Much more funding and research is going into solar than is going into wind. Wind power, of course, will always be around and improved upon, but solar has an edge. Solar will work in many more places than wind power, as well as being less of an eyesore. Numerous large scale research projects are yielding results that will increase the productivity and lower the cost of solar panels. Right in my backyard here in AZ(Tempe), they have a massive energy project focusing on solar energy.
My point is that, within a short period of time, solar energy will be affordable to buy and, just as importantly, maintain. These will provide an efficient source of energy for the cost of the panel while not being an eyesore at all. I anything, the panels in Tempe look pretty cool. I would not mind them on my roof one bit.
They do not keep you from doing it, but you lose any mod points you use if you end up replying. If you go ahead with it, the system removes your moderations from that story.
Im losing a bunch of mod points, but that is of no consequence. I marked it flaimbait, though I do agree with you 100%. Everything you said I find myself agreeing with, so that is not the issue. While you may think I am fibbing, I think this post shows that I do agree and I wanted that to be clear.
This discussion is not about religion or politics, but science. I am all or discussing those topics in another venue, but I like to read meaningful comments about the subject at hand. This is slashdot, where the comments are what makes the site. Comments about religion or outlandish politic remarks are things you expect to see on digg.
Again, I agree with you, but I hope you see where I was coming from, it was nothing personal at all. I just like to see comments about the subject that add to, and not distract from the subject.
When people are asked what they want, they do not say an Mp3 player. They say, "I want an iPod." That alone puts the Zune at a large disadvantage, not to mention all the other things. iPods are trendy, well-known, and easy to see(Look at me!) - so until people start looking at what kind of Mp3 player to buy instead of what version of iPod to buy, the Zune will struggle to find its place in the market, just like everyone else.
I do not think case mods fall under this as they are looking for a more attractive version of what they have. Hopefully we get some different options from this, but speaking generally, how much can you do different? If these are going to be mass produced, they have to have utility as well. By that I mean easy access to the hardware and logical placement of said hardware.
Apple has some good ideas on the boring concept of cases and they have been done well. I am expecting something that looks like a case, but has some extra features on the outside, both functional and visual. I hope this effort results in some serious advancement in how cases Work, Look, and Feel.
This is going to happen to different degrees via the internet. People are already storing information in blogs and social networking pages. How long before people are uniquely ID'ed online? We have it in a small way with cookies and all that jazz, but really, how long before every person is a unique ID online. You will be able to log information, store everything online, and accessible from anywhere with a fingerprint login. Searchable? Sure! If course it present many other problems security wise, but that will be present in anything for a very long time.
This is less of an idea or pipe dream and more of a emerging reality. I know that I have much of the last 3 years of my life already online. With a blog, Myspace, Facebook, and Google logging searches - I could argue that most things of significance from the last three years are reflected in one of those things.
but not at work really. I think the idea of online applications is still to new for companies to embrace. Many companies go ages between upgrades and changes because they like to stick with what works. While down the road, it may become more viable, (2 years+) - for the time being I see companies sticking to install disks instead of login URL's.
This is the way it is for the major sports in America right now. While it has not always been that way, we are at a point where your skill is the only factor people are looking it. That will transpire to anything as long as the overall goal is to be the best of the best.
I just fail to see the significance of this in regards to games online. I would venture to say it is a non issue because:
1) You know the person as they present themselves to you online and
2) It does not matter since you are judging by skill, not race or anything trival like that
I was happy to read all of this, but mostly the part about Microsoft Exchange. Some would view all of this as a fight vs Microsoft(Office and otherwise), but that is not a good fight or anyone. Not ignoring Mircosoft Exchange is important for allowing people to actually ditch MS Office. Taking on MS Office itself and not making this a fight vs Microsoft is the smart thing I think. We often see and read about companies looking to take on the whole behemoth instead of just competing in a certain market. Google and Apple seem to the be companies people look at when they talk about bringing down Microsoft.
