Look, I've played Quake, and if you pointed somewhat close to the guy, you hit him. In Marathon, shooting at someone on a ledge was very difficult. You could be putting shots that hit just 1 pixel over his shoulder. This is more realistic in my opinion. Shooting this way in real life would be hard.
I'm not saying that the 3d engine in OpenGL isn't more advanced! This was 1995. If you were asking "did Marathon2 more realistically (sp?) display the environment of it's game than QuakeI did?" then I'd say "hell yes." There's more to 3d than whether you are using sprites, or what rendering engine, or how many FPS you are getting!
Yah, but I'd rather run a three-tier app. Use a database server to push even more processing to the server and put everything that talks to the DB in COM objects. This is still pretty much centrally administered. I can use the exact same object on a web page (with IIS/Apache with ChilliSoft and ASP) and VB clients. Those clients are pretty "thin" if you lay off all the custom controls on the VB app. They run fine on a p166 w/32meg, which you can get for about $200 ($300 with monitor) I run the install from a web deployment package. I have code in the vb app which checks for a newer version of the exe on the network, if so copies it down. Unless the controls upgrade, I don't need to run the install again. Reports and COM objects that actually get database info and validate inputs are on the server. As long as the class interface doesn't change on the COM object, I just replace it on the server and the client never notices. I KNOW from experience that this setup is a LOT easier to maintain than a Citrix server.
I Played this game at the newspaper I worked at almost every night while we waited for the press to run on our Mac network with 20" monitors (page design workstations). It was SO much fun. We'd play with 8 players doing team events. Thousands of maps.
It was a great series. GREAT solo play. A really good sci-fi story. You had to pay attention to the plot, get clues, not just blow stuff up.
At the time, all my PC friends were playing doom2 (YAWN!) then quake came out. Still looked like crap next to M2 and m2 had real 3d (you know, you had to aim up and down, not just point in the general vicinity).
Anyway, this is good game. These are the folks who did Myth, etc.
Well, I submitted an article, withc several links about how M$ knew this was a problem, was sliding to the *nix way of using static libraries. Win2k is really gonna fix about 90% of the stability problems in Win today. I know most slashdotters don't believe that, but I don't care. I KNOW it to be true.
Yeah, instead you can have a Citrix Metaframe/Windows Terminal Server Comobo that is just a pain in the but to admin. Want to install a custom VB/database app on the server for a 10-20 users? It was an hour-long install and many hours of troubleshooting permissions, etc. Geez, I could have just put the setup on the network, mailed the users a shortcut to the setup, and said "run this please!" or automate it with a silent install and SMS if I really wanted to. I'm telling ya, I've worked with that piece of &*(# at it does NOT save you money. Maybe if you had hundreds or Thousands of clients. Maybe.
Maybe in other places, but, here in Middle America, I've yet to find a SINGLE person who isn't a computer programmer/sysadmin, or makes a living in the computer industry somehow who knows what Linux is. I've yet to have a single client ask about it, etc. Even among people I know who are fairly into computers and stuff (I mean not programmers, but people who at least use a computer at home and aren't on AOL) don't know what it is. This is not meant as a slam or flamebait, just a valid point to counter the "linux is hip and wow" buzz I see posted over and over and over on Slashdot. I've posted this here before, no one's bothered to respond.
When Burns runs for Governor and comes to dinner Bart: "Cool, a media circus!" Bart saying grace: "Dear God, we bought all this stuff ourselves, so thanks for nothing!"
Bart and Milhouse finding $20, getting Slurpees from Apu that are pure syrup and doing a sugar-crazed rendition of "Springfield, Springfield" (the musical) around town.
From the classic "Flaming Moe's" episode: Marge: Well, Homer, maybe you can take some consolation in the fact that something you created is making so many people happy. Homer: [sarcastic] Ooh, look at me! I'm making people happy! I'm the magical man from Happyland, in a gumdrop house on Lollipop Lane! [walks out, slams door] [sticks head back in] Oh, by the way: I was being sarcastic[slams door] Marge: Well, _duh_.
