I'm really tired of people like you telling others what is and is not quality programming. I happen to enjoy watching many programs on the History Channel, TLC, Discovery, ESPN, AMC, Bravo (well, actually NBC aired "The West Wing", Bravo just plays old episodes I missed), and NESN (gotta watch the Red Sox) and believe they are quality programs. HBO occasionally produces some excellent movies though I have to rent or purchase them since I don't get HBO or the other movie channels. I wound up buying "Band of Brothers" after seeing teh first episode on The History Channel. You might not like these programs but that does not mean they are not quality programs.
What the fuck are you talking about? Microsoft does NOT have a patent on plug-in technology, Eolas does. They sued Microsoft for violating their patent (and only Microsoft I might add, though other browsers use thew same patent). Microsoft filed a complaint with the USPTO to have the patent reviwed and then tossed out due to volumes of prior art. The W3C and Tim Berners Lee, to name a couple, even came out on Microsoft's side of this one. Their concern is if the patent is upheld, Microsoft will be forced to change the way they handle plug-ins, invariably "breaking" hundreds of thousands of sites at a minimum, and by proxy "breaking" the internet itself. If anyone is stifling technology it's Eolas. I really hope someone mods your post down to "-1: fucking moron".
Buy the original CD and save yourself a lot of trouble.
1. Can we copy the file we bought to different devices (i.e. PC/ipod/mp3 player)?
This is the beuaty of ripping the songs straight from the CD. I can rip copies to AIFF or WAV and then convert these high-quality versions to any format I want, even copies of the original CD so you can keep the original safe.
2. Will it allow us to modify the format to/from mp3/wma/ogg/etc?
Why would you want to convert a lossy format to another lossy format? Again, this is the beauty of ripping the songs straight from the CD. You get to choose, not some geek in his little ivory tower.
3. What is the quality compared with "normal" downloads (from gnutella/limewire/etc)?
Once again, if you rip the songs from the CD, you get to choose the bitrate, and therefore the overall quality of the digital version of the song.
4. Can we "re-download" a song if our copy get destroyed/lost/mangled?
If you buy the CD to rip from then you can rip the songs you want and put the CD away for safe keeping as a back-up. You can then convert your rips to compilations or copies of the original albums that can be played in home stereo systems or in your car.
5. What other advantages/dis-advantages are there?
It's a lossy digital format, stuck at the bitrate and file format chosen for you by Real. That'a a pretty damn big disadvantage.
Because companies don't want older versions of their software competing with the most current release. Not to mention that many closed source apps rely on licensing third party technology and to open their stuff up would open up stuff they do not own the rights to.
My Comcast cable subscription comes with something called OnDemand and it allows you to watch numerous shows at your convenience, many of which are free. I don't use it myself but there it is, a legitimate subscription based service that lets you watch TV programs at your convenience.
Did you happen to read the article or did you automatically go into anti-Microsoft asshole mode? If you RTFA you'd see the name Michael Cohen mentioned. What's that you say? You don't recognize that name? Perhaps if you had read the link you provided you'd see these two bits of information:
"I am also working with Michael Cohen at Microsoft Research on some graphics topics."
and further down the page there's this:
"Video Tooning
Summary: We build a system for transforming an input video into a highly abstracted, spatio-temporally coherent cartoon with a range of styles. We also go a little bit further to do a free-form deformation on Tooning results for exaggeration.
Jue Wang, Yingqing Xu, Heung-Yeung Shum and Michael Cohen. Video Tooning. ACM Trans. on Graphics (Proc. of SIGGAPH2004). (pdf) (demo video, low resolution version at 10M)
Jue Wang, Yingqing Xu and Michael Cohen. Free-form Video Tooning Deformation. Poster on SCA2004. (pdf)"
Yes, this guy was working on the project. However, it was part of a team effort of which Microsoft Research (or at least Michael Cohen on behalf of Microsoft Research) was a part. You might also notice that Jue Wang has worked on other projects of which Microsoft Research was a part. Perhaps he's collaborating with Microsoft Research?
Am I the only one who sees the irony in shit statement, "...has been subject to a similar type of theft by a company going by the name RockSoft Development"?
I agree. Actually I'm also quite surprised, with all the tough talk about how unenforcable EULAs are, people bitch about this stuff in the first place. Which is it? EULAs are worthless or we should force corporations to bend to the whims of a fickle community of people because they fear the ToS they must comply with before using a service?
