Note that in the article that SAP is one of Microsoft's suppoters in their campaign to convince the EU against adopting Open Source solutions and use their own buggy proprietary crap instead.
Like the whole SCO/Linux embarassment this is just another MS backed attempt to discredit OSS. The sad thing for "them" is that people now recognize such statements, the one from SAP, for what they really are....Microsoft Anti-OSS Propaganda.
A previous court case a few years ago declared that reverse engineering is legal. Few, very few, judges will go against a precident that's lasted that long.
Also, legal documents like EULAs and Contracts cannot by their wording violate the US Constitution, the constitute of the State in which it is written, nor current Federal, current State, County, and City laws. EULAs and Contracts do not give companies and individuals the ability to bypass the Word of Law.
A few examples of companies trying to get away with this are:
* Company rules restricting employee fraternization - They may have the right do to this in company premises, but I'd like to see them try to enforce such a rule in an employee's private residence. I can smell Civil Rights Violation a mile away. The ACLU would drool at the chance to handle a case like this.
* At Will causes in company contracts - In my state some business I worked for have "AT WILL" clauses saying they can let you go for any reason or no reason at all. Technically this is an attempt to circumvent Labor Laws and Equal Opportunity Labor Laws and likely wouldn't hold up in court.
There are just some examples of what companies are trying to get away with. No one person is above the law and no company should be allowed to be above it either.
I use the AJAX for YahooMail FireFox Extension and its, quoteing Billy Crystal, "absolutely marvelous".
I like the ability to read or preview an email without actually having to reload the page. It makes YahooMail almost as much of a joy to use as GMail...almost. GMail is superior in my honest opinion. Yahoo could learn a few things from GMail if they only paid attention.
Does the name George Orwell mean anything to you people.
Wake up and smell the coffee! Big Brother is coming, and we need to stop it now before its too late.
I'm serious...stop laughing dammit...ok now I'm ticked!
Seriously though, we as Americans and citizens of other Free Nations need to stand up and say that "we will not allow corporations to take away our rights and freedom no matter what". Send a clear message to the RIAA, boycott their products, and spread the word that you can boycotting them and why.
All that's needed to start a landslide is a single pebble. Are YOU that pebble? Think about it.
My absolute FAVORITEST D&D NOVEL AUTHOR of all time wrote Star Wars novels!?
He did an excellent job on the Dark Elf and Icewind Dale novels, not to mention all of the other Drizzt novels. How could he NOT do a good Star Wars novel?
I don't really see how Sony actually expected to get away with using this kind of technology to protect their copyrights. There is no way they couldn't have seen something like this happening.
Mark my words, this going to blow up in their face...as if it already hasn't...and the backlash will felt all throughout the DRM development industry. In fact, it could kill DRM altogether.
Will this kill Sony? Likely not, Sony is a huge company separated into different divisions. Its likely the bigwigs in Tokyo had nothing to do with the decision to include DRM technology on those audio CDs, but I'm certain they'll be 100% responsible for a sudden increase in unemployment within the next few days. Mark my words, the axe is going to fall at Sony any minute now.
If you've seen the movie "Network", stick your head out of the window and yell "I'm mad a hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!" Do you hear us you DRM developing anti-christs! Go away and leave us alone or we'll ALL sue your arses off!
Its my hope that this lawsuite in California will mark the beginning of a trend that will eventually kill DRM utterly. In all my years in the IT industry I've never seen so many people cheezed off about something the way they are about DRM...especially Sony's DRM. If you make customers in the computer industry mad you'll never get them to do business with you ever again. Its sad how so many companies severely underestimate the intellegence of their customers. Its criminal.
Perhaps this case, and othes that are soon to follow, will convince other companies currently using DRM to quickly back out of it ASAP to avoid legal troubles.
99% of the time I'm online, when I'm not playing Final Fantasy XI I'm using FireFox. I hardly ever use IE anymore.
The Extension I use are...
FasterFox - A browser network optimization extension for FireFox, Mozilla, and Thunderbird that actually works realy good.
Web Developer - Adds a toolbar with all sorts of nifty stuff for us Web Designers.
