It looks like Direct3D is used in Windows, the X-Box and the X-Box 360. OpenGL is used in Windows, Linux, OS X, the PS3 (OpenGL ES) and the Wii (some variant apparently).
For a game to have maximum portability, you're going to have to write both OpenGL and Direct3D code, although you get all the desktops and most current-gen consoles with OpenGL code alone.
The game "Need For Speed: Carbon" was recently released as a Mac/Cider-ised title and looks pretty nice. I've read a few reviews and they don't mention any graphical issues or glitches.
It's hard to say how that'll carry over to Spore though (different uses of Direct3D and all that) but there's reason to hope it'll be fine.
No, I don't use Time Machine. I don't have a handy large FW drive.
I use a 2x500GB Linux-based NAS box in a RAID 1 array over gigabit Ethernet (via 802.11n) to store occassional backups (when I feel like it, although I could easily use one of the many apps or even the Unix commands).
There, I think I've covered all the backup buzzwords.
"Computer people are the last to guess what's coming next. I mean, come on, they're so astonished by the fact that the year 1999 is going to be followed by the year 2000 that it's costing us billions to prepare for it."
- 1999, Douglas Adams
This reminds me a lot of that time. Frankly I'm a bit amazed that designers tried to stuff dates into 32 bits, guaranteeing a failure some time in the (then distant) future.
I know memory was once a premium, but a few extra bytes would've allowed thousands of years instead of less than a hundred. Of course, at the end of the thousands of years someone will probably be sifting through the ancient source code of the ancestral computers and being paid very well to fix the Y18K bug.
Yes, but if you ask a user what they care more about - the OS or their data - you'll find few who care that they'll have to reinstall the OS. It's an irritant, but easily replaced from the source media.
Our data is far more critical, making the ~/Applications folder (or the ~/Desktop folder) a dangerous place for executables.
Of course, in these enlightened days we all have regular backups now or Time-Machine-enabled external drives. Hmm...
History shows AAPL always slumps after major announcements. It's probably indicative of people buying stock as it rises towards the keynote and then selling quickly after that peak.
They did deliver a lower-cost tower a few years ago, but it was such a market failure I doubt we'll see another soon. Remember, the people who say they'll buy something rarely translate to actual sales. For some reason the myth of the xMac includes the idea that everyone and their dog would rush out and buy one, when the reality is that few will.
The stuff you are still finding wonderful, is crap I was designing or coding over 20 years ago.
Not that I doubt your word more than anyone else here, but can you give details to substantiate this? It's pretty easy to claim all sorts of things here in the relative anonymity of Slashdot, making such claims essentially worthless.
That site is amazing! So much gibberish, so little time (but it's cubic time so maybe that's okay).
I've skipped through it and really gained a feel for what complete, raving, screaming-at-mice insanity must be like. It's fascinating in a way, like a mental train-wreck that I can't quite look away from.
Still, it must be hard for a being "far wiser than any god" to think down to our level so I'll cut him some slack.
I'd argue that reducing reliability of photo/video evidence is a very good thing.
It's clear now that we can manipulate a person into or out of a photo with ease. There's no surprise that we can do it with video. Unless there's some way to independently authenticate the imagery, it should not be used as evidence.
Police will have to rely on the old standbys - confessions, physical evidence, eyewitness accounts and all that.
Whilst he (or she) could have been a little nicer in phrasing it, MightyMartian is essentially correct.
Microsoft have to play by different rules because they've been judged to have monopoly status in the OS market. Apple and Linux don't have to play by those rules because they're not judged monopolists.
A monopoly doesn't have to be the only player in town, although that would be one definition. They have to be able to move and control the market, and Microsoft clearly can do this. In fact they've not been able to appeal their monopoly status in the many attempts they've made.
Apple can't be considered a monopoly in the legal sense because they hold a few percent of the OS market. Since they don't have to play by the special rules, they're free to bundle heaps of value-add software with the OS and make their customers happy.
Linux is similarly not a monopoly, and we get the full OpenOffice suite plus heaps of other software when we install the OS.
Microsoft are stuck in a difficult situation - they must avoid falling afoul of the anti-trust laws, particularly product tying - but they must also make a product that competes with Apple and Linux. Anti-trust laws tie the hands of the biggest player to allow the smaller players to compete.
