I did a little poking around on Dell's site and I noticed a couple things. First, all the XPS systems come with Media center. Only the top 2 models say "with re-installation CD." That in itself is a little strange.
Then I went through customizing a system and the only thing I saw as options that related to pre installed software were the options for which "security suite" (I hate that term), which photo crap software selection, and which CD burning software. The last 2 were defaulted to none. So, all I can seem to find is options to not get the USEFUL software but nothing about the crippleware.
Some of those are good policies, but not something to post. The reason for that is most people would get confused by them. You'd want to get them OK'd by the highest up tech savvy person in mangement, and then make sure the techs know them. You don't need to be broadcasting those to everyone.
Also, most repair shops don't waste their time with troubleshooting and repairing spyware/virus/software issues. The most that they usually do is save critical data and format/reinstall.
I'm not surprised. Intel has very rarely ever admitted that AMD even exists.
A few years ago, when the P4s were just moving to the socket 478(? I think it was 478, the one they went to after the horrible 423) and the 2Ghz P4s were coming out, I went to one of those road shows Intel put on. They were talking up their new P4 2Ghz chip and did this whole presentation comparing its performance. Here's the funny part, they didn't compare it to an AMD chip. They didn't even MENTION AMD. They showed comparisons of the P4 2Ghz to the, get this, P4 1.5Ghz.
Unsurprisingly, most categories, the 2Ghz performed 25% better. (There's a big shock) What was funny was that in gaming they said the 2Ghz performed 13% better than the 1.5Ghz.
At a time when AMD was delivering a thrashing with their Athlon XP chips that had a slower clock speed, slower FSB, and were STILL outperforming Intel, they still woundn't even mention AMD. It's no surprise to me that the CEO of Intel would talk about losing market share without mentioning AMD.
If you're talking about using a public P2P, then it's insane.
If it could be set up properly to be used on a large corporate intranet, then there's some merit to it. If you could use this system to spread chunks of data out over an intranet that spans several states, then it could be a useful way to store critical data during hurricane season or the like. If a building took sufficient damage from weather, earthquake, terrorist, broken water main, etc. so that the data center in that building was a loss, the company could theoretically reconstruct the data from chunks on other company computers across the country.
Yup, the sub $100 standard DVD player. Retailers will be hard pressed to sell either to consumers for $1000. How many retailers will try to show a Blu-Ray or HD-DVD player on a nice HDTV and try to sell it, but there will be another HDTV next to it with a regular DVD player connected.
There's just isn't enough difference, other than bragging rights, for most people to shell out for an HD-DVD player.
In ALL cases you have the power of a monetary vote. Now, if you choose to NOT exercise it, and just persist in whining on slashdot about "market powers". You will get what you deserve, and no one should feel sympathetic towards your plight.
There's a major flaw in your logic/flame. If someone doesn't exercise their "vote" but instead will "just persist in whining on slashdot" that would in effect be exercising your first option to not buy either and stick with DVD.
How does one break into this though?
To be able to compete with these "pros" you essentially need to really do nothing but. Who, besides failing high school kids and failing college kids, can actually do that?
Also, consider that unlike sports, you can't really work up to it. Kids can play pop warner football and sports in schools, but what about gaming? If you try to spend free time gaming when you're a kid, your parents think you need more time outdoors so they sign you up for pop warner football.
It just seems like there's not a practical way to get more people into this. As long as gaming is viewed in society as a waste of time, there's no way pro-gaming can be taken seriously enough to compare it to pro sports.
Right now, you either have to be a CEO, or have a nice trust fund to be able to "train" to be a pro gamer.
I dunno. It just seems like these are the few people that can do what many of us wish we could do, but it's seen as irresponsible or whatever to make your living playing video games.
Time for me to spend more time on my linux box making sure I can get everything I need to run on it. Not that I would EVER pirate Windows, I just don't want to pay Microsoft anymore for more broken stuff.
I fear that Vista will be the next Windows ME. Which means that when people I know buy a computer with Vista and they ask me about the problems they're having, I'll tell them to get a copy of XP installed on it instead.
