The EU is a free market, so the only extra costs are shipping. This is one of the reasons loads of multinationals are located in Ireland... they have full access to the EU, with Ireland's low corporation tax.
_THIS_. I hate DRM in all its forms. I want it to go away.
However, Steam with DRM have managed to produce a platform that is not intrusive, not problematic, and just works, and they give decent value for money. They have done DRM right, and it is showing in their sales figures.
DRM right is antithetical to loads of people... but they've given loads of advantages to me... Installing and playing my games where I like, just with a login. Installing games after 3 separate hard drive failures, without having to search out discs. The removable drive is obsolete for me.
Popular downloading sites have shown that people won't buy if they're given a choice. Indeed, compare the number of console games sold to the number of PC games sold
Bullshit. Diablo III sold getting on for 15 million copies, almost all on the PC.
Steam do not release sales figures. Steam is at least 50% of the PC download market, and do not release sales figures.
DRM is going to be around for a long while longer. The entire notion and point of the new consoles is centred about them not being PCs.... but they are essentially just miniature PCs, designed for the living room. If they were open now, Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo would lose money, but they don't, because they MAKE PEOPLE PAY FOR THE RIGHT TO HAVE A GAME ON THEIR CONSOLE.
Sorry for shouting, but this is how they make money. This is why market presence is imperative.
Personally, I'll probably get a PS4 and buy a few games, and then go back to playing on my PC, just like I did with my PS3.
I've not met many of the "Filthy Gabe Newell Worshipping PC Gamer Bourgeoisie" here on Slashdot. The typical stereotype is open source, Linux and anti DRM. For most of Steam's existence, it's been the antithesis of all three of these things.
The reason lots of people are supporting Steam here, as I see it (and quite a lot are, despite the DRM), is that locking down hardware is bad for the consumer, always. Paying full price for the games is not the issue.
He saw and remembered something he is not authorised to see. That is stealing.
Do you see how absurd that statement is? This has nothing to do with stealing.
Backup copies have only very recently been authorised by law in the UK, in 2012, prior to that all backups were illegal. Currently backups of DVDs in the UK are still illegal (because of evading countermeasures).
If you are making that backup for your own use to protect against damage to the media then no it is not stealing.
What is it then? I absolutely know what it is under the law, it's copyright infringement. I know what it is in reality, it's copying something. I did not have the right under law to copy that program to make that backup. Is that theft?
My energy saving idea as a kid was a room with perfectly reflective surfaces. You could just turn a light on for a millisecond, and the room would be perpetually light. Then I realised everything in the room would need to be perfectly reflective too. Not a problem, a cool suit could do that, I thought... but you'd have to have a gap for the eyes, so it would lose its efficiency. I also realised that although the room would be pretty energy efficient, it would not be very practical, and if the surfaces reflected more of the electromagnetic spectrum, a slightly nasty side effect would be that it would actually cook your eyes. I gave up on the idea.
My Steam library is currently 152 games, a lot of those having been bought full price... EU4 was the last. You're wrong, on every one of your comments.
30 years ago there was no ADD, or ADHD you were considered hyper, no medication needed just lower his sugar intake and keep him away from sodas.
All scientific evidence seems to show there is no link between sugar and hyperactivity in children.... most people who are told this, however, simply refuse to believe it.
Gathering evidence without both a warrant and probable cause is one of those things, as the U.S. Constitution says, that should NEVER be allowed.
Yeah.... like that works. The number of cops who "smell marijuana" then get the right to search because of crime in progress laws. It's such an easy out that the cops have - "I smelled drugs". You can't call them on it, because they can claim it may have come from something else, or, if worst comes to worst, they were mistaken about the smell.
It's lovely having an ideal about when and where cops can stop you, but if something else practicably undermines that, the ideal is useless, even if that ideal is still theoretical enshrined.
Art should not have needless death sentences applied.
I agree, completely, but also should point out that most art is crap. I've not modded anything much since I made DOOM levels, and I would find it hilarious if anyone still actually had any copies of the levels I created. If I remember correctly, I only made 3 "fit to release" (IMO) levels I uploaded, after having played them for hours on end with my friends. I just made them for me and my friends, and shared if anyone wanted them.
SteamOS beta is not meant to be configured and played with by normal, console using, end users. Funnily enough, because what Steam want to be played with by normal, console using, end users is not here yet. The beta OS is a beta OS.
