back to DOS would be an improvement. (i am serious)
You are nuts. There are reasons why folks use Macs, Gnome/KDE on Linux and Windows: some applications are graphical in nature and benefit from that environment. DOS is not a good platform for building a graphical interface. Hell, it wasn't even a good platform for building a command line interface. It did the job it was supposed to: provide an interface to the IBM PC hardware, but that is about it.
I respectfully disagree. For many tasks I found DOS much easier to work with than Windows and it didn't require near the amount of computing power that the graphical environments do. It allowed me to customize my system in a way that works efficiently for me (such as accessing any program on my system with two keystrokes). Also, actions that take me many mouse clicks to accomplish in a graphical environment can be accomplished with a single command via batch files.
One thing I hope that is added to Windows is a full and complete command-line interface as an alternative to the graphical interface. This is one of the reasons that I'm considering moving to Linux; I can choose (1) the way I want to interface with the system and (2) the look and feel of the graphical interface.
On the subject of making Windows less complicated, I think one way to do it is to take many of the programs that have been integrated into the Windows operating system and make then completely separate programs. One of the reasons that the older Palm PDAs worked so well is that they programmers kept the applications built into the OS to a limited number. They left it to others to provide applications not in the OS.
I agree that Destroy All Humans is pretty funny, especially if you are familiar with the 1950s alien invasion movies (the opening looks like could have come right out of Plan 9 From Outer Space). The game also takes a shot at the stereotypical 1950s USA.
One truly funny game that was didn't seem to get much attention is Brain Dead 13. It is a game in the style of Dragon's Lair and the hero is a computer repairman, who is called in by a mad scientist to repair his computer system (he fixes it with a wad of gum), and must escape from the castle. Among the challenges is Vivi's Beauty Salon where, for example, you get can get a manicure...with a hatchet.
I'm a StarOffice 8 user. In response to this thread I opened up StarOffice to see what the default macro settings are. I've not changed them since installing StarOffice so it should be set to the default.
Checking Macro Security (under Tools - Options - StarOffice - Security - Macro Security...) it was set for Medium. Medium requires manual confirmation before executing macros from untrusted sources. I checked my trusted sources list and found none listed.
This indicates to me that with my macro security set to medium a macro will not run unless I choose to run it. Unless I am wrong, only people who set Macro Security to Low (indicated as Not Recommended) would be endangered from incoming macros since they would run without confirmation.
There's nothing stopping people from buying CDs and encoding their own MP3s or AACs. As far as I'm concerned, that's the only way to go in any case.
I agree. It seems that downloaded compressed audio files have a limited life span. But by buying the CD, you have "bought it once, have it forever."
It also offers the advantage of having proof that you have purchased the music. When it comes to songs you ripped on your iPod, having the CD itself provides hard proof (better than a receipt) that you actually purchased the music.
Much as I like my iPod, the compressed sound is just not an adequate signal for playing through my fairly high-end stereo system at home. It's fine for circumstances where there's background noise and other distractions, but if I had to pay twice for every track, I would rather do without the iPod.
This is another advantage of buying the CD: You can choose your encoding method. You can even choose not to compress your music if you choose not to, not an option when you buy a compressed music file.
Of course, there is always the option of playing the actual disc. Unlike with many compressed formats, CD is not tied to a specific brand of player. and it will not be rendered obsolete via an "upgrade."
What would be the state of the recorded music business now if vinyl (and 78s before that) from each label had only played on certain brands of record player? I suspect that it would never have taken off. Vinyl, cassettes and CDs (at least until the recent 'copy protected' ones) are universal and can be played on any player. So surely it would be best to keep the neutrality between the music publishers and hardware suppliers and not tie digital music sales to particular hardware.
There is a precedence for this: Quadraphonic. At its height there were seven incompatible formats for quad and this ended up killing the format.
The experience of quad is a reason that CD came out in a single format, although many formats were proposed. Unfortunately the lesson was not learned with video tape, resulting in a format war.
Unfortunately, in format war there are usually only losers. Although the losing company loses, the winning company loses too because of the cost of winning for war, money that could have been spent to improve the technology. Finally, many consumers lose because they chose the wrong format to go with.
Red book compliant CD players share the same algorithm to recover data from scratches and other damage. Many CD are sold pre-crippled in a way that the CD player will still play the intended sound by following its algorithm. The point is to make ripping harder (futile attempt).
Those CDs aren't red book compliant either and can't show the logo even if they don't contain malware.
I've read of this being done on some discs for this reason (to make copying harder). Essentially, it means the disc is relying on the error-correction ability of the player itself to compensate for intentional errors on the disc.
Due to this the player essentially has to guess what the correct information is, and it reduces the sound accuracy of the audio (since it is guessing, how can we be sure that it is guessing correctly?). In the audio book of Being Digital by Nicholas Negroponte, he mentions that a large amount of the data on a music CD is there for the purpose of error correction.
I see the unlocked nature of the CD format as a reason that it will survive for the foreseeable future. From what I can see, all future audio/video/gaming formats are going to highly locked down with copy protection, and this will be a strong disincentive for people to move to a new format.
Another disincentive is the "good enough" factor. I think that for the average consumer the sound quality of CD is good enough. As shown by the success of compressed audio formats, many people find that sound quality that is less than CD is acceptable for their use.
Now, when I pickup a music CD my first thought after seeing if it is an artist that I like is: "Is this disc safe?"
