I like to take people aside and give them even MORE misinformation.
"SD cards will protect your computer from viruses - you know, StD's."
"Make sure to demand LRF-5 support for your computer."
"Tell them you want a wireless ethernet card that can dial-in to the Internet - they'll know exactly what you want."
"Tell them you want a Pentium of RAM and a 2.3gigahertz hard-drive from AMD. If they try and tell you you can't have those, they're lying - they just keep the good stuff in back for themselves."
Okay, so I'm more of a misanthrope than a geek. Potato, potato.
Yur nt allowed to roleplay a straight character, either. Hence the no discussion of sexuality rule.
So, if someone mentions that they have to go because they're taking their wife out to dinner, you'd be in favor of them getting in trouble? After all, by mentioning that they have a wife they are directly referring to their sexuality.
The problem with that kind of "don't ask, don't tell" shit is that people *do* make comments about people in their lives, and they shouldn't have to be on guard and watch what they say lest some small minded dipshit take offense.
That sounds like a problem with the attack vector, not with the material.
Remeber the first bombing attack against the WTC? It was laughable how badly it was attempted. V 2.0 was 9/11.
This sort of thing is certainly something to keep an eye on - just because one group managed to fail repeatedly (except for the subway attack) doesn't mean every group will. This stuff is only going to get easier.
At Jewel supermarkets in Chicago they have flat-screens at the produce section and checkout already, and yeah, I imagine it'd be annoying as hell for the checkers.
I don't know that I pay any attention to them when I shop - maybe other people do, but they don't do much for me other than make me very, very glad that I don't work at a supermarket.
My father recently was diagnosed with prostate cancer. The treatments that have been discussed included castration (surgical or chemical), radiation, chemo-therapy, rather invasive surgery and a whole host of other things that have got rather unfortunate side effects.
He's opted for the radiation - they actually put radioactive gold "seeds" in the area (yes, he's got gold pellets up his ass) and is getting daily radiation treatments. He's also been getting something to reduce his testosterone - which should help also keep the cancer from spreading. He's 81 years old, and, while in otherwise good health (he still works, and enjoys it) it is very unlikely that he's going to make a full recovery - likely his productive life is over, and for him that's *huge*. His best friend - they've known each other since before World War II - recently died from a similar cancer, though his friend didn't detect as early and didn't treat as aggressively.
So, I think I can say I'm 90% sure he'd be willing to try something like this - hell, he'd probably go to the store and buy some jalapenos right now and cram them up his ass - if it were likely to work and less overall damaging to his system.
Whahaaa? How are those people going to afford Office? What the hell would they even *use* Office for? Letters? They'd have email for that. Spreadsheets? What would they need to calculate - how freakin' broke they are?
And, even if people did figure out a need for such things as an office suite, there *is* a version of OO.org for Windows.
And, when you're talking "upgrade path" - you do realize that they'd first need to be able to make enough money to buy a computer to upgrade to, right? And they'd *need* some reason to upgrade. And, I'm sure, if they found the computer to be oh-so-incredibly useful that they'd be not only able but also willing to spend the money to upgrade, well, at that point, clearly they've managed to break out of the poverty cycle.
It's going to take the people who'd be using this stuff a LONG time to get to a point where they would become a remotely viable market for MS products. Such a long time, in fact, that I would not be surprised if MS wasn't around at that point to capitalize on it, or, if they are around, not in a similar configuration to what they're about today.
I don't mean to be a bitch here, but I mean, really - it's just fucking laughable that Gates' motivation here is making money in the long term by locking these people in. There are *so* *many* *flaws* with that plan, *so* *many* *ways* to avoid the lock-in that it's laughable. Tin-foil-hat laughable.
These laptops would be going to people who are BROKE. Broke to a degree that I have trouble wrapping my mind around it. Broke to a point where "luxury" items like a foot-powered irrigation device that costs $27 are so comparatively expensive that they're required to take out a loan in order to afford it in any reasonable amount of time. There is simply no realistic way that MS will make money off of that market for such a long time. They'd have a better ROI if they bought Lotto Scratchers.
The only thing MS would gain from this would be the PR. Even then, they no doubt are aware that such PR is of limited use. After all, if their core markets cared enough about the third world to heap praise upon a company who helped, the third world wouldn't be in the mess it's in.
