Its going to be a *LONG* time before this happens.
Regardless of how superior they get, its still going to be a pain in the ass just to attach them, let alone all the other biologicals problems that have little to do with the machine.
I have a degenerative disease that is killing a few joints and I've been told I'll probably have to have my knee replaced if I don't stop abusing it (at this point, abusing it means riding my biked 20 - 30 miles a week in the summer -- and thats down from the 100 I had been doing, and I'm *STILL* a light weight compared to most of the folks I know who bike on a regular occasion).
Anywho, a good friend works at the VA and draws my blood for me regularly and while I'm there, I occasionally get to talk with some of the veterans...over the last year, they have increasingly been younger guys my age and now a days, I almost look clean cut enough to fit in without one of the administrators getting upset that she's doing this (even though its always on her break, lest someone accuses me of helping steal from the US Gov).
But after talking with one amputee, I'll never want to even joke about the prostesises again. For the CLeg, ya have to have your leg blown off from above the knee (actually I learned that from Doonsbury), but they also say that there is a nasty bone graft you have to go through to attach it. it always gets infected because even though its titanium, its still wearing against the bone in a way that can't be stopped. Secondly, you will always have an open wound -- the skin in this area is not meant to simply pucker up around something sticking out of it. Think of any naturally occuring holes in youy body and think of how it goes from regular skin to something that is a little more sealable. Ya don't have that with this. So, expect infections in this all the time too.
I was joking with the one guy I met that it would make my life much easier but was given a reality check quickly. Given the rate of decay on my knee, I'll probably have to have something replaced in the next 5 to 10 years (maybe longer if I felt like sitting at home and wasting my life), but I think I'll skip the prostesis for the moment and just see if they can replace the bones and joints -- something simple. I have no doubt that replacement arms or legs will be superior to the parts coming off, but until we get the rest of the parts they have to connect with upgraded (maybe just the brain in a jar), I think I'm only going to look at this as technology to be used in unavoidable circumstances.
The fact that the MUSIC INDUSTRY requires that the songs be in specific formats is one thing.
No one is forcing the music industry to release in either DRM-WMD or DRM-AAC. There are several companies that sell in lossless and lossy formats that can be played on almost any machine (including the ones that use Microsoft technologies and Apple technologies).
The fact that the music industry requires it in a specific format means they are they ones that are restricting their monopoly -- but its still not tauntamount to abusing it.
Apple has not gone to any industry and told them that if they did not sign over exclusive rights to the iTMS, they would refuse to carry them.
At this point, that is about the only abuse open to them. When you choose an iPod, you know it plays WAV / AIF / MP3 and AAC (and I'm not sure if the new lossless compression is a form of AAC or not, so I'll stop there). 3 of those formats are open -- buy from any of the online stores selling in these formats and you are fine (and I know 3 that do just that).
Other companies are bitching about the iPod because Apple won't allow them to put THERE lockin on the device.
Back to the iTMS, yeah, the media can only be played on their hardware -- thats not abusing the monopoly because you could have choosen a dozen other stores to sell you in the format your player can handle.
But we are talking about Apple, so its a different ballgame. And you are right. They've never used their heft to buy their way out of lawsuits or threatened that if their company is considered a monopoly it will destroy their parent country.
To say it again, monopolies not illegal. Abusing monopolies is.
I don't think I've ever said anything about your products that wasn't sent from the guys in charge of the company. I don't own a virus, but I do like the product line.
Honestly, I don't know anyone personally well enough to get any info from that does. Your company is as niche as the Kurzweil market I support (though with a bigger market share these days and actual potential).
But no -- I've never said anything about the Access line that wasn't told to me at a tradeshow infront of a dozen others or sent to me in an official email. Maybe if I owned one, I'd try to get in someones pants, but this hasn't happened yet:-)
And if you ever see anyone promoting tradesecrets in our forum -- you know our email. I don't take kindly to this stuff and never have (actually I was really pissed off a few years back when a marketting director at one of the softsynth companies gave me a 'press release' with info that he wanted out -- only to claim a few days later it was leaked. I posted his note in full after that -- I don't like to be played).
Point out an article I've written and wasn't just posted in our forums by one of our junkies and I'll publicly apologize and call myself a hypocrite.
I'd feel the same if it were Microsoft and I wish them all the ill feelings in the world.
That doesn't mean that folks should be allowed to kill business this way. Hell, maybe Microsoft would make better products if they were allowed some room to get to market without everyone breathing down their necks and could market towards having the best product -- not worrying about what competitor is going to come out with the same product and then claim that Big Bad M$ Stole My Idea (that I dead on a rumor mill).
"Of course lawsuits are bad press and one can question the efficacity of such a lawsuit but most likely it will be about strong-arming the community maintainers into divulging their sources so that Apple can take measures against the staff members who broke their agreement."
You know it also says a lot about the fucktards that run Thinksecret.
Personally, I see nothing wrong with the suits. I run a music site based for a big part around Apple computers and their software (Emagic's Logic Audio, a wholely owned division of the company). Occasionally I get insider knowledge about whats going on inside the company as well as companies that make synths and other goodies. Sometimes I'll post a rumor about it that is so vague that no one will ever guess (but be completely obvious when its released), but never any details. Sadly, the details are never from the guys that work there (I'm very good friends with a few upper management types as well as the lowly cubicle jockies) -- its always from contractors or beta testers looking to make their mark.
You have to ask yourself if you care about the products and the people that work at these companies when you start releasing wholesale details. Out to stiffle the community which loves the products? Not the community -- the idiotic sites that love to ruin the surprise. Or kill business.
