Recent Posts

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Living Room / Re: IE to be removed from Windows 7 in EU

« Last post by wraith808 on June 13, 2009, 07:37 AM »

i've read elsewhere that Internet Explorer 8 will be supplied on a separate CD with every copy of the retail euro Win 7. making the situation all the more annoying and completely pointless.

also, when you think about it, MS can't provide installs or shortcuts to other browsers as there will be browsers that are neglected. these missing browser companies could then claim some kind of unfair anti-competitive blah blah. so the cycle begins all over again.

-nudone (June 13, 2009, 03:20 AM)

Exactly. And more elegant, sure.  But who suffers if none is included?  The user.  and who will complain?  The user.  Most users really don't care- they just want to be able to get on the internet out of the box.  and if they can't, you can bet that there will be a snowball effect as tech support and other charges get out of hand... this is not the end of this...

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General Software Discussion / Re: Source Code / Code Snippet Manager

« Last post by wraith808 on June 12, 2009, 12:21 PM »

I bought Source Code Library off of Bits, and have been very satisfied with it.  It actually does *more* than I need it to, as it has functionality similar to DirectAccess and Surfulater also. 

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Found Deals and Discounts / Re: White Smoke 70% off

« Last post by wraith808 on June 11, 2009, 02:33 PM »

I notice that there are several 1 and 2 posters (that post only in this thread) that tout the quality of WhiteSmoke...

Things that make you go 'hmmm...'

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Living Room / Re: Good TV series. What do you watch? I used to watch Lost to unwind need successor

« Last post by wraith808 on June 10, 2009, 01:43 PM »

Wraith, that's a fair enough assessment for some people. Babylon 5 was a space opera on a massive scale. There was lots of groundwork for later plotpoints in early episodes that would leave you wondering, "What's that got to do with the price of tea in China?" and then 3 or 5 or 10 episodes down the line it'd be, "Ohhh! That's what *that* meant!!".

It probably wouldn't fare too well in today's climate of ADD-oriented, instant-gratification TV viewing.

-Innuendo (June 10, 2009, 01:27 PM)

But the funny thing is, I like shows like that!   I love all of the Whedon stuff where he pulls from older episodes and especially unfinished business (Niska was a piece of work!).  I don't like episodic stuff; I prefer long ranging arcs where things have meaning, which is the reason that DS9 was my fave Star Trek.  In books, I devour epic series like A Song of Ice and Fire.  B5 just didn't catch me for some reason...

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Living Room / Re: Good TV series. What do you watch? I used to watch Lost to unwind need successor

« Last post by wraith808 on June 10, 2009, 09:09 AM »

If someone is a sci-fi fan and wants a far-reaching epic storyline and is willing to make a time investment look no farther than Babylon 5. With a non-static world where if something happens in one episode it is true in all subsequent episodes and story arcs that reach across seasons it's a very well-written space opera with a widely varied cast of characters with plenty of intrigue & cloak and dagger mystery.

-Innuendo (June 08, 2009, 01:48 PM)

I'm as big a sci-fi fan as any, but I just couldn't get into it for some reason.  I even like Straczynski's other work, especially Rising Stars (I wish Heroes hadn't taken off an let us down- Rising Stars was better and well plotted), Supreme Power and surprisingly Midnight Nation.

I gave B5 an honest try, and probably will again at some point.  But the first time struck out with me.

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Living Room / Re: Good TV series. What do you watch? I used to watch Lost to unwind need successor

« Last post by wraith808 on June 05, 2009, 01:17 PM »

Any of the Joss Whedon shows are good if you like that sort of thing.  In order I'd recommend Firefly, Angel, then Buffy.

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Found Deals and Discounts / Re: DbSchema on Bits Du Jour - Friday June 5,2009

« Last post by wraith808 on June 05, 2009, 01:14 PM »

The lack of user forums was what made me stop evaluating- I couldn't get the JDBC connection to SQL Server set up to even get past ground level.  Add to that fact that Java applications leave me cold, and I didn't try much past that.

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General Software Discussion / Re: What's your favorite computer game from when you were young?