FlashGot - Aids in the integration of download maanger with FireFox. I use Star Downloader (freeware) and FlashGot works better with it than the Star Downloader FireFox Integration Extension that was made for it.
Gmail Alerter - Get notification of Google Mail messages inside FireFox without the need to install Google's Gmail program.
I've heard about AdBlocker and some other Extensions. I'm going to add them as well. These features are what really make FireFox stand out from IE. Of course, expect to see similar features appear in future versions of IE. If MS can't kill off FireFox or buy out Mozilla.org they'll just emulate its features in the hopes that the Microsoft name alone will motivate people to use IE again.
If the newspapers want to inprove readership they should carry Rumiko Takahashi's "Urusei Yatsura" manga. Its the manga that single-handedly created the Teenage Sex Comedy genre of anime/manga in the 1980's. We could all fall in love with Lum all over again.:-)
By the way, Takahashi-sama also created "Ranma 1/2" (my #1 favorite manga, I have scanlations of the whole series), "Mermaid's Scar" (surprisingly dark considering her previous works), and Inu Yasha (the anime is still being shown on Adult Swim).
From what I remember the specs for the PC-Megadrive Combo weren't really that much to write home about. It was a generic Intel Pentium 166 (not sure if it was MMX or not) with 32MB of RAM, a 1.5 GB hard drive, CD-ROM, generic onboard sound and video, and a floppy drive. It ran Windows 95. Overall, it wasn't much to write home about. I don't know if it did well in Japan anyway considering the fact that Apple holds a much larger marketshare over there than Microsoft does.
We're looking at a major revolution in the electronics industry as we know it. Fuel Cell technology has the potential to change everything in guards to mobile electronics. Whether its PDAs, cellphones, PDA phones, handheld game systesm, GPS receivers, walkietalkies, or whatever the introduction of Fuel Cells as an alternative to standard batteries will be the catalyst which will cause a massive increase in the usage of these devices.
This is a technolgy that we've been needing for a long time. Battery technology has reached its limits, and the time is right for a replacement. Imagine never running out of power for your PSP or cellphone because you can recharge its Fuel Cell power pack from a small hydrogen bottle no bigger than a CO2 cartridge used in pellet guns. You'll also see more electronic transportation such as electric scooters that run off fuel cells rather than bulky batteries. It would also be a revolution for the handicapped who must reply on battery powered mobility devices to get around.
There were actually a few PC/Game Console Combo systems. One was a PC/Sega Genesis combo system that was only released in Japan. There was also one for the NES (aka the Famicom in Japan) that let you play NES cartridges, NES games on floppies, and PC games. Again, it was only released in Japan. Seems like the Japanese get all the great stuff and we only get it if we start demanding it. Maybe I should consider moving overseas. Hmmmmm.
How is the 360 like the Dreamcast? If your speaking metaphorically then its probably similar, but in any other way its not.
The Dreamcast was, in its day, a rather revolutionary game console. The design methology used in the DC is the same methology being employeed with the latest breed of next-gen machines like the 360, PS3 and Nintendo Revolution. If this is what makes the 360 similar then I'd have to admit its true but its not nearly enough.
That methology called for the use of PC technology; yes the Dreamcast used PC technology. It used the NEC PowerVR graphics chipset, competitior to the now defunct 3Dfx Voodoo graphics chipset. Its OS was a modified version of Windows CE! Another DC innovation was in the design of the game save carts which were themselves miniture handheld game devices. You could turn your DC game save cart into a virtual pet by transfering a Chao from "Sonic Adventure" to it. You can do that with SA on the Gamecube with the GBA. Had Sega been able to acquire better support, most development houses got burned when they developed for the Saturn, the DC probably would have been a better success. Its PowerVR GPU made it one of the best looking consoles on the market with superior 3D graphics support over the PS2 and Nintendo 64. The DC still lives today in the form of arcade hardware manufatured by Sega's still-alive-and-kicking arcade games department.
