"For this reason I think the government should get involved and split RR from TWC. Obviously TW's conflict of interest in this area threatens people's access to a service that has become a necessity of modern life"
This story is in direct disagreement with a recent article in SciAm, where they find colony collapse is MORE like caused by IAPV, and NOT the nosema parasite.
Wouldn't piggybacking be a more accurate, or realistically, an accurate description? If I sneak onto a city bus and get a free ride to where I was going without diverting the bus, I'm pretty sure no one would accuse me of hijacking it.
Your last paragraph raises the insidiously upsetting proposition that the RIAA are not the bunch of idiots we all presuppose they are and are cleverly manipulating us all and quite likely laughing at us.
It is always going to be disorienting for many people as long as your eyes want to focus and converge on something as if it were in the place it appears to be. 3D suffers from the innate problem of trying to make things appear closer to you when they are really still on a screen 30 feet away. Your eyes don't like to focus a one range but converge at another.
But I think King went about it wrong. He should have set a target amount before writing it, not percentage of paying downloaders.
He puts a certain value on his work, then base it off that value, not the number of people who actually pay. Does he really think 75% of the people who have read his published books bought the original full price hard back, not borrowed a friend's or the library's, or waited for a cheaper paperback?
A large number of movies today are targeted at the teen and twenty something crowd (hence the stress on maintaining PG-13 movies). This is the largest demographic in movie attendance. Yet this is also alleged to be the demographic doing the most downloading. So why are any of these people going to the theater at all?
And since I am unaware of actual law in Sweden, for this example, let's assume there are no regulations on selling knives (customer age, etc.) and you sell all types, weapon-like knives, kitchen, utility, but mostly the weapon-like type. Assume it is well known that MOST of your customers are hoods and thugs who use the knives to commit violent crimes.
The police request that you discontinue selling that type of knife to help with this problem. But they can only request this, as there is no legal basis for your sales activities to be limited in this fashion. You laugh and post their letter requesting this on your shop door with a taunt.
Can you then somehow be sued as an accessory to murder and found liable? Just because you knew your activity, in all respects completely legal, was contributing?
You can certainly be thought poorly of, but I don't see a legal basis for fines and jail.
"Suppose that instead of going to a shop and buying a pair of shoes, I download a pattern that somebody else scanned and replicate a pair: have I stolen something, since I haven't paid anybody for them? Is the world richer, or poorer, for my creation of an extra pair of shoes in it?"
Logical answer - This is a good thing. Anyone who wants one can now have that pair of shoes at virtually no cost.
IP proponent answer - Because the pair of shoes I created can now be given to millions of people MORE easily, my act of creating these shoes is such a huge benefit that I should now be compensated in a far greater fashion.
Uncomforatble truth - your act of creation has actually been devalued, because everyone can now make a copy by simple replication rather than the old process of each pair requiring some manufacture, which limited availability and therefore created higher value.
There was a poster here some time ago who noted that he used to be a proficient baker and enjoyed doing so, but that cheap baked goods from large baking companies had devalued his skills to where it was not a viable way to earn a living. And he understood that.
I don't know that it was greed. Ballmer probably sincerely believes his products are all better than Apple's. I would bet that he felt they should be priced equally because people would "see" their obvious superiority, and choose them. He probably rejected any suggestion to price them lower.
I've purchased more than one mac from their refurb section. They are not only inspected, they are cleaned up and repackaged with all the clear protective films and such just like a brand new one. The only thing you don't get is the spiffy box and nifty foam inserts, instead you get plain brown cardboard and low rent foam. Oh no.
Got a maxed out black macbook the day after the Al ones debuted, for $1100.
Your comparing to crap incandescents. My house was new when purchased in 1996, and the builder supplied all commercial quality incandescents in the built in fixtures. They began sporadically burning out about 4 years ago, and I replaced many of the high use ones with decent quality name brand CFLs, and they have lasted me about 3-4 years max under the exact same useage cycle.
I continue to use them anyway, but longer life is NOT one of their benefits.
Slashdot Mirror
Made me laugh, but I have no mod points today.
"For this reason I think the government should get involved and split RR from TWC. Obviously TW's conflict of interest in this area threatens people's access to a service that has become a necessity of modern life"
Best idea I've seen yet.
This story is in direct disagreement with a recent article in SciAm, where they find colony collapse is MORE like caused by IAPV, and NOT the nosema parasite.
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=saving-the-honeybee
And since the scientists in the SciAm article looked at a lot more than two apiaries, I am gonna have to give them a lot more credence.
But its a firewall that only acts on one port.
Not that I'd want to have butt tonsils or anything.
So he's talking behind your back?
