Distributing DBZ eps...you have a case. Distributing fan scripts and stories? Then I don't think you should, even though the laws say you do.
The whole purpose of the copyright laws were to encourage creativity. Things that extend or add to creative works (as long as their are clearly labeled to identify origin) should be allowed.
Not so fast...I think this is not as simple as you make it sound.
I think there is a case to be made that this mod would fall under the category of parody. This means that it is protected from claims of copyright infringement under the first ammendment.
Besides, if you want to take such an exclusive view...where do you draw the line? Can I use a DBZ skin for my player? Can I use a DBZ character name for my player?
IMHO, if there is no profit involved then the courts, society, and all of us should be giving people wide latitude when it comes to these kinds of creative endevours.
Dude, after the ebola incidents at Jack In The Box the official cooking policy for every fast food chain is "well well done". In fact, a lot of chains won't even cook medium or medium well if you ask for it (I know someone who used to order his burger medium and laments that he can't find a place that will do it anymore).
Some McDonalds may still use a griddle, but almost all of them are now using these microwave ovens that they toss a pre-packaged/pre-sealed container of meat patties that are all nuked on high. The idea that maggots would still be alive is laughable.
Major chains get on average 2000-3000 claims for damages every month. Sadly, it's often easier to pay the amount than to research the facts. Risk managment is the cost of doing business in this litigious society.
Did she plug it in while the computer was running? Assuming of course it isn't a USB cradle which is supposed to be hot-swappable.
Personally, I don't know if the voltages in the serial port are enough to do damage (I think the parallel and video ports are the hot ones) but still, if she's tooling around with a metal-ringed connector with her fat greasy fingers in the back of her computer who knows what she could short out?
Honestly, I look at this claim with as much skepticism as the people who find live maggots in a McDonalds hamburger that just went through frying in a microwave for three minutes.
Besides, even if one Palm cradle was faulty and shorted out something on the motherboard at best Palm is liable to have that single motherboard repaired. Class action status means a bunch of people need to have problems with this and this is the first I've heard of it. Devices have been using the serial/parallel ports since time began, what's so special about Palms?
"Method and system for securing, managing or optimizing a personal computer"
So basically McAfee is claiming a patent on:
* Passwords
* Locks
* Command Shells
* GUIs
* Defragmenters
* Memory management
You get the idea...this is broader than the side of a barn. The only sentance I can pull out of the abstract that means anything is "you do something with a web browser and something happens on your computer"
Serious...who read this @#%!$ at the patent office and finds anything unique about it at all? I mean AT - FREAKING - ALL?
- JoeShmoe
Re:TV over Internet still a fair ways away
on
HDTV Over IP
·
· Score: 4, Informative
Fiber (well really it's that hybrid coax/fiber system that cable companies already use...just fatter pipes the whole way down and more focus on two-way syncronous connections) to the home with a single connection that does telephone, Internet and digital TV.
According to a couple techs I've talked to, the telephone service is basic VoIP. Since a T1 is 1.5Mbit and that's I think 32 lines then I don't expect this will take up much bandwidth. Supposedly the interface to the "modem" is going to be 10BaseT (it remains to be seen if I will be able to hook my own hardware into the line at its true 100Mb+ speed or I have to use their hardware) so that isn't a lot of traffic. Now each TV channel is apparently a full 5-6MBps MPEG-2 video stream. This I imagine is going to chew up the majority of their system bandwidth, especially if they plan to offer the same channels as AT&T digital cable or DirectTV.
It's kinda amazing to think about how much data that single coax from your cable provider carries. In order to provide the equivalent hundreds channels of video, WIN is having to rollout some pretty high powered stuff.
I thought the question was primarily focused on home users. There are tons of business applications where speed = productivity. In which case, they are usually running something really high powered like a Sun/SGI or some kind of Beowulf thing.
Now maybe there are people out there who do these kinds of things as a hobby, but then letting things run overnight isn't really a problem because you should have the same time demands with the hobby as you would with a job.
