Apple's competitors don't need to make something different, they need to make an identical service that is also iPod AND non-iPod compatible. It's obvious that Apple's scheme works. Why do anything else if that process works? Why DO these competitors not copy what ITMS does?
Because Apple won't open up the format of their DRM or make the iPod's capable for other people's DRM. Other companies would love to get into the iPod, but it's Apple's sandbox, and no other kids are invited.
I love Apple, but I don't use ITMS and I don't have an iPod, for precisely the above reason.
What I want to know is, looking into the future, what happens when a really big update comes along? Will they stay with 10.x forever, or will there be something more than point releases? "OS XI"? "OS X 11"? (I could foresee some confusion there!)
The 2-VU operates in the Microsoft Windows 2000 and XP® environments and features the Adobe Acrobat Reader®. This strategy avoids the problems of a propriety, closed environment...
Ummmmm.... How much more closed and proprietary do you get? Not to mention that the writer was unable to deduce that even though his spell-checker told him that "propriety" is spelled correctly, it isn't the right word. Sheesh.
Yup, I've actually seen one of these. My great-grandfather built a cabin in the 1920's that my family still owns, and hanging on the wall in the kitchen is one of those glass "grenades" for putting out fires. It's red and shaped like a sno-cone. There is one like it in the above-linked picture in the bottom left corner. AFAIK it is original to the building. I probably wouldn't trust it to still work but I remember as a kid thinking that was a neat idea.
Making this a moral issue (you shouldn't do it because it's just wrong) adds all kinds of emotional baggage and obscures the root cause of the debate.
"The amount you have to pay for CDs is horrendous".
The obvious solution is for the record companies to stop raping the consumer at the checkout counter and charge something more reasonable for a CD. The market has determined that the price is too high-- thus the "scourge" of ripping and burning copies. Find a price that still covers the cost of manufacture, distribution and artist compensation, but is more palatable to the consumer. You reduce the prevalence of illegal copying by reducing the demand for it.
(20+0)/2=10
I don't want to pay $20 for a CD, and I don't want to steal it, but I wouldn't mind paying $10 for the real thing. But if I'm forced into a choice between $20 and $0, what do think I'm going to choose?;^)
I agree totally that email is just a tool. Those of us who know what the hell we're doing can cope. The rest are on their own. I use Cyrus IMAP so I can get my mail anywhere, and server-side filtering to divide up my mail into appropriate bins. The important bins get read first. Then come mailing list traffic, system reports and anything else when I have time.
As for the immediacy issue-- I never expected email to be instantaneous-- that's what IM/ICQ are for. If you build up an expectation that a 'store-and-forward' mechanism like email will be instantaneous, then you're deluded and I refuse to feel sorry for you.
If these professors and coporate managers are frustrated at the misuse/misunderstanding of email, have they talked to their students or subordinates and clearly stated what the rules are for email communication? If you don't tell people where the boundaries are, how can you be upset if they exceed them? Tell them that simply sending an email is not sufficient notice for missing a deadline. Tell them that you do not check your mail every 2 minutes and make a more reasonable commitment as to when you will answer. It's new technology, but it's still human-to-human communication, and the etiquette that goes along with that hasn't changed.
Uhhrrruhhhh... I know it's nitpicky, but wasn't that the 'GDR', short for German Democratic Republic? As opposed to the FRG, the Federal Republic of Germany (aka 'West Germany').
Actually FreeBSD has had SMP a lot longer than that. It has been part of the main source tree since release 3.0 in October '98. See the release notes at http://www.freebsd.org/releases/3.0R/notes.html for details.
I just wanted to share the responses I got when I expressed my opinions on UCITA to my Virginia state senator and Governor Gilmore:
First, the email I got from the Governor's office:
Thank you for taking the time to express your opinion regarding legislation facing the 2000 General Assembly.
I commend your efforts to positively influence the legislative process in our great Commonwealth. Your exercise of citizenship affords me the privilege to hear your views about issues affecting individuals and families across Virginia.
In the event that members of the Virginia Senate and the Virginia House of Delegates enact this legislation, I will carefully consider your thoughtful comments in any action I may take. Thank you again for sharing your interests and concerns.
Very truly yours,
James S. Gilmore III Governor of Virginia
Pretty generic, but a nice gesture.
Now, an excerpt from the letter I got from my state senator:
Dear Eric, Thank you for contacting my office with your interest in the Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act. We have passed a compromise bill that hopefully will address some of your concerns. Senate Bill 372 passed 39-0 and is now before the House for consideration and Senate Joint Resolution 239 passed the Senate in substitute from a 39 to 0 vote.
