[Hades]

Good stuff.
Glad you are making this.
It is a good comic, keep it up.

[spartan_0214]

Windows ME 2. So that's why Vista looks so... familiar.

[Tyrian]

Windows ME 2. So that's why Vista looks so... familiar.

Of course!  It all makes sense now!  Bill Gates must have finally got his time machine working!  He must have thought he could go back in time to fix Windows ME using modern technology!  That's why we have Vista!!!

That's pretty good Pyro, and pretty true too.    There's no end to the problems I had with ME.  Nice work in voicing everyone's (I'm sure), collective pain.

[spartan_0214]

The only reasons Vista is selling:

1. Halo 2 PC

2. 64-bit compatible

3. It's "hip"

4. Halo 2 PC

5. It has a lot of shiny features

6. It's new

7. Bill Gates "fixed" ME

8. Halo 2 PC

9. It has a lot of shiny features

10. a) Halo 2 PC
      b) It has a lot of shiny features

[Dark Hunter]

Well, I can't speak for everyone, but my copy of Vista has been running fine without problems.

[Herra Tohtori]

The only reasons Vista is selling:

1. Halo 2 PC

2. 64-bit compatible

3. It's "hip"

4. Halo 2 PC

5. It has a lot of shiny features

6. It's new

7. Bill Gates "fixed" ME

8. Halo 2 PC

9. It has a lot of shiny features

10. a) Halo 2 PC
      b) It has a lot of shiny features

 

<sarcasm> (for those whose sarcasmometer has been overloaded or drained of battery power)

You're all wrong there, and I'll prove it to you! Those can't be the real reasons it's selling because:

-Halo 2 works on Windows XP
-XP Pro is available in 64-bit but it isn't much use yet anyway so no one except professionals who need the fullest use of 64bit processors bother with it
-Hipness is arguable so I can't say anything on that, but I have serious doubt of Vista's hipness after trying it for some time.
-XP is shiny too if you really want it to be, and it doesn't require 2-3GB RAM to do so... but most people have no need for shininess of that magnitude so no one wants to bother with it. Also, Linux 3D desktops (Compiz/Beryl) are way more shiny than Aero. And unsurprizingly, they don't need 2-3 GB memory to work well.
-It's not newer than latest Linux distros! Ha!
-Gill Bates fixing ME is like George Bush junior single-handedly fixing Iraq, and just as useful for the rest of the world.

</sarcasm>

I shall now reveal the only reason why Vista "sells": Microsoft sells only that for OEM PC manufacturers, and when normal people buy computers, they buy OEM boxes and they cannot buy them with anything else than some version of Vista any more.

Damn de facto monopoly/cartel conspiracy between OEM manufacturers and Microsoft... Microsoft being the only commercial PC OS manufacturer, and OEM manufacturers consenting to pre-installing crap and semi-ready operating systems on their boxes.

I suspect that those who build their own rigs will install and use XP as their primary Windows OS for a rather long time to come. In fact I think that DX10 might be about the only reason why Vista might be worthwhile for people who want to play DX10 games, but even they would likely keep XP around for playing those games that simply don't work yet with Vista drivers.

I'm personally thinking of skipping Vista entirely and using XP/Linux combination until Microsoft either somehow makes Vista more appealing with service packs, or until they release the next Windows. And perhaps this time they will really make a new OS like they claimed Vista would be, instead of just re-naming and hiding things that work just as stupidly as before.


Hunter - It doesn't surprize me that Vista is running without problems; it's just that so does my XP, and it does without wasting as much resources as Vista. And honestly, the "features" offered by Vista aren't really much of an improvement from XP. Certainly not what M$ hyped Vista to be.

[jr2]

I suspect that those who build their own rigs will install and use XP as their primary Windows OS for a rather long time to come. In fact I think that DX10 might be about the only reason why Vista might be worthwhile for people who want to play DX10 games, but even they would likely keep XP around for playing those games that simply don't work yet with Vista drivers.

