I usually like updating programs. Bugs get fixed, new features get added, sounds pretty good. Completely new versions, however, often tend to be more trouble than they’re worth. I have previously written about changes that are not worth adapting to, so I won’t go into that again. I only want to write about a few recent updates I’ve performed and crashes I’ve experienced. Only venting, perhaps.
I’ve been using BitDefender since version 7. It was shortly before the launch of version 8, so I didn’t use BitDefender 7 for long, but it seemed nice enough. Then I got along so well with BitDefender 8 that I intended to actually buy BitDefender 9 when it launched. I couldn’t do that because it was around the time Andra left, so there was nobody to actually purchase it and I just used a pirated version of it. Later, after I got thrown back here, I had other things on my mind than to start using a piece of software legally, so I delayed it until the start of 2007, when I finally bought BitDefender 10. That was a bad choice, as they had removed some functionality that I liked and it generally kept crashing and causing all sorts of problems, culminating with blue screens when I was on DC++ and in the middle of fast transfers each way. The talks with their technical support people didn’t solve anything, but it did seem that my reports were used for the next version, as installing BitDefender 2008 as soon as it launched did solve my problems. It still had some minor issues, but those were mainly caused by the fact that my computer was too slow at the time.
Then I built this new computer and installed Vista on it. BitDefender 2008 didn’t seem to like that too much, since it was crashing regularly. Actually, it was crashing after almost 25 hours of running each time. So there were some new e-mail messages exchanged, but once again there was no solution until BitDefender 2009 was launched. Installing it solved the crashes, but created some other rather annoying problems. It kept stealing the focus 30 minutes after an update, and it did it twice each time, a few seconds apart. I asked what’s going on, they said they know of the problem and it will be fixed in the first major update, but it’s still happening even now, though less often. Another annoying issue is that sometimes the advanced settings screen simply becomes inaccessible, which means you can’t access anything if you have it set to go directly to that screen when you click the taskbar icon. The only solution is still to reboot and hope it works again after that.
Still, they’ve outdone themselves yesterday, when a BitDefender update which required a reboot managed to crash Vista. It’s the first blue screen I see since I have this computer, and it’ll be a year old three weeks from now. BitDefender 2009 usually causes issues when there are updates which require a reboot, but the issues used to be limited to itself, crashing instead of turning itself off nicely and giving some errors about being unable to read some temporary files, sometimes even on the “shutting down” screen. This time, however, I imagine they must be “proud” of themselves. As for me… I’m trying to work with them and find a solution one more time, which might be the last time. My license expires three and a half months from now, and if things will stay like this I’ll start looking for other products to replace it with. I don’t like the idea, I’ve gotten used to it, but I’m also fed up with all the issues it keeps having lately.
On the other hand, it seems that some programs don’t exactly play nice with Gigabyte‘s Dynamic Energy Saver software. None actually “says” anything about it, but I did experience a couple of “hard” reboots, as in the computer turning itself off and then back on a moment later, as if the reset button had been pressed. They happened when another program was trying to access certain more sensitive areas, so I assume there was some conflict between it and DESA and that caused the CPU to be left without power for a moment. (I said DESA because I have upgraded to the “advanced” version some time ago, after updating the BIOS as well.)
Moving on, since I have just went back to playing it these days, I want to yell at the “helpful” people on the BioWare forums, who know that Neverwinter Nights keeps causing Vista to reset the video card and therefore crash the game, but basically say that “if the game crashes under Vista, get rid of Vista”. Why thank you kindly, you ass!
I have narrowed down the cause to some weird thing the OpenGL driver, which Neverwinter Nights uses, does when there are transparent characters on the screen, such as when the player is under the effect of some sort of concealment, but I can’t do anything about it. Thankfully, considering the amount of time I spend concealed in one way or another, it doesn’t always happen. But it’s still very annoying when it does, especially when loading a saved game where the character is concealed causes the video card to be reset immediately, making that saved game unusable. It only happened with one saved game so far, and I have saved in that situation many times, but it’s still a problem.
Finally, I have just installed Internet Explorer 8 and I’m not happy with it. Yes, it does seem to have some nice features and the smoother look is appreciated, but my contact with the bad parts of it came only a few minutes after installation, when I tried testing some pages and noticed that it treats CSS as illogically as Firefox does. That might be because it conforms to certain “web standards”, but when the standards are wrong you fight to change them, not change yourself to suit them. Also, there seem to be a few other problems, one of which I’m noticing just now because each autosave causes the edit box to scroll up many lines.
With the start of the new season, one which will feature massive regulation changes, right around the corner, I thought I should post my suggestions for this competition. I did send a long e-mail with some of them to a site about three years ago and received a reply saying that it had been forwarded to the FIA. I don’t know if that happened and I’m sure it didn’t matter either way, but since I thought about all of this, and also made some changes during these three years, I might as well make it all public.
The obvious problem of Formula One is that most races aren’t exciting to watch. The aerodynamics might be largely to blame for that, since a car loses power and becomes harder to drive when it’s close behind another, but regulations also play a part in it. When you don’t allow aggressive driving and pretty much say that a driver should let himself be overtaken when an obviously faster car is right behind him, you don’t leave much room for interesting “battles”. The width of the cars could also be a factor, not to mention the fact that they’re so easy to damage, which tends to favor defensive driving.
