Congrats...but the discussion is about Windows. I don't dispute the fact that other operating systems are better suited for long periods of uptime. I've worked with FreeBSD servers that had uptimes of over 3 years (they have since gone down after my friends and I graduated and moved away from college, took our servers with us). But the topic of this particular thread is getting the most out of a Windows installation.
If you want to have an OS war, please go to one of the M$ fanboy threads. I'm sure there are plenty of them.
Well, most people complain about only managing to keep an XP box up for days at most. My old stock XP installation (on my old Athlon XP 2100 box) ran for several months without issue. So long as you take care of it, keep it clean (both physically and software-wise), I see no reason to expect such frequent failure. Even so, I suspect my nLited installation would run the same, if not longer, than the stock installation. I only said "weeks" because that's the longest I've let it run. Eventually I had no reason to continue keeping it on and turned it off.
As for bloated installations, it's entirely possible that the temporary installation files were included in that 3 GB figure...IIRC, nLite gives the option to clean said files after installation. Also keep in mind that the figure was based on a fully updated XP installation (both stock and nLited).
To put it in perspective, the size of the installation ISO dropped to about 25% of its original size after I nLited it. At that point, it's almost not worth wasting the CD, except you really have few alternatives. I guess you could try installing off a flash drive if your motherboard supports such a boot device.
That is odd, then. During my first pass at using nLite, I removed IE. I never had any problems with the DHCP client or SP2 firewall. Of course, I immediately went back and tried nLite again when I remembered I couldn't get to the Windows update site without IE.
Naturally there is some risk involved whenever you tweak any kind of software, especially an OS. In this case, nLite is most useful when you know what the machine is for, and it never expands beyond those bounds (in my case, my gaming box and my media box). Personally, I disagree that it isn't worth the effort, but then again, I may just have gotten lucky and stumbled across a good mix of removed/not removed components in my nLited installation early on.
I'd be interested to hear of anyone else who has played with nLite or similar software to see what kind of setups you've discovered that work well.
It's possible. I haven't run into the situation yet. Probably never will given what I use nLite for: just a gaming machine. I would not recommend it for a box on which any amount of heavy development occurs, as dependencies become a larger issue in that environment. On the flipside, it performs miraculously for an entertainment box (be it gaming, media, anything).
Re:You want faster Windows?
on
Why Windows is Slow
·
· Score: 2, Informative
This is very true. Like I said, thus far I haven't had any major problems (beyond the annoyance of a few missing codecs, easily replaced), but that doesn't mean it can't happen. I can't even begin to imagine what would happen if someone who did Visual Studio development removed IE!
Thankfully, the developers of nLite took the time to write a little blurb for each component to attempt to describe what it does, and marks "high risk" components in red (i.e. remove at your own risk). In many of the blurbs, they also outline the situations in which it is okay to remove a given component.
Be that as it may, you should still expect to spend a few hours and several CD-Rs finding that right balance for your needs. I also don't suggest it unless you have a second computer standing by on which to make the nLited CD-Rs.
Despite the fact that this article has little to nothing to do with the "slowness" of Windows loading/execution (which is, of course, debatable depending on the app in question), I'll indulge the M$ haters and throw this into the mix.
If you want faster Windows, use nLite. It's a beautiful tool that lets one take a Windows XP installation CD and make any number of modifications to it: remove unwanted components/drivers, preset Windows settings, slipstream hotfixes and service packs...even completely automate the installation process by presetting all installation information (license key, etc.). Then, it generates a brand spanking new ISO for you to burn and use for installation. It's glorious.
After nLite-ing my personal XP installation, I must say I have never been happier with Windows. I've left it running for weeks with no problems. A fresh installation of my nLited XP is just over 1 GB of HDD space (whereas the typical XP installation can top 3 GB). It could have been less, but not without removing several components that I wanted to keep.
