I'm sure a lot of them do - I mean, come on, MS Game Labs is really starting to take off!:)
No, seriously, though - I'm sure that plenty of girls have started their own independent game companies. It's just that they don't draw the crowd that the bigger, better-known, more "manly" games do like Call of Duty or the Halo series (not that women don't play either of these, just it's not nearly as common to meet a girl who plays them as it is to meet a guy who plays them) or even the more "manly" indie games. Not that they're not fun, just people don't know about them.
You people really like pushing the "most people don't know how cars work" thing, don't you? Most people don't know about physics either but someone in my class actually asked why, if you wanted to stop a car going 45 mph, you would try to get it to decelerate instead of "just stopping it". If you don't understand that just locking up the brakes is a bad idea, then you shouldn't be driving a car. Yes, to stop the car you should apply the brakes - but if you locked up the brakes your car may skid out of control and/or flip, and you would probably get some pretty serious whiplash unless your seatbelt's not on.
People who don't know anything about computers could be helping spam mailers out and spreading viruses. Not that they shouldn't be allowed to use computers at all, but they should be using something better and more secure than Windows.
And you don't have to tweak Linux at all if you don't want to - I just popped in the SuSE DVD and it did the rest for me. I had a harder time setting up Windows on my laptop and figuring out how to get that stupid "MSN Messenger" thing to stop showing up, and got a little angry with all the updates I had to do, and the fact that I had to reboot for every single one of them.
"Most TCO studies cite that even though a linux tech could manage more computers at once, it still costs more to use linux."
Most TCO studies are funded by the maker of one of the systems tested in the study. Such as MS. Plus, the reason it costs more is that these people charge more - a Linux expert is harder to find than a Windows expert, so they charge more. How much you want to bet that Mac experts are also more expensive than Windows experts? Because there's not as many experts in that specific field so they can charge more.
Plus, TCO isn't just about how much you pay the guy to set it up - it's also about downtime and other things. My school just got all new computers and they all suck already because they're probably all gunked up with spyware and viruses and could use a defrag. In the business world, having brand-new computers slow down to a crawl (as they have at my school - one kid's PC took about 3 minutes just to log off today!) would result in lower productivity on the employees' desktop PCs and more downtime and slower responses on the servers.
A slow web site can easily turn away someone trying to browse your company's website or purchase products through the site. The "TCO" doesn't account for loss of customers, does it? The Internet might not be so important for big businesses, but for online-only businesses, having a slow web server could be a real killer.
"Your position would hold water IF... and this is a big if... the Linux camp would quit trying to shove their collective ePenis down the throat of every other computer user on the planet who has CHOSEN (in the same way that they have chosen) Windows or OSX instead of Linux. If Linux works for you then fine... but why the ever-present cock-fight. I personally hate Linux."
Blow it out your ass.
I've heard way too many of this kind of comment, and it seems to me that the majority of these "cock-fights" are started by people like you. I like Linux, and you like Windows. I see no problem with that. But I do see a problem with you - because you have completely contradicted yourself. You basically say, "Linux, Windows, MacOS. . . to each his own" and then you say
"The average person dosen't have the know-how to 'roll their own' anything."
Well now we all know what you were doing when you read the article. . . you don't 'roll' anything in Linux. I'm not a programmer and I have no problems whatsoever installing programs in Linux - you don't have to compile from source, you know. You can download an RPM file.
"If it's not right, then it's just not right and they're not going to fix it. They're going to go back to windows where things feel safe and cozy again, then they're going to be pissed off at the linux fan-boi that told them that Linux was really easy and great since you can just change anything willy nilly.
The key part here is the part that says, "they're going to go back to windows where things feel safe and cozy again." Give a person who's used MacOS all their life a Windows PC and it'll take them a while to learn to use it. Give a person who's used Windows all their life a Mac and it'll take them a while to learn to use it. Same with Linux or any other OS. Some people take classes on Windows - it's not like they love it because it's easy to learn, they like it because it's familiar.
"Ahh... Linux reeks of a dying breed of computer user.... the people who still want to dabble with the way the machine works."
I don't know about that. Obviously there are some people who want to do that sort of thing - MS and Apple hire people to do that sort of thing. You aren't just "born" into a company, you know - they have to hire you. Helps if you have some of the skills required for the job.