The current rule changes might do something to reduce the negative effect a car has on the one right behind it, but they do nothing about all the other parts of this problem. What’s more, the wider front wings seem to increase the risk of damage and therefore force drivers to avoid “battles” even more. I wonder why couldn’t they just reduce the width of the cars while they were at it, since it’s obvious that it’s easier to overtake a narrower car. And I also don’t agree with limiting the number of times a movable segment can be moved during a lap. If you allow such elements, you might as well let the drivers make the best use of them, which might include repeated changes while trying to either overtake or stay ahead. That could have made for some very interesting moments, with the drivers having to split their attention between the track, the other driver and these new controls.
Then there are the regulations which prevent any form of dangerous driving. You can’t exactly have a thrilling “duel” between two drivers while each of them drives safely! There should be some imposed measures which would make the bodywork sturdier and able to withstand certain impacts which might happen during such heated moments without requiring immediate repairs. Then drivers should be allowed to drive more aggressively, actively block, try to force their opponents into making mistakes, or attempt to pass where there’s no room for the maneuver to see if their opponent is going to swerve and let them through. Of course you shouldn’t allow deliberate attempts to damage another car or actually pushing an opponent off the track, but that’s something completely different. I also think that lapped drivers should be allowed to carry on with their own race instead of being forced to let the faster cars through. Of course they shouldn’t actively block, but they shouldn’t have to lose time and possibly even positions, if they’re currently fighting for one, just because a faster car is about to lap them. Finding a way past them without forcing them to slow down and move aside should be the job of the faster car’s driver! And lapped drivers should also be allowed to take back those laps by passing those who lapped them, if they’re able to, and in this situation they should be allowed to use any means permitted to a driver who’d be on the same lap as the one he’s trying to pass.
Another method of increasing the number of “battles” on the track would be increasing the number of times the safety car shows up and decreasing the number of times yellow flags are waved, since the safety car allows drivers to get closer together while yellow flags don’t allow them to pass each other while driving through that specific area. This would mean that some events which currently require yellow flags would require the appearance of the safety car, even if only for a lap or two, while others would no longer require any restrictions at all. Still, at least I’m glad they realized that pit lane restrictions while the safety car is on the track were a very bad idea.
Bringing barriers close to the track once again could also make racing more interesting, since mistakes would result in drivers having to pull out of the race more often and that would make the results more unpredictable. On the other hand, while rain certainly makes a race far more interesting than any regulations ever could, I firmly oppose the idea of sprinkling the track during the race, as I heard it was suggested, simply because water is a precious resource and we must not waste it like this.
A second problem would appear to be the costs associated with Formula One. The thing is that Formula One is supposed to be an “elite” sport; it’s not supposed to be easily accessible or affordable! And, truth be told, if one team is willing to spend 100 million dollars per season to gain one tenth of a second per lap over their rivals, they will gain that tenth of a second and they will win, it’s as simple as that. So attempts to limit the expenses of the top teams are most likely doomed to failure, and detrimental to the sport if somehow they’d be successful. Yes, I’m firmly against all the measures aimed at solving this “problem”, even considering the current economic situation… Especially when these measures include standardized components and freezing development.
But it is true that there should be a way for teams with reduced financial resources to compete… Standardized components could have a place here, with the FIA deciding to let the teams develop their own parts if they are able to do so but also ensuring a supply of standardized components to the teams who couldn’t afford to develop their own. The performance of those standardized components should allow the teams who use them to score a decent number of points, and hopefully even an occasional podium finish, but if they ever allow them to fight for the title it means there’s a problem somewhere. If those components would prove to deliver an unsatisfactory level of performance, there could be certain rule changes in order to still allow the teams who use them to earn points, such as reduced weight limits and improved aerodynamics.
Still, the worst part of reducing costs is that it limits development. Formula One should be all about development and constantly improving performance! I agree that most developments should have some relevance in the “real world”, but that certainly isn’t going to happen if you limit or even freeze them! Instead of constantly reducing the engine capacity in order to keep performance relatively constant, as it used to happen, or freezing its development, as it happens now, the engines should be severely restricted once and then the teams should be allowed to develop them based on those specifications for many years to come, until they’d manage to regain the performance they used to have. The efficiency of the resulting engines would be very useful for regular cars as well…
Speaking of efficiency, fuel efficiency should be a major concern for Formula One. Of course, developing better hybrid technologies or even switching to electric cars would be a great idea, but the FIA could start moving in that direction by restricting the amount of fuel a car can use during a race. Banning refueling during the race could have some effects, since the less efficient cars would be heavier at the start of the race, but actually limiting the amount of fuel each car has available for each race would be even better. This limit could start from the average consumption of the last season and then be reduced at the start of each following season, and perhaps there could even be certain advantages granted to the teams who wouldn’t use all the fuel they’d be allowed to use. This would force teams to make engines be as efficient as possible, which is certainly very useful in the “real world”.
