I thought that headline said "Norm MacDonald"...good lord. A million scenarios ran through my mind, but the primary question was, "What makes a pogue that made a movie like Dirty Work qualified to comment on software?
If you have fond memories of happily wasting time with Slashdot for hours on end, or thinking how cool the book reviews were, or better yet can remember when a post has already been done and a book already reviewed, you may (or may not) enjoy Jon Katz's review of High Score: An Illustrated History of Electronic Games.
Sounds like a typical over-engineered NASA fiasco with too many steps. Why not just build a small lifting-body system (reducing the need for tons of heavy heat tiles as entering the atmosphere will cause much less friction) that will dive into the atmosphere, scoop at various altitudes, then launch itself back out and into an earth-return orbit? One vehicle for lower launch weight, no complex in-orbit automatic rendezvous. Have the thing stop in Earth orbit where it can be retrieved by the Shuttle. Voila.
As someone with a degree in creative writing, I have to disagree with you. It is not always necessary to sit down and plan a story before it's written. Now, granted, it depends on the genre, it takes a LOT of planning to pull it off well. Hell, I have a trilogy brewing in my head that's been researched and brainstormed now for the better part of 5 years.
However, with things like mainstream fiction that don't require tons of research into technology or anything like that, you can write what you know, and hit the page running. The novel I am currently working on is like that...the whole thing spawned from a title. The title came from words spoken by an old cycling buddy. And within 2 minutes of him saying those words, the whole novel was formed in my head. Many of the places in the novel have only been visited once, some not at all. Anything can B.S.ed if you're a good enough writer.
I'm surprised there's no mention of LiveJournal. I got bit by the blogging bug back in May or so, and have found LJ to be a good place to keep up with everything. I keep in touch with friends and keep a running record of my life.
Yesterday, I was discussing Alzheimer's with my co-worker, Bob, who runs bland-o-rama.com...we, like any techs, fear the loss of memory and our abilities. The factoid about nuns being highly resistant to Alzheimer's came up, and the running theory is b/c they are journaliing on a daily basis. Exercise for the memory system, I guess.
Personally, though, I'm just doing it because it's interesting to look back and see where I've been...and hopefully get a good idea of where I'm going. Plus I get to watch my friends that use LJ do the same thing.
I think it's important to realize that the Shuttle also represents the pinnacle of 1970's computing and that the whole of computing has changed significantly in the last ~25 years. In the 1970's, you didn't worry about things like GUIs (and all the "bloat" that they entail), TCP/IP stacks, extensive amounts of code to deal with the wide variety of hardware configuration, etc.
It's not so much an issue of bloated code as it is an attempt to cover all the bases. The shuttle software was designed with one purpose in mind -- get that shit-heap into orbit. You can't compare it to a modern Linux distro without invoking an apples-to-oranges counter-argument.
Furthermore, the launch of the shuttle isn't handled by a single onboard computer. It's handled by several. Please reference The Space Shuttle Operator's Manual for more on the systems aboard the shuttle. It's a general, non-technical overview, but a great reference, nonetheless.
You ask "where will it stop?" Here's a hint: it won't. And this same argument probably came up in the 1970's when they started writing the spec for the shuttle. The computer aboard the shuttle is more capable than Apollo for a mission profile that isn't significantly more difficult in any regard (generally speaking). Hell, the PDA you have sitting on your desktop right now has far more computing power than all the computers involved in the Apollo program put together, and it certainly doesn't do anything like putting men on the moon.
But again, it's all a matter of the scope of usage.
Having worked as a bike messenger during my period of unemployment from the IT sector, I've got to say that I'm right there with you. Even got to see someone get a wake-up call.
As a messenger, we used radios because of their hands-free ability to listen. Keep it clipped to the bag strap near your shoulder and pay attention with your peripheral hearing. Click with one hand to provide a quick, functional reply and move on.