Wouldn't piggybacking be a more accurate, or realistically, an accurate description? If I sneak onto a city bus and get a free ride to where I was going without diverting the bus, I'm pretty sure no one would accuse me of hijacking it.
Umm, because slashdotters are smarter than Ballmer?
*pats self on back and waits for upmodding*
Your last paragraph raises the insidiously upsetting proposition that the RIAA are not the bunch of idiots we all presuppose they are and are cleverly manipulating us all and quite likely laughing at us.
I have to go be sick.
It is always going to be disorienting for many people as long as your eyes want to focus and converge on something as if it were in the place it appears to be. 3D suffers from the innate problem of trying to make things appear closer to you when they are really still on a screen 30 feet away. Your eyes don't like to focus a one range but converge at another.
Things that make you go bleh.
Come to my house and read it?
Didn't work out so well here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Plant
But I think King went about it wrong. He should have set a target amount before writing it, not percentage of paying downloaders.
He puts a certain value on his work, then base it off that value, not the number of people who actually pay. Does he really think 75% of the people who have read his published books bought the original full price hard back, not borrowed a friend's or the library's, or waited for a cheaper paperback?
Then why hasn't it?
A large number of movies today are targeted at the teen and twenty something crowd (hence the stress on maintaining PG-13 movies). This is the largest demographic in movie attendance. Yet this is also alleged to be the demographic doing the most downloading. So why are any of these people going to the theater at all?
MySpatterFace
OK, so let's say you are a knife store.
And since I am unaware of actual law in Sweden, for this example, let's assume there are no regulations on selling knives (customer age, etc.) and you sell all types, weapon-like knives, kitchen, utility, but mostly the weapon-like type. Assume it is well known that MOST of your customers are hoods and thugs who use the knives to commit violent crimes.
The police request that you discontinue selling that type of knife to help with this problem. But they can only request this, as there is no legal basis for your sales activities to be limited in this fashion. You laugh and post their letter requesting this on your shop door with a taunt.
Can you then somehow be sued as an accessory to murder and found liable? Just because you knew your activity, in all respects completely legal, was contributing?
You can certainly be thought poorly of, but I don't see a legal basis for fines and jail.
So they have imposed a fine that they know it is impossible to pay! What fiends!
"Suppose that instead of going to a shop and buying a pair of shoes, I download a pattern that somebody else scanned and replicate a pair: have I stolen something, since I haven't paid anybody for them? Is the world richer, or poorer, for my creation of an extra pair of shoes in it?"
Logical answer - This is a good thing. Anyone who wants one can now have that pair of shoes at virtually no cost.
IP proponent answer - Because the pair of shoes I created can now be given to millions of people MORE easily, my act of creating these shoes is such a huge benefit that I should now be compensated in a far greater fashion.
Uncomforatble truth - your act of creation has actually been devalued, because everyone can now make a copy by simple replication rather than the old process of each pair requiring some manufacture, which limited availability and therefore created higher value.
There was a poster here some time ago who noted that he used to be a proficient baker and enjoyed doing so, but that cheap baked goods from large baking companies had devalued his skills to where it was not a viable way to earn a living. And he understood that.
Same for the arts.
One might in good conscience, then, scrupulously only pirate works which are older than the original term of copyright.
Sw-indle?
I don't know that it was greed. Ballmer probably sincerely believes his products are all better than Apple's. I would bet that he felt they should be priced equally because people would "see" their obvious superiority, and choose them. He probably rejected any suggestion to price them lower.
I've purchased more than one mac from their refurb section. They are not only inspected, they are cleaned up and repackaged with all the clear protective films and such just like a brand new one. The only thing you don't get is the spiffy box and nifty foam inserts, instead you get plain brown cardboard and low rent foam. Oh no.
Got a maxed out black macbook the day after the Al ones debuted, for $1100.
While that is a nicely produced ad, if its purpose is to promote linux use to the general public, it completely fails.
Nothing about it will grab their attention.
This is Europe. It would be .454 dollarkilograms.
Not only that, but "semi-colon minus right parenthesis" makes NO sense at all!
Your comparing to crap incandescents. My house was new when purchased in 1996, and the builder supplied all commercial quality incandescents in the built in fixtures. They began sporadically burning out about 4 years ago, and I replaced many of the high use ones with decent quality name brand CFLs, and they have lasted me about 3-4 years max under the exact same useage cycle.
I continue to use them anyway, but longer life is NOT one of their benefits.
"a movie on your BluRay player that is even VC-1 encoded as it is the preferred encoding format for many studios. (VC-1 = WMV)"
Got a cite for that? I got one that says the opposite is true at this point:
http://www.blu-raystats.com/NewsLog/2009/01/15/codec-trends-avc-dominates-blu-ray-video-disney-sides-with-dts/