Mind you, I'd rather they use Linux or some OS OS instead of Windows, but that is based on technical merits. I'm just saying that there's no real upside for MS outside of "warm fuzzies" for doing this.
... I'm all for connection everyone to the Internet. The ability to have access to pretty much any information a person could want is a great thing.
On the other hand, I'm not really a fan of the government providing this access. Privacy issues, spending issues, quality of service issues, market issues (if the service is free and "not quite absolute shit" it's going to really damage the ISP market - and, hell, we'll be paying *anyway* just via taxes instead of a monthly bill) - lots of problems with it.
What I would rather see the Democrats focus on are the following:
1) Feeding, clothing and sheltering the absurd number of children in this country who are living below the poverty level. 2) Providing free preventative and maintenance health-care for all. 3) Beginning the process of repairing our image abroad. 4) (Ironically) Curbing spending/fiscal responsibility - digging us out from under the mountain of debt. 5) Stabalizing the Iraq situation and getting us the hell out of there. 6) Overhauling DHS so that it's actually, you know, secure. And not just in IT, but in ways that actually matter. We're *less* secure than we were pre-9/11, and it's mainly because it seems that everyone who's "responsible" *thinks* we're secure and is pulling a "LA LA LA I CAN'T HEAR YOU!!!!" when anyone mentions the glaring holes.
Actually, I don't care if it's the Dems or the Repubs - I just want those things (among others I no doubt missed) addressed. I'll vote for the person I think is most likely to have a real plan for addressing those issues. Unfortunately, it'll probably be some "fringe" candidate who's not got a hope in hell of ever being elected dog catcher, let alone president.
No, I wrote it from scratch, using Applesoft Basic because that's what I had available to me. If I'd simply been modifying an existing product, my comment that I became demoralized when I learned about "commercial" BBS software wouldn't have made much sense.
Lots of people have ideas for things, but not many have the ability to follow through on things. Especially younger folks!
When I was about 12, I wrote about half of a BBS on my Apple II - it'd answer the phone, let a user log in, and I made maybe 5 or 6 very primitive discussion boards and a hangman game. Not a single bit of it was "innovative" in the large sense of the word, but I made it all from scratch and learned a hell of a lot from it. I stopped working on the project when my dad, thinking it would help inspire me, got me some commercial BBS product. I wound up getting demoralized - "Someone else already did it, and better than I could." (I wound up trying to write games - there were no worries about someone else "doing it first" since I wanted to "fix" Ultima III to add features [never succeeded, but I did manage to make a tile-based display that would let me move a guy around a map, make characters for a party, and sort-of fight])
Anyway - lots of people have ideas for really great stuff, but not a lot of them do anything about it. The fact that he made it work, did some pretty nice localization - that's good stuff even if it isn't entirely original/innovative.
I think it's a brilliant idea, actually - hopefully the portions of the brain dealing with attention are plastic enough to be retrained in this fashion.
Anyone ever beat the ever-loving shit out of you because they saw you holding hands with a member of the opposite sex? Anyone ever kick you out of a restaurant simply because you "look straight"? Anyone ever run up to you on the street and spit in your face, screaming "DIE, BREEDER!" when they saw you with your opposite-sex partner? Ever been fired from a job because you mentioned your opposiite-sex partner? Ever been raped by the police and then had to watch as your opposite-sex partner was beaten into a pulp because he or she tried to come to your aid? Ever been raped, stabbed over 100 times, thrown out of a window and then set on fire, only to have the police judge your death a suicide, all because you like hetero-sex?
GLBT's make their GLBT-ness an issue because it is one. The above incidents are rather real, and they (and others like them) happen with alarming frequency. You might wish that people would just, like, shut the fuck *UP* already, but unfortunately that's just not the way it's working out.
When someone can be gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered without any kind of hassle what-so-ever due to that, then maybe you'll have a point.
Until then, why not visit www.rememberingourdead.org and let me know if you still think that GLBT people are making a big deal out of things.
Considering that homosexuals make up a disproportionately small percentage of child molesters, I'd say that an 8-year old is safer in a "gay friendly" guild than in a straight one.
