As an example of a company crippling its games, I heard Windows 7 will include Micropayments for it's classic games. For instance:
Soltaire, Spider Solitaire, and FreeCell come with only half a deck. 99cents for a full one per game.
Minesweeper has only the small board. 99cents for the medium and large ones each.
Pinball, in an effort to be more true to life, will charge you 50cents per game.
Knowing Microsoft this will probably expanded to other areas of the operating system. Maybe, we can pay 2.00 to have images display on our screens, or 1.00 per hour for use of the windows calculator. Start menu clicks going for 5 cents each for a limited time!
Pfft... If Microsoft really wanted to rake in the money in micropayments, they'd start charging for every BSOD.
I think they could double their gross income that way.:o
Americans already pay for the consequences of their actions.
Medical bills, insurance premiums, prescriptions, etc. all add to the cost of a person's mistakes. I could see adding a tax if the government were the one forking over the majority of health care costs, but they are not. And bans/restrictions are not the way to go either when dealing with public health. It didn't work during Prohibition, so what makes them think it'll work now?
Maybe the government should concentrate on actually educating the public instead of saying "you can't do this" or "we're making you pay more for that." That is one of the biggest problems in the US right now. The education system has been in a decline since the 50's. THAT is a much greater cause for concern than whether little Johnny is drinking juice or soda today.
Inside Glass house + throwing stones = Death of 1,000 cuts.
That actually DOES sound like Microsoft these days.
That's because they're living in their own private glass house out in Redmond, WA.
And the stones are being thrown by the consumers that MS pisses off with each new release, patch, etc.
As far as their products go, while their most recent releases haven't been as terrible as what I, personally, have come to expect from them, they still lag behind the pack in terms of keeping their products secure and up-to-date. Perhaps I'm being pessimistic, but I don't see them ever being truly innovative, and therefore will always fall behind as they try to copy the good parts of competing products, rather than make their own advances.
I've been doing some writing myself, and it's purely for the enjoyment of the writing itself.
I'll not claim to be a great writer by any stretch, but it's relaxing, and a good way to pass the time when gaming just doesn't cut it.
Some writers do, however, make it a full time job. They have to if they want to meet the demand for their works, or to meet a publishing obligation.
Now, all things considered, I still think the suit against Google is not good. If they're working with out of print and PD works, then I say more power to them.
For out of print works, telling them to "Suck it up, sweetcheeks" isn't going to help you sell your book, and will probably hurt sales of future works. Fighting your fans doesn't work, just ask Metallica.
As for works in the public domain, there's no copyright issues there, so why the hostility toward making them available online?
Just my random 2 cents worth here. Change available at the counter.
Second, this girl is 19 now. She was 13 when this happened. What happened to the concept of "statute of limitations"? Why wasn't the case brought up when she was 13?
It was. How quickly do you think our justice system moves? Hell, 6 years for it to go from "town courthouse" to SCOTUS is quick.
True.
There's 2-3 stops on the judicial train ride to SCOTUS, not including the actual SCOTUS appeal itself.
1) State/District Court - The first stop is the original case. The original case can take months or years to decide in the first place.
2) State/District Appellate Court - First appeal of the decision. Can take months to even APPLY for an appeal, let alone decide it. This point can be skipped in specific cases, usually in capital cases.
3) State Supreme Court - Second appeal. Again, months of preparation on top of the decision time.
4) SCOTUS - Final appeal. More time preparing, more time applying for the appeal, and, if granted certiorari, the decision making process may take months as well.
Add in the inevitable scheduling problems and delays and it makes for a very long, and in many cases, painful process.
I know here at work, SameTime is used frequently, especially amongst management. Some have installed other IM programs on the side, so it is possible to have it enter corporate networks from that direction. Of course, an IT department that enforces sound acceptable use policies and using preventative steps will keep the network reasonably secure, although there will always be some who will try to skirt around rules/proxies/firewalls/etc.
1. Most instant messenger applications are client dependant. You need YIM/AIM/MSNM clients to talk to others on those IM networks, unlike client independant networks such as IRC.
2. IM programs store contact lists much like a standard email client. Easy to read, exploit and spread.
3. Most IM programs enjoy a high degree of popularity. Higher user counts = faster spreading.
It's probably why I avoid IM programs like the plague.
It makes sense.
I've done Dell support in the past, and I know that many times things like viruses, corrupt OS and/or IE files and registry errors will prevent IE from opening. This makes it ugly trying to obtain fixes, patches, and other solutions when troubleshooting OS, driver or other problems.
Of course, with most of Dell's English speaking tech support in India now, troubleshooting will be (for the most part) limited to endless DFFR's. Had they done this before they shipped the support overseas, it may have made some difference in support costs.
