Yes, we all know that (well, of US copyright law at any rate). We're not discussing the definition of theft vs copyright infringement here. At least I'm not.
It was an illustration of a point. That point being that being once removed from the crime does not necessarily mean you have any right to the merchandise, whether we're talking theft or infringement.
Instead, they chose to break into private property and destroy legally owned private property through unauthorized access.
I don't know how our set of laws compare in this area, but if I buy stolen goods, I don't own it. If the police later track down those goods, they can take it back and give it to the original owner, and I'm out my cash. At least Amazon fully refunded the customers?
If it's the case that they didn't attempt to obtain the rights retroactively, I think that's a pity. But, not having been in their shoes, I suppose it might have just not been worth the hassle to navigate the quagmire of rights for one specific book. Not that that makes the incident easier to swallow. The only way to avoid Amazon backpedaling due to someone threatening to sue them, is to never enable your Kindle's wireless connection. Which would be a pity as well.
I think the practice of publishers in this digital age is absolutely insane. Regional restrictions on books, refusing to allow text-to-speech to be enabled for many books (the primary reason I see for people cracking Kindle's DRM is to enable TTS), pushing for a rental model instead of ownership. As I said originally, they seem to have learned jack squat from those industries that went before them. I buy more books for my Kindle than I have physical books in ages. Because it's easy and convenient. Start screwing me over, and I'll pirate books instead.
"If the publishers want it, Amazon wants it" strikes me as a somewhat silly statement. That's like saying we want roads so we want taxes. Reality is, we'd love roads with no taxes, but we see the connection between the two.
I don't know the details of the 1984 fiasco, but the rights holders don't _have_ to sell Amazon the rights. They may well have tried to obtained it, failed, and done the only thing left that they could legally do.
Amazon labels them as "upgrades", because they are. The basis for comparison being the previous version of the software, no matter how gimped that was. Hell, they still don't get it. Collections? Great, I can make a Fantasy "folder", and inside that other folders for each of the authors or series. Keep it nice and tidy. Err, no. No hierarchy possible. What the? What century are they living in? It's still an upgrade though, and a much wanted one.
Apple, on the other hand, would have done the same and held a huge event where they used "innovation", "it's that easy" and "isn't that great?" at least once every three sentences.
That's the different between reality and reality distortion fields.:P
As far as I've read, it's the publishers that want this, not Amazon.
I haven't myself done a lot of research, admittedly (cause I don't really care, if they cease to want to sell me books for my Kindle, I can always download them from other sources), but a friend of mine keeps bringing up stories about publishers pushing for things like expiration dates on ebooks.
We've been here before, oh so many times. Cassette tapes will kill the music industry. Video tape recorders will kill the movie industry. Illegal music downloads will kill the music industry. Readily accessible, easy to buy, ebooks will kill the book industry.. Sigh.
I'm not amazed when an industry refuses to listen to predictions, however realistic they may seem. But that they still don't get it, after multi-billion dollar industries have gone before them and shown what works and what does not, does somewhat baffle me still.
Ah well, let the publishers dig their own graves. I've read a few decent self-published $2 novels lately, so there doesn't seem to be any reason to worry. There'll still be stuff to read.
Oh, yeah, on the topic. 10 minutes worth of using the Kindle would've negated any need for the article's test. It doesn't take longer than that to rule it out as a study aid. It's simply too limited, too slow, too cumbersome to do the job.
CLI does have its uses. There are things it offers that no GUI can, and vice versa.
But claiming you need it for "real work" is like claiming you need a printing press to print a sheet of paper with "real text" on it. Both are equally ridiculous statements.
For most work environments, neither CLI nor GUI alone covers all needs. Welcome to the real world, where we use the appropriate tools for each task.
I have yet to speak to a single owner, or see a single review, that bought the iPad for a specific use. Besides, precisely, "oooh, shiny".
I've seen reviewers take the thing to the street and let a dozen people play with it. All go "ahh cool!", then answer the question "what would you use it for?" with a shrug and "dunno".
One would imagine that if a clear purpose for the device had been discovered, it would've trickled out into public knowledge.
As I've said elsewhere, "oooh shiny!" might carry a product long term. But its story cannot be compared to that of the iPhone.
I disagree. This market is still the "ooh, shiny, gotto have" market. Not saying that can't sustain a product, but it's quite different from the market the iPhone entered.
I'm not. But "oooh shiny!" has quite a different market appeal and potential compared to "oooh useful, AND shiny!". I didn't think I'd have to spell out the obvious around here.
