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Comment Re:Something something online sorting (Score 1) 241

by afgun (#45799859) Attached to: Why Don't Open Source Databases Use GPUs?

I've stood in a C-level meeting, and apologized that a critical name brand server failed. Their on-site tech showed up in 2 hours, and told us that the part would take 2 days to get. "BUT THE CONTRACT SAYS 4 HOUR RESPONSE!" Ya.. 4 hours for them to come back with something. Not 4 hours to resolve the problem completely. 4 hours frequently turns into days, or worse on holidays.

Apparently the purchaser didn't understand your support contract then, because the support tech easily made the commitment. How is that the vendor's fault? It's not... it's the fault of the support purchaser for not understanding what they bought. Higher level contracts (with call-to-repair guarantees) are available; if something's THAT critical, then you should have a fully functional spare or even better, a high-availability solution in addition to your maintenance contract, which it appears you didn't. So it was apparently not that critical...

Comment Delays due to incompetence? (Score 1) 378

by afgun (#45799543) Attached to: Surge In Online Orders Overwhelms UPS Christmas Deliveries
I had a package put on a truck two days in a row (according to their computer anyhow) and it wasn't delivered either time. And this was in Austin, with no snow/ice to deal with. Clearly there was incompetency involved somewhere (e.g. if a package is on a truck and doesn't get delivered the day it was supposed to, why not reverse the route the next day so it can be assured to be delivered early? Oh yeah, because UPS trucks only turn right http://www.businessinsider.com/ups-efficiency-secret-our-trucks-never-turn-left-2011-3). Sorry, this has left me a little bitter about using UPS for anything. This isn't the first issue I've had with them, either. NEVER had a problem with FedEx.

Comment Re: Change the business model (Score 1) 117

by afgun (#45586333) Attached to: Copyright Takedown Requests to Google Doubled In 2013

Cant remember the link, but i was looking for royalty free music the other day for youtube to avoid this sort of problem. Someone recorded a Bach song on his guitar and warns you cant use it on youtube as it will be flagged.

Bach (21 March 1685) getting royalty checks as the composer? Did the person who recorded his song and manage to protect it pay Bach a royalty?

It seems commercializing the public domain is a disturbing trend.

The music isn't copyrighted, but the specific performance of it is. If you want to record your own performance of Bach and use it on your video, have at!
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."
First Person Shooters (Games)

Infinity Ward Fights Against Modern Warfare 2 Cheaters 203

Posted by Soulskill from the be-careful-they-cheat dept.
Faithbleed writes "IW's Robert Bowling reports on his twitter account that Infinity Ward is giving 2,500 Modern Warfare 2 cheaters the boot. The news comes as the war between IW and MW2's fans rages over the decision to go with IWnet hosting instead of dedicated servers. Unhappy players were quick to come up with hacks that would allow their own servers and various other changes." Despite the dedicated-server complaints, Modern Warfare 2 has sold ridiculously well.
Sun Microsystems

Submission + - Sun Microsystems to cut 3,000 jobs (cnn.com)

Submitted by afgun
afgun writes: Once great tech leader Sun will shed 3,000 jobs due to the delays in the Oracle acquisition; is this the first cry of the death-spiral?

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