Granted, this tweaking is not without its quirks. I do occasionally get a warning about "unrecognized file versions", but thus far ignoring them has not caused any problems. I would suggest the following though: I know it's tempting to remove IE right off the bat, but trust me when I say don't. It is needed for some very important functions (such as updates). Also, I would caution against removing Windows Media Player as well. Sure, you may never use it (hell, I never did), but if you remove it, it takes its codecs with it, which can cause other apps to not function properly (such as Winamp). I guess you never know what you have until it's gone. If you're bound and determined to remove it, then I highly recommend the ACE Mega Codecs Pack as a replacement.
It's too bad there isn't a "Nazi" mod, because posts like this deserve it.
Any time a movie based on some kind of prior work comes out, the Canon Nazis immediately jump on it, teeth gnashing. So the movies aren't exactly like the books. Quit your belly aching. Peter Jackson did a wonderful interpretation of Lord of the Rings, and the vast majority of people who saw the movies agree (key word being interpretation).
It's your right to have a negative opinion of the movies if you didn't like them, but for crying out loud, have an opinion about the movies, not the books that, through a director's interpretation, were "butched," as you put it. Peter Jackson didn't go back and "butcher" the books. He didn't take a cleaver to them. He didn't demand that the publishers allow him to make changes to them. The books are now as they have always been.
I know if the movies had been an exact screenplay of the books, I sure wouldn't have sat through them.
Re:Don't miss the next theatrical masterpiece...
on
LOTR Jumps the Shark
·
· Score: 2, Funny
Actually, I was thinking more along the lines of...
"Dink dink! Dink dink dink dink, dink, dink! Dink dink! Dink dink dink dink, dink, dink!"
Don't miss the next theatrical masterpiece...
on
LOTR Jumps the Shark
·
· Score: 2, Funny
I've been in your shoes. At home I have well over 100 Star Wars novels sitting on my bookshelf, and not one of them is unread (save for Republic Commando: Triple Zero, which just came out). The Expanded Universe is, for the most part, a wonderful continuation of the Star Wars saga, with a few inconsistencies or downright blunders (*cough* Planet of Twilight *cough*). The SW:EU has seen some of the most talented sci-fi writers of our age. And I can't think of any character I like better than Grand Admiral Thrawn.
I do hope this TV series will live up to the ongoing story and be just as enjoyable as the books have been for me. I pray that they will heed the prior works of the authors and beware of glaring inconsistencies (one of which I intend to keep an eye on being young Han Solo).
I fail to see how this is different than what I just said. I think maybe you are having a misconception of what I'm trying to get across. Read the part you quoted from me again, and pay attention to the whole thing instead of just the first part:
Honestly, when was the last time we've seen a senator or representative out asking his state where they stand on a given issue and then actually voting that way in Congress? I can't speak for anyone else, but I sure haven't seen it lately.
I've bolded the part I think people might be getting confused on. I'm not saying that the norm should be that a Congressman spend all their time polling the public, but on the issues where the public demands to have a voice, it is important that the Congressman heeds that voice and actually votes in a manner representative of his people. Currently, this is not happening with any great consistency.
There's a balance of how much a representative (be it at a local, state, or federal level) should turn to the people he represents for guidance. Too much and it might as well be a democracy (and we've seen how well that works in history). Too little, and you've got what we have now.
Rumor has it...
that a Patent Office official resigned and recommended that the Patent Office be closed because he thought that everything that could possibly be invented had already been invented!
While that statement makes good fun of predictions that do not come to pass, it is none the less just a myth. Researchers have found no evidence that any official or employee of the U.S. Patent Office had ever resigned because there was nothing left to invent. A clue to the origin of the myth may be found in Patent Office Commissioner Henry Ellsworth's 1843 report to Congress. In it he states, "The advancement of the arts, from year to year, taxes our credulity and seems to presage the arrival of that period when human improvement must end." But Commissioner Ellsworth was simply using a bit of rhetorical flourish to emphasize the growing number of patents as presented in the rest of the report. He even outlined specific areas in which he expected patent activity to increase in the future.
