[...] but as far as I'm aware windmills can't plough into harbours destroying themselves and their cargo, potentially killing lots of people at the same time.
I work at a game development company and I once put a post-it on the coffee machine written "The caffeine must flow". Everybody got it, except a new girl. She was fired like 2 months later, as an unrelated fact.
I work in the game development industry (I'm a game programmer) and I am against software piracy, because it hurts the industry I work in. We could go on forever arguing the causes of piracy and how to fight it, we could even argue about DRM, I don't care. The price issue I told in the GP post is what really pisses me off about videogames in Brazil, but the biggest problem is the country culture about it. "Why to pay for a game if you can download it for free?" I had a hard time to convince my 14-year old step-daughter that we "shouldn't download all Sims 2 expansion packs" and that she could have plenty of fun with the two she already has (originals, one was a birthday gift and the other was a christmas gift).
Some friends of mine found eStarland.com, where you can buy used original PS2 games in good shape for sometimes less than the pirated ones in Brazil, so the price isn't the real problem for who is willing to do things right, I admit.
Nonetheless, this brutal system here is mostly applied to the console market, not the PC gaming market. I'm not saying that there's no PC games piracy here, they are sure rampant. But in most retailers you can find them at the same price they can be found in the USA, sometimes even cheaper. I once got a discount coupon from a major retailer (Saraiva) and bought my Left4Dead copy for the same as US$33, when a XBox 360 console costs the same as US$820. And it's not event the Elite.
My friends and I usually say that "the dollar exchange rate for videogames in Brazil is R$10 to US$1", when the official exchange rate is about R$2.35 to US$1.
How can you fight piracy in a country where a Nintendo DS game costs more than US$100 a piece and salaries are much lower than in the USA and Europe for the same job?
I was about to ask you if you live in my neighbourhood, but then I noticed a detail: you wait 15 minutes for a bus. In my neighbourhood I would have to wait an average of 35 minutes, if I'm not lucky. Sometimes (specially in the weekends) the time between 2 busses can be up to 1:15h!
You should have been modded insightful, not funny. I saw the same happening in Left 4 Dead: my AI companion survivors could "see" the zombies through the heavy foliage, but I could not.
Whoa, that's a Diebold system... Diebold is that company whose name turns up on almost any news item related to voter fraud (and similar corruption) in the US, which you can see more clearly at sites like Black Box Voting.org.
Think about this: is Diebold trying to manipulate elections or is it just a hardware/software supplier? They are just supplying what they are ordered for.
Slashdot Mirror
Hey! Don't you dare touch my privates!
[...] but as far as I'm aware windmills can't plough into harbours destroying themselves and their cargo, potentially killing lots of people at the same time.
Don Quixote couldn't disagree more with you!
Unfortunately, it would be pretty illegal.
Even on international waters? (Just curious, I'm not saying you are wrong...)
I work at a game development company and I once put a post-it on the coffee machine written "The caffeine must flow". Everybody got it, except a new girl. She was fired like 2 months later, as an unrelated fact.
Check my other reply, it's partly addressed to the matters you raised here.
I work in the game development industry (I'm a game programmer) and I am against software piracy, because it hurts the industry I work in. We could go on forever arguing the causes of piracy and how to fight it, we could even argue about DRM, I don't care. The price issue I told in the GP post is what really pisses me off about videogames in Brazil, but the biggest problem is the country culture about it. "Why to pay for a game if you can download it for free?" I had a hard time to convince my 14-year old step-daughter that we "shouldn't download all Sims 2 expansion packs" and that she could have plenty of fun with the two she already has (originals, one was a birthday gift and the other was a christmas gift).
Some friends of mine found eStarland.com, where you can buy used original PS2 games in good shape for sometimes less than the pirated ones in Brazil, so the price isn't the real problem for who is willing to do things right, I admit.
Nonetheless, this brutal system here is mostly applied to the console market, not the PC gaming market. I'm not saying that there's no PC games piracy here, they are sure rampant. But in most retailers you can find them at the same price they can be found in the USA, sometimes even cheaper. I once got a discount coupon from a major retailer (Saraiva) and bought my Left4Dead copy for the same as US$33, when a XBox 360 console costs the same as US$820. And it's not event the Elite.
My friends and I usually say that "the dollar exchange rate for videogames in Brazil is R$10 to US$1", when the official exchange rate is about R$2.35 to US$1.
How can you fight piracy in a country where a Nintendo DS game costs more than US$100 a piece and salaries are much lower than in the USA and Europe for the same job?
I was about to ask you if you live in my neighbourhood, but then I noticed a detail: you wait 15 minutes for a bus. In my neighbourhood I would have to wait an average of 35 minutes, if I'm not lucky. Sometimes (specially in the weekends) the time between 2 busses can be up to 1:15h!
No, you are not. And I for one welcome our asteroid drilling overlords!
But with Window Vista, instead. The class software was to blame, although...
Don't these submarines carry nuclear weapons? Oh, my...
It's spelled "ÐÐÐоÐÐ ÐÐÑÐÐ". You are welcome.
Damn, Slashdot replaces cyrillic character for garbage here. Hey Slashdot guys, have you heard of UTF16?
You should have been modded insightful, not funny. I saw the same happening in Left 4 Dead: my AI companion survivors could "see" the zombies through the heavy foliage, but I could not.
Hey, a "+5 insightful" first post! Congratulations!
MODDERS: please don't mod me down, I had to congratulate bluefoxlucid for this, you must agree with me that what happened here is not exactly common.
You can write "as sete faces da terra" (the seven faces of earth) with your left hand on the keyboard.
Hey, humour called and said it misses you.
(Now modders have a good reason to mod me "troll")
Try using Firefox instead of Lynx.
Sorry, but "highly critical solutions" and "Windows" does not really go together.
You don't seem to be heard of "Project Managers" in all their variety...
Warp 6, Scotty!
Whoa, that's a Diebold system ... Diebold is that company whose name turns up on almost any news item related to voter fraud (and similar corruption) in the US, which you can see more clearly at sites like Black Box Voting.org.
Think about this: is Diebold trying to manipulate elections or is it just a hardware/software supplier? They are just supplying what they are ordered for.
It appears theses machines are made by Diebold. Why don't we use them in the US elections instead of the terrible versions we seem to get statside.
Are you new on politics or is my sarcasm detector offline?
Yeah, I bet George Bush seconds on that! ;-)
I can't focus long enough to read it to the end...
Sure, I don't intend giving up on Chrome. It's just not ready for my needs.
Because if they want to dominate the web applications market and they decide to make a new browser, I expected this browser to exceed the others.