Stratics UXO site is open for business
Posted August 21, 2003 - 2:34 AM PDT by Mr. De Lux
Go check it out: UXO Stratics
The big Ultima X Odessey event starts Thursday evening, so perhaps we'll see some info up late tonight. The actual unveiling is Friday morning, so definitely expect more info by Friday night.
Your humble reporter will be stalking* the event with a high-powered zoom lens, looking for any juicy UXO goodies to post here!
*No, not really.
Communication and OSI
Posted August 20, 2003 - 6:43 PM PDT by Mr. De Lux
On a thread at Stratics Sunsword made some comments about Publish 20 being "delayed" from the interal release date that Mr. Tact had mentioned a few weeks ago in another thread.
The August 19 date should never have been given out, because it was an internal target, and not for public consumption. I apologize for that error. The reason it shouldn't have been given out is now very much validated by reality.
Personally, I LIKE it when we players get information like this. I realize that a lot of numbskulls aren't capable of processing the tentative part of "tentative information", no matter how many times that it's repeated, but in my opinion the majority of UO players are actually intelligent enough to understand that software development rarely ever sticks to a strict schedule. This isn't a phenomenom that's unique to OSI, rather it's just an aspect of developing software that is fairly common in the industry.
So given the most people do understand this, I don't think it really hurts OSI to leak info like release dates, because the people doing the moaning and complaining about missing them are going to find something to moan and complain about, regardless of how much information OSI does or does not release to the playerbase.
For an example of what I consider to be good, open communication, check out the AC2 forums, where the lead producer actually uses mild profanity at times to describe mistakes that the company has made, and won't hesitate to lay into the morons that attack her or her dev team unjustifiably. I've seen MANY people there compliment Turbine - the makers of AC2 - on their recent push for more open and informal communication, and while there are a few who still complain, like I said before, I think those types of people will ALWAYS complain, no matter what a game company does.
So, in my opinion, I think it'd be better for the community as a whole to have open, honest and personalized communication from the whole OSI development team, than to try and put a PR spin on things, and making the individual developers think twice before they say something in public. I'd be FAR more interested in hearing OSI employee's TRUE opinions on things than the usually polished and cautious communication that we usually see.
Anyone else agree with me? Discuss it here
Major new security flaw in Windows
Posted August 11, 2003 - 5:18 PM PDT by Mr. De Lux
It's time to update your Windows XP/2000/NT/2003 machines if you haven't done so recently. Why?
Because of a major security flaw that is currently being exploited at an increasing rate. This flaw has been around for a while, but it's been under the rader until just recently. Now that it's being reported on major websites, the script-kiddies are hard at work, and the reports of infections and attempted infections are sky-rocketing. You don't need to download or run a program to be infected! You simply have to be connected to the internet and have an open port for a hacker to connect to.
Here are some links describing this security hole:
RPC DCOM WORM (MSBLASTER)
Microsoft Security Bulletin MS03-026
Symantec - W32.Blaster.Worm
It is highly probable that if you've experienced the "NT Authority/System Shutdown in 30 seconds" issue that you've been infected already.
Even if you haven't been infected, go to www.windowsupdate.com and download all the critical updates available. This will patch the hole, and you will be unaffected. However, if you've already been infected, then you'll also need to remove the worm manually. The Symantec link above has instructions on how to do so.
You can also download a removal tool from Network Associates, the makers of McAfee.
We've already seen reports of Game-master.net users being infected in this thread
I'll post further info here