"Are Brits more open-minded than the rest of the world when it comes to choosing an OS?"
Here's a novel thought. Some may prefer a Microsoft OS. Bringing up "but they're closed minded because they didn't pick what I wanted them to pick" just makes your side look bad.
"A lengthy article published in Culture Mandala details how China is using cyber warfare (PDF) as an asymmetric means to obtain technology transfer and market dominance."
And when they've achieved their goals how will they feel when the next superpower does them the same way?
"Mass piracy? Gimme a break. Oh they whine about it but the only content providers not making a profit are the ones providing garbage content"
For those of us not suffering from the slashillusion that piracy consists ONLY of 4-letter organizations. YES there's mass piracy from small mom and pop sized organizations to the big guys. Just because slashdot doesn't run off at the mouth every week about them doesn't mean they don't exist.
"There are even content providers making a healthy profit TODAY that aren't adding DRM to their product."
So? X or Y happening doesn't mean Z's not.
"You're just an apologist for arse clowns that think they own content and culture and feel justified equating the backup of a DVD a person bought with pileage, rape and loot. They think 5 years imprisonment is a fitting punishment for each instance of such a "crime". Just because they managed to negotiate a contract with someone to produce content doesn't give them the right to rape a culture, deny paying customers what they paid for, or impose fines and penalties that make being sent to the colonies for steal bread seem mild."
Whatever. The fact that the majority of you have decided to take the lazy way out of solving a problem is clear. Don't buy, don't consume, choose alternatives, and be proactive with the media, executive, and legal systems would have solved the problem just as well and no one would have had to stretch their ethics on a daily basis like they do now.
"Your comprehension skills are awful. A much better translation would be "If only they'd do what they'd done in the past which was reasonable I might be interested in their product"."
There's a difference between arguing for "I" and speaking for "else". Anyway since actions speak louder than words, content producers tried it your way and their reward for their effort's was mass piracy.
"It would be great to see a dying company at least open up the server software, but how can we give them incentive to do so? "
Why would you want a game that by it's nature needs constant updates to be released? What's that you say? The community can release a constant stream of fresh and exciting content that will keep the people coming back for more. Wonderful. Type up a business plan. Oh wait.
This is just another sad example of the American tendency to live beyond one's means. This is another symptom of the disease that is eating this country: financial illiteracy.
Riight. So when are you all going to cancel your broadband connections and go back to dialup? Remember you all have to show the younger generation that it's not how fast you get there, but whither you get there at all.
"What the fuck happened? It feels like I'm in the twilight zone!"
This old meme again. "If they'd only do what I want then piracy wouldn't exist". Sorry but the fact that people are downloading and downloading lots shows that indeed the content has merit and is worth going out onto a legal limb to get. Impress me with your argument by showing me a public that not only doesn't buy but doesn't consume and I'll retract my statement.
"Pirate Bay makes no secret of the fact that it inserts the random IP addresses of users, some of who may not even know what file sharing is, to the list of people downloading files, leading investigators up a virtual garden path. "
As I pointed out in another forum this is as far as intent akin to the "human shield" tactic. Just because people don't get killed doesn't make it right.
Now on to the main story. I'll point out that it's a courts job to determine guilt or innocence. Not the court of public opinion which this story without supporting information is.
"...Xconomy has a post pointing out that this access is restricted to exactly one Google terminal per library. So, you can read books for free â" as long as you're the first person to get to your public library's computer room in the morning."
OK and if I want to access one of my libraries databases on CDROM how would that be different than this?
"Free software released the artist from the constraints of having to fit in with someone else's idea of what software or technology he should be allowed to use, leaving him free to be creative and follow his own unique path."
Uh huh, and exactly what constraint was he under that a piece of paper and a number 6H pencil wouldn't solve? I know we all like to cheer on free software but in this example his "unique path" was constrained only by himself.
"Mini speedboat - The World is Not Enough (1999) Pierce Brosnan
I'm not sure that Pierce Brosnan's mini speedboat really qualifies as a gadget, but it was an electric opening sequence, and its bijou size means its almost small enough to fit in your pocket and qualify as a gadget. "
Maybe with todays fashion you could fit them in your pants.
