Somebody's confused about the difference between "an internet" and "The Internet".
So this guy wants a Wide Area Intranet?
WTF, we already have this. A private business I can pay an ISP to connect my offices in a manner that they never touch the internet. Traffic between my offices would never leave the ISP's routing network.
One thing that *disadvantaged* large stacks is that barely killing one unit would kill the whole stack
Not in CIV IV, one unit would kill one unit in a stack (maybe damage others). The real killer was that artillery units had to be scarified to attack (not in CIV III) so in order to weaken a stack, you had to sacrifice expensive and slow moving units.
I played the demo last night, they are treating archers units as ranged attackers, so they can bombard/attack from 2 tiles back. Haven't seen how they defend against melee units yet.
Essentially, they call their customers suckers after taking away access to the games they chose to pay GOG money for
None of my GOG games stopped working, neither did the installers I'd downloaded previously. If GOG had of gone under, I'd still have all the games I purchased from them.
This certainly matches with the usual playbook of corporate non-apologies
Actually it's a quite good analogy to DRM, with a flick of a switch we can deny you access to what it yours. At least with GOG, I can download the installer and never worry about GOG.com again.
Say what you want about Steam's DRM model
Ahhh, you show your true colours. I'm not an enemy of steam, I've reluctantly accepted it as the nicest form of DRM but that really makes it the equivalent of the nicest form of AIDS. DRM is still DRM no matter how much useful functionality you wrap around it.
they don't have this level of open contempt for their customers (yet)
"yet" being the operative word here. With a single keystroke Valve can revoke access to all my Steam and Steamworks games, for me that's about 6 as Steam is my last choice for buying games (GOG, Impulse, Store). All we have is Valve's promise that they wont, Valve may be one of the least evil media companies but a promise is worth the paper it's written on.
I'd seriously reconsider any titles I had associated with these jokers if I were ever looking to publish.
I wouldn't. If GOG go out of business, I'm free to negotiate a new publishing deal.
As a customer, I'm glad I dont need to install yet another downloader on my PC, have to go through activation or be online when I play games. I just download the.exe file and viola, I have that game for life.
I disagree. I think users only use flash for the exact same reasons they use silverlight.
Whilst this is true to some extent, a lot of the time it's because they go to a service that is delivered via flash because they want to use that service (such as YouTube). This is a little bit different to MS trying to force you to install Silverlight to access the XP powertools.
And I can tell you that 100% of IT departments would not want to have to deal with either flash OR silverlight given the chance.
As a sysadmin I agree, as a regular (home) user I'd like to use flash based services. The problem is that End Users will squeal very loudly if they dont get flash and the ever popular cry of "IT Nazi" is bandied about, if I could nullify that I'd get rid of flash in an instant on my network.
The default Aero interface is far, far more minimalist than the fisher-price horror that was XP
Minimalist means fewer UI elements, not more. Windows 7 has at least 2x the UI elements on it's most basic settings, more on its default settings.
fisher-price
All this proves is that you didn't like the default colour scheme, that does not make it bad. With XP it is easy to go back to the old Windows 2000 style interface with Vista/7 it's not so easy.
I would guess what happened with you is you have a non standard install
WTF, the Windows VLK disk is non standard, this isn't just one machine. I've deployed Win 7 across our entire business (40 PC's). Get a clue, get a fresh Win 7 install and fresh Win XP install, run a processor intensive game like Crysis or any benchmark and watch the framerates.
*Teh scan and fix thing only comes up if you use flash drives under both linux and windows.
And brand new flash drives, and portable disks formatted to NTFS (because Vfat has a 120 GB limit). I haven't had a USB mass storage device that hasn't asked for scan and fix.
*UI demands more attention? What? Have you tried Ubuntu recently?
Yes, and I'd complain about the Action Centre popping up every 20 minutes with some kind of obscure warning, a popup telling me there are new wireless networks ever 20 seconds until I disable the Wireless NIC, or about SUDO disabling all other functions behind it except Ubuntu doesn't do any of that, Windows 7 does. Have you used Ubuntu lately?
*No important utilities are hidden at all. You're just ignorant.
And you didn't read my post, I didn't say they were hidden, I said they were hidden behind bad and useless wizards. Kindly get a clue.
Wrap your mind over the fact that Video Cards and Games have a ONE TO MANY relationship.
SHOCK HORROR, it's unheard of that a video card can be used for multiple games.