The thing with Apple is that if something isn't right, more often than not they will pull it 24 hours before its supposed to be released and never be heard of again (though there have been a few stinkers). Or maybe the next year at the same convention. In that time, they retune the product and make it right. In this same time, companies that don't care about quality and only care about being first to market get there and end up conquering the area leaving companies like Apple with little chance. In this market, its a rare occasion when a better made product like the iPod (which for the most part serves as the best example of what it does, and nothing more -- no extra features just because it can -- the horrible iPod Photo excluded) actually comes out ahead of the original market leaders.
So does this company really love Apple or love the attention -- and if Apple didn't exist, the same people would be running a rumormill for some other company.
This isn't to say I don't visit the site on occasion, once or twice of a dozen times a week. I just wish they weren't so explicit about their rumors.
Yeah, but the difference between todays conservatives and todays liberals are that the conservatives have their act together.
This is a bad thing for news -- the conservatives already have their talking points and know what the official statement is. The Liberals don't. The Liberals barely know what the official response should be from hour to hour. Not to get into the last election -- but this is what lost Kerry the election, he and his staff didn't have a clear statement as to what they'd do different, nor not even what they'd do different but what they'd do at all.
Liberal media rarely knows where they should be pointing the fingers, so they do go out of their way to show a more balanced perspective and then strongly suggest to the consumer what they think is right, but might not be right, but well you make up your own opinion so we don't look dumb when our bosses tell us we pointed out the wrong side.
I consider myself a conservative, but I feel I get more information from sources like NPR and otherwise than FauxNews. NPR and even CNN have a lean, but its balanced reporting. Faux has a lean in their views as well as whats being presented. Big difference.
Its also a right that you can dress up in chicken feathers and make otter noises, but that doesn't guarentee that others can't look and point at you when you do.
You might have the right to carry a weapon, but you are a pud if you do so. I have my license to protect the rights to carry, but I haven't owned a gun in years. The only reason to own one of these is to put a hole in someone else. Its not for protection -- that is a secondary purpose because of its original intent to put holes in things that didn't have them in the first place. I might think its a persons right to carry, but I'm not going to feel safe around any wacko that feels the need to let me know he is capable of doing so.
As such, I will be a little warry of someone coming up on me with said weapon and will do what I can to be observant of folks with these weapons. Considering they are well armed, what does it matter if they are tracked or not.
Go put on your tin foil hat and pretend you are supporting your rights. The only right you are showing others is the right to be a paranoid freak. Thats cool, no one is stopping you from being one. No one is also stopping me from pointing this out.
These are the same guys that will see a criminal with a gun in hand walking up to them, and decide hey! Its none of my business what someone else is doing in public, I'll be damned if we go down that slippery slope (tin foil hat wearers always use this phrase in inappropriate responses), we can't call the police or do anything that would put this person at illease for it would impede upon their rights.
But since you are in international waters, it doesn't matter if its 'anyones business'. If you are there, they can follow you, spy on you, annoy you all they want. It doesn't matter. As you have mentioned, the law doesn't apply out there.
Well, some laws do -- international maritime laws, but none of these apply to the privacy of being able to go unseen.
But back to the point, if you don't want to follow the laws of one country when you are in another -- thats cool. Just don't plan on going back to the other country. The laws of the host country supersede those of your parent country while you are there, but you *CAN* still be charged with breaking your parent countries laws while you are there. Ask Bobby Fisher. Hee had no plans to ever come back to the US, but as a citizen, he will most likely be deported back into US custody for breaking a US embargo.
Same with any number of things. Kill a US citizen while on open waters in international waters and you happen to be a US citizen -- expect to be tried in a US court. They can even drag you out of international waters to do so.
But the whole idea that its 'not anyones business' is a bit childish, isn't it. This is the whole cry of slashdot these days...I don't want anyone snooping on me. I can understand this if we are talking in your own home. But once you are in public, its fair game. I don't care if I have a police escort day after day -- I'd actually feel safer in my neighborhood. I live my life these days with nothing to hide. Its a shame too many others look at their life as something they can't even justify when they are out in public.
Or since its in international waters, you can look at it as its everyones damned business to know why your boat is.
And secondly, it is the US's business if you want to eventually enter US waters. Don't want to -- don't use the automated transponders that the US is requiring for these large boats and when you get within 20 miles, don't expect to go any further.
Again, when in international territory anyone that wants to can spy on anyone else. Also remember, any US citizens must also obey the laws of the US even outside of their territorial borders. Other countries have similar laws.
Don't worry, anything that came out even sounding like it was against Stern got a troll moderation.
I kinda knew this and posted mine as anonymous in this thread and while it was initially rated up, it was again rated down to Troll simply because folks didn't care for what I said.
Its like this all the time on/. If you come out in favor of any regulation, the whiney kids throw a temper tantrum. They want pure anarchy and want to do anything any way they want. And thats the Stern argument...I'm popular, thus I should be given a free pass. For instance, Stern doesn't have the reasoning capability to understand the difference between education and obscenity. He continually brings up the Oprah Toss The Salad incident without discussing that it was brought up in the context of explaining to parents what specific terminology is -- personally I don't want to turn to Oprah and hear about this subject, but under the context of education, its permissible (though not encouraged)...where as the fines he had gotten were for puerile Look At Me, I'm Getting Away With This situations. And thats what the slashdotistas want -- they want to cry when someone gets away with something they can't -- even when explained why the situation is different, They want to be able to do what every they want, but at the same time, they want controls on others 'for the greater good'. In a democracy, rights don't just come to those smarter than others (though it would be nice on occasion, but it wouldn't be a democracy then would it).
So don't worry about the troll rating -- post anonymously when you think something you say will be rated down. Personally, I pick my battles, some things I say that I know will get modded down I say publicly. Others, I don't.
For instance, I have a feeling this will get modded down because they will say its 'off topic', although perfectly on topic for the thread that has devolved here -- this is the exact reasoning for threaded discussions (albeit the first in the split could be). Doesn't matter to them. Too many whiney children around here (and thus I ensure that I get modded Troll as well as off topic).
