Could this moron at the PC Gaming Alliance be even more vague? DRM and authentication for PC Games is a bad idea... when they start talking about getting rid of it, then I'll listen.
No wonder Sony and Blizzard left them.
This is bad news. Amazon thinks that it can set the prices for products that sell in its online store? Not only is this very bad but it could also lead to developers abandoning the App Store. This is the same problem that Apple is fighting with music publishers because iTunes set music prices at $1 across the board. For year after year, it had remained this way until Apple relented and decided to increase that to $1.29 per song. App developers have the advantage here because if they all band together and tell Amazon a big fat resounding "NO," that Amazon will eventually cave in.
Without the developers, Amazon's App Store is dead in the water. They seem to think that since they're the big bully on the block that everyone will cave in. Trust me, there's going to be fallout over this one as the APP developers have Amazon over a barrel and they know it.
They need to stop acting anti-competitive and start realizing that it is not retailers who set prices, it's the manufacturers, the companies who make that product, that set the prices, NOT retailers. They're just trying to find new ways on screwing their suppliers so they can get away with this BS excuse for wanting to set their own prices. Amazon has already gotten into trouble over this in the past (because of their practices in lowering prices far below than those of other retailers) because they've become the target of various anti-competitive lawsuits.
This is the dumbest idea ever. I find it hilarious that Google is dropping support for it in their own web browser for a video format that is also sponsored by Google, which they are trying to favor over other formats. I currently run an anime and manga website and I have no plans on converting my video content. Google is taking a big risk because they're risking other website owners to completely abandoning support for this format.
I don't have worries about Google switching to WebM and I just don't trust the new format, especially from a company who's making a blatant attempt to monopolize everyone's online experience. The members on my site and my forums continue to support my site and while I do still use the current video formats, I won't be wasting my time with WebM. It's a new format and it's not supported on my DVD and Blu-ray player.
I'm curious how many of you thinks that Beverly Hills HS is getting a kickback from Apple over forcing their students to buy a MacBook?
This smells very bad and I suspect that there are going to be a lot of lawsuits over this. Public High Schools don't have the authority to be passing mandatory requirements like this.
Wikipedia has become the new Censorship tool of a communist Government. With Wikipedia censoring this information, the United States is stepping one inch closer to dictatorship, with the head of the Islamic Nation, Barrack Obama, leading everyone into the gates of Hell.
Sony is deluding itself if it thinks that they are going to pull off those kinds of numbers. Consumers don't forget too easily what companies do to them. From rootkits and betamax, to ATRAC3? Come on. I'm quite confortable with my DVD library and my DVD player. Not even Sony could stop the production of DVD media, they would be fighting one helluva bad PR campaign against consumers.
What about households who have no interest in the Blu Ray format? It seems that Sony is trying to make the Blu Ray format succeed over DVD by default. In order to ensure that Blu Ray doesn't fail like Betamax did, what better way than to instill fear in consumers. How do you do that? Discontinue the DVD media format, forcing everyone to buy into Blu Ray.
But, there is a problem with that. If you force consumers to buy your product, they won't. Not unless there are huge price drops. Currently, if you shop around, you can purchase a new release DVD movie for anywhere between $13 and $16. Blu Ray movies cost an additional $10. Do the math. If you were a consumer, which would you buy?
To expect Sony to pull off the kind of numbers that they are expecting is going to warrant a miracle of some kind. There aren't many titles available for Blu Ray. TV Shows? They're practically non-existant. Sony risks alienating the studios if they resort to this. And what about those studios who support Blu Ray but who haven't full tilt into the format? Universal, Paramount, Fox, and the rest of the studios are releasing their content on Blu Ray but at nowhere the capacity that Sony wants them to. This is just going to result in even more problems for Sony.
I'm quite happy with my DVD Player and my DVD Library and I don't require anything fancy which would require me to buy a $400 + blu ray player and multitudes of $35 + blu ray disks and a 32" + HD television set.
Writers Strike, Television Loyalty and More
on
Will the Web Replace TV?
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
I seriously doubt that the web will replace television viewing. Much in the same respect as why I think that physical media will always be around in one format or another. Most fans are like myself and while we don't have time to watch television, most of what we watch are on DVD...
I just think that the AMPTP are making a huge gamble on the fact that if they don't settle and the writer's are forced into accepting a bare bones contract that television programmning is over. It will never be over because then those who only have the ability to watch programmed television will be out of the loop and this is because of low income families who can barely afford cable television.
Most television shows that I watch are on DVD. I can't stand the week to week programming and broadcasting of television shows. I'd rather just have the studios to release television shows on DVD, bypass television altogether and go straight to DVD. Instead, the studios are fighting the strike because of DVD royalties and Internet-related profits that are being made by the studios. It's been announced by the studios that over the next three years, if the strike were settled with no new media or DVD concessions, that the studios stand to rake in over 3.5 billion in profits.
The studios are in a fight for their lives in preventing the writer's or anyone else from dipping into those profits and the longer they can hold the writers at bay, the more profits they stand to earn. However, I suspect that the shareholders mof those companies may be a bit more vocal as the strike dredges on longer.
Slashdot Mirror
It still looks the same to me.