Yeah, the iPhone was certainly a blip that faded into obscurity after a few months on the market....
Seriously, 21% market share years after launch is hardly defined as "quickly fall down and die".
Not saying the iPad will fare as well. The iPhone was a game changer when it was released. It filled a desperate need in the market (a smartphone that wasn't a freakin pain to use).
The iPad however is trying to _create_ a market. That's a lot more difficult. Everybody immediately recognized the usability of the iPhone; hardly anybody has a clue what need in their life (beyond "oooh shiny!") the iPad might sate.
Also, when the iPhone came out, it took a while for Android do show up and match it. Android's here now, and tablets running it are already starting to appear. Though I'm guessing it'll be another 6 months before any really good ones start appearing.
Unless people have decided there's no market for these devices by then (in which case they'll all quietly vanish), I still suspect the iPad will do fine. It was first to the table, plugs into Apple's eco system, and has the app store.
That rhymes pretty well with my experience as well.
Though, for me it started going wrong even earlier. During the installation of MTX itself, you're asked for the default directory to install games to. I changed the default to my games directory and hit save. And hit save. And hit save. It just wouldn't close the window. Eventually I X'ed it out. Then I discover some 15 MTX icons in systray, and an equal amount of processes.
After killing off all of those, and starting MTX fresh, I ended up in the cycle you describe. Though I wasn't as patient. After waiting a minute with a skeleton window "not responding", I killed it, uninstalled, and forgot about MW4 for the time being.
Spectacular failure is a good summary indeed. Hopefully their tweaks to the game itself are of a stratospherically higher quality.
Moderate use? You must have a different definition of moderate than me.
The first few days I had my Desire, I constantly played with it. It still lasted a day. Now that I'm over the initial "have to try everything" phase, I rarely have less than 50% battery at the end of the day.
The original post didn't try to come across as subjective. The title of it was "the reality is".
That's why I responded. Had he said "in my opinion", that would've been fine. But by starting out with "reality is", he made it objective. I pointed out that's not so.
It's fast, the screen is fantastic, and its dimensions are perfect for carrying in you pants' pockets. The only thing I'm disappointed in is the camera, in particular making movies (framerate).
It is rather light dependent. But once it does have proper light, I get 25fps. Which I assume is what it maxes out at by design here in Europe. 720p recording is supposed to become available via firmware upgrade in the not too distant future as well.
Cameras have always been HTC's weak point. From that perspective, this model is a big step up. Doesn't matter much to me, since I pretty much always have a dedicated camera in my pocket as well. But those looking for a "camera phone", should probably still look elsewhere.
As others have pointed out, you misunderstood my post. I made no attempt at supporting my point, precisely because it's subjective.
I simply pointed out that "the iPhone still rules the 'total experience dept'" is a subjective opinion a lot of people would disagree with. Me included.
If you're really dying to know, I can share some of my thoughts, sure. But with the plethora of Android reviews online, I wouldn't say anything that's not already been said. There's enough information out there for people to make their own informed choice.
That's a rather subjective observation. My Android phone broke the other day, leaving me with my work phone (iPhone) as only phone for a week.
I wouldn't swap my Android for an iPhone if you paid me big bucks to do it. And that was true as of my first (1.5) Android phone. Slow as it was, I still instantly preferred it over the iPhone.
Luckily, both exist and people can pick the one they prefer.
It may be nicer than many countries, but it isn't even near head of the class. I've been in a number of US states, and the water generally reeks coming out of the tap. I can't bring myself to even brush my teeth in it.
I'm sure it's fine as far as micro organisms are concerned. But what they've been replaced with doesn't make for a very appetizing drink.
On topic: Ubisoft won't change their minds on this unless there's a radical drop in revenues. Ironically, if the reviews are to be trusted, Ubisoft has put out a few games lately that have revived their respective franchises. The increased sales from the good reviews could mean a loss of sales due to the DRM might not even be noticed.
I have to admit, I don't think I care all that much. There are so many games out there without this kind of DRM to choose from. And if there wasn't, there are always other hobbies.
Android based phones have been available in my country for over a year now. Google still hasn't gotten around to enabling paid apps for this region.
Yes, I know it's because of Checkout, but I honestly don't care at this point. They've had enough time to get Checkout going, if they can't be arsed to do that they should use one of the gazillion payment services that already _do_ support this region. Just let us bloody buy apps!
Slashdot Mirror
Yes, we all know that (well, of US copyright law at any rate). We're not discussing the definition of theft vs copyright infringement here. At least I'm not.