"Except in this case the hackers didn't do any damage, nor did they steal anything. It would be akin to me picklocking your door, placing a note inside your house saying that your lock needs to be replaced with something better, then leaving."
After 'borrowing' random goods from my house at will for months at a time, and disabling the lock on the window so they can sneak back any time they want to borrow something else.
If according to your analogy you still don't see whats wrong with this, you are an idiot.
First is was a notedly exaggerated aside (or at least by anyone that has any grasp of the English language), and secondly, I mentioned it in regards to the fact businesses generally let folks 'borrow' software for home use. I made no mention nor implication of why folks buy PCs. I made a perfect implication of why folks use specific softwares. I made a perfect example of how I use an entirely different personal computer than the ones at work with a different operating system, but I still end up using software that is very similar to the end user.
Secondly, calling someones entire argument a 'strawman' simply because you don't understand what they were trying to say IS criticism. I don't know how you cannot see this. Call someones argument wrong and you are criticizing them. Do you see how this works?
And again, I don't think you know what a strawman is. I have a funny feeling you hung out in a coffee house while listening to a debate team use big words and you picked up on it thinking you understood the term and can use it to impress friends and family. I can only hope that in the late 80s your family wasn't as terrorized with you running around screaming Its My Prerogative having loved your cassette of that dreamy Bobby Brown that you had posters with crudely scrawly hearts with BB + RW forever etched into it.
Ummm...did I say anything to the contrary? No, I listed a few reasons.
But more often than not, businesses push you subtly to take software home with you -- so that you can do their work. How often does someone need Outlook or Access or Powerpoint or Excel at home? I do....but its to get to work related stuff.
Does this also minimize the learning? Well yeah...I guess. Especially since using something else to do the stuff I already know how to do would be moronic in the scheme of things.
As for using the same software are school -- well fucking shit sherlock. I think I pretty much said that. But all in all its bullshit because its well known that knowing how to use a computer in the first place and becoming comfortable with it to the point that you aren't afraid to try things is more key to if you will succeed at other apps. Did I mention as part of my job in hire education, I test computer literacy?
BTW do you even know what a strawman argument is? Before you criticize others using big words, maybe you should check to see what they actually mean.
I know I'm a Mac biggot and one of the excuses for not running Macs in a lot of schools is that its not what is run in businesses. This is also the excuse folks make for buying PCs as opposed to something more userfriendly for their situation -- I can run my business software at home with this so I can work virtual 100 hour a week jobs and get paid for 40 of them.
When you look at that tact and realize the truth behind it, it only makes sense that you put this ad into a paper that is going to get inside the minds of the PHBs and others that will determine what is run at work. Get a change going on in the workplace, where users see that this is a superior experience, and you will prompts folks to run it at home. Unlike all the rest of their 'work' apps, this one is free and doesn't come with any requirements that the end user needs to think about.
It then snowballs into everything else. When the parents running this realize they are paying property taxes to go to idiot school administrators (hmmm...I play one of those at times -- unfortunately, the apps I run *REQUIRE* IE because the field I'm in is so specialized we can't run to other platforms when its mandated that if you are an accredited institution, you will use the same tools as others in your field to validate and rank your populations), but the parents will complain that students are looking at porn and otherwise because of popups that aren't filtered at the firewall, and the schools will slowly change where they can.
And once you get this, it becomes word of mouth everywhere else. Personally, I won't fix my friends PCs any more...when they get bogged down with spyware and otherwise, I send them to browsers like this (my sis could barely use her computer because of all the crap that was hooked into her IE install -- most of which came directly from the cable company that installed her broadband). Since telling her to download this (and several spyware removers -- the IE spyware actually hijacked her where she couldn't even visit specific pages like AdAware's homepage), she's had little to no problems.
So, get it into the hands of the PHBs who will then make it a requirement that we use this, all the while thinking it was their good luck to see this, and why oh why didn't the geeks in the basement know about this years ago...
You know its comments like this that show where/.s groupthink head is.
$$ goes to the artists on Apple's side as well. Its just it goes to the guys that the artist choose to market and distribute them. And for some reason folks seem to think that means nothing.
As much as I respect TMBG, I would have never heard of them other than the fact back when their first album came out a good friend a Musicland had gotten some promos from their label and gave me one. Few artists can afford to send their albums to all the music stores in the nation as well as all pertinent radio stations, nor have the logistics to do this even if they wanted to.
I still think their first album was their best -- the fact that I got it for free withstanding -- I had to dub my tape to CD years ago and I still don't have a good copy of their stuff. I might have to go check out their site and buy it again. But again, without the major labels, I would have never heard of them or if I did, it would have been a lot past the time in my life when music like this appealed to me.
Some one hit wonders are this way because all their good stuff was written *BEFORE* they made it big. As anyone knows, if it doesn't make it big the first time, even if the guys get big, they can't resell it.
There are notable exceptions to this. For instance the late 80s brought about Ub40's reggae inspired Red Red Wine which was released as a single twice before that and never inspiring the masses because of bad marketing. And marketing *DOES* play a role in all of this. They had other good songs, but this was their best one and they were determined to get someone to hear it.
But again. not all musicians have that many good songs in them. When it becomes more craft than art, then you aren't producing anything I want to hear. And generally, when an artist makes it big and a lot of the outside influences that gave him inspiration are gone, thats when they turn their tasks from writing whats around them to building the 'perfect' song, as hollow as that may be.
But hey -- as mentioned in this article, its only 2% of the musicians out there that are making money. And it seems most people love the hollow inhuman 'music' that these guys put out...if thats what you want to listen to, fine with me. I'd rather listen to a one hit wonder that put their soul into the song and then felt the need to stay 'legit' and not sell out simply to keep the momentum. To each their own...