"They've lost touch with the fact that people don't care about any of that anymore."
Don't flatter yourself. The people in the OS community are exactly that - people. Not a big corporation. You're not paying them, and most of them don't specifically care what you want. They care about what works best for them - if you like it too, that's great, but they didn't make it for you.
"There will be some minor changes here and there but for the most part, the days of the 'homebrew' are quickly fading."
No they're not. There's plenty of "DIY"-ers (both the "build the whole PC" type and the "store-bought but I do my own upgrades" type) and modders. And there's also the overclockers and stuff, too.
"see: Mac"
You can buy parts for Mac systems. I'm sure you could build your own Mac, too, if you really wanted to.
""any PC" should be replaced with 'any recent PC'. Sophisticated refers to the complexity of the electronics and the tolerances that they must run unders, not what those electronics do - gaming does not define sophisticated. How many layers in that motherboard, what's the thermal environment, what's the noise (current on the circuitry), the leakage, etc. Drawing pretty pictures is just one of many things that need sophisticated electronics, and the skills needed to design and manufacture a sophisticated electronics product are independent of whether the product draws pretty pictures or does something else."
I don't understand where you're going with this. The Xbox is still just an old 800-mHz PC with a custom OS. I doubt they did anything special to cool it - maybe just a special heatsink or something - and they obviously didn't do much to try and "miniaturize" it. As far as I'm concerned it's no more sophisticated than the box I used in the basement as a game server. They didn't design anything custom except maybe the case.
"Cherry picking your mini, or mine, as an example proves nothing and does not change the fact that Apple has had and continues to have the occasional turkey."
Sorry if I caused confusion. When I said mini I meant iPod mini so sorry if you thought I was talking about a Mac mini.
"I've seen particular model computers and monitors that were inherently flakey and where Apple was forced to quietly extend the warranty period. Seen iPods with bad audio jacks and batteries. The one iPod nano in the hands of a friend, you guessed, big scratch (it's his 3rd iPod over the years and he's not prone to abusing them). Apple has had recalls of powerbook batteries due to fire hazards. Apple generally has great stuff, but don't try to pass Apple off as some universally perfect company."
My point exactly. Apple products do have problems - but they have fewer problems, and from what I've seen the ones they do have aren't really obvious. An iPod with bad batteries or audio jacks is bad but understandable depending on how old it is - iPods get jostled around in pockets which can wear out the audio jack, and batteries lose their charge after so many charges.
Having something like a monitor that breaks after a year or two is one thing. Releasing a brand-new, highly anticipated $400 product and having people find huge problems with it a week later is unacceptable - especially if it's a problem with the thing freezing up every 20 minutes. As things get old they start having problems, but that shouldn't happen until it's a couple years old. It makes me wonder if they even tested the 360 or just wanted to get it out by Thanksgiving when people will have friends and family over who will see their cool new 360.
"You are confusing sophisticated with uncommon. Even a simple PC derivative like the XBox has sophisticated electronics. Using your standard for sophistication a PS/2 or GameCube would not qualify either."
Under that definition just about any PC could be considered "sophisticated". Which tells you nothing - is it fast? Does it have nice graphics? Does the damn thing even work? Even old 33mHz PCs have printed circuit boards - there's no way they can run Halo, though. And even 400mHz PCs might have 3D accelerators - but they're still not "sophisticated" enough to play Halo or DOOM3.
I don't consider the Xbox all that sophisticated because it's just a normal x86 PC. If you found a way to put the Xbox's OS on your home PC and got it to work properly (there are certainly some hardware differences between the Xbox and your desktop) you'd have a system that is far better than the Xbox. Hence why the Xbox is so easy to hack - it's just a PC, which most people are already familiar with.
"As for Microsoft, well you seem to have a double standard. Apple also often begins with an investigation and denial of a problem. Solutions come some time later. We are too early in the process to see if Microsoft is behaving any differently than Apple."
It seems to me that we already have. My mini hasn't exploded on me. . . but the 360 still seems to have a problem with its power - in the original Xbox it was a problem with the cord overheating and melting and/or catching on fire, now it's a problem with the 360's power supply (which probably was taken out of the 360 partially because of the heat it generated, mind you) overheating to the point where you have to hang it by a string to get it to work.
Plus, Apple got it right with the iPod their first time around - MS? Well, have you ever seen those frickin' HUGE controllers they shipped with the original Xbox?