I don't think that the stupidity is anything other than a symptom of our me-first society. While on a delivery run, I saw a guy on a cellphone step out into traffic, a taxi locked it up and avoided hitting...like your guy he waved and kept walking...and got creamed by a messenger riding between the first and second lanes on the blind side of the taxi. (No major injuries on either side, but the guy with the cellphone was in a total rage over the fact. Refused to take responsibility.)
This is, of course, why iChat has a Rendezvous-driven P2P chat system built into it to run alongside the AIM stuff. I imagine that when I'm standing in line for 10.3 or 10.5 or whatever Panther gets numbered as, that there's going to be a lot of IM chats going on via Rendezvous...woulda been nice to have had it last Friday.:-)
This is actually a good move on Apple's part, because it's going to help sheild them from the wrath of the MPAA, should the hammer ever fall that way. Apple is using the DMCA to protect itself from the same, and I can't blame them for it.
This is not so much an issue of wanting control of the hardware as an issue of putting up the appearance that they're trying to fight the wholesale duplication of DVDs. Call it a legalistic "Don't Steal Movies" disclaimer.
Tangental to the subject: why bother with DivX? Most of the rips I've seen are horrible quality, a new DVD costs between $15-25 and is usually loaded with special features. Given that a movie is a significantly different experience than a collection of songs from one artist and costs significantly more to produce, I'd say that the money spent on DVDs is well worth it.
So I waited in line at the Mall of America to get Jaguar on Friday night (the whole tirade about that is in a recent posting in my livejournal). Prior to this, I upgraded my 500MHz dual-USB iBook from 256MB of RAM to 640MB. It seemed a bit snappier, and things definitely went more smoothly while running with tons o' apps.
Enter Jaguar. Faster, snappier, crisper. This was worth the wait and worth the money. The integration between the basic iApps (iChat, Mail and Address book) is <cartman>sweeeeeet</cartman>. None of my major apps required updating. I haven't spent that much of a weekend futzing around with an OS (and enjoying it) since 10.1 came out.
Minor tidbits: the firewall GUI is nice. PHP is now part of the standard install (however you may want to visit Mark Liyange's page to see how to re-enable a lot of the functionality that Apple dumbed-down. (This page also has package installers for MySQL, Ruby, and tons of other cool stuff.) The Mail app seems to be pretty adept at identifying spam...and getting better and better over the last couple of days...and the bounce-to-sender feature makes it look like you don't exist anymore...it's not perfect but it seems to have reduced the incoming flow by about 10-15%. iChat, a little buggy, but nice...I thought I was going to hate the voice-balloon interface, but I discovered that, strangely enough, it's easier on the eyes than multiple lines of text.
All in all, I'd say that they've outdone themselves again.
You didn't miss much, dude. I just got back from the Mall of America fiesta. I got there an hour early, and the line already stretched a quarter of the way around the mall...by 10pm, it stretched fully to the opposite enterance (the Apple store is right by the south enterance, first floor).
They didn't throw the doors up until 10:20pm, despite the size of the line. I didn't get in the door until 10:50. I paused long enough to get my entries into the "win an iMac" and "win an eMac" contests, then got in line. I got out of there at 11:57pm.
I literally feel like I just ran a marathon. (I've run them before, so I can compare.) There was nothing particularly exciting about the festivities other than the bizarre questions about the line. (Some old woman asked if it was "the line to get out of the mall." Yeah, lady, it's capitalism at gunpoint...if they find out you spent less than $100, they send you back in to the mall until you have.)
Anyway, it was nothing more than kibbitzing with a bunch of other Mac users, your feet getting tired, and trying to avoid a claustrophobia attack.
But I was there. And I got Jaguar. So it wasn't all bad.:-)
Oh yeah, and it was 10% off everything in the store if you bought Jaguar.
