I didn't find TC all that fun on the DS either for some reason. I would pick up a copy of Super Paper Mario but it isn't out in the UK until November 30th:(
Perhaps, I guess time will tell. This is partly why I have not sold the Wii yet. However the outlook for decent single player games seems to be rather limp, or am I just missing some not talked about titles?
I will probably get modded troll however this is just my honest opinion - I am bored of my Wii. I got one at the end of January. I didn't pre-order one as I wasn't all that sure it would be fun but I played on a colleagues one a few times and enjoyed it so decided to pick one up. I got Rayman, Zelda and WiiPlay as well.
At first it was a lot of fun however I soon found that lack of decent single player games and no online made the console a total bore for me. I tried to convince my wife that it was fun to play and while she did enjoy it the first couple of times she said it was "too robotic" which I do agree with.
I don't have people round the house all that often as we tend to go out. When we do have people round it is more to chat than play games. When I first got it and people came round we played but after an hour most people found the games too repetitive.
So basically it now sits under my TV doing nothing. I am a single player gamer and the Wii really doesn't work well for me. I had (still have but it is modded) an Xbox and used to really like Live however canceled my subscription after 2 years as I didn't feel I used it enough. I have thought about getting a 360 however it is too noisy for me so until they put in a quieter drive I won't be picking one up.
I really wanted to like the Wii however it just doesn't excite me, after the initial novelty wears off it does feel rather gimmicky and it doesn't really revolutionise gaming, it is just another form of input, it doesn't really add any additional depth to a game.
I just went to the GalCiv2 website to have a read and saw this
No CD copy protection. Once you install, you never need your CD again. You can even use the included serial # to re-download the entire game from us years from now.
That is very refreshing to see these days. I have given up on most PC games these days because of their copy protection systems.
TCO depends on the target use of the platform. For some companies/tasks Linux will have a cheaper TCO for others Windows. Its swings and roundabouts. TCO numbers are just more corporate buzz words/numbers to sound good to senior managers.
Agreed. While I dislike WGA it is hardly surprising they collect success/failure data. The blog post was detailed and answered several questions I had. However I wouldn't say no to an option to disable it calling home, they have enough command line parameters one more won't hurt:)
I am a big fan of 24 and until this year I have always downloaded it from usenet as we were always a few months behind the US. This year it is only one week, I can wait a week and so I do not download it.
Some say a few weeks or months isn't that bad however with the internet a couple of months is a long time! Long enough for you to accidentally read about something that happens in 3 episodes time and ruins the show for you. True this can happen with the one week delay I have now but the worst it can do is ruin one episode, not half a season!
Sorry but a BSOD is not "just normal Windows". There is something wrong either with this system or his hardware. If it is hardware then Linux (or any OS you run on the system) may also fail to work because of it. If it is Windows itself there is most likely a simple fix. Most likely is a buggy driver.
Windows is not perfect however stating it is "normal" for a complete system crash is not true these days.
Now back to your post I agree with you, Live CDs are great. I have given around 50-60 to people in the past 2 years or so. Almost everyone thinks it is impressive you can run it without needing to install it (those you don't do not understand what an operating system is). Sadly I do not think any of them stuck with Linux. The reasons are common (hardware support, applications, complexity). I have never tried to force anyone to use Linux. Use what you like IMHO. I try and support Linux as much as I can but it is very difficult when everything in Windows 'Just Works(tm)'.
A lot of people see computers as a tool to do something, like a drill or a BBQ. A drill makes holes, a BBQ cooks food, a computer surfs the internet and does word processing. They don't have to build the drill from small parts to drill a hole, they don't have to rub two sticks together to get fire for the BBQ and so they don't want to have to work on their computer to get it to surf the internet.
I wish Microsoft would release an application which automates integration of SATA/SCSI drivers so a floppy isn't needed during install. This can be done manually (although it is annoying complex) or with Nlite however an official tool would be great. I am surprised their deployment tools does not include an Nlite type application in all honesty.
The reason a receipt of invoice is preferred is that it can be traced back through your accounts (did you pay the amount on the invoice to the supplier on that date?) as well as confirmation that the sale was legal by the supplier. Providing their is a trail that is the most important thing.