At the very least, I hope it will be the end of the RIAA/MPAA witch hunt. I thought we left McCarthy-ism back in the days of the "Red Scare."
One would reasonably expect that we, having knowledge of the errors of our predecessors, would avoid repeating those mistakes. Obviously, it'll take something cataclysmic for the leadskulls in Sony to wake up and realize that alienating your customer base will only kill your business. Maybe losing all the lawsuits and most of their customers will finally make Sony see the light regarding their attitude in general.
It probably won't, but miracles have happened before. ^_^
I think it'd be more like someone jumping into your car unwelcomed. It's still considered trespass, since that person is physically on your property (inside your car) without permission. Likewise, if a spyware application is installed unprompted on your computer, it's also trespass, since it is physically residing on your property (hard drive) without permission.
Is it really the minors that are being "protected?" Or is it protecting outdated/outmoded thinking by a large portion of the population in the state? Or is it protection the public's "right" to not have to think about what their children are doing?
Come on, people... you can't legislate morality. It didn't work in the Prohibition Era, and it won't work here either. Young people, regardless of what the "moral high ground" would lead us to believe, don't require such close supervision regarding their entertainment choices. For the most part, kids are a little more astute than many people would give them credit for. Yes, for the extremely young children (under 10) there should be close parental supervision while online. Older children start understanding the difference between reality and what is portrayed as entertainment.
This isn't to say that some kids will never grasp the concept that GTA or UTx or other games are not meant to be practiced in the real world, but those children require professional assistance, and not from a lawyer either.
Government shouldn't be a substitute for common sense and good parenting, but it's trying too damned hard to be that way.
Seriously, do we need to see more political e-penis waving over who "controls the internets?"
The 'Net was doing pretty well until everyone wanted to control it. Yes, you had the occasional spammer, troll or complete retard, but the general surfing was decent enough and you could even find your favourite style of pr0n without being inundated with popups, popunders, exploits and virii. And no government watchdogs to harass average people about what they can and cannot view or download online.
I don't know about the rest of you, but I think the government can take their "legislation for the benefit of the people" and shove it so far up their @$$es that they'll be spitting it out for a week. It's amazing how the "anarchistic" Internet of even 5 years ago had a lot higher quality information than today. I honestly don't expect it to get better either, regardless of who is in "control."
If Q4 and SWBF2 have the needs that I'm hearing, then that system would fall under the "adequate" category. Although I'm waiting for UT2007 and Huxley (MMORPG built on the the Unreal3 engine) to come out. Man, it's time to start putting more pennies away... again.
If someone has linkage to the video of Huxley's introduction at E3, it'd be great. I don't have the links available, and I can't access the site at work.:(
It was almost a given that HP would team up with some major Linux distro, given that they have a fair sized share of the corporate market. I'd open my eyes a little more if Dell or another primarily HSB (Home and Small Business) OEM were to start to offer Linux systems.
Of course, it'd also be nice if some of those manufacturers would also add Linux support for their peripheral products. There's so few good drivers for printers/scanners/all-in-ones, especially from HP (which I do tech support for), and tbh I don't have the coding skills to build my own. It's probably a big reason that Linux use is still relatively light on the HSB side.
I wonder when we're gonna see the new "Winmacux" OS?
With all the time and energy spent cross-porting applications from Linux to MacOS to Windows et al, I'd not be surprised if someone didn't attempt to make a hybrid OS that at least tries to bridge the three OS's together under one banner. It'd likely be the biggest piece of bloatware to ever grace a HDD, but it would prove interesting to see a system running MacOS, Windows, and Linux apps at the same time.
Of course, if that were to ever happen, I could see M$ trying desperately to buy the technology out. heh
Windows will find a way to bloat that 1TB of RAM, and still work like it was installed on a 386.:-p
Maybe this will give cause for M$ to create some new BSOD messages (or red screen for "Vista"). I'm sure there'll be boundless new ways for Windows to crash now!
Slashdot Mirror
As an example of a company crippling its games, I heard Windows 7 will include Micropayments for it's classic games. For instance:
Soltaire, Spider Solitaire, and FreeCell come with only half a deck. 99cents for a full one per game.
Minesweeper has only the small board. 99cents for the medium and large ones each.
Pinball, in an effort to be more true to life, will charge you 50cents per game.
Knowing Microsoft this will probably expanded to other areas of the operating system. Maybe, we can pay 2.00 to have images display on our screens, or 1.00 per hour for use of the windows calculator. Start menu clicks going for 5 cents each for a limited time!
Pfft... If Microsoft really wanted to rake in the money in micropayments, they'd start charging for every BSOD.