Do what I do:
Any mention of three-button mice, porting to x86, proprietary hardware, allowing clones, I use my moderator points to assign a Redundant to it. Because it is redundant, and it's a waste of bandwidth to have to have the same bitch-fest every time an Apple subject comes up.
Even proven acts that I've been a long-time fan of have been getting worse and worse. Two prime examples: Bad Religion and Public Enemy. (I like my music with a social/political bent.) Bad Religion hasn't put out a *solid* album since 1991's Stranger Than Fiction, but I buy them anyway, in hopes that they've gotten back to their ass-kicking roots. The newest Public Enemy album (Revolverlution), which I purchased yesterday, is worse than Bad Religion's recent efforts -- there are a few original, new songs on the disc, but there's also live performances of old songs, remixes of old songs, an interview track, and two PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENTS by Chuck D and Flava Flav.
Don't get me started on the dogshit that passes for Aerosmith music as of late.
The point is, it's not just new artists targetted at the 18-25 market...all of music is sucking ass lately. Sometimes, I think that there was more to the move to ban Napster and other P2P systems than just the "loss of sales" argument. I found some real gems on Napster -- stuff I'd never listen to before, Napster started me on a blues kick that continues to this day, for example. God forbid that the record companies should have to start dropping their NuMetal Poserbands and Bling-Bling Flash-in-the-Pan Rap Acts in favor of signing some bands with real musical talent, because real musical acts are harder to sell than a prepackaged pseudo-lifestyle.
I guess part of why music sucks is that the idiots in the RIAA know they have a losing formula, but stick to it because it's all they know.
You know I don't read this as a negative story at all. I read this as a tongue-in-cheek diatribe about the advancement of technology. If you'll notice, she points out that she used to love the Mac, she cracks on Windows, etc. I get the feeling she was Mac OS 7 thru 9 user that's been dragged kicking and screaming to the realities of a new, more-stable OS.
Sing it again with me brothers and sisters: Apple is never ever going to port OS X to x86!
It just ain't gonna happen. Apple makes its money off of hardware sales.
Furthermore, do you want a great OS that runs on great hardware? Or do you want a great OS that runs on ad-hoc mismatched hardware.
Part of the reason that Windows sucks so hard and that Linux never seems to offer full support for hardware is because they have to support every little last variation and kludge that the hardware manufacturers can dream up. If Mac OS X were to go to x86, not only would Apple lose money, but they'd lose face -- OS X would start becoming more and more like Windows and Linux on the desktop...painful.
I haven't had any difficulty or undue expense in getting hardware for my Macs, so please...put away the FUD.
They always find countermeasures...
on
Haiku vs Spam
·
· Score: 2
spam like summer wind
fluid moving unstoppable
inbox will blossom
So you're going to voluntarily buy a product even knowing that it's buggy? I mean, yeah, I can see that with operating systems, software, etc., but a hardware product with bugs? Forget it.
No worries. I was speaking about my country... please excuse my blatant Americentrism. You guys and the Far East always seem to be about one step ahead of us in technology adoption.
I get the feeling you didn't read very carefully. The article specified new features to the OS that would interface well with a Bluetooth-enabled phone.
The thing is, right now, there aren't a lot of Bluetooth-enabled phones on the market. I don't know a single person that has one. I know I am in the market for one, personally, and if Apple releases one, I'll be in line for it.
Right now, it behooves Apple to release one, too, because the market for the specific product is wide open...and if they have a bunch of Mac users out there, looking at Bluetooth-enabled phones, they're going to want to be a player in that market.
I'll tell you why not. Because Apple doesn't produce cookie-cutter products. Steve Jobs can't just go to the company that builds Nokias and say, "Produce XXXXXX of these, but oh yeah -- make the case white and silver."
For Apple, it doesn't work like that. Not anymore. Apple has come the conclusion -- rightly -- that the ergonomics and user-interface are just as important as functionality. No, they are integral to the functionality of the device.