While people may hide some small, insignificant things online like music tastes, others hide the fact the use the internet as much as they do. I did for years and I know several who still do. I am what I refer to as a "closet geek" in that I am a product/child of the internet age. Being almost 22, I have been connected to the internet for about 10 years now. It started with games of course, and gradually moved into severe geekdom. By 14 I was hooked and I have never looked back, but that is not the point.
While I went home and played StarCraft, messed with and tags, and trolls forums - nobody even knew I used a computer. For 3 or 4 years I did not tell anyone but a few friends whom I had to tell so we could play quake 2 together after school. I kept my social life together and nobody had an idea till my senior year when I started to not care.
At that point I knew I was going to college for Computer Science and I was missing classes for game tournaments. I thought, screw it, why keep this under wraps like an idiot. So after missing some classes for a computer game tournament (War3 and yes, I was nothing great) I just told everyone where I was going. They thought it was awesome, so I ran with it. I let my geek out and it was embraced by everyone without question.
People just did not care. They knew me already so they were well beyond the phase where you judge people. Some were interested while others were indifferent, but all in all, I got few jokes tossed my way, nothing more.
It goes to the point that people worry to much about what others think. While it is nice to be able to control what some people see/know about you, what you are really doing is allowing them to not know the real you. So what, you like Fall Out Boy, I might pull out a "You know how I know you're gay" joke, but it is not like I will "defriend" you or it.
While I would love to believe that this is not a ploy for more money, I find it hard to swallow. He had abandoned the book and his son decided to abandon, edit, and release it for sale. Now I do not know his son obviously, but one must ask themselves, "If he respected his father, he would not being doing this would he?"
I will read it though, that is for sure. I will however, credit the subject material to Tolkien while the rest will go to his son and his 30 years of editing. I doubt anything could be tampered with so much and still hold the same value as the original. Then again, maybe because it was not "finished" he fleshed it out - either way it is not a book authored by Tolkien to me.
You seem like you are going to be a involved parent, so you can take the steps you have already taken and just apply good parenting in general. Since the computer is in a public place, that will help a good deal - I would do the same. Then, just be attentive to what he is doing on the computer. Check the history and programs he has installed. Poke around every now and then and you should be fine. If is able to hide things from you, even when you are looking for them, then that is a good thing I guess. He is learning how to use a computer in more ways and learning the ins and outs, even if it is to hide something from you.
Careful though, if he hides things well and you go through some serious steps to find it, he may look at that the wrong way. A trust issue maybe? I honestly cannot say, but just be aware of it I guess.
Schilling keeps no secrets about his gaming, but who knew it went to this degree? I for one, am happy to see famous figures branching in different directions. It was only a matter of time before people started to test the gaming waters given the market size now. Where other famous people try acting, commentating, or even signing, Shilling is giving something new a go. I hope he has some success and managed to publish a game. If he does get one out he will surely do well in the New England area, assuming he does not betray my beloved Red Sox somehow.
I would not be surprised if we start seeing more ventures like this either. While it may just be in an investment roll, the more money and people making games can only help to further the industry.
WoW really has seized not only the MMO world, but the gaming world. The fact that WoW is still in the news almost 2 full years since going gold is the biggest feat. For a game that is 2 years old with a _pending_ expansion to still get as much press and hype is truly remarkable.
Also, to look at it from a different angle. When Blizzard can mask the disastrous news of Ghost pretty much having the plug pulled with piles of good news about WoW numbers, that is also a feat. Ghost was a huge project for Blizzard and would have hailed their return to console games. It not being released is huge as it was in production for several years. They even acquired a company because of Ghost!
Though the game suffered from some obstacles that Blizzard has not had to deal with it was still a major blow. The success of Halo made them change directions, pushing back times. Those times then landed in the middle of the next gen battle, which made developing for either systems hard at the time. Also, they are determined to get Battle.net into the console multiplayer world which has surely ruffled some feathers around the console world.
Got off topic a little, but still it goes to the point tha when the overwhelming good news can all but cover up the bad news of Ghost being canned-- That is big statement to the might WoW carries in the gaming world.