Somehow I don't think that if this guy:
a) Obviously knew enough about electronics and heat since he thought the problem was how hot the power supply was getting, and therefore probably knew not to block the ventilation holes, put it on an insulating surface, put it in a confined space, or put it near a heat source.
b) Obviously gave the power supply plenty of space if he had enough room to hang it from a string
that the problem is him not reading the manual.
Plus, if the 360's not able to go in crowded spaces, then why did they make it stand on edge - something only useful in things like bookcases, racks, and stereo cabinets where there are other things next to it? Common sense, MS - if it can't go in a closed space, don't try and make it fit in a closed space.
For your humidifier, I bet some guy had the whole thing soaking wet and overflowing with water and turned it on and got zapped. Or got his fingers wet from the water and then plugged it in or something like that.
I can understand not being able to use the 360 on a bed or sofa because they're both pretty good insulators (your butt/body tend to get fairly warm after an hour or so on the couch or in bed) and they kinda mold to things a bit which would make them make the 360 (or any other electronic device) have more trouble getting rid of heat.
But the 360 should be fine on the floor - it doesn't tend to mold to things a whole lot (sure, it molds to heavy things, but it doesn't go down very far) and it's not really something I'd consider a good insulator.
"And, uh, you are aware that the XBox360 is a followup to something called the XBox? I think that little piece of hardware may fall in to the "sophisticated" category.;-)"
Are you aware that the Xbox was just a PC with a custom OS (a customized version of Windows)? It was NOT sophisticated. Actually, if I remember correctly, the first-generation Xbox crashed quite a bit, too. . .
"Apple enjoys an equally monopolistic position over *it's* customers and Apple is able to design some very nice hardware."
The key word is *ITS*. Microsoft's monopolistic actions affect EVERYONE - I don't use Windows or Office, but I'm forced into using Word documents because most people do use Windows and Office.
Also. . . Apple knows its place when it comes to hardware - they get help when they need it. Other companies' technologies are in the iPod - the only one that comes to mind is Real, but there are others. Apple knew it wasn't a pro when it comes to audio technologies, so they got help. And also, Apple has become good at making hardware and has both hardware and software down to a science. When they do something, they make sure they get it right. They're not perfect, but they're far ahead of MS.
"Like a hardware company named Apple, a company that has been producing sophisticated hardware for nearly 30 years? Oh yeah, they've never shipped with bad power supplies, bad batteries that could catch on fire,... nope never could happen. For the flamers reading: Apple is primarily a hardware company, they are merely most famous for their software (well until iPod) and that software is the hook, the justification, for buying their more expensive hardware (have to cite the Mini as a break in that historical trend - not in a literal sense but in a practical sense). This is why they will not offer Mac OS X for the standard PC architecture."
But Apple learned from their mistakes, didn't they? Plus, from what I remember, the iPod with the exploding batteries did that because of misuse (it went through the washing machine - AND was taken apart by a curious teenager). Just recently, MS had a recall for the Xbox power cord because it had burned people's hands and caught things on fire - not because of misuse but because it simply got too hot!
And if "Apple is primarily a hardware company" and "they will not offer Mac OS X for the standard PC architecture". . . then why are they releasing OS X for x86 (which is generally considered the "standard PC architecture")? And what about their software listed at http://www.apple.com/software/ such as iPhoto, Safari, Final Cut Studio, and Quicktime?
Why not? Whenever my friends bring their consoles over we just put it on the carpet. Or on a chair (but it's not a hard chair - it's got plenty of padding).
"I bet people who follow the directions and put the thing in on a hard surface with ventilation around it don't have as many problems."
Right. Because I just love playing Xbox in the kitchen. The basement too - not that it's freezing cold down there this time of year or anything.
And that beastly-looking power supply really doesn't look so nice with your entertainment system - and when you bring your Xbox to your friends' houses to play with them, you probably don't want to waste your time fitting it into their TV cabinet - you just want to play. Plus, if you hide it in the back of the cabinet behind other stuff, everything else will be blocking its ventilation.
His point was that other planets are getting warmer, too.
And what would an ice sample do as far as scientific evidence? Especially when you're trying to prove that the ice is all melting? What, will you take a block of ice and see how long it takes to melt it? That time is dependant on the temperature - just because it's a little warmer in Antarctica or wherever doesn't mean we're all going to burn up and die - or that it's our fault that it's happening.
