Topic: Desktops 2011

[TechPro]

I hadn't considered all the instant messaging addresses that you pick up in life. I just use Windows Live but I'm dissatisfied with its reliability and the amount of advertising. I feel that when you pay well over £100 for the 'ultimate' version an operating system, you shouldn't have to be exposed to advertising when you use programs that ostensibly form part of it. Obviously, I understand that the Live Network costs money to run, which has to come from somewhere, but it does come as a slap in the face.

That's why I use the Trillian client (http://www.trillian.im/). It handles multiple chat services (msn, yahoo, aol/aim, icq, irc, google, Facebook, LinkedIn, and more), provides most services that chat users use including webcam and voice, doesn't use a lot of system resources, no ads, and standard version is free.

[Crash]

That sounds great! I'll try that. And... , as long as it works, right? I mean Live Messenger is really unreliable. It won't allow me to send files or even winks to certain contacts and who it allows you to send them to changes on a minute's basis. All the buttons for sharing etc disappear at the bottom of some peoples' windows at random.
Apparently, a lot of people have that trouble. I un- and re-installed but it made no frickin' difference.

[TechPro]

I gotta retract one detail... apparently Trillian does allow ads these days (unless you pay for a "Pro" account, pretty nominal fee) but from my experience it's almost only occasional ads encouraging upgrading to "Pro" ... which is far, far, far fewer ads than the Windows Live client.

I was made aware of this detail while reading the details about the newest update to Trillian.  I've seen so very very few ads with it ... it's like having no ads at all.

[VANGUARD]

ads when using windows mail? like the old Outlook express? 

part of the reason I went with Outlook Express/Kmail/(whatever the iMac mail is called) is NOT to deal with advertisement.

[Matthew]

Windows live is a fail. I just use the default non-live Windows Mail that came with Vista.

[Scyphi]

Relevant, on-topic, thread bump.

Actually been meaning to bump it for a few days now to post this. 

[Kaiaatzl]

Hey... I recognize that hedgehog...

(Silver has the gravity gun).

[Crash]

You're joking about them putting a gravity gun in Sonic the Hedgehog, right?
That franchise has done nothing right since the Megadrive.

[Kaiaatzl]

Kind of...
Watch Silver's gameplay in Sonic 06 and you'll see what I mean.

And I actually liked Sonic Heroes (and the Sonic Adventure titles, now that I've played them).  I played Unleashed and Colors on my friend's Wii... Unleashed was awful (at least in the night stages, the day was kind of cool), but Colors was really good.

[Scyphi]

In terms of the goods and bads of Sonic, it depends entirely on the person. Everyone seems to have different opinions about it. To quote myself when last speaking about the matter...

"It's like politics, with it's people on the "right" side, and those on the "left", with several sitting somewhere in-between...except with the Sonic fanbase, there's also an "up" side, a "down" side, a "southeast" side, a "northwest" side, and so on, with even more people sitting somewhere in the middle of it all. With all that diversity, it's hard to find two Sonic fans that can agree on much of anything regarding Sonic."

It's actually quite frustrating at times. Particularly when fans start getting carried away. There are some out there that seem to quite truthfully hate the direction the franchise has gone with every fiber of their body. And then keep playing the games, as if expecting them to sudden match their every, unique, want.

As if.

There are a few things most fans can agree on, though, and that's Sonic 06 was a really bad game (made worse by the fact that it was obvious to all it didn't have to be, because deep down, it still had the makings of a stellar game), that Sonic Colors was probably the most promising Sonic game released in a long while (but not perfect, to what degree, though, is a matter of debate), and that the upcoming Sonic Generations looks pretty promising for the moment.

Going from that, one can safely say that, yes, Sonic has gone downhill in recent years, but is showing signs of pulling out, so Sega may still turn things around. So I'm hopeful.

And here I thought I was going to have people asking me where I got the picture.

Silver is a great character by the way, he just had the misfortune of debuting in a very bad game. 

[VANGUARD]

I played Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic unleashed on the PS3. okay games, but sort of confusing. I'm use to the classic Sonic games on the original Sega.

[Crash]

You're absolutely right. I'm no great fan of it although I know someone who is at the age of 25/26.
I just remember from my childhood that Sonic was the game everyone looked up to as the standard on the megadrive. It made Mario seem very childish, slow and stilted. Now all it seems to do is play catch-up and try to fit-in and measure-up.

I think they need to go back to the characters and premise that really made it great. I wonder whether they've diluted the original characters too much with newer ones that push away the original fans. That and they've changed the original ones as well with regard to Dr Robotnik and his unfortunate name-change.

[Sapphirus]

More randomizing wallpapers:
Lego Fortress 2-


Macross Robotech, Zentraedi Officer's Battlepod (Glaug)-

(the whole Robotech (and Macross) craze came before Transformers and Battletech/Mechwarrior for those who didn't know or forgot)

Red Medic's Classroom-


TF2 Silhouettes-


This, is, 2Fort!-


War For Cybertron, Bumblebee-

[Kaiaatzl]

Lego Fortress 2-

WANT

I have a deep, insightful psychological interpretation for you (Highlight the area below):

You like randomizing images.

Silver is a great character by the way, he just had the misfortune of debuting in a very bad game.  

And he has the gravity gun.

[Scyphi]

That and they've changed the original ones as well with regard to Dr Robotnik and his unfortunate name-change.

Robotnik was always only his North American name, something we America's dubbed him for some marketing reason that alludes me. In Japan, he was always Dr. Eggman from the beginning. I think the reason they ultimately dropped one name, was because having two different names was causing a confusion.

@ wazzazzle: You can't let that go, can you?