Perhaps even more shocking that people who know they like to play games plan in advance when they buy a computer. I buy 2 games a month (a bit more but I'll keep the numbers low for you) I have a A$600 video card, per game over a 24 month period that's... A$12.5 per game (this ignores all the other things I use my PC for as well).
You haven't quite gotten this whole economics thing have you. Costs may be immediate, but they are amortised across the entire lifetime this is why businesses and people who understand money PLAN AHEAD.
if you will not really use that hw for anything else.
Well then you're choice is not to buy the game (or even pirate it) but that's your choice. I fail to see why I should be held in a graphical dark age because you are too cheap to fork out for a card that is capable of playing the game you are whining about.
Bollocks to that. I went from XP to 7 at work and now having 2 VM's running at once makes my entire system chug (E6600, 4 GB RAM, 2 windows VM's should run fine). 7 is only fast if you're doing nothing with it, utter shite resource management.
* More options,
If I want to change my network settings I have to navigate through 7 "helpful" windows wizards before being able to manually set my IP address. No Windows, I dont need you to diagnose the problem, I know the problem. What's that, you want me to contact my Systems Administrator, I AM THE SYSTEMS ADMINISTRATOR.
* More robust, flexible & userfriendly install.
Nothing wrong with the Windows 7 install, apart from the fact it installs Windows 7.
* Support
Clearly the GP has never tried to contact Microsft support. As an enterprise customer they've been nothing but useless.
* UAE security
Well you may consider United Arab Emirates security to be good but it's not what I look for in an OS. Introducing Windows Dubai, Burka edition.
it's not as annoying as on Vista
Its just as annoying, the only differnce is I can copy a file with just one UAC popup, not three. Still occurs far too often and takes over whatever I am doing.
* Better driver support than Vista
Win 7 default drivers for Asus and Gigabyte motherboards are atrocious, if they haven't published drivers for Vista or 7 for your board forget about upgrading.
Now for the problems
* Uses more system resources. Running VMware or playing games is severely affected.
* USB Storage is more painful. Not just the "scan and fix" dialouge with each USB Drive but I installed the Android SDK and now it refuses to recongise my milestone as a Mass Storage device (only computer in the lab that does this)
* UI demands more attention, default settings are painful.
* Important system config utilities are hidden behind bad and useless wizard.
If they can get DX 11 working OK on Linux, I'll ditch Windows 7.
That assumes the idiots are adequate-to-good shots.
This assumes they have a limited supply of ammunition. Even if they have trouble hitting the wide side of a barn the more ammo they have the greater the probability that they will hit something important becomes.
Guns are supported by many on the left in American politics. We even have the Pink Pistols, a gay pro-gun group ("Armed gays don't get bashed"), and the NRA has endorsed many Democratic candidates based on their pro-gun stance.
This to me illustrates the problem with gun culture in America. You should not need to be armed just to feel safe, not in a first world nation of educated people with a fair justice system.
And I say this as an Australian who is pro-gun ownership. But I realise there are moron's out there who shouldn't be armed, rather then banning guns we should be registering them and licensing owners so they know how to use and care for their firearms properly (like we do with auto licenses) as well as spotting the odd lunatic. I'd actually like to see the ban on weapons lifted a little in Australia and the licensing restrictions clamped down on. If we make an automatic rifle license expensive and restrictive it will be just as effective as the current assault rifle ban (which has been damned effective) whilst not affecting anyone who really wants one.
That being said, guns are not tools, they are weapons and that is their sole purpose. This does not make them intrinsically bad but it does change the way society should look at them. I agree in principal with the right to own guns but it should not be worshipped in the same way as it is in the US. The US needs to fix it's gun culture, laws are part of this but it's more about changing the idea that guns are solutions.
Holding them up ? Oh dear. For how many minutes ? Perhaps a day ?
You mean how Norwegian resistance fighters blew up the heavy water plant at Vemork, Norway because that effectively terminated the Axis' nuclear program, or Operation Anthropoid. Lets not forget the Viet Cong who effectively proved a relatively untrained guerrilla force could hold and defeat a larger, better armed force.
There were, as even you yourself imply in your first statement, limited attacks against German interests, and unguarded shipping lines.
Of course we have to ignore Operation Overloard, the Battle in the Ardennes, Caen, The battle of Britain, El Alamein (one and two), Tobruk and many more where Allied forces went head to head with Axis forces and won. Limited attacks indeed, an Australian force held Rommel back from Tobruk for months, El Alamein was fought over 18 days and what about Patton's push to liberate France? These are just the big ones.