It was an illustration of a point. That point being that being once removed from the crime does not necessarily mean you have any right to the merchandise, whether we're talking theft or infringement.
I don't know how our set of laws compare in this area, but if I buy stolen goods, I don't own it. If the police later track down those goods, they can take it back and give it to the original owner, and I'm out my cash. At least Amazon fully refunded the customers?
If it's the case that they didn't attempt to obtain the rights retroactively, I think that's a pity. But, not having been in their shoes, I suppose it might have just not been worth the hassle to navigate the quagmire of rights for one specific book. Not that that makes the incident easier to swallow. The only way to avoid Amazon backpedaling due to someone threatening to sue them, is to never enable your Kindle's wireless connection. Which would be a pity as well.
I think the practice of publishers in this digital age is absolutely insane. Regional restrictions on books, refusing to allow text-to-speech to be enabled for many books (the primary reason I see for people cracking Kindle's DRM is to enable TTS), pushing for a rental model instead of ownership. As I said originally, they seem to have learned jack squat from those industries that went before them. I buy more books for my Kindle than I have physical books in ages. Because it's easy and convenient. Start screwing me over, and I'll pirate books instead.
"If the publishers want it, Amazon wants it" strikes me as a somewhat silly statement. That's like saying we want roads so we want taxes. Reality is, we'd love roads with no taxes, but we see the connection between the two.
I don't know the details of the 1984 fiasco, but the rights holders don't _have_ to sell Amazon the rights. They may well have tried to obtained it, failed, and done the only thing left that they could legally do.
Amazon labels them as "upgrades", because they are. The basis for comparison being the previous version of the software, no matter how gimped that was. Hell, they still don't get it. Collections? Great, I can make a Fantasy "folder", and inside that other folders for each of the authors or series. Keep it nice and tidy. Err, no. No hierarchy possible. What the? What century are they living in? It's still an upgrade though, and a much wanted one.
Apple, on the other hand, would have done the same and held a huge event where they used "innovation", "it's that easy" and "isn't that great?" at least once every three sentences.
That's the different between reality and reality distortion fields. :P
As far as I've read, it's the publishers that want this, not Amazon.
I haven't myself done a lot of research, admittedly (cause I don't really care, if they cease to want to sell me books for my Kindle, I can always download them from other sources), but a friend of mine keeps bringing up stories about publishers pushing for things like expiration dates on ebooks.
We've been here before, oh so many times. Cassette tapes will kill the music industry. Video tape recorders will kill the movie industry. Illegal music downloads will kill the music industry. Readily accessible, easy to buy, ebooks will kill the book industry.. Sigh.
I'm not amazed when an industry refuses to listen to predictions, however realistic they may seem. But that they still don't get it, after multi-billion dollar industries have gone before them and shown what works and what does not, does somewhat baffle me still.
Ah well, let the publishers dig their own graves. I've read a few decent self-published $2 novels lately, so there doesn't seem to be any reason to worry. There'll still be stuff to read.
Oh, yeah, on the topic. 10 minutes worth of using the Kindle would've negated any need for the article's test. It doesn't take longer than that to rule it out as a study aid. It's simply too limited, too slow, too cumbersome to do the job.
CLI does have its uses. There are things it offers that no GUI can, and vice versa.
But claiming you need it for "real work" is like claiming you need a printing press to print a sheet of paper with "real text" on it. Both are equally ridiculous statements.
For most work environments, neither CLI nor GUI alone covers all needs. Welcome to the real world, where we use the appropriate tools for each task.
I have yet to speak to a single owner, or see a single review, that bought the iPad for a specific use. Besides, precisely, "oooh, shiny".
I've seen reviewers take the thing to the street and let a dozen people play with it. All go "ahh cool!", then answer the question "what would you use it for?" with a shrug and "dunno".
One would imagine that if a clear purpose for the device had been discovered, it would've trickled out into public knowledge.
As I've said elsewhere, "oooh shiny!" might carry a product long term. But its story cannot be compared to that of the iPhone.
I disagree. This market is still the "ooh, shiny, gotto have" market. Not saying that can't sustain a product, but it's quite different from the market the iPhone entered.
I'm not. But "oooh shiny!" has quite a different market appeal and potential compared to "oooh useful, AND shiny!". I didn't think I'd have to spell out the obvious around here.
It's a Slashdot post, not a dissertation. Of course it doesn't cover all angles.
I'm sorry, but it's you that's not comprehending.
The quote you replied to did not pertain to sales figures. It it had, it would have said "hardly anybody bought".
