However, if you sell demos that happen to get cracked and this drives out the competition then its all legal and you can't get sued in a trust case.
Exactly. That gives the perfect alibi. "No, no, we expected people to use it and buy it afterwards! It's not our fault that hundreds of thousands of people now use our products for $5 and a crack instead of our competitor's $200 version! We are just so very much the real victim here!"
Right.
But think about it. Apple releases their operating system for Intel/AMD. Millions of people pirate it and install it on their own systems. Millions of people now become familiar with OS X for x86 and like what they see. Apple convinces major PC vendors to offer OS X for x86 as an option for new systems. Millions of people purchase their next system with OS X. Licensing fees for Apple; higher demand for Apple software and Apple products.
All hypothetical? Perhaps. But look at history. That's exactly what happened to Microsoft.
Between Windows, Apple OS, and Linux, real competition for the desktop could actually return which should be better for the consumer through genuine innovation (as per the real definition of innovation, not Microsoft's definition) to one-up the competition.
As for Microsoft, piracy isn't the reason they're huge -- stuffing their OS into all the off-the-shelf computers at your local store is the reason they're huge.
Sorry, but I have to disagree. Don't you think that if people were not already familiar with Windows due to piracy that something else, such as Macintosh, would have been more popular when it came time to purchasing a new system? I'd love to know how many people stayed away from Mac, which I think the vast majority of us can agree was friendlier to new computer users than Windows, because they were already familiar with that Windows 3.1 that their cousin installed on their PC for them.
No, your statement was not a flame. There are several "incidents" that have helped to solidify Microsoft's dominanace, and piracy can most certainly be attributed to that.
The aformentioned incident about Windows 3.1 is most certainly valid. Look at how many people pirated numerous versions of Windows since the early 1990s. This allowed people to become familiar with the operating system. Then, when it came time for people to purchase a new system, what operating system do you think they would have gotten with it (assuming that they had a choice)? Some operating system that was unknown to the general populous, like OS/2, or something that they already knew well because they had been using a pirated version? Since the operating system came with the PC, Microsoft got a fee for that PC sale. So, whereas MS didn't profit from the initial piracy, they still made a sale later on and further addicted the user to Windows.
I still firmly believe that the "crack" for the Kinko's version of MS Office several years ago was planned. For those who don't know or don't remember, U.S. printing franchise Kinko's had a "special" 30-day, full-usage CD for MS Office (I forget the specific version) for something like $5. Shortly thereafter a crack was released that broke the 30-day protection. The change was a simple modification to a DLL file and a huge nuber of these discs were sold. I'm generally not a conspiracy theorist, but if there was a lot of concern for the "protection" of the "demo" software, Microsoft would (or should) have made it more difficult than a DLL file for protection. I also heard nothing afterwards about prosecuting the one who released the crack. So, for a few bucks per cracked disc, Microsoft snared how many hundreds of thousands (possibly millions) of people into Microsoft Office. I'd just about guarantee that the vast majority of those people are still using a version of MS Office. Whether those versions are pirated or not is another matter, but I'll bet that many of them are not.
I really would like to know how much of Microsoft's current dominance is due to past piracy. I'll bet that Microsoft would not be anywhere close to where it is now if there was no such thing as software piracy.
And how many of us have pirated a number of games that we otherwise would not have bought but were so impressive that we purchased what was downloaded and/or purchased any of its sequels or expansion packs? I would think many of us.
I honestly think that there can be an argument made that piracy can under certain circumstances make a product more popular, and Microsoft's dominance is certainly what should be offered as proof of that. I would be willing to bet that Apple would be in the same situation. I know a number of people that I work with (myself included) who would love to work with OS X but are not willing to purchase an additional piece of hardware that we might not be interested in afterwards. But we'd be glad to try it out on one of my Athlon XP/64 systems.
Showing my age by mentioning OS/2, I know, but they did everything that they could to cripple OS/2 from running Windows 3.1 in a virtual environment. I can't see any reason why they would not do the reverse.