I would like to see Sega release a Dreamcast development system for the general public to help foster a new age of ameteur game development projects. The DC could live on with NEW games built and designed by DC fans. You could go online, download games and store them on a hard drive built into the dev kit addon for the console. Its an interesting idea.
I have a question? Did Sony ever design a ameteur game development version of the PS2 like they did with the PS1?
This sounds really similar to what happened when America's Army first came out.
It was built around the Unreal Engine. Today it uses the latest version of that engine build.
An Extensions competition for Firefox will only make things better for us. Firefox/Mozilla just reached the 10% marketshare mark recently. Woot!
FF is superior to IE in every way. I have nothing but problems with it everytime I use it, and the only time it does seem to work without a hitch is when I visit Windows Update. What's up with that!?
Compared to FF my copy of IE is slow and lumbering. I have several installed Extensions and it doesn't slow me down at all. I use FastFox one of the best Extensions ever and it really does work, I use FlashGet which I just love, and it would be cool if an Extension could be made to integrate Azureus (open-source BitTorrent Client) into FF. I'd also like to see a WinAmp Compatibility Extension as well as one that adds a true FTP client to FF with the ability to pause and resume downloads and even queue up downloads so you can do them one at a time instead of all at once if you're on dialup. A very useful Extension would also be one that allows parents to restrict access to certain websites by requiring a passcode to browse to them. It would have a list of known site that aren't safe that it can download and parents can add their own. Now that would really boost FF usership ten-fold. I'd like to see IE try to beat that.
You could have a console with the greatest specs on the planet but if the games made for it are below average or just plain bad then it won't sell.
Case in point the NEC Turbografx-16 (aka the PC-Engine), possibly one of the most successful game consoles in Asia with a game library exceeding 800+ titles "failed" in the United States. This is because the company released only the more average or mediocre titles in the US instead of the more groundbreaking titles that made the system a success back in Japan. For a time the PC-Engine was beating the Famicom (NES) in sales. The TG-16/PCE was a 8/16-bit hybrid with an 8-bit CPU and a 16-bit GPU capable of antialiasing. It was the first console to offer Stereo sound, some say the Sega Genesis was but the PCE came out a few years before it. The PCE was the first with CD-ROM which you added onto the console like the Sega-CD addon. For its time the TG-16/PCE was revolutionary in a day when the NES/Famicom was consider the highest in videogame technology. If only NEC and their development partner Hudson Soft used better judgement on what games to bring over to the US, the system probably would have done much better.
The same analogy goes for the next-gen system. They can be the fastest with the most powerful GPUs on the market but if the games are dull or just plain bad they won't sell well at all. The most fatal mistake companies can make is to underestimate the intellegence of their customers, and we gamers are very very smart.
There is a way to stamp out DRM technology like Warden and Sony's DRM.
All it would take is a high profile court case, of course the judge would have to make the ruling that DRM software and how it works is the same as illegal wiretaping and criminal invasion of privacy. DRM would be illegal at that point and the companies would be forced to come up with a way to remove the software.
Or...
You we should all write our Congressmen and ask that they support a bill that makes intrusive software (trojans, worms, DRM, etc.) illegal. Corporations should NEVER EVER be given the kind of power DRM gives them now. It shifts the balance of power away from the consumer where it is supposed to be in a Democratic Society. DRM should be classified in the same category as viruses.
This is just wishful thinking. I'm considering a letter to the American Civil Liberties Union about this. All it takes is one man to change the world.:-)
Schools like "Full Sail" teach videogame design courses, whether its graphical design, programming, sound effects and music, motion capture or whatever they teach it.
Your friend should make himself familiar with the music formats used in videogames. Research the Ogg Vorbis audio format, an open source rival to MP3s, and one of the most used audio file formats in the gaming industry (any game developed using the Unreal Tournament and the Unreal 3.0 engine uses Ogg Vorbis). Learn to use Mod Trackers for music composition, and it wouldn't hurt for him to invest in a top-notch music composition package and midi-compatible keyboard. That is only if he doesn't already have one. The entire soundtrack for the new Final Fantasy games is composed on a Mac using a midi keyboard and composition software.
I am far from an expert in this area but I know someone who is trying to get into the game development business and I did a lot of research with him on the subject.