And attacks in Russia don't count, for obvious reasons.
What reasons. Kursk, Stalingrad? Were these not real battles.
Hitler got within 300 KM's of Moscow, it took another 2 years to completely expell German forces form Russia.
You're education in WWII is seriously lacking.
You realise that America is the longest existing democracy right
You realise that America is not even a country, or that the United States of America is not a democracy (it's a republic). Further more that England has had the same parliamentary system (westminster system) which has had equal or greater power then the crown since 1701. In addition to this they've had a parliamentary system since the 1200's. But the oldest representative system still in existence by far is in Iceland, the Althing was established by the Vikings in 930 AD, which predates the American revolution by almost 850 years.
The US military will split halfway between the government and the people in any such conflict. For one thing, the military's trained to never deploy against Americans; the disruption caused by illegal orders against tyrants and terrorists already causes breakdowns in chain of command,
An army of any nation will resist the order to fire against it's own people. This is why certain un-democratic nations maintain a paramilitary force such as Iran's republican guard or Saudi Arabia's religious police. Proper tyrants don't rely on regular armies, the KGB and Nazi Germany's SS are prime examples.
$100 is the price for a 9800 equivalent in a desktop (sorry, I made the mistake of assuming you were smart enough to figure that out on your own).
If you have trouble meeting the Civ V minimum specifications, you will have trouble affording the game.
that costs only $100 more than the equivalent system with integrated graphics. I double and triple dare you.
Here you go and these are Australian prices, which due to the Indian-Pacific Price Dilation Field are significantly higher then US prices despite the AUD fetching 0.95 USD today. Look between option two and three, same proc, different GPU, A$115 in it. Also that's a geforce 310, a bit more advanced then an old 9800.
Also, consider how railroads make it almost too easy to move invading troops around; I wonder what they did about that.
In Civ IV they reduced that bonus to a max of 10 movements per turn.
The one unit per spot thing could prevent abuses/skews that came with huge piles of units in one place
I agree, there were better ways to deal with the "stack o' doom" issue such as applying negative buffs to large stacks (increased chance of hitting your own unit instead, reduction in firepower/HP, make multiple units vulnerable to damage from regular weapons and so forth). I haven't played the demo but I can imagine rather then having a "stack o' doom" you could have a "wall o' doom" as you just line up units behind each other.
Go ask a developer/publisher (Stardock has talked about this, as they do both). Retail still outsells online by a large margin.
I believe the ratio is 4:1 Retail/Digital. I think I've read the same interview with Wardell as you have. Not a bad ratio considering how new digital distribution is.
As to why it is taking longer to get to retail there, that's the real question. Did they fuck up the shipping? Were the EU retailers pushing for a later date? Was there some EU reg they and to deal with?
Nope, nope and nope.
We have the same problem in Australia. It comes down to:
First, the publishers. They decide when each market gets what, they also prioritise shipments. Distributors in AU and EU already have Civ V but the publishers will punish anyone who breaks the release date.
Second, production. Asia region disks will be pressed in Singapore or Thailand, North American disks in Mexico. This allows the publisher to have a very coarse control over shipping dates.
Thrid, local distributors. Publishers make deals with local distributors, they get a say in the timetable.
For the most part, it's because publishers only press a limited number of disks and for some strange reason the US gets first dibs. Retailers hardly get a say, it's the publisher and distributors who decide this. I can order a US disk from Hong Kong today, but I have to wait until Friday to get an Aisa region disk (which is A$11 cheaper). Some publishers do world wide releases, such as StarCraft II.
What reason is there to release the game 3 days later in Europe?
It's because you have all the good early game wonders.
Same in Asia/Oceania. I consider it retribution for having a better nation.
In all seriousness. I could order the US version for A$60 from Hong Kong but I'd rather wait until Friday and get the Asia version for A$50 (local price is A$90).
The specifications are Core i3 + integrated or A geforce 8 series or greater. That's 4 generations ago, We bought A$1400 laptops with Geforce 9xxxM GPU's, so they are pretty common as are GT1xx GPU's. Core i3's have been out for months. I'd be surprised if any laptop in the last 3 years with a dedicated GPU couldn't run it. If you're a gamer that needs to run a laptop you will have a dedicated GPU.
Compared to a lot of games, these specs are very very light. Hell, their recommended specification is a Geforce 9800.
