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that sure is some incontinence suit he's wearing there (and it doesn't look like it's helping)

And that's why I said it seems your problem is Activision (publisher) vs. Steam (distribution platform).

I got that, but I doubt the publishers could force an update through somebody elses platform.  Pretty sure that's where Steam becomes culpable (remember, steam isn't in this for love).

CoD hasn't really been a single-player game for a long time.  They make their money because people play online.  And so, day zero, the game is already outdated.  That's a problem for physical sales.

understood, but online or offline is irrelevant here because ALL physical sales are in the same boat.  Who in their right mind would buy a product that won't work at all unless you spend 2 or 3 (or more) times your original purchase price with another provider before it will work (hmmmm, me apparently )

[all]

Seems a shame that the nation that developed the Web infrastructure cannot seem to provide access to all its residents.

But the software publishers are selling a product that is separate to internet.

They assume that not only does everyone have access, but that it's gigabit access with unlimited downloads. 

I can understand online registration, but the rest of it is pretty presumptious, if not descriminatory.

Cool!!  Many thanks for your generosity!!

[My]

BTW, the 35GB install seems excessive - it only takes up 14.2GB on both my XP and Win7 machines.

That was the disk space requirement stated by the installer.  I thought it was excessive too - it was quite a 'What the?' moment when I was doing the install.

Which third world country is the one you live in?
For comparison purposes (and I really don't intend to brag, it's not good enough for that) even the most remote village in Turkey has reasonable (4-8 Mbit) dsl connections available, with unlimited data costing 30-40 dollars a month. If you agree to a data cap of 6GB per month you get to pay no more than 15$.

Australia.  Not a third world country by any means, but a big country with a small population and lot's of 'empty' space.  We live too far from the exhange to get DSL, and will never get access to cable, so our only options are dialup or wireless (or satellite...).  Dialup is, well, abysmal, and wireless is sometimes not much better (it's recently been below Kb speed). 

But that's not the point.  And as far as I see it it is a Steam problem.  This my PC, Steam is a portal.  If I want to buy or download something from Steam, I'll do so, and if I don't, I won't.  My choice...

As it stands, Steam presumes, and I get no say (I've already checked don't automatically update this product).  Worse, there's nothing to indicate what it actually is that's being downloaded, ie it says game X is being 'updated', but there's no detail or description, nor is there anything to indicate how many such 'updates' might be required.

Software patching is an accepted practice, but removing all options, including personal choice, is a bit extreme (I wonder what Renegade would say about that )

[and its 14Gb!!!]

Apologies to all 'cos I know this has been done before, but I really need to vent

<RANT>

As a gamer I'm a relative newcomer to the world of Steam, and I have to say I'm not seeing the value.  Actually, it probably is an excellent model in many ways, but in others, well it's less than stellar

I have, over the last couple of months purchased physical copies of several games (call me old fashioned, but I prefer to get something tangible when I hand over my cash), but for the most part I am unable to play them because steam won't let me!!

Latest installment is CoD MW3.  I couldn't even install it without a steam connection (hang on, didn't i just pay good money for this?).  I live in a rural area so even connecting to Steam can be a trial.  It eventually installed fine (EGAD!! requires 35G of disk space!!) but when I went to play, steam said, hang on, there's an update (WTF? I just paid for this and now you're telling me I can only play on your terms?).  The update was only (!!) a few hundred Mb, so I let it update.

Great, says I, now lets play.  Oh wait says steam, theres another update, and its 14Gb!!!

Are they serious?  I mean I already paid for the game.  What if I don't need, want or care to apply the updates?  Don't I have some say here?  I accept that there are going to be bugs (there always are) but most of the time they affect online and/or multiplayer usage.  I play almost exclusively single player, and I never play online, so it's pretty rare for those sort of issues to be of any concern to me whatsoever.  Why do I have to apply a 'patch' for something that's unlikely to change my experience in any way.  In fact, by insisting on applying the update that's exactly what's happened. 

Then there's the issue of size (yes, size does matter).  As I said, I accept that there are going to be bugs, but if you have to 'patch' 14Gb then you should be refunding peoples money 'cos there's something seriously wrong.  Either that or you're peddling some serious bloatware (in which case you should ashamed of yourself, and you should refund peoples money). 

It's worthwhile noting that 14Gb is equivalent to 14 months of my data allocation.  I could run over I suppose, but I'd to have to sell a kidney to cover the excess usage charges just to find out whether I can play the game, or that there are more 'updates'.  I suppose I could invest in an additional data pack, but a 2 year contract makes this a pretty damn expensive game, and it would still take a few months to download it all. 

