Dan Farber is right. We deserve choices, but Nader's proposed increase of government regulation will not accomplish that. Don't get me wrong. Capitalism in its most efficient form depends on competition and consumer choices, and sometimes government regulation is needed to stop monopolies from squelching such competition. But dictating what can and cannot be purchased hardly works toward that end.
I would like to see someone with some clout put together a proposal on just how much $ can be saved with alternatives to Microsoft. Then go to the media with it. Everywhere. Make the case and illustrate just how much of our tax $ is being squandered on a company with already $40 billion plus in cash reserves.
At work, web access is controlled by a Microsoft proxy server. The MS proxy server requires NTLM authentication support. Guess how many browsers support NTLM? (See also: how many Internet browsers has Microsoft released?)
I think so. Instead of folks retiring to their castle walls, this gives them a chance to put a face to their competitors, and that alone is important. When you frag some guy, and you can see him wince, there's that satisfaction, but you also learn humility when you get fragged.
Besides, its just easier to tell someone to lay down a supressing fire rather than type it.;)
But who says kids have to play violent FPS? Why not something constructive? This is one of the few if only multiplayer markets that is untapped. The typical multiplayer game centers around killing and destroying. Why not something less zero-sum?
Well let's see. Bill Gates started Microsoft with Paul Allen who owns the Portland Trail Blazers. Rasheed Wallace is a power forward for the Trail Blazers. Wallace played basketball at the University of North Carolina where Michael Jordan won a national championship his junior year before taking on the NBA himself. Jordan starred in Space Jam with Bill Murray who had an uncredited cameo in "She's Having a Baby" starring...Kevin Bacon.
The games I had in mind are strictly web-based. Very little graphics and no 3D graphics whatsoever. I don't have the requisite talent and math smarts to make a 3D game, and I think the 3D industry is represented well enough.
I aim to produce a couple or more "one more turn" style strategy games played in-browser. I have two ideas in mind, one centering around baseball; the other, politics.
First, I have a database of all major league players, managers, teams, ballparks, etc. that I found at baseball-reference.com. From this, I believe I can put together several types of fantasy baseball games involving historical leagues, all-time leagues, salary cap leagues, tournaments, etc.
Lots of variations of one game, baseball. A game-play engine can probably evolve in open source, and the rest of the implementation can be behind the scenes. There's a wealth of fantasy baseball games out there, but I think baseball enthusiasts always enjoy new opportunities to try their luck.
Second, I'd like to put together a fantasy U.S. Congress. Users would try to build a political career by selecting a branch of government they want to serve in and they set out to earn as much political capital as they can by casting votes for legislation that passes, having posts related to debates modded up, or even selling out to special interests and lobbyists. Users could even trade political capital for votes or vice versa as is the game in Washington, right?
This has some value I think as a tool for educators and civics teachers in addition to all of us arm-chair pols. I'm excited by the potential this idea has.
From what I gather, money needs to be a byproduct of the labour of love. And I agree. I just don't want to piss away an opportunity to do something like this for a living (even a meek one) if such an opportunity exists. But first, I need to get something working.
As I said, these will be web-based, in-browser, strategy games. I imagine there will be some use of Java, Perl (mod_perl), SQL database backends. I'm more worried about finding graphic design talent than anything. I can draw shapes in the Gimp, but I doubt that'd get me anywhere.
I have a web site named Teamchemistry.com that I'm going to host these games and their project development on. I'll register the projects with Sourceforge and see what happens. Thanks to everyone for responding.
This is a poor idea for several reasons. First, there are a fixed number of terminals and a fixed number of employees, right? So what's to stop the same people from using the same terminals day after day? Kind of like college classrooms. Nobody tells you where you have to sit, but you kind of get used to sitting in the same seat every class meeting. Second, I suspect this would hinder productivity. The ability to customize one's workspace should not be underestimated. I for one don't want to hunker down in a blank, beige cubicle. People like their family photos, clocks, disco balls, etc.
Of course, the factories producing those emissions typically belong to US corporations who saw fit to leave the States for exploitable labor and looser environmental rules.
Even better would be cordless, plugless power. My apartment looks more like a heavily booby-trapped jungle from all of the tripwire power cords I've got strewn about.
Is it possible to transfer electrical power from a source to a device without a wire? If so, anybody know of any related work? I'd be interested to know.
I'm all about wireless. The more and sooner, the better.
