Messages

I have used Sibelius before. It was a very long time ago so I'm not sure which features have been added.

From what I recall this is basically musical notation software and nothing more. While that may not seem like much it is VERY good at what it does. You certainly get a "Professional" feel while using it compared to many freeware or low cost musical notation programs.

Keep in mind though, this is my personal "feeling" while using it. I'm certain that someone would disagree and say that Sonar is just fine. As far as midi keyboard Sibelius is simply a program that receives midi notes and little more. So it should work fine with any midi keyboard, no special hardware required. An excellent midi sound set on your computer would obviously help a great deal. How have you been composing in the past? I get the impression you have not been using a midi keyboard?

If there is a demo available I would recommend you download it and give it a try. 

Oh and I almost forgot, it prints full scores beautifully, so for your purposes it may be worthwhile.

later,
-junc

EDIT: If you are interested in becoming a "professional" then the money is an investment in your career and worth every penny. However, if you are just looking for a better tool for a hobby. Yes, look elsewhere.

Sorry if this has been posted before.

When I click on file/preferences I get the following error:

Code: ags

Error: Value of '0' is not valid for 'Value'. 'Value' should be between 'Minimum' and 'Maximum'.
Parameter name: Value
Version: AGS 3.0.0.22

System.ArgumentOutOfRangeException: Value of '0' is not valid for 'Value'. 'Value' should be between 'Minimum' and 'Maximum'.
Parameter name: Value
   at System.Windows.Forms.NumericUpDown.set_Value(Decimal value)
   at AGS.Editor.PreferencesEditor..ctor(EditorPreferences prefs)
   at AGS.Editor.GUIController.ShowPreferencesEditor()
   at AGS.Editor.Components.FileCommandsComponent.CommandClick(String controlID)
   at AGS.Editor.GUIController._mainForm_OnMenuClick(String menuItemID)
   at AGS.Editor.MainMenuManager.MenuEventHandler(Object sender, EventArgs e)
   at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripItem.RaiseEvent(Object key, EventArgs e)
   at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripMenuItem.OnClick(EventArgs e)
   at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripItem.HandleClick(EventArgs e)
   at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripItem.HandleMouseUp(MouseEventArgs e)
   at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripItem.FireEventInteractive(EventArgs e, ToolStripItemEventType met)
   at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripItem.FireEvent(EventArgs e, ToolStripItemEventType met)
   at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStrip.OnMouseUp(MouseEventArgs mea)
   at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripDropDown.OnMouseUp(MouseEventArgs mea)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WmMouseUp(Message& m, MouseButtons button, Int32 clicks)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.ScrollableControl.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStrip.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripDropDown.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.OnMessage(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)

This first appeared with the demo game loaded, then I started a new project and it occured again. Seems to happen every time.

later,
-junc

I agree.

I've been staring at those numbers since posting it.

My idea was to remove my girlfriends wages from the equation altogether. Try to figure out how much it would cost to make it with just one of us working. Unfortunately, it just doesn't look realistic. Actually, my girlfriend not working is pretty unrealistic anyway, she works more and earns more than I do now anyway

A quick search also led me to web jobs that start in the £18-20k range too.

I'm going to have to think on things for a bit. I'm pretty sure most of my expense numbers are pretty high anyway. The comparison to US vs UK wages is actually a little shocking. Your minimum wage is double ours basically. So I think I got a little carried away

Regardless, the idea of cost of living in London being an issue is out the window. I can live much more comfortably in London than I do here. Let me tell you, we don't go to dinner and a movie every weekend and we definitely don't have that much spending money! My initial numbers are us living comfortably. So, whatever I'm earning when I graduate, it will be enough I expect. I guess the £45k number is a goal to shoot for once I get my foot in the door.

Thanks again.

later,
-junc

the wages are for untrained, as I see it.

Either way you can get pricer than that but definately cheaper than that as well...

Yup, keep in mind I'm trying to figure for bare minimum here. If you can feed a family of four on £35 then I don't think I will have any problems. My £40 came from an estimate of £20/meal I saw for a mid grade restaurant. The estimate didn't indicate if it was for one person or two so I just doubled it. While I don't think we will be eating steaks once a week, and all-you-can-eat places scare me, it is nice to grab a bite to eat after a movie.