Let's not forget that automobiles have been around since the late 1800s or so - and the first cars were bigger gas-guzzlers than our Neons and Focuses, I'm sure. Cars have basically been a necessity since the 50's or so. My friend's got an old Buick "Estate" wagon, and let me tell you - it certainly isn't "environmentally friendly" - he's lucky if he gets 12 MPG out of that thing! Factories have been around for a long time, too, and really weren't "environmentally friendly". And now factories are now required to make sure they're not dumping too many toxins into the environment. Are you really so naive as to think that now that we have cars with 40+ MPG and many people using Diesel cars (supposedly Diesel gas is easier on the environment) that we're actually hurting the environment more than when we wasted fuel like it was nothing and didn't care about the harm we caused to the environment? Certainly you don't think it's actually possible to "destroy the environment" for 100+ years - even having a crisis like that one in London a long time ago caused by the pollution caused by the factories - and not do much damage until you try to stop the destruction?
From what I hear, France is already burning itself, like Hell. Unfortunately this means we can't tell Schirac to "go to hell" because he's already in France.
The comment I was responding to was trying to draw a connection between the Republican party and corruption. I'm not trying to connect the corruption of the Bush administration with the corruption of the Clinton administration, I'm just pointing out that the Clinton administration was also corrupt.
I was not drawing a connection between Bin Laden and corruption and the Bush administration. Bush may want Saudi Arabia's oil, but I don't think he wants to negotiate with Bin Laden for oil, or that Bin Laden would be willing to negotiate in the first place.
And no, I don't think that Clinton's incident with Bin Laden "set the stage for a corrupt Bush regieme" - I was just pointing out that Clinton's decision to let Bin Laden go free was STUPID, STUPID, STUPID. And no doubt it made things a hell of a lot harder for the Bush administration - Bush wasn't president for long when the Twin Towers fell. That's a hard thing for a rookie to pull a nation through.
I was talking about Clinton, who was once the leader of the Democratic party, and the incident where he let Bin Laden go free after his attempt to bomb the WTC, and showing how wrong Clinton was to let Bin Laden go free.
And as far as what Bin Laden has to do with government corruption. . . well, just look at his country! Women aren't allowed to even show their face, much less drive. And he corrupts his people into thinking that suicide bombings are good if they're to kill Americans.
"she knew he was having these seizures but didn't know what was causing them."
"The condition got worse over a period of months the more he played console video games."
So let me get this straight - she noticed that the condition worsened as he played video games more often, yet she still didn't draw a connection between the two?
If you ask me, that's like saying "The more I crush my hand in the door, the more my hand hurts - I wonder why."
And also, I don't play video games much and certainly don't read the "fine print" - but somehow I still knew about photosensitive seizures - which really have little to do with video games in specific, they can also be caused by watching TV, strobe lights, or even simple card games. The only thing is that kids play video games for hours and hours, unlike other activities that can cause photosensitive seizures. What, do they have to put a warning for every TV show you watch, or for every deck of cards you buy?
You take a risk whenever you do ANYTHING - typing takes the risk of carpal tunnel, cooking takes the risk of burning yourself, going to work takes the risk that something bad will happen to you at work, using Krazy glue takes the risk of gluing your fingers together.
Yeah, I know the thing about the toys was fake. But in this context I could see where it could happen. And it's still a perfect example of some bad legislation, real or not. Whether or not it really happened doesn't much matter - the kids made a stupid decision in the fake article, why should the toymakers pay? The kid in the real article made a REALLY obviously stupid decision - why should Blizzard pay for his stupidity?
And, yes, the FTC did take action against products with radiation levels that were too low. However that happened BEFORE they found out that radiation was dangerous to your health - since radiation water was still believed to be healthy, they wanted companies to deliver "healthier" health water. Once they realized how bad radiation water was, they started to punish companies for selling radiation water.
For anyone else who doesn't know what "playing chicken" is I did a Google search and it's a game played in an old movie "The Program" in which some characters play a game where they lie down in the middle of the highway.
"We'll see how the Republican party finishes up this presidential term with all of its leaders behind bars, assuming they get convicted for their corruption."
Yeah, not like Bin Laden never tried to bomb the WTC while Clinton was in power or anything. Or got set free only to attack us again.