I do a lot of MPG/Divx/MP2/etc encoding and I often have to let things run overnight (or in the background all day while I do other things). Again, not job critical so my slower processor is sufficient. If I had to make a living doing this and I was being paid per job (as opposed to per hour which would be QUITE profitable) then I definitely would pony up for a 1+ Gz system.
And this game is most decidedly NOT relying on any 3D graphics engine, it's really computationally intense however when moving the computer players
Allow me to point out that the Alpha Centari map system is not tiles like in Civ1 and Civ2 but textures that have been mapped onto polygons to form mountain ranges and so forth. You can also zoom in and out to several levels each of which needs to be rerendered.
Not to mention the 3D rotaing models in the Workshop. Granted, this is not critical to gameplay but it is most decidedly NOT just a 2D game like its predecessors.
There are also several different options that can be enabled to speed up games play. I have played many games of AC on my P2 system and with "Fast Moves" and "Skip Enemy Moves" turned on I don't have to wait more than a few seconds for my turn.
There is a lot of calulations going on tho...especially the weather system which must alter the water content of tiles based on terriforming that can occur continents away. Also, the multi-layed sprites they use for pieces are I'm sure a big of work. So I don't deny that it plays BETTER on a faster system.
My point was that the performance of nearly any non-3D/FPS game is tolerable on even the most basic Pentium system.
Hey, Win2k and Word2K aren't exactly flying but a few seconds wait is hardly intolerable.
I think you can divide the world into two categories...people who play 3D games on their computers and people who don't. If you play mostly RTS games like I do (I still enjoy StarCraft) then I think you tend to fall to the bottom of the upgrade cycle.
If you play mostly 3D games...it seems like you get sucked into ever increasing spiral of hardware needs. A new game comes out with a whole new bag of tricks (bump-mapped poly-textured fuzzy-logic nosehair) and you either need a good CPU to enable them or toss out your nVidia GollyGeeWhizForce and get whatever is the latest version.
Not bad, but it really seems more like eSaddleBags to me.
I meant something with a lot more storage. I would like to be able to carry a couple screwdrivers and a few CD-ROMs too.
I envisoned having the strap hollow so you could tuck CDs into it, then having velcro loops so you could mount your phone, pda, pager, screwdriver, etc. in a horizontal orientation. Yes, it might look silly but if you work as a tech why not look like a tech? If you wanted it hidden then maybe eHolster would work with a few more pockets sewed onto the straps.
I admit that for the most part I'm uninformed when it comes to Amigas. However, I have a lot of friends who were really into TV/Video production in high school and college. Most of them used Amiga to do titling and animation and chromakey effects and so on.
I remember some years ago the lab at my high school was going to get a lot of money for an upgrade because it was going to be used at nights by a local community college for their classes.
I heard they were planning to buy the latest Amigas (which may have been 3000's not 4000's I may not remember correctly). I was surprise a couple weeks later to see a bunch of PC clones instead. When I asked my friends about it, they said that the current Video Toasters the school had bought (at some ridiculous price) as well as the main software they were using (also pricey) would not work on the new Amigas. They had planned to put the video software and cards in the newer Amigas and just use the older ones for basic stuff.
Since that didn't work out, they decided to just get PCs because then the parts were interchangeable with other departments and there was a much clearer upgrade path.
I don't doubt that Commodore mismanagement was the fatal blow, but a lot of my formerly-Amiga friends seem to think that poorly managed backwards-compatibility was a contributing factor. You have to admit, Intel and Microsoft can never be accused of that...we are still running software designed in the early 90's on chip architecture designed in the late 80's!
You know that strap across the chest with all the shotgun shells? Wouldn't that be perfect?
You could have loops of various sizes (or preferably with velcro to size them yourself). They loops should have some kind of elastic strap that is rubber-coated to keep things in place. Or a series of pockets.
Or, something like the shoulder holsters that law enforcement uses. You could wear it beneath a jacket and no one would be able to peg you for a geek. Just be sure not to reach for your pager when the cops pull you over.