"Their idea for many different "tiers" to their operating system should have been the first clue to their management team that it is time to reign things in and refocus efforts."
Said with a straight face by a community that doesn't know when to quit.
"And don't get me started on the ridiculous transparency + airbrush titlebars. The first thing they should have done was to accept that the translucent window experiment failed (or at least to boost the opacity to ~90% like another company addicted to transparency learned to do), but the Windows UI team doesn't seem to have realized it yet."
The more important question is, can we change it? I'd be more worried about an interface I couldn't change than an interface that pleases everyone.
"The economics of virtual worlds are driven by synthetic scarcity. Indeed, any digital product is subject to imposed scarcity as an infinite amount of copies could be created at practically no cost."
Yes, however as has been pointed out repeatedly there are other aspects of content creation that aren't infinite and can't be ignored just to favor the one aspect that benefits only one particular party.
"I hear about all these businesses and universities spending so much money on virtual places that are lucky to get a dozen "hits" a month. Are any of these visitors buying a product, becoming more brand-loyal, or spreading the word?"
Sounds like the beginnings of the WWW, doesn't it?
I've just came back from a multiplayer UT3 and you all know what I observed? Not people worrying about their OS. Nor wither someone at Epic's their friend or not. Nope. They were having FUN. And that's what matters.
"A waterproof MP3 player built for bright beach days is the first device with a color "e-paper" display, meaning it has no backlighting and thus can be read in direct sunlight. The display, from Qualcomm, consists of two layers of a reflective material. Some wavelengths of light bounce off the first layer; some pass through and bounce off the second. Interference between the two beams creates the color, and electrostatic forces control the distance between the layers."
Slashdot Mirror
"This country didn't use secret ballots, an idea imported from Australia, until quite late in the 19th century. "
Thanks Australia! We'll return the favour.
"Are Brits more open-minded than the rest of the world when it comes to choosing an OS?"
Here's a novel thought. Some may prefer a Microsoft OS. Bringing up "but they're closed minded because they didn't pick what I wanted them to pick" just makes your side look bad.
"A lengthy article published in Culture Mandala details how China is using cyber warfare (PDF) as an asymmetric means to obtain technology transfer and market dominance."
And when they've achieved their goals how will they feel when the next superpower does them the same way?
"Mass piracy? Gimme a break. Oh they whine about it but the only content providers not making a profit are the ones providing garbage content"
For those of us not suffering from the slashillusion that piracy consists ONLY of 4-letter organizations. YES there's mass piracy from small mom and pop sized organizations to the big guys. Just because slashdot doesn't run off at the mouth every week about them doesn't mean they don't exist.
"There are even content providers making a healthy profit TODAY that aren't adding DRM to their product."
So? X or Y happening doesn't mean Z's not.
"You're just an apologist for arse clowns that think they own content and culture and feel justified equating the backup of a DVD a person bought with pileage, rape and loot. They think 5 years imprisonment is a fitting punishment for each instance of such a "crime". Just because they managed to negotiate a contract with someone to produce content doesn't give them the right to rape a culture, deny paying customers what they paid for, or impose fines and penalties that make being sent to the colonies for steal bread seem mild."
Whatever. The fact that the majority of you have decided to take the lazy way out of solving a problem is clear. Don't buy, don't consume, choose alternatives, and be proactive with the media, executive, and legal systems would have solved the problem just as well and no one would have had to stretch their ethics on a daily basis like they do now.
"Your comprehension skills are awful. A much better translation would be "If only they'd do what they'd done in the past which was reasonable I might be interested in their product"."
There's a difference between arguing for "I" and speaking for "else". Anyway since actions speak louder than words, content producers tried it your way and their reward for their effort's was mass piracy.
"It would be great to see a dying company at least open up the server software, but how can we give them incentive to do so? "
Why would you want a game that by it's nature needs constant updates to be released? What's that you say? The community can release a constant stream of fresh and exciting content that will keep the people coming back for more. Wonderful. Type up a business plan. Oh wait.
This is just another sad example of the American tendency to live beyond one's means. This is another symptom of the disease that is eating this country: financial illiteracy.