I have done software auditing for a number of companies from small (1-50 people) to large (2000+ people) so I feel that I am aware of how licensing works within companies of different sizes.
Small companies are much easier to organize license wise (due to smaller number of computers (normally)) however as not many small companies have a dedicated license person (or if they do a lot of the time this person is the "tech guy" and does not know all that much about licensing (but thinks they do, which is dangerous)).
Larger companies are a nightmare, you need remote scanning software to audit the computers and work from that log. This is fine in theory however I have never seen a perfect scan. Machines fail, users install software in different places so the scanner does not detect it, etc.
None of these are long term excuses however they are legitimate, every company will be break a license somewhere, the important factor is if they did so knowingly or not. This is the hardest part to work out.
As for proof of purchase, keep your accounts in order. A CD, piece of paper or nice pretty hologram doesn't mean jack. They want receipts or invoices. That is all that matters. An invoice from Adobe, Software Spectrum or Ebuyer (for example) is what licenses you, not the product key on the side of the jewel case. That product key is the enabler not the license.
Also there are a lot of web based systems available for license tracking which are easy to use and not too expensive. Failing that just use an Excel spreadsheet, one sheet with what you are licensed for (and ways to prove it, such as invoice details) and another which has who is using what (and why!). Link the two sheets together and you have a working license management system.
I am not a big fan of Microsoft and I detest some of their ways of dealing with software piracy however I do understand and support their point of view (even if we have different ideas on how to resolve them).
I drink two glasses of ice cold water. one before I get wash and dressed and the other just before I set off to walk to work (a 15 minute brisk walk). I then have some fruit at work. If I eat before I have been awake for more than 2 hours I tend to feel bloated and sick.
The point of HDCP is that they need to stop anybody from doing it. There are enough people with lots of movie and time to burn buying and setting up kit to do realtime DVI/HDMI stream capturing. It only takes one person to do this for a movie, stick it on the net and everyone can get it. HDCP is to try and stop EVERYONE, not just consumers but everyone from copying it.
HDCP sucks for consumers because it means your 3 month old £3000 50" LCD TV might not be able to play movies in 2-3 years time because some monkey for a media company and some monkey from the TV companies have had a meeting and decided they want people to buy new TVs again. Similar to Microsoft giving the finger to all PlaysForSure customers with the Zune.
My daughter started [primary] school just last week and this is something I have been concerned
about for a while. I think that IT skills are just as important as English and Maths skills in todays
world. What worries me is that children are not getting real IT skills at school.
They are getting Microsoft Office skills. Simple things such as files and folders and the difference
between a floppy disc and a hard disc are unknown to a lot of children I know. This is akin to a child
not learning about paints and brushes in an art class but simply painting by number and calling themselves
and artist.
Ever since my daughter was born I have always involved her with the computer. Mainly simple things such
as using the mouse to draw random lines on the screen however as she has learned this at such a young age she
now has excellent co-ordination when using a mouse. As a side benefit this has made learning to write
much easier for her.
Sometimes she uses Linux (gentoo), sometimes Windows (xp) and othertimes OS X. I know I am fortunate
to have all of these systems available to me and that I have knowledge of them so that I can teach her
however I have done this so that she understands the principles rather than a specific system.
This is what I think it great about the OLPC having a different interface to the norm.
A child is like a sponge, if they learn about something they can adapt that knowledge in ways that
very few adults can. Change to a child is nothing, change to an adult is very difficult.
This is partly why so many "normal people" find switching to another system, such as Linux, so difficult.
It would be a terrible thing if schools where nieve enough to think that all a child needs to know is
how to use Microsoft Office.
I have been using Office 2007 since Beta 2 and rolled the RTM out after a 2 weeks testing to just under 100 staff. Each week (in the past 4 that they have had it) we have asked for feedback. To begin with it was about 30% liking it and 70 hating it. A few people dropped out of the testing because they hated it so much and were replaced. Over those 4 weeks the feedback has changed and now the numbers are 90% liking it, 5-6% still not too sure and 4-5% still hating it. What this shows me is that it takes a while to adjust. Most people don't like change and Office 2007 is a big change. Give it some time and I am sure you will find it much nicer to use. Personally I really like it now however I started using it without reading all of the negative comments and so I took a very relaxed approach to its new UI. It took me about 2-3 weeks of daily use but now I wouldn't want to go back.