One reply said the survey was conducted in a message board and wasn't really a vote/survey or sorts. I know a lot of people who use or have used Linux and I can tell you that Anti-Microsoft sentiment is very very high. I think they deliberate hid all of the anti-Microsoft comments in that so-called survey. It the opinions and input they got for it came from an online forum I can tell you right now that a large number of users had a lot of negative things so say about MS.
What we have here is a multi-billion dollar corporation using "playground" tactics in a high-stakes game of wills with one of the richest Southeast Asian countries in the world. To sum it all up Microsoft's attitude towards all of this is "pathetic".
Pulling out of S. Korea would create "a shot heard around the world" that would have far reaching effects. It would set a precedent that other nations could easily follow. Pulling Windows off the shelves in S. Korea will not hurt S. Korea, it will make things difficult for a while, but it would not hurt that country in the slightest. It would set up an environment where alternatives to Microsoft products would have a firmer foothold; products like Linux and Apple's Macintosh offerings. If MS returned to S. Korea after a long duration it would be harder for them to reestablish the amount of market control they had before. In fact it literally be imposible for them regain their former market share in S. Korea if this happens.
Like other posters here have said, MS is well within its right to sell or not to sell their product in S. Korea, but in order to do business in S. Korea they must obey the laws of S. Korea. Just because they are "Microsoft" does automaically give them a license to ignore the laws while everyone else has to follow them. What MS wants S. Korea to do is make an exception for them where their anti-trust laws are concerned so they can keep doing whatever they want to do. I can tell you now that it will not happen, no country in thw worl, no self-respecting country, will allow a corporation bully them into ignoring the dictates of the law. It absolutely will not happen, and S. Korea can't afford to let it happen.
Basically its like this...
MS leaving S. Korea = Biggest Mistake in History
and/or
S. Korea bowing to Microsoft = Worst Mistake in History
It looks like Nvu is what I'm looking for. Thanks for the help.
The reason why I can't use commercial software is due to a lack of funds. I'm on a restricted budget right now and I need a good web design program but can't buy one.
I play Final Fantasy XI on my PC (yes, there is a PC versioin of the PS2 MMORPG) and a majority of the new players I've met and joined our Linkshell (allows several like-minded people to chat in-game no matter how far apart they are in the world) came from Worlds of Warcraft and felt very disappointed with it. Those same people have stuck with FFXI and say its better. We also have former EverQuest and Asheron's Call players and all of them said playing FFXI has been the best experience they've had in a MMORPG in years. The overall impression I get from them is that the other games weren't nearly as good.
My advice to CmdrTaco, switch to FFXI. If you want I could get you a World Pass. That will let you join our server when you create your character instead of letting the game choose the server for you.
-
Michael "TheZorch" Haney
thezorch@gmail.com
All of you fellow Geeks out there who have LCD monitors, could you please let me know what is a decent LCD display for my PC. My nVidia GeForce FX 5600 w/256MB DDR-RAM has a DVI connector right next to the S-Video and standard VGA connectors.
I'm a hard-core gamer (despite the fact that I have a vision handicap), A+ Certified Tech, web designer, and a writer (Anime fan fiction for now but I'm getting into writing for teens professionally). I need a good display to replace my aging, yet still working, Envision 19" monitor. Its not that I don't like my monitor its that its so BIG and my desk is so SMALL. The display has to work well with games and DVD video and has to be at least 19" or bigger in size because of my limited vision. It also has be affordable. I can't spend over $1,000 or even $500. Please point me to a good brand and model. Email me.
-
Michael "TheZorch" Haney
thezorch@gmail.com
Is it me or does the controller on the 360 Demo rig look a lot like the old Sega Dreamcast controller? Sans the slot for the nifty game save/mini-handheld card. Do the controllers use 802.11 or BlueTooth? I know the console itself uses 802.11g.
-
Michael "TheZorch" Haney
thezorch@gmail.com
Slashdot Mirror
Note that in the article that SAP is one of Microsoft's suppoters in their campaign to convince the EU against adopting Open Source solutions and use their own buggy proprietary crap instead.