Riight. So when are you all going to cancel your broadband connections and go back to dialup? Remember you all have to show the younger generation that it's not how fast you get there, but whither you get there at all.
"What the fuck happened? It feels like I'm in the twilight zone!"
This old meme again. "If they'd only do what I want then piracy wouldn't exist". Sorry but the fact that people are downloading and downloading lots shows that indeed the content has merit and is worth going out onto a legal limb to get. Impress me with your argument by showing me a public that not only doesn't buy but doesn't consume and I'll retract my statement.
"Pirate Bay makes no secret of the fact that it inserts the random IP addresses of users, some of who may not even know what file sharing is, to the list of people downloading files, leading investigators up a virtual garden path. "
As I pointed out in another forum this is as far as intent akin to the "human shield" tactic. Just because people don't get killed doesn't make it right.
Now on to the main story. I'll point out that it's a courts job to determine guilt or innocence. Not the court of public opinion which this story without supporting information is.
"...Xconomy has a post pointing out that this access is restricted to exactly one Google terminal per library. So, you can read books for free â" as long as you're the first person to get to your public library's computer room in the morning."
OK and if I want to access one of my libraries databases on CDROM how would that be different than this?
"Free software released the artist from the constraints of having to fit in with someone else's idea of what software or technology he should be allowed to use, leaving him free to be creative and follow his own unique path."
Uh huh, and exactly what constraint was he under that a piece of paper and a number 6H pencil wouldn't solve? I know we all like to cheer on free software but in this example his "unique path" was constrained only by himself.
My swartz is bigger than your swartz.
"What games would you put on display? "
Getting First post on Slashdot. :)
"Does this really need to be a front-page discussion?"
Well no one could see it if you put it in the classifieds. :)
"Mini speedboat - The World is Not Enough (1999) Pierce Brosnan
I'm not sure that Pierce Brosnan's mini speedboat really qualifies as a gadget, but it was an electric opening sequence, and its bijou size means its almost small enough to fit in your pocket and qualify as a gadget.
"
Maybe with todays fashion you could fit them in your pants.
"Their idea for many different "tiers" to their operating system should have been the first clue to their management team that it is time to reign things in and refocus efforts."
Said with a straight face by a community that doesn't know when to quit.
"Marketing fluff does not belong in an OS, or a device driver. I surely hope there is an opt-out for this tripe."
Which is why the "About" button has been removed from FOSS software.
And lets pretend that one can steal ideas just to score a slashpoint.
"And don't get me started on the ridiculous transparency + airbrush titlebars. The first thing they should have done was to accept that the translucent window experiment failed (or at least to boost the opacity to ~90% like another company addicted to transparency learned to do), but the Windows UI team doesn't seem to have realized it yet."
The more important question is, can we change it? I'd be more worried about an interface I couldn't change than an interface that pleases everyone.
"The economics of virtual worlds are driven by synthetic scarcity. Indeed, any digital product is subject to imposed scarcity as an infinite amount of copies could be created at practically no cost."
Yes, however as has been pointed out repeatedly there are other aspects of content creation that aren't infinite and can't be ignored just to favor the one aspect that benefits only one particular party.
"I hear about all these businesses and universities spending so much money on virtual places that are lucky to get a dozen "hits" a month. Are any of these visitors buying a product, becoming more brand-loyal, or spreading the word?"
Sounds like the beginnings of the WWW, doesn't it?
Actually I misspoke. It's New Urbanism, and yes they are opposites to each other, but they can have "downsides" individually.
Yeah. Remember green screen "dumb" terminals.
I've just came back from a multiplayer UT3 and you all know what I observed? Not people worrying about their OS. Nor wither someone at Epic's their friend or not. Nope. They were having FUN. And that's what matters.
"A waterproof MP3 player built for bright beach days is the first device with a color "e-paper" display, meaning it has no backlighting and thus can be read in direct sunlight. The display, from Qualcomm, consists of two layers of a reflective material. Some wavelengths of light bounce off the first layer; some pass through and bounce off the second. Interference between the two beams creates the color, and electrostatic forces control the distance between the layers."
http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/21561/?a=f