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"Average" Comlink

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farothel

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« Reply #15 on: <11-12-11/1052:26> »
I would assume that most people and especially police officers and the like will have an analyse program with the same rating as their commlink.  This will be running at all times.
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tzizimine

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« Reply #16 on: <11-12-11/1205:06> »

The commlink I give most beat cops


Transys Avalon with Iris Orb
Firewall: 3
Response: 3
Signal: 3
System: 3


Basic+ Program Suite (Analyze 3, Browse 3, Command 1, Edit 3)
Scan 3
Encrypt 3


Armored Casing (B: 6 / I: 6)


Some form of non-obtrusive interface, usually AR Gloves, Subvoc Mic, Earbud, Contact Lens with Image Link. Also each KE officer has at least 1 rank in Electronic Warfare to Scan for hidden nodes.
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Falconer

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« Reply #17 on: <11-25-11/2235:11> »
I don't buy that a cop is going to have facial recognition and all the rest running on his commlink.

I can buy that a DRONE with sensor cameras and the like might... but not the officers.  I also find it highly unlikely that the officer is going to have dedicated ICE running on his link.

What I can buy is a security organization like that might have a better analyze program running.  (maybe even with optimization).  And in case of a security breach, have a police combat decker on call who would be capable of tracing the attacker.  Or the commlink might be set to cut it's signal rating to nothing killing all connections in the process.

Crash_00

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« Reply #18 on: <11-25-11/2305:04> »
While they might not have access to it at all times, with the matrix capabilities in 2073, they could easily gain access to Facial Recognition programs when needed. While obviously a local PD in midno USA might not have access to anything more complicated than the Basic+ software, anyone considered a competitive player in the security industry (Lone Star, Knight Errant, NYPD Inc., etc.) should have programs available to their force.

Keep in mind, these companies (Knight Errant especially being a subsidiary of Ares) have the money to have programs coded for them. More likely than not, they'd be running a custom OS and custom software suites specifically tailored for the job. The cost in this case wouldn't be the normal X,XXX„/person, because the company designed the software themselves and temporarily licenses it to each officer as needed (either by month, week, day, occurrence, etc.).

I agree with the IC though. It would be much more effective in most cases to have a high level Analysis that detects the intruder and calls home office for VR decker response.

I usually have each office loaded up with a comm and each vehicle with an additional (usually slightly more powerful) comm. I picture two KE Officer in a patrol car each having text scrolling in their patrol glasses image link as the vehicle comm is scanning for weapons and licenses and highlighting anything not legal on the windshield HUD.

KarmaInferno

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« Reply #19 on: <11-26-11/1027:34> »
I can see cops at places like checkpoints being given facial recognition and similar software to use while guarding, but not a beat cop.



-k

Falconer

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« Reply #20 on: <11-26-11/1320:25> »
That's more or less exactly what I mean KI.

Running the software on the commlink, it still needs a camera feed.  And I don't buy that officers are wearing trode nets and using 'natural' senses.  I'm more likely to believe they're wearing AR contacts with smartgun links than cybereyes.

On the other hand, you get a dedicated checkpoint, and a reasonable drone or security camera at it (even an iBall or larger vehicle at a mobile checkpoint)... and you have a prime location to run some of that stuff.  I don't buy that all the corp's have their own internal 'cracked' versions of everything they can deploy at will.  Especially at high program ratings.  If software like that becomes too common, it gets stolen and distributed widely outside the corp.

A rating 3 commlink can only run *2* programs without degradation.  IMO: those two are most likely to be analyze and encryption.  (maybe with the ergonomic option... to allow other utilities to be run as necessary like browse to pull criminal records and the like).

I think it's far more likely that the cop will take the equivalent of a cell phone pic and send it back to HQ for analysis than do the analysis on his own commlink.