There's an easy way to find out. Can you find the Compact Disc logo ? If so, it's not crippled. If I'm not mistaken, it's due to Phillips, the co-owner of the Compact Disc trademark refusing that their trademark appear on non-red book compliant discs.
I have checked the discs for the official CD logo, and on some discs it is not there. I agree that that having the logo on the CD would be a great help, as long as it means the disc is in complete compliance with the Red Book Standard for CDs. If it is on CDs that are not in compliance with that standard, then the value of the logo is degraded.
Although the CD logo might be left off of the cover for artistic purposes, I wonder if the UPC was also left off of the disc too for the same reason. I pulled a few discs from my collection and found that many of them did not have the official logo even though there was plenty of room for it, and it would not have disrupted the art design.
What would help is if the official logo was put on a specific place on Red Book CDs. A good place would be on the lower right corner of the back cover. It would not have to be large, just be there. It could even be a selling point for the disc, telling us "This disc is safe for use."
I wouldn't want to be a sys admin in a company that had to support OpenOffice, MS Office, StarOffice, XYZOffice. Or had to support Windows (XP, 2000, 2003), Linux, OSX, and *ix. Can you imagine the headache of getting all of them to play nice with each other on a daily basis? There's something to be said about standardization.
I'm not an expert, but it seems part of the difficulty could be reduced by using standard file formats. For example, a rule could be established that you can use any program you choose for word processing, but the files must be saved in one format that is available to everyone. An example of this could be RTF which, as far as I know, is a format that all word processors can read and write and provides reasonable compatability.
To make it even more workable, it could be established that only a set number of features are allowed in documents, again features available to all users. An example of this would be to mandate direct formatting on all documents instead of the use of style sheets.
By doing the above, word processors ranging from freeware all the way up to the expensive high-power programs could be used read and write the same files within an organization. Some people might choose a word processor with no macro capability to negate the risk of macro viruses, while others might opt for a more powerful program.
For me, this has become the saddest thing about the whole situation. I used to have confidence that a music CD was safe to use on all devices that could play standard CDs, whether it was a stand-alone player, a portable, or a computer. Due to this, I could walk into any CD store and, on impulse, by a CD without concern.
Since finding out about the problem with copy protection, I have stopped purchasing new music CDs. Now, when I pickup a music CD my first thought after seeing if it is an artist that I like is: "Is this disc safe?" My reaction to the question has been to put the CD back on the rack and leave it there because I'm not confident that I can answer 'Yes' to the question. I have already passed on buying at least five recent discs because of this.
It is sad, but I may just have to settle for the music I already have since I don't want to purchase music in a compressed format. Due to this, I guess I will have to do research on any disc I wish to purchase to ensure that it is safe before I can buy it.
On impulse purchases of CDs, to quote Eric Carmen from "All By Myself:" Those days are gone.
Well the UMD has great graphics and sound, but I think the reason for it dying is because there are portable DVD players out. There is no point buying the UMD movies for your PSP if you have got a portable DVD player! Whats the point in having a movie on DVD with a portable DVD player and then going out and buying the UMD version of it?!?!?!
I think another factor working against UMD is the PSP itself. I don't have one myself, but from what I've read on line the battery life of the PSP is just long enough to watch a single movie. That would basically mean having to have a charged battery for each movie I want to watch.
I agree with other posters in that I already own the movie on DVD, and if I want to watch the movie on my PSP I would need to buy it again. There is also the problem that, as far as I know, the PSP is the only device that can play UMDs (please correct me if I'm wrong).
Having previous purchased CDi, DCC, and Minidisc, I am concerned about going for a format that will soon die. I've been burned too many times to take another risk. That is why I'm going to stay with regular DVD until one of the new formats has won its war, THEN I will consider going with it.
Question to ponder: CD was a massive improvement over the LP and 45 in terms of time and easy of use. DVD was a massive improvement over VHS; and an improvement over laserdisc, in the same way. Will the improvement of Blu-Ray and DVD-HD be as big an improvement as the two above listed format upgrades?
If I had a dollar for every fuckup I've seen in a file written and read by different versions of Word, I'd be able to personally finance Calc to something approaching Excel.
Heck, how about the screwed up appearance with the SAME version of word but different printers, fonts, screen resolution, etc. Format a document that **just** fits on the page and send it to 10 friends. How many, using the same version of MS-Word, are able to print it without either spilling onto a 2nd page or having a huge gap near the bottom of the page?
This was a big problem with documents received by my office. We used to deal with documents that had to be the same at both the sender and receiver (as in there could be absolutely no differences between a file printed at our office and one printed by the sender).
We ended up having the sender to print the document and then FAX it to us for review. Once approved, the sender would print the document at his/her location and send it to us via the mail. This was the only way we had available to ensure what we received was exactly what the sender sent.
Nowadays, this problem might be overcome by the use of PDFs. It avoids the problems created by the differences between different computer systems.
I don't think w3c is a lame duck but I certainly agree that customers (generally) don't know what it is so slavish adherence is a bad idea, it's better looked at as a guideline.
The only time I ever made a site 100% XHTML compliant was when it was demanded by the customer...although I doubt they ever validated it, or really even understood what it was they were requiring. I think they just heard it somewhere, and thought it sounded snappy. Overall, I think the W3C compliancy requirements are fairly stupid. I see no reason why something like is somehow better than for any practical reason.
The reason for the closing right slash is due to a rule in XHTML that all opening tags must have a closing tag, without exception. The above "br" tag with the right slash allows it to act as its own closing tag, and a closing right slash is required for all single tags, including hr.