Minimum wage is £5.52 for 22 and over

Excellent, thank you. I'm assuming that is for all of England? So in London I would hope that they cushion that a little for folks. I'm thinking I've overestimated and underestimated enough that the numbers all balance out in the end. Since no one has thrown up any huge red flags I'm feeling okay so far.


So using those numbers and adding a couple other horrible monthly payments I will be making:

-------------------------------
Student Loans: £300/month
Retirement Savings: £200/month

Total/Month: £2484 Net
Taxes: £1000
Gross: £3484/month

Wage 3: £22.00/hour at 40hrs/week for one - £3520/month Gross - £45760/year
-------------------------------

I guess I need to be hunting for a job in £45k range to start. My hope is that it isn't a lot of money for the London area. I'm guessing in other areas that would be equal to about £40-£43k.

I'm a little concerned about this because most wage estimates I've seen have been closer to £35k/year for anyone with a BA. Keeping in mind that my BA will be in Humanities (Comparative Studies) so typical college graduate wages are lower for me. Considering the fact that in the US having a BA is not much better than having a high school education I'm just not sure if I'm going to be able to hit that wage to start.

I have been considering changing my major to Communications Technology (Web Design) and I expect that the wage for that will be much higher. I guess I will start digging into that a little more.

Thanks everyone for your input. Extremely helpful!

later,
-junc

Just wondering if someone could verify some numbers for me. Since I found some of the reference for the numbers on the web I just want to see if they are up to date and realistic. All amounts are in £ not $.

One Bedroom Flat rent/month £800
Flat Bills/month £200
Groceries/month for two £240
restaurant meal (4 time/month for two) £160
Zone 1-6 Travelcard/month for £328
Movie Theater (4/month) £80
Movie Rental (4/month) £16
Spending/month £160

Total/Month: £1984 Net
Taxes: £400
Gross: £2400/month

Wage 1: £5.70/hour at 40hrs/week for two - £1824/month Gross
Wage 2: £7.50/hour at 40hrs/week for two - £2400/month Gross

Thanks!

later,
-junc

I can't say I'm flattered by the prospect of another immigrant being added to the job pool of an entirely over-subscribed employment sector.

Ahhh, xenophobia, awesome.

If London doesn't work for you, you can come over here...

Thanks Timosity! I have been thinking about other countries. Spain has come up due to employment opportunities, but this isn't a priority for me. France is pretty big on my radar, but the language barrier makes me hesitant. Australia is also of interest due to the lack of language barrier. I'm honestly not sure why I haven't given it more thought than I have.

And all treatment on the NHS is free, you only have to pay for prescriptions (at £6.75 an item), though those are free if you're under 19

This really sounds amazing. I can not even begin to describe the burden this would relieve regarding raising a family. No matter what type of employment you have in the US there is no guarantee that your health insurance will take care of you. Co-pays and other nasty loop holes that health insurance companies in America find to not treat people is a little disturbing. I will have to look into it a little more.

As an unskilled worker...

Didn't mean to mislead anyone here. McDonalds is meant to be more of a metaphor for a low paying job, not an actual potential employer.  The point of bringing up low wage jobs was to get some info about any potential worst case scenarios. I am anything but an unskilled worker. Before leaving the country I do hope to at least have my Bachelors degree. As I said, I may also pursue some educational avenues to get into England. Perhaps getting my Masters and PhD there. I also understand you folks are in dire need of some truck drivers. I'm not sure how much good an American commercial drivers license will do me, but I imagine it wouldn't hurt.

An idea that came up today which I'm a little excited about is telecommuting. I thought I wouldn't be working for my current employer over the summer so looked into some web jobs elsewhere. I was impressed with the number of telecommuting web development jobs I ran into. I was speaking with my boss about this and he said that most countries would be very excited about this, because I would be bringing in an income from outside the nation. I would be like a little profit machine. Wee!

later,
-junc

No, no, no SSH!

I live in a country where George Bush was "ELECTED" to lead.

That is the problem.

Oh, and Disco: Yup, that makes his advice on citizenship pretty useless actually.

I did do a little more research. Citizenship is actually not the problem. As a matter of fact citizenship appears to be relatively straight forward and simple. Once you have been in the country for 5 years you have the status of "Indefinite leave to remain" which allows you to begin the naturalization process. It is getting to that 5 years that I have to struggle with.