Any way been found to hack DX10 onto XP yet? 

[Herra Tohtori]

Not that I know of, but I suppose that will eventually come forth as well... if not on XP, it'll likely work with Wine at some point.

Besides, OpenGL is about to have a face-lift (version 3.0) as well towards having some DX10-like properties.

[Tyrian]

Any way been found to hack DX10 onto XP yet? 

Not yet, but they're working on it.  Check it out here.  Apparently they are really close to finishing it.  Shhh...don't tell M$...

[spartan_0214]

Question: How can Halo 2 be played on an XP machine?

[Herra Tohtori]

By searching the razor 1911 patch on Google... if I remember correctly, it involves installing a few libraries on game directory and using a little altered launcher. Apparently, the patch itself is not technically illegal (although it undoubteldly pisses Microsoft off to no end).

It's pretty easy to find, too.

And at any rate, Falling Leaves is developing a more "official" way to play Halo 2 on XP machine more reliably, apparently there's (been) some compatibility issues with the razor1911 patch, but I don't know too much about them.

At any rate, I did try it just for the kicks (unactivated version of Cairo Station), but the game is not very optimized (just like Combat Evolved) and while my GPU (GF7600GT factory overclocked) could deal with it pretty easily, the processor/memory (AMD64 Athlon 3200+ coupled with 3GB of DDR400 memory, running at 220 MHz for a lousy 10% overclocking that my computer allows with ClockGen) apparently forms a bottleneck on it so I won't even bother getting it activated. Besides I've already played the game on XBox a couple times (in the army of all places... playing the campaign on co-op mode was a common pastime there... ) so I won't really need to have it on my PC, especially as it doesn't look nearly as good as it should with those system requirements. IMHO, not worth the trouble unless you're a real Halo enthusiast...

[spartan_0214]

I'm definitely not a Halo enthusiast. Just take a look at my username. Wait. Oh.

I wonder if Halo 2 would be worth it if my mother ACTUALLY got Comcast High Speed Internet (long story, still on 56k
Earthlink><Spartan_0214, hopefully Earthlink goes soon. Mom said, but she's said MAYBE too many times before....)

[Dark Hunter]

High speed internet at college dorms FTW! 


Although... they do slow the network down so as to discourage use of it for online-gaming.

[spartan_0214]

Tried the Fidel Center, Dark Hunter?

[Dark Hunter]

They slow it down there too...


They slow the ENTIRE network down, Spartan.

[spartan_0214]

Flakkin' TCC... 


Oh, BTW, DH, Update: Mom said she'd talk with Dad. Good sign I'm getting Comcast. $20 per month deal even includes modem. Butcher's going to have a new contender soon.

[Pyro MX]

I didn't like Halo 2 much - except for the multiplayer. And the ending... gosh the ending... There should have been one more mission before the creds. But instead we get a "GO BUY THE SEQUEL AND A XBOX 360" spit in the face, literally. I don't mind sequels, as long as it is not executed like this.

[spartan_0214]

I dunno, I enjoyed the end of Halo 2. It's obvious that Microsoft/Bungie did that deliberately, but IMHO it was a good place to end the game. After all, it did end similarly to Halo:

"Halo. It's finished."
"No, I think we're just getting started."

vs.

"Master Chief? What are you doing here?"
"Sir, finishing this fight."

I think it ended rather abruptly, but cliffhangers at the end of a sequel aren't uncommon. Look at Star Wars Episode II, Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest, and many others. The second of a trilogy 9 times out of 10 ends in an abrupt cliffhanger. Theatrically, it's rather appealing. What is it Gene Wilder once said? "The suspense is killing me. I hope it lasts." That's exactly how Halo 2 ends.

[Pyro MX]

Halo 2, unless I'm terribly mistaken here, was intended to be the one that closes the Halo series. That's why the ending was so bad.

[Dark Hunter]

You are terribly mistaken. Halo 3 was always meant to end the story.