I know a lot of *GREAT* craft songwriters. They understand structure, know what the general public loves and can distill it down to something palletable by the masses. But there is a difference between craft and art. Art requires creativity. Craft requires repetition. The two are useful together and a good craftsman can put out passable works that get heard...but thats when they are simply building on the works of others and taking the credit, hence most top 40 musics.
Being creative isn't like turning on a faucet. Hell, its not even like programming another 100 lines of code. This is something most geeks don't get.
What theft does is to encourage musicians to be less creative, focusing on continually churning out crap as opposed to building a masterpiece that will never be exceeded by that musician again.
I'm a strong believer that most musicians have a dozen or two good songs in them and thats about where it ends. Some more. Others are one hit wonders and for good reason.
Nah...its much more fun spewing the truth anonymously and seeing it get rated +5.
As for being right, you are right, but you are only seeing one side of the story...I personally think Christianity is right...I think people that push it onto others are idiots. I think giving software away for free is right, I think forcing others to give it away for free is wrong. Live a good life and put out software as an example and hope others do the same without shackling them...
You really are a dumb fuck aren't you? I realize you are a troll, so I'm not upset with you at all. I love a good troll every now and then.
*BUT* in case you aren't a troll.
Few packages in this genre are ever advertised. At most, you get a review in a magazine. The one review we got gave it high praises and ignored talking about our less adequate packaging altogether. Actually, I take that back, they brought up the fact that we actually had documentation with the disc -- real live paper documentation, which is rare. Most folks actually just put on a slick cover and leave the docs for the electronic bits. They were happy about this.
The marketting was more than most, because folks that were technically competitors were advertising it on their site. The main manufacturer of the synth that this was on had it as a featured item on their website.
All in all, it had as much marketting as one could do.
Again, it was a good experiment and didn't cost us anything to do it. The fact of the matter is, the folks that have the expensive looking stuff, get their packages pirated just as much. There is always an excuse as to why its pirated. Its too expensive for the common person to own, so we will just take it -- information wants to be free. Its too cheap, thus its crap -- information, again wants to be free. Its mid priced and affordable, thus maybe information wants to be free.
Information doesn't want to be free. IP Thieves want information to be free.
Did I mention we gave away sound free of charge for years...these ended up on commercial discs even though they clearly stated that they were not to be redistributed in any way and they were only to be downloaded from our site. We put this warning in the synth patches so that you could see it if you loaded this up. These idiots didn't even remove our listings from there. But claimed that since they found it on the internet, it gotta be free.
My point is that no matter what you do, people will rip you off. Its no wonder content providers are going nutty and trying to get laws enacted that take away every right and enslave you so long as you hold anything that belongs to them. I think its horrible what these companies are doing as there are a lot of honest people...but the folks making the most noise? They are generally the ones who want to pirate the shit. I have a feeling that you are one of these people and are trying to justify your false reasoning why everyone else does it, and thats why you should be allowed to do so as well...
You have a LOT to learn about the attractive opposite sex.
The not so attractive opposite sex is never really a problem though...wearing a shirt that says I Do Fat Girls would probably get you laid faster than those 'curvaceous things'...
A ROM Standard? There is. its called CDRom...the standard in most sampling media.
There is also a smartcard standard these days for the platform...most folks don't carry it because you never know what you are going to sell. If you sell media on Smartcard, folks start to judge the product on the size alone and not the content. And if you invest in the cards only to find out that new quadruple sized media is now available for the price that you paid for the standard size of the time, no one will bit.
Its not really a market where buying in bulk will save you money...especially since 200 sales will be parsed out over a multiyear period.
As for whining about this, there was no whining in there. It was an experiment. We had already expected this to be a wasted product and didn't expect to see anything from it. If bandwidth wasn't so great at the time (and the fact some of the product was licensed elsewhere) we would have put it out on the net free for the taking. We decided we'd use this to make improvements to our site and put the content out for sale...
It was a GREAT experiment...we made up some of the money we would have lost, and was able to share data with our friends.
So again, no whining...it was a statement of fact that in some instances, you can't simply go with the cheapest as it will bite you in the ass. I'm glad we did this with a product that would have been a wash as opposed to something we truely wanted our names on (this was quality work, it was just a little less focused than we liked dealing with -- I like a lot of stuff in the same pallet whereas other companies was a smattering of everything -- which is what this product was).
So no blame here on anyone except pirates and folks that think they have a right to duplicate someone elses work simply because it takes almost no effort and is generally untraceable. I respect other peoples rights...if I do work on a GPL'd product, I give my tweeks back to the maintainer. I expect folks dealing with commercial works to respect things under the ideas set forward by its authors as well.
Again, I don't really understand your post. It makes little to no sense. You are accusing me and blaming me for being a stupid business person for making money of a dead product that legally I couldn't give away and thus would have languished. You say I'm stupid for helping out a community and then pointing out the fact that some folks will always think something is overpriced and steal it -- even if its statistically 1/6th the price of everything else in its target audience. The thing this did to teach me was how low of a price to set and knowing exactly where the numbers should be -- which is right where everyone said they were in the first place selling at $200 as opposed to our $30. For future products, we've chosen $100 as our point -- not because we don't think we can sell for more, but because we aren't in this for the money so much as we are the process (and keeping our toys up to date).
Slashdot Mirror
Its going to be a *LONG* time before this happens.
Regardless of how superior they get, its still going to be a pain in the ass just to attach them, let alone all the other biologicals problems that have little to do with the machine.
I have a degenerative disease that is killing a few joints and I've been told I'll probably have to have my knee replaced if I don't stop abusing it (at this point, abusing it means riding my biked 20 - 30 miles a week in the summer -- and thats down from the 100 I had been doing, and I'm *STILL* a light weight compared to most of the folks I know who bike on a regular occasion).