[contact info snipped]
Sincerely, Emmett W. Hanger, Jr. VA State Senate, 24th District
I'm not sure what "passed in substitute" means but it at least sounds like the bill did not pass unamended. But 39-0? Ouch! We really need to get the opposing viewpoint out there, and loudly!
I've been using ergo keyboards for a couple years, and I particularly like the one that came with my Dell system at work. It's Dell's own brand, and I like the key action's feel more than the Microsoft one.
Overall, I have become very comfortable with my ergos and I think it has improved my touch-typing ability. I am less tempted to "cross-over" type when the keys are split and angled, so I have learned to be more orthodox in my typing.
I also like the front edge elevation and extra large wrist rest on most ergos. The key surface is actually slightly tilted down from front to back, giving a very comfortable hand position.
Other non-ergo people wonder how I can type on this thing, but it's all a matter of what you're used to, and now that I've adjusted I don't want to go back to the old days!
Here's a reply I got when writing to the legislature (I'm a Virginia citizen).
------------ Thank you for your e-mail to Speaker Wilkins regarding UCITA.
HJ 277 was introduced this year, that, had it not died in committee, would have established a subcommittee to study UCITA. The Senate has a bill (SJ 239) which MAY reach the House before cross-over; however, assuming it does reach the House, and assuming it is passed, it only establishes a joint subcommittee to study UCITA and suggest alternatives or amendments to the UCITA that will assure that interests of both licensors and the licensees are adequately protected.
In other words, no bill changing UCITA will come before the House this year (perhaps only a bill establishing a subcommittee to study UCITA as outlined above).
Once again, thank you for your e-mail informing us of your views on this subject.
Shirley T. Mays Executive Assistant Office of the Speaker General Assembly Building, Room 635 910 Capitol Square Richmond, Virginia 23219 804-698-1024
Linux/Solaris/any Unix is only as secure as you make it. Certainly the case can be made for more secure "default" distros but who in their right mind accepts all defaults anyway?
Let's not forget that some of these attacks were well known, preventable DoS schemes like smurf, UDP echo/chargen floods, etc. The victim sites were not prepared, even though fixes have been posted for a couple of years in some cases.
Security (or lack thereof) is everyone's duty, and it does not help the Internet community to start blaming this or that. We all just realized how vulnerable the Internet is to distributed attack, so let's all work together to fix it.
I agree that the landscape has changed. Indulge me while I recollect, as I suspect many will share my early net experiences. This thread is a bit long, so please forgive me. I remember being confused by the Web at first, because to me, the Internet was email and Usenet. Exactly the opposite of how Nerant describes today's world. I started using email in early '93 at college. All we had were green-screen terminals in the library. Then we got serial line access thru the digital phone system. I remember thinking that was way cool- I just plugged my PC into the phone and voila, I could fire up TIN from my own room and never have to venture out... I met some of the coolest people of my college career through Usenet. To this day I have never met them face-to-face. But I remember long threads of discussion that were uninterrupted by moronic flame-wars and spam. What a concept. Because of Usenet, I learned much of the knowledge that is now critical for my job with a local ISP. Without that forum who knows what I'd be doing today! I used to ask questions that, in retrospect, were embarrasingly newbie-ish ("What's this http:// business I keep seeing?") but the folks on the group (a local university computing group) were very kind and patient and helpful, and I credit those experiences as my first real inspiration to work in the computer/internet industry. Now, at my job, I see the same problems that have been expressed in this thread. The number of articles decreases, but the volume is still expanding rapidly. I've seen firsthand the kind of resources it takes to run Usenet in-house, and it's no wonder many ISP's have given up. Either it's too expensive to buy the necessary hardware, or the software is too hard to manage (As I recall, the documentation for innd is about two versions behind the current release). However, we still do it because even though only about 1% of our customers use it, the ones who do are the hardcore types that will blast us if we stop offering it. They also tend to be the vocal ones in the community, so for a local company like us it makes good sense to keep these folks happy. I typically stay in the comp. hierarchy these days. The information is still pretty available, and spam is typically beat back a little more forcefully than in other Usenet arenas. But I have to agree that Usenet is not what it once was, and that saddens me. Web forums are picking up the slack, but I guess I'm just a romantic, and will always miss the original Usenet.
I agree that the original material should stand. Science Fiction teaches us about ourselves above all, our motivations, our prejudices, and it provides us with a mirror to ourselves that can sometimes be uncomfortable. As another reply states, it is interesting to see a "snapshot" of the thinking of the time. It's been a long time since I read "Childhood's End" but I think I'll go back and read it again. I have a pre-1990 copy, so I'll enjoy reading the original version!
