FTA: "but if you're shopping online for used game paks from today's modern consoles and portables, be wary of the seller's location. 99% of the time any game being sold from China, Hong Kong, or some place you've never heard of is not a legitmate game pak."
I won't even try to imagine how much the shipping cost would be from China or Hong Kong (which, incidentally, is part of China). I think the $10 Splinter Cell 9 + $59 S&H may just turn me off. You?;)
Will mobile OS companies, like desktop OS makers, have to start an automatic update system, or will the OS creators have to start making their software secure?
Wouldn't an automatic update system serve to make the software more secure?
Anyone else think it may be a poor choice to have the JavaScript popup as the punchline to this "April Fools" joke? Handheld browsers may not display it. Possibly IE users with high security settings won't see it. And some Firefox users that are paranoid won't. Not to mention the rest of the population that automatically close anything that pops up automatically... I would understand if there's a huge uprising because of that.
I think that you made some good points. However, I think you're overestimating the impact it would really have. Open source is a hot topic right now with the public because Linux is gaining such popularity. In addition to that, to most IT people (programmers, network administrators, hobbyists, doesn't matter), Open Source is a big deal. It's hard to imagine that to a large majority of the world, nobody cares about OSS. They barely know what it means. Typically, they just know Linux is somehow related to it.
No, I don't think that funding open source software is a corporate killer. I don't think it'll turn us into a socialist state. I don't think that a lot of the horrible things you envision happening ever would. In fact, I see exactly the oppostite.
I forsee the open source community upset because they're not getting funded enough. The government would never pump so much money into it to topple the economy, let alone to make the oss community satisfied. But the government paying for something that is inherintly good is...well...inherintly good. The government pays for artists to sit around and paint all day. They're not paying for the entire art communtiy. They haven't destroyed the field of commercial art. In fact, all they've done is further, even if through few people, artistic exploration. The same could be said about writers, musicians, and many other art forms.
Some programmers like to think of themselves as techno-monsters and find it hard to grasp that what they do all the time is an artform. It's a much more scientific artform, but there are strong aspects of art and creativity involved than most would care to admit.
Would the government paying to support OSS drive unnaturraly low prices into the software industry? Possibly in certain areas. I'm sure libraries cut into book sales somewhat. But nobody would ever (intelligently) suggest getting rid of libraries.
"I fear a lot of unpleasant forking..."
Oh, get the fork outta here. No such thing as an unpleasant fork. Unless she's got forking warts. Then it'll just fork you up big time.
Are the USERS old enough for it? After all, when the NES was hitting it big, most of the audience was pre-teen (though not all, of course). The audience of gaming consoles seems to have grown up with each subsequent system. People who buy systems are getting increasingly older, and I don't think that it's so much because a lot of the content appeals to older audiences, though that may drive some of the youngest players away. I think it's because it's the same generation of NES hardcores (and to a certain extent the 2600 generation) that have been the biggest buyers of systems.
There is obviously some bleed in the age around the edges, but it is my understanding that it's been roughly the same age group that's been following the gaming industry along all these years. If this is the case, a lot of these older gamers now have jobs. And $200 is a lot cheaper to a 20-something than a 13 year old with an allowance.
Especially since the PSP is capable of so much (music, videos, photos, etc), the older crowd that's been following for so long can now get a fancy new hi-tech device that serves a lot of their purposes. After all, why have an iPod, portable DVD player (I know it doesn't play DVDs), and a GameBoy when you can have all in one? Personally, I'm rooting for Nintendo, as I don't really care for all these extra bits (I just wanna play some games), but frankly I believe Sony's got the market on this now.
Finally, the system doesn't have to rely on excellent titles to make it work all the way, because they have some backup with the extra features included. And even so, we all know Sony's track record with title quality... Sorry Nintendo. It was nice knowing you.
Slashdot Mirror
"Next time you hear something Buzzing around when you're at a family picnic you might think twice before swatting it could be an expensive action."
Like hell I'd pay for it. Gov't should be think twice before spying on its citizens. Especially at such a close range!
Did you RTFA?