Anywho, a good friend works at the VA and draws my blood for me regularly and while I'm there, I occasionally get to talk with some of the veterans...over the last year, they have increasingly been younger guys my age and now a days, I almost look clean cut enough to fit in without one of the administrators getting upset that she's doing this (even though its always on her break, lest someone accuses me of helping steal from the US Gov).
But after talking with one amputee, I'll never want to even joke about the prostesises again. For the CLeg, ya have to have your leg blown off from above the knee (actually I learned that from Doonsbury), but they also say that there is a nasty bone graft you have to go through to attach it. it always gets infected because even though its titanium, its still wearing against the bone in a way that can't be stopped. Secondly, you will always have an open wound -- the skin in this area is not meant to simply pucker up around something sticking out of it. Think of any naturally occuring holes in youy body and think of how it goes from regular skin to something that is a little more sealable. Ya don't have that with this. So, expect infections in this all the time too.
I was joking with the one guy I met that it would make my life much easier but was given a reality check quickly. Given the rate of decay on my knee, I'll probably have to have something replaced in the next 5 to 10 years (maybe longer if I felt like sitting at home and wasting my life), but I think I'll skip the prostesis for the moment and just see if they can replace the bones and joints -- something simple. I have no doubt that replacement arms or legs will be superior to the parts coming off, but until we get the rest of the parts they have to connect with upgraded (maybe just the brain in a jar), I think I'm only going to look at this as technology to be used in unavoidable circumstances.
Actually I would.
The fact that the MUSIC INDUSTRY requires that the songs be in specific formats is one thing.
No one is forcing the music industry to release in either DRM-WMD or DRM-AAC. There are several companies that sell in lossless and lossy formats that can be played on almost any machine (including the ones that use Microsoft technologies and Apple technologies).
The fact that the music industry requires it in a specific format means they are they ones that are restricting their monopoly -- but its still not tauntamount to abusing it.
Of course they are a monopoly at this moment.
Being a monopoly is not illegal. Abusing it is.
Apple has not gone to any industry and told them that if they did not sign over exclusive rights to the iTMS, they would refuse to carry them.
At this point, that is about the only abuse open to them. When you choose an iPod, you know it plays WAV / AIF / MP3 and AAC (and I'm not sure if the new lossless compression is a form of AAC or not, so I'll stop there). 3 of those formats are open -- buy from any of the online stores selling in these formats and you are fine (and I know 3 that do just that).
Other companies are bitching about the iPod because Apple won't allow them to put THERE lockin on the device.
Back to the iTMS, yeah, the media can only be played on their hardware -- thats not abusing the monopoly because you could have choosen a dozen other stores to sell you in the format your player can handle.
But we are talking about Apple, so its a different ballgame. And you are right. They've never used their heft to buy their way out of lawsuits or threatened that if their company is considered a monopoly it will destroy their parent country.
To say it again, monopolies not illegal. Abusing monopolies is.
Jay --
:-)
I don't think I've ever said anything about your products that wasn't sent from the guys in charge of the company. I don't own a virus, but I do like the product line.
Honestly, I don't know anyone personally well enough to get any info from that does. Your company is as niche as the Kurzweil market I support (though with a bigger market share these days and actual potential).
But no -- I've never said anything about the Access line that wasn't told to me at a tradeshow infront of a dozen others or sent to me in an official email. Maybe if I owned one, I'd try to get in someones pants, but this hasn't happened yet
And if you ever see anyone promoting tradesecrets in our forum -- you know our email. I don't take kindly to this stuff and never have (actually I was really pissed off a few years back when a marketting director at one of the softsynth companies gave me a 'press release' with info that he wanted out -- only to claim a few days later it was leaked. I posted his note in full after that -- I don't like to be played).
Point out an article I've written and wasn't just posted in our forums by one of our junkies and I'll publicly apologize and call myself a hypocrite.
Fuck off AC --
:-)
I'd feel the same if it were Microsoft and I wish them all the ill feelings in the world.
That doesn't mean that folks should be allowed to kill business this way. Hell, maybe Microsoft would make better products if they were allowed some room to get to market without everyone breathing down their necks and could market towards having the best product -- not worrying about what competitor is going to come out with the same product and then claim that Big Bad M$ Stole My Idea (that I dead on a rumor mill).
But I repeat myself -- Fuck off AC
"Of course lawsuits are bad press and one can question the efficacity of such a lawsuit but most likely it will be about strong-arming the community maintainers into divulging their sources so that Apple can take measures against the staff members who broke their agreement."
You know it also says a lot about the fucktards that run Thinksecret.
Personally, I see nothing wrong with the suits. I run a music site based for a big part around Apple computers and their software (Emagic's Logic Audio, a wholely owned division of the company). Occasionally I get insider knowledge about whats going on inside the company as well as companies that make synths and other goodies. Sometimes I'll post a rumor about it that is so vague that no one will ever guess (but be completely obvious when its released), but never any details. Sadly, the details are never from the guys that work there (I'm very good friends with a few upper management types as well as the lowly cubicle jockies) -- its always from contractors or beta testers looking to make their mark.
You have to ask yourself if you care about the products and the people that work at these companies when you start releasing wholesale details. Out to stiffle the community which loves the products? Not the community -- the idiotic sites that love to ruin the surprise. Or kill business.
The thing with Apple is that if something isn't right, more often than not they will pull it 24 hours before its supposed to be released and never be heard of again (though there have been a few stinkers). Or maybe the next year at the same convention. In that time, they retune the product and make it right. In this same time, companies that don't care about quality and only care about being first to market get there and end up conquering the area leaving companies like Apple with little chance. In this market, its a rare occasion when a better made product like the iPod (which for the most part serves as the best example of what it does, and nothing more -- no extra features just because it can -- the horrible iPod Photo excluded) actually comes out ahead of the original market leaders.