For most people this is so obvious that it usually gets overlooked. A great book that demonstrates this is The Design of Everyday Things -- if you haven't read it and are in product engineering/design, I highly recommend it.
The point is, what truly sets Apple apart, is its attention to detail. The small details can make or break a product, and they know that. It's particularly well-evidenced in their laptop designs and the iPod. If you haven't had a chance to play with either of these, find someone who owns one and spend 30 minutes of your life with it, and you'll see what I'm saying...
When I drive home, I tend to watch the people in the cars around me...the writer in me just does that...a minivan passed me with a typical young suburbanite mom in it. The back of the car had the obligatory, "my kid is an honor student at blah-blah-blah elementary school" and other suburbanite stickers...and lo and behold, there, on the corner of the bumper was the RIAA sticker with the red circle/line combination.
A few years ago, the dot-com I was working for sold its B2C component to another dot-com. Both of them were involved in selling insurance online. The first has transformed itself into an ASP, the second is gone -- it literally no longer exists.
In the first few days after the transfer, we were presented with a contract to sign that would assign all rights to anything we created to our employer. My boss mentioned that they'd want to talk to me about my font site, and I f--king lost it. (He was a cool guy and could deal with me venting.) Given that many of us on the web dev team were pursuing our own things on the side, I decided to put a stick in the hornets' nest and stir.
A good number of us, when informed that they were serious about their "ownership" of our ideas/creations, decided to present a united front and get them to change the wording so that it clearly specified that they could only claim ownership on ideas as the pertain to the business of selling health insurance online.
Surprisingly enough, they did it with no complaint. What I've discovered since then is that companies are willing to flex on this. Really...what is an insurance dot-com going to do with my fonts? Or with the novel I just wrote? They don't...the blanket statement is just there so that they can capitalize on people stupid enough to sign away their rights...they'll adapt it so that it merely protects their business.
Slashdot Mirror
Isn't Slate owned by MSN? Isn't MSN part of Micro$oft? Doesn't Micro$oft have a stake in ReplayTV or UltimateTV or some other TiVo-like device?
Yeah...nothing like using your monopoly power to wage a WoF (War of FUD).
I thought that headline said "Norm MacDonald"...good lord. A million scenarios ran through my mind, but the primary question was, "What makes a pogue that made a movie like Dirty Work qualified to comment on software?
If you have fond memories of happily wasting time with Slashdot for hours on end, or thinking how cool the book reviews were, or better yet can remember when a post has already been done and a book already reviewed, you may (or may not) enjoy Jon Katz's review of High Score: An Illustrated History of Electronic Games.
Sounds like a typical over-engineered NASA fiasco with too many steps. Why not just build a small lifting-body system (reducing the need for tons of heavy heat tiles as entering the atmosphere will cause much less friction) that will dive into the atmosphere, scoop at various altitudes, then launch itself back out and into an earth-return orbit? One vehicle for lower launch weight, no complex in-orbit automatic rendezvous. Have the thing stop in Earth orbit where it can be retrieved by the Shuttle. Voila.
As someone with a degree in creative writing, I have to disagree with you. It is not always necessary to sit down and plan a story before it's written. Now, granted, it depends on the genre, it takes a LOT of planning to pull it off well. Hell, I have a trilogy brewing in my head that's been researched and brainstormed now for the better part of 5 years.
However, with things like mainstream fiction that don't require tons of research into technology or anything like that, you can write what you know, and hit the page running. The novel I am currently working on is like that...the whole thing spawned from a title. The title came from words spoken by an old cycling buddy. And within 2 minutes of him saying those words, the whole novel was formed in my head. Many of the places in the novel have only been visited once, some not at all. Anything can B.S.ed if you're a good enough writer.
I'm surprised there's no mention of LiveJournal. I got bit by the blogging bug back in May or so, and have found LJ to be a good place to keep up with everything. I keep in touch with friends and keep a running record of my life.
