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Ballmer Says iPod Users are Thieves
A 'music thief' (apparently) writes "According to Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft: "The most common format of music on an iPod is 'stolen'."
He appears convinced Microsoft will lead the way in Digital Rights Management and also believes Microsoft will steal a march on Apple in making the digital home a reality because Apple "doesn't have the volumes".
"There is no way that you can get there with Apple. The critical mass has to come from the PC, or a next-generation video device," he said."
They stolds it frums us.
Billing Microsoft as the good guys and Apple the villains of the piece - at least as far as corporate America, rather than users, is concerned, Ballmer said: "We've had DRM in Windows for years. The most common format of music on an iPod is 'stolen'."
I don't understand the "corporate America" distinction. Is he talking about people downloading stuff to their iPod from the computers at work and stealing it that way? Because just about every Windows user I know has a computer at least 50% full of stolen shit (usually including the OS itself). MSFT is somehow not supporting theft because they don't have an iPod clone and their OS has DRM? I would go so far as to claim that PocketPCs support piracy but MSFT didn't create the hardware they just created the software. I guess you have to do both to support the thieves.
Sorry, that doesn't make me think any less of the iPod and it certainly doesn't make me think any more highly of Windows.
meet kettle.
The most common format is mp3. So...mp3 is stolen?
Keep trying, Steve.
More on this at 11.
That's exactly how you win customers -- by alienating them.
Per Square Mile, a blog about density
... you can use iPods with the PC. What's this about "critical mass"?
The following sentence is true. The preceding sentence was false.
Most music (all music) on my iPod is not stolen. I just can't get at it. The battery went AWOL.
For problems, seek only the simplest solution, complexity brings with it more problems.
M$ systems sell very well. M$ peripherals, not so much. No amount of FUD, or lawyer-posturing, will get an M$ audio system into people's pockets over the iPod. It's too late.
"The dew has clearly fallen with a particularly sickening thud this morning"
I really don't know why Balmer is so mad at Ipod?
He really seems to love his...
...is 74.8 stolen copies of Windows XP Professional.
Beep beep.
I think he means: 'the critical mass has to come from windows'. Why? No technical reason, it's just because people at MS will have a temper tamtrum if this doesn't go their way.
Thieves, thieves, thieves!
Film at 11.
``Microsoft will steal a march on Apple in making the digital home a reality because Apple "doesn't have the volumes". The critical mass has to come from the PC, or a next-generation video device''
Seems to me that Apple is a lot more successful in pushing large volumes of next generation devices than MS.
Please correct me if I got my facts wrong.
I took that comment as Steve Ballmer saying more digital music is pirated then not. Does everyone on this board actually disagree with that?
"So."
No sig for you. YOU GET NO SIG!
The "as far as corporate America..." means that if the world was using a Microsoft based device, then they could force everything to be played in a format in which they could use their DRM system to insure that everything played was paid for and legal.
Which means that corporate America (ex. the music industry) should start helping MS gain more market share in that market.
You'll have that sometimes...
Or did MP3s only become popular *BECAUSE* the music was stolen in the first place anyway?? And so the trend
Mp3s -> Mp3 Players -> ???? -> Profit ?
I may not be speaking for the masses, but the key thing about having my music in my player of choice (Archos AV340) is the fact that I can take the music from *any* source, and because I choose to download the mp3s rather than re-recording from original Vinyl, ripping from CD, remastering from cassette, 8track etc Is purely a matter of my taste and value of my time.
Prevent people from using music easily that they ALREADY LEGAL OWN in one format or another, and see that format/player go the way of the BETAMAX.
Well, it it pisses off Ballmer that makes me want to run out and get one all the more (as if I didn't already covet those owned by my friends).
If you're gonna be dumb, you gotta be tough.
This speech seems to have had zero affect on Microsoft. Lets hope its predictions (i.e. that DRM is bad for Microsoft) are accurate.
I find I buy more music now that own an iPod. And I am not implying that I ever "borrowed" any previously. I have about 700+ tracks on my iPod and when the feeling moves me I go to iTunes and buy another album. The ITMS library is growing, too, and now includes a sizeable collection of the works of Brian Eno (great for coding, writing specs, so on.) I don't know where Monkey Boy Ballmer gets his info, and wouldn't want to go there. Unless all the interns at Microsoft trade music freely ...
My user name was a mistake. Input wasn't restricted, my bad.
... and Microsoft have never stolen anything.
This infuriates me. I'm an iPOD user and a significant portion of my music is from itunes, and what isn't from itunes is ripped from my CDs.
I am not a thief.
Balmer, sit on one.
I have an iPod. So does my wife, my sister, and two friends. I helped them ALL to import their music collection to their iPod. I know that some of the music has been downloaded, but in about 100 GB worth of iPod music, I would estimate that over 98% of the music is legitimate music.
I urge them to use MP3 (or some other non DMAC format) because it is a pain when using multiple computers, but I can assure everyone, that most of the music in this case is legitimate.
So I ask everyone... how much of your iPod is "stolen"?
B
From the article:
"We've had DRM in Windows for years. The most common format of music on an iPod is 'stolen'."
Because everybody knows windows is all about security. If you put a pirated mp3 on a windows box, the drm system won't allow you to access it. All the windows boxes running eMule and Kaaza are merely figments of your imagination. They're iPods. Honest.
Weaselmancer
rediculous.
...the pope recommends catholicism for an optimal afterlife.
sudo ergo sum
"There is no way that you can get there with Apple."
You can't get to there from here. You have to go somewhere else first.
Seriously, he has a point about Microsoft having the market share and audience already. But they're also the Evil Corporation (even to some of my non-geek friends that don't read Slashdot). Their products are reknowned for their ability to crash and break. Things are hard to use. People can't support them.
Why would you want the computerized house when they can't get a freaking desktop PC to work right? Sorry hon, I think our refrigerator is broken. Let me see if there's a Windows Update for it.
Every Windows user I know has a copy of Kazaa which they use to acquire music. Every Mac user I know uses the iTunes Music Store (and somewhat fanatically, too!)
Now keep in mind, we're on a college campus Mr. Ballmer, so yes, we don't count.
If a man's character is to be abused there's nobody like a relative to do the business. -Thackeray, William
Since I got my iPod and used a decent music service iTunes, there have been no 'shared' music on my player. Balmer thinks that Apple cant get the job done - can he say iPod for Windows? As long as Apple continues to make accessories for other OS'es, they will have no problem competing.
My
As msft attempts to steal the iPod paradigm, just like they did the graphical desktop, lan, internetworking, etc.
In other news, What A Msft Ho
try { do() || do_not(); } catch (JediException err) { yoda(err); }
Think about it....
CD's, DVD's all were successful either because of the PC or the "next-generation device".
Of course one could argue that the iPod is the next generation device and just needs to be expanded to the stage where it does video.
Hang on, then hasn't Balmer just predicted that the biggest portable music player will get to define the format in the same way as VHS beat Betamax ? Maybe the only real issue is...
Will Apple learn and license ?
Its a long way around the story but I've just realised that this is Barmy Monkey begging Steve Jobs to license the iPod technology as Microsoft can't compete with the market leader.
And he couldn't just say that because it hurts to much.
An Eye for an Eye will make the whole world blind - Gandhi
Yes, the "stolen" music format...aka MP3 ... when those Franhofenzeigen guys invented MP3 compression, I don't even know why they went with the .MP3 extension. It would have been a lot clearer if they had just gone with the .stolen extension.
type: audio-x/stolen
SPAM
A few days ago I went to dump a DVD on Windows so I could send a video clip to a friend. Oddly, copying files didn't work. I presume this was because of that above-mentioned DRM thing.
Took me all of five minutes to find a utility to work around it.
When are these people going to realize that DRM is utterly ineffective?
Breaking Into the Industry - A development log about starting a game studio.
It could be possible to get a law passed which made DRM madatory on digital music players. Could this be the next RIAA tactic? To have audio players that can only play formats which include DRM. Any player that supported MP3 could be outlawed on the grounds that it was possible to play "stolen" music on it.
Mod parent up!
Somehow Ballmer forgot that the iPod is but one of many different players out there. I guess that means owners of Creative hardware, showcased on Microsoft's music sales site, are only putting 100% legit content on their players, and that Microsoft has been the key to that?
"I'm a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar."
-Hoban Washburn
Yet another attempt to disseminate the false notion that MP3 files amount to stolen music. If I purchase a CD and rip it to MP3s for my own use, the resulting files are certainly not stolen--plain and simple. And if I get them from a legal online source, again, they are not stolen.
Just because someone COULD steal something doesn't mean they will, and doesn't automatically make the something stolen.
My mom always said, "Jim, you're 1 in a million." Given the current population, there are 7000 of me. God help us all!
"Hey, Music Industry! See how good we are? We're towing the piracy line good and proper! Please give us money!"
You know, sometimes it's just nice to see Microsoft sucking up to someone else for a change.
..every Windows user I know has a computer at least 50% full of stolen shit (usually including the OS itself)
50%? Are you kidding? It's rare to see a Windows computer with less than 100% pure, unadulterated, stolen shit in it. Seriously, unless it's a corporate computer, have you really seen one where the user would have paid a single red cent for any of the soft/data, other than the kids' games?
1) Roughly what percent of your music collection is unauthorized files from P2P like Kazaa, FTP, etc.?
2) Roughly what percent of your music collection comes from sources like iTunes Music Store, eMusic, etc?
3) Roughly what percent of your music collection comes from shareable sources like Creative Commons-licensed music?
4) Roughly what percent of your music collection comes from rips of your own CDs?
5) Roughly what percent of your music collection comes from rips of friends' CDs?
(and what am I missing?)
Here's what I do: Bitty Browser & Andromeda
i blame it all on Ieve and Iserpent.
if god had intended for music to cost money, he would have put little quarter slots behind our ears.
Cogito Eggo Sum, I think therefore I'm a waffle
No, he's talking about the difference between what corporations want, such as more control over how and what plays their content, and users, who want something that just works.
As for your own opinion, I agree, but it's irrelevant to the position Microsoft are attempting to make. You're not a large media corporation, or media industry association who is concerned about all these pirates whom exist solely to put them out of business.
...on an iPod is 'stolen'.
Balmer, "iPod" can easily be replaced with "Windows" in your preceding statement. MP3 has been the de facto standard for music files for 7-8 years now, maybe longer. Were iPods around 7-8 years ago? No. What were they played on? Windows, under Winamp. The masses have understood how to rip their own (un-DRM'd) CDs since the turn of the millenium. Napster, Limewire, Kazaa, eDonkey and many more of flourished (til legal proceedings crush each) with trading of these files. I don't recall using my iPod to access any of these services. Oh yes, that's right. I used my Windows-running PC.
I know it's FUD, but this is just plain lousy FUD. Anyone with half a brain can see right through his attempt to link Windows with anti-piracy.
RW
from Ballmer:
"My 12-year-old at home doesn't want to hear that he can't put all the music that he wants in all of the places that he would like it," he joked.
Translation:
"When I tried to use my kid's iPod on a recent family trip, my son told me to shove my Barry Manilow CD up my ass."
If their OS runs on as many computers as they say it does, I think that outnumbers all of the iPods in use by a fair bit...
According to Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft: "The most common format of music on an iPod is 'stolen'.
/end rant
Uhh, yeah... And the most common format of music on a Windows PC iiiiiissss...........? Uhh huh, yeah.
So, if ANY company is accountable for music theft -- OBVIOUSLY it's Microsoft - they have the 'volumes,' right?
Bah!
Most microsoft users are thieves too ... if they actually bought the OS chances are they're running at least one piece of software which was copied illegally.
... wtf? Stolen? Copyright infringement is not the same as stealing something, whatever the demagogues like Balmer want you to believe.
And then again
---
"The chances of a demonic possession spreading are remote -- relax."
I mean who would buy a 40gig iPod and spend $10,000 to fill it up with MP3's on iTunes? But the real point is, music is still over priced, $.99 for a song, again still is over priced. And then again, so is windows XP Professional @ $199.99... Then again, MS does allow for a certain 'level' of priacy to go on so they do remain the dominant OS.
under the induce act, wouldn't this hold balmer liable for inducing his customers to steal music?
it has to do with the fact that the RIAA wants DRM, and the user doesn't. so Ballmer's looking after the corporate interests ahead of the user interests.
What's funny is that he doesn't realise that new entertainment formats are mostly demand driven. People don't like div-x (the old one, where you had to "connect" to get movies), people don't use it. Same with DVD-A and SACD. Invariably, formats with draconian restrictions on them don't work. And although he wants to label people thieves, there's a very good reason why the iPod is popular, and MS's DRM isn't. The irony is Ballmer himself points it out in the article - "My 12-year-old at home doesn't want to hear that he can't put all the music that he wants in all of the places that he would like it". This isn't about stealing, it's about fair use. 12 year olds just want to do whatever they want to do with their music - like the rest of us. If stolen, free music is the only way we can get there, then so be it. Why pay for restrictions, when freedom is quite literally free?
It makes me laugh, the 12-y-o son of the man running the most powerful IT company in the world gets it, but Ballmer himself doesn't.
Which oddly enough is a theme repeated in the second article - his vision for the digital home - which involves "converged devices that integrate video, audio and computer technology". He's pretty much ripped off Steve Jobs' digital hub strategy from two years ago... and then he goes on to say: "There is no way that you can get there with Apple."
Sorry Steve, the only organisation you can be guaranteed to not get there with is Microsoft. It makes poor copies of good products, labels consumers who want freedom "thieves", and calls out organisations who innovate as not being good enough.
-- james
Pretty true. I'm sure that there will be 10 or so +5 rated posters who say that all the music on their iPod is legit, but Slashdot isn't indicative of the world and you'd be niave to think anything else.
He appears convinced Microsoft will lead the way in Digital Rights Management
Probably true. Microsoft have control of the desktop market and are playing into the content providers hands. They'll happily embrace anything which is stricter on the end-user in the name of revenues and he knows it.
also believes Microsoft will steal a march on Apple in making the digital home a reality because Apple "doesn't have the volumes".
Again probably true. Think a couple of years down the line when you either have a choice of 4 models supporting AAC+ or 150 products all supporting WMA.
Not forgetting the intense competition from both hardware manufacturers and those who run WMA music stores - in which both will be aiming to provide the best features and functionality for the best price. When Apple's only competition is themselves, then there is less of an incentive (look at Palm procrastinating for years as a fine example)
Generally I think he's pretty much on the ball, although I have no doubt that the predictable response from Slashbots will be "i won't buy from Microsoft" and "All my music is legit" - when, in fact, there are a lot of people who will and also have large numbers of music on their iPod which is legally questionable.
Avantslash - View Slashdot cleanly on your mobile phone.
yet another obvious attempt by Microsoft to discredit a company or product that they see as a threat to their ever shrinking market space; good ol screaming balmer would have you use Windows media with *new and improved* drm. Too bad it doesn't sound good and too bad that the 'theives' format on my iPod is aac and protected aac.
Unix, an obscure operating system developed by bored researchers in an attempt to get a better game playing experience.
If someone has a budget for buying CDs/music each year, say $300, then even if they download extra music illegally, no-one is losing out as long as the consumer is still spending what they have budgeted to spend.
Music is a commodity these days. It isn't special like it was in the 50's. People expect music at all hours, but it isn't priced right to meet the current usage of music, so people download the extra music they need to fill in the gap.
I don't see how Microsoft can claim any kind of moral superiority over Apple. Apple at least had the decency to offer reasonably priced legal music quite some time ago. Per-song pricing allows you to take a small risk to discover new music, or just get the 2 good songs on a modern pop album that are any good. MSN Music is a lot more recent.
I can only assume that Microsoft will be designing Media Software that will not play non-MS-approved content. Otherwise how can it tell whether a song you are playing is something you ripped yourself, or downloaded? Surely you could burn a CD and re-rip if Microsoft enforced that type of requirement?
These big companies are only pissed off because online music sharing allows people to discover new music that isn't on the big labels, and then spend money on that music instead of HypedTrash. Most studies show that music purchasing hasn't dropped since file sharing started, at the worst it fluctuated in line with the economy, at best it has actually soared over what it should have been.
Mabey Microsoft will start being like the RIAA and start sueing their iPod using users.
What I love is the double talk. Sure, iTMS and iPod has well over a majority market share. Despite the iPod mini's price and availability, it has talken over the high end market. The iPod can't ship enough, and everyone wants one. The iPod has moved beyond a mp3 player that appeals to the few and now is like the PS2, it's everywhere, people want it. And with recent Apple job postings, they arn't stepping down now. I've seen Apple haters come around and actually think about getting a nee iMac or PowerBook. I used to be a huge Windows user, now I'm going to get a PowerBook soon.
If Microsoft wants to win, they need to play fair and smart. They are being watched like no other company in history. If they are really smart, they would rent out FairPlay and work into WMP10 the ability to convert iTMS files into protected WMAs.
I suspect that Windows users have - at average - more stolen mp3 files than Mac users.
So in an open market, where I can choose among a number of devices that all do the same task, why would I choose the device that treats me as a criminal.
If I am a criminal, why would I buy the device that makes my job/avocation more difficult.
In either case, why would I buy the device who's biggest cheerleader treats me with such disdain.
Aah, change is good. -- Rafiki
Yeah, but it ain't easy. -- Simba
... according to Ballmer.
"My 12-year-old at home doesn't want to hear that he can't put all the music that he wants in all of the places that he would like it,"
I don't want to hear that either.
Wansu, th' chinese sailor
...is stolen.
So what if "[you've] had DRM in Windows for years" Microsoft? Windows did anything but halt the 13.6 million Napster users "stealing" music, et cetera.
"Some things have to be believed to be seen." - Ralph Hodgson
Only a monopoly has the clout to force something that the consumer does not want (DRM) down their throats. Apple's can only try to entice the consumer with high quality products, variety, good service. They don't have a chance.
The difference between Canada and the USA is that in Canada healthcare is a right and gun ownership is a privilege.
The real tragedy is some ppl will associate his words with the ipod.
--cros13
Just like they can insure that all installations of their software are perfectly legagl. I'll believe it when I see it.
Follow me
I think the higher-ups at Microsoft have completely lost the sense of how to do business in a healthy market.
That's why everything Microsoft does fails or produces massive losses when not being pushed by the PC domination.
Just look at Hailstorm. Or XBox. Or Windows/Alpha.
Also, Mr Ballmer, the most common Software format on Windows is also "Stolen".
------- The last Sig. got fired.
My favorite part. "However, Ballmer conceded it isn't going to be an easy battle to win. "Most people still steal music," he said. "We can build the technology but there are still ways for people to steal music."" I think he is starting to crack. Is he calling the people that buy his crap OS thieves? He is also saying that you can pay us to stop the stealing but there will always be somebody stealing music no matter what you pay us. So just pay us anyway and we won't defend you if you get arrested. Does anybody else have a problem with this line of thinking? First he is calling everybody a thief and then he says pay us even though we can't stop people from stealing. So am I missing something - Like the point? I wish him and bill would just shut up and stop spreading fud - so now they want people to stop buying the ipod - soon they will probably start having legslation to have it outlawed. what a joke!
... another heavy skinhead makes verbal attack against arty-farty digital gadget.
...
Unless something better and cheaper comes out of his arse we won't listen
So Steve, STFU and GTFO. The reflected light from your forehead is blinding us.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
Yes, most of the music I've got on my iPod is "pirated" mp3s. However, lets look a little bit closer.
Number of CDs I bought per year before I got an iPod: ~2-4
Number of CDs bought so far in 2004: ~15
15 may not be a huge amount, but it's more than 4. So what if 95% of my mp3s are not paid for, I spend more money on music now than two years ago.
The thought that Microsoft can compete with "better" DRM is laughable. Show me a user that will switch to another DRM system, because, you know - it's better at limitting your freedom better, so you should switch to it, you filthy thief, right?
My thoughts for Ballmer: good luck in alienating your potential customers!
I don't know if Ballmer has been paying attention.