The point is that with PPPoE and DHCP you are at the mercy of the lease. My @Home IP changes every 6 months, mainly because @Home has purchased some new class A/B licenses and is reorganizing people (i'm now a 65.x address which plays heck with certain servers that only recognize @Home as being 24.x")
Six months isn't bad but there is nothing preventing them from setting a month/day/hour lease in the future if they decide they need to conserve IPs. It is much better to get a static IP contract and get it in writing (not on a homepage which can change overnight and leave you no proof that they ever offered it).
Do you really trust companies like SBC? I wouldn't recommend it.
I didn't learn my ABCes in school, I learned my ABC's. I didn't get all Bes on my report card, I got B's. I wasn't born in the 80es I was born in the 80's.
I'm sure it all depends on your opinion but I was taught that when using acronyms or literal characters (single letters or numbers) you have to be clear where the acronym ends and a possessive/plural appendage begins. Otherwise how do you know if i'm talking about the plural of OS or Open Software Engineering Systems?
Besides, "it's" isn't the possessive form of it so there's really no rational behind 's use anyway.
Because when using PPPoE, they can force all sorts of nonsense on you:
1) Changing IPs. No one wants this crap. If you plan to run any kind of server at all over your (capped at a crappy 128kbps) connection then you need a static IP. Hell, if you want to VNC into your box you need a static IP. Yes, those dynamic dns services can help but they are still not as simple and easy as a plain static IP.
2) Needs PPPoE support on your hardware. If you plan to share your connection you are out of luck if the router doesn't have PPPoE built in. While a lot of the newer ones do, many older cable/dsl home routers do not. That means you need to pick a box and run every other computer through it with some lame crap like Internet Connection Sharing.
3) Need PPPoE support in software. We've had earlier stories on Slashdot about PPPoE and SBC making funny little changes that made it harder for non Windows/Mac users. But even if it works right now, what's to say it will always work that way if they don't officially come right out and say they support alterate OS's?
4) Waiting to connect...very very damn irritating when you just want to read something and you have to wait for PPPoE to sign in. Admittedly faster but still why should we have to? SBC owns enough IPs to last forever. We also go instantly back to those happy days of running programs to fake internet activity to keep from getting kicked offline for being idle.
I signed up with PacBell and a one-year contract and got a static IP. Three months later I was unable to connect and the tech support seemed incredulous that I wasn't on PPPoE. No amount of effort and energy would get me put back on static because I foolishly did not get it in writing before I signed up (at the time, I had no reason to believe PacBell had any interest in forcing current customers to PPPoE even though I knew a couple months after I signed up that new customers were PPPoE only). I ended up having nothing but trouble because of various PPPoE related problems and finally got out of my contract by telling them I was moving to the Bay Area and the local PacBell didn't have any open ports to provide me with DSL service.
I'm still stuck with an Wirespeed DSL modem. I should probably put it on eBay or something.
Let's not get your hopes up too high...they can always dual-boot to an older copy of Windows for "those purposes"...many will probably do the old 9x/NT trick like we had to do when all those DirectX 5.0 games were coming out and only the Microsoft DirectX 5.0 games (AOE for example) would run under Windows NT4.
One of the valuable prevention features that have been added to Windows XP is the ability to block users from installing a particular version of a driver. Since the release of Windows 2000, Windows has had the ability to block installation of a driver through a Setupapi.dll check of known problem drivers. Windows XP adds the capability to update the list of problem drivers from Windows Update. Windows Update, independent of the access mechanism described above, automatically downloads this information.
Read that...the list of drivers is controlled by a DLL that is updated by Microsoft. The information is automatically updated.
If a user with administrative privileges has the device installed (or plugs an external peripheral into the PC), they will receive a balloon popup in the taskbar indicating that the driver has known problems and will not be loaded. When a user clicks on the balloon or notification icon, Help and Support Services will provide information on where to get an updated driver if information is available. Driver blocking is independent of whether the device is signed or not (i.e. Microsoft will block signed drivers that are known to have problems).