However, it is the little things that I'm also curious about here.

What "other" questions should I be asking? "CCTV-covered wasteland" is actually a very good point to bring up.

-Do you fear your government?

-Do you feel like, at least at times, your government has your best interests in mind.

-How about raising a family?

-The school systems?

-Do you feel "safe" in your day to day life, are Brits pounded with "The terrorists are gonna getcha" crap? (I know that Londoners may get this a lot more considering recent news and all, but what about the rest of the country?)

-How about retirement?

-Welfare or more importantly an equivalent to our "Workman's Compensation" a government program which assists if you have been injured on the job?

and as far as layabout is concerned, I will PM him. Perhaps he can still offer some advice on getting used to you brits and your wacky slang.

later,
-junc

"good to "see" you again man!"

Same. Thanks for the good luck wishes, from the other replies it looks like I'm going to need it!

Dunno how well you'd manage to live on a minimum-wage job there, but plenty of people seem to manage it. Probably won't be much fun though.

It can't be any worse than many of the situations I've been in here. But good to hear that some folks are able to do it. (YAY POSITIVE!)

I've looked into this intermittently over past few years, and discovered it is really quite difficult as an American to move anywhere really.

It is actually quite frightening to me that it "seems" so difficult. I really just don't believe it. I think it is propaganda. I think that there is just a trick to it.

If you are taking your American girlfriend there, then I am inclined to say it would likely not result in citizenship

I actually wiki'd this one, and you are correct. If she is not British - no citizenship.

It depends on what you want to do in the foreign country.

I am fleeing what I consider to be a hostile political environment. I live in a great deal of fear from my government and I do not see the future to hold much good for Americans. I have some pretty radical political views (radical as far as certain Americans are concerned) and I just don't think I will ever be at home here.

I think you'd better start saving

A huge part of why I am calling this "Phase One" and giving it a few years is just because of saving. I expect to at least require one years wages in order to pull this off. In addition to any money for paperwork fees, the actual flight over (I'm actually considering taking a cruise and just not coming back, teehee), and whatever else may come up.

I mean if you are to come here and not have enough money to go to a pub, once a week, why come in the first place?

I don't drink.

For studio you need around 1000$ I'd say, but of course it depends on where you live.

I've lived in some pretty rough neighborhoods. I would be looking for something between "I don't get shot on this street" and "It gots 4 walls!"

many bank problems

I've actually read a little about this. Job - Apartment - Bank Account - each require one or more of the other to get the other. One of the books I ordered is supposed to cover how to handle this. I went for my first few years in this city without a bank account. Check Cashing lines...mmmm....fun.

not because UK won't let you stay, but because USA won't let  you leave.

Let's hope so. That would eliminate the citizenship problem. I would just apply for political asylum or something. heh.

Unemployment is harsh enough in one's own country, I wouldn't like to know what it means to be starving abroad.

Trust me, starving in the US sucks just as much as in the UK. I don't have any family here so it really wouldn't make a difference.

not kidding, Brighton is way better than London.

Honestly, the main reason I have picked London is because anything official I need to get done I can do right there. I won't have to worry about traveling across the country to get some stupid paper signed.

Employment and Citizenship issues aren't "actual" concerns of mine. I was just curious about what people thought of them. I have several different avenues I can pursue for both of these things. Some of them related. Education being at the top of that list. Since I'm in college I may be able to use that to break down a lot of barriers. My connections at my university may prove to be very useful.

I'm also a world famous adventure game developer and electronic musician, if they let Madonna in, they are gonna love me! Besides, doesn't Chris like, know the Queen or something?

later,
-junc

Hello everyone.

I am giving some serious thought to relocating to London. I currently live in the U.S. and I'm just interested in doing some research right now. Kind of a Phase One.

I am also interested in hearing from anyone who has moved from their native country to another. I believe Layabout moved from Australia to the UK, so if you are reading this your opinions would mean a great deal.

Some things I am curious about:

1. Renting an apartment - cost, neighborhood, and things to be aware of, I understand that the real estate industry is a little shocking for us Americans.