Like the whole SCO/Linux embarassment this is just another MS backed attempt to discredit OSS. The sad thing for "them" is that people now recognize such statements, the one from SAP, for what they really are....Microsoft Anti-OSS Propaganda.
A previous court case a few years ago declared that reverse engineering is legal. Few, very few, judges will go against a precident that's lasted that long.
Also, legal documents like EULAs and Contracts cannot by their wording violate the US Constitution, the constitute of the State in which it is written, nor current Federal, current State, County, and City laws. EULAs and Contracts do not give companies and individuals the ability to bypass the Word of Law.
A few examples of companies trying to get away with this are:
* Company rules restricting employee fraternization - They may have the right do to this in company premises, but I'd like to see them try to enforce such a rule in an employee's private residence. I can smell Civil Rights Violation a mile away. The ACLU would drool at the chance to handle a case like this.
* At Will causes in company contracts - In my state some business I worked for have "AT WILL" clauses saying they can let you go for any reason or no reason at all. Technically this is an attempt to circumvent Labor Laws and Equal Opportunity Labor Laws and likely wouldn't hold up in court.
There are just some examples of what companies are trying to get away with. No one person is above the law and no company should be allowed to be above it either.
I use the AJAX for YahooMail FireFox Extension and its, quoteing Billy Crystal, "absolutely marvelous".
I like the ability to read or preview an email without actually having to reload the page. It makes YahooMail almost as much of a joy to use as GMail...almost. GMail is superior in my honest opinion. Yahoo could learn a few things from GMail if they only paid attention.
Does the name George Orwell mean anything to you people. Wake up and smell the coffee! Big Brother is coming, and we need to stop it now before its too late. I'm serious...stop laughing dammit...ok now I'm ticked! Seriously though, we as Americans and citizens of other Free Nations need to stand up and say that "we will not allow corporations to take away our rights and freedom no matter what". Send a clear message to the RIAA, boycott their products, and spread the word that you can boycotting them and why. All that's needed to start a landslide is a single pebble. Are YOU that pebble? Think about it.
R.A. Salvatore wrote some Star Wars novels!?
My absolute FAVORITEST D&D NOVEL AUTHOR of all time wrote Star Wars novels!?
He did an excellent job on the Dark Elf and Icewind Dale novels, not to mention all of the other Drizzt novels. How could he NOT do a good Star Wars novel?
Please elaborate...why weren't they any good?
I don't really see how Sony actually expected to get away with using this kind of technology to protect their copyrights. There is no way they couldn't have seen something like this happening.
Mark my words, this going to blow up in their face...as if it already hasn't...and the backlash will felt all throughout the DRM development industry. In fact, it could kill DRM altogether.
Will this kill Sony? Likely not, Sony is a huge company separated into different divisions. Its likely the bigwigs in Tokyo had nothing to do with the decision to include DRM technology on those audio CDs, but I'm certain they'll be 100% responsible for a sudden increase in unemployment within the next few days. Mark my words, the axe is going to fall at Sony any minute now.
If you've seen the movie "Network", stick your head out of the window and yell "I'm mad a hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!" Do you hear us you DRM developing anti-christs! Go away and leave us alone or we'll ALL sue your arses off!
Its my hope that this lawsuite in California will mark the beginning of a trend that will eventually kill DRM utterly. In all my years in the IT industry I've never seen so many people cheezed off about something the way they are about DRM...especially Sony's DRM. If you make customers in the computer industry mad you'll never get them to do business with you ever again. Its sad how so many companies severely underestimate the intellegence of their customers. Its criminal.
Perhaps this case, and othes that are soon to follow, will convince other companies currently using DRM to quickly back out of it ASAP to avoid legal troubles.
99% of the time I'm online, when I'm not playing Final Fantasy XI I'm using FireFox. I hardly ever use IE anymore.
The Extension I use are...
FasterFox - A browser network optimization extension for FireFox, Mozilla, and Thunderbird that actually works realy good.
Web Developer - Adds a toolbar with all sorts of nifty stuff for us Web Designers.