So yes you are correct...it will be possible for 3rd parties to add in their own drivers...the catch being that Microsoft still retains control over them...even if they are signed (which most unofficial drivers aren't). All MS has to do is add the driver (probably DLL information?) to their list of "problem drivers" and they will be blocked.
I don't know bout you...but that sounds like a perfect setup for MS to break practically any application they want at will on millions of PCs in a heartbeat. Brrrr.
Yes...and Win2K shares its roots with WinNT but is not WinNT. Windows NT 3.x laid the groundwork, registry, ntfs, accounts, services, events, hal...etc. NT 4.x added the familiar interface and rudimentary multimedia functions, increased drivers...etc. 2K added plug and play, USB firewire, file encryption...etc. And now XP adds the Luna interface, registration locking, driver blocking...etc.
It all depends on what you define as code base. To me, Win2K and XP are no more different from NT4 as Windows 98SE and ME are different than 98. Basic updates and add ons that could have easily been added as an incremental release.
I'm still pissed as hell I had to upgrade stable bloat-free NT4 servers just because I needed to access a USB accessory...there's is absolutely no reason why MS couldn't have done USB support in NT except for the fact they would sell less 2K!
Is to do away with those pesky non-standard codecs like SMR, DivX;-), 3ivx, M$MPEG-4 and so forth. Right now you get just a warning when you try to install those ACX/DLL files but come XP then that "Unable to find codec" message is all you are going to see.
Also you can say goodbye to those wonderful drivers that let you load a "sound card" to output the contents of the wave device to the hard drive of those "video cards" that let you screen capture ASF/RM player windows in an unencrypted format.
As soon as the encrypted video standards are rolled out you can bet that any kind of video output driver will be limited to VHS quality or the driver just simply won't be allowed.
Microsoft is smoking some serious crack if they think they can become the sole authoritative source for drivers on the Internet. Their WindowsUpdate driver server (if you go though the process of registering your hardware config with Microsoft) is worthless and do you think that companies are going to want to have to go through the hassle of signing very beta or unsupported driver they release?
Lesson from history folks...when the Amiga 4000 came out and told their customers that everything they had bought up to this point was no longer compatible Amiga went down the toilet. When Mom and Pop find their CD burner no longer works because their manufacturer hasn't gotten around to becoming "XP Ready" (even though the code base is no different than NT/2K) then I seriously doubt they'll be keeping it. Even though they can't return it. Shafted.
Actually...come to think of it...it is very surprising that trying to change your homepage from msn.com doesn't result in some kind of Microsoft FUD-ish message like:
"Warning! If your homepage is changed from MSN.Com you will not receive valuable updates and integrated web functionality! Are you sure you want to proceed with this reckless course of action?"
I've been to several pages with code that tries to alter my homepage and every time this little IE window pops up with a home icon and says "Such-And-Such is trying to make this your homepage, do you want to proceed? [OK][Cancel]"
This is on IE's Medium security level. On High I'm sure it is even more protective. So can we please be clear about this? Is this new trick able to bypass these kinds of protections? Is this a problem only on Netscape or IE or any JavaScript enable browser?
Keeping in mind that MS wants everyone's homepage to be MSN.com (the first thing IE goes to after installing is a page with code to make MSN your homepage) I can't believe they would allow any website to so easily snatch this setting without user interaction of some kind.
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Distributing DBZ eps...you have a case. Distributing fan scripts and stories? Then I don't think you should, even though the laws say you do.
The whole purpose of the copyright laws were to encourage creativity. Things that extend or add to creative works (as long as their are clearly labeled to identify origin) should be allowed.
- JoeShmoe
Can my character have DBZ hair? Can my character have DBZ clothing? Can my character shoot big fireballs? Can my character have DBZ naming?
You draw that line in the sand and I'll find some way to split it in half. Copyright laws were designed to focus on intent, not specifics.
- JoeShmoe
Not so fast...I think this is not as simple as you make it sound.
