That's funny, because the next 30 responses are exactly the same. My guess is we have retarded monkeys who keep typing the same thing because they can't remember thet just did.
How shall we pay the $10 million we owe for this poll?
1 - Beowolf cluster laundering money
2 - Sell our tinfoil hats
3 - Slashdot 'em in response, and hold their servers for "ransom"
4 - CmdrTaco!
Oh, I vote for the last
Now, I did not comment on bugs in the game, merely gameplay itself. But yes, I know its very buggy. However, if you realize that you've got that bug (and its not hard to notice after the first teamkills notice) merely logging back fixes it. I'm not defending buggy software, just noting that most people complain about the bug in game, rather then just log back in. As for getting kicked, server's have an upper limit of TKs before you get kicked, though that can be turned off, I believe. Your score might be unaffected, but still have it count as a TK, hence is why this is a bug, and they don't know what causes it.
But as always, if you don't like the software, don't play it. I happen to like the game enough that when I see these bugs, I'll just quit out and come back. But then, being a programmer, I know how hard it is to make something on this scale bug free.
I think this article is somewhat one sided. It appears the author (who admits to being addicted, I feel his pain *grin*) only has bad experiences playing.
Yea, I see people standing in lines 3 or 4 deep to get a plane or some such, and it is foolish. However, I also think many players eventually realize that fundamentally this is a team game. Yea, 6 organized players can easily win if everyone else is just running around. Heck, I've been places with one other buddy, and we can quite easily orchestrate a victory just by knowing the map and playing off the fact that people don't know how to team play (think support and engineer at a good ambush point, or spec ops and support, or medic and sniper, etc).
But I also have played on servers where admins *are* around all the time, where people get booted immediatly for TKing intentionally, or not playing for the team, but padding. You just have to go find a good server. As far as that goes, also playing in a clan is wonderful. I'm a member of COT (Covert Operations and tactics) and everynight I play with two or three guys from it. We have our own TeamSpeak server, that allows for effective communication, and we use XFire to track each other and allies in other servers.
Basically, if you play by yourself, and ignore that nice new "favorites" button on servers, yea, its gonna suck a lot of the time. But if you play with people you know and can train with, and on servers where you know admins are real close, I think that most of the points made in TFA aren't valid.
In a well trained group, or even just a group good at team play, you'll have two good guys in the chopper, that's their job. No one else waits for it, as they're filling another role. This all comes down to the maturity of the player, and how much they'll play for the team and listen to the commander, versus playing for themselves and their stats.
Good point! However, same for an XBox. I happened to get a network going on my dorm floor last year of 4 XBoxes for 16 player Halo. Of course, a few days we had more then that on, as people wanted their own screen. Using a router, two 8-port hubs, and a lot of Cat-5, I've even done 16 boxes, and 16 TVs. It was quite fun. Oh, but I suppose 8 player mariokart's ok too... I suppose...
But seriously, WHO would walk down the street carrying a game cube by it's handle?! Just throw it in a backpack like any other console, it's sturdy enough.
Hmm... sounds like you have a Dell Inspiron (maybe 9000/9100?). Yea, it took a bit of work to get everything going, but Fedora Core 4 does it all right from install. Soon enough, other distros will follow. I, however, LOVE using my Dell Inspiron (9100) for desktop work. Yea, kinda sucks that I paid a bunch for it, and it makes a surprisingly good gaming machine under windows, but it's perfect for getting my work done. Do you *really* need wireless for writing a document? I only use it (and had wireless set up in 15 minutes anyways) when I want to wardrive. Now, I agree it'd be nice to to do half the crap, but 1, OSX don't run on x86 (yet) and 2, I don't want to pay a ton of money for a development system again. I've learned my lesson (well, I also was forced to buy it for college (VT requires it, yes)) and will buy something cheap. Cheap, small, and will install OSX myself once it's available for x86. Until then, its Linux.
A whopping 3 MB of memory... eh, what the heck, I'll even give 'im 5 'cause I'm so generous!
On a serious note, This is interesting. I program in java, some games in fact, and I think I'll be checking this one out, just to see if/what an impact it makes.