One advantage of the strict rules of XHTML is that web browsers won't have to go through the guesswork that is necessary with HTML due to tagging that doesn't adhere to W3C standards. Due to the strict rules of XHTML, it is easier for a program to properly generate a webpage. In fact, it would be possible to generate a standards-compliant webpage without having to edit the actual text of a webpage.
Nobody cared, because you couldn't hold a full-length movie, and the visual difference was small. And VHS had superior sound quality. BetaMax was limited by its initial short tape length. VHS was the superior format--up to 8 hours with small visual quality loss.
Another factor that worked against Beta was features. When I was shopping for my first VCR in the early 1980s, the best Beta VCR I could find in my price range could record one event over three days. For the same price, I could buy a VHS VCR that could record four events over 2 weeks.
Although the ability to record 8 hours on a tape was important, the price of the tapes was a significant factor too. A Beta tape that could record for 4.5 hours cost as much as a VHS tape that could record for 6 hours.
"From a perspective of someone interested in a PS3 is that Sony has priced its product into a range previously occupied over the past 20 years by the Neo Geo, CDi, and 3DO -- none of which were terribly successful commercially, at least when compared to less-expensive platforms like the NES, SNES, and Playstion."
I don't think comparisons to the other high-priced systems are all that useful. The Neo Geo's games were $200 each. The CDi wasn't much of a game machine at all. The 3DO's games, though it had a few gems, weren't enough to keep it afloat. Sony's in the unusual place of having a good game machine with (presumably) good games and a few other nicities, to boot.
I had a CDi and it was an okay game machine, comparable to the then-current generation of game machines like the Genesis. I enjoyed Seventh Guest but a reviewer mentioned that the CDi version was too fast and smooth, reducing the creepy nature of the game.
The CDi could have been better, but it seems they could not decide if it was a game machine, a movie player, or an educational machine. It tried to do all three, and only moderately succeeded at each task.
I'm no fan of Sony by any stretch of the imagination, but I have a hard time believing they won't sell at least 10 million units during its lifetime. If any company can do it, it's Sony. Their biggest problem, though, isn't the price tag, it's the competition. Nintendo and Microsoft are going to give them a good hard run for the money.
I strongly agree with the above. Another factor which may drive down sales of the PS3 is the "good enough" factor. I think many people are satisfied with their current game system and may just pass on moving to a next generation console until there is a significant price drop for the PS3. Only an outstanding "must have" game for the PS3 might cause them to go out and pick up the new system right away.
Personally, I think that Tron is shit. As a concept, it's a great idea, technically groundbreaking, but it's poorly executed. It needed more work on the script, and perhaps needed to be a bit darker. In a better Disney period, it could have been a lot better.
Disney could remake it as a great movie. They've got the rights. They've just got some great people on scripts and computers.
I've always thought that TRON's problem is that it came out at a time before most people were familiar with computers. That prevented many viewers from getting some of the references in the movie.
On the subject of remakes and sequels to TRON: A sequel has already been produced in the form of a video game, TRON 2.0 (it was originally to be called TRON - Killer Ap). It features the son of Alan Bradley (TRON's user in the movie) named Jet Bradley who is also pulled into the computer world.
Also, in April 2006 a comic book was released by SLG named TRON. It is a continuation of both the movie and the video game and features a recap on the first page that briefly relates what happened in the movie, the video game, and what happened the characters before the comic book started. The first issue is quite good and it was written by Landry Walker and Eric Jones (both credited as Data Entry), and drawn by Louie De Martinis (credited as Pixels).
Finally, another series that could be considered a continuation or companion to TRON is ReBoot. It is an excellent series that also takes place in a computer world. I see it as what TRON might have been like if it had been done in the 1990s. In fact, Bob in ReBoot comes across as a very TRON-like character.
I'm glad to see how our modern system of copyright creates such innovative new movie offerings! Otherwise, we'ld just see people copying old ideas without making new ones! I'm so glad this movie is fresh and new!
Thank you, copyright law, for enabling such innovative new movies to hit the marketplace!
Sadly, I agree that current laws are preventing new stories from being created. I think it is because so many ideas end up being close to all-ready existing story. This has been a problem for comic books, where it can take years to actually use a new superhero due to the need to avoid legal problems with a new character.
Ironically, if many of today's copyright laws had been in place in the past, Disney could not have been able to make Pinocchio (unless they could get the author's permission) since the original story was less than 60 years old at the time the Disney movie was made.
In my humble opinion, without new material consistently going into the public domain over time, there will be fewer and fewer new stories. The reason: Story ideas will become unusable since they are already locked away by use in still-copyrighted stories.
On the subject of remakes: The Tim Burton Batman was a great movie and Michael Keaton did an excellent job as Batman and (especially) Bruce Wayne. But Batman Begins was an outstanding movie that is the best live-action version of Batman ever made. When a movie is remade, this is what should be striven for, to be the best version ever made, regardless of how good previous versions were. I think the reason that people have been against remakes is that so many of them have been disappointing.
Having recently seen Bewitched, I'm half-expecting a Revenge of the Nerds remake wherein the nerds decide to make their own movie: a Revenge of the Nerds remake! I believe this sad, blatantly derivative state of affairs is exemplary of what they call "postmodernism".
This has already sort of been done. In the third episode of the anime OAV Here Is Greenwood (set in a college dormitory with some very...unusual...residents), the group decides to make a sword and sorcery movie. At the end of the episode they stage a play of another movie called Castle of Cagliostro.