I've even searched for alternative sources for the updates, but no, it appears you can only get them through steam. 

Now I don't have an issue with Steam per se, as I said, in many ways it's an excellent model, but wouldn't we be far better served with something more like windows update where all updates are not only 'optional', but you can also see both what they are and how bloated big they are.

and remember I said this is the latest installment?  I can't even go back and play some of the other games I have installed because Steam has decided they all need patching as well, despite the fact that I've set ALL my games not to update automatically.  Way to go guys...

Anyone else have a complaint about steam?  I'm sure I can't be the only one

whoa! form a queue people!

</RANT>

can we see the content of one of the 'on' batch files?

seems like it would be more logical to start from scratch instead of building a tool to control a tool to control a tool to control a tool...

entered - ShootH3r3...

this from slashdot this morning Recovering Data From Broken Hard Drives and SSDs (Video)

not quite rollup, but google cardboard furniture and you'll find plenty of hits for simple and 'cheap' DIY furniture.  

Upside is that if it gets a bit shabby you can always just make another one, and if you have to move, you can turn it into boxes

some examples

http://www.foldschool.com/_gallery/gallery.html
http://www.instructables..../Cardboard-Chaise-Lounge/
http://www.curbly.com/use...ake-a-cardboard-furniture

There are plenty of commercial offerings as well, though they mightn't be cheap

here's another one, just in case...

MailViewer

...has that "reach out and touch someone" power, and is what I use with my 12 gauge at night....

WTF? here's hoping I never actually meet you at night

Tony Monaco, hammond organ player extraordinaire, gives the most concise explanation I've ever seen of all the awesome things about this legendary instrument.  With a performance!  Tony is also the most willing and prominent educator for this instrument out there, as far as I know.

if you're into organs, this might amuse you

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6L4d0e8_hck" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6L4d0e8_hck</a>

This guy is from 'World of Organs' in Adelaide (Sth Aust). 

if you're still looking, I can introduce you to a nigerian prince...

curious about how to go about joining the group - I have a steam acct, but all I get is "membership by invitation only"

[and of course some have to be tossed back and forth.]

Well, most of my apps I have "assigned" to a specific monitor. When I install a new app, it takes me some time before I can decide which monitor it belongs to. Two things: all video is on the left. Web browser or anything I'm reading goes on the riight.

so apps could be assigned to one of 2 lists (left or right) and they could be positioned accordingly.  Anything else would float pending allocation

Not sure what you meant by "all other movements are effectively random".

Two big things are high on my list. One is which monitor should an app appear, and of course some have to be tossed back and forth.

so apart from a few apps that 'must' be on a given monitor, all other movements are effectively random?

Just trying to understand how you thought an 'app' might go about managing this

out of curiosity, what's your workflow here?

just wondering how and why you move windows now (ie is there a 'rule set')

I'm worried about a bunch of worry-warts getting all psychotic and doing crazy stuff.

isn't that what the postal service is for?

I think a lot of this IP protectionism is indicative of a loss of confidence on the part of many. The only people that try (in my experience) to wring every last nickel out of everything they come up with are the people who fear their creativity is a finite resource. That they only have so much originality in them - and once it's gone, it's gone.

not quite, seems most of it is generated by people that have no creativity (accounting doesn't count) and are banking (literally) on wringing everything they can out of someone elses efforts, ie most any of the media vendors, publishers, the families and/or estates of long dead creators...

Um, this chair is a fire hazard.

Notice the smoke?

Yeah, that nichrome is getting too hot while melting the wax, the chair could ignite the flammable wax and cause a far more serious problem than just a DRM'd chair.

Are you trying to say that people that buy the chair are just looking to get burned?

clearly if you get to that stage you must be a pirate, so this is justified

of course the flow on from this is that all chairs that don't catch fire are a)infringing on their patent, and b)clearly the work of pirates.  Either way, legal action will have to be taken to bring the culprits to heel

[attachthumb=1].

The old London taxi cabs were a good bet. They had a trap door in the floor at the back.

a bit like your pyjama's?

The bonus with the bucket and spade is that they are dual-purpose - most often, they are used to make sandcastles when we stop at a beach!

plus you don't have drive around with that body in the boot trying to find a hardware or garden supplier...

you should be able to find a solution in the coding snacks section.

others may be able to point you to specific threads, or search the forum as this functionality (or very near) has been requested several times