I was surprised to see that this school was not on the list and not even an honorable mention. Arizona State, which is in the same city, even got an honorable mention.
I went to the University of Advancing Technology (UAT) for several years and during that whole time they were focused on their new "Gaming" program. Basically it boiled down to a "Degree of This with an emphasis in Game Design." The emphasis, of course, was basic gaming classes related to making and designing a game or the most part. If motivated and interested, you were able to work on a mod project which may or may not ever be completed. Level design and game theory classes would always fill up quick, but they were generally worthless.
I entered the school because of its game design aspects, but not the actual game degree, it did not exists at that point(It came the next fall.) I started to take some Game classes and realized it was a huge joke. They were teaching things that would never help you get a job in the industry. How to make a Game Doc, Theories on Level Design, and assorted design classes. The problem is that nobody is going to get a job as a designer out of college, especially a designer with no working/active games being played by anyone. I realized I picked a bad school and decided to work my way out of the jam. I switch degrees to Software Engineering and focused on web design. I opted out of the 4 years degree and went with the 2 years program so I could get out faster. UAT will not transfer credits, so this was my fastest "out".
During my year and a half of getting out, I saw the school change to a primary game design school, pulling in their largest classes ever for this degree. They were blinded by the money and all but neglected the other programs, which were good but in need of funding to keep them above par, which they promised to do.
I ended up doing very well for myself and actually had some professors to look up to in the end. I missed out on the whole "University" life, but made up for it after I left. I managed to find a great job soon after college as a web designer, but no thanks to my schooling. I switched to web design so I could get a piece of paper to tell everyone else that I knew what I was talking about.. I already knew everything I needed, but I needed to leave with a degree.
Still though, for how much they poured into the Game program at UAT, I expected them to be on this list for sure. Especially when they claim to have connections all throughout the gaming industry...
To be honest, I thought that Google would have liked to compete with Paypal on eBay at some point. This probably negates the chance of that happening for a while don't you think? Something could have been written in the agreement, but I would have to guess that Google will not be used to pay for any auctions anytime soon.
It could, on the other hand, just mean that Google never intended to really compete with Paypal within eBay. I think it is good that they are sticking to their guns, which is advertising.
While it may appear like AOL is looking down the barrel of doom, I do not seeing the service going anywhere soon. Many people have tried, and failed at being the AOL killer. Some services are able to compete, but really, AOL is still very much on the top of in regards to those providers.
On the same token, AOL is probably ready to go, but they will remain till a service is presented that can offer the same sort of service to the same people, but be much better too. Even more important though, is the ability to convince AOL users that is not only smart to switch, but easy and painless at the same time. AOL users are, typically, some of the newer users of the internet, so that needs to be kept in mind for anyone looking to knock the big guy off.
Lastly, I would not count AOL out just yet. While another service may come along to challenge them, it may only to serve as a catalyst for change within AOL. This would be a good thing overall, but it does suck that we have to wait or a company to be threatened in order or them to innovate.
These ads can be okay, but I take them with a grain of salt. I use both systems every day for all sorts of uses, but they both come with problems. We all know the Windows issues of security, crashes, and things we read about on here everyday. Typically, I never have an issue with those problems because I know what I am doing, but regardless, they are there. As for OS X, it has different, but equally frustrating issues in my mind.
For one, I have a damn hard time even shutting my machine down with OS X. One in every three restarts takes at least 10 minutes or some reason. I have to actually start the process of restarting over a couple times. Non compatibility pisses me off to, but I do not fault either system for it. The slow, often unresponsive UI is my biggest issue though. In Windows the movement and reaction of most UI functions is quick and sharp. With the OS X, I feel like the speed I am allowed to work at is capped. I really feel it in simple things like FTPing files where I want to select my files and go. The MAC makes it a pain to do this simple function.
No reason to keep going, the point is that neither of these systems are perfect and they are for different people. Each side things they other sucks generally, but as a avid user of both systems, I cannot say either system has a edge. MAC has the doodads and flare, but the Windows has the power and you can actually control it in XP.