If a $100 GPU is beyond your budget, then a $50 game is too.
Firewire is only dead if you have never worked in the pro-video industry
By the same token, Floppy drives are dead if you've never worked in the Server Administration industry...
Which one is bigger?
Apple *still* has Firewire
But *no one* else does. Contrary to your beliefs, Apple does not define standards, FireWire is dead except in the minds of a few obscure fanboys. eSata has almost completely replaced Firewire in every capacity that USB could not. It's only a matter of time before Firewire joins the LPT port (for most of us, it already has).
He isn't, SJ is just trying to make it sound like he is able to hold the web ransom and making the same BS claims about Flash in an effort to hold it ransom to his whims.
I know someone like Steve, always complaining that no-one respects him and once he gets into the Air Force people will have to give him the respect he deserves (he's failed to get in 5 years in a row, he just cant see that he's got some critical personality issues).
Bill I could almost like, all he wanted was your money and once he got it you were left alone. Steve seems to want my unquestioning loyalty as well as my wallet.
Slashdot Mirror
So this guy wants a Wide Area Intranet?
WTF, we already have this. A private business I can pay an ISP to connect my offices in a manner that they never touch the internet. Traffic between my offices would never leave the ISP's routing network.
Good luck in getting a job with any Asian based/run companies.
Shut up, Dickwolf
Civ I but 10 years later. Seeing as I've still got all my CIV disks I've never really played it much.
Not in CIV IV, one unit would kill one unit in a stack (maybe damage others). The real killer was that artillery units had to be scarified to attack (not in CIV III) so in order to weaken a stack, you had to sacrifice expensive and slow moving units.
I played the demo last night, they are treating archers units as ranged attackers, so they can bombard/attack from 2 tiles back. Haven't seen how they defend against melee units yet.
None of my GOG games stopped working, neither did the installers I'd downloaded previously. If GOG had of gone under, I'd still have all the games I purchased from them.
Actually it's a quite good analogy to DRM, with a flick of a switch we can deny you access to what it yours. At least with GOG, I can download the installer and never worry about GOG.com again.
Ahhh, you show your true colours. I'm not an enemy of steam, I've reluctantly accepted it as the nicest form of DRM but that really makes it the equivalent of the nicest form of AIDS. DRM is still DRM no matter how much useful functionality you wrap around it.
"yet" being the operative word here. With a single keystroke Valve can revoke access to all my Steam and Steamworks games, for me that's about 6 as Steam is my last choice for buying games (GOG, Impulse, Store). All we have is Valve's promise that they wont, Valve may be one of the least evil media companies but a promise is worth the paper it's written on.
I wouldn't. If GOG go out of business, I'm free to negotiate a new publishing deal.
.exe file and viola, I have that game for life.
As a customer, I'm glad I dont need to install yet another downloader on my PC, have to go through activation or be online when I play games. I just download the
A good tyrant recruits soldiers to fight other nations and loyalists to fight his own.
Whilst this is true to some extent, a lot of the time it's because they go to a service that is delivered via flash because they want to use that service (such as YouTube). This is a little bit different to MS trying to force you to install Silverlight to access the XP powertools.
As a sysadmin I agree, as a regular (home) user I'd like to use flash based services. The problem is that End Users will squeal very loudly if they dont get flash and the ever popular cry of "IT Nazi" is bandied about, if I could nullify that I'd get rid of flash in an instant on my network.
Minimalist means fewer UI elements, not more. Windows 7 has at least 2x the UI elements on it's most basic settings, more on its default settings.
All this proves is that you didn't like the default colour scheme, that does not make it bad. With XP it is easy to go back to the old Windows 2000 style interface with Vista/7 it's not so easy.
WTF, the Windows VLK disk is non standard, this isn't just one machine. I've deployed Win 7 across our entire business (40 PC's). Get a clue, get a fresh Win 7 install and fresh Win XP install, run a processor intensive game like Crysis or any benchmark and watch the framerates.
And brand new flash drives, and portable disks formatted to NTFS (because Vfat has a 120 GB limit). I haven't had a USB mass storage device that hasn't asked for scan and fix.
Yes, and I'd complain about the Action Centre popping up every 20 minutes with some kind of obscure warning, a popup telling me there are new wireless networks ever 20 seconds until I disable the Wireless NIC, or about SUDO disabling all other functions behind it except Ubuntu doesn't do any of that, Windows 7 does. Have you used Ubuntu lately?