It's not that difficult to understand, is it? This is the beta of the operating system that steam boxes will ultimately run. You can install it on something else now, if you choose to. Getting it to run now is not representative of Steamboxen (hah!), and the experience they will deliver when they arrive. I want a controller to play with, for one...
I don't believe, in the UK that the police are that corrupt, and I'm more cynical than most with regards to the UK police. What I _do_ believe is that with the laws that are on the books today, most people can be guilty of a crime, and police _do_ selectively arrest. Part of the problem is that police assume that they are deserved of "respect" above and beyond that of normal citizens... you see this all the time on police shows, telling them to fuck off gets you arrested. Telling normal people to fuck off gets you ignored mostly, or hit sometimes. You don't get arrested.
It's a consistent theme with police following programmes - you show us respect, or you get arrested. Fuck that shit.
Consider this: Going through a red light is an offense. Framing another person for something like that is a _very serious_ offense. To see how serious: A British Cabinet minister (Chris Huhne) first had to resign, then was convicted for "perverting the course of justice" because he convinced his wife for taking responsibility for a speeding ticket when he was caught driving too fast. That's with a person willingly taking the blame for a traffic offense. This one is about framing an innocent person of several traffic offences, something a lot more serious.
Criminals will not frame another person for an offence. They will get a white van, change the one relevant digit (they are sequentially issued in batches in the UK) on the registration, and now have a van which has a numberplate of someone else's identical van. If they actually get caught with the wrong numberplate, they can easily claim accidental error, because accidental error does occur.
Good luck convicting someone who says they made a mistake with their numberplate for perverting the course of justice. Chris Huhn (and his wife) were convicted because she vindictively admitted it when they divorced to damage his reputation... she didn't count on her conviction, too.
China has always been important, but since the Renaissance they'd been in decline in comparison to Europe and its colonies, culminating in their position at the start of the 20th century, when they had had war after war, and were in dire shape. When the US civil war was going on, so was the Taipeng rebellion... the former killed an estimated 3/4 a million, the latter 20 million.
They were still a massive powerhouse, and I think what the GP is referring to is that they are actually now managing to utilise that power. Mao Zedong did nothing but unify China into a coherent whole (no small feat)... his actual policies were mostly unmitigated disasters. China's recovery has been _since_ Mao died, and on the back of the unification and peace.
The most pivotal event when I was young was the USSR collapse, and the Berlin wall coming down. It wasn't of technological significance, obviously, but there was a lot of hope that international politics would become a lot more cooperative, and less confrontational. It has done to some degree, but everything has fallen far short of what most of us hoped for back then, which was a new world order with David Hasselhoff at the helm.
You got a stalker too? Welcome to the club, mine comes and goes, and has followed me all over the net. It is one of the reasons why i think ACs should be banned or at the very least make it trivial for users to block AC posts in the formatting. After all if they are too damned lazy to spend a whole 3 minutes making an account, can be as anon (by filling it in with BS) as the AC but would make them stand by their posts? then they are trolls and not worth wasting time with.
How does having an AC stalker affect you in any way on slashdot? Just ignore them....
There are also decent reasons for not logging in everywhere.
There is no such thing as an "adequate" law against any content of speech. Censorship is obscene.
Every country censors speech.... the US more in some areas (like copyright) than other countries. I answered this earlier in the discussion, so I won't replicate my comments here.
I agree with yo. I get qite irritated when people in the K tell me we shold emlate them in gn control laws, healthcare laws, or their habit of dropping random 'u's in words where they clearly don't belong. Cortesy reqires I refrain from telling the K how they oght pattern their free speech laws on or First Amendment.
FTFY. Also, as a UK citizen, can I just recommend you cite some statistics about gun control laws and their effects in the UK... in the 5 years following the hand gun ban in 1997, crimes committed using hand guns approximately doubled. Freedom of speech was almost as unrestricted (though not as explicitly enshrined) in the UK as the US, until the "incitement to racial hatred" and "incitement to religious hatred" laws were passed. That being said, I much prefer our healthcare system and spelling, but each to their own.
ps. I do hate Christianity, Islam and Judaism, and encourage others to too.... breaking the law again;).
Slashdot Mirror
The EU is a free market, so the only extra costs are shipping. This is one of the reasons loads of multinationals are located in Ireland... they have full access to the EU, with Ireland's low corporation tax.
Does anyone still play nethack? I still play TOME, does that make me a geek?
