The TI also had its adequate share of non game titles (a ton of educational stuff, plus access to the PLATO system), Multiplan, TI Writer, etc). Granted, for "important" work, an expansion system with a disk drive and printer (which were priced at unobtanium levels) were required, but still, the TI was not all games, and it could have been a viable competitor at the time if not for asshat decisions made by the folk at Texas Instruments.
If I was still collecting classic systems, I sould soooooooo be wanting one of those IBM 5100 "portables". The alternate VIC-20 commercial had a major flaw to it. Since the applicant had his Munchman score listed in his resume, that meant he did have a personal computer, and not just a video game console. The TI-99/4a was a perfectly viable computer for its time.
The lack of the Atari 5200 Joust Commercial (which deserves the Good Weed/Bad Acid Award) was a major disappointment in the article. Also disappointing was the lack of the Coleco Adam commercial that starts with a girl's parents having a conference with her teacher about her failing in school and convincing them to buy her an Adam. I remember how her face lit up when they broke the good news to her, and nowadays, I am imagining her having a meltdown like that kid in the faked video where his brother filmed him throwing a fit after his WoW account was cancelled.
Ah well... Time to go Youtubin for a few hours to see if I can dig up that commercial.
How about changing the law so that punitive damages could be awarded against blatant patent trolls such as Acacia? (Don't get me started about the cynical, useless bastards at SCO). Better still, how about making 'stifling innovation through frivolous patent suits' a Federal / criminal offense?
Or even better, how about letting software be protected under a different system, like perhaps copyright, and leave the patent system to actual physical inventions and innovations?
I believe with eBay, to be able to resell that item as an Omega watch, you have to jump through countless flaming hoops to prove that it is not a counterfeit (effectively provide a notarized affidavit signed in triplicate, sent in, sent back, lost, found, lost again, recycled as firelighters, and buried in soft peat for six months).
Without such proof, you would not be able to mention the Omega name or show the logo on the item if you want to sell it.
And that would be a trademark violation, not copyright. Or just to cover everything, call it an imaginary property violation.
Well, maybe that sounds strange, but how about just asking the company?
Because if you are not using any of their imaginary property (copyrighted/trademarked/patented materials), then they have no say whatsoever in your production and there is absolutely no need to ask permission for anything.
This article tells the story of the game that could have been WoW before Warcraft.
Gee, was WoW the first MMO? I think not.
I can name at least 4 other major MMO titles that were on the market before WoW:
Ultima Online - 1997 EverQuest - 1999 Horizons (Surprised to see it is still somewhat around) - 2003 City of Heroes - 2004 (APR-27 as opposed to WoW on 2004-11-13)
Then there is also that Meridian 59 that was mentioned elsewhere in this thread, and also Eternal Lands in 2003 (which was the first MMORPG I ever played. Got too grindy fast, so I think I gave it up after three months or so).
I'm a big fan of "what's the difference?" questions. I'll take two similar technologies from their resume and ask what's the difference between them. It tests both the candidate's level of experience, as well as the candidate's ability to think and articulate an answer.
What is the difference between a programmer and a coder?
It may have been up through 4.2. I am pretty sure I had given up on KDE before 4.3. And I remember at the time, a web search on KDE +"multiple wallpapers" brought up tons of similar complaints with no one being able to offer any solution.
No matter now. I am becoming more and more enamored with Enlightenment these days, and feel no need to switch back to either of the "Big Two" desktop environments.:)
KDE lost me as a user when they took away the ability to have a different background on each desktop (yeah, petty point, but it was still a really neat feature in my opinion.) That did cause me to take a closer look at KDE4 before I dropped it, and I found myself not liking the feel of that environment overall. Then I took a look at Gnome and tried it out briefly, but didn't care much for that either (plus, still no multiple backgrounds).
That was when I finally started taking a more in depth look at alternate desktop environments, which led to me settling on Enlightenment. It is definitely very different from what I have been used to (still have a lot to learn and unlearn), but the more I work with it, the more I like it. And the only annoyance thus far is the inability to have both an image as a desktop wallpaper and a different background color (either solid or a pleasant gradient) other than painful white if the image does not fill the screen.
I still use various Gnome and KDE based apps as required (K3B, Nautilus, GDM, and assorted others), but for the overall environment, I am converted over completely to Enlightenment.
Slashdot Mirror
A moat of course. A water barrier is quite effective keeping out the vandals and goths, not to mention pesky viking raiders.
If you go with the moat, be sure to skip the Gopher Moat model. Those are not very effective.
you're a very bad Google and I'm gonna wish you into the corn field !
Too late. I already wished them into Cartoon Land.
It's Our Sun Jacking off, the Earth hit by the toss
At least it didn't hit Uranus.
Shit. He's half the age of the Earth!?!?
Ah, he's nowhere near 2.72 billion years old.
Still, I must say, he looks like a million.
The TI also had its adequate share of non game titles (a ton of educational stuff, plus access to the PLATO system), Multiplan, TI Writer, etc). Granted, for "important" work, an expansion system with a disk drive and printer (which were priced at unobtanium levels) were required, but still, the TI was not all games, and it could have been a viable competitor at the time if not for asshat decisions made by the folk at Texas Instruments.