Memo to Hollywood: You got your Revenge of the Nerds remake already. It was called Napoleon Dynamite and it was more awesome than all of the trite remakes of the present century by at least an order of magnitude or two.
It is not so much the remakes that I mind. What I do mind are when the remake removes everything that worked in the original. An example of this is the movie The Stepford Wives. As a horror movie it worked, but remaking it as a comedy did not.
I think another problem is that many things that were allowed in the original movie would not be allowed now. For example: I could not see the original Animal House able to be remade with the same gags as in the original movie. It would be completely toned down by the time it was released.
There was a movie, PCU, that tried to be an updated version of Animal House but it came off as a very timid movie with an attempt to do humor that would not offend anyone in a movie that was touted as one that would offend everyone.
This is the problem I forsee with a remake of Revenge of the Nerds: The remake will have to be watered down to avoid offending people.
The PDA no longer has a role to play. A modern cell phone
Can store hundreds of address entries
Has a calendar facility
Syncs with Outlook etc
Takes pictures
Plays mp3s
Does One-on-one video conferencing
Surfs the net
Runs java
Now what do we need the PDA for? Really? Stop being so backwards, PDA fan boys!
The problems with each of the above on a cell phone is:
The screen is too small
The input method is too awkward for long passages.
Cell phones have their place for many uses, but they are not suitable for others. For example, one of my difficulties in using a PDA as a book reader is the screen is too small. It is not too difficult to use as an e-book reader, just not as good as it could be.
This has been addressed in new PDAs where the screen, on its side, is about as wide as the text area of a paperback book. But due to its size a cell phone is not suitable for use as an e-book reader.
In the same way, I think that a PDA is not suitable for use as a cell phone, unless you use attachments like a headset, due to its size. Also, putting your ear against the cell phone screen is not a good thing to do either.
My preference is to have many devices with each good at a specific task. I think that trying to make a single device that will do everything will end up not being good at any task.
One of the strengths of Palm PDAs is that they are not intended to be used as a separate device, but are supposed to be an extension of your home computer. In this way it is not intended to be able to do it all.
How about something that has the functionality of the older palms:
basic handwriting reco through graffiti or the like
Keeps track of names, phone numbers, basic notes, a todo list
Simple interface
The above items are among the reasons that Palm was a success. They left it up to others to add additional functionality to the device, which they did.
It doesn't even need a color screen, though grayscale would be nice just for legibility reasons.
A 20mhz or so CPU should suffice, if even that much is needed. It would be cool if it could fit in the credit card holder of my wallet (most wallets suck as it is, when you are limited to the subset of wallets that can carry a PDA, it becomes really hard to find a non-cruddy one), and has a week long battery life or some such. Oh yes, and STATIC MEMORY. Honestly, only 4 or so megs are needed.
Actually, I prefer a separate metal hard case for my PDA. Considering the amount of damage that one hard case received during its life time (it looked like it had been through combat with all of the dents, dings, and scratches) while the PDA inside was in perfect condition, it was definitely worth the money.
My old PalmPilot ran for 35 hours on two AAA batteries. It's considered about average for a small laptop to get one-tenth that much before you start strapping giant heavy batteries on all sides of it.
That is one of the problems with the newer PDAs: shorter battery life, combined with non-replaceable batteries. I used to use two sets of rechargable batteries with my Handspring Visor and as long as I changed the batteries every other day I always had plenty of battery power. If my batteries happen to run short, I can easily pick up a replacement set anywhere.
One of the reasons for the shorter battery life on new PDAs is the need for a backlight to view the screens. The old monochrome screens might not have been as nice as the color ones, but I could view them in normal light without the need to turn on the backlight. I now have a Palm T/X and while the screen is great looking, you must use the backlight to view it.
I wish Palm would come out with a monochrome successor to the old Palm Vx (one of the best PDAs they ever came out with) but with a higher resolution screen. The m515 was a good successor but the battery life suffered due to the color screen and its need for a back light.
Anyone who takes planes frequently (i.e. salespeople who tend to own PDAs) might actually benefit from a device with more than 5 hours of battery life.
It is also nice to be able to slip it into your pocket versus a brief case. Plus, I read many e-books and a long battery life is definitely a plus.
The more important point is that governments deal in records that are meant to be more or less permanent, or at minimum long-lived. Proprietary formats exist at the whim of a single supplier -- a software company -- and those suppliers are subject to the whims of the market like any other company.
If I buy some paper from the Bienfang company and write a report on it, that report will still exist and be readable possibly for hundreds of years after Bienfang goes out of business. If Microsoft stops making a word processor or (god forbid) goes out of business, the situation may be different.
This is also an argument for an open data format like ASCII. All of the other current formats might not be readable in 1,000 years, but an ASCII text file should be as accurately readable then as it is now (provided devices can actually access the media it is stored on).
"So what," you say, "just reverse engineer it." But what if, in the intervening years, Microsoft has successfully lobbied for laws that make that a criminal offense? We're talking about future-proofing data here; whether it's implausible is not really the point. The point is that using a closed format introduced risk.
In my opinion that day is already here due to the Digital Millenium Copyright Act. My understanding is that if a software company includes encryption as part of its data formats then it would be illegal to reverse engineer the format because that would require breaking the encryption. If I'm wrong please correct me.
Another, more likely scenario: Microsoft subtly changes its format, or changes the way that newer versions of its software interprets the older format files. The government is forced to upgrade because Microsoft stops supporting the older version of the program, but the newer version does weird things to all those old records when it opens them.