And I wonder if they'll sue Keanu Reeves too - maybe the kid saw him jumping building-to-building in The Matrix which also made him think he had super jumping powers. Not that we don't ALL know the effects of gravity from falling off our bikes or off the monkey bars or anything and couldn't figure out that falling from high heights might hurt just a bit. Unless maybe he thought he saw Tank loading the "Jump" program for him. . .
Depends on how much harm it causes. In the 1800s when radioactive water was sold as a health product. . . you bet the government stepped in when they found out the harm that radioactive materials cause.
You're right - there are many other matters where the government does not step in. But, you know, it's funny - there are some times when people criticize the government for being too laissez-faire, and there are others when it gets criticized for being too powerful and overbearing. Which I think is part of the reason why the government generally doesn't step in unless it sees it absolutely necessary ("if the company is doing something inherently wrong") - for example when a company is doing something that it knows poses a severe and direct danger, with absolutely no regard for the people using their products/services (hence why companies have recalls when they have sold something found to be dangerously faulty - like the exploding Firestone tire incident).
For example, who's glad about the link above where the government banned the toy because the kid died by shooting its rocket in his nostril thinking it would come out his belly button, or the one who thought it had turned to candy when it shattered? I'm not - those kids were stupid. But there are other times when the government should step in - and the incident with the toy and this incident with WoW aren't it.
Slashdot Mirror
No, seriously, though - I'm sure that plenty of girls have started their own independent game companies. It's just that they don't draw the crowd that the bigger, better-known, more "manly" games do like Call of Duty or the Halo series (not that women don't play either of these, just it's not nearly as common to meet a girl who plays them as it is to meet a guy who plays them) or even the more "manly" indie games. Not that they're not fun, just people don't know about them.
Well, I don't know. . . I can't remember the last time an in-game conversation had to do with shopping or boyfriends,
People who don't know anything about computers could be helping spam mailers out and spreading viruses. Not that they shouldn't be allowed to use computers at all, but they should be using something better and more secure than Windows.
And you don't have to tweak Linux at all if you don't want to - I just popped in the SuSE DVD and it did the rest for me. I had a harder time setting up Windows on my laptop and figuring out how to get that stupid "MSN Messenger" thing to stop showing up, and got a little angry with all the updates I had to do, and the fact that I had to reboot for every single one of them.
Most TCO studies are funded by the maker of one of the systems tested in the study. Such as MS. Plus, the reason it costs more is that these people charge more - a Linux expert is harder to find than a Windows expert, so they charge more. How much you want to bet that Mac experts are also more expensive than Windows experts? Because there's not as many experts in that specific field so they can charge more.
Plus, TCO isn't just about how much you pay the guy to set it up - it's also about downtime and other things. My school just got all new computers and they all suck already because they're probably all gunked up with spyware and viruses and could use a defrag. In the business world, having brand-new computers slow down to a crawl (as they have at my school - one kid's PC took about 3 minutes just to log off today!) would result in lower productivity on the employees' desktop PCs and more downtime and slower responses on the servers.
A slow web site can easily turn away someone trying to browse your company's website or purchase products through the site. The "TCO" doesn't account for loss of customers, does it? The Internet might not be so important for big businesses, but for online-only businesses, having a slow web server could be a real killer.
Blow it out your ass.
I've heard way too many of this kind of comment, and it seems to me that the majority of these "cock-fights" are started by people like you. I like Linux, and you like Windows. I see no problem with that. But I do see a problem with you - because you have completely contradicted yourself. You basically say, "Linux, Windows, MacOS. . . to each his own" and then you say
"The average person dosen't have the know-how to 'roll their own' anything."
Well now we all know what you were doing when you read the article. . . you don't 'roll' anything in Linux. I'm not a programmer and I have no problems whatsoever installing programs in Linux - you don't have to compile from source, you know. You can download an RPM file.
"If it's not right, then it's just not right and they're not going to fix it. They're going to go back to windows where things feel safe and cozy again, then they're going to be pissed off at the linux fan-boi that told them that Linux was really easy and great since you can just change anything willy nilly.
