[geeks] Google announces Google Chrome OS

[Phil Stracchino]

gsm at mendelson.com wrote:
> No, some games and some programs do it and others do not. A lot of the
> programs I run use drive letters, but most of the games that my son
> runs don't. If they require the Cd/DVD at all, it can be in any of
> the optical drives. 
> 
> To be honest, he's not very good at keeping his disks in readable condition,
> so I often have to apply the nocd crack just to keep them going. However,
> that's usually after months of playing the game.

I occasionally have to apply nocd cracks for recalcitrant games, but for
the most part, I use virtual CD drives and mount images of the game CDs
(and install from the images).  It's faster, quieter, and saves
wear-and-tear on my original disks - which I keep securely tucked away
as archive masters in case I should ever need to re-image them.

> I like Valve's operation, STEAM, where you buy a license to a game and if
> it gets lost or corrupted, STEAM will automaticly reload or update it
> for you. You can also install the game onto several computers, but only
> run it on one at a time. 
> 
> The downside is that it requires an Internet connection. I do not know
> what happens when it is down. I'll have to ask my son.

Yeah, Steam is a good system.  I've never tried to access a Steam game
while our 'net was down, because usually if we have no 'net connection
for more than a few minutes at a time, it's because we have no power
except for our emergency generator anyway.  The one reservation I do
have about such systems is whether I can still play the game if the
company goes away.

>> Which fails to address the question of why we still have to screw around
>> with drive letters - and worse, the idea of statically mapped drive
>> letters - at all.  It's sort of like only being able to start your car
>> if you parked it in the same parking space you did yesterday.
> 
> OH sh*t, the new GM will be using that one now.

Sorry I spoke ....    ;)


-- 
  Phil Stracchino, CDK#2     DoD#299792458     ICBM: 43.5607, -71.355
  alaric at caerllewys.net   alaric at metrocast.net   phil at co.ordinate.org
         Renaissance Man, Unix ronin, Perl hacker, Free Stater
                 It's not the years, it's the mileage.