Taken out of context, such remarks take on a life of their own and are perpetuated in publication after publication whose authors, rather than check facts, copy and quote each other. For example, recent publications have attributed the "everything that has been invented..." quote to a later commissioner, Charles H. Duell, who held that office in 1899. Unlike Ellsworth, who may have been merely misquoted, there is absolutely no basis to support Duell's alleged statement. Just the opposite is true. Duell's 1899 report documents an increase of about 3,000 patents over the previous year, and nearly 60 times the number granted in 1837. Further, Duell quotes President McKinley's annual message saying, "Our future progress and prosperity depend upon our ability to equal, if not surpass, other nations in the enlargement and advance of science, industry and commerce. To invention we must turn as one of the most powerful aids to the accomplishment of such a result." Duell adds, "May not our inventors hopefully look to the Fifty-sixth Congress for aid and effectual encouragement in improving the American patent system?" These are unlikely words of someone who thinks that everything has been invented.
Aye, I agree completely. What public schools would have their students believe these days is that the original system of checks and balances in government was between the 3 branches of the federal government. This couldn't be farther from the truth. The original system of checks and balances was intended to maintain the balance of power between the federal government, the state governments, and the people. The 17th amendment pooched that deal completely, intermingling the people and state governments, causing a complete conflict of interests while the federal government grew unchecked. Now all that matters as far as being "fair and balanced" within the government is the balance of power between the federal branches. It's no wonder our federal government has gotten so bloated.
My point is that we're not striking that balance. The people we elect to represent us should make an attempt to know where we stand on the issues. I don't see that happening currently.
I completely agree that a puppet representative would be a terrible idea, after all, what would be the point of even having the representative.
His check is that if he deviates too far from the will of the people, they can replace him.
Any more, this is wishful thinking. I really do want to agree with you, honestly. The real issue, I think, is that the people (in general) have given up their check on the government and stopped caring, allowing the elected officials free reign. This leads to a situation where the officials can test the boundaries of what they can get away with and still remain in office. Then, when they do something atrocious, the people complain to high heaven, but by then it's too late.
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. If the masses would start paying attention to the issues and start voting responsibly instead of just blindly voting a straight ticket every election, this nation would be a much better place, and the stranglehold the bipartisonship has on our government would loosen considerably.
And that is to fool you into thinking you live in a democracy.:)
You're right. Because we are not now nor have we ever been a democracy. The U.S. is a republic, or rather, is supposed to be. I don't deny the fact that the officials we elect to represent us (in the local, state, and federal governments) seem to care less and less about actually speaking for the people they represent than fulfilling their own agendas (mostly at the federal level, but it's seen at all levels).
Honestly, when was the last time we've seen a senator or representative out asking his state where they stand on a given issue and then actually voting that way in Congress? I can't speak for anyone else, but I sure haven't seen it lately.
SELECT Baby FROM Hero INNER JOIN Princess ON Hero.Sausage = Princess.Taco
...use this:
SELECT Princesses.Baby FROM (Heroes INNER JOIN Sausages ON Heroes.oid = Sausages.HeroID) INNER JOIN (Princesses INNER JOIN Tacos ON Princesses.oid = Tacos.PrincessID) ON Sausages.Location = Tacos.Location WHERE Princesses.Saved = 1 AND Heroes.oid = 'me'
Of course, this still tends to result in at least one row containing a Baby. To fix this, you should probably run this prior to the previous statement:
ALTER TABLE Princesses DROP COLUMN Baby
The exact number of Babies really depends on how many Princesses you've saved, but at least we've solved the "sausage is not a taco" cunundrum without introducing transgender properties.
I know, it does. I was really struggling with myself on that issue. But my friends really wanted to play, and it's been somewhat of a tradition spanning many years in our little group to play Starcraft together, and when it comes down to it they mean more to me than my vendetta with Blizzard. Besides, the battle chest is only $20 now. Combine that with the fact that I needed new CDs anyway to replace the scratched up ones, and I convinced myself to just go buy it again.
You shouldn't mistake it for an argument. It's an opinion, and judging from TFA, in my opinion, they did not have reasonable suspicion (and certainly no solid evidence) that the accused was responsible for releasing the protected data to the news media, and ergo had no call to seize those computers.