Could this moron at the PC Gaming Alliance be even more vague? DRM and authentication for PC Games is a bad idea ... when they start talking about getting rid of it, then I'll listen.
No wonder Sony and Blizzard left them.
This is bad news. Amazon thinks that it can set the prices for products that sell in its online store? Not only is this very bad but it could also lead to developers abandoning the App Store. This is the same problem that Apple is fighting with music publishers because iTunes set music prices at $1 across the board. For year after year, it had remained this way until Apple relented and decided to increase that to $1.29 per song. App developers have the advantage here because if they all band together and tell Amazon a big fat resounding "NO," that Amazon will eventually cave in. Without the developers, Amazon's App Store is dead in the water. They seem to think that since they're the big bully on the block that everyone will cave in. Trust me, there's going to be fallout over this one as the APP developers have Amazon over a barrel and they know it. They need to stop acting anti-competitive and start realizing that it is not retailers who set prices, it's the manufacturers, the companies who make that product, that set the prices, NOT retailers. They're just trying to find new ways on screwing their suppliers so they can get away with this BS excuse for wanting to set their own prices. Amazon has already gotten into trouble over this in the past (because of their practices in lowering prices far below than those of other retailers) because they've become the target of various anti-competitive lawsuits.
This is the dumbest idea ever. I find it hilarious that Google is dropping support for it in their own web browser for a video format that is also sponsored by Google, which they are trying to favor over other formats. I currently run an anime and manga website and I have no plans on converting my video content. Google is taking a big risk because they're risking other website owners to completely abandoning support for this format. I don't have worries about Google switching to WebM and I just don't trust the new format, especially from a company who's making a blatant attempt to monopolize everyone's online experience. The members on my site and my forums continue to support my site and while I do still use the current video formats, I won't be wasting my time with WebM. It's a new format and it's not supported on my DVD and Blu-ray player.
I'm curious how many of you thinks that Beverly Hills HS is getting a kickback from Apple over forcing their students to buy a MacBook? This smells very bad and I suspect that there are going to be a lot of lawsuits over this. Public High Schools don't have the authority to be passing mandatory requirements like this.
And this is why AT&T and Apple are being investigated by Congress and the Department of Justice.
Wikipedia has become the new Censorship tool of a communist Government. With Wikipedia censoring this information, the United States is stepping one inch closer to dictatorship, with the head of the Islamic Nation, Barrack Obama, leading everyone into the gates of Hell.
This would not deter terrorists. Blurred online maps? They'd just use real physical printed maps like they've been doing for hundreds of years.
Sony is deluding itself if it thinks that they are going to pull off those kinds of numbers. Consumers don't forget too easily what companies do to them. From rootkits and betamax, to ATRAC3? Come on. I'm quite confortable with my DVD library and my DVD player. Not even Sony could stop the production of DVD media, they would be fighting one helluva bad PR campaign against consumers. What about households who have no interest in the Blu Ray format? It seems that Sony is trying to make the Blu Ray format succeed over DVD by default. In order to ensure that Blu Ray doesn't fail like Betamax did, what better way than to instill fear in consumers. How do you do that? Discontinue the DVD media format, forcing everyone to buy into Blu Ray. But, there is a problem with that. If you force consumers to buy your product, they won't. Not unless there are huge price drops. Currently, if you shop around, you can purchase a new release DVD movie for anywhere between $13 and $16. Blu Ray movies cost an additional $10. Do the math. If you were a consumer, which would you buy? To expect Sony to pull off the kind of numbers that they are expecting is going to warrant a miracle of some kind. There aren't many titles available for Blu Ray. TV Shows? They're practically non-existant. Sony risks alienating the studios if they resort to this. And what about those studios who support Blu Ray but who haven't full tilt into the format? Universal, Paramount, Fox, and the rest of the studios are releasing their content on Blu Ray but at nowhere the capacity that Sony wants them to. This is just going to result in even more problems for Sony. I'm quite happy with my DVD Player and my DVD Library and I don't require anything fancy which would require me to buy a $400 + blu ray player and multitudes of $35 + blu ray disks and a 32" + HD television set.
I seriously doubt that the web will replace television viewing. Much in the same respect as why I think that physical media will always be around in one format or another. Most fans are like myself and while we don't have time to watch television, most of what we watch are on DVD ...
I just think that the AMPTP are making a huge gamble on the fact that if they don't settle and the writer's are forced into accepting a bare bones contract that television programmning is over. It will never be over because then those who only have the ability to watch programmed television will be out of the loop and this is because of low income families who can barely afford cable television.
Most television shows that I watch are on DVD. I can't stand the week to week programming and broadcasting of television shows. I'd rather just have the studios to release television shows on DVD, bypass television altogether and go straight to DVD. Instead, the studios are fighting the strike because of DVD royalties and Internet-related profits that are being made by the studios. It's been announced by the studios that over the next three years, if the strike were settled with no new media or DVD concessions, that the studios stand to rake in over 3.5 billion in profits.
The studios are in a fight for their lives in preventing the writer's or anyone else from dipping into those profits and the longer they can hold the writers at bay, the more profits they stand to earn. However, I suspect that the shareholders mof those companies may be a bit more vocal as the strike dredges on longer.