So does this company really love Apple or love the attention -- and if Apple didn't exist, the same people would be running a rumormill for some other company.
This isn't to say I don't visit the site on occasion, once or twice of a dozen times a week. I just wish they weren't so explicit about their rumors.
Yeah, but the difference between todays conservatives and todays liberals are that the conservatives have their act together.
This is a bad thing for news -- the conservatives already have their talking points and know what the official statement is. The Liberals don't. The Liberals barely know what the official response should be from hour to hour. Not to get into the last election -- but this is what lost Kerry the election, he and his staff didn't have a clear statement as to what they'd do different, nor not even what they'd do different but what they'd do at all.
Liberal media rarely knows where they should be pointing the fingers, so they do go out of their way to show a more balanced perspective and then strongly suggest to the consumer what they think is right, but might not be right, but well you make up your own opinion so we don't look dumb when our bosses tell us we pointed out the wrong side.
I consider myself a conservative, but I feel I get more information from sources like NPR and otherwise than FauxNews. NPR and even CNN have a lean, but its balanced reporting. Faux has a lean in their views as well as whats being presented. Big difference.
Dude,
You are a fucking nut job pure and simple.
Its also a right that you can dress up in chicken feathers and make otter noises, but that doesn't guarentee that others can't look and point at you when you do.
You might have the right to carry a weapon, but you are a pud if you do so. I have my license to protect the rights to carry, but I haven't owned a gun in years. The only reason to own one of these is to put a hole in someone else. Its not for protection -- that is a secondary purpose because of its original intent to put holes in things that didn't have them in the first place. I might think its a persons right to carry, but I'm not going to feel safe around any wacko that feels the need to let me know he is capable of doing so.
As such, I will be a little warry of someone coming up on me with said weapon and will do what I can to be observant of folks with these weapons. Considering they are well armed, what does it matter if they are tracked or not.
Go put on your tin foil hat and pretend you are supporting your rights. The only right you are showing others is the right to be a paranoid freak. Thats cool, no one is stopping you from being one. No one is also stopping me from pointing this out.
Sad when my rights get in the way or yours, eh?
Not if you are a wacko with a tin foil hat.
These are the same guys that will see a criminal with a gun in hand walking up to them, and decide hey! Its none of my business what someone else is doing in public, I'll be damned if we go down that slippery slope (tin foil hat wearers always use this phrase in inappropriate responses), we can't call the police or do anything that would put this person at illease for it would impede upon their rights.
Then do so on private property.
Its that easy. The public space is not private, nor is international waters.
But since you are in international waters, it doesn't matter if its 'anyones business'. If you are there, they can follow you, spy on you, annoy you all they want. It doesn't matter. As you have mentioned, the law doesn't apply out there.
Well, some laws do -- international maritime laws, but none of these apply to the privacy of being able to go unseen.
But back to the point, if you don't want to follow the laws of one country when you are in another -- thats cool. Just don't plan on going back to the other country. The laws of the host country supersede those of your parent country while you are there, but you *CAN* still be charged with breaking your parent countries laws while you are there. Ask Bobby Fisher. Hee had no plans to ever come back to the US, but as a citizen, he will most likely be deported back into US custody for breaking a US embargo.
Same with any number of things. Kill a US citizen while on open waters in international waters and you happen to be a US citizen -- expect to be tried in a US court. They can even drag you out of international waters to do so.
But the whole idea that its 'not anyones business' is a bit childish, isn't it. This is the whole cry of slashdot these days...I don't want anyone snooping on me. I can understand this if we are talking in your own home. But once you are in public, its fair game. I don't care if I have a police escort day after day -- I'd actually feel safer in my neighborhood. I live my life these days with nothing to hide. Its a shame too many others look at their life as something they can't even justify when they are out in public.
Or since its in international waters, you can look at it as its everyones damned business to know why your boat is.
And secondly, it is the US's business if you want to eventually enter US waters. Don't want to -- don't use the automated transponders that the US is requiring for these large boats and when you get within 20 miles, don't expect to go any further.
Again, when in international territory anyone that wants to can spy on anyone else. Also remember, any US citizens must also obey the laws of the US even outside of their territorial borders. Other countries have similar laws.
Don't worry, anything that came out even sounding like it was against Stern got a troll moderation.
/. If you come out in favor of any regulation, the whiney kids throw a temper tantrum. They want pure anarchy and want to do anything any way they want. And thats the Stern argument...I'm popular, thus I should be given a free pass. For instance, Stern doesn't have the reasoning capability to understand the difference between education and obscenity. He continually brings up the Oprah Toss The Salad incident without discussing that it was brought up in the context of explaining to parents what specific terminology is -- personally I don't want to turn to Oprah and hear about this subject, but under the context of education, its permissible (though not encouraged)...where as the fines he had gotten were for puerile Look At Me, I'm Getting Away With This situations. And thats what the slashdotistas want -- they want to cry when someone gets away with something they can't -- even when explained why the situation is different, They want to be able to do what every they want, but at the same time, they want controls on others 'for the greater good'. In a democracy, rights don't just come to those smarter than others (though it would be nice on occasion, but it wouldn't be a democracy then would it).
I kinda knew this and posted mine as anonymous in this thread and while it was initially rated up, it was again rated down to Troll simply because folks didn't care for what I said.
Its like this all the time on
So don't worry about the troll rating -- post anonymously when you think something you say will be rated down. Personally, I pick my battles, some things I say that I know will get modded down I say publicly. Others, I don't.