_THIS_. I hate DRM in all its forms. I want it to go away.
However, Steam with DRM have managed to produce a platform that is not intrusive, not problematic, and just works, and they give decent value for money. They have done DRM right, and it is showing in their sales figures.
DRM right is antithetical to loads of people... but they've given loads of advantages to me... Installing and playing my games where I like, just with a login. Installing games after 3 separate hard drive failures, without having to search out discs. The removable drive is obsolete for me.
Popular downloading sites have shown that people won't buy if they're given a choice. Indeed, compare the number of console games sold to the number of PC games sold
Bullshit. Diablo III sold getting on for 15 million copies, almost all on the PC.
Steam do not release sales figures. Steam is at least 50% of the PC download market, and do not release sales figures.
For all those who don't know about it, Librivox has a load of public domain audiobooks, ranging from the well read to the confusing.
DRM is going to be around for a long while longer. The entire notion and point of the new consoles is centred about them not being PCs.... but they are essentially just miniature PCs, designed for the living room. If they were open now, Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo would lose money, but they don't, because they MAKE PEOPLE PAY FOR THE RIGHT TO HAVE A GAME ON THEIR CONSOLE.
Sorry for shouting, but this is how they make money. This is why market presence is imperative.
Personally, I'll probably get a PS4 and buy a few games, and then go back to playing on my PC, just like I did with my PS3.
I've not met many of the "Filthy Gabe Newell Worshipping PC Gamer Bourgeoisie" here on Slashdot. The typical stereotype is open source, Linux and anti DRM. For most of Steam's existence, it's been the antithesis of all three of these things.
The reason lots of people are supporting Steam here, as I see it (and quite a lot are, despite the DRM), is that locking down hardware is bad for the consumer, always. Paying full price for the games is not the issue.
He saw and remembered something he is not authorised to see. That is stealing.
Do you see how absurd that statement is? This has nothing to do with stealing.
Backup copies have only very recently been authorised by law in the UK, in 2012, prior to that all backups were illegal. Currently backups of DVDs in the UK are still illegal (because of evading countermeasures).
If you are making that backup for your own use to protect against damage to the media then no it is not stealing.
What is it then? I absolutely know what it is under the law, it's copyright infringement. I know what it is in reality, it's copying something. I did not have the right under law to copy that program to make that backup. Is that theft?
My energy saving idea as a kid was a room with perfectly reflective surfaces. You could just turn a light on for a millisecond, and the room would be perpetually light. Then I realised everything in the room would need to be perfectly reflective too. Not a problem, a cool suit could do that, I thought... but you'd have to have a gap for the eyes, so it would lose its efficiency. I also realised that although the room would be pretty energy efficient, it would not be very practical, and if the surfaces reflected more of the electromagnetic spectrum, a slightly nasty side effect would be that it would actually cook your eyes. I gave up on the idea.
He stole data that he was not authorized to have.
Stealing is something different to copying... we've been through this before.
If I, in the UK, make an unauthorised backup of software I own, do you still call that stealing?
My Steam library is currently 152 games, a lot of those having been bought full price... EU4 was the last. You're wrong, on every one of your comments.
30 years ago there was no ADD, or ADHD you were considered hyper, no medication needed just lower his sugar intake and keep him away from sodas.
All scientific evidence seems to show there is no link between sugar and hyperactivity in children.... most people who are told this, however, simply refuse to believe it.
Gathering evidence without both a warrant and probable cause is one of those things, as the U.S. Constitution says, that should NEVER be allowed.
Yeah.... like that works. The number of cops who "smell marijuana" then get the right to search because of crime in progress laws. It's such an easy out that the cops have - "I smelled drugs". You can't call them on it, because they can claim it may have come from something else, or, if worst comes to worst, they were mistaken about the smell.
It's lovely having an ideal about when and where cops can stop you, but if something else practicably undermines that, the ideal is useless, even if that ideal is still theoretical enshrined.
Art should not have needless death sentences applied.
I agree, completely, but also should point out that most art is crap. I've not modded anything much since I made DOOM levels, and I would find it hilarious if anyone still actually had any copies of the levels I created. If I remember correctly, I only made 3 "fit to release" (IMO) levels I uploaded, after having played them for hours on end with my friends. I just made them for me and my friends, and shared if anyone wanted them.
SteamOS beta is not meant to be configured and played with by normal, console using, end users. Funnily enough, because what Steam want to be played with by normal, console using, end users is not here yet. The beta OS is a beta OS.
