Yes.

The difference is that painball doesn't simulate killing someone, but only shooting color-filled balls at someone. It's not realistic at all. Games are at least potentially realistic - if you think about photorealistic textures, models and environments.

And the parent wasn't talking about going amok, but about losing control for a short time. It's different in the amount of sanity (which is a whole definition problem anyways) "required".

Even though I'm completely upset by current discussions of German ministers to ban "killer games" (as they call CS for example) this point seems very valid to me.
Sitting in front of a monitor is quite different from walking around, but once mankind develops some kind of neural interface (which will definitely happen in the next 100 years) the barrier between virtual and real will be much blurrier. Sure, a sane, stable person should know the difference, but if your consciousness is tricked into believing that a game you play is reality (which doesn't happen with a keyboard, mouse and monitor setup, but might be the case if you control a game with your thoughts and nerves), than that awareness might suffer.

Good idea to think about this before arch conservatives do.

What comes with Windows, that makes it very desirable to many people, is the ability to install and play real, professional games.

Also, I'm using Ubuntu because it only provides a single program for one task (one media player, one browser, etc.). Other distros install a bunch of programs leaving the newbie to decide what the heck could possibly be a good program - which is a terrible situation!

But Ubuntu rocks anyways, even if you have to install codecs (which don't come preinstalled - DVD or mp3 anyone?) and need Windows for real gaming.

And my KT400 board with a VIA chipset worked really well at a FSB of 133 MHz. :)

As soon as OpenSource software includes the things you suggest, I will throw my Linux CDs and DVDs in the trash bin.

You would destroy one of the greatest advantages of OSS, namely NOT being dictated what you put on your computer, but rather full customization as you wish.

Give the "I don't know how to use a computer"-people all the shiney dumbed-down wizards they need, install 10 helpful browser toolbars in their ... secure ... IE and while your at it maybe some more ad- and spyware.

No thanks, I'll stick around with FOSS the way it is RIGHT NOW.

So when a new hardware vendor joins the BluRay player business, their players won't be able to play any movies released before they applied for a vendor key?

That sounds very unbelievable. But possible, of course, in this terrible DRM-infected world.

"There's a section of road where the two lanes merge into one, with the right lane ending. I cannot count the number of times that I've seen someone rushing along in the right lane trying to get as far ahead as they can before they're *forced* to merge"

In Germany the rule is that you have to drive as far as possible before merging.
If you think about it, it's much more logical. The existing road is used better, decreasing the length of a potential traffic jam. If everyone adheres to this rule, nobody gets cut.

Also, whenever there's a merging situation a "zipper" system is dictated (meaning one car from lane 1, then one from lane 2, one from 1, one from 2...).

IMO this is pretty fair and logical. And it works well.

You are right. My fellow Germans, as a majority, accept and frankly hardly care about their personal data at all.

Luckily, with the recent data loss scandals, it MIGHT start to get better - but the only political parties that really care about personal information security and data protection are the Green and the "Socialist" party.
Most people vote conservative or mildly leftist, so we - the people who care about freedom of information and such things - can't do much more than protest (as for example at the big demonstration "Freiheit statt Angst" a few weeks ago).