Yesterday, I was discussing Alzheimer's with my co-worker, Bob, who runs bland-o-rama.com...we, like any techs, fear the loss of memory and our abilities. The factoid about nuns being highly resistant to Alzheimer's came up, and the running theory is b/c they are journaliing on a daily basis. Exercise for the memory system, I guess.
Personally, though, I'm just doing it because it's interesting to look back and see where I've been...and hopefully get a good idea of where I'm going. Plus I get to watch my friends that use LJ do the same thing.
I think it's important to realize that the Shuttle also represents the pinnacle of 1970's computing and that the whole of computing has changed significantly in the last ~25 years. In the 1970's, you didn't worry about things like GUIs (and all the "bloat" that they entail), TCP/IP stacks, extensive amounts of code to deal with the wide variety of hardware configuration, etc.
It's not so much an issue of bloated code as it is an attempt to cover all the bases. The shuttle software was designed with one purpose in mind -- get that shit-heap into orbit. You can't compare it to a modern Linux distro without invoking an apples-to-oranges counter-argument.
Furthermore, the launch of the shuttle isn't handled by a single onboard computer. It's handled by several. Please reference The Space Shuttle Operator's Manual for more on the systems aboard the shuttle. It's a general, non-technical overview, but a great reference, nonetheless.
You ask "where will it stop?" Here's a hint: it won't. And this same argument probably came up in the 1970's when they started writing the spec for the shuttle. The computer aboard the shuttle is more capable than Apollo for a mission profile that isn't significantly more difficult in any regard (generally speaking). Hell, the PDA you have sitting on your desktop right now has far more computing power than all the computers involved in the Apollo program put together, and it certainly doesn't do anything like putting men on the moon.
But again, it's all a matter of the scope of usage.
Having worked as a bike messenger during my period of unemployment from the IT sector, I've got to say that I'm right there with you. Even got to see someone get a wake-up call.
As a messenger, we used radios because of their hands-free ability to listen. Keep it clipped to the bag strap near your shoulder and pay attention with your peripheral hearing. Click with one hand to provide a quick, functional reply and move on.
I don't think that the stupidity is anything other than a symptom of our me-first society. While on a delivery run, I saw a guy on a cellphone step out into traffic, a taxi locked it up and avoided hitting...like your guy he waved and kept walking...and got creamed by a messenger riding between the first and second lanes on the blind side of the taxi. (No major injuries on either side, but the guy with the cellphone was in a total rage over the fact. Refused to take responsibility.)
This is, of course, why iChat has a Rendezvous-driven P2P chat system built into it to run alongside the AIM stuff. I imagine that when I'm standing in line for 10.3 or 10.5 or whatever Panther gets numbered as, that there's going to be a lot of IM chats going on via Rendezvous...woulda been nice to have had it last Friday. :-)
This is actually a good move on Apple's part, because it's going to help sheild them from the wrath of the MPAA, should the hammer ever fall that way. Apple is using the DMCA to protect itself from the same, and I can't blame them for it.
This is not so much an issue of wanting control of the hardware as an issue of putting up the appearance that they're trying to fight the wholesale duplication of DVDs. Call it a legalistic "Don't Steal Movies" disclaimer.
Tangental to the subject: why bother with DivX? Most of the rips I've seen are horrible quality, a new DVD costs between $15-25 and is usually loaded with special features. Given that a movie is a significantly different experience than a collection of songs from one artist and costs significantly more to produce, I'd say that the money spent on DVDs is well worth it.
Yes. And there's a HUGE jump in stability, too.
So I waited in line at the Mall of America to get Jaguar on Friday night (the whole tirade about that is in a recent posting in my livejournal). Prior to this, I upgraded my 500MHz dual-USB iBook from 256MB of RAM to 640MB. It seemed a bit snappier, and things definitely went more smoothly while running with tons o' apps.