My roommate is a die-hard Microsoft fan. I don't just mean he uses Windows over Linux, either. I mean he will get compromised because of a failed update, have to reformat and reinstall, and he *still* favors MS. Why? Because of usability. Linux does not cater towards him and it certainly doesn't offer the gameplay. Mozilla/Firefox, despite what I try to tell him about security, is laughable. After all, why should he use a browser that takes 4 seconds to load a 2 second page?
Now, despite all of that, he uses iTunes. Why? Because where other "free software" fails, Apple does not. They provide a method for him to get what he needs when he needs it. And not only that, but he pays money hand over fist for services/music through iTunes.
So my question to Ballmer would have to be: If you've lost even your fanbois to Apple, who also has DRM, how exactly do you intend to actually gain a foothold in this market?
On a perfectly safe side note, the percentage of my "stolen" music collection used to be 100% MP3, now it's 80% MP3. Any MS representative want to take a guess as to what the other format is for my stolen music?
Ballmer's appointment marked a switch from customer focus and innovation (all the GNU type people should go off and hate me quietly in a corner at this point) to concept focus and buzzwords. It's amazing to think that there was a time (early-mid 90's) when if I wanted a vendor who'd actually listen and do stuff, I wanted MS. Now, they literally can't make a single statement without chanting a mantra -- 'developers! xml! digital nervous system! drm!' and getting actual action from them is like blood from a stone. Actual development units remain largely unchanged -- but they simply aren't running the show now.
It's a tragedy of classic proportions, with Microsoft as the protagonist and Ballmer as the hubris that drives him to his fatal excesses -- and maybe IBM/Linux as the nemesis waiting around the corner.
I am _so_ not looking forward to everything being run by IBM again
Whence? Hence. Whither? Thither.
I've got a 15GB G3 iPod. I use it with my 12" G4 Powerbook. 90% of the music on either device was ripped from my own personal CD's, the other 9.99999% from the Apple Music Store via iTunes. I have _maybe_ 3 songs that were downloaded via P2P.
To suggest that only iPod users are thieves is ludicrous. FUD at its best.
Jerk.
-fp
It's from Paul Simon:
Still Crazy After All These Years
It's good to see crazy people remain crazy. Kinda gives you a touch-stone in the world to make sure everything is alright...
"Leo Fender was in a 'state of grace' when he designed the Stratocaster." -- Paul Reed Smith
Any mention of DRM on a device that I as a consumer is going to be exposed to in my purchasing decision is likely to cause me to seek alternative options. Furthermore, being catigorized into a nice neat criminal compartment in Ballmers mind doesn't give points for any future Microsoft device. The Xbox is one thing, but a device that essentially is designed to replay music I have from else where is hard not to be a thief if your opinion about the sony-beta max case is one of needing repeal. I'm just as opinionated about "thieves" bveing bad people, and how easy it is to be a digital thief not unlike anybody who (for example) breaks the speed limit on the highway. However, Apple has become the industry standard at legitimate music downloading. Their Itunes store, and their own semi-proprietary format says it all. Certainly puirchasing a song from the itunes store, or even now at the realmedia venue, is not criminal. Obviously the device is versitial enough to play the mp3 format, but who is to say these files are not also legitimate, also to Ballmers credit who is to say that they are not. In the end I'd rather have the option to not be a criminal and have more versitility.
It isn't a lie if you belive it.
He makes a good point -- many people do use their iPods to play music libraries that may contain one or more illegally copied files. Hell, I know I do.
So put your money where your mouth is, Steve. How hard would it be to put a mandatory install on Windows Update that would prevent all P2P programs from running correctly under Windows? Sure, someone would poke a hole in that immediately, but it would at least show that you...what's the phrase du jour? "Care about the artists"? Yeah, I think that was it. Until you're ready to do that, STFU.
Who gives a shit what Ballmer thinks? Of course he's gonna talk shit about his competition, of course he's gonna say that the Microsoft way is the only way. It's his job.
Meanwhile, Apple has a decent lead in the online music market, their hardware is selling rather well, and their stuff works. Who cares what he has to say, as long as its empty crap talk? When he's presenting a concrete business product, let me know. Otherwise, you're just flamebaiting.
"Most people still steal music," he said. "We can build the technology but there are still ways for people to steal music."
The Microsoft boss also claimed some domestic familiarity with the issue.
"My 12-year-old at home doesn't want to hear that he can't put all the music that he wants in all of the places that he would like it," he joked.
Looks like we know who is getting the next RIAA suit...
Junior... SUBPOENA'ed!
--You will rephrase your request for me to go to hell. Goto statements are not acceptable programming constructs
Ok, that's not strictly true.
But it IS true that I will never buy anything from MS again.
But anyway, Ballmer is just jealous that despite his budget for
R&D, everything they make at MS is second-rate.
This year 1 billion mobile devices are deployed with it doubling to 2 billion this next year ..now how many desktops are delpoyed..
..Apple just hired people to put iTunes on J2me
Less than 1 billion..
The future is not MS PC on mobiles..
Its J2ME
Don't Tread on OpenSource
1) Any new computer purchased from Dell
2) Any new computer purchased from Gateway
3) Any new computer purchased from HP
4) Any new computer purchased from Compaq
5) Any new computer purchased from the company I work for
6) Any new computer purchased from GlobalComputer/TigerDirect under the "SysteMax" name
I really could go on and on. You sir, are in idot in the worst way; Or a troll. One of the two.
(Now, the above isn't to say that the users of said brand new computers won't 'borrow' some software from friends/family, but makes it a far cry less than "%100 stolded" as you had suggested. Rare indeed.)
bork bork bork!
Why does Ballmer hold back? We all know Ipod owners kill babies so they can eat them. They are a blight and scourge upon the face of humanity. We must stamp them out soon or face the extinction of our species.
...it's coming.
I guess its a good thing that Windows users are responsible and would never do something like steal music and put it on an iPod... even though Windows makes up around 90% of the installed user base.
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
On the other hand, if he means "Easier for us to make you rent music and videos instead of buying them," then screw you Microsoft..
He should have added: "I guess he's pissed because he paid for the music, but our products won't let him play it."No, It's not.
This is simply another example that Steve Ballmer is a complete and utter moron.
I really think that someone else is really at the helm of Microsoft and Steve is simply a distraction for everyone to see.
Cant we all stop using the propaganda word "theft" in this context; downloading music is NOT theft.
Piracy is another propaganda word.
A single red cent, no. Many thousands of red cents, yes.
When will Windows be ready for the desktop?
"The most common format of music on an iPod is 'stolen.'"
silly me, all this time i've trying to play mp3s on my iPod, all i needed to do was reformat them as stolen! gosh, i'm such a newb. what would i do without microsoft to enlighten me? i guess i'd be pretty lost in this world.
thanks, mircrosoft!
The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it.
-Oscar Wilde
I can see Ballmer's personal security now. He's taking a break from his body guard duty (his second in command is monitoring Ballmer in another room), when he pulls up Slashdot (an informed body guard) and sees this story.
He immediately drops his laptop on the floor and rushes into a board meeting where Ballmer is talking about the Longhorn delay in a conference call to institional investors. He yells "CODE APPLE - CODE APPLE!" and scares the living hell out of everyone in the room.
He grabs Ballmer by the arm, dragging him to the equivalent of a secured bunker about 10 levels beneath the basement sub-level at Microsoft headquarters. All other Ballmer security personal, meanwhile, are coming out of weapons lockers located around the Redmond, WA campus -- fully equipped for a medium tactical incursion situation (it's in the Microsoft CEO security handbook, page 354, paragraph 7a).
At this point, a mysterious announcement goes out to Microsoft employees. The campus is closing for an employee appreciation day. Everyone must go home immediately. Speculation runs rampant, but several employees have a pretty good idea why they're getting a free paid holiday -- some Microsoft asshat said something to piss off the rest of the Linux/Mac/geek world. It always happens.
Ballmer, meanwhile, remains locked in the MS CEO bunker, sitting on a cot surfing the Internet on a tablet PC. He's cursing because he has to keep going to the taskbar to look at different IE windows. "Damn, you, FireFox."
IronChefMorimoto
Yes, but how did it go with Sony and their closed format players, even they have decided to open up and support other formats.And the only solution to his junk would be to ban the players or,,,, make then only eat MS DRM files. But the cat's out of the bag.
I only hope is people will demand to be able to move their data between any platform they need and reject closed standards. But I might be too much to ask.
The critical mass already came from Microsoft. The Xbox (with the aid of a Mod Chip and XBMC) IS this device that is getting into our living rooms. Everyone I have shown XBMC to at the very least wants one, and many actually have gotten an Xbox and modded it.
----
Spam subject of the moment: Offshore account secrets -nashville disrupt
It's quicker and easier to rip music. At least it is with iTunes. Even my computer illiterate g/f can do it. Just put the audio cd in, click import, get back on with your work. At the end eject it. When you want it on your iPod, just plug it in, and itunes automatically synchronises the playlist.
I can't imagine anything easier.
Why, for the love of God, doesn't this outrage more people? These really are the stakes, phrased in a way that an ordinary person could understand.
Why should any business preemptively limit the possibilities? How would a business even know there's a market when they foreclose them before they even begin?
Of course there's an argument to enforce restrictions on behavior which is very definitely illegal, but is it worth the cost of preemptively restricting all other unforeseen uses?
What is this sweaty ogre talking about? I have 1605 songs, not one is illegal, they are either ripped from my own collection, or purchased from the iTMS. If iPod owners, were thieves, why would they be spending upwards of $500 on a music player? I am sure they will lobby congress for a legal monopoly on music now.
I hate sigs.
Transcript of Ballmer's speech:
"developers developers developers developers developers developers developers developers developers developers Ipod theft developers."
....I think if Apple had continued to insist that the I/O interface stay IEEE-1394, sales of the device would have stayed relatively low because it's only on higher-end desktop computers on the PC side that you have standard IEEE-1394 connections.
But Apple wisely knew if they wanted sales of the iPod to take off they needed both Windows support and the use of a more common I/O interface, so the newer iPod models now sport USB 2.0 connections, which most new computers have nowadays.
God, what a bunch of fucking liars and hypocrites! In the last few years, I haven't met a single computer geek who hadn't a huge collection of downloaded MP3s. And most people here say they've got almost no illegal MP3s. Sure thing, guys. I guess those millions of users on the P2P networks don't really exist either, eh?
I, for one, haven't bought a single CD since I discovered that you can download MP3s over the internet. People who make music were always grossly overpaid and I don't think most of them deserve it.
That last quote, isn't a confession that M$ plans on using monopoly power to leverage into a new market?
How do they get away with this shit?
I'm putting the new hit single Microsoft BASIC on Paper Tape on my iPod.
( o ) one could say I'm rather baked
EVERY song on my brand new iPod comes from my CD collection. iPods are just a more convient way to carry 100+ CDs. Boy do I resent being called a thief by some Gates Flunky.
I used to be a paranoid, now, I'm just a noid.
Dang, what makes them believe that they are entitled to millions and care-free lives by making a couple of template "songs" about fucks and drugs?
or DRM or the RIAA.
It's about placating big volume shareholders that are chewing on your ass daily vis a vis your company's plans for future returns. And why is ROI looking so weak? And where is the innovation you keep talking about? And what's this firefox thing that is kicking your ass and getting so much press?
Our investors are getting edgy, Stevie Baby. Some are beginning to unload. I have to give them answers. Where are my answers?
His distinction doesn't even make sense. He says Windows Media has had DRM for years, and then somehow ties that to the majority of the iPod's music being stolen, presumably a veiled reference to the fact that iPod uses a different format.
;-) (Yes, yes, I know they've announced they'll support MP3.)
But that logic doesn't follow, because iPod's "paid" format ("Protected AAC") contains DRM (though in Apple's implementation is probably more forgiving and transparent than some alternatives). The "stolen" format he must be referring to is, therefore, MP3, a format that is also supported by all portable music players that support Windows Media!
Since Apple's music store - which only works with iPod - has by far the largest market share of all online music stores, there is actually more legitimately purchased downloaded music (to say nothing of legally purchased CDs that have then been ripped) in use on iPods than on players that support Windows Media. If there are "stolen" MP3s in use on iPod, then there are stolen MP3s in use on ANY player that supports MP3 in the same proportions. And even if we concede that there might be physically more stolen music on iPods, in numbers of songs, it's only because iPods so ridiculously vastly outnumber any competitive player...not because iPods somehow magically enable more easy theft, when it's MP3 - not the iPod's "scary different non-Windows Media format", which IS DRM'ed - that constitutes the "theft", which is possible on ANY other player! [1]
So, to sum up: nuthin' but FUD.
[1] Except perhaps Sony's.
It's so tragicomic, all these futile efforts to reverse progress, all this money spent...
... it sould be mandatory for any CEO to have a minor in history of civilization. You just can't stop progress. You can't possibly believe that people will volutary chose to be chained down by greaty corporate legislation and their moronic DRMs and DMCAs and such. They will all be graciously bypassed. You can't imprison a whole society because you are greedy. You can't wage war at your customers for starters!
:-)
This is more funny than tragic after all...
Yam, yam, uga booga, yam, yam, yade, yade, uga booga, yam, yam, yade, yade
I interpretted "corporate America" to be the RIAA. Maybe that was wrong of me. But it would make sense that a year after MS should have had a player in the market to compete with the iPod they would come out and say something along the lines of: "Don't you see that Apple is promoting stealing with their device?"
The response the RIAA has been forced to give is: "Sure, but *they* have the users." I think some of the big boys would like to switch over to a more secure way of storing their music, but if that's not where the users are, they aren't going to do it. Money is what matters here, they can always sue the people that steal, but they *have* to be able to market to them.
Well, yeah right now most iPod users have pcs. Of course when Longhorn arrives, there will be a little problem uploading your music, and every now and then the entire iPod memory will be wiped.
You know that MS will be working hard for a solution...
From MS marketing, 2006:
"It's probably due to Apple's implementation of some standard."
"You could get a solution quicker if you switch to our new win-Pod(TM) that implements Microsoft standards. It uses a new version of Embedded Windows Media Player(TM). Here's a coupon for %75 off your purchase price, and we have a $20.oo rebate as well."
"But we'll keep working on that i-pod 'fix', don't you worry. When the 'fix' is in, you'll know it!"
Microsoft, The job isn't done until Lotus, Novell, Netscape, iPod won't run
To all the people getting upset personally. Don't. He doesn't give a shit about you. He is paid to say stuff like this, to him it's a business investment. Nothing more. (Possibly) unlike you, he doesn't see this as a personal attack on your ethics.
Think about this:
Windows has become the standard because it has become the standard because of illegal use of it (pirated copies). Having now reached critical mass Microsoft needs to still grow it's paying consumer-base. It can do this through 2 methods. Non-Windows users and users using illegal copies.
Microsoft has taken on both fronts at once because neither is going to be easy. It spreads FUD about open-source and more specifically, Linux. It doesn't do this for any idealogical or ethical reasons. It is an investment. To help in this attack Microsoft has become part of Trusted Computing which uses proprietry formats. Those that don't aren't Trusted (which means a locked down system) are put on a black-list. This will be aided with Longhorn (I see it not as the end, but the beginning. It is a testing ground for the Trusted Computing concept).
But for the Trusted Computing concept to succeed, businesses need to want to invest in it. This is done scaring businesses. The RIAA does this effectively, and this article shows Microsoft trying it's hand at it. Ever noticed how virus protection software is very diligent about reporting new viruses? This is to create fear and a need (which isn't artificial) to get the latest virus protection software. Microsoft uses a similar concept when spreading FUD.
To expand against the illegal copies front it uses what it has gained using the previous method. By scaring people about illegal software and pirates, it creates a need for the problem to be fixed. Through lobbying it can help in creating laws that benefits Microsoft in this. The laws will first be
harsher penalties, then laws that help in catching the criminals. Then laws where DRM is compulsory. Why would it be compulsory? Same reason that seat-belt laws are. For the protection of the businesses.
It can also benefit from it's security holes. It benefits by:
1> Fixing them (the quicker the better) which is good for publicity.
2> Bundle software that detects if you're using illegal software along with the fix. Or simply say you have.
By making people scared about it's security holes it can pressure people into downloading the fixes, and then they'll get worried about being caught using illegal software and may purchase it legally next software update. That isn't to say it creates security holes, but once found, they can be used to their advantage.
This might sound paranoid. But it truly isn't. I've taken all the things that has been happening up until now. And don't get all worked up about how evil it all is. Microsoft doesn't care about ethics. It cares about it's shareholders. That is business in the modern era.
The easiest way to do it is with iRATE radio. It downloads tracks from music hosting services like the Internet Underground Music Archive, using a collaborative filtering system to select the tracks you're most likely to enjoy.
The client fetches the URLs of a few tracks from iRATE's central database server, then downloads them directly from the servers where the musicians have them hosted. When you listen to the new tracks, you rate them according to how much you like and dislike them. The next time iRATE contacts the server, it submits your ratings, which are then correllated with the ratings of other users to find the best tracks for you.
Basically, if you and I enjoy the same kind of music, iRATE will fetch for you all the same music I like. If we disagree on our taste in music, iRATE will avoid downloading for you the music I enjoy.
iRATE radio is free software, licensed under the GNU GPL. A new version, 0.4, is expected to be released within a couple weeks. You can help with testing if you try out the unstable builds and report bugs using SourceForge's bug tracking system.
I discuss iRATE and many other ways to download music free and legally in my article Links to Tens of Thousands of Legal Music Downloads.
I want every p2p network user to read my article. If you also feel that more people should read it, you can help by linking to it from your website, weblog, or from message boards.
Thank you for your attention.
Request your free CD of my piano music.
Correct me, if I'm wrong, but doesn't it take about $10,000.00 to fill an iPod using iTunes?
:)
Let me spell that again. TEN THOUSAND US DOLLARS to be perfectly legal. TEN THOUSAND US DOLLARS to satisfy corporate greed. How much of this will actually go to the artists?
Yeah, silly question, isn't it?
That's exactly what those muppets, muppets, muppets, muppets are really about.
Sure it doesn't matter that most don't even willingly install or know about the spam software, however your company sure makes this possible.
What? But I have license numbers for all my software! And it works with SP2! How can it be illegal? I even authenticated it with MS.
Oh. A keygen.
Uh, nevermind.
A NYC lawyer blogs. http://www.chuangblog.com/
Almost every MS product since its inception three decades ago was originally invented somewhere else- MS-DOS, Windows, BASIC, Multiplan, Words, Windows, MS-Tunes, etc. Some purchased, some was blatantly copied. MS has no business making this complaint.
Says the man who's company STOLE their OS!
Right on Steve! Better rub that shining fucking head of yours harder for your next big idea!
These MS tards are getting to be beyond belief. Honestly... now because MS didn't "capture" the market first everything else is the product of thieves, terrorists, whatever.
Listen, MS will NOT capture the livingroom because their technology is still either too fucking complicated (VCRs flashing 12:00 anmd black tape) or too fucking useless. And if consumers really want that functionality they'll buy it in a box that simply plugs into their TV (TIVO) not into their home network.
Request your free CD of my piano music.
I got a free, legal copy of PowerDVD XP with my DVD drive.
Then I had to pirate DVD X Ghost so that I could play discs from other regions.
They are really pissing me off with all this 'thief' crap.
Just because you have an MP3 does not mean you are a thief. just because you bought an OS-less PC doesn't mean you are a thief. Just because I own a soldering iron and am an EE doesnt mean I'm some 'evil hacker'..
I have 25GB on my 4G Ipod and not ONE song isn't from a CD I own.. I have several PC's, and NONE run some sort of pirated Microsoft OS.. Either I own a license, or its running a 'free' OS...
I'm sick and tired of being accused of something I'm not, and then getting legislation passed that restricts my activities, and increases their market share/profit. ( generic statement, this applies to most any 'media' industry )
To hell with them all. See how little of my money they continue to get from me..
---- Booth was a patriot ----
This is simply another example that Steve Ballmer is a complete and utter moron.
And an angry one at that. What gives? CEO of the most powerful, wealthiest software company. Batted down US antitrust measures. At the pinnacle of success. And ranting paranoia-induced anger? WTF?