I think there is a case to be made that this mod would fall under the category of parody. This means that it is protected from claims of copyright infringement under the first ammendment.
Besides, if you want to take such an exclusive view...where do you draw the line? Can I use a DBZ skin for my player? Can I use a DBZ character name for my player?
IMHO, if there is no profit involved then the courts, society, and all of us should be giving people wide latitude when it comes to these kinds of creative endevours.
- JoeShmoe
D'oh.
Too many late-night biological warfare movies...
- JoeShmoe
Dude, after the ebola incidents at Jack In The Box the official cooking policy for every fast food chain is "well well done". In fact, a lot of chains won't even cook medium or medium well if you ask for it (I know someone who used to order his burger medium and laments that he can't find a place that will do it anymore).
Some McDonalds may still use a griddle, but almost all of them are now using these microwave ovens that they toss a pre-packaged/pre-sealed container of meat patties that are all nuked on high. The idea that maggots would still be alive is laughable.
Major chains get on average 2000-3000 claims for damages every month. Sadly, it's often easier to pay the amount than to research the facts. Risk managment is the cost of doing business in this litigious society.
- JoeShmoe
Did she plug it in while the computer was running? Assuming of course it isn't a USB cradle which is supposed to be hot-swappable.
Personally, I don't know if the voltages in the serial port are enough to do damage (I think the parallel and video ports are the hot ones) but still, if she's tooling around with a metal-ringed connector with her fat greasy fingers in the back of her computer who knows what she could short out?
Honestly, I look at this claim with as much skepticism as the people who find live maggots in a McDonalds hamburger that just went through frying in a microwave for three minutes.
Besides, even if one Palm cradle was faulty and shorted out something on the motherboard at best Palm is liable to have that single motherboard repaired. Class action status means a bunch of people need to have problems with this and this is the first I've heard of it. Devices have been using the serial/parallel ports since time began, what's so special about Palms?
- JoeShmoe
"Method and system for securing, managing or optimizing a personal computer"
So basically McAfee is claiming a patent on:
* Passwords
* Locks
* Command Shells
* GUIs
* Defragmenters
* Memory management
You get the idea...this is broader than the side of a barn. The only sentance I can pull out of the abstract that means anything is "you do something with a web browser and something happens on your computer"
Serious...who read this @#%!$ at the patent office and finds anything unique about it at all? I mean AT - FREAKING - ALL?
- JoeShmoe
Here in Sacramento, Western Integrated Networks is doing just that.
Fiber (well really it's that hybrid coax/fiber system that cable companies already use...just fatter pipes the whole way down and more focus on two-way syncronous connections) to the home with a single connection that does telephone, Internet and digital TV.
According to a couple techs I've talked to, the telephone service is basic VoIP. Since a T1 is 1.5Mbit and that's I think 32 lines then I don't expect this will take up much bandwidth. Supposedly the interface to the "modem" is going to be 10BaseT (it remains to be seen if I will be able to hook my own hardware into the line at its true 100Mb+ speed or I have to use their hardware) so that isn't a lot of traffic. Now each TV channel is apparently a full 5-6MBps MPEG-2 video stream. This I imagine is going to chew up the majority of their system bandwidth, especially if they plan to offer the same channels as AT&T digital cable or DirectTV.
It's kinda amazing to think about how much data that single coax from your cable provider carries. In order to provide the equivalent hundreds channels of video, WIN is having to rollout some pretty high powered stuff.
- JoeShmoe
I thought the question was primarily focused on home users. There are tons of business applications where speed = productivity. In which case, they are usually running something really high powered like a Sun/SGI or some kind of Beowulf thing.
Now maybe there are people out there who do these kinds of things as a hobby, but then letting things run overnight isn't really a problem because you should have the same time demands with the hobby as you would with a job.
I do a lot of MPG/Divx/MP2/etc encoding and I often have to let things run overnight (or in the background all day while I do other things). Again, not job critical so my slower processor is sufficient. If I had to make a living doing this and I was being paid per job (as opposed to per hour which would be QUITE profitable) then I definitely would pony up for a 1+ Gz system.