It doesn't seem you read what you quoted and replied to.
Yeah, the iPhone was certainly a blip that faded into obscurity after a few months on the market....
Seriously, 21% market share years after launch is hardly defined as "quickly fall down and die".
Not saying the iPad will fare as well. The iPhone was a game changer when it was released. It filled a desperate need in the market (a smartphone that wasn't a freakin pain to use).
The iPad however is trying to _create_ a market. That's a lot more difficult. Everybody immediately recognized the usability of the iPhone; hardly anybody has a clue what need in their life (beyond "oooh shiny!") the iPad might sate.
Also, when the iPhone came out, it took a while for Android do show up and match it. Android's here now, and tablets running it are already starting to appear. Though I'm guessing it'll be another 6 months before any really good ones start appearing.
Unless people have decided there's no market for these devices by then (in which case they'll all quietly vanish), I still suspect the iPad will do fine. It was first to the table, plugs into Apple's eco system, and has the app store.
Meh, my bad. This was already covered in other comments.
Not even if that game costs $5 instead of $50?
That rhymes pretty well with my experience as well.
Though, for me it started going wrong even earlier. During the installation of MTX itself, you're asked for the default directory to install games to. I changed the default to my games directory and hit save. And hit save. And hit save. It just wouldn't close the window. Eventually I X'ed it out. Then I discover some 15 MTX icons in systray, and an equal amount of processes.
After killing off all of those, and starting MTX fresh, I ended up in the cycle you describe. Though I wasn't as patient. After waiting a minute with a skeleton window "not responding", I killed it, uninstalled, and forgot about MW4 for the time being.
Spectacular failure is a good summary indeed. Hopefully their tweaks to the game itself are of a stratospherically higher quality.
Moderate use? You must have a different definition of moderate than me.
The first few days I had my Desire, I constantly played with it. It still lasted a day. Now that I'm over the initial "have to try everything" phase, I rarely have less than 50% battery at the end of the day.
The original post didn't try to come across as subjective. The title of it was "the reality is".
That's why I responded. Had he said "in my opinion", that would've been fine. But by starting out with "reality is", he made it objective. I pointed out that's not so.
It is rather light dependent. But once it does have proper light, I get 25fps. Which I assume is what it maxes out at by design here in Europe. 720p recording is supposed to become available via firmware upgrade in the not too distant future as well.
Cameras have always been HTC's weak point. From that perspective, this model is a big step up. Doesn't matter much to me, since I pretty much always have a dedicated camera in my pocket as well. But those looking for a "camera phone", should probably still look elsewhere.
As others have pointed out, you misunderstood my post. I made no attempt at supporting my point, precisely because it's subjective.
I simply pointed out that "the iPhone still rules the 'total experience dept'" is a subjective opinion a lot of people would disagree with. Me included.
If you're really dying to know, I can share some of my thoughts, sure. But with the plethora of Android reviews online, I wouldn't say anything that's not already been said. There's enough information out there for people to make their own informed choice.
That's a rather subjective observation. My Android phone broke the other day, leaving me with my work phone (iPhone) as only phone for a week.
I wouldn't swap my Android for an iPhone if you paid me big bucks to do it. And that was true as of my first (1.5) Android phone. Slow as it was, I still instantly preferred it over the iPhone.
Luckily, both exist and people can pick the one they prefer.
It may be nicer than many countries, but it isn't even near head of the class. I've been in a number of US states, and the water generally reeks coming out of the tap. I can't bring myself to even brush my teeth in it.
I'm sure it's fine as far as micro organisms are concerned. But what they've been replaced with doesn't make for a very appetizing drink.
On topic: Ubisoft won't change their minds on this unless there's a radical drop in revenues. Ironically, if the reviews are to be trusted, Ubisoft has put out a few games lately that have revived their respective franchises. The increased sales from the good reviews could mean a loss of sales due to the DRM might not even be noticed.
I have to admit, I don't think I care all that much. There are so many games out there without this kind of DRM to choose from. And if there wasn't, there are always other hobbies.
Android based phones have been available in my country for over a year now. Google still hasn't gotten around to enabling paid apps for this region.
Yes, I know it's because of Checkout, but I honestly don't care at this point. They've had enough time to get Checkout going, if they can't be arsed to do that they should use one of the gazillion payment services that already _do_ support this region. Just let us bloody buy apps!
Did you play with sound enabled?
I'm not sure how GPU-Z showing me below 30% load (on an almost two year old card) is proving the point you implicitly appear to try to make..?