Something's going on that's souring Microsoft's culture. There's more deeper than this. Any theories? I'd like to suggest Balmer feels he's being nibbled to death by a thousand ducks (well, ducks *and* penguins, to be accurate). Still, he's got an ever-increasing pile of patents that were pushed through the inept USPTO that he's about ready to use in the attempt to terminate open source. So, as the voter said to John Kerry, why the long face???
"Microsoft will steal a march.."
Sure, it starts with stealing a march.. then it's an April, followed by May and June, and before you know it you're wandering around with half an ill-gotten year bulging beneath your jacket.. after that it's down the slippery slope to stealing days of the week, and even whole decades if the habit goes unchecked.
Now what's worse? Grabbing a few little MP3s for listening on the go, or depriving the whole world of entire chunks of history. I think we know who the REAL criminals are here.
Curiosity was framed. Ignorance killed the cat.
Digital Rights Management is all about preventing people from using the tools they have paid for in the ways they want to use them. Often, DRM prohibits perfectly legal activities.
Digital Rights Management is one of the most serious threats to the general purpose computer, and to the freedom it affords us. The general public must be educated to the fact that the purpose of DRM isn't to protect them, but to protect large corporations from them.
I'd have to think that the people that used Windows would have quit using it if it didn't allow them to run Napter. If there was an update that prevented mp3 playback, they wouldn't install the update. If the system updated itself, then I can see people backing up their files and reinstalling to an older version of Windows.
I'm sure Microsoft knew better than to do something like that. At least Apple is smart enough to allow us to use mp3. And despite all this ballyhoing about iPod letting you play tracks that may or may not be copyright infringing, somehow Apple still manages to sell well over a million tracks, I forget how many they've sold so far.
50%? Are you kidding? It's rare to see a Windows computer with less than 100% pure, unadulterated, stolen shit in it
That certainly rings true among the people I know - at least with regards to their home computers. 100% of them run pirated copies of WinXP, pirated photoshop, pirated Office, etc...
Personally I think the likes of Abiword make a perfectly acceptable replacement for Word, at least for home users - and often times businesses would do just fine with it. I think Abiword is an upgrade from MS Word - others my not agree. But it's definitely faster to load, looks just as good (better in my opinion), uses less memory, and has more than enough features to keep home users, college students, and business people happy.
I'm not a huge fan of Open Office - not because there's anything wrong with it. It's just that I don't really need an Office Suite. (I imagine most home users don't.) But for those who do "need" it, I think it's a great substitute for the $300+ MS Office Suite.
For my own spreadsheet needs, I prefer Gnumeric because it feels very light weight while still having all the features I need. Plus I think it looks great and it's a heck of a lot faster to load up than OOo. The only problem with Gnumeric is that there isn't a Windows port (that I know of).
I also have several friends who pirate the "Pro" version of Trillian. I finally convinced my friend to give the Windows Port of gaim a try and he has been using it ever since. Bonus - download the encryption plugin for gaim and have secure messaging.
I don't know enough about Photoshop and image editing to know if The Gimp is an acceptable replacement. I've read several posts where people say it is *not* (an acceptable replacement.) I'll have to take their word for it. My image editing needs are very basic so gThumb is about all I really need.
I have another friend who pirates FTP software. With the existence of FileZilla, I fail to see the point. What can't FileZilla do?
A lot of people pirate WinZip. I have to admit that WinZip does have a pretty interface (if you use Windows), but if you don't want to pay for it, and you don't want to take the risk of infecting your Windows computer with a virus when you download a WinZip crack of Kazaa, then I recommend 7-zip as a free alternative. Also, the last time I saw WinZip (which admittedly was years ago) there were a few archive types it didn't handle.
There are so many great Free and Open Source alternatives available, even if you use Windows.
Get FireFox now
I think he means: 'the critical mass has to come from windows'. Why? No technical reason
Yes, the critical mass, at least from the PC point of view, does have to come from windows. This is because windows has 90+ percent of the desktop OS market. The mac has about 5 per cent.
You will_never_achieve this "critical mass" (what ever the hell that is) with out using windows. Fact.
Mind you, as has been pointed out, this means sweet FA as far as the ipod is concerned. I know several people who own ipods. To a man, they all use windows. I suspect that there may be more ipod users on windows than on mac. If there aren't, there will be soon.
Oh yeah. MS sucks. There, that should get me modded up.
"I realise this is not a very popular opinion but it's the truth, and there for needs to be said" -Bill Hicks
from now on, whenever I give anyone a cdr with a copy of Windows on it I will get this heartwarming feeling knowing I'm doing something real, something genuine to help the world take down Microsoft and wipe their asses with them. And I will gladly pay for the cdr if it means screwing Microsoft for calling everyone thieves.. if anyone are thieves its Microsoft.. but that they ofcourse wont admit to and as long as they have enough money to drag claims of the opposite in court for decades until the opponent runs out of resources.. they never will..
Hey, taking the RIAA approach. You know, labeling all your potential customers as theieves... It's kinda stupid.
I would highly advise you not mention something like that in public, or in an interview, cause it'll make your company look like assh... uh-oh...
(sigh)
Well, good luck!
People who steal music are responsible for the thefts. Kind of like blaming the gun for the murder of a person when even if he or she didn't have the gun, he had a knife anyways. In other words, taking away the medium/gun/method isn't going to stop a crime from happening.
The most common format of music on an iPod is 'stolen'.
.stolen format.
- I never, ever, stole a single format in my entire life.
- I never, ever, converted music to the
- I never, ever, found any codecs for the 'stolen' format on the web.
- I never, ever, ripped stolen music out of the hands of a person after raping and beating him/her to death.
But I did eat some stollen, last christmas. It's possible that a few crumbs remain in the ridges of my iPod. Does that count ?
dance monkeyboy dance! Microsoft complaining about Apple users?! Oh, and of course, they and their users are lily-white and never steal a single thing. Snort! I have to remember not to drink a new cup of coffee when reading /. lest I blow it out my nose reading comments like this from the Ballmer B-boy Monkeyboy.
The 20 gig iPod holds 10,000 songs. At a buck a song, that's $10,000 to fill it up. I don't know anyone with that kind of money. Sure there are some old people, like myself, who own decades worth of CDs to rip, but a lot of young people are buying iPods.
It sounds to me that Microsoft's Portable Media Player will NOT play MP3s. However, if it ONLY plays DRM invested WMA files it will NOT sell.
If someone says he and his monkey have nothing to hide, they almost certainly do.
1. 0
2. 1-2%
3.
4.
5. 98-99%
None of the music on my work pc was illegally downloaded, that may not be the case on my home pc. I'll check...
Woe be on to them, all who rise against poor people, shall perish in a the end. Buju Banton
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
Apple has the best DRM system around for simulating real user rights while protecting media interests. It keeps the casual copier at bay and yet it doesn't limit fair use. What Microsoft thinks is that customers are so stupid that they won't see a difference between FairPlay and Microsoft's vision of a "you are completely owned by the label" world view. In the end, Apple will come out on top. It was there first, it has the biggest selection and is the best at balancing both copyright holder and customer interests.
Click here or a puppy gets stomped!
For you maybe. But that just indicates what sort of company you prefer.
I really could go on and on.
You are assuming people never upgrade their software apparently. How many people bought a [whatever brand computer] and then pirated the XP "upgrade"?
Why is it that Microsoft's cheif bomb thrower is immediately picked up by the trade press and published to the PHBs that control most of the IT infrastructure at most companies? Ballmer's remarks were just plain infantile. I'm starting to wonder if the trade press is a bigger roadblock to wider adoption of more diverse platforms. Linux rarely gets a fair shake, Macintosh is still just a pretty little bauble, and neither having any real value to a serious computer user. All the advocacy of the professionals in your department regarding either platform is immediately lost by a piece of FUD in your PHB's trade mag of choice, or a Microsoft-funded "benchmark test", or "TCO Comparison".
The simple reality is that Microsoft once again missed the boat on an important innovation. They can't buy the technology so their fumbling attempt to copy it will need a few versions before anyone starts switching to the MS "solution". Apple keeps out innovating Microsoft at every turn and all guys like Ballmer can do is throw more gasoline on the PC vs. Mac fire. Ballmer simply doesn't have the charisma that Jobs does. He can't rile up the PC user base because the vast majority of them don't care about Microsoft the way Mac users care about Apple.
The iTMS + iPod combination delivers a simple solution on both the PC and the Mac, why switch to the DRM-laden, lock-in ridden MS alternative? I can still rip, mix, burn to CD in relation to my needs. I can legally buy music and upload it to my iPod. I don't have to waste money on entire records for the two songs I want. In essence, I don't have to illegally download music because Apple has made it easy to do everything legally.
This is simply MS sucking up to the RIAA in an attempt to squeeze out Apple from this market. The mantra is altered slightly to make the point of illegal downloads, but also take a jab at Ballmer's primary competition. We know that MS can't compete head-to-head on the technical merits of their products alone, so they have to undermine the credibility of the user base of the product they're competing against. Add to that the RIAA's core (almost religious) belief that all music on a computing device must be illegal, and you have Ballmer's infantile remarks. Meant to alienate those users of the iPod, and to pass "critical insight" to PHB's that make IT policy decisions.
Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.
If you call your customers stupid, it must be true. The problem with that is that you soon run out of customers.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
Here is the difference between a success and a failure. Its the same one as thinking raising cigartte taxes will make people stop smoking and installing light rail will make people stop driving. When you are working in a free society, success comes from giving people what they want, not telling them what they want.
Look at MS. People wanted web browsers. They made IE. People wanted a media player, they got one bundled that did a good job of streaming video. They wanted a mailer, the got one. Yes now that there are problems with them people are moving to Mozilla based products, but this is a failure of Microsoft. They didn't give the people what they wanted (they don't want to have to be security experts to be able to browse the web).
People want to be able to have digital media with as few strings attached as can be so they don't have to become DRM gurus to listen to their jams in the car. This is where Windows Media player fails and the iPod/iTunes succeeds. Jobs thought about what the customers wanted and then did all he could to give it to them, putting in just enough DRM to keep the RIAA happy.
So the Windows folks can think they will win by putting in as much monopolistic protection as possible for MS and the RIAA/MPAA but it will fail. It will fail for the same reasons that all the other media stores and players have to date. They didn't give peole what they wanted.
Today is a gift. Save the receipt.
Steve Balmer
Watch the first movie on this link and be afraid. Be very afraid.
All iPod users are pirates?
Ballmer can kiss the fattest part of my ass.
It means that when Microsoft tries to smush this market, like they have everything else, they will introduce a player that obviously will not play MP3, Vorbis, or any other non-DRM format. The question is, will anyone buy it?
The RIAA and MPAA hve done an incredible amount to UNDO what was purposely done - allow the consumer to copy their own stuff. But thanks to Billy G & co, there's this new notion of licensing vs. purchasing. So how long until you don't "buy" your CDs, you "license use of them?"
The whole thing stinks. This is bad news for the rights of the consumer.
He obviously hasnt been to NYC. In any subway car there's always at least 3 people listening to iPods
In this context "Corporate America" refers to the stinking rich part of the music/movies industry.
Are you sure those songs are in fact original musical works?
...and Influence People the Microsoft Way" we show you how to insult everyone under 25.
Boring Old Fart (40, married, 3 kids...er no...make that 49, married, 3 grown up kids...it's been a long time)
...because the format that the iPod uses for storing music is the DRM'ed AAC format, not MP3.
And how would some white, fat guy know what I have for my music and how I obtained it? Sounds like some white guy trying to tell a reasonable, lawful human being in America that they don't know any better and to buy their product so that they can "teach" us.
Most of us you accuse, Mr. Ballmer, are adults who make our money and obtain our music the old fashioned (and legal) way--unlike your company's practices, which seems to steal it.
He (as he is speaking as a Microsoft rep) has some damned NERVE to accuse everyone as thieves just because we don't want to buy their product.
Vos teneo officium eram periculosus ut vos recipero is.
How is it that they blame the parent company? Its not apples fault that end users put music, that they downloaded of p2p network, onto their iPods. And frankly apple shouldn't be concerned. Once that certain person purchases their iPod, brings it home and begins loading music, Apple has nothing to do with that. Just like Microsoft shouldn't be blamed [as hard as that is to say] for your average idiot end user who fucks up his machine because he clicked a .exe in his email. Thats not microsofts fault, but if Ballmer wants to say that about apple, why not about Microsoft? Oh thats right, he works for Microsoft. He should just blame all parent companys then, including himself. As most viruses that are prevailent are on Windows.
Ballmer is an ass. Microsoft is angry because of the success of the ipod / itunes combonation.
http://www.macinhack.com
Most Universities already have MS contracts, where every student is licensed to use MS OS's and Office products. This alone takes out a huge number of potential pirated copies of software. Add in the Dell/Gateways, and really, there aren't quite as many MS pirates in the US as you might think.
Microsoft's Portable Media Center player plays MP3s!!!!
p or tablemediacenter/faq.mspx
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/devices/
Does Ballmer know this?! Or is Ballmer simply lying through his ass?!
If someone says he and his monkey have nothing to hide, they almost certainly do.
Come on now, Steve. There are three ways to get music onto a portable digital music player: paid downloads, rip from CDs (or other source) one already owns, or to "steal" it from another source. In the paid downloads category the iTunes Music Store dominates. It's far and away the market leader and those tracks can only be played on the iPod. All the other players that are capable of playing Microsoft's Windows Media format with DRM can get music from a variety of paid download services. But if more people by far are downloading legitimately from iTunes, and necessarily are playing such legal, paid-for music on their iPods, doesn't it stand to reason that iPod owners are more likely to have legally downloaded music than users of other portable players? Furthermore, Mac users have demonstrated over the years that they will pay more for hardware/OS/software that they perceive to be better. The iTunes Music Store was launched first for Mac users because it was reasoned that they would be willing to pay for the quality and ease of using the legal channel over the free file sharing networks. To the extent that Mac users represent a higher percentage of iPod owners than of other brands, doesn't it also stand to reason that the iPod user base is more likely to pay for their content? This is not to say that there is not music from dubious sources, or "stolen" to use Balmer's term, on iPods just like on other players, but I think it very likely that iPods contain a lower percentage of such content than the Windows Media players.
I am not a lawyer but I believe Mr. Ballmer just wrongfully accused me and slandered the vendor of my device. Perhaps a lawyer here sees a possibility for class action? I am sick of these Microsnuffers accusing me of all sorts of shit they know nothing about. Who the heck are they to judge me and what I do? I am sorry Mr. Ballmer but You have no affiliation with the copyright holders of the music I listen to and as such I don't see why you meddle in my business relationship with Apple Computer Corp. and my Music Vendor. I think Microsoft is in breach of many laws and regulations yet I don't particularly feel a requirement in my inner monkey to spout this at my upcoming public speaking arrangements. Maybe I should but I bet you that If I do I will be presented with a lawsuit...
-if at first you don't succeed, stay the heck away from paragliding.
Every song on my wife's iPod is either from our own CD collection, or purchased from iTunes.
Fuck you, Ballmer.
The critical mass has to come from the PC,
Yup. Just like USB. Oh, wait...
"Sometimes a woman is a kind of religion, she can save your soul & set you free from all your sins" - Bad Examples
above isn't to say that the users of said brand new computers won't 'borrow' some software from friends/family
Indeed, I remember that when we first got a computer (way back in '90) one of the first things that we did was have a friend come over and install some games. However, the Word Processor (Word Perfect) we legally bought along with many other games after that (Carmen Sandiego, Super Solvers and others [hey, I was 8 at the time]).
Fly me to the moon Let me sing among those stars Let me see what spring is like On jupiter and mars
Hence PC users are Thieves.....
WOW look at that you can spin the FUD two ways here... Why hasnt this guy died of a exploding heart as he was jumping up and down like a overweight gorrila yet????
"Slashdot, where telling the truth is overrated but lying is insightful."
Who wouldn't want 100 dollar bils?
Analogies don't equal equalities, they are merely somewhat analogous.
... and you are giving too much credit to home users. Honestly, how many typical Joe Users do you think can get ahold of an illegal copy of XP, let alone actually install it?
DVD-A and SACD have their target markets. I will buy a SACD or DVD-A disc over a CD if I have a choice. I think they sound better than CD and I am the market they are going after. The inablility to copy the format in the end really doesn't matter, for this market. I have to use analog cables out of my player*. Oh well, life goes on. I cannot copy it and give it to my friend. Oh well, they couldn't hear the difference on their system anyway.
* Yes, I know some offerings from Pioneer, Denon, et. al, let you use a digital out from their player to their receiver.
You have to be able to listen to it, which means you have to be able to convert it to sound, which means you will be able to digitize it. The most DRM can do is force a single analog stage in the process... once it's digitized to an open format it doesn't matter all that much whether it came from a CD, an online music store, an FM radio, or direct from the artist.
You are assuming some things which are not always correct.
1: People want to rip to a lossy format.
2: The ipod must be full
3: The ipod must be used for music instead of a portable drive.
Admittedly there are a few illegal tunes on my ipod, but the vast majority are legal. In fact I probably have more illegal music on my old collection of tapes.
The industry has talked up the idea that computers will finally move from the home office to the living room for many years, but Ballmer said he thinks this theory may be about to become a market reality.
You mean a laptop? Geesh... my ThinkPad is from 1999.
"Industry Insiders" really need to get a clue methinks.
Just because you and your friends steal software doesn't mean that everyone does. I've had my computer for 4 years. Every single piece of software on it was either free or purchased legally. And there has to be a reason that Best Buy has rows and rows of boxed software. Someone is purchasing software.
Taking into account that songs on iTunes music service are:
1. 100% Legal
2. DRM, but with restrictions that people can actually tolerate.
3. Sold over 130,000,000 songs to date (in less than 2 years since it's launch)
and that:
4. iPods are legal, and support a DRM format, unlike most MP3 players out there.(There is no problem with not supporting a DRM format either, are we all suddenly theives for not encoding DRM in our fair-use music rips?)
and also that:
Apple have supported more DRM in Quicktime before MS even bothered to see it as a market.
Then I really don't see any justifcation for any of the comments made about Apple computer. Sounds more like a technique to add some attention to his announcement.
All the professors I've had in college so far all require soft copies of assignments in Office format. Grades are lowered or not counted for other formats. You're going to tell me to get the Student Edition of Office for $100 but that seems like appeasement rather than a solution to the problem.
I'm on top of my game like I'm standin' on Xbox.
iPod users say Steve Ballmer is a monkey...
*Because* of Apple's iPod and iTunes Music Store, I stopped using P2P over a year ago. Since then, I have purchased 2,080 songs and these licensed songs are the only songs that reside on one of my several iPods. Microsoft's arrogance makes me sick; those bastards need to wake up and smell the Apples.
To an iPod user whose collection consists primarily of music from CDs that I own as well as other sources for which I have proper authorization, this is a kick in the shins. I might as well declare in the news that most people named Steve Ballmer beat their wives.
-ben
myselfmusic
... and you are giving too much credit to home users. Honestly, how many typical Joe Users do you think can get ahold of an illegal copy of XP, let alone actually install it?
Hmmm... perhaps. My neighbor, who is actually named Joe by the way, recently beckoned me for a copy of XP SP2 because his computer was poluted with spyware and other garbage so he wanted to format and re-install. But didn't want to put Windows ME back on it. I'm not naive enough to think that Linux is an acceptable option for him. Whether or not I was able to find a copy of xpsp2 for him to use is between he and I.
But doesn't everyone have a geek in the family, know a geek personally, or know someone who knows a geek?
Comment removed based on user account deletion
I know what you mean, it's hard to tell whether the songwriter has given permission to the musician to make the track available, but it's up to the musician to get that permission.
I feel pretty comfortable in saying that iRATE's developers don't have anything to worry about in helping others find the tracks that musicians have already posted. All the music download sites I listed appear to me to be legit.
Request your free CD of my piano music.
As much as Ballmer is talking totally irellivent BS and dancing around like a Chimpy McFlightsuit (not realising which OS in the world is used to download and play the most 'stolen' music and who's products also play mp3s) Atleast one part of his comment was roughly right in the implication: Most music players are full of mp3s downloaded for free. Shall we have a poll?