For instance, I have a feeling this will get modded down because they will say its 'off topic', although perfectly on topic for the thread that has devolved here -- this is the exact reasoning for threaded discussions (albeit the first in the split could be). Doesn't matter to them. Too many whiney children around here (and thus I ensure that I get modded Troll as well as off topic).
Good luck!
"Except in this case the hackers didn't do any damage, nor did they steal anything. It would be akin to me picklocking your door, placing a note inside your house saying that your lock needs to be replaced with something better, then leaving."
After 'borrowing' random goods from my house at will for months at a time, and disabling the lock on the window so they can sneak back any time they want to borrow something else.
If according to your analogy you still don't see whats wrong with this, you are an idiot.
First is was a notedly exaggerated aside (or at least by anyone that has any grasp of the English language), and secondly, I mentioned it in regards to the fact businesses generally let folks 'borrow' software for home use. I made no mention nor implication of why folks buy PCs. I made a perfect implication of why folks use specific softwares. I made a perfect example of how I use an entirely different personal computer than the ones at work with a different operating system, but I still end up using software that is very similar to the end user.
Secondly, calling someones entire argument a 'strawman' simply because you don't understand what they were trying to say IS criticism. I don't know how you cannot see this. Call someones argument wrong and you are criticizing them. Do you see how this works?
And again, I don't think you know what a strawman is. I have a funny feeling you hung out in a coffee house while listening to a debate team use big words and you picked up on it thinking you understood the term and can use it to impress friends and family. I can only hope that in the late 80s your family wasn't as terrorized with you running around screaming Its My Prerogative having loved your cassette of that dreamy Bobby Brown that you had posters with crudely scrawly hearts with BB + RW forever etched into it.
Ummm...did I say anything to the contrary? No, I listed a few reasons.
But more often than not, businesses push you subtly to take software home with you -- so that you can do their work. How often does someone need Outlook or Access or Powerpoint or Excel at home? I do....but its to get to work related stuff.
Does this also minimize the learning? Well yeah...I guess. Especially since using something else to do the stuff I already know how to do would be moronic in the scheme of things.
As for using the same software are school -- well fucking shit sherlock. I think I pretty much said that. But all in all its bullshit because its well known that knowing how to use a computer in the first place and becoming comfortable with it to the point that you aren't afraid to try things is more key to if you will succeed at other apps. Did I mention as part of my job in hire education, I test computer literacy?
BTW do you even know what a strawman argument is? Before you criticize others using big words, maybe you should check to see what they actually mean.
Why is that?
I know I'm a Mac biggot and one of the excuses for not running Macs in a lot of schools is that its not what is run in businesses. This is also the excuse folks make for buying PCs as opposed to something more userfriendly for their situation -- I can run my business software at home with this so I can work virtual 100 hour a week jobs and get paid for 40 of them.
When you look at that tact and realize the truth behind it, it only makes sense that you put this ad into a paper that is going to get inside the minds of the PHBs and others that will determine what is run at work. Get a change going on in the workplace, where users see that this is a superior experience, and you will prompts folks to run it at home. Unlike all the rest of their 'work' apps, this one is free and doesn't come with any requirements that the end user needs to think about.
It then snowballs into everything else. When the parents running this realize they are paying property taxes to go to idiot school administrators (hmmm...I play one of those at times -- unfortunately, the apps I run *REQUIRE* IE because the field I'm in is so specialized we can't run to other platforms when its mandated that if you are an accredited institution, you will use the same tools as others in your field to validate and rank your populations), but the parents will complain that students are looking at porn and otherwise because of popups that aren't filtered at the firewall, and the schools will slowly change where they can.
And once you get this, it becomes word of mouth everywhere else. Personally, I won't fix my friends PCs any more...when they get bogged down with spyware and otherwise, I send them to browsers like this (my sis could barely use her computer because of all the crap that was hooked into her IE install -- most of which came directly from the cable company that installed her broadband). Since telling her to download this (and several spyware removers -- the IE spyware actually hijacked her where she couldn't even visit specific pages like AdAware's homepage), she's had little to no problems.
So, get it into the hands of the PHBs who will then make it a requirement that we use this, all the while thinking it was their good luck to see this, and why oh why didn't the geeks in the basement know about this years ago...
You know its comments like this that show where /.s groupthink head is.
$$ goes to the artists on Apple's side as well. Its just it goes to the guys that the artist choose to market and distribute them. And for some reason folks seem to think that means nothing.
As much as I respect TMBG, I would have never heard of them other than the fact back when their first album came out a good friend a Musicland had gotten some promos from their label and gave me one. Few artists can afford to send their albums to all the music stores in the nation as well as all pertinent radio stations, nor have the logistics to do this even if they wanted to.
I still think their first album was their best -- the fact that I got it for free withstanding -- I had to dub my tape to CD years ago and I still don't have a good copy of their stuff. I might have to go check out their site and buy it again. But again, without the major labels, I would have never heard of them or if I did, it would have been a lot past the time in my life when music like this appealed to me.
Sadly,
Some one hit wonders are this way because all their good stuff was written *BEFORE* they made it big. As anyone knows, if it doesn't make it big the first time, even if the guys get big, they can't resell it.
There are notable exceptions to this. For instance the late 80s brought about Ub40's reggae inspired Red Red Wine which was released as a single twice before that and never inspiring the masses because of bad marketing. And marketing *DOES* play a role in all of this. They had other good songs, but this was their best one and they were determined to get someone to hear it.
But again. not all musicians have that many good songs in them. When it becomes more craft than art, then you aren't producing anything I want to hear. And generally, when an artist makes it big and a lot of the outside influences that gave him inspiration are gone, thats when they turn their tasks from writing whats around them to building the 'perfect' song, as hollow as that may be.
