Anyone who cares enough about the software to complain about its DRM is already a hardcore fan. And a hardcore fan is GOING to buy it, one way or the other. The "I'll just pirate it" option is becoming less and less an option as online play becomes more important and games are starting to block the option to use private servers.
But seriously, Avatar is the only movie I've seen in modern 3D. It added slightly to the movie. A few scenes stood out for some pretty cool 3D effects, but most of the time I was thinking "This just looks like flat 2D layers set slightly above one another." But I don't see it as anything more than a novelty. Hollywood is jumping on it because it's a way to get away with charging $15 for a ticket instead of the usual $9. But it won't make a bad script better. It won't make a bad actor deliver a better performance. It won't make Michael Bay any less an annoying hack. And it won't get me into the theater to see a movie that I normally wouldn't have wanted to see in regular 2D.
Yes, blast you, you've got me. I have a funny accent and carry around a teddy bear. I'm humbled by the biting criticism of a man who sits around on/. all day trading Star Wars witticisms and computer tips with other girlfriendless basement-dwellers. Well played, sir.
Yes. I don't understand the implicit criticism in the article. *All* reference works are a "quick way to get started." No serious college student would write a research paper that cites an encyclopedia article as a primary source (maybe in ENG 101, but certainly not at anything above that). Encyclopedias, including both Britannica and Wikipedia, are meant to give a broad overview of a topic and suggest some additional sources for further research. IMHO, Wikipedia does a fine job of that (and I used to be in academics, so I know a thing or two about research). Would I accept it as the be-all, end-all word on a subject? Of course I wouldn't. But the same goes for any reference work (Britannica articles are written by biased academics too, you know, not by some objective god).
Not to play devil's advocate, but the serial numbers usually are on a sticker that could easily be swapped out. I doubt an sales clerk is going to bust the case open and check the internal serial.
Myself, I can't complain. I've only had one 360 RROD on me (a launch model), and MS quickly fixed it. My PS3 never went RROD on me, but until recently there weren't any worthwhile games to play on it. So I've still gotten way more out of my 360, even with the one RROD.
It wasn't the terms that scared them off (they were more than happy with those terms before), it's when China tried to steal a bunch of their secret source code that did it. Google's famously secret search algorithms and its source code are its entire profit base. When China brazenly threatened that, suddenly Google miraculously developed a conscience.
The U.S. government is quite simple, actually: Big corporations buy the legislative and executive branches, who then appoint and confirm the judicial branch.
Morrowind was great at first. But it doesn't take long into the game before you're basically a god who no one can even touch in combat--then it becomes boring. A lot of people complained about Oblivion scaling enemies, but at least that kept it kind of interesting.
Half of the court probably had to have the concept of "email" explained to them. These were the annoying pricks that wore ties to class back in law school, most of whom were out of touch even back then. Now you expect a reasonable verdict that reflects modern innovations and changing behavior out of them?
"Email. Is that what my grandkids play their tic-tac-toe games on?"
"Uh, no Your Honor, that's probably a portable gaming console."
Anything that would give me an excuse to tell the handful of throwbacks who still insist on paying me with a check that they can't do that anymore would be fine with me. I still have to drive down to the bank every time I deal with anyone over fifty (who seem, with rare exception, genetically INCAPABLE of understanding even the simplest paypal transaction). I hate to think of all the gas I've wasted in the last few years on these people, when the U.S. could move to a much better system (sorry unemployed bank tellers).
Naive indeed. You know they won't really destroy those samples (either through design, delay, or incompetence). And the thought of insurance companies one day getting hold of such a databank scares the hell out of me. And, considering that the insurance industry owns the U.S. Congress, it would be all too easy for them to quietly slip though a law giving them access.
"Sorry, Mr. Smith but we can't give you health or life insurance coverage."
"Why?"
"I'm sorry sir, but that's proprietary information."
Except you're renting the room and those machines, not buying them. When I buy something, it's mine to do whatever I want with it. All the content on that disc is mine--I bought it.
Unless they had a specific plan to FUND this ambitious program (which they didn't), it's all just talk. Any President can get up an make a big speech about going to the moon and Mars (he knows by the time it comes down to actually delivering anything, he'll be long out of office and his promise forgotten). But only Kennedy and Johnson actually put the hard money behind NASA to actually accomplish it. And they only did it to show up the Soviets.
I want to know exactly what the "willful abdication of space leadership" really costs us, when the moon and Mars would be purely symbolic accomplishments. National pride is not a good reason to waste billions of $ when the national debt is already threatening to bankrupt the country.
Reminds me of the old Greg Egan novel "Quarantine," where the rest of the universe gets so tired of us poking around observing them and spamming them with garbage transmissions that they put a giant curtain around our entire solar system.
Makes you wonder how a country like that could have ever produced a genius like Sergey Korolyov. But, in all fairness, the U.S. has some pretty backward practices too, and we've produced a few geniuses.
I've heard that this is basically what it's like in Brazil (not sure if it's true, never having been there). The wealthy live in extravagant fortresses with armed guards, the poor live in abysmal slums, and the middle class is comparably very small. So this kind of society is indeed possible in the modern world (and could be where the US and EU are headed, sadly).
Slashdot Mirror
Anyone who cares enough about the software to complain about its DRM is already a hardcore fan. And a hardcore fan is GOING to buy it, one way or the other. The "I'll just pirate it" option is becoming less and less an option as online play becomes more important and games are starting to block the option to use private servers.
Hollywood pursing a fad for money?!?!?