- JoeShmoe
And this game is most decidedly NOT relying on any 3D graphics engine, it's really computationally intense however when moving the computer players
Allow me to point out that the Alpha Centari map system is not tiles like in Civ1 and Civ2 but textures that have been mapped onto polygons to form mountain ranges and so forth. You can also zoom in and out to several levels each of which needs to be rerendered.
Not to mention the 3D rotaing models in the Workshop. Granted, this is not critical to gameplay but it is most decidedly NOT just a 2D game like its predecessors.
There are also several different options that can be enabled to speed up games play. I have played many games of AC on my P2 system and with "Fast Moves" and "Skip Enemy Moves" turned on I don't have to wait more than a few seconds for my turn.
There is a lot of calulations going on tho...especially the weather system which must alter the water content of tiles based on terriforming that can occur continents away. Also, the multi-layed sprites they use for pieces are I'm sure a big of work. So I don't deny that it plays BETTER on a faster system.
My point was that the performance of nearly any non-3D/FPS game is tolerable on even the most basic Pentium system.
- JoeShmoe
He easily could. Especially since he is guilty of no crime under Russian law.
But I sure hope he doesn't, and I think the EFF and Elcomsoft understand that this is a valuable opportunity to strike a blow against the DMCA.
I mean...the EFF can call freakin Adobe to testify that this is undeserved and leave the FBI with severe egg on the face.
- JoeShmoe
Hey, Win2k and Word2K aren't exactly flying but a few seconds wait is hardly intolerable.
I think you can divide the world into two categories...people who play 3D games on their computers and people who don't. If you play mostly RTS games like I do (I still enjoy StarCraft) then I think you tend to fall to the bottom of the upgrade cycle.
If you play mostly 3D games...it seems like you get sucked into ever increasing spiral of hardware needs. A new game comes out with a whole new bag of tricks (bump-mapped poly-textured fuzzy-logic nosehair) and you either need a good CPU to enable them or toss out your nVidia GollyGeeWhizForce and get whatever is the latest version.
- JoeShmoe
Not bad, but it really seems more like eSaddleBags to me.
I meant something with a lot more storage. I would like to be able to carry a couple screwdrivers and a few CD-ROMs too.
I envisoned having the strap hollow so you could tuck CDs into it, then having velcro loops so you could mount your phone, pda, pager, screwdriver, etc. in a horizontal orientation. Yes, it might look silly but if you work as a tech why not look like a tech? If you wanted it hidden then maybe eHolster would work with a few more pockets sewed onto the straps.
- JoeShmoe
I admit that for the most part I'm uninformed when it comes to Amigas. However, I have a lot of friends who were really into TV/Video production in high school and college. Most of them used Amiga to do titling and animation and chromakey effects and so on.
I remember some years ago the lab at my high school was going to get a lot of money for an upgrade because it was going to be used at nights by a local community college for their classes.
I heard they were planning to buy the latest Amigas (which may have been 3000's not 4000's I may not remember correctly). I was surprise a couple weeks later to see a bunch of PC clones instead. When I asked my friends about it, they said that the current Video Toasters the school had bought (at some ridiculous price) as well as the main software they were using (also pricey) would not work on the new Amigas. They had planned to put the video software and cards in the newer Amigas and just use the older ones for basic stuff.
Since that didn't work out, they decided to just get PCs because then the parts were interchangeable with other departments and there was a much clearer upgrade path.
I don't doubt that Commodore mismanagement was the fatal blow, but a lot of my formerly-Amiga friends seem to think that poorly managed backwards-compatibility was a contributing factor. You have to admit, Intel and Microsoft can never be accused of that...we are still running software designed in the early 90's on chip architecture designed in the late 80's!
- JoeShmoe
You know that strap across the chest with all the shotgun shells? Wouldn't that be perfect?
You could have loops of various sizes (or preferably with velcro to size them yourself). They loops should have some kind of elastic strap that is rubber-coated to keep things in place. Or a series of pockets.