And you need not be so condescending. I know what a grand jury is supposed to do, and I'm well acquainted with the art of newspaper publication. The point is that the accusers are using the assumption that the protected data came directly from the law enforcement website as fact, even though according to TFA the only evidence they have of this is that some of these details appeared in the newspaper. That seems like a pretty weak link to me, given that those details could have come from a source who merely said more than he should have. Instead, it seems they are endorsing the "worst-case scenario" of a major security breach.
Of course, it's possible I'm looking at this all wrong, and the guy really did give up the password. But at the moment, it seems to me that they jumped on him a little too quickly for it to be a reasonable move.
Not long ago I reinstalled Starcraft to play with a friend. I've owned this game and the legal CD key that came with it since the game was originally released. However, when I tried to connect to Battle.net after installation, I received an error message claiming that my CD key was "meant for another product," and it denied me access to Battle.net. I went to Blizzard's website and checked out their FAQ. After trying the recommended fixes for the problem (which involved the ever-popular "reinstall and put the CD key in right this time, retard" suggestion, which of course wasn't the issue), I still could not connect to Battle.net. Finally I got fed up and wrote an e-mail to their tech support, explaining that I had tried the suggestions on their FAQ page and was out of options. I needed their help to get my CD key working again. I didn't actually expect to get a response at all, but I was surprised when there was one in my inbox the next day. I was less surprised that their response was a boilerplate message containing the exact words of the FAQ page. Oh, I was furious. I went out and bought the Starcraft battle chest again for a new key. I wouldn't have bothered, but my old CDs were getting pretty scratched up anyways (having seen the better part of a decade of use), and I could justify the replacement.
The moral of the story: Blizzard doesn't give a damn about it's customers. I would encourage anyone to ignore Blizzard's games from now on. Of course, WoW has a stranglehold on pretty much the entire gaming community, so, that's an uphill battle.
Slashdot Mirror
Congrats...but the discussion is about Windows. I don't dispute the fact that other operating systems are better suited for long periods of uptime. I've worked with FreeBSD servers that had uptimes of over 3 years (they have since gone down after my friends and I graduated and moved away from college, took our servers with us). But the topic of this particular thread is getting the most out of a Windows installation.
If you want to have an OS war, please go to one of the M$ fanboy threads. I'm sure there are plenty of them.
Well, most people complain about only managing to keep an XP box up for days at most. My old stock XP installation (on my old Athlon XP 2100 box) ran for several months without issue. So long as you take care of it, keep it clean (both physically and software-wise), I see no reason to expect such frequent failure. Even so, I suspect my nLited installation would run the same, if not longer, than the stock installation. I only said "weeks" because that's the longest I've let it run. Eventually I had no reason to continue keeping it on and turned it off.
As for bloated installations, it's entirely possible that the temporary installation files were included in that 3 GB figure...IIRC, nLite gives the option to clean said files after installation. Also keep in mind that the figure was based on a fully updated XP installation (both stock and nLited).
To put it in perspective, the size of the installation ISO dropped to about 25% of its original size after I nLited it. At that point, it's almost not worth wasting the CD, except you really have few alternatives. I guess you could try installing off a flash drive if your motherboard supports such a boot device.
That is odd, then. During my first pass at using nLite, I removed IE. I never had any problems with the DHCP client or SP2 firewall. Of course, I immediately went back and tried nLite again when I remembered I couldn't get to the Windows update site without IE.
Naturally there is some risk involved whenever you tweak any kind of software, especially an OS. In this case, nLite is most useful when you know what the machine is for, and it never expands beyond those bounds (in my case, my gaming box and my media box). Personally, I disagree that it isn't worth the effort, but then again, I may just have gotten lucky and stumbled across a good mix of removed/not removed components in my nLited installation early on.
I'd be interested to hear of anyone else who has played with nLite or similar software to see what kind of setups you've discovered that work well.
It's possible. I haven't run into the situation yet. Probably never will given what I use nLite for: just a gaming machine. I would not recommend it for a box on which any amount of heavy development occurs, as dependencies become a larger issue in that environment. On the flipside, it performs miraculously for an entertainment box (be it gaming, media, anything).
This is very true. Like I said, thus far I haven't had any major problems (beyond the annoyance of a few missing codecs, easily replaced), but that doesn't mean it can't happen. I can't even begin to imagine what would happen if someone who did Visual Studio development removed IE!
