I'm with you on this one, interactivity to me suggests a 2-way process.
Books and films don't change depending on your own actions. Games, it could be argued, do - at least to a certain extent. I think it's perfectly possible to create a game which is only just interactive, in the sense that no matter what you do, the same things happen.
Which basically means to me that the best way to create a truly interactive game is to have multiple branching storylines and good AI. Not many games have managed that yet... perhaps that's the next step.
To everyone who's replied to my comment. I should have stated that Windows wasn't a generic term for an operating system until Microsoft trademarked it.
That's what I was referring to, not the generic use of windows as a whole. Or as a hole, covered with glass.
As this whole discussion is related to a SPECIFIC use of a name as a trademark, I think some of you have been a little picky;)
Microsoft oddly enough recommend that nobody should ever lock out the use of the Windows keys. This is in their developer documentation. However, I think games need to handle it better. Too many times I've played games where accidentally hitting the Win-key or alt+tab kicks you back to the desktop but then the game is unable to resume. There's no excuse for that, it's just sloppy coding.
I haven't told any kids because, with the exception of one of my cousins who is 10 and interested in pretty much everything, the majority of the other "small people" I come across are a little young to be exposing to programming (they're 3).
Certainly MS should advertise the free stuff more, I guess partly they don't want to detract from people willing to pay out for the expensive packages (still worth it if you/your employer can afford it, the integrated systems do make life easier). I suppose the OSS people should also try to get peoples attention more as well, but unfortunately the support for such packages tends to come across as RTFM NOOB! whenever someone is confused about simple things - which often happens when someone is just starting out.
I'm sure we're in agreement that encouraging kids to code is a good thing though. At worst they'll pick up some useful logic skills which aren't emphasised nearly enough in modern education. Yes, in my opinion it's logic, not maths, that is essential for programming (with the exception of binary and hex). Still, I suppose while the kids aren't learning, it'll make the skills that we have much more valued later in life because there'll be a much smaller next generation coming along after us!
Thousands of pounds for a Windows IDE? I call bullshit on you. There's dozens of free alternatives, even from Microsoft themselves. Such as these - http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/
You can also download the C++ compiler and tools for free from MS as well. Granted it's maybe not an open-source alternative, but I'll leave that to other people better informed - myself, I'll use the best (and most widely used) tools for the job, regardless of who publishes them.
If kids are interested in games specifically there's also the XNA Game Studio Express line, which I've used myself and is very nice indeed.
I don't unfortunately know anyone who's just getting into programming for the first time and needs some extra encouragement, but be sure that if I did I'd give them whatever help and advice they needed. The simple fact is, some people can do it and some people can't. Oddly enough some people are put off by the perceived complexity of the code, other people (such as myself the first time) find it addictive.
The majority (and I mean, the _vast_ majority) of people currently running XP aren't the sort of people who will buy Vista off the shelves. They're people who will simply buy a new PC with it pre-packaged. In short, Vista is going to take off whether the Slashdot crowd believe it or not, and whether it's the best operating system or not. Most home users will simply not have heard of Linux at all, much less have considered it as a viable choice. They'll probably have heard of MacOS, but that's more visible in the marketplace.
For myself, I want Vista. It's a worthwhile upgrade as far as I'm concerned, as a user and a developer.
I don't care about monopoly, I care about fairness. So in my mind, if all the *nix distros and Apple can bundle browsers, MS should be allowed to as well. Level playing field, that's in the best interest of us all.
The FlashGot extension doesn't just work with FlashGet, but also quite a few other download managers. I personally use Free Download Manager with mine, but I'm looking for a better one. I do agree though, FlashGet sucks!
Add on the system for changing over farmers to the Single Payment Scheme... I was forced to work on that, and it sucked total balls. Fell over every 15 minutes tops, usually losing all the work you'd done to that point. EDS again. High quality development.
If you believe any of this crap, you're pretty much totally gullible. I'm not even going to try to refute your points because they are quite simply, not worth my time.
Conspiracy theorists the world over are all the same, looking for connections that simply aren't there in the first place! And of course since this one comes from a 'published' author, he's obviously out there to make money in any case - best way to do that is to be as controversial as possible.