There are various reasons to choose true open formats and standards beyond ideological ones.
ASCII text is an "open data format".. and all word processors support that.
You went for the humor mod, and there's nothing wrong with that, but once you unzip an ODF file, you actually have ASCII text. (Well, strictly, something like utf8-encoded XML files, but notepad/wordpad handles them decently... smart-quotes notwithstanding, but they're evil anyway.;)
That is one of the best features of the OpenDocument format: you can open a file and see what actually is in it. Its being in ASCII text makes it possible to view your data using nothing more than a text editor.
I don't think that the fact that DVD releases are coming out sooner is THE factor in lower theater attendance, the fact that movies will be out on DVD is. Often I've thought of going to the theater to see a movie, and then decided against it since it will be out on DVD, usually within 6 months (with the exception of holiday-related DVDs).
High ticket prices are another factor. The price of DVDs has dropped to the point that I can go to the store and buy a DVD, and I will pay less than I would for a movie ticket and snacks at a local theater. That is just for one person, add in an entire family and the cost of buying a DVD is much less than the cost of going to the theater. Even starker is the difference between the cost a ticket and a movie rental.
Add to this something I've found irritating: The sheer number of non-movie ads before movies. I don't mind trailers, I expect them and look forward to them. But I find the number other types of ads irritating and this has been a factor in me deciding not to see a movie at the theater.
I agree that the sound systems at many people's homes are better than the sound you will get at many movie theaters. I saw Tim Burton's Corpse Bride at a theater and I could barely understand what was being said. I had to wait until it came out on DVD before I could actually understand the dialog in much of the movie.
Another factor is the sheer number of movies that are now available. Current movies in the theaters are competing with movies previously at the theater. A possible thought going through someone's mind when considering going to the theater to see a movie:
I can go to the theater and see (insert name of a recent movie that was bad) or I can buy and watch a classic like The Godfather.
A final factor to mention is stated by this question: Is the movie industry releasing movies that people actually want to see? I'm a fan of anime and for me home video is virtually my only source for anime movies. Often I've found many anime movies better than the live-action movies that have been released.
I'm not sure if it matters if the MS format becomes an ISO first or at the same time. The lines are already drawn. Every software group that produces word processing documents seems to either be using or at least supporting ODF. Who supports Microsoft's format aside from Microsoft? No one right now, and those who do support it will follow microsoft no matter what the outcome of all of this is anyway.
Although others have commented, I will add mine here.
I think that this will be an issue in the adoption of Microsoft's OpenXML format. Using doc as an example, I think that one of the reasons it has been dominant as a word processing format is that people have been able to make their word processors able to read and write doc files. This gives people many options for using the format, including a number of free programs. Based on what I've read on the licensing agreement on Slashdot, this will not be the case with the OpenXML format.
How successful would the doc format have been if the only program that could read and write the files is the current version of Microsoft Word itself? I mean that there are absolutely no other programs (including free programs) able to read and write the files. Based on what I've seen in the past, when the doc format changes, other word processors soon are modified to read and write the new format. This gives users many options for using the new format.
But based on what I've read, unlike with the binary doc format, the only word processor that will be able to read the OpenXML format is Microsoft Word itself. This means a cost of a new word processor or the cost of an upgrade to read the new format, and there will be no other options for using the new format, including no free options.
This will create an added expense for home users to be able to read the files they create at work, unless their company will cover the cost of supplying them with the program for home use. Also, there are a number of users who, for various reasons, will not or cannot use MS Word on their system.
But with the OpenDocument format, there are already several options for reading and writing the files, with more likely in the future. You won't be tied to a single program. I think that will be a strong factor in its favor.
Slashdot Mirror
OldBus wrote and included with a post:
I respectfully disagree. For many tasks I found DOS much easier to work with than Windows and it didn't require near the amount of computing power that the graphical environments do. It allowed me to customize my system in a way that works efficiently for me (such as accessing any program on my system with two keystrokes). Also, actions that take me many mouse clicks to accomplish in a graphical environment can be accomplished with a single command via batch files.
One thing I hope that is added to Windows is a full and complete command-line interface as an alternative to the graphical interface. This is one of the reasons that I'm considering moving to Linux; I can choose (1) the way I want to interface with the system and (2) the look and feel of the graphical interface.
On the subject of making Windows less complicated, I think one way to do it is to take many of the programs that have been integrated into the Windows operating system and make then completely separate programs. One of the reasons that the older Palm PDAs worked so well is that they programmers kept the applications built into the OS to a limited number. They left it to others to provide applications not in the OS.
Thanks for reading.
I agree that Destroy All Humans is pretty funny, especially if you are familiar with the 1950s alien invasion movies (the opening looks like could have come right out of Plan 9 From Outer Space). The game also takes a shot at the stereotypical 1950s USA.
One truly funny game that was didn't seem to get much attention is Brain Dead 13. It is a game in the style of Dragon's Lair and the hero is a computer repairman, who is called in by a mad scientist to repair his computer system (he fixes it with a wad of gum), and must escape from the castle. Among the challenges is Vivi's Beauty Salon where, for example, you get can get a manicure...with a hatchet.
I'm a StarOffice 8 user. In response to this thread I opened up StarOffice to see what the default macro settings are. I've not changed them since installing StarOffice so it should be set to the default.
Checking Macro Security (under Tools - Options - StarOffice - Security - Macro Security...) it was set for Medium. Medium requires manual confirmation before executing macros from untrusted sources. I checked my trusted sources list and found none listed.