Slashdot Mirror
Apple's competitors don't need to make something different, they need to make an identical service that is also iPod AND non-iPod compatible. It's obvious that Apple's scheme works. Why do anything else if that process works? Why DO these competitors not copy what ITMS does?
Because Apple won't open up the format of their DRM or make the iPod's capable for other people's DRM. Other companies would love to get into the iPod, but it's Apple's sandbox, and no other kids are invited.
I love Apple, but I don't use ITMS and I don't have an iPod, for precisely the above reason.
So...anyone know where these things are for sale? TeamASA doesn't appear to have any distributors. I'd just like to know how much $$ I need to save. ;)
Then I can't wait for "OS XXX"...
heh heh
8^P
Maybe if I win they'll give me my own B-2 so I can land it at my local airport to pick up my girlfriend...
Ummmmm.... How much more closed and proprietary do you get? Not to mention that the writer was unable to deduce that even though his spell-checker told him that "propriety" is spelled correctly, it isn't the right word. Sheesh.
Yup, I've actually seen one of these. My great-grandfather built a cabin in the 1920's that my family still owns, and hanging on the wall in the kitchen is one of those glass "grenades" for putting out fires. It's red and shaped like a sno-cone. There is one like it in the above-linked picture in the bottom left corner. AFAIK it is original to the building. I probably wouldn't trust it to still work but I remember as a kid thinking that was a neat idea.
Making this a moral issue (you shouldn't do it because it's just wrong) adds all kinds of emotional baggage and obscures the root cause of the debate.
;^)
"The amount you have to pay for CDs is horrendous".
The obvious solution is for the record companies to stop raping the consumer at the checkout counter and charge something more reasonable for a CD. The market has determined that the price is too high-- thus the "scourge" of ripping and burning copies. Find a price that still covers the cost of manufacture, distribution and artist compensation, but is more palatable to the consumer. You reduce the prevalence of illegal copying by reducing the demand for it.
(20+0)/2=10
I don't want to pay $20 for a CD, and I don't want to steal it, but I wouldn't mind paying $10 for the real thing. But if I'm forced into a choice between $20 and $0, what do think I'm going to choose?
I agree totally that email is just a tool. Those of us who know what the hell we're doing can cope. The rest are on their own. I use Cyrus IMAP so I can get my mail anywhere, and server-side filtering to divide up my mail into appropriate bins. The important bins get read first. Then come mailing list traffic, system reports and anything else when I have time.
;^)
As for the immediacy issue-- I never expected email to be instantaneous-- that's what IM/ICQ are for. If you build up an expectation that a 'store-and-forward' mechanism like email will be instantaneous, then you're deluded and I refuse to feel sorry for you.
If these professors and coporate managers are frustrated at the misuse/misunderstanding of email, have they talked to their students or subordinates and clearly stated what the rules are for email communication? If you don't tell people where the boundaries are, how can you be upset if they exceed them? Tell them that simply sending an email is not sufficient notice for missing a deadline. Tell them that you do not check your mail every 2 minutes and make a more reasonable commitment as to when you will answer. It's new technology, but it's still human-to-human communication, and the etiquette that goes along with that hasn't changed.
Above all, *quit bitching*!!
Uhhrrruhhhh... I know it's nitpicky, but wasn't that the 'GDR', short for German Democratic Republic? As opposed to the FRG, the Federal Republic of Germany (aka 'West Germany').
Actually FreeBSD has had SMP a lot longer than that. It has been part of the main source tree since release 3.0 in October '98. See the release notes at http://www.freebsd.org/releases/3.0R/notes.html for details.
I just wanted to share the responses I got when I expressed my opinions on UCITA to my Virginia state senator and Governor Gilmore:
First, the email I got from the Governor's office:
Thank you for taking the time to express your opinion regarding legislation
facing the 2000 General Assembly.
I commend your efforts to positively influence the legislative process in
our great Commonwealth. Your exercise of citizenship affords me the
privilege to hear your views about issues affecting individuals and families
across Virginia.
In the event that members of the Virginia Senate and the Virginia House of
Delegates enact this legislation, I will carefully consider your thoughtful
comments in any action I may take. Thank you again for sharing your
interests and concerns.
Very truly yours,
James S. Gilmore III
Governor of Virginia
Pretty generic, but a nice gesture.
Now, an excerpt from the letter I got from my state senator:
Dear Eric,
Thank you for contacting my office with your interest in the Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act. We have passed a compromise bill that hopefully will address some of your concerns. Senate Bill 372 passed 39-0 and is now before the House for consideration and Senate Joint Resolution 239 passed the Senate in substitute from a 39 to 0 vote.
[contact info snipped]
Sincerely,
Emmett W. Hanger, Jr.