I know that this number was pulled from who knows where, but the truth is that I believe about half of all WoW plays are addicted.
Being a college student when the alpha and beta came out, I was easily able to manage life, school, and wow while no raiding content was in the game. Though, the seeds of addiction were already present in the beta. I would stand in the city, with nothing to do in game other than talk or make money, which was certainly going to be wiped upon release. I did not care though, I kept making money in a game instead of taking another shift at work.
At age 20, when retail came out, I found myself the leader of what was going to become a dominate guild on the server. It is not to hard when you and your buddies know everything about the game from beta - so we leveled, as a group, very quickly, drawing attention and interest from all the soon-to-be addicts.
From that point on, almost everything was second to wow. I had an online legacy to solidify and maintain! WoW consumed every free hour of my time and I went as far as to restructure my life around my gaming. Now that is not normal or healthy. I still went to class and passed with good grades, but only because I was able to make the raid times being guild leader. Raids are almost always a nightly occasion, leaving day classes a possibility. Of course, I planned those classes that way - I needed to have my nights 5pm - 3am free for gaming!
While leading this guild which raided every single day (Ony, MC, Rag, outdoor) at the time, I had a legion of 100 addicts in my guild. Addicts. Almost every single one played every day for several hours. The biggest concern in our guild was the hardcore players wanting to cut the casual players so we could "cut the dead weight." I was in favor of having a better environment/community in the guild though, so I let the casual players stay, but we arranged some raiding changes to make sure they did not get priority over an addict.
Having ran this guild for a while, I was exhausted from all the drama and logistics of running it. As a friend said, I flew to close to the sun and got burnt out. True be told, my reluctance to continue the drama was not the main reason for quiting, but the complete collapse of my social life and financial situation. I maintained a girlfriend through all of this, which was not easy for her to do. She was a longtime girlfriend and was with me as I gradually became an addict. She gave me the ultimatum of her or WoW and I never played again.
Since then we have split for completely unrelated issues, but I honestly fear the game. It requires massive time investments to advance in a game which has no end. That is the problem. Millions are playing a game with no end. Since leaving I found I enjoy FPS games much more now. I can join a server and play 5 minutes, 15 minutes, 1 round, 3 maps - whatever I want - There is no requirement to stay for any length of time. Even when on a team and you need to be around for scrims or matches, you have weeks of notice, you can reschedule, have alternates, and they only last an hour.
This would pretty much prove that it was working and they were doing what they said they would. It would be a good thing if they broke down the door, not a bad one.
Depending on the blog, the person almost have to reuse blocks of text! If a blog is linking to a new article that he or she thinks the reader may want to look at, well he has to give them some heads up about what they are jumping into. A short block is pasted to grab attention and then a link is presented to the website of origin.
We see this on a many of sites where users or editors submit stories for the readers to look through and decide on what is worth reading. Slashdot does it every single day.
If they do not offer something that is both wanted by users and not included with Vista, they will be the next Netscape. A VAST majority of people are average computer users that would never seek a service they have already with the OS. Most would just assume the Windows one works and why use another one?
But if can include both better and different services to appeal to customers, they will have a chance. Having a better product alone will not be enough though. Look how dominate IE still is even though it is pretty well known that Firefox is much better. Users just do not bother to care because they just dont know better.
A chance only though, my money is on Vista to begin with - Who knows what problems Vista will open up for other companies to try to fix.
I think it is a great move, but I just wonder how people who actually contribute will be treated by the company down the road. Often times, little or no credit is given to someone who makes a successful and meaningful contribution because they could easily just take the idea and release it as a feature on the next iteration of the phone. Either way it is a great move on the companies part - they can rest now and let other people come up with the next ideas that will sell the phones next iteration.