Is it fair? It's hard to say. What is certain is that these laws aren't new or made just for Microsoft.
There's nothing necessarily wrong with a company reaching monopoly status in a fair market. That's a very possible result of competition after all.
Once a company holds a monopoly it must avoid using it illegally, which is where all the anti-trust laws come in. They prohibit certain types of corporate behaviour, lock-in, product tying and force the monopoly company to play by different rules than other companies in order to maintain a free market.
Microsoft has been judged to hold a monopoly in several courts (US, EU) and so has to play by the special rules given to monopolies. Their 'traditional' offerings have to avoid being seen to tie products, but when they include a bunch of useful apps with the OS they fall foul of that. On one hand, the customer needs many of those apps anyway and this is a great convenience, on the other those apps could be viewed as illegal product tying.
It's a bit of a bugger for Microsoft, because the competing OSs include all sorts of useful stuff on the install media. Apple includes all the web, mail and home apps (iLife) a user could want and Linux includes a full Office suite plus heaps of other apps. The install media these lawmakers ask for would just allow Windows and nothing more. That's not a great selling point.
Maybe if there were a cheap, Windows-only install disc offered as a choice, while the normal Windows-plus-apps install discs were sold. That might do the trick.
It would be much better if a Microsoft would become as two corporation, other to build and sell basic OS and other to sell all other software like WMP, IE, Office, Games, Outlook etc etc. Together user could get windows as it is now and every one would be happy.
That's what the judge ruled in the original US Microsoft anti-trust trial. The penalty was changed on appeal though. I think it became a massive fine plus a change in the way they sold to vendors. Over time that morphed into no fine, no penalty and the occassional statue of Bill Gates in US gov't buildings.
It would've made for a much more level playing field and probably avoided much of the EU trouble Microsoft have had since. It wasn't palatable at the time though, so here we are.
I think you're making an error by assuming that working longer hours produces code of the same quality.
From my experience, the longer a person codes in a day, the worse the code is in the later part of the day. Sometimes people even have to spend a lot of time fixing their own errors the next day, wasting further time.
I've even sent people home in the past because I've observed their quality of work declining rapidly after eight hours.
Yes, it looks good to a manager to see their salaried staff putting in all sorts of (free) hours, but managers are starting to wake up to the concept that working twelve hours a day doesn't necessarily give twelve hours of quality code. Well, the smarter managers are waking up!
As for Indians and Russians coding all the hours of the day... Well, I've worked with some Indians like that and not been impressed by their code quality at all. They may not be representative (I hope not!) but I've had several experiences like that now and have seen projects take about the same number of days to complete as we estimated here despite the extra man hours on the job.
Hi AC, thanks for the lovely reply. It made my day all bright and happy like a shiny farthing found under a night-soil cart.
Everything's peachy keen now and lovely-jubbly. Or something like that. Apparently I'm upper-crust English or some-such, and must use their inane rhyming rhubarb to talk like some babbling idiot out far too long in the midday sun (well, it's just mad dogs and us Englishmen, eh?). Well... toodle-oo and all that, eh what? Chocs away and I'm off for scones and high tea with the Queen!
Let's write our own list with stories about the BSA members.
Like... remember when Microsoft ripped off code from Apple's QuickTime and ended up paying $150M to Apple? Or when they pirated that disk compression software and ended up paying... well, probably lots of money... to... that company?
Okay, clearly my memory isn't perfect here, but who's got a good story about Adobe, Apple, Microsoft or someone else ripping off another company, infringing copyright or otherwise acting illegally?
After all, what's good for the goose is good for the gander. Let's expose them all!
Slashdot Mirror
You're right, of course. Protests and letter writing will silence the Pope, who has no other forum for airing his views.
If only there was some place he could speak from, that others could hear. Some sort of... what's the word... pulpit or even a balcony above a crowd.
I guess that'll always be the dream for the Pope though, since we all know he can only speak at universities.
Thanks for that. I couldn't locate anything concrete on Google, but I was tired when I posted so probably missed something.
Well, you didn't specify current platform so...
http://www.filemaker.com/products/bento/overview.html
It looks pretty nice, very simple but OS X 10.5 only. Migrating to Linux is out though, as is Windows. Hmm...