In Lexington, KY, my only options for broadband are Verizon DSL or Insight cable. So I'm already locked in. I would have dumped Verizon had Insight not changed its cable modem service to DHCP only. That makes hosting from home a lot tougher.
Fortunately, I've been able to run with a local ISP, QX.net, on top of that DSL line. They're top drawer. Call their office and you get a technically proficient human being. You all know well enough what Verizon is like...
This sucks, but not as bad has shutting out a local ISP. The day I have to sign up Verizon as my ISP is the day I move to the China moonbase.
...if there's anybody in the world who has a pretty good idea how much revenue Microsoft is losing because of Linux, it must be Gates, Ballmer, and the rest of Microsoft's upper echelon.
And I think they're getting scared.
Bear in mind the jokers in Redmond had a decade plus of unchecked expansion by plagurizing other people's ideas. Witness their latest copy & paste,.NET, a reimplementation of Sun's Java VM. There's also the XBox, Yet Another Gaming Console.
It's funny that Gates and his sycophants scream bloody murder over intellectual property when their entire business model is founded on the plagurizing and buyouts of already existing concepts.
Companies are looking for ways to save money and still improve their businesses, and this is a Good Thing (tm). Linux is an obvious fit, but more than that, managers are realizing the benefits of open source, standards, etc. When there was limitless $ in companies' coffers, Microsoft's excesses fit. Not any more.
IMHO, they're scared because there's nothing new and sexy out there for them to pilfer. No killer apps. No companies with exponential growth turning niches into industries.
Microsoft will fail where other folks fail to conjure new and exciting computing concepts. Amazing since they've got tens of billions of $ to seed R&D.
This article an off topic troll.
on
Review: U-571
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· Score: 4, Insightful
Waste no more of your time and move on to the next article. If only we could mod articles down...
On the surface, this post is going to come off like a troll, but hear me out. You could be the second coming of Sir Isaac Newton, develop insomnia, teach Stroustrup a thing or three about his own language, and you still will produce an average game relative to what is already out on the market.
IMHO, all the effort that goes into making a mad 3D multiplayer game is worth it to almost nobody. Too many variables, too many things that can go wrong, too many things that can delay a release, too many things that can wreck the gaming experience and tarnish your brand, too many system requirements...
Obviously if you are starting out and you don't eat derivatives for breakfast, set your sites on a simple text-based or 2D game. Single player. Do one thing perfect instead of a million things wrong. How easily we geeks neglect a vast world of gaming that isn't 3D, and how simpler and better our chances would be if we tabled quantum physics until our fourth or fifth game release.;)
Microsoft argues that were they to provide any greater technical detail about protocols and APIs, it would make computers running their operating system far more vulnerable to cracking attacks.
We'll never know for sure since MSFT refuses to even consider the alternative of releasing info for their protocols, APIs, source. And that is their fait accompli. Any good software engineer worth his salt has to consider the possibility that he is wrong. Even genius coders forget the occasional semicolon.
You solemnly swear, each by whatever he or she holds most sacred that you will be loyal to the Profession of Software and just and generous to its programmers.
That you will lead your lives and practice your art in uprightness and honor.
That into whatsoever web site you shall enter, it shall be for the good of opt-out mailing lists to the utmost of your mouse, your holding yourselves far aloof from privacy, from the GPL, from the tempting of others to intellectual property theft.
That you will exercise your art solely for the commercial squatting of patents, and will give no bandwidth, perform no division by zero, for a mad MP3 collection, even if solicited, far less suggest it.
That whatsoever you shall see or hear of the promise of open source software which is not fitting to be spoken, you will keep inviolably secret.
These things do you swear. Let each bow the head in sign of acquiescence.
And now, if you will be true to this, your oath, may prosperity and worthless stock options be yours; the opposite, if you shall prove yourselves forsworn.
...oh wait a minute...we already have this language drafted. It's in the typical Microsoft EULA. Nevermind.
However, what Bill really worries about is that some practitioner of the dark arts might infiltrate his mansion and steal the first dime he ever earned
Don't you mean the first billion dollar bill he ever earned?
The Matrix Reloaded is almost as lame as Attack Of The Clones. Only in movies can we be this lame. Can you imagine reading a Clancy novel, say The Sum Of All Fears, and then reading the next novel with Jack Ryan in it titled The Sum Of All Fears: Claustrophobia?
Man, is there anybody with a brain cell working in Hollywood?
I read an article in Penthouse (bear with me) that described a study in which Cincinnati had the fewest tech jobs per 2000 overall jobs than any other metropolitan area in the country. San Jose had something like 300/2000; Cincinnati, 30/2000.