I just got myself a PS2 with a few games such as God of War and ICO. I also picked up Tony Hawk Project 8 and Call of Duty 3 which is brand new for only £20 (good price considering how new it is) at the moment in some shops. I am having a blast playing these games. The console cost me £100 with an official memory card and a joytech RGB scart cable (im in the UK so RGB is the best picture I can get). For under £150 I have got myself a great gaming system with some stunning games. I thought about a Wii but its still too expensive for me. I would have spent £150 for it but £180 is just a little bit too much. Maybe when the price drops. Until then I am very happy with the PS2 as games are so cheap now (like £5-10 for the ones I want). I own an Xbox anyway for XBMC however never played a game on it. I might pick up an xbox game or two if I see any I fancy.
Actually lack of leadership is a problem within the FOSS. Mark Shuttleworth has done a great job with Ubuntu because he is a good businessman. Too many FOSS projects are managed by developers who don't know how to manage which means poor decisions are made. This is fine if you don't want the project to grow however if you want to become bigger and better you need to make certain choices and sometimes they are not always easy to accept. I have seen many projects (both FOSS and commercial) die because of bad decisions being made by someone who has never managed anything in their life. Just because something is free and open source doesn't mean that they cant be managed by someone with a business background. Ubuntu is a fine example of this IMHO.
There is nothing wrong with the FOSS community, however there are a small number of very vocal people who are total assholes towards people new to things such as Linux. I am not a Linux n00b as I have been using it on and off since 1996/7 however when I first gave Gentoo a try (back in 2004 i believe) all I got was abuse when I asked for help with some things. There are a small number of groups within the FOSS community who give it a bad name, however this is the same with most communities IMHO. Ubuntu are doing a lot of good not just with their decent distribution but with a positive and helpful community as well. Infact this is probably the best thing about Ubuntu.
Slashdot Mirror
I didn't find TC all that fun on the DS either for some reason. I would pick up a copy of Super Paper Mario but it isn't out in the UK until November 30th :(
Perhaps, I guess time will tell. This is partly why I have not sold the Wii yet. However the outlook for decent single player games seems to be rather limp, or am I just missing some not talked about titles?
I admit that I did not really make sense with that sentence. My apologies.
I canceled live due to my Xbox being modded. I planned to purchase another Xbox to use with Live but then the 360 was announced so I never did.
I will probably get modded troll however this is just my honest opinion - I am bored of my Wii. I got one at the end of January. I didn't pre-order one as I wasn't all that sure it would be fun but I played on a colleagues one a few times and enjoyed it so decided to pick one up. I got Rayman, Zelda and WiiPlay as well.
At first it was a lot of fun however I soon found that lack of decent single player games and no online made the console a total bore for me. I tried to convince my wife that it was fun to play and while she did enjoy it the first couple of times she said it was "too robotic" which I do agree with.
I don't have people round the house all that often as we tend to go out. When we do have people round it is more to chat than play games. When I first got it and people came round we played but after an hour most people found the games too repetitive.
So basically it now sits under my TV doing nothing. I am a single player gamer and the Wii really doesn't work well for me. I had (still have but it is modded) an Xbox and used to really like Live however canceled my subscription after 2 years as I didn't feel I used it enough. I have thought about getting a 360 however it is too noisy for me so until they put in a quieter drive I won't be picking one up.
I really wanted to like the Wii however it just doesn't excite me, after the initial novelty wears off it does feel rather gimmicky and it doesn't really revolutionise gaming, it is just another form of input, it doesn't really add any additional depth to a game.
I liked how they still linked to all the extensions home pages after saying not to use it! Saved me having to Google for them :)
That is very refreshing to see these days. I have given up on most PC games these days because of their copy protection systems.
TCO depends on the target use of the platform. For some companies/tasks Linux will have a cheaper TCO for others Windows. Its swings and roundabouts. TCO numbers are just more corporate buzz words/numbers to sound good to senior managers.
Agreed. While I dislike WGA it is hardly surprising they collect success/failure data. The blog post was detailed and answered several questions I had. However I wouldn't say no to an option to disable it calling home, they have enough command line parameters one more won't hurt :)
iPatient
I am a big fan of 24 and until this year I have always downloaded it from usenet as we were always a few months behind the US. This year it is only one week, I can wait a week and so I do not download it.