VA State Senate, 24th District
I'm not sure what "passed in substitute" means but it at least sounds like the bill did not pass unamended. But 39-0? Ouch! We really need to get the opposing viewpoint out there, and loudly!
I've been using ergo keyboards for a couple years, and I particularly like the one that came with my Dell system at work. It's Dell's own brand, and I like the key action's feel more than the Microsoft one.
Overall, I have become very comfortable with my ergos and I think it has improved my touch-typing ability. I am less tempted to "cross-over" type when the keys are split and angled, so I have learned to be more orthodox in my typing.
I also like the front edge elevation and extra large wrist rest on most ergos. The key surface is actually slightly tilted down from front to back, giving a very comfortable hand position.
Other non-ergo people wonder how I can type on this thing, but it's all a matter of what you're used to, and now that I've adjusted I don't want to go back to the old days!
Here's a reply I got when writing to the legislature (I'm a Virginia citizen).
------------
Thank you for your e-mail to Speaker Wilkins regarding UCITA.
HJ 277 was introduced this year, that, had it not died in committee, would
have established a subcommittee to study UCITA.
The Senate has a bill (SJ 239) which MAY reach the House before cross-over;
however, assuming it does reach the House,
and assuming it is passed, it only establishes a joint subcommittee to
study UCITA and suggest alternatives or amendments to
the UCITA that will assure that interests of both licensors and the
licensees are adequately protected.
In other words, no bill changing UCITA will come before the House this year
(perhaps only a bill establishing a subcommittee to
study UCITA as outlined above).
Once again, thank you for your e-mail informing us of your views on this
subject.
Shirley T. Mays
Executive Assistant
Office of the Speaker
General Assembly Building, Room 635
910 Capitol Square
Richmond, Virginia 23219
804-698-1024
Linux/Solaris/any Unix is only as secure as you make it. Certainly the case can be made for more secure "default" distros but who in their right mind accepts all defaults anyway?
Let's not forget that some of these attacks were well known, preventable DoS schemes like smurf, UDP echo/chargen floods, etc. The victim sites were not prepared, even though fixes have been posted for a couple of years in some cases.
Security (or lack thereof) is everyone's duty, and it does not help the Internet community to start blaming this or that. We all just realized how vulnerable the Internet is to distributed attack, so let's all work together to fix it.
Sheesh.
I agree that the landscape has changed. Indulge me while I recollect, as I suspect many will share my early net experiences. This thread is a bit long, so please forgive me. I remember being confused by the Web at first, because to me, the Internet was email and Usenet. Exactly the opposite of how Nerant describes today's world. I started using email in early '93 at college. All we had were green-screen terminals in the library. Then we got serial line access thru the digital phone system. I remember thinking that was way cool- I just plugged my PC into the phone and voila, I could fire up TIN from my own room and never have to venture out... I met some of the coolest people of my college career through Usenet. To this day I have never met them face-to-face. But I remember long threads of discussion that were uninterrupted by moronic flame-wars and spam. What a concept. Because of Usenet, I learned much of the knowledge that is now critical for my job with a local ISP. Without that forum who knows what I'd be doing today! I used to ask questions that, in retrospect, were embarrasingly newbie-ish ("What's this http:// business I keep seeing?") but the folks on the group (a local university computing group) were very kind and patient and helpful, and I credit those experiences as my first real inspiration to work in the computer/internet industry. Now, at my job, I see the same problems that have been expressed in this thread. The number of articles decreases, but the volume is still expanding rapidly. I've seen firsthand the kind of resources it takes to run Usenet in-house, and it's no wonder many ISP's have given up. Either it's too expensive to buy the necessary hardware, or the software is too hard to manage (As I recall, the documentation for innd is about two versions behind the current release). However, we still do it because even though only about 1% of our customers use it, the ones who do are the hardcore types that will blast us if we stop offering it. They also tend to be the vocal ones in the community, so for a local company like us it makes good sense to keep these folks happy. I typically stay in the comp. hierarchy these days. The information is still pretty available, and spam is typically beat back a little more forcefully than in other Usenet arenas. But I have to agree that Usenet is not what it once was, and that saddens me. Web forums are picking up the slack, but I guess I'm just a romantic, and will always miss the original Usenet.
I agree that the original material should stand. Science Fiction teaches us about ourselves above all, our motivations, our prejudices, and it provides us with a mirror to ourselves that can sometimes be uncomfortable. As another reply states, it is interesting to see a "snapshot" of the thinking of the time. It's been a long time since I read "Childhood's End" but I think I'll go back and read it again. I have a pre-1990 copy, so I'll enjoy reading the original version!