Thankfully, the developers of nLite took the time to write a little blurb for each component to attempt to describe what it does, and marks "high risk" components in red (i.e. remove at your own risk). In many of the blurbs, they also outline the situations in which it is okay to remove a given component.
Be that as it may, you should still expect to spend a few hours and several CD-Rs finding that right balance for your needs. I also don't suggest it unless you have a second computer standing by on which to make the nLited CD-Rs.
Despite the fact that this article has little to nothing to do with the "slowness" of Windows loading/execution (which is, of course, debatable depending on the app in question), I'll indulge the M$ haters and throw this into the mix.
If you want faster Windows, use nLite. It's a beautiful tool that lets one take a Windows XP installation CD and make any number of modifications to it: remove unwanted components/drivers, preset Windows settings, slipstream hotfixes and service packs...even completely automate the installation process by presetting all installation information (license key, etc.). Then, it generates a brand spanking new ISO for you to burn and use for installation. It's glorious.
After nLite-ing my personal XP installation, I must say I have never been happier with Windows. I've left it running for weeks with no problems. A fresh installation of my nLited XP is just over 1 GB of HDD space (whereas the typical XP installation can top 3 GB). It could have been less, but not without removing several components that I wanted to keep.
Granted, this tweaking is not without its quirks. I do occasionally get a warning about "unrecognized file versions", but thus far ignoring them has not caused any problems. I would suggest the following though: I know it's tempting to remove IE right off the bat, but trust me when I say don't. It is needed for some very important functions (such as updates). Also, I would caution against removing Windows Media Player as well. Sure, you may never use it (hell, I never did), but if you remove it, it takes its codecs with it, which can cause other apps to not function properly (such as Winamp). I guess you never know what you have until it's gone. If you're bound and determined to remove it, then I highly recommend the ACE Mega Codecs Pack as a replacement.
Happy hacking!
It's too bad there isn't a "Nazi" mod, because posts like this deserve it.
Any time a movie based on some kind of prior work comes out, the Canon Nazis immediately jump on it, teeth gnashing. So the movies aren't exactly like the books. Quit your belly aching. Peter Jackson did a wonderful interpretation of Lord of the Rings, and the vast majority of people who saw the movies agree (key word being interpretation).
It's your right to have a negative opinion of the movies if you didn't like them, but for crying out loud, have an opinion about the movies, not the books that, through a director's interpretation, were "butched," as you put it. Peter Jackson didn't go back and "butcher" the books. He didn't take a cleaver to them. He didn't demand that the publishers allow him to make changes to them. The books are now as they have always been.
I know if the movies had been an exact screenplay of the books, I sure wouldn't have sat through them.
Actually, I was thinking more along the lines of... "Dink dink! Dink dink dink dink, dink, dink! Dink dink! Dink dink dink dink, dink, dink!"
"There And Back Again: Hobbits in Tights"
I've been in your shoes. At home I have well over 100 Star Wars novels sitting on my bookshelf, and not one of them is unread (save for Republic Commando: Triple Zero, which just came out). The Expanded Universe is, for the most part, a wonderful continuation of the Star Wars saga, with a few inconsistencies or downright blunders (*cough* Planet of Twilight *cough*). The SW:EU has seen some of the most talented sci-fi writers of our age. And I can't think of any character I like better than Grand Admiral Thrawn.
I do hope this TV series will live up to the ongoing story and be just as enjoyable as the books have been for me. I pray that they will heed the prior works of the authors and beware of glaring inconsistencies (one of which I intend to keep an eye on being young Han Solo).
Us: Gimme some sugar, baby.
M$: Okay! *hands over IE 7.0*
Us: Ugh!
M$: You found me beautiful once...
Us: Honey, you got real ugly!
Heh, I almost put that myself, then thought better of it.
I fail to see how this is different than what I just said. I think maybe you are having a misconception of what I'm trying to get across. Read the part you quoted from me again, and pay attention to the whole thing instead of just the first part:
Honestly, when was the last time we've seen a senator or representative out asking his state where they stand on a given issue and then actually voting that way in Congress? I can't speak for anyone else, but I sure haven't seen it lately.