Honestly, if one looks at the statistics, I'd be much more frightened of leaving my child with straight people than gay.
I hate reading long texts on a digital display - it just makes my eyes tired. Until digital paper that has similar viewing characteristics as real paper & ink can be used, I'll stick with paper.
The pricing models are absurd as well. There's just no way I can justify paying as much (or in some cases more) for an eBook when it's "just" data than I pay for a nicely bound and printed paper edition.
The absolute and only texts that I currently work with electronically are references/working books. Anything I'm reading for fun - that's paper, and likely will stay paper until such time as I can have an eBook+eReader that is easy on the eyes, priced reasonably, and I can curl up in a comfy chair with.
The most simple and common combination of two extremely common elements might exist on a large rock, very far away, in a form that shouldn't be possible based on our current understanding of the conditions there.
You might not find that to be interesting, and may even be in the majority, but for people who are interested in that field, possibly finding something completely unexpected (not the water part, but the liquid state) is pretty interesting.
Am I suggesting that people leap up and down and hoot and holler over this? No, but I'm not suggesting that people should treat this as just "more of the same" either.
Some people lead long, healthy active lives and never reproduce through choice, lack of opportunity or possibly just inadequate social skills. Isaac Newton famously died a virgin.
Well then I don't understand... wouldn't he be a better icon for Linux than Tux?
That despite lower unit volume they're making a nice profit? That they're making a profit while one of their so-called "superior" competitors is hemmoraging money? That they're dominating the hand-held market?
Yes, their console isn't numero-uno when it comes to marketshare - but what value is marketshare without profit? I ask that honestly - the goal of a business is to make money. If marketshare helps them do that, then great - but in the case of consoles, it seems like Nintendo is, in a very real fashion, doing much better than their rivals.
Yep, Microsoft has a monopoly with Windows, and yes, they can, in fact, make programs for it.
Now, if you changed the situation so that it bore no resemblance what-so-ever to what is actually going on - if you said "Microsoft has a monopoly with Windows, and they are the ONLY ones who can make programs for it" I'd disagree.
Fortunately, Apple isn't attempting to be the ONLY ones who can make accessories for the iPod. They're just offering another option. The ONLY control that I've seen Apple exert if in licensing accessory makers to use a particular phrase - "Designed for iPod" or whatever. And that, frankly, makes some sense - if accessory makers want to capitalize on the name, then Apple is free to try and get them to pay. If they don't want to pay, then they don't have to use that particular phrase and can come up with something else that gets the same idea across.
I've got an iPod (and would gladly start a Church of the Scroll-Wheel) and I have some protective cases for it that are *gasp* not Apple branded. In fact, the Apple accessories are generally pretty bland and unappealing to me. This leather case? Ugh. I don't want another sleeve - I want something that'll keep my iPod from breaking when I'm most likely to drop it, while I'm watching videos on it and have it in my grubby little paws. Anyway - all of that is just to say that there's no way in hell Apple's aiming for a monopoly on the accessories, and if they did, they'd likely be ripping up their meal ticket.
I don't know if I'd be considered an average Jo, but the reason I bought an iPod was because a friend let me borrow hers, and I found that the actual user experience was a hell of a lot better - I can't say enough good stuff about the wheel interface.
My old Archos Jukebox played mp3's just fine... If I never wanted to find a specific song out of thousands to play. The interface for scrolling through my library was one of those nipple-button dealies that were so... very... slow... to... get... to... the.. song. butthentoodamnfastI'dflyrightpastandhavetostartall ... over... again... going... backwards... Very frustrating.
So, for me, the thing that got me to buy an iPod was actually using one. Probably NOT the typical experience, though.
Though, I will admit, I got a few silicone cases with belt-clips and back-winders for the earbuds - they were 3 for the price of one! - I now have pink, orange and green.
I'm actually surprised that there's *any* market for Influence (CoH's "gold") in CoH - I've played since launch, and I've never found it remotely difficult to progress due to Influence. Hell, it doesn't even make the game THAT much easier to have oodles of money.
When CoV (City of Villains) launched, and people's characters were all broke, I discovered that I had to wait *maybe* 1 level longer to be able to get my enhancers than if I had unlimited money - Infamy (CoV's "Influence") is just not that hard to get, either.