I got one of these also for a campus organization I was web master (read: everyone's tech bitch) for. They're not bad, a tad slow to load Macromedia Suite (the reason we bought the thing) but for $300, what do you want?
True, there's not a lot of room to upgrade, which is what I always look for in a personal system. I think that by throwing on a case you can upgrade, the extra $20 at newegg (how much I got mine for, which has 3 spare CD/DVD bays and 4 HD bays) saves you so much more down the line when all you have to do to upgrade is slap the new part in there.
I upgrade my friend's systems here at school, and the biggest hassle is always explaining to them: "Sorry, you can't do X, because you need another Y". They've got low-end mass-produced models, and no upgrade space.
With any computer this cheap, I'd be looking for a way to upgrade in, say, a year, when I could put in a GB of RAM and another hard drive for the same price ($150ish).
But true, in sound. However, this is text, and spelling counts... or so my teachers tell me *mutter* -1, inaccurate use of a comma, -2 misspelling some long dead guy's name, and -1 clearly BSing a paper about the teachers pet philosopher.
I go to Indiana University at Bloomington. I consider it to be a "real" university. No, A+ doesn't get you anything above an A in terms of GPA, and an A- counts as a 3.9, not 4.0
Ok, this is the third or fourth "government spying on me" post I've seen, and I've gotta say something. I thought the object of this was to produce OSS? If it is, wouldn't you be able to check for backdoors? Yes, it might be hard for one user to sit and check every line of every app they want, but what about the EFF? I'm sure they could play a role in this in ensuring that our rights (ok, new topic of what rights we have in software, please don't flame me on this) are upheld and that there's no backdoors, etc in the software. Or, perhaps, a volunteer group could form and check themselves?
If, all of a sudden, the government makes something go to "closed source" for security, you might just want to stay away from it. It's like the seal on a milk bottle, if its gone when you buy it, don't drink it.
Also, all the talk about what a great position this puts the government in to throw in backdoors, it's no more then the possbility in any other software. I have no more faith in any closed source app from any vendor than as much of the bug reports I read. If you go around thinking, well, this is safe because it's from compnay X, that's wrong. Until you read the source for *anything* you shouldn't trust it. Which is the main reason I use open source.
Yes, I am posting this from firefox, which I haven't checked, please don't call me a hypocrit for it, because I have no faith in it. I just happen to like it as a browser. If this were a "secure" system to me, not just a development one I use to ssh into the school network, I might care enough to check out firefox, point is it's not.
I guess what I'm trying to say is, just because the government produces it, gives it no more chance for hiding something then any closed source vendor (think DRM, Sony, and "rootkit"). On the other hand, no open source software is safe, unless someone checks it. You can't go through life saying "this is open source, whipee I'm free", because even open source works can be misleading (think CherryOS, though the example wouldn't be of security per se, but trusting that they play by the rules).
Not to mention the fact that they ALSO have to deal with school work for themselves. I don't know about you, but the AIs that I have now produce:
a) worse code then me in terms of style (yes, everyone ahs they're own, but it even violates the CS department's style "guidelines"
and b) rather lacking lab writeups and solutions, due to the time constraints of their other classes.
I don't think I'd like to try to add on to any software they write (and yea, I've tried/been forced to in assignments). This is not to say they all suck, but a good majority at my school, just ain't up to par. The answer wouldn't be "lets increase funding", but "lets get funding to the people that can create the software". Oh, wait, that'd be like hiring them... hmm... good idea? I'm up in the air on this one, not a clue which way I stand yet. But I tell you one thing, if I have to add modules into code written by my AIs... *shudder* I'll just write it myself the first time.
You know, some will call me lazy for this, but I honestly find it easier not to have to show up to class. Perhaps the way I learn is different, just reading source code examples and man pages teach me just about whatevr I need, and then I have some good books (such as the KMP algorithms series) that I learn the "fundamentals" from. Quite honestly, I have had only one good professor so far (At a large midwestern school "known" for its comp sci) and my first semester I showed up to the first class, midterm and final while getting an A+.
