Overclock.net - Overclocking.net - Blogs - t4ct1c47 http://www.overclock.net/blogs/t4ct1c47/ An overclocking forum devoted to maximizing the performance of graphics cards, CPUs, motherboards, RAM and everything else found inside your computer case. en Sun, 08 Nov 2009 19:16:10 GMT vBulletin 1 http://static.overclock.net/images/oc/misc/rss.jpg Overclock.net - Overclocking.net - Blogs - t4ct1c47 http://www.overclock.net/blogs/t4ct1c47/ Computers are not like cars! http://www.overclock.net/blogs/t4ct1c47/776-computers-not-like-cars.html Fri, 02 Jan 2009 12:09:42 GMT I've had a good read through Valiche's blog article and it came across as very well written, apart from his reference to comparing the computing industry to the car industry.

"In order to be able to draw parallels with current situation, let’s compare computers to cars, since both share emotional similarities." [Valiche, T., 2008]

I have to say that one cannot compare the motor industry with the computing industry, they are two entirely different kettles of fish. I struggle to understand what is meant by them shareing "emotional similarities". I assume that he means that people have an attachment to certain types of device. For example, many people regard Ferrari with a higher level of awe than say, a manufacturer like Ford. However, this isn't simply down to the fact that they make "performance cars". When it comes to cars made by Ferrari, it's not just the car itself but the name, history, and everything that goes with it.

"Car industry missed the way what car drivers’ desire and that was punished with a dramatic decrease in sales… from makers of bog standard automobiles." [Valiche, T., 2008]

Consumer desire has absolutely nothing to do with the decrease in car sales. I assume the argument that is being made here is that although mainstream sales can be hurt, sales of performance goods won't feel the burn as much. This is complete nonsense of course.

When it comes to car sales, it's all fair and good saying manufacturers like Ferrari and Porsche haven't been hurt as much as mainstream manufacturers, but the difference is the people that buy those sort of cars. Many people who buy typical new cars, for a lack of a better description, often do so through loans, or hire purchase. The sort of people that buy Ferrari's are sufficienly well off financially to be able to buy their cars outright. Due to the current economic crisis those people who need finance to purchase vehicles are struggleing to get the loans that they require to make their purchases. This has more to do with the economy in general, and the current situation of financial organisations, not people's "desire" to buy certain goods. ]]> t4ct1c47 http://www.overclock.net/blogs/t4ct1c47/776-computers-not-like-cars.html Crysis Warhead DRM http://www.overclock.net/blogs/t4ct1c47/683-crysis-warhead-drm.html Fri, 03 Oct 2008 17:33:32 GMT I purchased Crysis Warhead a week ago and have enjoyed the game. However, after moving to my new house, where I didn't have internet access for a couple of days, I was annoyed when I was informed via a message box that Crysis Warhead couldn't be validated.

It appears that the game checks with online servers every so often when you first run the exe to play it, despite already being validated when first installed. I'm just creating this thread as a little record so that anyone else who's confused about the SecreROM DRM used in Crysis Warhead can be imformed.

I must confess that I'm greatly opposed to DRM and don't take kindly to such restrictions on software that I have payed for. Having to resort to decompiling a runtime file, manually editing program code, and then recompileing, just to be able to play a game I legitimately purchased is not the way to encourage customers to buy your software. ]]> t4ct1c47 http://www.overclock.net/blogs/t4ct1c47/683-crysis-warhead-drm.html <![CDATA[DRM isn't just about combating piracy]]> http://www.overclock.net/blogs/t4ct1c47/658-drm-isnt-just-about-combating-piracy.html Wed, 17 Sep 2008 15:28:43 GMT The recent news that EA are going to be using Sony's SecuRom DRM software on their future titles has me concerned for gaming and software use in general. Now let me make one thing adamantly clear: Developers and publishers who claim that software piracy is the sole reason for DRM are doing nothing more than misleading their customers.

Lets take a step back to around the time when games such as the original Half Life, and Quake 3 Arena were all the rage. Users could install the games as many times as they wished without having to authenticate their installs to remote servers owned by the game publishers.

As it stands now, publishers are preying on the end user's ignorance. People who buy games that require online authentication are showing the publishers that they are more than happy to have their rights restricted when they buy a game.

When I buy a game and I get bored of it I may wish to lend it to a friend, or even part-exchange, or sell it. Games that feature Windows Live don't allow new users of the software to transfer the game to a new Windows Live account. Don't believe me? Try buying a second hand copy of Halo 2, or Gears of War, and then get Microsoft to allow you to play the game online. It won't happen.