Well, I don't think you are really dissing the movie, but..
2001 appears on almost all critics' top 20 lists. There is a reason for this -- it was completely different in many respects from movies that preceded it. It had a story that really didn't have a conclusion (it built tension, but never released that in SO many ways. I'm not talking a movie that is hard to figure out, but one that is, by it's very nature, personal, not mass.) It was slow. very slow. It had very little dialogue, etc, etc.
In short, while the movie was very popular among many, causing them to sing it's praises and build a cult-type following, there were a fair amount of people (as someone noted below) who "didn't get it." Some became quite insistent it was a piece of crap and were bewildered at critics (and non-critics) who judged it for what it was: a leap forward in cinema.
I was reminded of this the previous summer by The Blair Witch Project, a similiarly ground-breaking movie that a minority of people hated because they "just didn't get it", but most critics hailed as "groundbreaking." Sounds familiar, huh?
Anyway, this comment reminded me and I thought I'd share.
While I am not a scientist, I've read popular physics texts, etc. It seems like our understanding of the physical world is once again due for a radical change as we begin to comprehend the mysteries of the very small and the very large. Of all the major physics theories/breakthroughs so far, which do you think has the greatest chance of being debunked and/or seriously undermined in the coming century? Why?
Let me eleborate on why I got my job b/c of an MCP designation and why they are important. I just got it b/c I'd been admining' a SQL server box for a while, figured I could study for 2-3 weeks on topics I didn't know and pass. I did.
I found out why it's important. Small consulting shops (like the one I work at) want to become an MCSP (M$ Certified Solutions Provider). Why? Well, although some companies won't outsource to a non-MCSP, it's mostly to save $. How? Because the $1395 a year it costs you gets you: A universal MSDN subscription (quarterly updates. This is basically the whole MSDN site on CD), TechNet (betas and SDKs), a 50 license BackOffice (NT Server, SMS, Exchange, IIS package, 10 licenses EACH of the following: Visual Studio Enterprise (that's about $1500 by itself), M$ Office Developer, and all the client OSs (NT workstation, 98, 95, etc).
The thing is, to be an MCSP you have to have so many MCP-certified developer (there are other things, but that's a big one). So regardless, if a smal shop wants an MCSP or to keep it, they want MCPs. Like M$ or not, once again, you have to admire there shrewd marketing.
Yeah. I remember reading that. Incidentally, it was a protest, so they new they would have to surrender their equipment, so she didn't take her reserve chute (didn't want to give it up). Course, I wouldn't think you would have much time to use a reserve on a BASE jump. The woman was 60 plus years old and had done a ton of jumps.
I agree. I have a hotmail address which is soley a spam bucket. Anytime I have to register for a website or some crap, I use it. About once a month I go empty it and just keep the emails that have my pw/username things I want to keep (like Slashdot's for instance). This keeps my home email pretty free of junk.
I would have loved ONE place to go like the Microsoft KB when I was trying to get my redhat going. Yes, I could go to the RH site for most of it, but I often went to a list of other bookmarks as well.
No. They won't. They'll just use a browser redirect to deliver optimized code. This is the wave of the future and the way to go for corporate sites.
Non dynamic sites can accomplish the same thing by having a plain vanilla front with links to different versions.
That's basically what fox did, it sounds like. But they didn't include LInux. I wonder if we'll run into problems like this where minority browsers/platforms aren't supported. Then it becomes harder for new classes of web-enabled devices to get support....
Slashdot Mirror
Look, I've played Quake, and if you pointed somewhat close to the guy, you hit him. In Marathon, shooting at someone on a ledge was very difficult. You could be putting shots that hit just 1 pixel over his shoulder. This is more realistic in my opinion. Shooting this way in real life would be hard.
I'm not saying that the 3d engine in OpenGL isn't more advanced! This was 1995. If you were asking "did Marathon2 more realistically (sp?) display the environment of it's game than QuakeI did?" then I'd say "hell yes." There's more to 3d than whether you are using sprites, or what rendering engine, or how many FPS you are getting!