Personally I don't know what Microsofts beef with DRM is - as we know they are about making money, which would lead me to think that they plan to knock out some basic DRM and sell licenses for billions, im absolutely fine with that, just as long as they don't try too hard to ruin the computing industry for F/OSS and everyone else. Video players arn't really the way forward - PDA's with hard-drives and decent battaries are the way forward, I reckon Apple could win here, they've got the experience with the Newton and an OS that normal people and geeks alike will love and you just know its going to look fucking hot! Microsoft are just crapping their pants because they know everyone and their dog wants an iPod, they can't compete with fashion.
This comment does not represent the views or opinions of the user.
"Because just about every Windows user I know has a computer at least 50% full of stolen shit (usually including the OS itself)."
And sadly, on the Mac its just the opposite.
Mac users are more often than PCs users to be in the 'creative' designation. That doesn't mean all, most, or a lot, but it means far more than PC users. But more importantly, its given the ideal that this *IS* the creative machine. I use my Mac for all my music and visual arts. I have most of hte same software on my PC, but that doesn't put me in the same mood -- why? Because of the expectation that was set. I use my PC for programming.
Getting to the point, creative folks generally feel ownership in their works. Most of us do believe copyright laws are just -- as a creative, you feel the shit you create is your life blood and soul. This doesn't happen in programming very often...most programmers are NOT creating, but doing the digital equivalent of manual labour. This is one of the reasons I refuse to code any more...I'll develop software and manage a working team, but my task is shaping the software, not pushing out dozens of lines of a code an hour (and even that is nothing compared to real code junkies). Coders I know think I'm a snob too -- but my software is generally used by folks that don't know computers (or know them and refuse to have to use that knowledge -- I know how to fix a car, but I know my mechanic can get it done much quicker and a lot of the times, cheaper -- err after I buy the wrong parts and break something else) and simplify complex tasks so you don't have to be a computer genius -- just someone that understands the field of work you are already in (generally, academic medical / psychological based apps).
But again, code junkies that think programming is the action of your fingers hitting the keyboard and throwing our lines of code will *NEVER* understand ownership.
Mac users have it instilled in them that they own the works -- its theres. iPhoto -- you took those photos. iMovie -- its your movie and as shitty as it may be, you created it.
Move that over to software purchases. As folks that understand our ideal of ownership, we generally want other owners to get paid. Not all Mac users, the majority, or whatever else -- but a bigger crowd than are on the PC. We pay for our shit because we understand. PC users -- on the other hand -- are consumers through and through. Nothing really creative. Just video games or some other bullshit. Consumers want shit at the lowest cost price -- and free is as low as you can go.
Again, I'm not saying all Mac users pay for their shit -- the whole P2P filesharing thing started on the Mac. Sure, there was FTP before that, but Hotline really made the market for finding warez easily. Still, it was always amazing to talk with friends that had a new boxed photoshop sitting on their desk and they tell me that they picked it up because they found it on Hotline (years ago) and wanted a legit copy...where as the same folks on the PC tell me Yeah, It doesn't work very well, but its free, so I'll just keep an eye out for a better crack. Fuck that.
Mac users pirate less. Linux users that have PCs (almost all) probably pirate more than PC users. We all need to learn to respect folks properties, even if it is just artificial bullshit making it true ownership. In a true communist society, they would say that our western idea of car ownership was bullshit as well -- its only due to artificial means that someone can 'own' something that the others don't. If you want folks to respect items like the GPL, then you also need to respect copyright laws as they stand today.
Hmm... Ever since installing XP SP2 and WMP 10, I CAN NOT run iTunes. I tried uninstalling, got a clean uninstall. I tried installing the newest iTunes. Guess what... SAME FREAKING ERROR. Am I starting to smell the Netscape strategy all over again. BTW, Ballmer (or should I say Baller according to your BS new money lifestyle) EVERY ONE of the 400 albums on my iPod came right out of my CD collection. Ever since the SP2 install, my Windows machine is becoming more and more obsolete. It's dying a slow death, and I have very little reason to keep it going. I like to play Doom 3, and I need it for my PSpice projects for school, but that's it, nothing more. Microsoft, get a clue! You only make ONE good product, and it's not Windows, it's Office. Keep up the good work. And Bill Gates, computer science is not the new plastics, it's the new accounting. I've been doing CS since I was 6 yrs. old, and I'm on the way out at 29. I'm going into the finance industry, too many good minds like mine have been wasted trying to work around bugs and misdocumentation in Windows for too long.
Actually, here in China you pay a buck (say 9-10 yuan) for a regular CD with 15-20 songs, or 15 yuan for a double CD. This means you can fill up the pod using less than $500 worth of Wang Fei (or Western crap, if you still prefer that).
As far as volumes are concerned, Apple sells pretty much every iPod they can produce. It was the thing on kids back to school want lists, it will be the thing on many people's Christmas lists, and it will continue to be the de facto standard for portable music players. Sony's new Walkman, what a joke! I'm not converting everything to their proprietary format. Everyone else? What do you see marketing campaigns on MTV, CNBC, CN, etc. for? Rio, nope. iRiver, nada. Dell, not really. Apple's iPod in clever, catchy ads. Apple's iTMS servers handle the demand smoothly and are never /.'d. And to increase volume, the main piece to worry about is the bandwidth, easy enough.
The article is merely propaganda for those who are too damn ignorant to understand. "DRM...years" "DRM...not been that easy to use" "My 12-year-old at home doesn't want to hear..." Sounds to me like he's shooting himself in the foot and doesn't understand what his customers want. Oh well, that's Microsoft for you.
Amigori
"The quality of life is determined by its activites."--Aristotle
Way to go Steve! Nothing makes me want to buy more Microsoft products than being called a thief. What a wonderful new way to get customers. You know what, I feel like going out and buying a Mac right now...
To the making of books there is no end, so let's get started
I doubt this practice is widespread -- is this a small, private college or something?
I mean, it makes it virtually a requirement for students to own computers.
Therein lies 95% of the problem with OSS and it's developers.
The article quoted Ballmer as saying that, "Most people still steal music." Now this is totally out-of-context in a noticeably biased column, so I take the quote with a grain of salt. However if correct, then doesn't that mean that something is wrong with the law?
Of course the majority is not always right - see the two wolf and lone lamb argument (a.k.a. the reason racist Jim Crow laws were enacted in the Deep South). However, society's will always wins in a democracy (or almost democracy, like most civilized nations). If Balmer's assertion is true, perhaps the society of the United States is not ready for fair (in Balmer's opinion) compensation for musical endeavors. Then when the musical crackdown begins, the politicians will capitulate to the populus or be voted out. See alcohol, tobacco, medical marijuana as other examples.
It is impossible to enjoy idling thoroughly unless one has plenty of work to do.
- Jerome Klapka Jerome
Comment removed based on user account deletion
I have only legit copies of music on my iPod, many of those bought on iTMS. So by making this kind of statement, Steve Ballmer has slandered against me. Where are the lawyers when I need them? I want to file a class action libel and slander suit against Ballmer. Who is with me?
I agree,
I just cant believe Ballmer took his mouth off Bills apparatus long enough to say something.
Did anyone ask what Bills toadie thought?
Does it really matter what Bills toadie thinks?
What does Ballmer really do behind closed doors with latex toys,small animals and mp3s?
What does anyone really care at microsoft about non-business use of unauthorized installs?
or at most software companies?
Lets examine this:
People work in businesses.
Businesses use licenced software(ok bear with me on this one)
People generally do not buy this software for use at home but will use WaReZ because demo versions are a waste of time.
Businesses need people who KNOW how to use the software.
People know how to use this software well because theyve been using it at home.
Business is where software is sold.That is the business model for the PC and has been since the PC boom in the 80s.
Complaining about home use piracy is smoke and farts in the wind.They really dont care.
Microcrud only toots the DRM horn now because they stand to profit by doing so.
Microcrud will always be able to play mp3 because someone will always circumvent DRM.
No One Really Cares especially Steve "hoover" Ballmer.
*Repent!Quit Your Job!Slack Off!The World Ends Tomorrow and You May Die!
You are assuming people never upgrade their software apparently. How many people bought a [whatever brand computer] and then pirated the XP "upgrade"?
Of the computers I work on? None -- that I'm aware of. If someone tells me (or any of the other techs I work with) that they stole the copy of Windows (or any other software on the computer), we will not work on it. How stupid are people to admit that? Believe me, there have been plenty. We also turn away anyone that comes in with a CD-R and a written product key wanting us to install it onto their computer. Unless they can product a real copy and a product key, we just won't touch it.
We sell quite a few 'upgrade' packs of various different software packages in the company for which I work. Mostly Windows and the various antivirus software..
Why are you so bent on believing that people are just horrible people who do nothing other than steal all day? I'm sure they have other things to do! =]
bork bork bork!
I use a lot of FOSS software (I'm writing this though FreeBSD/XFCE4) and I would definately rate Abiword with the best of them.
I'm guessing that 99% of these thieves stole their music using Windows PC's.
I provide support for a certain digital music player and application that goes along with it. I deal with way more requests for how to rip a cd then how to add "My Shared Folder" into the music library. I think Ballmer does not realize that for every teeny bopper raping kazaa there are probably 3 professional responisble people who are using legally purchased music. Or maybe the teeny boppers just do not call support...
Umm... come again? The iPod plays AAC, DRM-AAC, WAV, AIFF and MP3 natively.
...which isn't to say Ballmer is right.
Flight sims are used to practice hijacking
Trench coats are used to conceal bombs
Sex creates babies which grow into lawbreaking adults
Human brains are used to plan crimes...
Assuming RIAA et al base their accusations on declining sales, is it possible that people are not buying CDs because they are not interested in the music any more?
Depending on what genre you prefer, when was the last time an artist or group produced something you liked well enough that you were willing to pay $15 for the CD--especially if you were interested in only ONE of the songs on the entire CD?
Personally, I like country and classical. No royalties on classical (public domain), so no "poor, beleaguered artist" claims. (You pay only the production/distribution costs plus a profit margin.) None of the "modern" country artists produce anything I like. Ergo, I buy/listen to only classical and "classic" country--most artists of the latter already dead. All of which translates that that I do not buy CDs very often.
How pervasive is this scenario?
Ignorance is curable, stupid is forever.
Strange. I wonder what would happen if it was handed in as a .pdf ... or plain old paper.
All the professors I've had in college so far all require soft copies of assignments in Office format. Grades are lowered or not counted for other formats. You're going to tell me to get the Student Edition of Office for $100 but that seems like appeasement rather than a solution to the problem.
Actually I would just recommend you just use Abiword or OOo and then select "save as" MS Office Document. I can't imagine that wouldn't work unless you are doing some extremely funky formatting with your documents.
...even monster hit bands like TLC still can go bankrupt because the record company wows them with advances and what not, and then at the end of the year they 'settle up' and bang, you're in the hole.
As a rock-in-roll Physicist once said, No matter where you go, there you are.
They will probably sell it far below cost, in order to saturate the market and kill competition.
I'd buy one, then wait a week or two until the drm-removal firmware hacks are out on the web.
A week later a free, OSS windows app for interfacing with the drm-free device would be out, and MS would be left with pie on it's face...again.
Control.
The Microsoft Matrix is a computer generated dream world built to keep us under control in order to change a human being into a money spending cash cow, with all the cash going right into the pockets of Steve Ballmer and Bill Gates.
No. I don't believe it. It's not possible!
I didn't say it would be easy, Neo. I just said it would be the truth.
music lover since 1969
I remember the good old days when Microsoft was a proprietary sofware company and not a branch of the judiciary.
Sorry, that doesn't make me think any less of the iPod and it certainly doesn't make me think any more highly of Windows.
In other news, preloading any non-MS OS promotes piracy, Windows has a lower TCO*, and Windows server outperforms RHEL**. You just can't make this stuff up!
* Ignoring the costs of any and all security issues.** When the RHEL server is connected via 10 Mb Ethernet.
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Apple is trading higher than Microsoft, and Microsoft stores are not showing up anywhere.
Not everyone in at the top of the Forbes 400 Richest American people like Ballmer.
Piracy's side effect is that you fill the average price you pay for a CD is lower and you feel less ripped off
I think I would probably have spent less on audio CDs if I didn't pirate so much shit.
I hate to agree here, but I have to say everyone I know with an HD based player has tons of stolen music on it. The people who don't steal tend to have flash based players since they are cheaper for the base unit, lighter, smaller, tougher to damage/shock proof, have longer battery life, etc. compared to the HD ones. A couple cards of music is more than enough for most people who actually have to pay for each disc (usually only a song or two worth ripping each disc, at least IME) or each download.
Virtually any good-sized college nowadays provides Office to students for free under a Microsoft licensing agreement. All I have to do every year is go down to the campus computer store, show my student ID, and they'll give me a CD with the latest copy of Office on it. It's a convenient way for Microsoft to entrench Office into the academic realm for pretty cheap.
Additionally, computers ARE in fact a requirement at my school. Virtually everything is done by computers. Class notes, assignments, and even grades are issued entirely by computer. Everything is automated so that we don't even need to see any of the administration to get things done. I haven't been in any of the offices for about a month now.
Want Slashdot headlines on your site? Try SlashHead
Not 4 Gig..
Its a 40 gig, 4th generation...
But you knew that Im sure..
---- Booth was a patriot ----
and who would pay money for a device that only play drm media?
I've been trying to play some 'stolen' audio files, but I can't seem to find a Linux codec - not even mplayer can handle it. Can anyone point me to one?
Being a developer who believes in open source I take direct offense to that remark. That is an incredablly shallow view of OSS. If OSS does not work for you then you are completly free to do as you wish. However, most ISV will require lock-in on most of their software, where I bank the ISV for the database software forces people to stick with NT 4.0
If a home user does not need an office suite then they have the option to do whatever they like with the office suite they are given. ie. toss it out a window, delete it, email bad stuff to the person who packaged it.
But do not, I repeat just to get the point across, DO NOT confuse this as a developer issue. I just write the shit you deal with it. You don't like what I write then you can change it or you can go choose something else, hell you can even email me with some suggestions (Which let me tell you from expreience, Microsoft will gladly take your suggestion and either make money off your idea with no credit to you, or quietly send it to a junk folder. There are serveral problems with MS that are reported on a daily basis to the end effect that they'll publish a patch for the problem when we get to SP3 sometime in late 2005) 100% of the time, if you have an issue with an assumption that an OSS developer made then you have the source code, I don't see what is stopping you. If you have an issue with how the software is packaged or given to you by your distro then it's not a developer issue. I really wish you stupid MS drones would freakin understand that the developers and the people who give you your software are two different people. So next time you wish to use the word "developers" I suggest you think about what that word truely entails.
No offended anecdotes. Slashdot posters are not representative of Joe Consumer. Statistics. Because for all that he's a hooting freak of nature, on this one, I'm tending towards agreeing with Mr Ballmer's opinion.
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
I have to admit that WinZip does have a pretty interface (if you use Windows), but if you don't want to pay for it, and you don't want to take the risk of infecting your Windows computer with a virus when you download a WinZip crack of Kazaa
when i was in high school (about 6 or 7 years ago) i found a winzip key generator in the piracy rooms on AOL. (#warez waaaaay back when)... funny thing is, i have memorized the winzip key that goes with my last name and even after all these years it still works! just thought that was funny.
Why are we still posting articles that show what a douchebag Ballmer is? It's kind of a straw man that we're beating to death.
And how is this any different from the official Microsoft position that any computer sold without a legal MS OS (ie. bare, or with Linux) will be used for stolen MS applications? In other words, if the enduser has not paid the Microsoft "tax" when purchasing their computer, they are thieves. And if they do not use the Microsoft DRM included with their "taxed" boxen, they are thieves. I just can't wait for what "Trusted Computing", the Microsoft "tax", and the now completely twisted US justice system has in store for the average consumer in 5 years. Of course, with current trends, I would expect that no one will actually possess any software media, or any means to store data. Microsoft DRM and the wonders of broadband internet will mean that MS will charge you for every time you open an email with a proprietary MS attachment, and all storage will be at MSN, just like the WebTV. I can't wait (gag, gag, choke.)
Balmer's job is to make Bill Gates look good. And he does it with flying colors. He looks and sounds like someone you wouldn't mind seeing get hit by a bus.
So you see, children, much like the mythical "copyright" the whole concept of "recorded" "music" is a mental fiction and at odds with the natural order of things. Kill your iPod now!
or something.
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
This was the first thing that came to mind.
"Hahahaha! Oh, wait, you're serious. Let me laugh even harder. AHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Sigs are like bumper stickers.
Are you kidding? Extend your argument out and look at the price of Text Books. It is very widespread for colleges to expect students to spend vast sums of money to comply with their standards.
-- I have 3 words for the **AA, the fools who think their DRM will override our fair use: BRING IT ON
They have 4 letters for you: DMCA.
from Ballmer, in the article:
"My 12-year-old at home doesn't want to hear that he can't put all the music that he wants in all of the places that he would like it," he joked.
Consider this, Mr. Ballmer: "Customers don't want to hear that they can't put all the music that they bought in all of the places that they would like it."
and they aren't joking!
I don't know enough about Photoshop and image editing to know if The Gimp is an acceptable replacement. I've read several posts where people say it is *not* (an acceptable replacement.) I'll have to take their word for it.
Don't. It is an acceptable replacement for most people. People who don't like the GIMP fall into one of four categories:
I fell into the third category myself, until I decided that a little time spent learning a new UI could rid me of the need to pirate Photoshop ('cause I certainly didn't have the money to buy it!).
Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
I would reply to Mr. Ballmer, but I'm writing this on my stolen copy of Windows...
"Was it a millionaire who said 'Imagine No Posessions?'" -- Elvis Costello
I'm wondering how much a certain other Steve is regretting trying to patch things up between Apple and Microsoft and talking about his "web browser of choice".
Didn't take long for Microsoft to get around to sticking Apple, did it? Just as soon as Apple had a profitable market that Microsoft wasn't controlling.
May we never see th
I have a big problem with Mr Bummer's arguments: Most people know sod all about computers and limit themselves to Amazon, AOL and maybe if they are feeling adventurous google. Everyone I know who has an IPOD has put all their CDs onto it. I Don't know anyone who is willing to buy music on the net except for CDs by mail order. Why pay for a file? At least with the CD you get a tangible thing.
kin242.net
This comment was coming from the CEO of the biggest corporate criminal in history! Most of Microsoft's money has been stolen through their leverage of an illegal monopoly. It'll be a cold day in hell before I listen to a lecture from this criminal.
/bin/fortune | slashdotsig.sh
Let's not forget that Linux didn't have the volume, either. Google didn't have it either. Rarely does anything have volume when it's young. Quantity (volume) is not the only factor. There is something to be said about quality, too! :)
Simpy
Translation: Ipod users dont feed my pockets, therefore they must be thiefs.
Here's the truth about music and money. The typical contract signed by a band usually includes an advance. This isn't a signing bonus that they just get to keep. It's an advance on all future sales, minus all production and advertising costs, so in other words profit. Therefore if WB puts $2M into a project, it must gather that much in order to recover the costs. If you got $500K as an advance and only $1M was made from the effort, you are 100% responsible for paying that $500K back to WB!
Also, in 90% of the contracts signed by new bands, a three record deal is signed for the label. 100% of publishing rights from the first (usually the second as well) album goes to the label. Most bands don't survive the second album so it's usually a moot point.
So yes, $0.50 per disc means a lot to some of these bands. I personally think they should get a lot more, but the RIAA is in full support of the labels not the artist, but they still get something from our purchases.
Peace
Obviously Steve also supports the OSIA in discounting the Windows piracy report recently released by Gartner otherwise as a fulltime resident in a Glass house he would not be throwing stones:
/ 1355234&tid=163&tid=1&tid=106
http://linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/10/02
I think he shreds those up, and rolls them in stock certificates that MS has forced out of business or bought.
My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.
But you have to give it to Microsoft, too. They are very successful at continuous pushing of large volumes of DOS consoles with a new UI.
Simpy
does ballmer really thing users are that stupid. boy, talk about antagonism against the customers. what arrogance.