The key part here is the part that says, "they're going to go back to windows where things feel safe and cozy again." Give a person who's used MacOS all their life a Windows PC and it'll take them a while to learn to use it. Give a person who's used Windows all their life a Mac and it'll take them a while to learn to use it. Same with Linux or any other OS. Some people take classes on Windows - it's not like they love it because it's easy to learn, they like it because it's familiar.
"Ahh... Linux reeks of a dying breed of computer user.... the people who still want to dabble with the way the machine works."
I don't know about that. Obviously there are some people who want to do that sort of thing - MS and Apple hire people to do that sort of thing. You aren't just "born" into a company, you know - they have to hire you. Helps if you have some of the skills required for the job.
"They've lost touch with the fact that people don't care about any of that anymore."
Don't flatter yourself. The people in the OS community are exactly that - people. Not a big corporation. You're not paying them, and most of them don't specifically care what you want. They care about what works best for them - if you like it too, that's great, but they didn't make it for you.
"There will be some minor changes here and there but for the most part, the days of the 'homebrew' are quickly fading."
No they're not. There's plenty of "DIY"-ers (both the "build the whole PC" type and the "store-bought but I do my own upgrades" type) and modders. And there's also the overclockers and stuff, too.
"see: Mac"
You can buy parts for Mac systems. I'm sure you could build your own Mac, too, if you really wanted to.
I don't understand where you're going with this. The Xbox is still just an old 800-mHz PC with a custom OS. I doubt they did anything special to cool it - maybe just a special heatsink or something - and they obviously didn't do much to try and "miniaturize" it. As far as I'm concerned it's no more sophisticated than the box I used in the basement as a game server. They didn't design anything custom except maybe the case.
"Cherry picking your mini, or mine, as an example proves nothing and does not change the fact that Apple has had and continues to have the occasional turkey."
Sorry if I caused confusion. When I said mini I meant iPod mini so sorry if you thought I was talking about a Mac mini.
"I've seen particular model computers and monitors that were inherently flakey and where Apple was forced to quietly extend the warranty period. Seen iPods with bad audio jacks and batteries. The one iPod nano in the hands of a friend, you guessed, big scratch (it's his 3rd iPod over the years and he's not prone to abusing them). Apple has had recalls of powerbook batteries due to fire hazards. Apple generally has great stuff, but don't try to pass Apple off as some universally perfect company."
My point exactly. Apple products do have problems - but they have fewer problems, and from what I've seen the ones they do have aren't really obvious. An iPod with bad batteries or audio jacks is bad but understandable depending on how old it is - iPods get jostled around in pockets which can wear out the audio jack, and batteries lose their charge after so many charges.
Having something like a monitor that breaks after a year or two is one thing. Releasing a brand-new, highly anticipated $400 product and having people find huge problems with it a week later is unacceptable - especially if it's a problem with the thing freezing up every 20 minutes. As things get old they start having problems, but that shouldn't happen until it's a couple years old. It makes me wonder if they even tested the 360 or just wanted to get it out by Thanksgiving when people will have friends and family over who will see their cool new 360.
Under that definition just about any PC could be considered "sophisticated". Which tells you nothing - is it fast? Does it have nice graphics? Does the damn thing even work? Even old 33mHz PCs have printed circuit boards - there's no way they can run Halo, though. And even 400mHz PCs might have 3D accelerators - but they're still not "sophisticated" enough to play Halo or DOOM3.
I don't consider the Xbox all that sophisticated because it's just a normal x86 PC. If you found a way to put the Xbox's OS on your home PC and got it to work properly (there are certainly some hardware differences between the Xbox and your desktop) you'd have a system that is far better than the Xbox. Hence why the Xbox is so easy to hack - it's just a PC, which most people are already familiar with.
"As for Microsoft, well you seem to have a double standard. Apple also often begins with an investigation and denial of a problem. Solutions come some time later. We are too early in the process to see if Microsoft is behaving any differently than Apple."
It seems to me that we already have. My mini hasn't exploded on me. . . but the 360 still seems to have a problem with its power - in the original Xbox it was a problem with the cord overheating and melting and/or catching on fire, now it's a problem with the 360's power supply (which probably was taken out of the 360 partially because of the heat it generated, mind you) overheating to the point where you have to hang it by a string to get it to work.
Plus, Apple got it right with the iPod their first time around - MS? Well, have you ever seen those frickin' HUGE controllers they shipped with the original Xbox?
Which is where the sofa is.