Here, though, there is no science requirement, or at least, not one that can't be fulfilled without hands on access. So, personally, I'd ratherr be taking these classes online, it'd be a much more efficient way to spend my time, and I think I'd be able to focus a lot better on my studies.
Of course, I do see where you're coming from, and I realize that probably 90-95% of people do NOT learn the same way I do.
I'm seeing a wide range of comments on here, which is good.
My personal thoughts on this are, I don't buy the argument about the stack on down having to be OSS. If I write a java app (as I do frequently) to do some stupid simple task, I'll always release it under the GPL, and give it away to programming friends, if they ask, to see what they can do. Now, that app is OSS, if they run it on their Red Hat box, their windows Box, as a web applet, or on their toaster. You may edit that app in any way you want, and you're completely FREE to do so.
However, some people say that it would become non-open source if it were moved to Windows, only because the system its running on isn't OSS. I don't see how that would change the status of my application, its still the same code under the same license. I did see one good comment up above, about when OSS relies upon propritary DLLs, but I ask if you would consider that to still be OSS. I'd say that parts of the software are open, and parts are closed, which would be different, as you can't edit all the source for one application, just bits and pieces.
I'm with the author on this one, some people just take the issue way to far. I happen to run windows, and OSS, that's a fact. I do have a linux box, and I run a lot of the same apps on it, and I would consider them to be OSS on both machines. If you don't like the DLLs something uses, write your own! Might I give Linux itself as an example of something that was produced when people didn't want to deal with the proprietary version, and wrote their own.
Yes.... your friends who don't can still send you the link. If you click it, boom. I've cleaned this off of 5 systems this moonth among my friends, Two GAIM, and 3 AIM. Its a nasty virus, I might add, and I don't think the article does it justice. Yes, it prerys upon P2P, but the worst part is, most users will click that link before thinking, so its free bait. This is social engineering at its worst, and the only way to stop it is to tell your friends and family right now. No, this is not a chain letter, this is a plea for help, I can only reach so many people on my own. For instance, my away message on AIM right now deals with this article, and the virus. To answer the parent's question, as long as X person out there has this virus, you are affected, because they can send you the link.
FTFA and Summary: "...but the researchers think that these electrodes could be implanted into your mouth and your throat in a decade from now -- if you agree of course."
And in two decades if you don't agree
They list Xena as a positive role model? And mention short skirts as being bad in the same paragraph... sheesh. Perhaps Sci-fi is just getting more mainstream,s o a wider range of people are watching it? Maybe previously mentioned geeks are *gasp* now grown up and married and imparting their *coughlackofcough* taste to their spouses? Just throwing a few things out there
No, I wasn't joking. Well, it was sarcastic, but only at the grandparent's commant. I know just how dangerous the internet is, and how quickly a computer can be infected. I'm a firm believer in only being plugged into it when you're using it, all other time, remove the cable. The unplugging, yea kind of a joke, but if I did have any sort of sensitive data on here, or used this computer for contrating work I would unplug it when its not in use. I also used a BIOS password and a boot password. I change my login password every few months to something completely different, and at least 10 characters. Yes, someone could take the hard drive, true, and at my mother's work, they have removeable hard drives that they lock up when not in use. I, however, don't use this computer for anything sensitive or anything propriatary, so if someone walks off with my hard drive, well, I'll cut my losses and put one of my backups images on.
I guess what I'm getting at here is, I know the risks, and I accept them every day I use my computer. Many users do not (speaking from a college campus where I can see 4 unsecured wireless networks, and 2 "secured" wireless networks broadcasting their SSID as we speak) which is why I agree with what they reccomend "unplug it from the wall".
Sorry if you thought I was kidding, I only wish I were
FTFA and Summary:
"Two GameSpot editors stood in line for about an hour to get 30 minutes of play time with the content."
So... that implies there was only two peopl per computer in line (assuming they both played on the same system). 1 hour wait, divided by 30 minutes of play time = 2, right? Not exactly a rave review, in my book.
As far as I'm concerned that IS the only way to secure a computer. And even then, you can have users with malicious intent, some idiot might bring an infected file on removeable media, anything can happen.
I propose a new way, unplug it from the wall.