"It's disturbing when [insert issue here] issues become central to a wider political issue that involves everybody, yet very few people have the background to understand it or have an informed opinion about it."
Welcome to Slashdot. Do you think this stops geeks from discussing things they don't understand either? It's even more madddening when they force their opinions upon everyone assuming that since they're geeks they're smarter than eveyrone else and know what's best.
...and they can save half the money they spent (not because the idea is expensive but because I'm greedy). Simply fire ANYONE on the spot who connects an unauthorized wireless hub to the corporate network. No questions asked, no ifs, ands, or buts about it. Show the employee, err...ex-employee, the door and make sure to have him escorted by no less that four security guards. Make him look foolish for his transgressions and make sure others see his shame. This idea works for opening e-mail attachments without verifying the source and giving out passwords to unauthorized people amongst other problems with security.
Fuck you. Who the hell marks this shit as insightful? It's arrogant fuckwits that are the problem. You thin you're so much better than everyone else because you watch PBS or you read fifty books a year. Big fucking deal. I have a Masters Degree, I'm a very creative individual, and I do very well in most commonly accecpted "intelligence tests". I also happen to be an avid baseball fan with season tickets to the Red Sox. There went your theory right out the fucking window. Just because I refuse to think like you does not mean I am not capable of thinking at all or about important things. I think you're a fucking idiot for not understanding baseball, how about that for a theory?
Mickey Mouse is also a trademark and will never fall into the public domain so you can quit thinking about your delusions that you'll someday be ableto make a cartoon involving Mickey Mouse. All the original Disney characters are trademarked as well. At best, all you'll be able to do is pass around copies of Steamboat Willie amongst your friends and I'm guessing they'll think you're a cheap fucking bastard if you try to pass this off as a gift.
That's what I was getting at. It's not only important to enforce the use of the V-Chip, it's also vitally important to establish consistent TV ratings and enforce these as well. The just of all this though is that parents, and not government, makes the decision to censor or not; as it should be.
This is a great use for the V-Chip, the much maligned device that would be put in all televisions and allow parents to censor what shows their kids could watch and let others watch whatever the hell they want. However, thanks to over reactive "experts", the V-Chip was crucified as being a tool of government sanctioned censorship of our airwaves, ignoring the fact that it's actually self censorship. I say bring the V-Chip back and establish a consistent rating system for all television shows to use.
No, this song isn't making fun of the original, it's poking fun at the 2004 US elections and the candidates for both parties. The song is simply the means to an end and JibJab could have just as easily picked any number of songs about America for the tune.
Before the mods kick this post into oblivion note this, this doesn't mean I think JibJab's animatin wasn't funny, it just means I can see why this could be construed as an infringing satire and not a legitimate pardoy.
Oddly enough some newer devices are foregoing firewire in lieu of USB 2.0. It's faster and they don't have to worry about the licensing from Apple. My Canon EOS Digital Rebel is one such example.
Yeah, because they dumpbed MSNBC a long time ago for writing less than flattering articles about their products and sdervices. What's that? You mean Microsoft is still in partnership with NBC? One more Slashdot conspiracy exposed.
Actually here's a little tidbit of trivia for you. Why do the Olympics use French and English for everything? These are the two most common first or second languages for people around the globe. Also Mandarin is the most common language in the world followed by English second. One of these two languages will dominate the world in 50 years and it'll all depend on whether China becomes an open and democratic society. I'm going to start learning Mandarin.
Not to mention that Microsoft offers much larger portions of their source code through their Shared Source licensing program. If they had stolen code in their software I doubt they'd let the world have a peak.
...but it will end with censorship of many other things. France and Germany already do not allow the schwastika to be sold or displayed in their respective countries. How ling until they pressure the UN to ban this from the internet? What about China and anti-government speech? Letting the UN get involved will only make things worse. Much, much worse.
Slashdot Mirror
"...which was hacked shortly afterwards..."
It's truly amazing that the editors can find stories months or even years old but often dup stories in the same day.
*Note: I'm not saying this story was a dupe.