This indicates to me that with my macro security set to medium a macro will not run unless I choose to run it. Unless I am wrong, only people who set Macro Security to Low (indicated as Not Recommended) would be endangered from incoming macros since they would run without confirmation.
BrokenHalo wrote as part of a post:
I agree. It seems that downloaded compressed audio files have a limited life span. But by buying the CD, you have "bought it once, have it forever."
It also offers the advantage of having proof that you have purchased the music. When it comes to songs you ripped on your iPod, having the CD itself provides hard proof (better than a receipt) that you actually purchased the music.
This is another advantage of buying the CD: You can choose your encoding method. You can even choose not to compress your music if you choose not to, not an option when you buy a compressed music file.
Of course, there is always the option of playing the actual disc. Unlike with many compressed formats, CD is not tied to a specific brand of player. and it will not be rendered obsolete via an "upgrade."
grahammm wrote:
There is a precedence for this: Quadraphonic. At its height there were seven incompatible formats for quad and this ended up killing the format.
The experience of quad is a reason that CD came out in a single format, although many formats were proposed. Unfortunately the lesson was not learned with video tape, resulting in a format war.
Unfortunately, in format war there are usually only losers. Although the losing company loses, the winning company loses too because of the cost of winning for war, money that could have been spent to improve the technology. Finally, many consumers lose because they chose the wrong format to go with.
Red Alastor wrote:
I've read of this being done on some discs for this reason (to make copying harder). Essentially, it means the disc is relying on the error-correction ability of the player itself to compensate for intentional errors on the disc.
Due to this the player essentially has to guess what the correct information is, and it reduces the sound accuracy of the audio (since it is guessing, how can we be sure that it is guessing correctly?). In the audio book of Being Digital by Nicholas Negroponte, he mentions that a large amount of the data on a music CD is there for the purpose of error correction.
I see the unlocked nature of the CD format as a reason that it will survive for the foreseeable future. From what I can see, all future audio/video/gaming formats are going to highly locked down with copy protection, and this will be a strong disincentive for people to move to a new format.
Another disincentive is the "good enough" factor. I think that for the average consumer the sound quality of CD is good enough. As shown by the success of compressed audio formats, many people find that sound quality that is less than CD is acceptable for their use.
Red Alastor wrote and included with the post:
I have checked the discs for the official CD logo, and on some discs it is not there. I agree that that having the logo on the CD would be a great help, as long as it means the disc is in complete compliance with the Red Book Standard for CDs. If it is on CDs that are not in compliance with that standard, then the value of the logo is degraded.
Although the CD logo might be left off of the cover for artistic purposes, I wonder if the UPC was also left off of the disc too for the same reason. I pulled a few discs from my collection and found that many of them did not have the official logo even though there was plenty of room for it, and it would not have disrupted the art design.
What would help is if the official logo was put on a specific place on Red Book CDs. A good place would be on the lower right corner of the back cover. It would not have to be large, just be there. It could even be a selling point for the disc, telling us "This disc is safe for use."
hlee wrote as part of a post:
I'm not an expert, but it seems part of the difficulty could be reduced by using standard file formats. For example, a rule could be established that you can use any program you choose for word processing, but the files must be saved in one format that is available to everyone. An example of this could be RTF which, as far as I know, is a format that all word processors can read and write and provides reasonable compatability.
To make it even more workable, it could be established that only a set number of features are allowed in documents, again features available to all users. An example of this would be to mandate direct formatting on all documents instead of the use of style sheets.
By doing the above, word processors ranging from freeware all the way up to the expensive high-power programs could be used read and write the same files within an organization. Some people might choose a word processor with no macro capability to negate the risk of macro viruses, while others might opt for a more powerful program.
Just my thoughts.
jacksonj04 wrote:
For me, this has become the saddest thing about the whole situation. I used to have confidence that a music CD was safe to use on all devices that could play standard CDs, whether it was a stand-alone player, a portable, or a computer. Due to this, I could walk into any CD store and, on impulse, by a CD without concern.
Since finding out about the problem with copy protection, I have stopped purchasing new music CDs. Now, when I pickup a music CD my first thought after seeing if it is an artist that I like is: "Is this disc safe?" My reaction to the question has been to put the CD back on the rack and leave it there because I'm not confident that I can answer 'Yes' to the question. I have already passed on buying at least five recent discs because of this.
It is sad, but I may just have to settle for the music I already have since I don't want to purchase music in a compressed format. Due to this, I guess I will have to do research on any disc I wish to purchase to ensure that it is safe before I can buy it.
On impulse purchases of CDs, to quote Eric Carmen from "All By Myself:" Those days are gone.
Holmesey wrote:
I think another factor working against UMD is the PSP itself. I don't have one myself, but from what I've read on line the battery life of the PSP is just long enough to watch a single movie. That would basically mean having to have a charged battery for each movie I want to watch.
I agree with other posters in that I already own the movie on DVD, and if I want to watch the movie on my PSP I would need to buy it again. There is also the problem that, as far as I know, the PSP is the only device that can play UMDs (please correct me if I'm wrong).
Having previous purchased CDi, DCC, and Minidisc, I am concerned about going for a format that will soon die. I've been burned too many times to take another risk. That is why I'm going to stay with regular DVD until one of the new formats has won its war, THEN I will consider going with it.