If this was true, the Bush administration would never have allowed the book to be published, freedom of the press or not.
3DFX SLI = Scan Line Interleaving Nvidia SLI = Scalable Link Interface
Yes, Nvidia based their version on the ideas they acquired from 3DFX when they bought them out, but the actual techniques they use now are much more advanced. IIRC, the driver does automatic load-balancing, in the sense that if there are more polygons on one section of the screen than another, the rendering will be split so that each card still renders approximately half of them - even if that means one card is doing 75% of the actual screen resolution.
On the other hand, who elected those judges? Certainly as a European citizen I had no part in the decision making process, nor did anyone else. Hell, we didn't even elect the Commission - and they got their jobs back a day after being sacked for corruption.
I'd argue that whether or not MS are evil (I don't believe they are, but I'm entitled to hold my own opinions on that), this court seems determined to punish them anyway. I believe MS are entitled to see any and all documentation the court is using in making their decisions - the public less so, although it would be interesting. As I understand it that's why MS have released this stuff, because the EU are blocking them getting access to certain reports and letters that the court is using to make its decisions.
I'll probably get slapped down for this, since this is the Linux section of Slashdot and I know you guys don't usually like to hear about the good points of Microsoft, but why should MS give anything back? They don't owe you guys anything. They're a business, they're in it to make money. There's nothing wrong with them embracing concepts from everywhere either, because that's what you do if you want your company to stay profitable.
Sure, some of their business practices have been a little less than pleasant, but in most cases by the time the courts made their decision it was irrelevant anyway - can you imagine now getting an OS without an internet browser, or some form of media player?
And I call time on the "barely servicable, shoddy software" part too. I use XP, quite happily, without any major show-stopping problems. My system stays on almost constantly for weeks at a time, without any noticeable performance degradation caused by doing so. I would say that aside from faults with drivers, which MS has no significant control over, and third party applications, which again MS can't control, I've not had any problems at all. I've certainly never had a BSOD under WinXP. I could draw some comparisons with Linux here where several of the distributions I have tried haven't even managed to INSTALL successfully much less be usable (and I'm not on about small distros here - I'm on about Slackware amongst others).
Yes, Microsoft have made mistakes. Want to bet Google will be making some too?
Re:The real problem with PHP and security
on
Essential PHP Security
·
· Score: 2, Informative
The last I heard on this subject from the phpBB guys is that they're doing precisely this sort of code audit to make sure the new version of the software isn't plagued by so many vulnerabilities as the 2.0 line has been... but only time will tell whether it's manageable.
Trouble with this sort of job is that the real professionals also happen to charge a fortune for their services, and that's something that most open-source projects can't afford.
My friend is at Manchester Metropolitan - he had 9 assignments before Christmas. Myself, by comparison I had 1, and I'm at University of Teesside. So while he was working his nuts off to get through, I could just coast by.
Try option 1 for sure. You'd be able to hear the dollar signs lighting up in the lawyers' eyes if MS did try to package an anti-virus solution with Vista. There'd be a stampede down to the courthouse to file suit, even though most people would probably choose to install their own anyway. So basically, just like they do with Media Player, Windows Firewall, and half the other tools that MS package in.
For the record I actually believe that MS software is pretty good. I certainly trust it a lot more than I trust most open-source software, simply because I've seen so much open-source software that, while good, needs some serious polishing to be able to be classed as a professional package. Nice UIs aren't just for Mac users, you know....
Nothing I've seen leads me to believe you're wrong, however. My own group of friends is held together mostly by mutual respect and interest along similar lines, but unlike most of the stereotypical groups we have our own lives, our own interests, and we are different people in a lot of ways. We just happen to agree on certain things. It makes for interesting and very dynamic conversations at times....:) By which I mean arguments;)
On the other hand the people from those immigrant communities tend to stick in their own cultural groups, and not make any attempt to fully integrate into our society. Maybe that's a sign of our culture not having a defined identity of it's own? But every time anyone talks about citizenship requirements etc, they get shouted down. I don't think it's too much to ask that every British citizen over a certain age should at least be able to read, write and speak English, and understand at least some of the things in history that made us what we are today (or what we would be, if the chavs were all exterminated).