FlashGot - Aids in the integration of download maanger with FireFox. I use Star Downloader (freeware) and FlashGot works better with it than the Star Downloader FireFox Integration Extension that was made for it.
Gmail Alerter - Get notification of Google Mail messages inside FireFox without the need to install Google's Gmail program.
I've heard about AdBlocker and some other Extensions. I'm going to add them as well. These features are what really make FireFox stand out from IE. Of course, expect to see similar features appear in future versions of IE. If MS can't kill off FireFox or buy out Mozilla.org they'll just emulate its features in the hopes that the Microsoft name alone will motivate people to use IE again.
If the newspapers want to inprove readership they should carry Rumiko Takahashi's "Urusei Yatsura" manga. Its the manga that single-handedly created the Teenage Sex Comedy genre of anime/manga in the 1980's. We could all fall in love with Lum all over again. :-)
By the way, Takahashi-sama also created "Ranma 1/2" (my #1 favorite manga, I have scanlations of the whole series), "Mermaid's Scar" (surprisingly dark considering her previous works), and Inu Yasha (the anime is still being shown on Adult Swim).
From what I remember the specs for the PC-Megadrive Combo weren't really that much to write home about. It was a generic Intel Pentium 166 (not sure if it was MMX or not) with 32MB of RAM, a 1.5 GB hard drive, CD-ROM, generic onboard sound and video, and a floppy drive. It ran Windows 95. Overall, it wasn't much to write home about. I don't know if it did well in Japan anyway considering the fact that Apple holds a much larger marketshare over there than Microsoft does.
We're looking at a major revolution in the electronics industry as we know it. Fuel Cell technology has the potential to change everything in guards to mobile electronics. Whether its PDAs, cellphones, PDA phones, handheld game systesm, GPS receivers, walkietalkies, or whatever the introduction of Fuel Cells as an alternative to standard batteries will be the catalyst which will cause a massive increase in the usage of these devices. This is a technolgy that we've been needing for a long time. Battery technology has reached its limits, and the time is right for a replacement. Imagine never running out of power for your PSP or cellphone because you can recharge its Fuel Cell power pack from a small hydrogen bottle no bigger than a CO2 cartridge used in pellet guns. You'll also see more electronic transportation such as electric scooters that run off fuel cells rather than bulky batteries. It would also be a revolution for the handicapped who must reply on battery powered mobility devices to get around.
There were actually a few PC/Game Console Combo systems. One was a PC/Sega Genesis combo system that was only released in Japan. There was also one for the NES (aka the Famicom in Japan) that let you play NES cartridges, NES games on floppies, and PC games. Again, it was only released in Japan. Seems like the Japanese get all the great stuff and we only get it if we start demanding it. Maybe I should consider moving overseas. Hmmmmm.
How is the 360 like the Dreamcast? If your speaking metaphorically then its probably similar, but in any other way its not.
The Dreamcast was, in its day, a rather revolutionary game console. The design methology used in the DC is the same methology being employeed with the latest breed of next-gen machines like the 360, PS3 and Nintendo Revolution. If this is what makes the 360 similar then I'd have to admit its true but its not nearly enough.
That methology called for the use of PC technology; yes the Dreamcast used PC technology. It used the NEC PowerVR graphics chipset, competitior to the now defunct 3Dfx Voodoo graphics chipset. Its OS was a modified version of Windows CE! Another DC innovation was in the design of the game save carts which were themselves miniture handheld game devices. You could turn your DC game save cart into a virtual pet by transfering a Chao from "Sonic Adventure" to it. You can do that with SA on the Gamecube with the GBA. Had Sega been able to acquire better support, most development houses got burned when they developed for the Saturn, the DC probably would have been a better success. Its PowerVR GPU made it one of the best looking consoles on the market with superior 3D graphics support over the PS2 and Nintendo 64. The DC still lives today in the form of arcade hardware manufatured by Sega's still-alive-and-kicking arcade games department.
I would like to see Sega release a Dreamcast development system for the general public to help foster a new age of ameteur game development projects. The DC could live on with NEW games built and designed by DC fans. You could go online, download games and store them on a hard drive built into the dev kit addon for the console. Its an interesting idea.