Honestly, though, this looks more like an attack against WINE. If you run WINE within Linux, you don't need a license for Windows. If you run UNIX within Windows, you still need to have a Windows license. You'll get the same effect - Windows and Linux on the same system - either way; however, there is money for Microsoft with this new scheme of theirs whereas there is no money for Microsoft when running WINE under Linux.
Fair enough. Then again, considering that Java 1.4 breaks a lot of stuff meant for Java 1.2.1, I shouldn't be surprised that Sun makes software that's not backwards compatible.
What happened to backwards compatibility in Linux?;)
Seriously though, are you just looking at that from the software specifications or have you actually tried and failed to install it on a newer release? I'm not being sarcastic by that. There are a lot of things that were designed for Windows 95 that run fine in Windows XP. Similarly, there have been many times where I can run a Solaris 7 or even Solaris 6 binary in Solaris 9 without a problem. Since I don't work with Red Hat or Fedora Core, I cannot determine if what you say is true or not. But I must admit that I'd be disapponted if JSDS didn't run on newer versions of RH/FC.
Granted, this doesn't fit everything, but when it comes to Solaris environments, I've found that Sun Java System Directory Server fits the bill quite nicely. Don't get me wrong. I have not tried this outside of a Solaris environment, so I don't know how easy it is to implement into other operating systems like Slashdot's oh-so-precious Linux, but JSDS is available for Linux as well.
Your first requirement was not always the case. JSDS was a BITCH to install when I first started to work with it. It took me weeks to figure out, but after several test installs and documenting exactly what I did each time, I can now have a complete JSDS server for user authentication installed in about 15 minutes. (I plan on releasing my currently-64-page manual for installing and configuring it publically in the coming weeks.)
Don't know about your second requirement, as I haven't really tried it. There are only 4 admins for our entire company, so we all need equal access to the schema.
The rest are definitely there. JSDS contains a GUI client that the other admins and I use all of the time to look at data. It's not web based, but it provides access to almost every facet of the directory structure and configuration. Integration into other Solaris boxes is a breeze - run one command, fix the nsswitch.conf afterwards, and make some relatively simple pam.conf modifications. {Ding} Done.
As I said, and as I'm sure I will get flamed for, I have not tried it outside of a Solaris environment; however, I have found messages from others on the Net who currently use it with AIX and Linux as clients.
And don't complain about it not being open source. It comes with Solaris 10 and it's available as a free download. Although Sun claims that you need a license to use more than 100,000 entries, they don't do anything to enforce it.;)
Actually, I disagree. Many people have to deal with hour-long (or more) train rides to or from work. When I was visiting England last year, it took over an hour to get from London to Slough, which is only about 30 miles or so outside of London. I would have LOVED to watch something like "Monty Python" while in the train. That device is not small, especially when compared to things like USB MP3 players, but it's certainly small enough to fit in a briefcase or perhaps even a belt pouch of some type. During colder months, it could easily fit in a coat's inner pocket.
No matter how you look at it, it's a better alternative than lugging around a laptop if you want to watch video instead of just listen to music.
Uh, yes, it IS widescreen by definition.
on
Archos Widescreen PMP
·
· Score: 4, Informative
Excuse me? This unit gives a screen aspect ratio of 2.05:1. This is about 15% wider than widescreen TVs, which have an aspect ratio of 16:9 or roughly 1.78:1. So, it is not "somehow" widescreen -- it is widescreen. Whoever modded you as "insightful" needs to be modded "-1 clueless".
Oh, great. Now this unit will give the anti-widescreen crowd a reason to bitch about why 16:9 movies have the black bars in the sides. Wonderful.:)
HDTV has resolutions greater than 720 x 1080 scan lines. We're talking about some 480 x 234 on this device. This DVR doesn't comes anywhere close to HD.
Additionally, to get hi-def out you need component cables. Component cables (high-quality ones in particular) are thick and bulky to reduce interference and signal loss. One set of decent component cables would probably weigh more than this device.
Honestly, if you want a portable HD setup you might as well go out and buy a new laptop with a nice, big screen.
Almost as much as sending a C&D letter to a kid who found out that bypassing your copy-protection was as simple as holding down the Shift key before the CD spins up.