For me, CoH is a game designed to minimize the need for grinding and farming. I like beating the crap out of things, and that's what CoH lets me do - I get home from work, pop into that game for half an hour or so and BLOW SHIT UP.
As a side note, my main character (who I hardly ever play, since there isn't any real end-game stuff to do) has accumulated well over half a billion Influence.
According to eBay, influence is selling for around a buck a million. Even funnier is that it takes so long to trade influence (can only be done in blocks of 99999 at a time, and used to be only 9999 at a time!) that just the transaction time itself to give someone the influence wouldn't really be worth the cash.
What's your opinion on the notion of hiring someone to come in and clean your house?
In my case, I'd rather spend $50 a week to have some service come to my place and do all the crap stuff around here like vacuum, dust, wash windows, clean the bathroom and so on. Sure, I suppose I could spend the time to do those tasks myself, but I'd rather spend the money and have the time I would spend cleaning to do pretty much anything else. Is this stupid for me to do? If it is, then hell, I'm glad to be a dumbass.
In the case of buying gold, if someone doesn't enjoy one particular aspect of a game (the grinding for money part) but they do like what the grinding can get them (access to good stuff) then why is it stupid to have someone else do the scut work so they can then enjoy the benefits?
How is the WoW scenario any different from the cleaning person scenario? How is it different than *any* task that a person *could* do for themselves, but simply doesn't enjoy, and doesn't feel is an effective use of their time, so they hire someone else?
I've never bought items in a game with real money, and I probably never will - the kinds of games that require grinding and encourage gold farming by their very mechanics simply don't appeal to me - but I certainly don't find it any dumber than any other activity in which people trade money for avoidance of boring labor.
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I like to take people aside and give them even MORE misinformation.
"SD cards will protect your computer from viruses - you know, StD's."
"Make sure to demand LRF-5 support for your computer."
"Tell them you want a wireless ethernet card that can dial-in to the Internet - they'll know exactly what you want."
"Tell them you want a Pentium of RAM and a 2.3gigahertz hard-drive from AMD. If they try and tell you you can't have those, they're lying - they just keep the good stuff in back for themselves."
Okay, so I'm more of a misanthrope than a geek. Potato, potato.
Yur nt allowed to roleplay a straight character, either.
Hence the no discussion of sexuality rule.
So, if someone mentions that they have to go because they're taking their wife out to dinner, you'd be in favor of them getting in trouble? After all, by mentioning that they have a wife they are directly referring to their sexuality.
The problem with that kind of "don't ask, don't tell" shit is that people *do* make comments about people in their lives, and they shouldn't have to be on guard and watch what they say lest some small minded dipshit take offense.
That sounds like a problem with the attack vector, not with the material.
Remeber the first bombing attack against the WTC? It was laughable how badly it was attempted. V 2.0 was 9/11.
This sort of thing is certainly something to keep an eye on - just because one group managed to fail repeatedly (except for the subway attack) doesn't mean every group will. This stuff is only going to get easier.
Porn isn't measured in bytes, but in fucktons.
At Jewel supermarkets in Chicago they have flat-screens at the produce section and checkout already, and yeah, I imagine it'd be annoying as hell for the checkers.
I don't know that I pay any attention to them when I shop - maybe other people do, but they don't do much for me other than make me very, very glad that I don't work at a supermarket.
My father recently was diagnosed with prostate cancer. The treatments that have been discussed included castration (surgical or chemical), radiation, chemo-therapy, rather invasive surgery and a whole host of other things that have got rather unfortunate side effects.
He's opted for the radiation - they actually put radioactive gold "seeds" in the area (yes, he's got gold pellets up his ass) and is getting daily radiation treatments. He's also been getting something to reduce his testosterone - which should help also keep the cancer from spreading. He's 81 years old, and, while in otherwise good health (he still works, and enjoys it) it is very unlikely that he's going to make a full recovery - likely his productive life is over, and for him that's *huge*. His best friend - they've known each other since before World War II - recently died from a similar cancer, though his friend didn't detect as early and didn't treat as aggressively.
So, I think I can say I'm 90% sure he'd be willing to try something like this - hell, he'd probably go to the store and buy some jalapenos right now and cram them up his ass - if it were likely to work and less overall damaging to his system.