It's not that difficult to understand, is it? This is the beta of the operating system that steam boxes will ultimately run. You can install it on something else now, if you choose to. Getting it to run now is not representative of Steamboxen (hah!), and the experience they will deliver when they arrive. I want a controller to play with, for one...
You do know I wasn't arguing blacks aren't human, right? Does anyone do that now? Of course we are all human, why would you need to say that?
I don't believe, in the UK that the police are that corrupt, and I'm more cynical than most with regards to the UK police. What I _do_ believe is that with the laws that are on the books today, most people can be guilty of a crime, and police _do_ selectively arrest. Part of the problem is that police assume that they are deserved of "respect" above and beyond that of normal citizens... you see this all the time on police shows, telling them to fuck off gets you arrested. Telling normal people to fuck off gets you ignored mostly, or hit sometimes. You don't get arrested.
It's a consistent theme with police following programmes - you show us respect, or you get arrested. Fuck that shit.
Consider this: Going through a red light is an offense. Framing another person for something like that is a _very serious_ offense. To see how serious: A British Cabinet minister (Chris Huhne) first had to resign, then was convicted for "perverting the course of justice" because he convinced his wife for taking responsibility for a speeding ticket when he was caught driving too fast. That's with a person willingly taking the blame for a traffic offense. This one is about framing an innocent person of several traffic offences, something a lot more serious.
Criminals will not frame another person for an offence. They will get a white van, change the one relevant digit (they are sequentially issued in batches in the UK) on the registration, and now have a van which has a numberplate of someone else's identical van. If they actually get caught with the wrong numberplate, they can easily claim accidental error, because accidental error does occur.
Good luck convicting someone who says they made a mistake with their numberplate for perverting the course of justice. Chris Huhn (and his wife) were convicted because she vindictively admitted it when they divorced to damage his reputation... she didn't count on her conviction, too.
China has always been important, but since the Renaissance they'd been in decline in comparison to Europe and its colonies, culminating in their position at the start of the 20th century, when they had had war after war, and were in dire shape. When the US civil war was going on, so was the Taipeng rebellion... the former killed an estimated 3/4 a million, the latter 20 million.
They were still a massive powerhouse, and I think what the GP is referring to is that they are actually now managing to utilise that power. Mao Zedong did nothing but unify China into a coherent whole (no small feat)... his actual policies were mostly unmitigated disasters. China's recovery has been _since_ Mao died, and on the back of the unification and peace.
The most pivotal event when I was young was the USSR collapse, and the Berlin wall coming down. It wasn't of technological significance, obviously, but there was a lot of hope that international politics would become a lot more cooperative, and less confrontational. It has done to some degree, but everything has fallen far short of what most of us hoped for back then, which was a new world order with David Hasselhoff at the helm.
You got a stalker too? Welcome to the club, mine comes and goes, and has followed me all over the net. It is one of the reasons why i think ACs should be banned or at the very least make it trivial for users to block AC posts in the formatting. After all if they are too damned lazy to spend a whole 3 minutes making an account, can be as anon (by filling it in with BS) as the AC but would make them stand by their posts? then they are trolls and not worth wasting time with.
How does having an AC stalker affect you in any way on slashdot? Just ignore them....
There are also decent reasons for not logging in everywhere.
There is no such thing as an "adequate" law against any content of speech. Censorship is obscene.
Every country censors speech.... the US more in some areas (like copyright) than other countries. I answered this earlier in the discussion, so I won't replicate my comments here.
Erm... did you not read the quoted text?
I agree with yo. I get qite irritated when people in the K tell me we shold emlate them in gn control laws, healthcare laws, or their habit of dropping random 'u's in words where they clearly don't belong. Cortesy reqires I refrain from telling the K how they oght pattern their free speech laws on or First Amendment.
FTFY. Also, as a UK citizen, can I just recommend you cite some statistics about gun control laws and their effects in the UK... in the 5 years following the hand gun ban in 1997, crimes committed using hand guns approximately doubled. Freedom of speech was almost as unrestricted (though not as explicitly enshrined) in the UK as the US, until the "incitement to racial hatred" and "incitement to religious hatred" laws were passed. That being said, I much prefer our healthcare system and spelling, but each to their own.
ps. I do hate Christianity, Islam and Judaism, and encourage others to too.... breaking the law again ;).