Are you kidding me? The 950 series is leaps and bounds better than previous integrated graphics solutions. Not only does it handle Vista Aero perfectly, it also does a very commendable job on games. I use it to play WoW and usually get around 20fps. Obviously it's not for any serious gaming, but for an integrated graphics chip, it's really amain.
Except there wouldn't be a discount. Remove all the bundled software and you'll end up paying more for your system. Know why Dell can offer decent $400 PC's and still make a profit? All those software companies pay Dell to have their software on the computer when you get it. It's a significant advantage for a company to have their software on PC's pre-installed because customers are more likely to use it and therefore spend the money on upgrades, subscriptions, etc.
Computer manufacturers like Dell and HP can sell the hardware cheaper to consumers and make back the money from the software companies. So if they are forced to sell boxes with no operating system, you'll probably end up paying more.
This is a common misconception, but not true. See, if you want to run all the new latest and greatest games with the best video performance, then yeah you're gonna have to pay for a shiny new video card once every two years.
But if you just want to play all the games and maybe sacrifice some details or resolution (you're still gonna get better images than with a console), you don't need the best. I bought a near-top of the line video card about 4 years ago (9700 Pro), and I can play everything from Doom3 to FEAR. Not at uber high detail, but it still works great.
You don't need a top of the line rig to play games.
There is an option in the settings to completely remove the U3 software from the drive and it becomes a normal flash drive. It takes just a few seconds to do this and isn't difficult at all.
I'm with you that slow/spywareish software shouldn't be forced on you, but I've thoroughly checked it out and it's actually not half bad. The interface is fast and not bloated, and it's extremely easy to add other U3 versions of software on to the drive (and it's stuff you already know - FireFox, Thunderbird, Foxit, PuTTY, etc). And it doesn't leave any remains on the host computer when you unplug the drive. When I bought it, I figured I'd get rid of the stupid U3 stuff, but now I've found it to be really useful.
Bullshit. I've still got a 9700 Pro in my rig, and it runs Doom 3 perfectly. Not at max detail, but very high, and with some AA. I run it at 1280x1024.
Well said. I'd mod you up if I had any points left.
Open source is a good thing, but not for everything. Some things just have to be closed source. I've been reading numerous comments here that encourage MS to leave the EU and then "Open source will dominate and everyone will forget about windows in 6 months". Yeah, because open source is *so* perfect, everyone will be perfectly willing to relearn how to use a computer.
Open source has it's place. What I'd seriously like to see is a new x86 compatible operating system, closed source, developed by an independant company, and be used as a real alternative that works on current hardware. OSX x86 does not count for this.
Something about the work she had done (which was extremely complicated) was done somewhere else, and she was not aware of the research. It was basically the judges were trying to decide if she should do well for the work or not do well for not knowing about the other research. Eventually, she didn't win anything at the fair, but was given some amazing job offer for her work.
I'll be attending my second Intel ISEF this year, but I have yet to see anything that controversial. I've heard of controversial 4th dimension calculus projects, but never stem cells. I'm sure something like stem cell research would attract a lot of attention.
I think it's a good thing if we start seeing these kidns of projects though. Some people might be offended by it or against it, but it's pushing science in the right direction of exploring the unknown, and it's good to see students picking up on this.
It's been speculated that the WMF vulnerability was there intentionally for whatever reason, or so GRC reported: http://www.grc.com/SecurityNow.htm#22 . Now if it was a rouge programmer or part of MS's plans for world domination, we don't know, but if it was indeed placed there intentionally, it wasn't a bug. If it's not a bug, then of course it would survive the code auditing several times over. Because of the recent discovery of it by the public, of course, MS had to fix it on all OSes, and the Vista patch was just later than the others because it wasn't as critical.
Solution: Don't buy the parts from retail stores.
I've built plenty of "grandma" computers for well under $500, including the OS and LCD monitor and all. Anyone who builds such computers knows this is easily possible.
Are you kidding me? The 950 series is leaps and bounds better than previous integrated graphics solutions. Not only does it handle Vista Aero perfectly, it also does a very commendable job on games. I use it to play WoW and usually get around 20fps. Obviously it's not for any serious gaming, but for an integrated graphics chip, it's really amain.