The issues would be the same, but the upside would be much, much larger. People don't die due to lack of broadband.
Whahaaa? How are those people going to afford Office? What the hell would they even *use* Office for? Letters? They'd have email for that. Spreadsheets? What would they need to calculate - how freakin' broke they are?
And, even if people did figure out a need for such things as an office suite, there *is* a version of OO.org for Windows.
And, when you're talking "upgrade path" - you do realize that they'd first need to be able to make enough money to buy a computer to upgrade to, right? And they'd *need* some reason to upgrade. And, I'm sure, if they found the computer to be oh-so-incredibly useful that they'd be not only able but also willing to spend the money to upgrade, well, at that point, clearly they've managed to break out of the poverty cycle.
It's going to take the people who'd be using this stuff a LONG time to get to a point where they would become a remotely viable market for MS products. Such a long time, in fact, that I would not be surprised if MS wasn't around at that point to capitalize on it, or, if they are around, not in a similar configuration to what they're about today.
I don't mean to be a bitch here, but I mean, really - it's just fucking laughable that Gates' motivation here is making money in the long term by locking these people in. There are *so* *many* *flaws* with that plan, *so* *many* *ways* to avoid the lock-in that it's laughable. Tin-foil-hat laughable.
These laptops would be going to people who are BROKE. Broke to a degree that I have trouble wrapping my mind around it. Broke to a point where "luxury" items like a foot-powered irrigation device that costs $27 are so comparatively expensive that they're required to take out a loan in order to afford it in any reasonable amount of time. There is simply no realistic way that MS will make money off of that market for such a long time. They'd have a better ROI if they bought Lotto Scratchers.
The only thing MS would gain from this would be the PR. Even then, they no doubt are aware that such PR is of limited use. After all, if their core markets cared enough about the third world to heap praise upon a company who helped, the third world wouldn't be in the mess it's in.
Mind you, I'd rather they use Linux or some OS OS instead of Windows, but that is based on technical merits. I'm just saying that there's no real upside for MS outside of "warm fuzzies" for doing this.
... I'm all for connection everyone to the Internet. The ability to have access to pretty much any information a person could want is a great thing.
On the other hand, I'm not really a fan of the government providing this access. Privacy issues, spending issues, quality of service issues, market issues (if the service is free and "not quite absolute shit" it's going to really damage the ISP market - and, hell, we'll be paying *anyway* just via taxes instead of a monthly bill) - lots of problems with it.
What I would rather see the Democrats focus on are the following:
1) Feeding, clothing and sheltering the absurd number of children in this country who are living below the poverty level.
2) Providing free preventative and maintenance health-care for all.
3) Beginning the process of repairing our image abroad.
4) (Ironically) Curbing spending/fiscal responsibility - digging us out from under the mountain of debt.
5) Stabalizing the Iraq situation and getting us the hell out of there.
6) Overhauling DHS so that it's actually, you know, secure. And not just in IT, but in ways that actually matter. We're *less* secure than we were pre-9/11, and it's mainly because it seems that everyone who's "responsible" *thinks* we're secure and is pulling a "LA LA LA I CAN'T HEAR YOU!!!!" when anyone mentions the glaring holes.
Actually, I don't care if it's the Dems or the Repubs - I just want those things (among others I no doubt missed) addressed. I'll vote for the person I think is most likely to have a real plan for addressing those issues. Unfortunately, it'll probably be some "fringe" candidate who's not got a hope in hell of ever being elected dog catcher, let alone president.
No, I wrote it from scratch, using Applesoft Basic because that's what I had available to me. If I'd simply been modifying an existing product, my comment that I became demoralized when I learned about "commercial" BBS software wouldn't have made much sense.
... is that he followed through on a project.
Lots of people have ideas for things, but not many have the ability to follow through on things. Especially younger folks!
