Even writing games like that reinforced mathematical concepts, because programming requires a lot of math. Calculator programming ought to be encouraged more, rather than discouraged. Also, it's fun. I find when something is enjoyable, it makes learning a lot easier.

Same here. I got through long dull high school classes programming my TI-83. I loved making games in TI-BASIC, and got really good at it. I made some useful math programs too. I found that creating a program to solve a certain type of problem (ie solve triangles when you know only 3 pieces of information) actually was a great way to learn the material. Because I knew how to program them, even when they wiped the memory before tests, I could make a quick program during the test to help me out with formulaic questions.

TI-83s are a huge part of why I went into programming, and got a degree in Computer Science.

I've been using PlayOn with my PS3 and watching Hulu, and don't pay for cable (other than internet). It generally works pretty well, but is by no means perfect. There is no way to fast forward, even though Hulu on the computer lets you skip ahead, and the PS3 controls let you attempt to fast forward (but if you do, you usually end up losing the stream and needing to start over). This frustrates the other problem, which is that often when watching something on Hulu it will simply break and stop playing, sometimes more than 30 minutes in. When that happens I either give up and watch it on the computer, or I have to start all over from the beginning, and go off and find something to kill 30 minutes till the show catches up to where I left off. There are also buffering problems, but that may just have to do with my home network. (Except it seems to make no difference is my laptop is actually wired or wireless). I'm starting to consider just hooking my laptop up to my new hdtv via the monitor input and just watching it that way, even though it's far less convenient.

I agree with your sentiment, but that is not the actual source. Try the actual original posting by Joss Whedon.

Source: http://whedonesque.com/comments/22240

Epic actually released ZZT as freeware some time back. Although I don't think they have it on their site anymore. Am I the only one really sad to go to epicgames.com and click Previous Releases only to find a list of Unreal games? I really wish the website could celebrate their rich history. It would be even more awesome if they provided the old shareware demos - or even made more of those games freeware since they aren't available anymore. Ah well. :-(

Agreed. I too used it to assess albums for purchase and am sad to see it is gone. I think the summary is biased even by Slashdot standards.

I'm not surprised to see it failed though, I'm surprised it lasted this long. (And I enjoyed the ability to trial music from them for as long as they lasted).

It was free. Not a store. Get your facts straight.

Agreed. I hated the buggy client, the DRM, the ads. Yet this news really saddens me.

I was willing to put up with them for the chance to legally try new music. If I heard a song by an artist that sounded interesting, my first step was always to see if Ruckus had them, download an album or two, and check them out. If I found myself booting up that crummy player over and over to listen to it more, I would go buy the CD.

In fact, the very crappiness of their software further incentivized me to actually buy the music sooner, since it was painful to use it all the time, and I couldn't put it on my mp3 player or play it in my car. But again, I liked that you could check the music out for free. I bought a lot of albums I wouldn't have otherwise if it weren't for Ruckus and this legal opportunity to 'try before you buy'.

This is the only case where one could justify DRM. Since the music is free, stripping the DRM amounts to piracy.

Before I got my graph-link (an absolute must-have for the budding calculator programmer) I was known to forego the use of a calculator on math tests that they made you clear your memory for! I didn't want to lose my precious programs that I had toiled long and hard on.

Although I too have completely re-done older programs from scratch for the sake of making them more efficient. Plus there was the point where I learned how to avoid memory leaks and never get Error: Memory when my programs were running.