« Last post by wraith808 on June 04, 2009, 02:08 PM »

Too late...I bought both Fallout 1 and 2 when they hit the shelves & have played them both through more than once.

-Innuendo (June 04, 2009, 01:40 PM)

When I said 'check out' I meant look at the references- I pretty much assumed you would have already heard of it, if not played it.  There was actually supposed to be a sequel, but I never played it.

As far as who owns the rights, apparently Brian Fargo acquired them back in 2003, and has apparently said that he's looking at doing a sequel, but that's only second hand information.

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Living Room / Re: Where did your DC user I.D come from?

« Last post by wraith808 on June 04, 2009, 02:02 PM »

wraith808 I've had for a while- back from long nights of playing doom and it's ilk.  The wraith references what my friends call my uncanny ability to camp without camping.  I called it being in the right place at the right time.    The 808 is a reference to our Clan, the 808Klan, which itself comes from the musical background of the founder, in reference to the Roland TR-808.

I also use hachibushu, which I created from the kanji characters hachi (eight) and bushu (warrior spirit), not knowing that there was an actual basis for the name.

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General Software Discussion / Re: What's your favorite computer game from when you were young?

« Last post by wraith808 on June 04, 2009, 10:30 AM »

I think fallout is the spiritual successor to wasteland.  Checkout fallout 2 for the best proof of that as some of the locales and npcs directly borrow from wasteland.

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Living Room / Really Huge MindMap

« Last post by wraith808 on June 04, 2009, 09:39 AM »

I don't get into the whole MindMapping thing- never had enough time to explore it fully.  But this is pretty impressive:

http://www.innovatio...ex-largest-mind-map/

A huge mindmap of "A History of Chinese Civilization".

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General Software Discussion / Re: Is there a Gmail backup that will save labeling?

« Last post by wraith808 on June 04, 2009, 09:35 AM »

Gmail Keeper.  It's by Innovation Gear, but I don't see a mention of it on their site strangely enough.   You can find information on Bits Du Jour though.

I bought it, but haven't tried it yet.  So much software, so little time.  But the comments on Bits seemed positive.  I'll try to give it a whirl and let you know how it comes out.

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Living Room / Re: What annoys you to no end?

« Last post by wraith808 on June 03, 2009, 10:39 AM »

MS Flight Simulator X and other software like it that assume that you are pirates so much their software is incompatible with you having CD Imaging Software on your system.

For a long time, my son's DVD drive didn't work, so I was taking his games and using VirtualDrive to image them so that he could mount them and play them.  He plays mostly older games, so it didn't really matter.  Enter Flight Simulator.  I couldn't copy it, so broke down and took a DVD drive out of a non-working case and installed it in his system.  He installs- the first DVD installs perfectly, but the second one won't mount (I guess it's the play disc).  No matter what, or how many installs, we get errors- even a blue screen!  I look it up online, and on several sites, including the MS site, there is an indication that if you have *any* imaging software (Nero, etc) installed, it won't install! 

How far will DRM go to inconvenience their paying customers! 

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General Software Discussion / Re: What's your favorite computer game from when you were young?

« Last post by wraith808 on June 03, 2009, 10:31 AM »

It's funny how many of the good old games were done by EA before their transformation to corporate tyrant, and how many of their games were innovative as opposed to now.

-wraith808 (June 02, 2009, 04:51 PM)

IMHO, it think a lot of it had to do with Trip Hawkins being at the helm in the early days. EA lost its sense of humor and much of its soul after he left.

-40hz (June 02, 2009, 05:06 PM)

I think a lot of that soul was drained by EA going public- stockholder accountability can make a company do many things that are counterproductive to maintaining the happiness of it's user base.  It's very hard to maintain a balance between making your users happy and making your stockholders happy.

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General Software Discussion / Re: What's your favorite computer game from when you were young?

« Last post by wraith808 on June 02, 2009, 04:51 PM »

It's funny how many of the good old games were done by EA before their transformation to corporate tyrant, and how many of their games were innovative as opposed to now.