It looks like Direct3D is used in Windows, the X-Box and the X-Box 360. OpenGL is used in Windows, Linux, OS X, the PS3 (OpenGL ES) and the Wii (some variant apparently).
For a game to have maximum portability, you're going to have to write both OpenGL and Direct3D code, although you get all the desktops and most current-gen consoles with OpenGL code alone.
The game "Need For Speed: Carbon" was recently released as a Mac/Cider-ised title and looks pretty nice. I've read a few reviews and they don't mention any graphical issues or glitches.
It's hard to say how that'll carry over to Spore though (different uses of Direct3D and all that) but there's reason to hope it'll be fine.
No, I don't use Time Machine. I don't have a handy large FW drive.
I use a 2x500GB Linux-based NAS box in a RAID 1 array over gigabit Ethernet (via 802.11n) to store occassional backups (when I feel like it, although I could easily use one of the many apps or even the Unix commands).
There, I think I've covered all the backup buzzwords.
"Computer people are the last to guess what's coming next. I mean, come on, they're so astonished by the fact that the year 1999 is going to be followed by the year 2000 that it's costing us billions to prepare for it."
- 1999, Douglas Adams
This reminds me a lot of that time. Frankly I'm a bit amazed that designers tried to stuff dates into 32 bits, guaranteeing a failure some time in the (then distant) future.
I know memory was once a premium, but a few extra bytes would've allowed thousands of years instead of less than a hundred. Of course, at the end of the thousands of years someone will probably be sifting through the ancient source code of the ancestral computers and being paid very well to fix the Y18K bug.
Yes, but if you ask a user what they care more about - the OS or their data - you'll find few who care that they'll have to reinstall the OS. It's an irritant, but easily replaced from the source media.
Our data is far more critical, making the ~/Applications folder (or the ~/Desktop folder) a dangerous place for executables.
Of course, in these enlightened days we all have regular backups now or Time-Machine-enabled external drives. Hmm...
History shows AAPL always slumps after major announcements. It's probably indicative of people buying stock as it rises towards the keynote and then selling quickly after that peak.
also where is the xmac?
I don't recall Apple ever promising an xMac.
They did deliver a lower-cost tower a few years ago, but it was such a market failure I doubt we'll see another soon. Remember, the people who say they'll buy something rarely translate to actual sales. For some reason the myth of the xMac includes the idea that everyone and their dog would rush out and buy one, when the reality is that few will.
The stuff you are still finding wonderful, is crap I was designing or coding over 20 years ago.
Not that I doubt your word more than anyone else here, but can you give details to substantiate this? It's pretty easy to claim all sorts of things here in the relative anonymity of Slashdot, making such claims essentially worthless.
That site is amazing! So much gibberish, so little time (but it's cubic time so maybe that's okay).
I've skipped through it and really gained a feel for what complete, raving, screaming-at-mice insanity must be like. It's fascinating in a way, like a mental train-wreck that I can't quite look away from.
Still, it must be hard for a being "far wiser than any god" to think down to our level so I'll cut him some slack.
I'd argue that reducing reliability of photo/video evidence is a very good thing.
It's clear now that we can manipulate a person into or out of a photo with ease. There's no surprise that we can do it with video. Unless there's some way to independently authenticate the imagery, it should not be used as evidence.
Police will have to rely on the old standbys - confessions, physical evidence, eyewitness accounts and all that.
Whilst he (or she) could have been a little nicer in phrasing it, MightyMartian is essentially correct.
Microsoft have to play by different rules because they've been judged to have monopoly status in the OS market. Apple and Linux don't have to play by those rules because they're not judged monopolists.
A monopoly doesn't have to be the only player in town, although that would be one definition. They have to be able to move and control the market, and Microsoft clearly can do this. In fact they've not been able to appeal their monopoly status in the many attempts they've made.
Apple can't be considered a monopoly in the legal sense because they hold a few percent of the OS market. Since they don't have to play by the special rules, they're free to bundle heaps of value-add software with the OS and make their customers happy.
Linux is similarly not a monopoly, and we get the full OpenOffice suite plus heaps of other software when we install the OS.
Microsoft are stuck in a difficult situation - they must avoid falling afoul of the anti-trust laws, particularly product tying - but they must also make a product that competes with Apple and Linux. Anti-trust laws tie the hands of the biggest player to allow the smaller players to compete.