There might be a few other things, but these are the most important… As with everything, it’s just an idea, feel free to give me a better one if you think you can…
Sid posted the announcement on the official site over two weeks ago, but I only looked last night. It would appear to be one more result of the “economic crisis”, though there is also the expected rant about piracy. I won’t get into that again, wrote quite enough about piracy and how it’s not like the content creators and distributors would want people to believe it is, but I will say that I’m quite saddened by the news.
From what I heard, that album had been fully written since 2003 and was supposed to be released in 2005. But then Sid wanted to rerelease “A Legacy of Love” first, to make it clear that this fourth album is linked to that one and not to the third, so “The Legacy Remains” was delayed, and then the delays kept piling up, mainly due to the band’s usual problem of repeatedly losing their female vocalists. My guess is that Sid wasn’t satisfied with just recording the songs again with the new vocalist after the first one who worked on this album left the band, so he actually wanted to change them to fully suit the new voice. That took time, which time was apparently longer than the second vocalist who worked on this album was willing to stick around. In came a third, the work probably started all over again and in December the word was that the album was finally going to see the light of day in early 2009. But now it would appear that the record label crumbled and it got pulled down with it.
I can’t say it was unexpected… Seems quite fitting for this to happen just when an album that seemed to just refuse to be released was about to finally be forced out into the world. But I was still hoping, so I’m still saddened by the news. And I’m even more saddened by his decision to just let it vanish into oblivion, become “the lost album”, as he put it. Fully agree that there are problems with all the currently available methods of selling songs in digital format, but if he’s not going to make any money out of it anyway, why not just make it available for free? He says it wouldn’t be fair to all the other band members, but I don’t see why. Unless I’m missing something, they’re not earning anything as a result of how things stand right now either…
What’s worse is that, for all practical purposes, the band has disbanded after hearing this news from their record label. Sid says that they only met in the studio, while recording, and since that’s not going to happen anymore it’s pointless to just say they’re still a band. So he’ll go back to the beginnings of Antichrisis, make music alone, though two of the other members assured him they’ll still help if he’ll need them. He also doubts Antichrisis will ever release another full album, since he lost his faith in this method of making music.
Why did I want to write a post about this? Just because Antichrisis is one of my favorite bands and I was really looking forward to that new album. I have mixed feelings about the sound, but I really relate to Sid’s lyrics and the story behind them, that’s why I even put up some of them.
I was seriously entertaining the notion of actually buying “The Legacy Remains”, if it’d have been released and some shop from here would have somehow sold it, despite being fully against buying “hard copies” of music or movies you never intend to play or watch on anything other than your computer. For a while I also searched every shop from here I could think of, plus many I never knew existed until then, for a copy of one of their old albums, thinking I could just show my support that way. I couldn’t find any, of course… Still, knowing me, this should tell you how much I wanted to support this band. But I guess it didn’t work out…
Two days ago, the World Wide Web turned 20. Those first few visionaries didn’t create the Internet, that already existed for quite some time, but their work finally allowed the average person to access it. One has to wonder how would the Internet look like and where would we be today without them or without the later decision to make their idea available for free.
20 years doesn’t seem so long, does it? And yet look how much of an impact it has had in so little time. The way in which we transfer information has changed drastically, and so did the way we live our lives. This was an undeniably beneficial development, all the negative aspects being caused by some of the people who have started using it afterwards. In all, it’s one more proof that a small group of determined individuals can change the world.
We’re no longer talking about abstract concepts, events that happened too long ago or things that have no direct effect on your life. I’m able to write this and you’re able to read it thanks to a small group of people who decided to turn a revolutionary idea into reality and did so for the benefit of all and not just their personal gain. It’s that simple, and it’s an opportunity to learn and be inspired.
How would you like to change the world in 20 years?
I wonder how long has my brain been working on this story it decided to fill me in on this morning… I’m talking about the start of a high fantasy story, information about some of the characters and the world it’d take place in, plus ways in which many of my ideas about this world could fit into a high fantasy scenario, all of which I have dreamed about this morning. It was a very lucid dream, including moments when I woke up, analyzed some of the ideas, made some changes, then went back to sleep to let my subconscious figure out what to do with said changes.
The idea itself seems quite nice, not to mention reasonably original. Of course, since my subconscious created it, it’d be very strange if I’d think it sucks. Still, I did make several changes to it after waking up, changes which include turning a secondary character into the most important one, while also significantly altering her appearance and moving some ideals from the mind of another character into hers. I was very frustrated at my lack of drawing skills because I could see how she had to look so clearly after I woke up that I felt I had to draw her. I gave up the idea and settled for drawing pictures of her in my mind, of course.
Who knows, if I’ll still be alive and have a fully functional brain ten years from now, I might actually get to it. But right now I’m just trying to write down what I already know, and that’s going very slowly. I’ve been struggling with it for several hours and all I have are some general traits and the appearance of two characters, nothing else. It’s so frustrating! Writing is so slow and words are such a weak form of communication! I think too much and too fast for my poor communications skills to be able to keep up, plus that my thoughts are in pictures and feelings and all sorts of concepts which can’t be clearly explained in words, or at least not by me.