Perhaps part of the reason these immigrant communities don't integrate so well is because of inbred racism. I have noticed, particularly from talking to my grandparents and listening to people of a similar age, that they tend to have an inbuilt distrust of anyone with a different skin tone or cultural heritage. They look at a black person (sorry, not sure of the PC term these days, it seems to change all the time) and see a Negro or worse, a nigger... I just see a person.
I'm quite scared of how much ID has taken off over here. But it must just be in certain areas, because nobody seems to talk about it much up here in the North East. The general policy here is that evolution is the be all and end all, unless you're religious in which case you believe in creationism, but accept that evolution is just as likely. Intelligent design never even comes up as an issue.
You had to do a test? I'm doing a similar course, and I got in on the basis of my personality;) Basically I convinced them I could do the course.
So far I'm not even impressed with the difficulty level the course is being targeted at. I'm currently in my second year and I've barely had to try at all to keep up with the work. I think it's a case of lowest common denominator here as well, because my friends who are at/have been to other UK universities are actually being pushed.
Damn right, I often notice this. When I was younger, and to a similar extent now, I was interested in EVERYTHING. Most kids these days aren't interested in anything beyond being cool, which being smart usually isn't. Being cool is having the latest branded clothes etc.
We're creating cookie cutter clones. Individuality isn't encouraged. I often think that it's funny, all the "alternative" people, by which I mean goths, indie folks, etc... they all dress pretty much identically, so being almost as bad as the chavs.
I think the main difference is, 90% of the people on the dole (and I've been there myself) are actively wanting to find a job so they can get away from it. Chavs, on the other hand, seem to have no intention of finding a job, EVER, and actively seek ways to avoid it. Plus when they're not working they're being active criminals in most cases, vandalising and generally making the areas around where they live shitty to be in for us normal folk.
Slashdot Mirror
I'm with you on this one, interactivity to me suggests a 2-way process.
Books and films don't change depending on your own actions. Games, it could be argued, do - at least to a certain extent. I think it's perfectly possible to create a game which is only just interactive, in the sense that no matter what you do, the same things happen.
Which basically means to me that the best way to create a truly interactive game is to have multiple branching storylines and good AI. Not many games have managed that yet... perhaps that's the next step.
To everyone who's replied to my comment. I should have stated that Windows wasn't a generic term for an operating system until Microsoft trademarked it.
;)
That's what I was referring to, not the generic use of windows as a whole. Or as a hole, covered with glass.
As this whole discussion is related to a SPECIFIC use of a name as a trademark, I think some of you have been a little picky
Yep, qualifies as a Drew Carey joke then. *watches paint dry*
Since that happened before the names truly became commonplace, I don't see your point. Windows wasn't a generic term until Microsoft trademarked it.
DOS, you're a little inaccurate on since that's not the trademark Microsoft hold. Instead, they hold MS-DOS, which is more specific.
Microsoft oddly enough recommend that nobody should ever lock out the use of the Windows keys. This is in their developer documentation. However, I think games need to handle it better. Too many times I've played games where accidentally hitting the Win-key or alt+tab kicks you back to the desktop but then the game is unable to resume. There's no excuse for that, it's just sloppy coding.
Ok. You're spot-on with most of your comments.
I haven't told any kids because, with the exception of one of my cousins who is 10 and interested in pretty much everything, the majority of the other "small people" I come across are a little young to be exposing to programming (they're 3).
Certainly MS should advertise the free stuff more, I guess partly they don't want to detract from people willing to pay out for the expensive packages (still worth it if you/your employer can afford it, the integrated systems do make life easier). I suppose the OSS people should also try to get peoples attention more as well, but unfortunately the support for such packages tends to come across as RTFM NOOB! whenever someone is confused about simple things - which often happens when someone is just starting out.
I'm sure we're in agreement that encouraging kids to code is a good thing though. At worst they'll pick up some useful logic skills which aren't emphasised nearly enough in modern education. Yes, in my opinion it's logic, not maths, that is essential for programming (with the exception of binary and hex). Still, I suppose while the kids aren't learning, it'll make the skills that we have much more valued later in life because there'll be a much smaller next generation coming along after us!