I've bolded the part I think people might be getting confused on. I'm not saying that the norm should be that a Congressman spend all their time polling the public, but on the issues where the public demands to have a voice, it is important that the Congressman heeds that voice and actually votes in a manner representative of his people. Currently, this is not happening with any great consistency.
There's a balance of how much a representative (be it at a local, state, or federal level) should turn to the people he represents for guidance. Too much and it might as well be a democracy (and we've seen how well that works in history). Too little, and you've got what we have now.
Um, you might be interested in this: urban legend
Here's the important excerpt from that page:
Rumor has it... that a Patent Office official resigned and recommended that the Patent Office be closed because he thought that everything that could possibly be invented had already been invented!
While that statement makes good fun of predictions that do not come to pass, it is none the less just a myth. Researchers have found no evidence that any official or employee of the U.S. Patent Office had ever resigned because there was nothing left to invent. A clue to the origin of the myth may be found in Patent Office Commissioner Henry Ellsworth's 1843 report to Congress. In it he states, "The advancement of the arts, from year to year, taxes our credulity and seems to presage the arrival of that period when human improvement must end." But Commissioner Ellsworth was simply using a bit of rhetorical flourish to emphasize the growing number of patents as presented in the rest of the report. He even outlined specific areas in which he expected patent activity to increase in the future.
Taken out of context, such remarks take on a life of their own and are perpetuated in publication after publication whose authors, rather than check facts, copy and quote each other. For example, recent publications have attributed the "everything that has been invented..." quote to a later commissioner, Charles H. Duell, who held that office in 1899. Unlike Ellsworth, who may have been merely misquoted, there is absolutely no basis to support Duell's alleged statement. Just the opposite is true. Duell's 1899 report documents an increase of about 3,000 patents over the previous year, and nearly 60 times the number granted in 1837. Further, Duell quotes President McKinley's annual message saying, "Our future progress and prosperity depend upon our ability to equal, if not surpass, other nations in the enlargement and advance of science, industry and commerce. To invention we must turn as one of the most powerful aids to the accomplishment of such a result." Duell adds, "May not our inventors hopefully look to the Fifty-sixth Congress for aid and effectual encouragement in improving the American patent system?" These are unlikely words of someone who thinks that everything has been invented.
Aye, I agree completely. What public schools would have their students believe these days is that the original system of checks and balances in government was between the 3 branches of the federal government. This couldn't be farther from the truth. The original system of checks and balances was intended to maintain the balance of power between the federal government, the state governments, and the people. The 17th amendment pooched that deal completely, intermingling the people and state governments, causing a complete conflict of interests while the federal government grew unchecked. Now all that matters as far as being "fair and balanced" within the government is the balance of power between the federal branches. It's no wonder our federal government has gotten so bloated.
Only if you combine it with a handheld version of WINE.
Hmmmm....that doesn't make sense.....
My point is that we're not striking that balance. The people we elect to represent us should make an attempt to know where we stand on the issues. I don't see that happening currently.
I completely agree that a puppet representative would be a terrible idea, after all, what would be the point of even having the representative.
His check is that if he deviates too far from the will of the people, they can replace him.
Any more, this is wishful thinking. I really do want to agree with you, honestly. The real issue, I think, is that the people (in general) have given up their check on the government and stopped caring, allowing the elected officials free reign. This leads to a situation where the officials can test the boundaries of what they can get away with and still remain in office. Then, when they do something atrocious, the people complain to high heaven, but by then it's too late.
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. If the masses would start paying attention to the issues and start voting responsibly instead of just blindly voting a straight ticket every election, this nation would be a much better place, and the stranglehold the bipartisonship has on our government would loosen considerably.
And that is to fool you into thinking you live in a democracy. :)
You're right. Because we are not now nor have we ever been a democracy. The U.S. is a republic, or rather, is supposed to be. I don't deny the fact that the officials we elect to represent us (in the local, state, and federal governments) seem to care less and less about actually speaking for the people they represent than fulfilling their own agendas (mostly at the federal level, but it's seen at all levels).