When I was about 12, I wrote about half of a BBS on my Apple II - it'd answer the phone, let a user log in, and I made maybe 5 or 6 very primitive discussion boards and a hangman game. Not a single bit of it was "innovative" in the large sense of the word, but I made it all from scratch and learned a hell of a lot from it. I stopped working on the project when my dad, thinking it would help inspire me, got me some commercial BBS product. I wound up getting demoralized - "Someone else already did it, and better than I could." (I wound up trying to write games - there were no worries about someone else "doing it first" since I wanted to "fix" Ultima III to add features [never succeeded, but I did manage to make a tile-based display that would let me move a guy around a map, make characters for a party, and sort-of fight])
Anyway - lots of people have ideas for really great stuff, but not a lot of them do anything about it. The fact that he made it work, did some pretty nice localization - that's good stuff even if it isn't entirely original/innovative.
... too long.
I think it's a brilliant idea, actually - hopefully the portions of the brain dealing with attention are plastic enough to be retrained in this fashion.
... called "UNIforms" for a reason. One form.
I agree, in a game they need to be a little more dynamic, look different etc. It'll be interesting to see how this gets pulled off.
*alright, no one could hate the danes, but you get my point.
Well, except for a few million people in the muslim world who don't like their cartoons...
I'm assuming you're straight.
Anyone ever beat the ever-loving shit out of you because they saw you holding hands with a member of the opposite sex? Anyone ever kick you out of a restaurant simply because you "look straight"? Anyone ever run up to you on the street and spit in your face, screaming "DIE, BREEDER!" when they saw you with your opposite-sex partner? Ever been fired from a job because you mentioned your opposiite-sex partner? Ever been raped by the police and then had to watch as your opposite-sex partner was beaten into a pulp because he or she tried to come to your aid? Ever been raped, stabbed over 100 times, thrown out of a window and then set on fire, only to have the police judge your death a suicide, all because you like hetero-sex?
GLBT's make their GLBT-ness an issue because it is one. The above incidents are rather real, and they (and others like them) happen with alarming frequency. You might wish that people would just, like, shut the fuck *UP* already, but unfortunately that's just not the way it's working out.
When someone can be gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered without any kind of hassle what-so-ever due to that, then maybe you'll have a point.
Until then, why not visit www.rememberingourdead.org and let me know if you still think that GLBT people are making a big deal out of things.
Considering that homosexuals make up a disproportionately small percentage of child molesters, I'd say that an 8-year old is safer in a "gay friendly" guild than in a straight one.
Honestly, if one looks at the statistics, I'd be much more frightened of leaving my child with straight people than gay.
There is a rather large difference between a gay-friendly organization and an anti-anything-but-white-christian-male organization.
One of them is inclusive, the other is exclusive. I'll leave it to you to figure out which is which.
I hate reading long texts on a digital display - it just makes my eyes tired. Until digital paper that has similar viewing characteristics as real paper & ink can be used, I'll stick with paper.
The pricing models are absurd as well. There's just no way I can justify paying as much (or in some cases more) for an eBook when it's "just" data than I pay for a nicely bound and printed paper edition.
The absolute and only texts that I currently work with electronically are references/working books. Anything I'm reading for fun - that's paper, and likely will stay paper until such time as I can have an eBook+eReader that is easy on the eyes, priced reasonably, and I can curl up in a comfy chair with.
Actually, the news in this case:
The most simple and common combination of two extremely common elements might exist on a large rock, very far away, in a form that shouldn't be possible based on our current understanding of the conditions there.
You might not find that to be interesting, and may even be in the majority, but for people who are interested in that field, possibly finding something completely unexpected (not the water part, but the liquid state) is pretty interesting.
Am I suggesting that people leap up and down and hoot and holler over this? No, but I'm not suggesting that people should treat this as just "more of the same" either.
Some people lead long, healthy active lives and never reproduce through choice, lack of opportunity or possibly just inadequate social skills. Isaac Newton famously died a virgin.
Well then I don't understand... wouldn't he be a better icon for Linux than Tux?
(bye bye, karma! I hardly knew ye!)
No way to make what look positive?
That despite lower unit volume they're making a nice profit? That they're making a profit while one of their so-called "superior" competitors is hemmoraging money? That they're dominating the hand-held market?
Yes, their console isn't numero-uno when it comes to marketshare - but what value is marketshare without profit? I ask that honestly - the goal of a business is to make money. If marketshare helps them do that, then great - but in the case of consoles, it seems like Nintendo is, in a very real fashion, doing much better than their rivals.