Thousands of pounds for a Windows IDE? I call bullshit on you. There's dozens of free alternatives, even from Microsoft themselves. Such as these - http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/
You can also download the C++ compiler and tools for free from MS as well. Granted it's maybe not an open-source alternative, but I'll leave that to other people better informed - myself, I'll use the best (and most widely used) tools for the job, regardless of who publishes them.
If kids are interested in games specifically there's also the XNA Game Studio Express line, which I've used myself and is very nice indeed.
I don't unfortunately know anyone who's just getting into programming for the first time and needs some extra encouragement, but be sure that if I did I'd give them whatever help and advice they needed. The simple fact is, some people can do it and some people can't. Oddly enough some people are put off by the perceived complexity of the code, other people (such as myself the first time) find it addictive.
Don't be silly. You're a Slashdotter, you just dreamed you had a sexy girlfriend.
:)
j/k by the way
The majority (and I mean, the _vast_ majority) of people currently running XP aren't the sort of people who will buy Vista off the shelves. They're people who will simply buy a new PC with it pre-packaged. In short, Vista is going to take off whether the Slashdot crowd believe it or not, and whether it's the best operating system or not. Most home users will simply not have heard of Linux at all, much less have considered it as a viable choice. They'll probably have heard of MacOS, but that's more visible in the marketplace.
For myself, I want Vista. It's a worthwhile upgrade as far as I'm concerned, as a user and a developer.
I don't care about monopoly, I care about fairness. So in my mind, if all the *nix distros and Apple can bundle browsers, MS should be allowed to as well. Level playing field, that's in the best interest of us all.
The FlashGot extension doesn't just work with FlashGet, but also quite a few other download managers. I personally use Free Download Manager with mine, but I'm looking for a better one. I do agree though, FlashGet sucks!
Add on the system for changing over farmers to the Single Payment Scheme... I was forced to work on that, and it sucked total balls. Fell over every 15 minutes tops, usually losing all the work you'd done to that point. EDS again. High quality development.
If you believe any of this crap, you're pretty much totally gullible. I'm not even going to try to refute your points because they are quite simply, not worth my time.
Conspiracy theorists the world over are all the same, looking for connections that simply aren't there in the first place! And of course since this one comes from a 'published' author, he's obviously out there to make money in any case - best way to do that is to be as controversial as possible.
If this was true, the Bush administration would never have allowed the book to be published, freedom of the press or not.
3DFX SLI = Scan Line Interleaving
Nvidia SLI = Scalable Link Interface
Yes, Nvidia based their version on the ideas they acquired from 3DFX when they bought them out, but the actual techniques they use now are much more advanced. IIRC, the driver does automatic load-balancing, in the sense that if there are more polygons on one section of the screen than another, the rendering will be split so that each card still renders approximately half of them - even if that means one card is doing 75% of the actual screen resolution.
On the other hand, who elected those judges? Certainly as a European citizen I had no part in the decision making process, nor did anyone else. Hell, we didn't even elect the Commission - and they got their jobs back a day after being sacked for corruption.
I'd argue that whether or not MS are evil (I don't believe they are, but I'm entitled to hold my own opinions on that), this court seems determined to punish them anyway. I believe MS are entitled to see any and all documentation the court is using in making their decisions - the public less so, although it would be interesting. As I understand it that's why MS have released this stuff, because the EU are blocking them getting access to certain reports and letters that the court is using to make its decisions.
I'll probably get slapped down for this, since this is the Linux section of Slashdot and I know you guys don't usually like to hear about the good points of Microsoft, but why should MS give anything back? They don't owe you guys anything. They're a business, they're in it to make money. There's nothing wrong with them embracing concepts from everywhere either, because that's what you do if you want your company to stay profitable.
Sure, some of their business practices have been a little less than pleasant, but in most cases by the time the courts made their decision it was irrelevant anyway - can you imagine now getting an OS without an internet browser, or some form of media player?