"Maybe I should open a factory making candles, and then sue the lightbulb manufacturers."
Two or three years ago, he may have been right. But he totally missed that he iPod has gone mainstream. When I go to the gym in the morning, most of the people sporting iPods are pretty well paid professionals in their mid 20s to mid 30s. And like my friends and aquaintances who have iPods, they actually use it to carry their Cd collection around in a much handier format. Now that might not be true for the 15 year old Valley Girl or the 18 year old college nerd, but how is this soo much different from the CD swapping, or tape swapping that we all were doign in school.
Yeah, I know, someone can download a million sogs of the internet. But 95% of the students I know are basically after the same 10-20 CDs worth of stuff (Brittney, Christina, Eminem, Donnas, some rap, some punk rock,...).
You know that's where rich people keep their cocaine, too, right?
The burden is NOT on us. If someone argues a point, it is up to them to prove it, not for someone else to disprove.
Ballmer argues that iPod users are thieves because the iPod can be loaded with MP3s. But, Microsoft's Portable Media Center player also can be loaded with MP3s.
Where is the evidence that users of Microsoft's new player do not fill it with MP3s?! Is it because no one has bought one yet?!
It's a simple fact that both Apple's and Microsoft's players can play illegal music. If he believes that iPod users are more likely to steal, I want to see proof of it!
If someone says he and his monkey have nothing to hide, they almost certainly do.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Maybe he ment that Longhorn's code base was so large it would achieve critical mass?? ...Sorry, couldn't resist.
----- Question authority, but not ours. Hate the man, but we're not him.
First he attacks Linux, now he attacks Apple and their iPod. Typical Microsoft.
Thives and liars!
Hypocrits and bastards!
(get up!)
*mosh*
-- haaz.
No, that was Apple. MS then copied Apple in that innovative way they have of never being first to market with anything.
TWW
"Encyclopedia" is to "Wikipedia" what "Library" is to "Some people at a bus stop"
When are people going to learn - you don't have to convince the sheep, just the shepherd.
How do you think MS got to where they are today? They side with the people calling the shots, who control thousands of desktops in companies. Or they control the source of the majority of computers - the big resellers. The end user does not matter, those who control the budgets and the supply matter.
My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.
What bothers me most is here, in a third world country most people still 'steal' windows. How can they protect others when their own products are not steal proof? BTW some cd stores here sell roughly 50% pirated music and 100% pirated software (well, maybe 99% if you don't count linux as pirated-be warned though, the linux sold here is the complete comercial redhat, mandrake, suse, etc distros, so I said 100% pirated.
Work like you don't need the money, love like you've never been hurt, and dance like you do when nobody's watching
"My 12-year-old at home doesn't want to hear that he can't put all the music that he wants in all of the places that he would like it," he joked.
I wonder if I can tell Ballmer to stick his horseshit in all the places I'd like to.
Apple to go out of business - Steve Balmer of Microsoft says so
-Apple has already made a deal with HP for the HP branded iPod (now shipping) and bundling iTunes with HP windows machines.
-Apple have also integrated their device with BMW and VW Beetle cars and Alpine makes an adaptor kit for other vehicles.
-Virgin Airlines offers iPods to use in the first class lounge.
-Some cruise lines are looking at renting iPods to guests.
-Apple has Licensed playback software to Motorola for inclusion in their cell phones.
Apple already has that critical mass by having captured over 60% of the market even before HP jumped on the band wagon just through direct marketing to mac and windows users.
PS. You might also want to take note that the iPod is a status symbol today and many music stars like to brandish them in public (especially diamond encrusted ones). MSFT is not considered cool these days and your "developer, developers, developer" song combined with your monkeyboy dance are partly to blame for this.
PPS. Get some better antiperspirant when you go on stage 'cause large armpit sweat stains are uncool.
Jesus was a compassionate social conservative who called individuals to sin no more.
iPod sales are unaffected
"But the problem is worsening because now people are stopping to buy CDs altogether."
I'd read just the opposite, that CD sales are going up or staying the same. I'd also heard CD singles had declined, but that's because the labels stopped selling CD singles.
Can you send me a source for that info? Sounds interesting.
Many of us won't pay for his DRM-enabled portable players, nor his DRM-enabled computers. And we'll tell our family and friends not to buy his crap, either.
So keep blathering on Steve. Keep trying to take away our rights to fair use. I for one, won't be buying your shit. And I'll do everything I can to subvert your attempts.
I have well over 20 gigs of music at home - all of it my own, a lot from CD's and also a fair amount from ITMS. I've not even ripped all of my collection.
There are a few holes in your calculations:
1) ITMS gives away a song a week - you probably won't want all of them, but still...
2) You can find albums where the songs are $.50 each (or less), like compilations with 20+ songs for $10.
3) For those that really want lossless, 20 gigs is also not so much space. I'd go there myself if I had a lot more HD space to spare.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
By Ballmer's logic everyone who owns an MP3 player that supports an unprotect formats like MP3 is a theif. Also wouldn't Windows users be classified as theives as well because most P2P application run on Windows, and I bet the majority of the people sharing and downloading are running Windows.
Microsoft should work on making their products more secure (god knows they need to) and save the mud linging for the politicians.
I really try and have no P2P music but a very few things I like are not on ITMS and out of print. If I can't find it anywhere else, I don't mind pulling it out of the ether.
One thing I would say should be its own category if allOfMP3.com - I don't like using it as I feel less money goes to the artist, I would be interested in seeing how many people are really using it.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
The GIMP does not use a MDI.
The last version of Photoshop I used did, but that was back in 1998. No idea if it still does or not. But possibly it does, and you meant that people who like MDI dislike the GIMP?
-- OpenVerse Visual Chat: http://openverse.com
Kiss my ass. Mod me down. Go ahead, I've got the karma to burn.
Glad MS has the high ground on theivery issues. Otherwise they may be considered hypocritical on this subject.
Of course they are all thieves, noone can afford to actually buy one of them gadgets anyways.
.sig? Get your own damn
Sorry, dude. Microsoft has been on this path for more than 10 years.
In fact, they have a "advanced technology demonstration home" on campus that is COMPLETELY wired with integrated technology down to every appliance. And it is more than 6 years old.
If you are going to attack the man, at least attack him on stuff he deserves. Steve Jobs has never come up with an original idea of his own. He does an AMAZING job of developing and marketing ideas that other have overlooked (starting with PARC research) , but he never has been the original inventor.
Ballmer's company stole just about every idea they've ever had from other companies, so if I were him, I'd tone down this "stealing" rhetoric.
Stupid, haughty college chicks.
There are two types of people in the world: Those who crave closure
digital home, digital music, bands, songwriters, ...
... ... its defenitly very funny!
internet, p2p
geez it should be as simple as one-two-three to
become a instant worldwide hit with a song
and as the artist not even having to join a
label
become rich with music? hilerious! britney spears
owning 100 melleon us dollar for 3,4 crappy songs,
HILERIOUS! melleons of dollars for sound waves, HILERIOUS! i'm going to die from laughter, please
stop it!
You forgot the group of geeks who used to do it and wised up. I used to owns Gigs of DL'ed stuff. Then I realized I didn't agree with downloading it for free (this was pre-lawsuit era too) because, regardless of the RIAA, I was depriving, at some small level, someone that entertained me of a paycheck. I'm not an RIAA sympathizer, but now I realize that if I want it, I'll pay for it. If I don't, I won't bother downloading it. Why get something I am not willing to pay $10 for while giving the RIAA ammo?
Honestly, Best Buy has done more to curb my piracy than anything. Most of their CDs are $10-$12. That's dirt cheap. And if I do want a couple songs, or only one track, I go to iTMS. If you can't be bothered to shell out $10 for the album, then you're just too cheap and only care about getting soemthing for nothing. The only thing I'll really download now is live performances, and that is ONLY if legit copies cannot be bought from the band (or if the band allows taping).
-truth
I had a steady B+ in my AI class until I failed the Turing test...
1) zero, none, zilch, nada.
2) 15% online purchase.
3) none.
4) 85%.
5) zero, none, zilch, nada.
moral: dance, monkey, dance, we don't love that company. MS loses, apple cruises.
if this is supposed to be a new economy, how come they still want my old fashioned money?
You know what? I'll even call a spade a spade - I don't have any intention of using iTunes at 99 cents. The record companies dropped the ball, and I am now used to getting for free what I had previously paid 18 bucks a pop for. Do I feel bad? Not in the least.
/. won't like this, but they'll have to accept the fact that we're quietly moving into an era where the consumer - the person that both the creator and the corps rely on - is being returned to his rightful place of power.
They dropped the ball when they made huge scenes at press conferences with Lars and Hilary standing side by side to fight the evil p2p'ers. They dropped the ball when they refused to work towards some mutually beneficial pricing scheme that would *gasp* give both artists and consumers a fair shake! Instead, they charge 1.00 a song, which can run you into paying MORE than you would had you just bought the CD.
Meanwhile, I can get the same thing for free. I provide the bandwidth, they have no packaging costs, why should I pay MORE than I would for the physical media? Because they say so? Fuck them. I know the IP apologists on
What's that? You want to "license" me your content and sign my rights away with a clickthrough EULA? That's so cute... fuck you. In case you haven't noticed yet, you are on the losing end of a battle that has been going on for almost 5 years now. The only way you'll win is to make it easier to buy your shit than it is to steal it. That means *gasp* reduced profit margins for the corps, and *2x gasp!* no more bullshit rockstar lifestyles for the golden idols!
This means that the creation of music, movies, etc. would become...*shudders*...ANOTHER NORMAL JOB that you would actually have to be GOOD at and keep IMPROVING on to keep your position! Holy shit, we can't have that now, can we?!
screw the goddamn law, if you Respect The Artist, you buy your license to listen, IMHO. no way would I rip off SMiLE, for instance... one iTunes purchase, two CDs, and I just ordered the vinyl. Brian is going to reap his reward despite you, crook.
if this is supposed to be a new economy, how come they still want my old fashioned money?
with a Sharpie!
"Hmm. I am to metaphor cheese as metaphor cheese is to transitive verb crackers!"
Steve Balmer hasn't invented Jack Shit. Apple invented the TrueType font technology you're using now, for starters and then the went on to patent the tech behind'cleartype" long before microsoft started claiming they invented it.And the list goes on...
I'd love to know what numbers he's using to arrive at his assertation that "most people" still steal music.
The answer you seek is right before you - note that he also talks about what his son wants with music.
Simple conclusion - Balmers son, being 12 years old, downloads most music. Thus "all" music users are thieves. I think you can even infer that Balmers son has an iPod!
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
And "The Daily Show"'s primary audience is stoned slackers.
His statement does not take into acount the itunes store. when you can get quality music for .99 than why would you steal it. my experiance with downloading songs ilegaly has been bad. i couldnt get a quality song and there were problems with most of them. but then again, this is a sure sign that balmer is scared, he only attacks a platform when it threatens MS, this anouncement means that MS is frightned of Apple. for the last 3 years i have been working exclusively with SUN OS X and SUSE, every time i have to help someone out with MS Windblows i get this sinking feeling in my stomach and i get easilly frustrated, after working with a real OS i find MS products to be chinsy at best but generally peices of crap. If i could get away with it i would use Appleworks or OOO but there are too many people using office at work.
I'm sure that people don't play illegally downloaded music on WMP though... right Steve? It would seem to me that there would be no higher percentage of "thiefs" using iPods than WMP. Of course Microsoft could always just cripple the mp3 playback on it's WMP and watch everyone switch players if they really wanted to.
I wonder if the RIAA or the MPAA even cares about me. 75% of the 5000 or so MP3's I have are J-pop, game sountracks, and anime soundtracks, most of which you'd have to pay a shitload to import anyway.
"What I cary in this box is your utter subjugation."
I don't think people would balk at posting they download music, becase the crime you can get charged for is sharing - the poll is not an admission the SHARE music. Even those of us with large legal collections might well be sharing, you'd never know from this poll.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
(The completion of the title is left as an exercise to the reader.)
I didn't see anyone else make the point (but I may have missed it), that what is really being stolen here is market share and mind share.
The best revenge against Steve Ballmer for this anti-MP3 nonsense is for all of us to run out and buy an Apple Macintosh or three. It doesn't matter if you actually use them, or give them out as Christmas presents, or sell them on eBay -- the simple act of Slashdotting Mac sales will jump-start Apple's marketshare by several percentage points, giving Ballmer and Gates another thing to worry about...
--R.J.
Electric-Escape.net
states that most Windows users are using stolen copies of the now defacto OS.
Unix, an obscure operating system developed by bored researchers in an attempt to get a better game playing experience.
I would actually argue that more iPod users than other media players have primarily legal collections.
iPods are somewhat expensive, more than most kids would spring for - so the bulk of the market is going to be older adults. These are people with large, established CD collections.
For new music, ITMS does provide a very convienient outlet for obtaining singles which were a big part of the reason a lot of my friends used P2P. The growth of ITMS represents people having an alternative other than P2P for single tracks they liked.
I would say just about any teenager is going to be using P2P a lot more, they just don't have the kind of casual money to blow a few dollars here or there on music as they have a smaller budget overall and more entertainment focused lives. But since most of the iPod market is more mature adults, piracy is just not going to be as high.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I definitely didn't expect to get modded insightful, its just that the blinding hypocrisy of the whole damn thing forces me to sarcasm.
I was expecting +2 funny and a -1 from someone who didn't get the joke
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
Yeah, he hangs out with the sensible people. I mean, come on. Is it really THAT big a deal if I (hmmm by 'I' I mean 'generic home user' obviously) install a pirate copy of XP, pirate copy of office, pirate copy of photoshop etc, etc? I know the code monkeys gotta eat but a slight drop in the rate at which gate's money mountain is growing? My heart bleeds. Companies will pay anyway 'cos they're afraid of the big, bad lawyers. Everybody's happy!
"Physics is to math as sex is to masturbation." -R. Feynman
ROFLMAO!
They're not celibate, dude, they're just not sleeping with you.
1. most musicians make very little money from cd sales.
2. most record companies like to sell music rather expensively in order to maximize their profits, they can do this because they have an oligopoly market with quite high barriers to entry.
3. many people like to download/share/'steal' music, and a fair number of them would like to see the people who made the music paid properly, even if record companies are somewhat bad at this.
4. you can find contact details for many musicians or their agents by googling.
OK, so I have a genius plan.
If you download something that you like, rather than buying the cd, why not send a cheque to the person who made the music/their producer/someone else involved in the recording?
They'll do better financially from that than they would from buying a cd anyway and you won't be supporting market distorting monopolist business models that have yet to catch up to the reality of the situation.
The recording industry is fast becoming an irrelevancy to a large number of people and no draconian laws/drm/suing kids is actually going to change the situation.
just a thought...
charlie harvey's website
the most common format of music on my Windows XP box is MP3/192kbps, the nature of most of that is in fact stolen, i have never heard of the "stolen" codec, is it any good? what is the compression ratio like?
Snowden and Manning are heroes.
Apple didn't steal it. They licensed it.
Karma Schmarma
hey! i comment that resentment!
'course, mine was a "barebones kit" that came sans harddisk, so it doesn't really apply to me -- i moved over my Linux/legal-though-free win2k disks from my old homebuilt -- but still...
in fact, i've bought more software (bundled with hardware) that i've never used than i have used pirated software over the last decade or so. i can't even remember actually pirating any software the last five or six years, at all -- some questionable stretching of freeware trial-period terms, at most. OSS/Free Software has pretty well made me a fully legal software user; were i still stuck on M$, i'd never be able to afford to be that. IMHO, it's worth coping with Linux' little glitches of UI design and hardware support for that alone.
(they're not such big glitches, anyway. moving the installs from one mobo/video card/IDE interface/network chip setup to a whole other platform, i had much less headaches reconfiguring Linux than win2k server. Linux == rewrite a few config files; win2k == reinstall.)
Were you watching the TOP 101 SNL moments this weekend too?
Since I now listen to music on my PC, oh so much easier to just set it at random then to mess with changing cd's, or my Mp3 players all the old media is useless but I still have paid for it.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
The problem with this whole thread is that first it has to be understood that Ballmer is a corporate asshole. Everything he says has to be filtered through that concept. Worse, he's a corporate asshole that repeatedly and loudly Doesn't Get It when it comes to customers. They aren't consumer units or little thieving roaches. They have the RIGHT to store and protect the concepts they've have a license to on *any* medium. As much as it pains me, Donald Trump Gets It (at least he says he gets it in the OfficeDepot spots). If your primary mission is "maximizing value to shareholders after I line my pockets" ... its all screwed. If your primary mission is "taking care of my customers, keep them happy, and the money will flow", then you have a sustainable clue.
I certainly can't be the only one like this - but my home box is one I slapped together about three years ago. I bought an unopened copy of Win98SE that was floating around surplus. Likewise for Office 95, Photoshop 4, and CorelSuite (for Quattro Pro). Bought Partition Magic 7 when I wanted to put a Slackware install on there, too. All my games are legit - hell, I even registered Snood.
I'll grant that this is no more proof than any other anecdotal evidence - but here's a non-corporate-owned PC sitting in front of me with the majority of its software legit. (I say majority because, if I look, I've probably got a few old DOS abandonware pieces on here, like Sopwith.) I'd like to think that this situation is, at least among geeks, more common than not. Wishful thinking, perhaps...
Karma: Excellent, but still won't get you laid.
Those are some mighty strong words he's using there... Thats all I have to say.
http://github.com/gbook/nidb
Those filthy Macses....they stole it from us.
golllummmmm
Wait... Microsoft, the company, have produced this incredible view into the 'future' in an on-site 'demo' mock-up house?
Great for them. I'm hardly surprised that such a massive corporation has managed this feat.
And your argument is that because Steve Jobs personally hasn't invented this first, that somehow Apple (the company) is lagging?
Ohhhh kaaaay.
What's the frequency, Kenneth?
Photoshop still uses an MDI. I assume it was a typo.
Yes this is MS fud at its best. Lets investigate wich OS is used for the greatest amount of music copyright infringement. Could it possible be windows?
However it makes one wonder about the future of windows. Does this mean that in a future version you will no longer be able to play non-drm songs on MS software/hardware?
What I don't get is what does MS care? Just like Philips doesn't care about CD copying (it sold its music publishing but does still sell cd copiers) why does MS care?
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
less than 100%
What answer did you get?
i use OOo and AbiWord to manipulate MSOffice documents on Linux, and the only format i have trouble with is Visio. i know of no Free Software equivalent for it; Visio's templating is miles ahead of all the others, and it seems nothing but Visio can read or write a Visio file. MS is even playing the "change the file format from one version to the next" game with Visio.
(i might have trouble with MS Access, too, but i'm not dumb enough to even try to move those between platforms. i know Access. it's excellent for making people use a relational database instead of Excel to store their data in, but that's about it. don't bring up PowerPointless, either, i don't have time for the rant that would set me off on...)
I've probably got 1500 CDs and 2500 albums. I honestly can't think of anything I've downloaded that I didn't already own. I usually only bother downloading something because I'm too lazy to hunt down my copy in storage and digitize it. One of these days, I'm going to just grab all my media and encode it all onto a big fat RAID array so I can just stream the music to my stereo/laptop or wherever I happen to be at the moment.
I haven't felt the urge to buy any new music in years. The stuff the music industry is pumping out now is garbage.
"There is no way that you can get there with Apple. The critical mass has to come from the PC, or a next-generation video device,"
Isn't this why Apple has teamed up wiht HP to sell it's iPod's?
I wonder if he did his little "monkey dance" while promoting WMP 10 for the crowd. I really enjoy watching him bounce around.
"Klaatu, verada, necktie!" -Ash
I just love the last line 'joke' :
"My 12-year-old at home doesn't want to hear that he can't put all the music that he wants in all of the places that he would like it," -Ballmer
If you own it, its no joke, its called FAIR USE.
Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.
Note, we don't know which Steve you refer to here. You meant Ballmer, but it could have referred to Jobs. In the future, please make this distinction by referring to Ballmer as Ballmer or Monkey Boy or Fat Ass. Refer to Jobs by Jobs or Turtleneck Guy or God.
