To be quite frank, this is only to close loopholes in the law that DDoSers use to escape punishment - more a formality than anything else. Hacking into computers is still quite a legal grey area in many countries - people who steal bank details through phishing or other means would be prosecuted under theft laws, for example. Technically speaking, under current law in Sweden and previously in the UK, DDoS could not have been considered damaging or theft by law, as no hardware damage was caused and nothing was stolen. You could technically bring a civil case for loss of income, but that is so cumbersome and time-consuming that a shorter way needed to be found - ergo, this.
As far as I know the entire OS will be on a flash ROM in any case, so switching that won't be an issue. However, if they include the possibility of booting from USB or CD-ROM, that might be a different story altogether...
It's a crying shame that AutoPackage is now going the way of the dodo. Heck, if I had the time to learn it I'd package my games in that format. Hearn is right - also, most developers, being techie-minded are still too attached to the.tar.gz method of distribution and leaving binary distribution as an afterthought, usually just chucking out the odd rpm or deb file which is pretty soon horribly outdated. I've not seen many AutoPackaged programs but I updated my aMSN yesterday with it and I just loved it - the way it explains what it's doing, its look, everything.
There's nothing fundamentally wrong with rpm and deb. I can't speak for Slack's TGZ or Gentoo's Emerge because I've never used them, but as I understand it they are frustratingly difficult for beginners to use. RPM and DEB, when implemented well, are extremely easy to use - double click, enter root or sudo password, click install - done. Even easier than Windows. The problem is that people tend to tie RPMs and DEBs to rather exotic dependencies which means that they only tend to work on one version of one distro.
There's other methods too - BitRock (which is free of charge for GPL projects) and Loki Installer (which seems to be the exclusive domain of games, although I see no reason why it can't be applied to serious apps too) are two excellent efforts which really deserve more attention.
Optional is relative in this case. A games publisher can indeed decide to pass on getting an ESRB certificate, but then they kiss goodbye to any chance of commercial success as most retailers won't stock it. Like movies - you don't have to get a MPAA certificate, but theaters won't show it if you don't have one.
Seriously though, I don't see how that (or any) legislation has anything to bear in this case. The MPAA regulates films, the ESRB regulates games. Age ratings are something that video game retailers and movie theaters have always taken seriously, despite the fact that this might now become law.
Even in countries like Canada, the UK, Germany and US which claim to treasure free speech, there's always some kind of pressure to suppress critics of those in power. In countries like the above, but especially the UK and US, suppression of free speech isn't carried out by governments as such, but by huge commercial entities, who threaten people exercising free speech rights with libel or slandel lawsuits.
As someone who works in journalism (not a gaming rag though) I know the laziness that sometimes permeates through the industry. Mostly these previews are just rehashed press releases and the screenshots have been ready-completed by the publisher, and generally look far better than the game actually does (Age of Empires III anyone?)
I'd love to know what happened to the "investigative" reporting that made this profession so great instead of acting as a free marketing channel for these companies?
I thought I'd never do this, but I'm going to have to side with Microsoft on this one. As evil and restrictive as their DRM is, it does actually work. Napster made the critical mistake of trying to dictate to the customers what they want instead of actually listening to what customers want. Time after time I read articles written by Gorog and co. with the ridiculous attempts to justify a subscription model that was doomed to failure from day one. The funniest one by far was the "you never really own your music" argument (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4165868. stm).
Slashdot Mirror
To be quite frank, this is only to close loopholes in the law that DDoSers use to escape punishment - more a formality than anything else. Hacking into computers is still quite a legal grey area in many countries - people who steal bank details through phishing or other means would be prosecuted under theft laws, for example. Technically speaking, under current law in Sweden and previously in the UK, DDoS could not have been considered damaging or theft by law, as no hardware damage was caused and nothing was stolen. You could technically bring a civil case for loss of income, but that is so cumbersome and time-consuming that a shorter way needed to be found - ergo, this.
As far as I know the entire OS will be on a flash ROM in any case, so switching that won't be an issue. However, if they include the possibility of booting from USB or CD-ROM, that might be a different story altogether...
It's a crying shame that AutoPackage is now going the way of the dodo. Heck, if I had the time to learn it I'd package my games in that format. Hearn is right - also, most developers, being techie-minded are still too attached to the .tar.gz method of distribution and leaving binary distribution as an afterthought, usually just chucking out the odd rpm or deb file which is pretty soon horribly outdated. I've not seen many AutoPackaged programs but I updated my aMSN yesterday with it and I just loved it - the way it explains what it's doing, its look, everything.
There's nothing fundamentally wrong with rpm and deb. I can't speak for Slack's TGZ or Gentoo's Emerge because I've never used them, but as I understand it they are frustratingly difficult for beginners to use. RPM and DEB, when implemented well, are extremely easy to use - double click, enter root or sudo password, click install - done. Even easier than Windows. The problem is that people tend to tie RPMs and DEBs to rather exotic dependencies which means that they only tend to work on one version of one distro.
There's other methods too - BitRock (which is free of charge for GPL projects) and Loki Installer (which seems to be the exclusive domain of games, although I see no reason why it can't be applied to serious apps too) are two excellent efforts which really deserve more attention.
Optional is relative in this case. A games publisher can indeed decide to pass on getting an ESRB certificate, but then they kiss goodbye to any chance of commercial success as most retailers won't stock it. Like movies - you don't have to get a MPAA certificate, but theaters won't show it if you don't have one.
"And with the Indian tribes?"
Seriously though, I don't see how that (or any) legislation has anything to bear in this case. The MPAA regulates films, the ESRB regulates games. Age ratings are something that video game retailers and movie theaters have always taken seriously, despite the fact that this might now become law.
"To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes;" Needs updating.
Even in countries like Canada, the UK, Germany and US which claim to treasure free speech, there's always some kind of pressure to suppress critics of those in power. In countries like the above, but especially the UK and US, suppression of free speech isn't carried out by governments as such, but by huge commercial entities, who threaten people exercising free speech rights with libel or slandel lawsuits.
As someone who works in journalism (not a gaming rag though) I know the laziness that sometimes permeates through the industry. Mostly these previews are just rehashed press releases and the screenshots have been ready-completed by the publisher, and generally look far better than the game actually does (Age of Empires III anyone?) I'd love to know what happened to the "investigative" reporting that made this profession so great instead of acting as a free marketing channel for these companies?
*Sticks his hand up enthusiastically* Thank God we're moving to MySQL.
I thought I'd never do this, but I'm going to have to side with Microsoft on this one. As evil and restrictive as their DRM is, it does actually work. Napster made the critical mistake of trying to dictate to the customers what they want instead of actually listening to what customers want. Time after time I read articles written by Gorog and co. with the ridiculous attempts to justify a subscription model that was doomed to failure from day one. The funniest one by far was the "you never really own your music" argument (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4165868. stm).