Or, something like the shoulder holsters that law enforcement uses. You could wear it beneath a jacket and no one would be able to peg you for a geek. Just be sure not to reach for your pager when the cops pull you over.
- JoeShmoe
The point is that with PPPoE and DHCP you are at the mercy of the lease. My @Home IP changes every 6 months, mainly because @Home has purchased some new class A/B licenses and is reorganizing people (i'm now a 65.x address which plays heck with certain servers that only recognize @Home as being 24.x")
Six months isn't bad but there is nothing preventing them from setting a month/day/hour lease in the future if they decide they need to conserve IPs. It is much better to get a static IP contract and get it in writing (not on a homepage which can change overnight and leave you no proof that they ever offered it).
Do you really trust companies like SBC? I wouldn't recommend it.
- JoeShmoe
Oses? That's ridiculous.
I didn't learn my ABCes in school, I learned my ABC's. I didn't get all Bes on my report card, I got B's. I wasn't born in the 80es I was born in the 80's.
I'm sure it all depends on your opinion but I was taught that when using acronyms or literal characters (single letters or numbers) you have to be clear where the acronym ends and a possessive/plural appendage begins. Otherwise how do you know if i'm talking about the plural of OS or Open Software Engineering Systems?
Besides, "it's" isn't the possessive form of it so there's really no rational behind 's use anyway.
I stand by my choicES to use those 's's.
- JoeShmoe
Because when using PPPoE, they can force all sorts of nonsense on you:
1) Changing IPs. No one wants this crap. If you plan to run any kind of server at all over your (capped at a crappy 128kbps) connection then you need a static IP. Hell, if you want to VNC into your box you need a static IP. Yes, those dynamic dns services can help but they are still not as simple and easy as a plain static IP.
2) Needs PPPoE support on your hardware. If you plan to share your connection you are out of luck if the router doesn't have PPPoE built in. While a lot of the newer ones do, many older cable/dsl home routers do not. That means you need to pick a box and run every other computer through it with some lame crap like Internet Connection Sharing.
3) Need PPPoE support in software. We've had earlier stories on Slashdot about PPPoE and SBC making funny little changes that made it harder for non Windows/Mac users. But even if it works right now, what's to say it will always work that way if they don't officially come right out and say they support alterate OS's?
4) Waiting to connect...very very damn irritating when you just want to read something and you have to wait for PPPoE to sign in. Admittedly faster but still why should we have to? SBC owns enough IPs to last forever. We also go instantly back to those happy days of running programs to fake internet activity to keep from getting kicked offline for being idle.
I signed up with PacBell and a one-year contract and got a static IP. Three months later I was unable to connect and the tech support seemed incredulous that I wasn't on PPPoE. No amount of effort and energy would get me put back on static because I foolishly did not get it in writing before I signed up (at the time, I had no reason to believe PacBell had any interest in forcing current customers to PPPoE even though I knew a couple months after I signed up that new customers were PPPoE only). I ended up having nothing but trouble because of various PPPoE related problems and finally got out of my contract by telling them I was moving to the Bay Area and the local PacBell didn't have any open ports to provide me with DSL service.
I'm still stuck with an Wirespeed DSL modem. I should probably put it on eBay or something.
- JoeShmoe
Let's not get your hopes up too high...they can always dual-boot to an older copy of Windows for "those purposes" ...many will probably do the old 9x/NT trick like we had to do when all those DirectX 5.0 games were coming out and only the Microsoft DirectX 5.0 games (AOE for example) would run under Windows NT4.
- JoeShmoe
From the document:
One of the valuable prevention features that have been added to Windows XP is the ability to block users from installing a particular version of a driver. Since the release of Windows 2000, Windows has had the ability to block installation of a driver through a Setupapi.dll check of known problem drivers. Windows XP adds the capability to update the list of problem drivers from Windows Update. Windows Update, independent of the access mechanism described above, automatically downloads this information.