Some say a few weeks or months isn't that bad however with the internet a couple of months is a long time! Long enough for you to accidentally read about something that happens in 3 episodes time and ruins the show for you. True this can happen with the one week delay I have now but the worst it can do is ruin one episode, not half a season!
Sorry but a BSOD is not "just normal Windows". There is something wrong either with this system or his hardware. If it is hardware then Linux (or any OS you run on the system) may also fail to work because of it. If it is Windows itself there is most likely a simple fix. Most likely is a buggy driver.
Windows is not perfect however stating it is "normal" for a complete system crash is not true these days.
Now back to your post I agree with you, Live CDs are great. I have given around 50-60 to people in the past 2 years or so. Almost everyone thinks it is impressive you can run it without needing to install it (those you don't do not understand what an operating system is). Sadly I do not think any of them stuck with Linux. The reasons are common (hardware support, applications, complexity). I have never tried to force anyone to use Linux. Use what you like IMHO. I try and support Linux as much as I can but it is very difficult when everything in Windows 'Just Works(tm)'.
A lot of people see computers as a tool to do something, like a drill or a BBQ. A drill makes holes, a BBQ cooks food, a computer surfs the internet and does word processing. They don't have to build the drill from small parts to drill a hole, they don't have to rub two sticks together to get fire for the BBQ and so they don't want to have to work on their computer to get it to surf the internet.
I wish Microsoft would release an application which automates integration of SATA/SCSI drivers so a floppy isn't needed during install. This can be done manually (although it is annoying complex) or with Nlite however an official tool would be great. I am surprised their deployment tools does not include an Nlite type application in all honesty.
The reason a receipt of invoice is preferred is that it can be traced back through your accounts (did you pay the amount on the invoice to the supplier on that date?) as well as confirmation that the sale was legal by the supplier. Providing their is a trail that is the most important thing.
I have done software auditing for a number of companies from small (1-50 people) to large (2000+ people) so I feel that I am aware of how licensing works within companies of different sizes.
Small companies are much easier to organize license wise (due to smaller number of computers (normally)) however as not many small companies have a dedicated license person (or if they do a lot of the time this person is the "tech guy" and does not know all that much about licensing (but thinks they do, which is dangerous)).
Larger companies are a nightmare, you need remote scanning software to audit the computers and work from that log. This is fine in theory however I have never seen a perfect scan. Machines fail, users install software in different places so the scanner does not detect it, etc.
None of these are long term excuses however they are legitimate, every company will be break a license somewhere, the important factor is if they did so knowingly or not. This is the hardest part to work out.
As for proof of purchase, keep your accounts in order. A CD, piece of paper or nice pretty hologram doesn't mean jack. They want receipts or invoices. That is all that matters. An invoice from Adobe, Software Spectrum or Ebuyer (for example) is what licenses you, not the product key on the side of the jewel case. That product key is the enabler not the license.
Also there are a lot of web based systems available for license tracking which are easy to use and not too expensive. Failing that just use an Excel spreadsheet, one sheet with what you are licensed for (and ways to prove it, such as invoice details) and another which has who is using what (and why!). Link the two sheets together and you have a working license management system.
I am not a big fan of Microsoft and I detest some of their ways of dealing with software piracy however I do understand and support their point of view (even if we have different ideas on how to resolve them).
I drink two glasses of ice cold water. one before I get wash and dressed and the other just before I set off to walk to work (a 15 minute brisk walk). I then have some fruit at work. If I eat before I have been awake for more than 2 hours I tend to feel bloated and sick.
The point of HDCP is that they need to stop anybody from doing it. There are enough people with lots of movie and time to burn buying and setting up kit to do realtime DVI/HDMI stream capturing. It only takes one person to do this for a movie, stick it on the net and everyone can get it. HDCP is to try and stop EVERYONE, not just consumers but everyone from copying it. HDCP sucks for consumers because it means your 3 month old £3000 50" LCD TV might not be able to play movies in 2-3 years time because some monkey for a media company and some monkey from the TV companies have had a meeting and decided they want people to buy new TVs again. Similar to Microsoft giving the finger to all PlaysForSure customers with the Zune.