Slashdot Mirror
That's funny, because the next 30 responses are exactly the same. My guess is we have retarded monkeys who keep typing the same thing because they can't remember thet just did.
How shall we pay the $10 million we owe for this poll? 1 - Beowolf cluster laundering money 2 - Sell our tinfoil hats 3 - Slashdot 'em in response, and hold their servers for "ransom" 4 - CmdrTaco! Oh, I vote for the last
Lets see you upgrade the hard drive in your XBox in a year when you want more space. WithOUT violating the warrenty.
Now, I did not comment on bugs in the game, merely gameplay itself. But yes, I know its very buggy. However, if you realize that you've got that bug (and its not hard to notice after the first teamkills notice) merely logging back fixes it. I'm not defending buggy software, just noting that most people complain about the bug in game, rather then just log back in. As for getting kicked, server's have an upper limit of TKs before you get kicked, though that can be turned off, I believe. Your score might be unaffected, but still have it count as a TK, hence is why this is a bug, and they don't know what causes it.
But as always, if you don't like the software, don't play it. I happen to like the game enough that when I see these bugs, I'll just quit out and come back. But then, being a programmer, I know how hard it is to make something on this scale bug free.
I think this article is somewhat one sided. It appears the author (who admits to being addicted, I feel his pain *grin*) only has bad experiences playing.
Yea, I see people standing in lines 3 or 4 deep to get a plane or some such, and it is foolish. However, I also think many players eventually realize that fundamentally this is a team game. Yea, 6 organized players can easily win if everyone else is just running around. Heck, I've been places with one other buddy, and we can quite easily orchestrate a victory just by knowing the map and playing off the fact that people don't know how to team play (think support and engineer at a good ambush point, or spec ops and support, or medic and sniper, etc).
But I also have played on servers where admins *are* around all the time, where people get booted immediatly for TKing intentionally, or not playing for the team, but padding. You just have to go find a good server. As far as that goes, also playing in a clan is wonderful. I'm a member of COT (Covert Operations and tactics) and everynight I play with two or three guys from it. We have our own TeamSpeak server, that allows for effective communication, and we use XFire to track each other and allies in other servers.
Basically, if you play by yourself, and ignore that nice new "favorites" button on servers, yea, its gonna suck a lot of the time. But if you play with people you know and can train with, and on servers where you know admins are real close, I think that most of the points made in TFA aren't valid.
In a well trained group, or even just a group good at team play, you'll have two good guys in the chopper, that's their job. No one else waits for it, as they're filling another role. This all comes down to the maturity of the player, and how much they'll play for the team and listen to the commander, versus playing for themselves and their stats.
Good point! However, same for an XBox. I happened to get a network going on my dorm floor last year of 4 XBoxes for 16 player Halo. Of course, a few days we had more then that on, as people wanted their own screen. Using a router, two 8-port hubs, and a lot of Cat-5, I've even done 16 boxes, and 16 TVs. It was quite fun. Oh, but I suppose 8 player mariokart's ok too... I suppose...
But seriously, WHO would walk down the street carrying a game cube by it's handle?! Just throw it in a backpack like any other console, it's sturdy enough.
Hmm... sounds like you have a Dell Inspiron (maybe 9000/9100?). Yea, it took a bit of work to get everything going, but Fedora Core 4 does it all right from install. Soon enough, other distros will follow. I, however, LOVE using my Dell Inspiron (9100) for desktop work. Yea, kinda sucks that I paid a bunch for it, and it makes a surprisingly good gaming machine under windows, but it's perfect for getting my work done. Do you *really* need wireless for writing a document? I only use it (and had wireless set up in 15 minutes anyways) when I want to wardrive.
Now, I agree it'd be nice to to do half the crap, but 1, OSX don't run on x86 (yet) and 2, I don't want to pay a ton of money for a development system again. I've learned my lesson (well, I also was forced to buy it for college (VT requires it, yes)) and will buy something cheap. Cheap, small, and will install OSX myself once it's available for x86. Until then, its Linux.
You musta tried to play a Sony CD... tsk tsk
On a serious note, This is interesting. I program in java, some games in fact, and I think I'll be checking this one out, just to see if/what an impact it makes.