And if you have a TV in your room (or a computer with a video input card) you might have it on your bed.
But neither of these places is somewhere a game console should be. On the floor should be OK, though.
a) Obviously knew enough about electronics and heat since he thought the problem was how hot the power supply was getting, and therefore probably knew not to block the ventilation holes, put it on an insulating surface, put it in a confined space, or put it near a heat source.
b) Obviously gave the power supply plenty of space if he had enough room to hang it from a string
that the problem is him not reading the manual.
Plus, if the 360's not able to go in crowded spaces, then why did they make it stand on edge - something only useful in things like bookcases, racks, and stereo cabinets where there are other things next to it? Common sense, MS - if it can't go in a closed space, don't try and make it fit in a closed space.
I can understand not being able to use the 360 on a bed or sofa because they're both pretty good insulators (your butt/body tend to get fairly warm after an hour or so on the couch or in bed) and they kinda mold to things a bit which would make them make the 360 (or any other electronic device) have more trouble getting rid of heat.
But the 360 should be fine on the floor - it doesn't tend to mold to things a whole lot (sure, it molds to heavy things, but it doesn't go down very far) and it's not really something I'd consider a good insulator.
Are you aware that the Xbox was just a PC with a custom OS (a customized version of Windows)? It was NOT sophisticated. Actually, if I remember correctly, the first-generation Xbox crashed quite a bit, too. . .
"Apple enjoys an equally monopolistic position over *it's* customers and Apple is able to design some very nice hardware."
The key word is *ITS*. Microsoft's monopolistic actions affect EVERYONE - I don't use Windows or Office, but I'm forced into using Word documents because most people do use Windows and Office.
Also. . . Apple knows its place when it comes to hardware - they get help when they need it. Other companies' technologies are in the iPod - the only one that comes to mind is Real, but there are others. Apple knew it wasn't a pro when it comes to audio technologies, so they got help. And also, Apple has become good at making hardware and has both hardware and software down to a science. When they do something, they make sure they get it right. They're not perfect, but they're far ahead of MS.
"Like a hardware company named Apple, a company that has been producing sophisticated hardware for nearly 30 years? Oh yeah, they've never shipped with bad power supplies, bad batteries that could catch on fire, ... nope never could happen. For the flamers reading: Apple is primarily a hardware company, they are merely most famous for their software (well until iPod) and that software is the hook, the justification, for buying their more expensive hardware (have to cite the Mini as a break in that historical trend - not in a literal sense but in a practical sense). This is why they will not offer Mac OS X for the standard PC architecture."
But Apple learned from their mistakes, didn't they? Plus, from what I remember, the iPod with the exploding batteries did that because of misuse (it went through the washing machine - AND was taken apart by a curious teenager). Just recently, MS had a recall for the Xbox power cord because it had burned people's hands and caught things on fire - not because of misuse but because it simply got too hot!
And if "Apple is primarily a hardware company" and "they will not offer Mac OS X for the standard PC architecture". . . then why are they releasing OS X for x86 (which is generally considered the "standard PC architecture")? And what about their software listed at http://www.apple.com/software/ such as iPhoto, Safari, Final Cut Studio, and Quicktime?
Why not? Whenever my friends bring their consoles over we just put it on the carpet. Or on a chair (but it's not a hard chair - it's got plenty of padding).
Right. Because I just love playing Xbox in the kitchen. The basement too - not that it's freezing cold down there this time of year or anything.
And that beastly-looking power supply really doesn't look so nice with your entertainment system - and when you bring your Xbox to your friends' houses to play with them, you probably don't want to waste your time fitting it into their TV cabinet - you just want to play. Plus, if you hide it in the back of the cabinet behind other stuff, everything else will be blocking its ventilation.
And what would an ice sample do as far as scientific evidence? Especially when you're trying to prove that the ice is all melting? What, will you take a block of ice and see how long it takes to melt it? That time is dependant on the temperature - just because it's a little warmer in Antarctica or wherever doesn't mean we're all going to burn up and die - or that it's our fault that it's happening.