2. Jobs - While my dream is not to move to London and work at McDonalds, I am willing to do just that if need be. I'm curious about low wage jobs and if one is able to survive on them in London. (keeping in mind that I am a college student and Ramen Noodles still taste good to me)

3. Citizenship - What do you know, how hard is it to get? If I knock up my girlfriend can we stay if our kid is born there?

Those are currently my primary interests. I have ordered two books and will probably be able to ask more specific questions in the future. For now I'm just looking for some general information and advice.

A note: From Americans, I'm really interested in any positive information you may be able to provide. If you have negative information please keep it to yourself. I have found an abnormal amount of anti-relocation propaganda regarding leaving our good ol' America. From our European (and hopefully Londoners) I am actually somewhat interested in hearing you complain. Mostly I'm interested in negative things you may have to say about everyday life in London. You know things like, "They only have one flavor of Ramen Noodles in the whole country!"

Thanks in advance. I will try to update this thread as I learn more and make progress. This is something I intend on doing in a couple of years. I want to be sure I know what I'm getting myself into here.

Thanks again,
-junc

Can you elaborate a bit here?

A lot of people push their computers harder than they need to be pushed. Sample rate is the biggest example of this. Using more VSTs than may actually be needed could be another example. Basically, just inefficient use with the assumption that the computer can handle it. You just need to learn how to make sure you are using the computer like a professional tool. Having AOL IM open and downloading porn while trying to run your music apps might lead to some latency issues...maybe

EDIT:

if he is buying something new, why not buy something good instead?

-sorry, didn't address this. I'm not saying that he shouldn't buy something good, in fact I think he should buy the best he can. My argument was against the theory that a desktop can do it better than a laptop. If he buys the best laptop he can it should be perfect for all of his needs, so long as he is willing to learn to scale things to his hardware.

... knowledge of music ...

... fast project ...

Kind of a contradiction there eh?

I agree that if you are doing something you don't really care about, sure, loops can be great. But if you are really making music...well, can you make music or not? If you can make music then you don't need prebuilt loops.

My problem really comes from the whole "I know how to use Fruity Loops and Reason so I'm a musician" problem. It sounds like we have similar bias issues in many cases.

Of course, I do fall into that "knowledge of music" problem you have. However, it is a conscious decision. I have taken music theory classes and piano classes at college and passed them all with excellent grades, however, I chose to reject that form of composition. Unfortunately with todays music software people are able to reject traditionally composed music because they are simply too lazy to learn it. Yet they still claim to be musicians. Personally, I think they are playing video games, not making music. As a result I'm lost in a world of contradictions however. How is my music any more art than someone who bangs out something in some crap software? Because I claim to be an artist does that make it more art? I don't really think so. I think that conflict with electronic musicians and electronic music hobbyists is why electronic music as a genre has kind of died off. Anybody can make Techno, just watch some TV Commercials.

later,
-junc

First of all, if you want to learn about samples, read this:

http://www.juncmodule.com/pub/Sound on Sound - The Lost Art Of Sampling.pdf

I strongly suggest you read the entire thing. It brings up a lot of issues I have with electronic musicians today. Mostly that they have never used hardware, know nothing about hardware, and act like it doesn't matter. Your laptop is perfectly fine for making sample based music. You just need to learn how to scale your sampling to fit your laptop.  Sorry folk, this isn't an attack on anyone in particular, I feel that actually you may be a victim of this trend.

One other thing regarding sample libraries. Never, ever, use sample loops of drums or melodies. Single shots of everything and sequence it yourself. I learned this the hard way. Found a melody loop that I really liked, used it in a song, and a year later that same loop was featured in a Honda commercial. It was horrible and embarrassing. So now I preach against sample libraries. Make your own samples. The only exception being samples of instruments such as pianos, orchestral instruments, vintage synths, drums, and anything you can not get access to yourself. Most VST plugins should eliminate a lot of the need for the base instruments however.

There is a lot of personal bias in there but, I do honestly think it is good advice. Hardware can never limit you, and if you think of your laptop as hardware and not just software, then it won't limit you either. Those "limits" should inspire you. Being backed into a corner by technology has produced the greatest electronic musicians and music of our age.

Oh, and you still seemed lost on processor power. Bigger numbers are better in all cases. The reason I mentioned 2GHZ is because that is really the minimum you should accept (I believe it is the current minimum for most laptops). If you can get something faster, do.