But seriously, Avatar is the only movie I've seen in modern 3D. It added slightly to the movie. A few scenes stood out for some pretty cool 3D effects, but most of the time I was thinking "This just looks like flat 2D layers set slightly above one another." But I don't see it as anything more than a novelty. Hollywood is jumping on it because it's a way to get away with charging $15 for a ticket instead of the usual $9. But it won't make a bad script better. It won't make a bad actor deliver a better performance. It won't make Michael Bay any less an annoying hack. And it won't get me into the theater to see a movie that I normally wouldn't have wanted to see in regular 2D.
Cool shades, though.
Yes, blast you, you've got me. I have a funny accent and carry around a teddy bear. I'm humbled by the biting criticism of a man who sits around on /. all day trading Star Wars witticisms and computer tips with other girlfriendless basement-dwellers. Well played, sir.
At least they'll be able to trash their remaining stock without getting mercury all over the goddamn place.
It must be a fair comparison. The Facebook press release said so.
Yes. I don't understand the implicit criticism in the article. *All* reference works are a "quick way to get started." No serious college student would write a research paper that cites an encyclopedia article as a primary source (maybe in ENG 101, but certainly not at anything above that). Encyclopedias, including both Britannica and Wikipedia, are meant to give a broad overview of a topic and suggest some additional sources for further research. IMHO, Wikipedia does a fine job of that (and I used to be in academics, so I know a thing or two about research). Would I accept it as the be-all, end-all word on a subject? Of course I wouldn't. But the same goes for any reference work (Britannica articles are written by biased academics too, you know, not by some objective god).
Well, since most of them were appointed by George Bush and Bill Clinton, my guess would be these corporations and these corporations.
Not to play devil's advocate, but the serial numbers usually are on a sticker that could easily be swapped out. I doubt an sales clerk is going to bust the case open and check the internal serial.
Myself, I can't complain. I've only had one 360 RROD on me (a launch model), and MS quickly fixed it. My PS3 never went RROD on me, but until recently there weren't any worthwhile games to play on it. So I've still gotten way more out of my 360, even with the one RROD.
Yeah, I bet he really embarrasses his girlfriend at the theater.
Oh, wait.
I'm just surprised that a cool guy like that that would be unemployed.
It wasn't the terms that scared them off (they were more than happy with those terms before), it's when China tried to steal a bunch of their secret source code that did it. Google's famously secret search algorithms and its source code are its entire profit base. When China brazenly threatened that, suddenly Google miraculously developed a conscience.
The U.S. government is quite simple, actually: Big corporations buy the legislative and executive branches, who then appoint and confirm the judicial branch.
Agreed, looks more like the kind of "story" we'd see posted by kdawson, not Taco.
I'll take the point of view of 99.999% of people who buy (or more likely pirate) this software, and say that's its primary use will be nefarious.
Morrowind was great at first. But it doesn't take long into the game before you're basically a god who no one can even touch in combat--then it becomes boring. A lot of people complained about Oblivion scaling enemies, but at least that kept it kind of interesting.
Half of the court probably had to have the concept of "email" explained to them. These were the annoying pricks that wore ties to class back in law school, most of whom were out of touch even back then. Now you expect a reasonable verdict that reflects modern innovations and changing behavior out of them?
"Email. Is that what my grandkids play their tic-tac-toe games on?"
"Uh, no Your Honor, that's probably a portable gaming console."
"Can I send a Tivo with one of those things?"
"No sir, a Tivo is a Digital Video Recorder."
"So an email is a Tivo?"
"Sir, I don't even know how to answer that."
"I'm ready to rule!"
Anything that would give me an excuse to tell the handful of throwbacks who still insist on paying me with a check that they can't do that anymore would be fine with me. I still have to drive down to the bank every time I deal with anyone over fifty (who seem, with rare exception, genetically INCAPABLE of understanding even the simplest paypal transaction). I hate to think of all the gas I've wasted in the last few years on these people, when the U.S. could move to a much better system (sorry unemployed bank tellers).
Naive indeed. You know they won't really destroy those samples (either through design, delay, or incompetence). And the thought of insurance companies one day getting hold of such a databank scares the hell out of me. And, considering that the insurance industry owns the U.S. Congress, it would be all too easy for them to quietly slip though a law giving them access.
"Sorry, Mr. Smith but we can't give you health or life insurance coverage."
"Why?"
"I'm sorry sir, but that's proprietary information."
Except you're renting the room and those machines, not buying them. When I buy something, it's mine to do whatever I want with it. All the content on that disc is mine--I bought it.
Sure, they's great for shootin', sittin' yer beer on, and as emergency toilet paper in case yer bitch wife don't buy none down at the dollar store!!
Unless they had a specific plan to FUND this ambitious program (which they didn't), it's all just talk. Any President can get up an make a big speech about going to the moon and Mars (he knows by the time it comes down to actually delivering anything, he'll be long out of office and his promise forgotten). But only Kennedy and Johnson actually put the hard money behind NASA to actually accomplish it. And they only did it to show up the Soviets.
I want to know exactly what the "willful abdication of space leadership" really costs us, when the moon and Mars would be purely symbolic accomplishments. National pride is not a good reason to waste billions of $ when the national debt is already threatening to bankrupt the country.
Reminds me of the old Greg Egan novel "Quarantine," where the rest of the universe gets so tired of us poking around observing them and spamming them with garbage transmissions that they put a giant curtain around our entire solar system.
Makes you wonder how a country like that could have ever produced a genius like Sergey Korolyov. But, in all fairness, the U.S. has some pretty backward practices too, and we've produced a few geniuses.
I've heard that this is basically what it's like in Brazil (not sure if it's true, never having been there). The wealthy live in extravagant fortresses with armed guards, the poor live in abysmal slums, and the middle class is comparably very small. So this kind of society is indeed possible in the modern world (and could be where the US and EU are headed, sadly).