Lets generalize more please. I mentioned the rights of China's people and made no comment of the countries economic, military, or political power as to warrant a reply like that. Of course we will keep a watchful eye on China as we certainly cannot ignore what is happening there. China jailing people for expressing and voicing opinions is nothing new at all and has been documented pretty well. It is nothing new and something we are aware of, but to make a big case out a small, and common occurrence (that we know about mind you) seems silly.
I just see no justification for your comment is all. Saying if we dont fix them now we might they might not listen to us down the road... well that may be true, but we dont "take care" of it by publishing articles on how someone in China was jailed via information gathered from a Yahoo! service.
Slashdot Mirror
My point is that, within a short period of time, solar energy will be affordable to buy and, just as importantly, maintain. These will provide an efficient source of energy for the cost of the panel while not being an eyesore at all. I anything, the panels in Tempe look pretty cool. I would not mind them on my roof one bit.
They do not keep you from doing it, but you lose any mod points you use if you end up replying. If you go ahead with it, the system removes your moderations from that story.
This discussion is not about religion or politics, but science. I am all or discussing those topics in another venue, but I like to read meaningful comments about the subject at hand. This is slashdot, where the comments are what makes the site. Comments about religion or outlandish politic remarks are things you expect to see on digg.
Again, I agree with you, but I hope you see where I was coming from, it was nothing personal at all. I just like to see comments about the subject that add to, and not distract from the subject.
When people are asked what they want, they do not say an Mp3 player. They say, "I want an iPod." That alone puts the Zune at a large disadvantage, not to mention all the other things. iPods are trendy, well-known, and easy to see(Look at me!) - so until people start looking at what kind of Mp3 player to buy instead of what version of iPod to buy, the Zune will struggle to find its place in the market, just like everyone else.
Apple has some good ideas on the boring concept of cases and they have been done well. I am expecting something that looks like a case, but has some extra features on the outside, both functional and visual. I hope this effort results in some serious advancement in how cases Work, Look, and Feel.
This is less of an idea or pipe dream and more of a emerging reality. I know that I have much of the last 3 years of my life already online. With a blog, Myspace, Facebook, and Google logging searches - I could argue that most things of significance from the last three years are reflected in one of those things.
but not at work really. I think the idea of online applications is still to new for companies to embrace. Many companies go ages between upgrades and changes because they like to stick with what works. While down the road, it may become more viable, (2 years+) - for the time being I see companies sticking to install disks instead of login URL's.
I just fail to see the significance of this in regards to games online. I would venture to say it is a non issue because:
1) You know the person as they present themselves to you online and
2) It does not matter since you are judging by skill, not race or anything trival like that
I was happy to read all of this, but mostly the part about Microsoft Exchange. Some would view all of this as a fight vs Microsoft(Office and otherwise), but that is not a good fight or anyone. Not ignoring Mircosoft Exchange is important for allowing people to actually ditch MS Office. Taking on MS Office itself and not making this a fight vs Microsoft is the smart thing I think. We often see and read about companies looking to take on the whole behemoth instead of just competing in a certain market. Google and Apple seem to the be companies people look at when they talk about bringing down Microsoft.
While I went home and played StarCraft, messed with and tags, and trolls forums - nobody even knew I used a computer. For 3 or 4 years I did not tell anyone but a few friends whom I had to tell so we could play quake 2 together after school. I kept my social life together and nobody had an idea till my senior year when I started to not care.
At that point I knew I was going to college for Computer Science and I was missing classes for game tournaments. I thought, screw it, why keep this under wraps like an idiot. So after missing some classes for a computer game tournament (War3 and yes, I was nothing great) I just told everyone where I was going. They thought it was awesome, so I ran with it. I let my geek out and it was embraced by everyone without question.
People just did not care. They knew me already so they were well beyond the phase where you judge people. Some were interested while others were indifferent, but all in all, I got few jokes tossed my way, nothing more.
It goes to the point that people worry to much about what others think. While it is nice to be able to control what some people see/know about you, what you are really doing is allowing them to not know the real you. So what, you like Fall Out Boy, I might pull out a "You know how I know you're gay" joke, but it is not like I will "defriend" you or it.