Honestly, when was the last time we've seen a senator or representative out asking his state where they stand on a given issue and then actually voting that way in Congress? I can't speak for anyone else, but I sure haven't seen it lately.
I can fix the first one. Instead of:
...use this:
SELECT Baby FROM Hero INNER JOIN Princess ON Hero.Sausage = Princess.Taco
SELECT Princesses.Baby FROM (Heroes INNER JOIN Sausages ON Heroes.oid = Sausages.HeroID) INNER JOIN (Princesses INNER JOIN Tacos ON Princesses.oid = Tacos.PrincessID) ON Sausages.Location = Tacos.Location WHERE Princesses.Saved = 1 AND Heroes.oid = 'me'
Of course, this still tends to result in at least one row containing a Baby. To fix this, you should probably run this prior to the previous statement:
ALTER TABLE Princesses DROP COLUMN Baby
The exact number of Babies really depends on how many Princesses you've saved, but at least we've solved the "sausage is not a taco" cunundrum without introducing transgender properties.
I beat VI a long time ago, it's easy, just do :q! to enable God mode!
No no no, you're doing it all wrong.....
"INSERT INTO Door (Keyhole) VALUES ('KEY') WHERE Door.Locked = 1"
"UPDATE Monster SET Monster.Dead = 1"
"INSERT INTO Inventory (SELECT Loots FROM Monster WHERE Monster.IsDead = 1)"
"UPDATE Princess SET Princess.Saved = 1"
I win! That means...
"SELECT Baby FROM Hero INNER JOIN Princess"
I know, it does. I was really struggling with myself on that issue. But my friends really wanted to play, and it's been somewhat of a tradition spanning many years in our little group to play Starcraft together, and when it comes down to it they mean more to me than my vendetta with Blizzard. Besides, the battle chest is only $20 now. Combine that with the fact that I needed new CDs anyway to replace the scratched up ones, and I convinced myself to just go buy it again.
You shouldn't mistake it for an argument. It's an opinion, and judging from TFA, in my opinion, they did not have reasonable suspicion (and certainly no solid evidence) that the accused was responsible for releasing the protected data to the news media, and ergo had no call to seize those computers.
And you need not be so condescending. I know what a grand jury is supposed to do, and I'm well acquainted with the art of newspaper publication. The point is that the accusers are using the assumption that the protected data came directly from the law enforcement website as fact, even though according to TFA the only evidence they have of this is that some of these details appeared in the newspaper. That seems like a pretty weak link to me, given that those details could have come from a source who merely said more than he should have. Instead, it seems they are endorsing the "worst-case scenario" of a major security breach.
Of course, it's possible I'm looking at this all wrong, and the guy really did give up the password. But at the moment, it seems to me that they jumped on him a little too quickly for it to be a reasonable move.
Not long ago I reinstalled Starcraft to play with a friend. I've owned this game and the legal CD key that came with it since the game was originally released. However, when I tried to connect to Battle.net after installation, I received an error message claiming that my CD key was "meant for another product," and it denied me access to Battle.net. I went to Blizzard's website and checked out their FAQ. After trying the recommended fixes for the problem (which involved the ever-popular "reinstall and put the CD key in right this time, retard" suggestion, which of course wasn't the issue), I still could not connect to Battle.net. Finally I got fed up and wrote an e-mail to their tech support, explaining that I had tried the suggestions on their FAQ page and was out of options. I needed their help to get my CD key working again. I didn't actually expect to get a response at all, but I was surprised when there was one in my inbox the next day. I was less surprised that their response was a boilerplate message containing the exact words of the FAQ page. Oh, I was furious. I went out and bought the Starcraft battle chest again for a new key. I wouldn't have bothered, but my old CDs were getting pretty scratched up anyways (having seen the better part of a decade of use), and I could justify the replacement.
The moral of the story: Blizzard doesn't give a damn about it's customers. I would encourage anyone to ignore Blizzard's games from now on. Of course, WoW has a stranglehold on pretty much the entire gaming community, so, that's an uphill battle.