FTA: "but if you're shopping online for used game paks from today's modern consoles and portables, be wary of the seller's location. 99% of the time any game being sold from China, Hong Kong, or some place you've never heard of is not a legitmate game pak."
;)
I won't even try to imagine how much the shipping cost would be from China or Hong Kong (which, incidentally, is part of China). I think the $10 Splinter Cell 9 + $59 S&H may just turn me off. You?
A little dated, but:
What's In a Name?
Will mobile OS companies, like desktop OS makers, have to start an automatic update system, or will the OS creators have to start making their software secure?
Wouldn't an automatic update system serve to make the software more secure?
"A DOS from a diskette boots suspiciously slowly"
When does a diskette ever boot not "suspiciously slowly"?
Anyone else think it may be a poor choice to have the JavaScript popup as the punchline to this "April Fools" joke? Handheld browsers may not display it. Possibly IE users with high security settings won't see it. And some Firefox users that are paranoid won't. Not to mention the rest of the population that automatically close anything that pops up automatically... I would understand if there's a huge uprising because of that.
Call me crazy, but has there been a relatively recent boom in nanotechnology? Seems like there's at least 2-3 new breakthroughs each *day* now!
I think that you made some good points. However, I think you're overestimating the impact it would really have. Open source is a hot topic right now with the public because Linux is gaining such popularity. In addition to that, to most IT people (programmers, network administrators, hobbyists, doesn't matter), Open Source is a big deal. It's hard to imagine that to a large majority of the world, nobody cares about OSS. They barely know what it means. Typically, they just know Linux is somehow related to it.
No, I don't think that funding open source software is a corporate killer. I don't think it'll turn us into a socialist state. I don't think that a lot of the horrible things you envision happening ever would. In fact, I see exactly the oppostite.
I forsee the open source community upset because they're not getting funded enough. The government would never pump so much money into it to topple the economy, let alone to make the oss community satisfied. But the government paying for something that is inherintly good is...well...inherintly good. The government pays for artists to sit around and paint all day. They're not paying for the entire art communtiy. They haven't destroyed the field of commercial art. In fact, all they've done is further, even if through few people, artistic exploration. The same could be said about writers, musicians, and many other art forms.
Some programmers like to think of themselves as techno-monsters and find it hard to grasp that what they do all the time is an artform. It's a much more scientific artform, but there are strong aspects of art and creativity involved than most would care to admit.
Would the government paying to support OSS drive unnaturraly low prices into the software industry? Possibly in certain areas. I'm sure libraries cut into book sales somewhat. But nobody would ever (intelligently) suggest getting rid of libraries.
"How do you think about governments' funding OSS developments(by tax)?"
It wouldn't be much different than the library system. Sharing knowledge for "free" is never a bad thing.
"I fear a lot of unpleasant forking..." Oh, get the fork outta here. No such thing as an unpleasant fork. Unless she's got forking warts. Then it'll just fork you up big time.
Are the USERS old enough for it? After all, when the NES was hitting it big, most of the audience was pre-teen (though not all, of course). The audience of gaming consoles seems to have grown up with each subsequent system. People who buy systems are getting increasingly older, and I don't think that it's so much because a lot of the content appeals to older audiences, though that may drive some of the youngest players away. I think it's because it's the same generation of NES hardcores (and to a certain extent the 2600 generation) that have been the biggest buyers of systems.
There is obviously some bleed in the age around the edges, but it is my understanding that it's been roughly the same age group that's been following the gaming industry along all these years. If this is the case, a lot of these older gamers now have jobs. And $200 is a lot cheaper to a 20-something than a 13 year old with an allowance.
Especially since the PSP is capable of so much (music, videos, photos, etc), the older crowd that's been following for so long can now get a fancy new hi-tech device that serves a lot of their purposes. After all, why have an iPod, portable DVD player (I know it doesn't play DVDs), and a GameBoy when you can have all in one? Personally, I'm rooting for Nintendo, as I don't really care for all these extra bits (I just wanna play some games), but frankly I believe Sony's got the market on this now.
Finally, the system doesn't have to rely on excellent titles to make it work all the way, because they have some backup with the extra features included. And even so, we all know Sony's track record with title quality... Sorry Nintendo. It was nice knowing you.