I've been writing some songs with garage band. Hooked up a keyboard and guitar and bass. Lay down some good grooves and mix it up.
Then export to mp3 and away it goes into itunes and onto my I pod.
Don't tell the RIAA..
I see record labels fearing MS MORE because of this. The bottom line fact is that record companies are scared shitless enough already about other people getting their copywritten goods, let alone letting a company like MS control it's distribution.
__
Thou hast besquirted me, O leotarded one.
I've purchased my last Microsoft product after reading Balmer's comments. Virtually all my music is either ripped from my cd's or purchased from iTunes.
I'm no theif you fat jackass!
Except that it all just sucks. Plus mp3 just sounds like absolute ass on everything that I listen to. Any instrumental or classical music, and mp3 completely dies above 15khz. Pops and clicks and cut-outs, even at 192kbps VBR. AC3 has always made good encodes for me at 192kbps and under. OGG also does a good job.
But I can't find any players that will play OGG, that don't have a hard drive. I don't want a hard disk when I go jogging, I want a flash card. I want solid-state electronics, and I want to be able to swap out cards at will. I want the files stored in plain UDF format on the memory cards, so I don't have to load any special software; I just have to copy the files over and go. And I don't want proprietary batteries, I want to be able to charge up a couple NiMH in 15 minutes and keep a spare set.
It's tough to find good players, simply BECAUSE of all the format wars. MP3 needs to die; it's white page is nearly 20 years old, and there's much better compression from the newer formats. They use more processing power, but in 20 years time, we've developed past mp3's "enormous" processing power needs.
It is time. I will take quality over play time, and just keep a spare set of batteries on me. I want to use NVRAM and I want to play AC3 and OGG.
Here is a list of legal actions against Microsoft,
at http://www.aaxnet.com/topics/msinc.html. Ballmer is uncomfortable with retail-level thievery but very accustomed to wholesale-level.
In 2002, Microsoft was sued by SPX over the NetMeeting whiteboard, by Burst for patent infringement, by Network Commerce, Sun, BE, and AOL.
MSN put in code that ruined Opera's display of Microsoft websites, by testing specifically for the Opera browser and shifting images sideways. Opera settled with Microsoft for this but agreed to hide the terms of the settlement.
How many other things has Steve stolen and gotten away with? Cheating, getting caught, and paying settlements is a way of life.
...and all Linux Users are Communists. Keep preaching, the faithful always listen.
Fiat Homos et Pereat Theos
It can play mp3s but only rips to Windows Media Format. Thus the popularity of itunes. We have a lot of cd collection consolidation because the cd/mp3 players are very popular.
ALL of my music has a CD to back it up (that's over 800 of 'em) and I'm ripping my vinyl because they're to fragile to play.
So Ballmer can kiss my fucking ass IN COURT.
MSBPodcast.com The opinions expressed here are my own. If you don't like 'em... Think up your own stuff.
I have another friend who pirates FTP software. With the existence of FileZilla, I fail to see the point. What can't FileZilla do?
Secure FTP server.
Seriously I love Filezilla. It does FTP server, FTP client, SFTP client... I would pour sugar in my own gastank for a free SFTP server. It is a simple, killer feature that would would give the project huge momentum.
(and before you guys pipe up with "OpenSSH does it!"
Shortly after his accusations, Steve Ballmer went to his BMW, hooked up his I-pod and went cruising down the highway lestening to "Been Caught Steelin" by Jane's Addiction.
Sorry Guys, Don't mean to cuss, but this outrages me!
My music collection spans 55+ gigabytes and can run almost 20 days straight. Am I a thief? No. All of my music is a rip of original CDs. Because I chose to copy these into a standardized format, am I a thief?
Does the RIAA want my money? Yes. Do the musicians want my money? Yes. Does the RIAA deserve my money... No. Does the RIAA give the musicians the money they deserve? No.
So the lesson to be learned... Microsoft shut up.
Have you tried Microsoft peripherals?
It has lead me to believe that Microsoft should get out of the software business and make what they make best: low end consumer hardware.
Their router is among the most stable and secure I've tried (of consumer models), and their optical mouse just works, like it should (yeah...it doesn't have to do much, but I've tried a few that had jitter problems).
If Microsoft made an audio system such that there was a way to use it without DRM, I'd probably consider it.
And they'd probably do it, too, if they think it'll make more profit than guaranteeing that nothing pirated gets on their system. (Actually, for the corporate computer-illiterates they'd probably make a cryptosystem that does permutations or something that is as easy to decrypt - just to say they've got encryption).
Mod me down and I will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine!
I use thousands of copper cents. Works better than the red ones because you don't have to answer questions about their odd color, but it seems to really piss off the clerks at Fry's.
Comment of the year
...and what Microsoft is going to try and copy. It has NOTHING to do with DRM and everything to do with convenience:
With an iPod, you can theoretically take ALL of your music with you.
If you have a library DRM managed files on a PC that are licensed to only play on that machine, you are stuck with that PC being the house for your music. You can't carry it with you in any convenient way. But the iPod escapes this connundrum by actually BEING the library in a portable format.
The only problem with the iPod is that if you take it with you, then your family can't access the music library because you have it. If WiMax or something like it ever takes off and Apple keeps on top of things like they usually do, this could be resolved by making the library centralized but accessible by multiple wireless players that have license keys on the library system. However, the beauty of the iPod is that it's all self contained including the DRM. At least from the RIAA's perspective. This is why Apple was able to negotiate deals. As soon as you open up the possibility of multiple access, the RIAA gets edgy.
On the topic of platform (Windows/Mac/Linux) vs. popularity of piracy, I have to side with the folks who say that the Windows platform is where the most piracy happens. This is because MS promotes piracy by not being serious about their licensing. See a future journal entry about my solution for the piracy problem. Linux/BSD users have no need to pirate software since the apps they need are free of charge. They also tend to be fairly conscious about copyright. I know I am. As anti-corporate as I am, I still think that under the current laws (flawed as they may be) companies have the right to get paid for products they sell. All of my Ogg Vorbis are rips from CDs, old vinyl, cassette. Basically, my Oggs have replaced cassettes.
Un-news
If this is true, Microsoft should license its technology so it may never be used with non-DRM'ed content.
Therefore, no Microsoft-based player (such as Windows PCs, portable music players, or the X-BOX) should be able to support non-protected MP3s, OGG, WAV, or other formats.
If Ballmer really thinks he's right, he should stand behind his statements and take action today.
Otherwise, he's just giving us bullshit.
Slashdot readers say Balmer is a bald, fat-assed, know it all. Dancing monkey film at 11.
"The most common format of music on an iPod is 'stolen'."
The current iPod has audio support for these formats:
AAC (16 to 320 Kbps), MP3 (32 to 320 Kbps), MP3 VBR, Audible, AIFF, WAV and Apple Lossless.
I'm certain Apple pays it's licensing fees for the formats it does not own. Ballmer's comments are nothing but spin to attarct attention to MS.
"...to where we may get a device that can take on critical mass. There will be an explosion..."(from TFA). So now instead of Blue Screen of Death, PC will reach critical mass and explode? Yes, I DID RTFA, but am now hosing off my hip waders from all of the BS I had to wade through and don't have the time to post something "Insightful". I think I'm gonna go HEAVE now!
Down With Slashdot BETA!!! I've been around the corner and seen the oliphant; you can only abuse me from your perspecti
"It makes me laugh, the 12-y-o son of the man running the most powerful IT company in the world gets it, but Ballmer himself doesn't."
Funny, it makes me want to cry...
Was discussing this sort of thing in general with a friend this morning, and we both agreed that we need some young blood injected into America's political matrix. Until we get some tech-savvy people who understand what American's want from their technology and don't pander to what the corporations try to force on us, we're gonna be stuck in a downward spiral of increasingly draconian restrictions.
http://thechubbyferret.net - Ferret pictures and informative links.
It doesn't on MacOS... I've never used Photoshop on Windows. But of course this entire discussion is kind of worthless until we know which version of Photoshop and which platform we're talking about.
I own an old copy of Photoshop 5.5 for my Macintosh. I don't want to pay for an upgrade, but I'd gladly try GIMP if I didn't have to run X-Windows to use it. Non-native ports suck ass, especially on MacOS.
Comment of the year
Great post and great list!
Here are a few more very good freeware programs that I use:
Instead of Winzip or 7-zip, i prefer IZArc. It supports all compression formats that I know of and it has a great interface.
A other programs that like very much are Starter, Agent Ransack, BHODemon, PowerToy Calculator, SyncBack, The Regex Coach and Eclipse IDE.
That's a hoot!!!!!!
the most common format of email on Microsoft's Hotmail is spam. I don't see them bitching and whinging about that. "Hypocrite, first cast the log out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to cast the twig out of the eye of your brother."
It's a very dark ride.
...the best way to stop piracy would be to ensure that everyone got paid enough to have a little disposable income.
. html
nah, it'd never happen. they'd have to raise the minimum wage to at least $10/hr, and maybe even, god forbid, tax the rich!
A certain roman emperor claimed "The sea I pacified, freeing it from pirates." He also claimed "The foreign nations--those which in safety I was able to forgive--I preferred to preserve rather than to kill."
http://duke.usask.ca/~porterj/DeptTransls/ResGest
It should be, but just because you have a recording in format A does not mean you have a legal right to bypass the distributors (aka RIAA) to get a copy in format B. To do it legally you would have to do your own {analog | digital} -> analog -> digital (mp3) conversion yourself.
According to the law you are one of the thieves of whom Ballmer speaks...
You know, you could say the same thing to me - and the people I hang out with (due to work) are educators and other school staff. Basically all of them are either already running pirated windows and everything else at home, or are asking me for media for it, since I work in the info systems department. All the graphic arts types I know are sharing software too, in some cases they even got it from the print shop. It's hard to find someone who isn't running at least some pirated software.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
who has made a career selling shoddy, poorly designed product hyped as a modern technological miracle to a largely ignornant customer base. dance for me steve.
Sacred cows make the best burgers.
... very afraid.
Oh and Fuck You Steve Ballmer for calling me a thief. Your accusation is slanderous and I take offense to it.
Your are a profuse sweating pig... go back to kissing ass to any developers you have left.
"I'm not ashamed I can't function in society like I'm supposed to." - Paul Westerberg
All of you who posted to this thread have been trolled by Ballmer, King of the Trolls!
have a nice day
(and before you guys pipe up with "OpenSSH does it!" ... I mean something with a GUI)
What you want is a graphical front end to OpenSSH. Do a google search.
Cause now, all the pc people can join all of us mac people in saying "Steve, lick my ass, you sweaty pig"
"Ballmer thinks Apple will control digital media market"
Right in the article description it says:
"critical mass will have to come from the PC."
Well, I got news for ya monkeyboy, the iPod owns the PC platform in case you haven't been paying attention (and it would seem he has not been).
The iPod has 50% of the marketshare and it's only showing signs of growth.
Looks like you missed the boat, monkeyboy!
Most iPod / iTunes users converted their own CD's to MP3/AAC and purchased new music via the online Apple iTunes store. I know many iTunes Win32 users who just wanted a decent jukebox and the ability to burn custom mix CD's. They don't own an iPod yet but they may in the future.
Some users may be grabbing P2P traded MP3's but as the RIAA have been suing people for trading copyrighted MP3's this is not nearly as rampant as Microsoft claims.
But if a user already had a pirated MP3 collection gleaned from years of P2P usage prior to the RIAA crack down then they may be using an iPod.
The iTunes Online Store tunes are encoded with copyright information as well as your Apple ID! Using the Hymn application to convert a protected mp4p (protected) to an mp4a (unprotected) does not strip the Apple ID. So most users would be pretty stupid to put iTunes purchased music on any P2P network if it's DRM has been stripped by Hymn.
The Hymn project left the Apple ID to prove they were against stealing music. The main goal of the Hymn project was to remove the DRM so you could put the AAC files onto a system that doesn't support the Apple DRM but does support AAC. You can also then convert an mp4a to an mp3 but you may lose some quality. Stripping the DRM removes the Apple DRM restriction on the number
I am sure there are tools to strip the Apple ID as well but they are not in as wide spread use.
There may even be some water-marking going on with the Apple AAC files that would make them traceable or at least identifiable as iTunes files.
http://www.blinkenlights.com/classiccmp/gateswhine .html
Story at eleven.
I want to sue him, the fools at SCO and anyone else who just goes out and labels or otherwise falsely accuses me of a crime!
You are right, I am an elitist mac user.
I spent good hard money on my Mac and I probably make less than most PC users. Why? Because some things are worth paying for. Its done right.
Then again, this is also why I've spent around $2k on open source apps this year -- I've bought (or my personal business) has paid for many OSS apps that I've gotten off the original programmer -- or bought 'service agreements' that I didn't really need -- all in the name of paying for that which I think is useful to me.
Great thing about my mac? I can run those OSS apps while still running a world class Unix. Or I can transition them to one of my several linux boxes.
As for strangling the public domain? There is *NOTHING* stopping anyone from putting their work into the public domain if that what they want. Hell, more often than not, if I have a utility app that I created to get to the final outcome of my main application (wierd math libraries, validation engines for my work that sort of stuff for my current day job), I'll put that in the public domain for anyone to use (as long as they don't ask me about it -- its well documented in source, I don't have time to tech support it), I'll PD it before I GPL it most days of the week.
But thats my choice. I think most content creators SHOULD put their works into the public domain, and I think works should have to be reregistered by the original owner after X amount of years to remain copyrighted, but past that, I think the laws are fair.
This isn't a damn thing in Copyright that is to the public's good that couldn't be reproduced in another format without stealing the original authors work that would save a single life out there or contribute to the pubic good. How is keep Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck out of the public domain hurting anyone. I don't see it. Then again, I also believe people need to be less consuming and more creating.
You know if this society were more about encouraging folks to create than consume, we wouldn't have a marginalized subgrouping of people screaming out about protecting copyright. We'd have artists and writers and musicians that would all be creating the current culture and giving it away for the fame and glory, but not because a bunch of folks without a creative bone in their body thinks their works need to be freed.
My note to you -- make something the world will enjoy and give it away. Maybe you will either change you mind about a content creators rights or you will convince other content creators to change their minds. At this point, you've done neither...
I love creating music, and don't care about 'making it big' or any of that shit. A computer, guitar, keyboard, audio/MIDI interface, software, drum machine, mixing board, microphones, etc for a home studio can easily run you into the tens of thousands TO BREAK EVEN.
Are all of us artists who do it just for the love of doing it supposed to finance this from our paychecks and release it to you for free just because you can't be bothered to throw down a dollar per track?
I really hate this guy. Apple is doing the right things, striking a balance between both interests that promotes the right behaviours. The Apple platform allows the music industry to compete and look cool at the same time. People are buying and trading --as it should be.
He turns the whole thing negative because he is looking for more food to feed the gorilla!
The nerve! For one who continues to build their fortune on casual piracy, his position takes balls.
Blogging because I can...
Microsoft is going to make the "digital home" a reality? Oh, God forbid! There is no way that their technologies can reliably drive the complex workings of a smarthouse, without a resident IT department.
Here's a news flash for you, Microsoft... Apple is a LOT closer to the Digital Home than you are. While you're building smarthome showrooms (supported by an IT department) to impress HGTV, Apple has shipped Airport Express, making simple wireless audio distribution a reality. That's just step one.
Apple's only two market-/mindshare problems are simple ones: 1-) Lack of advertising for anything but iPod, and 2-) lack of a sub-$800 model that appeals to the masses. I mean, put yourself in the computer-buyer's shoes. Most of them don't know what they want... I know, I worked at CompUSA. If they see the Dell next to a comparably priced (but more capable) Mac, they'll take the cooler product.
Yeah, surprise... innovation DOES win, but only if the price is close enough. I understand Apple's desire to be BMW, but I think they'd be better off modeling themselves after GM. They've got the Cadillacs down pat, but they need a Chevrolet model.
"The most common format of music on an iPod is 'stolen'."
Funny he should say that, considering the entire Windows GUI, among other MS "innovations", are also stolen. Pot. Kettle. Black.
Flying is easy, just throw yourself at the ground and miss. -Douglas Adams
someone should offer steve some cheese to go with his whine.
So I can download all I want, and there's jack the RIAA, Ballmer, or any other industry shill can do about it.
Of course, the downside to this is that every blank CD I buy pays a fee to the Canadian recording industry on the assumption that I'll use those CD's to copy music....
"City hall" in German is "Rathaus" Kinda explains a few things......
With Microsoft, its not DRM its DRF (Digital Rights Forfeiture).
MS tends to bow to industry pressure, at least Apple tries to leave some fredoms to users.
All of the iPod people I know exclusively use iTunes with their iPod, mostly from albums they own but with a lot of music they purchase (some in the $100's every few months).
I am insulted by his comment. I have an iPod with over 4000 songs, all ripped from my 350+ CD collection which I have built over 15 years (yeah, I'm picky about the CD's I buy). All legal CD's, BTW. No pirate copies.
Go hug some trees.
I can play mp3's on my Windows Box. Many iPod users are also pc users who probably illegally download the mp3's on Windows, play them there, and upload them to their iPods. So why blame Apple for supporting mp3, when almost everyone supports mp3.
Vote for Pedro
It is hardly reasonable for professors to demand copies of assignments in a format that requires students to spend a great deal of money to generate.
I doubt this practice is widespread -- is this a small, private college or something?
Did you not go to college? You never had to buy a slew of $125 text books? Requiring students to shell out cash is par for the course.
I do understand requiring all documents to be in the same format, by the way-- when you have potentially hundreds of students turning in papers you don't want to deal with a dozen file formats. Plain text and even RTF aren't options because they have to be formatted (including footnotes, etc.), and PDFs aren't "soft" (easily edited.) From my experience professors aren't always the most tech-savvy people, anyway-- they know what works, but don't try to explain another alternative.
I mean, it makes it virtually a requirement for students to own computers.
I'd say it is pretty much a requirement to have a computer if you're going to college. What's wrong with that?
my password is private, but unchanged.
Let's see
VAX32
Netscape code
Java (use, replace, then disable)
Stolen security and networking from UNIX
Apple's interface
Then there's the subtle criminal stuff like;
Forcing OEMs to be exclusive or charging more (blackmail)
Integrating players and browsers after agreeing with the Feds not to (contempt)
Swearing you could not de-integrate said featured in your court case in the US, then suddenly producing a RUssian and European stripped version within 6 months of losing your case there. (Perjury)
Having your CEO SWEAR that M$ never intended to block out Netscape from the browser market then discovering emails that said you actually did (more perjury)
Claiming you have a "more secure" OS than Linux when a 6 year old has found security holes (poor development, lying, stupidity)
Yep, when I think of ethics and upstanding citizens, Microsoft is the company I want preaching ethics to me! Could there be a larger group of assholes on the planet?
"Curiosity killed the cat, but for a while I was a suspect."- Steven Wright
Yeah!, just because I busted into your windows box and downloaded all your pr0n and MP3s doesn't mean I'm an evil hack... oh, never mind.
The government which is strong enough to protect you from everything is strong enough to take everything from you.
I like pico
on top of everybody saying OOo and AbiWord can save .doc (which is true), i have to mention that RTF is an MS Office format. perfectly decent one, too, at least unless you need to include graphics in your document, in which case the file sizes balloon horribly.
.doc file, it saves a file in RTF with a .doc extension. (I'm told MS Wordpad does this, too.) All versions of MS Word can read these just fine.
Misleading. When you ask Abiword to save a
it seems nothing but Visio can read or write a Visio file
If you have a Mac, OmniGraffle 3 Professional can import and export Visio files.
First of all, Mr. Ballmer, go F**K yourself. Second, when your done with that, go F**K yourself again! What's the matter, pissed off that, once again, Microcrap has to play catch-up because somebody else actually had an original idea that your pathetic company couldn't come up with first? I own an iPod, and every song on it was ripped from my LEGALLY PURCHASED CD collection or purchased LEGALLY from the iTunes music store. I have NEVER illegally obtained music and NEVER intend to. To say that iPod users are thieves is only your pathetic attempt to make yourselves feel better because Apple is kicking your ass at something and you don't like it. When Microcrap actually comes up with a product or service they haven't copied from somebody else then you can have some room to complain. Until then, go F**K yourself!