I don't doubt this. Relevent tech jobs in that frickin' town are sparse. It's a town of salesfolk and chemical engineers, most of which work for GE and P&G. You're either a good bullshitter or you're trying to make a better diaper.
I second the motion that sites on the OSDN network are punishing to look at. While Sourceforge does provide developers with some handy tools, its site completely defeats any project's ability to promote itself.
Just because you can pump data out of a database doesn't mean you have to paste it onto a web page. It makes me recollect the Microsoft exec who tried to defend their Smart Tags travesty a few months back by saying that the majority of web sites were "underlinked." Hah!
Let's face it. The entertainment industry is suffering from poor timing with a receeding economy and discovering that there is a limit to how much money we're will to shell out for their goodies. Actually, I believe a lot of industries are running into a revenue wall.
You can imagine these people getting spoiled the last few years, and then when our disposable income becomes less disposable, they wig out. Has anyone else noticed how prolific our corporations have become at perverting capitalism? Enron, Worldcom, AOL/TW. And those are just the tip of iceberg that we can see.
I see a trend of corporations looking to government to bail them out of jams they created for themselves, and I don't like it. It's funny that some want government regulations (RIAA, MPAA to name a few) and others don't (MSFT) AND they're all wrong!
Slashdot Mirror
You Euros and your cell-phone envy...
I would like to see someone with some clout put together a proposal on just how much $ can be saved with alternatives to Microsoft. Then go to the media with it. Everywhere. Make the case and illustrate just how much of our tax $ is being squandered on a company with already $40 billion plus in cash reserves.
Sucks for you.
Besides, its just easier to tell someone to lay down a supressing fire rather than type it. ;)
But who says kids have to play violent FPS? Why not something constructive? This is one of the few if only multiplayer markets that is untapped. The typical multiplayer game centers around killing and destroying. Why not something less zero-sum?
Get that module to CPAN stat! I want it! ;)
Well let's see. Bill Gates started Microsoft with Paul Allen who owns the Portland Trail Blazers. Rasheed Wallace is a power forward for the Trail Blazers. Wallace played basketball at the University of North Carolina where Michael Jordan won a national championship his junior year before taking on the NBA himself. Jordan starred in Space Jam with Bill Murray who had an uncredited cameo in "She's Having a Baby" starring...Kevin Bacon.
I aim to produce a couple or more "one more turn" style strategy games played in-browser. I have two ideas in mind, one centering around baseball; the other, politics.
First, I have a database of all major league players, managers, teams, ballparks, etc. that I found at baseball-reference.com. From this, I believe I can put together several types of fantasy baseball games involving historical leagues, all-time leagues, salary cap leagues, tournaments, etc.
Lots of variations of one game, baseball. A game-play engine can probably evolve in open source, and the rest of the implementation can be behind the scenes. There's a wealth of fantasy baseball games out there, but I think baseball enthusiasts always enjoy new opportunities to try their luck. Second, I'd like to put together a fantasy U.S. Congress. Users would try to build a political career by selecting a branch of government they want to serve in and they set out to earn as much political capital as they can by casting votes for legislation that passes, having posts related to debates modded up, or even selling out to special interests and lobbyists. Users could even trade political capital for votes or vice versa as is the game in Washington, right? This has some value I think as a tool for educators and civics teachers in addition to all of us arm-chair pols. I'm excited by the potential this idea has.
From what I gather, money needs to be a byproduct of the labour of love. And I agree. I just don't want to piss away an opportunity to do something like this for a living (even a meek one) if such an opportunity exists. But first, I need to get something working.
As I said, these will be web-based, in-browser, strategy games. I imagine there will be some use of Java, Perl (mod_perl), SQL database backends. I'm more worried about finding graphic design talent than anything. I can draw shapes in the Gimp, but I doubt that'd get me anywhere.
I have a web site named Teamchemistry.com that I'm going to host these games and their project development on. I'll register the projects with Sourceforge and see what happens. Thanks to everyone for responding.
This is a poor idea for several reasons. First, there are a fixed number of terminals and a fixed number of employees, right? So what's to stop the same people from using the same terminals day after day? Kind of like college classrooms. Nobody tells you where you have to sit, but you kind of get used to sitting in the same seat every class meeting. Second, I suspect this would hinder productivity. The ability to customize one's workspace should not be underestimated. I for one don't want to hunker down in a blank, beige cubicle. People like their family photos, clocks, disco balls, etc.