I'm really tired of people like you telling others what is and is not quality programming. I happen to enjoy watching many programs on the History Channel, TLC, Discovery, ESPN, AMC, Bravo (well, actually NBC aired "The West Wing", Bravo just plays old episodes I missed), and NESN (gotta watch the Red Sox) and believe they are quality programs. HBO occasionally produces some excellent movies though I have to rent or purchase them since I don't get HBO or the other movie channels. I wound up buying "Band of Brothers" after seeing teh first episode on The History Channel. You might not like these programs but that does not mean they are not quality programs.
What the fuck are you talking about? Microsoft does NOT have a patent on plug-in technology, Eolas does. They sued Microsoft for violating their patent (and only Microsoft I might add, though other browsers use thew same patent). Microsoft filed a complaint with the USPTO to have the patent reviwed and then tossed out due to volumes of prior art. The W3C and Tim Berners Lee, to name a couple, even came out on Microsoft's side of this one. Their concern is if the patent is upheld, Microsoft will be forced to change the way they handle plug-ins, invariably "breaking" hundreds of thousands of sites at a minimum, and by proxy "breaking" the internet itself. If anyone is stifling technology it's Eolas. I really hope someone mods your post down to "-1: fucking moron".
Buy the original CD and save yourself a lot of trouble.
1. Can we copy the file we bought to different devices (i.e. PC/ipod/mp3 player)?
This is the beuaty of ripping the songs straight from the CD. I can rip copies to AIFF or WAV and then convert these high-quality versions to any format I want, even copies of the original CD so you can keep the original safe.
2. Will it allow us to modify the format to/from mp3/wma/ogg/etc?
Why would you want to convert a lossy format to another lossy format? Again, this is the beauty of ripping the songs straight from the CD. You get to choose, not some geek in his little ivory tower.
3. What is the quality compared with "normal" downloads (from gnutella/limewire/etc)?
Once again, if you rip the songs from the CD, you get to choose the bitrate, and therefore the overall quality of the digital version of the song.
4. Can we "re-download" a song if our copy get destroyed/lost/mangled?
If you buy the CD to rip from then you can rip the songs you want and put the CD away for safe keeping as a back-up. You can then convert your rips to compilations or copies of the original albums that can be played in home stereo systems or in your car.
5. What other advantages/dis-advantages are there?
It's a lossy digital format, stuck at the bitrate and file format chosen for you by Real. That'a a pretty damn big disadvantage.
Because companies don't want older versions of their software competing with the most current release. Not to mention that many closed source apps rely on licensing third party technology and to open their stuff up would open up stuff they do not own the rights to.
My Comcast cable subscription comes with something called OnDemand and it allows you to watch numerous shows at your convenience, many of which are free. I don't use it myself but there it is, a legitimate subscription based service that lets you watch TV programs at your convenience.
Did you happen to read the article or did you automatically go into anti-Microsoft asshole mode? If you RTFA you'd see the name Michael Cohen mentioned. What's that you say? You don't recognize that name? Perhaps if you had read the link you provided you'd see these two bits of information:
"I am also working with Michael Cohen at Microsoft Research on some graphics topics."
and further down the page there's this:
"Video Tooning
Summary: We build a system for transforming an input video into a highly abstracted, spatio-temporally coherent cartoon with a range of styles. We also go a little bit further to do a free-form deformation on Tooning results for exaggeration.
Jue Wang, Yingqing Xu, Heung-Yeung Shum and Michael Cohen. Video Tooning. ACM Trans. on Graphics (Proc. of SIGGAPH2004). (pdf) (demo video, low resolution version at 10M)
Jue Wang, Yingqing Xu and Michael Cohen. Free-form Video Tooning Deformation. Poster on SCA2004. (pdf)"
Yes, this guy was working on the project. However, it was part of a team effort of which Microsoft Research (or at least Michael Cohen on behalf of Microsoft Research) was a part. You might also notice that Jue Wang has worked on other projects of which Microsoft Research was a part. Perhaps he's collaborating with Microsoft Research?
Wow, what a Freudian slip. I meant 'this', not 'shit'.
Am I the only one who sees the irony in shit statement, "...has been subject to a similar type of theft by a company going by the name RockSoft Development"?
I agree. Actually I'm also quite surprised, with all the tough talk about how unenforcable EULAs are, people bitch about this stuff in the first place. Which is it? EULAs are worthless or we should force corporations to bend to the whims of a fickle community of people because they fear the ToS they must comply with before using a service?