I will read it though, that is for sure. I will however, credit the subject material to Tolkien while the rest will go to his son and his 30 years of editing. I doubt anything could be tampered with so much and still hold the same value as the original. Then again, maybe because it was not "finished" he fleshed it out - either way it is not a book authored by Tolkien to me.
Careful though, if he hides things well and you go through some serious steps to find it, he may look at that the wrong way. A trust issue maybe? I honestly cannot say, but just be aware of it I guess.
I would not be surprised if we start seeing more ventures like this either. While it may just be in an investment roll, the more money and people making games can only help to further the industry.
Also, to look at it from a different angle. When Blizzard can mask the disastrous news of Ghost pretty much having the plug pulled with piles of good news about WoW numbers, that is also a feat. Ghost was a huge project for Blizzard and would have hailed their return to console games. It not being released is huge as it was in production for several years. They even acquired a company because of Ghost!
Though the game suffered from some obstacles that Blizzard has not had to deal with it was still a major blow. The success of Halo made them change directions, pushing back times. Those times then landed in the middle of the next gen battle, which made developing for either systems hard at the time. Also, they are determined to get Battle.net into the console multiplayer world which has surely ruffled some feathers around the console world.
Got off topic a little, but still it goes to the point tha when the overwhelming good news can all but cover up the bad news of Ghost being canned-- That is big statement to the might WoW carries in the gaming world.
I went to the University of Advancing Technology (UAT) for several years and during that whole time they were focused on their new "Gaming" program. Basically it boiled down to a "Degree of This with an emphasis in Game Design." The emphasis, of course, was basic gaming classes related to making and designing a game or the most part. If motivated and interested, you were able to work on a mod project which may or may not ever be completed. Level design and game theory classes would always fill up quick, but they were generally worthless.
I entered the school because of its game design aspects, but not the actual game degree, it did not exists at that point(It came the next fall.) I started to take some Game classes and realized it was a huge joke. They were teaching things that would never help you get a job in the industry. How to make a Game Doc, Theories on Level Design, and assorted design classes. The problem is that nobody is going to get a job as a designer out of college, especially a designer with no working/active games being played by anyone. I realized I picked a bad school and decided to work my way out of the jam. I switch degrees to Software Engineering and focused on web design. I opted out of the 4 years degree and went with the 2 years program so I could get out faster. UAT will not transfer credits, so this was my fastest "out".
During my year and a half of getting out, I saw the school change to a primary game design school, pulling in their largest classes ever for this degree. They were blinded by the money and all but neglected the other programs, which were good but in need of funding to keep them above par, which they promised to do.
I ended up doing very well for myself and actually had some professors to look up to in the end. I missed out on the whole "University" life, but made up for it after I left. I managed to find a great job soon after college as a web designer, but no thanks to my schooling. I switched to web design so I could get a piece of paper to tell everyone else that I knew what I was talking about.. I already knew everything I needed, but I needed to leave with a degree.
Still though, for how much they poured into the Game program at UAT, I expected them to be on this list for sure. Especially when they claim to have connections all throughout the gaming industry...
It could, on the other hand, just mean that Google never intended to really compete with Paypal within eBay. I think it is good that they are sticking to their guns, which is advertising.
On the same token, AOL is probably ready to go, but they will remain till a service is presented that can offer the same sort of service to the same people, but be much better too. Even more important though, is the ability to convince AOL users that is not only smart to switch, but easy and painless at the same time. AOL users are, typically, some of the newer users of the internet, so that needs to be kept in mind for anyone looking to knock the big guy off.
Lastly, I would not count AOL out just yet. While another service may come along to challenge them, it may only to serve as a catalyst for change within AOL. This would be a good thing overall, but it does suck that we have to wait or a company to be threatened in order or them to innovate.