Alreay exists: http://www.pagemac.com/dpp/ :x
Except there wouldn't be a discount. Remove all the bundled software and you'll end up paying more for your system. Know why Dell can offer decent $400 PC's and still make a profit? All those software companies pay Dell to have their software on the computer when you get it. It's a significant advantage for a company to have their software on PC's pre-installed because customers are more likely to use it and therefore spend the money on upgrades, subscriptions, etc. Computer manufacturers like Dell and HP can sell the hardware cheaper to consumers and make back the money from the software companies. So if they are forced to sell boxes with no operating system, you'll probably end up paying more.
This is a common misconception, but not true. See, if you want to run all the new latest and greatest games with the best video performance, then yeah you're gonna have to pay for a shiny new video card once every two years. But if you just want to play all the games and maybe sacrifice some details or resolution (you're still gonna get better images than with a console), you don't need the best. I bought a near-top of the line video card about 4 years ago (9700 Pro), and I can play everything from Doom3 to FEAR. Not at uber high detail, but it still works great. You don't need a top of the line rig to play games.
There is an option in the settings to completely remove the U3 software from the drive and it becomes a normal flash drive. It takes just a few seconds to do this and isn't difficult at all. I'm with you that slow/spywareish software shouldn't be forced on you, but I've thoroughly checked it out and it's actually not half bad. The interface is fast and not bloated, and it's extremely easy to add other U3 versions of software on to the drive (and it's stuff you already know - FireFox, Thunderbird, Foxit, PuTTY, etc). And it doesn't leave any remains on the host computer when you unplug the drive. When I bought it, I figured I'd get rid of the stupid U3 stuff, but now I've found it to be really useful.
Errr, SP2? That didn't count as a "major update to Windows"? It did in my books.
They do that with all versions of UT. Soon after the release of UT2k3, they released a patch that made the CD not required. Same with UT2k4.
Bullshit. I've still got a 9700 Pro in my rig, and it runs Doom 3 perfectly. Not at max detail, but very high, and with some AA. I run it at 1280x1024.
Well said. I'd mod you up if I had any points left. Open source is a good thing, but not for everything. Some things just have to be closed source. I've been reading numerous comments here that encourage MS to leave the EU and then "Open source will dominate and everyone will forget about windows in 6 months". Yeah, because open source is *so* perfect, everyone will be perfectly willing to relearn how to use a computer. Open source has it's place. What I'd seriously like to see is a new x86 compatible operating system, closed source, developed by an independant company, and be used as a real alternative that works on current hardware. OSX x86 does not count for this.
Something about the work she had done (which was extremely complicated) was done somewhere else, and she was not aware of the research. It was basically the judges were trying to decide if she should do well for the work or not do well for not knowing about the other research. Eventually, she didn't win anything at the fair, but was given some amazing job offer for her work.
I'll be attending my second Intel ISEF this year, but I have yet to see anything that controversial. I've heard of controversial 4th dimension calculus projects, but never stem cells. I'm sure something like stem cell research would attract a lot of attention. I think it's a good thing if we start seeing these kidns of projects though. Some people might be offended by it or against it, but it's pushing science in the right direction of exploring the unknown, and it's good to see students picking up on this.
It's been speculated that the WMF vulnerability was there intentionally for whatever reason, or so GRC reported: http://www.grc.com/SecurityNow.htm#22 . Now if it was a rouge programmer or part of MS's plans for world domination, we don't know, but if it was indeed placed there intentionally, it wasn't a bug. If it's not a bug, then of course it would survive the code auditing several times over. Because of the recent discovery of it by the public, of course, MS had to fix it on all OSes, and the Vista patch was just later than the others because it wasn't as critical.
Solution: Don't buy the parts from retail stores. I've built plenty of "grandma" computers for well under $500, including the OS and LCD monitor and all. Anyone who builds such computers knows this is easily possible.
My +2 Regeneration tunic can be a reality!
Care to enlighten us as to which country has more freedom of speech?
... a major vender includes FireFox? Wouldn't that be better?