Let's not forget that automobiles have been around since the late 1800s or so - and the first cars were bigger gas-guzzlers than our Neons and Focuses, I'm sure. Cars have basically been a necessity since the 50's or so. My friend's got an old Buick "Estate" wagon, and let me tell you - it certainly isn't "environmentally friendly" - he's lucky if he gets 12 MPG out of that thing! Factories have been around for a long time, too, and really weren't "environmentally friendly". And now factories are now required to make sure they're not dumping too many toxins into the environment. Are you really so naive as to think that now that we have cars with 40+ MPG and many people using Diesel cars (supposedly Diesel gas is easier on the environment) that we're actually hurting the environment more than when we wasted fuel like it was nothing and didn't care about the harm we caused to the environment? Certainly you don't think it's actually possible to "destroy the environment" for 100+ years - even having a crisis like that one in London a long time ago caused by the pollution caused by the factories - and not do much damage until you try to stop the destruction?
Does that make Schirac the Devil?
I was not drawing a connection between Bin Laden and corruption and the Bush administration. Bush may want Saudi Arabia's oil, but I don't think he wants to negotiate with Bin Laden for oil, or that Bin Laden would be willing to negotiate in the first place.
And no, I don't think that Clinton's incident with Bin Laden "set the stage for a corrupt Bush regieme" - I was just pointing out that Clinton's decision to let Bin Laden go free was STUPID, STUPID, STUPID. And no doubt it made things a hell of a lot harder for the Bush administration - Bush wasn't president for long when the Twin Towers fell. That's a hard thing for a rookie to pull a nation through.
Well the way I understand it you do it with other people and take turns lying in the highway.
And as far as what Bin Laden has to do with government corruption. . . well, just look at his country! Women aren't allowed to even show their face, much less drive. And he corrupts his people into thinking that suicide bombings are good if they're to kill Americans.
"The condition got worse over a period of months the more he played console video games."
So let me get this straight - she noticed that the condition worsened as he played video games more often, yet she still didn't draw a connection between the two?
If you ask me, that's like saying "The more I crush my hand in the door, the more my hand hurts - I wonder why."
And also, I don't play video games much and certainly don't read the "fine print" - but somehow I still knew about photosensitive seizures - which really have little to do with video games in specific, they can also be caused by watching TV, strobe lights, or even simple card games. The only thing is that kids play video games for hours and hours, unlike other activities that can cause photosensitive seizures. What, do they have to put a warning for every TV show you watch, or for every deck of cards you buy?
You take a risk whenever you do ANYTHING - typing takes the risk of carpal tunnel, cooking takes the risk of burning yourself, going to work takes the risk that something bad will happen to you at work, using Krazy glue takes the risk of gluing your fingers together.
And, yes, the FTC did take action against products with radiation levels that were too low. However that happened BEFORE they found out that radiation was dangerous to your health - since radiation water was still believed to be healthy, they wanted companies to deliver "healthier" health water. Once they realized how bad radiation water was, they started to punish companies for selling radiation water.
For anyone else who doesn't know what "playing chicken" is I did a Google search and it's a game played in an old movie "The Program" in which some characters play a game where they lie down in the middle of the highway.
Yeah, not like Bin Laden never tried to bomb the WTC while Clinton was in power or anything. Or got set free only to attack us again.
And I wonder if they'll sue Keanu Reeves too - maybe the kid saw him jumping building-to-building in The Matrix which also made him think he had super jumping powers. Not that we don't ALL know the effects of gravity from falling off our bikes or off the monkey bars or anything and couldn't figure out that falling from high heights might hurt just a bit. Unless maybe he thought he saw Tank loading the "Jump" program for him. . .
You're right - there are many other matters where the government does not step in. But, you know, it's funny - there are some times when people criticize the government for being too laissez-faire, and there are others when it gets criticized for being too powerful and overbearing. Which I think is part of the reason why the government generally doesn't step in unless it sees it absolutely necessary ("if the company is doing something inherently wrong") - for example when a company is doing something that it knows poses a severe and direct danger, with absolutely no regard for the people using their products/services (hence why companies have recalls when they have sold something found to be dangerously faulty - like the exploding Firestone tire incident).
For example, who's glad about the link above where the government banned the toy because the kid died by shooting its rocket in his nostril thinking it would come out his belly button, or the one who thought it had turned to candy when it shattered? I'm not - those kids were stupid. But there are other times when the government should step in - and the incident with the toy and this incident with WoW aren't it.
. . . umm, okay . . .
Now I've never actually played WoW, but from what I hear it's entirely online, meaning that Blizzard didn't create this scene, the child himself did.