And you didn't read my post, I didn't say they were hidden, I said they were hidden behind bad and useless wizards. Kindly get a clue.
Wrap your mind over the fact that Video Cards and Games have a ONE TO MANY relationship.
SHOCK HORROR, it's unheard of that a video card can be used for multiple games.
Perhaps even more shocking that people who know they like to play games plan in advance when they buy a computer. I buy 2 games a month (a bit more but I'll keep the numbers low for you) I have a A$600 video card, per game over a 24 month period that's... A$12.5 per game (this ignores all the other things I use my PC for as well).
You haven't quite gotten this whole economics thing have you. Costs may be immediate, but they are amortised across the entire lifetime this is why businesses and people who understand money PLAN AHEAD.
Well then you're choice is not to buy the game (or even pirate it) but that's your choice. I fail to see why I should be held in a graphical dark age because you are too cheap to fork out for a card that is capable of playing the game you are whining about.
When Microsoft makes an OS better then XP so we can compare that to Linux.
In other words, never.
There, fixed that for you.
Debatable. I prefer XP's minimalist looks.
Bollocks to that. I went from XP to 7 at work and now having 2 VM's running at once makes my entire system chug (E6600, 4 GB RAM, 2 windows VM's should run fine). 7 is only fast if you're doing nothing with it, utter shite resource management.
If I want to change my network settings I have to navigate through 7 "helpful" windows wizards before being able to manually set my IP address. No Windows, I dont need you to diagnose the problem, I know the problem. What's that, you want me to contact my Systems Administrator, I AM THE SYSTEMS ADMINISTRATOR.
Nothing wrong with the Windows 7 install, apart from the fact it installs Windows 7.
Clearly the GP has never tried to contact Microsft support. As an enterprise customer they've been nothing but useless.
Well you may consider United Arab Emirates security to be good but it's not what I look for in an OS. Introducing Windows Dubai, Burka edition.
Its just as annoying, the only differnce is I can copy a file with just one UAC popup, not three. Still occurs far too often and takes over whatever I am doing.
Win 7 default drivers for Asus and Gigabyte motherboards are atrocious, if they haven't published drivers for Vista or 7 for your board forget about upgrading.
Now for the problems
* Uses more system resources. Running VMware or playing games is severely affected.
* USB Storage is more painful. Not just the "scan and fix" dialouge with each USB Drive but I installed the Android SDK and now it refuses to recongise my milestone as a Mass Storage device (only computer in the lab that does this)
* UI demands more attention, default settings are painful.
* Important system config utilities are hidden behind bad and useless wizard.
If they can get DX 11 working OK on Linux, I'll ditch Windows 7.
This assumes they have a limited supply of ammunition. Even if they have trouble hitting the wide side of a barn the more ammo they have the greater the probability that they will hit something important becomes.
Darwin works too slowly.
Then again, in some states Darwin doesn't work at all they were all Intelligently Destroyed.
This to me illustrates the problem with gun culture in America. You should not need to be armed just to feel safe, not in a first world nation of educated people with a fair justice system.
And I say this as an Australian who is pro-gun ownership. But I realise there are moron's out there who shouldn't be armed, rather then banning guns we should be registering them and licensing owners so they know how to use and care for their firearms properly (like we do with auto licenses) as well as spotting the odd lunatic. I'd actually like to see the ban on weapons lifted a little in Australia and the licensing restrictions clamped down on. If we make an automatic rifle license expensive and restrictive it will be just as effective as the current assault rifle ban (which has been damned effective) whilst not affecting anyone who really wants one.
That being said, guns are not tools, they are weapons and that is their sole purpose. This does not make them intrinsically bad but it does change the way society should look at them. I agree in principal with the right to own guns but it should not be worshipped in the same way as it is in the US. The US needs to fix it's gun culture, laws are part of this but it's more about changing the idea that guns are solutions.
You mean how Norwegian resistance fighters blew up the heavy water plant at Vemork, Norway because that effectively terminated the Axis' nuclear program, or Operation Anthropoid. Lets not forget the Viet Cong who effectively proved a relatively untrained guerrilla force could hold and defeat a larger, better armed force.
Of course we have to ignore Operation Overloard, the Battle in the Ardennes, Caen, The battle of Britain, El Alamein (one and two), Tobruk and many more where Allied forces went head to head with Axis forces and won. Limited attacks indeed, an Australian force held Rommel back from Tobruk for months, El Alamein was fought over 18 days and what about Patton's push to liberate France? These are just the big ones.
