Actually, there is a "hero story arc" that basically outlines every hero story ever made. It originated back when we (humans) kept our history through story telling. I did a cursory search on google, but sadly wasn't able to find what I wanted. Anyone else know what I'm talking about?

-A.A.M

--So effectively the practical difference between stealing cars and downloading pirate oses is primarily one of enforcement.--

Actually, the practical difference is pretty simple. If I steal a car, I am depriving the original owner of the property.

If I steal software, I'm depriving a faceless, soulless, underhanded company of a few bucks.

Now, does that make software piracy right or justified? Um...no. Does that mean that software piracy IS NOT STEALING? YES IT DOES.

What do you suggest, that we cut off a hand for each time you pirate a program? Is this that damaging to society in general? Somehow I don't think that it is. It's more of a white collar crime and less murder in the 1st degree.

A.A.M

Are you trying to tell me that there was no 8.0Gbit high speed servers in 2000? SERIOUSLY???!!!111

Of *course* the market is different. We've steadily increased the things we can do with a home computer, along with the speed and capacity of the 'affordable' internet services. What you're arguing is akin to "well, a 2008 Mustang is WAY faster than a Model A man!!!"

As a side note, the idea of PAYING for a game over and over and over and over again is just strange to me. Granted over the past few months I've done some checking and it would seem that it's not just paying for the privilege of being able to play the game online, which is basically what it started out as. I can actually get behind the whole "downloadable expanded content" idea. Took them long enough though :P

GET off my LAWN!! :)

A.A.M

...and don't forget their best seller : Lobotomy in a box(tm)!

--Vista without the glass doesn't look nearly as good.--

--The task bar needs quite a bit of work--

--"...how crappy the taskbar is, how "in your face" the windows were, how crappy the file dialogs were, how crappy taskman.exe was, or how generally insecure the default setup was"--

In reverse :
If you don't know how to set up your computer, ask someone who does know. Please don't beg for the Dilbert OS. You know, with one GIANT red button that they're nice enough to push at the factory for you?

I'm not sure why taskman.exe was "crappy" or wtf you're talking about with the "crappy file dialogs"

How are the windows "in your face"?

I just had my first real run in with winblows vista this morning (have been avoiding it for as long as possible now.)and I have a few questions :

1.) Why in the ever loving fuck would you need PERMISSION to move a file from one directory to another?

2.) Why is it asking me if it's cool to save the changes...TO A PROPERTY SHEET...when I haven't changed ANYTHING at all?

I haven't heard a single reason yet why I should switch to Vista.

-my decent (AMD 1.4Ghz, 512 DDR2 RAM, decent vid card) computer won't even get NEAR IT.

-I have yet to read about ANY 'improvements' that didn't involve that bloody "areo" interface or how "ooo shinyprettylookitthat!" it is.

Because hardly anyone besides the fanbois run Macs?

They're great for a lot of things, but they simply don't have the user share WINX does.

And see my above rants for my opinion on MSFT being "on track".

A.A.M

Yes it's nice. Yes it's pretty. People aren't complaining that they're using their video card. They're complaining that Vista runs like shit on their mostly new system and they don't want to have to go out and get a top-of-the-line system JUST TO HAVE A PRETTY INTERFACE.

I should not have to upgrade my system just because you wanted my os to look nicer. Hey MSFT, how about first concentrating on making the fucking thing WORK instead of "OOOOH SHINY!!!"? ...I think it's time to give my shift key a break!

A.A.M

--Instead I'm using good old ever reliable WinXP Pro--

I can't believe I'm reading that. I was in the tech support industry when XP came out. It was a *NIGHTMARE*. It seems that MSFT's way of business is to have a product in beta for 3/4 of it's "service life" then when they FINALLY work out all the bugs in the damn thing THEY DON'T SUPPORT IT ANYMORE.

I agree with you on most of your points though. I still miss the days when winblows was exactly what it should be now : AN APPLICATION. Leave the OS to do what it's supposed to be doing...BEING AN OS instead of a one-click bloated pos.

A.A.M

...They came for the speeders, and I didn't speed, so I never said anything

My apologies to the originator of that remark.

"If we, the citizens, want to protect the constitution, then we should step up and take responsibility for defending it from our politicians." --
DAMN STRAIGHT.

Had I mod points dear sir, you would be getting some. Now if we could just rustle up some people with balls over the next few elections, maybe we could keep ourselves out of the Communist States of America a bit longer.

It wasn't lost on me. I voted green party mostly because my finger just wouldn't touch Obama's name....

Actually, I think I'm entitled to drive SAFELY. Unless of course you think that driving a Yukon XL at 40 while cutting 4 cars off doing a triple lane change is "safe"...I mean, he WAS doing under the posted speed limit right?

--"I am on my side pretty sick of getting nearly killed once per year by stupid idiot which think law don't apply to them"--

How about 4-5 times a *DAY*? Then again, I see the police speed like hell all the time for no reason (no lights, sirens, etc. people get out of their way by habit...and they just accelerate) Someone else in this thread mentioned seeing police flip their lights on just to get through a red light and things like that... happens all the time around here. We like to call our police the "Toilet Paper Department" (I live in a city that starts with a "t") because they're just shitty around here. /end rant

A_A

Sort of like seatbelt laws?

I was driving in Portland OR a few years ago and got stopped...STOPPED mind you... for not wearing my seatbelt. It was something like a $175 ticket. I opted to go to the "Seat Belt Awareness Class", got to see some really amusing videos, and then told that even if I don't care about my own safety, I should think of the firemen, paramedics, etc. that have to remove me from the vehicle. I asked the instructor why it was anyone's business but my own if I decide to wear my seatbelt. She threatened to have me removed...and to keep the $80 I paid for the class in ADDITION to having me pay the original fine.

It amazes me that we pass laws like this, all because some soccer mom lost her precious little boy/girl in a terrible auto accident because they were drunk and not wearing their seatbelt while driving 100MPH down a country road. fffft.

A_A