I built myself a new PC almost 2 years ago - 2.4GHz P4, 512MB ram, 64M graphics card, soundblaster, 80GB hardrive, network cards. The whole thing for under 2000 euros. Nowadays, you could get the same spec machine for probably a few hundred euros.
It doesn't cost very much to have a decent machine. I see my local supermarket advertising 2.5GHz *laptops* for around 1000 euros.
A modern window manager just aint gonna work on a 500MHz machine with 64MB RAM, whether its Linux or Windows based.
Well state you own 'facts' as much as you like. It seems somebody has done the maths. One lost CD sale per 5,000 p2p downloads. Is that really worth the hassle of changing all hardware and software ? What a huge waste of time and ingenuity.
Well, I beg to differ. If I recall correctly, 'copy protection' in those days usually meant entering a word from the manual, or peering through a lens at a number on the screen and typing it in. In other words, it was almost totally ineffective, and pretty much anyone who wanted a copy could get one. And yet, as you rightly point out, the game writers were buying themselves sports cars.
The copy protection certainly wasn't embedded in the hardware, and certainly didn't prevent legitimate use such as making a backup (which in fact was the recommendation in those days).
When I was a teenager was in the days of 8-bit home computers and games on cassette. Originally they were easy to copy, you just loaded the game up and then saved it again on another tape. My group of friends bought very few original games, and those we did we shared with everyone. Then they put rudimentary copy protection on the tapes. You couldn't do load/save copying anymore. Tape to tape audio copying was possible, but even that was made more difficult after a while by cunning copy protection mechanisms. Now people had to crack games or get a set up with a couple of good tape machines in order to copy them. It wasn't impossible, but it wasn't a casual matter anymore. And we started to just buy the original game more often, rather than mess about.
But would you have bought a computer anyway if it had been impossible to copy games from the start ? Maybe you would have, but likely others wouldn't. If you hadn't bought a computer, you would presumably have bought zero games at all. All I am saying is, there is much more to the equation than simply assuming every copy represents one lost sale.
Yes I am saying precisely that. It is just common sense. Imagine I am a person with a group of friends who we all share music with each other (not that I am condoning this or condeming it, it is just an example). Now we all decide to start using an online service. Which one will we choose ? One that lets us go on sharing or one that prevents us from doing so ? Which service will we prefer, the one that lets us burn our music to mp3 to play in the car, or the one that doesn't ? If we all decide on using different incompatible systems, who will be the most popular of the group, the one who can share or the one who can't ?
Technological means will not stop the major 'pirates', they will just serve to annoy customers.
I think DRM is a fad, and customers will soon tire of not being able to transfer music between different devices, share songs with their friends, etc, etc.
Once record companies learn the simple fact that the less restrictive a format is, the better it will sell, it will mark the end of the DRM experiment.
But you can only make money off IP if you actually have some in the first place. Lets see now, SCO has:
- no patents - no copyright claims on Linux (the kernel has been certified free of copyright infringement, SCO have failed to show even a single line of copied code, despite being ordered twice to do so by the court) - no trade secrets - no trademark issues with Linux
So what's left for SCO ? Another EV1 stooge ? That should get them another 20K or so. Hardly a good investment considering the millions they are burning on legal fees.
No, you just need to buy two phones, one for the left eye, and one for the right eye, and a special new 'hands free' kit that holds the phones in front of your face.
Ah, I see. You are assuming the government has a right to the tax money of the Oracle employee. I believe the government has the right to tax, but I don't believe you can a take a particular 'parcel' of money and say the government has a right to it whatever the circumstances.
To compete with Mandrake/Suse/Redhat Microsoft will have to fire all of its developers and tell them to live on welfare and contribute voluntarily to Microsoft.
To compete with Mandrake/Suse/Redhat, Microsoft will have to produce a better product which warrants the higher price.
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It doesn't cost very much to have a decent machine. I see my local supermarket advertising 2.5GHz *laptops* for around 1000 euros.
A modern window manager just aint gonna work on a 500MHz machine with 64MB RAM, whether its Linux or Windows based.
There is *no* disputed code in Linux. Even SCO has admitted that. Why would anyone want to purchase their copyrights on an ancient version of Unix ?
The copyrights are probably owned by Novell anyway.
They don't have any patents. Just some disputed copyrights on Sys V and a license agreement with IBM.
A windows machine running windows ? How is that cool ?
I can just see it now:
Out now for PS2 and Xbox ! Star Wars : Lava Surfing
I have a solution. Download LiVES, install it, make some cool videos, share away !
You forgot to add "BSD is dying" at the end.
Nuts and gum...together at last !
Maybe they have investigated them and found them not worth bothering with.
Well state you own 'facts' as much as you like. It seems somebody has done the maths. One lost CD sale per 5,000 p2p downloads. Is that really worth the hassle of changing all hardware and software ? What a huge waste of time and ingenuity.
The copy protection certainly wasn't embedded in the hardware, and certainly didn't prevent legitimate use such as making a backup (which in fact was the recommendation in those days).
But would you have bought a computer anyway if it had been impossible to copy games from the start ? Maybe you would have, but likely others wouldn't. If you hadn't bought a computer, you would presumably have bought zero games at all. All I am saying is, there is much more to the equation than simply assuming every copy represents one lost sale.
Technological means will not stop the major 'pirates', they will just serve to annoy customers.
Once record companies learn the simple fact that the less restrictive a format is, the better it will sell, it will mark the end of the DRM experiment.
Like in rich North Korea you mean. As compared to a poor multicultural country like Switzerland.
- no patents
- no copyright claims on Linux (the kernel has been certified free of copyright infringement, SCO have failed to show even a single line of copied code, despite being ordered twice to do so by the court)
- no trade secrets
- no trademark issues with Linux
So what's left for SCO ? Another EV1 stooge ? That should get them another 20K or so. Hardly a good investment considering the millions they are burning on legal fees.
Shush ! They can arrest you for that, you know.
No, because companies only send you free stuff if they think you are going to actually buy something.
Well, what programs do you need to run ? I am sure there are alternatives for Linux.
No, you just need to buy two phones, one for the left eye, and one for the right eye, and a special new 'hands free' kit that holds the phones in front of your face.
If this trend continues, their product names will soon be haiku.
6. Would you re-use blocks of code written elsewhere
Only if you were confident that nobody would find out
Whether it would be found out or not
So where is the 'only if it were legal' option ?
And yes, I do realise it was a joke. But it's still scary if you really think like that.
To compete with Mandrake/Suse/Redhat Microsoft will have to fire all of its developers and tell them to live on welfare and contribute voluntarily to Microsoft.
To compete with Mandrake/Suse/Redhat, Microsoft will have to produce a better product which warrants the higher price.