Hmm, if the third-party contractor basically plundered GPL code to fulfill a juicy contract with Microsoft, didn't they just bill for work they didn't do?

I mean, if putting together this USB/DVD tool consisted of laying down a foundation other programmers had already worked through, and just adding some custom bits here and there, then Microsoft might as well have done it in-house. 5 programmers, a project leader, 20% of their work week for 3 months. Ta-daa! Same result without paying inflated 'consultant' prices.

Anybody think this could be won in a small claims court?

I've been using SplashID for the last 5 years or so. One of the best apps I ever paid for. It exists on pretty much any major OS you might be using on a PC or - and here's the selling point - any mobile phone.

I've had it successfully synchronize between my PC and Nokia E61i. Before that it was syncing with my Sony Ericsson P990i and P910i. There is an Android version of it out, but unfortunately Android Market is not available in Singapore. I was forced to use SlideME to use the very barebones but still functional gbaSafe.

SplashID uses the 256bit Blowfish encryption method and comes with a built in password generator, with quite a few options like limiting the password to lowercase and numbers and even checks for "pronounceability". It comes with a nice set of icons, you can create custom templates with multiple masked fields and the layout is intuitive. There are several export options, with some compatibility with other formats as well as the standard unencrypted CSV excel file.

Thank you very much for your reply. You weren't condenscending at all.

I'll backup what I want to keep from the old Toshiba and upsize it's 20GB(!) hard disk.

Is there somewhere I can learn about everything you've done with Ubuntu, Wine, Crossover and getting abandonware to work on Linux VMs?

I have an old Toshiba M10 laptop from 2003 that's amazingly still ticking along and would be perfect for teaching myself Linux. I want to get the original System Shock to work if I can. Syndicate Wars as well (still have the box, manual and CD). I have a feeling I can squeeze out way more performance from it than the OEM XP install currently does.

Not just that. I am personally really hoping that Google approach their music store the same way as their Android OS.

In the sense that Google will figure out how to take care of the back-end/server-side/licensing/content delivery and still provide an SDK and some libraries for the front-end/GUI for anybody to tinker with, not just lock it down to SongBird or some Google exclusive client. I despise the iTunes UI and I especially loathe the way it organises your music library.

I'll bet you good money if this is the way it goes, within 3 - 6 months you'll have 3 to 4 choices of "gTunes" clients that will totally change the way we manage our music across platforms and devices. Just imagine what happens when it expands into films and TV series just like iTunes already does? Every Android OS phone will be a portable media center that can sync, purchase and communicate through your gmail account.

Awesome! So that's where the name for Parabellum cartridges came from.

I hope you come and check your post Mr A.C. because if you call the post-Cold War Internet-Age US the 6th Reich, I'd like to know what the 4th and 5th were, in your humble definition.

Last I checked we stopped at 3.

Actually...what were the 1st and 2nd?

I am in total agreement.

The only MMO that really hooked me for a while was Warhammer. I'm not interested in the tabletop wargaming or painting, I just really love the fluff.

I had to drop WAR because I am a very casual gamer. I only put in 3 to 6 hours a week. It got really boring at a round level 20. A very poor Solo experience at around there. It's soul-numbing drudgery. I've heard that it gets better at Level 30 onwards (or 'Tier 3' as Mythic have divided it by decades) for the solo player...but I got frustrated. I just wanted to see places I'd read about and meet the various personalities (that didn't require a group) and enjoy the story lines (the Dark Elf storyline is brilliantly conniving and you get involved in everyone's backstabbing).

I was not interested in adjusting my life for groups, I find socializing on MMOs weird (but I'm also the kind of person who finds IM-type applications disruptive rather than enjoyable). I thought Mythic's solution with scenarios that reset themselves and were open to anyone was a great idea and I had fun whenever someone was around. Different story when no one was around though, especially scenarios that nobody liked.

Anyway, long story short, I like solo play. I'm in it for the story and a sort of semi-social CRPG experience. Naturally I am not their [the MMO companies] intended market but I might have been willing to spend more money if they had given just done a little bit more tweaking for the solo player.

