Trauma Studios, developers of Desert Combat, one of the best FPS mods of the past several years, signed a contract with Digital Illusions (developers of the Battlefield 1942 games) to produce a commercial mod for ‘an upcoming product.’ Since as far as anyone is aware DICE has only one product upcoming, Battlefield Vietnam, it seems likely that’s what the mod will be for. On the one hand this is great news, the developers of Desert Combat deserve to be rewarded for their excellent work – their mod is arguably more fun than the original Battlefield game, and they’ve been regularly updating and adding content to their mod for over a year. On the other hand, I’ll be bummed (but not surprised) if the superb and free Desert Combat falls by the wayside.
Month: February 2004
My new job title
If you had asked me when I graduated from college 14 or so years ago, I definitely would not have said ‘Oh, I’ll be a Systems Analyst when I grow up. In fact, I didn’t really have a firm sense of what one was until the new CIO suggested that I become one. So. Here I am. I’ve grabbed a handy definition of what a systems analyst actually is, or at least one interpretation that seems to fit, off of monster.com:
“Defines Clients’ problems and translates then into program specifications (problem and objectives) and design solutions. These specifications and solutions are then usually passed to the Computer Programmer. Alternative titles: Business Analyst, Application Analyst, Project Leader, Project Manager, Senior Analyst and Systems Designer.”
The truth is, the shoe sort of fits, I mean, a large part of what I do is meeting with faculty and staff at Bowdoin and try to imagine how to engineer software solutions to solve their issues. Still, it all feels rather strange.
Microsoft finally gets on the ball…
…and releases a patch for IE to address the glaring security issues I’ve been ranting about for a several weeks. You can read about it here, and use Windows update to install it. Anyone using windows should run windows update poste haste.
Despite the fix, I still think no one in their right mind should use Internet Explorer. The Mozilla engine was partially susceptible to the same security issue and they had an update out within 24 hours. It took Microsoft weeks to address it, while they hid behind ridiculous excuses and surreal workarounds. Plus, as mentioned repeatedly, the IE css support is markedly inferior to Mozilla’s. In non geek speak, that means web pages will look better 😉
I’m on a p2p kick today
This is beautiful. A few months ago I posted on the tech report about how I thought ultimately the RIAA’s tactics would be overcome with better software from the p2p software community – ie that their tactics, rather than reducing piracy, would simply encourage another round of innovation in the software that would make for enhanced security. That day has come. Or at least MUTE is the first example of a software package that solves this problem. Want to share your huge pop music mp3 archive? You can again do so with a relatively high degree of security and anonymity. Check out the link for details, there are actually some good diagrams and a lengthy explanation of the hows and whys. I can’t wait for this sort of technology to make its way out into the other p2p apps, particularly bit torrent and DC++.
Oh, and, um, hello, RIAA? Once again, you reap the harvest you sow.
P2P – it’s what’s for dinner
I’m happy to report on another example of a P2P app being used for something besides pirating music and porn. Check out snackster, a P2P recipe sharing app. Got a craving for a new taste sensation, or feel like it’s finally time to reveal dear old Granny’s secret cookie recipe to the world? Get right on it!
Dave's Place/Metamusing 