All that this allows people to do is to gain some extra functionality that they otherwise didn't have. There is no reason to believe that the license key would not be accepted as valid or that this is somehow a major violation. Home and Pro don't even take the same license key... er... not that I've tried.
It's not illegal for me to modify a copy of my Star Wars:ANH DVD that I legally paid for so that Han fires first. It's not illegal for me to tell people how to let them make a copy of the DVD that they legally paid for so that Han fires first. It is illegal if I distribute or sell my modified copy, which I am not willing to do. The same thing goes for this little, XP hack. It still doesn't turn it into XP Pro. It's XP Home with some extra features. There's nothing illegal about it until a copy of it passes from my hands to someone else's.
I was thinking the same thing. I've always wanted to get an Apple system for the experience of it, but the costs were always prohibitive. The Mac mini makes that much easier to achieve because of the cost, not the form factor.
This is a "move along, nothing to see here" thing for the PC world. I still would not mind scrapping most of my main desktops and replacing them with Shuttle systems -- except for my main gaming system, which of course has to be a pimped out, mega-system to satisfy the geekiness in me.:) But I don't see how making a Mac look-alike for the PC world is going to bring about the oohs and aahs that Intel thinks it will. With the cost of PCs and PC parts being what they are, there is no real advantage to this system over a Cappuchino or Shuttle system except for Intel to say, "Me, too!"
At the end of the last movie, we subtly realize that Data performed a "core dump" into B9. The one song that we was whistling in the beginning happened to be the same song that B9 was whistling at the very end. It's been a while since I've seen the DVD, so I can't remember exactly what happened, but it's clear that although Data as a physical machine is gone, at least part of who he was became a part of B9. So, it's always possible to play on that arc as well should they ever wish to revisit TNG crew. That actually could add some dimension (aka. the Seven-of-Nine arc on Voyager, which was one of the only good character arcs of the whole, putrid show) but it could never be developed properly in a single movie.
Regardless, that's probably all academic now as I doubt that they'll make another movie with the Next Gen crew. You never know, though.
How arrogant. Look, I realize that there are many negatives about going to a theatre - the assholes with their cell phones, kids whose parents won't shut them up, etc. - but I still will not settle for a BitTorrent rip if given the option of going to the theatre. A 50+-foot diagonal screen (that's a guess; I'm not sure about their actual dimensions) that dwarfs my 55" Mitsu 16:9 TV, a full sound system that dwarfs my 5.1 system, and popcorn that just doesn't come out that good from a microwave, depending on the theatre since some theatres' popcorn sucks while others' are fantastic - a positive theatrical experience is often far better than a positive home theatre experience.
The MPAA is being absolutely ridiculous with this charge, particularly since the BitTorrent version is a work print, not necessarily the final theatrical version. Quite frankly, I question whether or not anyone who would settle for the BitTorrent version as a replacement really had any desire to see the movie theatrically anyway.
The ethically-holier-than-thou "infringement is infringement is infringement is infringement is infringement" people be damned. This is just another excuse for the **AA to try to shut down what they fear rather than adjust their marketing strategies to take advantage of using the Internet for legitimate distribution.
Let me guess. You're one of "those" moderators who enjoy censoring people down instead of saving your points for those who should more rightfully be modded up. I'm glad that my life is apparently not as miserable as yours. Methinks thou dost protest too much. Methinks thou are also a moron. Of course, if you have to use Anonymous Coward I have to question the validity of your convictions as well.
Yeah, and probably pay $1,000 more for the board and UltraSPARC module than even a high-quality AMD-compatible motherboard and Athlon 64 3600+ just because of the Sun brand.
Don't get me wrong. I'm a Sun bigot with a lot of Sun hardware in my house (all free, fortunately). But their outrageous prices have always been one of my hatreds for them, and I doubt that this motherboard is any different. Considering that they don't even list a price (even under "Price and Buy"), that makes me even more worried about the cost.
The SX1500 and SX2500 might be barebone motherboards, but that one Sun motherboard + UltraSPARC module could probably buy four or five decent AMD CPU + MB combinations.
Another problem with on-board video is that more they almost always use the system's RAM for their memory. Unless you have a lot of RAM (512 MB+) that can really impact the system because the memory is taken away from the operating system. More than that, lag of having to go through system circuitry instead of through its own on-board memory could also be a factor, especially if you don't have really fast system memory.
