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Comment Re:What is their definition of free? (Score 1) 221

by less (#30309274) Attached to: EA Flip-Flops On <em>Battlefield: Heroes</em> Pricing, Fans Angry

no, after 1942 came vietnam, then came "Battlefield 2". for 2 came a bunch of paid updates which were screwed up badly.

There were two expansions (Road to Rome and Secret Weapons) for BF1942 before BF:V came out (though BF:V was built on the same engine as BF1942 so in a sense, it's a mod as well)
The Almighty Buck

EA Flip-Flops On Battlefield: Heroes Pricing, Fans Angry 221

Posted by Soulskill from the put-your-money-where-your-gun-is dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Ben Kuchera from Ars Technica is reporting that EA/DICE has substantially changed the game model of Battlefield: Heroes, increasing the cost of weapons in Valor Points (the in-game currency that you earn by playing) to levels that even hardcore players cannot afford, and making them available in BattleFunds (the in-game currency that you buy with real money). Other consumables in the game, such as bandages to heal the players, suffered the same fate, turning the game into a subscription or pay-to-play model if players want to remain competitive. This goes against the creators' earlier stated objectives of not providing combat advantage to paying customers. Ben Cousins, from EA/DICE, argued, 'We also frankly wanted to make buying Battlefunds more appealing. We have wages to pay here in the Heroes team and in order to keep a team large enough to make new free content like maps and other game features we need to increase the amount of BF that people buy. Battlefield Heroes is a business at the end of the day and for a company like EA who recently laid off 16% of their workforce, we need to keep an eye on the accounts and make sure we are doing our bit for the company.' The official forums discussion thread is full of angry responses from upset users, who feel this change is a betrayal of the original stated objectives of the game."
Red Hat Software

Submission + - Red Hat Fedora 11 Focuses on the Linux Desktop (internetnews.com)

Submitted by darthcamaro
darthcamaro writes: Though Ubuntu gets a lot of hype about its Linux desktop, Red Hat wants people to know its serious about the Linux desktop too. That's the message Fedora is pushing as part of its Fedora 11 Preview release today. The new release includes Ext4, faster boot times, improved device and package handling features.

"We need to continue to keep our eyes on the prize," Frields said. "To me, that is making sure that Fedora is at the forefront of innovation and making sure we're delivering the future first to home consumers and to business users. We are showing them the technology that they will want to invest in for the future."
Programming

Submission + - Which web application framework is best?

Submitted by
Ayyappa Das
Ayyappa Das writes: "So far, I have developed web applications in .NET and JSP, most of the time designing everything including connection pooling, session management, user controls etc from scratch and defining reusable materials as we go. Resulting application is usually hard to maintain and enhancements keep taking more and more time. Recently I stumbled upon Ruby on Rails and am impressed by the productivity of using such framework and maintainability of application built. But I am still skeptical whether for enterprise applications (eg: — order entry tool), the framework will be flexible to handle complex requirements. With .NET and JSP etc, advantage was having control to modify at low level. However, with frameworks, will we have to get under the skin more often to get some complex functionality implemented? With this background, my question is: — which is the best web framework preferred by programmers to develop complex applications? Are enterprise web applications still being developed in JSP/.NET etc or are web frameworks mature yet to replace those?"
Sun Microsystems

Oracle Buys Sun 906

Posted by CmdrTaco from the there-can-be-only-one dept.
bruunb writes "Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ: ORCL) and Sun Microsystems (NASDAQ: JAVA) announced today they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Oracle will acquire Sun common stock for $9.50 per share in cash. The transaction is valued at approximately $7.4 billion, or $5.6 billion net of Sun's cash and debt. 'We expect this acquisition to be accretive to Oracle's earnings by at least 15 cents on a non-GAAP basis in the first full year after closing. We estimate that the acquired business will contribute over $1.5 billion to Oracle's non-GAAP operating profit in the first year, increasing to over $2 billion in the second year. This would make the Sun acquisition more profitable in per share contribution in the first year than we had planned for the acquisitions of BEA, PeopleSoft and Siebel combined,' said Oracle President Safra Catz."
Windows

Microsoft Says No Profit In Vista-XP Downgrades 315

Posted by CmdrTaco
CWmike writes "Microsoft has denied that it makes money when users 'downgrade' Windows Vista to XP, as a lawsuit filed last week alleges. The lawsuit, submitted last week, stems from the $59.25 fee that a California woman was charged in mid-2008 when she bought a Lenovo laptop and downgraded from Vista to XP. In fact, it's computer makers, not Microsoft per se, that charge users the additional fees for downgrading a new PC from Vista to XP at the factory. For example, Dell Inc. adds an extra $20 to the price to downgrade a PC. However, Microsoft may profit from the way it structures downgrade rights."
The Military