Enter Jaguar. Faster, snappier, crisper. This was worth the wait and worth the money. The integration between the basic iApps (iChat, Mail and Address book) is <cartman>sweeeeeet</cartman>. None of my major apps required updating. I haven't spent that much of a weekend futzing around with an OS (and enjoying it) since 10.1 came out.
Minor tidbits: the firewall GUI is nice. PHP is now part of the standard install (however you may want to visit Mark Liyange's page to see how to re-enable a lot of the functionality that Apple dumbed-down. (This page also has package installers for MySQL, Ruby, and tons of other cool stuff.) The Mail app seems to be pretty adept at identifying spam...and getting better and better over the last couple of days...and the bounce-to-sender feature makes it look like you don't exist anymore...it's not perfect but it seems to have reduced the incoming flow by about 10-15%. iChat, a little buggy, but nice...I thought I was going to hate the voice-balloon interface, but I discovered that, strangely enough, it's easier on the eyes than multiple lines of text.
All in all, I'd say that they've outdone themselves again.
You didn't miss much, dude. I just got back from the Mall of America fiesta. I got there an hour early, and the line already stretched a quarter of the way around the mall...by 10pm, it stretched fully to the opposite enterance (the Apple store is right by the south enterance, first floor).
:-)
They didn't throw the doors up until 10:20pm, despite the size of the line. I didn't get in the door until 10:50. I paused long enough to get my entries into the "win an iMac" and "win an eMac" contests, then got in line. I got out of there at 11:57pm.
I literally feel like I just ran a marathon. (I've run them before, so I can compare.) There was nothing particularly exciting about the festivities other than the bizarre questions about the line. (Some old woman asked if it was "the line to get out of the mall." Yeah, lady, it's capitalism at gunpoint...if they find out you spent less than $100, they send you back in to the mall until you have.)
Anyway, it was nothing more than kibbitzing with a bunch of other Mac users, your feet getting tired, and trying to avoid a claustrophobia attack.
But I was there. And I got Jaguar. So it wasn't all bad.
Oh yeah, and it was 10% off everything in the store if you bought Jaguar.
Do what I do:
Any mention of three-button mice, porting to x86, proprietary hardware, allowing clones, I use my moderator points to assign a Redundant to it. Because it is redundant, and it's a waste of bandwidth to have to have the same bitch-fest every time an Apple subject comes up.
Even proven acts that I've been a long-time fan of have been getting worse and worse. Two prime examples: Bad Religion and Public Enemy. (I like my music with a social/political bent.) Bad Religion hasn't put out a *solid* album since 1991's Stranger Than Fiction, but I buy them anyway, in hopes that they've gotten back to their ass-kicking roots. The newest Public Enemy album (Revolverlution), which I purchased yesterday, is worse than Bad Religion's recent efforts -- there are a few original, new songs on the disc, but there's also live performances of old songs, remixes of old songs, an interview track, and two PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENTS by Chuck D and Flava Flav.
Don't get me started on the dogshit that passes for Aerosmith music as of late.
The point is, it's not just new artists targetted at the 18-25 market...all of music is sucking ass lately. Sometimes, I think that there was more to the move to ban Napster and other P2P systems than just the "loss of sales" argument. I found some real gems on Napster -- stuff I'd never listen to before, Napster started me on a blues kick that continues to this day, for example. God forbid that the record companies should have to start dropping their NuMetal Poserbands and Bling-Bling Flash-in-the-Pan Rap Acts in favor of signing some bands with real musical talent, because real musical acts are harder to sell than a prepackaged pseudo-lifestyle.
I guess part of why music sucks is that the idiots in the RIAA know they have a losing formula, but stick to it because it's all they know.
You know I don't read this as a negative story at all. I read this as a tongue-in-cheek diatribe about the advancement of technology. If you'll notice, she points out that she used to love the Mac, she cracks on Windows, etc. I get the feeling she was Mac OS 7 thru 9 user that's been dragged kicking and screaming to the realities of a new, more-stable OS.