Question to ponder: CD was a massive improvement over the LP and 45 in terms of time and easy of use. DVD was a massive improvement over VHS; and an improvement over laserdisc, in the same way. Will the improvement of Blu-Ray and DVD-HD be as big an improvement as the two above listed format upgrades?
k12linux wrote and included with a post:
This was a big problem with documents received by my office. We used to deal with documents that had to be the same at both the sender and receiver (as in there could be absolutely no differences between a file printed at our office and one printed by the sender).
We ended up having the sender to print the document and then FAX it to us for review. Once approved, the sender would print the document at his/her location and send it to us via the mail. This was the only way we had available to ensure what we received was exactly what the sender sent.
Nowadays, this problem might be overcome by the use of PDFs. It avoids the problems created by the differences between different computer systems.
omeomi wrote:
The reason for the closing right slash is due to a rule in XHTML that all opening tags must have a closing tag, without exception. The above "br" tag with the right slash allows it to act as its own closing tag, and a closing right slash is required for all single tags, including hr.
One advantage of the strict rules of XHTML is that web browsers won't have to go through the guesswork that is necessary with HTML due to tagging that doesn't adhere to W3C standards. Due to the strict rules of XHTML, it is easier for a program to properly generate a webpage. In fact, it would be possible to generate a standards-compliant webpage without having to edit the actual text of a webpage.
Overly Critical Guy wrote:
Another factor that worked against Beta was features. When I was shopping for my first VCR in the early 1980s, the best Beta VCR I could find in my price range could record one event over three days. For the same price, I could buy a VHS VCR that could record four events over 2 weeks.
Although the ability to record 8 hours on a tape was important, the price of the tapes was a significant factor too. A Beta tape that could record for 4.5 hours cost as much as a VHS tape that could record for 6 hours.
MobileTatsu-NJG wrote and included with a post:
I had a CDi and it was an okay game machine, comparable to the then-current generation of game machines like the Genesis. I enjoyed Seventh Guest but a reviewer mentioned that the CDi version was too fast and smooth, reducing the creepy nature of the game.
The CDi could have been better, but it seems they could not decide if it was a game machine, a movie player, or an educational machine. It tried to do all three, and only moderately succeeded at each task.
I strongly agree with the above. Another factor which may drive down sales of the PS3 is the "good enough" factor. I think many people are satisfied with their current game system and may just pass on moving to a next generation console until there is a significant price drop for the PS3. Only an outstanding "must have" game for the PS3 might cause them to go out and pick up the new system right away.
16K Ram Pack wrote
I've always thought that TRON's problem is that it came out at a time before most people were familiar with computers. That prevented many viewers from getting some of the references in the movie.
On the subject of remakes and sequels to TRON: A sequel has already been produced in the form of a video game, TRON 2.0 (it was originally to be called TRON - Killer Ap). It features the son of Alan Bradley (TRON's user in the movie) named Jet Bradley who is also pulled into the computer world.
Also, in April 2006 a comic book was released by SLG named TRON. It is a continuation of both the movie and the video game and features a recap on the first page that briefly relates what happened in the movie, the video game, and what happened the characters before the comic book started. The first issue is quite good and it was written by Landry Walker and Eric Jones (both credited as Data Entry), and drawn by Louie De Martinis (credited as Pixels).
Finally, another series that could be considered a continuation or companion to TRON is ReBoot. It is an excellent series that also takes place in a computer world. I see it as what TRON might have been like if it had been done in the 1990s. In fact, Bob in ReBoot comes across as a very TRON-like character.
Anonymous Coward wrote:
Sadly, I agree that current laws are preventing new stories from being created. I think it is because so many ideas end up being close to all-ready existing story. This has been a problem for comic books, where it can take years to actually use a new superhero due to the need to avoid legal problems with a new character.
Ironically, if many of today's copyright laws had been in place in the past, Disney could not have been able to make Pinocchio (unless they could get the author's permission) since the original story was less than 60 years old at the time the Disney movie was made.
In my humble opinion, without new material consistently going into the public domain over time, there will be fewer and fewer new stories. The reason: Story ideas will become unusable since they are already locked away by use in still-copyrighted stories.
On the subject of remakes: The Tim Burton Batman was a great movie and Michael Keaton did an excellent job as Batman and (especially) Bruce Wayne. But Batman Begins was an outstanding movie that is the best live-action version of Batman ever made. When a movie is remade, this is what should be striven for, to be the best version ever made, regardless of how good previous versions were. I think the reason that people have been against remakes is that so many of them have been disappointing.
BitwizeGHC wrote:
This has already sort of been done. In the third episode of the anime OAV Here Is Greenwood (set in a college dormitory with some very...unusual...residents), the group decides to make a sword and sorcery movie. At the end of the episode they stage a play of another movie called Castle of Cagliostro.
It is not so much the remakes that I mind. What I do mind are when the remake removes everything that worked in the original. An example of this is the movie The Stepford Wives. As a horror movie it worked, but remaking it as a comedy did not.
I think another problem is that many things that were allowed in the original movie would not be allowed now. For example: I could not see the original Animal House able to be remade with the same gags as in the original movie. It would be completely toned down by the time it was released.
There was a movie, PCU, that tried to be an updated version of Animal House but it came off as a very timid movie with an attempt to do humor that would not offend anyone in a movie that was touted as one that would offend everyone.
This is the problem I forsee with a remake of Revenge of the Nerds: The remake will have to be watered down to avoid offending people.
elrous0 wrote:
Recently I read that the ZAZ Team's next effort is going to be a movie that parodies recent superhero movies.
