MS isn't a government institution, you can't just petition them into doing something. They'll only do it if it something that will improve their bottom line. So far, they haven't felt that open standards do that. Perhaps, they'll see the error of their ways - but a petition won't make MS do anything.
They both require robust systems. To me, it's all about the systems, and not so much the roleplaying. In my expereince, the geeky'er kids were usually the "rule lawyers" who'd constantly look for ways to boost themselves and/or supress others via the game's system.
That's what Europeans said about America a couple hundred years ago. And witness how the economy of America overtook that of Europe for many decades. It happened once, and it may very well happen again. The upstart will overtake the existing economies.
WWII put America in the lead. Not because we're the best, but because we were the last ones standing. Europe is catching up.
China has its own massive problems. Over population, diminishing rsources, lack of fresh water, desertification of the north, massive flooding of the west and south, cutural strife, to name a few.
The major advantage China has is that its people are educated. I mean, educated, not what we Americans pass off as education. Something like 2/3 of coastal Chinese hold some sort of college degree. Compare that to America's 40% and you can see where we're failing.
My brother is an "oh damn the condom broke, wanna get married?" kid. He doesn't hate condoms and he he uses them. Or at least he should, for the good of all mankind...
You appearently have never witnessed a daughter on the phone to her mother before (especially when the mother lives on another continent). I swear, the more it costs per minute the more they'll talk.
Averaging 3 hour phone calls here. I'll take the 49 cent connection fee.
I bought a tiny Viao when I was in Japan. When I got home (Taiwan at the time, but I'm American) I wiped the Japanese version of Windows out and tried to install an English version of WinXP Pro on it, and none (I do mean NONE) of the Viao drivers would install. What a waste of $1600 that was.
Fortunatly, one of the Japanaese executives working in my company also wanted the notebook and bought it off of me. Nothing lost, but I learned that not all PCs will accept an English OS.
That "dual work" is know as redundancy, and it's a good think. The lack of it is what turned the lights off on the north eastern seaboard when a power station in Ohio had problems.
If the government was really worried about terrorists (and they're not) they'd promote redundancy in all key infrastructure. They don't.
I've found that the average user will save their documents with the file type that has the most pleasing icon associated with it. As a test, I adjusted a coworker's machine to default to.rtf and associated the.rtf extension with the.doc icon and he couldn't have been happier.
So, my assumsion is that OpenDoc files will have an ugly icon to dissuade their use. You'll be suprised, but it'll make all the difference in the world to the average user.
Heck, my mother told me that her Word files were better than mine because her PC has WordXP on it and it has newer icons than my old Word2000. Whatever...
It means something important. When people have a choice they're starting to trust and buy AMD. This is very bad for Intel. When mega-retailer Dell isn't making the decision for the comsumer, the consumer is buying AMD.
I'm no physicist, but it seems to me that anything that looks that complex has to be made of smaller parts...
I mean, look at that rendering of a photon: it has a tube down the middle? What's in that tube? Shouldn't the most base substance of the universe be spheres? Can't think of a simpler structure...
Yeah, 'cause books don't make you sedintary and they really do help with your social life too. Not that I watch a lot of TV, just the pot shouldn't be calling the kettle black.:-)
IE is free, and it's why it's crap. Yeah, yeah - FF is free too, but it's built by people who care. The engineers at M$ are just people doing their day job. The depts that don't make money don't get the glitz, glamor, or big bonuses - so they make inferior products. It's human nature.
Lets not have M$ repeat its IE mistake again - and lets give Symantic something to compete against. Average joe won't realize that M$ Almost-Virus isn't as good as Symantic Anti-Virus, he'll buy whichever is cheaper.
Google may have been the first Internet company to really start using the XML/Http stuff, but it is something that came out of Microsoft's labs. The functionality has been in IE since 5.0.
So, if any company should be allowed to 'rip off' Google, it's Microsoft (in this case, anyways).
I still won't be using Hotmail because their spam filter sucks, thy have flashing (Slashdot style - this AMD+Gigabyte Newegg add is driving me nuttz) banner ads everywhere.
PS. can we stop calling it Ajax? Ajax cleans stuff.Xml/Http (XML over Http), or Asynch Xml/Http is a more appropriate name. Even call it AXmlHttp, AXH or anything- just not a cleaning supply's name, ok? =)
Your post is some what misleading. City of Villains has completely new 1-50 content, and allows for PvP if you have both games. The only shared element is the backstory and the game engine (and the engine has recieved a major overhaul).
CoV has all new ATs (character classes), mostly new powersets, all new art, storyline, setting, and mission types. In addition, it introduces real PvP into the game. Also, once CoV is launched the code for crafting will be integrated into CoH. Though, the developers have said that the final touches to the crafting system are 3-6 months off - so I'm not holding my breath.
Cryptic/NCsoft has always said the fee for playing both would little to nothing extra, but that you'd have to buy the second boxset. Guess they learned something from Guild Wars.
Anyways, I've been an avid fan since 18 months before the release of City of Heroes and I've been playing close attention ever since. CoV is not just an expansion - it's a second game that upgrades the original if you it to.
I'm a filesystem layman - but isn't this a little like how Win16/32 works and it's why we have to 'defrag'? Sure sounds the same. Since switching to WinXP and NTFS I no longer get space back from a defrag, so I assume that's different.