Yah, but I'd rather run a three-tier app. Use a database server to push even more processing to the server and put everything that talks to the DB in COM objects. This is still pretty much centrally administered. I can use the exact same object on a web page (with IIS/Apache with ChilliSoft and ASP) and VB clients.
Those clients are pretty "thin" if you lay off all the custom controls on the VB app. They run fine on a p166 w/32meg, which you can get for about $200 ($300 with monitor) I run the install from a web deployment package. I have code in the vb app which checks for a newer version of the exe on the network, if so copies it down. Unless the controls upgrade, I don't need to run the install again.
Reports and COM objects that actually get database info and validate inputs are on the server. As long as the class interface doesn't change on the COM object, I just replace it on the server and the client never notices. I KNOW from experience that this setup is a LOT easier to maintain than a Citrix server.
I Played this game at the newspaper I worked at almost every night while we waited for the press to run on our Mac network with 20" monitors (page design workstations). It was SO much fun. We'd play with 8 players doing team events. Thousands of maps.
It was a great series. GREAT solo play. A really good sci-fi story. You had to pay attention to the plot, get clues, not just blow stuff up.
At the time, all my PC friends were playing doom2 (YAWN!) then quake came out. Still looked like crap next to M2 and m2 had real 3d (you know, you had to aim up and down, not just point in the general vicinity).
Anyway, this is good game. These are the folks who did Myth, etc.
Well, I submitted an article, withc several links about how M$ knew this was a problem, was sliding to the *nix way of using static libraries. Win2k is really gonna fix about 90% of the stability problems in Win today. I know most slashdotters don't believe that, but I don't care. I KNOW it to be true.
Well I'm in Norman, OK. And I repeat. Linux has NOT penetrated the mass here.
You "converting" people isn't the same.
I'll be sure to point out when I run into the first person who actually uses linux who hasn't assembled there own computer.
Yeah, instead you can have a Citrix Metaframe/Windows Terminal Server Comobo that is just a pain in the but to admin. Want to install a custom VB/database app on the server for a 10-20 users? It was an hour-long install and many hours of troubleshooting permissions, etc. Geez, I could have just put the setup on the network, mailed the users a shortcut to the setup, and said "run this please!" or automate it with a silent install and SMS if I really wanted to. I'm telling ya, I've worked with that piece of &*(# at it does NOT save you money. Maybe if you had hundreds or Thousands of clients. Maybe.
Maybe in other places, but, here in Middle America, I've yet to find a SINGLE person who isn't a computer programmer/sysadmin, or makes a living in the computer industry somehow who knows what Linux is. I've yet to have a single client ask about it, etc. Even among people I know who are fairly into computers and stuff (I mean not programmers, but people who at least use a computer at home and aren't on AOL) don't know what it is.
This is not meant as a slam or flamebait, just a valid point to counter the "linux is hip and wow" buzz I see posted over and over and over on Slashdot. I've posted this here before, no one's bothered to respond.
I can die a happy man. I used to have this and lost it.
another:
Homer (singing to the tune of Flintstone's, while acting it out i.e., getting off work, driving car home, etc.)
Simpson, Homer Simpson,
He's the greatest guy in history.
From the town of Springfield,
He's about to hit a chestnut tree.
Ahhh.... crash.
That's priceless. Anyone point me to a sound clip?
... as was the style in those days. :)
.... also "Born to first post" and "Slashdot's Greatest Flamewars II"
Since lots will weigh in, here's some of mine:
When Burns runs for Governor and comes to dinner
Bart: "Cool, a media circus!"
Bart saying grace: "Dear God, we bought all this stuff ourselves, so thanks for nothing!"
Bart and Milhouse finding $20, getting Slurpees from Apu that are pure syrup and doing a sugar-crazed rendition of "Springfield, Springfield" (the musical) around town.
From the classic "Flaming Moe's" episode:
Marge: Well, Homer, maybe you can take some consolation in the fact that something you created is making so many people happy.
Homer: [sarcastic] Ooh, look at me! I'm making people happy! I'm the magical man from Happyland, in a gumdrop house on Lollipop Lane!