Head Mounted Displays are a dead end for everyday, full-time casual and social applications. Full Stop. Period. Do Not Pass Go. Do Not Collect $200.

There is no point even discussing it or listing pros and cons or design hurdles. It simply will not be accepted. The sociological and psychological reasons are obvious and need not be listed. We absolutely loathe those Star Trek-ish bluetooth headsets. What makes you think HMDs will be any better accepted? "Trendy" HMDs disguised as fancy Issey Miyake glasses simply inspire resentment at needing an external fashion item to get a service.

The Augmented Reality Revolution will happen as soon as a display can be miniaturized on to a contact lens or some sort of walk-in day-surgery that replaces your lens, cornea or some part of the eye with an artificial one that acts as a display and runs off bio-electricity. Something like specially designed mitochondria or kinetic energy conversion like in those fancy "kinetic" watches. The latter is probably the most practical and safest as eyeballs are constantly moving and genetically engineered mitchondria could mutate into something life-threatening or cause catastrophic immune responses.

For all intents and purposes, the Augmented Reality tool, no matter it's form, must be perceptually invisible to the user and to all observers in order for it to become a more permanent fixture in our lives and culture. HMDs are strictly for hazardous or military applications. At the Facebook, cafe or pub crawl level, no one is interested in wearing some stonking doodad on their head.

At an even higher tech level, is bypassing the senses completely, and connecting directly to the appropriate parts of the brain, merging vision, sound and tactile information in one fell swoop (since the contact lens or implant solution would still require a permanent "hearing aid" type implant if sound information is desired as well).

At first I was going to call you on liking Tekken, but not buying a PS3 for Tekken 6: Meaningless Subtitle....until I checked Wikipedia and was surprised to see that Namco have not made the next Tekken a PS3 exclusive. You'll be able to get it with the Xbox360. No doubt there will be exclusive characters just like Soul Calibur IV did.

"Counterfreedomary" is now officially my favourite neologism.

Thank you good sir!

Doh! You're spot on with the narrative style.

Ha! So I wasn't the only one who immediately thought of Max Payne.

I did not however, remember a weirdly appropriate quote from the game. Well done sir.

I want to give you a mod point but you've already maxed out, so I'll say thanks for making that post as I personally don't know enough about music distribution to have noticed it was fishy.

Deus Ex

The game is still as good as ever because the story is not anchored to its graphics. After seeing how beautiful the human models are in both the Source engine and whatever engine they are using for Mass Effect, I think updating the graphics side, remastering the voice tracks and music and adding any and all side-missions and storyline Warren Spector wanted to put in originally but couldn't, would make it an instant hit. I'd hire Greg Bear and Grant Morrison as story consultants if the original story were to be expanded. Especially on fleshing out a full version of "Jacob's Shadow", the fictional book you can read excerpts from during the game.

Dawn of War

I still play this RTS in skirmish mode. It's just so damn fun. But it's really showing it's age. More polygons, better textures, more balance...heck...it needs a whole new engine. I would happily buy it again. Especially if it came with a powerful army painter and an option to host points-based games over the internet. A sort of weird hybrid of traditional table-top rules and RTS, including having persistent online army profiles that can gain XP from online play, earning phat loot (read: Wargear), unlockable classes (Exarchs, named characters from canon) and fame.
Oh and none of this bollocks with being tied to Steam or Windows Live.

Arcanum

Again, except for some badly needed balance issues so that the majority of character stereotypes are equally effective (as opposed to becoming a mage, specializing in Force, vaporize everything = easy mode), the great story can carry it through a major graphics upgrade. I would love to see Tarrant in the Source engine, right down to Madame Lil's (*nudge, nudge* *wink, wink*). And that amazing string quartet soundtrack remastered. In fact, I'd love to bring back the old Troika crew and give all their work an upgrade.

For all games from here on out: As much support as technically possible for the mod community. Bethesda make money hand over fist from people who want to mod Fallout and Oblivion, who might never have been interested in the original games when first published.