And I call time on the "barely servicable, shoddy software" part too. I use XP, quite happily, without any major show-stopping problems. My system stays on almost constantly for weeks at a time, without any noticeable performance degradation caused by doing so. I would say that aside from faults with drivers, which MS has no significant control over, and third party applications, which again MS can't control, I've not had any problems at all. I've certainly never had a BSOD under WinXP. I could draw some comparisons with Linux here where several of the distributions I have tried haven't even managed to INSTALL successfully much less be usable (and I'm not on about small distros here - I'm on about Slackware amongst others).
Yes, Microsoft have made mistakes. Want to bet Google will be making some too?
The last I heard on this subject from the phpBB guys is that they're doing precisely this sort of code audit to make sure the new version of the software isn't plagued by so many vulnerabilities as the 2.0 line has been... but only time will tell whether it's manageable.
Trouble with this sort of job is that the real professionals also happen to charge a fortune for their services, and that's something that most open-source projects can't afford.
My friend is at Manchester Metropolitan - he had 9 assignments before Christmas. Myself, by comparison I had 1, and I'm at University of Teesside. So while he was working his nuts off to get through, I could just coast by.
Try option 1 for sure. You'd be able to hear the dollar signs lighting up in the lawyers' eyes if MS did try to package an anti-virus solution with Vista. There'd be a stampede down to the courthouse to file suit, even though most people would probably choose to install their own anyway. So basically, just like they do with Media Player, Windows Firewall, and half the other tools that MS package in.
For the record I actually believe that MS software is pretty good. I certainly trust it a lot more than I trust most open-source software, simply because I've seen so much open-source software that, while good, needs some serious polishing to be able to be classed as a professional package. Nice UIs aren't just for Mac users, you know....
Wow, that's deep.
:) By which I mean arguments ;)
Nothing I've seen leads me to believe you're wrong, however. My own group of friends is held together mostly by mutual respect and interest along similar lines, but unlike most of the stereotypical groups we have our own lives, our own interests, and we are different people in a lot of ways. We just happen to agree on certain things. It makes for interesting and very dynamic conversations at times....
On the other hand the people from those immigrant communities tend to stick in their own cultural groups, and not make any attempt to fully integrate into our society. Maybe that's a sign of our culture not having a defined identity of it's own? But every time anyone talks about citizenship requirements etc, they get shouted down. I don't think it's too much to ask that every British citizen over a certain age should at least be able to read, write and speak English, and understand at least some of the things in history that made us what we are today (or what we would be, if the chavs were all exterminated).
Perhaps part of the reason these immigrant communities don't integrate so well is because of inbred racism. I have noticed, particularly from talking to my grandparents and listening to people of a similar age, that they tend to have an inbuilt distrust of anyone with a different skin tone or cultural heritage. They look at a black person (sorry, not sure of the PC term these days, it seems to change all the time) and see a Negro or worse, a nigger... I just see a person.
I'm quite scared of how much ID has taken off over here. But it must just be in certain areas, because nobody seems to talk about it much up here in the North East. The general policy here is that evolution is the be all and end all, unless you're religious in which case you believe in creationism, but accept that evolution is just as likely. Intelligent design never even comes up as an issue.
You had to do a test? I'm doing a similar course, and I got in on the basis of my personality ;) Basically I convinced them I could do the course.
So far I'm not even impressed with the difficulty level the course is being targeted at. I'm currently in my second year and I've barely had to try at all to keep up with the work. I think it's a case of lowest common denominator here as well, because my friends who are at/have been to other UK universities are actually being pushed.
Damn right, I often notice this. When I was younger, and to a similar extent now, I was interested in EVERYTHING. Most kids these days aren't interested in anything beyond being cool, which being smart usually isn't. Being cool is having the latest branded clothes etc.
We're creating cookie cutter clones. Individuality isn't encouraged. I often think that it's funny, all the "alternative" people, by which I mean goths, indie folks, etc... they all dress pretty much identically, so being almost as bad as the chavs.
I think the main difference is, 90% of the people on the dole (and I've been there myself) are actively wanting to find a job so they can get away from it. Chavs, on the other hand, seem to have no intention of finding a job, EVER, and actively seek ways to avoid it. Plus when they're not working they're being active criminals in most cases, vandalising and generally making the areas around where they live shitty to be in for us normal folk.