For one, I have a damn hard time even shutting my machine down with OS X. One in every three restarts takes at least 10 minutes or some reason. I have to actually start the process of restarting over a couple times. Non compatibility pisses me off to, but I do not fault either system for it. The slow, often unresponsive UI is my biggest issue though. In Windows the movement and reaction of most UI functions is quick and sharp. With the OS X, I feel like the speed I am allowed to work at is capped. I really feel it in simple things like FTPing files where I want to select my files and go. The MAC makes it a pain to do this simple function.
No reason to keep going, the point is that neither of these systems are perfect and they are for different people. Each side things they other sucks generally, but as a avid user of both systems, I cannot say either system has a edge. MAC has the doodads and flare, but the Windows has the power and you can actually control it in XP.
Being a college student when the alpha and beta came out, I was easily able to manage life, school, and wow while no raiding content was in the game. Though, the seeds of addiction were already present in the beta. I would stand in the city, with nothing to do in game other than talk or make money, which was certainly going to be wiped upon release. I did not care though, I kept making money in a game instead of taking another shift at work.
At age 20, when retail came out, I found myself the leader of what was going to become a dominate guild on the server. It is not to hard when you and your buddies know everything about the game from beta - so we leveled, as a group, very quickly, drawing attention and interest from all the soon-to-be addicts.
From that point on, almost everything was second to wow. I had an online legacy to solidify and maintain! WoW consumed every free hour of my time and I went as far as to restructure my life around my gaming. Now that is not normal or healthy. I still went to class and passed with good grades, but only because I was able to make the raid times being guild leader. Raids are almost always a nightly occasion, leaving day classes a possibility. Of course, I planned those classes that way - I needed to have my nights 5pm - 3am free for gaming!
While leading this guild which raided every single day (Ony, MC, Rag, outdoor) at the time, I had a legion of 100 addicts in my guild. Addicts. Almost every single one played every day for several hours. The biggest concern in our guild was the hardcore players wanting to cut the casual players so we could "cut the dead weight." I was in favor of having a better environment/community in the guild though, so I let the casual players stay, but we arranged some raiding changes to make sure they did not get priority over an addict.
Having ran this guild for a while, I was exhausted from all the drama and logistics of running it. As a friend said, I flew to close to the sun and got burnt out. True be told, my reluctance to continue the drama was not the main reason for quiting, but the complete collapse of my social life and financial situation. I maintained a girlfriend through all of this, which was not easy for her to do. She was a longtime girlfriend and was with me as I gradually became an addict. She gave me the ultimatum of her or WoW and I never played again.
Since then we have split for completely unrelated issues, but I honestly fear the game. It requires massive time investments to advance in a game which has no end. That is the problem. Millions are playing a game with no end. Since leaving I found I enjoy FPS games much more now. I can join a server and play 5 minutes, 15 minutes, 1 round, 3 maps - whatever I want - There is no requirement to stay for any length of time. Even when on a team and you need to be around for scrims or matches, you have weeks of notice, you can reschedule, have alternates, and they only last an hour.
Idiot
This would pretty much prove that it was working and they were doing what they said they would. It would be a good thing if they broke down the door, not a bad one.
We see this on a many of sites where users or editors submit stories for the readers to look through and decide on what is worth reading. Slashdot does it every single day.
But if can include both better and different services to appeal to customers, they will have a chance. Having a better product alone will not be enough though. Look how dominate IE still is even though it is pretty well known that Firefox is much better. Users just do not bother to care because they just dont know better.
A chance only though, my money is on Vista to begin with - Who knows what problems Vista will open up for other companies to try to fix.
I think it is a great move, but I just wonder how people who actually contribute will be treated by the company down the road. Often times, little or no credit is given to someone who makes a successful and meaningful contribution because they could easily just take the idea and release it as a feature on the next iteration of the phone. Either way it is a great move on the companies part - they can rest now and let other people come up with the next ideas that will sell the phones next iteration.
I disagree, they are a company first and foremost. It is not the job of the company to protect American ideals in China while doing business.
I just see no justification for your comment is all. Saying if we dont fix them now we might they might not listen to us down the road... well that may be true, but we dont "take care" of it by publishing articles on how someone in China was jailed via information gathered from a Yahoo! service.