I had to do the same thing with Win ME. It pained me to say that Win 98 was the better alternative, but compared to Morons Edition, it was true.
Actually, I'd say most users know they're supposed to have a firewall. Most don't know what it does or why they need it, but thanks to Norton and McAfee making all these "security suites" which generally break more than they protect, and retailers like Best Buy selling firewall software with a router that has a hardware firewall, people have heard enough FUD that they NEED 12 firewalls per computer.
The problem with MP3 is that most consumers still don't know what an MP3 is.
All they know is that the iPod thingies can play lots and lots of music.
A couple years ago I was working at Radio Shack (just as a part-time second job) and people would routinely come in for iPods. When we were out of them I'd say we have other MP3 players in stock. The response I'd always get is, "What's an MP3 player?"
Consumers aren't really as savvy as we hope they are. DVD has been out FOREVER and there are STILL people that don't call it that. It's really more about marketing the name than what the name is. Blu-Ray could conceivably catch on simply because the name is easier to say and if Sony marketed it properly.
But, since Sony has NEVER marketed a new technology properly, HD-DVD will probably still end up ahead.
Yeah, if the n standard hasn't been finalized, then these aren't the n's you're looking for.
How is this different from the "Pre N" devices of a year or so ago?
OH! It's CLOSER to what the N standard will be.
Are Linksys and the like SO desperate for a new shiny to dangle that they'll make products that may or may not be compatible with the standard?
I'll stick with my 802.11g thank you. Let me know when I have a need to bother with upgrading.
I rarely ever have any problems with WoW. I've played on 3 servers over the last year and never really had problems with any of them. The last time I really had any inconvenience is when 1.10 was released. After that the night when Kalimdor didn't work on any servers. (still trying to figure out how THAT happened)
Other than that I can always get in, there's no queue, rarely any lag.
I dunno, maybe I'm just lucky. I wouldn't say I play very little, (just ask my wife) but I'm not on all the time either.
I wouldn't be surprised. I'm a little embarassed to say that I worked at Best Buy for about a month several years ago. It was a bad time in my life, I needed money. This was before their "geek squad" BS. I was by FAR the most knowlegeable person in that store. The other "techs" (I use that term loosely) were barely able to install a CD burner or RAM. One kid that was supposedly a tech didn't know how to install anything. Even worse, I heard him telling a customer that to share their DSL line between 2 computers, all they had to do was plug a phone cord from the wall into the ANALOG modem in the new computer.
Best Buy is the most pathetic excuse for blowing smoke up people's asses to make them buy whatever they can throw at you.
Exactly. While it MAY be true that some commercial copyright infringement ends up supporting some kind of terrorism, this legislation is not targeting that.
I really don't know how much commercial copyright infringement goes on in the US. Most infringement in the US is probably the non-commercial type. That would be the type that does not involve money.
How does Billy Bob making a copy of the last Garth Brooks Greatest Hits XLVI for his cousin/brother Jimmy Joe Billy Bob help support terrorism?
This bill is targeting that kind of infringement. From the wording, it could make computers with CD burners illegal. Hell, it wouldn't necessarily even need to have a CD burner.
Read the link in TFA to the story about Lexmark using the DMCA to stop a company from making ink cartriges. That's so ridiculous it's absurd. This type of thing is making it illegal to be in competition with a large company.
That in itself would make for an interesting paradox. Monopolies are illegal, (unless government created) but competition is also illegal now.
Now would be a good time for Microsoft to offer discounts to major media outlets that use the internet. Or for Dell to offer discounts on systems.
With Apple pissing off journalists, now would be a good time to get ahold of those people.
Re:There's two kinds of green in politics...
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Tilting At Windmills
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Talk about a blatant example of how money buys votes. Can we lobby to officially change the name of "campaing contributions" to BRIBES? (the irony there is staggering)
I don't think it will become a law. Since Phillips has patented it, that would mean all other companies would have to license the tech from Phillips. If Phillips even TRIED to make it a law, they'd have all the other major TV manufacturers fighting it.