What reasons. Kursk, Stalingrad? Were these not real battles.
Hitler got within 300 KM's of Moscow, it took another 2 years to completely expell German forces form Russia.
You're education in WWII is seriously lacking.
You realise that America is not even a country, or that the United States of America is not a democracy (it's a republic). Further more that England has had the same parliamentary system (westminster system) which has had equal or greater power then the crown since 1701. In addition to this they've had a parliamentary system since the 1200's. But the oldest representative system still in existence by far is in Iceland, the Althing was established by the Vikings in 930 AD, which predates the American revolution by almost 850 years.
An army of any nation will resist the order to fire against it's own people. This is why certain un-democratic nations maintain a paramilitary force such as Iran's republican guard or Saudi Arabia's religious police. Proper tyrants don't rely on regular armies, the KGB and Nazi Germany's SS are prime examples.
What?
Did you forget your meds this morning.
$100 is the price for a 9800 equivalent in a desktop (sorry, I made the mistake of assuming you were smart enough to figure that out on your own).
If you have trouble meeting the Civ V minimum specifications, you will have trouble affording the game.
Here you go and these are Australian prices, which due to the Indian-Pacific Price Dilation Field are significantly higher then US prices despite the AUD fetching 0.95 USD today. Look between option two and three, same proc, different GPU, A$115 in it. Also that's a geforce 310, a bit more advanced then an old 9800.
Now sod off and take your trolling meds.
In Civ IV they reduced that bonus to a max of 10 movements per turn.
I agree, there were better ways to deal with the "stack o' doom" issue such as applying negative buffs to large stacks (increased chance of hitting your own unit instead, reduction in firepower/HP, make multiple units vulnerable to damage from regular weapons and so forth). I haven't played the demo but I can imagine rather then having a "stack o' doom" you could have a "wall o' doom" as you just line up units behind each other.
I believe the ratio is 4:1 Retail/Digital. I think I've read the same interview with Wardell as you have. Not a bad ratio considering how new digital distribution is.
Nope, nope and nope.
We have the same problem in Australia. It comes down to:
First, the publishers. They decide when each market gets what, they also prioritise shipments. Distributors in AU and EU already have Civ V but the publishers will punish anyone who breaks the release date.
Second, production. Asia region disks will be pressed in Singapore or Thailand, North American disks in Mexico. This allows the publisher to have a very coarse control over shipping dates.
Thrid, local distributors. Publishers make deals with local distributors, they get a say in the timetable.
For the most part, it's because publishers only press a limited number of disks and for some strange reason the US gets first dibs. Retailers hardly get a say, it's the publisher and distributors who decide this. I can order a US disk from Hong Kong today, but I have to wait until Friday to get an Aisa region disk (which is A$11 cheaper). Some publishers do world wide releases, such as StarCraft II.
It's because you have all the good early game wonders.
Same in Asia/Oceania. I consider it retribution for having a better nation.
In all seriousness. I could order the US version for A$60 from Hong Kong but I'd rather wait until Friday and get the Asia version for A$50 (local price is A$90).
How?
The specifications are Core i3 + integrated or A geforce 8 series or greater. That's 4 generations ago, We bought A$1400 laptops with Geforce 9xxxM GPU's, so they are pretty common as are GT1xx GPU's. Core i3's have been out for months. I'd be surprised if any laptop in the last 3 years with a dedicated GPU couldn't run it. If you're a gamer that needs to run a laptop you will have a dedicated GPU.
Compared to a lot of games, these specs are very very light. Hell, their recommended specification is a Geforce 9800.
If a $100 GPU is beyond your budget, then a $50 game is too.
By the same token, Floppy drives are dead if you've never worked in the Server Administration industry...
Which one is bigger?
But *no one* else does. Contrary to your beliefs, Apple does not define standards, FireWire is dead except in the minds of a few obscure fanboys. eSata has almost completely replaced Firewire in every capacity that USB could not. It's only a matter of time before Firewire joins the LPT port (for most of us, it already has).
I know someone like Steve, always complaining that no-one respects him and once he gets into the Air Force people will have to give him the respect he deserves (he's failed to get in 5 years in a row, he just cant see that he's got some critical personality issues).
Bill I could almost like, all he wanted was your money and once he got it you were left alone. Steve seems to want my unquestioning loyalty as well as my wallet.