If I was still collecting classic systems, I sould soooooooo be wanting one of those IBM 5100 "portables". The alternate VIC-20 commercial had a major flaw to it. Since the applicant had his Munchman score listed in his resume, that meant he did have a personal computer, and not just a video game console. The TI-99/4a was a perfectly viable computer for its time.
The lack of the Atari 5200 Joust Commercial (which deserves the Good Weed/Bad Acid Award) was a major disappointment in the article. Also disappointing was the lack of the Coleco Adam commercial that starts with a girl's parents having a conference with her teacher about her failing in school and convincing them to buy her an Adam. I remember how her face lit up when they broke the good news to her, and nowadays, I am imagining her having a meltdown like that kid in the faked video where his brother filmed him throwing a fit after his WoW account was cancelled.
Ah well... Time to go Youtubin for a few hours to see if I can dig up that commercial.
Just remember, if your erection lasts more than three hours, go have sex with your girlfriend, FFS instead of wasting time posting about it here.
How about changing the law so that punitive damages could be awarded against blatant patent trolls such as Acacia? (Don't get me started about the cynical, useless bastards at SCO).
Better still, how about making 'stifling innovation through frivolous patent suits' a Federal / criminal offense?
Or even better, how about letting software be protected under a different system, like perhaps copyright, and leave the patent system to actual physical inventions and innovations?
Or is that too novel an idea?
I believe with eBay, to be able to resell that item as an Omega watch, you have to jump through countless flaming hoops to prove that it is not a counterfeit (effectively provide a notarized affidavit signed in triplicate, sent in, sent back, lost, found, lost again, recycled as firelighters, and buried in soft peat for six months).
Without such proof, you would not be able to mention the Omega name or show the logo on the item if you want to sell it.
And that would be a trademark violation, not copyright. Or just to cover everything, call it an imaginary property violation.
In Soviet Russia...
Nah, too obvious.
The reason that planet is lacking methane is because that solar system lacks Uranus.
Killed by "phantom pirates".
Ooooh -- sounds like a game I'd like to buy!
You already can. All you have to do is get City of Heroes.
I always take care to disguise my ass before photocopying it.
Well in my day...
"People wrote books and movies, movies that had stories so you cared whose ass it was and why it was farting. And I believe that time can come again!"
Where is Conan the Librarian when we need him?
Nah. This can be fun. :p
Did you intentionally make that rhyme?
Would that be a crime?
And what will these eel eat? Oh, that's right - fish. Which have to be caught and then fed to the eels...
Anyone who grew up in that crazy Twentieth Century decade of the 70s is well aware that eels eat Assorted Letters of the English Alphabet.
Well, maybe that sounds strange, but how about just asking the company?
Because if you are not using any of their imaginary property (copyrighted/trademarked/patented materials), then they have no say whatsoever in your production and there is absolutely no need to ask permission for anything.
The common term for the beginning of the universe as described by scientists is:
a) Big Bang
b) Neutrino
c) Accretion
d) Pop Rocks
e) CowboyNeal
f) ???
g) Profit
Fixed that for you. :p
This article tells the story of the game that could have been WoW before Warcraft.
Gee, was WoW the first MMO? I think not.
I can name at least 4 other major MMO titles that were on the market before WoW:
Ultima Online - 1997
EverQuest - 1999
Horizons (Surprised to see it is still somewhat around) - 2003
City of Heroes - 2004 (APR-27 as opposed to WoW on 2004-11-13)
Then there is also that Meridian 59 that was mentioned elsewhere in this thread, and also Eternal Lands in 2003 (which was the first MMORPG I ever played. Got too grindy fast, so I think I gave it up after three months or so).
Or a reboot to the head.
I'm a big fan of "what's the difference?" questions. I'll take two similar technologies from their resume and ask what's the difference between them. It tests both the candidate's level of experience, as well as the candidate's ability to think and articulate an answer.
What is the difference between a programmer and a coder?
Would that be a good question to start with? :)
It may have been up through 4.2. I am pretty sure I had given up on KDE before 4.3. And I remember at the time, a web search on KDE +"multiple wallpapers" brought up tons of similar complaints with no one being able to offer any solution.
No matter now. I am becoming more and more enamored with Enlightenment these days, and feel no need to switch back to either of the "Big Two" desktop environments. :)
KDE lost me as a user when they took away the ability to have a different background on each desktop (yeah, petty point, but it was still a really neat feature in my opinion.) That did cause me to take a closer look at KDE4 before I dropped it, and I found myself not liking the feel of that environment overall. Then I took a look at Gnome and tried it out briefly, but didn't care much for that either (plus, still no multiple backgrounds).
That was when I finally started taking a more in depth look at alternate desktop environments, which led to me settling on Enlightenment. It is definitely very different from what I have been used to (still have a lot to learn and unlearn), but the more I work with it, the more I like it. And the only annoyance thus far is the inability to have both an image as a desktop wallpaper and a different background color (either solid or a pleasant gradient) other than painful white if the image does not fill the screen.
I still use various Gnome and KDE based apps as required (K3B, Nautilus, GDM, and assorted others), but for the overall environment, I am converted over completely to Enlightenment.
Why does it take three books for some guys to walk to a volcano?!?
Because had they done the sensible thing, it would have been a very short story.