Also, retailers would sell it for about a week. When they get all the returns for "defective" TVs from Joe Bob, they'll stop carrying it.
Yup, most home models suck. It's not unique to HP to not have an AGP slot on a home machine. HP has had no less than 3 different lines of desktops, not counting Compaq. 2 or 3 laptop lines as well. The Pavilions have always been for the cheap home user. The business lines are usually much better quality, and the prices aren't outrageous. Vectra and Kayak were desktops, OmniBooks were laptops.
I haven't looked into those lately, so I don't know what's available.
As a semi side note, a friend recently bought a new HP laptop, and it seems to actually be pretty decent. I think HP has focused on improving their quality lately, since they can use the Compaq brand for the cheap low end stuff now.
Slashdot Mirror
I did a little poking around on Dell's site and I noticed a couple things. First, all the XPS systems come with Media center. Only the top 2 models say "with re-installation CD." That in itself is a little strange.
Then I went through customizing a system and the only thing I saw as options that related to pre installed software were the options for which "security suite" (I hate that term), which photo crap software selection, and which CD burning software. The last 2 were defaulted to none. So, all I can seem to find is options to not get the USEFUL software but nothing about the crippleware.
Also, most repair shops don't waste their time with troubleshooting and repairing spyware/virus/software issues. The most that they usually do is save critical data and format/reinstall.
A few years ago, when the P4s were just moving to the socket 478(? I think it was 478, the one they went to after the horrible 423) and the 2Ghz P4s were coming out, I went to one of those road shows Intel put on. They were talking up their new P4 2Ghz chip and did this whole presentation comparing its performance. Here's the funny part, they didn't compare it to an AMD chip. They didn't even MENTION AMD. They showed comparisons of the P4 2Ghz to the, get this, P4 1.5Ghz.
Unsurprisingly, most categories, the 2Ghz performed 25% better. (There's a big shock) What was funny was that in gaming they said the 2Ghz performed 13% better than the 1.5Ghz.
At a time when AMD was delivering a thrashing with their Athlon XP chips that had a slower clock speed, slower FSB, and were STILL outperforming Intel, they still woundn't even mention AMD. It's no surprise to me that the CEO of Intel would talk about losing market share without mentioning AMD.
I think it's dollars.
My question is, is that revenue just from sale and subscriptions of games or does that include gold farming businesses in China?
If it could be set up properly to be used on a large corporate intranet, then there's some merit to it. If you could use this system to spread chunks of data out over an intranet that spans several states, then it could be a useful way to store critical data during hurricane season or the like. If a building took sufficient damage from weather, earthquake, terrorist, broken water main, etc. so that the data center in that building was a loss, the company could theoretically reconstruct the data from chunks on other company computers across the country.
Now I'm just rambling... almost time to go home.
Followed by, "Oh yeah, it would be MUCH better to set up your computer in your bedroom. Keeps it from cluttering the living room.... or something..."
Yup, the sub $100 standard DVD player. Retailers will be hard pressed to sell either to consumers for $1000. How many retailers will try to show a Blu-Ray or HD-DVD player on a nice HDTV and try to sell it, but there will be another HDTV next to it with a regular DVD player connected.
There's just isn't enough difference, other than bragging rights, for most people to shell out for an HD-DVD player.
There's a major flaw in your logic/flame. If someone doesn't exercise their "vote" but instead will "just persist in whining on slashdot" that would in effect be exercising your first option to not buy either and stick with DVD.
I'm REALLY trying to act surprised about EA making programmers work overtime and not pay them.
I'll let you know if I get there.
Also, consider that unlike sports, you can't really work up to it. Kids can play pop warner football and sports in schools, but what about gaming? If you try to spend free time gaming when you're a kid, your parents think you need more time outdoors so they sign you up for pop warner football.
It just seems like there's not a practical way to get more people into this. As long as gaming is viewed in society as a waste of time, there's no way pro-gaming can be taken seriously enough to compare it to pro sports.