I have a question? Did Sony ever design a ameteur game development version of the PS2 like they did with the PS1?
This sounds really similar to what happened when America's Army first came out. It was built around the Unreal Engine. Today it uses the latest version of that engine build.
Why don't they just get one of the distributions like Mandriva or Red Hat and make their own version of Linux.
I think it might actually do well.
Also, its about time somebody developed a replacement for XFREE86 and built a "real" GUI environment for Linux that's not server/client based.
An Extensions competition for Firefox will only make things better for us. Firefox/Mozilla just reached the 10% marketshare mark recently. Woot!
FF is superior to IE in every way. I have nothing but problems with it everytime I use it, and the only time it does seem to work without a hitch is when I visit Windows Update. What's up with that!?
Compared to FF my copy of IE is slow and lumbering. I have several installed Extensions and it doesn't slow me down at all. I use FastFox one of the best Extensions ever and it really does work, I use FlashGet which I just love, and it would be cool if an Extension could be made to integrate Azureus (open-source BitTorrent Client) into FF. I'd also like to see a WinAmp Compatibility Extension as well as one that adds a true FTP client to FF with the ability to pause and resume downloads and even queue up downloads so you can do them one at a time instead of all at once if you're on dialup. A very useful Extension would also be one that allows parents to restrict access to certain websites by requiring a passcode to browse to them. It would have a list of known site that aren't safe that it can download and parents can add their own. Now that would really boost FF usership ten-fold. I'd like to see IE try to beat that.
You could have a console with the greatest specs on the planet but if the games made for it are below average or just plain bad then it won't sell.
Case in point the NEC Turbografx-16 (aka the PC-Engine), possibly one of the most successful game consoles in Asia with a game library exceeding 800+ titles "failed" in the United States. This is because the company released only the more average or mediocre titles in the US instead of the more groundbreaking titles that made the system a success back in Japan. For a time the PC-Engine was beating the Famicom (NES) in sales. The TG-16/PCE was a 8/16-bit hybrid with an 8-bit CPU and a 16-bit GPU capable of antialiasing. It was the first console to offer Stereo sound, some say the Sega Genesis was but the PCE came out a few years before it. The PCE was the first with CD-ROM which you added onto the console like the Sega-CD addon. For its time the TG-16/PCE was revolutionary in a day when the NES/Famicom was consider the highest in videogame technology. If only NEC and their development partner Hudson Soft used better judgement on what games to bring over to the US, the system probably would have done much better.
The same analogy goes for the next-gen system. They can be the fastest with the most powerful GPUs on the market but if the games are dull or just plain bad they won't sell well at all. The most fatal mistake companies can make is to underestimate the intellegence of their customers, and we gamers are very very smart.
There is a way to stamp out DRM technology like Warden and Sony's DRM. All it would take is a high profile court case, of course the judge would have to make the ruling that DRM software and how it works is the same as illegal wiretaping and criminal invasion of privacy. DRM would be illegal at that point and the companies would be forced to come up with a way to remove the software. Or... You we should all write our Congressmen and ask that they support a bill that makes intrusive software (trojans, worms, DRM, etc.) illegal. Corporations should NEVER EVER be given the kind of power DRM gives them now. It shifts the balance of power away from the consumer where it is supposed to be in a Democratic Society. DRM should be classified in the same category as viruses. This is just wishful thinking. I'm considering a letter to the American Civil Liberties Union about this. All it takes is one man to change the world. :-)
Schools like "Full Sail" teach videogame design courses, whether its graphical design, programming, sound effects and music, motion capture or whatever they teach it.
Your friend should make himself familiar with the music formats used in videogames. Research the Ogg Vorbis audio format, an open source rival to MP3s, and one of the most used audio file formats in the gaming industry (any game developed using the Unreal Tournament and the Unreal 3.0 engine uses Ogg Vorbis). Learn to use Mod Trackers for music composition, and it wouldn't hurt for him to invest in a top-notch music composition package and midi-compatible keyboard. That is only if he doesn't already have one. The entire soundtrack for the new Final Fantasy games is composed on a Mac using a midi keyboard and composition software.