Is it fair? It's hard to say. What is certain is that these laws aren't new or made just for Microsoft.
There's nothing necessarily wrong with a company reaching monopoly status in a fair market. That's a very possible result of competition after all.
Once a company holds a monopoly it must avoid using it illegally, which is where all the anti-trust laws come in. They prohibit certain types of corporate behaviour, lock-in, product tying and force the monopoly company to play by different rules than other companies in order to maintain a free market.
Microsoft has been judged to hold a monopoly in several courts (US, EU) and so has to play by the special rules given to monopolies. Their 'traditional' offerings have to avoid being seen to tie products, but when they include a bunch of useful apps with the OS they fall foul of that. On one hand, the customer needs many of those apps anyway and this is a great convenience, on the other those apps could be viewed as illegal product tying.
It's a bit of a bugger for Microsoft, because the competing OSs include all sorts of useful stuff on the install media. Apple includes all the web, mail and home apps (iLife) a user could want and Linux includes a full Office suite plus heaps of other apps. The install media these lawmakers ask for would just allow Windows and nothing more. That's not a great selling point.
Maybe if there were a cheap, Windows-only install disc offered as a choice, while the normal Windows-plus-apps install discs were sold. That might do the trick.
It would be much better if a Microsoft would become as two corporation, other to build and sell basic OS and other to sell all other software like WMP, IE, Office, Games, Outlook etc etc. Together user could get windows as it is now and every one would be happy.
That's what the judge ruled in the original US Microsoft anti-trust trial. The penalty was changed on appeal though. I think it became a massive fine plus a change in the way they sold to vendors. Over time that morphed into no fine, no penalty and the occassional statue of Bill Gates in US gov't buildings.
It would've made for a much more level playing field and probably avoided much of the EU trouble Microsoft have had since. It wasn't palatable at the time though, so here we are.
Some religious groups prefer their adherents not to look up.
It's even better if they don't have a good education - faith don't need learnin'!
Hey, thanks for turning out! Nice to hear from another fan. Why not apply for one of my signed photos, or join my fan club?
Hey, thanks for turning out! Nice to hear from another fan. Why not apply for one of my signed photos, or join my fan club?
I think you're making an error by assuming that working longer hours produces code of the same quality.
From my experience, the longer a person codes in a day, the worse the code is in the later part of the day. Sometimes people even have to spend a lot of time fixing their own errors the next day, wasting further time.
I've even sent people home in the past because I've observed their quality of work declining rapidly after eight hours.
Yes, it looks good to a manager to see their salaried staff putting in all sorts of (free) hours, but managers are starting to wake up to the concept that working twelve hours a day doesn't necessarily give twelve hours of quality code. Well, the smarter managers are waking up!
As for Indians and Russians coding all the hours of the day... Well, I've worked with some Indians like that and not been impressed by their code quality at all. They may not be representative (I hope not!) but I've had several experiences like that now and have seen projects take about the same number of days to complete as we estimated here despite the extra man hours on the job.
Hi AC, thanks for the lovely reply. It made my day all bright and happy like a shiny farthing found under a night-soil cart.
Everything's peachy keen now and lovely-jubbly. Or something like that. Apparently I'm upper-crust English or some-such, and must use their inane rhyming rhubarb to talk like some babbling idiot out far too long in the midday sun (well, it's just mad dogs and us Englishmen, eh?). Well... toodle-oo and all that, eh what? Chocs away and I'm off for scones and high tea with the Queen!
Radhanath Sikdar, according to Wikipedia. I looked that up 'cause I remembered some Indian name but nothing more than that.
Come on Sony, give iTunes some DRM-free love. You know you want to!
Let's write our own list with stories about the BSA members.
Like... remember when Microsoft ripped off code from Apple's QuickTime and ended up paying $150M to Apple? Or when they pirated that disk compression software and ended up paying... well, probably lots of money... to... that company?
Okay, clearly my memory isn't perfect here, but who's got a good story about Adobe, Apple, Microsoft or someone else ripping off another company, infringing copyright or otherwise acting illegally?
After all, what's good for the goose is good for the gander. Let's expose them all!
Hey, thanks for turning out! Nice to hear from another fan. Why not apply for one of my signed photos, or join my fan club?