough on the average player. A death resulted in a loss of credits (miniscule for a low-level player but significant for someone of a higher level). There was no chance of permanent death as long as you still had credits. However, any death that caused a player to drop into negative credits generated a roll (I don't recall the probability) to see if the death was permanent.
As long as you had a reasonable buffer of credits, you didn't worry about death. However, too many cowboy stunts meant that you were cred running for a while. I found this to be a reasonable balance that introduced some risk into the game but wasn't hardcore Diablo II.
If a commercial website can't support itself via its audience, that website should die.
While I don't buy the whole "social contract" argument in TFA (and I use both Adblock and Flashblock), I have some problems with your comment.
How is this any different than broadcast television? You pay nothing to watch Full House reruns - the broadcasters make their money from advertisements (which are now often more than 50% of a half-hour show). You do pay for cable/satellite and yet the commercials are still there. Or, how about magazines? When you pick up Wired or your favorite gaming rag, it is more advertisements than content and you are willing to pay for it. Ever notice that a subscription (which allows them to sell your name and address to others) is much cheaper than anonymous purchases off the rack at Wal-Mart?
However, just as channel surfing to avoid commercials or trashing all the little magazine insert cards is not immoral or unethical, ignoring ads on web pages breaks no "social contract". If the website doesn't generate enough revenue from advertising, they will go away or find other ways to make up the difference. If they do not, then you can rest assured that it is financially beneficial even with geekdom never seeing the ads.
I actually do agree with your sentiment. I hate all the Hollywood massacres of actual events (e.g. Pearl Harbor, Titanic, JFK). However, I tend to draw the line at games, especially those not built on a foundation of reality. If EA shipped Madden with inaccurate rosters, there would be mass protests from fans because they expect the rosters to be accurate (with the exception of late trades and late signees). AoE players should have no expectation of historical accuracy.