Your professors are being unreasonable.
I'm a CS professor and I don't allow submission in MS formats. This is for two reasons: (i) because I don't think it's fair to require students to buy expensive software just to complete their assignments; and (ii) because I want them to understand that it's possible to do use free, open formats to exchange data. If the students don't discover this in college, they sure aren't going to see it at company X after graduation.
it does? i had no idea. then again, i don't usually run less(1) on the .doc files i save, so i probably wouldn't know. :-P thanks for setting me straight, though!
great for Mac users; now if only the source was GPL'ed ...
"We've had DRM in Windows for years." [...] "Part of the reason people steal music is money, but some of it is that the DRM stuff out there has not been that easy to use. We are going to continue to improve our DRM, to make it harder to crack, and easier, easier, easier, easier, to use," he said.
In other words, Apple is popular for digital music because Windows' DRM is harder, harder, harder to use. But we're going to get our developers, developers, developers, developers to make it easier, and then people will start buying, buying, buying music from Microsoft.
That sounds like a good plan, if a little late. I wonder who they're going to hire to make it easier than a Mac!
Xerox PARC might have a word with Ballmer about misappropriation of intellectual property.
IP I generally respect, it's the IP owners (RIAA, etc) that I generally don't. However, now that I have a decent job, I can generally afford music and software, etc.
Does this mean that I would buy from the RIAA? Hell no, it means that I can afford to pay out more to those I respect and enjoy. There are lots of indie bands with "free" music online where I can now buy a CD online instead of just downloading the provided Mp3. I figure that not only do they benefit, but if enough people start doing so perhaps more musicians will hook up with internet startups rather than getting sunk into RIAA music contacts.
ALL of the thousands of songs on my iPod are legit, and I have the old mold-covered CD's in a drawer to prove it.
Just another good reason to be pissed at Microsoft and its dishonest marketing practices...
-Ocelot Wreak
"I figure you're here 'cause you need some whacko who's willing to stick his finger in the fan. So who are we helping?
"My 12-year-old at home doesn't want to hear that he can't put all the music that he wants in all of the places that he would like it," he joked.
I know where I'd like to put that smirk of his.
ACs are modded -6. I don't read you, I don't mod you, I don't see you. Don't like it? Don't be a coward.
I've been quite pleased with the Gimp2 running on OSX 10.3.
OTOH, I don't use Photoshop at all. I prefer Deneba Canvas, which is a kind of cross between Photoshop and Illustrator. It seems to have the virtues of both, and the falts of neither. (Of course, it's got a few of it's own...which is why I use the Gimp.)
But seriously, one reason to use Photoshop is that some hardware comes with special software to enable it to work with Photoshop, and not much else. This hasn't been enough to get me to buy their product, however. I still despise Adobe for what they did to D. Skylarov.
I do hope that Kontour makes significant improvements in recent versions. (It's been over a year since I looked at a new version, so it's quite likely.) I'd like to move more of my work to Linux.
I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
Me too. But I also read EULA's. That's why I switched to Linux.
If you're going to consider yourself ethically bound to abide by rules...including EULAs, then FOSS is the only choice. Of the FOSS systems, I could get more support on Linux. So I switched..mainly. I've still got a Mac for my wife, and a MSWind95 that I keep isolated from the net which I use for special purposes.
I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
Takes one to know one
When you have to lose $250 million a quarter with no end in site to tie for a distant second place in marketshare this is not exactly much of a success.
When you've lost so many billions of dollars by the time the XBox 2 launches that it's incredibly unlikely the XBox 2 will ever conceivably recoup it, this makes these lessons maybe not worth the cost.
Yeah, duh Microsoft is hands-off with their developers and and has the best graphics on their hardware. This will last exactly until Microsoft decides they want H&R to do something other than bleed away money like a gaping chest wound. Once that happens they have to start playing by the same rules as the rest of the rest of the industry and they can't do things like just give away hardware practically for free or pour money into developers whether or not they're productive.
The most common format of music on an Windows PC is stolen!
Most of my music is MP3's of 33-1/2 LP's which are not available as CD's and probably never will be!
The other 5% is ripped from tape I own, cassette and 8-track.
The most common format of music on an iPod is 'stolen'.
So because the most common format on an iPod is stolen, doesn't mean the iPod is most commonly used to steal it. This is a classic case of making loose connections to appear to be making a statement. I am suprised how many people make these logical leaps.
Throughout history, there has been a notion that music is the collective property of a culture. Musicians and music enthusiasts have created this culture. The big studios that are members of RIAA have plundered this culture for their own profit, at the expense of everyone else involved. They were able to do this becuase certain developments in technology allowed them to control the means of production. Now newer advances in technology are allowing us to take back our culture and gain control over the means of production and distribution. The only real purpose they serve anymore is that of a marketing machine: i.e. foisting their corporate, mass-produced pseudo-culture on the rest of the world.
All media should be free. Why stop the natural course of technology just because the beneficiaries of previous technological advances feel it will hurt their profits?
Even if media becomes free, movie studios can still make money off of theatre sales. Record companies can make money off of concerts. And DVDs and CDs will still be bought, as long as they add extra value.
Artists didn't disappear before there were CDs and movie studios still existed before VHS.
Pirates! Pirates! Pirates! Pirates! Pirates! YEEEESSSS!!!!!!!!
Thank you Mr. Ballmer now please go change your shirt.
Sometimes my arms bend back.
Or maybe you are in the wrong major. I am a college professor and I hate it when people email me word documents, although antiword reads them fine most of the time.
Developers... Developers..! Yeah!
enough to expect it for free.
Most of the really great music in the world has come about because someone cared enough to pay an artist so that they could live off of their craft.
If the rest of the world shared your ignorant opinion that musicians don't deserve to be able to support themselves though their art, most of the really great music wouldn't exist.
This isn't to say that only paid musicians make good, or even great, music, but that pretending that you deserve to hear great music for free because a musician loves his craft is repugnant.
Would you ask a potter to make you a set of custom plates for free because he "loves" his craft and shouldn't need money to motivate him?
Nothing pisses me off more than some asshole venue owner asking me to play for food and some beer because, "You love to play, right?" Fucking right I love to play, but it's cheaper, easier and more fun to play at home for friends and family, none of whom would mind bringing over some pizza and beer.
I work for Best Buy and our software department grosses $8,000 a DAY. I'm people are buying software for the colorful box?
Te reason these programs are not widespread is because of piracy and lack of education. Why use AbiWord when you can get MS Office Professional Super-Edition for free? Likewise many people who would purchase MS Office don't know about OpenOffice or AbiWord. If they did, I doubt they'd spend the $99 on MS Word when AbiWord is just as good for their needs and faster too.
Has anyone else noticed that there are arguments beginning to surface that pirated media supports terrorists? I've even heard a reference to that hypothesis on "Law and Order: Ciminal Intent" (10/3/04), for one. Keep your eyes open, these may be trial balloons. Pretty soon, everyone may believe it. Whether it's the case remains to be seen.
It really wouldn't surprise me if, in the near future, media pirates are arrested in terrorism investigations, without any proven connections to terrorist organisations. After all, the Feds used the tax code to get Capone.
Interesting comments from Mr. Ballmer, I think before giving comment on 'us', and the contents of our iPods, maybe you should take a look at your own company, I can't remember exactly what the DOJ said about MS, but I recall it was a bit more serious than some MP3's you downloaded. Also a couple of other things annoy me about this is that it is all speculation, he has no idea what is on peoples iPods or how it got there. I don't know why he just doesn't come out and say 99% of Microsoft Users are thief's.
Someone really needs to shove a few dozen 40G iPods in that man's cakehole.
And somehow, automagically, a M$ MP3 (nay Windows Media) player is going to determine what music on it has been stolen and what has not?
Sounds like a device that's not going to get used that much.
Idiot.
--Len
we are in the apple section. women don't even apply.
Oh that's rich. Steven Ballmer calling other people thieves. That's like OJ Simpson calling Charles Manson a killer.
Maybe we should get Ballmer, Ellison, Gates, Scott McNeally and Steven Jobs all in a celebrity death match free for all. The last man standing gets it all. Linus Torvalds and Robert X Cringely can host it.... I'm betting on McNeally, he's a scrappy looking fellow. Of course Torvalds could kick whatever's left of his butt after all that...
Roughly what percentage of your audio collection comes from time shifted streaming audio? For me over 90% (in minutes).
...
I record and download several internet streaming audio broadcasts. I keep about a month's worth of them on my iPod. Sure, they may not 'outnumber' the iPod songs which I BOUGHT and the three or four songs I was given, but the songs' average length is measured in ones of minutes and the radio programs' average length is measured in ones of hours.
Air America Radio - 4 programs per weekday - about 12 hours a day
Neal Boortz - 1 program per weekday - about 2 hours a day
Local programming - 2 programs per weekday - about 3 hours a day
Mac Radio News - 1 program per week - about 1 hour a week
Doctor Demento - 1 program per week - about two hours a week
HHGGMMIV - 1 episode per week - about 0.5 hours per week
And you'll also find the speeches from the RNC and DNC 2004 conventions (Thanks, audible.com!) and the presidential and vice presidential debates
*
Let's accuse the accuser!
Perhaps a few questions for Mr. Ballmerde would be:
What percent of Microsoft Windows comes from ripping off now-dead software companies?
What percent of Microsoft Windows comes from ripping off existing software companies?
What percent of the unworking portions of Microsoft Windows could/would/should work if Microsoft hadn't blocked third party software companies' products?
*
I tried to give away bootleg copies of "My Life" but no one wanted them.
Getting assignments in specific format, well that's understandable. Grades lowered or not counted - well, that's just plain mean. Would suck to study there. =) If anyone returns them in a format that is absolutely too much of a bother to read (say, OpenOffice.org Writer .sxw file), that's understandable - but what's wrong with plain text, HTML, or even RTF? Last I checked, Word sure opens all of them all right...
You could, of course, use the .doc export function of OpenOffice.org Writer or Abiword or whatever. Formatting would completely suck, but since Word's own default text template sucks anyway, that's hardly a problem =)
He sure was gleefully dancing with ite x.html
here is the link:
http://www.macboy.com/cartoons/ballmer/ind
My point is that if you already have paid for the music once, why not just download the album off the internet and be done with it?
Yeah; I know. I meant to tie what I'd said in with what you'd said, but I lost sight of that.
What I basically meant was; the average Joe's most strenuous effort (within reason) is still unlikely to produce outstanding results from most LPs or cassettes. So, ignoring the fact that downloading is saving you a *lot* of effort, the end result isn't really equivalent. In fact, if the downloaded version is based on a digital remaster, you might be getting something that has (cough) "added value".
But I'm playing Devil's Advocate to some extent here; in truth, I mostly agree with you. After you bought your favourite LPs again on CD, you got another chance to buy them when they were digitally remastered, then possibly remastered *again* with better technology with bonus tracks (*), and now they are trying to sell DVD-A surround-sound mixes (note: unlike remastering, I don't consider surround-sound remixes to be "the originals", as this adds a new artistic interpretation; but I'm nitpicking).
Frankly, in most of these cases, it's just a cash cow for some band that hasn't done anything worthwhile for the past 30 years.
To be honest though, I find myself asking why I want to reacquire something I've listened or watched to death, and have to conclude that I'm sick of that stuff and want something new. I'm actually enjoying chucking stuff out these days. If nothing else, it's a healthy litmus test of how I've changed as a person, and a good excuse to let the past go.
Damn, I'm getting pretentious here; not to mention drifing from the point again...
(*) Bonus tracks... hmm. Sometimes a good opportunity to include stuff which was unfairly neglected, or never previously released as part of an album. But equally often, a load of B-sides and 'rarities' that, frankly, weren't that good in the first place. And why the hell don't they leave a decent gap between the end of the album "proper" and the bonus tracks?
"Slashdot - News and Chat Sites Deviant". (Click "homepage" link above for details).
You're right, MDI is not the right terminology for the multiple independent window approach used by the GIMP. Whatever, the point is that some people just cannot like that approach. Personally, I prefer it over the Photoshop approach, because it allows me to arrange things so I can see windows related to other things I'm doing. That's harder with a UI like Photoshop's.
Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
He complains about his 12-year old son not being able to move stuff around from itms? Well try ripping a CD in WMP in the default configuration? My father did this and then tried to listen to the .wmv files on his laptop and it wouldn't let him. When I told him he had to uncheck the "put DRM in the files I rip," he asked me why anyone would ever want that option checked. Maybe they stole that option from Apple too?
bananas like monkeys.
"Shoplifters of the world / Unite and take over" - The Smiths
scott king
Donald 'Duck' Dunn: We had a band powerful enough to turn goat piss into gasoline.
That on the other hand that most music files on Windows PC's are actually paid for?
What a card...
I've taken classes at four different colleges as I start and restarted the journey of finsihing my degree. Everyone of the wants .doc format for papers and .xls for spreadsheets. I tried in the past to send PDF and html (two clearly open formats). Professors tossed it back at me. Now I write all my apers in Open Office on Linux but I double check that they are ok on my windows box with MS office.
Without the possiblity of remuneration all human creativity will cease. It is little known that this is the latest mutation in human evolution: the profit gene. The modern human is completely unable to function in the absence of capital (or its evil twin, debt).
is that someone other than he is making the money... if it was a microsoft mp3 player he'd be calling it "fair use" as it is balmer is the perfect example of why one would want to switch. I personally try to route my living as far away from blow hard hypocrites as possible.
Save as RTF, rename to .DOC.
.DOC format assignments turned in.
I did it for 2 years in college to 5 professors that DEMANDED
most professors are certianly not smart enough to detect the difference. and those that do, feign ignorance and resend.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
...is all over the man. Good thing he's not doing the monkey boy dance too.
So Steve, what percentage market-share do M$ DRM'd music players enjoy? Oh yeah, it's less than 50%. That's gotta sting for a big-time playah like yourself.
Of course, you'd also be the expert on theft, wouldn't you?
why on windows that was pirated with linux... we should out right ban linux as it's a threat to all I hold dear (my big fat wallet and my ability to dance on stage looking like an idiot...)
"People don't like div-x (the old one, where you had to "connect" to get movies), people don't use it. Same with DVD-A and SACD."
I know people that use all of those formats.
"Sorry Steve, the only organisation you can be guaranteed to not get there with is Microsoft. It makes poor copies of good products, labels consumers who want freedom "thieves", and calls out organisations who innovate as not being good enough."
What a troll! If you can make anything better than their so called "copies of good products" go ahead. The problem with that is that you are simply not capable of doing so and simply want to bash Microsoft.
"It makes me laugh, the 12-y-o son of the man running the most powerful IT company in the world gets it, but Ballmer himself doesn't."
It seems apparent to me that you are the one that doesn't understand what Ballmer is talking about.
"I suspect that Windows users have - at average - more stolen mp3 files than Mac users."
The three Mac users don't listen to music much.
Blowjobs from hot groupies aren't just given out to us ordinary joes, you know (unless you're in Swordfish). That's gotta be worth something.
What say you to that, sir?
If there were no such thing as IP rights, the small company that I am currently contracting for would probably have been started, and developed the first version of its product, and then instantly been put out of business by MS downloading the software and bundling it in with Windows.
The software would have been created, and it would have been available 'free'. Best of both worlds, right?
-fred
Sign #11 of Slashdot overdose: You see the phrase 'moderate Republican' and you wonder if that would be a +1 or a -1.
"This is simply another example that Steve Ballmer is a complete and utter moron."
This must be why he is head of a billion dollar company and why you are posting as AC on Slashdot!
What's the point for this kind of speech?
However, Ballmer conceded it isn't going to be an easy battle to win. "Most people still steal music," he said. "We can build the technology but there are still ways for people to steal music."
He can bet his 12 year old on that: an unencumbered player will ALWAYS be more successful than one with DRM. So i think he means Microsoft will:
1- push for legislation for a mandatory drm system on all media players
2- integrate own DRM system in PCs at the lowest possible levels
3- end of competition for music players, that is, Profit!!!
---- MISSING MISCELLANEOUS DATA SEGMENT --- [sigdash] trolololol
Thats a bit rich coming from arguably the biggest corporate theives of software in history.
"But again, code junkies that think programming is the action of your fingers hitting the keyboard and throwing our lines of code will *NEVER* understand ownership."
That has to be one of the dumbest statements I have ever read. Yes, programmers are incapable of understanding ownership, that concept could only be grasped by 'elite' Mac users such as yourself..
"Mac users pirate less. Linux users that have PCs (almost all) probably pirate more than PC users. "
You have any facts on this or are you just another clueless Mac user? I know plenty of Mac users that pirate games and software on a regular basis. I would say most Linux user's pirate far less since most Linux users are using free open source software. Seeing as many of the proprietary applications don't have Linux versions I would be interested to know how you figure they are pirating more.
I would continue but your post reaches new levels of idiocy that makes it hard to read. The only thing elite about you is your level of stupidity.
Please chose all that apply:
A) Stolen
B) Communism
C) Cancer
D) Terrorism
E) Un-American
F) Destructive to US jobs
G) Destructive to US competitive advantage
H) Non-standard
I) Inferior technology
J) Has a higher cost of Ownership
H) Anything other negative msft can imagine
Whatever your answer, please send money to msft.
BTW: I think msft has accused F/OSS of being all of the above.
While technically, not stolen, I just never paid the license fee to encode my CD collection to MP3 using LAME.
My hardware music player can only do MP3 and WMA, otherwise I would've used OGG.
Really though, it won't matter. If the Induce Act gets passed, we can kiss all of our iPods and similar devices goodbye.
Yes I have their permission to download and to listen and to distribute their music. And if I like it and have the money, I will pay for it. Simple as that. These musicians do get paid for the stuff they make and they are probably doing fine, atleast I haven't seen many of them quitting because people are listening to their music. If it gets heard, it gets advertized, if it's good enough, it sells. Whether or not you pay millions to MTV to air a video and dozens of dumb band ads it doesn't make you a good artist. It might be many so-called artists are suffering only because they have no talent. Noone wants to buy shit. Unless you were a gardener...
- Voice of Ambience -
...He's the CEO of Microsoft. Why wouldn't he say something to increase his stock value? "Well, ______ (insert competitor here) is the wrong way to go. You need a Microsoft solution because we're the best." Their own complacency will be their undoing.
I might know what I'm talkin' about, but then again, this is Slashdot...
However, there is NO excuse to steal any other piece of software. You steal photoshop? Why? Because you need to edit graphics? There are loads of free alternatives. Either use those, or pay up for Photoshop if you really like it so much. I assume you don't do that because all your friends steal software and you would feel silly if you would not (granted, the chance your actions will bite you in the bum are negligible). But it IS stealing. As long as you realise that.
There's an excellent standard format for documents, which the academic system has widely embraced for quite some time. It is called "paper."
====
Crudely Drawn Games
$10,000 to fill up a 40G ipod is excessive. No doubt about it. Technology is changing and so must the music industry in order to keep up. Apple makes $.04 for each $1 you spend on the cheapest possible legal source of music (almost), so obviously it the music industry that hauls in most of the revenue.
Due to this excessive cost and lack of action on the part of music purveyors, currently I don't feel music sharing is debauchery. If you had a hybrid mix say 50-50 of legal and illegal downloads, I would sleep comfortably at night. In addition there are other sources of revenue besides cd sales; concerts, merchandising, etc. to support the professional musician. No matter how you obtain an album, if you like the musician, aren't you more likely to pay the outrageous ticket price to see them live?
So I believe (without going into actual figures) it is practical to lower the cost of music substantially and still provide decent income for the musician. And if the record labels don't agree (ie, they won't reduce their take), I don't need their compliance, I'll take action myself.
Still, at work most of my co-workers only use legal software. They are computer scientists, and have a high sense of ethics. On the other hand, at my wife's work, an administrative department, you can easily buy the latest warez-DVD's if you just tap a random person on the shoulder.
[Re OmniGraffle 3 Professional:] great for Mac users; now if only the source was GPL'ed ...