[walks out, slams door]
[sticks head back in] Oh, by the way: I was being sarcastic[slams door]
Marge: Well, _duh_.
Well, I don't think you are really dissing the movie, but..
2001 appears on almost all critics' top 20 lists. There is a reason for this -- it was completely different in many respects from movies that preceded it. It had a story that really didn't have a conclusion (it built tension, but never released that in SO many ways. I'm not talking a movie that is hard to figure out, but one that is, by it's very nature, personal, not mass.) It was slow. very slow. It had very little dialogue, etc, etc.
In short, while the movie was very popular among many, causing them to sing it's praises and build a cult-type following, there were a fair amount of people (as someone noted below) who "didn't get it." Some became quite insistent it was a piece of crap and were bewildered at critics (and non-critics) who judged it for what it was: a leap forward in cinema.
I was reminded of this the previous summer by The Blair Witch Project, a similiarly ground-breaking movie that a minority of people hated because they "just didn't get it", but most critics hailed as "groundbreaking." Sounds familiar, huh?
Anyway, this comment reminded me and I thought I'd share.
While I am not a scientist, I've read popular physics texts, etc. It seems like our understanding of the physical world is once again due for a radical change as we begin to comprehend the mysteries of the very small and the very large. Of all the major physics theories/breakthroughs so far, which do you think has the greatest chance of being debunked and/or seriously undermined in the coming century? Why?
Let me eleborate on why I got my job b/c of an MCP designation and why they are important. I just got it b/c I'd been admining' a SQL server box for a while, figured I could study for 2-3 weeks on topics I didn't know and pass. I did.
I found out why it's important. Small consulting shops (like the one I work at) want to become an MCSP (M$ Certified Solutions Provider). Why? Well, although some companies won't outsource to a non-MCSP, it's mostly to save $. How? Because the $1395 a year it costs you gets you: A universal MSDN subscription (quarterly updates. This is basically the whole MSDN site on CD), TechNet (betas and SDKs), a 50 license BackOffice (NT Server, SMS, Exchange, IIS package, 10 licenses EACH of the following: Visual Studio Enterprise (that's about $1500 by itself), M$ Office Developer, and all the client OSs (NT workstation, 98, 95, etc).
The thing is, to be an MCSP you have to have so many MCP-certified developer (there are other things, but that's a big one). So regardless, if a smal shop wants an MCSP or to keep it, they want MCPs. Like M$ or not, once again, you have to admire there shrewd marketing.
I was thinking the same thing. You folks can laugh at MCP all you want. I wouldn't have gotten the job I have now without it.
Thanks for the excuse to get a beer with lunch!
Yeah. I remember reading that. Incidentally, it was a protest, so they new they would have to surrender their equipment, so she didn't take her reserve chute (didn't want to give it up). Course, I wouldn't think you would have much time to use a reserve on a BASE jump. The woman was 60 plus years old and had done a ton of jumps.
why don't you try reading the book (online version). if you are interested in what he is talking about.
---
I agree. I have a hotmail address which is soley a spam bucket. Anytime I have to register for a website or some crap, I use it. About once a month I go empty it and just keep the emails that have my pw/username things I want to keep (like Slashdot's for instance). This keeps my home email pretty free of junk.
Just think of it as evolution in action
(sorry, not my line. Larry Niven, Oath of Fealty
thanks! Great link. Hadn't seen that....
I would have loved ONE place to go like the Microsoft KB when I was trying to get my redhat going. Yes, I could go to the RH site for most of it, but I often went to a list of other bookmarks as well.
"Life will find a way"
No. They won't. They'll just use a browser redirect to deliver optimized code. This is the wave of the future and the way to go for corporate sites.
Non dynamic sites can accomplish the same thing by having a plain vanilla front with links to different versions.
That's basically what fox did, it sounds like. But they didn't include LInux. I wonder if we'll run into problems like this where minority browsers/platforms aren't supported. Then it becomes harder for new classes of web-enabled devices to get support....