But hey -- as mentioned in this article, its only 2% of the musicians out there that are making money. And it seems most people love the hollow inhuman 'music' that these guys put out...if thats what you want to listen to, fine with me. I'd rather listen to a one hit wonder that put their soul into the song and then felt the need to stay 'legit' and not sell out simply to keep the momentum. To each their own...
No creativity does not.
Craft begets more craft.
I know a lot of *GREAT* craft songwriters. They understand structure, know what the general public loves and can distill it down to something palletable by the masses. But there is a difference between craft and art. Art requires creativity. Craft requires repetition. The two are useful together and a good craftsman can put out passable works that get heard...but thats when they are simply building on the works of others and taking the credit, hence most top 40 musics.
"No. They're creative. They can make MORE music."
Being creative isn't like turning on a faucet. Hell, its not even like programming another 100 lines of code. This is something most geeks don't get.
What theft does is to encourage musicians to be less creative, focusing on continually churning out crap as opposed to building a masterpiece that will never be exceeded by that musician again.
I'm a strong believer that most musicians have a dozen or two good songs in them and thats about where it ends. Some more. Others are one hit wonders and for good reason.
Creativity does not beget more creativity...
Nah...its much more fun spewing the truth anonymously and seeing it get rated +5.
As for being right, you are right, but you are only seeing one side of the story...I personally think Christianity is right...I think people that push it onto others are idiots. I think giving software away for free is right, I think forcing others to give it away for free is wrong. Live a good life and put out software as an example and hope others do the same without shackling them...
So,
Fuck All Ya'll
Dude,
You really are a dumb fuck aren't you? I realize you are a troll, so I'm not upset with you at all. I love a good troll every now and then.
*BUT* in case you aren't a troll.
Few packages in this genre are ever advertised. At most, you get a review in a magazine. The one review we got gave it high praises and ignored talking about our less adequate packaging altogether. Actually, I take that back, they brought up the fact that we actually had documentation with the disc -- real live paper documentation, which is rare. Most folks actually just put on a slick cover and leave the docs for the electronic bits. They were happy about this.
The marketting was more than most, because folks that were technically competitors were advertising it on their site. The main manufacturer of the synth that this was on had it as a featured item on their website.
All in all, it had as much marketting as one could do.
Again, it was a good experiment and didn't cost us anything to do it. The fact of the matter is, the folks that have the expensive looking stuff, get their packages pirated just as much. There is always an excuse as to why its pirated. Its too expensive for the common person to own, so we will just take it -- information wants to be free. Its too cheap, thus its crap -- information, again wants to be free. Its mid priced and affordable, thus maybe information wants to be free.
Information doesn't want to be free. IP Thieves want information to be free.
Did I mention we gave away sound free of charge for years...these ended up on commercial discs even though they clearly stated that they were not to be redistributed in any way and they were only to be downloaded from our site. We put this warning in the synth patches so that you could see it if you loaded this up. These idiots didn't even remove our listings from there. But claimed that since they found it on the internet, it gotta be free.
My point is that no matter what you do, people will rip you off. Its no wonder content providers are going nutty and trying to get laws enacted that take away every right and enslave you so long as you hold anything that belongs to them. I think its horrible what these companies are doing as there are a lot of honest people...but the folks making the most noise? They are generally the ones who want to pirate the shit. I have a feeling that you are one of these people and are trying to justify your false reasoning why everyone else does it, and thats why you should be allowed to do so as well...
Good troll my man...good troll.
Dude,
You have a LOT to learn about the attractive opposite sex.
The not so attractive opposite sex is never really a problem though...wearing a shirt that says I Do Fat Girls would probably get you laid faster than those 'curvaceous things'...
Ummm....I don't understand what you are asking?
A ROM Standard? There is. its called CDRom...the standard in most sampling media.
There is also a smartcard standard these days for the platform...most folks don't carry it because you never know what you are going to sell. If you sell media on Smartcard, folks start to judge the product on the size alone and not the content. And if you invest in the cards only to find out that new quadruple sized media is now available for the price that you paid for the standard size of the time, no one will bit.
Its not really a market where buying in bulk will save you money...especially since 200 sales will be parsed out over a multiyear period.
As for whining about this, there was no whining in there. It was an experiment. We had already expected this to be a wasted product and didn't expect to see anything from it. If bandwidth wasn't so great at the time (and the fact some of the product was licensed elsewhere) we would have put it out on the net free for the taking. We decided we'd use this to make improvements to our site and put the content out for sale...
It was a GREAT experiment...we made up some of the money we would have lost, and was able to share data with our friends.
So again, no whining...it was a statement of fact that in some instances, you can't simply go with the cheapest as it will bite you in the ass. I'm glad we did this with a product that would have been a wash as opposed to something we truely wanted our names on (this was quality work, it was just a little less focused than we liked dealing with -- I like a lot of stuff in the same pallet whereas other companies was a smattering of everything -- which is what this product was).
So no blame here on anyone except pirates and folks that think they have a right to duplicate someone elses work simply because it takes almost no effort and is generally untraceable. I respect other peoples rights...if I do work on a GPL'd product, I give my tweeks back to the maintainer. I expect folks dealing with commercial works to respect things under the ideas set forward by its authors as well.
Again, I don't really understand your post. It makes little to no sense. You are accusing me and blaming me for being a stupid business person for making money of a dead product that legally I couldn't give away and thus would have languished. You say I'm stupid for helping out a community and then pointing out the fact that some folks will always think something is overpriced and steal it -- even if its statistically 1/6th the price of everything else in its target audience. The thing this did to teach me was how low of a price to set and knowing exactly where the numbers should be -- which is right where everyone said they were in the first place selling at $200 as opposed to our $30. For future products, we've chosen $100 as our point -- not because we don't think we can sell for more, but because we aren't in this for the money so much as we are the process (and keeping our toys up to date).