I understand what you are saying. I recently went shopping for a new DIY system and the amount of hardware that's already on the motherboard is staggering.
But considering that even good motherboards that are loaded can be found for roughly the same price as loaded motherboards, why not just get the motherboard that's loaded, go into the BIOS, and disable the device that you don't want to use? Then you can at least use the on-board as a backup system should your hardware cards fail.
For example, if you get a motherboard with 8.1 audio but you don't have an 8.1 speaker system, disable the on-board audio and use whatever sound card you prefer. If you sound card dies, get into the BIOS, turn on the on-board audio, load the drivers, and keep going.
In my recent experience, barebones motherboards really do not provide a better value compared to motherboards that have a lot of on-board hardwar e. This is particularly true when you can just disable the functions that you don't want in the BIOS.
After all, you never know when having that "on-board, backup" hardware might come in handy - especially if something happens to your sound card (for example) when all of the PC stores are closed and your on-line game with your buddies is scheduled to start in 15 minutes! Then you'll be glad to have on-board functionality!
I hope they release a DVD boxed set of all TOS and TNG episodes; I'd buy it in a minute.
I'm a bit puzzled by this statement as the entire Star Trek series (except for Enterprise) has been released on DVD, TOS included. Even Enterprise has a few seasons out on DVD already.
If you're looking for a single boxed set of every series, then no, there is no such thing. However, all of the episodes are available on DVD in boxed, season sets. So, I'm very curious as to why you seem to think that they're not available. Worse comes to worst, you can buy them in R1/NTSC format with a DVD player that converts.
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All they need to do is support a very narrow range of hardware, so OS X won't run on 99% of non-Apple PCs.
You mean like Solaris x86? Maybe Apple can get some tips on how to restrict PC-based hardware from Sun Microsystems. They're masters at it.
However, if you sell demos that happen to get cracked and this drives out the competition then its all legal and you can't get sued in a trust case.
Exactly. That gives the perfect alibi. "No, no, we expected people to use it and buy it afterwards! It's not our fault that hundreds of thousands of people now use our products for $5 and a crack instead of our competitor's $200 version! We are just so very much the real victim here!"
Right.
But think about it. Apple releases their operating system for Intel/AMD. Millions of people pirate it and install it on their own systems. Millions of people now become familiar with OS X for x86 and like what they see. Apple convinces major PC vendors to offer OS X for x86 as an option for new systems. Millions of people purchase their next system with OS X. Licensing fees for Apple; higher demand for Apple software and Apple products.
All hypothetical? Perhaps. But look at history. That's exactly what happened to Microsoft.
Between Windows, Apple OS, and Linux, real competition for the desktop could actually return which should be better for the consumer through genuine innovation (as per the real definition of innovation, not Microsoft's definition) to one-up the competition.
As for Microsoft, piracy isn't the reason they're huge -- stuffing their OS into all the off-the-shelf computers at your local store is the reason they're huge.
Sorry, but I have to disagree. Don't you think that if people were not already familiar with Windows due to piracy that something else, such as Macintosh, would have been more popular when it came time to purchasing a new system? I'd love to know how many people stayed away from Mac, which I think the vast majority of us can agree was friendlier to new computer users than Windows, because they were already familiar with that Windows 3.1 that their cousin installed on their PC for them.
No, your statement was not a flame. There are several "incidents" that have helped to solidify Microsoft's dominanace, and piracy can most certainly be attributed to that.
The aformentioned incident about Windows 3.1 is most certainly valid. Look at how many people pirated numerous versions of Windows since the early 1990s. This allowed people to become familiar with the operating system. Then, when it came time for people to purchase a new system, what operating system do you think they would have gotten with it (assuming that they had a choice)? Some operating system that was unknown to the general populous, like OS/2, or something that they already knew well because they had been using a pirated version? Since the operating system came with the PC, Microsoft got a fee for that PC sale. So, whereas MS didn't profit from the initial piracy, they still made a sale later on and further addicted the user to Windows.