Oh, the only advice I can offer on MIDI keyboards: Don't buy anything Behringer. Really nice feel to the keys, but horrible knobs and uncharacteristically large for a 2 octave keyboard. I will second the M-Audio recommendation, they really seem to have their stuff together.

Oh, and if you ever want to make real music. Buy an Akai MPC 

later,
-junc

Three suggestions:

1. A REAL Video card
-  Not an intel video card, ATI or Nvidia only. Laptop video cards are actually really nice right now, except for the ones that you find in almost all laptops, intel super-crap. Almost all of the ATI and Nvidia cards seem to perform very well. I wouldn't accept anything less than those two though.
2. A built in keypad
- Since you are replacing your desktop you may find this incredibly useful. It will increase the width of the laptop a great deal, and weight, but I feel that it is worth it if you are replacing your main computer.
3. Music - Sound card - Do your research
- I've never really looked at laptop soundcards but you may want to attempt to find something with a name you recognize. Personally, as far as music is concerned having lots of USB ports is all that usually concerns me. I think most newer brand name laptops just come with really good middle of the road sound cards, which for me would be good enough. Just get loads of RAM (go for 2GB and don't forget that most video RAM is shared so deduct 512MB right off the top of whatever is on the sticker) and the fastest processor you can find. I think dual core and 64bit are all the rage right now, but they don't really DO anything because most software isn't taking advantage of it. Odds are you will end up in the 2.2GHZ range right now I think.

I know for a fact that HP makes a nice laptop with the keypad. I must say, your choice of manufacturers is not top notch, but then again, you are stuck with it. Honestly, I would buy one an HP or Dell simply for the price, so it is sad that price is not an issue for you, yet you are stuck with those manufacturers.

I can't say much about IBM. Aren't they really poorly built Lenovos now? Be sure you get some sort of two year warranty type thing, which may be easy since your dad can purchase it through work. The HPs can kind of be hit or miss as far as I know. Some people say they are great machines and last forever. I've seen them die after a year. We have a bunch of Dells at work and I must say, they are little tanks. We lend them out to faculty and staff and they actually work when they come back.

Good luck.

later,
-junc

Not that this will be helpful...but, I know for a FACT that you can access shared files from a wireless computer in the same network. We are able to this in our home network. Now, with that said, and the reason it won't be helpful, I have no idea how to set it up.

You may want to post your operating systems (on all machines in the network), router make and model, and ISP so that others can help out more. All of that information will be important for helping you.

The only piece of information I can offer is to make sure that you have the same network set up on all of the computers (it needs to have the same name (on both machines go to "My Network Places" and click on "View workgroup computers" and make sure that the address bar lists the same location (which would be the name of your home network). Sorry, I can't help any more than that. I'm usually able to fix most of the problems with my network but it is almost always through trial and error and reinstalling the network from scratch. Good luck!

later,
-junc

I should have known better than to mention copyright...

I'd hate to nitpick

...and yet you do

I do agree though. It is all a copyright violation. However, LucasArts and Sierra have been really good about not coming after people for sprites or ripping tools (which I'm not sure if you are right about that not being a copyright violation, but please, let us not discuss that horribly boring subject).

However, if people started using their characters in games (which in turn became popular) they might draw more attention.

So it isn't really about which copyright is worse or anything. I think it is just about which will draw more attention.

In the end though I think it is really just a non-issue. Obviously the CHA format isn't used much. I was just pointing out my reasons for not using it. The juncSource Collection accounts for a massive percentage of my website traffic still (even though I'm not active in this community anymore). Since it is still so popular I would prefer to not risk the more risky version of copyright violation...heh.

later,
-junc

But do we want to encourage people to (ab)use copyrighted characters?

Actually no.

That is why they don't exist in the CHA format. It would be a copyright violation to include those sprites in your game. That is why I provide the juncSource Collection (http://www.juncmodule.com/downloads/juncSourceCollection.zip) as a "Collection of sprites for use as templates."

If I put them up as CHA files I would be encouraging copyright violation.