True, there's not a lot of room to upgrade, which is what I always look for in a personal system. I think that by throwing on a case you can upgrade, the extra $20 at newegg (how much I got mine for, which has 3 spare CD/DVD bays and 4 HD bays) saves you so much more down the line when all you have to do to upgrade is slap the new part in there.
I upgrade my friend's systems here at school, and the biggest hassle is always explaining to them: "Sorry, you can't do X, because you need another Y". They've got low-end mass-produced models, and no upgrade space.
With any computer this cheap, I'd be looking for a way to upgrade in, say, a year, when I could put in a GB of RAM and another hard drive for the same price ($150ish).
But true, in sound. However, this is text, and spelling counts... or so my teachers tell me *mutter* -1, inaccurate use of a comma, -2 misspelling some long dead guy's name, and -1 clearly BSing a paper about the teachers pet philosopher.
I go to Indiana University at Bloomington. I consider it to be a "real" university. No, A+ doesn't get you anything above an A in terms of GPA, and an A- counts as a 3.9, not 4.0
Ok, this is the third or fourth "government spying on me" post I've seen, and I've gotta say something. I thought the object of this was to produce OSS? If it is, wouldn't you be able to check for backdoors? Yes, it might be hard for one user to sit and check every line of every app they want, but what about the EFF? I'm sure they could play a role in this in ensuring that our rights (ok, new topic of what rights we have in software, please don't flame me on this) are upheld and that there's no backdoors, etc in the software. Or, perhaps, a volunteer group could form and check themselves?
If, all of a sudden, the government makes something go to "closed source" for security, you might just want to stay away from it. It's like the seal on a milk bottle, if its gone when you buy it, don't drink it.
Also, all the talk about what a great position this puts the government in to throw in backdoors, it's no more then the possbility in any other software. I have no more faith in any closed source app from any vendor than as much of the bug reports I read. If you go around thinking, well, this is safe because it's from compnay X, that's wrong. Until you read the source for *anything* you shouldn't trust it. Which is the main reason I use open source.
Yes, I am posting this from firefox, which I haven't checked, please don't call me a hypocrit for it, because I have no faith in it. I just happen to like it as a browser. If this were a "secure" system to me, not just a development one I use to ssh into the school network, I might care enough to check out firefox, point is it's not.
I guess what I'm trying to say is, just because the government produces it, gives it no more chance for hiding something then any closed source vendor (think DRM, Sony, and "rootkit"). On the other hand, no open source software is safe, unless someone checks it. You can't go through life saying "this is open source, whipee I'm free", because even open source works can be misleading (think CherryOS, though the example wouldn't be of security per se, but trusting that they play by the rules).
Not to mention the fact that they ALSO have to deal with school work for themselves. I don't know about you, but the AIs that I have now produce:
a) worse code then me in terms of style (yes, everyone ahs they're own, but it even violates the CS department's style "guidelines"
and b) rather lacking lab writeups and solutions, due to the time constraints of their other classes.
I don't think I'd like to try to add on to any software they write (and yea, I've tried/been forced to in assignments). This is not to say they all suck, but a good majority at my school, just ain't up to par. The answer wouldn't be "lets increase funding", but "lets get funding to the people that can create the software". Oh, wait, that'd be like hiring them... hmm... good idea?
I'm up in the air on this one, not a clue which way I stand yet. But I tell you one thing, if I have to add modules into code written by my AIs... *shudder* I'll just write it myself the first time.
1) Outlaw unsecured wireless networks 2) Wait for bounties to be posted for finding unsecured networks 3) ?? 4) PROFIT!!
You know, some will call me lazy for this, but I honestly find it easier not to have to show up to class. Perhaps the way I learn is different, just reading source code examples and man pages teach me just about whatevr I need, and then I have some good books (such as the KMP algorithms series) that I learn the "fundamentals" from. Quite honestly, I have had only one good professor so far (At a large midwestern school "known" for its comp sci) and my first semester I showed up to the first class, midterm and final while getting an A+.