Read that...the list of drivers is controlled by a DLL that is updated by Microsoft. The information is automatically updated.
If a user with administrative privileges has the device installed (or plugs an external peripheral into the PC), they will receive a balloon popup in the taskbar indicating that the driver has known problems and will not be loaded. When a user clicks on the balloon or notification icon, Help and Support Services will provide information on where to get an updated driver if information is available. Driver blocking is independent of whether the device is signed or not (i.e. Microsoft will block signed drivers that are known to have problems).
So yes you are correct...it will be possible for 3rd parties to add in their own drivers...the catch being that Microsoft still retains control over them...even if they are signed (which most unofficial drivers aren't). All MS has to do is add the driver (probably DLL information?) to their list of "problem drivers" and they will be blocked.
I don't know bout you...but that sounds like a perfect setup for MS to break practically any application they want at will on millions of PCs in a heartbeat. Brrrr.
- JoeShmoe
Yes...and Win2K shares its roots with WinNT but is not WinNT. Windows NT 3.x laid the groundwork, registry, ntfs, accounts, services, events, hal...etc. NT 4.x added the familiar interface and rudimentary multimedia functions, increased drivers...etc. 2K added plug and play, USB firewire, file encryption...etc. And now XP adds the Luna interface, registration locking, driver blocking...etc.
It all depends on what you define as code base. To me, Win2K and XP are no more different from NT4 as Windows 98SE and ME are different than 98. Basic updates and add ons that could have easily been added as an incremental release.
I'm still pissed as hell I had to upgrade stable bloat-free NT4 servers just because I needed to access a USB accessory...there's is absolutely no reason why MS couldn't have done USB support in NT except for the fact they would sell less 2K!
- JoeShmoe
Is to do away with those pesky non-standard codecs like SMR, DivX ;-), 3ivx, M$MPEG-4 and so forth. Right now you get just a warning when you try to install those ACX/DLL files but come XP then that "Unable to find codec" message is all you are going to see.
Also you can say goodbye to those wonderful drivers that let you load a "sound card" to output the contents of the wave device to the hard drive of those "video cards" that let you screen capture ASF/RM player windows in an unencrypted format.
As soon as the encrypted video standards are rolled out you can bet that any kind of video output driver will be limited to VHS quality or the driver just simply won't be allowed.
Microsoft is smoking some serious crack if they think they can become the sole authoritative source for drivers on the Internet. Their WindowsUpdate driver server (if you go though the process of registering your hardware config with Microsoft) is worthless and do you think that companies are going to want to have to go through the hassle of signing very beta or unsupported driver they release?
Lesson from history folks...when the Amiga 4000 came out and told their customers that everything they had bought up to this point was no longer compatible Amiga went down the toilet. When Mom and Pop find their CD burner no longer works because their manufacturer hasn't gotten around to becoming "XP Ready" (even though the code base is no different than NT/2K) then I seriously doubt they'll be keeping it. Even though they can't return it. Shafted.
- JoeShmoe
Watch out for the "spikes"!
:)
- JoeShmoe
Actually...come to think of it...it is very surprising that trying to change your homepage from msn.com doesn't result in some kind of Microsoft FUD-ish message like:
"Warning! If your homepage is changed from MSN.Com you will not receive valuable updates and integrated web functionality! Are you sure you want to proceed with this reckless course of action?"
:)
- JoeShmoe
I've been to several pages with code that tries to alter my homepage and every time this little IE window pops up with a home icon and says "Such-And-Such is trying to make this your homepage, do you want to proceed? [OK][Cancel]"
This is on IE's Medium security level. On High I'm sure it is even more protective. So can we please be clear about this? Is this new trick able to bypass these kinds of protections? Is this a problem only on Netscape or IE or any JavaScript enable browser?
Keeping in mind that MS wants everyone's homepage to be MSN.com (the first thing IE goes to after installing is a page with code to make MSN your homepage) I can't believe they would allow any website to so easily snatch this setting without user interaction of some kind.
- JoeShmoe