:o
I think they could double their gross income that way.
Sorry, but I have to disagree here.
Americans already pay for the consequences of their actions.
Medical bills, insurance premiums, prescriptions, etc. all add to the cost of a person's mistakes. I could see adding a tax if the government were the one forking over the majority of health care costs, but they are not. And bans/restrictions are not the way to go either when dealing with public health. It didn't work during Prohibition, so what makes them think it'll work now?
Maybe the government should concentrate on actually educating the public instead of saying "you can't do this" or "we're making you pay more for that." That is one of the biggest problems in the US right now. The education system has been in a decline since the 50's. THAT is a much greater cause for concern than whether little Johnny is drinking juice or soda today.
My 2 cents on this.
Inside Glass house + throwing stones = Death of 1,000 cuts.
That actually DOES sound like Microsoft these days.
That's because they're living in their own private glass house out in Redmond, WA.
And the stones are being thrown by the consumers that MS pisses off with each new release, patch, etc.
As far as their products go, while their most recent releases haven't been as terrible as what I, personally, have come to expect from them, they still lag behind the pack in terms of keeping their products secure and up-to-date. Perhaps I'm being pessimistic, but I don't see them ever being truly innovative, and therefore will always fall behind as they try to copy the good parts of competing products, rather than make their own advances.
Just my 2 cents.
I've been doing some writing myself, and it's purely for the enjoyment of the writing itself.
I'll not claim to be a great writer by any stretch, but it's relaxing, and a good way to pass the time when gaming just doesn't cut it.
Some writers do, however, make it a full time job. They have to if they want to meet the demand for their works, or to meet a publishing obligation.
Now, all things considered, I still think the suit against Google is not good. If they're working with out of print and PD works, then I say more power to them.
For out of print works, telling them to "Suck it up, sweetcheeks" isn't going to help you sell your book, and will probably hurt sales of future works. Fighting your fans doesn't work, just ask Metallica.
As for works in the public domain, there's no copyright issues there, so why the hostility toward making them available online?
Just my random 2 cents worth here. Change available at the counter.
Second, this girl is 19 now. She was 13 when this happened. What happened to the concept of "statute of limitations"? Why wasn't the case brought up when she was 13?
It was. How quickly do you think our justice system moves? Hell, 6 years for it to go from "town courthouse" to SCOTUS is quick.
True. There's 2-3 stops on the judicial train ride to SCOTUS, not including the actual SCOTUS appeal itself.
1) State/District Court - The first stop is the original case. The original case can take months or years to decide in the first place.
2) State/District Appellate Court - First appeal of the decision. Can take months to even APPLY for an appeal, let alone decide it. This point can be skipped in specific cases, usually in capital cases.
3) State Supreme Court - Second appeal. Again, months of preparation on top of the decision time.
4) SCOTUS - Final appeal. More time preparing, more time applying for the appeal, and, if granted certiorari, the decision making process may take months as well.
Add in the inevitable scheduling problems and delays and it makes for a very long, and in many cases, painful process.
If you have dual processors, you could call them Double-D's.
:-p
I guess we'll soon see the Intel Porn line of processor.
I know here at work, SameTime is used frequently, especially amongst management. Some have installed other IM programs on the side, so it is possible to have it enter corporate networks from that direction. Of course, an IT department that enforces sound acceptable use policies and using preventative steps will keep the network reasonably secure, although there will always be some who will try to skirt around rules/proxies/firewalls/etc.
IM applications are hot attack vectors.
1. Most instant messenger applications are client dependant. You need YIM/AIM/MSNM clients to talk to others on those IM networks, unlike client independant networks such as IRC.
2. IM programs store contact lists much like a standard email client. Easy to read, exploit and spread.
3. Most IM programs enjoy a high degree of popularity. Higher user counts = faster spreading.
It's probably why I avoid IM programs like the plague.
anyone remember SCO vs. IBM?
We should... it's still going. Nothing outlasts the SCO-gizer. It keeps suing and suing and suing...
It makes sense. I've done Dell support in the past, and I know that many times things like viruses, corrupt OS and/or IE files and registry errors will prevent IE from opening. This makes it ugly trying to obtain fixes, patches, and other solutions when troubleshooting OS, driver or other problems. Of course, with most of Dell's English speaking tech support in India now, troubleshooting will be (for the most part) limited to endless DFFR's. Had they done this before they shipped the support overseas, it may have made some difference in support costs.
Common sense is an oxymoron.
Just listen to a few of the support calls I get and you'll agree.
Is there something in coffee or tea that helps your liver?
Or is it simply that any liquid intake you have that's coffee or tea is
liquid intake that's not beer?