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DC Gamer Club / Re: Star Wars: The Old Republic

« Last post by wraith808 on June 02, 2009, 01:53 PM »

Not all by any means.  You can grind, but you don't have to.. and with my Lifetime Membership to LOTRO, I don't have to spend any more money other than on expansions if I want them.  I went 6 months before I bought the Moria expansion.  I'm not sure about the subscription plans, but I hope they have something similar for SWTOP.

I won't be prejudicial about this game based on the "Lucas Arts" label (it's an MMO, Star Wars: Galaxies now but a distant memory/nightmare), and I have to say, this trailer looks to be made of epic. See for yourselves:

Many people have said that it was because I didn't live through the NGE era, but SWG is pretty good IMO.

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Living Room / Re: Need help finding a Windows XP Home Edition ISO (for LEGAL use)

« Last post by wraith808 on June 02, 2009, 01:50 PM »

200MB per day?!?  Wow... I couldn't deal with that easily...

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Living Room / Re: Need help finding a Windows XP Home Edition ISO (for LEGAL use)

« Last post by wraith808 on June 02, 2009, 11:12 AM »

Yeah... I hate torrents that way.  I've downloaded what were supposed to be legitimate copies before from torrents (in general isos to machines that didn't have cd/dvd drives) and they've been hacked... always a question of should I go ahead and use that since I have a legitimate version or not.

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Living Room / Re: Need help finding a Windows XP Home Edition ISO (for LEGAL use)

« Last post by wraith808 on June 02, 2009, 10:18 AM »

Just what I was looking for - a clean, retail ISO

Thanks

-wreckedcarzz (June 01, 2009, 07:20 PM)

Were you able to get it?  I've been trying to solve this same problem- installing with only a key not a cd.  But deposit files doesn't have the ISO posted anymore.

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General Review Discussion / Re: UltraEdit Review and Giveaway ($50 value)

« Last post by wraith808 on June 01, 2009, 04:38 PM »

And to think, because of the necro-posting, I almost necro-posted to a 2 year old comment thread to win an UE license...  have to be more careful about looking at dates... 

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Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: XYplorer File Manager

« Last post by wraith808 on May 31, 2009, 04:12 AM »

Forgive my ignorance, but what do you use descript.ion files for?

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General Software Discussion / Re: Wakoopa's First "The State of Apps" Report

« Last post by wraith808 on May 31, 2009, 04:10 AM »

Though what does bother me is the fact that there's no way to block someone from following you...

-wraith808 (May 26, 2009, 08:34 PM)

Are you aware that people can follow you without you knowing it (if your profile is public), just by subscribing to your RSS feeds? Even if you could block a user on the site, what would be the point if he could just grab your public feeds and follow you from a feed reader, rather than the dashboard?

Of course if you make your profile private, they can still follow you but there would be no point in it. They can't see your data and you have no public feeds.

-app103 (May 30, 2009, 05:09 AM)

They could password protect the RSS feed also.  I don't mind people following me, but there's been a strange occurrence of people from strange countries starting to follow me that makes me think that perhaps people are attempting to use it in ways not intended.  Perhaps if not password protect it, obscure it with a generated number rather than your username on the RSS feed.  There are options they could take... and twitter does it currently (at least the block following part) so IMO it's not too much to ask.

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Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: XYplorer File Manager

« Last post by wraith808 on May 29, 2009, 10:34 PM »

Oh.  D'oh.  I did mention I'd looked at it superficially, right? 

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Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: XYplorer File Manager

« Last post by wraith808 on May 29, 2009, 09:57 PM »

I've been playing rather superficially with it also.  Price might be one reason it eventually does it now that it has DP, though DO has a leg up since I use horizontal panes and right now XY only does vertical.

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General Software Discussion / Re: What's your favorite computer game from when you were young?

« Last post by wraith808 on May 29, 2009, 12:01 PM »

So many of the new games just really blow- there are a few gems, but in the days of yore, graphics were not a big selling point, so they had to have the gameplay.  I don't see why they can't take some of these classics and update them and re-release them! 

I spend a lot of time trying to find games that are just as fun as those late nights; as a point, I just bought X2 off of Steam, and I'm hoping that's elite-ish.  Privateer was one that was very similar to elite, but I agree that elite was a pretty rare gem. 

But there are so many old games that could be tapped for great resurrections!