CanRay

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« Reply #21 on: <11-26-11/1324:38> »
Don't forget that CommLinks come with 'Trid Cameras as well.  They're just not High-Definition.  Like early Camera Cell Phones in my mind.
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Joush

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« Reply #22 on: <11-26-11/1737:18> »
If an officer comes into a situation where they need a particular bit of software they can always call the office, request it and have it downloaded and installed almost instantly. This saves the police company the cost of buying a license for every officer, while allowing any officer that happens to need a bit of software to get it.

CanRay

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« Reply #23 on: <11-26-11/1759:50> »
Can a AAA-Corp break a Software License if they have different laws pertaining to Software Licenses?  Then again, if they don't obey them, then all the AA- and AAA-Corps don't have to do the same thing with their software.

Yeah, they probably have it legislated through the Corporate Court.
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Joush

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« Reply #24 on: <11-26-11/1827:21> »
AAA corps can have someone shot in the street in broad daylight if they are willing to pay the price. That price would likely be lower then violating copywrite.

CanRay

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« Reply #25 on: <11-26-11/1829:00> »
Hell, the price would be lower than shooting a dog.  People are cheap in Shadowrun.

"Cheap.  But not as cheap as your girlfriend." - Spider Jerusalem
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Crash_00

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« Reply #26 on: <11-26-11/2311:24> »
I guess I'm weird, but when you're equipping an officer with a 23,000„ vehicle, a 400„ gun, and 900„ plus odds and ends, I don't think a 100„ camera is going to be a deal breaker.

As to AAA corporations not making their own software, corporations already do it today. Every company I work for has their own inventory software and most will also have their own software and database system for keeping track of employees, budgets, overtime, etc. It isn't even uncommon to see corporate tools with corporate OSs installed on them, which leads us right into the fact that between copy protection and custom OSs, it isn't that hard to make a program unusable even if it is stolen.

Custom software also has the benefits of being able to be designed exactly to the corporations needs. If the officers are going to be carrying a DR3 commlink, then a couple of optimized software suites would be the best route to go for the company. The cost of the company paying to have these programs coded is going to be much less than upgrading every officer's commlink to run the same effective programs licensed separately. Keep in mind, I'm not saying that corporations are "cracking" software, I'm saying they would have a department of programmers that are designing software for the company. If you don't think that is reasonable, look at Wal-mart, they have a huge programming office in Bentonville that creates streamlined software that is used company wide to assist with everything from managing cashier requests to assisting TLE techs with oil changes and tire tickets. Everything that is coded for them could technically be done with a licensed program of some sort or another, but integrating a bunch of programs together that aren't designed for it is a pain.

Technically a KE Officer wiht a DR 3 commlink could be running Threat Detection Suite (Weapon Watcher 3, Noise Analysis 3, Visual Spotter 3, and Vehicle Identification 3) and Basic Patrol Suite (Analyze 3, Encryption 3, Decryption 3, Browse 3, Scan 3, Command 3, Edit 3) and be fine. If you really want to get technical, with optimization they could be running rating 6 in all those with optimization. Of course crashing or hacking the suite will affect all of the programs in it, but that's why KE would probably put a better Firewall than 3 on most commlinks.

Similarly rather than running everything separately, I see officers at a roadblock or in a man hunt getting the Fugitive Tracking Suite (Gait Analysis 3, Voice Identification 3, Facial Recognition 3, Lie Detection 3, and Wildlife Spotter 3). I don't really see it as having to be installed on the officers link physically so much as, "Agent Johnson, you're working with Special Agent Johnson tonight, make sure to access the Tracking Suite real quick, its going to be a manhunt" and the programs are accessed on the network similar to how cloud computing works.


CanRay

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« Reply #27 on: <11-26-11/2321:21> »
"Agent Johnson, again?" - John McClane
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Crash_00

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« Reply #28 on: <11-26-11/2348:35> »
"No relation"

I see the not so subtle reference was recognized.

CanRay

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« Reply #29 on: <11-26-11/2359:58> »
I went, "Wait, McClane is going to be working for a Johnson?" when I saw the fourth movie.  ;D

As for custom software in business...  *Shudders*  The horrors of what I've seen.  Not good.  Not good at all!
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