-F
Sacrilege...
Now where's my Irish Coffee?!?
But beer makes Budweiser... and speaking of beer, I need another one.
Hmmm... he does sound like some of the people calling my phone at work... ;-p
I expect donut shops in the UK to experience a large sales increase shortly. :-p
At the very least, I hope it will be the end of the RIAA/MPAA witch hunt. I thought we left McCarthy-ism back in the days of the "Red Scare."
One would reasonably expect that we, having knowledge of the errors of our predecessors, would avoid repeating those mistakes. Obviously, it'll take something cataclysmic for the leadskulls in Sony to wake up and realize that alienating your customer base will only kill your business. Maybe losing all the lawsuits and most of their customers will finally make Sony see the light regarding their attitude in general.
It probably won't, but miracles have happened before. ^_^
I think it'd be more like someone jumping into your car unwelcomed. It's still considered trespass, since that person is physically on your property (inside your car) without permission. Likewise, if a spyware application is installed unprompted on your computer, it's also trespass, since it is physically residing on your property (hard drive) without permission.
IANAL, however.
Is it really the minors that are being "protected?" Or is it protecting outdated/outmoded thinking by a large portion of the population in the state? Or is it protection the public's "right" to not have to think about what their children are doing?
Come on, people... you can't legislate morality. It didn't work in the Prohibition Era, and it won't work here either. Young people, regardless of what the "moral high ground" would lead us to believe, don't require such close supervision regarding their entertainment choices. For the most part, kids are a little more astute than many people would give them credit for. Yes, for the extremely young children (under 10) there should be close parental supervision while online. Older children start understanding the difference between reality and what is portrayed as entertainment.
This isn't to say that some kids will never grasp the concept that GTA or UTx or other games are not meant to be practiced in the real world, but those children require professional assistance, and not from a lawyer either.
Government shouldn't be a substitute for common sense and good parenting, but it's trying too damned hard to be that way.
"Plus the crew had a cool little troll (the little plastic ones) on a bungee to show the capsules movements on orbit."
/. trolls couldn't have been taken up into orbit too... and jettisoned.
:D
Too bad some of the
Hmmm... that's actually an idea...
Someone loan me $20m.
Seriously, do we need to see more political e-penis waving over who "controls the internets?"
The 'Net was doing pretty well until everyone wanted to control it. Yes, you had the occasional spammer, troll or complete retard, but the general surfing was decent enough and you could even find your favourite style of pr0n without being inundated with popups, popunders, exploits and virii. And no government watchdogs to harass average people about what they can and cannot view or download online.
I don't know about the rest of you, but I think the government can take their "legislation for the benefit of the people" and shove it so far up their @$$es that they'll be spitting it out for a week. It's amazing how the "anarchistic" Internet of even 5 years ago had a lot higher quality information than today. I honestly don't expect it to get better either, regardless of who is in "control."
If Q4 and SWBF2 have the needs that I'm hearing, then that system would fall under the "adequate" category. Although I'm waiting for UT2007 and Huxley (MMORPG built on the the Unreal3 engine) to come out. Man, it's time to start putting more pennies away... again.
:(
If someone has linkage to the video of Huxley's introduction at E3, it'd be great. I don't have the links available, and I can't access the site at work.
to announce a Linux partnership?
It was almost a given that HP would team up with some major Linux distro, given that they have a fair sized share of the corporate market. I'd open my eyes a little more if Dell or another primarily HSB (Home and Small Business) OEM were to start to offer Linux systems.
Of course, it'd also be nice if some of those manufacturers would also add Linux support for their peripheral products. There's so few good drivers for printers/scanners/all-in-ones, especially from HP (which I do tech support for), and tbh I don't have the coding skills to build my own. It's probably a big reason that Linux use is still relatively light on the HSB side.
Step 2 is Apply ky-jelly to rectal cavities of consumers.
I wonder when we're gonna see the new "Winmacux" OS?
With all the time and energy spent cross-porting applications from Linux to MacOS to Windows et al, I'd not be surprised if someone didn't attempt to make a hybrid OS that at least tries to bridge the three OS's together under one banner. It'd likely be the biggest piece of bloatware to ever grace a HDD, but it would prove interesting to see a system running MacOS, Windows, and Linux apps at the same time.
Of course, if that were to ever happen, I could see M$ trying desperately to buy the technology out. heh
Maybe Windows will work really fast!
:-p
Windows will find a way to bloat that 1TB of RAM, and still work like it was installed on a 386.
Maybe this will give cause for M$ to create some new BSOD messages (or red screen for "Vista"). I'm sure there'll be boundless new ways for Windows to crash now!