I am far from an expert in this area but I know someone who is trying to get into the game development business and I did a lot of research with him on the subject.
One reply said the survey was conducted in a message board and wasn't really a vote/survey or sorts. I know a lot of people who use or have used Linux and I can tell you that Anti-Microsoft sentiment is very very high. I think they deliberate hid all of the anti-Microsoft comments in that so-called survey. It the opinions and input they got for it came from an online forum I can tell you right now that a large number of users had a lot of negative things so say about MS.
What we have here is a multi-billion dollar corporation using "playground" tactics in a high-stakes game of wills with one of the richest Southeast Asian countries in the world. To sum it all up Microsoft's attitude towards all of this is "pathetic". Pulling out of S. Korea would create "a shot heard around the world" that would have far reaching effects. It would set a precedent that other nations could easily follow. Pulling Windows off the shelves in S. Korea will not hurt S. Korea, it will make things difficult for a while, but it would not hurt that country in the slightest. It would set up an environment where alternatives to Microsoft products would have a firmer foothold; products like Linux and Apple's Macintosh offerings. If MS returned to S. Korea after a long duration it would be harder for them to reestablish the amount of market control they had before. In fact it literally be imposible for them regain their former market share in S. Korea if this happens. Like other posters here have said, MS is well within its right to sell or not to sell their product in S. Korea, but in order to do business in S. Korea they must obey the laws of S. Korea. Just because they are "Microsoft" does automaically give them a license to ignore the laws while everyone else has to follow them. What MS wants S. Korea to do is make an exception for them where their anti-trust laws are concerned so they can keep doing whatever they want to do. I can tell you now that it will not happen, no country in thw worl, no self-respecting country, will allow a corporation bully them into ignoring the dictates of the law. It absolutely will not happen, and S. Korea can't afford to let it happen. Basically its like this... MS leaving S. Korea = Biggest Mistake in History and/or S. Korea bowing to Microsoft = Worst Mistake in History
It looks like Nvu is what I'm looking for. Thanks for the help. The reason why I can't use commercial software is due to a lack of funds. I'm on a restricted budget right now and I need a good web design program but can't buy one.
I play Final Fantasy XI on my PC (yes, there is a PC versioin of the PS2 MMORPG) and a majority of the new players I've met and joined our Linkshell (allows several like-minded people to chat in-game no matter how far apart they are in the world) came from Worlds of Warcraft and felt very disappointed with it. Those same people have stuck with FFXI and say its better. We also have former EverQuest and Asheron's Call players and all of them said playing FFXI has been the best experience they've had in a MMORPG in years. The overall impression I get from them is that the other games weren't nearly as good. My advice to CmdrTaco, switch to FFXI. If you want I could get you a World Pass. That will let you join our server when you create your character instead of letting the game choose the server for you. - Michael "TheZorch" Haney thezorch@gmail.com
All of you fellow Geeks out there who have LCD monitors, could you please let me know what is a decent LCD display for my PC. My nVidia GeForce FX 5600 w/256MB DDR-RAM has a DVI connector right next to the S-Video and standard VGA connectors. I'm a hard-core gamer (despite the fact that I have a vision handicap), A+ Certified Tech, web designer, and a writer (Anime fan fiction for now but I'm getting into writing for teens professionally). I need a good display to replace my aging, yet still working, Envision 19" monitor. Its not that I don't like my monitor its that its so BIG and my desk is so SMALL. The display has to work well with games and DVD video and has to be at least 19" or bigger in size because of my limited vision. It also has be affordable. I can't spend over $1,000 or even $500. Please point me to a good brand and model. Email me. - Michael "TheZorch" Haney thezorch@gmail.com
Is it me or does the controller on the 360 Demo rig look a lot like the old Sega Dreamcast controller? Sans the slot for the nifty game save/mini-handheld card. Do the controllers use 802.11 or BlueTooth? I know the console itself uses 802.11g. - Michael "TheZorch" Haney thezorch@gmail.com