Of course, the factories producing those emissions typically belong to US corporations who saw fit to leave the States for exploitable labor and looser environmental rules.
Is it possible to transfer electrical power from a source to a device without a wire? If so, anybody know of any related work? I'd be interested to know.
I'm all about wireless. The more and sooner, the better.
Fortunately, I've been able to run with a local ISP, QX.net, on top of that DSL line. They're top drawer. Call their office and you get a technically proficient human being. You all know well enough what Verizon is like...
This sucks, but not as bad has shutting out a local ISP. The day I have to sign up Verizon as my ISP is the day I move to the China moonbase.
And I think they're getting scared.
Bear in mind the jokers in Redmond had a decade plus of unchecked expansion by plagurizing other people's ideas. Witness their latest copy & paste, .NET, a reimplementation of Sun's Java VM. There's also the XBox, Yet Another Gaming Console.
It's funny that Gates and his sycophants scream bloody murder over intellectual property when their entire business model is founded on the plagurizing and buyouts of already existing concepts.
Companies are looking for ways to save money and still improve their businesses, and this is a Good Thing (tm). Linux is an obvious fit, but more than that, managers are realizing the benefits of open source, standards, etc. When there was limitless $ in companies' coffers, Microsoft's excesses fit. Not any more.
IMHO, they're scared because there's nothing new and sexy out there for them to pilfer. No killer apps. No companies with exponential growth turning niches into industries.
Microsoft will fail where other folks fail to conjure new and exciting computing concepts. Amazing since they've got tens of billions of $ to seed R&D.
Waste no more of your time and move on to the next article. If only we could mod articles down...
IMHO, all the effort that goes into making a mad 3D multiplayer game is worth it to almost nobody. Too many variables, too many things that can go wrong, too many things that can delay a release, too many things that can wreck the gaming experience and tarnish your brand, too many system requirements...
Obviously if you are starting out and you don't eat derivatives for breakfast, set your sites on a simple text-based or 2D game. Single player. Do one thing perfect instead of a million things wrong. How easily we geeks neglect a vast world of gaming that isn't 3D, and how simpler and better our chances would be if we tabled quantum physics until our fourth or fifth game release. ;)
We'll never know for sure since MSFT refuses to even consider the alternative of releasing info for their protocols, APIs, source. And that is their fait accompli. Any good software engineer worth his salt has to consider the possibility that he is wrong. Even genius coders forget the occasional semicolon.
That you will lead your lives and practice your art in uprightness and honor.
That into whatsoever web site you shall enter, it shall be for the good of opt-out mailing lists to the utmost of your mouse, your holding yourselves far aloof from privacy, from the GPL, from the tempting of others to intellectual property theft.
That you will exercise your art solely for the commercial squatting of patents, and will give no bandwidth, perform no division by zero, for a mad MP3 collection, even if solicited, far less suggest it.
That whatsoever you shall see or hear of the promise of open source software which is not fitting to be spoken, you will keep inviolably secret.
These things do you swear. Let each bow the head in sign of acquiescence.
And now, if you will be true to this, your oath, may prosperity and worthless stock options be yours; the opposite, if you shall prove yourselves forsworn.
Completely agree. And while we're on the topic of Agent Smith, I want to give props to Hugo Weaving for bringing Smith to life. Very compelling.
Don't you mean the first billion dollar bill he ever earned?
Man, is there anybody with a brain cell working in Hollywood?
I don't doubt this. Relevent tech jobs in that frickin' town are sparse. It's a town of salesfolk and chemical engineers, most of which work for GE and P&G. You're either a good bullshitter or you're trying to make a better diaper.
...good.
Just because you can pump data out of a database doesn't mean you have to paste it onto a web page. It makes me recollect the Microsoft exec who tried to defend their Smart Tags travesty a few months back by saying that the majority of web sites were "underlinked." Hah!
You can imagine these people getting spoiled the last few years, and then when our disposable income becomes less disposable, they wig out. Has anyone else noticed how prolific our corporations have become at perverting capitalism? Enron, Worldcom, AOL/TW. And those are just the tip of iceberg that we can see.
I see a trend of corporations looking to government to bail them out of jams they created for themselves, and I don't like it. It's funny that some want government regulations (RIAA, MPAA to name a few) and others don't (MSFT) AND they're all wrong!
I wonder what experiences anyone else has had with divide by zero "glitches." Anybody else have a similar experience?
Perhaps his migration to the dark side of management has tainted the Jedi mind tricks he learned from the comp sci department.