Here, though, there is no science requirement, or at least, not one that can't be fulfilled without hands on access. So, personally, I'd ratherr be taking these classes online, it'd be a much more efficient way to spend my time, and I think I'd be able to focus a lot better on my studies.
Of course, I do see where you're coming from, and I realize that probably 90-95% of people do NOT learn the same way I do.
I'm seeing a wide range of comments on here, which is good.
My personal thoughts on this are, I don't buy the argument about the stack on down having to be OSS. If I write a java app (as I do frequently) to do some stupid simple task, I'll always release it under the GPL, and give it away to programming friends, if they ask, to see what they can do. Now, that app is OSS, if they run it on their Red Hat box, their windows Box, as a web applet, or on their toaster. You may edit that app in any way you want, and you're completely FREE to do so.
However, some people say that it would become non-open source if it were moved to Windows, only because the system its running on isn't OSS. I don't see how that would change the status of my application, its still the same code under the same license. I did see one good comment up above, about when OSS relies upon propritary DLLs, but I ask if you would consider that to still be OSS. I'd say that parts of the software are open, and parts are closed, which would be different, as you can't edit all the source for one application, just bits and pieces.
I'm with the author on this one, some people just take the issue way to far. I happen to run windows, and OSS, that's a fact. I do have a linux box, and I run a lot of the same apps on it, and I would consider them to be OSS on both machines. If you don't like the DLLs something uses, write your own! Might I give Linux itself as an example of something that was produced when people didn't want to deal with the proprietary version, and wrote their own.
Yes.... your friends who don't can still send you the link. If you click it, boom. I've cleaned this off of 5 systems this moonth among my friends, Two GAIM, and 3 AIM. Its a nasty virus, I might add, and I don't think the article does it justice. Yes, it prerys upon P2P, but the worst part is, most users will click that link before thinking, so its free bait. This is social engineering at its worst, and the only way to stop it is to tell your friends and family right now. No, this is not a chain letter, this is a plea for help, I can only reach so many people on my own. For instance, my away message on AIM right now deals with this article, and the virus.
To answer the parent's question, as long as X person out there has this virus, you are affected, because they can send you the link.
FTFA and Summary: "...but the researchers think that these electrodes could be implanted into your mouth and your throat in a decade from now -- if you agree of course." And in two decades if you don't agree
They list Xena as a positive role model? And mention short skirts as being bad in the same paragraph... sheesh. Perhaps Sci-fi is just getting more mainstream,s o a wider range of people are watching it? Maybe previously mentioned geeks are *gasp* now grown up and married and imparting their *coughlackofcough* taste to their spouses? Just throwing a few things out there
No, I wasn't joking. Well, it was sarcastic, but only at the grandparent's commant. I know just how dangerous the internet is, and how quickly a computer can be infected. I'm a firm believer in only being plugged into it when you're using it, all other time, remove the cable. The unplugging, yea kind of a joke, but if I did have any sort of sensitive data on here, or used this computer for contrating work I would unplug it when its not in use. I also used a BIOS password and a boot password. I change my login password every few months to something completely different, and at least 10 characters. Yes, someone could take the hard drive, true, and at my mother's work, they have removeable hard drives that they lock up when not in use. I, however, don't use this computer for anything sensitive or anything propriatary, so if someone walks off with my hard drive, well, I'll cut my losses and put one of my backups images on.
I guess what I'm getting at here is, I know the risks, and I accept them every day I use my computer. Many users do not (speaking from a college campus where I can see 4 unsecured wireless networks, and 2 "secured" wireless networks broadcasting their SSID as we speak) which is why I agree with what they reccomend "unplug it from the wall".
Sorry if you thought I was kidding, I only wish I were
And how long before they win?
And I enjoy every stardate of it.
FTFA and Summary: "Two GameSpot editors stood in line for about an hour to get 30 minutes of play time with the content."
So... that implies there was only two peopl per computer in line (assuming they both played on the same system). 1 hour wait, divided by 30 minutes of play time = 2, right? Not exactly a rave review, in my book.
As far as I'm concerned that IS the only way to secure a computer. And even then, you can have users with malicious intent, some idiot might bring an infected file on removeable media, anything can happen.
I propose a new way, unplug it from the wall.