I still firmly believe that the "crack" for the Kinko's version of MS Office several years ago was planned. For those who don't know or don't remember, U.S. printing franchise Kinko's had a "special" 30-day, full-usage CD for MS Office (I forget the specific version) for something like $5. Shortly thereafter a crack was released that broke the 30-day protection. The change was a simple modification to a DLL file and a huge nuber of these discs were sold. I'm generally not a conspiracy theorist, but if there was a lot of concern for the "protection" of the "demo" software, Microsoft would (or should) have made it more difficult than a DLL file for protection. I also heard nothing afterwards about prosecuting the one who released the crack. So, for a few bucks per cracked disc, Microsoft snared how many hundreds of thousands (possibly millions) of people into Microsoft Office. I'd just about guarantee that the vast majority of those people are still using a version of MS Office. Whether those versions are pirated or not is another matter, but I'll bet that many of them are not.
I really would like to know how much of Microsoft's current dominance is due to past piracy. I'll bet that Microsoft would not be anywhere close to where it is now if there was no such thing as software piracy.
And how many of us have pirated a number of games that we otherwise would not have bought but were so impressive that we purchased what was downloaded and/or purchased any of its sequels or expansion packs? I would think many of us.
I honestly think that there can be an argument made that piracy can under certain circumstances make a product more popular, and Microsoft's dominance is certainly what should be offered as proof of that. I would be willing to bet that Apple would be in the same situation. I know a number of people that I work with (myself included) who would love to work with OS X but are not willing to purchase an additional piece of hardware that we might not be interested in afterwards. But we'd be glad to try it out on one of my Athlon XP/64 systems.
Showing my age by mentioning OS/2, I know, but they did everything that they could to cripple OS/2 from running Windows 3.1 in a virtual environment. I can't see any reason why they would not do the reverse.
Honestly, though, this looks more like an attack against WINE. If you run WINE within Linux, you don't need a license for Windows. If you run UNIX within Windows, you still need to have a Windows license. You'll get the same effect - Windows and Linux on the same system - either way; however, there is money for Microsoft with this new scheme of theirs whereas there is no money for Microsoft when running WINE under Linux.
Fair enough. Then again, considering that Java 1.4 breaks a lot of stuff meant for Java 1.2.1, I shouldn't be surprised that Sun makes software that's not backwards compatible.
What happened to backwards compatibility in Linux? ;)
Seriously though, are you just looking at that from the software specifications or have you actually tried and failed to install it on a newer release? I'm not being sarcastic by that. There are a lot of things that were designed for Windows 95 that run fine in Windows XP. Similarly, there have been many times where I can run a Solaris 7 or even Solaris 6 binary in Solaris 9 without a problem. Since I don't work with Red Hat or Fedora Core, I cannot determine if what you say is true or not. But I must admit that I'd be disapponted if JSDS didn't run on newer versions of RH/FC.
Granted, this doesn't fit everything, but when it comes to Solaris environments, I've found that Sun Java System Directory Server fits the bill quite nicely. Don't get me wrong. I have not tried this outside of a Solaris environment, so I don't know how easy it is to implement into other operating systems like Slashdot's oh-so-precious Linux, but JSDS is available for Linux as well.
;)
Your first requirement was not always the case. JSDS was a BITCH to install when I first started to work with it. It took me weeks to figure out, but after several test installs and documenting exactly what I did each time, I can now have a complete JSDS server for user authentication installed in about 15 minutes. (I plan on releasing my currently-64-page manual for installing and configuring it publically in the coming weeks.)
Don't know about your second requirement, as I haven't really tried it. There are only 4 admins for our entire company, so we all need equal access to the schema.
The rest are definitely there. JSDS contains a GUI client that the other admins and I use all of the time to look at data. It's not web based, but it provides access to almost every facet of the directory structure and configuration. Integration into other Solaris boxes is a breeze - run one command, fix the nsswitch.conf afterwards, and make some relatively simple pam.conf modifications. {Ding} Done.
As I said, and as I'm sure I will get flamed for, I have not tried it outside of a Solaris environment; however, I have found messages from others on the Net who currently use it with AIX and Linux as clients.