Sing it again with me brothers and sisters: Apple is never ever going to port OS X to x86!
It just ain't gonna happen. Apple makes its money off of hardware sales.
Furthermore, do you want a great OS that runs on great hardware? Or do you want a great OS that runs on ad-hoc mismatched hardware.
Part of the reason that Windows sucks so hard and that Linux never seems to offer full support for hardware is because they have to support every little last variation and kludge that the hardware manufacturers can dream up. If Mac OS X were to go to x86, not only would Apple lose money, but they'd lose face -- OS X would start becoming more and more like Windows and Linux on the desktop...painful.
I haven't had any difficulty or undue expense in getting hardware for my Macs, so please...put away the FUD.
spam like summer wind
fluid moving unstoppable
inbox will blossom
So you're going to voluntarily buy a product even knowing that it's buggy? I mean, yeah, I can see that with operating systems, software, etc., but a hardware product with bugs? Forget it.
No worries. I was speaking about my country... please excuse my blatant Americentrism. You guys and the Far East always seem to be about one step ahead of us in technology adoption.
I get the feeling you didn't read very carefully. The article specified new features to the OS that would interface well with a Bluetooth-enabled phone.
The thing is, right now, there aren't a lot of Bluetooth-enabled phones on the market. I don't know a single person that has one. I know I am in the market for one, personally, and if Apple releases one, I'll be in line for it.
Right now, it behooves Apple to release one, too, because the market for the specific product is wide open...and if they have a bunch of Mac users out there, looking at Bluetooth-enabled phones, they're going to want to be a player in that market.
I'll tell you why not. Because Apple doesn't produce cookie-cutter products. Steve Jobs can't just go to the company that builds Nokias and say, "Produce XXXXXX of these, but oh yeah -- make the case white and silver."
For Apple, it doesn't work like that. Not anymore. Apple has come the conclusion -- rightly -- that the ergonomics and user-interface are just as important as functionality. No, they are integral to the functionality of the device.
For most people this is so obvious that it usually gets overlooked. A great book that demonstrates this is The Design of Everyday Things -- if you haven't read it and are in product engineering/design, I highly recommend it.
The point is, what truly sets Apple apart, is its attention to detail. The small details can make or break a product, and they know that. It's particularly well-evidenced in their laptop designs and the iPod. If you haven't had a chance to play with either of these, find someone who owns one and spend 30 minutes of your life with it, and you'll see what I'm saying...
I agree.
When I drive home, I tend to watch the people in the cars around me...the writer in me just does that...a minivan passed me with a typical young suburbanite mom in it. The back of the car had the obligatory, "my kid is an honor student at blah-blah-blah elementary school" and other suburbanite stickers...and lo and behold, there, on the corner of the bumper was the RIAA sticker with the red circle/line combination.
It made my day.
A few years ago, the dot-com I was working for sold its B2C component to another dot-com. Both of them were involved in selling insurance online. The first has transformed itself into an ASP, the second is gone -- it literally no longer exists.
In the first few days after the transfer, we were presented with a contract to sign that would assign all rights to anything we created to our employer. My boss mentioned that they'd want to talk to me about my font site, and I f--king lost it. (He was a cool guy and could deal with me venting.) Given that many of us on the web dev team were pursuing our own things on the side, I decided to put a stick in the hornets' nest and stir.
A good number of us, when informed that they were serious about their "ownership" of our ideas/creations, decided to present a united front and get them to change the wording so that it clearly specified that they could only claim ownership on ideas as the pertain to the business of selling health insurance online.
Surprisingly enough, they did it with no complaint. What I've discovered since then is that companies are willing to flex on this. Really...what is an insurance dot-com going to do with my fonts? Or with the novel I just wrote? They don't...the blanket statement is just there so that they can capitalize on people stupid enough to sign away their rights...they'll adapt it so that it merely protects their business.