The Unmanned Air Force 352

Posted by samzenpus from the fly-the-robotic-skies dept.
coondoggie writes "How important have unmanned aircraft become to the US military? Well how's this: the Air Force says next year it will acquire more unmanned aircraft than manned. Air Force Lt. Gen. Norman Seip this week said the service is 'all in' when it comes to developing unmanned systems and aircraft. 'Next year, the Air Force will procure more unmanned aircraft than manned aircraft,' the general said. 'I think that makes a very pointed statement about our commitment to the future of [unmanned aircraft] and what it brings to the fight in meeting the requirements of combatant commanders.'"
The Courts

Dutch Court Punishes Theft of Virtual Property 276

Posted by timothy from the pick-a-fight-your-first-day-with-the-toughest-avatar dept.
tsa writes "Last week, the Dutch court subjected two kids of ages 15 and 14 to 160 hours of unpaid work or 80 days in jail, because they stole virtual property from a 13-year-old boy. The boy was kicked and beaten and threatened with a knife while forced to log into Runescape and giving his assets to the two perpetrators. This ruling is the first of its kind for the Netherlands. Ars Technica has some more background information." In Japan, meanwhile, a woman has been arrested for "illegally accessing a computer and manipulating electronic data" after (virtually) killing her (virtual) husband.
Slashback

Submission + - No Slashdot April Fools Jokes in 2008 8

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: Slashdot will not be participating in the April Fools jokes this year due to a lawsuit that was settled out of court with undisclosed terms stemming from the 2007 April 1st stunts. The false stories were determined to be too egregious by a yet to be named individual. Slashdot's parent company SourceForge, Inc. found it wiser to settle out of court then a lengthy battle that was obviously going to span several months.

The ponies will be missed.

Feed Engadget: The $20 iPod touch upgrade: really for legal reasons or no? (engadget.com)

From feed by engfeed

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

So the rising discontent with Apple's new habit of selective feature enabling got us thinking -- while we're not experts on the subject, the generally accepted reasoning for the $20 iPod touch upgrade fee is the accounting requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act: iPhone and Apple TV updates are free since revenue from those products is realized as a subscription over a period of time, but iPod touch updates can't be free since Apple just records that revenue directly. That certainly makes sense to us when applied to things like the 802.11n Enabler, which was trivially cheap and turned on unadvertised hardware features, but it strikes us as being a pretty big stretch when applied to a $20 package of new software applications. iPod name or no, the iPod touch is essentially a little computer, and the whole purpose of software is to enable "significant unadvertised new features" on a computer. For Apple (or anyone) to say that a mail app is a "significant new feature" for a computer is pushing the line just a bit far, and it makes us wonder how the company accounts for new versions of iTunes, QuickTime, and Safari, each of which add new features to already-sold Macs -- and how things are going to play out when the iPhone / iPod touch SDK is released next month. We've got a call into Apple to get to the bottom of it all, we'll let you know what (if anything) we find out.

Disclaimer: Although this post was written by an attorney, it is not meant as legal advice or analysis and should not be taken as such.

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Movies

Submission + - New Star Trek Trailer Online

Submitted by
roelbj
roelbj writes: "The first teaser trailer for Star Trek XI (titled, simply, Star Trek) is now available on the movie's official website. In the trailer one can catch a glimpse of the "new" old Enterprise as reimagined by the J.J. Abrams team leading the Star Trek universe's reboot."
Announcements

Submission + - Bizarre self-destructing palm tree found

Submitted by
Smivs
Smivs writes: "A giant self-destructing palm tree has been discovered in Madagascar, that is so big it can be seen on Google Earth. The palm is 20m (60ft) high with leaves 5m (16ft) long, the tallest tree of its type in the country, but for most of its life — around 100 years — it appears fairly unremarkable apart from its size. However, when it flowers, it puts so much energy into an impressive flower-spike, that it eventually collapses and dies. Dr John Dransfield, who announced the tree in the Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, is baffled as to how the it came to be in the country. It bears a resemblance to a species of palm found in regions of Asia; 6,000km away.It is thought that the palm has gone through a remarkable evolution since Madagascar split with India some 80m years ago."

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