And don't complain about it not being open source. It comes with Solaris 10 and it's available as a free download. Although Sun claims that you need a license to use more than 100,000 entries, they don't do anything to enforce it.
Actually, I disagree. Many people have to deal with hour-long (or more) train rides to or from work. When I was visiting England last year, it took over an hour to get from London to Slough, which is only about 30 miles or so outside of London. I would have LOVED to watch something like "Monty Python" while in the train. That device is not small, especially when compared to things like USB MP3 players, but it's certainly small enough to fit in a briefcase or perhaps even a belt pouch of some type. During colder months, it could easily fit in a coat's inner pocket.
No matter how you look at it, it's a better alternative than lugging around a laptop if you want to watch video instead of just listen to music.
Excuse me? This unit gives a screen aspect ratio of 2.05:1. This is about 15% wider than widescreen TVs, which have an aspect ratio of 16:9 or roughly 1.78:1. So, it is not "somehow" widescreen -- it is widescreen. Whoever modded you as "insightful" needs to be modded "-1 clueless".
:)
Oh, great. Now this unit will give the anti-widescreen crowd a reason to bitch about why 16:9 movies have the black bars in the sides. Wonderful.
HDTV has resolutions greater than 720 x 1080 scan lines. We're talking about some 480 x 234 on this device. This DVR doesn't comes anywhere close to HD.
Additionally, to get hi-def out you need component cables. Component cables (high-quality ones in particular) are thick and bulky to reduce interference and signal loss. One set of decent component cables would probably weigh more than this device.
Honestly, if you want a portable HD setup you might as well go out and buy a new laptop with a nice, big screen.
Well, unless you know of a way to erase a non-rewritable DVD and record over it, I'm quite certain that you can't hack a DVD.
Almost as much as sending a C&D letter to a kid who found out that bypassing your copy-protection was as simple as holding down the Shift key before the CD spins up.
... er ... not that I've tried.
All that this allows people to do is to gain some extra functionality that they otherwise didn't have. There is no reason to believe that the license key would not be accepted as valid or that this is somehow a major violation. Home and Pro don't even take the same license key
It's not illegal for me to modify a copy of my Star Wars:ANH DVD that I legally paid for so that Han fires first. It's not illegal for me to tell people how to let them make a copy of the DVD that they legally paid for so that Han fires first. It is illegal if I distribute or sell my modified copy, which I am not willing to do. The same thing goes for this little, XP hack. It still doesn't turn it into XP Pro. It's XP Home with some extra features. There's nothing illegal about it until a copy of it passes from my hands to someone else's.
Fair enough. I remember it being listed as B-9 as it was a play on "benign". Just confirmed his name as "B-4" on the DVD, though.
http://www.trektoday.com/news/160701_05.shtml
>>Cappuchino
And it's obvious from my proof-reading skills (or lack thereof) that I could use a good cappuccino right now to wake me up. *sigh*
I was thinking the same thing. I've always wanted to get an Apple system for the experience of it, but the costs were always prohibitive. The Mac mini makes that much easier to achieve because of the cost, not the form factor.
:) But I don't see how making a Mac look-alike for the PC world is going to bring about the oohs and aahs that Intel thinks it will. With the cost of PCs and PC parts being what they are, there is no real advantage to this system over a Cappuchino or Shuttle system except for Intel to say, "Me, too!"
This is a "move along, nothing to see here" thing for the PC world. I still would not mind scrapping most of my main desktops and replacing them with Shuttle systems -- except for my main gaming system, which of course has to be a pimped out, mega-system to satisfy the geekiness in me.
At the end of the last movie, we subtly realize that Data performed a "core dump" into B9. The one song that we was whistling in the beginning happened to be the same song that B9 was whistling at the very end. It's been a while since I've seen the DVD, so I can't remember exactly what happened, but it's clear that although Data as a physical machine is gone, at least part of who he was became a part of B9. So, it's always possible to play on that arc as well should they ever wish to revisit TNG crew. That actually could add some dimension (aka. the Seven-of-Nine arc on Voyager, which was one of the only good character arcs of the whole, putrid show) but it could never be developed properly in a single movie.