Right now, you either have to be a CEO, or have a nice trust fund to be able to "train" to be a pro gamer.
I dunno. It just seems like these are the few people that can do what many of us wish we could do, but it's seen as irresponsible or whatever to make your living playing video games.
Time for me to spend more time on my linux box making sure I can get everything I need to run on it. Not that I would EVER pirate Windows, I just don't want to pay Microsoft anymore for more broken stuff.
I fear that Vista will be the next Windows ME. Which means that when people I know buy a computer with Vista and they ask me about the problems they're having, I'll tell them to get a copy of XP installed on it instead.
I had to do the same thing with Win ME. It pained me to say that Win 98 was the better alternative, but compared to Morons Edition, it was true.
Actually, I'd say most users know they're supposed to have a firewall. Most don't know what it does or why they need it, but thanks to Norton and McAfee making all these "security suites" which generally break more than they protect, and retailers like Best Buy selling firewall software with a router that has a hardware firewall, people have heard enough FUD that they NEED 12 firewalls per computer.
All they know is that the iPod thingies can play lots and lots of music.
A couple years ago I was working at Radio Shack (just as a part-time second job) and people would routinely come in for iPods. When we were out of them I'd say we have other MP3 players in stock. The response I'd always get is, "What's an MP3 player?"
Consumers aren't really as savvy as we hope they are. DVD has been out FOREVER and there are STILL people that don't call it that. It's really more about marketing the name than what the name is. Blu-Ray could conceivably catch on simply because the name is easier to say and if Sony marketed it properly.
But, since Sony has NEVER marketed a new technology properly, HD-DVD will probably still end up ahead.
How is this different from the "Pre N" devices of a year or so ago?
OH! It's CLOSER to what the N standard will be.
Are Linksys and the like SO desperate for a new shiny to dangle that they'll make products that may or may not be compatible with the standard?
I'll stick with my 802.11g thank you. Let me know when I have a need to bother with upgrading.
Other than that I can always get in, there's no queue, rarely any lag.
I dunno, maybe I'm just lucky. I wouldn't say I play very little, (just ask my wife) but I'm not on all the time either.
Best Buy is the most pathetic excuse for blowing smoke up people's asses to make them buy whatever they can throw at you.
I think I'll patent instant messaging by saying that my technology "intelligently" transfers text back and forth...
Exactly. While it MAY be true that some commercial copyright infringement ends up supporting some kind of terrorism, this legislation is not targeting that. I really don't know how much commercial copyright infringement goes on in the US. Most infringement in the US is probably the non-commercial type. That would be the type that does not involve money.
How does Billy Bob making a copy of the last Garth Brooks Greatest Hits XLVI for his cousin/brother Jimmy Joe Billy Bob help support terrorism?
This bill is targeting that kind of infringement. From the wording, it could make computers with CD burners illegal. Hell, it wouldn't necessarily even need to have a CD burner.
Read the link in TFA to the story about Lexmark using the DMCA to stop a company from making ink cartriges. That's so ridiculous it's absurd. This type of thing is making it illegal to be in competition with a large company.
That in itself would make for an interesting paradox. Monopolies are illegal, (unless government created) but competition is also illegal now.
Now would be a good time for Microsoft to offer discounts to major media outlets that use the internet. Or for Dell to offer discounts on systems. With Apple pissing off journalists, now would be a good time to get ahold of those people.
Talk about a blatant example of how money buys votes. Can we lobby to officially change the name of "campaing contributions" to BRIBES? (the irony there is staggering)
Also, retailers would sell it for about a week. When they get all the returns for "defective" TVs from Joe Bob, they'll stop carrying it.
As a semi side note, a friend recently bought a new HP laptop, and it seems to actually be pretty decent. I think HP has focused on improving their quality lately, since they can use the Compaq brand for the cheap low end stuff now.
This will be the first one for PS3
Good grief! What do the mods smoke in the morning! Flamebait? That's insane.
To the mods: Please go buy a sense of humor. Yours are defective.