Bleh - using M$ products pretty much guarantees that I have no idea how my PC works, doesn't it?;-)
So what. 90% of the populace shouldn't be driving cars either 'cause they suck at it. Doesn't mean that they are forced onto public transit. Same with computers. Quit being elitist. People who pay for their PCs shouldn't be forced to pay a subscription and need a network just to type a letter.
They should be forced to pay M$ a month's salary to do it.;-)
Seriously, with great OSS apps out there like OpenOffice how can anybody think AjaxOffice(tm) is a good idea?
Also, if the lamen out there weren't such good targets, you'd be the next target. Malicious hackers are gonna keep on keeping on 'cause it is either fun, lucrative, or both.
This is exactly what Cryptic Studios did with their development of City of Heroes. Their CEO funded the entire thing right up to thr point of their deal with NCsoft America. Seems they have (one of?) the best deal[s] of any MMO developer out there.
Slashdot Mirror
Just thought I'd point out the obvious.
Do you work for Microsoft? O_o
They both require robust systems. To me, it's all about the systems, and not so much the roleplaying. In my expereince, the geeky'er kids were usually the "rule lawyers" who'd constantly look for ways to boost themselves and/or supress others via the game's system.
WWII put America in the lead. Not because we're the best, but because we were the last ones standing. Europe is catching up.
China has its own massive problems. Over population, diminishing rsources, lack of fresh water, desertification of the north, massive flooding of the west and south, cutural strife, to name a few.
The major advantage China has is that its people are educated. I mean, educated, not what we Americans pass off as education. Something like 2/3 of coastal Chinese hold some sort of college degree. Compare that to America's 40% and you can see where we're failing.
My brother is an "oh damn the condom broke, wanna get married?" kid. He doesn't hate condoms and he he uses them. Or at least he should, for the good of all mankind...
Averaging 3 hour phone calls here. I'll take the 49 cent connection fee.
Until EA gets the exclusive that one too?
I'm yet to find a better, legal, deal. VoiceChat doesn't work when your mother law doesn't own a computer and lived in Taiwan.
Fortunatly, one of the Japanaese executives working in my company also wanted the notebook and bought it off of me. Nothing lost, but I learned that not all PCs will accept an English OS.
If the government was really worried about terrorists (and they're not) they'd promote redundancy in all key infrastructure. They don't.
So, my assumsion is that OpenDoc files will have an ugly icon to dissuade their use. You'll be suprised, but it'll make all the difference in the world to the average user.
Heck, my mother told me that her Word files were better than mine because her PC has WordXP on it and it has newer icons than my old Word2000. Whatever...
It means something important. When people have a choice they're starting to trust and buy AMD. This is very bad for Intel. When mega-retailer Dell isn't making the decision for the comsumer, the consumer is buying AMD.
I mean, look at that rendering of a photon: it has a tube down the middle? What's in that tube? Shouldn't the most base substance of the universe be spheres? Can't think of a simpler structure...
Again, with the I'm not a physicist.
Churches (ie religion) predictates war, doesn't it? :-/
Yeah, 'cause books don't make you sedintary and they really do help with your social life too. Not that I watch a lot of TV, just the pot shouldn't be calling the kettle black. :-)
"...self-confessed internet addict..." "But I couldn't control my addiction."
Sound scripted? Like somebody told him what to say? This just reeks of 1984.
Lets not have M$ repeat its IE mistake again - and lets give Symantic something to compete against. Average joe won't realize that M$ Almost-Virus isn't as good as Symantic Anti-Virus, he'll buy whichever is cheaper.
So, if any company should be allowed to 'rip off' Google, it's Microsoft (in this case, anyways).
I still won't be using Hotmail because their spam filter sucks, thy have flashing (Slashdot style - this AMD+Gigabyte Newegg add is driving me nuttz) banner ads everywhere.
PS. can we stop calling it Ajax? Ajax cleans stuff.Xml/Http (XML over Http), or Asynch Xml/Http is a more appropriate name. Even call it AXmlHttp, AXH or anything- just not a cleaning supply's name, ok? =)
CoV has all new ATs (character classes), mostly new powersets, all new art, storyline, setting, and mission types. In addition, it introduces real PvP into the game. Also, once CoV is launched the code for crafting will be integrated into CoH. Though, the developers have said that the final touches to the crafting system are 3-6 months off - so I'm not holding my breath.
Cryptic/NCsoft has always said the fee for playing both would little to nothing extra, but that you'd have to buy the second boxset. Guess they learned something from Guild Wars.
Anyways, I've been an avid fan since 18 months before the release of City of Heroes and I've been playing close attention ever since. CoV is not just an expansion - it's a second game that upgrades the original if you it to.
Bleh - using M$ products pretty much guarantees that I have no idea how my PC works, doesn't it? ;-)
Does this mean we should start buying games, like we buy cars? Based on resell value?
They should be forced to pay M$ a month's salary to do it. ;-)
Seriously, with great OSS apps out there like OpenOffice how can anybody think AjaxOffice(tm) is a good idea?
Also, if the lamen out there weren't such good targets, you'd be the next target. Malicious hackers are gonna keep on keeping on 'cause it is either fun, lucrative, or both.
* Anger
* Bargaining <-- Seems that we are here
* Depression
* Acceptance
Mr. Ballmer seems to be stuck at 'Anger', but looks like the rest of MS is moving on.
MS developers are already in the grief stage however:
* Numbness
* Disorganization
* Reorganization (ie get hired by Google)
Not bad for their first game.
M$ and $ony.