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Wal-Mart Threatens Studios Over iTunes Sales
Y-Crate writes "It seems Wal-Mart is threatening retaliation against studios who decide to offer movies on iTunes. The Bentonville, AR retailer seems a bit miffed that someone would dare to undercut their prices. This wouldn't be the first time they've turned on a supplier for dealing with Apple." From the article: "Last year when Disney announced it would begin offering episodes of the hit shows 'Lost' and 'Desperate Housewives' on Apple's iTunes, the reaction of the world's largest retailer sent shockwaves through the entertainment industry. Wal-Mart, worried that offering the shows for viewing on iPods would cut into DVD sales at its stores, sent 'cases and cases' of DVDs back to Disney, according to a source familiar with the matter."
Any organization whose stated mission is to take over the world shouldn't arouse suspicion or surprise when they use leverage to win over those who are weaker than they.
This thing with the movie studios is nothing new, Wal-mart engages in such tactics all the time, with all of their products. The basic, "if you sell to anything that competes with us, we will use our mass to hurt your business," tactic is something that Wal-mart is very good at, and is one of the main reasons they are capable of destroying the economies of entire towns. In this case, it won't be destroying a town's economy, it will just make it harder for Apple to offer their DRM downloads. This is where I am forced to ask myself which is worse, DRM DVD's or DRM downloads...what a wonderful choice to make. They wonder why people use BitTorrent.
Palm trees and 8
No reason to put "evil" in quotes; they ARE evil by any definition of the word you can come up with. If you own walmart stock, you're evil, too.
mcgrew's razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greedy self-interest
Sorry, but it looks like Wal-Mart is the more apparent threat to your freedoms than Google. I don't and WON'T shop at Wal-Mart unless they succeed at infiltrating my neck of the woods. But I doubt it. I live in an inner-ring suburb (probably too many black and poor people for their tastes) of a mid-sized city. And IF they do put one of their monstrous stores in the neighborhood, I'll bet they'll do what I've seen in other areas where there aren't more white folk than black folk... They'll put cops in the store (you don't see that in the burbs) and make sure the stock is of a lower quality compared to their suburban or boonie branches. Amazing that people rail on about the evils of Google while very few actually talk about the cancer that is Wal-Mart. Just like one of my high school classmates said back in the 90s, "Stop the 'Mart Bart"! Wal-Mart IS evil.
-"...bad old ideas look confusingly fresh when they are packaged as technology" - Jaron Lanier (Digital Maoism on Edge.o
They pay decent wages to their employees, health benefits are the rule
What about car insurance? What about interior decorating? What about groceries? Does In'n'Out Burger provide these? No, of course they don't. You have a bizarre obsession with employers providing health insurance -- but not car insurance, interior decorating, or groceries.
Apology to Ubuntu forum.
Yep, as I predicted: you completely missed the fucking point. (And threw in a bizarre spiel about insufficiently high dividends -- an odd complaint from someone like you, but I digress.) Even if I accept that employers need "maintain their greatest capital asset", that doesn't explain why it should be limited to "health care". Employees need food too. And transportation. And all kinds of things. Why shouldn't the employer provide all of these things too?
I know: because the employer gives them "money" that they can use to "buy" those things. So, why can't the employer just give them "money" they can use to "buy" their own health insurance? Wait wait -- I know. You're going to say "but health care is EXPENSIVE". In doing so, you're going to completely forget about how the employer is already paying for it as a cost of hiring the employee, and the cost would show up the same whether that compensation were money or health insurance. Go ahead -- I want to point and laugh when you make that objection.
God damn you guys are funny.
Apology to Ubuntu forum.
*sigh* Oh, alright. You got me. Based on one interpretation of one definition you gave, employer-provided health insurance really isn't "bizarre" in the sense that lots of people think it's a good idea. I guess I chose the wrong word, even though my meaning was completely clear. So, I take back my use of "bizarre", because you are correct: lots of people are stupid enough to think employers should provide health insurance in lieu of more money, while at the same time finding employer-provided groceries ridiculous.
Now, do you want to get into explaining what makes employer-provided health insurance fundamentally different from employer-provided food, etc., or would you prefer to avoid issues you're not smart enough to understand by jerking off to dictionaries?
Apology to Ubuntu forum.
Oh, okay, so your post *was* a waste of everyone's time. Just checking.
Apology to Ubuntu forum.
With our current economic system in the US, employers paying for health insurance is the encouraged societal route for health care.
Good point. Unfortunately, that doesn't mean anything, but you speak so well.
Employers can write off the cost of the benefit, not so to the same degree for an individual employee.
Well, I'm glad the people who are so indignant about employers that don't provide health insurance, are agitating to have this changed so that health insurance is more portable and less dependent on one's employer.
Oh wait: they aren't.
Employers have better clout to negotiate with armies of health insurer beauracrats and lawyers. Again, its not as balanced for an individual employee.
Yeah, good point again. That must be like how I can't negotiate with car insurers to get a fair price for car insurance, which unlike health insurance, is not an insurance market with bureaucrats, revealed in how there are no services that give you quotes on various insurers in minutes.
It's also like how I can't negotiate with all those farmers to get my milk at a fair price. Or how I can't negotate with large electronics distributors to get a cheap mp3 player.
I hope you understand sarcasm, because everything else seems a little murky to you.
Apology to Ubuntu forum.