I did check and unfortunately I do not have the talking animations of Indy. I'm not sure why. Perhaps I will have to resolve this. I really always meant to go back and put a lot more work into the juncSource Collection but just never got around to it.

later,
-junc

I am currently using Vista (have been for about a week now). It really feels like it is somewhat unfinished. I wouldn't recommend upgrading yet to anyone. However, I bought a new computer that came with it preloaded and decided to give it a try. Honestly it isn't all that bad. A few programs won't install, sound card freaked out a little, a network file copy stopped without an error message of any sort once (worked fine when copying over the network from the XP machine, wouldn't copy over the network on the Vista machine.)

For those of you that are concerned about the XP to Vista switch, check this out:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_%22Vienna%22

Basically, Vista is "Windows ME 2.0"  :

later,
-junc

If I'm not mistaken it isn't really the php you should be looking at. As a server side language it doesn't matter what browser you use. You should look at the source of the rendered page in both browsers. Odds are the actual html that the php page is outputting is not valid and causing issues. Run the page through the w3c validator and find out where the tags are causing problems if you can't see any obvious problems. However, I suspect when you look at the rendered html source the problems will be obvious. Internet Explorer is great for running any garbage you plug into it. So that is why it looks better there. However, "best viewed in" isn't a proper solution. You should at least put some effort into making the page more compliant. Good luck!

later,
-junc

Check out some of Gamespot/Gamespy's best games of all times lists. I sometimes find that the people who write these things have some okay taste in older games.

For me the two games that have stuck with me since the first time I played them are Freelancer and Mafia. They are quite a bit newer but I really enjoy the "freedom" aspect of both of them. Freelancer also has a decent sized fan community that still cranks out some really cool mods. The fact that you can follow characters around in both games and they don't just disappear appeals to me a lot. Not really your genre, but worth checking out.

I enjoyed Railroad Tycoon 2 and 3, but then again I'm a big Train lover so to many they may suck. I seemed to play RT2 much longer than I played the 3rd one though. Based on your preferred genres if you haven't played Pharoah or Caesar 3 I recommend that you check them out. I still play them today and they haven't really lost their appeal. I tend to enjoy Pharoah more, even though I prefer the ancient Roman time period I think the gameplay in Pharoah is somehow better. Oh, and if you haven't played Rome Total War yet it is worth a try. Download the demo first, it will give you a pretty solid idea about gameplay. Hope some of those give you some ideas.

later,
-junc

Interesting. I guess the American/Japanese fascination bug got me there. I heard that story and assumed it was true, or at least a little bit true. Is it possible that the story I heard is isolated to Tokyo, and not the whole of Japan? Also, the way I heard the story I didn't really get an impression of cell phone prevalence. That was kind of the blindsided part. It was just that the Japanese Schoolgirls alone were on them all day, not the society as a whole. How about the wired magazine thing? Is that just a bad American joke?

Anyway, bad example aside, I guess my concern is that government should be involved in internet infrastructure and they don't seem to have a large role. It seems that consumer demand drives the entire thing in America too. Consumer demand is too often met with half baked solutions to problems and not long lasting solutions.

later,
-junc

I don't think the government has much to do with ATM or mobile top-up technology, security and otherwise.

Actually, in most countries they have everything to do with it. m0ds is talking about infrastructure, or the lack of it. There are companies and governments that are run by those same old people you see fumbling around with the movie ticket machine. They just don't get it yet.

The Japanese Schoolgirl Effect is by far one of the most fascinating technological incidents I have ever heard of. It goes like this:

When the cell phone market first started to grow in Japan millions of Japanese Schoolgirls ran out and bought cell phones and brought the communications industry and infrastructure in Japan to its knees. Japanese telecoms had to respond by backing up their technology with a more sophisticated backbone. The result is that Japan is now leaps and bounds ahead of the rest of the world. There are video phones and other high speed connection related services that most other countries just couldn't handle in their current state.

America lags greatly behind and it sounds like the UK may as well. It is up to governments to make sure that their citizens are not left out in the dark ages of dial up ATM's and 8088 powered electronic services. If the money isn't there, and by money I mean lack of Japanese Schoolgirls, the telecoms won't do it.

I was also told that another reason for the Japanese Schoolgirl Effect is that in Japan the middle class make of some ridiculous portion of the population (80 or 90% I guess). Wired magazine has a regular column that runs called the Japanese Schoolgirl Watch (just sounds creepy huh) that keeps an eye on what they are buying because their buying power is so enormous that it affects world trends.

later,
-junc