Regardless, that's probably all academic now as I doubt that they'll make another movie with the Next Gen crew. You never know, though.
How arrogant. Look, I realize that there are many negatives about going to a theatre - the assholes with their cell phones, kids whose parents won't shut them up, etc. - but I still will not settle for a BitTorrent rip if given the option of going to the theatre. A 50+-foot diagonal screen (that's a guess; I'm not sure about their actual dimensions) that dwarfs my 55" Mitsu 16:9 TV, a full sound system that dwarfs my 5.1 system, and popcorn that just doesn't come out that good from a microwave, depending on the theatre since some theatres' popcorn sucks while others' are fantastic - a positive theatrical experience is often far better than a positive home theatre experience.
The MPAA is being absolutely ridiculous with this charge, particularly since the BitTorrent version is a work print, not necessarily the final theatrical version. Quite frankly, I question whether or not anyone who would settle for the BitTorrent version as a replacement really had any desire to see the movie theatrically anyway.
The ethically-holier-than-thou "infringement is infringement is infringement is infringement is infringement" people be damned. This is just another excuse for the **AA to try to shut down what they fear rather than adjust their marketing strategies to take advantage of using the Internet for legitimate distribution.
Let me guess. You're one of "those" moderators who enjoy censoring people down instead of saving your points for those who should more rightfully be modded up. I'm glad that my life is apparently not as miserable as yours. Methinks thou dost protest too much. Methinks thou are also a moron. Of course, if you have to use Anonymous Coward I have to question the validity of your convictions as well.
I'm not fat! I'm big-boned!
Yeah, and probably pay $1,000 more for the board and UltraSPARC module than even a high-quality AMD-compatible motherboard and Athlon 64 3600+ just because of the Sun brand.
Don't get me wrong. I'm a Sun bigot with a lot of Sun hardware in my house (all free, fortunately). But their outrageous prices have always been one of my hatreds for them, and I doubt that this motherboard is any different. Considering that they don't even list a price (even under "Price and Buy"), that makes me even more worried about the cost.
The SX1500 and SX2500 might be barebone motherboards, but that one Sun motherboard + UltraSPARC module could probably buy four or five decent AMD CPU + MB combinations.
Another problem with on-board video is that more they almost always use the system's RAM for their memory. Unless you have a lot of RAM (512 MB+) that can really impact the system because the memory is taken away from the operating system. More than that, lag of having to go through system circuitry instead of through its own on-board memory could also be a factor, especially if you don't have really fast system memory.
But considering that even good motherboards that are loaded can be found for roughly the same price as loaded motherboards
So much for my proofreading skills. Oh, well. You know what I meant.
I understand what you are saying. I recently went shopping for a new DIY system and the amount of hardware that's already on the motherboard is staggering.
But considering that even good motherboards that are loaded can be found for roughly the same price as loaded motherboards, why not just get the motherboard that's loaded, go into the BIOS, and disable the device that you don't want to use? Then you can at least use the on-board as a backup system should your hardware cards fail.
For example, if you get a motherboard with 8.1 audio but you don't have an 8.1 speaker system, disable the on-board audio and use whatever sound card you prefer. If you sound card dies, get into the BIOS, turn on the on-board audio, load the drivers, and keep going.
In my recent experience, barebones motherboards really do not provide a better value compared to motherboards that have a lot of on-board hardwar e. This is particularly true when you can just disable the functions that you don't want in the BIOS.
After all, you never know when having that "on-board, backup" hardware might come in handy - especially if something happens to your sound card (for example) when all of the PC stores are closed and your on-line game with your buddies is scheduled to start in 15 minutes! Then you'll be glad to have on-board functionality!
I hope they release a DVD boxed set of all TOS and TNG episodes; I'd buy it in a minute.
I'm a bit puzzled by this statement as the entire Star Trek series (except for Enterprise) has been released on DVD, TOS included. Even Enterprise has a few seasons out on DVD already.
If you're looking for a single boxed set of every series, then no, there is no such thing. However, all of the episodes are available on DVD in boxed, season sets. So, I'm very curious as to why you seem to think that they're not available. Worse comes to worst, you can buy them in R1/NTSC format with a DVD player that converts.