When Windows 9 comes out, they're planning on handing out nine rings containing the OS to various kings and rulers around the earth. However, deep in the volcanic vaults of Mt. St. Helens, one ring will be made with DRM keys to bind all the others to it...

So it'll be a bitch to re-activate if you ever have to re-install it on an upgraded machine.

I was fine with the story and the setting. I just felt massively let down by the game play systems... Character development some, but especially the combat system. If they revisited Jade Empire I would hope they'd start afresh with that, and either admit they're not interested in making a "fighter" or really step up their game on that quite a bit.

You know, I bet they feel sorry for you too...

And statistically, at least, they're more likely to be happier, so who, statistically speaking, has the right to pity whom?

Well, until 7 days ago, I had a 1st gen iPod Touch... Its battery went out (and apparently the new failure mode for a dead battery on a Touch is that it won't even stay on when plugged in, unlike the previous iPod 3G I used for a while after its 3rd battery replacement) and I was somewhat less than happy with my choices for battery replacement, and I wanted something a LITTLE larger (16GB Touch) than I used to have. I also decided that for the way I use it, I wanted something focused on a good media experience, and that the Touch, with its "iPhone lite" approach with the app store and interface, was not quite what I wanted.

So I got a 32GB Zune HD.

I've been very pleased with the Zune HD so far. Slick, responsive interface, dedicated and focused to a solid media experience. Sound quality that is to me, (very much not a audiophile), noticeably better than the 1st gen Touch. Simple integration with Windows (always used an OS X box before for iTunes because of my early experiences with that software on Windows).

Its also a wee bit smaller than my Touch was, so it fits in a pocket a bit easier.

Basically, a good buy for me. And frankly, that's all I care about. I don't care if somehow its not a good fit for other people. Unlike apparently 80% of this site, I don't think I'm joining some sort of tribe when I buy Microsoft or Apple. Seriously, some of you need to get out of the house and join a radical political party or something: You're wasting all your vitriol here.

Oh I'm looking forward to Snow Leopard too. Though partially because I hope it'll make my Mac Mini (1st gen) running Leopard a LITTLE snappier (I should never have moved up from Tiger).

But I'm also, like I said, happy that they're being reasonable about security on the system.

Also, I'm sure you're aware that declaring that there will never be a virus for OS X because there hasn't been one yet (and that's debatable, at least... I certainly pay attention to the CERT advisories for OS X... as I do for AIX, Linux, etc etc) is an abuse of statistics. Its essentially saying you'll never be hit jaywalking across a street because you haven't been yet.

Time to play anal debater...

Which of course is where you start with the dictionary definition of something, argue something completely different, call the other side of the debate idiots using circumlocutions, then declare complete victory at the end...

So, to that end:

Definition of a computer virus:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_virus

You'll note that the definition (unless someone gets busy with Wikipedia soon) mentions the first very narrow definition of a self-propagating code that can proliferate without the permission of the system user or owner's action. Very few things fit that definition on modern OSes, even Windows. Most things are some form of trojan initially. Although the form of that "trojan" can be very virus like... Remember, OS X was exploited early this year through a Safari security hole that amounted (with some hand waving) to clicking on a "bad" URL.

Now, it is entirely possible to have a virus propagate in a discretionary access control system such as UNIX, at least within the context of things to which that user has control, and with some social engineering, its not too hard to exploit that into root as well by simply fooling the user into typing the "update" password at the wrong time. It simply is the case that a WELL set up DAC system, it is harder, and that, to this day, as far as DAC goes, UNIX (which OS X falls under) is generally a bit better out of the box than Windows, largely due to legacy issues. I have seen viruses, if rarely, on different Unix systems, and am sure that such things could crop up on OS X systems. When Symantec argues that OS X has no viruses, its arguing more from the paucity (there are fewer) and the severity (most likely, its not going to hurt much beyond the user account infected). Note that Vista and later are similar in this regard. OS X doesn't do anything like set a noexec bit on user's home directories, so the potential for unwanted code to run as a user and infect other things a user might run is there. Yes, most of the time this is going to be a "trojan" but the distinction isn't nearly as interesting or damning as some people appear to think it is.

Also, its important to note that no system is virus, worm, or trojan PROOF. Worms, especially... Blaster is probably the most well remembered worm to this generation (and was Windows), but remember, the first known worm attacked Unix (Sun and BSD) systems. There will always be exploits to correct and if you never security update your OS X installation and yet keep it directly on the internet, assume someday that SOMETHING will infect it.

In the end, I think its a good thing that OS X is including some basic infection scanning tools, since as the popularity of OS X increases, it will no doubt come under attack more often. And remember, in the modern day, root exploits of your location machine aren't necessarily what an attacker is looking to do. A spam cannon runs perfectly fine as an unprivileged user.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot: I win!!!12111

Just remember that Batman does have some exclusivity differences in the PS3 version... There are those "Joker" levels... No idea if that makes it worth it or not, but as a single player game, it doesn't play to the x360's strengths right now, unless Achievement Points are REALLY worth it to you.

No, Joystiq, you don't quite understand statistics or the number they were talking about I think... (I read the article myself)

A 100% failure rate at Joystiq would mean you would currently not have a working 360 amongst any of you.

54.2% of Xbox 360s, from launch to now, have failed if their stats are right, not 54.2% of people who've bought an Xbox have seen a failure.

That former stat would naturally lead to a much higher latter stat, as you get an Xbox to replace a broken Xbox.

For instance, in a sample of my household: I have owned 3 Xbox 360s, one of which broke. 33% of the Xboxes in my house have failed, two remain working. 100% of people (me) have experienced an Xbox failure.

Throw in my friend, who also has had 3 over the life timeof the 360 platform, with two having broke, and the numbers for us become 3/6 failed (50%) with 100% of people (both of us) experiencing an Xbox failure...

I think you begin to see, hopefully?

Well, other than Yahoo, and Netflix, and...

Yeah, I'm going to guess they've got enough "friends"...

How about you, how you doin' lately?

Primarily (as a Touch Pro owner currently):

Its flaky. The stock WinMo shipped with the phones at launch always seem to get "confused" a lot: BlueTooth stops working, it stops getting mail, it immediately sends calls to Voicemail because it doesn't ring. Usually, a couple of "secret" revs from the provider seem to clear this up... Or maybe its just luck. I reburned the "official" stock Sprint image from a few months later onto the same phone that I got in the launch week and now its more like once every couple weeks that I need to soft reset the phone rather than every couple days.

Its not finger friendly... They're getting better, but even 6.5 isn't quite there yet. Scroll bars are especially egregious... This is less of a concern to me because I apparently have what is known in the business as "stupid fingers": even on my iPod Touch I'm frustrated by the UI going off and doing the wrong thing... So for the WinMo phone its only a matter of degrees worse...if I use the stylus its fine. I know that's somehow a "burn" on a device now to have a stylus but seriously, you're all a bunch of pizza eating greaseballs anyhow: I've seen your iPhone screens around 3pm every day. It isn't pretty.

The great thing about WinMo is you can put nearly any program you can think of on it from nearly anywhere. The big problem with WinMo is you can put nearly any program you can think of on it from nearly anywhere. Somehow, eventually, that "neat clock theme" is going to make it so you have to hard reset your device just to get a button you can press again, or that awesome real time Facebook/Twitter client that also plays video is going to keep itself in memory when you least expect it and burn your battery down about an hour after you leave your house.