"It's disturbing when [insert issue here] issues become central to a wider political issue that involves everybody, yet very few people have the background to understand it or have an informed opinion about it."
Welcome to Slashdot. Do you think this stops geeks from discussing things they don't understand either? It's even more madddening when they force their opinions upon everyone assuming that since they're geeks they're smarter than eveyrone else and know what's best.
...and they can save half the money they spent (not because the idea is expensive but because I'm greedy). Simply fire ANYONE on the spot who connects an unauthorized wireless hub to the corporate network. No questions asked, no ifs, ands, or buts about it. Show the employee, err...ex-employee, the door and make sure to have him escorted by no less that four security guards. Make him look foolish for his transgressions and make sure others see his shame. This idea works for opening e-mail attachments without verifying the source and giving out passwords to unauthorized people amongst other problems with security.
Fuck you. Who the hell marks this shit as insightful? It's arrogant fuckwits that are the problem. You thin you're so much better than everyone else because you watch PBS or you read fifty books a year. Big fucking deal. I have a Masters Degree, I'm a very creative individual, and I do very well in most commonly accecpted "intelligence tests". I also happen to be an avid baseball fan with season tickets to the Red Sox. There went your theory right out the fucking window. Just because I refuse to think like you does not mean I am not capable of thinking at all or about important things. I think you're a fucking idiot for not understanding baseball, how about that for a theory?
When C sells their rights to A (it is legally considered property after all). Any more stupid, yet easy to answer, questions?
Mickey Mouse is also a trademark and will never fall into the public domain so you can quit thinking about your delusions that you'll someday be ableto make a cartoon involving Mickey Mouse. All the original Disney characters are trademarked as well. At best, all you'll be able to do is pass around copies of Steamboat Willie amongst your friends and I'm guessing they'll think you're a cheap fucking bastard if you try to pass this off as a gift.
That's what I was getting at. It's not only important to enforce the use of the V-Chip, it's also vitally important to establish consistent TV ratings and enforce these as well. The just of all this though is that parents, and not government, makes the decision to censor or not; as it should be.
This is a great use for the V-Chip, the much maligned device that would be put in all televisions and allow parents to censor what shows their kids could watch and let others watch whatever the hell they want. However, thanks to over reactive "experts", the V-Chip was crucified as being a tool of government sanctioned censorship of our airwaves, ignoring the fact that it's actually self censorship. I say bring the V-Chip back and establish a consistent rating system for all television shows to use.
No, this song isn't making fun of the original, it's poking fun at the 2004 US elections and the candidates for both parties. The song is simply the means to an end and JibJab could have just as easily picked any number of songs about America for the tune.
Before the mods kick this post into oblivion note this, this doesn't mean I think JibJab's animatin wasn't funny, it just means I can see why this could be construed as an infringing satire and not a legitimate pardoy.
Oddly enough some newer devices are foregoing firewire in lieu of USB 2.0. It's faster and they don't have to worry about the licensing from Apple. My Canon EOS Digital Rebel is one such example.
"...recommended Firefox over Internet Explorer."
Yeah, because they dumpbed MSNBC a long time ago for writing less than flattering articles about their products and sdervices. What's that? You mean Microsoft is still in partnership with NBC? One more Slashdot conspiracy exposed.
Actually here's a little tidbit of trivia for you. Why do the Olympics use French and English for everything? These are the two most common first or second languages for people around the globe. Also Mandarin is the most common language in the world followed by English second. One of these two languages will dominate the world in 50 years and it'll all depend on whether China becomes an open and democratic society. I'm going to start learning Mandarin.
"of the variables that figure into that equation is whether it is for commercial use."
No, it's not. Commercial use of intellectual property only affects whether the violation was criminal or simply a civil matter.
Not to mention that Microsoft offers much larger portions of their source code through their Shared Source licensing program. If they had stolen code in their software I doubt they'd let the world have a peak.
Microsoft's patent covers more than powering devices via the human body. They plan on using the human body for data transmission as well.
...but it will end with censorship of many other things. France and Germany already do not allow the schwastika to be sold or displayed in their respective countries. How ling until they pressure the UN to ban this from the internet? What about China and anti-government speech? Letting the UN get involved will only make things worse. Much, much worse.