The point was, if they can write Visio codecs, it's not impossible. If you want an open-source Visio codec, write one, or pay somebody to write one.
Why would OmniGroup be any more inclined to GPL OmniGraffle Professional than Microsoft would be to GPL Office?
If you read my journal you will see why i dont post the entire thing.
Short version : the component i used in my parahprase does not modeify the amendments intention. It only does not explain its reason for existance.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Are there any features you need present in SFTP but not SCP?
Tired of free ipod spam sigs? Opt ou
"There is no way that you can get there with Apple. The critical mass has to come from the PC, or a next-generation video device," he said."
... surprisingly, over 60 years ago ... nuff more said.
Hell man, it took M$ about 30 years of development, just to re-invent a TV set, that was invented
I am at one of the largest and most prestigous public universities in the US, UMD. The student software is discounted, but by no means free.
Windows, Office, Mathematica are around $50-100
"To stop the flow of music would be like the stopping of time itself, incredible and inconceivable." Aaron Copland, American Composer (1900-1990)
Why is that so strange? I have 3500 CDs and LPs. I have never illegally downloaded a tune from the internet. I have never copied a friend's CD. I have never even considered these things. Most every CD I have ever wanted I could get used for $5-$8. I have downloaded about 40 cds in flac formats from online stores. I have downloaded about 200Cd in flac format from trader friendly artists. I know about six other iPods out there that do the same thing I do. I know some people who have filled ipods by taping off the radio, but that's legal. I don't understand pirating music off the internet or other people's cds and I don't understand the industry's assumption that everyone is a thief.
The tech industry buffs are sounding more like politicians every day. Expect Gates to announce tax cuts before the end of the fiscal year.
I know it's a joke, but you're not all wrong here. Once a musical performance ceased to be an event, and instead became a product you could sell in a store like hats or bananas, everything changed.
I'm sure the sheet music industry had its share of one-sided contracts, and charlatanry (it certainly had IP infringements galore), but it can't have been anything like how the recording industry turned out... because if it had, the Sheet Music Association of America would have sued Edison into penury the instant they heard of his invention.
Freedom: "I won't!"
I can never find any good music to buy. It has all be stolen by those damn iPod using theives. I think we should beatup anyone who has an iPod so that we can all get access to the good music.
Hettar.
Ballmer can shove it.
I have gas, but my car uses petrol.
When you can't win on facts, win on personal attacks. It's nice to see that Ballmer is starting to resort to this, that means he is losing.
Most CEO's, VP's and Directors have iPODS with the JBL creature speakers. Apple is getting a lot of visibility as an innovator at high levels and more opportunities and partnerships are flowing their way. This is scaring the hell out of Ballmer who desperately needs this piece of the action to grow or at least sustain earnings.
I own an iPOD and it's the best game in town for MP3's and portable file storage. Ballmer knows it and his only chance is to discredit Apple as a promoter of piracy. Apparently Ballmer hasn't learned the same lessons that IBM learned with microchannel architecture and that Sony learned with it's memory stick and proprietary audio format. I hope Ballmer keeps going full steam ahead and obliviously sails on, right into the iceberg. Go Steve GO! You're right, everyone who doesn't agree with you is wrong. Show the world that you are right!
100% of the music I have on my MP3 player comes from Radiolover, which legally records audio streams from the internet and stores them on my hard drive free, legal, safe
Ask Me About... The 80's!
Imagine the classical composers having been forbidden to "borrow" each others themes and ideas, or painters to get sewed when joining a new style such as impressionism.
"Mr. Manet, the court finds you guilty of illegally using Mr. Whistler's intellectual property. You are hereby sentenced to... the needle!"
"No! Not the needle! I am just an artiste!"
Freedom: "I won't!"
Steve Ballmer Sniffs bils chair on his lunchbreak. i ask you whats worse that or theft?
I Predict A Riot
Just so you know, sharing MP3s may be illegal, but considering it doesn't fall into an easy category like, oh, "theft," it's anything but self-evident that it's immoral. And FWIW, this is from a philosophy/ethics and music graduate.
"I made my mistake at university, gave one of my first cds to a kid across the hall. within a day, it was smeared across the whole campus, and couple of the houses off site."
Not to sound trite, but you do realize that there are people reading that line and wishing they could be in your position. If you do not have a record contract you don't have publicity. If you're on the internet, there's too much noise for you to have publicity. Fine, you didn't authorize it and obviously it annoyed you, but have you really understood--everybody on that campus apparently listened to what you had. From the rest of your message, you seem to think that people are just falling over to listen to amateur unsigned music.
Well, guess what--music has been a buyer's market for a long time, and no matter whether you use traditional means or not, you got an opportunity for free that better musicians than you worked harder to fail at getting. No matter what you say about it not earning you money to buy new instruments, it still got you a lot closer to it than keeping the music locked up tight in your closet. If you were Britney Spears you'd have an argument about some potential sales lost, but you have to practically (or literally, I guess, with a typical record contract) pay people to listen to your music if you're unknown.
Again, I majored in music, I've published works and so on. Even if it was an unfinished demo, you had publicity that most people only dream about. Really, you seem to have known my argument before I said it, in an abstract way, but you don't seem to really get that it's just going to get harder and harder to get anyone to listen after you graduate, and most people in college can't get "the whole college and a few houses off campus" interested enough to listen even if they're popular while in college.
My argument is not that "people are trading MP3s for the good of the artist," but it's not "people are trading MP3s because they're immoral thieves," either. In actuality, people trade MP3s because people want to listen to music. There is nothing moral or immoral about that fact, no matter what your post-ethical legal standpoint is. So cheer up and try to stop being angry at people for the damnable sin of being curious about your music.
That certainly rings true among the people I know - at least with regards to their home computers. 100% of them run pirated copies of WinXP, pirated photoshop, pirated Office, etc...
Which makes it all the more irritating for horribly disorganized software-purchasing people like me. I legitimately bought and installed Win2k, then a few months later accidentally hosed my installation. Whoops, I misplaced my CD key, and was therefore prevented from using a legitimately purchased piece of software because of a security measure not even directed at people like me. It's enough to drive a person to piracy!
-- I prefer the term "karma escort."
and who would pay money for a device that only play drm media?
Do you own a DVD player?
Try playing your new DVD copy of "Spaceballs" on your player and then go Greece and see how you make out.
You'll have that sometimes...
To me, the most critical thing in the hobby market right now is the lack of good software courses, books and software itself. Without good software and an owner who understands programming, a hobby computer is wasted. Will quality software be written for the hobby market?
Almost a year ago, Paul Allen and myself, expecting the hobby market to expand, hired Monte Davidoff and developed Altair BASIC. Though the initial work took only two months, the three of us have spent most of the last year documenting, improving and adding features to BASIC. Now we have 4K, 8K, EXTENDED, ROM and DISK BASIC. The value of the computer time we have used exceeds $40,000.
The feedback we have gotten from the hundreds of people who say they are using BASIC has all been positive. Two surprising things are apparent, however, 1) Most of these "users" never bought BASIC (less than 10% of all Altair owners have bought BASIC), and 2) The amount of royalties we have received from sales to hobbyists makes the time spent on Altair BASIC worth less than $2 an hour.
Why is this? As the majority of hobbyists must be aware, most of you steal your software. Hardware must be paid for, but software is something to share. Who cares if the people who worked on it get paid?
Is this fair? One thing you don't do by stealing software is get back at MITS for some problem you may have had. MITS doesn't make money selling software. The royalty paid to us, the manual, the tape and the overhead make it a break-even operation. One thing you do do is prevent good software from being written. Who can afford to do professional work for nothing? What hobbyist can put 3-man years into programming, finding all bugs, documenting his product and distribute for free? The fact is, no one besides us has invested a lot of money in hobby software. We have written 6800 BASIC, and are writing 8080 APL and 6800 APL, but there is very little incentive to make this software available to hobbyists. Most directly, the thing you do is theft.
What about the guys who re-sell Altair BASIC, aren't they making money on hobby software? Yes, but those who have been reported to us may lose in the end. They are the ones who give hobbyists a bad name, and should be kicked out of any club meeting they show up at.
I would appreciate letters from any one who wants to pay up, or has a suggestion or comment. Just write to me at 1180 Alvarado SE, #114, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 87108. Nothing would please me more than being able to hire ten programmers and deluge the hobby market with good software.
Bill Gates
General Partner, Micro-Soft
No problem with my iPod. I just got one and have ripped the first three drawers of my CD collection to AAC at a 224 bitrate. About 2300 tracks with about 18 more drawers to go. I'll be able to get the best of it all, about 25%, onto the tiny 40GB drive, but I'll be ready for the 200GB iPod in a couple of years.
By using AAC there is no way a Microsoft user will be able to steal the music using a Windows blessed player. I feel much safer now and very, very legal.
"The critical mass has to come from the PC, or a next-generation video device."
iPod users are thieves? yeah right, I can say
the same about windows users. All the one I know
are thieves, alright the ones who bought a branded computer were forced to buy a windows license but still most of 'em just pirate Office, Photoshop, etc. How many of your friends using expensive software such as 3DS Max, Autocad, Maya paid for it?
I also don't really like we assume copyright violators are all thiefs. In developing countries, it is nearly impossible to buy originals (even by mail order or online as long as local credit cards are rejected due to high risk of fraud). Guess what everyone here use copies, so they are all thieves.
I don't think SACD or DVD-A is failing (failed?) because of DRM, it's failing because...
1. Most music is mastered for two speakers. A few albums are mastered for 5.1, but they are very few and far between.
2. 16 bit / 44.1 kilohertz is a high enough sampling rate. Most people can't even hear anything above 20 kHz. Therefore, higher sampling rates are wasted on our ears.
3. Even if you do have golden ears, it's difficult to find audio equipment that'll produce such high frequencies with any fidelity. Certainly the majority of listeners don't own a set of reference monitors.
I do agree that the restrictions on SACD and DVD-A suck, but I don't think that's why they are flops.
Well I have another 5 letters for you - DeCSS
His lips move.
... but in true RIAA fashion they completely missed the boat. By the time they woke up to Napster and started throwing lawsuits around, millions of people realized that, hey, it's really really cool having thousands upon thousands of tracks at their fingertips.
Seriously, he's fooling himself if he thinks that Microsoft's advanced DRM is going to allow people to acquire and maintain the large music collections to which they've become accustomed. What would it cost (at, say, $18 per dozen songs) to acquire a typical 10,000 track music collection? About fifteen grand. Yeah, sure, I'll just use my Microsoft Passport account. Part of the problem here is that popular music was simply never worth what the RIAA charged for it, and by attempting to maintain a high price structure they are simply guaranteeing that DRM won't be accepted. Maybe if they'd been able to stop widespread distribution of MP3s before we all got used to them
It's gonna be very hard to put that particular genie back in his bottle. He's jacked into his iPod and can't hear them anymore.
The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
Every song on my iPod is an MP3 ripped from one of my personally owned CD's. He can kiss my a**.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
6) Roughly what percent of their non GPL software is installed without license? (including Windows)
Now Balmer should say that Windows user are also a bunch of thief's.
Yahh, hiii haaaaa! -Major Kong, from Dr. Strangelove
this is exactly what abiword does when saving as word files.
That ought have to be
Content-type: audio/x-stolen
Of course by now the idea of stolen music is no longer experimental, so the IETF ought to remove the x- prefix altogether.
Even better, for the DE locale you can use this mime type for a delicious Xmas treat!
People pirate songs.
Cake or Death? Cake Please!
"..The critical mass has to come from the PC"
Is Balmer not aware that iTunes has been ported to Windows?
There's no shame in being a pariah. -Marge Simpson
Go down to the UPS store and box 'em.
Cake or Death? Cake Please!
Me and my zone-free DVD player enjoyed an ouzo. Next?
Most often I just listen to radio on the internet. I have ripped most of my CDs to mp3 and put them on my Vaio so that I can use it like a larger iPod.
In France (and other countries I presume) blank CD media carries a "stolen music tax". Before that tax I did not copy music from sites. Now that I have paid that tax, I do. I had a very interesting conversation with several executives from Warner and Universal about this. Apparantly my argument will hold in a French court of law. You have to pay for "stolen" music - you may "steal". In fact you have bought a licence for music when you paid the tax - so having a "reasonable amount" (left to the appreciation of the courts) is OK.
Here it seems that reselling bootleg would be the only serious crime that you could go down for.
Off to write the PJ Harvey concert I recorded last weekend to DVD.
so let me get this streight Steve Ballmer has publicly branded me a thief? i honestly didnt know that was ok in this day and age seriously peaple go to prison for saying less and im also pretty sure that if i was up on stage in a conference infront of thousands of peaple including very important press agents if i was to outright call Steve Ballmer a Thief or anything else that he wouldnt agree with surely he would want to have me prosecuted for it. what is apples response to microsoft calling their customers thiefs dont microsoft have shares in apple wouldnt this bad advertisement make microsoft look like their making money off illiegal activity seriously now someone needs to serve steve ballmer with a summonse to court make him pay for what he has said.
I Predict A Riot
Ballmer and Gates may be lagging behind in the music distribution business, but they intend to take it over. How they'll do that is going to be interesting--not to say revolting--to watch.
First, what distinguishes the music distro biz from other markets Microsoft dominates? For one thing, it has arrived too late in the game to buy up innovation for rebranding under the Microsoft line. Secondly, it has been outflanked by Apple both on the hardware and software front, and Apple has already colonized the Windows platform with its iTunes store.
So Redmond is fighting a battle not only as the underdog--an unfamiliar position--but also knowing that it cannot compete in terms of image. And in lifestyle marketing such as music, image is everything. Apple is cool; Microsoft is dorkville. What to do?
Fight dirty, of course! Ballmer's opening salvo isn't aimed at consumers, who prefer Apple and cannot likely be wooed any time soon to the crappy Windows Media Player. He's aiming at the music industry in an attempt to divide it from Apple, with whom it has only agreed to a short term deal. Ballmer and Microsoft have concluded that they will compete by attempting to sully Apple's good name in the eyes of the all-important labels.
Will it work? Sure, quite a few iPods probably are loaded with copyright violations, but the music industry already knows that. It doesn't think the files produced by the orgy of trading in the past decade have simply disappeared. But it does want to stop that orgy, through lawsuits, criminal prosecution and DRM. Apple's best defense against Ballmer's slander is its own DRM and continued profitability for the labels, which it is providing at only the slimmest margins for itself.
But this war is just starting. And between Microsoft and the music labels there is an apocalyptic level of greed, so don't rule out victory for the piggies yet.
I can just imagine Steve Ballmer explaining all the restrictions to his kid. ...um...at least we maintain DRM so that you can't share the music electronically with your friends." ...um...Microsoft is at the forefront of technological progress, we (Microsoft and the RIAA) are working on eliminating that sharing feature on new products for future generations."
Kid: " Dad, how come I can't rip all this music from the CDs you gave me on to my new Microsoft digital media player?"
S.B.: "Well son, you don't OWN the music, you are just licensed to use it according to the EULA. Also, if the CD is copy-protected, it is illegal to rip the music to the PC. Except for these minor restrictions you may load any music to your Microsoft digital media player."
Kid: "But the Windows Media Player does rip the copy-protected CDs".
S.B.: "Well,
Kid: "But dad, my XP Media PC will let me burn a CD that I can give to my friends."
S.B.: "Well,
Kid: "But that is a step backwards in terms of usability and anyway there will always be shareware which will circumvent any restrictions you put in place."
S.B.: " Son, please understand that all SW not specifically approved by Microsoft is by definition malware. We're working on Longhorn, which will automatically prohibit any software from being launched if it is not pre-approved by us. This is a brand new security feature. Our partners love it."
Kid: "Dad, get a life!"
Not initially. They just hired the chief designer and told him to duplicate his work from Xerox. Then someone had some sort of a stroke and told him it had to work with a single button.
TWW
"Encyclopedia" is to "Wikipedia" what "Library" is to "Some people at a bus stop"
If you follow Corey Doctorow's excellent address to Microsoft on DRM (sorry, no link since I've forgotten where other than boingboing.net you can find it), he points out the legal fight the sheet music industry got into when they tried to get piano players banned. By the time Edison came around, I think the dust had already settled, and the royalties question was probably justextended to the new devices.
Copyright is at least as old as Gutenberg, where the Old Guard tries to get the Prince to ban the new media.
Just to remarks:
- When will Apple support ogg ?
- If you want music without DRM, directly from your favorite labels, go to http://www.bleep.com
The Register has a link to an iPod advertisement spoof at macboy.com using Steve Balmer's "Monkey Dance" as the black silhouette.
macboy Balmer iPod spoof
Sorry, but in my book, it IS immoral. No question about it. People who publish their own creations have the right to dictate the terms under which those creations may be duplicated. If you don't like those terms (and you certainly don't have to!) then don't duplicate the work. Simple as that. Common courtesy, if nothing else!
Steve Jobs wasn't the first to talk about a digital hub. Microsoft used the concept in the press release for Windows Me in September 2000 http://www.cnn.com/2000/TECH/computing/09/14/micro soft.windowsme.reut/.
Twitter, you're a petulant cock-gobbling sycophant to Linux Torvaldyos! Quit taking DP from ESR and RMS's feculent cocks and why don't you try to stop sucking quite so much? Get out of your parents' basement and see the real world - maybe then you'll see how pathetic you sound, with your neverending stream of bullshit about how Microsoft is stalking you. Wasn't it you who said that Microsoft believes your insane ranting is actually a threat to them, so they PAY PEOPLE to reply to you on Slashdot? No sir, I don't get any money. I do it for the love. Someone has to go up against your paranoid whining. So get back in your cage and shut the fuck up already.
This isn't a damn thing in Copyright that is to the public's good that couldn't be reproduced in another format without stealing the original authors work that would save a single life out there or contribute to the pubic good. How is keep Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck out of the public domain hurting anyone. I don't see it. Then again, I also believe people need to be less consuming and more creating.
You just don't get it, do you? It's not "your choice." As a general rule, the successful "content creators" do not own their own work today. To get anywhere on a national level with it in this day of bottlenecked media exposure, they've got to have a corporate sugar daddy that will rape them with unfair contract terms. Why? Because they can. How does this protect the sacred "creators' rights" again?
And, I hate to shatter your world, but the only reason the copyright laws exist in the first place is to FURTHER THE PUBLIC DOMAIN. By being forced to pay for things for a limited basis, we ensure that creators have reason to continue to create.
But the key word there (and in the Constitution, which you seem to think is subservient to such laws as the Bono Act) is "limited." I understand that both the corps and the courts have come out in favor of the "infinity -1 is legal" argument, but then again, it's in their interests to do so! Shed your ego for a moment, and consider this - even for someone born TODAY, no current or recent works will pass into the PD in their lifetime. Does that sound like a "limited" time in the spirit of the law?
The simple fact is that under the Constitution, you elitists have NO RIGHT to an infinite chokehold over your own work. Lucky for you, we live in a nation that all but ignores that document.
Twitter, you're a petulant cock-gobbling sycophant to Linux Torvaldyos! Quit taking DP from ESR's and RMS's feculent cocks and why don't you try to stop sucking quite so much? Get out of your parents' basement and see the real world - maybe then you'll see how pathetic you sound, with your neverending stream of bullshit about how Microsoft is stalking you. Wasn't it you who said that Microsoft believes your insane ranting is actually a threat to them, so they PAY PEOPLE to reply to you on Slashdot? No sir, I don't get any money. I do it for the love. Someone has to go up against your paranoid whining. So get back in your cage and shut the fuck up already.
..and the stuff running on windows devices is all 'legal'. puhlease...
Ballmer's own 12 year old steals music himself!!!!
with a billionaire father and he still steals, where did he get that gene from?
The burden of proof in a civil case is balance of probability. As you didn't offer any evidence to make your case, I'm free to choose any most likely scenario that I like. I like Mr Ballmers.
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
Man....man! I'm so sorry.
At my school, strict text-only format is the only thing accepted in most cases - in fact, if anything caused a grade reduction here, it'd be Office.
How is it not theft? They own something (which is the license to their music) and you steal it.
Ok, Slashdotters!
1) 80%
2) 0%
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4) 5%
5) 15%