The problems with each of the above on a cell phone is:
Cell phones have their place for many uses, but they are not suitable for others. For example, one of my difficulties in using a PDA as a book reader is the screen is too small. It is not too difficult to use as an e-book reader, just not as good as it could be.
This has been addressed in new PDAs where the screen, on its side, is about as wide as the text area of a paperback book. But due to its size a cell phone is not suitable for use as an e-book reader.
In the same way, I think that a PDA is not suitable for use as a cell phone, unless you use attachments like a headset, due to its size. Also, putting your ear against the cell phone screen is not a good thing to do either.
My preference is to have many devices with each good at a specific task. I think that trying to make a single device that will do everything will end up not being good at any task.
One of the strengths of Palm PDAs is that they are not intended to be used as a separate device, but are supposed to be an extension of your home computer. In this way it is not intended to be able to do it all.
Com2Kid wrote:
The above items are among the reasons that Palm was a success. They left it up to others to add additional functionality to the device, which they did.
Actually, I prefer a separate metal hard case for my PDA. Considering the amount of damage that one hard case received during its life time (it looked like it had been through combat with all of the dents, dings, and scratches) while the PDA inside was in perfect condition, it was definitely worth the money.
A good price for a basic PDA.
generic-man wrote:
That is one of the problems with the newer PDAs: shorter battery life, combined with non-replaceable batteries. I used to use two sets of rechargable batteries with my Handspring Visor and as long as I changed the batteries every other day I always had plenty of battery power. If my batteries happen to run short, I can easily pick up a replacement set anywhere.
One of the reasons for the shorter battery life on new PDAs is the need for a backlight to view the screens. The old monochrome screens might not have been as nice as the color ones, but I could view them in normal light without the need to turn on the backlight. I now have a Palm T/X and while the screen is great looking, you must use the backlight to view it.
I wish Palm would come out with a monochrome successor to the old Palm Vx (one of the best PDAs they ever came out with) but with a higher resolution screen. The m515 was a good successor but the battery life suffered due to the color screen and its need for a back light.
It is also nice to be able to slip it into your pocket versus a brief case. Plus, I read many e-books and a long battery life is definitely a plus.
This is also an argument for an open data format like ASCII. All of the other current formats might not be readable in 1,000 years, but an ASCII text file should be as accurately readable then as it is now (provided devices can actually access the media it is stored on).
In my opinion that day is already here due to the Digital Millenium Copyright Act. My understanding is that if a software company includes encryption as part of its data formats then it would be illegal to reverse engineer the format because that would require breaking the encryption. If I'm wrong please correct me.
Thanks for your time.
slide-rule wrote:
That is one of the best features of the OpenDocument format: you can open a file and see what actually is in it. Its being in ASCII text makes it possible to view your data using nothing more than a text editor.
I don't think that the fact that DVD releases are coming out sooner is THE factor in lower theater attendance, the fact that movies will be out on DVD is. Often I've thought of going to the theater to see a movie, and then decided against it since it will be out on DVD, usually within 6 months (with the exception of holiday-related DVDs).
High ticket prices are another factor. The price of DVDs has dropped to the point that I can go to the store and buy a DVD, and I will pay less than I would for a movie ticket and snacks at a local theater. That is just for one person, add in an entire family and the cost of buying a DVD is much less than the cost of going to the theater. Even starker is the difference between the cost a ticket and a movie rental.
Add to this something I've found irritating: The sheer number of non-movie ads before movies. I don't mind trailers, I expect them and look forward to them. But I find the number other types of ads irritating and this has been a factor in me deciding not to see a movie at the theater.
I agree that the sound systems at many people's homes are better than the sound you will get at many movie theaters. I saw Tim Burton's Corpse Bride at a theater and I could barely understand what was being said. I had to wait until it came out on DVD before I could actually understand the dialog in much of the movie.
Another factor is the sheer number of movies that are now available. Current movies in the theaters are competing with movies previously at the theater. A possible thought going through someone's mind when considering going to the theater to see a movie:
A final factor to mention is stated by this question: Is the movie industry releasing movies that people actually want to see? I'm a fan of anime and for me home video is virtually my only source for anime movies. Often I've found many anime movies better than the live-action movies that have been released.
Thanks for reading.
archen wrote as part of a post:
Although others have commented, I will add mine here.
I think that this will be an issue in the adoption of Microsoft's OpenXML format. Using doc as an example, I think that one of the reasons it has been dominant as a word processing format is that people have been able to make their word processors able to read and write doc files. This gives people many options for using the format, including a number of free programs. Based on what I've read on the licensing agreement on Slashdot, this will not be the case with the OpenXML format.
How successful would the doc format have been if the only program that could read and write the files is the current version of Microsoft Word itself? I mean that there are absolutely no other programs (including free programs) able to read and write the files. Based on what I've seen in the past, when the doc format changes, other word processors soon are modified to read and write the new format. This gives users many options for using the new format.
But based on what I've read, unlike with the binary doc format, the only word processor that will be able to read the OpenXML format is Microsoft Word itself. This means a cost of a new word processor or the cost of an upgrade to read the new format, and there will be no other options for using the new format, including no free options.
This will create an added expense for home users to be able to read the files they create at work, unless their company will cover the cost of supplying them with the program for home use. Also, there are a number of users who, for various reasons, will not or cannot use MS Word on their system.
But with the OpenDocument format, there are already several options for reading and writing the files, with more likely in the future. You won't be tied to a single program. I think that will be a strong factor in its favor.