I'm certain many people will dislike this comment, but Valve's own digital distribution system, Steam, doesn't exactly help the situation. When you purchase a game on it you are not entitled to pass the game on, or swap it for another when you're bored of it. Due to the popularity of Steam I can't shake the feeling that other publishers have noticed how easy it is for people to give up priviladges they've had in the past in the favour of the publishers.

Needless to say, there have been a number of years since Half Life and Quake 3 Arena, but no great change ever happens over night. This process of restricting end users will continue little by little over the coming months, if not years. As far as I'm concerned the main reason for DRM isn't to combat piracy. DRM is simply a new method for the publishers to get more control over their customers and force them to buy more games at full price. ]]> t4ct1c47 http://www.overclock.net/blogs/t4ct1c47/658-drm-isnt-just-about-combating-piracy.html DX10 on Windows XP http://www.overclock.net/blogs/t4ct1c47/641-dx10-windows-xp.html Thu, 28 Aug 2008 20:13:27 GMT Take a seat everybody, uncle t4ct1c47 is going to give you a brief history of why misinformed people think that DX10 will work on XP. When Vista was first released, Microsoft tried to take advantage of every possible selling point. When they released Halo 2 they made it so that the game would... Take a seat everybody, uncle t4ct1c47 is going to give you a brief history of why misinformed people think that DX10 will work on XP.

When Vista was first released, Microsoft tried to take advantage of every possible selling point. When they released Halo 2 they made it so that the game would only work with Vista. Halo 2 never needed DX10, Microsoft simply wanted another reason to persuade people to upgrade from XP.

When you first install most programs the installation process will perform a few basic checks to make sure that your system is of sufficient spec. For example, when you try to install Crytek's Far Cry onto an old Windows 95 machine you will get an error message saying that the operting system isn't supported. In the case of Far Cry, this was true, as the game needed DX8 to run and Windows 95 doesn't support DX8.

In the case of Halo 2, a game that was originally released on Microsoft's X-Box which didn't use DX10, there is a similar check to make sure that the operating system is Vista. However, as you've no doubt guessed if the original console game didn't use DX10, then the PC version won't need it either. The only reason Halo 2 doesn't work on XP is because of one of the checks performed when you attempt to install the game. There is crack available, that bypasses this system check, and allows you to play Halo 2 on XP.

Pretty much since that crack came out people started to think; "If one game that requires DX10 can work on XP so can others". But that's the point, Halo 2 never required DX10. Now when it comes to people who claim that they were able to install the D3D10 API onto Windows XP, there is a big difference between physically copying the files to the machine's HDD and actually getting the operating system to run them. Although there is a way to make it so Windows XP's DXDIAG reports the DirectX version as DX10, it doesn't mean that the machine is actually running DX10.

The Direct3D API was specifically designed to run on Vista. Attempting to migrate an entire API from one system to another is no mean feat, if this was the case, Linux would not still be relying on OpenGL. I hope that is a clear enough explanation for you. ]]> t4ct1c47 http://www.overclock.net/blogs/t4ct1c47/641-dx10-windows-xp.html First paid IT related work http://www.overclock.net/blogs/t4ct1c47/384-first-paid-related-work.html Fri, 14 Mar 2008 05:41:49 GMT A friend of mine at uni who's working on a final year project for his business degree came to me for help last week. His project involves him and three other students seting up a real business and tradeing. They'd chosen the simple idea of selling guitar picks, t-shirts, and buttons with custom logo's and designs on. Everything had been prepared, such as suppliers, VAT registration and the like, unfortunately they didn't have a website for their company.

I'm not the most creative person when it comes to makeing a website look nice so I asked Ian to provide me with a rough sketch, or design, as to how they wanted the site to look and what the text should say. I would then convert the design to HTML code so that they could host it via Go-Daddy. I was given the layout as a Microsoft Publisher document and duly set to work.

When it came to developing the site I simply used Chami's HTML-Kit and good old Microsoft Paint to resize the images taken from the Publisher document. The site only took four hours to code and best of all I was £40 to do it. Even though I could definately get used to this sort of work, unfortunately most website developers don't have the luxury of their cusomer being so specific as to a site's layout. That said, it has given me the inspiration to look into a business venture of my own. :thinking:
Attached Thumbnails
Click image for larger version Name: Capture.PNG Views: 31 Size: 73.9 KB ID: 10  
]]> t4ct1c47 http://www.overclock.net/blogs/t4ct1c47/384-first-paid-related-work.html