My daughter started [primary] school just last week and this is something I have been concerned about for a while. I think that IT skills are just as important as English and Maths skills in todays world. What worries me is that children are not getting real IT skills at school. They are getting Microsoft Office skills. Simple things such as files and folders and the difference between a floppy disc and a hard disc are unknown to a lot of children I know. This is akin to a child not learning about paints and brushes in an art class but simply painting by number and calling themselves and artist.
Ever since my daughter was born I have always involved her with the computer. Mainly simple things such as using the mouse to draw random lines on the screen however as she has learned this at such a young age she now has excellent co-ordination when using a mouse. As a side benefit this has made learning to write much easier for her.
Sometimes she uses Linux (gentoo), sometimes Windows (xp) and othertimes OS X. I know I am fortunate to have all of these systems available to me and that I have knowledge of them so that I can teach her however I have done this so that she understands the principles rather than a specific system. This is what I think it great about the OLPC having a different interface to the norm. A child is like a sponge, if they learn about something they can adapt that knowledge in ways that very few adults can. Change to a child is nothing, change to an adult is very difficult. This is partly why so many "normal people" find switching to another system, such as Linux, so difficult.
It would be a terrible thing if schools where nieve enough to think that all a child needs to know is how to use Microsoft Office.
http://tuttlesvc.teacherhosting.com/wordpress/?p=2 51
It's a VMware image and works just fine in VMware Player.
I have been using Office 2007 since Beta 2 and rolled the RTM out after a 2 weeks testing to just under 100 staff. Each week (in the past 4 that they have had it) we have asked for feedback. To begin with it was about 30% liking it and 70 hating it. A few people dropped out of the testing because they hated it so much and were replaced. Over those 4 weeks the feedback has changed and now the numbers are 90% liking it, 5-6% still not too sure and 4-5% still hating it. What this shows me is that it takes a while to adjust. Most people don't like change and Office 2007 is a big change. Give it some time and I am sure you will find it much nicer to use. Personally I really like it now however I started using it without reading all of the negative comments and so I took a very relaxed approach to its new UI. It took me about 2-3 weeks of daily use but now I wouldn't want to go back.
I just got myself a PS2 with a few games such as God of War and ICO. I also picked up Tony Hawk Project 8 and Call of Duty 3 which is brand new for only £20 (good price considering how new it is) at the moment in some shops. I am having a blast playing these games. The console cost me £100 with an official memory card and a joytech RGB scart cable (im in the UK so RGB is the best picture I can get). For under £150 I have got myself a great gaming system with some stunning games. I thought about a Wii but its still too expensive for me. I would have spent £150 for it but £180 is just a little bit too much. Maybe when the price drops. Until then I am very happy with the PS2 as games are so cheap now (like £5-10 for the ones I want). I own an Xbox anyway for XBMC however never played a game on it. I might pick up an xbox game or two if I see any I fancy.
Actually they gave them in .docx format thereby forcing the EU to upgrade to Office 2007.
Actually lack of leadership is a problem within the FOSS. Mark Shuttleworth has done a great job with Ubuntu because he is a good businessman. Too many FOSS projects are managed by developers who don't know how to manage which means poor decisions are made. This is fine if you don't want the project to grow however if you want to become bigger and better you need to make certain choices and sometimes they are not always easy to accept. I have seen many projects (both FOSS and commercial) die because of bad decisions being made by someone who has never managed anything in their life. Just because something is free and open source doesn't mean that they cant be managed by someone with a business background. Ubuntu is a fine example of this IMHO.
There is nothing wrong with the FOSS community, however there are a small number of very vocal people who are total assholes towards people new to things such as Linux. I am not a Linux n00b as I have been using it on and off since 1996/7 however when I first gave Gentoo a try (back in 2004 i believe) all I got was abuse when I asked for help with some things. There are a small number of groups within the FOSS community who give it a bad name, however this is the same with most communities IMHO. Ubuntu are doing a lot of good not just with their decent distribution but with a positive and helpful community as well. Infact this is probably the best thing about Ubuntu.
This has been available since 1.5
Guess you missed that the BBC News weather system runs on Linux?