Actually, I *do* still agree with that statement.
Yep, Microsoft has a monopoly with Windows, and yes, they can, in fact, make programs for it.
Now, if you changed the situation so that it bore no resemblance what-so-ever to what is actually going on - if you said "Microsoft has a monopoly with Windows, and they are the ONLY ones who can make programs for it" I'd disagree.
Fortunately, Apple isn't attempting to be the ONLY ones who can make accessories for the iPod. They're just offering another option. The ONLY control that I've seen Apple exert if in licensing accessory makers to use a particular phrase - "Designed for iPod" or whatever. And that, frankly, makes some sense - if accessory makers want to capitalize on the name, then Apple is free to try and get them to pay. If they don't want to pay, then they don't have to use that particular phrase and can come up with something else that gets the same idea across.
I've got an iPod (and would gladly start a Church of the Scroll-Wheel) and I have some protective cases for it that are *gasp* not Apple branded. In fact, the Apple accessories are generally pretty bland and unappealing to me. This leather case? Ugh. I don't want another sleeve - I want something that'll keep my iPod from breaking when I'm most likely to drop it, while I'm watching videos on it and have it in my grubby little paws. Anyway - all of that is just to say that there's no way in hell Apple's aiming for a monopoly on the accessories, and if they did, they'd likely be ripping up their meal ticket.
I don't know if I'd be considered an average Jo, but the reason I bought an iPod was because a friend let me borrow hers, and I found that the actual user experience was a hell of a lot better - I can't say enough good stuff about the wheel interface.
l ... over... again... going... backwards... Very frustrating.
My old Archos Jukebox played mp3's just fine... If I never wanted to find a specific song out of thousands to play. The interface for scrolling through my library was one of those nipple-button dealies that were so... very... slow... to... get... to... the.. song. butthentoodamnfastI'dflyrightpastandhavetostartal
So, for me, the thing that got me to buy an iPod was actually using one. Probably NOT the typical experience, though.
Though, I will admit, I got a few silicone cases with belt-clips and back-winders for the earbuds - they were 3 for the price of one! - I now have pink, orange and green.
I'm actually surprised that there's *any* market for Influence (CoH's "gold") in CoH - I've played since launch, and I've never found it remotely difficult to progress due to Influence. Hell, it doesn't even make the game THAT much easier to have oodles of money.
When CoV (City of Villains) launched, and people's characters were all broke, I discovered that I had to wait *maybe* 1 level longer to be able to get my enhancers than if I had unlimited money - Infamy (CoV's "Influence") is just not that hard to get, either.
For me, CoH is a game designed to minimize the need for grinding and farming. I like beating the crap out of things, and that's what CoH lets me do - I get home from work, pop into that game for half an hour or so and BLOW SHIT UP.
As a side note, my main character (who I hardly ever play, since there isn't any real end-game stuff to do) has accumulated well over half a billion Influence.
According to eBay, influence is selling for around a buck a million. Even funnier is that it takes so long to trade influence (can only be done in blocks of 99999 at a time, and used to be only 9999 at a time!) that just the transaction time itself to give someone the influence wouldn't really be worth the cash.
What's your opinion on the notion of hiring someone to come in and clean your house?
In my case, I'd rather spend $50 a week to have some service come to my place and do all the crap stuff around here like vacuum, dust, wash windows, clean the bathroom and so on. Sure, I suppose I could spend the time to do those tasks myself, but I'd rather spend the money and have the time I would spend cleaning to do pretty much anything else. Is this stupid for me to do? If it is, then hell, I'm glad to be a dumbass.
In the case of buying gold, if someone doesn't enjoy one particular aspect of a game (the grinding for money part) but they do like what the grinding can get them (access to good stuff) then why is it stupid to have someone else do the scut work so they can then enjoy the benefits?
How is the WoW scenario any different from the cleaning person scenario? How is it different than *any* task that a person *could* do for themselves, but simply doesn't enjoy, and doesn't feel is an effective use of their time, so they hire someone else?
I've never bought items in a game with real money, and I probably never will - the kinds of games that require grinding and encourage gold farming by their very mechanics simply don't appeal to me - but I certainly don't find it any dumber than any other activity in which people trade money for avoidance of boring labor.